Bite Your Fingertips

24th –【Bet】

The taxi stopped outside of a villa area in South Island.

In the car’s back seat, Chu Yu was leaning on Lu Shi’s shoulder with his eyes closed and breathing smooth; he showed no signs of waking up.

Lu Shi lowered his eyes and glanced at Chu Yu’s hair whorl. “I know you’re awake.”

No movements.

Lu Shi spoke again, “Five minutes ago, I saw you open your eyes then quickly close them again.”

Even if he was exposed, Chu Yu still kept his composure.

After a few seconds, he sat up slowly, rubbed his eyes, and pretended that he just woke up as he looked around with a confused expression. “We’re here?”

Chu Yu’s words carried the bafflement of being awakened, while he wasn’t quite calm in his heart— how did I end up falling asleep on Lu Shi’s shoulder? I even slept all the way!

When he’d opened his eyes, he found that he’d been sleeping on Lu Shi’s shoulder and was so frightened that he’d quickly closed his eyes again!

Lu Shi watched his earnest play.

He recalled the event in the corridor outside their classroom where Chu Yu had acted dizzy.

His acting skills hadn’t improved and were as poor as back then.

Chu Yu’s family owned a famous mansion in Green Island, S City. Their entire estate area occupied nearly 50,000 square meters of land, and only 18 villas had been built upon it. Except for the cries of insects, almost no human voices could be heard. The more one walked in, the quieter it was.

The street lamp stretched the shadows of the two boys obliquely.

Lu Shi tilted his head and saw Chu Yu’s head drooping, his thoughts unknown.

He remarked, “Since coming back from Qingchuan River you’ve been in a daze.”

Chu Yu returned to his senses, but didn’t respond to the statement. “What?”

“What’s going on?”

Was it… because I thought there was something in his heart that I insisted on sending him back?

“Actually,” Chu Yu stared at the messy shadow of the tree on the ground, “actually, it’s nothing, it’s really fine, wait, no, there is something.” He tangled for a while until he said, “Lu Shi.”

“Hm?”

“Let’s discuss a serious topic!”

Chu Yu felt very determined, and a bit inexplicably ashamed, but on the way back from Qingchuan River, his mind had revolved entirely around this.

“Do-do you have any goals?”

Lu Shi put his hands in his pockets. His back was very straight as he looked down at Chu Yu and answered, “Yes.”

Chu Yu’s eyes widened slightly with curiosity. “What’s your goal? Take first place in a nationwide race? Enroll in a superb university and study abroad? Or make a lot of money? Maybe starting a business or conducting some kind of very powerful and cutting-edge scientific research?”

“Neither.”

Sure enough, a study god’s thinking was impossible to be deciphered by a slacker.

Chu Yu held his breath. “Then?”

Lu Shi answered, “I won’t tell you.”

??

“Ok.”

Lu Shi didn’t want to say it, so Chu Yu didn’t ask any more questions. He was out of it for a while, appearing discontent. “Actually, I was listening to Shitou and Zhu Zhifei chatting today and I suddenly wondered what my goal was. This question is quite broad with not much of a practical significance, but I just- just suddenly realized that in the past 17 years of my life, I seemed to have no goals. When I thought about it this way, I felt a little perplexed. Haha, isn’t this particularly unreasonable?”

“Why do you have no goals?”

“It might be because of this— but it’s true that no matter what I want, I obtain it very easily.”

Chu Yu gave an example. “Let’s say I’m an elementary student and my goal is to buy an action figure. Another kid would become very economical and save the week’s pocket money, but my pocket money is more than enough, so I don’t need to save up at all and can buy a bunch just by swiping my card.”

“There’s also this sister surnamed Lin who took good care of me. Her goal is to inherit her father’s business and expand their corporation’s territory, so she has always worked hard. She’ll definitely achieve this goal in the future.”

Watching the people walking by, Lu Shi seemed to see a familiar shadow.

He – once before – apparently also had the same perplexity.

Without being perfunctory, Lu Shi seriously asked, “Have you ever thought about inheriting your family business?”

As if prodded, Chu Yu waved his hands repeatedly. “My brother and sister are very talented. Inheriting the family business or anything, it doesn’t need me at all and I’m also not interested.”

“Are you not interested in it yourself, or did someone tell you not to be interested?”

Chu Yu was startled. “What do you mean?”

Lu Shi put it bluntly, “A lot of people must’ve told you that since you’re the youngest, you don’t need to inherit your family business; you don’t need to be excellent nor do you need to work hard.”

“How did you know?” Chu Yu deliberately relaxed his tone. “It’s indeed like this. Many elders, including Aunt Lan who took care of me while growing up, say so. My friend, He Zhihao, says the same as well.”

He also remembered that He Zhihao had once told him enviously, ‘Chu Yu, your life’s really good. Your family’s wealth has accumulated for so many years, your mother’s skills are remarkable, and your brother and sister have fully inherited your mother’s brain and skills. Most importantly, they don’t ask you to learn this and that! In any case, in this life, you don’t have to worry about eating, drinking, and having fun. Even if you spend money every day, you’ll have enough to waste for a lifetime!’

Chu Yu thought the same way before.

That even if the sky fell, his turn to support it would never come.

He knew that many people instilled this idea in him in order to avoid the embarrassing situation of an inner strife. Plus, he himself didn’t possess the desire to compete for family property, feeling that doing the things he liked was enough to make every day of his life happy.

As for exerting effort, working hard, and setting goals to achieve, he’d never considered these.

Therefore, after listening to Zhu Zhifei and Wei Guanglei’s conversation, he suddenly realized— it turns out there’s such a way to exist. 

Looking back at his first 17 years, it seemed as if he’d treaded life in a muddle-headed manner, retaining nothing.

Relaxing his clenched fingers, Chu Yu paused, and when he looked at Lu Shi he asked, “There’s a problem with this kind of thinking, right?”

In his view, he was completely at a loss, as if he encountered a problem he couldn’t solve. He subconsciously sought out Lu Shi and wanted to receive answers or suggestions from him.

Unconsciously being dependent.

Lu Shi returned his gaze but didn’t answer directly. Instead, he said, “If I say that it’s right or wrong, it would be of no significance. Only you can answer this question.”

“Alright.”

Chu Yu’s eyes darkened and he hurriedly walked two steps. When he reached Lu Shi, he turned around and walked backwards step by step as he questioned Lu Shi, “You really can’t tell me your goal? Really really?”

“Can’t.”

Lu Shi’s countenance was dark, as if concealing a vortex. The backlight made it difficult to distinguish the emotions in his eyes.

He stated in a soft and hoarse voice, “It’ll scare you.”

Chu Yu suddenly didn’t dare speak.

He felt that the Lu Shi who said these four words made him inexplicably feel a chill. In his plain and clear tone, he seemed to be suppressing a wave of manic depression.

He remembered what Wei Guanglei had said.

Lu Shi wouldn’t race only for the money, but more for a stimulus— a stimulus that could serve as an outlet for the hostility in his heart.

So, what did Lu Shi… experience before?

The topic ended, and until they arrived at the door of Chu Yu’s house, the two of them no longer spoke.

Stopping, Chu Yu pointed to the white building with a lamp behind him. “Here’s my house. You go home quickly, otherwise the sun will come up. Thank you.”

Seeing Lu Shi turn to leave, Chu Yu stopped him again. “Wait!”

Lu Shi looked at him. “Hm?”

Chu Yu didn’t know what to say for a moment before his lips moved and he squeezed out a line, “Be careful!”

On Sunday night, Chu Yu returned to school.

He first watered the pot of Strelitzia next to the window. Hearing the ping of his phone, Chu Yu reached for it and opened to find that it was their class group chat.

[Commoner-Li Hua]: Blackjack, raise your little hands if you want to play!

[Study Committee Member-Fang Ziqi]: Venue, my bedroom. Come on, friends!

Blackjack? Chu Yu typed.

[School Flower-Chu Yu]: Raising hand, I’ll be there soon!

The study committee member Fang Ziqi lived downstairs from Chu Yu in a two-person room.

When he went in, he found out that Fang Ziqi’s roommate turned out to be Dream-Ge. Inside, Zhang Yueshan, Li Hua, as well as someone called Guan Yiyang were there.

The two made eye contact. Guan Yiyang averted his gaze and didn’t look at Chu Yu again.

Chu Yu didn’t care and pushed open the door to enter. “Applying to join the battle!”

“Application approved. Welcome to the battlefield recruit!” Fang Ziqi beamingly gestured. “School Flower, there’s peanuts, melon seeds, and pistachios, what do you want to eat?”

“Melon seeds!”

”Okie dokie!”

Chu Yu wasn’t familiar with the Study Committee Member whose dialogue only consisted of ‘Quick quick quick, hand over your homework!’ and ‘At once! But wait until I finish copying the last question!’ This facet.

However, Zhang Yueshan had passed along gossip regarding him.

It was said that the Study Committee Member took answering questions as nourishment of life and learning as magic. During the final exam last semester, he moved forward five places in one breath. After receiving the results, because of his excessive emotions, he laughed too wildly and directly got facial paralysis with a crooked mouth and eyes. He spent the entire summer vacation in the hospital with an infusion and enduring acupuncture treatment, but he managed to save his face1 just before the start of school.

Chu Yu was deeply impressed by this!

Holding the bag of melon seeds thrown by Fang Ziqi, Chu Yu stood beside the table and watched them play a game of blackjack. Soon, he became so scared that he was cracking melon seeds in a trance.

A good gambling game simply became a math problem for this gang of top students!

In the new game, Fang Ziqi was the banker and Guan Yiyang the challenger.

Several rounds later, Chu Yu, who was watching amidst the clouds and mist, saw that Zhang Yueshan was holding a notebook and calculating with the swish of his pen. “…There are still 43 cards left in the poker. If Fang Ziqi doesn’t want to lose a point, the next card to appear has to be a 4. 4 out of 43, the probability is 9%!”

Li Hua threw away his draft paper and gave a more precise number. “The 4 might be held by Guan Yiyang, so the probability is between 6.97% and 9%!”

Chu Yu grabbed a melon seed. “This can all be calculated?”

Zhang Yueshan had yet to answer when Guan Yiyang squeezed his cards and with mockery in his eyes, he turned his head towards Chu Yu to say, “You really can’t count. Blackjack isn’t only a card game, but also a game involving very complex probability calculations. It’s also positively related to the player’s mental arithmetic ability.”

“But as for classmate Chu Yu, apart from knowing three plus two equals five, do you not understand anything else? Regardless, you don’t need to figure out how it works. You have a lot of money anyway, it would be fine if you just gave money whenever you lost.”

Guan Yiyang said such things in a normal tone of voice.

The whole bedroom went dead silent as if the mute button had been pressed.

staff shenanigans

Xena's pity party

Could be taken literally and metaphorically

The sound of Chu Yu cracking melon seeds became distinct.

He didn’t lower his volume as he leaned against Zhang Yueshan and loudly whispered, “Who’s this classmate? Is he in our class? Is there something wrong with his brain?”

Zhang Yueshan clearly remembered that during morning self-study last week, he’d introduced who Guan Yiyang was to Chu Yu, as well as the feelings of love and hatred involved.

But after Chu Yu asked, he simply replied, “He’s Guan Yiyang from our class, and there’s nothing wrong with his brain.”

Chu Yu nodded and dragged out his tone of voice as he spoke, “Oh, so there’s nothing wrong with him. Then it’s the same as when he talks with an inebriated mind, just spraying at whoever he sees?”

Guan Yiyang’s face was livid, and the cards he held in his hand were all folded.

“Chu Yu, who the hell are you talking about?”

“Who sees someone and sprays like that? It might just be anyone I’m talking about.”

“Am I wrong?” Guan Yiyang heavily threw the cards in his hand on the table, the outer corners of his tilted eyes carried a sneer. “If your mother hadn’t bought the school, could you have gotten into Class A with that score which I could get with my eyes closed? Stop fucking dreaming! Aren’t you just relying on your family’s money? If you weren’t surnamed Chu, and you didn’t have your mother to spoil you, you’re just shit!”

Chu Yu remained calm.

Up until he grew up to be 17 years old, he didn’t hear much of these types of sentence patterns, but he could recite ten to a hundred sentences of its kind without stumbling. Either way, such words came and went, and it was just those few lines back and forth every time, it was nothing new.

Chu Yu possessed a good mentality and had always told himself, ‘don’t lower yourself to those stupid idiots’ level, or else you’ll also appear very stupid’. It was the psychological gap between people. Probably because they hated the rich, their mentality was biased and thus, they foolishly spouted nonsense to vent.

Throwing away the melon seed’s peel, Chu Yu lifted his chin and stated, “Oh, I just rely on my family’s money, but so what?”

Guan Yiyang’s face sank. He kicked the stool and stood up. “Then do you dare to come make a bet? Whoever fucking loses will kneel down and call father!”

“Call father? This classmate, as a high school student of a new era, aren’t you a bit childish?”

Chu Yu cracked another melon seed, unflustered. “I refuse. Your appearance isn’t up to my standard, I won’t have a son as ugly as you.”

These words showed obvious disgust.

“You don’t dare.” Guan Yiyang took a breath and stared at Chu Yu. “You won’t let me finish talking, are you afraid? There are still two weeks before the monthly exams, you know? There are ten classes in a grade and a total of 420 students. Your level is quite poor so I’ll be fair and just ask you to be in the hundreds. If you can get into the top 300 of the second years, I’ll immediately kneel down and call you father. Do you dare make this bet?”

Chu Yu was too lazy to pay attention to him.

Guan Yiyang spoke again, “Or is it that you know your own level very well and can’t even pass the first 300 in our year? By the way, did your mother know that you were mud who couldn’t support the wall1 so she spent money to buy you a school?”

Chu Yu was pierced.

At that moment, it hurt so much that his breathing stagnated.

—Did your mother know that you were mud who couldn’t support the wall so she spent money to buy you a school?

Zhang Yueshan was standing next to him and found that after Guan Yiyang had finished speaking, Chu Yu’s complexion slightly changed. He felt worried and promptly tugged Chu Yu’s clothes from behind.

He could see that Guan Yiyang was a real chicken thief!2 It was estimated that he’d been chasing after Deng Mengmeng for more than a year and the other had refused to acknowledge him. Now that she seeked out Chu Yu and asked for his QQ ID, it had provoked him big time.

Guan Yiyang’s family didn’t have much money, so he was a top student who got in solely through grades.

He wasn’t fond of getting in contact with this person because Guan Yiyang and those whom he hung out with all had very extreme thoughts. They had this firm belief that in a class, the rich were all insects and those whose grades were lower than them were all stupid. In any case, it was just being conceited.

Speaking of, since he became the class monitor, Zhang Yueshan thought the class’ biggest problem would probably be the friction between the students from the main school and those from the branch schools. But later on, he discovered that his thoughts were amiss, and that the biggest conflict was actually the differing views of the rich and poor.

Guan Yiyang – a top student with average family conditions – and many like him disapproved of rich second generations represented by Chu Yu, and they often gossipped nonsense in private.

And presently, these conflicting views were clearly and bluntly revealed out in the open with a ‘clang’.

As the class monitor, Zhang Yueshan’s head hurt.

Li Hua couldn’t idly stand by and watch. Holding his draft paper in his hand and shaking his pen, he said, “I say Guan Yiyang, is there any meaning in this for you? School Flower didn’t take the initiative to provoke you, so why are you groundlessly betting like you’ve gone crazy? You even decided on the bet according to your own whims, do you really think all the land under the heavens is your mother? If you want to make a bet, people have to be willing to make the bet with you. Are you swollen, or already floating?”3

Chu Yu uttered, “I won’t bet with you, you’re really not qualified for me.”

Guan Yiyang’s hand on the tabletop suddenly tightened, his cheeks bulged and he still wanted to say something.

Chu Yu’s face was cold, and the corner of his lips tightly drawn.

He suddenly smiled, and then interrupted Guan Yiyang, who had yet to speak, with a relaxed tone, “As for the monthly exam, you can sit in peace. Wait for me to come out among the 220 names in the year for this exam, and I’ll give you the glorious opportunity to call me father.”

Zhang Yueshan’s expression stiffened— School Flower’s too fucking invigorating!

Guan Yiyang’s face was extremely ugly. “Then I’ll wait.”

After Guan Yiyang slammed the door with a ‘bang’ and left, the dormitory went quiet for two seconds.

Fang Ziqi was still holding his cards in his hand, stunned. “I didn’t even manage to fucking react. Why- what- weren’t we just playing cards?”

Chu Yu picked up some melon seeds without any expression on his face.

Fang Ziqi kept stuttering due to nervousness. “I-I shouldn’t have called you guys to p-play blackjack today!”

Chu Yu sighed and went over to comfort him. “It has nothing to do with you organizing the game. Guan Yiyang dislikes me, so he’d made up his mind on inciting and troubling me. Even if today’s game didn’t happen, he would’ve come looking for me with a different method.”

Dream-Ge sighed and clicked his tongue in lament. “A man who has a small belly and chicken intestines4 is intolerable!”

Chu Yu lowered his head again. No one could see the look in his eyes.

He understood deep inside. Despite saying that he was going to enter the top 220 names of his year in this exam, it actually had nothing much to do with Guan Yiyang.

Zhang Yueshan was a little worried. “Chu Yu—”

Chu Yu cracked another melon seed, his expression the same as usual. “It’s okay, I’m not so easily irritated.”

—

Zhu Zhifei leaped upstairs in a few steps, searched for a room number, and started pounding at the door with a ‘bang bang’.

Without another sound, the door opened.

Lu Shi wasn’t wearing his school uniform, but rather a loose white T-shirt, and his hair was still wet. He probably just took a shower.

“What is it?”

Zhu Zhifei strode inside in two steps, closed the door with his hand behind him, and anxiously roared, “Lu-Ge Lu-Ge, School Flower went up against someone!”

Lu Shi’s eyes narrowed slightly as he turned and walked towards his desk. “What happened?”

Following right behind Lu Shi, Zhu Zhifei summarized the matter in a few sentences. “It’s currently spreading throughout the whole year, and probably won’t be long before the whole school knows. Guan Yiyang made a bet with School Flower, whoever loses will kneel down and call the other father. At first, School Flower directly refused, saying he didn’t want such an ugly son hahaha! If I were Guan Yiyang, I would’ve vomited blood and ascended to heaven on the spot after hearing that!”

Lu Shi sat down with a test paper in front of him. His expression was his usual calm as the pencil nimbly looped in a circle around his fingers, unhurried. “Hm, he’s not impulsive.”

“Yes, School Flower’s very clear-headed. I have some impression regarding that surname Guan. He has eyes tilted upwards, is gloomy, and thinks about some disgusting things all day long.” Zhu Zhifei pushed up his glasses. “If you ask me, this Guan Yiyang’s also sick. He chases after Deng Mengmeng who doesn’t like him and instead likes School Flower. It’s only natural ah! School Flower is beautiful and has a good temper. Don’t most girls like this type?”

“Who’s Deng Mengmeng?”

“She’s the one from the cafeteria in the buffet hall, the girl who went up to School Flower and asked for his QQ account. Guan Yiyang’s been aiming for this person since the first year of high school; he didn’t expect that while his heart was directed at the bright moon, the bright moon would illuminate the ditches!5 It’s theorized that this time around, he was irritated and sought revenge on Chu Yu.”

“Got it.”

After Zhu Zhifei finished sharing, he was ready to evacuate. “Then, Lu-Ge, answer your problems first. I’ll go and see how School Flower is faring over there!”

—

Chu Yu’s bedroom was very lively.

Zhang Yueshan and Li Hua each took out their prized reference materials and stacked them on the desk. All the subjects added together were thicker than bricks.

Fang Ziqi was very reluctant to place a set of photocopies on top of his, muttering, “These are the classic exam questions I’ve collected, which can’t be bought from outside. Li Hua has been drooling over them for a long time, but I never took them out. School Flower, you must work hard and finish them! If you really do finish them, not to mention the first 200 of the second year, even the top 20 won’t be an issue!”

Li Hua exposed him. “Then why haven’t you entered the grade’s top 20?”

Fang Ziqi looked silly. “As a matter of fact, I really haven’t finished this yet?”

Dream-Ge also came to join in and donated a book of school work exercises. “Last time, a bigshot played basketball and Amway6 this to me. He’d said the origin of his high exam scores lay in here! Although I haven’t figured it out yet, the bigshot couldn’t have been bluffing, right?”

Li Hua threw a phone number to Chu Yu. “This is a high quality teacher who specializes in one-on-one tutoring. The price is expensive and their temper is fierce, but the level is there. School Flower, you can try it!”

Chu Yu looked at the supplementary materials and schoolwork exercise sets in front of him, feeling quite dizzy!

“You all want me to finish every single one of these?”

Dream-Ge slapped the tabletop. “Yeah! Even if you only have one breath remaining, you have to finish these, School Flower! That despicable fellow Guan Yiyang really isn’t a good thing, his mind is too poisonous! School Flower has a head of iron7. Isn’t it just the top 200 in the second year? It’s only a matter of minutes!”

Chu Yu touched his head, refuting Dream-Ge’s last words in his heart— my head and hair are naturally very soft.

When Zhu Zhifei entered the room, he was met with everyone scanning him up and down.

Zhang Yueshan spoke as the representative, “You didn’t bring anything with you?”

Zhu Zhifei looked dumbfounded. “Bring what?”

“No need to bring anything!” Chu Yu hurriedly said, “When a person visits, it’s their kind intentions that matter! There’s no need to bring anything!”

Zhu Zhifei closed the door and went straight to the topic. “This semester’s monthly exam is back starting from the 11th holiday. Today’s September 13th, only a few days before then. We have to carefully think it out and make a list of our study plans!”

He pondered for a while. “How about… Shall we try a set of test papers first? To take a look at where his weak points are, then adapt targeted learning so they can be improved?”

This proposal was approved by everyone, and soon, a pen and paper were placed in front of Chu Yu.

Everyone focused their attention. Zhang Yueshan even encouraged, “School Flower jiayou, you can do it!”

Chu Yu raised his pen.

The speed at which he wrote on the papers was very fast and exceeded everyone’s expectations.

Putting the pen down, Chu Yu pushed the paper forward. “Okay, I’m done!”

Fang Ziqi took out the standard answers and began marking it.

After the marking, his hands were trembling.

Zhang Yueshan was a bit excited. “The Study Committee Member is so perturbed, could it be that School Flower deliberately concealed that he’s an achiever and only revealed his true strength at this critical moment?”

Fang Ziqi didn’t know what to say for a while after he finished checking.

After mulling for a long time, he looked at Chu Yu. “School Flower, how did you do it? It was such a long test, but not even one question is correct?”

Under everyone’s gaze, Chu Yu innocently replied, “It’s probably because… I have an innate skill to perfectly avoid the right options?”

Li Hua took Chu Yu’s test paper and scanned it from beginning to end. He could only admit, “This innate skill is indeed very powerful. The answers are all wild guesses, but each question has four choices, having a 25% correct rate for each, however, not even one wild guess got it right.”

Dream-Ge sincerely sighed. “It’s really awesome; 100% evasion of the right option. I’ll have to admit, it would be impossible for me!”

The first ‘School Flower Learning Enhancement’ meeting concluded. Everyone left a table full of supplementary materials and test papers and went back to their dorm rooms. They agreed to continue the meeting tomorrow.

Chu Yu sent his schoolmates away, closed the door, laid down on the bed, contemplated, got up again, and randomly picked up a paper.

Oh, it seems to be a physics paper.

First question… nope, skip, next one.

Nope, skip, next one!

Skip… skip…

Within a few minutes, Chu Yu finished the paper.

He blinked and muttered, “Unbelievable, in this entire paper, not a single question can actually detain my footsteps!”