TWSITAOCP Chapter 25.1

The youth was vibrant, tall and straight, brimming with energy.

The distance between the two figures on the track gradually decreased until they were side by side.

The Director of Moral Education crossed his arms, his lips tightly pressed together.

Yu Sui turned to look at Yan Xiu, hearing him say, “Ten laps.”

The director had clearly said twenty laps, so this “ten laps” made Yu Sui blink nervously.

“Ten laps each,” Yan Xiu added.

This guy was the kind of person the group with the cameras loved to photograph; he maintained an idol group-level composure even while exercising, and his voice always carried a cool edge.

But today, that coolness felt unexpectedly comforting.

At the edge of Yan Xiu’s pocket, the tangled blue badge and armband were faintly visible with the rhythm of his running.

Yu Sui inhaled sharply, the cold air stinging his lungs and startling his entire being.

In the chaotic blur of moving figures, Yu Sui glanced at him again hastily, and the frustration that had built up all afternoon vanished instantly.

“Did you tell him you’ll share the laps for me?”

Yu Sui couldn’t help but ask, “How did he agree? You’re the Minister of the Discipline Inspection Department… that’s inappropriate, isn’t it?”

Yan Xiu: “I took it off.”

Then he added, “Don’t talk while running.”

At the beginning of the month, the season was changing, and the temperature fluctuated unpredictably. A cold wind whistled across the track, and opening one’s mouth meant swallowing a gulp of chilly air—running under such conditions was quite uncomfortable. 

Yu Sui, however, curled his lips.

Everyone in Class Three Arts knew their well-behaved kid had been caught and taken to the track field. No one could retrieve him, so Lao Gu had to go down personally to fetch him.

Yang Feiwen and the others, following behind Old Gu, rushed down and saw two people running on the track. Upon asking, they learned that Yan Xiu had taken half of Yu Sui’s laps. They didn’t care whether such a thing was actually possible, and they swarmed forward insistently: “How could you leave me out of something like running with you?”

Yang Feiwen shouted, “I’m Sui’er’s best friend! Don’t compete with me!”

The girls went wild too, ignoring Yang Feiwen’s claims of being first or second, and squeezed in to run as well, even Lao Gu couldn’t stop them.

The Director of the Moral Education Department’s face twisted in anger: “Is this acceptable? Is this all acceptable? Since when is fighting something to be praised? If everyone acted like them, how can students still have discipline?”

Because of their negative influence, they were sent back, and Yu Sui was even assigned a written self-criticism.

The Director insisted on calling the parents.

“He was so arrogant when I went over there,” the director said.

As he spoke, the young man stood silently next to Lao Gu, with the Minister of the Discipline Inspection Department beside him.

Later, because they couldn’t get through by phone, the matter was temporarily set aside.

This matter caused quite a stir among the arts and sports classes.

The moral education director’s loud voice and relentless persistence played a role in this. Moreover, someone like Yu Sui, a “celebrity” in the school, naturally attracted attention. Sometimes, if the longevity lock on his wrist slipped to his arm, it would be gossiped about all day.

Besides that, the incident was rumored to be related to the selection for the next semester’s art exhibition.

“What’s going on?” Yang Feiwen said anxiously. “Is this the work of some idiot with bloodshot eyes? Don’t hide it from us!”

Yu Sui was trapped near Yuanyang Building, near a blind spot in the surveillance cameras near the wall, where students sometimes escaped by climbing over the wall.

The intruders were outsiders, and they were also in a blind spot. When the Director of the Moral Education Department arrived, he only saw Yu Sui fighting and didn’t catch the three people running away.

The director’s poor eyes made it impossible to see the situation clearly—he only saw Yu Sui grabbing the collar and hitting someone.

Yu Sui was fair-skinned, lazy, and delicate—the kind who seemed pampered and fragile. The intruders probably didn’t expect him to know how to fight, let alone possess such strength. At first, they suffered a bit, but then encountered the Director, they ran faster than anyone else.

Yu Sui wasn’t seriously injured, but he wasted time and ended up with the accusation from the Director.

When Yang Feiwen caught him for questioning, he had just changed out of his soiled school uniform. He lowered his eyes and said, “I was ambushed. That’s all I know.”

The Director of the Moral Education Department had questioned him and also Lao Gu. Yu Sui was exhausted and didn’t want to speak at all. Resigned, he thought: At most, it’s just a demerit. The only hassle will be having to trouble Yu Liao, Yu Si, and Yu Zhen to come to the school.

But the moment that thought crossed his mind, Yu Sui grew even more irritated.

Every member of the Yu Family was fiercely competitive, and the young master Yu was no exception—he cared deeply about his pride.

A long time ago, back when Yu Sui was in elementary school, his older brother and sister took turns picking him up after school. At that time, his classmates were so envious, wishing they could trade places with him. They’d say, “Your brother and sister are so good-looking and impressive.”

Yu Sui felt proud to hear that.

But no one can remain a fledgling under their parents’ wings forever. Yu Sui wouldn’t spend his whole life waiting for someone to pick him up.

Besides, his older siblings were only a few years older and would complain to their parents, “He’s your child, not mine. Don’t always make me keep an eye on him.”

Young people always want to grow up quickly, while adults always complain about the hardships of the grown-up world. Perhaps this is an unchanging rule of life.

“Do you remember the faces of those three people?” Yang Feiwen asked, sitting across from Yu Sui.

It was cold now, and the dorm rules forbade turning on the air conditioning. One of their roommates had gone out to hang out laundry, leaving the balcony door slightly ajar. Yu Sui, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, rubbed his arms and went to close it.

Just then, someone knocked on the door. Yang Feiwen went to open it and saw it was Yan Xiu.

“Good evening.” Yang Feiwen paused for a moment, then quickly made way for Yan Xiu. “He just came out of the shower, and I was asking him if he remembered what those three men looked like.”

The spot where it happened was near a surveillance blind spot. Aside from the director’s blurry eyes and the accounts of the individuals involved, no one knew exactly what had happened.

Now, the Director intended to give Yu Sui a demerit. The only way to avoid it was if they could find evidence proving that the people Yu Sui fought had climbed in from outside the school and had ganged up to ambush him.

“Sui’er! What do those three look like?” Yang Feiwen asked again.

Yu Sui thought for a moment, then uttered the following four words: “Sharp-mouthed and monkey-cheeked.”

Yang Feiwen: “…”

The young master’s categorization of certain types of people was rather simplistic and vague—either “sharp-mouthed and monkey-cheered” or “non-mainstream”.

In reality,those three did dress in a non-mainstream style. They’d gotten hold of school uniforms from No. 26 High School, but the clothes clearly didn’t fit. One of them had a tacky tattoo on his arm, and all three had hairstyles reminiscent of the model heads displayed in roadside barbershops.

Yan Xiu stopped beside Yu Sui, who then noticed he was holding a round green container, like some kind of ointment.

“For me?” Yu Sui held out his hand.

Yan Xiu withdrew his hand, not rushing to give it to him: “Describe them clearly first, then I’ll give them to you.”

Yu Sui: “…”

The young master glanced somewhat helplessly  at the green jar, frowning as he began to recall.

He probably hadn’t expected that even coaxing a jar of medicine from his deskmate would be so troublesome. Propping his chin up, he picked up a pen and scribbled on a piece of scratch paper: “There seemed to be a worm tattoo on the neck? Rainbow-colored hair, wide-set eyes, oh, and there might have been a mole with hair at the corner of the mouth…”

Then, he drew something that resembled a strange creature.

His mumbling tone didn’t sound like he was answering seriously. Seizing the moment when Yan Xiu wasn’t paying attention,, he grabbed Yan Xiu’s wrist and snatched the medicine jar away, muttering, “Just give it to me. Why make it so complicated? You’re such a difficult person..”

The “difficult” Minister Yan silently shot him a glance, then stood up and left.

The classmates speculated that someone had spread the rumor that Yu Sui had been chosen for next semester’s art exhibition. And Yan Sui had overheard it—feeling resentful, he waited to see who caused trouble for Yu Sui.

Lao Gu hadn’t explained the art exhibition in detail to the class yet, fearing it would dampen their moods and affect their performance in the upcoming exams.

But these kids were sharp—they had already figured out the situation.

Last year, the school had lost two experts, leaving only four this year. Each expert mentors two students, meaning there were only eight spots in total, distributed among the four art and sports classes—average two per class.

No one knew where the rumor about Yu Sui being pre-selected had come from. Initially, it was just said that Yu Sui had an extremely high chance of being chosen, given that his vocal music, music theory, and instrument scores were all top. He participated in most competitions and won the most awards.

Back when we were all freshmen, Yu Sui became famous throughout the grade for a video of him performing an instrumental ensemble during a break in military training. Many people still kept that video.

Unsurprisingly, Yu Sui was undoubtedly a leading candidate among the eight.

A few close classmates from Class 3 were still fuming about the matter during lunch in the cafeteria. Yi Tian asked, “Who started the rumor that the art exhibition was funded by Yu Sui’s family?”

“How could that be possible?” a girl said, tugging at a tissue. “Everyone knows this is funded by a university project. Isn’t Yu Sui’s family run in the food and beverage business? What does that have to do with this?”

“Yu Sui was a sure thing anyway. Why would he need to pull strings?” the boy across the table said.

Yang Feiwen slammed the table. “Watch your words. What do you mean by ‘sure thing’? Nothing’s confirmed yet, and our class has more than one candidate. Stop spreading rumors!”

Shu Yi, who had been red-faced and unable to get a word in for a long time, finally got his chance to speak. Fuming, this usually well-behaved student, who had almost never sworn before, struggled for a moment. “Damn it! I swear it really wasn’t me. Do I need to resort to such dirty tricks? Besides, what good would it do me to beat him up?”

“No good,” said Yu Sui, the center of the discussion, who had just finished getting his lunch and came over to defend Shu Yi. “I can confirm it wasn’t Shu Yi.”

The reason for suspecting Shu Yi was that he and Yu Sui often clashed. The whole class knew Shu Yi was not convinced by Yu Sui and always wanted to surpass him. This time, Shu Yi was also a hot candidate, so when the incident happened, many people came to question him.

A small white bandage was stuck on the corner of Yu SuI’s mouth. Finding it ugly, he sat down and removed it immediately.

Yan Xiu sat down next to him. Seeing his movements, he scoffed, “Should I draw you a flower and stick it on?”

“I’m not a girl,” Yu Sui shook his head, then added. “But you can draw me a Rasengan, and I can stick it on the desk.”

The immediate priority was to extricate Yu Sui from this matter and deal with that stubborn, bald old man, the Director of Moral Education.

The Director of the Moral Education Department was constantly criticized by students because he was notoriously strict. Most students in the school had privately complained about him at least once or twice.

Yu Sui, as the person involved, surprisingly spoke up for the Director for the first time: “Don’t be so harsh. He’s just doing his job.”

One of the girls, who was about to join the scolding, glanced at him and, for some reason, asked, “What about Yan Xiu?”

Yu Sui froze, not knowing what to say.

Yan Xiu had removed his badge and armband as the Minister to run along, a move that had truly slapped the director of Moral Education in the face. Now, the director was still nitpicking and targeting Yan Xiu.

The girl, however, covered her face in embarrassment: “Ah, sorry, I just got too carried away.”

Yu Sui snapped out of it, smiled faintly, and said nothing.

In truth, Yu Sui’s disciplinary warning still hadn’t been issued. Lao Gu intervened, and because the individuals involved that day hadn’t been identified, the Director was also afraid of wrongly accusing someone.

However, writing a self-criticism was unavoidable.

The day passed uneventfully, with the entire class immersed in the anxious, last-minute cramming atmosphere of self-study.

Under Yu Sui’s desk lay a comprehensive liberal arts exam paper, a math paper on top, and a supplementary textbook next to it. He chewed on the end of his pen, holding a draft notebook, rocking his chair back and forth as he pondered how to write his self-criticism.

The young master had always maintained a well-behaved persona, and he could count his self-criticisms on one hand. The most recent instance was back in elementary school when he won too much money playing cards with a classmate, making the other kid cry and drawing the teacher’s attention.

Yan Xiu entered the room carrying a stack of assignments. He placed it on the class monitor’s desk and returned to his seat. Instead of sitting down, he retrieved two items from his desk drawer.

Yu Sui glanced at the items and abruptly asked, “Another meeting?”

Ever since accidentally discovering the office door unlocked that one time, Yu Sui had uncovered the Minister’s shocking secret: the probability of his deskmate actually attending a meeting was as uncertain as Schrödinger’s cat. Unless you followed him, no one could be sure whether he was really in a meeting.

After all, he was the Minister, and the chosen successor to the student council president. If he said he was going to a meeting, he could arrange one on the spot.

In the past, Yu Sui had never been curious about where Yan Xiu went. Whenever Yan Xiu was absent, it was his chance to slip out and “get some air”. But today, he was unusually curious.

Unfortunately, Yan Xiu had no intention of telling him.

Yan Xiu reached out and snatched the pen from Yu Sui’s mouth. “Take some time to buy a new pen.”

As the semester drew closer, many students in Class 3 Arts were experiencing a “pen shortage.” The pens they’d stocked up at the beginning of the semester were running out of ink, and the sound of people asking for pens to borrow could be heard around the classroom every day.

Yu Sui had also run out of them. He’d asked Yan Xiu to borrow a few times, but Yan Xiu always told him to look for them in his bag. Yu Sui kept taking the same pen, and to this day, hasn’t remembered to buy a new one.

“Buy one for me when you go to your meeting.” Yu Sui fiddled with his fingers, grabbing another pen from Yan Xiu’s desk.

The young master had already tacitly accepted that Yan Xiu wasn’t going to a meeting.

Yan Xiu lightly tapped at his notepad with the pen in his hand, feeling a slight headache.

At the school gate, the security guard leaned his head out and saw a young man standing outside.

It was cold lately, and the windows of the security office were usually closed to prevent drafts.

“Going for another check-up?” the security guard said.

“Yes.”

Yan Xiu slipped a red entry-and-exit slip through the gap in the window.

The security guard took it, glanced at it, and handed it back. “Hurry back. It gets dark early these days, and it’s not safe out there.”

The young man’s eyes flickered with uncertainty, a faint, mocking smile tugging at his lips. “I know.”