Gu Fei held the second self-criticism that Jiang Cheng had given him and carefully looked it over to make sure the name on it was Gu Fei rather than Wang Xu or anyone else before starting to read it again: "I am Gu Fei from Year 2 Class 8. As a member of No. 4 High, I have...repeatedly...violated school rules and...regulations. Being late is...a serious mistake, and still...climbing walls after being late makes things even worse..."

Jiang Cheng's handwriting was quite big, just ugly, so ugly it was shocking. Gu Fei read it with difficulty, listening to the occasional low laughter from below.

"At this critical moment, with only half a semester left before entering the intense Senior Year 3..." Gu Fei stared at the paper, not knowing what was so critical about entering Senior 3, "I will definitely correct my mistakes, abide by the school's discipline, stop being late or leaving early, and no...no longer...climb walls and step on...tree branches..."

What on earth is stepping on tree branches!

When he got to the last line, he finally breathed a sigh of relief: "The person making this self-criticism, Gu Fei."

"Gu Fei, go stand properly, next," the teacher on duty swept his eyes over the row of people on stage, "Jiang Cheng!"

Another round of applause sounded from below. The teacher on duty's face turned green and he pointed at the people below, "Who else wants to come up here and read together? I'll give you the chance!"

Jiang Cheng stood in front of the microphone, took out his self-criticism, then flipped to the second page and glanced through it, then folded the self-criticism and put it back in his pocket.

"I'm Jiang Cheng from Year 2 Class 8," he looked at the people below. "Last week I got into a little argument and fought Class 5's..."

Jiang Cheng looked at the silent crowd below for two seconds, then turned to look at the row of people behind him, "What was his name again?"

He didn't lower his voice much, and another wave of poorly suppressed laughter sounded from below.

"The fuck?" Wang Xu said in shock, quickly telling him, "Luo Yi!"

"I fought Class 5's Luo Yi," Jiang Cheng continued very calmly after turning his head again. "This kind of behavior seriously violates school rules and is detrimental to unity between students and classes. As the one who made the first move, I didn't give Luo Yi a chance to explain and apologize to me, and it also caused conflict between the two classes and led to very bad consequences. Over the past few days, I have deeply reflected on my impulsive behavior. Fighting cannot solve problems..."

Gu Fei watched Jiang Cheng's back, feeling extremely awed by this top student who could even recite his self-criticism in order to show off. Moreover, this self-criticism didn’t just simply admit mistakes, but also completely blamed the troublemaker Luo Yi.

However, listening to Jiang Cheng's self-criticism, Gu Fei realized the reason for his bad mood this morning. Jiang Cheng seemed to have a cold, speaking with a nasal tone.

"Damn it,” Wang Xu muttered next to him, “What is Jiang Cheng trying to do, stealing my limelight? He even uses something like this to stand out..."

"You can only admire him,” Guo Xu said with his head lowered. “Just this self-criticism, not to mention how well it’s written, I also definitely can’t recite it from memory."

“I will earnestly reflect and properly correct my mistakes, unite my classmates, and no longer act impulsively..." Jiang Cheng finished reading his self-criticism from start to finish without a single pause. "The one making this self-criticism, Jiang Cheng."

Then he bowed and turned to stand back among the group of dumbfounded people.

After that it was Wang Xu's turn. He took out his self-criticism that had been crumpled into a ball, unfolded it, and started reading very forcefully: "Good morning teachers and students! On this day when it's turning warm, flowers blooming and earth coming back to life! I made a mistake..."

Gu Fei let out his breath and almost couldn't hold back his laughter, quickly lowering his head.  

"Those who didn't know might think he made some kind of spring-related mistake..." Jiang Cheng said softly.

The whole row of people lowered their heads and shook with suppressed laughter.

The principal behind them cleared his throat, and the group finally managed to stop laughing with great difficulty.

"You actually recited the self-criticism?" Gu Fei leaned his head to the side and glanced at Jiang Cheng.

"No," Jiang Cheng answered softly. "I didn't expect we'd read together, my two self-criticisms admitting mistakes were written the same, it'd be too obvious listening together..."

"Damn it," Guo Xu said somewhat incredulously. "So you improvised it?"

"That's called going off script," Jiang Cheng corrected him.

"...Oh." Guo Xu still had a shocked expression.

After the self-criticisms of Class 8 were finished, it was the turn of those few from Class 5.

They all stuttered and stammered, taking quite some time to finish reading. Finally, the principal and teacher on duty didn't even bother to conclude, directly announcing dismissal.

After returning to the classroom, everyone rushed to congratulate Jiang Cheng.

"You're really famous across the whole school now," Zhou Jing gave him a thumbs up. "Jiang Cheng, you really..."

"Shut up," Jiang Cheng said, turning his head and sneezing.

"You've got a cold?" Gu Fei asked.

"Yeah." Jiang Cheng nodded and put on a face mask.

Perhaps suddenly thinking of the likely reason for the cold being that night when the fire went out and they were in the room with the window open, sharing a small blanket...

The two felt somewhat awkward and stopped talking.

After class started, Gu Fei said one more sentence: "Didn't I tell you to wait for me so we could go to school together?"

"...I forgot." Jiang Cheng lay on the desk with half-closed eyes.

"Let's walk home together after school," Gu Fei said.

"Okay." Jiang Cheng answered.

Gu Fei didn't say anything else. Seeing how Jiang Cheng looked, he probably didn't feel well. Gu Fei lowered his head and continued playing on his phone.

When class ended, he put down his phone and glanced over at Jiang Cheng's side. Jiang Cheng was lying on the desk wearing a mask, fast asleep, seeming to be sleeping quite deeply.

"Gu Fei," Old Xu called out as he passed by their classroom after finishing his class next door. He came over, "Come here for a moment."

Gu Fei looked at Old Xu, but remained seated without moving.

"I need to talk to you, come on over." Old Xu beckoned him over.

Gu Fei had no choice but to put away his phone and slowly walked out of the classroom, following behind Old Xu.

After going downstairs, Old Xu walked towards the faculty restrooms. Gu Fei stopped, "Or you can just tell me first before going to the restroom?"

"Not going to the restroom," Old Xu said. "There's fewer people here."

Old Xu had a 'this is a secret matter' expression. Gu Fei had no choice but to follow him over and sit down on a stone bench next to the restroom.

"There's something I want to ask you about, but you have to keep it confidential." Old Xu said.

"If it's unrelated to me, then don't say it. I don't want to meddle or keep secrets for anyone." Gu Fei habitually felt his pocket for a cigarette, but glanced at Old Xu and stopped.

"Go ahead and smoke, just don't let the principal see, or I'll have to write a self-criticism too," Old Xu sighed. Only after he lit a cigarette did Old Xu continue, "This matter isn't directly related to you, but it is related to Jiang Cheng...so I wanted to chat with you about it."

Gu Fei lowered his head with the cigarette in his mouth. After a while, he asked, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Do you know Jiang Cheng ran away from home?" Old Xu asked.

"Huh?" Gu Fei was a bit surprised and raised his head.

"Oh, you don't know either?" Old Xu heaved a deep sigh. "His dad came to ask me."

"Li Baoguo?" Gu Fei said. "He came to school?"

"No, he called," Old Xu said. "I knew him before, his older son Li Hui was also my student."

"Oh." Gu Fei responded.

Ran away from home?

Old Xu said in a low voice: "Old Li didn't say why Jiang Cheng ran away, just that there were conflicts and said Jiang Cheng was upset with him..."

"You can't believe that man's words," Gu Fei said.

"That's why I wanted to ask you. If I ask Jiang Cheng directly, with his temper he definitely won't say anything," Old Xu looked very worried. "Such an excellent child, if these things aren't handled properly, it will affect his studies!"

"I didn't know, he's never told me," Gu Fei said. Old Xu looked at him unbelievingly. Gu Fei stubbed out his cigarette, "Whether you believe me or not, that's how it is."

"Alright, oh well," Old Xu shook his head. "Don't ask him either. I'll talk to Old Li again to see what's going on. The midterms are tomorrow anyway, we can figure it out after the exams."

Gu Fei didn't say anything else and went back to the classroom.

Jiang Cheng had been listless all morning. After getting cold medicine from the infirmary and taking it, he simply lay on the desk sleeping until noon when school ended.

Gu Fei pushed him several times before finally waking him up, "Hey, school's over."

"Oh," Jiang Cheng said hoarsely without lifting his head. "I'm not going back at noon, you...go back yourself."

"You're not even going to eat?" Gu Fei asked.

"No appetite, not eating." Jiang Cheng closed his eyes again.

"Alright then." Gu Fei didn't say anything else. He left the classroom playing on his phone.

But after walking out the school gate, he immediately noticed several people squatting across the street. There was a motorcycle next to them with Jiang Bin sitting on it.

Gu Fei ignored them and sent Jiang Cheng a message as he walked.

- Boar Head is outside, don't come out.

Before sending it, he changed Jiang Bin's name to Boar Head. Jiang Cheng had a terrible memory for people, and had a cold right now, he probably wouldn't remember who Jiang Bin was.

Jiang Cheng replied very quickly.

- Did he bother you

- No

Jiang Cheng didn't reply again. He probably fell back asleep.

When Gu Fei got on his bike, Jiang Bin started the motorcycle and drove over to block his way.

Wang Xu and the others were also taking their bikes and saw what was happening here. They immediately stopped and stared over.

"Got time?" Jiang Bin asked.

"What's up?" Gu Fei kept one leg on the ground.

"Haven't played ball together in a long time," Jiang Bin said. "When can we have a match?"

"Let's talk about it later. We have an exam tomorrow." Gu Fei said.

"Oh?" Jiang Bin had an exaggeratedly surprised expression. "The great Gu Fei has an exam?"

Followed by loud laughter.

"Let's talk after the exams are over." Gu Fei ignored his laughter.

"Alright," Jiang Bin pointed at him. "I'll give you face. After the exams, I'll come find you."

Gu Fei responded.

"Bring that guy called Jiang Cheng too." Jiang Bin said.

"Can't guarantee that." Gu Fei replied.  

"Fuck," Jiang Bin spat on the ground. "I said, bring him too."

"Don't get aggressive with me," Gu Fei looked at him and said slowly. "If you want to act aggressively here, go bring your bro with you."

"Gu Fei," Jiang Bin twisted the motorcycle throttle. "I'm not my bro. I don't have the same relationship with you as he does..."

"Your bro doesn't have a relationship with me either," Gu Fei interrupted him. "If you want to play ball, we can meet up after the exams. If you want Jiang Cheng to come, get your bro to come talk."

After saying this, Gu Fei pedaled and squeezed past him.

Wang Xu and the others immediately rode over on their bikes, "What's going on? Looking to cause trouble?"

"What's it got to do with you?" Gu Fei said. "If you're looking to start something, go over and start something with him now."

"Damn it!" Wang Xu was very angry. "This is all from the basketball game! It's a matter for our whole team! This is about collective..."

"Find somewhere else to use your collective honor," Gu Fei revved hard a few times and sped off. "Go back."

When he got back to the shop, Gu Miao was playing skateboard at the entrance. Seeing him return, she didn't even look at him as she breezed past.  

Gu Fei noticed that the little girl seemed to have grown taller. Her previously stagnant height finally changed after a year, and her head looked about up to his waist now.

Li Yan was in the shop, and Liu Fan was also there. Li Yan was probably bored so he called him over to cook noodles and eat together.

Before Gu Fei could speak, he suddenly heard Li Baoguo's voice, "Da Fei, you're back from school?"

"Uncle Li," Gu Fei was a bit surprised to see Li Baoguo standing by the shelves. "Here to buy something?"

"Looking for you to ask about Jiang Cheng," Li Yan said from the side. "Said he ran away from home."

Gu Fei was a little speechless. Li Baoguo was so determined to look for Jiang Cheng that even Li Yan and the others knew about it now. If Jiang Cheng knew Li Baoguo was loudly telling everyone he ran away from home, he probably wouldn't go back no matter how he begged.

"Did he go to school today or not?" Li Baoguo yelled.  

"I don't know," Gu Fei said. "I didn't go to school today."

"Don't help him hide things from me!" Li Baoguo said very dissatisfied. "You bunch of useless brats all cover for each other!"

"I really didn't go to school." Gu Fei said.

"Kids raised in big cities are so temperamental! That's how they spoil them over there! Can't say a word, can't touch them!" Li Baoguo complained. "You make a mistake, and your dad can't even discipline you a bit! Say a couple words and you run away, won't even recognize your dad! Without me as your dad, where would you come from!"

"When did he run away?" Gu Fei asked.

"Must've run after arguing with me on Friday!" Li Baoguo said angrily. "I came back from mahjong and his stuff was gone! Kid's got some nerve! If I hadn't been stopped by your Teacher Xu at school, let's see if his legs are broken or not by now!"  

Gu Fei didn't say anything else.

Li Baoguo stood in the shop yelling and cursing for a while, then left while swearing.

"Damn it," Liu Fan sat down at the table. "That guy is unbelievable. If my own dad cursed me like that all over the place, I'd never go home in this life."

"Isn't that exactly why Li Hui doesn't go home now?" Gu Fei also sat down. "Oh right, let's go play basketball after exams in a couple days."

"Play basketball? At your school?" Li Yan asked. "You guys are getting outside help too?"

"No," Gu Fei said. "Jiang Bin asked."

Liu Fan started laughing and leaned back in his chair laughing for a long time: "F*cking bastard still has the nerve to issue a challenge?"

"Let's play," Li Yan looked completely indifferent. "It was a rare chance to beat them once anyway. Let them save a little face if we lose this time."

"He specifically said he wants Jiang Cheng to go too." Gu Fei said.  

Li Yan was stunned for a moment: "Then it's not just about playing basketball anymore."

"Right." Gu Fei nodded.

"Are you planning to help him deal with this?" Li Yan asked.

"What do you mean help him deal with it," Gu Fei said. "Jiang Bin is counting me in too."

"Then let's just all go," Liu Fan stretched lazily. "Haven't gotten any exercise in a long time anyway..."

When Gu Fei got to the classroom that afternoon, class hadn't started yet. Jiang Cheng still wore a mask and listlessly played on his phone, lying on the desk.

When Gu Fei sat down, Jiang Cheng only glanced up for a second, looking a bit surprised, "I thought you weren't coming anymore."

“Nowhere to go,” Gu Fei said, looking him over again. “With that cold, want to get hooked up to an IV or something?”

“No need,” Jiang Cheng said. “It's not serious, just tired without resting properly.”

“Oh,” Gu Fei didn't know what else to say either. He wanted to say that Li Baoguo coming to find him, but felt it inappropriate to bring up now. After a long silence, he ended up maintaining the silence.

The self-study period that afternoon was canceled so that teachers could seize the time for a focused review on the finals.

Gu Fei found regular class annoying, the focused review moreso. He wore earphones to listen to music and played on his phone, looking around.

The morning's mistaken name incident already had a post trending as a hot topic, it was even pinned as well.

<Principal, seems like he's been certified stewed huh?>

Gu Fei skimmed through various excited comments and reaction gifs with exclamation points everywhere. He could roughly guess which were the school journalist team members, several whom were walking around the match shooting them.

Also saw one that looked to be Wang Xu's alt, captaXu. It was clear from this name that it was created after seriously searching the dictionary for the word...

Five seconds before the bell for the end of school rang, the math teacher rushed in, "I have some test papers..."

The class let out a drawn out groan of protest, many not even listening as they streamed out.

"Going?" Gu Fei asked Jiang Cheng.

"Yeah." Jiang Cheng stood up, first going over to get his exam paper from the math teacher.  

"Model student." Gu Fei also went over and took one.

"What are you taking that for?" The math teacher looked at him.

"You handed them out." Gu Fei folded up the paper and tucked it into his pocket.

When Jiang Cheng got downstairs, he first went to the sink to wash his face, then put on a new face mask: "Do you...have time?"

"What's up?" Gu Fei asked.

"That bike shop you mentioned," Jiang Cheng said, "Take me there, will you? I'm too lazy to walk, my nose has been stuffed up all day and it's awful."

"Okay." Gu Fei nodded.

Jiang Bin was not waiting at the school gate, nor was Monkey. But Gu Fei was very clear that Monkey would definitely get involved in this matter. Although he did not have a great relationship with this cousin, he was after all the big boss around here, unlike Wang Xu who was struggling to become a pseudo school bully. His reputation was more important than anything.

Moreover, Monkey had disliked him for a long time. He always said it was to give him face, but he must have been furious inside, with or without Jiang Bin's involvement. This matter was bound to boil over sooner or later.

But if Jiang Cheng really got dragged into this, he truly could not allow it. Jiang Cheng was different from all of them. Just the fact that he wrote a self-criticism letter was enough to show he should not be stuck here, let alone be bothered while he was here.

"Oh, I forgot to ask," Jiang Cheng sat behind him on the bike, "Are the bikes there expensive? I can probably only afford ones below 500 yuan."

"My city friend," Gu Fei turned his head, "Even their most expensive bikes probably don't exceed 350 yuan."

"...Oh," Jiang Cheng responded, and made a tsk sound after a moment, "Then they must be extremely ugly."

Gu Fei squeezed the brakes and turned halfway back to stare at him.

"I'm just...saying," Jiang Cheng said.

In fact, Jiang Cheng was not very picky about bikes. He did not choose the most expensive 400 yuan one in the shop, but picked a 250 yuan one and then argued the price down to 220 yuan on the grounds that 250 sounded unlucky.

Gu Fei felt that Jiang Cheng seemed to really have no plans to return to Li Baoguo's home. His financial situation now was clearly different from before.

"Alright?" Gu Fei watched him ride back and forth on the sidewalk twice.

"Alright," Jiang Cheng nodded, "Just too ugly."

"Pay up and scram," Gu Fei said helplessly.

Jiang Cheng went to pay, then the two of them slowly biked back together.

As they neared the intersection, Jiang Cheng seemed to make up his mind and turned around, "I'm not staying at Li Baoguo's anymore."

"Why?" Gu Fei asked.

"Don't know how to explain it," Jiang Cheng sighed, "I'll go to your shop to buy some stuff later."

"Daily necessities?" Gu Fei looked at him, "Where are you staying now?"

"Not too far either," Jiang Cheng said. "I asked around at the hostel I stayed at last time. It's just past your street, down a side road..."

"The towel factory dorms?" Gu Fei asked.

"Don't know, anyway the building is as dilapidated as Li Baoguo's place. A one bedroom unit, but the rent is cheap." Jiang Cheng said.  

"What are your plans going forward?" Gu Fei asked.

"Haven't thought about it," Jiang Cheng sneezed to the side and sniffed, "Anyway, I won't go back again. I'm not anyone's son anymore. From now on, I'm a fucking orphan."

Gu Fei didn't say anything.  

After cycling silently for a while, Gu Fei said, "Orphan, I'll treat you to a meal later."

"Sounds good," Jiang Cheng smiled.

"Let's eat near the towel factory dorms," Gu Fei said. "I'll show you where to buy stuff around there too."

"Okay," Jiang Cheng nodded.

When Gu Fei turned to look at him, he adjusted his mask and quickly turned his head away.