CH 10

Ch10 - The Wolf is Hiding Next to the Dog

Over the weekend, Chu Mian was online on QQ watching movies, when he got a new friend request in the bottom right corner of his screen. 

The other person’s username was “The Wolf is Hiding Next to the Dog” and had a profile picture of the main character of “Yu-Gi-Oh!”. Chu Mian had an impression of this person. He often discussed games and anime in the class group chat, and would say good night to everyone every night.

Chu Mian accepted the friend request. The two did not communicate, but they were on each other’s friends list. Chu Mian was busy for quite a while and had already forgotten about this person. It wasn’t until he was about to turn off the computer before going to bed at night that “The Wolf is Hiding Next to the Dog” sent a message: “Have you finished your homework?”

Chu Mian thought it was a casual greeting from his classmate, and told the truth: “I’ve finished it.” 

[The Wolf is Hiding Next to the Dog]: Dàgē, can you please show me the Physics Sunshine Classroom [pitiful]

The workbooks for several major subjects were ripped off by the teachers before they were distributed to the students. The students could only solve the problems by themselves, or search the Internet for reference. However, there was a more convenient way, which was to directly copy someone else’s answers. Chu Mian despised all kinds of cheating, so he refused directly: “No, you go and borrow it from others.”

[The Wolf is Hiding Next to the Dog]: Coincidentally, they didn’t write either.

[The Wolf is Hiding Next to the Dog]: It’s all because of the language homework! I’ve written it six hundred times! My hands have been broken for the past two days!

Chu Mian remembered that this week’s Language homework was to copy the Silent Writing mistakes fifty times. The more mistakes one makes, the heavier the burden. He didn’t think this homework was too much. After all, it was the first semester, materials were very simple and as long as one was not playful and willing to spend some time reciting, it was not a problem to write all the right things in Silent Writing.

But… six hundred times was too much, which meant that four parts out of five were wrong answers. Chu Mian indeed had an impression of Language Teacher Wang criticizing a classmate by name one day for extremely poor Silent Writing quality.

“Yu Ran?” Chu Mian uncertainly asked the other party’s identity.

[The Wolf is Hiding Next to the Dog]: That’s right, it’s me [cool] 

“The Wolf is Hiding Next to the Dog” shared the single “Small Sword Society Overture” with you. Click here to open QQ Music.

— This was shared a bit behind time, right? Chu Mian replied to him with a “…”.

Yu Ran started bombarding him with messages, begging Chu Mian to take a few pictures of his Physics homework so that he could hand it in tomorrow. Chu Mian didn’t want to agree, but Yu Ran made a crying expression every time he said a word, and also described that his arm was sore and he almost became crippled after completing the Language class’ writing lines punishment, and now he was miserable and helpless.

Chu Mian was pestered so much by the other party that he started to hesitate, slowly his attitude softened and then finally compromised: “Then you’re not allowed to let others copy from it.” 

Yu Ran: “En!”

Chu Mian took a few pictures and sent them over, and Yu Ran asked after a while, “What about the last two big questions?”

Chu Mian: “Those two questions are too difficult, you wouldn’t be able to solve them.”

Yu Ran: “Wow, you’ve taken even this into consideration! So thoughtful [great]” 

He didn’t even think that I was taunting him for being stupid… Chu Mian felt incredible.

Yu Ran: “Thank you, Dàgē! I’m going to copy it. Good night bye!”

“Sc.”

Pa tjv yffc j ibcu alwf rlcmf Jte Zljc tjv gfmflnfv j rfqjgjaf “ubbv cluta” ogbw jcsbcf. Pc atf ibcu vjgxcfrr bo atf cluta, tf vlvc’a fnfc xcbk ktja “rfcrf bo rfmeglas” kjr. Ggbkrlcfrr veglcu atf vjs, lcrbwclj ja cluta, ogfdefca clutawjgfr, jcv rbwfalwfr kjxlcu eq jygeqais vef ab riffq jqcfj… Ktf jczlfas jcv lgglajylilas ufcfgjafv ys jii atlr nfgs fjrlis bnfgoibkfv veglcu atf ibcu kjxlcu clutar. 

He looked at Yu Ran’s “good night” and for the first time in a very long time, he envied the people who could truly rely on sleep.

Starting this week, the first year of senior high school would have a morning study session.

Yu Ran stepped into the classroom just as the bell rang and dashed inside. The classmates watched him run from the door to the window seat. As he threw off his school bag, he greeted the people on the front and the back seats panting, and then took out a few homework assignments and handed them to the group leader in the first row. The action was done in one go, and when he ran back, he also adjusted his slightly fallen pants.

“You look handsome,” Fang Zhao twisted the upper half of his body and looked at Yu Ran in his school uniform, “You look so spirited in dark clothes.” 

Yu Ran snorted and grinned complacently, then rolled up his sleeves on both sides, revealing his white and powerful arms. He pulled his school uniform jacket’s zipper upto the end, and lowered his head slightly to hide his mouth and chin behind the collar of his jacket, thinking that this would add a mysterious and uninhibited temperament to his young and handsome face.

But his coolness didn’t last long, as he was called by his Chemistry Teacher to write an equation on the blackboard. He stood on the podium with a chalk in his right hand, while his left hand clutched the waistband of his pants, lifting it from time to time. Yu Ran had a slim waist and hips. Though his school uniform jacket fit him well, his pants for the corresponding size were quite loose on him. If it was left unattended, he could feel his pants slipping down slowly with every few steps he took. That morning, walking to school had taken a lot of time as he had to keep pulling his pants up the whole way.

“Why don’t you tie it up with a skipping rope? There will be Physical Education classes in the afternoon, so loose pants will be very inconvenient,” Fang Zhao gave him an idea.

“It’s okay, I’ll just pull it up for now, and when I get home, I’ll ask my mom to sew an elastic band for me,” Yu Ran pulled up his pants before sitting down, “Didn’t you just say you wanted to show me something?” 

“Oh, it’s this,” After confirming the teacher’s position, Fang Zhao very cautiously pulled out his phone and put it on Yu Ran’s desk before blocking it with a book, “I saw this post in our school’s Tieba. There’s a group of students from second and third year from our senior high school who want to clean you up, saying that they want to show support to Cai Hanchuan. Many people have already followed the post.”

Yu Ran was holding a small wooden comb, fished out from who knew where, to organize his hair. Hearing what Fang Zhao said, he paused and asked Fang Zhao in surprise: “Who is Cai Hanchuan?”

“The one you had pushed into the Kung Pao Chicken last week! I’m convinced of your memory… You had even written about him in your self-criticism review.”

“Oh.” After suddenly recalling his memory, Yu Ran soon regained his calm demeanor, and continued to use the teeth of the comb to press the hair that was standing up on the top of his head. 

Yu Ran blamed himself for sleeping too much last night and ending up with this hairstyle. When he woke up in the morning and looked in the mirror, he actually saw a small dark brown antenna on his head, shaking in the air. He held it down with his hands and only let go after a long time, but it still managed to pop up tenaciously.

— Even my hair follows my steps. I’m really an indomitable man!

“What to do, someone has already blown up your name and class in the post, saying that they’ll block you this week,” Fang Zhao was obviously more worried than the person concerned, “Do you want to make the first move, so that the surname Cai will be well-behaved?”

The “little antenna” was still swaying from side to side. Yu Ran lost his patience and dropped the comb. He then unscrewed the lid of a mineral water bottle and poured some water into his palm, wiped it on the top of his head and held it down. 

Fang Zhao read everyone’s comments in the post very carefully. After estimating the approximate number of people, he was even more nervous and anxious for Yu Ran: “They’re even mixing with the people from outside, and it seems that there are people from outside the school who want to come over to help Cai Hanchuan. Yu Ran, how many people can you call?”

Yu Ran “gūdōng gūdōng” drank water, swallowed a big gulp, and said straightforwardly: “I’ve always fought one-on-one.”

Fang Zhao looked at him incredulously, “You, you want to fight with so many of them by yourself?”

“Who said I’m going to fight with them,” Yu Ran casually picked up the phone on the desk and handed it back to Fang Zhao, “I don’t fight meaningless fights.” 

“But I read on Tieba…”

“Just let them be,” Yu Ran interrupted Fang Zhao and said softly, “These seniors are just this useless,” he laughed, “Leave them alone. Fang Zhao, help me borrow a mirror.”

“All right,” Fang Zhao quietly asked the girl sitting in the seat in front of him for a mirror.

After Yu Ran got a small mirror, he couldn’t help blurting out: “Fuck—” 

After the hair on the top of his head was moistened with water and then dried, not only did the “little antenna” not return to normal, but it also brought along another handful of hair next to it to curl up. Yu Ran turned his face and saw a small hollow peach heart on his head — simply frustrating!

For the next half day, Yu Ran insisted on covering the top of his head with his palm, afraid that others would see his humiliating hairstyle. Only after he hung his hands down from soreness, did he realize that there was one of his own kind in his class.

“Chu Mian! You’ve got horns on your head!” Yu Ran pointed to Chu Mian’s forehead enthusiastically.

Chu Mian was concentrating on his homework and didn’t have time to pay attention to Yu Ran, so he casually replied, “You also have a tail behind you.” 

“There really is!” Yu Ran picked up the small round mirror and handed it to Chu Mian, and laughing loudly, he said, “Look, you slept on the desk and pressed the hair on your forehead. Now it’s all sticking up, looks so stupid!”

When Chu Mian saw himself in the mirror, his eyes immediately became serious, and he raised his left hand to cover his forehead before continuing to lower his head to write his homework.

Now that Yu Ran felt a sense of belonging, he wandered around with the little peach heart on his head. If he was laughed at by others, he would say that this was Chu Mian’s and his “inductive antenna”, and usually they relied on electric waves to communicate in class.

Of course, no one believed his nonsense. 

From the beginning of the school year to the present, Yu Ran had gradually become accustomed to the normal senior high school life. There were no more frequent fights and brawls in sight, and he rarely heard unpleasant expletives. The teachers were all dedicated to teaching, and the students were more approachable and easy to get along with. The sound of pages flipping inside and outside the building, the fragrant flower beds covered with light golden sunlight; even the trivial things seemed to be heading in the direction he expected.

— If Cai Hanchuan hadn’t appeared once again, Yu Ran would have been able to bring today’s senior high school routine to a successful conclusion.

“Yu Ran, you fucking cunt! Do you dare come over here if I give you the stage?”

Fang Zhao and Yu Ran were walking side by side. Although the two heard the voice coming from upstairs behind them, they didn’t turn their heads. 

Cai Hanchuan was provoking by swearing loudly from the fourth floor window. The surrounding students whispered and some even stopped to watch the fun.

“He’s shouting in the presence of so many teachers, how fucking reckless! In a while, after the big break, they won’t be blocking you in front of the class, will they?” Fang Zhao was a little worried, and turned his face only to find that Yu Ran still looked as if nothing had happened.

Fang Zhao was helpless: “How about I go talk to the homeroom teacher?”

“Don’t give her any trouble. I had promised her last week that I won’t make the same mistake twice,” Yu Ran calmly tore open a packet of Lonely God, and the fresh smell of vegetables wafted up his nose, “I’ve no reason to fight with Cai Hanchuan. I won’t do something as stupid as showing off some power like him.” 

Fang Zhao was first stunned, then could not help but be filled with awe: “Holy shit, it turns out that I had been underestimating you all along, Yu Ran. I thought you were the vindictive type, but you’re more composed than I thought.”

Yu Ran laughed, passed the Lonely God to Fang Zhao for him to take some, and then started to play the profound thinker: “Male Lead No. 9, you should remember, whether a man is really strong doesn’t depend on how many people he has defeated with his fists.”

“— but whether he can still hold on to his beliefs in the face of overwhelming dark forces.”

Fang Zhao was clueless when he heard it: “Which anime is this line from?” 

The two of them were talking when all of a sudden, Fang Zhao’s back was lightly hit by something. He was startled and turned around to see a red coke can rolling on the ground.

Frowning, Yu Ran looked upstairs and found that it really was Cai Hanchuan’s doing. He guessed that the other party had wanted to smash him, but the can deviated from its course in the air and landed on Fang Zhao’s back.

“It’s the first day of wearing this school uniform.” Looking at the cola stains on Fang Zhao’s school uniform, Yu Ran’s face became grave, “You hold this Lonely God, I’ll go and ask him to apologize to you.”

Fang Zhao hurriedly stopped, “No, no, no, it’s okay. If I wash it today, it’ll be dry by tomorrow. Let’s hurry back to class.” 

“I’ll let you hold it,” Yu Ran directly stuffed the snack packet into Fang Zhao’s hand. He glanced outside the window and saw the place where Cai Hanchuan was standing, looking bored, and immediately walked into the school building.

Cai Hanchuan had long been waiting for him here with a few second year boys. If Yu Ran did not come today, they were planning to continue insulting and provoking him tomorrow. As long as this person had a little bit of ego, he would certainly take action against them one day.

“Brother Han, no, Master Han,” the short boy deeply thought about how to address the Boss to make him appear domineering and solemn, and finally came up with a new nickname, “King Han, you said that Yu Ran was unlikely to chicken out, but he hasn’t shown up here even after so long.”

Cai Hanchuan tilted the corner of his mouth and jokingly said, “Get someone to go to check then. I’d like to see just how many people this first year bastard can gather.” 

During more than a year of being the “Flag-bearer” in Chengjun Middle School, Cai Hanchuan had never had such a strong animosity towards anyone as he did now. In terms of strength, no one could beat him, and in terms of background, no one could compare to him as he had the vice principal as his backer. Originally, he was like a fish in water in Chengjun, and he fully deserved the title of “Boss”. Unexpectedly, on the first day of his second year of senior high school, he was robbed of the limelight by a freshman. If he had lost in a fight, he wouldn’t have lost too much face, but the opponent hadn’t done much, just had directly pushed his head into the food, which had caught him off guard.

An entire week had passed since then, but he had still been washing his hair frantically every morning and evening till date, which had almost made his scalp inflamed. Maybe it was because of the psychological effect, he could still vaguely smell the spicy and greasy smell of Kung Pao Chicken. Also, this incident had already spread throughout the second year students, and he didn’t know how many people were making jokes about him behind his back.

“Brother, he’s here.” Several people looked at the figure of the teenager at the end of the corridor and automatically entered a state of war readiness.

Cai Hanchuan took a look, “How many people has he brought?” 

“I don’t know, no one came out from behind…” The short boy pushed his glasses up, “It seems like he has come alone.”

Cai Hanchuan sneered: “He wants to fight one-on-one? All right then!”

While walking towards them, Yu Ran stroked his hair lazily, trying to create a sense of slack for himself, to seem like he had just woken up, and he used this as a pretext to raise his hand to cover the hair on top of his head.

Soon, a few students came forward to surround him, blocking his way out, leaving Cai Hanchuan standing directly opposite Yu Ran, his voice mocking: “Yo, you really dared to come, huh.” 

Yu Ran was a little annoyed when he heard the other party’s strange manner of speaking: “Didn’t you fucking shout for quite a while for me to come? Did you want me to come or not?”

“Are you my dog that you would come when I ask you to come, and do what I tell you to do?” Cai Hanchuan didn’t like that the other party dared to be so aggressive with him, so he wanted to humiliate him some more, “Let’s discuss the last account now. If you kneel down today and say ‘Brother Han, I was wrong, I’m your dog’, I’ll let you go, and can also recognize you as a younger brother, and from now on, the first year will be under your control! — This condition, this brother is really generous, isn’t he?”

“The first year will be under my control?” Yu Ran subconsciously narrowed his eyes and stared suspiciously at Cai Hanchuan, “You want me to be the leader of the first year?”

The good negotiation rhythm was disrupted by the other party’s words, making Cai Hanchuan almost unable to restrain his desire to do something: “…are you a fucking idiot?” 

“Anyway, I’m not interested in managing others,” Yu Ran spoke for himself, “and even less interested in calling you a brother.”

Cai Hanchuan’s eyes were cold and his voice hoarse: “Then you can only be a dog.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the helpers around him began to rub their fists and wipe their palms, eager to have a fight.

At this time, they saw Yu Ran’s palm finally move away from the top of his head, as if to take out some murder weapon from his pocket. 

“Fuck!” Cai Hanchuan realized that he was careless for not expecting this freshman to actually carry a knife with him. In case he was accidentally stabbed, it would be a big deal. He hurriedly winked at the others, trying to get everyone to hold down Yu Ran’s arm, lest the other side take out something powerful.

But they were a step too late. Yu Ran’s hands had already dropped to the sides of his body —

And then in full view of everyone, he pulled up his pants with force.