Ke Shaobin was on duty today. After school, he went to the teacher’s office to ask a question, cleaned the classroom, and wiped the blackboard. The time had come to 7:30 pm and Ke Shaobin was so hungry that his stomach growled. He hurriedly picked up his schoolbag and prepared to go home.
The High School no. 14 was a day school. At this time, the students on duty in each class had gone home. The corridor was empty, so Ke Shaobin quickened his pace. Walking to the corner, he heard a muffled grunt from inside the men’s restroom.
The sound of punching and kicking followed this——
“Is this the pretty boy that Liu Jiajia likes?”
“Fuck. He looks like a girl. What does Liu Jiajia like about him?”
“Tsk. If you still want to fight with my brother Rong, don’t piss yourself later.”
“Weak chicken. Stay away from our Jiajia in the future. If you say one more word to her, Lao Tzu will knock one of your teeth, believe it or not?”
Ke Shaobin perked up his ears to listen to the movement inside. Three or four people on the other side probably fought because of emotional disputes. The strange thing was that the beaten student did not say a word. He didn’t utter any rebuttal words from the beginning to the end.
School violence was horrible. This group of bullies was too hateful!
Should he tell the teacher?
Ke Shaobin looked in through the crack in the door——
The boy who was surrounded was standing next to the sink, with obvious blood stains on the corners of his mouth. His face was pale and his body was thin. He didn’t look like a match for the other tall boys.
Coincidentally, the bullies and the person who was bullied seemed to be from his class!
It had only been two weeks since school started, and Ke Shaobin hadn't yet gotten to know all the 45 students in his class. However, there was one boy he could never mistake: Xin Yan, the class representative for chemistry, with his incredibly fair skin.
He was impressed by Xin Yan. Compared to the rough men with pimples in the class, Xin Yan didn't have what they considered "girly". However, his skin was fairer. He always wore clean and tidy clothes and had an indifferent character, which made it hard for people to get close to him.
Girls would love this kind of boy, clean, just like Prince Charming.
Maybe that’s why the others are jealous of Xin Yan, right?
Although Ke Shaobin and Xin Yan hadn’t spoken much. He knew that Xin Yan’s grades were good, especially in chemistry. It was said that he would be the class representative only after a perfect score on the high school entrance examination. As for the other four students, they were all problematic students in the class. Half a month after the start of school, the homeroom teacher had invited their parents because they hid in the restroom and smoked.
To help, or not to help?
He was less than 1,7 meters tall himself and he was also skinny. He and Xin Yan together can’t beat the four people opposite! Moreover, on what grounds is he rushing over there now? Isn’t this called draw fire to himself?
If he tells the teacher, these four people will retaliate against him in case they know he made the report…
It’s best to mind your own business.
However, seeing Xin Yan being surrounded and beaten to the point of bleeding. He couldn’t bear to ignore it.
Ke Shaobin’s mind thought quickly. A moment later, his eyes lit up. He adjusted his glasses, quickly ran to the corner, found a hidden place to hide, and pinched his throat to say, “Teacher Zhang, are you on duty today, ah?”
Then, he changed his tone again and deliberately lowered his voice. “En. I’m going to the third floor to see if the students are done.”
Inside the men’s restroom.
Several people who heard this conversation glanced at each other. They said foul language. “Damn. King of Hell Zhang is here, run!”
“Put away all the cigarette butts, hurry up!”
The four of them slipped away from the restroom as fast as they could.
Disciplinary commissioner Mr. Zhang’s big name was well known. Everyone in the first year of high school had seen him as a king of hell. Ke Shaobin leaned his voice perfectly, which scared these people away.
Ke Shaobin pricked up his ears for a moment.
After making sure there was no sound in the hallway, he breathed a sigh of relief and turned around, ready to leave.
The next moment, he heard footsteps behind him. Xin Yan came out of the restroom, and the blood on his face had been washed away. His expression was calm, as if nothing had happened.
Ke Shaobin wanted to ask him, ‘Are you alright?’, but when he met those icy eyes, Ke Shaobin swallowed his next words and greeted him with a smile, “Xin Yan, haven’t you gone home yet ah? What a coincidence.”
Xin Yan glanced at him. “Are you on duty today?”
Ke Shaobin said, “En. I just finished cleaning the classroom.”
Xin Yan only said ‘Oh’ and turned around to leave with his school bag.
Ke Shaobin looked at his thin back, as well as the bruises that couldn’t be hidden on his wrists. Suddenly, he felt that Xin Yan was a little pitiful. No matter what the relationship between Xin Yan and Liu Jiajia was, the four people just now were too much, blocking a person in the restroom, surrounding him 4 vs 1.
Ke Shaobin took a deep breath and quickly followed him. “Where do you live ah? Let’s go together.:
Xin Yan said, “No need.”
Ke Shaobin followed his butt to the school gate and then saw Xin Yan find the bicycle from the parking shed, only to find that the bike’s tires were flat. Those guys must intentionally puncture it.
Xin Yan frowned and pushed the bicycle forward.
Ke Shaobin didn’t say anything and continued to follow him. “I heard that you got a perfect score in chemistry in the high school entrance examination. So impressive! I’m not good at chemistry. Can you tell me what to do for the homework the teacher assigned today?”
Xin Yan replied expressionlessly, “No time.”
Ke Shaobin froze for a moment and changed his words. “Your bicycle broke down, and it’s going to be dark when you walk home, right? I’m hungry. Why don’t I treat you to a barbecue?”
Xin Yan looked back at him.
Ke Shaobin was wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, which were so big that they almost covered half his face. His face was small, and wearing these bulky glasses made him look even more silly, like a nerd.
At this moment, the teenager's eyes filled with smiles, and he narrowed them to slits.
Xin Yan was silent momentarily and replied, “You deliberately approached me. You don’t want to be my friend, right?”
Ke Shaobin froze and scratched his head in embarrassment. “Is it obvious?”
Xin Yan turned around and said lightly, “I don’t need friends.”
He walked forward quickly, leaving Ke Shaobin with a lonely back. “Stay away from me.”
Ke Shaobin: “......”
It wasn’t until Xin Yan’s back disappeared at the end of the street that Ke Shaobin came back to his senses. He couldn’t help but curse. “Shit. who cares about you? I just pity you! You have a bad temper. No wonder you don’t have any friends.”
Ke Shaobin endured his intense hunger and cursed as he hurried back.
After returning home, there was a fragrant meal on the table. His mother had been waiting for him after making dinner. Ke Shaobin hurriedly washed his hands, ran to the dining table, and feasted.
The fragrant pork ribs went down to his stomach, which made him feel better.
Mother looked at him tenderly and said, “Eat more. It’s the time for boys to grow at 16, and our family Shaobin will grow taller!”
Of course, Ke Shaobin would not be polite. Like a gust of wind, he ate all the food on the table.
He always ate a lot, but his height grew a little. Maybe it’s genetics? His mother is 1,5 meters, and his father is 1,7 meters. Ke Shaobin felt that he would be satisfied with having 1,75 meters in the future.
After eating, he went to his study, turned on the lamp, and prepared to do his homework.
He came to the window and wanted to close the curtains when he found a middle-aged woman wearing an apron who was busy in a stall selling barbecue in the night market downstairs. Next to her was a teenager wearing a high school no. 14 uniform who gave her a hand.
The teenager looked familiar.
Under the night light, Ke Shaobin saw the bruises on his wrists.
—— It was Xin Yan.
A couple came over to buy grilled chicken wings. Xin Yan opened the QR code and collected the money, put on gloves, skillfully brushed the dipping sauce on the two chicken wings, and roasted them on the fire.
The woman next to him was processing an order for roast gluten and meat skewers.
The small stall business was not booming, with only two pairs of customers.
Xin Yan finished roasting the chicken wings. He handed them to the couple and sat down beside them. He unzipped his schoolbag and took out a chemistry book. Then, he started writing his homework.
Ke Shaobin watched the scene dumbfounded, with mixed feelings in his heart.
His community was located near the center of the city. The street behind the community happened to be a night market, which made life very convenient. His parents would often go there to buy breakfast or supper.
He never thought that Xin Yan’s family had a small stall here.
The woman with the vicissitudes on her face is his mother, right?
Ke Shaobin was looking downstairs in a complicated mood. His mother suddenly brought a plate of fruit over, and when she entered the room, she found him standing by the window in a daze. She couldn’t help but be curious. “Shaobin, what are you looking at?”
She walked over to Ke Shaobin and looked downstairs.
Following Ke Shaobin’s gaze, she soon saw the teenager sitting behind the barbecue stall in the night market, writing his homework by the light of the street lamps—— On his body, he wore the same school uniform as her son.
Ke Shaobin’s mother smiled and asked, “Is that your classmate?”
Ke Shaobin snapped back to reality. He quickly adjusted his glasses and spoke with a serious tone. “Yes, he's the chemistry representative for our class.”
Ke Shaobin’s mother asked, “Did he get good grades?”
Ke Shaobin agreed, "Yes, that's correct. He scored perfectly in chemistry on the high school entrance exam. This year's chemistry exam was extremely challenging. I made mistakes on two major chemistry questions, but he got all of them right. He's really talented."
Ke Shaobin’s mother looked downstairs thoughtfully.
Another pair of guests came to buy food. Xin Yan put down the textbook in his hand and got up to help.
Ke Shaobin’s mother sighed softly and said, “His family condition doesn’t seem to be very good.”
Ke Shaobin thought that his mother would look down on Xin Yan’s background. He wanted to help Xin Yan speak, but her words changed and she said, “For a child born in such a family to maintain such excellent grades. He must have put in many times more effort than ordinary people.”
She looked at Ke Shaobin and said gently, “It can be seen that your classmate has a very tenacious quality. He is only facing a temporary predicament now, and he will make outstanding achievements in the future.”
Ke Shaobin’s heart warmed, and he smiled. “That’s right! I also think he’ll have a future.”
He finally understood that Xin Yan didn’t want to make friends with him because he had low self-esteem. Xin Yan’s aloofness was not because he didn’t want to interact with his peers, but because he didn’t have the time to go out and have fun with his classmates.
As his mother said, he needed to work harder than others to maintain such excellent grades.
Thinking of the scene of Xin Yan being blocked in the restroom and being hit until bleeding, Ke Shaobin couldn’t help but feel a little distressed—— No one could choose their parents, and Xin Yan’s life was hard enough.
He didn’t bother to argue with those people. He just didn’t want to get himself into more trouble.
Ke Shaobin exhaled softly. He turned around and closed the curtains, sitting at the table and carefully writing his homework.
Xin Yan was hardworking under such circumstances. What qualification did he have not to work hard? His current grades were only in the middle of his class, and he might not be admitted to a major university.
His father was a computer engineer, and he wanted to get into the computer science department at Hua’an University.
However, the admission score of Hua’an Computer Science Department was very– very high. He was only in his first year of high school. He had three years left. Put up a fight, he’ll make it!
——
Downstairs.
Xin Yan’s mother found the bruises on her son’s wrists and was very distressed. “Did you fight with your classmates?”
Xin Yan said lightly, “Lin Rong and the others have been targeting me since middle school. He fell in love with Liu Jiajia, the prettiest girl in our class. He blocked me in the restroom because I said a few words to Liu Jiajia when I was collecting chemistry homework yesterday.”
Xin Yan’s mother clenched his fists in anger. “I’ll go find your teacher tomorrow!”
“No need.” He wiped the corners of his torn mouth with an icy expression. “It’s just a little skin injury. They will hold grudges even more if you go to the head teacher. I have my way of dealing with them.”
“Several of them surrounded and beat you and you said that you only had skin injuries!”
“It’s fine.” Xin Yan rolled up his sleeves and showed his mother the injury in his hand. “I know how to protect myself. I was saved before they had a chance to do anything.”
“Did the teacher save you?” Xin Yan’s mother looked at him in surprise.
“No.” Xin Yan remembered the scene at that time, and he gave a rare shallow smile. “My classmate, squeezing his throat to imitate Teacher Zhou’s voice, it’s so similar that scared the people away.”
“Really? Then your classmate is really smart!” Xin Yan’s mother was relieved.
“Yes. He looks silly, but he is quite smart.” Xin Yan put down the homework that he had written quickly. While helping his mother close the stall, he said in his heart——
Thank you, Ke Shaobin.
But I don’t want to implicate you.
I’ll take care of my business.
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