NH chapter 005

Chapter 05: Suit Thug

What was that old saying? — Afraid that my brother lives in hardship, yet afraid that my brother drives a Range Rover.

It’s like the good brother who used to climb walls, skip classes, and get into fights with you, suddenly stepping into luck and soaring to new heights while you remain stuck in a puddle of mud and footprints, dazed and stationary.

So, on the day the results were posted, the most jaw-dropping moment wasn’t from the bunch of top students who looked down on everyone else, but from the classmates in Class 18 who accompanied him through the dirt and now witnessed his rise from the ashes.

Zhao Yue couldn’t understand how this person, who was almost always absent during drinks, outings, and internet cafes, who barely wrote essays during Chinese exams, only did multiple-choice questions in math, got nearly everything wrong in language reading and cloze tests, and barely scraped by in other subjects, could suddenly progress beyond his reach.

He knew that as a good brother, he should be happy for Huo Ye at this moment; he should be joyful. But he couldn’t help but feel a sense of betrayal.

Zhao Yue admitted that it wasn’t a good feeling, and it was very subtle.

So, on the day of moving books out of school, the two people who usually had the closest bond, shared everything, surprisingly fell into a silent standoff. Zhao Yue, known for his chattiness, had spoken with almost half the class but somehow overlooked Huo Ye.

People who haven’t experienced this might not understand the feeling, as if the distance between the two classes was not merely physical, but a broader chasm that contained many unnameable, indescribable things.

Just before leaving, Huo Ye watched as Zhao Yue rushed around, accidentally knocking over his books for the third time, and took the initiative to speak: “Zhao Yue.”

“…….”

Zhao Yue didn’t turn back, but his actions froze, as if he were struggling momentarily before his soul moved on. After that, his movements seemed rusty, making his gestures a little awkward.

He heard Huo Ye let out a sigh.

Then he called again, “Zhao Yue.”

Huo Ye spoke slowly and clearly, gently continuing: “—I’m leaving; don’t you have anything to say to me?”

Zhao Yue picked up his books, turning slowly as if he had just heard him. With a cheerful smile on his face, he replied, “Nothing, huh, just feeling a bit reluctant. You’re going to Class A, with us in different directions; it’ll be hard to see each other from now on, haha…”

The smile on his face gradually faded, and he eventually couldn’t smile anymore. He felt a strange embarrassment.

“Congratulations,” Zhao Yue said.

“We will meet again.”

Zhao Yue was taken aback, “……What?”

“I said.”

Huo Ye repeated firmly, “We will meet again.”

Meet where? Where will we meet? It used to be arcade halls, playgrounds, internet cafes—what about in the future? Will I go to the library with you?

Zhao Yue’s expression at that moment was mixed; the muscles in his face were stiff and drooped, but his mouth forced a smile that looked insincere, creating a strange, cartoonish comedic effect.

Huo Ye patted his shoulder, offered no further explanation, and picked up his backpack, walking out of the classroom. As he turned, others immediately raised their heads, no longer pretending to be busy, and in unison, gazed at his back.

Always arrogant, carefree, and self-assured.

In this moment, Zhao Yue finally reacted; Huo Ye didn’t rely on luck, background, or family connections because he had none. The reason he studied close to him wasn’t that he had fallen like Zhao Yue, but because he had never fallen.

This was the real difference between him and Huo Ye.

After Huo Ye left, the voices of other classmates in the class, previously lowered, rose again. One by one, they said: “I never noticed before; Brother Ye is really talented. This time his score is almost three times mine; how did he do it? Besides using his phone, what advanced cheating techniques does he have?”

“Is that a tumor on your neck? This time the placement exam was made by our school. How could he have used his phone? I reckon he benefited from not having scores assigned to this exam; there were several top students in his exam room; he must have copied from them.”

“Is that true? I shared an exam room with Brother Ye; no wonder I saw him wide awake in the three main subjects—oh right, this time he actually wrote an essay! I thought his habit of not writing essays would continue into the college entrance exam.”

“How can you be so sure Brother Ye cheated? What if he studied late at night while we were sleeping?”

“No way, if he really did that, why didn’t he take Zhao Yue along? They were desk mates after all.”

“I’m not sure; who knows?”

Zhao Yue turned slightly upon hearing their voices, still motionless. Once they noticed him, the chatter quickly died down, not daring to gossip anymore.

Time flew back to early September.

The phone vibrated again, but this time it was Zhao Yue’s. He picked it up and saw a new message in the pinned group chat.

【007_Huo Ye】:

Forgot to bring a lighter. Is anyone still outside?

…

Zhao Yue instinctively reached into his pocket. He didn’t have a smoking habit, but he often carried a lighter or two, specifically to lend to his brothers.

But as he pulled out the lighter, he hesitated.

In the group chat, except for the abrupt silence that fell upon him, everyone else remained as cheerful as ever.

【AAA Eagle-like Man_Xiong Ying】:

I have it, I have it!!

【AAA Eagle-like Man_Xiong Ying】:

No one better fight me for it; I’ll light it for the boss!

…

【Gugu_Bai Feiyu】:

Sorry, while you were typing, I was already a kilometer away from the boss.

【Gugu_Bai Feiyu】:

#Sending Location#

…

【AAA Eagle-like Man_Xiong Ying】:

What! This is outrageous!!

【Pull Your Bunny Tail_Xia Zhiyao】:

What! This is outrageous!!

…

【Woohoo_Wen Shiyi】:

#Sending Picture#

…

Zhao Yue stared at the group chat screen, unblinking, when Wen Shiyi suddenly sent a photo.

It was a group photo.

In the photo, Wen Shiyi was holding the camera pointed at himself, standing shoulder to shoulder with Huo Ye, the two of them very close together.

—Huo Ye had his head lowered, slightly turning away, with a straight nose and a definite jawline. His thin lips parted slightly, emitting a hazy, lingering smoke, softening the sharp look of his brows that became overly gentle in this captured moment, seemingly unaware of the camera practically poking into his face.

Meanwhile, Wen Shiyi wore his usual indifferent poker face, the lit star-like spark resting on his lips, his fiery gaze directly meeting yours as you looked at your phone.

Casual, detached, and cutting to the heart.

They clearly wore the same school uniforms, yet stood apart from the background characters in the photo; the others looked like high school students, while they fit the image of suited thugs.

The group fell silent for three seconds, before replying in unison.

【Pull Your Bunny Tail_Xia Zhiyao】:

So cool.

…

【AAA Eagle-like Man_Xiong Ying】:

So cool.

…

【Gugu_Bai Feiyu】:

So cool.

…

Zhao Yue: “……”

The image on the phone screen momentarily froze; a classmate from the adjacent table threw a paper crane amidst the laughter, but Zhao Yue happened to lower his head and missed it. The paper crane lightly grazed his ear and then flew out of the classroom through the window in a parabolic arc.

Below the adjacent teaching building, the paper crane landed outside the school gate. At the same moment, the two people in that group photo came to life as Huo Ye raised his face, while Wen Shiyi showed no sign of guilt after his earlier stealthy snap, his fingers slightly moving as he calmly continued sending messages in the group.

【Woohoo_Wen Shiyi】:

Too late; no one is faster than me.

…

A moment later, beneath the shade of a tree outside the school gate, several classmates who hadn’t seen each other for a long time arrived one after another.

Bai Feiyu showed no surprise or doubt about Huo Ye transferring to Class A. He simply felt a profound sense of reluctance at not being able to gather with his friends often in the future. When they met, he playfully fell into Huo Ye’s embrace, crying, “Will I see you again, my boss? …Boss, when we meet again, you must be happy, okay? You need to be joyful; you need to be happy. In the future, your world will have no me, but that’s alright. You need to be happy on your own…”

“Wah wah wah… Boss, Boss! How would I live without you, Boss? Boss, take me with you, Boss!”

He cried as he clung to him, like a puppy desperately burrowing into someone’s arms. Huo Ye, afraid of burning him with the ash, had to pinch the cigarette in one hand while tightly holding him with the other, remaining calm like a father figure who had raised kids for years.

“Get lost, quit crying!” Xia Zhiyao, annoyed from the noise that was hitting her temples, reached out to tear this clingy person away, her luscious red lips painted beautifully, her voice sharp and formidable, “The boss just became a top student; he’s not going to stop playing with us. It’s a good thing he’s out of this backward Class 18. Why are you crying?”

Xiong Ying added: “Yeah, isn’t that a good thing? I grew up with the boss; you all don’t know, he was the kind of kid my mom would talk about when I was in middle school—his grades were excellent! If it weren’t for—”

At this point, his throat suddenly caught, and he quickly changed the subject, “Because I led him astray and took him out to have fun every day, he lagged in his studies, otherwise how would he be stuck in Class 18 for a year? It’s rightly deserved, rightly deserved.”

After speaking, Xiong Ying couldn’t help but glance at Huo Ye, but luckily the latter showed no reaction, appearing rather indifferent.

“I remember a line from a poem, what was it? The golden fish surely is not a mere pool creature, uh, pool creature—” Xia Zhiyao faltered as she spoke.

Xiong Ying quickly blurted out: “How could it be tied to day and night?”

“Oh, oh, how could it be…”

Suddenly realizing something was wrong, Xia Zhiyao immediately turned back and dealt a heavy blow to him, “Go away!”

“Hey, you didn’t hit me! Ow! Ow! Ow!”

“……”

In the midst of the wall of cries, Wen Shiyi’s calm, indifferent voice suddenly intruded, coldly saying:

“The golden scales are certainly not mere pool creatures; once encountering the wind and clouds, they transform into dragons.”

Upon hearing this, Xia Zhiyao paused, raising her head abruptly, allowing Xiong Ying to break free, but she didn’t mind it and happily exclaimed, “Yes! That’s the one! It must be our little Shiyi; it’s no wonder you scored 130 in the Chinese test but only 15 in math in the eight-school joint exam!”

Wen Shiyi: “……”

Thank you.