He didn't move, and neither did Gu Chen. The two faced off. Xiang Yu couldn't bear to watch any longer and sighed silently.
"You eat, otherwise he won't touch his chopsticks."
After being urged by Xiang Yu, Zhao Zicheng blushed and put the chicken cutlet on her plate.
He knew perfectly well that this senior student was just trying to get him a meat dish by pretending to eat pickled vegetables, since there was no meat on his plate.
"Thank you, senior..." Zhao Zicheng said, then ate his meal in silence.
Xiang Yu finished eating, leaving only the fried fish fillet on the plate. He put down his chopsticks and took out a tissue to wipe his mouth.
"I'm full." She said, pushing the plate towards Gu Chen. "Don't waste food, eat this."
“You…” Gu Chen looked helplessly at her boyfriend.
If she skips a meat dish, her boyfriend will make up for it by giving her a meat dish instead.
How can someone have such a great boyfriend?
Xiang Yu remained expressionless, but nudged Gu Chen with his foot under the table.
"Okay, okay." Gu Chen picked up a fish fillet, brought it to his mouth, and took a bite.
Watching the two interact, Zhao Zicheng swallowed the food in her mouth and asked, "Senior, are you brothers? You have such a good relationship."
Xiang Yu wanted to say they were classmates, but Gu Chen beat him to it and said, "They are family."
Xiang Yu pursed her lips, not denying it.
Zhao Zicheng nodded thoughtfully and didn't say anything more.
Xiang Yu recalled what happened in the restroom that morning and asked Zhao Zicheng, "Did they give you any trouble after they went back?"
It's very clear who 'they' refers to.
Zhao Zicheng paused upon hearing this, then nodded, then shook his head.
He whispered, "He's toned it down a bit."
"Then there still is," Xiang Yu frowned.
He usually responds to bullies with violence.
Gu Chen, following the typical mindset of a good student, asked, "Did you tell the teacher?"
Zhao Zicheng nodded, swallowed a few more mouthfuls of rice, and continued in a low voice, "They were just playing around in private. I have no evidence, I'm just making things up. At first, the teacher said a few words to them, but later she didn't care much."
Gu Chen asked, "Don't you care about the other students?"
Zhao Zicheng shook his head. He didn't have any close classmates, so when he was teased, everyone basically just watched coldly. Only when the other party went too far would someone stand up and say something.
For example, this morning, someone 'accidentally' spilled ink all over him, and only then did the class monitor come out to maintain order.
He was also quite grateful to the class monitor, who had told him to go to the second-year high school section to do laundry.
Although it was still found.
Gu Chen wanted to ask more questions, but Zhao Zicheng had already finished eating, tidied up the table, and was preparing to put her plate in the recycling bin.
"Thank you so much, seniors. I'm very grateful for what you did today."
Zhao Zicheng bowed deeply in thanks and then left.
Xiang Yu and Gu Chen exchanged a helpless glance.
Xiang Yu felt that Gu Chen was probably keeping this matter in mind. He was noticeably quieter during breaks, and it was obvious that he had something on his mind.
School bullying was particularly common at Xiangyu's former high school.
Xiang Yu only helps when he happens to encounter such situations; he generally doesn't actively seek them out, since there are too many such cases, and he simply can't handle them all.
The last class was a self-study period. The dean left work early, leaving Gu Chen to manage the class discipline.
At first, everyone was able to concentrate on doing their homework and problems, but as school was about to end, the class gradually became noisy, with everyone responding to each other's calls.
Seeing that there were only a few minutes left, Gu Chen simply stopped maintaining discipline and let the students talk to their hearts' content.
Wang Zehao patted him on the shoulder, "Brother Chen, the shops around the high school have opened. People leaving school at noon said that the newly opened Hong Kong-style dessert shop is really good. Shall we go check it out?"
Gu Chen said, "Okay, you can come too, deskmate."
Xiang Yu packed her schoolbag, having no objection to the matter, but she needed to say hello to Li Yifan, otherwise the other party would be unhappy.
Greeting Li Yifan is actually an invitation for him to come along. Both Li Yifan and Wang Zehao are food lovers. Especially after Xiang Yu transferred to the school, Li Yifan has had someone to accompany him, and he eats instant noodles at home much less often now.
The ten-square-meter dessert shop didn't even have a place to sit. There was only a couple from the south working there, one person making the desserts and the other handling the cashier's orders.
With Li Yifan included, there were a total of six people. Gu Chen tallied up what they wanted to eat and then went to order.
Most of the desserts at this shop are made with milk, but since I'm lactose intolerant, I ended up ordering a mango pomelo sago dessert instead.
Gu Chen went to queue up to order, while the other boys stood not far away waiting.
Wang Zehao, Li Yifan, and Yang Shuhuan were chatting enthusiastically about the game "Canyon," while Xiang Yu and Xu Youluo, who weren't playing, listened from the sidelines.
What new hero? Cut the carry? Xiang Yu didn't understand. He looked around and stopped when he glanced at Xu Youluo. He paused for a moment.
Where's your sister?
"I went to the hotel with my mom to check on the business." Xu Youluo noticed that Xiang Yu seemed to want to say something but didn't speak, and immediately understood. "Brother Yu, do you want to ask why I didn't go with my sister?"
Xiang Yu scoffed, noting that it was extremely rare for Xu Youluo not to be clingy with Xu Youqing.
"I'm wondering if it's because I always like to follow my older sister that she treats me like a child," Xu Youluo smiled.
I understand, the other person has come to terms with it.
Xiang Yu patted Xu Youluo on the shoulder, "That's good."
After Xiang Yu finished speaking, he glanced at something behind him out of the corner of his eye, his expression changed, and he walked past Xu Youluo.
"Zhao Zicheng, aren't you so great? You think you're the only one who knows any high school sophomores?"
The way he spoke was so childish and immature, it was really cheesy.
Zhao Zicheng bit his lower lip. The slick-back-haired man gently patted his face twice with the back of his hand. His schoolbag was being held by the man, and his textbooks and workbooks were inside. He couldn't run away even if he wanted to.
The three men who had blocked him in the toilets during the day were still there; it seemed they had made an appointment with someone.
Zhao Zicheng estimated the time; if he was lucky, he would only get a verbal taunt and then be able to go home to be with his grandfather; if he was unlucky, he might get a beating.
Anyway, we just need to resolve this quickly.
The slick-haired man scoffed. He hated the other person's submissive, head-down demeanor; it was unpleasant to look at. Then, seeing someone else come out of the convenience store, he immediately waved.
"Brother Tiger, over here!"
Liu Hu came out carrying a case of beer. His family's new apartment building was on sale, and his dad had reserved a fully furnished apartment for him here. He planned to have a get-together with his buddies from the sports class that evening.
He only walked towards the man with the slicked-back hair after seeing him wave at him.
He didn't even know the other person's name. They met while drinking, and the other person added him on WeChat. That morning, the other person messaged him, begging him to teach a classmate a lesson.
Liu Hu wondered if he was some ex-girlfriend or a brother's underling, so he casually agreed.
I wasn't planning on physically punishing him; a few words of scare would have been enough.
Liu Hu had only taken a few steps when he suddenly stopped before he reached the other person, looking at the approaching figure with an annoyed expression.
"Damn, how could I possibly run into this?"
Liu Hu was truly exasperated; this guy seemed to be involved everywhere.
Xu Youluo ran over with Xiang Yu, and didn't give Liu Hu a friendly look as soon as she saw him.
"Senior...?"
Zhao Zicheng thought he was seeing things, rubbed his eyes to make sure it was really Xiang Yu, and immediately started to stutter.
"You've come at the perfect time." The slick-haired man glanced disdainfully at Xiang Yu, then pointed at Liu Hu and said, "Senior, this is my brother Hu. Do you know him?"
Xiang Yu didn't show any expression, but Xu Youluo followed the direction of the finger and raised an eyebrow slightly.
Brother my ass.
Liu Hu saw that the man with the slicked-back hair was still pointing at him and cursed him inwardly.
But having come this far, Liu Hu couldn't bring himself to turn back, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue.
Feigning composure, before Xiang Yu could speak, she asked, "Is this what you're protecting?"
Xiang Yu nodded.
The response was acceptable. Liu Hu was afraid the other party would remain silent, so when Xiang Yu replied, he immediately said, "Alright, brother, I'll give you face."
Having said that, she looked at the man with the slicked-back hair and said, "Be careful in the future."
"No..." The slick-back-haired man hadn't expected this outcome. He had just opened his mouth to call out "Brother Tiger" when Liu Hu waved his hand, interrupting him.
"Stop talking nonsense, I have a lot to do, I'll talk to you later."
After saying that, he picked up the beer and walked towards the main entrance of the building.
To make themselves seem very awesome.
Unconcerned about being left out, Xu Youlu couldn't stand this guy's pretense, so she shouted loudly, "Give my regards to Uncle Liu!"
Liu Hu stumbled and staggered.
He turned back, gritted his teeth, and laughed, "Damn it!"
"..." The slick-haired man was scared. If Liu Hu didn't help him, wouldn't he get beaten up again?
Zhao Zicheng knew the situation was in her favor, but she didn't take advantage of the situation to bully the slick-haired man. She simply said, "Give me the bag."
Before the slick-haired man could react, she picked up the bag and put it on her back.
"My deskmate—"
After Gu Chen finished buying his things, he turned around and found that his deskmate was gone. Li Yifan and the other two were so engrossed in chatting about games that they didn't even notice where Xiang Yu and Xu Youluo had gone.
After looking around, I finally spotted the two people standing outside the convenience store, along with a few other familiar faces.
"Bullying your classmates again?" Gu Chen sensed trouble as soon as he saw the three first-year high school boys and habitually began to lecture them, "Why are you so childish? Why do you have to pick on your classmates?"
"No, no, no, we won't do it again!" Seeing that the slick-back-haired guy didn't speak, another boy quickly explained.
“Yeah, yeah.” Another boy chimed in, and the two of them, pushing each other away, quickly pulled the slick-haired man away.