ATIBESLM 19

They hadn’t caught Ye Lingwei, and Chen Yiming had fled too. Yuan Song opened his eyes and saw several giant mugs¹Literally “Big plate faces.” It’s a slightly derogatory and comedic way to describe someone with a large, flat face. In this context, it emphasizes how the lackeys are crowding Yuan Song’s view, making their faces look huge and annoying to him. crowding his vision. He cursed dumbasses and then passed out again from sheer rage.

“…”

The little lackeys surrounding Yuan Song with such concern exchanged dismayed glances. Without their backbone, they had no idea what to do. Yuan Song had always been the one calling the shots.

Besides, that stun baton of Ye Lingwei’s looked terrifying. They didn’t have the guts.

—

Chen Yiming followed behind Ye Lingwei. When they reached the point where Ye Lingwei had to head upstairs, Chen Yiming called out to him, “I’ll return the clothes to you tomorrow.”

Ye Lingwei turned to look at him. “No need. I don’t wear clothes that other people have worn.”

The clothes Ye Lingwei had given him were new. He had no intention of taking them back.

Chen Yiming lowered his head. After a long pause, he stammered, “You helped me… they’re going to come after you.”

“That is my concern, Chen Yiming.” Ye Lingwei leisurely said, “You have no reason to celebrate dodging a bullet just now. The people bullying you, they aren’t limited to just that group back there, are they?”

Even though he had helped someone out of kindness, Ye Lingwei still wouldn’t offer a single word of comfort. Instead, he ripped off the bloody, raw truth and threw it right in Chen Yiming’s face.

As long as you remain weak, this kind of thing will never have an end.

Chen Yiming turned his head away in mortification; Ye Lingwei was speaking the truth. Growing up, he had first been a target of ridicule, and later evolved into an existence that could be bullied at will.

He used to think that silence represented a form of mute resistance, but reality had proven that silence only emboldened the demons to intensify their cruelty.

Ye Lingwei stood holding the baton. The golden radiance spilling from the sun hanging high in the sky leaped up the steps, landing upon his face.

“I’m not afraid, so you don’t need to worry,” Ye Lingwei said softly, tapping the baton lightly against the ground. The corners of his mouth curled up, relaxed and at ease. It was as if he hadn’t taken what just happened to heart at all, nor had he taken Chen Yiming to heart.

“No one is more precious than anyone else. Without food, we all die.”

“However, the laws of nature silently consent to the law of the jungle. To you, they are ‘the strong.'” Ye Lingwei slowly said, “To me, they are nothing but trash.”

Chen Yiming stared dumbfoundedly as Ye Lingwei walked up the stairs, his figure disappearing around the corner. He couldn’t understand how Ye Lingwei could say such things with such natural confidence.

He has a heart condition. Isn’t he afraid?

Yuan Song… won’t let this go.

Gao Linhao arrived belatedly, skidding to a halt right in front of Ye Lingwei. His eyes darted up and down, confirming Ye Lingwei was unharmed before landing on the stun baton in his hand.

He recognized it at a glance—it was the same baton Ye Lingwei had brought to school a few days ago. Pokémon had scolded him at the time, accusing him of carrying a dangerous weapon. However, Ye Lingwei had claimed it was for self-defense, arguing that his poor health made him an easy target for bullies.

In the two years Gao Linhao had been Pokémon’s”” student, he had never seen the teacher be so lenient!

“What did you do with that?”

Ye Lingwei followed Gao Linhao back toward the classroom, answering as he walked, “I went to beat someone up.”

“Bea…” Gao Linhao subconsciously started to repeat Ye Lingwei’s words, but as the realization hit him, his voice cut off abruptly. His eyes widened. “Beat someone up? You, in your condition, went to beat someone up? Who did you hit?”

“Yuan… Song?” That seemed to be the name.

Gao Linhao: “…”

“Why did you go and provoke him?” Gao Linhao howled. “Yuan Song is bad news—the rest of us steer clear of him.”

Ye Lingwei nodded. “I know.”

If he were a decent person, he wouldn’t have been assaulting his own classmate in the restroom.

“You don’t know sh*t!”

“…”

On the way back to the classroom, Gao Linhao gave Ye Lingwei a science lesson²The term literally means “Popular Science” (like explaining scientific concepts to laypeople). In internet slang, it means to explain the backstory or context of something to someone who is out of the loop. on Yuan Song’s ‘glorious deeds’ around the school!

He was an art student, ranking a solid first in both his specialty art courses and academic subjects. His family was relatively well-off, though obviously, he couldn’t compare to a damnably, fatally rich second-generation heir like Fei Lan.

He was good-looking, played openly, and wasn’t picky about gender. That was all underground gossip, though. Usually, with everyone blended into the daily school atmosphere, it wasn’t obvious at all.

Yuan Song was popular. One couldn’t tell at all what he got up to in private. He was also very good at acting the part of the obedient, clever student in front of the teachers.

Let’s put it this way—even if Chen Yiming went to report Yuan Song right now while covered in injuries, no one would believe him. The teachers wouldn’t believe it, and neither would the students.

The people who knew the truth were few and far between.

Ye Lingwei’s focus, however, was on how Gao Linhao knew all of this.

Gao Linhao scratched his head, looking a bit sheepish. “I went to middle school with him. We were in the same class in first year and he liked bullying people even back then. I stumbled upon it once, so he beat me up along with the others while he was at it.”

Back then, Gao Linhao was pretty miserable too. He hadn’t hit his growth spurt in first year yet. He was beaten but didn’t dare say a word. If Fei Lan hadn’t stepped in to help, Gao Linhao felt he probably wouldn’t have ended up much better off than Chen Yiming.

“Later on, I ate a ton of food and I fought back,” Gao Linhao said with great pride, though he didn’t tell Ye Lingwei that it was actually because of his connection to Fei Lan.

Seeing that Ye Lingwei had remained silent, Gao Linhao added, “Look at the state you’re in, but you’re still thinking about helping him. You can’t save everyone. Besides, that Yuan Song is like a mad dog…”

Gao Linhao swallowed the rest of his words under Ye Lingwei’s blade-like gaze. In front of him, Ye Lingwei had always been gentle and docile; never had he revealed a look so full of mockery and cold sarcasm.

Gao Linhao opened his mouth, feeling as though his entire body had frozen stiff.

Ye Lingwei asked Gao Linhao in return, finding the situation almost laughable, “Since you clearly had a similar experience, how can you say something like that?”

The boy’s eyes were bright—so bright that they filled Gao Linhao with shame, making him wish he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

“Is it because you aren’t the vulnerable one anymore, and you no longer need help, that you can so casually say we shouldn’t get involved?”

All the rebuttals rising in Gao Linhao’s throat were choked back. Looking at Ye Lingwei in this state, he felt incapable of uttering a single word.

In this moment, Ye Lingwei was like the scorching sun set against an azure firmament; to touch him was to be burned, leaving one scorched beyond recognition.

He could feel his own features beginning to scatter and blur so much that he wasn’t even sure exactly what kind of unsightly expression he was wearing. Under that blazing white sun, his selfishness and cowardice had nowhere to hide.

Ye Lingwei had no intention of acting as a mentor. He simply said it, addressing the issue rather than attacking the person.

The prerequisite for his understanding of the deep-seated flaws in human nature was that they had nothing to do with him.

“I didn’t say what you did was wrong.” Gao Linhao fell a step behind Ye Lingwei, looking like a wronged, oversized dog. “I was just worried about retaliation.”

Even after being reprimanded by Ye Lingwei to the point of such mortification, Gao Linhao still couldn’t help drawing closer to him—a pull that had nothing to do with romance.

For a split second just now, he had seen in Ye Lingwei the shadow of Brother Lan.

Fei Lan’s seat was by the window. He was leaning against the sill, backed by the corridor, with two boys draped over the ledge chatting and laughing beside him.

Crestfallen, Gao Linhao still didn’t forget to try and salvage his image in Ye Lingwei’s eyes.

Toward Gao Linhao, Ye Lingwei showed a rare indifference.

Fei Lan turned his head to look over. Gao Linhao suddenly lunged forward, sitting on the floor and hugging Fei Lan’s leg.

“Lan-ge, I was wrong. I have failed your teachings. You told me to be righteous, to protect the weak, to be sensible and understanding. I failed to do any of it, I…”

“When did I ever teach you that?” Fei Lan asked with an amused laugh, casting a glance at Ye Lingwei as he spoke.

Gao Linhao: “…” Why didn’t you save me some face?

Fei Lan narrowed his eyes, resting the back of his head against the glass. His fingers tapped a slow and idle rhythm against his book.

Gao Linhao glanced over and then quickly snatched his gaze back. Usually, when Fei Lan wore an expression like this—looking all relaxed and at ease—what it actually meant was: It’s time for you to come clean.

Behind him was the sound of Ye Lingwei turning a page.

In a daze, Gao Linhao felt as if he were being tortured and coerced by two Brother Lans.

—

When school let out that night, Ye Lingwei zipped up his schoolbag. He saw the stun baton sticking halfway out of his desk. He paused for a moment and then grabbed it to carry in his hand.

His place was very close to the school. There were no pitch-black alleys to cross; dim yellow streetlights spilled onto the broad leaves of the camphor trees, leaving only scattered specks of light by the time they reached the ground.

The glow of the streetlights formed a goose-yellow glass dome, encasing the black asphalt avenue within it and disguising the world as a scene of tranquil beauty.

No. 3 High School wasn’t in the city center. Surrounding it was a forest of skyscrapers, rising as precisely as if shaped by a master carver. The streetlights reflected off them, scattering the light further until one’s vision was filled with dazzling patches of gold.

Shencheng is a good place. Ye Lingwei lamented. It’s a pity the original host died so young.

Before he could withdraw his gaze from the ethereal road ahead, Ye Lingwei felt a hand clamp around the back of his neck, dragging him backward.

He didn’t usually feel it—when his illness wasn’t flaring up, he even considered himself no different from an ordinary, healthy person. However, in a crisis like this, due to his physical condition, the disparity in strength was massive.

Ye Lingwei flipped the switch on the stun baton. Without even looking, he shifted his aim and thrust it directly behind him.

It hit nothing but air.

His wrist was seized and twisted sharply to the side. Ye Lingwei gasped in pain, his fingers loosening their grip; the stun baton clattered to the ground and rolled away.

Amidst the struggle, Ye Lingwei caught an unexpected glimpse of a black star³It says moon earlier, not a black star. However, I will be keeping the translation as is. at the tail of the attacker’s eyebrow. It gleamed with an eerie light under the streetlamps.

It was Yuan Song.

Ye Lingwei was pinned by the waist, shoved hard against the trunk of a camphor tree at a fork in the road. Looking out, he could hear the faint murmur of voices and estimated the distance to them.

At a glance, he knew—this was a blind spot, a place where he wouldn’t easily be found.

“Stop fighting it. Aren’t you afraid of dying?” Yuan Song said indifferently, yet the force of his grip didn’t lessen in the slightest. Ye Lingwei’s face was pressed against the rough bark of the tree trunk, his wrist twisted painfully. Whenever he struggled, Yuan Song would retaliate with crushing pressure, as if he were trying to kill him.

Ye Lingwei panted, gritting his teeth to endure the pain. After a long moment, he whispered a plea, “Yuan Song, I didn’t mean to do it earlier today. I just felt… that Chen Yiming was so pitiful.”

Yuan Song paused for a second, stunned, then he couldn’t help but laugh.

He really hadn’t expected Ye Lingwei to be so remarkably adaptable. Not only could he bend to the situation, but his acting was seamless. The boy’s face was turned to the side, eyelashes fluttering, looking utterly terrified and wronged.

If it weren’t for the blow Ye Lingwei had dealt to his back that afternoon, which was still throbbing with dull pain, Yuan Song felt he would have f*cking believed him.

“Really, I promise I’ll never do that again.” Ye Lingwei said pitifully, his tone practically indistinguishable from a coquettish plea for mercy.

Yuan Song knitted his brows, studying Ye Lingwei. After a long silence, he said, “Ye Lingwei, when you act like this, you make things very difficult for me.”

“I feel like I can’t even bring myself to lay a hand on you.”

“Tell me, why did you have to help Chen Yiming this afternoon? If you hadn’t helped him, who knows, maybe we could have had a thing.”

Ye Lingwei: “…” Had a thing, my ass.

Yuan Song kept rambling on behind him. Since he already had Ye Lingwei pinned, he had lowered his guard. Ye Lingwei was still wearing his backpack and his arms were immobilized. He feigned an expression of disappointment and regret to deceive Yuan Song, while secretly taking a deep breath, then he stomped hard on Yuan Song’s foot.

Yuan Song yelped, his grip loosening for a split second. Ye Lingwei spun around and kicked Yuan Song right in the knee. Yuan Song nearly dropped to the ground; the knee is a fragile and sensitive joint.

Given Ye Lingwei’s physical condition, Yuan Song endured the flash of excruciating pain and gave chase. Ye Lingwei didn’t think he could run very far. In fact, he couldn’t run at all.

Realizing he had provoked a lunatic, Ye Lingwei wasn’t entirely without regret. If he had known, he would have hung the stun baton around his neck—one swing, and he could have zapped him flat.

There were plenty of people on the street, but seeing two boys roughhousing, no one took it seriously.

Running against the stream of people, stumbling and staggering, Ye Lingwei’s footing felt unsteady and floaty. His ears were filled with nothing but the sound of his own gasping breath. His heart was protesting, warning him that if he didn’t stop immediately, it would punish him.

Ye Lingwei had no choice but to stop. He bent over, bracing his hands against his knees. His heartbeat thundered like a war drum, and his palms were sticky with cold sweat.

Yuan Song watched Ye Lingwei stop just ahead. He had completely lost face this afternoon, and he was determined to make Ye Lingwei suffer for it. At the very least, he wanted an apology—or else he would shock him with the baton to make things even.

Yuan Song hadn’t yet realized that his so-called pride and his twisted nature had already begun to crumble the moment Ye Lingwei had put on that act of begging for mercy.

Ye Lingwei knew Yuan Song would catch up any second now.

He squeezed his eyes shut. Sweat clung to his eyelashes, making them glisten—a sight both pitiful and beautiful.

When he opened them again, a pair of black canvas shoes appeared in his line of sight. The laces were too long so they were wound once around the ankles, hidden beneath the hem of his school uniform trousers.

Ye Lingwei slowly lifted his head and was surprised to see Fei Lan’s face.

He was stunned for a few seconds at most. Then, Ye Lingwei straightened up, stood on his tiptoes, and threw himself into the arms of the person before him. He wrapped his arms around Fei Lan’s neck. Like a child running to a parent to tattle, he trembled as he whispered his accusation into the boy’s ear, “Fei Lan, someone is trying to beat me up…”

• 1
  Literally “Big plate faces.” It’s a slightly derogatory and comedic way to describe someone with a large, flat face. In this context, it emphasizes how the lackeys are crowding Yuan Song’s view, making their faces look huge and annoying to him.
• 2
  The term literally means “Popular Science” (like explaining scientific concepts to laypeople). In internet slang, it means to explain the backstory or context of something to someone who is out of the loop.
• 3
  It says moon earlier, not a black star. However, I will be keeping the translation as is.