There was only one small town near the school, but because of the school, it remained lively despite its size, with food stalls and snacks of every kind lining the streets. Several boys crouched beside the road, watching the people passing by. Zhi Li finally sauntered over, looking devastatingly beautiful as ever. He stood in the middle of the crowd yet somehow could never disappear into it; even if one ignored his face, everything else about him seemed fundamentally incompatible with this busy, vulgar, sickly society.
Ke Bu’s legs had gone numb from crouching, so he stood and shook them out.
A flamboyantly dressed young man attracted plenty of attention nearby. His hair was dyed blazing red and styled straight toward the sky, while his neck and wrists glittered with silver accessories. He wore a shirt full of holes, loose trousers, and flip-flops, and with his back slightly hunched, he walked with the arrogant swagger of someone who despised everyone around him while simultaneously enjoying every stare he received. Without warning, Zhi Li seized his arm, twisted it behind his back, and pinned both hands there. The young man jumped in shock, and so did Ke Bu and everyone beside him.
“Fuck! What are you doing?!” As the young man shouted, his teeth—darkened by years of smoking—flashed between his lips.
Zhi Li ignored him completely. From behind, he kicked the back of the man’s knee, sending him straight onto the pavement. His cheek pressed against the ground as he struggled furiously and cursed without pause. “Fuck! Do you know who I am? Everyone around here knows Third Prince! You picked the wrong person to mess with! I’ll call my people and have you fucking killed, believe me!”
Chu Hao Yu folded his arms and inspected Third Prince. “Do you think these guys watched Journey to the West too many times before choosing their nicknames?”
Ying Xiu Jie was even more excited, practically itching to charge over. Anything involving a fight immediately set his blood on fire. “Third Prince! If you’ve got guts, call your Fifth Prince out too!”
“You think some yellow-haired student like you can beat Fifth Prince?”
“You’re the red-haired Third Prince,” Ying Xiu Jie retorted like a child.
“There actually is a Fifth Prince?!!” Ke Bu could not help interrupting.
“This whole territory belongs to us, fucker!” Even pinned humiliatingly face-first to the ground, he still had the nerve to shout that at full volume. Ke Bu had never really understood street punks like this. So many of them spent their days sitting in internet cafés, drifting aimlessly through society, stealing little things here and there, or gathering in groups to fight—one person slashing another, then getting slashed in return. Ke Bu understood that everyone had the right to choose how to live. What he did not understand was why anyone would choose this life. If one day they suddenly died, what memories would they even have left to look back on?
Zhi Li had not spoken from beginning to end. Under everyone’s gaze, he unfastened the young man’s belt and yanked down his trousers, revealing underwear as red as his hair. Zhi Li extended one hand behind him and rubbed his fingers together, and Su You Yan immediately handed him two wet wipes. Ignoring Third Prince’s scarlet face and increasingly hoarse screaming, Zhi Li used the wipes to pull off the underwear and placed them over the young man’s head. Then he stood and dusted off his hands. “Done.”
“Done with what?!! How many times have we told you to listen properly when people speak? That wasn’t even your challenge!!” Ke Bu screamed in frustration. After all that, Zhi Li had actually misunderstood the challenge! The young man had somehow become collateral damage for absolutely no reason. Then again, if everyone knew Zhi Li had misunderstood from the beginning, why had nobody stopped him?
Third Prince grabbed his trousers to cover himself and backed away furiously. Since the other side outnumbered him, he could do nothing except retreat while cursing. “Don’t you dare run! Stay right there and wait!”
“I’ll stand right here waiting for you, Third Prince,” Ying Xiu Jie answered.
Ke Bu looked at Ying Xiu Jie coldly. “I’m honestly amazed you didn’t grow up to become a street punk.”
“Are you kidding? I’m going to become a martial artist.”
Su You Yan interrupted them. “Back to the point. Zhi Li, I’m going to repeat this one more time, even though I’ve already said it in front of you countless times. Your challenge is to make a certain person willingly put this pair of underwear over their head.” She pulled a loose pair of underwear from her bag.
“Whose are those?” Zhou Xin He asked.
“My dad’s,” Su You Yan replied calmly. Then she looked back at Zhi Li. “Pay attention to the important word: willingly. Also, we’ve already chosen the person.” Her gaze shifted toward Ke Bu.
Ke Bu, who had only just learned this, immediately took a step backward. “Why me?!! I just finished being pregnant and now I have to put underwear on my head too?! And compared with all our challenges, where we destroyed our own reputations, why does his challenge involve destroying someone else’s?!”
“He’s been tired lately.”
“Tired? What’s wrong with him? He just disappeared for a few days.”
“If I say he’s tired, then he’s tired.” Su You Yan obviously had no intention of continuing the subject.
“It says willingly, so you can simply refuse, idiot,” Chu Hao Yu said. “Isn’t this a fantastic opportunity? You personally decide whether Zhi Li wins or loses. We’re putting all our hopes on you.” Ke Bu thought about it and realized that actually made perfect sense. He was a rational person, and he knew Zhi Li’s usual tricks extremely well. Refusing him would be easy.
Based on lessons learned from previous rounds, Su You Yan emphasized once again, “No physical contact.”
Ke Bu gave her a grateful look, then reconsidered. “Wait. What exactly do you people think I am? Am I really the kind of person who loses all self-control the second somebody seduces me?”
Everyone stared at Ke Bu with exactly the same expression: Aren’t you precisely that kind of person?
Zhi Li looked at the underwear, then at Ke Bu, and slowly approached. His familiar scent came closer and closer until he finally stopped directly in front of him. Ke Bu’s clever mind raced, trying to predict exactly what Zhi Li would say.
“You won’t get many chances in this lifetime to wear the principal’s underwear,” Zhi Li said calmly. “Don’t miss this opportunity.”
“Ptooey!! I don’t want that kind of honor!” So that was his strategy?!
“They’ve been washed.”
“That’s not what I care about!! Could you please understand the actual problem before trying to persuade me? Anyway, I suggest you admit defeat now. There is absolutely no way I’m doing something this humiliating in the middle of the street.”
Zhi Li tilted his head. “You’ve never worn them before. How do you know they won’t look good?”
“I already told you that’s not the issue! They’re underwear, not a hat!!” Talking to Zhi Li always consumed Ke Bu’s sanity.
“How much?” Zhi Li asked simply.
The others whispered encouragement from the side. “Hold firm, Ke Bu. We all know you worship money, but you cannot throw away this chance to defeat Zhi Li.”
“No amount of money can buy my dignity!!” Ke Bu declared.
“One hundred yuan at most.”
“That offer has deeply wounded me. I refuse in the strongest possible terms. And before you try it, threats won’t work either.”
Ke Bu felt fantastic. Being able to reject Zhi Li openly, legitimately, and without fear filled him with an indescribable sense of satisfaction. As the saying went, fortunes really did change. Then he saw Zhi Li’s expression. It was unfathomable, and in a soft, faintly sorrowful voice, Zhi Li asked, “Ke Bu, I’ve done a lot for you. What about you? What have you ever done for me?”
The words went through Ke Bu’s heart like a knife. Seven years ago, Zhi Li had met him and saved him, and for seven years he had remained by Ke Bu’s side. Ke Bu had always wanted to do something for Zhi Li; not a single day had passed without that longing. He wanted to give Zhi Li the whole world. The problem was that Zhi Li already had the whole world. But—but the things he wanted to do for Zhi Li did not include putting underwear on his head!!
“Hold on, Ke Bu. One more step and you win.”
Zhi Li looked at him. “It’s fine. I don’t want to force you. If you don’t want to, forget it.” Then came a faint, bitter smile powerful enough to overthrow reason itself, and Zhi Li gave a tiny shrug. “I thought you’d be willing to do anything for me. But whatever. It’s not as though giving someone everything means you’ll necessarily receive the same in return. It’s no big deal. You Yan, just count this as my loss. Tell me what the punishment is.”
Ke Bu stared at him blankly. Every word Zhi Li spoke closed around his heart, and when Zhi Li turned away, Ke Bu found himself staring at that disappointed, lonely back. Sometimes, you had no choice but to admit how terrifyingly powerful love could be. I love Zhi Li. If I love him, shouldn’t I stand beside him? Shouldn’t I support him? Without another thought, Ke Bu snatched the underwear from Su You Yan’s hand and pulled them over his head. “Is this enough?! Is this enough now?!”
And in that exact instant, he discovered that Zhi Li’s disappointed, lonely silhouette had vanished. It was just a perfectly ordinary back. Could this bastard actually change the emotional properties of his own back whenever he wanted?!
Zhi Li turned and looked at Ke Bu. After several seconds, he said, “See? Isn’t that cute?”
The first time Zhi Li had ever complimented him like this, Ke Bu was wearing the principal’s underwear over his head. He stomped his feet furiously, regretting that he had willingly fallen into Zhi Li’s trap. “Stop lying through your teeth!!”
“Come on. Shake your head.”
“I’m not doing that!! And how long am I supposed to keep wearing this?!”
“At least until we finish dinner. We’re going into town for hotpot tonight,” Zhang Luo said.
“You expect me to eat hotpot wearing underwear on my head?”
“You could also wear the underwear while watching us eat hotpot.”
By the time all the chaos ended, darkness had already fallen, and this round of challenges had finally reached a temporary conclusion. The noisy group walked ahead, while Ke Bu and Zhi Li trailed behind. Ke Bu suddenly asked, “Hey, Zhi Li. Why did you waste so much breath just now? If you’d simply threatened me with breaking up or something, I probably would’ve agreed immediately.”
“Are you an idiot?” Zhi Li turned his head slightly and cursed him. Ke Bu froze. Zhi Li was not teasing; he was genuinely calling him an idiot. Ke Bu had only just begun to feel a little dejected when Zhi Li continued, and even through the principal’s underwear covering Ke Bu’s head, his beautiful voice came through perfectly clearly. “Ke Bu, how could I possibly say I wanted to break up with you?”
Something trembled straight through Ke Bu beneath the darkness of the night. He wanted to throw himself at Zhi Li, but he absolutely could not do that in the middle of the street. Those idiots ahead would laugh, everyone passing by would stare, and his mind fought desperately against the impulse—but his body had already launched itself onto Zhi Li’s back.
“This is what happens when you say things like that without considering where we are!”
“What did I say?” Zhi Li genuinely had no idea which part of his sentence had caused Ke Bu to react like this. Ke Bu only tightened his arms around him, and that made it even clearer: Zhi Li had said those words instinctively. He had not deliberately tried to move Ke Bu. It was not another trap.
Ke Bu saw the abyss perfectly clearly and still jumped in.
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