By this time, Xing Wu and his group had walked into the school. Many of the students who were supposed to be in evening self-study had come down, while the rest were craning their necks to watch. Qing Ye fearlessly walked right up to stand in front of Xing Wu, blocking his path.

Xing Wu stared at her in surprise, and when he saw the anger in her eyes, he slightly furrowed his brows and said in a deep voice, “Are you sure you want to stand in my way?”

With his hands in his track pants pockets, his whole demeanor was unusually calm. Qing Ye’s lips immediately curved into a sneer: “You think I’m afraid?”

Xing Wu turned his head and laughed carelessly, then gradually suppressed his smile as he stared at her: “Do you know what happens when you hang around people like us? Before noon tomorrow, school leaders will take turns questioning you. Haven’t you thought about the consequences?”

The guy with dyed yellow hair hurriedly chimed in: “Yeah, Qing Ye, you should leave quickly. Don’t let any teacher see you with us. If anyone asks about the students from other schools tomorrow, just say you don’t know and push it onto us.”

Qing Ye blew at her bangs and looked up at Xing Wu with a cold smile. She suddenly stepped closer to him and told him word by word: “Do you think others’ opinions of me can affect my grades, or stop me from getting into a top university? Heh, you’re underestimating me.”

The last rays of sunset fell on her determined face, and at that moment, it was as if she radiated brilliance. Xing Wu’s heart skipped a beat. He had never seen someone so confident before – confident as if the future was in her hands, as if she could control everything and wouldn’t deviate even slightly because of others.

He turned his head slightly and said to Yellow Hair and the others: “You guys go ahead.”

After speaking, he walked towards the bike shelter. Yellow Hair and the others dispersed, and Xing Wu’s figure disappeared into the night. Those who had been watching from upstairs, seeing there was nothing more to see, withdrew to continue their evening self-study.

When Qing Ye walked into the bike shelter, Xing Wu was sitting on a bicycle. In the darkness, his figure was tall and slender, and between the flickering glow of his cigarette, his black eyes watched her intently.

Qing Ye walked to face him, leaning against another bicycle as she looked at him. There were several seconds of silence before Qing Ye spoke first: “Didn’t you want to keep your distance from me? Why did you step in just now?”

Xing Wu took a drag of his cigarette and said flatly: “Yellow Hair told you?”

Xing Wu could figure out what had happened even without thinking. No wonder Qing Ye had deliberately provoked him that night, asking him to teach her to ride a balanced bike at school.

His voice carried a hint of coldness: “So you deliberately led them to the back gate, so certain that I would intervene?”

Qing Ye slowly folded her arms and raised her eyes slightly. The result had already proven that she had indeed been certain.

Xing Wu’s brows creased: “You’re playing with fire.”

Qing Ye turned her head to look outside the shelter. In the dim light, her pure features combined with that sarcastic smile made her seem like a perfect angel’s shell housing an unknown little devil. When Xing Wu first met her, he only thought she was a spoiled and naive young lady who didn’t understand the world or its hardships, after these many days, he gradually discovered she wasn’t as simple as she appeared on the surface. At the very least, she could quickly adapt to this quagmire and stubbornly seek out survival in the cracks. That bold tenacity was undoubtedly a fatal attraction for Xing Wu.

After a long while, she withdrew her gaze, her expression gentle and charming, with a faint smile on her lips meeting the soft autumn evening. Xing Wu’s fingers holding the cigarette tightened slightly.

She suddenly spoke: “I just want to study properly, but I can’t help being too eye-catching. People won’t leave me in peace. What should I do?”

Xing Wu suddenly laughed. If anyone else had dared to say “can’t help being too eye-catching” in front of him, they would have been beaten up long ago. But Qing Ye said it so matter-of-factly that he couldn’t argue at all.

She stared at him steadily, her tone carrying dissatisfaction: “You think keeping my distance from you guys would mean I’d have no troubles? You saw it yourself – I don’t look for trouble, but trouble finds me. My abilities don’t allow me to keep a low profile.”

Xing Wu lowered his head slightly, his smile spreading as he looked at her: “Have you thought it through? Being identified by school leaders as close to us won’t do you any good.”

Qing Ye looked at him disdainfully: “I, Qing Ye, don’t need anyone’s favor to set new records as the top student in your county.”

The street lamp suddenly lit up outside the shelter, its warm light falling on her profile. The confident, bold look in her eyes reflected in Xing Wu’s pupils, hitting his heart. He lowered his head to take a final drag of his cigarette before stubbing it out, then suddenly walked towards Qing Ye. His tall figure loomed before her, blocking out all the light.

He slowly bent down, and Qing Ye suddenly felt his presence envelop her, carrying an unstoppable invasiveness. Her heart began to race as she heard him say: “You’re planning to seek shelter under a big tree, but haven’t you considered this tree might bring you more troublesome things?”

Qing Ye raised her head to meet his gaze and said flatly: “I can’t think of anything more troublesome than living at your house and transferring to this awful school.”

Xing Wu’s lips curved into a smile. In the stuffy early autumn evening, Qing Ye looked into his powerful black eyes and felt her breathing become irregular for the first time. Irregular? Because of a good-for-nothing cousin with no blood relation, a local gang leader? This was too unscientific, but at this moment his gaze indeed held some unknown magic that left her unable to move. She just remained still, holding her breath as she stared back at him without the slightest relaxation.

At that moment, Qing Ye felt confused. She didn’t know why Xing Wu was looking at her like this, or why he was maintaining this standoff without speaking. She didn’t even know what he was thinking right now or how long he planned to keep staring at her. But when her eyes fell on his slightly pursed lips, she suddenly turned her head away awkwardly.

Finally, Xing Wu let out a slow, cold laugh and took out his phone to call Yellow Hair: “Come to the back gate.”

After speaking, Xing Wu walked out of the bike shelter swinging his shoulders. Qing Ye turned to ask him: “Where are we going?”

“To eat,” Xing Wu replied without looking back. Hearing footsteps following behind him, he glanced sideways at Qing Ye: “Why are you still following me?”

Qing Ye turned her face away and said: “To go out to eat with you. Or should I go back to your house to film ‘Change of Life’?”

“…”

Qing Ye finally understood why Xing Wu rarely went home to eat – it was because the food outside was so good. When she sat down with the group of delinquent boys at a roadside night market stall, Qing Ye didn’t feel the least bit uncomfortable. She discovered her adaptability was quite strong. Two months ago when she first came to Anzi County, she would tremble at the sight of tattooed men in the electronics street. Perhaps after spending so much time with Yellow Hair and the others, in this short period, she could now sit and eat with these people without any sense of discord.

Of course, she knew that her sense of security came from the person sitting beside her. If Xing Wu weren’t present, she couldn’t possibly stay with this group. Qing Ye called this subtle sense of security cheap familial affection. Although she didn’t want to acknowledge this convenient relative, who could blame him when he could protect her at school?

However, while Qing Ye felt completely natural, this table of delinquent boys had been strangely restrained since sitting down. Mainly because they usually hung out as just a group of guys, making jokes freely and telling dirty stories casually. Today suddenly there was a girl, and she was the recently transferred top student who had become famous at Anzhong. For these guys, this type of girl was only to be admired from afar, not to be trifled with.

If you asked them to fool around with some bad girls, they would have no problem being uninhibited. But faced with a good girl like Qing Ye, a model student type, the group of boys indeed felt somewhat unnatural. They also couldn’t figure out how she and Brother Wu knew each other.

However, Yellow Hair was much more familiar with Qing Ye compared to the others. As soon as Qing Ye sat down, she looked around and asked him: “Where’s our class monitor?”

Yellow Hair took a drag of his cigarette and said: “He went to evening self-study.”

Qing Ye was somewhat surprised: “He attends evening self-study?”

Yellow Hair told her: “Panghu is different from us. His family has some expectations for him, wanting him to at least get into a technical college.”

This was the first time Qing Ye had heard about this. Suddenly thinking of his name, she laughed: “What were his parents thinking? Giving him a name like Fan Tong?”

Xing Wu finished writing the barbecue order and handed it to the owner, then turned his head with a smile: “Have you considered that his family might have chosen a name based on his appearance?”

Everyone at the table laughed, and Qing Ye’s eyes curved: “However, I don’t quite understand your standards for choosing class monitors.”

Zhang Kai from Class 4 across from her explained: “Class monitors are democratically elected by classmates. In Class 2, Brother Wu led the vote for Panghu, and who would dare not follow?”

Qing Ye turned her head in surprise: “So you’re installing your people as class cadres, colluding together?”

Xing Wu half-smiled as he rinsed a glass with hot water, poured some cola, and placed it in front of Qing Ye: “You think this is ‘Infernal Affairs’? I’m just giving the fat guy something to do. It won’t hurt to say he was a class cadre when applying for college. Besides, Old Witch isn’t stupid.”

Qing Ye gradually discovered that while Xing Wu might be fierce, he was quite loyal to those around him.

Yellow Hair continued: “Yeah, in our schools, especially the graduating classes, if you let quiet good students be class monitors, see who would listen to them.”

Qing Ye took a sip of cola, understanding the meaning. Just from this week’s classes, those rebellious non-mainstream students in class needed a class monitor like Panghu to keep order. Otherwise, it would probably be difficult to get others to cooperate even with turning in assignments. Teacher Yang naturally considered this point, which was why she chose someone like Panghu as her right-hand man. The schools here were different from where she used to be, from the atmosphere to the rules.

Qing Ye had been here for some time now, and she found that the people who hung around Xing Wu were quite diverse, including both dropouts and troublemakers from school.

For example, the boys sitting at this table now were from different grades and classes, but they were all essentially the class tyrants of their respective classes. As for why these people from different grades and classes could hang out together, Qing Ye called it birds of a feather flocking together. So what did it mean that she was sitting with them now? She secretly raised an eyebrow – she could only say she was starving today.

She had known Yellow Hair for so long, and they always just called him Yellow Hair, without using his real name. So after the barbecue arrived, Qing Ye took a lamb skewer and turned to ask Yellow Hair: “What’s your name?”

Yellow Hair was stunned for a moment, and the people around all laughed quietly. Yellow Hair lowered his head and looked a bit embarrassed, making Qing Ye’s eyes curve: “What kind of good name is so mysterious?”

Yellow Hair didn’t like to mention his name, so people around never called him by it. Qing Ye turned to look at Xing Wu, who said with a faint smile: “Hao Chenggong.”

“…” Uncle Hao’s wishes were very straightforward.

A guy nicknamed Wolf Dai from Class 1 next door suddenly brought up what happened at the school gate, interjecting: “What do you think Da Cao meant earlier? From what he said, it sounds like he’s planning to pursue Qing Ye?”

At the mention of Da Cao, the table of boys started cursing, probably due to the inherent incompatibility between Anzhong and Anzhi. Zhang Kai angrily burst out: “Look at that bastard’s face. If Brother Wu hadn’t been there, who knows how arrogant he would have been. The Anzhi people are scared of Brother Wu now, Da Cao has to think twice when he sees Brother Wu.”

Qing Ye turned to look at Xing Wu, who kept his eyes lowered, tapping his fingers on the edge of his wine glass, saying dismissively: “What’s there to worry about? Most guys probably couldn’t last three days dating her before going crazy.”

The group stared at Qing Ye in bewilderment, feeling that Brother Wu’s words contained huge implications. Hearing this, Qing Ye immediately glared at Xing Wu: “What’s wrong with me?”

Xing Wu looked at her lazily from the corner of his eye: “With your self-care abilities, if you were someone else, would you want to date yourself?”

Qing Ye slammed down her chopsticks: “Are you kidding? Who would dare to think about it? Who would have that kind of blessing?”

“Hahahahaha…”

The night market stall suddenly erupted in laughter, with Wolf Dai across the table spraying out a mouthful of wine. Xing Wu shook his head as his lips curved into a smile.

Qing Ye’s confidence mixed with a touch of straightforward cuteness made the group of boys find her increasingly interesting. However, just when the conversation was at its most lively, she suddenly stood up, shouldered her bag, and said to everyone: “I’m full. Take your time eating.”

This attitude of leaving whenever she wanted was quite willful. Yellow Hair raised his head in surprise: “You’re leaving already?”

Qing Ye nodded: “Mm, I’m going back to do practice problems.”

At this point, the table of poor students realized she was different from them. She was a good student after all, able to stop and leave even in such a lively atmosphere. This self-discipline left the table of boys in awe.

After shouldering her bag, Qing Ye kicked Xing Wu’s chair. Xing Wu glanced at her from the corner of his eye as she stood quietly behind him, looking at him.

Xing Wu looked away, picked up his wine glass, and downed it, then slowly stood up and said to Yellow Hair: “This meal’s on me. Keep eating, I’ll transfer you the money tonight.”

After speaking, he turned and glanced at Qing Ye, and the two walked away one after another.

The group of boys found Xing Wu and Qing Ye’s relationship increasingly puzzling as they watched their departing figures. Zhang Kai drew in a breath and couldn’t help saying: “What do you think is the relationship between our Brother Wu and that good student? Don’t you think they seem unusual? But how would a good student get together with Brother Wu? Yellow Hair, do you know?”

Yellow Hair put on a deeply mysterious expression and cursed: “Don’t talk nonsense. Didn’t you hear what Qing Ye said in front of Da Cao and them? That’s their relationship.”

The group’s faces stiffened as they burst out in unison: “Little brother?”