"No, I don't want to," Su Lian firmly pressed his lips against Chi Wang's, preventing him from making any unnecessary sounds. "I think it's better if Chi Wang shines alone."
"I fucking...!" Chi Wang struggled to speak through the gaps between fingers, his words completely muffled.
Forced to lean back, he could only raise his hand to pat the back of the hand covering his mouth, signaling for it to be removed.
Su Lian continued his desperate plea: "Teacher, please reconsider."
But Li Guoqing was adamant, clapping his hands together to finalize the decision: "Then it's settled."
Su Lian reluctantly let go, the thought of having to lead exercises in front of the entire school making his world turn gray.
What's the point of jumping through time if you can't change the course of events? This useless broken watch.
Old Li squeezed himself between the two, suddenly appearing short between the two tall boys, forming a "concave" shape. The scene was quite comical.
He put an arm around each of their shoulders, patting them with a smug expression: "Well, well, you two have been doing great lately. I'm very pleased. Keep it up, I have high hopes for you both."
The two remained silent, the atmosphere dead quiet.
"Come on, let's get back to class," Li Guoqing said to himself as he set off, hands behind his back, strolling away leisurely.
People were coming and going nearby, their gazes sweeping over the two, mostly out of curiosity.
Chi Wang turned his head to look at Su Lian. Their sad expressions met, eyes locked, speechless.
He narrowed his eyes, suddenly amused as something occurred to him: "Nemesis, doesn't this count as you getting yourself involved too? Now we're truly in this together, for better or worse."
"Have we ever had it good?" Su Lian scoffed, his heart as cold as ashes. "You're quite the nemesis to me as well."
With someone to share the embarrassment, Chi Wang's mood improved considerably. He lowered his head and whistled: "The feeling's mutual."
Su Lian wasn't in the mood to banter with him and walked straight ahead with downcast eyes.
Chi Wang followed, hands in his pockets, tilting his head to look at him. He tried to comfort him: "It's really not as terrible as you think. It's just leading exercises, what's the big deal? Being the center of attention is pretty cool."
From his tone, it seemed like he was starting to enjoy the idea.
Su Lian responded with a blank face: "Oh."
Thankfully, the next two days were the weekend, allowing the social death to come a little less quickly.
But what difference did it make between dying early or late? None.
He seriously looked at the lush tree shadows by the teaching building, considering which beautiful phoenix tree would be best to hang himself from.
For the entire day, Su Lian remained silent, refusing to say a word more than necessary. He buried his head in his books with a sour expression the whole time. Even Gu Anjiu, with his incredibly slow reactions, sensed something was off.
While packing up after school, he quietly asked: "Wang, did our Lian get dumped again?"
Knowing the inside story, Chi Wang kicked his chair and scolded: "Shut up, what nonsense are you spouting?"
"But he looks like he's about to do a 180-degree turn and gaze mournfully at the sky. It must have been quite a blow."
Receiving a death glare, Gu Anjiu switched to a whisper: "How about we take him out to paint the town red tonight? Forget all his troubles."
"Are you going?" Chi Wang casually draped his fingers over the back of his neck, pulling him closer, generously offering: "I'll lend you my setup, free of charge."
"Not interested," Su Lian picked up that hand and tossed it away, walking a few steps before turning back to instruct, "You're not allowed to go either. Go home and do your homework properly."
If he didn't keep an eye on this guy for two days, who knows what chaos he'd cause.
Chi Wang sat half on the desk, smiling lazily: "Who still does homework these days?"
This comment earned synchronized laughter from the two brothers in front, all looking quite pleased with themselves.
Su Lian felt his hand twitch, his brow furrowing: "Planning a two-day internet café tour?"
"Mm, I ranked nineteenth from the bottom this time, so I'm rewarding myself this weekend..."
Before he could finish, Lin Yan interrupted his wonderful fantasy: "Chi Wang, your dad's here to get you."
Chi Wang's smile faded as he looked towards the door. Lo and behold, old Mr. Chi stood at the doorway with his briefcase, staring like the Grim Reaper himself.
The air was stifling. He tugged at his collar for some air, sighing: "You really didn't need to come all the way to school yourself."
"If I didn't come, weren't you planning to stay out all night again?" Chi Bianhai knew his son all too well, letting out a light snort as he nudged his shoulder towards the exit.
Su Lian looked up, his gaze briefly meeting the man's for a second.
In their years together, he had only met Chi Bianhai once, at Chi Wang's funeral. Both equally devastated, they stood in silence before the gravestone for a long time, words failing them.
Overnight, the man in his fifties had his hair turn completely white, a stark contrast to his current vigorous appearance.
From their conversation, it seemed the father and son had quite a good relationship.
Strangely though, back then, Chi Wang rarely returned to Fog City, throwing himself completely into work, as if afraid he wouldn't make enough money.
Su Lian pursed his lips, there were too many details he still couldn't quite figure out.
Chi Bianhai's gaze swept over to him, and he took the initiative to make small talk: "You must be Su Lian. I heard from Teacher Li that your grades are excellent, and you're going to help our Chi Wang."
"He was just saying that casually, don't take it seriously," Chi Wang, seeing Su Lian about to speak, helped cover for him. "Don't trouble him."
"I think it's feasible," Chi Bianhai, wealthy and generous, was ready to throw money at the problem. "If you're willing to help Chi Wang, I can pay you by the hour. Just weekend tutoring, it won't interfere with your regular study time."
Su Lian pondered for a few seconds, thinking of his remaining 23 yuan balance. If he could earn some extra money, it might ease his father's burden of running deliveries.
Moreover, with Chi Bianhai as a powerful ally, it would be more justifiable to restrain Chi Wang's habits in the future.
No matter how he calculated it, it seemed reasonable.
"Don't always talk about money, it's vulgar," Chi Wang impatiently pushed him, urging, "Let's go home."
Chi Bianhai, observing Su Lian's softening expression, persistently added: "Let's set the hourly rate at 250 yuan for now, how's that? If you're not satisfied, we can increase it."
Lin Yan and Gu Anjiu exchanged glances, simultaneously bursting into laughter as they realized the implication.
Su Lian: "..."
It seemed he was destined to be labeled as a 250-yuan escort.
"What do you say, Student Su Lian?" Chi Bianhai smiled kindly at him, his eyes expectant.
Chi Wang silently communicated with him through eye contact, slightly shaking his head, mouthing without sound: "Don't."
Su Lian just loved to do the opposite of what others wanted, feeling delighted at seeing him squirm.
So he nodded slightly: "Uncle, the price is already very good, no need to increase it. We can start today."
At these words, Chi Wang nearly choked, extremely upset. He only gave him a silent glance, unsure what new scheme this person was plotting.
"That's perfect, the driver is waiting outside, let's go home together."
Chi Bianhai was quite satisfied with this outcome, his serious expression relaxing into a smile, unexpectedly appearing more kind and fatherly.
Chi Wang followed behind, feeling utterly defeated, using his shoulder to bump the person next to him: "Why are you making things difficult for yourself?"
"I'm quite happy with it," Su Lian replied, his steps light, showing no trace of his earlier gloom.
Chi Wang stopped in his tracks, suspecting that this person was taking revenge for the exercise-leading incident.
The Chi family lived quite far, in a famous wealthy area in the north of Fog City. As the Maybach slowly entered the community's driveway, amid the lush greenery stood scattered detached villas, looking outrageously luxurious.
Su Lian followed them into the house, changing into slippers. As he surveyed the Chinese-style solid wood decor, he thought to himself that Chi Wang really was a genuine rich second-generation. If he had known this earlier, he wouldn't have mistaken Chi Wang for working as a gigolo.
However, with such wealth, why would he help Lin Yan open an internet café?
Hearing movement at the door, a girl sitting cross-legged on the sofa eating grapes looked up, greeting them cheerfully: "Dad, brother, you're back!"
She tilted her head and noticed the cool-looking handsome guy behind her brother. Her fair face instantly turned red as she called out in a sweet voice: "Brother Su Lian."
"You know me?" Su Lian raised an eyebrow, surprised at being addressed.
"You're famous throughout the school now, it's hard not to know you."
"My sister, Chi Qing," Chi Wang tossed his school uniform jacket onto the sofa, introducing her briefly. "She's in the junior high section of Third High School."
Chi Bianhai put his briefcase on the coffee table and went over to ruffle her hair: "How did you get home by yourself?"
"I didn't know you were going to school to pick up brother." Chi Qing immediately sat up straight, looking like a young lady having afternoon tea. "Brother Su Lian, are you here to play?"
"Tutoring your brother," Su Lian replied softly.
Chi Qing blinked, saying somewhat awkwardly, "Could you tutor me too? My grades aren't great either."
Su Lian thought to himself, unsurprisingly, it runs in the family.
"Your brother takes up a lot of time, I can't handle two for now," he responded tactfully.
"Go play somewhere else," Chi Wang jerked his chin at her, then turned and grabbed Su Lian's sleeve, pulling him towards the stairs. "The sooner we finish, the sooner you can head back. It takes about an hour to get back to the city center from here."
How considerate, Su Lian thought, making a small sound of acknowledgment as he allowed himself to be led upstairs.
Chi Bianhai stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching his son's retreating back. He couldn't quite put his finger on what had changed, but he felt his son had become more restrained lately.
This classmate really was quite good, he thought approvingly. "Well, you two study hard. We won't disturb you."
The bedroom was on the second floor. Chi Wang pushed open the door and entered, while Su Lian leaned against the doorframe, looking around. Glass cabinets were filled with all kinds of figurines, a signed basketball rolled on the floor next to a complete set of metallic drum kit. The room was actually neater than he had imagined.
The bookshelf was packed full of books, but they had nothing to do with textbooks or classics. Instead, there were titles like "The Wealth Code," "Get Rich Quick," "The Autobiography of Bill Gates," and the like.
Su Lian furrowed his brow, sat down at the desk and stretched out his legs. "Get out your test papers."
"Wow, you're moving so fast, I can't keep up," Chi Wang drawled, lounging in the chair beside him with his legs crossed. "How about we chat for a bit first?"
Su Lian: "..." Chat my ass.
"Let's start with my family then. Guess how my sister and I got our names," Chi Wang hadn't sat up straight, looking quite relaxed. He bent down to lightly tap the basketball, spinning it on one finger as he rambled on.
Su Lian thought to himself, of course I know, I've heard you tell this story so many times.
Seeing no response, Chi Wang answered his own question: "My parents named us after the old song 'Forget Love Water', giving us names that sound similar - one means 'obsessive hope', the other 'obsessive love'. Isn't it both corny and romantic?"
He chuckled to himself after saying this.
"Are you on a blind date? Who asked you to introduce your family members?" Su Lian's knuckles rapped on the desk surface, making a rhythmic sound as he urged the other to come sit down.
Chi Wang casually controlled the ball with one hand, curling his legs and sliding down a bit more in his seat. "Let's chat for a while, you're charging by the hour anyway, so you're not losing out."
"Taking money for this makes me feel guilty," Su Lian said, unable to resist kicking him lightly when he saw how relaxed the other was. "Stop stalling, get out your papers."
Ouch, police brutality.
Chi Wang's calf stung from the surprise attack. He got up, tossed the basketball aside, and bent down to pull out a stack of test papers from his schoolbag.
He dropped them on the desk, staring confidently at the answers covered in red crosses. "I'm afraid you won't know where to start."
Su Lian planted his long legs firmly on the ground, steadying the swivel chair as he silently looked through the answer sheets, then pointed at the test papers and started questioning.
"Why did you only do the multiple choice for math?"
"Because I could barely guess those."
"Did you randomly guess all these C's for English too?"
"Maybe the C options just looked more appealing."
"How could these two AA groups produce a dominant trait when crossed?"
"Two negatives make a positive, right?"
Su Lian: "...This is hopeless. You should drop out."
"Little Teacher Su, are you giving up already? That's not like you," Chi Wang sat on the edge of the desk, head lowered as he gazed at Su Lian with a slightly challenging smile.
His voice was low and a bit languid, sending a shiver down Su Lian's spine. "What are you calling me?"
"Aren't you trying to be my teacher? But now you won't let me call you that."
Su Lian looked up at him. This guy exuded an aura of flirtatiousness from head to toe, never taking anything seriously. He seemed easy to get along with on the surface.
But when it came to actually making him do something, it wasn't so easy to keep him in line. It always required some kind of tactic or another, like trying to tame a wild young wolf.
For instance, right now Chi Wang was clearly trying to avoid studying by joking around.
"Call me whatever you want," Su Lian said without even looking up, pulling out a textbook and starting to circle important points.
Chi Wang leaned back on his hands on the desk, staring at Su Lian for a while, not understanding why this person always tried to keep him in check. He couldn't figure out the reason.
A breeze had picked up outside, making the curtains flutter and billow. His eyes started to itch, as if some dust had blown in.
He casually pulled open a nearby drawer, took out a bottle of eye drops, and handed it to Su Lian, bending down slightly.
"Something got in my eye, it hurts a bit. Can you help me put these in?"
Su Lian looked at the suddenly magnified face in front of him. The other's reddened eyes were a bit moist, like a rippling lake.
He held his breath, pulling back slightly to create some distance, and muttered, "You're so high maintenance. Will you be able to study after this?"
"Fine, whatever you say," Chi Wang conceded, pointing at the corner of his eye. "Come on, help me out."
Su Lian held down the hand that was rubbing at his eye, checking both eyes to make sure there was no problem. "Don't move."
He lowered his gaze, focusing on the other's face as he precisely positioned the eye drops above the left eye and squeezed out several drops.
"Fuck, that minty coolness," Chi Wang closed his eyes and shuddered a few times, his eyelashes becoming slightly damp and drooping.
Su Lian took the opportunity to pretend to slash across his neck with his hand, amused that the other didn't react at all.
Just as he was starting to smile, Chi Wang half-opened one eye, catching him in the act.
Su Lian's lips quickly returned to a straight line, but before he could react, he was pulled back in by the front of his jacket, closing the distance again.
"It's not working, it didn't come out. Can you blow on it for me?"
Chi Qing had changed into a new long dress and was carrying a plate of freshly washed fruit upstairs, hoping to seize the chance to chat with Su Lian a bit more.
She softened her footsteps, slowly approaching the door, when suddenly she froze, her gaze fixed.
Through the narrow gap in the door, she saw Su Lian with one hand on the desk, blocking most of her brother from view. Their silhouettes overlapped naturally.
He had his head slightly lowered, and she could only see a long-fingered hand loosely gripping the waist of his blue and white school uniform, creating wrinkles. Her brother was leaning against the desk, eyes half-open, gazing at the other with a look of tender affection.
They were very close together, in an intimately intertwined position, as if they were kissing.
Chi Qing covered her mouth, shocked for a few seconds before sudden understanding dawned.
Damn, these shameless lovebirds were actually making out under the guise of studying. How bold.
Hearing footsteps in the hallway, she sighed softly, deciding to be a kind person.
She put her hand on the doorknob and gently closed the door again.