MDPWU Chapter 9

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Zhou You rushed to the sink, lifting his leg at full speed.

He grabbed his pant leg and started rinsing it with water.

Tong Tong, having finished his business, zipped up his pants and stood there, a little embarrassed.

Zhou You didn’t move, his face dark, still rinsing his leg.

After a long pause, Tong Tong, remembering how Zhou You had stood up for him earlier, hesitantly moved closer. “Do you have OCD?”

Zhou You shot him a blank look and lowered his leg. “Even if I do, you can’t just piss on me.”

“I told you, you were holding onto me the whole time.” Tong Tong thought he was really angry. “It’s not like I did it on purpose.”

“I feel spiritually defeated right now.” Zhou You frowned in discomfort, shaking off the water from his pants.

“So…”

“So now we’re even.” Zhou You suddenly bent forward, bringing his face close to Tong Tong’s, and grinned. “You can’t be mad at me anymore.”

Tong Tong was startled and stammered, “I-I wasn’t… mad at you…”

“Whatever, just don’t ignore me.” Zhou You didn’t seem to care. He turned to leave, but before stepping out, he glanced back. “Let’s go back. I got you two shumai.”

Back in the classroom, Tong Tong was stunned by the sight of the food on their desks.

Zhou You hadn’t just brought him two shumai—there were also five steamed buns, a large bowl of beef noodles, two meat sandwiches, and a bowl of lamb soup.

“Those two shumai are yours.” Zhou You gave him a sidelong glance. “"If I eat over there, won't he bully you to death?"”

“I just don’t feel like arguing with him.” Tong Tong sat down, picked up a shumai, and took a bite.

It was still warm.

In the end, though, Tong Tong only ate one shumai and half a bun.

The other half got snatched away by Zhou You, who claimed he wasn’t full yet.

Not long after they finished eating, other students started trickling back into the classroom. Zhou You cleaned up the table.

After tossing the trash, he was about to buy a drink. Standing by the classroom door, he asked Tong Tong, “What do you want?”

“Do you even know where the store is?” Tong Tong asked, but he didn’t move an inch from his seat.

“I saw it on the way back.” Zhou You replied.

“Coke.” Tong Tong said.

Zhou You nodded and headed for the school store.

The store was pretty big—much larger than the one at his old school.

After buying the Coke and a bottle of water, Zhou You was walking back when someone suddenly blocked his way.

He didn’t notice at first since the person was too short, and he walked straight into them.

The person fell to the ground.

Zhou You quickly apologized and was about to reach out a hand to help.

“F***!” The boy scrambled to his feet. “Kai-ge wants to have a word with you.”

Oh, so this was an ambush.

Zhou You gave him a once-over and asked kindly, “Are you okay? Did you twist your ankle?”

“Huh?” The boy wasn’t expecting him to care about his injuries and froze. “I… I think I’m fine…”

“Did your ankle twist a little just now?” Zhou You asked again. “Do you need me to take you to the hospital?”

“No, no, no!” The boy blushed. “I’m really fi—”

“You idiot,” a voice snapped from behind.

A tall boy walked up, slightly taller than the others, and slapped the short boy at the front on the back of the head.

"Are you f***ing stupid? When you're out here, you represent our senior class. You're supposed to be engaging in friendly exchanges, not embarrassing us. You can't even invite someone properly?"

The short boy looked miserable and suddenly remembered a saying:

"Everyone only cares about how high you fly, no one asks if you're tired."

"You, come with me." The tall boy looked at Zhou You with his nose up.

"I’m not going." Zhou You said.

"……"

"You f***ing—"

Before he could finish, Zhou You turned and pointed at a group of people nearby. "That’s your boss?"

The short boy obediently nodded.

The tall boy smacked him on the head again. "You answer just because he asked? Is he your dad?"

Then, the tall boy turned back, raised his chin, and forced himself to look at Zhou You down his nose. "That’s our Kai-ge. Our Kai-ge wants to—"

Before he could finish, Zhou You had already stepped forward and walked toward them.

He had noticed these people watching him for a while.

He had seen them when he was buying water—it was the guy who had been acting all weird in the restroom.

Zhou You approached them without a care.

As he got closer step by step, Xiao Kai held his ground and didn’t step back.

"If you wanna mess with me, just say it, alright? What's with all the staring? Staring at me like I’m gonna pop out a little brother for you?" Zhou You lowered his voice, leaned in close to Xiao Kai’s ear, and even chuckled after speaking.

The laugh was like an electric shock. Xiao Kai flinched, his face darkening as he took a step back. "Stay away from me!"

Zhou You shrugged and straightened up.

"I already looked into you. Transfer student, right? New here, but don’t even know to keep your head down." Xiao Kai raised his head as he spoke, but it didn’t feel imposing, so he took two steps back onto a step to gain some height before continuing. "I was planning to find you after school, but since you’re already here, I’ll tell you now. This weekend, you and Tong Tong—bring however many people you want, doesn’t matter. We’ll meet at Wild Lake, behind Yanshan Park."

Zhou You raised an eyebrow and smiled. "You’d better bring at least a hundred people. Otherwise, don’t act tough in front of me."

"Just don’t chicken out." Xiao Kai sneered and turned to leave.

"Wait." Zhou You called out with a serious face.

"What do you want now?" Xiao Kai looked at him warily.

"That place you mentioned—say it again." Zhou You scratched his head in confusion. "I just got here, didn’t remember it."

"Oh." Xiao Kai nodded. "Yanshan Park, behind it, Wild Lake."

"Wild Lake? Got fish?" Zhou You asked curiously.

"Of course. That’s a dumb question." Xiao Kai said. "And they’re pretty big."

"Oh, so are we meeting in the morning, noon, or evening?" Zhou You asked.

"Morning."

"I can’t wake up that early."

"Then noon?"

"Too hot."

"Then at ni—" Xiao Kai suddenly realized. "F***, are you messing with me?!"

Zhou You didn’t care and even made a heart gesture at him before turning to leave with his water bottle.

Back in the classroom, it was lively.

But the moment Zhou You stepped in, the whole class fell silent.

Zhou You stood at the door, frowning.

Sitting in the middle of a group of boys, Tong Tong suddenly waved at him. "Come here."

Zhou You smiled and handed him a Coke.

Tong Tong took a sip and leaned in, speaking softly, "They just don’t know you yet, don’t take it to heart."

"It’s fine." Zhou You liked Tong Tong—he seemed to have a bad temper, but he had a good heart.

Time passed quietly while Zhou You dozed off in history class. The school bell signaling the end of the day rang.

Zhuang Qian jumped over his desk.

"I’m heading back with him, got something to do first." Tong Tong grabbed Zhou You’s backpack strap and dragged him along.

Zhou You had just woken up, so he was in an especially good mood and followed along without complaint.

Ten minutes later, behind the plane trees near the school gate.

Tong Tong watched as Zhuang Qian’s family driver opened the car door, then made sure Zhuang Qian got in before slowly heading toward the bus stop.

"You don’t want Zhuang Qian to know where you live." Zhou You saw through him immediately. "You’re afraid he’ll feel bad comparing his place to yours."

Tong Tong, caught red-handed, felt suffocated. He shook Zhou You off and got on the bus alone.

Zhou You sighed—if he’d known, he wouldn’t have said it.

Back home.

Tong Tong shut his door, scolding himself for feeling this way, while also feeling angry at having been exposed.

The anger lingered. He didn’t even call Zhou You when heading to night self-study and went alone.

But even after self-study ended, Zhou You never showed up in class.

Tong Tong frowned at the empty seat beside him, stared at it for a while, then went home.

The moment he opened his apartment door, Tong Tong took a deep breath, shut his eyes, and crossed over to the door opposite his.

He knocked. But no one answered. He wasn’t home.

It was already close to 11 PM.

Tong Tong frowned, returned home, and sat in the living room doing homework.

By 11:30, he still hadn’t heard Zhou You coming back.

He didn’t even know why, but he couldn’t shake the thought—Zhou You was new here, alone, unfamiliar with everything.

Just like when he and his mom had first moved here.

He knew that feeling.

Tong Tong opened his door again and walked downstairs.

Just as he was descending a few steps, he heard footsteps coming up.

Tong Tong stopped and peered down.

It was Zhou You.

He was still wearing the same clothes from the morning, completely drenched from the rain, carrying a large burlap sack over his shoulder.

As he walked up, he noticed someone stopping above him. Looking up from below, his face was expressionless, and his gaze was cold.

It only took three seconds for Zhou You to recognize him and smile. “Where are you going so late at night?”

“Nowhere,” Tong Tong answered guiltily, afraid that Zhou You would find out he had come out to look for him. He turned around, wanting to walk back, but without thinking much, he took a step forward and missed his footing.

“Hey!” Zhou You quickly reached out to catch him, and the sack he was carrying fell to the ground.

After steadying himself, Tong Tong’s eyes landed on the sack beside them, and he froze.

The sack had fallen open, revealing stacks of red banknotes inside.

A few stacks had even tumbled down the stairs, glaringly obvious.

There had to be at least a few hundred thousand yuan.

Zhou You, still holding onto his waist, thought of the broken showerhead at home and awkwardly asked in a small voice, “Can I take a shower at your place?”

Tong Tong looked at the bag full of cash, then at the hand on his waist, and his internal alarm bells rang. He immediately pushed Zhou You away and, trembling but firm, said, “I’m not that kind of person.”

Zhou You: “???”

“You—”

“My mom is still at home,” Tong Tong glared at him. “Pervert.”

Zhou You: “…”

He really wanted to hit someone.

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