Wait For Me After School

Hu Pang’s patrol plans were ruined because of Zuo Kuan’s shout which managed to rescue a large number of young couples. Because of this, Zuo Kuan gained the title of ‘Nancheng’s God of Love’.In order to express his gratitude, Zhu Xu took care of his breakfast for an entire week.Of course, he also had to pay the price for it. Hu Pang sorted out all his violations until now, recorded another one next to it, and even made him write a three thousand word self reflection which he needed to read out in front of everyone during next week's flag raising ceremony.And so, on Monday, Zuo Kuan deliberately dragged out his words as his voice resonated across the field----“….So I am reflecting. I shouldn’t have skipped my classes, I shouldn’t have smoked at school and I also shouldn’t have shouted loudly while Director Hu was planning on capturing the students who had snuck off.” After smoothly reading two thousand words, Zuo Kuan blinked a few times and proceeded to change the topic, “But I also think Director Hu shouldn’t have twisted my ear. It really hurt and it also made me feel very embarrassed. I was originally planning on getting my ears pierced that weekend but I wasn’t able to because of that-----”A loud screech sounded from the speaker at the front and following that, Zuo Kuan’s microphone was turned off. Hu Pang angrily charged up the rostrum.Having taught for many years, Hu Pang’s voice had strengthened enough for the students in the audience to hear him even without a microphone, “Why would a big guy like you get your ears pierced? You want to be punished again??”Zuo Kuan, “Come on! It’s cool when guys have piercings!”The students in the audience who were originally nodding off were stunned for a moment before bursting out into laughter.Wang Lu’an was rocking back and forth as he laughed, “Fucking hell, why is he like this?? Is he really saying that he wants to get his ears pierced just to make Fat Tiger angry?”Yu Fan lowered his head and yawned. His entire body exuded a sleepy air, “Don’t know.”“Hey, it was because you weren’t there at the time so you have no idea how hilarious it was. When Zuo Kuan saw that you still haven’t returned from smoking, he wanted to join you to have a smoke but, just as we snuck away from the field, we saw Fat Tiger sneaking towards the laboratory building. Zuo Kuan immediately knew that something wasn’t right and shouted a warning for the others, startling Fat Tiger in the process hahahaha!”Speaking of that matter, Wang Lu’an then remembered something. He asked, “But where did you go to smoke that night? Zuo Kuan and I waited in the classroom for a long time. I heard from Zhu Xu that you were with Top Student?”The fingers in Yu Fan’s pockets curled slightly and his eyes cleared up a little. He only answered a few seconds later, “…Found a random corner to smoke and bumped into him when I was done.”“Oh. It’s a pity that you missed out on that hilarious moment.” Wang Lu’an was busy watching Zuo Kuan getting scolded on the rostrum and didn’t notice his friend's unnatural behaviour.The students from all three grades were gathered on the field, standing in an orderly manner with half a step spacing between each other.Yu Fan could smell a faint mint scent coming from behind him. He slowly thought to himself: It’s alright.He didn’t miss out on too much.His shoulder was suddenly slapped. Yu Fain raised his eyes and subconsciously glanced at the person behind him when he looked back but paused when he met Chen Jingshen’s gaze before turning his head to look at Zhuang Fangqin who had hit him.“Straighten up. What kind of look is that? Take your hands out of your pockets.” Zhuang Fangqin ordered in a small voice, “Can’t you learn from Chen Jingshen?”Zhuang Fangqin was prepared to hear him talk back to her but unexpectedly, Yu Fan only fell silent for a moment before turning back and lazily straightening up.While she was still in a state of surprise, class eight’s homeroom teacher leaned closer, “It’s fine, Teacher Zhuang. Yu Fan has been behaving very well lately, it’s fine if he wants to stand a little slouched. It’s still much better than the child from my class standing up there on the rostrum.”Zhuang Fangqin laughed, “I heard Zuo Kuan gave Director Hu quite a big scare last week?”The two quietly chatted. The other party shrugged and said, “Who knows? I wasn’t there either. By the way, I heard Director Hu caught two couples last night. Were any of them from your class?”Zhuang Fangqin, “No.”“They also weren’t from mine. My students probably managed to escape. Haa, I have to say though, Director really went too far that night. Did he really have to do all this just to stop students from dating? Children at this age have trouble hiding their restlessness. You can tell whether or not they are dating in one glance.” The other party slowly began to name a few examples.“Helping do their homework, hanging around after school for no apparent reason, helping each other move books and chairs, passing notes during class….It’s too obvious.”After the flag was raised, the students dispersed. Only after returning to his classroom and everyone’s attention was on the physics teacher, did Yu Fan support his chin and mentally cross things off.Fuck. So close. They almost did all of that…..His arm was suddenly poked by a pen. Yu Fan’s eyes moved over. He saw his deskmate push something over to the edge of his desk with the hand that was still holding a pen.When his hand moved away, a small slip of paper was revealed.Yu Fan was speechless for a moment.He stared at the neatly folded note for a while before looking up at his deskmate’s calm face. After repeating this several more times, he picked it up.“……” Never mind. They did all of that.Yu Fan expressionlessly opened it.[Let’s watch a movie this weekend?]Chen Jingshen was in the middle of correcting his practice paper when a note flew over, hit his thumb and then landed beside the tip of his pen.He opened it up. The neatly folded note had already become completely disfigured by his boyfriend------[You don’t have a mouth? I’m sitting right next to you.] After it was written, it was crossed out but you could still somewhat make out what it said.[Don’t pass notes to me.] It was the same as above.[What movie?] It was the same as above.At the very end, under a bunch of crosses and scribbles, there was a single word that was written very messily, [Oh.]-The weather in Nancheng had been approaching the forties the last few days. Yu Fan didn’t like to have the fan on while he slept so whenever he woke up, he would be covered in a layer of thin sweat across his forehead.So at noon on Saturday, Yu Fan took a shower as soon as he got up. While he dried his hair with a towel, he stood before his desk and went through his messages.The WeChat group chat was still as lively as usual. As soon as he opened it, he saw Wang Lu’an comparing answers with the others.The end of semester exams were scheduled to be held on the seventh of next month. They had just finished the last monthly exam for this semester yesterday.[Wang Lu’an: What? The answer to the seventh question is C? No way! @S Top Student, please tell me it isn’t!!][Zhang Xianjing: Do you really think Top Student is going to reply to you?][Zhang Xianjing: Just give up. I checked with Ting dear just now, she also chose C.][Wang Lu’an: @- Yu Fan, what did you choose?][Zhu Xu: …..I can’t believe there would actually be a day where I see someone ask Yu Fan what he answered. [Shocked rabbit.jpg]][Zuo Kuan: Zhu Xu, stop fucking using your girlfriends emoticons, it doesn’t suit you.][Zuo Kuan: Alright, stop messing around you guys from class seven. Who cares about your grades? All this chatter is ruining the vibe here. Come out and let’s play billiards @Everyone.][S: C.]Seeing Chen Jingshen’s profile picture appear in the group chat, Yu Fan’s act of drying his hair slowed down a little. The next second, a private message appeared.[S: Let’s watch this one? [Photo]]Yu Fan tapped into it and checked the time. He didn’t even look at the title of the movie before he replied with an ‘oh’.After discussing the time to meet up, Yu Fan threw aside his towel and sat on the balcony to let his hair air dry.As he sat in the warm afternoon breeze, he wondered to himself if this counted as a date.He leaned back against the anti-theft screen and scrolled through his phone for a while before finally succumbing to his urges and typed into the search bar ---- What should you pay attention to when watching a movie with your boyfriend?…..Am I crazy? It’s just a movie, what is there to pay attention to? It’s just sitting side by side and looking at a screen, no different to class.Yu Fan coldly scolded himself but still tapped into the search results.When he saw ‘The surveillance cameras in the movie theatres are very clear. Don’t get too touchy with your boyfriend’, Yu Fan subconsciously reached for the cigarette box next to him but paused and found a piece of gum instead.Now that it was almost the end of the semester, the teachers had been assigning them a lot more practice papers that required them to stay up late to finish. With the addition of the monthly exam, he hadn’t had much time alone with Chen Jingshen this past week.Can’t even do it at the movie theatre.Yu Fan casually thought this and continued to scroll down. After reading through a whole bunch of nonsense, the concluding line was: “Finally, make sure you don’t get lipstick stains on your teeth and be sure to dress nice~”Yu Fan furrowed his brows in confusion. He then belatedly realised that the person answering the ‘boyfriend’ question had assumed that the poster was a girl.Fuck….What a waste of time.Now that his hair was dry, Yu Fan returned to his room. He picked out an outfit from his pitifully empty closet and headed out with a packet of gum with him.There weren’t many people taking the bus at noon. Yu Fan sat alone by the window at the very back of the bus, playing on his phone with his legs spread open.He opened the chat interface with Chen Jingshen and looked more carefully at the photo of the movie ticket.The movie was set to start at three in the afternoon. It is currently one forty. It was just about right. He could play Snake for a while after arriving and break Chen Jingshen’s high score.The movie was called “Summer, Moon and You”. Today was the movie premiere. The poster depicted a celebrity Yu Fan recognised but couldn’t name; they’re probably pretty famous.The seats were couple seats. Seats 520A,520B------ (KKnotes: 520 means I love you in Chinese)“…….”[-: ?][S: ?]Who the hell said you could buy couple------Yu Fan typed that out before silently deleting it.Oh right, he and Chen Jingshen are dating.Yu Fan woodenly typed out: [What do you want to eat? Popcorn or potatoes?]The tickets were bought by Chen Jingshen so he should naturally buy the food.[S: Coconut chicken soup.][-: Shall I set up a table for you inside?][S: Let’s eat it after watching.][-: …..Oh.]Even after arriving, Yu Fan was still searching for a store nearby that sold coconut chicken soup.He picked a store with the highest rating, took a screenshot and was about to send it to Chen Jingshen when Wang Lu’an’s call suddenly arrived.With WeChat having the voice call function, Wang Lu’an very rarely called him properly like this.Yu Fan’s eyelid twitched. He stopped in place and answered----“Yu Fan, where are you?? We’re in big trouble!!” Wang Lu’an sounded very anxious, just like the time when Yu Fan was stopped by the students from the neighbouring school, “Zuo Kuan is fucking facing off a dozen or so people at the billiards place!!!”-Before Chen Jingshen left, Fan Fan circled around him several times.He hooked his finger through Fan Fan’s collar, dragged him back a little, sat down on the stone chair in the garden and explained: “I’ll have the aunty take you out for a walk later.”Fan Fan was clearly unhappy. He let out several low whines.“I don’t have time to play with you today.” Chen Jingshen patted his face, “Be good.”After settling the dog down, Chen Jingshen got ready to get up. At this moment, his phone suddenly sounded.[-: Something came up. Let’s go another time.]Chen Jingshen’s eyes lingered on the screen for a moment. He sat back down and typed, [What happened?]The other party typed for almost ten minutes before replying:[-: The little girl upstairs is afraid to be alone at home.][S: When is next time?]Several minutes passed again.[-: Any day apart from today is fine.][S: Tomorrow?]In the small park behind the billiard hall, more than twenty boys fought. It was completely chaotic.Yu Fan grabbed someone by the collar, threw him against the wall and forcefully elbowed them hard on the back. While the other party cried out in pain, he quickly typed back an ‘okay’ on his phone.Zuo Kuan had invited Wang Lu’an to join him for a game of billiards at the billiards hall today. The people at the table next to them were bored so they made a bet with him.Although Zuo Kuan didn’t have good grades, he was very good at other things that were not study related. After the other party lost against him several times, they were a little unhappy and said a few not so nice words when paying up.How could Zuo Kuan let this go? He immediately responded with ‘biting more than you can swallow’ and also added ‘don’t cry just because you suck’ and ‘get lost you loser’.Wang Lu’an could sense that the situation wasn’t looking good. He quickly called for help.Zhu Xu came with a group of sports students in tow. Yu Fan arrived just as they arrived. When they arrived at the park, the two idiots Zuo Kuan and Wang Lu’an were both already quite beaten up.The situation turned as soon as they came. Although the other side had more people, they weren’t able to go against seventeen/eighteen year old sports students and the only one who wasn’t a sports student was also particularly good at fighting. About ten or so minutes later, the other group ran off.As if he had won a war, Zuo Kuan, whose face was covered in injuries, waved his hand and offered to treat everyone to milk tea.At the milk tea store, Zuo Kuan crossed his legs and cursed, “Fucking hell. They accused me of cheating just because they didn’t want to accept their loss and would constantly spout all sorts of nonsense. How could I let them off just like that?”“My brother, can’t you read the room a little? There were only the two of us at the time!” Wang Lu’an said.Zuo Kuan weakly retorted, “….How would I have known that there were so many of their friends outside?”Wang Lu’an’s calf that was kicked still hurt. He waved him away, “Forget it, I’ll just accept it as my bad luck. I was unlucky to have accepted your invitation to play billiards on a beautiful Saturday like today.”“…….”Wang Lu’an glanced out of the corner of his eyes at his other friend who was leaning against the wall with his phone in his hand. It was unknown what was on his mind.“Yu Fan, did you get hurt?” Wang Lu’an asked.Yu Fan shook his head.Those people earlier mostly relied on having more people on their side but didn’t have much experience fighting so they barely managed to touch him. If he had to say one thing though, the side of his face did hurt a little.“Is there a mirror?” Yu Fan asked.Wang Lu’an was stunned for a moment, “No. Would a phone front camera be enough? I can hold it up for you.”Half a minute later, Yu Fan cursed internally as he took in the two scratches on his face.Why did they have to hit his face??Would he still be able to go tomorrow? If he said that it was because he fell, would Chen Jingshen believe him?What is Chen Jingshen doing right now? Watching the movie? Or did he cancel the tickets?Seeing his expression darken, Wang Lu’an immediately reassured him, “It’s okay, it’s nothing compared to your previous injuries. It should be fine in a week.”Yu Fan leaned back in annoyance when he heard this, “Just be quiet.”Zuo Kuan went and bought a few packets of cigarettes and gave each of them a cigarette. Yu Fan didn’t accept. He pulled out a piece of gum from his pocket and fiercely chewed on it.After the boys praised each other on their wonderful moves during the fight earlier, they proceeded to discuss where they should go next.As they happily chatted, Zhu Xu’s phone rang. He immediately made a ‘quiet’ gesture when he saw who the caller was.“Hey babe, what’s up?” After everyone quietened down, Zhu Xu answered the phone, “I’m not doing much. Why didn’t I respond to your message?…..I had my phone on silent earlier and didn’t hear it. Hey, hey, don’t be angry, I really didn’t hear it. Where am I? I’m currently at the internet cafe with Zuo Kuan and the others…”After Zuo Kuan ended the call, all the boys burst out laughing.“Zhu Xu, aren’t you being too much of a wuss? Just because you didn’t respond to a message, you had to coax her for almost half an hour?”“You two are disgusting as fuck.”“And why did you lie? You should just tell her the truth. It’s not like we lost.”“That won’t do. If she found out I fought, she would definitely get angry at me.” Zhu Xu lamented, “When I went to help Yu Fan and missed the exam last time, she almost broke up with me. Fortunately we had the make up exam…...Hey, you better not mention this matter when you see her later. I’m dead if she finds out.”Although the others may tease him, they all nodded and promised that they wouldn’t mention it.“Also don’t tell Chen Jing…..” The person sitting in the corner suddenly coldly spoke up. He proceeded to change his words halfway, “Also don’t tell anyone in our class.”The others were confused when they heard this.“What do you mean? Zhu Xu didn’t want us to talk about it because he didn’t want his girlfriend to find out. Why don’t you want others to know about this?” Wang Lu’an asked in confusion.“That’s not it.” Yu Fan frowned in annoyance, “If I’m telling you not to talk about it, just don’t talk about it.”“What? Do you also have a girlfriend, Yu Fan?” Another person asked.“No.” Yu Fan, “Shut your mouth.”“Ah….um, Yu Fan,” Zuo Kuan who was sitting by the door froze for a moment before waving his phone, “I do want to keep it a secret but I think it’s a little too late.”Yu Fan, “?”“I have been live updating it in the group chat. It’s mainly to let Zhang Xianjing and the others see and to check if they want to join us later.” Zuo Kuan coughed awkwardly, “But don’t worry, I only mentioned it in our group chat, I didn’t talk about it anywhere el-----”“Top Student?” Wang Lu’an exclaimed in surprise when he looked towards the store door.Yu Fan’s act of chewing on his gum froze. No way?Several seconds later, he slowly turned his head towards the door.And met Chen Jingshen’s eyes.Chen Jingshen stood silently outside the store. He glanced at him expressionlessly and then lightly lowered his eyes, his gaze sweeping past the injuries on his face.…..In an instant, the pain on Yu Fan’s cheek seemed to have intensified a little.Lying was something the Yu Fan felt no burden doing. He personally considered himself as someone with poor upbringing; anything he did or said depended on his mood. Both Zhuang Fangqin and Hu Pang had already heard countless lies of his. Even if the other party didn’t believe him or directly poked a hole in his lies, Yu Fan wasn’t bothered. He was the classic example of someone who wasn’t concerned no matter what consequences his lies brought about.But at this moment, an inexplicable feeling of guilt surged inside him like a tide, turning his mind a little cold.Yu Fan’s lips moved slightly but because he didn’t know what to say, he wasn’t able to say anything.Wang Lu’an, “Top Student, why are you here? Did Yu Fan call you over to hang out?”Chen Jingshen lightly looked away.“No, I was just passing by.” He said, “I’ll head off first.”Watching Chen Jingshen leave, Wang Lu’an mumbled to himself, “He was just passing by? That’s too coincidental…..”A gust of wind blew past him. Before he could even react, Yu Fan had already rushed out and disappeared in the distance.