Chapter 28
Two weeks later, He Nuo told Shi Yan that he had fully recovered and could move about freely, so he didn't need to trouble him further with all the fetching around. He Nuo's "thank you" had not even left his mouth when Shi Yan turned around and left. As he looked at the silhouette on the bike disappear into the night, He Nuo felt conflicted. He Nuo was not the type who didn't know how to repay others' goodwill, contrarily, he’s the best at remembering the good others had done for him. Even though he knew clearly what kind of person Shi Yan was, his "evil tyrant" image had vanished in a puff of smoke, and He Nuo had carved into his heart how much Shi Yan had helped and taken care of him.
He Nuo didn't have anything he could give to Shi Yan in return, so he took upon all the cleaning duties that were available and rushed to finish them before Shi Yan arrived. When he saw Shi Yan, he would offer a simple "Hi!" as a greeting.
Just like this, they ushered in the final examination of their second year of high school. After this examination, students would have to fill in their application forms for either the liberal arts or science classes, then the school would sort them into their classes depending on their results. Third year would have five science classes and one liberal arts class. Since there was only one liberal arts class, students didn't need to be sorted, but the five science classes are categorised based on results. If one's results were better, they would enter the front classes like class one and class two, and the teachers assigned to these classes would be the veterans who have many years of experience under their belt in supervising students preparing for the National College Entrance Examination1. Thus, this examination is rather important.
The usual, orderly seating arrangement of the class was disrupted and in everyone's hands was a number they needed to use to find their new seat. When He Nuo walked to the seat with his number, there was already someone sitting there. He looked at the number that he had recorded again (Laoshi informed them during class and students had to record their numbers by themselves), and after he confirmed that it was his number, he told the student that he had sat at the wrong seat. This student gave He Nuo a number and told him which classroom it was in, then asked him to go to another classroom to take the test. He Nuo didn't think that it was too much trouble, so he agreed.
But in the end, He Nuo was called by the teacher after he handed in his paper. The student who had switched seats with him was caught colluding with the student sitting in front of him to cheat on the test, and in order to reduce the severity of their punishment, they insisted in unison that He Nuo was the one who had requested a change of seats. He Nuo's parents - his father, was called over. We won't mention how this matter was resolved in school, but when He Nuo returned home he couldn't avoid the fury of the belt. The next day, Shi Yan saw that He Nuo's left cheek had a suspicious-looking mark that couldn't be hidden even if one tried, and before he knew what had happened he thought that it was his buddies who had done it. After some questioning, it didn't take long for him to find out exactly what had happened.
On the third day after the last paper, the students had to return to their classes to retrieve the forms for their third year classes, go home and fill in the required information, get it signed, then hand it back in school. Once their results were out, the sorting of the classes would then be done. This was beneficial for the students to properly plan out their study schedules for the upcoming holidays.
He Nuo had also returned to his classroom and was sitting at his seat. His form teacher was no longer responsible for his class, so the class monitor was handing out the forms. Suddenly, the students who were sitting by the windows all stood up, and the students sitting elsewhere started to gather by the windows.
"They're fighting! They're fighting…..one of them looks like Shi Yan?"
After a moment of exclamations and crowded pandemonium, the students who couldn't see opened the classroom door and dashed down the stairs. At the same time, the students from other classes had also realised what was happening downstairs and were all rushing over like a horde of bees. The classroom immediately quietened down, and only a few didn't walk over to the windows to look.
"It's really Shi Yan!"
"He can fight?!"
He Nuo eventually lost to the beckoning in his heart, and slowly walked over to the windows. From a distance, he could see that a crowd had already gathered at the field, how could he see where Shi Yan was? His heart felt conflicted. He would definitely not think that Shi Yan was the one on the losing end, he was worried for the one Shi Yan was bullying, he didn't know what kind of person would anger this evil tyrant and have the guts to expose themselves.
He should just return to his seat ba, then wait for the class monitor to return and continue handing out the forms. The class monitor didn't leave in hopes of stopping the evil tyrant, that would be overestimating himself. To get Shi Yan to drop his princely act and go crazy within the school…it wasn't a matter that could be resolved by a mere class monitor. He Nuo was in the process of pitying the class monitor when his classroom door was kicked open. His classmate Wang Feng and Shi Yan's two other buddies came in, took a quick glance and their sights fell on He Nuo, "I knew you wouldn't go down."
He Nuo stared at them silently.
The guys who came in grabbed He Nuo and started dragging him out of the classroom, "Hurry up, Shi Yan's fighting!"
He Nuo was dragged downstairs, their classroom was on the fourth floor, and it was only when they reached the first floor that He Nuo reacted and grabbed the stairs' handrails to resist. Wang Feng felt his body stop, took one look at his hand and said anxiously, "He's fighting because of you and you still don't want to go? Do you want him to cripple them?"
His words were like an earthquake that shocked He Nuo so much his head felt dizzy, what does Shi Yan fighting have anything to do with him, isn't Shi Yan just a bandit! He Nuo sulked, "What does him fighting have to do with me." He turned around and wanted to return to his classroom. Just as he prepared to take a step, his wrist was grabbed with a strong force, "If you don't go, who else can persuade him to stop?"
They had three people; two of them stood on both of He Nuo's sides, hauled him, and ran to the field. After they ran to the middle of the crowd, one of them cleared his throat and shouted, "Get lost, all of you get lost!"
This group of people were all part of the evil tyrant's gang, so everyone naturally backed away and created a path for them. When He Nuo was dragged all the way to the center of the conflict, what he saw was Shi Yan's other buddies holding him back, "Stop, you've done enough."
"They've already apologised too, didn't they say they didn't know?"
The evil tyrant was clutching the collar of the unlucky guy whose face was full of blood and looked like he could open a sauce vat shop, "Fuck you! How dare you touch one of my people!" There was another guy lying on a side who didn't look any better off.
"Shi Yan." Wang Feng called him, then pushed He Nuo forward.
1. The National College Entrance Examination, commonly known as Gaokao, is an academic examination held annually in the People’s Republic of China. This examination is a prerequisite for entrance into almost all higher education institutions at the undergraduate level.↩
T/N: LOL….. I love how they offered HN like some sacrificial offering
*SY goes crazy*
Peasants: Lord please accept our humble offering
HN: ??? What does him going crazy have to do with me
SY: Offering accepted