ATIBESLM 25

Ye Lingwei narrowed his eyes slightly and slipped out of Fei Lan’s embrace, looking at the thermos in his hand. “I know. You’ve been drinking.”

Ye Lingwei didn’t play by the rules, but Fei Lan wasn’t particularly disappointed. He gave a short laugh. “Are you going to tell on me to the teacher?”

Tell the teacher? Ye Lingwei looked confused.

Seeing that Ye Lingwei’s attention was no longer on the contents of the thermos, Fei Lan pulled it back. However, before he could even react, the thermos was swiftly snatched away by Ye Lingwei.

Ye Lingwei watched the liquid sloshing gently in the thermos and took a sip directly from the rim. Having played enough, he pried Fei Lan’s fingers open one by one and placed the thermos back into his palm. Leaning over, he casually licked away the red wine stains from his lips.

“I just wanted to tell Gege that drinking is bad for your health, that’s all,” Ye Lingwei lowered his voice as he said.

Fei Lan pushed Ye Lingwei away without batting an eye. He unhurriedly placed the lid back on the thermos and slowly asked, “What are you doing then?”

Gao Linhao watched the two of them going back and forth, and his head felt like it was going to explode. On top of that, Ye Lingwei had actually snatched Brother Lan’s wine to drink it himself—he really had some nerve.

Gao Linhao had known Fei Lan since middle school. Back then, Fei Lan loved to drink whenever he had free time, but never to the point of losing his mind or his senses. Fei Lan knew his limits with alcohol; he always knew when to stop.

However, Gao Linhao had always understood Fei Lan well. Given everything that happened, if it were him, he wasn’t sure he could have survived it.

When his mother was critically ill and on the verge of death, his father announced the identity of another woman. Not long after his first wife passed away, he then openly and brazenly brought her through the front door.

Ye Lingwei knew about the original host’s physical issues; drinking was definitely out of the question. He just took a tiny sip and by the time the taste of the wine slid down his throat, it had already faded completely. He cast a sideways glance at Fei Lan. “I’m going back to the classroom. Take your time drinking.”

Gao Linhao was dumbfounded. He had noticed more than once that this guy, Ye Lingwei, was especially whimsical and self-indulgent. When he wanted to play, the whole world had to keep him company. However, when he didn’t want to, even if you served the entire world to him on a silver platter, he couldn’t be bothered to spare it a single glance.

There were still a few minutes before class started. Gao Linhao hesitated for a moment and then whispered to Fei Lan, “Lan-ge, about this parent-teacher meeting, what did you tell Pokémon?”

Fei Lan lazily hummed the tune from the Beauty and the Beast stage play. He was too lazy to even open his eyes. “He knows. I didn’t say anything.”

“He didn’t call you in for a talk this time?” Gao Linhao asked in astonishment.

Pokémon used to be Fei Lan’s private tutor—he had tutored Fei Lan for a few months. Fei Lan was smart; he could draw three inferences from a single instance so sharply that it was overwhelming to handle. At the time, Pokémon felt that Fei Lan’s future potential was limitless, so when he saw a student ranked 450th on the grade list named Fei Lan, he didn’t associate it with the Fei Lan he knew at all.

Until he saw him sitting by the window with his head down, playing on his phone with several boys surrounding him, chatting. Almost in an instant, Pokémon realized the earth-shattering change in Fei Lan.

Fei Lan tilted his head back to look at the corridor ceiling. “Talk about what?”

There was nothing to talk about.

Gao Linhao looked at Fei Lan, enduring it again and again, holding it back over and over, until finally, he couldn’t hold it in any longer and said, “Lan-ge, shouldn’t the best revenge be becoming powerful enough to crush them? The way you are now…”

Fei Lan didn’t speak for a while, acting as if he hadn’t heard a thing. Gao Linhao thought Fei Lan would get angry so he carefully observed Fei Lan’s expression. Seeing that he seemed fine, he heaved a sigh of relief.

“It’s meaningless,” Fei Lan said indifferently.

“Isn’t life just about eating three meals a day? Why make it so exhausting?” Fei Lan said with a smile, and he even raised his thermos cup to toast Gao Linhao. Watching Fei Lan act like this, Gao Linhao felt his palms turn ice cold.

Brother Lan seemed like he didn’t care about anything anymore.

—

The school just loves to pull this kind of formalism. On the day of the parent-teacher meeting, they started setting up the venue first thing in the morning. Besides making the parents feel that their children were receiving an exceptionally excellent education at school, they also wanted the school to look warm, sunny, positive, and progressive!

No. 3 High isn’t a private school. There is no shortage of aristocratic schools in Shencheng, but No. 3 High is so far the school with the highest college advancement rate and the highest allocation and reserves of educational resources. Backed by the government, all the best educational facilities and talent are prioritized and sent to No. 3 High.

No. 3 High has no shortage of geniuses. Once one enters here, everyone stands on the same starting line.

People from other schools even joke that No. 3 High doesn’t cultivate talent, No. 3 High selects talent. It’s because those with good grades all yearn for No. 3 High, and only after going to No. 3 High do they realize how unremarkable and insignificant they really are.

They call it heaven, but in reality, it is also hell.

Lying on the desk, Gao Linhao’s brows were furrowed so tightly that they could crush a mosquito. He was about to flatten himself against the wall.

He was scared to death of balloons.

Ye Lingwei suddenly turned his head to look at him and asked, “How much did you score on the last exam?”

“Why are you asking that?” Gao Linhao paused for a second, but told the truth anyway. “Six hundred and ten-something, I guess. A real man is crying again, wuwuwu…”

Ye Lingwei: “…”

Six hundred and ten-something, ranking in the 500s. One can imagine just how fierce the competition here is. It’s no wonder someone in the class group chat dared to talk so big:

At our No. 3 High, if you just pick anyone at random and take them out, other schools would be fighting to get them.

Ye Lingwei was a completely transparent existence in the class group chat. The group would only get slightly active when difficult problems appeared. The rest of the time, most people were just lurking.

However, today was different; it was the parent-teacher meeting. In the class group, from morning until now, the new message notifications hadn’t stopped. Although Ye Lingwei had muted the group notifications directly, he couldn’t stop Gao Linhao from live-broadcasting it right in his ear.

Even though they were all in the same classroom, they insisted on chatting in the group.

[Gao Linhao: My mom is definitely going to chase me down and beat me later. I hope you guys won’t just watch me die without helping.]

[Xiao Chengzi: Okay, we won’t.]

[Zhao Xin: Okay, we won’t.]

A whole string of “+1s” followed behind. Gao Linhao let out a wail and came over attempting to hug Ye Lingwei, but was scared back by Ye Lingwei using a balloon. He wanted to get close but was afraid of the balloon, so he pressed himself tightly against the wall and asked Ye Lingwei with a mournful face, “You can’t just watch me die without helping, right?”

Ye Lingwei poked a golden balloon, watching it sway back and forth. He leisurely said, “If Auntie wants to beat you, I can’t stop her either.”

At his feet lay a patch of inflated gold and silver balloons.

They were meant for decorating the classroom. Ye Lingwei hadn’t blown any up—they were all blown up by others and thrown on the floor, rolling over from who knows where.

Gao Linhao knew Ye Lingwei was heartless, so he went to butter up Fei Lan. “Lan-ge, you have to save me. You have no idea how happy my mom was last night. She thinks I definitely made progress.”

“The only resistance I can put up is to make her dress a bit prettier.” Gao Linhao said, “Wear a skirt! Wear high heels! That way, she won’t be able to catch me, hehehe.”

“…”

From what Ye Lingwei knew of the past, cases of moms taking off their shoes on the playground to chase their kids were not unheard of.

Given Gao Linhao’s personality, the chances of his mom taking off her shoes to beat him were very high.

Gao Linhao finished speaking and sighed. Looking at Ye Lingwei, he said, “I really envy you and Lan-ge. You two are so lucky.”

“?” Ye Lingwei showed a confused expression. He looked toward Fei Lan. Was Fei Lan the same as him?

However, he had heard Gao Linhao mention that after Fei Qiang got together with the original host’s mother, Fei Lan had almost no presence left. Coupled with Fei Lan giving up on himself, in Fei Qiang’s eyes, he was undoubtedly equivalent to a discarded pawn.

In a sense, Fei Lan was just as miserable as the original host, but no matter what situation Fei Lan was in, he could handle it with ease.

The original host was different. The original host had a reserved personality and never offered much explanation for dragging down the class grades. His silence became indifference in the eyes of others, a sign of apathy toward his own mistakes and a refusal to repent.

Faced with others’ misunderstandings, the original host never offered an explanation, leading to a vicious cycle.

Fundamentally, the original host and Fei Lan were two extremes.

Both lived in the shadows, yet one moved with ease as if in broad daylight, while the other saw only pitch darkness, struggling to take even a single step.

“Exams are coming up again next week, and I’m not ready yet.” Gao Linhao lay on the desk talking to himself, a bow wrapped around his finger—a purple ribbon about a finger’s width wide, tied into bows to be stuck all over the classroom.

“Can’t we change the color? This is so girly!” In order to let the parents feel the warm atmosphere of the class, Pokémon really took great pains. The first years are still downstairs sweeping the playground. It’s insane—their little brothers are being made to pick leaves out of the flowerbeds.

As he spoke, he quickly took the bow in his hand and with a snap, pressed it onto Ye Lingwei’s hair.

Ye Lingwei didn’t react in time and looked at Gao Linhao somewhat blankly. “What are you doing?”

He had actually been listening to Gao Linhao complain the whole time. He was absorbed in it, finding it quite amusing.

“It looks good! Don’t move, let me take a picture!” Gao Linhao pulled out his phone, aiming it directly at Ye Lingwei’s face.

Ye Lingwei reached out to grab the bow, but it was already too late—the photo had already been taken.

“…”

“It really looks good.” Gao Linhao clamored, “If you don’t believe me, let Lan-ge tell you.”

He handed the phone to Fei Lan. Fei Lan just glanced at it. That Ye Lingwei was good-looking was undeniable—every color produced a different vibe on him.

Purple is a demanding color, yet Ye Lingwei forcibly suppressed its haughtiness, making it turn enchanting instead.

The kid is growing up to be more and more improper.

Fei Lan was busy with his own business, barely paying attention to these two childish people. His hands were constantly weaving something. Ye Lingwei stood up and rested his chin on Fei Lan’s shoulder. He asked, “What are you doing?”

Fei Lan cast a sideways glance at him, quickly tied off the knot, and answered, “See for yourself.”

Ye Lingwei stared at Fei Lan’s movements for a while. Being a bit more observant, he caught a glimpse of a smear of black on the side of Fei Lan’s neck.

From inside the collar, a tattoo gave itself away, peeking out.

It was only a few centimeters away from him. Ye Lingwei let out a soft breath and focused all his attention back on Fei Lan’s hands.

After watching for a while, Ye Lingwei slowly realized what the object between Fei Lan’s fingers was.

A ring?

The purple ribbon was torn down the middle into two strips and twisted around a finger to form a loop; it was very small. Ye Lingwei didn’t know where Fei Lan had picked up these little trinkets. He straightened his body, then lazily slumped onto the desk. Resting his face on his arms, he said, “Are you getting married?”

Gao Linhao mimicked Ye Lingwei’s tone and chimed in, “Are you getting married?”

“Nonsense.” An extremely indifferent interjection.

Seeing that Fei Lan had finished, Gao Linhao craned his neck. “Since it’s done, Lan-ge, let me see, let me see!”

Fei Lan tossed the ring onto his desk.

It was really small. Gao Linhao tried to force it onto his finger, but it wouldn’t fit. Under Ye Lingwei’s unblinking gaze, his face flushed red. “I don’t think it fits right, this probably isn’t for me.”

Ye Lingwei said with deadpan seriousness, “I think so too.”

Even if the size of this ring were doubled, Gao Linhao still might not be able to get it on.

“Let me see.” Ye Lingwei lazily extended his open palm toward Gao Linhao.

Gao Linhao lowered his head to take the ring off his finger, which took a bit of effort. As he handed it to Ye Lingwei, he muttered to himself, “I don’t think you’ll be able to wear it either, this thing is really…”

Too small…

Gao Linhao’s voice got quieter and quieter, until it finally disappeared completely.

Like a purple thorn vine¹The author uses this imagery to describe the twisted ribbon ring. Thorns usually symbolize pain or danger, while vines symbolize binding or entanglement., the exquisite and narrow ring easily slipped onto the ring finger of the boy’s left hand. Fingers as soft and fair as snow about to melt were entwined by the cold yet enchanting purple.

It was a perfect fit.

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  The author uses this imagery to describe the twisted ribbon ring. Thorns usually symbolize pain or danger, while vines symbolize binding or entanglement.