Chapter 17: Sneaking Around

Chapter 17: Sneaking Around

Cen Wu waited for Xie Guilan to finish his meal before leaving with him. It was already very late, so he decided to escort Xie Guilan home. Xie Guilan rented a place that happened to be on the way to the Cen family’s residence.

At first, Cen Wu walked side by side with Xie Guilan, but as Xie Guilan's expression grew colder, Cen Wu pursed his lips and fell a few steps behind, trailing after Xie Guilan like a shadow.

Xie Guilan stopped abruptly, clearly at his breaking point. He turned around and said, "Young Master, why are you following me?"

He called him "Young Master" again, a title that once made Cen Wu feel superior but now only added to the awkwardness. Cen Wu quickened his pace to catch up with Xie Guilan, stammering, "I... I’m just making sure you get home safely. I’ll head off once you’re there. My driver’s waiting at the intersection."

Xie Guilan: "..."

Xie Guilan’s dark eyes narrowed, and his brow furrowed, revealing a barely contained frustration. In the past, his cold treatment would have been enough for Cen Wu to have someone deal with him for good.

But now, he couldn’t seem to shake him off.

Xie Guilan, with his long strides, moved quickly, and Cen Wu struggled to keep pace. He reached out and gently tugged at Xie Guilan’s wrist.

Xie Guilan: "..."

Not only couldn’t he shake him off, but Cen Wu was also getting handsy.

Cen Wu blinked, and in the chilly night air, everything around them seemed to blur, leaving only Xie Guilan in sharp focus. He stood his ground against Xie Guilan, whose thin lips pressed together, becoming colder by the second.

He walked while holding onto Xie Guilan, and only let go of his wrist when they reached the mouth of the alley where sewage pooled in the gutters.

The area around Huai Jing No.1 High School was lined with pricey school district homes, forcing Xie Guilan to rent an old building on the other side of the alley, far from the upscale neighborhood.

Most were low, narrow storefronts, and even the few actual buildings had damaged walls marked with red characters for demolition, looking ready to collapse.

The utility poles were covered in layers of graffiti-like ads, the air reeked of cigarette smoke, and after dark, women in heavy makeup and men loitered in the alley, trying to drum up business.

The place was a mess—dirty, chaotic, and dangerous.

Cen Wu wanted to walk Xie Guilan home, but he had no reason to know where he lived. Xie Guilan probably didn’t want him tagging along either.

Not even Song Lingwei knew that Xie Guilan had rented a place.

Xie’s father did, though. Xie Guilan was his son, and he wouldn’t allow him to escape his control. He’d given Song Lingwei a shot at treatment and Xie Guilan a chance at an education. Xie Guilan should have been grateful and obedient.

But Xie Guilan defied him, ungrateful and rebellious, just like he had been in his younger years.

He couldn’t tolerate this kind of person, but he also admired them, so his feelings toward Xie Guilan were always complicated.

“I… I’m leaving,” Cen Wu said, gripping his backpack strap and waving to Xie Guilan.

Xie Guilan’s eyes were cold and distant, and without a word, he turned and walked into the dark alley.

Cen Wu: “……”

He’s pissed.

Cen Wu hesitated, then pulled out his phone.

The alley was pitch-black, with only the faint moonlight casting long, eerie shadows on the ground.

One minute later, Xie Guilan's phone screen suddenly lit up, illuminating his cold profile in the dimly lit, narrow alley.

Xie Guilan lowered his eyes. It was from the person who always uses that "cat head screaming" emoji.

"Transfer received, please check."

"You need to write a reflection for me tonight. If it's not well-written, you're done for. Smashing hit.jpg"

Cen Wu sent him a cat swinging fists emoji, the fists a blur from speed.

Xie Guilan sighed in exasperation.

Xie Guilan indifferently put away his phone.

Cen Wu couldn’t stop thinking about it. Xie Guilan would probably help him write the reflection, but he was still worried. Still, he trusted Xie Guilan, so he tossed and turned all night.

The next morning, when he got to school, there was already a 3,000-word reflection waiting for him on his desk.

But Xie Guilan wasn’t there. Cen Wu glanced at Xie Guilan’s empty desk and froze, his heart sinking.

!!!

Yesterday after school, the class officer had handed out the weekly exam papers. Xie Guilan had left early and didn’t take his papers with him.

He had clearly put them in Xie Guilan’s desk, but now they were crumpled and torn, scattered messily across the desk.

Xie Guilan studied very hard. Besides working to earn money, he was basically doing exercises, with his sleep squeezed to the bare minimum. He worked so hard just to try to escape the Xie family and gain a little dignity.

Cen Wu's face fell. He quickly gathered the shredded papers, stuffed them into his desk, and headed off to turn in the reflection.

The principal didn’t yell at him, but he still made Cen Wu read the reflection aloud. Cen Wu agreed and bought a roll of clear tape to return to the classroom.

He wanted to fix Xie Guilan’s papers before he got back, but they were torn into tiny pieces and crumpled, making it nearly impossible to sort through. Fortunately, Xie Guilan didn’t come for the first two periods in the morning.

When he finally looked up, he rubbed his sore neck.

Cen Wu wasn’t going to let this slide. He’d catch whoever did this, no matter what it took. He thought for a moment and sent a message to his brother.

"Hey bro, can you do me a favor?"

Before long, it was time for the big break, and Meng Liangping rushed over. "Come on, don’t delay!"

-

Lu Wang held Cen Wu's arm and said nervously, "What should we do? I really need to pee."

Making a public reflection was already embarrassing, but today there was also an awards ceremony before the reflection. It was for another competition last semester, where Xie Guilan had won the national first prize.

Another girl had won third prize, and among other projects, Huajing No. 1 High School had swept nearly half of the provincial awards.

The certificates and trophies had just arrived, and the principal decided to honor them in front of the whole school, having Xie Guilan and the others come up to receive their awards.

In comparison, they were the obvious ones.

When Xie Guilan arrived at the classroom, Cen Wu and the others had already gone to the playground. He put down his backpack and was about to go receive his award when he reached into his desk and felt something.

Xie Guilan’s icy expression darkened even further, as if the temperature in the room had dropped. He thought it was just more trash, but when he pulled out the papers, he saw that someone had painstakingly pieced them back together, every word perfectly aligned.

A part of the score was missing, and since the person couldn't find the original, they tore a small piece of paper from their own test to patch it up and carefully re-drew the score in red pen.

"..."

Xie Guilan put away the test and headed downstairs.

The vice principal was anxiously craning his neck, waiting. Xie Guilan was the first-prize winner, and logically, he should have been the first to go on stage, but he hadn't shown up. They had to start the awards from the third prize instead.

Now, the award ceremony was almost over, and Xie Guilan was still nowhere to be seen. They couldn’t reach him by phone either.

When the vice principal finally spotted him, he was as relieved as if he’d seen a savior and hurriedly pushed Xie Guilan toward the stage.

Cen Wu and about a dozen others, along with the students who had been caught skipping class recently—over thirty in total—were all waiting for Xie Guilan to receive his award before they would go up to read their self-criticisms.

As Xie Guilan passed by Cen Wu, Cen Wu shook the self-criticism paper at him.

It was another cloudy day, but it hadn’t started raining yet.

Under the gray sky, Cen Wu’s skin looked almost luminescent, pale and smooth like porcelain, while his lips were a soft, thin red, adding to his natural, icy beauty.

His long, thick, and curled eyelashes reminded Xie Guilan of a long-tailed tit, a bird with a snowy, fluffy body and wings tipped in black.

"Xiao Xie," the vice principal urged, his bald head glistening as he joined the girls who were quietly cheering for Xie Guilan. "Hurry up, what are you waiting for?"

Xie Guilan took long strides and went up on stage to receive his award.

After the award ceremony, it was finally time for the self-criticism session. The students who had skipped class went up first, more than a dozen of them, reading their statements one by one. Then it was the turn of those who had gone to the internet cafe the previous night.

There were too many people, so the vice principal didn’t make them read all 3,000 words, as long as they could express their remorse.

Zhang Yuanzhou had to go up on stage three times: once for winning a joint third prize in the competition, and twice for skipping class.

By the time he went up for the third time to read his self-criticism, the vice principal’s face was turning green, and the audience erupted into laughter.

Zhang Yuanzhou raised his hand to signal everyone to quiet down. "I know you're all looking forward to my speech, but give Brother Qiang some face."

Cen Wu: "..."

This was classic social anxiety. If this were a real-life situation, he'd be considered a 'social terrorist.'

He had never felt this level of anxiety, not even at a film festival awards ceremony. His legs were trembling as he stepped off the stage, and his vision blurred.

Before Zhang Yuanzhou even finished, Cen Wu’s back was drenched in cold sweat, and his calves were stiff from standing for so long. He wanted to lift his leg to move it, but a sharp pain made his heart spasm, beating so hard it hurt his eardrums.

Finally, Zhang Yuanzhou finished. He bowed deeply and walked off the stage as the playground erupted in boos and jeers.

Cen Wu didn’t know how he managed to lift his legs and walk up the stage. His lashes were damp, and he fumbled several times before he could barely grip the microphone, his hand shaking uncontrollably.

He opened his mouth, but his voice trembled so much that he couldn’t tell if any sound came out.

Whispers started spreading through the crowd. As the last one to read, everyone was growing impatient, eager to finish the assembly and return to class.

Huai Jing No. 1 High School, spanning over 400,000 square meters, boasted the largest playground in the city. Cen Wu looked up and couldn’t even count the sea of people below.

His lips turned pale, and his stomach churned uncomfortably. His breathing became labored, and with great difficulty, he managed to say, "I... I... am from Class 2, Grade 11..."

He didn’t stutter in every sentence, and since he had transmigrated into this world, he had mostly interacted with people who knew the original Cen Wu. Even if they noticed something was off, no one dared to challenge him, given the original’s notorious reputation.

But now his stutter was so bad that even he couldn't ignore it.

With so many teachers and students in the school, not everyone had experienced how terrifying this young master could be when he lost it. As soon as Cen Wu started speaking, someone in the audience burst out laughing.

"What’s up with him? He can’t even talk straight. Isn’t he the second young master of the Cen family? This is what we get?"

"D-don’t make fun of him, h-he’s already having a hard time. W-what if he stutters even more?"

"Haha, this is too much."

Cen Wu's face was completely bloodless, his eyelashes trembling violently, his breath shaking. He didn’t dare to look up, afraid that he would see nothing but mocking faces below. His eyes welled up with tears, and his throat tightened with emotion.

The principal urged him, "Just get on with it, don’t hold up the exercises."

"I..." Cen Wu wavered, his pale lips moved, but after saying a few words, there was no response from the audience. He then realized his microphone wasn’t working.

This microphone had a wire connected from below the stage. Cen Wu patted it a few times, but there was no response. He pressed the switch a few times, still nothing. He looked down at the audience.

Xie Guiluan and the others had just finished receiving their awards and were about to take a group photo. They were standing in front of the power outlet, blocking his view of what was happening.

The principal frowned and walked over to pick up Cen Wu's microphone and patted it. "Impossible, how did it suddenly break?" But the students below were becoming increasingly dissatisfied, so he had no choice but to wave at Xie Guiluan, "Xie Guiluan, can you bring your microphone over?"

Xie Guiluan, who still had a wireless microphone, walked over and handed it to Cen Wu without looking up, muttering a soft "thanks."

His face burned with embarrassment, and the laughter from below made it hard for him to look up. Xie Guiluan clearly disliked him and was probably laughing at him too. Cen Wu's reddened eyes moistened a little more. He blinked a few times, trying to continue reading his reflection.

But as soon as he stumbled through the beginning, he realized this microphone had no sound either.

"Class is starting soon. Are we doing the exercises or not?"

"Yeah, what's going on? Is this going to drag on?"

The students below finally started to complain.

The principal couldn’t keep everyone waiting any longer. Since Cen Wu was the last one who hadn’t finished, and it was his first offense, he waved his hand and told Cen Wu, "Forget it, you can go down."

Cen Wu almost collapsed, all the tension in his body releasing. His legs felt weak as he handed the microphone to the principal and walked down the stage. He kept his head down as he passed Xie Guiluan and the others, heading straight back to the classroom.

"Alright," the teacher in charge of photography finally made a gesture. "We’re done, it looks good."

Xie Guiluan and the others dispersed and started doing the exercises. It wasn’t convenient to approach them now, so the teacher told them to head back to the classroom directly.

The principal was still trying to figure out the microphone when Xie Guiluan suddenly walked over and reached out. The principal was momentarily confused before handing him the microphone.

Then he saw Xie Guiluan's long, cold white fingers holding two batteries as he openly put them back in.

With a tap, the microphone worked again.

Principal: "..."

"I was too nervous during the award ceremony," Xie Guiluan said expressionlessly, "and accidentally pulled them out."

Principal: "..."

Principal: "You’ve got quite some strength in your hands."

Xie Guiluan didn’t say anything else, his dark, deep peach blossom eyes especially cold. The principal looked up at those eyes and couldn’t shake the feeling that Xie Guiluan was silently saying:

Suit yourself.

The head teacher wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. The school was at a loss with Xie Guilan. Xie Guilan excelled academically and was a shoo-in for top student in the province next year, which made the school highly value him.

But Xie Guilan was also very busy, and there were many things that the teachers were unable to help him with. Besides, Xie Guilan didn’t care about the attention they gave him.

They couldn’t help Xie Guilan much, so they could only try to be careful with their words to avoid affecting his emotions.

The head teacher didn’t know what Xie Guilan’s intentions were. If it were any other student, he would have asked directly, but when it came to Xie Guilan, he was extremely cautious and, in the end, didn’t ask.

"Forget it," the head teacher waved his hand helplessly, "you can go too."

"Thank you, teacher," Xie Guilan lowered his eyes, politely nodded, and then turned to leave.

The head teacher turned to look at him, and then saw Xie Guilan plug back in the connector of the other microphone when he passed by the socket.

The head teacher: “……”

Damn kid.

When Xie Guilan arrived at the classroom, Cen Wu was already lying face down on his desk. It seemed he had heard Xie Guilan’s footsteps. Cen Wu reached into his desk, pulled out a box of cookies and a box of milk.

Cen Wu didn’t get up or turn his head; he simply reached his hand behind him and placed the cookies on Xie Guilan’s desk. He didn’t say anything and didn’t, like before, lean on the back of the chair and wait for him to eat.

Cen Wu didn’t lift his head again for the rest of the day. He would prop himself up during class to listen, but as soon as the bell rang, he continued lying down. Lu Wang shook him a little, but Cen Wu didn’t respond.

Cen Wu didn’t go to the cafeteria for lunch. When Lu Wang asked if he wanted him to bring something back, Cen Wu shook his head slightly.

Lu Wang, lying on Cen Wu’s back, turned his head helplessly toward Xie Guilan. Xie Guilan pressed his thin lips together, lowered his head to continue working on his test paper, his face still cold and indifferent.

He didn’t know if Cen Wu’s kindness stemmed from admiration or something else, but either way, he didn’t need or want it.

The morning break was his way of repaying Cen Wu. He didn’t want to owe anyone anything. He might not even care that much about Song Lingwei.

Much less Cen Wu.

The whip marks on his body hadn’t healed yet, and his neck was still bruised. How could he possibly care about Cen Wu’s well-being?

Xie Guilan’s brows furrowed with cold impatience as he worked on another half set of problems.

Cen Wu noticed Xie Guilan moving around more than usual today. Although he was lying down, he wasn’t asleep. He heard Xie Guilan get up to refill his water behind him; this was someone who used to go half a morning without drinking anything.

How did he manage to grow so tall without eating or drinking?

Xie Guilan also got up and walked to the front of their row to submit his homework to the class representative, almost scaring them to death.

After Xie Guilan left, the class representative asked the person next to him in a daze, “Was that Xie Guilan who just spoke to me?”

The person next to him rolled their eyes in disdain.

Xie Guilan didn’t like to interact with his classmates. Sitting in the last row without a desk mate, he always came and went through the back door. When it was time to hand in homework, he would just place it on his desk. If the class rep wanted to collect it, they could; otherwise, he wouldn’t bother turning it in. It was as if nothing mattered to him.

Cen Wu lay with his forehead pressed against his sleeve, his red, swollen eyes peeking out from beneath his arms as he secretly watched Xie Guilan walking back and forth beside him.

But he kept his head down.