Beyond The Outline

After the lights went out, the room was pitch black, leaving only the ghostly light of the phone screen illuminating Shao Zhan’s cold face. The youth’s facial features were keen, giving others a feeling of oppression. It wasn’t as if he had been propelled to first place by thousands of female fans for no reason.

But Xu Sheng currently had no desire to vote. It didn’t matter who won first place. His heart was full of: 

He should just drop out of school.

…. He should just leave this school!

No, he might as well just die.

In his private time, Xu Sheng didn’t wear the school uniform. He also hadn’t asked Shao Zhan for a few of his outfits, so he wore a T-shirt he had casually picked out from his own closet. Shao Zhan’s figure was pretty similar to his and their clothes were the same size. Their heights were only a few centimetres apart. If one said that Shao Zhan walking around in broad daylight had a “school tyrant” aura to him, then Shao Zhan without his school uniform was even more of a shock. 

The first time Xu Sheng showered, he had shut his eyes and covered himself in clothes, then stared blankly into the mirror for a while.

After being released from the oppressiveness of his school uniform, the aura of the youth in the mirror was completely unbridled, looking like the original tyrant out of all school tyrants.

Shao Zhan’s votes were still at a standstill.

1102nd comment: ……

1103rd comment: …………

1104th comment: Actually I also want to just send a string of ellipses because nothing in the world can express my current feelings and my thoughts at this moment. But I still want to ask, what the fuck is this situation?!

This situation was too frightening, okay!

Imagine frantically voting for your idol when your idol spoke up for the opposing side, letting out a string of rainbow farts everywhere, even more than any other fan. 

1105th comment: Is it the original person, really the original person?

1106th comment: It is the original person. Everyone knows study god’s ID. The entire school knows.

1107th comment: So, is it what I think it is?

1108th comment: Is it also what I think it is? 

At this moment, including the Tan Kai and Hou Jun who were about to open up a side account to help out “Zhan ge”, everyone was going crazy and thinking: So study god actually worshiped school tyrant that much? So the relationship between these two was like this?! What kind of love-hate story between a good student and bad youth was this?

…

A few minutes passed by.

Shao Zhan’s votes had completely stopped, not increasing by a single vote. 

Shao Zhan’s fangirls were collectively confused, at a loss, and in a panic. No one knew who started voting for Xu Sheng, but after that, it was as if this group of panicked fangirls had found the path of righteousness and all began voting for Xu Sheng.

Xu Sheng’s votes visibly began to skyrocket.

The WeChat notifications flashed endlessly.

The Zhang Feng who was closest to the person involved was even worried that Xu Sheng would be disinterested in this competition, and was afraid that he would miss this, so he eagerly ran over to describe this embarrassing scene and delivered a second blow to Xu Sheng: Today’s battle is so fucking exciting, do you know what happened?! The study god actually pulled in votes for you. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Zhang Feng: He said your eyes are like that of peach blossoms. Your nose bridge is high and straight, and he wants to use your nose bridge as a slide. And the most amazing sentence, your handsomeness darkness the sky and land and makes everything else in the world lose colour!

Itjcu Mfcu: Ktlr rfcafcmf rffwr ab tjnf atf kgbcu mtjgjmafgr. ‘Gjgxcfrr’, la rtbeiv yf ‘vjgxfcr’.

We Vtfcu, “…”

Oemxlis Itjcu Mfcu delmxis obecv j ibulmji gfjrbc obg atf raevs ubv: Lbk lr la qbrrlyif obg raevs ubv ab yf ecmeiaegfv? Pa wera yf atf lcqea xfsybjgv atja’r kgbcu. 

Itjcu Mfcu yfmjwf wbgf fzmlafv joafg tf olclrtfv rqfjxlcu jcv ujnf ilnf eqvjafr: Dgbatfg, sbe’gf cewyfg bcf, cewyfg bcf!

Xu Sheng, who no longer wanted to be at the top at all, slowly closed his eyes. The more the votes increased, the more he wanted to die.

The situation had become like this, he definitely wouldn’t be able to get through tomorrow. Even if Shao Zhan didn’t go onto the site, Tan Kai and Hou Jun could both come up and take turns peeling his skin off.

He wouldn’t be able to stop it even if he had ten mouths. 

Fuck, what should he do now?

Xu Sheng got out of bed and grabbed at his hair. The day he became Shao Zhan, when Gao Zhibo asked him a question about the worksheet problems, he hadn’t even despaired like this.

Should he go and surrender?

Either way, he wouldn’t be able to stop it. This matter should be discussed. He should at least let Shao Zhan prepare himself mentally, then the two of them would be able to firmly face the storm tomorrow. 

Xu Sheng pulled open the door and prepared himself mentally before taking two steps forward, standing in front of the door of the opposite dorm.

Compared to knocking on the door, he was more willing to turn right towards the stairs, go up the stairs, walk directly to the rooftop of the dormitory, then embrace the wind and jump off to end this fleeting life.

Xu Sheng raised his hand, curled his fingers, then took a step back before he could knock on the door.

He… couldn’t knock. 

So Xu Sheng squatted down, fished his phone out from his pocket, and tugged on the collar of his T-shirt. He hesitated for two seconds before opening WeChat.

He and Shao Zhan had changed accounts in the few key apps before they switched phones. The posting site app, which was rarely used, really hadn’t come to mind.

Shao Zhan’s original WeChat contacts list was very empty. Other than Xu Sheng, there were only a few teachers and students.

The categories were very clear. At the top was a category for family, then for school, then the last one was a bit weird. Xu Sheng looked at it again, it said ‘Nanping’. 

Xu Sheng wasn’t sure if this Nanping was or wasn’t the name of the place in his mind. There were a few small districts on the edge of city A, and the Nanping district was more rural.

Xu Sheng had no intention of spying on other people’s privacy. He had quickly swiped across it. When he got the phone before, he had quickly logged back in to his own WeChat account. He sent “Shao Zhan” a message that said: Are you there.

Xu Sheng continued typing: Open the door, I have to talk to you about something.

Xu Sheng continued: Before you open the door, you should prepare yourself mentally first, and at the same time say in your heart the words ‘gentlemen talk with their mouths not with their fists’. Violence can’t solve any problems, and students have to love each other… If the above words aren’t of any use, then just think about who is Shao Zhan now. You have to love and treasure your own body. 

As soon as Xu Sheng sent this message over, a second later, the dorm door opened.

Shao Zhan leaned against the door entrance, not a single expression on his face. He had just finished showering, his hair still dripping water. He hadn’t been in time to wipe his hair before his phone had started to vibrate. When he opened the door and lowered his head he immediately saw Xu Sheng who was squatting in front of his door and playing with his phone.

Xu Sheng’s head was lowered, his face nearly buried in his knees. His phone was also placed on top of his knees, only revealing the back of his neck and hair.

Xu Sheng only lifted his head when he saw him open the door. 

“What are you doing squatting there.” Shao Zhan moved his body. “Come in.”

Xu Sheng slowly got up, and before he went inside he made sure that his personal safety was still present. “Did you see the message?”

Shao Zhan was still wet and smelled of someone who had just been in the shower. When he got close, the scent wafted over strongly. “If the above words aren’t of any use, I won’t care who you are right now.”

“…” Seemed like he saw it. 

Xu Sheng rubbed his nose, and felt that no matter what, he might not be able to see the sun rise tomorrow.

He hadn’t gone to Shao Zhan’s dorm many times. When he woke up that time he had only felt shock. He only noticed later on that Shao Zhan’s dorm was overly clean, just like him. If there was no need, then he wouldn’t place unnecessary items.

Shao Zhan pulled out a chair. When Xu Sheng sat down he felt like he was awaiting punishment. Shao Zhan leaned against the side of the study desk. The two of them faced each other.

Xu Sheng first used a sentence as a conversation opener. “You were doing a test paper?” 

Xu Sheng even wanted to say ‘have you eaten dinner’. Shao Zhan lowered his gaze, his gaze unclear, and only replied with three words, “Cut the crap.”

“Get to the point.”

Shao Zhan could more or less guess the trouble that Xu Sheng had caused. Ever since that thunderstorm and the accident, there had been no end to it. As such, no matter if something had really happened, he wouldn’t be surprised.

Even if he messed up or broke character. 

… Before he saw Xu Sheng pass over the phone, he really had thought that way.

In the moment Xu Sheng passed over the phone, he showed off his shocking jumping power, taking two steps back all the way to the door.

In the dorm where the lights were out, there was a deathly silence.

Because Xu Sheng couldn’t see quite clearly, when he stepped back he didn’t know what he had kicked over, he could only use the bit of light from the phone to look at Shao Zhan’s unpredictable expressions. 

Shao Zhan finished reading very quickly, and more or less understood what this situation was. He usually didn’t pay attention to these kinds of activities, and had to think about it a bit more before he understood the process of this competition.

Until he saw Xu Sheng’s ‘literally talented’ essay, never mind about character breaking, it was as if he were seeing the whole world crumble before his eyes, and while it was collapsing, the words ‘eyes like that of peach blossoms’ circled it like dog shit.

“I have to explain,” Xu Sheng said. “I forgot this was your account.” As to why he wanted to post on the site and say all these things about himself, he didn’t explain that. If he did, it would be too embarrassing.

“Why did you just forget that you existed.” 

“…”

“Can your writing get any worse?”

“…”

With each sentence that Shao Zhan said, he took a step forward, until he was standing in front of him. 

Xu Sheng’s back was pressed against the door, and in front of him was Shao Zhan who was dripping with frosty coldness. Shao Zhan drew closer and seemed to smile. “I’ve never seen you write this much for language essays.”

Xu Sheng had really thought that Shao Zhan really wouldn’t care who he was and would just beat him to death on the spot; however, in the next second, he heard the door lock being pulled open. Shao Zhan opened the door, evidently thinking of something. “If beating you to death was of any use, then you already would have disappeared. And, you don’t spell ‘darkens’ like that.”

Xu Sheng, “I can go?”

If beating him to death wouldn’t be of any use, then staying here and being stubborn wouldn’t be useful either. 

Shao Zhan loosened his grip, suppressing all his emotions to say, “If it can’t be solved tomorrow, then just die.”

Xu Sheng had escaped the grips of death from Shao Zhan’s hands and managed to struggle and live on. When he got back, he didn’t sleep the entire night, living like a celebrity that was facing a public relations crisis.

Xu Sheng originally thought that he could at least survive until morning self-study. However, before that, the mocking representatives of Class Seven Hou Jun and Tan Kai specially came to visit––

Last night, everyone in Lin Jiang Sixth who had taken part in the voting couldn’t sleep. 

Hou Jun and Tan Kai even more so!

Before Tan Kai had gone over, he had come across Hou Jun. “Hou ge, what have I done, I even told Zhan ge that I would vote for him. No wonder every time I said that, Zhan ge’s expression would be a bit unusual… This unusuallity, when thinking back on it, he meant it that way!”

Hou Jun was shocked. “Fuck, there’s something like this? There were signs from the beginning?”

Tan Kai, “That gaze, it was as if it was saying ‘why don’t you vote for Xu Sheng’. Right, the more I think about it, the more it seems like that’s the case.” 

The two of them kept chatting, and went down the stairs in a trance.

They had gotten up early. The dormitory was still quiet.

Tan Kai mustered up the courage and knocked twice on the door. An unfamiliar yet familiar voice said, “Hold on.”

It was unfamiliar because this was obviously not the study god’s voice. 

It was obviously familiar because even though it wasn’t the study god’s voice, they felt like they had heard it before and it was familiar.

Hou Jun was doubtful. “Did we knock on the wrong door?”

Tan Kai was sure. “Not possible, Zhan ge lives right here!”

When Tan Kai just finished talking, the door happened to open. 

It was really quite early at this time. Shao Zhan had thought that the one knocking was Xu Sheng, in addition to the fact that he had grown accustomed to many behaviours after living in the dorm. Of course, he usually wasn’t so alert. Most importantly, because of that little essay of Xu Sheng’s, he also hadn’t been able to sleep well the entire night. So he just put on some clothes, his hair messy, and came face to face with two pairs of dumbfounded eyes.

Shao Zhan, “…”

Tan Kai, “…”

Hou Jun, “…” 

If Tan Kai and Hou Jun only had guesses before they came over, now their worldview really was breaking: Why was Xu Sheng the one opening the door?