Just in Time Chapter 22
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 22: Provocation
The midterm exam results came out quickly.
The score sheet was posted at the door, and the classmates rushed to see it. Yun Fang disliked the crowd and stayed in his seat reading a book of perfect-score college entrance exam essays.
“Yun Fang!” Yi Chenliang squeezed out of the crowd and shouted at him, “You scored 602! Your rank in the grade is 316! Our class rank is 15!”
Yun Fang was not surprised. He had improved by 60 points from the last monthly test, and the questions were not done in vain. He looked up and asked, “What about you?”
“I’ll go and check again.” Yi Chenliang squeezed back into the crowd.
When he came back, Yi Chenliang said with a lack of enthusiasm, “I scored 508, ranked 396.”
Yun Fang leaned back to let him sit down, and heard Yi Chenliang puzzledly say, “Are you still deliberately suppressing your score?”
Yun Fang, who had been working hard every day to do questions and had finally scored 600 points, said, “…Don’t force me to beat you.”
Yi Chenliang leaned over to look at the book in his hand, “Diligence Makes Up for Deficiency? Diligence is the cornerstone of our struggle…”
Yun Fang pushed him aside with one hand on his head, “If you want to read, just read, don’t read it out loud.”
“I’ll take a look–” Yi Chenliang laughed and grabbed his wrist, wanting to lean over to look again, but his gaze suddenly paused.
On the edge of that page, someone had written a name with a ballpoint pen, neat and elegant, exactly the same as Yun Fang’s handwriting. That name was “Song Cun.”
Yi Chenliang unconsciously frowned, his smile faded.
He didn’t know when he started to dislike this name.
But for some unknown reason, he pointed at the name written on it and pretended to be natural, “Yun Fang, why did you write this?”
Yun Fang saw it and was stunned for a moment. This book was pulled out from the bookcase by him. The handwriting on it had faded a bit. It should have been written by the original owner.
Seeing him in a daze, Yi Chenliang’s eyes gradually darkened, and he closed the book and threw it into the desk hole.
“I haven’t finished reading it yet.” Yun Fang reached out to take it, but Yi Chenliang grabbed his wrist and pulled him up.
“You read books every day, aren’t you afraid of becoming a bookworm?” Yi Chenliang smiled at him, “Come with me to the supermarket to buy a pen.”
Yun Fang was helplessly dragged to the supermarket by him, and he also fed him a sausage.
“Is that one corn?” Yi Chenliang took a bite of his own, and then looked eagerly at the one in his hand.
Yun Fang handed the sausage to him with a bit of amusement, “Want to taste?”
Yi Chenliang didn’t take it, but leaned over to take a bite, his gaze fell on Yun Fang’s slightly reddened lips, and his Adam’s apple unconsciously swallowed.
Yun Fang tugged, but couldn’t move it, and glared at him unhappily, “Yi Chenliang, are you a dog? If you’re not biting chopsticks, you’re biting sticks?”
Yi Chenliang loosened his mouth a bit aggrievedly, “I accidentally bit it.”
Yun Fang knocked on his forehead, looking at the sausage that was instantly half gone, both angry and amused, “Hurry back, class is about to start.”
Yi Chenliang licked the corner of his mouth, his back molars slowly grinding the corn kernels in the sausage, staring straight at Yun Fang’s back, like a hungry wolf cub confirming that the food was harmless, finally couldn’t wait to reveal its sharp fangs.
Yun Fang seemed to feel something and turned his head, only to see Yi Chenliang laughing and catching up, “Wait for me!”
After the midterm exam, Yun Fang was called to the office again without exception. The teachers finally began to doubt whether his grades were due to temporary resentment or mistakes. After all, there have been examples of hurting Zhongyong since ancient times, and the gap between high school knowledge and junior high school knowledge was still quite large.
(T/N: hurting Zhongyong refers to the story ‘The Pity of Zhongyong,’ a talented prodigy in his childhood. However, because he did not study and keep up his knowledge, Zhongyong became an unknown mediocre person as an adult.)
But the teachers also saw Yun Fang’s daily efforts, could only sigh a few words of pity and regret, comforted him a few words, and then encouraged him to continue to work hard.
Except for Yun Fang’s former head teacher, Old He.
This provincial-level excellent teacher who taught in the top class still insisted that it was a problem with Yun Fang’s mentality, and believed that this competition student who was entrusted with high hopes could still return to his hands.
“Pay attention to learning methods, don’t bury your head in dead study!” Old He, who was middle-aged, had a beer belly and a Mediterranean as usual, holding his thermos cup and advising Yun Fang with heartfelt words. “I have communicated with several teachers, you are now too tense, you have to see the essence of the problem, the knowledge you learn is a tool, you use it to solve problems, you see how the person who throws you the problem thinks…”
Yun Fang stood there listening seriously, and it seemed that another voice sounded in his ears.
‘You hold a gun… to kill… to protect yourself… or to protect others… the speed of firing is different…’
‘Yi Chenliang… what you need to solve is not the trouble… it’s the person who causes the trouble…’
“What are you thinking about!?” Old He slapped the table suddenly.
Yun Fang blinked, showing a clever smile. Old He, who was about to scold someone, swallowed all his words and patted his shoulder, “You have a talent in physics, don’t waste it.”
Yun Fang came out of the office, the windows in the corridor were wide open, and he could see the platanus orientalis downstairs. After the fall, the weather got colder and colder, the dry yellow leaves on the platanus orientalis were blown off by the wind, desolate and cold.
He didn’t like autumn. When he came out of the juvenile detention center that year, it was such a weather, yellow leaves falling and cold wind piercing the bones. He was carrying a shriveled bag, the big iron door behind him closed with a bang, he looked around, and for a moment he didn’t know where to go.
“Yun Fang!” Someone from behind grabbed his shoulder.
Yun Fang was pulled forward by him, and the lingering chill was scattered all at once.
He tore Yi Chenliang off him, “What are you doing down here?”
The teacher’s office was on the third floor, which may be the quietest floor in the entire teaching building, and students usually stay far away.
“You haven’t been back to the classroom for a long time, I came to see.” Yi Chenliang followed him upstairs, “Did you get scolded?”
“No.” Yun Fang’s words hadn’t fallen yet when the person behind him grabbed his wrist, heavily wanting him to drag him upstairs.
Yun Fang dutifully pulled the person up.
He found that since he had stayed at Yi Chenliang’s place for two nights, the little guy had become more and more clingy, as if he had recognized him as a father.
Yun Fang was once very pleased with this guess, so even if he didn’t like others sticking to him, he still tacitly allowed Yi Chenliang’s behavior, after all, who would dislike the other self?
Yi Chenliang had no idea that Yun Fang here, was comforting himself as a father, and was unconsciously dragged upstairs by him. As a result, Yun Fang suddenly stopped, almost causing him to fall.
Yi Chenliang looked up, only to see Song Cun standing at the stairway, looking at them with complicated eyes, “Yun Fang, can we…have a good talk?”
Yun Fang didn’t react much, “No need, let’s go.”
Song Cun’s expression on his face changed back and forth, he stared at Yi Chenliang’s hand holding Yun Fang’s wrist, “You didn’t return to Class 3 because of him?”
Yun Fang was already upset about his academic performance, and as a result, Song Cun was still here to stimulate him. He glanced at Song Cun coldly, pulled Yi Chenliang past him and went upstairs.
Yi Chenliang was dragged up a few stairs, turned his head and directly met Song Cun’s somewhat gloomy gaze.
The corner of Yi Chenliang’s mouth hooked up a not-so-obvious arc, the hand holding Yun Fang’s wrist slid slightly, directly holding Yun Fang’s hand, and showed a smile full of malice towards Song Cun below.