Chapter 23: Four Male Classmates

"I heard the midterm results are already out!"

"What? It's only Wednesday morning, how could they be out already? The parent-teacher meeting is right after the exams; my parents might not even have time to show up."

"Isn't it better if they don't come? If my parents find out my grades, they won't even let me watch cartoons."

Wen Xiao lay on his desk, slowly revealing just his eyes.

A carton of milk sat on his desk. Ever since he drank the milk Song Jingbai gave him that day, he had tacitly accepted the boy’s habit of bringing him one every day.

Today was Wednesday. The midterms had lasted a day and a half, and it had been two days since the hospital incident. Elementary school papers didn't take long to grade, so he wasn't surprised at all that the results were out so quickly.

Wen Xiao didn't care about his own score in the slightest. At the very least, in his memories, he was someone who had already finished high school. If he were stumped by elementary school questions, he wouldn't need to call Huo Zhanyan a fool—he would be the biggest fool of all.

"I heard the autumn field trip was postponed to next Monday due to the weather. The forecast for next Monday is great, though—clear skies," Song Jingbai said, pushing the field trip brochure toward him.

"Why are you telling me? I never said I was definitely going," Wen Xiao replied, his voice muffled.

He looked at the brochure on the table, feeling no interest in the various amusement projects listed.

Actually, Moon God Valley was more than just an amusement park. He remembered that in addition to the rides, there was a large area of scenic architecture and a film town, which was often used as a shooting location.

If he were by himself, he might have wanted to wander around, but going with the class probably wouldn't be as fun.

For one thing, the kids were too noisy. For another, the activities available to children of this age were quite limited—for instance, those under 1.4 meters tall were not allowed on certain rides.

The brochure mostly featured attractions for young children, including carousels and bumper cars, and the park’s decorations were in dreamy, candy-colored hues.

"Wen Xiao, look at this pirate ship! When you sit on it, it feels like you're flying! You have to try it!" This voice was unmistakably Huo Zhanyan's.

Wen Xiao suddenly felt that he should record Huo Zhanyan like this on a phone and show it to him ten years later to see if he could still laugh.

How could anyone live every day as if it were a dark secret waiting to be exposed?

Just as he thought this, Wen Xiao reached out to the side and said to Song Jingbai, "Give me your phone."

Song Jingbai, sitting right next to him, didn't move. He looked a bit puzzled. "How did you know my phone wasn't locked in my locker?"

"Stop talking nonsense and just hand it over."

Wen Xiao had long known that Song Jingbai carried his phone with him everywhere; he was never the type of "good student" to honestly leave his phone in a locker.

After taking the phone, Wen Xiao took a closer look—it was a small smartphone.

Smartphones weren't very common in this day and age. He felt like the one Huo Zhanyan had used before was similar; it must have been a comparable model.

"What's the password?"

"Six ones. What are you trying to do?" Song Jingbai leaned in closer, watching as Wen Xiao opened the camera app and pointed it at Huo Zhanyan.

"Your password is too simple," Wen Xiao remarked.

"I didn't know what else to set it to," Song Jingbai said.

Huo Zhanyan wasn't shy in front of the lens at all. Instead, he puffed out his chest confidently, flipped his hair, and struck what he thought was a cool pose.

"What did you just say? Say it again," Wen Xiao prompted.

"I said..." Huo Zhanyan had no intention of repeating himself. Instead, he changed his tune: "I said, when I sit on the pirate ship, I am the captain setting out on an expedition!" Huo Zhanyan raised his fist high and stared at the few of them, "And you, you are the sailors on my ship."

There were a few other children nearby who had previously offered Wen Xiao toys and snacks as tribute. Hearing this, they stood up excitedly: "What about me! What about me!"

Huo Zhanyan thought for a moment and finally pointed at the three of them: "You three—you're the carpenter, you're the chef, and you're in charge of sweeping."

"Why am I the one sweeping?" the child asked with a long face.

Huo Zhanyan kicked his chair and frowned, "It’s already a privilege to let you on the ship. Next time I'll let you be the cook and clean up after him."

During the break, Huo Zhanyan moved his chair over, insisting on bragging to Wen Xiao about his previous adventure at Moon God Valley.

The classmates who hadn't been there were filled with envy, repeatedly asking, "And then? What happened next?"

Wen Xiao thought to himself, "Screw your sailor," and kicked Huo Zhanyan’s chair. "If I were a sailor, the first thing I’d do is kick you off the ship."

He stopped the recording and checked the footage. The resolution was quite high, and the lighting was excellent. The video details interface even showed the date.

November 5, 2010. Huo Zhanyan would remember this day.

He recognized this phone; it seemed to be the second-generation product released by a foreign phone company in June, featuring a touchscreen.

Wen Xiao accidentally tapped into an album and felt the photos looked somewhat familiar, but before he could get a clear look, a hand reached over and snatched the phone away.

Song Jingbai looked at him with a smile. "Seatmate, peeking at other people's privacy isn't a good habit."

"I clicked it by accident, I wasn't peeking." Wen Xiao gritted his teeth. He had no interest in Song Jingbai's phone, of course.

While they were talking, Wei Nanxing sat silently looking at the brochure, his finger pointing at a picture, unable to move his gaze away.

Wen Xiao glanced over; Wei Nanxing was looking at a dollhouse.

The house was decorated beautifully, with two stories and various dolls arranged inside. The large dolls were life-sized, while the small ones were only as tall as a knee or calf.

"Why do you like things like a little girl? I stopped playing with dolls back in kindergarten!" Huo Zhanyan gave a look of disdain, causing Wei Nanxing to shrink back even further.

"And your hair is so long, are you a little girl?" Huo Zhanyan stared at him for a long time, suddenly feeling malicious. He reached out to tug at Wei Nanxing’s hair, scaring the boy so much that he scrambled backward, causing his chair to flip over onto the floor.

"Huo Zhanyan... are you bored or something?" Wen Xiao pulled Wei Nanxing up. The boy didn't dare to get near Huo Zhanyan anymore and hid behind Wen Xiao instead.

"I didn't even push him. Who knew he was such a coward? He doesn't act like a boy at all..." Huo Zhanyan didn't think he was wrong in the slightest and kept muttering to himself.

"Who says boys have to be brave and girls have to be timid? Who says boys can't have long hair and girls can't have short hair?"

Wen Xiao glared at Huo Zhanyan. If he saw Huo Zhanyan picking on people for their hair length or courage again, he would definitely teach him a lesson.

His throat felt a bit dry, so Wen Xiao picked up the milk on his desk and took a sip. Just then, he noticed Song Jingbai holding his phone up and taking a picture of him.

"What are you doing?" Wen Xiao stared at him, unable to understand what Song Jingbai was up to. Did he want to capture his dark history too?

"You borrowed my phone just now, so consider this the payment," Song Jingbai said with a smile, shaking the phone at him before tucking it back into his pocket.

Wen Xiao thought about it and decided that drinking a carton of milk didn't really count as a dark secret, so he let it go.

When the bell rang for class, Wen Xiao saw Wen Xulai walk in holding the exam papers, along with a report card.

Seeing that Huo Zhanyan hadn't returned to his seat yet, Wen Xulai tapped the podium. "Huo Zhanyan, it's class time. Why aren't you back in your seat? Do you not have one of your own?"

Huo Zhanyan reluctantly moved his chair back, and then Wen Xulai began distributing the Chinese exam papers. When he reached their desk, he handed down both papers at once.

Song Jingbai glanced at Wen Xiao’s essay title and asked, "Best Friend?"

Wen Xiao then remembered that his essay title seemed to be "Best Friend."

At the time, he had just made up a random friend to write about, so when Song Jingbai asked, he just nodded casually.

"Is this friend very important to you?"

Wen Xiao thought, he had made this friend up, so how could there be any importance? But whenever Song Jingbai asked, he just nodded along.

He tucked the test paper into his desk, so he didn't catch the look in Song Jingbai's eyes.

"The top three in the grade are all in our class this time," Wen Xulai said, looking toward Wen Xiao. "After class, I’d like the top three students to come to the office to have their photos taken, so we can hang them on the honor wall."

"Wen Xiao, Leng Shucheng, Song Jingbai."

Thinking about how he had to go to the office to have his photo taken and displayed on the honor wall just because he got first place in the grade made Wen Xiao want to run out of the classroom and skip the photo session.

Drinking milk might not be "dark history," but being ranked first in the grade and plastered on a wall for praise certainly was, at least for him.

Because, in reality, he was a cheater; these results were just a convenience gained from his past-life memories.

Simple math and English vocabulary were naturally no match for him, and Chinese had always been his strong suit—not to mention how much simpler elementary school Chinese was.

After class, Wen Xulai walked specifically to his desk. "Wen Xiao, do you have a tutor at home?"

Wen Xiao nodded.

"Very good. Keep up this study momentum and set a good example for your classmates. No matter what your life is like at home, you have only one identity at school: you are students. You only have one job, and that is to study hard."

Wen Xiao was shocked. As a cannon-fodder character in a cheesy school drama, he hadn't seen anyone actually studying hard in his past life.

If Wen Xulai had been their homeroom teacher in high school, perhaps those dramatic plot points wouldn't have happened.

Because he was under Wen Xulai’s watchful eye, Wen Xiao couldn't escape even if he wanted to. He could only follow him to the office, stand in front of a red cloth, hold the certificate with both hands, and take the photo.

"Wen Xiao, Leng Shucheng, you two, smile. Learn a thing or two from Song Jingbai."

They were only released from the office after the photo was taken. Wen Xiao felt that Song Jingbai might have a natural talent for cameras; his expression was as natural as ever.

As Wen Xiao walked out of the office, he felt someone staring at him. When he turned back, he met Leng Shucheng’s green eyes, though the baby fat on his face softened the cold pressure he radiated.