Lu Shenxing pulled the red-painted chair away and sat on the podium.
Everyone wailed, why did the king of hell come so early today? Evening study hadn't even started yet?!
Wang Hui in particular wanted to vomit blood. He'd been scrimping and saving every day for more than half a month. In the afternoon, he'd excitedly ran to buy the latest Little Tigers tapes.
He waited to share it with everyone, showing off, but in the end, he didn't even finish a song.
Wu Yuan was uncomfortable throughout the class.
Lu Shenxing walked calmly through the air of resentment that filled the room, reading the test papers. He casually played with a red ballpoint pen. The vocabulary for third years in high school was much simpler than what he did back in his days.
The times now were much behind his time, and the low prices often shocked him. He even had a Nokia in his pocket, and Motorola was still a local tyrant.
Lu Shenxing tidied the finished papers, the atmosphere in the classroom made him a little irritable.
The class was never fully silent. Even if there was no whispering, there was still sneezing, coughing, students blowing their noses, spitting, moving desks and chairs, books falling on the ground...
It was endless.
At seven o'clock, Lu Shenxing began to test their listening, moved the tape recorder toward the door, and coincidentally, a little closer to Wu Yuan.
Everyone sat through the recorded reading. Many students were fishing in troubled waters, eating, humming, dozing off, passing small notes, and doing whatever.
Lu Shenxing had learned to turn a blind eye to them. He had also been a student, you can only consciously learn by yourself, it can't be forced.
He got up to stretch his hands and feet and walked to Wu Yuan's desk and stood there. The boy had propped his head up on his hands, covering half of his face. He looked a bit like he was thinking, except his posture hadn't changed since Lu Shenxing had entered the classroom.
Lu Shenxing tapped the table, and the surrounding students immediately turned their eyes to Wu Yuan.
Wu Yuan slowly put his hand down.
Lu Shenxing leaned against the edge of the table and picked up the homework piled at the top to look through it.
Wu Yuan's nerve endings were straightened. He was nervous about his answers, he'd carefully checked every step, checking the formula again and again to confirm the solution.
He didn't know that asides English, Lu Shenxing was scumbag student and couldn't understand any of it.
After the night of self-study, Lu Shenxing left the classroom, touching Wu Yuan's little finger as he went by.
Wu Yuan's blush crept up to his eyes. He didn't know what was going on. He actually felt that the man was playing with him, and he was glad.
Wang Hui was startled when he turned his head, "Wu Yuan, why are you blushing?"
Wu Yuan was dull for a while before he reacted to Wang Hui, his cheeks were flushed abnormally, and even his ears were red.
"Do you have a fever?" Wang Hui reached out to Wu Yuan's face, and was slapped vigorously before his fingertips reached him.
Wang Hui inhaled painfully, his face was awkward, "You won't die if I touch you, why such a big reaction?"
Wu Yuan wiped his face and took a deep breath. As soon as he got up and went out, he heard Wang Hui say, "Are you and your girlfriend the same?"
His hairs stood up instantly, "What?"
Wang Hui narrowed his eyes ambiguously, "Knew it!"
Wu Yuan's face was stern, pretending to be calm, "I don't know what you are talking about."
Pfft, Wang Hui showed an inscrutable expression. After that, his face was full of happiness, "I understand, Lin Lin and I are the same. I've been thinking of her constantly for several days. Really, I see her in all my lunch boxes now."
Wu Yuan was frightened, were they thinking the same thing?
"Have you tried French kissing?" Wang Hui looked like an ordinary person who wouldn't kiss and tell. "Lin Lin has a cold, at the moment but she'll be better in the next couple of days. You should try it, it's really good."
Originally weren't they just talking about kissing, Wu Yuan unconsciously pursed his lips, can it cure a cold?
The next moment his face changed, his focus was wrong.
Someone outside the classroom shouted, "Wang Hui, there's a beauty looking for you!"
"Here." Wang Hui jumped out from behind the table.
Wu Yuan sorted out the books on the table. He absently scratched the table with a pencil sharpener. When he returned to his senses, a word had already been carved.
He quickly scratched it out.
"Wu Yuan, do you want to read this?"
When Liu Yihan finished speaking softly, he saw Wu Yuan didn't notice him at all. He smashed the corner of the table, grabbing the book angrily.
Wu Yuan held the table still, confused.
The next morning Wu Yuan received a love letter, which was pressed into his English book. It happened to be between the pages they had to recite today.
I dreamed of you last night.
The handwriting was scribbled, and there was only one sentence and no signature. Wu Yuan's first reaction was that it was the man. His throat became dry and he tore the piece of paper to pieces.
Standing in the water room, Lu Shenxing sneezed. He turned on the faucet, and the water bottle exploded as soon as he lifted it up. His arms burned with several large blisters.
The attendant who collected the water tickets saw him leave like that. He stretched his neck and asked, "Mr. Zhang, do you want a new water bottle?"
Lu Shenxing darkened his face, "No need."
As soon as the attendant heard him he hurried to clean up the broken water bottle.
It was August and he was sweating all day, making the blisters hurt even more. Lu Shenxing simply suffered. By the time he was back to writing on the blackboard, the blisters had already connected into a single shape.
Everyone looked at Lu Shenxing with sympathetic eyes. Some female classmates quickly looked away after a glance. One person watching seemed to be in more pain than the one who was scalded.
Wu Yuan watched him for a long time, and ended up copying a lot of words wrong that class.
After school, Wu Yuan went to the small shop to make a phone call. He put the receiver to his right ear and said, "Uncle Si, it's me Wu Yuan, I'm looking for my mother."
The middle-aged man in the hardware store put the phone aside and shouted outside, "Cuixiu, your son is looking for you!"
Wang Cuixiu in the shop was counting meal tickets. These were from the students who came to buy steamed buns.
When she heard the shout, she ran over, "Hey, hello, Xiao Yuan, it's your mother."
Wu Yuan lowered his head, "Mum, if my arm gets burnt, is there any way I can quickly heal it?"
Wang Cuixiu was frightened when she heard him, "What? Where is it burnt?"
Wu Yuan said, "It's not me."
Wang Cuixiu breathed a sigh of relief, "What caused it to be burnt, boiling water or fire?"
Wu Yuan rubbed the phone line, "Boiling water."
Wang Cuixiu asked, "Are there any blisters?"
Wu Yuan said, "Yes."
Wang Cuixiu said, "Take a needle to puncture the blisters, don't tear off the skin, it'll be fine in a few days."
After hanging up the phone, Wu Yuan took out two cents from his pocket for the boss.
He walked into the hallway, stopped for a long time before running up to the third floor and knocking on the door on the left.
Lu Shenxing opened the door and saw the boy at the door. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Come in."
Wu Yuan didn't move, "The blisters on your arms..."
Lu Shenxing interrupted him, "Come in and talk."
Wu Yuan pursed his lips, raised his foot and stepped inside. The moment the door closed behind him, he regretted it.
"You need to pop those blisters, they'll heal faster."
Seeing that he wanted to leave, Lu Shenxing said, "I can't use my own hands, come and help me."
Holding the needle nervously, Wu Yuan swallowed his saliva, stabilized his hand, and popped all the blisters on Lu Shenxing's arm.
Lu Shenxing hurt and was itchy, "Sit down for a while, I need to talk to you."
What did they need to talk about?
Wu Yuan frowned, "I want to go to the cafeteria for a meal." There would be a long line if he was late.
Of course he knew, but Lu Shenxing pretended not to hear.
Wu Yuan sat on the chair stiffly. After a while, he reached into his pocket and touched something, then took his hand out, then reached in again.
Lu Shenxing had noticed his actions a while ago. The corners of his lips were smiling, a little helpless, "Do you have Thumbelina in your pocket?"