Dead silence.
A cool breeze lifted the curtains and the cell phone thrown on the table
buzzed twice more before Yu Fan was yanked out of his shock.
He stared at Chen Jingshen for a long time.
Chen Jingshen's face was without ripples, and if it wasn't for that stupid love
letter still being pressed under his fingers, Yu Fan would have suspected that
he was hallucinating just now.
Speechless standstill for a long time. Yu Fan clenched and unclenched his
fists, and after several repetitions, he sat back down.
The cell phone was so loud it gave him a headache, and it took him a hand
to mute it before he could find his voice, "... Are you sick? I'm male." Chen Jingshen left the letter on the table and stood up straight, "I know."
"Knowing that you're still ..." Yu Fan paused, "you're gay?"
Chen Jingshen was silent for a moment with his eyes downcast, then a cold
sound popped out of his throat, "Uh-huh."
"..."
Chen Jingshen asks, "Do you hate gays?"
"... doesn't count," Yu Fan uttered half-heartedly as he looked out the
window and said quickly, "but I'm not, I like females."
"You have a favorite girl?"
Yu Fan's brain was a bit confused as it was the first time she was confessed
to by a man, and she responded with an offhanded, "No."
He snapped back to his senses when he finished, and was just about to say
what's it to you-
"Then how do you know you like females."
"?"
What kind of bullshit logic is that?
"Anyway, I'm not gay and there's no way I'm going to talk to you ..." The
last two words Yu Fan didn't say, it was too damn weird.
He picked up the love letter that had been lying on the table for half a day
and stretched it out in front of Chen Jingshen as if carrying a bomb, "This,
hurry up and take it away."
Chen Jingshen didn't answer.
Yu Fan held up the zippy letter for about ten seconds and felt like an idiot,
"Do you want it? I'll tear it up if you don't want it." Chen Jingshen stared at his ear for a moment, then said, "Tear it up."
Anyway, this version was scribbled and he wasn't particularly happy with the
writing.
Yu Fan took a deep breath, resisted the urge to hit someone, and looked
down for Chen Jingshen's pockets, trying to stuff something back in-
"Yu Fan!" the familiar loud voice resounded throughout the third floor.
Yu Fan hadn't even touched Chen Jingshen's clothes yet, and at the sound of
the voice, his hand trembled and froze in mid-air.
Seeing that the figure outside was about to enter the door, Yu Fan took the
letter back abruptly and stuffed it into his pocket in a panic.
At the same time, Wang Luan came in through the door, "Yu Fan, why didn't
you reply when I messaged you-"
When he saw what was going on inside, Wang Luan stared, "What's going
on?"
"Why are you back again?" Yu Fan asked, twisting her head around in
annoyance.
"The homework was left in the classroom, and when I came back I happened
to see Fat Tiger go to the bathroom, so I wanted you to help me take it
down and run away ..." Wang Luan stared at him for a while and asked in
shock, "Why are your ears so red ?"
"?" Yu Fan covered his ears and wrinkled his eyebrows, "You're looking at it
wrong."
"Really!" Wang Luan suddenly remembered the scene he saw when he
entered the door, the two of them had subtle expressions and were close
together, looking like they were about to fight--
He looked to Chen Jingshen and asked incredulously, "You twisted my
brother's ear?"
Yu Fan tries to pull something out of his pocket and stuff it in Wang Luan's
mouth.
Chen Jingshen swept him a glance and didn't say anything.
This was tantamount to acquiescence in Wang Luan's eyes, and just as he
was about to continue his question, Yu Fan grabbed his shirt and yanked it
back.
The cell phone in his book bag began to vibrate continuously for one burst
after another, this time it was an incoming call.
Chen Jingshen didn't care, he pawed his book bag with his fingers and
continued expressionlessly, "I've been paying attention to you since my
freshman year of high school."
Yu Fan: "..."
Wang Luan: "?"
"I saw your program at the games."
Yu Fan: "?"
Wang Luan: "????"
"I'm serious." Chen Jingshen dropped his hands to his side, "I hope you can
think about it."
-
Fat Tiger's trip to the restroom took a long time, and Yu Fan ended up
leaving through the front door of the school proper.
He had a bad expression on his face, and the surrounding students
subconsciously took two steps to the side when they saw him.
Wang Luan looked at him for an unknown number of times, and finally
couldn't help but speak, "Do you think what Chen Jingshen said just now
sounds a bit familiar ..." "Don't think so."
"Really?" Wang Luan scratched his head, "What did he want with you?"
Yu Fan face stinks even more, he pursed his lips, half a day before he stifled
a sentence, "... about the fight."
"?"
Wang Luan baffled: "Then he said he noticed you as a freshman in high
school ..."
"Looked at me bad my freshman year of high school."
"He Games still watch your program ..."
"Wanted to see how awesome I am."
"He finally asked you to consider ..."
"Consider fighting him."
Wang Luan: "..."
Strange and sensible. After all, he couldn't think of anything else between
these two.
Wang Luan casually asked, "So did you get the deal in the end?"
"Talk shit!"
"..."
They pass by a supermarket, and Wang Luan remembers that the snacks he
has stashed at home are running out, so he has to go in and buy some.
Yu Fan is standing outside the door waiting.
The evening was cool. A couple passed in front of him, the girl's hand in the
boy's pocket covering it. Yu Fan clutched the letter in his pocket and suddenly wanted to smoke
again.
He's actually intentionally trying to quit smoking, and has been keeping up
with one a day for three days lately, and it's been working out a bit.
It can't be ruined in Chen Jingshen's hands.
Thinking about it, Yu Fan inclined his face and exhaled, and Yu Guang saw
the trash can in the corner.
He hesitated for a moment, walked over to the trash can, and with two
fingers clipped the letter out of his pocket and dangled it above the trash
can.
The wind blew and the envelope swayed with it.
Two seconds later, he gave a very soft "tsk" and withdrew his hand again--
"Holy shit! A love letter?"
Yu Fan moves quickly, and by the time Wang Luan rushes up, the item is
already back in his pocket.
Wang Luan carries a plastic bag: "Who gave you this? Just now? Why didn't I
see it?"
Yu Fan walks forward, "You're looking at it wrong."
"No way, I have 5.2 eyesight!" Wang Luan suddenly realized, "I know, it's
definitely the time when you went back to write a review-no wonder your
ears are so red."
Wang Luan played with Yu Fan at an early age.
Yu Fan, this guy, he doesn't panic when he hits five, he stands in front of
thousands of people and reads his review without any stage fright, he
always looks so cool that people think he's not afraid of anything--
Until a girl confessed her love to Yu Fan. That was the first time he saw Yu Fan blush.
The man who usually fought without blinking his eyes hung his head, red
through his ears, and said sorry to a little girl of a meter and a half, his eyes
not even daring to look at anyone else.
From that day on he knew that his brother, who looked like a bully, was an
invincible innocent male high school student behind his back.
"Are you done?" Just as we reach the fork in the road, Yu Fan turns around
and leaves in the other direction without looking back, "Let's go."
-
Yu Fan went home, took a shower, and when he came out, the upstairs was
still clanking.
There was no such thing as soundproofing in cheap residential housing, and
he took it for granted and went to the mirror to take a look.
The bruise on his face faded a bit, so I guess it will heal in a few more days.
Just ugly.
Yu Fan rubbed his face vigorously with a towel and didn't stop until the
wound felt painful.
He shuffled out of the bathroom with his slippers, picked up a bucket of
instant noodles, and was just about to tear open the package when the door
suddenly "knocked" twice.
The two sounds were like knocks on his temples.
Yu Fan's movements were stuttered, and when he looked up again, the
laziness on his face had already been put away, and there were a few more
points of indifference and vigilance in the bottom of his eyes.
He stared at the dark figure below the doorway, and waited quietly for a
moment--the "Knock." Another bang.
Yu Fan let go of the bubbly noodles and turned to open the door.
He grasped the doorknob and unscrewed it not very gently, straining his
eyelids to look out the door - and saw nothing.
Yu Fan frowned and was just about to close the door when Yu Guang caught
a glimpse of a small, dark head.
He slowly lowered his head and met eyes with the little girl in front of him.
It's the kid from the family that just moved in, I saw him downstairs
yesterday, with two pigtails and a fleshy face.
Yu Fan's expression was too fierce, and the little girl drooped her eyebrows
and was a bit timid.
A big one confronted the other for a while.
"What for?" Yu Fan opened his mouth first. His tone was still taut as that
emotion from earlier hadn't completely dissipated.
The little girl shivered.
Really shaking.
Yu Fan: "..."
Yu Fan sighed and crouched down to be level with her, "Talk."
The little girl held a plastic bag bigger than her face, and gathered courage:
"Mom said that yesterday she cleaned up the house, it was very noisy, and it
won't be tonight, so let me give you dumplings ... brother you don't be
angry."
"Got it." Yu Fan glanced at the bag, "You take it back, I don't want it."
The little girl stood still, eyeing him. Yu Fan frowned, "Can't understand?"
The little girl hugged the dumplings and shook a little more.
"..."
A few moments later, Yu Fan carries a plastic bag back to the house, stuffs
all the dumplings into the refrigerator, and turns back to the noodles.
The family upstairs did what they said they would do and didn't make
another sound during the night.
But Yu Fan didn't fall asleep until 2:00 a.m. I don't know if it's the effect of
the school year, but he's been sleeping poorly for the past few days.
He grabbed a handful of hair and decided to give up the struggle and get up
to go to the living room for some water.
Seeing something next to the kettle, Yu Fan gave a slight pause as he
poured the water.
He had a habit of throwing all the contents of his pockets on the dining room
table before he showered, and at the moment there was a set of keys, his
school meal card, some loose change, and a pink envelope lying cluttered on
the table.
Yu Fan stares at those for a moment, picks up his glass of water and walks
away.
For a moment, he folded back woodenly, pulled the envelope from the pile of
contraptions, and turned to go back inside.
Yu Fan had received love letters before, but the girls were so thin-skinned
that he could return them on the spot after rejecting them. This is the first
time he has ever received a love letter and taken it home with him.
He lay on his bed, staring at the envelope in his hand, suddenly
remembering Chen Jingshen's overly formal school uniform, and the
unsympathetic gesture he had made when he had rejected Zhang Xianjing. He'd like to see what kind of shit such a person could write.
Yu Fan propped one hand behind his head, lazily lying flat on his back, and
with a casual flip of his fingers, he uncovered the mouth of the envelope.
This love letter has a fancy envelope and seal, but inside is just an ordinary
piece of letterhead-the one Chen Jingshen wrote in the classroom after
school.
"..."
I should have known to leave then.
Chen Jingshen's handwriting is strong and thin, with a few scribbles in the
neatness, as if he had practiced.
Yu Fan pinched the piece of letterhead and read it from the beginning--
"Yu from sophomore class 7.
Hello.
I'm Chen Jingshen from sophomore class 7."
The letter had two types of handwriting, one dark and one light, the dark
color would have been added at the end of the school day.
The "seven" in "sophomore class seven" should have been "one", but the
dark handwriting added another stroke to it, making it "seven". The dark
handwriting added another stroke to it, making it "seven".
"I don't know if you remember me, but we've met a couple times at
flag-raising ceremonies.
The first time the flag was raised in freshman year of high school, the figure
of you on the podium, talking eloquently and reciting the review backwards
and forwards, was deeply engraved in my mind.
And that's when I started to notice you. I began to pay attention to the end of the grade ranking list; occasionally
passing by the seventh class, I could not help but glance at the back of your
head when you were sleeping; in class, I could not help but look out the
window at the playground, where you were punished by the teacher for
running.
I don't realize that the focus on you has been going on for a year.
On one of the big exams, I found out that you had moved up one place in
the rankings, and I was sincerely happy and joyful for you, and I realized
how I felt about you.
So I decided to write this letter to express my feelings to you."
After this, it's all dark-colored handwriting.
"Even though you were back in last place on last semester's final exam. But
I believe you have a talent for learning, especially in math. After all, a score
of 9 is a grade that no one can achieve.
So if you are willing to work hard, you can definitely get better grades.
Here are the tutorials and question banks that I would recommend for you:
How a Rookie Learns Math, Dumb and Dumber 2017, and Middle School
Math Summary.
Good luck with: exams and studying.
Chen Jingshen.
Yu Fan: "?"
Yu Fan: "..."
What the fuck?
Serves you right for language 110.