ATIBESLM 23

“You don’t need to know.” Fei Lan’s tone was light—devoid of any discernible displeasure, yet equally lacking in warmth.

Lin Chudong stood rooted to the spot, frowning in thought for a while. He felt that Fei Lan was definitely lying to him.

In what way did Ye Lingwei and him resemble brothers?

The look in Ye Lingwei’s eyes when he looked at him, those eyelashes, like little fans, couldn’t hide the sparkling starlight within. When he looked at someone, his eyes were filled with nothing but them.

—

Yuan Song hadn’t been to school for three days. If one counted Sunday, it would have been four. Although the homeroom teacher had explained it as a leave of absence to put everyone’s mind at ease, Chen Yiming still felt something was amiss.

Moreover, he had a nagging suspicion that Ye Lingwei was definitely involved.

So, first thing in the morning, he was already waiting for Ye Lingwei at the school gate.

Chen Yiming checked the time every other moment. Just as class was about to start, Ye Lingwei finally arrived, cutting it close and making a leisurely entrance, only to be delayed for two minutes at the gate by a student disciplinary officer.

“Where is your badge?” The second year boy was stone-faced and impartial. He had just taken office today, determined to be meticulous and to crack down with an iron fist.

“It’s right here.” Ye Lingwei tilted his neck up. The shimmering golden badge was clipped to his collar, accentuating the thin and pale skin of his neck until it seemed to glow.

The boy’s gaze followed the badge upward, and his face instantly exploded into a deep red. He retreated two steps in a panic, stuttering out, “Wear… wear the badge… properly.”

Chen Yiming, standing not far away: “…”

Ye Lingwei spotted Chen Yiming. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and ignoring the junior student, walked over toward him.

“Something up?” Chen Yiming wore an expression that screamed ‘I have something important to ask you,’ so Ye Lingwei didn’t even need to guess.

“Class is about to start, let’s talk on the way.” Chen Yiming had intended to grab Ye Lingwei so they could walk together. He reached his hand out, but before touching Ye Lingwei, he quickly retracted it. They weren’t even really acquaintances so there was no need to be that intimate.

With a hami melon-flavored hard candy rolling around in his mouth, Ye Lingwei walked toward the classroom, listening to Chen Yiming speak into his ear.

“Yuan Song hasn’t come to school for three days. The teacher said he’s on leave, but I don’t believe it.” Chen Yiming took a deep breath. He had been bullied by Yuan Song for so long that he constantly monitored the guy—his grades, his likes and dislikes, the friends around him. It could be said that even Yuan Song’s closest friends in school might not understand him as well as Chen Yiming did.

Because of his hatred, he paid more attention than anyone else.

Ye Lingwei used the tip of his tongue to push the candy, rolling it back and forth inside his mouth. He asked nonchalantly, “And then?”

Chen Yiming took a deep breath. “Well, I went to his residential compound. I posed as his friend. I recognized his mom; I’d seen her at parent-teacher meetings before. I staked out the spot downstairs for the entire day, and finally caught her when she came back at night!”

Chen Yiming kept his voice low, his expression guarded.

Ye Lingwei: “…”

“You look like a spy right now.” Ye Lingwei laughed.

Chen Yiming blushed, averting his gaze, and continued. “I said I was his friend, and that we had plans to hang out so why hadn’t I seen him? His mom told me he’s hospitalized. She doesn’t know who beat him up, but she said he wasn’t seriously injured. Just a fracture in his left arm. He will be back at school in a couple of days.”

Ye Lingwei hadn’t expected that Chen Yiming would have the guts to charge right up to Yuan Song’s home.

However, Yuan Song’s arm was broken…

Chen Yiming asked cautiously, probing tentatively, “Ye Lingwei, this whole thing—does it have anything to do with you?”

“I don’t know,” Ye Lingwei answered indifferently.

“Oh…” Chen Yiming didn’t actually look particularly disappointed or surprised. Although he had speculated in that direction, since Ye Lingwei said he didn’t know, then it definitely had nothing to do with him.

Chen Yiming was out of the loop and rarely played on his phone. He assumed Ye Lingwei was just like him—an ordinary high school student raised in an ordinary family.

Someone like Yuan Song, who would dare mess with him?

Ye Lingwei nodded, saying languidly, “However, this is a good thing, isn’t it?”

Chen Yiming froze for a moment and then nodded his head vigorously.

He hated Yuan Song, so of course he thought this was a good thing.

Watching Chen Yiming enter the classroom, the expression on Ye Lingwei’s face gradually turned cold. It was true that he didn’t know who had beaten Yuan Song, but last week, Ye Xuan had said he would handle this matter.

When Ye Xuan received the call from Ye Lingwei, he had just finished a match and was celebrating at the club. He had set an exclusive ringtone for Ye Lingwei. Since Ye Lingwei hadn’t made a peep these past few days, he would have loved nothing more than for the kid to just cast him to the back of his mind.

He truly didn’t like this younger brother—sometimes, he even found him repulsive. However, blood ties weren’t something that could be severed just because he said he didn’t like them. He could turn a blind eye to the other’s troubles, but only if he could get past his own conscience.

“You’d better…”

“Hello, Er-ge.”

Ye Xuan: “…”

Ye Xuan gave up on trying to talk sense into Ye Lingwei. He walked aside to a slightly quieter spot and asked impatiently, “What do you want?”

“Was the Yuan Song thing your doing?”

Ye Xuan frowned. “Do what? What happened to him?”

Ye Lingwei paused for a moment, then immediately said, “Nothing.”

Ye Xuan realized what was implied and asked Ye Lingwei in an icy tone, “Did he bully you again?”

Ye Lingwei didn’t answer him.

The line went silent. After a moment, Ye Xuan lowered his voice and said, “I have a match these couple of days. I originally planned to handle him for you once it was over. I didn’t expect that he would do something again so soon…”

Without giving Ye Xuan enough time to finish, the call was ruthlessly disconnected.

Staring at the screen that had quickly gone black, Ye Xuan felt a complex mix of emotions. Yet then, he decided this was actually for the best. Let it be like this—don’t bother me anymore in the future.

Ye Lingwei walked slowly toward the classroom. Ye Xuan wasn’t the one who did this. He had even misunderstood, thinking Yuan Song bullied Ye Lingwei again, which caused him to feel a trace of laughable guilt for a split second.

However, that feeling would likely vanish without a trace very quickly. After all, everything concerning the original host always took a backseat to his own affairs—like racing. Back then, Ye Xuan hadn’t told him that he would only have time to help after he finished his race.

Fundamentally, Ye Xuan hadn’t changed a bit. The fact that he went out to buy oden in the middle of the night was simply because he was young and soft-hearted. The excuse he used to convince himself was likely just that the boy on the other end of the screen was, after all, his little brother.

Yet the moment his own interests were involved, Ye Lingwei would be cast to the back of his mind immediately.

It was fortunate that the one here now was him, Ye Lingwei, and not the original host—otherwise, how disappointed the original host would be.

As for the current Ye Lingwei, he just wanted to laugh. The more these people acted this way, the more he wanted to toy with them until they broke.

As for Yuan Song, since he had already been taught a lesson, Ye Lingwei didn’t care who did it. Of course, he could still mouth a silent phrase to the empty air, Thanks, baby.

—

Ye Lingwei entered the classroom just as the bell rang. Pokémon followed right in behind him, announcing that a parent-teacher meeting would be held this Friday afternoon.

“I remember there are some students in our class whose parents work out of town, right? Grandparents can attend, too. If you can have a guardian present, try your best to get them here. The parent-teacher meeting is crucial for our senior year. We teachers need to communicate with the parents on how to help you get through this arduous final year.”

“In addition, I want to emphasize one more thing. Last year, there was an incident in our class where someone paid money to find a ‘dad’ outside¹This refers to the practice of students (who have bad grades or get in trouble) hiring actors or random adults to pose as their parents for school meetings to avoid their real parents finding out about their performance.. I don’t care if you are hiring a dad or a mom—if I catch anyone doing it this time, it will result in an immediate disciplinary demerit!”

Pokémon’s tone and expression were severe; he didn’t look like he was joking. As if on cue, a good number of students turned their heads in unison to look at Gao Linhao in the back.

Gao Linhao’s face fell. “Why are you looking at me? I didn’t hire anyone last year.”

Pokémon: “So you’re planning to hire someone this year then?”

Gao Linhao: “…” Give me the Yellow River²This is a dramatic variation of the idiom “Jump into the Yellow River and you still can’t wash it clean” (跳进黄河洗不清), which means you can’t clear your name of a false accusation. , I want to jump in.

Pokémon left to teach another class. Gao Linhao’s feigned composure collapsed in an instant and he panicked. “I’m done for, I’m done for, I’m done for. What was my rank last time? Oh, six hundred something. Six hundred something! I was in the five hundreds last semester. It’s over, it’s over. My mom is definitely going to skin me alive, confiscate my phone, cut my allowance, and rip out the internet cable!”

“Ye Lingwei, tell me, should I actually go find a dad?”

Ye Lingwei propped his chin on his hand and shook his head. “Classmate, that is a very dangerous line of thinking.”

Gao Linhao tore at his hair in a frenzy, burying his face in the desk and howling. He wasn’t the only one—there were plenty of people who had played like crazy last semester. The pressure of second year couldn’t compare to third year. Thinking that third year was coming up, they had let loose and played during the summer vacation. Who could have guessed that right at the start of third year, there would be an exam immediately, not even giving them to hug buddha’s feet³It refers to last-minute panic or cramming for an exam..

Having just reported in, they thought there would be a homeroom meeting first. However, before their butts had even hit the seats, exam papers were being passed down one after another. Two teachers took up positions, one in the front and one in the back—one on the podium and one at the rear of the classroom. Once they put on their glasses, their imposing aura was fully unleashed, leaving everyone completely stunned.

Those whose grades had slipped were not limited to just Gao Linhao.

Ye Lingwei saw his deskmate, Chu Ran, shaking his leg incessantly, his eyes glazed over and unfocused. Perhaps Gao Linhao could exchange notes with his deskmate on which posture to assume while getting a beating to minimize the pain.

Chu Ran sensed Ye Lingwei looking at him. He turned to Ye Lingwei and asked, “Aren’t you scared?”

He was, at the very least, ranked in the six hundreds; Ye Lingwei was at the very bottom of the grade. However, he didn’t look worried at all?

Ye Lingwei had already reviewed the high school curriculum more or less over the past two days. Leaning over his dictionary, he said languidly, “No one at home bothers with me.”

Chu Ran paused for a moment. “Will they come to the parent-teacher meeting then?”

“No, they won’t.” Ye Lingwei shook his head, his expression completely natural.

Parent-teacher meeting? Were they even worthy?

—

He had just mentioned this to his deskmate in the morning, and by the afternoon, Pokémon had called Ye Lingwei into the office. Pokémon hesitated for a while. Looking at the boy standing before him with his head lowered in such a docile manner, he tried to figure out how to tell Ye Lingwei—without hurting him—that his family seemed unwilling to even take a phone call.

“Did you tell your parents about the parent-teacher meeting?” Pokémon asked softly.

Ye Lingwei nodded.

Pokémon frowned slightly. “The thing is, I just called your family…”

According to protocol, the homeroom teacher was required to call every student’s parents to confirm attendance for the meeting, to prevent students from trying to pull a fast one. In previous years, there had been frequent incidents where a ‘dad’ hired from outside ran right into the real dad at the scene.

“They aren’t picking up, are they?” Ye Lingwei asked.

Pokémon was taken aback for a moment, then nodded. Just as he was about to ask for the reason, Ye Lingwei took out his own phone. “Teacher, let me call.”

While no one else was allowed to bring mobile phones to school, Ye Lingwei was the exception. This was a privilege Pokémon had secured for him last week, facing down significant pressure to do so. This was to ensure that if an accident occurred while he was alone, he wouldn’t be unable to reach anyone.

Ye Lingwei was dialing Ye Cen’s private number. The number Ye Cen gave the school certainly wasn’t this one. As for the unresponsiveness Pokémon mentioned, perhaps that number existed solely for the purpose of not being answered.

Well, even if Pokémon called until the SIM card burned out, no one would ever pick it up.

It’s because from the very beginning, Ye Cen couldn’t be bothered to care about Ye Lingwei.

Compared to Ye Xuan, Ye Cen was the truly cold-hearted one.

“Da-ge…”

“I’m in a meeting.” Ye Cen was concise and to the point—it was obvious he wanted to hang up.

“Da-ge, the school is holding a parent-teacher meeting this Friday. The teacher said…” Ye Lingwei rushed to get the words out, but before he could finish, the call was disconnected. The busy signal beeped incessantly. The office was so quiet that even without a speakerphone, Pokémon could clearly hear what Ye Lingwei’s guardian had said and just how decisively the phone had been hung up.

Seeing Ye Lingwei’s face go pale and his look of utter helplessness, Pokémon felt his heart wrench.

He hurriedly handed over a tissue and comforted him, “It’s okay. They’re surely just busy, don’t take it to heart. If your parents really don’t have time to attend, it doesn’t matter. Don’t be sad.”

Ye Lingwei nodded gently.

Ye Cen’s behavior was entirely within Ye Lingwei’s expectations. However, the fact that he called back after the meeting was something Ye Lingwei hadn’t anticipated.

“About the parent-teacher meeting, inform the school that I don’t have time.” Ye Cen’s tone was indifferent, his manner strictly business. With his other hand, he was even still flipping through documents.

Beside him, an assistant was compiling the main points of the meeting.

“I know.”

“If you knew, then why did you still…”

Ye Lingwei trailed his finger along the balcony railing, his fingertip brushing against a stray camphor leaf that had drifted down. Into the phone, he airily said, “I did it on purpose.”

On purpose to let everyone know exactly how you all treated the original host.

Only when the time comes that everyone stands on my side, leaving you all isolated, will you finally realize what you did wrong.

A surge of anger rose in Ye Cen’s heart. He had answered Ye Lingwei’s call in the middle of a meeting. His phone had been on silent, set to the side. When he saw the screen light up and saw it was Ye Lingwei calling, although he hesitated for a moment, he still signaled everyone to pause so he could take the call. And the result? It was just about a trivial matter like a parent-teacher meeting?

Was it worth it?

Ye Cen couldn’t fathom how Ye Lingwei had become like this—so temperamental and headache-inducing. In truth, he had never paid attention to Ye Lingwei’s upbringing. Aside from knowing he had an introverted personality, he didn’t really understand what the boy was actually like.

He assumed Ye Lingwei had simply hit his rebellious phase and had started acting out.

Ever since their grandfather’s birthday banquet, Ye Cen had noticed it, and he had a premonition—Ye Lingwei was about to start stirring up trouble, and it wouldn’t be just one mess nor would they be small ones.

“Da-ge, I’m hanging up. Goodbye, Da-ge.” After giving the man on the other end a quick heads-up, Ye Lingwei hung up directly, instantly feeling a refreshing sense of relief in body and spirit.

He looked up and saw Chen Fengbao and Li Jing leaning over the windowsill, discussing something solemnly. When Chen Fengbao got serious, he was actually quite intimidating.

Afraid of disturbing them, Ye Lingwei decided to stand in the hallway for a while first.

Now it was Li Jing speaking. Li Jing pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose and declared, “Human nature, sigh,  human nature!”

Gao Linhao ignored him. He yanked a bag of medicine from his drawer and stuffed it into Fei Lan’s desk. “Lan-ge, I bought these hydrogen peroxide swabs at the pharmacy this morning, along with some iodine. Remember to use them.”

After he finished speaking, he cursed, “F*ck, that bastard Yuan Song.”

Chen Fengbao waved his hand dismissively, a Band-Aid still stuck to his face. “If we hadn’t stumbled upon them, who would have guessed he would be lying in wait by the road with a whole crew? He really isn’t afraid of consequences. Bullying someone with a heart condition—how low can you get?”

Li Jing: “You don’t understand. People like that usually have psychological issues. Unrequited love turns to hate. Ah, love…”

He dragged out the word love, the decibels climbing higher and higher. However, after receiving a warning glance from Fei Lan, his pitch dropped too abruptly, making him sound like a rooster being strangled by the neck.

Gao Linhao still felt a lingering fear even now. He thought about what Yuan Song had said—Even if he didn’t lay a hand on him, that sickly weakling Ye Lingwei didn’t require physical force. Besides, if they claimed he did it, where was the evidence? It would just be a heart attack—an accident.

“If we hadn’t stumbled upon it…” Gao Linhao didn’t dare to follow that thought any further.

Indeed, if the cause of something happening to Ye Lingwei was a heart attack, who would ever trace it back to Yuan Song?

No one would suspect a thing because Ye Lingwei could die so easily. As long as it was attributed to his heart condition, it would have nothing to do with anyone else. That was why Yuan Song dared to be so brazen.

Fei Lan remained silent throughout. Head lowered, he slowly rolled up his uniform sleeve and unwound the bandage. Gao Linhao scanned the surroundings, then positioned himself at the corner of the desk to block the view, simultaneously counting his blessings that Ye Lingwei hadn’t come back yet.

On his forearm was a cut, six or seven centimeters long, made by a sharp object, over which a thin scab had formed.

The dressing needed to be changed twice a day. Since he left home too early in the morning, he had to do it at school. Chen Fengbao thought the restroom would be safer, but the restroom was even more crowded. Thus, Gao Linhao volunteered his stalwart frame to provide cover for Brother Lan.

The moment the dark red wound was exposed, it was painful just to look at. Fei Lan didn’t use the hydrogen peroxide; he used the medicine prescribed by the hospital, which contained alcohol. As he poured it on, Gao Linhao hissed in sympathetic pain.

Chen Fengbao and Li Jing also leaned back in unison.

They looked at Fei Lan. Fei Lan didn’t even blink—expressionless, he swapped on the new bandage. Terrifying. Just too terrifying. Their Brother Lan was simply terrifying.

Originally, this blow was meant for Chen Fengbao, but Fei Lan had blocked it. Chen Fengbao’s face had still been grazed, but the cut wasn’t deep—it couldn’t compare to the one on Fei Lan’s arm.

At the hospital, Fei Lan had let the doctor treat the wound as if he were a bystander to his own pain. With Chen Fengbao’s tiny scratch, the doctor hadn’t even bothered with him. He had found a few cotton swabs himself, dipped them in alcohol, and jammed them onto the cut. As a result, the entire emergency room could hear him howling like a pig being slaughtered.

In contrast, their Brother Lan, he was simply inhuman.

Gao Linhao reached out to help Fei Lan tie the bandage.

A pair of pale and slender hands reached in between them. Gao Linhao sidestepped a few paces, staring in shock at the boy squatting in front of Fei Lan.

Ye Lingwei?

Where did he pop out from?

Chen Fengbao and Li Jing exchanged glance after glance. They remembered that Brother Lan’s intention had been to keep Ye Lingwei in the dark.

Fei Lan didn’t flinch or pull away; he simply let Ye Lingwei tie the bandage for him.

The way the boy squatted before him looked utterly docile.

Ye Lingwei kept his eyelashes lowered as he tied the knot with unhurried deliberation. He placed his palm lightly over the wound, then tilted his face up and softly asked, “Gege, is this the injury you got from slaughtering pigs?”

• 1
  This refers to the practice of students (who have bad grades or get in trouble) hiring actors or random adults to pose as their parents for school meetings to avoid their real parents finding out about their performance.
• 2
  This is a dramatic variation of the idiom “Jump into the Yellow River and you still can’t wash it clean” (跳进黄河洗不清), which means you can’t clear your name of a false accusation.
• 3
  It refers to last-minute panic or cramming for an exam.