Pei Cangyu spotted Apple at the school gate with one side of his face swollen. He stopped, leaning back with his backpack on, waiting for him with a broad grin. Apple hobbled over, clutching his head, and shot Pei Cangyu a dirty look. "What the hell are you laughing at?"
Pei Cangyu flicked Apple’s forehead. "What happened? Who kissed you hard enough to make it swell like that?"
Apple shook his head helplessly. "The hits from those idiot high schoolers were nothing. This is from my mom—she pinched me because she was pissed I went out to fight."
Pei Cangyu reached out to touch it, but Apple hissed and recoiled. "Ow, man! It hurts. You know I have a low pain tolerance."
Apple adjusted his backpack straps with a look of grievance. "My dad even said, 'Why hit him on the face? It’s too obvious.' You should see my ass; it’s practically purple. I spent half the night looking at it in the mirror..."
Pei Cangyu laughed, slinging an arm around Apple’s shoulder as they walked into the school. Apple deftly unwound the bandage from his head and stuffed it into his bag. "If I didn't pretend the injury was serious, my ass would be even purpler."
As they reached the classroom door, they happened to run into their homeroom teacher on her morning rounds. She was standing with her hands behind her back, meticulously checking if the window tracks had been wiped clean. When she saw Pei Cangyu and Apple walking shoulder-to-shoulder, she cleared her throat. The two immediately broke apart, looking exactly like a young couple caught by the Dean of Students while strolling on the track at night.
The teacher looked at Pei Cangyu. "Did you get up early to buy medicine today?"
Pei Cangyu nodded. The teacher jerked her chin. "Come here."
Pei Cangyu followed her, while Apple took the chance to slip into the classroom.
Sitting at her desk, the teacher handed Pei Cangyu a bag containing a cup of soy milk and a pancake. "You didn't eat breakfast, did you?"
"Hehe, no." Pei Cangyu smiled and took the food.
The teacher tapped the desk. "Wait, don't go yet. I have something to say."
Pei Cangyu stood straight, holding his breakfast.
"It’s time for our minor seat adjustment, the period where we allow seatmate swaps..." The teacher looked up at Pei Cangyu. "Do you think you need a change?"
Pei Cangyu blinked. "A change? Who?"
The teacher rubbed her temples. "You..."
"Why?"
The teacher lowered her head helplessly, then looked at him again. "Don't you and Bai Shi have a... strained relationship?"
Pei Cangyu was quiet for a moment. He thought about it and said hesitantly, "It seems... alright now..."
This time, it was the teacher’s turn to be shocked. "Really?"
Pei Cangyu nodded. "I think it’s fine the way it is."
The teacher gave a noncommittal hum. "Well, make sure you've thought it through. You might not get another chance next time."
Pei Cangyu nodded solemnly. "Yeah, he and I are good."
The teacher sighed. "What is with you two? How did you both change your minds so fast?"
"You talked to him too?"
"I did. He said the same thing."
By the time Pei Cangyu returned to class, morning self-study had already begun. Some students liked to stand while reading, others preferred to sit. These twenty minutes required the students to read aloud, resulting in a cacophony of noise. On one side, someone was reciting, "'Once they could no longer possess them, they were transported here. Tripods were treated as cauldrons, jade as stones...' Can you even eat jade?" On the other side, someone was chanting, "Should not a true warrior dare to face a bleak life? Ah, Guo Moruo, let me, Zhou Shuren, ask you..." In the middle, the spelling of "c, c, con, condemn" was sandwiched in. Pei Cangyu swore he heard someone singing in the mix, and one person was straight-up rapping: "So the FCC won't let me be, or let me be me, so let me see..."
Amidst this overflowing vibrancy of youth, Pei Cangyu began to eat. Bai Shi glanced at him. Apple, who was sweeping the floor, circled over to their row. "Hey, the teacher called you over just to give you food?"
Pei Cangyu, his mouth full, nodded.
"You didn't eat? How did she know?"
Pei Cangyu swallowed his bite. "Her parents live in my neighborhood. I ran into her dad coming back from a run when I went out to buy medicine this morning..." Then he started coughing. Bai Shi handed him a bottle of water.
Apple watched with envy for a moment before lowering his head to continue sweeping.
That afternoon, before the class meeting began, the entire class was visibly excited. Bai Shi watched his classmates, who were even more hyper than usual, and turned to ask Pei Cangyu, "What’s going on today?"
Pei Cangyu was busy playing a handheld game on a "Skinny Dog" console and didn't have time for him. He replied, "You'll find out in a bit."
Bai Shi leaned over to look. Pei Cangyu was frantically mashing the left and right buttons, dodging planes falling from the top of the screen. The game was at a stalemate.
The class president walked up to the podium and tapped the desk with a pointer. "Quiet down, quiet down. The class meeting is starting."
The noise below dwindled to a few stray whispers before falling completely silent.
The class president flipped through her notebook and cleared her throat. "Today, we are going to discuss *that* matter."
A long-awaited cheer erupted in the classroom, accompanied by the sound of desks being slapped. Someone threw a book high into the air; a bystander might have thought they were graduating.
"The autumn outing."
Pei Cangyu was also excited. He grabbed Bai Shi’s shoulder and shook him. "Are you ready, my friend?"
"The dates are this Saturday and Sunday. The location is still Yunwei Mountain. We’ll camp in the square that night. Tents can be borrowed from the Student Union; the class committee will handle that. Students need to pay the outing fee, which covers the tent rental, three meals for two days, round-trip bus fare, and school travel insurance. Everything else is bring-your-own." The class president distributed brochures to the students. "I assume you've heard about this from the upperclassmen. It’s the usual process. Specific details are in the brochure. The registration deadline is this Thursday, and the payment deadline is Friday. Give the money to the vice president. Any questions?"
The response from below had never been so unified: "None!!"
Bai Shi flipped through the brochure, his eyes fixed on the "Fee Amount" column.
Pei Cangyu whistled and patted Bai Shi’s shoulder. "How about it, my friend? Let me go to the mountains and show you what the 'Messenger of the Gale' looks like..."
He noticed Bai Shi’s mood was low. "What’s wrong?"
Bai Shi stared at the fee. "It’s so expensive..."
Pei Cangyu: "..."
He tugged at Bai Shi’s expensive cufflink. "Big brother, you can't be this flashy and then cry poor. You'll get bad karma."
Bai Shi murmured again, "It’s so expensive..."
Pei Cangyu rolled his eyes. "Then go pawn that cufflink of yours. It’ll probably be enough."
Bai Shi immediately turned to him. "Do you know where there’s a pawnshop?"
"...Are you for real?"
Bai Shi asked quite earnestly, "Do you have money? Give me some."
"Stop joking, man. I’ve been saving this since seventh grade." Pei Cangyu thought for a second. "And what do you mean 'give'? In this situation, it’s called 'lending.' Do you understand 'lending'? You have to pay it back."
Bai Shi let out a long, hollow sigh, as if exhaling all the sorrows of life. "I have no money."
Pei Cangyu: "..."
He couldn't be bothered with him.
By the time school ended, Bai Shi still hadn't thought of a way to raise the money. Pei Cangyu had already packed his bag and was ready to leave, but seeing Bai Shi sitting in his seat in a daze, he thought it over and walked back.
"Hey."
Bai Shi looked up. Pei Cangyu asked awkwardly, "Are you really broke?"
Bai Shi nodded.
Pei Cangyu frowned. "I know a place, but I can't guarantee it'll work."
Bai Shi stood up instantly. "Let’s go."
Pei Cangyu sighed and turned to leave, with Bai Shi following behind.
All along the way, Pei Cangyu grumbled incessantly about how Bai Shi could possibly have no money, saying it felt like he was being played.
But Bai Shi didn't explain, and in truth, Pei Cangyu didn't really press for details.
The place they went to was called Gutong Street, a remote old street. As the city center shifted further away, Gutong Street had become increasingly desolate. It had once been near the port, with extremely prosperous trade. Located on the East Bank, it had once looked down upon every other part of the district. But times had changed. Port terminals were modernized and moved toward the estuary. Furthermore, the leaders of the East Bank failed to retain their advantages, leading to the rapid rise of the West Bank. The two sides had swapped fortunes. Any business with a future had moved out of Gutong Street, leaving behind mostly local folk customs brought by sailors from various places and old-fashioned businesses, such as fortune-telling and pawnshops.
The street was too old. Pei Cangyu only knew of it because his grandmother had come here once last year to ask a fortune-teller where her son was and if he was still alive. The fortune-teller told her "North, North," so his grandmother went to the police station in the north to file another report.
Currently, the two of them stood before a shop that looked like it was definitely evading taxes. It was a purely wooden shop; the door frame and the sign were both made of wood. The door was only about 1.7 meters high; Pei Cangyu would likely have to duck to get in. Only one side of the wooden door was open, and it looked more like it just hadn't been closed properly, swaying slightly. A row of green transparent plastic strips hung in front of the door. The interior was pitch black, making it impossible to see anything.
Bai Shi asked him, "This is it?"
Pei Cangyu pointed at the sign that read *Shang’s Pawnshop*. "I heard last time that you can pawn things here. I’ve never actually been inside."
The two looked at each other, and Bai Shi stepped forward to push the door open.
The wooden door gave a long, drawn-out creak.
Pei Cangyu almost stepped on a cat as he entered. The cat arched its back and let out a fierce hiss at him, giving him a start.
Inside, a man was fiddling with an abacus. He looked up, his rat-like mustache twitching when he saw the two of them. "What do you want?"
Bai Shi pulled the cufflink off his sleeve. "Pawning something."
The man sized up the two kids, staring particularly closely at the one in front. Bai Shi, however, showed no fear and remained expressionless.
The man looked down at the cufflink, then pulled a pair of round lenses from under the table to examine it closely. He then folded the lenses away, took a pen, tore a slip of paper from a stack hanging on a wooden rod, wrote a number, and handed it to Bai Shi.
Pei Cangyu leaned in to look, then looked up. "That little?"
The man glanced at him. "Units of a thousand."
Pei Cangyu looked down again, then looked up. "That much?"
Bai Shi pushed the slip back. "Deal."
Pei Cangyu stared intently at Bai Shi’s other sleeve. This guy really was dripping in jewels just to go out...
When the man handed over the money, he asked Bai Shi to write a receipt. Bai Shi looked at the paper and didn't move. "Why do I have to write my name?"
The man tapped the table impatiently. "Regulations."
Bai Shi hesitated for a moment, then wrote his name.
Pei Cangyu slung an arm around Bai Shi’s shoulder and grinned. "Alright, all set!"
As Bai Shi walked out the door, he glanced back at the man. The man was staring at the piece of paper where he had signed his name.
***
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Stolen Jade | Chapter 64 | The Price of an Outing | Novela.app | Novela.app
