Are All You Straight Guys Like This Chapter 79

People came and went in the office.

The lights were bright.

Teachers of every subject were either marking homework or calling students over to talk.

Haicheng High School had three periods of evening self-study, divided by subject, changing each day.

Tonight all three periods were politics. Yang Wei held an enamel cup, blew on the steam, and took a sip of tea.

The dean taught English, and he also had a class during evening study.

As he passed Yang Wei’s desk, he caught sight of Yang Wei looking at last semester’s final exam results. Class 3 was the class Yang Wei had taken from Grade 10 into Grade 11. Unless something unexpected happened, he would also take them in Grade 12.

Yang Wei was responsible by nature. On the small partition in front of his desk, three or four report cards were pinned with magnets. Even a casual glance could see the name that sat firmly at the top of those report cards.

—Shen Shi.

First in class, first in the grade, first in the subject, first in the entire city.

His gaze lowered, then he saw the final exam report card from last year in Yang Wei’s hand.

Shen Shi.

Second to last in class, second to last in the grade, zero in individual subjects, and a city ranking too long to count.

The dean: “…”

Going bald.

His temper rose again. Starting from the third monthly exam of the second half of Grade 10, Shen Shi’s grades had been like a runaway wild horse, never coming back.

At first, the teachers thought something had happened in the Shen family, that Shen Shi had suffered some major psychological blow. They called him to the office every day, served him tea, spoke gently, cared for him in every possible way, doing their best to protect his supposedly fragile heart.

Until the Math Olympiad, when this brat took a gold medal without saying a word, standing proudly on the podium taking photos. Only then did the teachers of Haicheng High School understand: he truly didn’t want to perform well, but at crucial points related to important exams or his own future, this kid was crystal clear in his heart. He would never do anything that cost him.

The dean had been summoned by the principal several times. Completely helpless, he finally chose not to bother with Shen Shi’s grades. Olympiad registrations still went to him as usual, and other exams were treated as if unseen.

“Dean, were you looking for me?” Yang Wei cleared his throat, only then noticing the dean standing behind him.

The dean snapped out of his thoughts, expression complicated. Putting himself in Yang Wei’s shoes, he thought: clearly there’s a top-scoring seedling in the class, yet now he’s doing nothing proper, leaning on his rebellious phase. If a young teacher were assigned this class, they’d be worried sick.

After a few seconds of silence, he slowly patted Yang Wei on the shoulder. “…You’ve worked hard.”

Yang Wei was bewildered. “…Huh?”

How was drinking water suddenly ‘working hard’?

The warning bell rang on cue.

He quickly stood up, hurrying to class. He was still thinking about Shen Shi’s change in attitude today and felt it was a good sign. So he picked up his lesson plan and smiled as he replied, “We’re all teachers. There’s no such thing as hard or not hard.”

Seeing his relaxed tone and brisk steps, the dean watched his back, feeling even more conflicted.

It was over.

Another person had been pua-ed by Shen Shi.

Class Three was always the noisiest class on the whole floor.

A gust of night wind hit Yang Wei, settling his usually self-mocking mindset. Just like the dean, he also suspected Shen Shi’s “admission of fault” this morning was just a moment’s impulse.

Unlike other teachers, Yang Wei had taught Shen Shi for two years and knew his stubborn mule-like temperament. Unless something more exciting than “falling apart academically” came along, this kid would never return to the right path.

He stood at the door for two seconds. His expression turned serious. He pushed the door open. “What are you yelling about? Why are you yelling! The entire floor can hear you!”

The class immediately fell silent.

Yang Wei stepped onto the podium with a cold face, exuding authority. “Class rep, come hand out the test papers from yesterday. Look at what you’ve all done. Knowledge we just covered in class, and you can already forget it!”

He regained composure. Right before beginning the lecture, he glanced at Shen Shi, then started going over the exam.

…

A whole period went by.

Yang Wei’s expression remained unchanged, but inwardly, waves were crashing.

From the start of class until now, Shen Shi was actually listening.

His eyes were fixed on the blackboard. His posture was upright and proper, something he had never once displayed in two years. At first Yang Wei only looked at him occasionally, but later, unable to contain his excitement, he checked every time he explained a problem. Each time he received Shen Shi’s silent, attentive nod, he nearly burst into grateful tears.

This child… this child…

Did he eat the wrong medicine today?

Not only was he shocked; Yu Ting, who sat beside Shen Shi, was just as baffled.

Finally the bell rang. The moment Yang Wei left the room, Yu Ting turned to him immediately. “What happened? Why did you start listening today?”

He knew full well about Shen Shi’s feud with his family. Because he found it thrilling, he had secretly followed along. Last year, Shen Shi was second to last, and Yu Ting was the very last.

Jiang Yun had been inexplicably kicked out of last place by the two of them and happily went home to claim a reward.

Shen Shi didn’t speak.

Yu Ting continued guessing. “Did your uncle apologize? No way. Uncle Shen doesn’t seem like someone who would apologize. Maybe your aunt came to you again? The aunty from the hotel you’re staying at—”

…

Suddenly noise came from the front rows.

Yu Ting instinctively glanced over.

Ye Ran and Zhang Xuyang were deskmates. Several students were gathered around their table now, those top-student types. Each held a test paper and was talking to Ye Ran, who sat on the outer side.

Ye Ran took a paper and lowered his head to flip through it. Bright white light fell across his face as he looked down. His eyelashes were long and fine, casting a faint shadow.

Someone must have said something funny. He paused, then laughed as well.

His lips were soft and red. Dimples rippled faintly at his cheeks. His skin was delicate and crystal-pale, which only emphasized how full his lips were, like they had been dipped in honey.

Yu Ting, not thinking much of it, turned back.

The next second—“BANG—!”

He jolted violently, whipping his head toward Shen Shi, who had suddenly stood up.

The entire class fell silent.

Many students glanced over with uncertainty.

Shen Shi had just withdrawn his foot after kicking aside a chair blocking the aisle.

The black hair falling over his face cast a shadow. He walked straight out of the classroom, his figure merging into the dimness of the back rows, stretching a long, dormant shadow across the floor.

Yu Ting and Jiang Yun exchanged a look and quickly followed.

Even after walking far away, confused classmates could still hear their puzzled voices.

“What’s going on with him…”

No one knew who spoke first.

After a brief silence, the classroom grew lively again.

Everyone resumed chatting and laughing. Occasionally someone looked at the three empty seats, but they didn’t dare stare for long.

…

In the front row, Ye Ran slowly withdrew his gaze.

His long, slender fingers pinched the test paper. He seemed thoughtful. At some point, the paper had been wrinkled slightly in his grip. Zhang Xuyang noticed from the corner of his eye. After hesitating, he still said nothing.

The class monitor was the easygoing type. He said, “What’s wrong with Shen Shi? Should I go check on him?”

“What else could it be,” the class arts rep huffed, impatience written all over her pretty little face. “Don’t forget Xu Qingshu came by before class. Who knows what kind of stunt he pulled again.”

If it was Xu Qingshu, the class monitor paused, his gaze avoiding hers slightly.

The arts rep was called Zhou Jiayi. The girl spoke bluntly and was also in the arts track. She liked Ye Ran quite a bit; she always came to him with her test papers right after class. Now she looked at him anxiously.

“Ye Ran, when you and Shen Shi came back earlier, did you run into that lunatic? Did he say anything to you?”

“Lunatic” referred to Xu Qingshu.

Ye Ran nodded. “Yeah, we ran into him.”

A hint of confusion appeared on his face. “He did say something strange… told me to stay away from Shen Shi. What’s wrong? Is there something off about him?”

“There’s a ton wrong with him! He’s a total weirdo!”

“Weirdo is an understatement…” a classmate couldn’t help chiming in. “If you check the school forum, I swear you’ll eat gossip until you puke.”

“For real!” the arts rep lowered her voice, whispering gossipily. “You don’t know, just last year, a boy from the vocational school next door named Lu Wen literally wanted to die for him—”

Before the second period began, to everyone’s surprise, Shen Shi whom they all thought had already skipped class actually came back in full view of the crowd, bringing Yu Ting and Jiang Yun with him.

Ye Ran could feel that faint, shadowy gaze on his back, gloomy and full of scrutiny.

He sighed silently. Thinking about what Shen Shi had gone through before, his heart softened. He decided not to provoke him for now, to take things step by step.

For the moment, the most important thing was still dealing with academics.

He quietly worked on the problems. A moment later, he raised his hand, feeling a bit sore, and rubbed the back of his neck.

The skin on the back of his neck was snowy white and soft.

As the black hair ends shifted aside, half-covering, half-revealing, the rubbed skin began to show a faint flush. The pale red spread down past his collar. The rubbing hand grew a little impatient, increasing pressure, the red marks deepening, like red plum blossoms on snow.

“Bang—!”

Yang Wei had just stepped into the classroom when he caught sight of Shen Shi’s departing figure.

He had never seen such a violent expression on the kid before.

His cheeks were tense, his face was extremely dark.

His body was strangely rigid. He almost slammed straight into the door before sharply turning away, striding out of the classroom, leaving only a shadow behind.

Him: “?”

He checked the time. Two minutes left before class.

Thinking about Shen Shi’s behavior today, Yang Wei suppressed the urge to call him back and instead told the students to take out the test paper from this morning.

Ye Ran also had a copy.

He didn’t read it with Zhang Xuyang. He frowned, puzzled, looking toward the suddenly furious little Shen Shi.

…Why is he angry again?

The bell rang right on time. Yang Wei glanced at Shen Shi’s still-empty seat.

“Everyone take out your test papers. Let’s go over the morning exercises…”

Evening self-study was always dull. No new lessons, no review. Teachers usually arranged tests or went over papers.

Ten minutes into the review—

Yang Wei suddenly heard a cold, low voice. “Report.”

He looked up and saw Shen Shi’s dripping wet hair.

Shen Shi’s features were already sharp and handsome. With wet bangs dripping onto his forehead, the crossing strands shaded his eyes, making his narrow, cool phoenix eyes stand out even more.

The classroom AC was set to a perfect 22°. And yet Shen Shi had actually gone out to wash his hair.

Swallowing the question that nearly slipped out, Yang Wei softened his tone. “Come in. Next time, come back earlier.”

Shen Shi responded with a short “Mm,” then strode into the classroom.

One hand in his pocket, his eyes carried irritation and gloom. As he passed Ye Ran, he stirred a draft of wind.

Noticing the brief stiffness in the boy’s posture, Ye Ran lowered his head and added notes to his paper. Then, bit by bit, he drew a little fire-breathing dragon on the sticky note at the top right corner.

Zhang Xuyang noticed accidentally. “What’s this…?”

“Oh,” Ye Ran said casually. “The protagonist of a novel.”

Zhang Xuyang: “?”

What kind of novel has a fire-breathing dragon as the protagonist?

…

Last row.

An unusual silence.

Even the sports boys who loved chatting during class were behaving.

Shen Shi leaned back without expression, lifting his eyelids slightly as he stared forward.

His aura was so irritable anyone could tell he was in a bad mood, yet no one understood why he stayed if he was in such a foul mood.

In the second row, Ye Ran started rubbing his shoulder again.

Shen Shi’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He abruptly looked away, his gaze darkening further. A few seconds later, he forced down the frustration in his chest. As though trying to prove something, he looked forward again expressionlessly.

He even met Yang Wei’s eyes once. Yang Wei gave him a particularly kind, benevolent smile, moved a bit closer to that side, and continued teaching.

Shen Shi coldly watched him stand in the aisle beside Ye Ran, the teacher’s tall figure completely blocking Ye Ran from view. Only occasionally did Ye Ran’s side profile peek out when Yang Wei turned slightly.

Ye Ran had stopped touching his neck.

His posture was upright. His figure was long and flexible, his loose school uniform covering a body of pale, delicate skin. Only his arms and neck revealed a little color.

He listened quietly. His only small habit was occasionally rubbing the back of his neck, his slender fingertips tinged with a pinkish hue pressing onto skin that still hadn’t lost its marks. Lazy, casual, with a kind of unintentional allure.

Shen Shi’s expression shifted unpredictably.

Disgust one moment, cold hardness the next.

He had already made a decision in his heart. He would stay far away from people like Ye Ran.

…Homos*xuals.

Ye Ran was actually also homos*xual.

Last year, when Xu Qingshu and Lu Wen broke up in the alley, Jiang Yun who didn’t know what was going on was the first to notice. Thinking Lu Wen was hitting someone, he rushed in and shoved Lu Wen off Xu Qingshu. Xu Qingshu hugged his knees and cried nonstop.

Yu Ting thought he was injured and wanted to take him to the hospital.

Only Shen Shi, who stayed far because the alley smelled of rotting food, kept his distance. When Xu Qingshu cried so hard he nearly convulsed, Shen Shi tossed him a pack of tissues so he could wipe his tears.

At that moment, they all thought it was school bullying. Before leaving, Yu Ting even told Xu Qingshu to remember to report it to the police.

But a week later, Yu Ting and Jiang Yun skipped class to go to the internet cafe. Shen Shi, who had done poorly on the monthly exam, was kept behind by the teacher for a talk. When he climbed over the wall and stepped into the alley, he heard disgusting, delighted noises.

Shen Shi could never forget the violent surge inside him when he saw that scene. His fist whitened in his pocket, his stomach churned violently, his face darkened. Silently, he backed out of the alley.

Before leaving, he caught a glimpse of Xu Qingshu’s flushed face.

A man taking the submissive role during intimacy, that scene shattered years of his understanding. It was pure mental contamination. He couldn’t stand even one second of it. That night he was hospitalized due to a severe allergic reaction.

Now, thinking about it—

He still felt sick.

He forced down his rapid breathing. Shen Shi clenched his jaw, stomach churning again. He picked up his cup, gulped down ice water, and bit down on the ice with a dark expression.

The ice shattered to slush.

It cracked loudly between his teeth.

…

9:30 p.m.

The school PA system began playing the dismissal music.

Students bustled to pack their bags.

After spending three whole hours at school for no reason, Shen Shi didn’t understand why he had stayed the whole evening. Impatiently, he stood up to leave.

Just as he turned, Yang Wei’s voice came through the crowd from the podium.

“Chen Lang… you and Ye Ran… dorm… you two head back together…”

Shen Shi stopped mid-step and slowly turned his head.

With the back-door shadows cutting across his face, his expression looked half-lit, half-dark, unreadable.

…Dorm?

Together?

“Sure.”

Amid the crowd, Ye Ran’s gentle voice sounded quickly. He smiled pleasantly at Chen Lang. “Then I’ll trouble you.”

Chen Lang nodded, slightly embarrassed. “Let’s go.”

The two left the classroom together.

All of Shen Shi’s emotions froze in place.

He expressionlessly turned back, depths of his eyes darkening.

Only after a full five minutes, when nearly everyone had left, did he finally say under Yu Ting and Jiang Yun’s confused, nervous gazes calmly:

“Aren’t you leaving?”

Author’s note: What time will little Shen go to sleep tonight?