ATIBESLM 6

The next day was a bright, sunny day. Ye Lingwei was bent down in the convenience store downstairs, looking at the sandwiches on the shelf. The dazzling sunlight hit the transparent wrapping paper, making the food inside look healthy and wonderful.

The cashier craned her neck, wanting to offer the handsome young guy a recommendation. “They all just arrived this morning. The pork floss salmon and the spicy chicken triangles are the best sellers these past two days.”

Ye Lingwei gave her a shy smile, then picked the simplest lettuce and tomato one. The original host being picky was part of the reason, but mostly, it was because the original host had been coddled since childhood and had an extremely delicate stomach—ordinary food would come back up just as it went down.

Carrying his breakfast out, Ye Lingwei lowered his head to open the packaging when he bumped into two people head-on. Or, to be more accurate, it was those two people who bumped into him.

“Ye Lingwei,” they called out.

Ye Lingwei raised his eyes. His light amber pupils looked like a gemstone under the sun. The two were stunned for a moment by Ye Lingwei’s unabashed scrutiny and confused look. The shorter of the two asked curiously, “Did you cut your hair?”

Before, the original host’s hair was a bit long; it covered his eyebrows and the loose ends would sometimes poke his eyelashes. Ye Lingwei had casually trimmed it himself last night.

Ye Lingwei nodded nonchalantly. He took a bite of his sandwich and asked indistinctly, “Do you need something?”

The two people in front of him exchanged glances. The strong, sturdy boy lowered his voice and said, “We’re out of money…”

He didn’t finish his sentence. Usually at this point, Li Weiyi wouldn’t need to finish speaking—Ye Lingwei would have already asked them how much they wanted.

After all, in Ye Lingwei’s eyes, those two were his ‘good friends.’

Ye Lingwei still had the sandwich in his mouth. He was dazed for a moment, not quite grasping the situation in front of him. He mumbled a rhetorical question back at them, “So what does that have to do with me?”

Now it was Li Weiyi and Luo Sheng’s turn to be dazed. Events weren’t supposed to develop like this. Shouldn’t Ye Lingwei just give them money right now? By asking them so directly, how were they supposed to have the nerve to ask? 

Luo Sheng was about to go for it, ready to ask for it directly, but Li Weiyi covered his mouth with one hand. He dragged him backward while shouting, “Nothing, nothing, we recognized the wrong person!”

Ye Lingwei: “…” Recognized the wrong person? But didn’t they get the name right?

It wasn’t until he was almost at the school gate, seeing a few second-year students surrounding some new first-years demanding money, that Ye Lingwei realized with hindsight—the two people just now were probably the original host’s two ‘good friends.’

The original host had been in poor health since childhood. He couldn’t run or jump, so there were almost no other kids willing to play with him. Growing up, Ye Lingwei had enough self-awareness not to bother others. These two were among the few who were willing to hang out with him, on the condition that he gave them money every now and then.

Only when they were short on cash would they come scurrying over eagerly to find the original host. The original host was likely clear about this in his heart, but it was just so rare to have two people like that. At least it made him feel that he still had some value to be used.

Ye Lingwei was so angry that he didn’t even finish the remaining half of his sandwich.

So, from quite a distance, Lin Chudong could see the displeased look on Ye Lingwei’s face. ‘Strangers keep away’ was practically written on it.

No. 3 High School had name tags. The rules required wearing name tags and school uniforms every day. Every class monitor also doubled as a member of the school’s disciplinary committee. Every morning, two people were arranged to stand guard at the school gate; anyone not wearing a name tag or uniform had to go to the side and stand in a row.

To prevent the disciplinary committee members from going easy on people, ‘Lao Di’ from the Academic Affairs Office paced back and forth on the side with his hands behind his back. His eyes gleamed with a shrewd, shiny light.

‘Lao Di’ was a nickname the students gave him. It’s because he wasn’t even forty yet but had a large bald patch on the top of his head, he was originally called ‘Lao Di’¹The students originally called him this as a reference to “Mediterranean” (地中海 – Dìzhōnghǎi) pattern baldness. “Di” means land/ground.. But over time, it just became “Lao Di”²This sounds exactly the same but means Younger Brother or Older Brother..

Ye Lingwei also saw Lin Chudong. Lin Chudong reached out and stopped Ye Lingwei, pointing at his chest. “Classmate, where is your name tag?”

“…”

Ye Lingwei hugged his backpack to his chest. He unzipped it and rummaged through it carefully. His previous school didn’t have things like name tags, so naturally, he didn’t know about it now. The schoolbag was turned upside down, but that small golden name tag simply refused to appear.

Ye Lingwei looked up and whispered, “I forgot to bring it.”

Lin Chudong opened his mouth, just about to tell him to go stand to the side, acting quite strictly impartial. However, Ye Lingwei leaned in close and added, “Just pretend you didn’t see, okay?”

When the boy leaned over, there was a faint lemon scent. He was unsure if it came from his face or hair, or if it was from his face wash or shampoo, but Lin Chudong was momentarily dazed.

“Ah, us! As the flowers of the motherland, what must we be?! We must be full of vigor, thriving and moving upward!” Lao Di’s loud voice rang out from the side, making Lin Chudong immediately snap back to reality.

Lin Chudong hurriedly lowered his head and wrote down Ye Lingwei’s name in the notebook. He said, “You go tell Teacher Wu.”

“…”

Ye Lingwei’s lips flattened into a straight line, putting some distance between himself and Lin Chudong. He then suddenly revealed a big smile. “I got it, I’ll be careful in the future.”

By the time Lin Chudong looked up, Ye Lingwei had already walked away without looking back.

There were already quite a few people standing by the wall. They had to stay there until class started. Standing here was tantamount to a public execution—students entering the school could see them at a glance.

Ye Lingwei quietly took his place at the very end of the line, submitting himself to Lao Di’s impassioned ‘baptism.’³The author uses this ironically. Usually, a baptism is spiritual cleansing. Here, it refers to the teacher’s spit-flying, loud, “inspirational” lecturing washing over them.

“Look at you, all wilted and listless! You need a whipping! How can you see the rainbow without experiencing the wind and rain!”⁴This is a reference to the lyrics of a very famous Chinese song, Genuine Hero (真心英雄), sung by Jackie Chan and others. It’s a cliché motivational phrase teachers often shout.

“Stand still! Straighten your backs! Lean against the wall! Are you still asleep?!”

Lao Di’s voice shook the very mountains and rivers, but it was useless.

Most of the people standing here were ‘old dough sticks’⁵Literally “old fried dough sticks.” Youtiao is a deep-fried breadstick. When it’s old/over-fried, it becomes tough and chewy. In school context, it means the repeat offenders who are immune to punishment and lecturing.—the teacher’s words went in one ear and out the other. It would be a miracle if they actually listened. As Lao Di lectured in front, some were quietly mimicking him in the back.

Ye Lingwei lowered his head, staring at his toes. Likewise, he wasn’t listening either. In all the years he had lived, he had never experienced anything like this.

Watching the swaying shadows of leaves on the ground, his gaze followed the movement until he discovered a pair of black canvas shoes appearing beside him. The rims of the shoes were scrubbed very clean, and the school uniform trousers were a bit short, dangling above the shoe uppers.

Then Ye Lingwei saw Fei Lan’s face.

“…”

Fei Lan was taller than Ye Lingwei. He didn’t even have a schoolbag. His hands were stuffed in his pockets as he looked down at Ye Lingwei, his lips curled in the corner as he said morning.

Ye Lingwei gave a lukewarm morning back, then continued lowering his head to count the leaf shadows.

He couldn’t figure out Fei Lan, nor could he tell exactly what kind of person he was, so he simply decided not to look and minimize contact.

Fei Lan stared at the top of Ye Lingwei’s head—it was fluffy, with very light-colored hair. The soft nape of his neck curved into a beautiful arc, and a single vertebra protruded from beneath his school uniform collar.

His gaze returned to the top of Ye Lingwei’s head. “You have two cowlicks⁶This refers to the spiral pattern of hair growth on the crown of the head. In Chinese folklore/superstition, the number of whorls indicates a person’s personality..”

Ye Lingwei took a good moment to process this. Realizing the other person was talking to him, he tilted his head and looked up. “What?”

Fei Lan pointed to the top of his own head. “The whorls on top of the head—you have two. People with two whorls are all annoying.”

His tone was flat. If one ignored the content of what he was saying, it sounded just like he was reporting some academic finding.

Fei Lan had no intention of getting chummy with Ye Lingwei. They were the only two here from the same class. Standing around was boring so talking a bit was acceptable.

Once Ye Lingwei realized what Fei Lan was implying, he let out a chuckle. “It means I’m smart, Gege⁷In Chinese, calling a non-relative male “Gege” can range from polite (to an older boy) to flirtatious (like “oppa” in Korean)..”

Fei Lan was stunned by this ‘Gege.’ He narrowed his eyes. “What did you call me?”

Ye Lingwei smiled. “Gege, Classmate Fei Lan.”

The original host had started school early, making him about a year younger than his peers. Ye Lingwei was confident that Fei Lan certainly wouldn’t be younger than him.

Fei Lan scrutinized Ye Lingwei for a moment, his gaze landing on Ye Lingwei’s Adam’s apple. He found it strange. How did Ye Lingwei manage to call him ‘Gege’ so naturally, without it sounding affected or coy?

The young boy’s voice was clear and bright. When Ye Lingwei softened his tone, it added a touch of gentle, velvety warmth. Every word seemed to carry a deliberate little hook, teasing the listener’s heart into a frenzy.

However, Fei Lan just chuckled twice. He then leaned back against the wall in a relaxed posture and indifferently said, “You get too comfortable too fast.”

Ye Lingwei felt that Fei Lan was incredibly strange. One moment he was as cold as a glacier, and the next he was as amiable as if they were tight buddies. Ye Lingwei understood this person less and less.

“Don’t go calling people ‘Gege’ just like that, you hear?” Fei Lan added. He tilted his head slightly, his eyes holding a very faint hint of warning, but Ye Lingwei had his head down and didn’t see it.

Is ‘Gege’ a word one can use so lightly?

Ye Lingwei silently kicked at the small pebbles on the ground. After watching one pebble fly away, he was happy, and the corners of his eyes curled up. Only then was he in the mood to answer Fei Lan. “Classmate Fei Lan, are we close?”

Ye Lingwei smiled. There was a dimple on one side of his cheek, filled not with simple innocence, but with a fox-like cunning and allure.

“You manage me?⁸It means “None of your business.”” Ye Lingwei retorted, showing off his claws.

No matter who he was dealing with, Ye Lingwei’s number one principle in life was: never take a loss.

Fei Lan smirked and suddenly leaned in. Ye Lingwei didn’t have time to retreat before his forehead was pushed hard by Fei Lan’s finger. His fingertips were very cold, and the poke made his forehead hurt.

“Do you know what kind of end the last person who spoke to me like this met?”

Ye Lingwei clutched his forehead and blinked his eyes. He played along with extreme insincerity, “Wow, I’m so scared…”

Because of this move by Fei Lan, Ye Lingwei sensed almost immediately the closing of the distance between them.

Ye Lingwei suddenly felt that Fei Lan was actually quite formidable. He casually controlled the dynamic of his interactions with others, even though they had only known each other for a day, and had even been at each other’s throats just yesterday afternoon.

It was also because they were this close that Ye Lingwei finally had the chance to see the look in Fei Lan’s eyes clearly.

Although he was speaking light and cheerful words, his eyes were heavy. His pupils were a silent, matte black, resembling, to the extreme, the whirlpools hidden beneath reefs in the sea.

Fei Lan didn’t hold it against Ye Lingwei. He didn’t dislike Ye Lingwei’s haughty, bratty attitude.

Just like Gao Linhao often droned on in his ear—when it comes to good-looking people, everyone silently raises their tolerance level in their hearts. Fei Lan admitted that he was no exception.

Moreover, Fei Lan noticed today that Ye Lingwei’s hair had been cut a bit shorter. His innocent, pure peach blossom eyes were completely exposed without obstruction—eyes just like a small animal’s.

Small animals can be forgiven for anything they do.

• 1
  The students originally called him this as a reference to “Mediterranean” (地中海 – Dìzhōnghǎi) pattern baldness. “Di” means land/ground.
• 2
  This sounds exactly the same but means Younger Brother or Older Brother.
• 3
  The author uses this ironically. Usually, a baptism is spiritual cleansing. Here, it refers to the teacher’s spit-flying, loud, “inspirational” lecturing washing over them.
• 4
  This is a reference to the lyrics of a very famous Chinese song, Genuine Hero (真心英雄), sung by Jackie Chan and others. It’s a cliché motivational phrase teachers often shout.
• 5
  Literally “old fried dough sticks.” Youtiao is a deep-fried breadstick. When it’s old/over-fried, it becomes tough and chewy. In school context, it means the repeat offenders who are immune to punishment and lecturing.
• 6
  This refers to the spiral pattern of hair growth on the crown of the head. In Chinese folklore/superstition, the number of whorls indicates a person’s personality.
• 7
  In Chinese, calling a non-relative male “Gege” can range from polite (to an older boy) to flirtatious (like “oppa” in Korean).
• 8
  It means “None of your business.”