Chapter 7
#Xu Jingyou was completely unprepared as a person suddenly filled his arms.#
@CanyonNo1Sakuragi: Di di di, calling Crater, calling Crater.
@Crater: ?
@CanyonNo1Sakuragi: You should answer “Crater receives.”
@Crater: …
@Crater: Crater receives.
@Crater: It’s class time right now, how are you sending me messages?
@CanyonNo1Sakuragi: We have self-study this period, the teacher isn’t here.
@CanyonNo1Sakuragi: Besides, if you aren’t checking your phone, how do you know I’m sending you messages?
Xu Jingyou: “…”
Cough cough cough. “Xu Jingyou, come up and answer this question.” On the podium of Grade 1, Class 3, the math teacher knocked the triangle ruler heavily against the blackboard, reminding the drowsy students to focus.
The boy whose name was called looked up. Unhurriedly, he stuffed his phone into his desk drawer and stood up to walk to the podium.
He picked up a piece of chalk, studied the geometry problem on the board for a few seconds, and quickly began to write the answer. Not only did he answer quickly and correctly, but he also provided three different methods of solution, the last of which was completely beyond the syllabus and not found in high school reference keys at all.
The math teacher was both happy and had a headache. “Xu Jingyou, go back to your seat. I know you’ve mastered what’s being taught in class, but you can read books for other subjects. Don’t play on your phone; the vibration affects other students!”
Xu Jingyou gave an en. “Okay. I’ll put it on silent next time.”
“…” The math teacher was speechless and quickly waved him off the podium—out of sight, out of mind.
When he returned to his seat, a few more messages popped up on Xu Jingyou’s screen.
@CanyonNo1Sakuragi: Why aren’t you replying?
@CanyonNo1Sakuragi: Calling Crater, calling Crater, Crater please reply if received!
@CanyonNo1Sakuragi: Damn, don’t tell me you got caught secretly playing on your phone by the teacher.
@Crater: Crater receives.
@Crater: I never play on my phone secretly. I play openly and honestly.
A “puppy fainting” sticker popped up on the screen.
Xu Jingyou stared at the expressive sticker and couldn’t help but reveal a faint smile. Raven-black bangs fell across his forehead; the eyes behind the lenses simply couldn’t bear to look away, reading through this utterly boring chat log over and over again.
Ever since the two exchanged WeChats, Yuan Man would come to harass Xu Jingyou from time to time. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes between classes, sometimes before bed—as long as the mood struck Yuan Man, he would pester Xu Jingyou to chat for “two bucks’ worth.”
The topics were all over the place: The new milk tea shop has a buy-one-get-one-free on toppings, a puppy by the roadside sleeping on its back, smelling delicious fried cakes on the way to school but having no time to buy them, the PE teacher is “sick” again and the class was taken by the Chinese teacher… Any trivial, ordinary little thing sounded so interesting coming from Yuan Man.
Every time he received a message from Yuan Man, Xu Jingyou’s replies were concise, yet no matter how brief, he never ignored a single one.
Sometimes, Yuan Man didn’t just send text messages but would attach a blurry photo.
His secretly purchased palm-sized phone had terrible pixel quality, giving the photos a natural hazy filter. Xu Jingyou looked at them again and again, saving every single one.
@CanyonNo1Sakuragi: Enough nonsense, I’m looking for you for official business!
@CanyonNo1Sakuragi: [Shared a Photo]
@CanyonNo1Sakuragi: Here, this is a question from our Grade 2 math self-test. The reference answer says ABD, but no matter how I calculate option B, it’s wrong. Is the reference answer incorrect?
Logically speaking, a Grade 2 xuezhang asking a Grade 1 xuedi a math problem was truly upside down, but neither the asker nor the asked felt anything was amiss.
Yuan Man trusted Xu Jingyou too much; he didn’t believe there was any math problem in the world that could stump him.
Xu Jingyou enlarged the photo on the screen, picked up scratch paper to copy down the question, and calculated rapidly.
This was the final question of the multiple-choice section and was indeed difficult. Xu Jingyou deduced each answer one by one, proving that answer B was indeed problematic.
He organized the solution process, copied it out neatly again, and picked up his phone to take a picture to send to Yuan Man.
At the exact moment he pressed the shutter button—a blinding flash went off!
The next second, a chalk nub flew furiously from the podium, accurately hitting Xu Jingyou’s desk. “—Xu Jingyou, get out and stand in the hallway!!”
Xu Jingyou: “…”
Holding his phone, he thought, If I tell the teacher I was really doing a math problem, would he believe it?
In just the span of a ten-minute break, the earth-shattering gossip of “Grade 1 Academic God openly provoking the teacher in class” spread throughout the entire Normal U Attached High.
As for how he provoked him, some said Xu Jingyou suddenly shouted in class, “Teacher, with your level you can’t teach me!” then flipped his desk and left. Others said Xu Jingyou lost a game of Truth or Dare and jumped onto the podium to sing and dance during questions. Still others said Xu Jingyou was caught playing on his phone…
Of course, no one believed the last reason. Please, Xu Jingyou was a well-deserved good student. How could a good student play on a phone? He probably still used a phone watch even now.
Regardless of how the rumors swirled in the school, upon hearing the gossip, Yuan Man ran to the Grade 1 teachers’ office to stake it out immediately.
Like a thief, he pressed his ear against the door, finally catching a few fragmented words through the crack.
“Xu Jingyou, you this time… self-reflection… next time don’t… phone… parents…”
Yuan Man scratched his ears and cheeks, wanting to hear more clearly, wishing he could shrink, shrink, shrink until he was small enough to drill through the crack in the door.
Just as he was trying hard to transform into a tiny mosquito, the door opened.
Yuan Man stumbled headfirst inside, falling precisely into the arms of the boy who was walking out.
The tall, slender boy was completely unprepared as a person suddenly filled his arms. However, his body recognized Yuan Man one step faster than his mind, and he reflexively reached out to hold Yuan Man’s waist.
Yuan Man’s waist was lean and powerful; he loved sports, and the whole person was like a flopping carp.
Xu Jingyou steadied him. “Xuezhang, why are you here?”
The big carp in his arms rubbed his bumped head and looked up at him. “Didn’t I hear that you, Princess, were in prison? I rushed over to be the hero saving the beauty!”
Xu Jingyou: “…I am the ‘beauty’?”
“Otherwise?” Yuan Man said. “You aren’t ugly, so of course you’re the ‘beauty’!”
Xu Jingyou: “Why can’t you be the ‘beauty’?”
Yuan Man jumped in fright. “That won’t do! I’ve been the king of the kids since I was small. Playing house with girls, I was the dad; playing war with boys, I was the general. I can only be the hero, not the beauty!” He looked at Xu Jingyou again, speaking with great pity, “Look at you—skin so white, eyes so nice, hair kind of long. You look so much like a girl. Too bad you’re too tall. If I met you a few years earlier, I definitely would have made you play my General’s Wife.”
Looking at the solemn Yuan Man, Xu Jingyou couldn’t help thinking, It’s best we met now.
If they had met a few years earlier, given his round physique back then, he couldn’t have been the General’s Wife—he probably wouldn’t even have qualified as the General’s messenger boy.
It was currently lunch break. The two left the teachers’ office, walking side-by-side toward the cafeteria. Yuan Man knew Xu Jingyou had his phone confiscated and had to write a self-reflection essay because of him, so he felt very guilty and insisted on treating him to a stir-fry meal at the cafeteria.
Xu Jingyou, however, cared about something else. “I’m sorry. Too much time was wasted today; I’m afraid we can’t read Slam Dunk together.”
For him, hiding in the corner of the library with Yuan Man every noon to read manga, listening to Yuan Man narrate his favorite stories with such emotion—this was absolutely the most beautiful time in his dull high school life.
“Read what?” Unexpectedly, Yuan Man said, “We’ve been reading for two weeks; we already finished the manga!”
“Finished?”
“Yeah!” Yuan Man replied. “Yesterday I told you the last volume. In the National Tournament, the Shohoku basketball team stopped at the top eight.”
Xu Jingyou thought he heard wrong. “But they haven’t won the National Championship yet.”
He had assumed he would welcome Shohoku’s victory with Yuan Man, watching the protagonists lift the championship trophy together.
It should have been a very long, beautiful, and twisting campaign. They should have had lots and lots of time to reach the ending.
“Aiya, you don’t understand.”
Yuan Man frowned deeply, shaking his head profoundly. At the same time, he held two fingers to his lips pretending to hold a cigarette, “took a drag,” and slowly “exhaled.”
He spoke with an air of old age and wisdom: “Xuedi, remember this: the word ‘youth’ is full of regrets. Just like Shohoku High didn’t win the championship, and just like Hanamichi Sakuragi didn’t end up with the person he liked.”
“…”
Yuan Man thought his consolation would cheer Xu Jingyou up, but it backfired. The corners of Xu Jingyou’s mouth visibly dropped 0.1 degrees, and he looked even gloomier.
Eh! Yuan Man hadn’t expected Xu Jingyou to like Slam Dunk this much.
But Yuan Man understood him.
When Yuan Man first saw the ending of Slam Dunk as a child, he cried for three days and three nights, always hoping the artist would continue the story.
If not for that, he wouldn’t have been scammed into buying that fan-made Slam Dunk: The Sequel at the flea market, only to see Rukawa and Sendoh do this and that… Stop, stop, stop. Halt. Can’t think about that anymore.
Yuan Man stopped walking, pressed both hands on Xu Jingyou’s shoulders, and forced him to turn toward him. “Little Student Xu, you have now finished reading Slam Dunk and completed the arduous task Xuezhang gave you.
“Next is the moment of your test—I have already submitted an application to join the Anime Club in your name. Tomorrow after school, Yang Meng will interview you personally!”
[Author’s Note] Yuan Man’s focus: Wuwuwuwu Shohoku High didn’t win the championship! [Explosive Crying]
Xu Jingyou’s focus: The male lead didn’t get together with his secret crush… [Chin rest] [Chin rest]
…
Next up, the first mysterious “Secret Admirer” is about to debut!
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