BDBE 29

Chapter 29 Cycling Uphill

Lin Anyi finally endured the pain and went to participate in the 4x100m relay. 

He asked Zhou Mingchen to help him clean his wound, then used his right hand to stop the bleeding with his white wristband, and used his left hand to pass the baton, thus completing his 100m relay. 

Before the race was completely over, Zhou Mingchen grabbed Lin Anyi with one hand and his jacket with the other, and took him away. 

Zhou Mingchen promised Lin Anyi to keep it a secret, and only then did Lin Anyi agree to go to the hospital to have his wound checked. 

There was a general hospital a few hundred meters outside Qiongya School, but Zhou Mingchen still hailed a taxi. 

The hospital check-up, cleaning, and bandaging process proved that Lin Anyi’s claim of treating the wound himself was nonsense. 

The wound was deep, deep enough to require a tetanus shot. 

After bandaging Lin Anyi’s hand, the trauma doctor urged him to get vaccinated immediately. 

After the injection, he needed to be observed for half an hour. The two went to the observation room and sat down with a chair between them. 

Lin Anyi pressed a cotton swab on the injection site on his right upper arm. He lowered his eyes and remained silent for a moment, then suddenly said, ​stolen content​“Thank you for today.” 

Zhou Mingchen raised an eyebrow in surprise, about to tease him with “So you can speak human language too,” but then heard Lin Anyi continue. 

“Let’s make up.” 

Zhou Mingchen frowned. “What do you mean?” 

Lin Anyi’s lips were still somewhat pale. For the first time, he smiled in front of Zhou Mingchen and said, “I apologize for what I did before. I won’t say things you don’t like anymore, and I won’t call Uncle Shen ‘Dad’ without permission. I will finish high school, go to a university in another city, and stop bothering your family. And please don’t resent Uncle Shen because of me anymore.” 

Zhou Mingchen found it amazing and immediately moved to the seat next to Lin Anyi, “Are you moved and want to repay me?” 

Lin Anyi smiled again, but there was no joy in his eyes. 

“You can understand it that way,” he said, “but even without today’s events, I would have found a chance to talk to you about this.” 

He sighed, and looked up at the ceiling, “I never really expected to become part of your family. My animosity towards you was only because you always treated me coldly before, not because I genuinely wanted to disrupt your family. I’m very grateful to Uncle Shen for sponsoring my studies; he’s been kind to me, and I can’t keep being unreasonable.” 

Zhou Mingchen felt relieved to hear this. 

The reason he disliked Lin Anyi was because he didn’t understand his place. Despite being an outsider, he called his Shen Wanchao “Dad.”

Now that Lin Anyi had finally realized this, Zhou ​visit our site​Mingchen was happy and willing to listen to him and reconcile. 

But why, even though it was a happy ending, did he still feel uncomfortable? 

After saying this, Lin Anyi estimated that the time was about right and removed the cotton swab from his arm. Instead of throwing it away immediately, he held it between his fingers, unconsciously turning it. 

In his left hand, he still clutched the blood-stained wristband, its original color unrecognizable. 

The warm midday sun streaming in through the window shone on Lin Anyi like falling into a bottomless, icy pool; the heat vanished instantly, and left not a ripple. 

“Oh,” 

Zhou Mingchen replied dryly, all his joy vanished at the sight of him. 

Then, the young Alpha, unable to bear the atmosphere any longer, snatched the cotton swab and the filthy wristband from Lin Anyi’s hand before tossing them into the yellow trash can.

“It’s about time to go, or we’ll miss lunch.” 

On the way back to school, Zhou Mingchen finally managed to call Yang Liu. 

As soon as the call connected, Yang Liu’s gentle yet angry voice rang out: “Zhou Mingchen, you’re so audacious! Taking a classmate out of school during class time without permission! What happened? If you don’t explain yourself, you’ll be in for a disciplinary action!” 

“No, Teacher Yang!” Zhou Mingchen cried out, “I… I had an upset stomach and kept going to the toilet, so I asked Lin Anyi to go with me to the doctor. We’re back now. [unauthorized copy]Don’t tell the headmaster, and tell Teacher Sun from Class 4 not to worry about Lin Anyi; he’s with me.” 

Yang Liu nagged for a few more minutes, and Zhou Mingchen didn’t dare argue, humbly replying, “Yes, yes, yes.” 

After hanging up, Zhou Mingchen let out a long sigh. He held the phone up to Lin Anyi and said, “I did all this for you; you’d better remember the blame I took for you.” 

Lin Anyi just smiled. 

… 

On the other end, Yang Liu also let out a long sigh, thinking to herself that kids these days are really troublesome. 

Then she said to Teacher Sun and Shen Wanchao beside her, “It’s okay, they’re on their way back to school, they’re together.” 

Teacher Sun was more open-minded than Yang Liu, and laughed, “I told you not to worry too much. Zhou Mingchen, apart from being a bit mischievous and not focused on his studies, is reliable. He was the one who helped our class find Lin Anyi just now. I’ve seen him busy helping your class carry water these past few days.” 

Yang Liu sighed, “Actually, this kid’s grades were excellent until the first year of high school. Even without specializing in a subject, he was still in the top ten in the grade. I saw that his middle school entrance exam results were also quite good. I don’t know why, but his grades dropped in the second year of high school.” 

“That’s a pity.” Teacher Sun shook her head. 

“But he’s good at drawing. He drew all the pictures on our class’s blackboard.” Yang Liu started to worry again, “Let’s see if his parents are willing to let him pursue an art major. Maybe he can get into a good university.” 

“Hahaha, his family doesn’t need us teachers to worry so much,” Teacher Sun said. 

Yang Liu then remembered Zhou Mingchen’s family background and laughed at herself for overthinking it: “That’s true.” 

The two teachers chatted so much that they forgot Shen Wanchao was standing nearby, letting him overhear their entire conversation. 

Their words about Zhou Mingchen echoed Shen Wanchao’s own thoughts. 

In Shen Wanchao’s memory, his son had always been an excellent student, one of the teachers’ favorite children since kindergarten, a class monitor in elementary school, a speaker under the national flag in middle school, and consistently ranked among the top students in his first year of high school. There was no reason for him to suddenly transform into a reckless, permed-haired, and bottom-of-the-class student in his second year of high school. Having known Zhou Mingchen as a classmate for so long, Shen Wanchao felt it was time to find an opportunity to talk to him. 

The two-day sports meet finally came to an end. Thanks to the hard work of all the students, Class 1 achieved a historic third place in the entire grade, receiving a certificate of honor from the school and a 3,000 yuan class fund reward. 

Yang Liu waved her hand and decided to take the whole class out for a buffet. 

A budget of 3,000 yuan was a bit tight for hosting a buffet for over forty people; a fancy place was out of the question. But with a little more, they could afford a decent, reasonably priced all-you-can-eat barbecue at a well-established restaurant in the city center. 

The high school students weren’t picky; for them, as long as they weren’t eating in the cafeteria, it was a holiday. The group swarmed in like locusts, and completely ransacked the restaurant’s limited-edition seafood platter.

Lu Niannian was accompanied by Ning Beilei. The two girls were rather small, and they struggled to squeeze through the group of boys while carrying their drinks. Their hair ties were even loosened from the effort, making them look like they had just survived a ordeal. 

Just then, someone hurried by and bumped Lu Niannian in the back with their elbow. 

Lu Niannian lost her balance, and her drink slipped from her hand, landing on Fang Chi’s head as he was eating meat. 

“Aaaaaah!!” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!” 

“My hair just grew back, ahhh!!” 

“Uh…” 

That night, Fang Chi, with his head reeking of cola, ate ten plates of food with tears in his eyes. The others were equally satisfied, making a ruckus until almost ten o’clock before saying goodbye to Teacher Yang and leaving. 

After saying goodbye, Zhou Mingchen looked left and right. 

Fang Chi, hiccuping and sobbing, said, “Should I just shave my head? That way, even if I get drinks on my head, I can just wipe it with a handkerchief.” 

“Have you seen Shen Chao?” Zhou Mingchen asked. 

The words had barely left his lips when the roar of an engine echoed from the end of the road. Ten seconds later, a silver-black, heavily armored motorcycle screeched to a halt in front of Zhou Mingchen. The rider, who had somehow changed into a warm leather jacket and jeans, removed his helmet visor, revealing a pair of beautiful, light-colored eyes. 

“Get on, I’ll give you a ride,” Shen Wanchao gestured with his chin. 

Zhou Mingchen was momentarily stunned. 

“Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!!!” 

Fang Chi jumped three meters into the air, ran to the motorcycle, and reverently stroked it. 

Last time, he regretted missing Shen Wanchao riding a motorcycle, and this time his surprise was genuine: “Chao’er, I didn’t know you could ride a motorcycle! Oh right, you’re Chen’er’s little uncle, it’s not surprising that you can ride one too. No, no, no, it’s still too strange, I thought with your temperament, you wouldn’t like this kind of thing…” 

Shen Wanchao was amused and asked him, “What kind of temperament do I have?” 

Fang Chi thought for a moment and replied, “Hmm… the temperament of a good student, I guess? Sometimes you’re quite gentle, sometimes you seem a bit fierce, uh, I’m not saying you have a bad temper, I just… never mind, just pretend I’m talking nonsense.” 

“Go home early.” Shen Wanchao wasn’t offended, “I’ll lend it to you to try next time.” 

Fang Chi refused, “Forget it, I can’t ride it, what if I break it? I’m leaving now, bye-bye.” 

After watching Fang Chi hail a taxi and leave, Shen Wanchao invited Zhou Mingchen again: “Come on, I want to take you somewhere.” 

He even prepared a jacket for Zhou Mingchen, it was only mid-April, and the night wind was cold. 

Zhou Mingchen couldn’t contain himself any longer. He put on his jacket, climbed onto the back seat, and then donned his helmet. 

“Let’s go.” 

“Okay, let’s go!” 

The engine roared to life, and the sleek, silver-black steel cheetah carried the two of them forward. 

Shen Wanchao’s destination was Qiongye Hill outside the city, about a forty-minute bike ride away, with another ten minutes or so needed to reach the summit. 

At 10:57, the motorcycle stopped at an open area on the summit of Qiongye Hill, and the two of them disembarked. 

As soon as Zhou Mingchen took off his helmet, he was immediately stunned by the vast starry sky before him, which seemed to have been poured into the city’s brilliant lights. Tonight, the sky was clear and bright, and the stars formed a sea, merging with the lights of Qiongying City. It was a breathtaking sight. 

He gazed at the starry sky in a trance, while Shen Wanchao took out a blanket and spread it on the ground. 

Zhou Mingchen snapped out of his trance. With a smile on his lips, he said without thinking, “Hey, this place is really nice. We should invite Lin Anyi over to see it.” 

Shen Wanchao was surprised: “You and him today…” 

Zhou Mingchen’s expression quickly turned indifferent as he realized his slip of the tongue. “No, I misspoke. I meant he’s ignorant. He should come and broaden his horizons, otherwise he’ll always be like a country bumpkin.” 

Shen Wanchao couldn’t gauge Zhou Mingchen’s current attitude towards Lin Anyi and didn’t dare say more, afraid of upsetting him and ruining tonight’s confession session. 

Therefore, Shen Wanchao quickly changed the subject. He sat down on the blanket and patted the spot ​visit our site​next to him: “Let’s sit and watch together.” 

Zhou Mingchen still regretted mentioning Lin Anyi’s name without thinking. He moved a couple of steps to sit next to Shen Wanchao. 

Shen Wanchao hugged his knees; the night breeze from the mountaintop ruffled his slightly long hair. 

He lowered his voice and said, “I heard from the teacher today that you used to be a top student, but things started to change last semester. May I…ask why?