Are All You Straight Guys Like This Chapter 75

September, the start of the school year.

The cicadas were noisy, and the blazing sun felt like fire.

The evergreen leaves outside the teaching building rustled loudly in the wind. The uniforms of Haicheng No.1 High School were the classic black and white pairing. The long pants reached the ankles, and the white short-sleeved shirt outlined the slender, clean lines of a youth’s figure.

The long corridor was exposed to sunlight, with tree shadows swaying on one side.

The summer heat was unbearable. The scorching air made the asphalt road seem warped.

On the sports field, a group of boys had their arms around each other’s shoulders, sitting in the shade of a tree to cool off. Their laughter was bright and unrestrained, as if it could travel across the air.

Ye Ran quietly watched for a moment. His gaze landed on one of the boys. A few seconds later, he withdrew his eyes and walked back into the academic affairs office.

The director of the office looked him up and down, smiling: “This uniform really does look good on you young people.”

The director used to be a colleague of Ye Ran’s father.

Now that Ye Ran had transferred from Beijing No.1 High School to Haicheng High School, the director was surprised, yet couldn’t help feeling a sense of closeness toward him.

Ye Ran majored in the arts. Before senior year, he needed to study the regular cultural curriculum in a normal class.

Once he reached senior year, he could take leave, join training camps if needed, or sign up for tutoring classes.

The director finished registering his information and casually asked, “Have you set up your dorm yet? Teacher Ye… cough, your dad didn’t come with you?”

Ye Ran nodded and answered, “The dorm is all set. My dad is on a business trip.”

The dorms at Haicheng High School were all double rooms. Since Ye Ran arrived late and also had connections, some school leaders knew his father, the school simply let him have a double room to himself.

“On a business trip…” The director clearly recalled Ye Ran’s father at the podium years ago, and now thinking about how he had bowed to reality, he couldn’t help feeling more pity for Ye Ran. “Come on, I’ll take you to your class.”

Other teachers were in the office too, and someone mentioned, “Class Three is having P.E. right now. Even if he goes, no one’s there.”

“Oh, in that case, Ye Ran, stay in the office a bit longer.”

Ye Ran obediently found an empty chair, sat down with his backpack in his arms, eyelids lowered. His calm and quiet demeanor was very much to the teachers’ liking, especially in recent months, teachers were beginning to prefer such quiet and sensible kids.

Grades weren’t the most important thing. What mattered was not causing trouble.

Someone brought up a topic, and during their free time the teachers grew chatty. “Was Chen Lang first again in last semester’s finals?”

“Yeah. Chen Lang is really diligent.”

“He is diligent, doesn’t even eat lunch. I saw him memorizing in the classroom.”

“First is first, but his ranking in the city isn’t high. Only ninth.”

“Ninth, huh. Ah, back when we had the joint exam with eight schools, our school beat the neighboring experimental school by more than ten points. How come now…”

“It’s all because of that brat,” the director grew angry as he listened. He wanted to say more but held himself back, deciding not to think about it. “Forget it, I’ll just see how long he can keep causing trouble!”

After speaking, he lifted his glass and drank a sip of chrysanthemum tea to calm his temper. When he looked up again, he found Ye Ran watching him. Ye Ran’s eyes were clear, his pupils dark and bright, reflecting the director’s face.

“Teacher, is our school’s performance not very good?” he asked.

The director nearly sprayed his tea. Seeing the worry in Ye Ran’s eyes, he felt helpless and amused. “You kid, our school’s teaching resources are absolutely not worse than your school in Beijing. The poor results this time were just… bad luck. Don’t worry about that. Just study well.”

The other teachers also laughed. “Yes, last time the eight-school joint exam’s first place was from our school. Our university admission rate is over 90%.”

The class bell rang at that moment.

The office became busy. Teachers with classes grabbed their lesson plans and homework and hurried out. The sophomore office was on the corridor connecting two teaching buildings. Through the single-sided floor-to-ceiling windows, one could see students stepping outside for air.

Everywhere you looked were white short sleeves, black long pants, school badges on their chests, youthful energy filling the space as they horsed around.

After another moment, a male teacher walked in from outside. He looked just over thirty, refined, wearing black frame glasses. There were creases between his brows. He held an enamel mug, tea leaves floating up and down inside. The director called to him, “Old Yang!”

The man looked over.

The director stood and brought Ye Ran toward him. “Your next class is with Class Three, right? This is a transfer student from Beijing, Ye Ran. He’s assigned to your class.”

The teacher called Old Yang looked at Ye Ran. Ye Ran stood quietly, with black hair, red lips, white teeth, his youthful figure slender like a young willow, his eyes clear, he looked like a good kid.

Yang Wei set down his enamel mug. His expression softened. “Alright. Come in with me later.”

The next class was Yang Wei’s politics class. He went back to find Class Three’s assignment notebook and had Ye Ran hold it. When the prep bell rang, he picked up his enamel mug and led Ye Ran toward the classroom.

In the office, teachers without classes exchanged looks and lowered their voices. “I think Old Yang is in a bad mood.”

“He ran into the vice principal just now, got lectured again. Told him to do a good job guiding Shen Shi’s thinking… If you ask me, that brat Shen Shi needs a good beating.”

“It’s not that simple. Even his parents can’t handle him, let alone us.”

“Poor Old Yang…”

At that moment, in the hallway leading to Class 3.

Yang Wei was a very gentle teacher. His speaking speed was slow, and he asked Ye Ran kindly about life at Beijing No.1 High School. Ye Ran answered honestly. Students from other classes were walking the corridors, and when they saw Ye Ran’s unfamiliar face, they couldn’t help stealing a few looks.

A girl leaning on the window met Ye Ran’s gaze and quickly looked away in embarrassment.

Yang Wei didn’t notice. He seemed troubled, holding a workbook in one hand. After flipping through a few pages, he began to sigh.

The prep bell for Haicheng No.1 High School rang three minutes before class.

Within three minutes, the corridor quieted down.

Just before reaching Class Three’s door, Ye Ran suddenly heard laughter.

Then came the sound of shuffling footsteps.

From the stairwell corner came several boys, walking closer. The youths were slender and tall, wearing their uniforms, hair dampened with sweat, strolling lazily together with their arms around one another’s shoulders.

The boy walking at the front stood out the most.

Not because of striking good looks, but because his hair was dyed silver.

The boys behind him clearly followed his lead. Seeing him stop, they all stopped as well.

“Old Yang?” the boy beside him spoke first, smiling.

Yang Wei’s expression changed visibly, from gentle to furious. He held his temper down and sneered, “Didn’t you hear the class bell? Still wandering around outside?”

Ye Ran was blocked behind him, his presence reduced to almost nothing.

The boy wasn’t afraid either, and spoke in an orderly way: “The field is too far from here. We first went to wash our hands, then went to the bathroom, then washed our hands again, and came back… going back and forth like that delayed us.”

Yang Wei was completely furious: “Yu Ting! Don’t pretend with me. Do you know how many points you scored at the end of last semester?!”

Yu Ting felt a pang of guilt and rubbed the tip of his nose: “Teacher, don’t always bring up grades.”

Yang Wei almost laughed from anger: “If I don’t bring up grades… you really dare to say that. And you, Shen Shi! What do you look like now? Slacking off every day. You think those few points you scored at the end of last semester were for me?”

Ye Ran’s brows twitched. His mood was blank and confused.

…Shen Shi?

Which Shen, which Shi?

Did he hear wrong, or recognize the wrong person?

He lifted his head and only then realized that Yang Wei’s body was blocking him completely. That boy called Shen Shi probably couldn’t see him. Looking past Yang Wei’s tall figure, Ye Ran only saw the boy’s slender, tall side profile.

He seemed to smile a little, his voice lazy and languid, not hurried at all: “No.”

As soon as he said that, the surroundings fell silent.

The boy casually added, “I scored it for my parents.”

The entire Class Three burst into loud laughter. A few mischievous boys near the windows even straightened up, craning their necks to look out while muttering.

“Awesome! Brother Shen is awesome!”

“Exactly! I also score for my parents hahaha!”

“Woooo—”

Seeing Yang Wei’s face getting darker and darker, the class committee members began restoring order. Amid the commotion, the bell rang. The whole building fell silent.

Yang Wei stared at Shen Shi, so angry he let out a cold laugh: “Good. Good! Since it doesn’t matter whether you study or not, then you don’t need to listen to my class.”

“All of you go stand outside by the door. Come back only when you know what you did wrong!”

Shen Shi had both hands in his pockets, body slightly leaning forward. He didn’t care at all about this harmless punishment. With the few boys behind him, he brushed past Yang Wei, and at that moment, lowered his eyes lazily and answered, “Got it, teacher.”

His lowered eyelids concealed his cool, indifferent gaze.

As he passed Yang Wei, he caught sight of a shadow. He was about to withdraw his uninterested gaze when that shadow suddenly shifted sideways. A foot in white sneakers stepped directly in front of him.

Shen Shi’s dark pupils shrank. Unable to control himself, he stepped down on it, then lifted his eyes coldly, wanting to see who was trying to mess with him.

The boy being stepped on was even more bewildered than he was. A gust of hot wind blew past, ruffling his hair.

His eyes were long and soft, as if soaked in clear lake water. His thin eyelids were tinted with a faint, moist red. He looked surprised that he’d been stepped on. When he met Shen Shi’s pitch-black eyes, his lips curved very gently.

As if saying it was okay.

Shen Shi’s thin lips tightened at once. His gaze froze on the boy’s face. Two seconds later, he stiffly opened his mouth: “…Sorry.”

Ye Ran blinked. His smile grew gentler.

Before Shen Shi could react, he suddenly heard the sound of someone choking up.

Him: “?”

Something felt wrong immediately. He turned his head. Behind him, Yu Ting and the others stood in the middle of the hallway, staring at him with wide eyes. Yang Wei, a man over 1.8 meters tall, had taken off his glasses and was wiping the corners of his eyes nonstop. Even inside the classroom, many incredulous gazes appeared.

“Hey, hey, good kid,” Yang Wei said excitedly, eyes filled with hope as if the excellent student from before had returned. “It’s good that you know your mistake. Come inside, it’s hot out here.”

Before Shen Shi could respond, he turned to glare at Yu Ting and the others. His aura surged back instantly, anger blazing: “Shen Shi already apologized. What about you?! How long do you plan to stand out here?!”

Yu Ting spent a long moment collecting his jaw from the floor. After hesitating, he noticed that Shen Shi was standing beside Yang Wei like an intimidating grim reaper, face black as if backing him up.

Yu Ting: “…”

Fine!

Shen Shi, you snake!

You tricked us into being punished, and then snuck off to apologize! D*mn it!

Unable to swallow his frustration, he took a big step forward, glared at Shen Shi for betraying him, then projected from his diaphragm, loudly and clearly: “I’m sorry, teacher! I, Yu Ting, know I was wrong!”

Jiang Yun was full of question marks, not understanding why the two buddies who slacked off together were betraying each other one after another.

He swallowed his anger and muttered reluctantly, “I also know I was wrong, teacher.”

The remaining boys hurried to speak, afraid that if they apologized too late they’d get kicked out of Shen Shi’s little circle. Each sounded more earnest and louder than the last.

“Sorry teacher, I was wrong!”

“I also know I was wrong, teacher!”

“We all know we were wrong!”

Yang Wei had never felt so pleased in his life.

The habitual frown on his face stretched into a smile, kind and delighted. Even his voice softened: “Good, good, all good kids. Knowing your mistakes and correcting them is the greatest virtue. From now on, come back before class starts. Don’t loiter outside. All of you, go back in.”

The matter was resolved perfectly.

No amount of patching would change anything now.

Shen Shi suppressed his simmering anger and slowly lowered his head.

The culprit had already withdrawn his foot and stood properly. His tall figure hidden in the loose school uniform. As if sensing Shen Shi’s gaze, he lifted his head. His eyes were pure and clean, still carrying a faint smile.

The fire that Shen Shi wanted to unleash was inexplicably smothered by that smile. He stood still for a whole minute, then furrowed his brows in irritation. Deciding he didn’t want to look at him anymore, he walked away.

Yu Ting and the others followed close behind.

Ye Ran watched their backs and leisurely savored it in his mind.

The high-school Shen Shi… seemed kind of fun?

These past years, he had watched Shen Shi grow more and more steady, emotions unreadable, becoming a true figure of authority. Except when facing him, Shen Shi would show a trace of gentleness. Otherwise, he was like a towering, unreachable mountain.

Ye Ran had never seen such vivid expressions or reactions from him.

He wondered how little Shen Shi went from this version of himself to the one he became in university.

He clearly was adorable.

Looking at little Shen Shi through the heart of a mature thirty-year-old man—

Ye Ran found it hard to suppress his fatherly affection.

He had seen plenty of mischievous kids in his art studio. Compared to them, Shen Shi at most counted as a slightly older mischievous child. He already had his own ways of dealing with such kids.

But a boyfriend was still different from a child.

Ye Ran thought it over carefully, the smile in his eyes deepening.

…The stronger the stimulation, the higher the chance of waking him up.

Since that’s the case—

“Ye Ran,” his thoughts were interrupted. Yang Wei called him from the classroom door. “Come here.”

Ye Ran calmly put away his smile and walked forward with light steps. “Coming, teacher.”

Inside the classroom, everyone was curious about the new face.

A few mischievous boys had already started asking questions. The girls, however, focused more on the new student’s looks. The more they looked, the more shy they felt. They didn’t know why, although the new student wasn’t as sharply handsome as Shen Shi, he had an indescribable aura.

Like water, like mist.

Soft yet restrained, like warm, polished jade.

It made them want to set aside their shyness and ask his name.

Yang Wei, of course, didn’t notice this undercurrent. He introduced Ye Ran to the class while writing his name on the blackboard. “This is our new classmate. He transferred from Capital City High School and studied art. From now on, he’s part of the family. Everyone, applaud and welcome him.”

A wave of applause rose immediately, along with boys teasing, “Whoa, Capital City High School—”

Yang Wei glared at them in disgust, quickly silencing them so they wouldn’t scare Ye Ran. “Ye Ran, introduce yourself too.”

Ye Ran’s eyes carried a light smile, eyelids naturally lowered. The summer afternoon sun fell beside him, outlining a faint golden glow around him.

His lashes, dyed gold by the light, trembled uncomfortably. Ye Ran accurately sensed a gaze filled with scrutiny, annoyance, and impatience. He looked back naturally, and when he met Shen Shi’s dark, heavy stare, he smiled faintly.

“Hello everyone, my name is Ye Ran.”

He said, “My hobby is studying. I hope to get along well with everyone.”

…

Tch.

In the last row—

Shen Shi leaned against his chair, eyes cold, staring at the righteous-sounding boy on the podium.

Get along well.

How exactly?

By letting him step on his foot again?

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