Yan Feng, lying on the ground with his mouth covered by Zhi Li, hooked his leg upward and kicked straight toward the back of Zhi Li’s head. Zhi Li tilted his head and dodged the attack, releasing Yan Feng. Yan Feng easily jumped up. He took a pair of glasses out of his bag, breathed on them, wiped the lenses with his clothes, then put them on. “Now I can finally see clearly.” Yan Feng looked at Zhi Li’s face, the corners of his mouth hiding a chilling smile. He leaned sideways and swept one leg across. Zhi Li raised his leg to block it. Normally, when someone’s shinbone was kicked like that, they would be in enough pain to draw their leg back, but Yan Feng continued exerting force, his strength breaking through Zhi Li’s block. It looked as if he intended to sweep Zhi Li to the ground, but right then, while everyone’s attention was on the lower half of their bodies, he reached out and grabbed Zhi Li’s wrist, turned his back, and prepared to give Zhi Li a shoulder throw. He bent over and exerted force. Zhi Li did not fly up. The force was stopped. Zhi Li’s front foot pressed against Yan Feng’s heel from behind, while his other hand grabbed Yan Feng’s clothes and threw him out. Yan Feng’s shoulder struck the basketball stand, but he touched his shoulder as if nothing had happened. “Didn’t I say it wouldn’t hurt?”
Ke Bu looked at Yan Feng. Just what kind of monster was this person? Did he have no pain nerves?
After putting on his glasses, Yan Feng’s movements became much sharper and cleaner. Match time kept passing. Right now, the score was tied, and they had to score one more basket. But the current situation was that although fifteen minutes had passed and Zhi Li was not at a disadvantage, it could not be called an advantage either. The president showed no sign of falling at all. Only now did Ke Bu understand why Yan Feng had become the student council president. He could actually fight Zhi Li to a standstill! Aside from having personally witnessed Lan Yin, this was the first person.
The sound of fabric tearing called Ke Bu’s thoughts back. Zhi Li raised his hand and looked at his sleeve, then looked at the time and the score before slowly rolling up his sleeve. Yan Feng panted. “It’s about time I dealt with you.” Zhi Li slowly rolled up his other sleeve.
The homeroom teacher crossed her hands beneath her chin. “He’s finally willing to get a little serious.”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you notice that Zhi Li hasn’t even panted once?”
After the homeroom teacher said this, Ke Bu looked toward Zhi Li. It was true. In his impression, Zhi Li was flat, distant, carrying a quiet aura. Whether in fights before or otherwise, Ke Bu had always thought he was simply that kind of person. Now he had not even darkened, yet he could still be stronger?
Zhi Li closed the distance between himself and Yan Feng. “Then I’ll play with you a little.”
“No matter how you hit me, I won’t feel anything. I’m not…”
Zhi Li bent his fingers, and his protruding knuckles struck Yan Feng’s temple, nose bridge, eyes, ear bone, throat, shoulder joint, ribs, and abdominal cavity. Yan Feng staggered a little and leaned forward. Zhi Li’s knee drove up into Yan Feng’s lower body, the force almost lifting both Yan Feng’s feet slightly off the ground. Ke Bu swallowed with difficulty. The sequence of movements flowed in one breath, so fast that no one could have dodged, and the most terrifying part was that every place he struck was filled with nerve endings. It hurt. Even without thinking, anyone would know it hurt. Yan Feng’s eyes widened, his lips trembled, and his face went pale. The blow to his temple made him dizzy, the lenses had shattered so his eyes could barely open, and the pain in his throat made him unable to groan. The organs struck inside his body seemed to twist tight. Mr. Authority caught Yan Feng just before he was about to fall.
Lan Yin had her foot on the basketball and kicked it toward Zhi Li. “Hurry up and end this. I still have to go buy cigarettes.”
Zhi Li shot the final ball, his posture beautiful, the basket clean. The whistle sounded. There were no cheers in the gymnasium, no discussion. It was very quiet. Ke Bu’s heart, which had risen into his throat, finally fell back into his body. He jogged over, with an impulse to wrap his arms around Zhi Li’s neck and cheer for the victory, but impulse was impulse. He still had enough survival instinct to preserve his life. Dora would very likely kill him. Standing behind the others, he wanted to speak but hesitated a little. Several times, he wanted to call Zhi Li’s name, but in the end, he never said it. This time, he had sat by and watched like a useless person. He deeply felt the distance between the two of them.
Himself, sitting forgotten in a corner with no one paying attention, and Zhi Li, standing beneath the light, drawing everyone’s eyes.
The value of his own existence was becoming thinner and thinner. He had once so badly wanted to become someone worthy of Zhi Li, only to discover now that it had merely been a beautiful dream, a foolish delusion. He had understood it long ago in his heart. People were powerless to catch up to their own ideals. Everything about Zhi Li did not belong to this mortal world. He was beautiful to an unreasonable degree, like a prince fabricated in a fairy tale.
Zhi Li took off his jacket and threw it over. The jacket crossed over Ying Xiu Jie and Zhou Xin He in the air before landing on Ke Bu’s head behind them. Ke Bu pulled the jacket down and was just about to speak when the corners of Zhi Li’s mouth curved into a moving shape. His smile was bright as ever. The air was blooming, the surroundings were blooming, the pupils that reflected his smile were blooming, his chest was blooming, everything was blooming, and even his voice was blooming. “How was my determination?”
“V-Very good.” For a moment, Ke Bu was actually unable to respond and could only nod stupidly. Six years ago, he had stayed by Zhi Li’s side for this smile. Six years later, he was willing to give up everything for this smile. His own existence, value, whether he was worthy or unworthy, dignity, worldly convention—none of it mattered.
So what if he could not catch up to the prince? He already possessed the prince.
Dora narrowed her eyes, smiling as she pounced over and hugged Ke Bu, hugging him very tightly. Ke Bu would definitely not misunderstand. He would not think Dora had come to like him. His entire body hurt so badly he clenched his teeth, yet he could not push Dora away. “Are you trying to kill me!!” Her body was covered in needles and studs.
“Could there be any other possibility?” Dora said it confidently and moved even closer to Ke Bu.
“Pain, it hurts so much. Hurry, look, Chu Hao Yu is talking intimately with Zhi Li!!” Ke Bu diverted Dora’s attention. Dora released Ke Bu and pounced over, hugging Chu Hao Yu from behind. “Brother Hao Yu, Dora missed~ you~ so~ much~.”
“Help~~~” The force of the impact, combined with the sharp studs, made Chu Hao Yu feel as if life were worse than death. But then again, he was being hugged by a girl. This was what the legends called pain and happiness at the same time.
Lan Yin had long since grown impatient and was preparing to leave.
“You’re leaving already?”
“I’m afraid too many people will fall in love with me.”
“Can’t you speak a little more modestly?!”
“When did it become the turn of trash like you people to lecture me? Zhi Li, your beautiful, young older sister still has something to do, so I’ll leave first. What you owe me, I’ve already put on the account. Want a goodbye kiss?” This family was all the same. They did nothing without benefits.
“If you want a goodbye kiss, it’ll have to cancel out one favor.”
“My heart hurts.”
“Stop pretending. Since when do you have a heart?”
“Tch.” Lan Yin looked at her watch. “I have an appointment. I’ll go first.”
“I’ll see you off.” Ke Bu ingratiatingly followed behind Lan Yin. Lan Yin blinked coldly. “Trouble yourself to put away that expression. Walking together with you is undoubtedly a serious lowering of my worth.” Although Lan Yin’s mouth was unforgiving, Ke Bu still followed behind Lan Yin, intending to see her to the school gate.
“Um, well, you’ve been so beautiful lately that I almost couldn’t recognize you.” What clumsy flattery.
“I think so too.” She was not polite in the slightest.
“Your family’s perfect, extremely perfect genes—aside from Dora, Zhi Xiao Ke, Zhi Xiao Xun, Zhi Li’s father, you, and Zhi Li, th-there shouldn’t be anyone else, right?” This was what he wanted to ask about. Ke Bu was assessing how many devils he would come into contact with in the future.
“What perfect? My family and the Zhi family are defective.”
“How so?” Ke Bu put on an affected manner.
“Every person has a very serious weakness, and in that respect they’re much weaker than ordinary people.”
“Really? Then what is yours?” Ke Bu asked innocently.
“Do you think I’d be stupid enough to tell you?” Ke Bu’s innocence was seen through at a glance.
“Zhi Li’s is definitely drawing, right?”
This question made Lan Yin reveal a meaningful smile. “Do you think he’s the kind of person who would easily expose his own weakness? We, for our own sake, keep our weaknesses sealed tight and carry our secrets into the coffin.”
After seeing Lan Yin off, Ke Bu returned to the dormitory and pushed open the door to Zhi Li’s room. Zhi Li was showering in the bathroom. Ke Bu leaned outside against the door, and waves of clean fragrance slipped through the crack in the door and into Ke Bu’s nose.
“So that president used to live next door to your family. I don’t even need to use my brain to know what a tragic childhood that must have been. The toys he said often disappeared, and the laughter from under the bed—that was Dora, right?”
“She likes playing under other people’s beds.”
“Isn’t that habit way too terrifying!!”
“And digging a huge hole at the door?”
“Seems like it was dug while playing hide-and-seek.”
“Isn’t the way your family plays hide-and-seek way too exaggerated!!”
“Were you just watching from the side the whole time? Say something about your family members too. Who would dare live near your house?”
“I wasn’t just watching,” Zhi Li said faintly, then continued, “I occasionally participated too.”
“!!! And who was the one making ghostly wails in the middle of the night?”
“It was Yin. Her weakness is being tone-deaf.”
Ke Bu almost smashed the bathroom door open with his head. Lan Yin’s secret, which she was prepared to carry into the coffin, had been said so easily by Zhi Li. “Didn’t you all keep your weaknesses sealed tight?”
“That’s our own weaknesses, not other people’s.”
“Then, Zhi Li, what is your weakness?” Ke Bu asked carefully. What he was thinking in his heart was, If I find out your weakness, I’ll finally have something to use against you and torment you until you wish you were dead.
“How could I possibly tell you?”
“Hey, don’t people always say lovers should be honest with each other? If you act like this, you’re really chilling my heart.” Ke Bu crossed his arms outside the door, sighing and shaking his head nonstop. The bathroom door opened, and Ke Bu was dragged into the bathroom. Zhi Li took the showerhead and aimed it at Ke Bu. Ke Bu shouted, “My clothes are soaked. You want to fight, is that it!!” He opened his eyes, then suddenly blushed and turned his head away. “Wh-What are you doing!”
“Didn’t you say lovers should be honest with each other?”
“That’s not what I meant!!”
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