“Hey, Pei Cangyu.” Apple called out, sprawled lazily across Pei Cangyu’s desk. Pei Cangyu was currently playing Gomoku with Monkey while Piggy watched the match. Airplane was dozing off, and Baishi was nowhere to be seen. It was the long break between classes; many students were either sleeping or running around outside, so the classroom was relatively quiet.
“What?” Pei Cangyu didn’t even look up.
Apple’s head was resting on his arms, a manga volume propped up in front of him. He lowered the book. “Have you ever... slept with a woman?”
“Pfft—” Piggy, who was drinking water, sprayed it everywhere. Pei Cangyu and Monkey froze, fingers still hovering over their game pieces. Airplane, who had been nearly asleep, was suddenly wide awake.
The air went still for a few seconds as all eyes converged on Pei Cangyu.
Pei Cangyu shifted his gaze away, looking back at the game board. Apple sat up. “No?”
Piggy nudged Pei Cangyu. “No way, Brother Pei? You go to the pool hall every day. You haven’t hooked up with anyone?”
Pei Cangyu replied with righteous indignation, “Bullshit. I go there every day, but aren’t I always stuck with you idiots?”
Airplane smirked. “Oh, so you’re saying we’re the ones blocking your path to romance?”
Pei Cangyu didn’t answer, merely scratching his head. “So young, and your heads are filled with nothing but...”
“We’re not that young,” Apple sighed wistfully. “Think about it, we’re in the third year of junior high. Among the little brats in the lower grades, we’re considered the big shots. Remember that time we went to the bathroom and ran into those kids from Grade Eight, Class Nine? The one who tried to offer Pei Cangyu a cigarette? God, that killed me.”
Piggy patted him. “Get to the point.”
Airplane took over. “I’m the one who found this out.”
As a social butterfly, Airplane had excellent relations with the underclassmen and had gathered plenty of inside dirt. He leaned in mysteriously. “I heard that one of the kids in Grade Eight has already done ‘it’ with a woman...”
He winked when he said “it,” so everyone understood exactly what he meant. A chorus of enlightened “ohs” followed.
Monkey did the math. “Isn’t that a bit too young?”
“Tell me about it,” Airplane sighed. “And then he had the nerve to say that we must have done it too, since we’re so famous and all. I was too embarrassed to tell him we haven’t.”
Piggy sat down, frowning. “If you put it that way, we’re really lagging behind.”
“And whose fault is that?” Airplane turned to look at Pei Cangyu.
Pei Cangyu blinked. “Dammit, what does that have to do with me?”
Apple pulled a tangerine from his pocket and began peeling it slowly. “Fake delinquents spend every day doing homework and calling people to ask about questions they don’t understand. Real delinquents are thirteen or fourteen and already using things we won’t touch even as adults. Sigh, a weak general leads to a weak army...”
Pei Cangyu was so frustrated he laughed. “Dammit, listen to how sleazy you sound...”
Apple ate a segment and distributed the rest. He propped his chin on his hand, looking out the window with a melancholy gaze. “Ah, *intercourse* is so nice. I want to be an adult too...”
His friends collectively shuddered at his affected use of the term “intercourse.” It was so clinical and pretentious that even Monkey couldn’t stand it. “Stop it, Apple. That’s too cringey. Go turn yourself into apple juice.”
Apple slumped back onto the desk lazily. “If we haven’t done it, it means the entire third-year class hasn’t. Sigh, the younger generation is truly fearsome...”
Piggy shook his head. “Not necessarily. The good-looking ones probably have a chance. Maybe there are some quiet types who move faster than anyone else.”
As they spoke, Baishi walked in from the back. Someone called out to him by the door, and he stopped to chat for a moment.
Seeing this, Piggy turned around and started pulling out money. “Want to bet? I bet Baishi has.”
“With who?” Airplane disagreed. “Baishi draws too much attention. If he had, the rumors would have gone wild long ago. I bet no.”
Monkey also pulled out money. “I bet yes.”
Apple didn’t look up. “Whatever.”
Then they all looked at Pei Cangyu together.
Pei Cangyu slammed his pen down. “No way. If you want to know, ask him yourselves. I’m not interested at all.”
Airplane said, “Regardless of the odds, we’ll give you half the winnings.”
Pei Cangyu replied, “It’s a deal.”
Thus, as soon as Baishi sat down, he was met with several pairs of sparkling eyes. Pei Cangyu reached out and slung an arm around his shoulders, helping him pull his school jacket zipper all the way up to his chin while grinning. “Baishi, Big Brother has a question for you.”
Baishi nodded.
“Have you ever...” Pei Cangyu stopped and looked at the others. The others quickly looked away, leaving Pei Cangyu to find the words himself.
“Ever what?” Baishi asked considerately.
Pei Cangyu had no choice but to turn back and look at Baishi. “Have you ever... uh... done *that*?”
Airplane sighed. “Dammit, a fake delinquent. He only knows how to swear; he doesn’t even know how to talk dirty.” He looked at Apple with an expression of utter disappointment. “Why did we decide to follow this guy back then?”
Apple replied, “I don’t know. I’ve already started regretting it.”
Pei Cangyu licked his lips and tried again, slapping Baishi’s shoulder hard. “Hey, do you understand me or not? Huh?”
Baishi shook his head. “Which one?”
“This one.” Apple made a circle with one hand and poked his finger through it repeatedly. “Understand now, my pure Pei Cangyu?”
Pei Cangyu slammed his book onto Apple’s head. The sound echoed through the classroom. It was a bit too hard; as soon as he did it, Pei Cangyu felt it was inappropriate. He felt a bit apologetic and looked at his book without moving. His expression was stiff, and Apple’s face didn’t look great either—he seemed genuinely angry.
Airplane looked between the two with a smile and patted Apple’s head. “You okay?”
Apple looked up at the apologetic Pei Cangyu. Although Pei Cangyu hadn’t said anything, Apple knew it wasn’t intentional. He decided to let it go and rubbed his head. “I’m fine.”
“I...” Baishi interjected, drawing the attention back to himself. “I haven’t.”
Airplane clapped his hands. “Ha! What did I tell you?”
Piggy felt a bit dejected. “So really, no one? The third year is pathetic...”
While they were lamenting their inferiority to the younger generation, a younger student appeared at the door looking for Pei Cangyu. Upon closer inspection, it was indeed the kid who had tried to “offer a cigarette” to Pei Cangyu in the bathroom.
Piggy immediately began fixing his hair. “Attention everyone. Only we know about this. There’s no need for the little brats in the lower grades to know.”
Airplane stood up and unzipped his jacket. “Maintain your dignity. We aren’t inferior to anyone...”
Pei Cangyu gave each of them a kick before walking out, and they followed him.
This kid had somehow learned a sense of “respect for seniors,” likely from triad movies. He was extremely respectful to Pei Cangyu, almost to a solemn degree. Airplane wanted to laugh seeing him try so hard to act like a gangster, but he held it in.
The underclassman invited Pei Cangyu to the pool hall after school. The students from Grade Seven and Eight wanted to see him; they had heard many stories about Pei Cangyu and wanted to meet him before the legend graduated.
These words were very effective on Pei Cangyu. He rubbed his head and started grinning. “Really? Is that so?”
Apple turned to Piggy and said, “There it is. These two are on the exact same wavelength of *chunibyo*.”
Pei Cangyu got a bit carried away as soon as he was praised. He promised the junior that he would definitely go after school to pass on his secrets for maintaining a “balance” between school life and his career on Peace Road. Finally, he earnestly told the junior to study hard and make progress. Apple felt that this junior with the silver-grey hair definitely wasn’t listening; he probably even found it a bit naggy and was likely mocking the “stuffy older generation” in his head. The thought made Apple smile.
“Are we going?” Apple asked Pei Cangyu.
Pei Cangyu looked like an old master about to pass on peerless martial arts to his disciples—solemn, even carrying a sense of mission. “Yes.”
Apple sighed.
Sighing aside, if the Big Brother was going, didn’t they have to follow?
And so, after school, they specifically “skipped” evening self-study. The six of them arrived at the pool hall, where the underclassmen had been waiting for a long time. The sharp-eyed Apple noticed there were even a few girls in the group. He was furious, shaking Airplane repeatedly. “Dammit, why don’t we have a diverse team?”
Airplane’s head hurt from the shaking. He pushed Apple aside. “Go away! The team is about to disband, and now you decide to bring up suggestions?”
The juniors stood up to welcome Pei Cangyu, their eyes sparkling. They invited him to the center to sit on the highest pool table. Pei Cangyu tried to hop up but didn’t make it on the first try. It was a bit awkward, but he didn’t panic; he tried again and successfully sat down. The juniors didn’t seem to care about the little hiccup at all. The younger girls were also squeezed into the crowd, whispering with those beside them.
The other five who came with Pei Cangyu were pushed to the back. They simply leaned against the wall, watching Pei Cangyu sit in the middle, rolling up his sleeves, ready to tell stories of the past.
Baishi watched for a while before suddenly asking, “Is Pei Cangyu very formidable?”
It took the other four a moment to realize the question was directed at them. Apple and Monkey didn’t really want to answer, so they stayed silent. Airplane and Piggy exchanged a look, and Airplane took the lead. “Whether he’s formidable or not depends on how you look at it. In the beginning, Pei Cangyu sat next to Piggy. Even though he had a bit of a temper, he was a good guy. Later, we got close and started hanging out every day. As for how he got famous... oh, Pei Cangyu worked at a convenience store on Peace Road. He was close with the owner. One day, a group of thugs came to cause trouble. The owner wasn’t there, just Pei Cangyu and a young girl working in the shop. So, he got into a fight. They were called thugs, but they were just a mix of middle and high schoolers. But those guys fixated on it and kept coming back to cause trouble, small skirmishes. Over time, Pei Cangyu won more than he lost, and that’s how he became famous.”
Airplane spoke nonchalantly, then added as an afterthought, “But he became famous in school during the second year. A girl in our school was being harassed by guys from another school. They said they were going to block her at the school gate, so Pei Cangyu said he’d walk her out.” Airplane narrowed his eyes, adopting an exaggerated tone. “That afternoon, I remember the setting sun was as red as blood. A few crows flew across the sky, crying *caw—caw—*. At the school gate, a dozen or so burly high schoolers had gathered in a grand formation...”
Monkey covered his face and looked down. “I’m begging you, stop. If I hear one more grammatical error, I’m going to get sick...”
Airplane gave an embarrassed laugh. “Anyway, you get the point.” Then he gave a mock sigh and patted Baishi’s shoulder. “Brother, it’s a pity. You didn’t see our Brother Pei in his prime. Even if it was just fighting middle and high schoolers...”
Baishi looked toward the center of the circle. Pei Cangyu had one leg crossed and the other dangling, sitting comfortably on the pool table. He was surrounded by juniors full of admiration. He took a Coke handed to him by a junior and spoke with great animation about the various people he had encountered here—drunks, businessmen, people handing out cards, lamb kebab vendors—all sorts of people and the strange things that had happened. Baishi truly knew nothing of this.
But he could hear it now. More importantly, these people and events had shaped Pei Cangyu into the person he was today, standing right before Baishi’s eyes. It was truly a stroke of luck.
Pei Cangyu unbuttoned his collar and fanned himself. His smooth forearms pressed against the table, the muscle lines becoming gradually distinct, like branches in spring. His teeth were very white, and his eyes curved when he laughed. He watched a junior playing the fool, patted the boy’s shoulder, and tilted his head back to take a gulp of Coke. Baishi stared at his throat, watching the Adam’s apple move up and down. If he were to touch it, that Adam’s apple would surely glide beneath his palm. Baishi could almost smell the scent of surging blood—that rippling youth and vitality.
Come to think of it, Pei Cangyu’s birthday was coming up soon.
---
