After marching away a bit, Huo Ran looked down at his stomach, wanting to lift up his shirt to see if that person had a rock in between his asscheeks when he fell on him. Why does it hurt so much?

Jiang Lei caught up to him, along with the two guys from the basketball team, and Huo Ran quickly put his hand down.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Lei asked. “Who bumped into you?”

“I didn’t see.” Huo Ran frowned. “I wouldn’t know them anyways.. It’s fine, he probably hit my stomach, I feel kinda sick.”

“Wanna go to the infirmary? They always have someone there after school officially starts.” One of his team members said.

“I’m fine.” Huo Ran waved it off. “You guys can go back to whatever you were doing, thanks for that just now.”

“Okay, we’ll go back to our dorms.” They took a few steps away, before turning back around, “Captain, Old Yu said we start training next week?”

“Yup, this week is for the new students to get familiar.” Huo Ran nodded. After they left, he rubbed his stomach and lifted his shirt up to see. “Nothing looks off?”

“Can’t tell.” Jiang Lei looked at him.

“Whatever, forget it.” Huo Ran sighed, “Let’s go back to class.”

“Did you see how Kou Chen was fighting?” Jiang Lei whispered. “One against four?”

“I couldn’t really see, got ran into right as I got there.” Huo Ran frowned. He glanced back at Kou Chen, suddenly seeing something flash in his hands. He was so startled his stomach stopped hurting. “Holy shit, you brought a knife?”

“Nope,” Kou Chen turned the knife around, “It’s not mine.”

“Those guys brought it,” Xu Chuan said. “They’re pretty brave for that.”

Huo Ran suddenly realized why Kou Chen touched his stomach.

“Brave my ass.” Kou Chen said. “At my old school, if they had a knife, they were gonna stab someone. Here, they’d just have it to throw on the ground.”

Again with his shit.

Huo Ran sighed: “Kou Chen, did you go to school in a prison farm?”

“A prison farm is nothing.” Kou Chen snorted. “They can’t compete with us, we could beat them up with a pinky toe.”

Huo Ran looked at him. They way he could ignore insults and even make it about his own achievements was quite laudable. He was speechless.

“To the infirmary.” Kou Chen changed the topic.

“What’s wrong?” Huo Ran was worried again, seeing as he just saw the knife.

“For a checkup.” Kou Chen said. “I just got hit.”

“What?” The few of them all froze.

Huo Ran was a bit dazed. Just now, Kou Chen sent two of them flying so smoothly like that, if he didn’t see his skill with his own eyes, he would’ve thought Kou Chen was lying for sure.

But someone even as good as him got hit?

“I wasn’t going to start anything,” Kou Chen moved his arm, pressing down on his back and hissing, “My dad said if I start another fight, he’ll stuff me in a meat grinder to make into sausages..”

Just hearing that made Huo Ran wince in pain.

“If I gave it my all from the start, they would’ve been gone by the time you guys came.” Kou Chen jumped up and down, “I just took their hits with my head in my hands, but the idiots don’t know when to stop!”

“Fuck,” Jiang Lei said, “Are you for real?!”

“What do you think we were doing before you guys came then?” Kou Chen glared at him, “Having a nice chat?”

“It’s not like your dad’s gonna know, they started it first anyways.” Wei Chaoren said. “And now that they lost, they’re not gonna want to say anything out loud.”

“You don’t understand.” Kou Chen patted his back happily.

Out of everyone there, Huo Ran was probably the only one who had a flash of insight.

He understood.

The expert hides his true strength, unwilling to fight his opponent. When the opponent becomes arrogant and thinks that victory is in sight, he would finally make his move. And thus, the opponent is struck down and defeated just like that. The opponent would be terrified and the expert could start bragging about it.. Huo Ran felt that Kou Chen mainly liked the last part of it.

Ktlr lr qgbyjyis cba pera rlwqis qeaalcu bc jmar, la’r atf qfjx bo la. Pa’r ageis jwjhlcu.

Leb Ejc ibbxfv ja Bbe Jtfc. Lf tjv jmaejiis ecvfgrabbv tlr ibulm. Ktja atbeuta nfgs wemt ecrfaaifv tlw.

Ciatbeut tf ecvfgrabbv tlr ibulm, tf gfjiis bcis yfilfnfv tlr kbgvr bcmf tf rjk atf ogfrt ygelrfr bc tlr yjmx.

“Got into a fight?” The school nurse was on shift today, sighing as she saw Kou Chen’s injuries.

“I got hit.” Kou Chen actually sounded pleased with himself.

“By who?” The nurse wrapped an ice pack with a towel.

“Him.” Kou Chen pointed at Huo Ran.

“Say that again? Who?” Huo Ran glared at him. He wanted to grab his head and shake it to see what was in there.

“You still want to keep going? How fierce.” The nurse glanced at him. “Sit down, I won’t allow any fighting over here. I’ll let your teacher know, sit down, all of you.”

The school nurse spoke calmly and kindly. Neither Kou Chen’s injuries nor his tattoo shocked her, so they all obediently found a couple chairs to sit down on.

“Your injuries aren’t that bad. Just ice them for now, and tomorrow you can put a hot towel on them, or you can just leave them if you can’t be bothered.” She brought the ice pack to Huo Ran, “You help him hold it.”

“Me?” Huo Ran started.

“How about I do it?” Xu Chuan stood up.

“He was the one that did this,” She said, “Whoever did it has to take responsibility.”

Xu Chuan sat back down.

Huo Ran couldn’t tell her the truth now, so he could only grit his teeth and take the ice, walking over to Kou Chen.

“Be gentle,” Kou Chen said. “It hurts.”

That’s the price you have to pay for lying like that.

Huo Ran pressed the ice pack to his back.

“Ah, fuck!” Kou Chen’s arched back straightened out, “Why is it so cold?”

“Because it’s ice, obviously.” Huo Ran wanted to ice the psycho to death, but he still pulled it back after hesitating for a moment. “You want it to be hot?”

“I just wasn’t ready for it,” Kou Chen rested his arms on his knees. “Keep going.”

Huo Ran sighed, pressing the ice pack back down.

In the ten minutes it took, Kou Chen kept whining about how cold the ice was, that it hurts. But everyone else was following Xu Chuan’s lead and chatting with the pretty nurse, completely forgetting about Kou Chen’s injuries.

Of course, it’s not like his injuries were anything to really worry about.

But Kou Chen was prepared for it, only a few parts were swollen, and they were all concentrated on one part of his back. It hurt, but it wouldn’t affect him much. He was only whining because he was scared of pain.

Seeing as he was someone that screamed over a dislocated finger like he was gonna pass away .

“Is your stomach okay?” Kou Chen raised his head and asked quietly from where he was playing with his phone and whining.

“It’s fine.” Huo Ran rubbed his stomach. “I just felt a little nauseous, I’m fine now.”

“You’re not very impressive,” Kou Chen said. “You turned out like this just from someone bumping into you.”

“Mhm,” Huo Ran stared at the back of his head. “I don’t really have experience. I’m not like you after all, looking for a beating for no reason.”

Kou Chen didn’t say anything, but he laughed for quite a while.

Out of the infirmary, there were still ten minutes left of class. Old Yuan visited the classroom at that time, they had to get back in time for the inspection.

When they walked into the classroom, everyone turned around, and someone whispered: “What’s the situation?”

“Nothing happened,” Wei Chaoren answered, “Boring.”

Huo Ran looked at him, the sudden burst of intelligence made him feel like Wei Chaoren got possessed.

Kou Chen sat back down in Xu Zhifan’s seat, even happily moving his chair forward for Huo Ran to pass behind.

“What else do you want?” Huo Ran squeezed into his own spot, keeping a hand on the back of the chair in case it hurt his back and he starts yelling again.

“Nothing,” Kou Chen said. “What? You don’t want me here?”

“How could I not?” Huo Ran sat down. Nobody sat in their proper seats during self-study, so he didn’t really have a reason to make Kou Chen leave.

“That’s the spirit.” Kou Chen rocked in his chair, “You gotta fear me.”

“Your back doesn’t hurt anymore?” Huo Ran glanced at him rocking back and forth happily.

“Hurt my ass.” Kou Chen said. “It’s frozen numb, I still can’t feel anything.”

Old Yuan walked in five minutes before the end of class. After giving a safety speech about not roaming around and going straight back to their dorms, he called Huo Ran out for a chat.

Huo Ran followed Old Yuan out of the classroom a little nervously, scared that he’d ask about the fight just now, they hadn’t come up with a good excuse yet.

“Is something going on with Hu Yi at home?” Old Yuan asked gently.

Hearing that, Huo Ran breathed a sigh of relief: “It looks like it.”

“I noticed he hadn’t been acting himself lately,” Old Yuan said. “Let him know for me, if he needs help with anything or if he just wants to chat, he can talk to me. If I’m not at school, he can come find me at home.”

“Mhm, okay.” Huo Ran nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Yuan.”

After Old Yuan left, Kou Chen rushed out the classroom: “What happened?”

“It wasn’t about what just happened, he asked about Hu Yi.” Huo Ran said.

“He found the knife?” Kou Chen asked.

“No.” On that topic, Huo Ran couldn’t help but ask, “How exactly did you know he had a knife?”

Kou Chen didn’t say anything, he only looked at him for a couple seconds. A smile slowly crept onto his face, and he said: “Beg me and I’ll tell you.”

“Keep it in then.” Huo Ran walked back into the classroom.

As he was gathering up his stuff, Kou Chen came over: “Seeing that you were so sincere about it, I’ll tell you.”

“Don’t.” Huo Ran said. “I wasn’t sincere at all. Please zip your lips and not tell me anything.”

“You wanna know or not?” Kou Chen suddenly hissed in his ear.

Huo Ran wasn’t prepared for that, adding to the fact that he said it so fiercely. He startled, turning to glare at Kou Chen.

“If you don’t listen, I’ll beat you up.” Kou Chen said.

“..Say it then.” Huo Ran said exasperatedly. A strange thought suddenly popped into his head. If he didn’t listen, he felt like Kou Chen would yell: “Fly for me!”.

Hearing that, Kou Chen started to speak happily: “It was actually really simple. Hu Yi doesn’t stand up straight, you know? He kinda slouches, but I saw that his back was really straight when he walked back to the dorms. I’d do the same thing, scared of cutting myself. So I’d also wear a shirt or something inside for extra security..”

“Why a kitchen knife? Why not a exacto knife or something longer?” Huo Ran asked.

“Nonsense, if it was an exacto knife he’d just put it in his pocket, down his pants if it was longer. You’re an idiot if you’d hide that behind your back, if it’s not poking into your ass then it’s poking into your neck.” Kou Chen said. “But I just guessed a kitchen knife, or maybe it’s a noodle slicing one. Hu Yi looks timid, he might not have dared to bring a kitchen knife.”

Huo Ran looked at Kou Chen, he was shocked.

“Damn, that’s awesome.” Jiang Lei had been listening from his seat in front of them. He was shocked too.

“What?” Kou Chen raised an eyebrow, “A noodle slicer?

“Ah,” Huo Ran nodded, “Yup.”

Kou Chen laughed and patted his face: “Don’t worship me too much.”

Huo Ran stayed still for a couple seconds before rubbing at his face harshly.

“Fuck you,” Kou Chen looked at him, “My hands are clean!”

“Touch me again and I’ll destroy you.” Huo Ran said.

Kou Chen immediately reached towards his waist. Huo Ran stared at his hand.

As the hand was five centimeters away from him, Huo Ran was already prepared to grab his arm and twist it behind his back. But Kou Chen’s hand paused in the air, before he took it back.

”Nevermind,” Kou Chen said. “After we go camping.”

Huo Ran glared at him.

“Let’s go! Time to go back and sleep!” Kou Chen exclaimed as he stood up and stretched. Everyone else agreed.

As they noisily exited the room, Huo Ran glanced at the third years’ classroom. It was pretty quiet, like the bell signaling the end of class didn’t have anything to do with them.

“Late night snack?” Jiang Lei asked them with his phone in his hand. “Xu Zhifan said he’ll wait for us in the cafeteria.

“Yes,” Huo Ran rubbed his stomach, “How’s Hu Yi?”

“He said he cried himself to sleep.” Jiang Lei sighed.

The late night food at the cafeteria was very popular, especially as the weather got colder. They’d even think about eating the plate like they’ve been starving the whole day.

For some reason, Huo Ran suddenly thought of He Hua.

She probably really starved all day, even having to hide to eat at night. Who knows if Kou Chen standing up for her last time had any effect.

“Over here!” Xu Zhifan already got the food. There was congee and a big plate of chicken wings. The school’s chicken wings were the best, every time they’d only eat that and nothing else.

“Isn’t that a bit much?” Huo Ran asked as he sat down.

“I called Kou Chen and the others too.” As Xu Zhifan said that, Xu Chuan and Wei Chaoren squeezed over and sat down. He glanced behind them, “Where’s Kou Chen?”

“He went to the haunted building.” Xu Chuan took a chicken wing.

“Again?” Huo Ran was surprised.

“Again?” Xu Zhifan looked at him, then he frowned and lowered his voice, “You guys were the ones that got into a fight with the third years, right?”

“It wasn’t us.” Wei Chaoren lowered his voice too. “It was Kou Chen. It was already over when we got there. Only Huo Ran got a bit of it, he got knocked to the ground.”

Xu Zhifan looked at Huo Ran, Huo Ran rubbed his stomach: “I just got bumped into, they were all gone before I could do anything.. How did you know?”

“How did I know? I was at the dorms, the third years went back too, and then they climbed the fence and left. It sounded like they were going to the hospital.” Xu Zhifan said. “Kou Chen was the only one that fought?”

“Yeah,” Jiang Lei nodded. “One against four, amazing.”

“Then why is he going back?” Xu Zhifan asked Xu Chuan.

“Not that,” Xu Chuan swallowed his chicken, “He went to see He Hua roast sausages.”

“..Did a chicken peck out his brains?”Huo Ran asked.

“Dunno, we’ve only known him for a semester.” Xu Chuan laughed.

“He didn’t say why?” Xu Zhifan asked.

“Nope.” Xu Chuan said. “He probably just wants to tell her that those guys have been dealt with, that she doesn’t need to hide to eat anymore.”

“Does he have to go to the haunted building to do that?”

“With how He Hua is, if you don’t find somewhere secluded to talk, she’d probably run away before you could get five words in.” Xu Zhifan said.

Huo Ran didn’t say anything, he focused on eating his chicken wing.