Chapter 2: 2

Shao Zhan.

Xu Sheng had heard this name no less than six times that day. 

The first words each subject teacher said as soon as they walked through the door was “Guess who the top student in your grade is this year. Forget it, you don’t need to guess, there’s no suspense, but it has to be said. Shao Zhan was ahead of the second-place student by a whole twenty points.”

Then they would distribute the thirty or so copies of his test papers. “Look at this student’s ways of solving the problems, then look at yourselves.”

 

 

At first, Xu Sheng didn’t even know which Shao and which Zhan it was. When the papers were distributed from the front, he stretched out his hand to take it, planning on just tossing it aside, and accidentally saw the words on the photocopied papers.

It wasn’t that he wanted to look, but those words were really too difficult to ignore. 

The pen was wrong, and the words were a little cursive. Xu Sheng himself was also a ‘cursive’ writer, but this kind of cursive looked very good at first glance. It was completely different from his casual scribbles.

 

There were already students who had started praising it. “The study god’s handwriting… Even if I practised writing for ten years, I wouldn’t be able to write like this. Can these words even be written by a human?”

“Save it.” The teacher looked at Xu Sheng as they spoke. “I’m not asking you all to write like this, I just hope that some students in our class would just write legibly enough for people to read. Never mind if you don’t know how to answer the questions, you can’t even get scores on your exams.

Classmate Xu Sheng, who couldn’t get scores on his exams, folded the exam copy and stuffed it under his desk.

 

Xu Sheng’s school life had always been unpretentious and dull.

Sleep, play games, stand in the corridor as punishment.

There was no fourth possibility.

 

In their last class, which was biology in the afternoon, the teacher made him stand up to answer the question. 

Xu Sheng tossed his phone under the table and stood up after half a beat. “Laoshi, I didn’t hear clearly. Can you repeat that?”

The biology teacher had seen this student sitting in the corner playing mobile games like no one was around for most of the class, and already had fire brewing in their belly. They simply kept a straight face. “It’s in the book. Do you know which page we’re on?” The biology teacher tried to hold in their temper, and guided him. “Page four.”

Xu Sheng picked up his English textbook and flipped a few pages. “Fill in the blanks?”

“…” 

The entire class was silent.

“Ah.” Xu Sheng seemed to realise something from the dead silence. “This isn’t English class?”

Two minutes later, Xu Sheng carried his phone and a charger that he had gotten from his seatmate and walked out of the class. He stood with his back against the railing, and met with the gazes of the classmates past the open door of the neighbouring Class Six.

His phone vibrated twice. 

It was a message from Zhang Feng.

– Boss, you got punished again?

 

– Go away.

– I initially thought that because we were split up so far apart that I wouldn’t be able to see you often, then I discovered that I can look outside at the corridor and I can see your handsome face nearly every class. 

– You should come out and stand awhile too, you can see me more clearly.

– That’s not necessary… It’s good enough for me to wave my hand at you, can you see it?

Xu Sheng raised his gaze to look at the window at the end of the corridor. There really was a hand sticking out.

He lowered his head again and replied: ‘Fuck, are you an idiot.’ 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Zhang Feng asked again: ‘Are we still going to the internet cafe tonight? Same place?’

Dfobgf We Vtfcu tjv alwf ab gfqis, tf yjmxfv bea ogbw atf mtja klcvbk. Ktfgf kjr j qfgrbc rlaalcu delfais lc tlr mbcajmar ilra, atf tjcvif kjr ‘Zbw’.

Ktf wfrrjuf kjr ogbw akb vjsr jub.

[Mom]: Have you arrived at school? 

[Mom]: I let you stay at home but you didn’t want to. Attend your classes properly, I won’t bother you about other things. If you really still can’t learn, just graduating smoothly should be fine, right.

[Mom]: You’re in your second year already. I didn’t make you study for my sake. What do you plan to do in the future?!

We Vtfcu uijcmfv ja la, tlr fzqgfrrlbc ecmtjculcu, atfc gfqilfv ab Itjcu Mfcu klat jc ‘Yxjs’.

After he had finished replying, he shoved his phone back into his pocket. He stretched his fingers and cracked his knuckles. 

The biology teacher was currently writing on the blackboard, they inadvertently glanced outside and discovered that the boy in the corridor was not carrying out his punishment of standing appropriately at all. Leaning against the banister as if he were boneless, occasionally frowning and turning away.

Ring ring ring —

The bell signalling the end of the school day rang.

The biology teacher put down the chalk. “All right, class is dismissed. I’ve asked the class representative to send the additional questions to the group chat… And the one outside, come in,” after the biology teacher said this, they looked out into the corridor again. 

The corridor was completely empty without a person in sight. Xu Sheng had dismissed himself at the sound of the bell.

There was an old residential area near the school. Outside the white and grey tiled walls of the alley, the street had been developed into a shopping avenue with jewellery stores, snacks stores… And an Internet cafe that could be accessed without an ID card.

 

The Internet cafe was concealed and was entered through the backdoor of a small restaurant, up to the second floor, and past the glass door.

Xu Sheng was a frequent customer of this Internet cafe. 

Zhang Feng didn’t live at school. After he packed his bag and came running over with some friends, Xu Sheng had already booked the computer in the very corner. This big boss wasn’t even playing a game either, he had headphones on, and one leg on the edge of the chair, curled up as he watched a movie.

“What is this, how come there’s no plot?” Zhang Feng paid the fee and tossed his bag onto the floor. While waiting for his computer to start up, he went over to look at Xu Sheng’s computer screen. After a long period of time, he realised he couldn’t comprehend what he was watching and had to look at the title. “… BBC’s The Power of Art. Fuck, a documentary?”

Xu Sheng dragged the mouse to the progress bar.

Zhang Feng asked a soul-searching question, “You’re watching this in an Internet Cafe? Why don’t you just watch the news network?” 

Xu Sheng didn’t even look like he was seriously watching the documentary. He pushed his headphones back so it was easier to hear what Zhang Feng was saying. “The news network is at 7, it hasn’t started yet.

Zhang Feng, “…”

Xu Sheng turned the documentary off. “I’m joking. Let’s play.”

Xu Sheng played a few rounds with them. In the middle of it, Zhang Feng received a phone call. His mother was on the phone scolding him saying “Do you want to die, what time is it already but you’re still not home”. Zhang Feng’s eyes were wide as he lied, “I still have some questions I don’t understand, and stayed behind to ask a classmate…” 

Zhang Feng’s mother obviously didn’t believe her child’s nonsense. “Rubbish! Is your classmate next to you? How come I don’t hear anyone explaining questions?”

Zhang Feng was at a loss, and could only look at Xu Sheng with pleading eyes.

Xu Sheng cooperated with him while tapping on the keyboard, saying very convincingly, “This question is actually very simple.”

Zhang Feng’s eyes told him “If you can fake more, just fake more”. 

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Xu Sheng, “I talk, you write.”

Xu Sheng even looked like he was serious, the end of his sentence dragging out half a beat. “‘Solution’, colon.”

Zhang Feng. “…”

“And then?” Zhang Feng waited for a long time for the following words. “… Tell me more.” 

Xu Sheng, “Then we can look at the next question.”

“…”

 

Luckily, Zhang Feng’s mother couldn’t really hear what Xu Sheng was saying over the phone. “Then finish going through the questions with your classmate and come home early, mom made your favourite braised pork.”

Zhang Feng was urged to the point he couldn’t drag it out any longer. Before picking up his backpack and hopping off the computer, he inwardly screamed: He could ask for help from anyone else; he could learn this kind of high school knowledge from the Internet cafe boss better than he could from this guy! 

Zhang Feng hung up the call. “Boss, your explanations, are really too clear.”

Xu Sheng finished cleaning up the enemy lines and said, “You’re welcome.”

“Then I’ll head back first,” Zhang Feng said before he left. “Don’t stay too late either. School just started, it won’t be good to get caught.”

Xu Sheng opened the water bottle next to him and made a noise of agreement, sounding extremely perfunctory. 

“You head back,” Xu Sheng said. “They won’t catch me.”

Xu Sheng stayed in the cafe until dark. He watched the BBC documentary to the end and was a little tired. He tilted his head back, took off his headphones and planned to go to the front counter to buy some food.

Other than instant noodles, there were things like duck legs and chicken feet at the front counter. Xu Sheng glanced at them, didn’t have an appetite for any of it, and eventually just took a mint from the side.

After purchasing, he opened one up and placed it in his mouth before pushing open the door to get some air by the stairwell. 

He hadn’t walked more than a few steps before a bang sounded from the pile of odds and ends in the stairwell.

“Just this small amount of money?”

“My breakfast money for tomorrow is here too, there’s really no more…” It was a boy, his voice submissive.

Bang—! 

The sound of things being kicked over again.

“We told you that if you didn’t get two hundred this time to not blame us for not being polite.” The person who had kicked the things over had a gruff, hoarse voice. “Are you looking for a beating?”

This kind of black market Internet cafe was by nature a high-risk area.

Dragons and fish were mixed together. This kind of event was not unusual. 

The mint in Xu Sheng’s mouth was rather cool. He leaned against the wall and listened for a while, chewing the candy into pieces before slowly and calmly walking towards the pile of odds and ends.

There were four people surrounding the pile, their hair dyed an unnatural blonde. They didn’t wear their school uniforms, but were probably not Sixth High students. The grey-blue colour of the uniform of the person being surrounded was very obvious.

 

“Sorry, please let me go. Tomorrow, tomorrow I’ll definitely give it to you…”

After the four blondes counted the hundred or so dollars in their hands, they looked at each other and laughed. “Tomorrow? It won’t be this amount tomorrow.” 

They couldn’t laugh for too long, because just as their words landed, the person holding the money was patted on the shoulder by someone behind him.

“—Who is it?!”

“It doesn’t matter who I am.” Xu Sheng walked up front, dangling his arm around the person’s shoulders. His manner was very brotherly, but the words he spoke were very different. “You guys are too loud.”

The delinquent youth holding the money turned his head around and froze when he saw Xu Sheng. 

To be fair, although Xu Sheng had a notorious reputation, that face could still turn quite a few heads at school.

Black t-shirt, dark blue jeans, ear stud.

Other than this outfit which evidently pointed him out as an improper student, Xu Sheng’s eyes were sharp and stern. His brows were lifted slightly, seemingly absent-minded, but the depths of his eyes still held a hint of uncontrollable wildness. Anyone who saw him felt like they were looking at a problem student who often received punishment.

Most importantly, compared to them, he looked like he was even more likely to come here to rob others of their money. 

“You…” The delinquent youth holding the money had been pressed down by his aura until he was a head shorter. He choked out, “Are you here to take the money?”

Xu Sheng laughed. “You could say that”

Xu Sheng put down the arm that had been draped across his shoulders and flexed his wrists. He then said casually, “How much did you take from him in total? Are you waiting for me to make a move, or will you take it out yourself?”

The delinquent youth, “…” 

The four blondes ran away in fear.

They were only 16 or 17 and had originally come out to casually scare a few people. Persimmons were soft to punch; once they met someone who looked harder than they did, they didn’t dare to be arrogant.

They didn’t care about anything else, the youth directly took out whatever money he could from his pocket and threw it on the ground. After saying “Sorry big bro, we didn’t know this was your territory,” then ran down the stairs.

Xu Sheng bent over and picked up the scattered money on the ground. After folding it neatly, he squatted down. 

The person in the Sixth High uniform was still shivering as he sat on the ground. When he saw Xu Sheng squat down, his first reaction was to say, “I really don’t have any more money, really don’t…” TAT

Xu Sheng, “…”

 

Do I really look like I want to take your money that badly.

Xu Sheng didn’t say much and only thrust the stack of money into his hands. He got up and started walking back. He only threw out one sentence as he pushed open the door of the Internet cafe. “Don’t come to this kind of place in the future.” 

Xu Sheng stayed in the Internet cafe until almost 9 o’clock before logging off.

It was already completely dark outside. The streetlamps on both sides of the road stretched out along the street.

The school locked its doors at 6:30. The dorms were open until 10. But if one couldn’t enter campus, they could be open until daybreak and it still wouldn’t be of any use.

Xu Sheng made a familiar detour to the back of the school. 

The back entrance of the school was right next to the dorms. It was closed all year round. A thick iron chain was tied around the rusty iron gate and the entire wall just happened to surround the boys’ dormitory building. The second year high school rooms were the closest to the wall; they almost directly faced the back entrance.

He stepped on the stone under the wall and flipped himself onto the wall. The youth was tall and his legs were long; it wasn’t difficult to jump up. He bent his back and stretched out in an arc. He released his hands and dangled a leg down, preparing to jump down—

But saw a person walking over on the other side.

The person was very tall, his backpack dangling from one shoulder. The sleeves of his school uniform were folded up, revealing half of his wrists. On his body, the grey-blue uniform that had been ranked third to last in the entire district, inexplicably looked quite different. 

They were too far away and his face wasn’t clear. Only when he walked under a streetlamp did Xu Sheng discover an even more significant problem.

He cursed quietly.

Fuck.

His luck was too good. 

His unbroken record of jumping over the wall to leave school without getting caught was going to be destroyed today.

Tofu: Kinda very much want to see what Mr. Study God’s handwriting looks like *squints while trying to decipher my dad’s chinese cursive*

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