NASAY CH 6

After the morning classes ended, Hu Jiawen turned around and invited Luo Xing to have lunch together.

Hu Jiawen was a bit of a chatterbox, always complaining about this or that, as if there were hardly any decent people in the entire class. Luo Xing listened quietly without offering any opinion.

“Take our vice class monitor, Ding Qi, for example. I can’t stand him. He’s always trying to climb up the ranks and become the class monitor.” Hu Jiawen lowered his voice. “I’m telling you, he studies until late at night every day, racking his brains to compete with Ye Qiaoqiao for first place. But it’s useless—he can only get second in our class and doesn’t even rank in the top ten in the whole grade.”

Luo Xing raised his eyebrows but didn’t respond. He continued to eat quietly, disinterested in gossiping about others.

“And that Ye Qiaoqiao… I heard her dad is gay. How disgusting is that? Last time we were filling out forms, she wrote her dad’s name as Ye Ren and marked him as unmarried. At first, I thought she was born through surrogacy and felt a bit sorry for her, thinking she came from a single-parent family. But one time, I left something in the classroom and overheard her calling some guy ‘dad.’ I recognized him—he’s a well-known guy from TV, the captain of the city’s criminal investigation team, named Shang something.”

Luo Xing ate quietly and elegantly, taking small bites without making any noise. In the noisy and chaotic cafeteria, he seemed out of place.

Hu Jiawen thought for a moment, then leaned in and whispered, “Hey, Luo Xing, why do you think some men would want to be gay? Isn’t it sick? Why would a man want to be with another man?”

“Clang!” Luo Xing set down his chopsticks with a loud noise.

Hu Jiawen jumped. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Luo Xing stood up, picked up his tray, placed it by the sink outside, washed his hands, and walked out of the cafeteria.

Hu Jiawen finished eating, wiped his mouth, and didn’t bother with his tray, assuming the cafeteria staff would clean up. He quickly caught up to Luo Xing and slung an arm around his shoulder. “Hey, why did you transfer to Class 9? I heard you were the top scorer in the city for the high school entrance exam. Why didn’t you go to the city’s top school instead?”

Luo Xing wasn’t used to such close contact with others and subtly dodged the touch. “The teaching quality at No. 2 High School is good too,” he said calmly.

Hu Jiawen nodded. “That’s true. Our school has an even longer history than No. 1 High School.”

He continued rambling on and soon brought up Huo Xingzhou. “As long as Huo Xingzhou is around, no one dares to mess with our class. Luckily, he’s not gay. Otherwise, are there even any normal people left in this world?”

Luo Xing didn’t respond and quietly walked toward the classroom. A faint scent of gardenias drifted in from somewhere nearby.

Suddenly, a loud scream came from behind. “Ahhh! Huo Xingzhou!”

A girl accidentally bumped into Luo Xing, causing him to stumble. “Sorry!” she apologized quickly before running off without waiting for a response.

Luo Xing glanced in the direction she ran. The green guardrail surrounding the campus stood there like a boundary line.

The screaming was coming from the basketball court, located between the cafeteria and the teaching building, slightly to the left.

Huo Xingzhou was wearing his school uniform, but there was no hiding the sharp, swift energy radiating from him. His powerful physique alone was enough to draw frenzied screams, even without his impressive slam dunk.

Luo Xing had never watched a basketball game before and didn’t understand the significance of the move. However, judging solely by his posture, it was enough to captivate everyone’s attention and stir the crowd into a frenzy.

Hu Jiawen craned his neck to look over at the court. Although he didn’t play basketball, watching the game still made him excited. “Hey, Luo Xing, let’s go take a look in a bit.”

Before Luo Xing could respond, Hu Jiawen grabbed him and pulled him along, talking as they walked. “Huo Xingzhou is the best basketball player in our school. He’s brought a lot of glory to our class.”

Seeing Luo Xing’s indifferent expression, Hu Jiawen assumed he hadn’t grasped Huo Xingzhou’s charm and added, “Those kids from Class 8, you know, the top class, always look down on us. One time during an exam, they started mocking us, saying that when we graduate, we’ll just be useless nobodies and might as well go back to raising pigs.”

Luo Xing glanced at Huo Xingzhou. “And then?”

Sensing Luo Xing’s interest, Hu Jiawen quickly continued, “Then those words got back to Huo Xingzhou. At the time, he didn’t say anything. But after the exam—on the day you transferred—he called them out in the morning and crushed them 4-0 in a game.”

“Huo Xingzhou threw the basketball at them and gave a cold smile, saying, ‘Loser. With that body of yours, even pigs would shoot better than you.’”

Luo Xing imagined the scene in his head, picturing Huo Xingzhou’s mocking smile and the slight raise of his eyebrows.

“What’s wrong?” Hu Jiawen asked.

Luo Xing shook his head. “Nothing.”

No wonder when Huo Xingzhou came to pick him up that day, his clothes were slightly damp and clinging to his body, with his hair a little wet—he had just played basketball.

The two stood on the sidelines. Huo Xingzhou suddenly noticed Luo Xing, his slender frame standing there like he could float away at any moment.

“Hey!” Huo Xingzhou stood upright and called out, “Luo Xing!”

Luo Xing looked up at him, just in time to see the basketball flying straight toward him.

He didn’t know how to play basketball and instinctively reached out to catch it, but the ball hit his left hand directly.

Huo Xingzhou’s strength was immense, and the force of the ball was just as powerful. Luo Xing’s hand throbbed with pain, and soon it went numb.

The basketball bounced and rolled across the ground.

“Hey, how can you not even catch a ball?” a tall boy on the court shouted. “Throw it back to us!”

Luo Xing’s left hand kept trembling. He bent down, picked up the ball, and threw it back with all his strength.

More laughter erupted. “Whoa! Dude, are you throwing a shot put or what?”

Hu Jiawen noticed that Luo Xing’s face looked a bit pale. He thought it was because Luo Xing was embarrassed by the laughter, but then he saw sweat forming on his nose.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Luo Xing said, shaking his head. “Let’s go back to the classroom.”

Seeing Luo Xing turn and leave, Huo Xingzhou figured it was almost time for the next class. He stopped playing and jogged over, tossing the basketball into Luo Xing’s arms.

Luo Xing fumbled to catch it, holding it awkwardly while stepping aside, subtly putting some distance between them.

“Did you get hurt?” Huo Xingzhou asked.

Luo Xing shook his head.

Huo Xingzhou’s sharp eyes noticed how Luo Xing kept avoiding him. Another step to the side, and he’d be against the stone ledge.

“If you’re not hurt, why are you backing away?” Huo Xingzhou reached out and patted his shoulder. “Come closer.”

Luo Xing dodged him like he was electrified. Huo Xingzhou looked at his suddenly empty arm, frowning slightly as he glanced at the freckled classmate beside him. Why was Luo Xing chatting and laughing with him, even going to watch the basketball game together, but acting cold and silent when walking with him?

That didn’t make sense.

After lunch break, there was a one-hour self-study session where students worked on practice tests created by the teachers. During evening study, they did homework and other exercises. Luo Xing never initiated conversations and strictly followed the schedule to study.

Zhang Xuan, on the other hand, had just finished his snacks and stuffed the empty bag into the desk drawer, but since there was no space left, he crumpled it up and threw it backward.

On his phone, a game livestream was playing, loud enough to leak sound from his earbuds. When the game got intense, he even cursed along with the streamer. “Damn! What kind of trash gameplay is this? Your whole team is dead, and you’re still backing off? Bro, you suck so bad you shouldn’t even be in this match!”

Zhang Xuan moved wildly without considering those around him. Luo Xing kept shifting to avoid him, nearly pressing himself against the wall. Finally, unable to take it anymore, he said, “Classmate.”

Zhang Xuan was still raging at the game. Luo Xing knocked on the desk. “Classmate.”

Zhang Xuan took out one earbud, still frustrated about his favorite team losing. He snapped, “What?”

Without stopping what he was doing, Luo Xing calmly said, “Could you move over a bit? You’re disturbing me.”

Zhang Xuan, looking for a place to vent, instantly redirected his anger at Luo Xing. “I’ve got my earbuds in! How the hell am I disturbing you? You wanna get smacked or what?”

Luo Xing put down his pen and raised his eyes to meet Zhang Xuan’s. “Watching game streams during self-study is your freedom. I have no right to interfere. But you’re occupying three-quarters of the desk and encroaching on my study space.”

Zhang Xuan blinked, confused for a second. “What the hell are you talking about? Study space? What kind of nonsense is that?”

Luo Xing’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was firm and unyielding. He stood up and was about to speak when a lazy voice interrupted. “What’s all the noise about?”

Zhang Xuan looked back and saw Huo Xingzhou had returned. His arrogance deflated a little. “He just said I’m encroaching on his study space, like I’m invading his territory or something. Zhou-ge, do you think he’s a bit… girly?”

Feeling that wasn’t enough, Zhang Xuan turned back to Luo Xing with a smirk. “Hey, how about we draw a boundary line?”

Luo Xing lowered his eyes, not wanting to cause trouble.

Huo Xingzhou wasn’t one to bother with someone like Zhang Xuan, especially since his dad had been at school lately. He didn’t want to stir up more problems, so he ignored the conversation and sat at his desk, stretching out his long legs to prop them against the new classmate’s chair.

Luo Xing sat down and silently rummaged through his pencil case.

Huo Xingzhou stared at his profile. His pale skin stood out from those of other classmates who were dealing with acne or had rough complexions. His uniform was neatly worn, and when he turned his head, faint veins could be seen on his neck. His eyes had a soft, ink-like teardrop at the corner, as if it had accidentally dripped there.

Zhang Xuan thought Luo Xing had backed down and laughed smugly. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have to share a quarter of my territory. Be grateful. If you keep bleating, tomorrow you’ll lose that quarter too—ah, what the hell!”

Zhang Xuan jumped up. A stainless steel ruler had slammed down onto the left side of the desk, causing him to instinctively pull his hand back. When he looked up, he met Luo Xing’s cold eyes.

“Are you insane? I was just joking, and you hit me!”

Luo Xing calmly put the ruler back into his pencil case and said, “I was just joking too.”

“That’s your idea of a joke? I—” Zhang Xuan raised his hand, but before he could finish, his chair was kicked from behind.

“Enough.”

Zhang Xuan swallowed his anger and sat down, glaring at Luo Xing with ill intent.

Huo Xingzhou glanced at Luo Xing, who had already started working on his test paper as if the near-violent confrontation had nothing to do with him.

This kid had quite a temper.

“Luo Xing.”

No response. He didn’t even pause his pen.

Huo Xingzhou ground his teeth. Zhang Xuan got to make him angry twice, but in his eyes, was Huo Xingzhou even more annoying than Zhang Xuan?

He hooked his foot under Luo Xing’s chair and shifted it slightly. No one could ignore him—not even Luo Xing.

Luo Xing turned his head.

Huo Xingzhou crooked his finger at him. Luo Xing hesitated for a second before leaning forward, vaguely hearing him say, “Ever considered switching seats to be my desk partner?”