“What is it?” Bo Xinghang removed his headphones and frowned at the girls who had suddenly rushed over.
He had never had a good impression of these lovesick girls, and when they realized his attitude, they had wisely stopped bothering him. But now, they had gathered again, looking very excited.
“Bo Xinghang!”
“…Uh?”
Several girls pointed excitedly toward the door. “Your brother is so handsome! He’s super gentlemanly and always answers when asked! Waaaaah, I’m so in love!”
“Me too!”
“Yeah, totally!”
Bo Xinghang didn’t understand and was puzzled. “…Uh?”
Why were they suddenly bringing up his “handsome gege”? Was it because the girls were braver, or was he not fierce enough?
The girls babbled incoherently without any focus. Finally, Xu Yi walked over, ignored the girls beside him, and went straight to the point. “Your brother is here.”
My brother is here?
Bo Xinghang instinctively looked out the back window.
The boys were all fighting for a spot to listen through the cracks in the door, but only a few leaned against the windows to look inside. He was tall, so his seat was in the last row. With a slight turn of his head, he saw his own seat.
The seat that had once been empty and even lonely was now occupied by someone.
Doctor Ji sat with an elegant posture, his back straight in the chair. A few of Bo Xinghang’s exam papers were on the desk, and he used his long fingers to hold them, occasionally glancing up at the teacher.
Suddenly, Bo Xinghang couldn’t hear the noise of the people around him anymore. He fixed his gaze on Doctor Ji, instantly becoming nervous.
A moment ago, he had scoffed at others for huddling by the wall, but now he felt a sudden impulse. He tugged at his headphone cord and took a deep breath.
Now he actually…wanted to huddle by the wall too.
“Thank you, teacher!”
“Thanks for everything. Goodbye, teacher!”
“Goodbye, teacher!”
“Alright, alright.” It was stuffy inside, so the homeroom teacher stood by the door, taking in the fresh air and wiping sweat from his forehead.
After sending off the enthusiastic parents, the homeroom teacher was about to call the students back inside when he noticed that there was still a parent in the last row who hadn’t left.
Eh?
Looking to the back, the homeroom teacher realized it was Bo Xinghang’s brother.
Ji Wenzhen glanced at the test papers on the desk, feeling a headache. He carefully examined them again, not looking at Bo Xinghang’s answers, but at the questions.
Once he finished reading, he looked up and noticed that all the other parents had left, leaving him as the only one in the room.
The homeroom teacher was still watching him from the doorway.
Ji Wenzhen paused in his task of organizing the papers and got up to walk over to the homeroom teacher. Behind the teacher was a group of students craning their necks to look at him, but he didn’t see Bo Xinghang, so he lowered his eyes and spoke with the homeroom teacher.
“Teacher, can I have a word with you?”
In all three years, it was the first time anyone had attended a parent-teacher meeting for Bo Xinghang. Even though he arrived more than ten minutes late, it didn’t dampen the homeroom teacher’s excitement.
By asking to talk, it showed that his “gege” did care about his studies.
The homeroom teacher was thrilled and quickly nodded.
The teacher instructed the students to return to their seats for self-study, then led Doctor Ji back to the office.
Once the door was closed, the homeroom teacher’s face lit up with joy. Though he tried to control his expression, he failed and ended up smiling while speaking to Ji Wenzhen. “Bo Xinghang’s family, what would you like to discuss?”
As he watched the teacher pull out a chair, Ji Wenzhen nodded slightly in thanks and sat down. When the homeroom teacher asked the question, Ji Wenzhen cleared his throat and inquired, “Have Bo Xinghang’s grades… always been like this?”
An array of zeros.
Last time, he had only glanced at the results list, and the impact of seeing the actual papers was much more intense.
He remembered his own school days and realized that he had never encountered such a “school bully” before.
This “big school bully” only wrote their name and student number on the test paper.
He had a headache.
The homeroom teacher had anticipated the question and sighed. “Actually, when he first got into Provincial Experimental, his grades were quite good. Many teachers saw him as a key student to cultivate. Who knew… he turned in a blank paper during his first exam.”
The homeroom teacher added, “After that, without exception, every paper was blank.”
He had good grades when he first arrived?
Yes.
Students admitted to Provincial Experimental were never bad.
Hearing this from the homeroom teacher, Ji Wenzhen remembered the way the boy had crouched in the doorway yesterday. He felt a heavy weight on his chest, like a thousand-pound stone pressing on him—something he wanted to move but couldn’t budge.
When he finally spoke, his voice was already hoarse. He nodded and said, “Alright, I understand. Thank you, teacher.”
When Bo Xinghang came back from the restroom, the hallway was empty. He knocked on the door, and Xu Yi’s annoying voice shouted, “Come in!”
Loud.
The teacher wasn’t there.
He closed the door tightly, and a few boys teased him, “Yo—did your brother finish scolding you?”
“Get lost.” Bo Xinghang returned to his seat, smiling as he cursed.
After clearing up the misunderstanding from last time, he had become much closer with the boys. The boys at Provincial Experimental were quite simple-minded and focused on their studies.
Initially, they were hesitant to approach Bo Xinghang because of the fighting incident, but now that the misunderstanding was cleared, everyone got along much better.
They weren’t at the level of calling each other brothers, but they could joke and tease each other occasionally.
Bo Xinghang sat back in his seat and texted Xu Yi on WeChat.
—What happened?
—Oh, right, you were in the toilet just now, so you don’t know. Your brother seemed pretty angry after looking at your test papers and went to the homeroom teacher to reflect on life.
Bo Xinghang read the message, instinctively looked at the doorway, and felt a chill down his spine.
—You said Doctor Ji went to see the homeroom teacher?
—Mmm-hmm~
Xu Yi ducked his head under the desk, laughing and shaking his shoulders.
Though he didn’t understand when those two had become so close, the outcome was good. Finally, someone could subdue the “arrogant and domineering Hang-ge.”
Seeing the smug tone in Xu Yi’s message, Bo Xinghang gritted his teeth and sent a straightforward and heartfelt reply.
—Fuck me.
After the conversation, Ji Wenzhen left without talking to Bo Xinghang. He had a few days off and originally planned to take the kid out to play, but after seeing the test papers, he abandoned the idea.
With only two months left until the college entrance exam, now was not the time to go out and play.
Ji Wenzhen drove to the bookstore, carrying a large bag of brand-new 53-study books and Must-Do Exercises1Popular exercise books for the college entrance exams, and sneered.
Going out to play?
Don’t even think about it.
After just finishing their exams and experiencing a rather shocking parent-teacher meeting, all the students felt they needed some food for comfort.
Tomorrow was the Qingming Festival, and while the regular first and second-year high school students got three days off, the poor third-year students only received one day. However, the third-year students were still satisfied.
As soon as the subject teacher finished the last class, several boys rushed out. They were no longer lethargic as they had been in class, and their shouts echoed throughout the building.
“Come on—eat meat!”
“Fill the glasses to the brim. We won’t leave until we’re drunk!”
“Let’s eat the hot pot place out of business—!”
“So domineering!”
The teacher from the next class, dragging out the lesson, heard the commotion and immediately shouted, “You brats! What’s so domineering? Shut up!”
The boys exchanged glances and stifled their laughter.
Finally getting a chance to eat something hearty, the entire class was very excited.
The boys had their arms around each other’s shoulders, and the girls were holding hands, all happily rushing into the bustling 985211 Hot Pot Restaurant2985 and 211 are Chinese government initiatives designating top-tier universities.
Yesterday, Bo Xinghang had confessed to Doctor Ji that he “didn’t have a home,” so Doctor Ji let him stay there. He felt quite embarrassed but agreed with gritted teeth.
Just a few more days. After the Qingming Festival was over, his mom would disappear again.
Then he could go home and not trouble Doctor Ji.
Xu Yi draped his arm over him and leaned in to ask, “What are you thinking about?”
Bo Xinghang glanced at Xu Yi’s arm out of the corner of his eye, took a step back, and rejected Xu Yi’s intimate contact with a cold tone. “I was thinking about using being drunk as an excuse to beat you to death later.”
Xu Yi fearfully retracted his hand, pouted, and muttered, “…Tsk, so fierce.”
With so many people around, they weren’t in a hurry after placing their order and started playing games happily. But the 985211 Hot Pot Restaurant, being a well-established name, quickly served up a steaming big pot.
The broth was fragrant, and the chili oil sizzled with aroma. Several young men who were playing games immediately stopped their conversation, sniffed, and began cooking meat right away.
“We’ll play later, we’ll play later!”
“Ah—no way, just as we were asking about Bo Xinghang! This pot arrives just in time, doesn’t it?” complained a girl with short hair.
The girl was an athlete. When she first joined the class, she had said she wanted to be the sports committee representative. The classmates thought she was joking and laughed for a long time, but eventually, they couldn’t laugh anymore.
Damn it, she ran faster than the boys.
The sports rep was straightforward and didn’t think too much before speaking. The boys cooking their meat nearby heard her and immediately laughed suggestively. “Sports rep, do you… like him?”
“…No! I don’t!” The sports rep realized what they were implying and stood up quickly, her eyes a little flustered as she explained, “I… I don’t like Bo Xinghang! I’m just interested in his brother!”
“Oh— we were just talking~ no need to be so nervous.”
The sports rep breathed a sigh of relief.
Actually, anyone with a brain could tell that the sports rep liked Bo Xinghang. She used to only dare to look at him cautiously, but now, with Doctor Ji as an excuse, she often ran up to him openly, claiming to inquire about his brother.
It was just an excuse, and they all understood that.
“Alright.” Bo Xinghang frowned, not liking the way the boys were teasing the girl. It’s fine to joke with the boys, but why make fun of the girls?
He was unhappy with this behavior and pulled the sports rep aside to talk to her. “You don’t have to pay attention to them. Just sit here and eat.”
The sports rep was initially quite far from Bo Xinghang, but when he pulled her aside, the distance between them suddenly became close.
The chili oil base in the hot pot was bubbling, and the girl’s heart was also pounding.
The sports rep blushed and nodded sheepishly, her voice much softer than before, so much so that Bo Xinghang couldn’t hear her clearly.
“…What did you say?” Bo Xinghang leaned in closer.
Seeing Bo Xinghang come closer, the sports rep was startled and stepped back, feeling particularly shy. “I said thank you.”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Bo Xinghang replied casually, sat back down, and then lowered his head to message Doctor Ji.
When they had decided to go for hot pot, Bo Xinghang sent the location to Doctor Ji to keep him informed. Doctor Ji hadn’t replied yet, and just as Bo Xinghang was about to call, he received a message from Doctor Ji.
—Look up.
Bo Xinghang’s heart skipped a beat, and he looked up.
Doctor Ji was standing not far away, frowning and looking in his direction, meeting his gaze.
He wasn’t sure if it was because the early spring night was too cold, but Doctor Ji’s complexion didn’t look so good.
Looks like he’d have to make sure Doctor Ji wore a few more layers when they got back.
Author’s note:
Bo Xinghang: Are you cold? Why don’t you look too well?
Ji Wenzhen: Ha.