Chapter 3
Editor: Princess&Jodi
But he had asked for the phone numbers of so many people and yet hadn’t asked Luo Changzhou who was sitting right next to him. This obvious difference in treatment was too obvious, so after hesitating for a while, Yu Pei finally spoke up, “Luo Changzhou…”
“Hmm?” Luo Changzhou responded with a noise but didn’t look up, his hand still holding a pen, writing something on the paper.
However after a moment, when Yu Pei didn’t continue speaking, he stopped writing and looked up at him. “Want my contact information?”
“Yes.” Yu Pei couldn’t help but sigh in his heart when he met his deep blue eyes —‘His eyes are really beautiful’— before handing over his small notebook that he used for writing down the contact details.
Luo Changzhou lowered his gaze and quickly wrote down his phone number and name, nothing more.
Yu Pei glanced at the new string of digits in his notebook and said, “Thank you.”
Luo Changzhou didn’t say anything else, turning back to continue writing whatever he was working on.
Since it was Yu Pei’s first day back at school after taking time off, Uncle Zhuang and the driver came to pick him up after school.
Uncle Zhuang was the Yu family’s butler and had grown up alongside Yu Pei’s father.
And now, in Yu Pei’s generation, Uncle Zhuang still looked relatively young, aside from some graying at his temples, whereas Yu Pei’s father had long since drained his body through indulgence and passed away from an asthma attack that hit while he was with a mistress where he didn’t use his inhaler in time.
“Little Young Master, was everything alright at school today?” Uncle Zhuang asked, his deep voice pulling Yu Pei’s attention away from the scenery outside the car window.
“Um, it was fine.” Yu Pei replied, patting his schoolbag. “I got my classmates’ contact information too.”
Uncle Zhuang nodded, smiling at him gently, “That’s good. It’s always good to make more friends.”
Yu Pei pressed his lips together but didn’t reply. But just before getting out of the car, he asked, “Uncle Zhuang, will my brother be home for dinner tonight?”
“There’s a lot going on at the company today, so the eldest young master will probably not be back for dinner. He might be home quite late.” Uncle Zhuang answered.
Hearing this, Yu Pei’s expression drooped immediately.
After finishing dinner listlessly, he carried his schoolbag back to his bedroom, flopped onto his soft pillow, and stayed still for a long time. Then after a long while, he sat up, took out his notebook with his classmates’ contact info, and entered their numbers one by one into his phone.
After that, he put them all into a group for sending out bulk messages. But just as he was about to send it, a phone call suddenly came in, startling him. Then seeing the name on the caller ID, a small smile finally appeared on his face. He swiped to answer it, “Hello?”
“Ah Pei, you’re out of the hospital? Are you feeling better? I heard from Uncle Zhuang that you’ve started classes already.” Before Yu Pei could say anything, the other person quickly continued, “Don’t worry, my dad has agreed to let me transfer schools, so I’ll be able to join you in a month!”
Yu Pei was stunned for a moment when he heard that Gu Zheng was also transferring over. He asked. “Uncle Gu really agreed?”
“Of course, otherwise how could I transfer?” Gu Zheng asked back. Then, after chatting for a bit longer, they hung up.
Looking at his now black-screened phone, Yu Pei felt a bit happy inside. The Gu family and the Yu family had a long-standing relationship, and Gu Zheng had grown up with him. But after they moved away, Gu Zheng transferred to another school, and he hadn’t had any friends since.
So hearing that Gu Zheng was coming back, he was excited. He quickly finished adding the last number to the message group, completely unaware that, because of Gu Zheng’s call, all the other people he had selected were now unselected.
Without double-checking, he composed a message and sent it: [I’m really happy to see you again in this new term. I hope we can become good friends from now on ;D]
After sending the message, he held his phone, waiting for replies. Since he had sent the message to so many people, some of his classmates would definitely want to be friends with him, right? However he waited for an entire hour but didn’t receive any response.
As time passed, his breathing grew slower and slower, and finally, before going to bed, still with no responses from his classmates, he turned off his phone, pulled his blanket up to his neck, and curled up to sleep.
The next morning, the first thing Yu Pei did when he woke up was check his phone, but his inbox was just as empty as the night before. Apart from a few messages from his mobile service provider, there were no new unread texts.
He put his phone in his bag and headed downstairs for breakfast. Seeing the empty seat across from him, he didn’t ask any questions and finished his breakfast quietly before going to school.
Yu Pei always arrived at the last minute, so by the time he got to the classroom, many students were already there, holding their textbooks and memorizing vocabulary. Yu Pei glanced at his desk, surprised to find that his desk mate hadn’t arrived yet.
Given how serious Luo Changzhou had looked in class yesterday, he had assumed a top student like him would arrive early to study, however Luo Changzhou showed up even later than he did, walking into the classroom just as the bell rang.
When Yu Pei entered, a few classmates greeted him with smiles, something that had never happened to him before. But when Luo Changzhou came in, even more people greeted him, it was only that most of them were girls. Luo Changzhou, however, didn’t smile back like Yu Pei did. He didn’t even bother to smile at all, he just nodded casually and responded with a brief “Morning.”
Seeing how cold Luo Changzhou was, Yu Pei hesitated for a few seconds before greeting him, “Luo Changzhou… good morning.”
Luo Changzhou didn’t look at him, focusing on placing his books on the desk, however he still responded with two words, “Good morning.”
Yu Pei was surprised and for a moment, forgot what he had wanted to say next. It was Luo Changzhou who, noticing the prolonged silence, suddenly looked up at him and asked, “Have we met before?”
If he’d added “You look familiar.” it would have been a typical pick-up line, but Yu Pei had never met him before, so he answered blankly, “No.”
Unexpectedly Luo Changzhou raised an eyebrow at this, staring at him for a moment before giving a soft “Oh” then he turned his head back.
Yu Pei couldn’t figure out why he had asked such a question, but once the physics teacher started explaining particle motion, he had no time to think about it any further. He just stared at the formulas on his textbook and the complex calculations on the blackboard that he didn’t understand, feeling like his head was about to explode.
Meanwhile, Luo Changzhou next to him seemed completely at ease, solving the problems with a few quick calculations on his scratch paper within seconds of the teacher asking.
Yu Pei struggled through the morning’s physics and chemistry lessons and finally made it to the last class of the day.
Tuesday mornings ended with a PE class, and when the bell rang, many of the day students grabbed their bags and headed to the sports field. Yu Pei was no exception since he had to go home for lunch and rest afterward.
The sun was already blazing at 11 a.m., and the temperature was gradually rising, so the moment Yu Pei stopped feeling cold, he took off his scarf and stuffed it into his bag.
As he packed his things, Luo Changzhou was busy beside him.
Yu Pei glanced at him sideways. Even though they hadn’t had their first quiz of senior year yet, he was sure that Luo Changzhou was a top student. Most high schoolers liked to pile books on their desks to block the teacher’s view, giving them cover to do other things— he had also piled up some books to hide while he napped, but Luo Changzhou’s desk was clean and tidy, with nothing left on it. Only top students dared to be so bold.
He stood up only after Luo Changzhou finished packing and got to his feet.
Then when they were both standing, he realized just how tall Luo Changzhou was. His figure was tall and straight, and even though their school uniform—a red top and black pants—looked terrible on most people, it somehow looked sharp and impressive on Luo Changzhou. He couldn’t help sneaking a few more glances, feeling a twinge of envy.
He had been quite overweight before, with most of his nutrition seemingly going into building fat. As a result, he was nowhere near as tall as Luo Changzhou. And now, even though he had lost weight, he wasn’t going to grow much taller. To Yu Pei, someone like Luo Changzhou was the epitome of manliness, while he himself, with his frail body, could never compare—no wonder his classmates didn’t like him.
With those thoughts in mind, he unconsciously followed Luo Changzhou out to the sports field.
Friendships among high school students were very simple: the good-looking ones tended to hang out with other good-looking people, the academically strong ones grouped together, and those who struggled with their studies usually stuck together as well. However boys’ friendships were even simpler, because even if they didn’t fit into any of these categories, just playing basketball together during PE class over time could lead to them becoming friends.
But Yu Pei, in the past, didn’t fit into any of these categories. His grades were poor, he was overweight, and he couldn’t participate in strenuous activities. He couldn’t play basketball with the other boys during PE, and since he was a bit introverted and didn’t know how to engage with his classmates, they gradually began to intentionally or unintentionally ignore and distance themselves from him.
Now, after half a year away from school, Yu Pei still couldn’t do intense exercise, so after roll call, he went to the bench where he used to sit alone, watching from afar as his classmates ran around the track to warm up. Then his gaze eventually settled on one person—Luo Changzhou, who was running at the front of the group. The former top runner, Tan Qiming, had long been left behind.
There was no expression on Luo Changzhou’s face, and his breathing was steady, as if the 800 meters that had most of the other students struggling was just a casual warm-up for him.
As Yu Pei watched, he unconsciously left the bench and walked to the fence, looking through the metal bars at Luo Changzhou. And sensing something, Luo Changzhou, even though he had already passed Yu Pei’s position, suddenly turned his head and glanced at him. Yu Pei froze when their eyes met. By the time he regained his composure, Luo Changzhou had already turned his head back, leaving him with nothing but his tall, slender silhouette.
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