TWSITAOCP Chapter 23.2

[Last night, YX and YS were together! School was already over, and they were still together! So reluctant to part? I don’t know about the others, but I’ve only ever done something like that with a boy I really liked! kdlkdl ¹]

At first glance, it seemed harmless. Yu Sui had often come across posts like this before and never saw anything wrong with them. He was just surprised that he and Yan Xiu had been photographed together again yesterday.

What was strange, however, were the replies under that post. In such a short time, a small crowd had already gathered.

[Please delete this.]

[Please delete. It’s just a relationship between desk mates. Please don’t misunderstand the relationship between our class’s disciplinary officer and Yu Sui.]

[Aiya, Yu Sui has always been the group’s favorite. No matter who is there, they will help carry the bag.]

[Just brotherhood]

[Please delete.]

[An eyewitness confirms that Bagua² Wen³ was also there—they weren’t alone!]

Yu Sui’s hand twitched, accidentally tapping something. The interface flashed, and a system notification popped up: This content has been deleted after being reported by many people.

Yu Sui: “…”

The young master was utterly bewildered.

With nothing to do in the afternoon, Yu Sui sorted out his schoolbag and somehow took out his homework.

His attitude toward academics depended entirely on his mood. He usually switched between finishing part of his assignments on the first day of break and cramming everything on the last day. It was rare for him to take out his homework on a Saturday afternoon.

He hadn’t drunk himself into amnesia—he remembered clearly how he had been so shameless, pestering Yan Xiu to say he wanted honey water.

Yu Sui lazily leaned against the corner of the bed, counting on his fingers and realizing that he had been unlucky since he’d met Yan Xiu. His luck had taken a nosedive, one setback after another.

Oh well, it’s not the first time I’ve been embarrassed.

Or so Young Master Yu thought so.

Yeah, right.

Even as he tried to convince himself it was fine, he pinned several group chats and pushed Yan Xiu’s chat box down. His scalp tingled at the thought of whether he could even face going to school on Monday.

Students in No. 26 High School generally had a lot of homework, and Class 3 of the Arts Department was no exception.

Yu Sui sat down obediently to do his homework. Before he knew it, he had finished half of them. The auntie came to knock on his door, calling him down for dinner.

Yuan Yu was at home today, following behind the auntie: “Stop playing around and come out to eat first. You’ve been cooped up in your room all day during the break—who knows what you’re doing in there? You don’t even come out to talk to your mother.”

Yu Sui pulled out a box of Monopoly and covered his test paper with it. He stood up to block Yuan Yu and Auntie’s sight: “Aren’t you getting your hair done today…?”

Only Yuan Yu was at home today. Yu Jingyuan didn’t come back, so the meal was very peaceful.

Yuan Yu picked up a piece of food with chopsticks and put it in Yu Sui’s bowl. Suddenly, she remembered something and said, “What a coincidence, your Yan-ge didn’t come to dinner yesterday. Your aunt Tang said he had something urgent to do.”

The sudden mention of “Yan-ge” startled Yu Sui so much that he checked on the meatball he was eating, coughing several times with his hand over his mouth.

“Oh my, how did you manage to choke on that?” Yuan Yu glanced at him.

Yu Sui gulped down two mouthfuls of water and asked, “Why does he have the same last name as Yan Ying?”

Yuan Yu couldn’t understand his reaction: “Don’t you and Xiao Qiu share the same surname? He and Xiao Ying have the same grandparents, and they both have their father’s surname.”

Xiao Qiu was Yu Sui’s cousin.

Yu Sui muttered something like “oh” and went upstairs again after finishing his meal.

He wanted to finish his homework; otherwise, given to his usual habits, he might have to wait until Monday morning to ask Yan Xiu to lend him the rest of the homework.

“He goes up again.” Yuan Yu muttered under her breath.

The Monopoly game pieces were pushed aside, scattered in the toy bucket.

This time, Yu Sui locked the door.

Yuan Yu came up once to deliver some fruit and never came up again.

The evening breeze drifted in through the window, and by the time the sound of a car engine echoed from outside, Yu Sui finally set down his pen.

He stood by the window, watching the car pull into the garage downstairs while shaking out his arms.

His mind felt numb from studying, and his arms were sore from writing. The slight buzz from the previous day’s drinks had been completely buried under the weight of homework, leaving him too dazed to remember what he had intended to do.

He had worked at a relatively fast pace; otherwise he wouldn’t have finished today.

Yu Sui thought for a while, then went to the table, picking up his phone. He took a picture of the homework he had finished and sent it to Yan Xiu.

[I’m done]

Not an extra punctuation mark, not an extra emoji—nothing to betray the young master’s peacock-like, triumphant mood.

A new notification popped up at the top of the screen, indicating that Yang Feiwen really came to find Yu Sui this time.

Yang Feiwen’s words are concise and to the point: [Game? ]

Yu Sui: [Play]

His phone vibrated again—Yan Xiu had replied. Yu Sui tapped to open it.

Ri An: [Only half of the paper is required.]

Yu Sui: “?”

The young master glanced at his desk in confusion and replied: [Which one?]

Ri An: [All of them]

On average, each subject’s worksheet was about a page and half long—no wonder it had taken Yu Sui so long to finish, even running out of ink in his pen. Yu Sui glared at the screen, speechless, and sent six dots.

Yan Xiu was even more speechless than him: [You finished all of it and didn’t notice anything wrong? ]

A thick mockery rolled over from the other side of the screen.

He had.

Class 3’s homework was always posted in the class group chat, but Yu Sui couldn’t be bothered to scroll back and check.

Yu Sui glanced at his arm and suddenly felt it became heavier.

On the other end, Yang Feiwen had waited so long for Yu Sui to log in. He couldn’t stand it anymore and called him: “If you don’t come online, the food’s gonna go cold waiting for you.”

Yu Sui immediately turned on his computer and logged in, putting all the homework into his bag—out of sight, out of mind.

Yang Feiwen started a new game. There was another girl in the voice chat whom Yu Sui didn’t know, with a soft, gentle voice. Her name was Tiantian.

There was also a Liang Wen, and one empty slot left.

Yang Feiwen called out to the girl in the voice chat: “Tiantian, do you have any friends you want to play with?”

Yu Sui was shocked, thinking Yang Feiwen had grown bold enough to tease Yi Tian—the fierce, heroic “Mount Nan warrior” of Class 3.

But Tiantian replied softly, “No, I don’t.”

Only then did Yu Sui realize that this “Tian⁴” was not that “Tian⁵”.

It is said that when Yi Tian⁶ was born, her mother wanted to name her ‘Tian⁷’ at first, but there is a 90% chance that someone on the street had a nickname or given names like “Tiantian⁸”, so Yi Tian’s mother gave up on the idea.

But the character “Tian⁹” sounds like a boy’s name. Yi Tian once said in class that she dreamed of changing her name to Yi Tian¹⁰.

Surprisingly, the sweet class monitor was not even on Yang Feiwen’s list of invitations.

“She’s busy.” Yang Feiwen explained. “She has something to do tonight, and still needs to finish her homework. We can invite her tomorrow.”

Hearing that Yi Tian was busy, Yu Sui inexplicably recalled the deleted reply in that CP thread and felt he had a rough idea what she was occupied with.

“What about you? Do you have any friends you want to invite? If not, we will match one randomly.” Yang Feiwen said.

Liang Wen: “No one.”

Yu Sui fiddled his phone and said, “Wait, I’ll invite someone. He’s free.”

At Yan residence, a girl was lying on the sofa with her tablet in her arms, mumbling something.

She felt a poke on the top of her head, and the tablet in her hand was taken away. A cold voice came from above her: “Finish it quickly.”

“But I’ve been working on it all day.” Yan Ying turned over and got up, saying with a bitter face.

Yan Xiu was unmoved: “You’ve been at it all day and still haven’t finished?”

His mocking gaze swept over her, sharp as a whip and utterly demoralizing.

Yan Ying felt completely devastated and twitched her lips.

The two cousins were polar opposites. Even after entering high school, Yan Ying still hadn’t shaken off her bad habits. Her parents had sent her to Yan Xiu, hoping he would make sure he finished her homework by Saturday.

Being locked up to do homework on Saturday felt like pure torture to average schooler.

Following his past experience with childcare, Yan Xiu had set up a desk for Yan Ying to work and handed the accompanying three-year-old Yan Tian to the housekeeper, and left them to it.

Yan Ying didn’t bother putting up a fight—she knew throwing a tantrum would be useless with Yan Xiu.

“Then answer one question for me, and I’ll finish it right after,” Yan Ying bargained. “I promised I’ll finish it immediately and won’t bother you again.”

Yan Xiu glanced at her and said, “Ask.”

Yan Ying looked at the tablet he had taken “… This morning, I posted a reply following the standard format. Why did so many people come to criticize me?”

Yan Xiu: “…”

He had no idea either.

Yan Ying grumbled, “People from your No. 26 High School are so unfriendly!”

Yan Xiu tapped her homework, his patience wearing thin. “If you can’t finish it before eleven o’clock, I will ask my aunt to sign you up for tutoring classes.”

Yan Ying said: “…You are too cruel.”

To sum up Yan Xiu’s day, it was basically doing homework and taking care of the children. Just as he picked up a book to continue this routine, his phone vibrated. The message was from another “child.”

[Play games?]

Half a minute later, Yan Ying watched Yan Xiu take away all the electronic devices and went upstairs, slamming the door.

The Yan family didn’t have a habit of locking the door, so Yan Ying tiptoed over and saw Yan Xiu sit down, turn on the computer… and start downloading games.

Yan Ying was stunned. She clenched her fingers hard and sent a message to Tang Ying tremblingly: [Aunt, Yan Xiu left me alone and went to play games! ]

Tang Ying was shopping with her friends and didn’t take the message seriously. She knew her son very well—even when she usually urged him to play games with his classmates, he never bothered. This was probably Yan Ying being naughty again.

In the voice channel, it has been quiet for a long time since the empty position was occupied by a cat head.

For a while, only Yu Sui and Yan Xiu’s voices could be heard.

“Do you know the basic operations?” Yu Sui asked.

Yan Xiu paused for a while and said, “Checking.”

This was a genuine newbie just starting out, even though the account was temporarily borrowed from Liang Wen.

Yang Feiwen and Liang Wen, as the main moderators of the CP forum and deputy heads of the fan club, tried hard to lower the heat for the whole day and took great pains to explain that the two of them were just classmates and had never known each other before.

Yet that very evening, they ended up teaming up with them to play games.

Two of them felt it was utterly baffling.

In the voice channel, Yu Sui was comforting Yan Xiu: “It’s okay. It’s just a beginner match anyway.” The girl named Tiantian also chimed in: “Yeah, little brother, I’m not good at this either. We can stick together later.”

Yang Feiwen immediately protested: “Minister, you should follow Sui’er later, and Tiantian should follow me.”

Three other male voices in the voice channel sneered at the same time.

Yan Xiu truly had little experience with this type of game. At first, he was clumsy and slow to react, struggling to make even the simplest moves. He couldn’t remember all the dazzling array of characters and had to learn the operations on the fly.

However, the game’s visuals were appealing, and the scene designs and character aesthetics occasionally sparked inspiration in him. So, even though Yan Xiu played awkwardly, he didn’t dislike the experience.

The character with Yu Sui’s ID basically followed Yan Xiu all the time, covering the microphone and whispering to him who these people were, what skills they had, and how to play.

Young Master Yu’s voice was gentle and smooth, tinged with a nasal tone from deliberately lowering it. Even while gaming, he remained polite, only occasionally letting slip a curse word.

In contrast, Yang Feiwen’s explanation was simple and crude: “Don’t go there! Follow me! Don’t move here, I will avenge you immediately!”

“You’re really getting full of yourself from playing.” Yu Sui muttered, then suddenly heard Tiantian calling him.

Tiantian asked weakly, “Can I follow you?”

Yu Sui fell silent.

He subconsciously glanced at the character Yan Xiu on the screen.

“Minister, how about…” Yu Sui was just about to say that he could go over to help Tiantian and come back to find him later, when he heard Yan Xiu say “hmm” lazily.

Yan Xiu didn’t even wait for him to finish, he just said: “Hurry back.”

The implication was clear: go deal with the chaos caused by Tiantian and Yang Feiwen and return as quickly as possible.

Yu Sui received the order and ran over quickly.

Although he knew that no one could see his movements through the screen, Yu Sui still couldn’t help but speed up.

After a while, he took off his headphones and scratched his ears with his hands.

Itchy.

This day was particularly fulfilling—doing homework during the day and gaming at night. The only thing missing was falling asleep hugging the mouse.

In his over ten years of life, Yu Sui had rarely been this diligent. He posted a moment on social media to commemorate it.

[We won!]

Yang Feiwen replied below: [Winner!]

Soon Liang Wen also came over: [We won!]

Other classmates had no idea what the three of them were up to. An insider revealed in the comments that the trio had been playing games and went to a beginner match to bully new players.

A chorus of boos followed in the replies.

Yu Sui ignored them and sat on the bed holding his phone, trying to fall asleep.

This was probably a bad habit of modern people—no matter whether they had anything to do or not, they fiddled with their phones before bed, exhausting themselves until they felt they had done all they could, only then they could fall asleep.

The little red notification dots kept increasing, one number at a time. Yu Sui accumulated another ten, and suddenly, the rate of increase sped up significantly.

He clicked on it and saw the one in the middle.

Ri An: [Win]

There was a row of question marks neatly arranged below. No one dared to ask the Minister of Discipline Inspection, but this did not stop them from asking questions in a roundabout way.

Yu Sui fell asleep, feeling satisfied.

A new week began.

Yang Feiwen came back from the office and announced, “We’re going to have a fun sports meeting this week!”

The students in the front row of Class 3 Arts craned their necks and said in unison, “Ugh—”

“Another fun sports meeting.” The class monitor buried her head in homework and said without looking up. “Which class are we up against this time?”

“Class 6 Arts.” Yang Feiwen replied. “Don’t be so dejected. It’s still an activity after all.”

The fun sports meeting was actually a large-scale physical education class, where classes drew lots to compete in basketball, table tennis, volleyball and even tug-of-war.

But Class 3 Arts was never short on activities, so they were used to such large-scale “recess” events.

Yang Feiwen clapped his hands: “What’s with the attitude? There is an online event this time. Didn’t we challenge Class 6 Arts to showdown in the canyon?”

“A showdown in the canyon? Who’s going?” Yi Tian said with a laugh. “You, Liang Wen, and our class’s official CP?”

Just as she said this, Yan Xiu and Yu Sui entered the classroom one after another. The CP topic came to an abrupt end, but the lingering gazes were still mysterious.

“What’s all this fuss?” Yu Sui glanced at them.

The young master was too lazy to check the homework log, which meant he had finished several days’ worth of assignments in advance. With nothing to do during the evening self-study, he disappeared in the middle of the first session.

“Where did those two go again?” Liang Wen asked, pointing his chain at the two empty seats as he returned from the restroom.

“Oh, the disciplinary committee went to the student council for a meeting.” said the student who was asked.

Liang Wen nodded, understanding. One went to a meeting, the other skipped class.

When it came to breaking rules at No. 26 High School, no one could compare to Yu Sui. This student was sitting right under the nose of the Minister, yet still managed to skip classes.

Yu Sui hadn’t gone far—just the school store.

The owner brought him a bottle of water and asked casually, “I haven’t seen you around much lately?”

“Yeah.” Yu Sui held up the chopsticks and scraped off splinters. He thought to himself that he’d like to come more often, but circumstances didn’t allow it.

After finishing his meal, he wiped his mouth and went back.

Yan Xiu’s meetings always lasted exactly forty minutes. Occasionally, he’d return twenty minutes early, so Yu Sui couldn’t stay out for too long.

Yan Xiu attended many meetings—either for the student council or the disciplinary committee. If it weren’t for that, Yu Sui would have had a hard time slipping out.

The long, dimly lit corridor of the teaching building was quiet, with brightly lit classrooms seen in the distance.

Yu Sui took the less crowded staircase upstairs, but suddenly paused.

He let out a puzzled “Hmm,” took a few steps back, and turned to glanced at the offices he had just passed on the previous floor.

This area was mostly used for club activity rooms. The student council meeting room was head, as well the disciplinary committee office Yu Sui had once visited.

Now, it was pitch black and deserted.

Yu Sui froze.

His dark eyes scanned the area, feeling as though he had stumbled upon his deskmate’s earth-shattering secret.

After Yan Xiu returned, Yu Sui had been acting strangely.

The young master kept looking at him, as if he had something to say but was unwilling to do so.

Yan Xiu packed his test papers into his backpack and placed his art portfolio inside the desk. He looked at Yu Sui with a look of “what’s the matter with you?”

Yu Sui cleared his throat: “You didn’t actually go to the meeting, did you?”

Yan Xiu looked at him, his thin lips parting slightly as if he hadn’t thought of what to say, and then closed them again, his lips pressed into a line. His brows slightly furrowed.

Yu Sui’s eyes were dark and seemed to be shining. He hesitated and wanted to say something, but for some reason he held back and remained silent. He stared at Yan Xiu, hoping that he could understand the hint from his eyes.

But Yan Xiu was utterly clueless: “You skipped class again?”

At that, Yu Sui truly had no words. He choked back a retort, his ears turning red, and muttered sullenly, “No.”

Yan Xiu said without blinking: “There’s tomato sauce on your nose.”

“Impossible.” Yu Sui shot back without thinking. “I wiped it clean.”

The corners of Yan Xiu’s lips curled up.

Yu Sui was silent for three seconds, before exploding in frustration.

That frustration continued until the day of the fun sports meeting. There were not enough boys in Class 3 Arts, so each person had to be assigned to one or two sports. Yu Sui was dragged into the basketball game.

Yan Xiu, as a key player, received special attention from the PE teacher. The teacher called Yu Sui over as well, patted Yan Xiu’s shoulder, and said to Yu Sui: “You two have a tacit understanding, so cooperate well later. Yu Sui, wake up! This is the only match you can play this semester, so don’t fall asleep!”

By then, the rest of Class 3 Arts gathered around him. Yu Sui struggled to get rid of the teacher’s hand uncomfortably: “How can I have any tacit understanding with him?”

The teacher insisted, “If I say you do, then you do.”

After settling their class, the PE teacher clapped his hands and went over to call the other class to assemble.

Their team members all wore jerseys of the same color over their athletic shirts. Tang Bohu patted Yan Xiu’s arm and said earnestly, “Class monitor, if we win this, I swear I won’t break any rules this whole semester!”

“Me too!” Liang Wen immediately followed.

The commotion grew louder as they all got worked up. Yan Xiu let out a soft scoff, knowing their actions all too well, but he reserved a sliver of trust.

Yu Sui stood under the shade of a tree, looking down at the shrubs as if studying the texture of the leaves. His hair was tied into small tufts at the back of his head, and the skin on his neck was so white that it reflected the light in the bright sun.

Yan Xiu walked over, but before he entered the shade of the tree, he heard Yu Sui say nervously, “Hey—don’t come over here.”

Handsome guys attract attention wherever they go. The reason why the Minister of Discipline Inspection became a celebrity was because of his outstanding appearance. Now, just by changing into a basketball jersey and carrying a ball, he had attracted the attention of girls.

Yu Sui glanced at the audience and felt that he had heard screams. He pointed his thumb backwards: “If you come any closer, they will misunderstand again.”

“Misunderstanding what?” Yan Xiu stopped outside the shade of the tree, raising his hands over his eyes to block the sunlight.

Yu Sui: “What else could there be? Shipping us, of course.”

“…”

It was as if the person who had told Yan Xiu earlier, “Only attractive people get shipped—it’s normal,” wasn’t him at all.

Yan Xiu ignored his nonsense and stepped into the shade.

“Hey hey hey!” Yu Sui hastily retreated and ran out of the shade of the tree.

But he hadn’ t taken two steps before he was yanked back. This jerk definitely had no luck with girls—he grabbed Yu Sui by his little bun. Yu Sui hissed in pain, clutching Yan Xiu’s wrist, only to have his hand caught and pulled back under the shade.

A cold voice sounded from behind his neck: “What does it matter if they ship us? Why are you so nervous?”

The treetops trembled in the wind, shaking loose a handful of green fruits the size of half a finger joint, which pattered down onto the deep red plastic ground.

Yu Sui abruptly withdrew his hand away and quickly glanced at Yan Xiu.

He was baffled himself.

Right—why was he so nervous?

Author’s note: I know I’m late, but it’s still a long chapter!