The two sat silently in the shop. Jiang Cheng didn't know what Gu Fei was thinking. Anyway, he wasn't thinking about anything himself, just spacing out. His mind was turning, but he didn't know what it was turning over.

Around 9 o'clock, Gu Fei stood up, "Let's go. I'll take you home?"

"Oh," Jiang Cheng also stood up, hesitated for a moment, then asked again, "Take me home? Why?"

"Afraid you'll get lost," Gu Fei said.  

"Fuck," Jiang Cheng laughed, "I can get back home with my eyes closed now."

"So cheeky," Gu Fei put on his coat.  

"Always been very cheeky," Jiang Cheng followed him out of the shop.

Gu Fei's home and Jiang Cheng's rented room were in the same direction. They would pass by the intersection where Gu Fei lived first, then go a bit further to arrive at Jiang Cheng's rented room.

Riding together on the way back, they were still silent. Jiang Cheng wanted to say something several times, but couldn't seem to find anything to talk about, so he just stared at the road ahead the whole time.

When they passed by the intersection where Gu Fei lived, Gu Fei didn't turn. Jiang Cheng noticed, but didn't say anything either. The two of them rode all the way to the building where Jiang Cheng lived before stopping.

"Are you going to school tomorrow?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Going," Gu Fei said. "Captain Wang still wants us to practice together in the afternoon."

"How's your injury?" Jiang Cheng glanced at him. "Can you handle Class 2 tomorrow?"

"Don't worry," Gu Fei patted his injured waist. "It won't affect me. Class 2 plays pretty cleanly anyway."

"Mm," Jiang Cheng nodded.

Their conversation ended, but neither of them moved. Jiang Cheng didn't get off to go into the building, and Gu Fei didn't turn his bike around to leave either.

After a moment of silence, Jiang Cheng cleared his throat, "Well, I'm going up."

"Mm," Gu Fei responded.

Even after speaking, neither of them moved, as if both were paralyzed and continued to stand straddling their bikes with one foot on the ground.

After a while longer, Gu Fei spoke again, "Go on up, I'm leaving."

"Oh," Jiang Cheng finally moved, lifting his bike onto the sidewalk. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Gu Fei said.

Jiang Cheng pushed his bike into the building and locked it. He looked out towards the street again. Gu Fei was still there. After seeing Jiang Cheng look over, Gu Fei waved at him before turning his bike around to leave.

Jiang Cheng returned to his room, washed up, then sat down at his desk to look at today's homework. He couldn't understand it even after staring for a long time.

This afternoon and evening, he felt like his mind had been hit with too many shocks. All kinds of things were crammed chaotically inside. With the homework and other information, there was almost no more room left.

It took at least ten minutes before he calmed down enough to start on the homework.

His phone rang with a message from Pan Zhi.

- The materials I sent you are being delivered. Keep an ear out for the phone, you changed addresses right, is it far

- Not too far, send me the tracking number

Pan Zhi sent over the courier tracking number.

Jiang Cheng looked up the courier's number, planning to tell them tomorrow not to deliver it and that he'd pick it up himself. He really didn't want to go back to that street where Li Baoguo lived again. If he ran into Li Baoguo, he wouldn't even know how to deal with it.

- There's also a USB in there, I copied all the course materials the teachers used this semester, take a look and see if it's useful.

Looking at this message, if Pan Zhi was in front of him right now, Jiang Cheng would have gone over to hug him. What a filial grandson!

He picked up his phone, took a selfie with a thumbs up and added some flashy graphics before sending it to Pan Zhi.

Pan Zhi didn't reply again for a long time. Jiang Cheng put his phone aside feeling like his mind had freed up a bit of space. He sat down and started on the homework.

There wasn't much homework at No. 4 High School. Even starting this late wouldn't affect his sleep. But instead, this made him feel kind of unsettled and considered asking Pan Zhi to also send him copies of the homework every day...

After concentrating on it for about an hour, his phone rang with a message.

He picked it up and looked.

- You can name that selfie "Luckily I'm handsome." I'll send you some of the photos I took before in a couple days. Don't take any more selfies.

Jiang Cheng froze for a moment before quickly checking the name on top.

Cute Little Bunny!

"Fuck?" He was shocked and scrolled up and down again to make sure. He had actually sent the photo meant for Pan Zhi to Gu Fei!

- Shit how did I send this to you?????

- Who did you originally want to send it to?

- My friend!

Gu Fei didn't reply immediately. After Jiang Cheng resent the photo to Pan Zhi, his message came over.

- Send this one to your friend.

Below was a photo of Jiang Cheng's face taking up nearly the entire screen.

He suddenly felt extremely embarrassed.

It was a close up Gu Fei had taken when he had the cut on his lip.

Next to it were some ridiculous glowing words: Me and trophy of stubbornness.

- Wtf is wrong with you

He sent Gu Fei a message back.

- Much better than your selfie, I edited it nicely.

- Piss off!

- So unappreciative!

- Damn right

- [Poking you! .jpg]

Jiang Cheng laughed for a long time at the image Gu Fei sent before sending another message.

- I'm doing hw

- Study hard ace student

The next morning when Jiang Cheng woke up, his head felt somewhat heavy. He sat at the edge of his bed spacing out for several minutes, unable to remember all of the chaotic dreams from last night.

He only remembered Gu Fei was in it, and the zoo, along with guest appearances by Pan Zhi and Wang Xu. It was noisy and chaotic.

He sighed, got up to wash his face.

Perhaps because a night had passed, thinking now about the things Gu Fei had told him yesterday, about his childhood, his "fair duel" with Monkey, he no longer felt that kind of shocking disbelief. Instead it felt somewhat unreal, like a very clear dream.

After buying breakfast downstairs, Jiang Cheng slowly biked towards school, one hand on the handlebars, the other holding a fried dough pancake and nibbling on it.

The weather had really warmed up. The remaining half of the pancake still wasn't cold...

When he passed through the intersection, he squeezed the brake but didn't hear Gu Fei's whistle. He looked around but didn't see Gu Fei parked at the roadside waiting for him either.

He sighed. At this time, unless something special was going on, Gu Fei definitely wasn't awake yet.

When he arrived at school, there were still a few minutes before class. Jiang Cheng parked his bike in the shed and walked towards the school gate.

When he was still dozens of meters away, he suddenly stopped.

Old Xu was on duty today and currently standing at the gate with someone in front of him.

Li Baoguo.

Jiang Cheng immediately felt irritated and flustered. He stood still for a few seconds before lowering his head to cross the street and run towards the wall in front.

That place Gu Fei had told him about for climbing over the wall was still easy to find.

The small shop had just opened. As Jiang Cheng climbed the wall, the boss who was sweeping the floor looked at him in shock, "Boy, the bell hasn't rung yet, the school gate is still open."

"I...know," Jiang Cheng said, one hand grasping the wall as he looked at him.

The boss didn't say anything more, his expression like he was facing an idiot.

Jiang Cheng also ignored him further, putting his foot on the wall and climbing over. He was about to check below for the pile of bricks to jump down when he suddenly saw someone standing next to the bricks.

"Principal Liu?" Jiang Cheng froze squatting on top of the wall.

Principal Liu was even more shocked than the shop owner outside. He stared speechlessly for a long time.

"Principal Liu...morning," Jiang Cheng didn't know if he should jump in or turn back and jump out now.

"Ah, morning," Principal Liu responded reflexively.

Jiang Cheng hesitated for a few seconds before choosing to jump down, landing neatly on the empty ground in front of Principal Liu.

As he stood up, Principal Liu's eyes looked like they were about to pop out.

"I'm...going to class," Jiang Cheng pointed at the building in front. Without waiting for Principal Liu to speak, he turned and ran, not slowing down until he reached the building.

He didn't know if Principal Liu was still in shock and letting him off, or if it was because he had climbed in when he wasn't "late", and hadn't stepped on the tree branches... In any case, no one came to bother him even after three classes.

Old Xu didn't look for him either. Last class was Old Xu's, and after it ended, he had left the classroom instead of coming to talk with Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng felt stifled. He didn't care about climbing the wall, but Li Baoguo coming to the school made him feel uneasy. He didn't know what Li Baoguo wanted to do or what he had said to Old Xu...

It was vexing.

And Gu Fei still hadn't come to school. The seat next to him was empty with Gu Fei's messy books, notebooks, and unfinished homework crammed inside the desk.

The rest of the class didn't feel anything about Gu Fei skipping class. He skipped every week.

Perhaps in the entire class, only he felt a little uncomfortable that Gu Fei hadn't shown up, leaving an empty space beside him, making his heart feel somewhat empty as well.

Every time he turned and didn't see Gu Fei there lowering his head engrossed in his stupid Candy Crush game, it made him surprisingly unused to it.

It wasn't until halfway through the last class that a figure swayed at the back door and Gu Fei slipped into the classroom.

"I thought you weren't coming," Jiang Cheng said softly.

"I said I was coming," Gu Fei smiled. "Gotta practice ball at noon."

"...I thought you meant coming to class," Jiang Cheng said.

"Slept late last night, overslept this morning. I came over as soon as I woke up," Gu Fei casually pulled out a few textbooks and tossed them on the desk. "Whether I listen or not to this class, it's all the same, I can't understand it anymore."

Jiang Cheng didn't speak, taking out a tube of liquid bandage and throwing it onto his desk.

"Such a high-end item," Gu Fei picked it up and looked at it before putting it in his pocket. "Treat me to lunch."  

Jiang Cheng glanced at him, "On what grounds..."

"On the grounds that I've treated you many times," Gu Fei interrupted him.

"...Fine," Jiang Cheng said. "But I have to go pick up a delivery first. You can take a look at this address," he took out his phone to show Gu Fei. "Do you know where it is?"

"I know," Gu Fei glanced at him. "It's by the railway bridge."

"Oh," upon hearing the words 'railway bridge', Jiang Cheng was somewhat distracted.

"You bought something?" Gu Fei asked.

"No," Jiang Cheng said. "My classmate sent me some review materials and stuff."

"I'll go with you to get it," Gu Fei said. "There's a pretty good noodles restaurant around there."

Jiang Cheng laughed, "How do you know every place with good food?"

"It's not that I know every place, I've just eaten through this whole area," Gu Fei said. "After all, I grew up here. My range of activity is mainly from here to the train station, and from here to the city square. I haven't gone many other places."

"Oh," Jiang Cheng looked at him.

“Where are you two going!” Wang Xu called from the shed getting his bike, very annoyed. “Perfect chance to practice together after eating, I got us excused this afternoon to drill nonstop! This kind of undisciplined behavior from the the two of you...”

“We’ll definitely be back within an hour,” Gu Fei said.

“This undisciplined behavior is...” Wang Xu continued.  

“Captain, we're asking you for time off,” Jiang Cheng said. “One hour leave to handle something, will clock back in within the hour guaranteed.”

Wang Xu was quite pleased with this. After some thought he nodded. “Alright, approved.”

The railway bridge looked very worn down, clearly no longer in use with rusty tracks full of weeds. The paths on both sides were still passable for pedestrians, bikes and scooters though.

After crossing Jiang Cheng kept looking around. It wasn't desolate, quite a few shops lined the roadside looking lively enough. He didn't see any dilapidated housing complexes.

“Over there, past the intersection we passed getting off the bridge,” Gu Fei pointed back. “Go in from there.”

“Oh,” Jiang Cheng looked back but couldn't make anything out. The buildings here weren't tall, four or five stories at most. If the buildings were at risk of collapsing, they'd probably be those even older ones with even fewer floors.

Amen.

"If you really want to go take a look tomorrow," Gu Fei pedaled slowly. "I'll have Ding Zhuxin go pick you up. She knows..."

"No need," Jiang Cheng quickly cut him off.

He could sense Ding Zhuxin's subtle rejection towards him. He didn't want her tagging along to spectate either.

"Then..." Gu Fei looked at him wanting to say something else.

Jiang Cheng waved his hand, "Don't worry about me. I said I won't let anyone see me go and I won't affect your brain-dead jumping activities. You just take care of yourself and don't get hurt."

Gu Fei smiled.

"What are you smiling for," Jiang Cheng said. "You're just one of the steel factory's idiots."

Gu Fei smiled even wider.

"Hey! Don't make me..." Jiang Cheng was a little pissed off at first, but Gu Fei's smile completely dissolved his anger. He let go of the handlebars and imitated the expression Gu Fei had sent yesterday, extending one fist while pointing at Gu Fei with the other. "Poking you!"

Gu Fei froze for a moment before laughing so hard he twisted his handlebars. "Pretty similar."

The materials Pan Zhi sent were packed neatly in a small cardboard box with a USB in a paper bag. Jiang Cheng didn't open it, just looked at the book spines on the side, immediately feeling much more at ease.

"This is the one who went with us to No. 4 High last time right?" Gu Fei looked at the delivery slip. "Pan Shuai?"

"Pan Zhi," Jiang Cheng took the slip and glanced at it. "Shameless brat, he used to write Pan An on his tests."  

Gu Fei laughed, "But his handwriting is much nicer than yours."

"All slackers have good handwriting," Jiang Cheng said. "We top students don't have time to care about unimportant details like whether our writing is good looking or not."

"You really need to practice your handwriting," Gu Fei said. "Old Xu was practically in tears talking about how your points get deducted for sloppy writing."

"He hasn't seen my handwriting from before," Jiang Cheng said. "I couldn't even read my old handwriting myself."

"Ah," Gu Fei sighed with a laugh. "Let's go eat noodles."

Perhaps it was getting the pile of materials, or playing basketball with Gu Fei all afternoon, but Jiang Cheng felt the gloom from the morning had dissipated quite a bit. Whenever he thought of Li Baoguo now, he no longer felt that pent up frustration.

After finishing practice and walking out of the school gate, Gu Miao was sitting at the roadside with her skateboard under her butt.

With the warmer weather, Gu Miao wasn't wearing a hat anymore. Since buzzing her hair, she hadn't done anything else with it, leaving it sticking up messily on her head. A red headband was wrapped around her forehead, looking quite...unique.

"I'll give you 50 yuan," Jiang Cheng looked at Gu Fei.

"Okay," Gu Fei answered very straightforwardly.

This response that didn't follow the script left Jiang Cheng at a loss for what to say next.

Luckily Gu Fei paused briefly before returning to the script and asking, "Why?"

"Take your dear sister to get a haircut, I'm begging you," Jiang Cheng said.

"Okay," Gu Fei nodded and held out his hand.

Jiang Cheng looked at his hand, took out his wallet, and placed a 50 yuan note on it.

Gu Fei put the money in his pocket, "Actually she doesn't need money for a haircut. Just go to Li Yan, his skills are pretty good."

"...Give the money back," Jiang Cheng was speechless.

"No," Gu Fei answered very concisely.

Jiang Cheng opened his mouth but no words came out. He couldn't believe there was someone in this world with such thick skin!

Gu Miao followed her usual routine of skateboarding while pulling on the bikes. But today it was Jiang Cheng's backseat that she pulled on. She happily slid all the way to Gu Fei's shop entrance.  

"Are you going back?" Gu Fei asked.

"Yeah," Jiang Cheng glanced at the stack of documents on the backseat, "I'll go back and take a look at this stuff."

"Okay then," Gu Fei nodded, "I'll wait for you at the intersection tomorrow morning at 8:30."

"Sure," Jiang Cheng replied briefly, then waved at Gu Miao, "See you tomorrow, Er Miao."

Gu Miao waved back. He smiled and rode away.

The finals were scheduled on Saturday by No. 4 High School, probably to make it convenient for teachers, students, and students from nearby schools to watch the match. It would start at 10am, but the nervous team captain Wang Xu asked everyone to gather at 8:30am to warm up properly. They would definitely gather excitedly after the match, and might even play another game in the afternoon before being satisfied...

So he probably wouldn't have time to check out that suicidal jumping site tomorrow. He could only go tonight.

After returning to the rental room and putting his stuff down, Jiang Cheng went out again with his schoolbag, heading straight for the railway bridge.

The streets near the railway bridge were not desolate, but after turning from the intersection Gu Fei mentioned, there were visibly fewer people, and the shops along the road got increasingly shabby and inconspicuous.

Following the road to the end was a small fork, with a clothing factory visible to the left. To the right was a road with cracked surface.

He took the right turn. After walking for a few minutes, he saw a few dilapidated buildings with shattered windows.

This was it.

As he slowly rode forward, he looked around, judging which buildings the steel factory idiots would use for their jumping game.

Definitely not the ones right in front, too exposed. It had to be further inside.

Jiang Cheng eventually stopped in front of four run-down buildings lined up together.

The garbage here was clearly more than other areas, with all kinds of beverage bottles, snack wrappers, cigarette butts scattered on the ground, as well as a metal bucket by the building entrance.

He went over and peeked into the bucket. It was full of burnt wood ashes, probably for the idiots to gather around and keep warm at night.

With no one around, Jiang Cheng casually leaned his bike against the wall and walked into a crumbling building across from the four buildings.

This standalone five-story building was the tallest of the buildings around. It was so dilapidated that grass growing out of cracks on the walls and dying could be seen inside. As he walked up, he felt the building could collapse if two more people came up.

On reaching the top floor, Jiang Cheng went to the window and looked out at the other side.

He could confirm now - the gap between the four buildings across wasn't big. The two on the right were four stories high, while the two on the left were three stories. The leftmost building had half its roof collapsed, leaving it just two stories high.

"Hello everyone," Jiang Cheng raised his left hand, making a V sign with his index and middle fingers, and moved it slowly in front of his eyes, "Welcome to watch the first episode of Idiot Watch with Brother Cheng."

He walked to the second window: "As you can see, these four buildings across are where the steel factory idiots have their brain-dead jumping competition... We can guess they jump from one building to another, and based on how stupid they are, they probably even do four-storey jumps... We can also see some random items placed around, so they probably also challenge obstacle jumps..."

"Damn," Jiang Cheng put his hand down and looked around, "You can see the viewing angle here isn't great... Let's see if there's a better angle..."

Jiang Cheng looked around the rooms on the fifth floor, and eventually found half a flight of stairs in the corridor leading up to the rooftop platform.

He jumped up to grab the stairs, tested they were sturdy, then climbed up using the opening above.

"Viewers, let's see..." Jiang Cheng walked a few steps towards the edge of the rooftop, "I'm a bit...afraid of heights, but to...show you the idiots..."

He slowly shuffled to the edge: "This angle is good."

From here he could clearly see the situation on the rooftops across, and the distance wasn't too far either. But if he just stood here, anyone looking over could easily see he was a person.

There was a small attic ahead. He walked over and stood in front of it to obscure himself.

"Alright, as you can see," Jiang Cheng said as he rummaged through his pocket, taking out a slingshot and steel ball. He pulled back and aimed at the platform across, "This distance, let's see what kind of hit and impact we can achieve."

After saying that, he took a deep breath, ignoring the slight weakness in his legs.

Focusing on the target, he let go. The steel ball flew across.

A wooden stand on the rooftop across promptly toppled over.

"That concludes today's show," Jiang Cheng squinted at the fallen stand, "Tune in tomorrow after the finals for the second episode of Idiot Watch with Brother Cheng."

Author's note: More tomorrow.

Roar, is Brother Cheng going god mode!? The usually silent Black Fur spirits 4 and 5 excitedly said.

Knowing the author's style o(≧口≦)o, even with god mode we won't see anything tomorrow o(≧口≦)o. At least not until Friday o(≧口≦)o. Black Fur spirit yelled loudly.