"I don't know," Yu Qing muttered, pulling his hand back and slumping dejectedly onto his desk. He continued to grumble under his breath, wondering why Fei Cheng hadn't come to school.
When Li Xiuxiu entered the classroom, the students who had been whispering to one another immediately stopped and sat up straight, eyes fixed on their homeroom teacher.
Standing on the podium, Li Xiuxiu saw every student staring at him. His thick eyebrows twitched. "What are you all looking at me for? Read your books!"
Yu Qing raised his hand and asked, "Teacher, Chengcheng didn't come to school. Did he ask for a leave of absence?"
"He did," Li Xiuxiu replied, looking troubled. "He’s been hospitalized. You all need to be careful too; exams are right around the corner. Don't go catching a cold."
"Hospitalized?! Is it that serious?" Yu Qing looked as if the sky were falling.
Cheng Yifei glanced at the empty seat beside him but said nothing. There was only one health center in town, and the school wasn't far from it.
Yu Qing, acting on impulse as usual, raised his hand again. "Teacher, can I take a leave to go see Chengcheng? I'll be back really fast!"
"No. It's evening; stay here and review your lessons properly." Li Xiuxiu glared at Yu Qing with a feigned ferocity.
Yu Qing’s face fell for a second, but then he looked up again, full of hope. "Then what about tomorrow at noon? Can I take a leave tomorrow at noon? Teacher, the health center is right on the main street. It’s not far or out of the way at all."
Li Xiuxiu rejected him again. "No. His grandparents are looking after him. Don't meddle. Focus on your revision; maybe Fei Cheng will be back at school tomorrow."
Yu Qing let out a heavy sigh, and the classroom fell silent once more.
Li Xiuxiu stood at the podium for a while until a student from another class came to find him, and he stepped out.
Lai Xinhui, who sat in the very last row near the door, leaned against the doorframe and peeked out. Seeing that "Big Eyes" had walked far enough away, he immediately began whispering with his friends.
"Do you think Fei Cheng being in the hospital has something to do with what happened on Friday?" he speculated.
Li Rongbao, his seatmate, was surreptitiously watching the window to make sure Big Eyes didn't suddenly return. He poked Liu Yucong, who sat in front of him. "It’s highly likely. What do we do?"
Liu Yucong turned around and hissed, "How should I know what to do!"
Lai Xinhui looked distressed. "It wouldn't be right for us to just ignore it. After all, Fei Cheng got hurt because of us."
Liu Yucong countered, "Didn't you hear Big Eyes? He said it's an illness!"
Li Rongbao rubbed his forehead and shook his head. "But that also started on Friday. If he hadn't been fighting with us, maybe he wouldn't have started sneezing. If he hadn't sneezed, he wouldn't have gotten sick. If he hadn't gotten sick, he wouldn't—"
Lai Xinhui and Liu Yucong snapped in unison, "Shut up!"
Li Rongbao: "..."
Lai Xinhui urged, "Let's climb over the wall tonight and go see him. You in?"
Liu Yucong seemed moved by the idea.
Li Rongbao lowered his voice. "What if we run into his family? Besides, we don't even know if Fei Cheng will stay at the hospital tonight or go home. I think it's more reliable to go during the day."
This time, Liu Yucong was firm. He nodded. "Dabao is right. We’ll go during the day."
Lai Xinhui said, "Fine, then we can only go tomorrow at noon. We’ll have to climb the wall behind the dorms! Exams are coming up, so the guards at the school gate are being incredibly strict. Even giving them cigarettes won't work."
Li Rongbao, thinking ahead, asked, "Don't you have to buy something when you visit a patient? Every time my mom goes to the hospital, she buys a whole bunch of food."
Liu Yucong and Lai Xinhui exchanged looks. They asked Li Rongbao, "What happens if we don't buy anything?"
Li Rongbao was bewildered. "How should I know!"
Liu Yucong and Lai Xinhui began to agonize over what to buy, completely forgetting that they weren't actually that close to Fei Cheng.
They were so immersed in their own world that they didn't notice the student sitting in front of Liu Yucong was eavesdropping.
Finally, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Habitually, they headed to the canteen for a late-night snack.
As they reached the canteen entrance, Li Rongbao suddenly stiffened. He felt his pockets and said, "Damn it, I only have eleven and a half yuan left. Have you guys decided what to buy for Fei Cheng? What if we don't have enough money?"
Lai Xinhui pulled out some crumpled bills and counted them. "I have sixteen yuan."
Liu Yucong counted his as well, his expression souring. "I went to the internet cafe this afternoon. Dammit, I only have nine yuan left."
Li Senwei, having learned they were going to see Fei Cheng, counted on his fingers. "Sixteen plus nine is twenty-five. Plus Dabao’s eleven-fifty and my twelve... that’s forty-eight yuan and fifty cents in total. Is that enough?"
Lai Xinhui said, "Forty-eight yuan isn't that much. In that new gift shop, a plushie the size of a basketball costs twenty-five yuan."
Li Senwei looked horrified. "Dahui, you want to buy a plushie?!! Holy crap, those are for girls!"
Lai Xinhui spat, "Piss off! It was a metaphor, okay? My point is that things are expensive!"
Liu Yucong glanced inside the canteen. "Let's skip the snack tonight."
Lai Xinhui nodded. "That’s the only way. School lets out after exams this week, so I doubt anyone would be willing to lend me money."
Li Rongbao, always full of ideas, suggested, "Isn't Cheng Yifei from the same village as you guys? Why don't you try borrowing from him? It’ll be easy to pay him back once you're home."
"Holy shit, you go ask him then," Lai Xinhui said with a shudder.
Li Rongbao: "...I don't dare."
Liu Yucong snorted, and the group moved from the canteen to the dormitory.
Usually, they didn't return to the dorm this early. Because they were still preoccupied with what to buy for a patient, they all seemed heavy-hearted and weren't making their usual ruckus that could be heard from a mile away.
As Liu Yucong and Lai Xinhui reached the dormitory window, before they even entered the room, they heard someone mention Liu Yucong's name. He looked inside, but before he could see anything, Lai Xinhui pulled him down into a crouch.
Lai Xinhui whispered, "Let's hear what they're saying about you first. We'll teach them a lesson after they're done."
Given Liu Yucong’s usual temperament, he wouldn't have been in the mood to listen to someone badmouthing him. *Motherfucker, I'm not a masochist, why should I listen before retaliating?* However, ever since he had turned over a new leaf with Fei Cheng on Friday, he felt like something was off. *Fine, I'll listen. Let's see what they really think of me behind my back.*
Inside the dorm, Yang Kaikai was speaking to Cheng Yifei with an air of absolute certainty. "I'm not lying to you. I heard Liu Yucong and the others with my own ears. They said Fei Cheng’s illness was caused by them on Friday. They spent the whole self-study session whispering and plotting how to deal with it!"
Yu Qing looked ready to explode upon hearing this, but Cheng Yifei glanced at him, and he forced himself to stay still.
Cheng Yifei said to Yang Kaikai, "The teacher said Fei Cheng is in the hospital because he's sick."
Yang Kaikai insisted with total conviction, "Even if he's sick, it definitely has something to do with them!"
Cheng Yifei’s expression didn't flicker in the slightest. Instead of pressing further, he looked at Yang Kaikai and asked, "Why are you coming to tell me this?"
Yang Kaikai paused. "You... aren't you and Fei Cheng good brothers? If he's being bullied, would you just stand by and watch?"
Cheng Yifei said he wouldn't. Because Fei Cheng wasn't there, he didn't even bother to offer a fake smile. He continued, "I remember not too long ago, Fei Cheng got into a fight with you. Would you really be so kind as to come and tell me this?"
Yang Kaikai’s mind went blank for a moment. He stammered for a bit before finding an excuse. "I only told you because I heard Liu Yucong and the others discussing it. Although Fei Cheng fought with me, that was over something else. Now that my injuries are healed, I naturally won't hold a grudge. Besides, this is just news I overheard; it didn't take any effort, so it’s not a matter of being kind or not."
Cheng Yifei gave an "oh" and turned around to spread his quilt. With Fei Cheng gone today, he was actually wondering if he would be cold sleeping alone.
Yang Kaikai never expected this reaction from Cheng Yifei. *Doesn't he usually protect him fiercely?!*
He tried again. "Cheng Yifei, if you don't believe me, you can go ask Liu Yucong. He’s hated Fei Cheng for a long time. He probably made his move now because exams are this week."
Yu Qing, unable to get a word in edgewise after several attempts, could only climb onto his bunk and contemplate the meaning of life.
Without even turning his head, Cheng Yifei said pointedly, "Fine. I'll tell him that you were the one who told me all this."
"Hey, that’s going too far!" Yang Kaikai clenched his fists slightly. "I took a risk to tell you what I heard, and you're going to sell me out?"
"No need to sell you out, I heard the whole fucking thing!" Liu Yucong strode into the dorm. He stared at Yang Kaikai, looking somewhat incredulous. "You were fucking calling me 'Brother Cong' so eagerly a while ago and always acting all indignant on my behalf, saying Fei Cheng was a piece of shit. And then you turn around and sell me out to someone else?!"
Li Rongbao spat. "How is this selling us out? We didn't conspire with him on anything. He’s slandering us!"
Liu Yucong looked like he wanted to hit someone.
Yang Kaikai was stunned. "Cong... Brother Cong, why are you guys back so soon?"
"If we didn't come back, how would we hear your true thoughts?" Lai Xinhui looked at Yang Kaikai with disdain.
Speaking of their internal strife, Yang Kaikai had played no small part in causing damage. If Yang Kaikai hadn't always been following Yucong around, they wouldn't have gone a whole week without making up, even if they had "broken up" their friendship.
*Fucking hell, this dog is truly two-faced.*
Yang Kaikai didn't know how to explain himself now. During the evening self-study, he had heard Liu Yucong and the others whispering and assumed he had grasped the truth.
Fei Cheng being hospitalized at this critical juncture was something he felt like celebrating. As for Liu Yucong—ever since the night he had been beaten and accidentally talked back to him, Liu Yucong had held a grudge and treated him coldly.
He knew Fei Cheng must know something, so he had been thinking: if Fei Cheng talked to Liu Yucong and Liu Yucong believed him, his life would be miserable. It would be better to take the opportunity to drive a wedge between Liu Yucong and Cheng Yifei. If they were at odds, Fei Cheng, as Cheng Yifei’s brother, naturally wouldn't talk much to Liu Yucong!
The plan was good, but an accident had occurred.
As a desperate measure, he thought that since it was a fact that Liu Yucong’s actions had led to Fei Cheng getting sick, he could only side with Cheng Yifei!
Yang Kaikai mentally bolstered himself and questioned Liu Yucong, "Am I wrong? Does Fei Cheng being in the hospital have nothing to do with you?"
"Me? I fucking..." Liu Yucong really couldn't say it had nothing to do with him, but seeing Yang Kaikai made him so angry his lungs felt like they were bursting!
He had misjudged the guy. Dammit, when Yang Kaikai had mocked him that night for not daring to hit Fei Cheng, he had been very angry. But after sleeping on it, he thought that since Yang Kaikai had been beaten so badly, it was understandable for him to be upset since his "boss" hadn't stood up for him. So, he hadn't held it against him, though he didn't want to hang out with him anymore because of the mockery.
It just so happened that Yang Kaikai had taken a leave to go home the next day. By the time he returned to school, Liu Yucong had already become close with friends from other classes, so there was even less need to hang out. Who would have thought he would say such things about him in front of Cheng Yifei!
Lai Xinhui patted Liu Yucong’s shoulder and glared at Yang Kaikai. "Even if it does have something to do with us, it’s not your place to say! We didn't hit Fei Cheng. But you, you must be fucking sick in the head, eavesdropping on people. Fine, just you wait until school lets out on Friday. Since you love talking so much, I'll let you talk your fill then!"
Yang Kaikai’s shoulders trembled slightly. He looked at Cheng Yifei, who was sitting on the edge of his bed watching like he was at a play, and said softly, "Brother Cheng, aren't you going to say something?"
"Ha, hilarious. Now you're calling him 'Brother Cheng'?" Lai Xinhui was full of mockery. "Besides Fei Cheng calling him 'Brother Cheng,' have you ever seen Cheng Yifei respond to anyone else?"
Cheng Yifei didn't bother to say more, seemingly silent in agreement with Lai Xinhui’s words.
***
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