All Bros

The bell rang for the end of class.

Luo Ruiyu followed Chen Xiaoya out for a bit.

Fang Jun hadn’t even had a chance to stand up and stretch before his seat was surrounded.

“Bro Fang! Confess and get leniency! Resist and get the full treatment!”

The one who yelled first was sitting in the front row—what was his name again? Fang Jun still hadn’t remembered it when the guy had already slapped a hand on his desk.

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Confess and get leniency...” someone next to him quietly corrected.

“Don’t sweat the details at a time like this.”

Fang Jun leaned back in his chair, the corner of his mouth twitching.

On her very first day here, Luo Ruiyu had gotten him interrogated like a criminal—he really hadn’t seen that coming.

More and more people crowded around, blocking him from all sides. Someone even tiptoed to peek over the backs of others from behind.

“Bro Fang, what’s the deal between you and Luo Ruiyu?”

“Anyone can tell you guys knew each other before.”

“She was super natural when she was chatting with you just now. No one can pull that off without history.”

Fang Jun opened his mouth, but before a word could come out, An Yuexin had already shoved his way through the crowd.

He stood next to Fang Jun and pressed both hands down in a calming gesture, like he was pacifying a mob.

“Alright, alright, everyone, calm down. Big Yu, Bro Fang, and I were all in the same class in middle school—old classmates. You guys are acting like you’re gawking at celebrities.”

The crowd let out a chorus of “oh,” their tone a little more subdued now.

An Yuexin rolled his eyes at them. “What’s with all the ‘ohs’? There’s really nothing to ‘oh’ about.”

Fang Jun nudged An Yuexin with his elbow as a thank-you for covering him.

An Yuexin didn’t seem to mind and just plopped himself down on the edge of Fang Jun’s desk.

The crowd was starting to disperse when Luo Ruiyu somehow showed up out of nowhere. She slapped Fang Jun square on the shoulder blade, sending him lurching forward.

“Yeah, I’m also Fang Jun’s neighbor—grew up together. Anyone from our neighborhood knows that. What’s the big deal?”

Her voice carried weight, full of confidence.

That only got the onlookers even more fired up.

“Neighbors? Like childhood sweethearts or something?”

“What childhood sweethearts?” Luo Ruiyu furrowed her brows, pointing at Fang Jun. “We’re bros, through and through.”

The group looked from Fang Jun to Luo Ruiyu.

Luo Ruiyu was taller than a few of the guys in the room. Standing next to Fang Jun, even if it wasn’t super obvious, the height difference was barely noticeable.

She had been one of the tallest girls in their middle-school class, which was how she’d earned the nickname “Big Yu”—the whole class had called her that.

Standing beside her, Fang Jun seemed to have even less presence.

He waved his hand dismissively. “Alright, alright, break it up. We’re all classmates—plenty of time to get to know each other later.”

“Pfft.”

Luo Ruiyu couldn’t help but laugh and gave him another smack. “They’re crowding around to get to know me, not you. Who do you think you are, acting all big-shot?”

An Yuexin laughed smugly from the side, making no move to help.

Fang Jun took two hits, his shoulder stinging.

He didn’t bother to retort, just turned his head away, signaling, “Talk among yourselves.”

The crowd finally started to thin out, people heading back to their seats in twos and threes. A few glanced back and muttered something under their breath.

Luo Ruiyu pulled An Yuexin aside to talk about how the old middle-school crew was doing—who had gone to which school, who was retaking exams, who had gone abroad. Fang Jun listened for a bit without chiming in.

His gaze wandered off involuntarily.

Cai Junhuang was sitting by the window, her back turned to him as he faced her.

Sunlight fell on the back of her head and shoulders. She was hunched over, her pen moving across the paper, writing something.

With all the commotion around, she seemed completely unaffected.

Fang Jun glanced at her a couple of extra times before quickly pulling his eyes away.

Luo Ruiyu turned her head just then.

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing.”

Luo Ruiyu followed the direction of his gaze for a moment, said nothing, but a knowing curve appeared at the corner of her lips.

Fang Jun’s heart skipped a beat.

Had she figured something out?

Just then, Lin Mo walked over.

“Hey, let’s go hit the head,” Lin Mo said, knocking on the desk.

“Yeah! Let’s go together!” An Yuexin chimed in, pulling Fang Jun up.

The three of them quickly slipped out of the classroom.

As they walked down the hallway, Lin Mo said, “You had me step in back then for exactly this kind of moment, didn’t you? So why are you looking unsatisfied now?”

“I... I’m not unsatisfied. I just didn’t know she’d end up in Class Eight.”

“I told you she’s my classmate. The school was bound to place her in Class Eight dumb.”

Lin Mo looked at Fang Jun seriously. “You’re smart, you know that. So, do you want to rekindle things? Or is it just...”

“Old Mo, don’t push me like that. That’s not what I’m thinking.”

“So the king has no interest, huh?” An Yuexin snickered.

“Get lost!”

But when lunchtime came, Fang Jun was just about to pack up when Luo Ruiyu grabbed him.

“Come on, I’m treating you to lunch!”

Fang Jun froze for a second. “Shouldn’t I be the one treating you?”

“I thought you might’ve forgotten. But I’ll treat, and that goes for An Yuexin and Master Mo too. Without you guys, I might not have made it into Guangba.”

Luo Ruiyu wasn’t dumb. Her mock exam scores were only average, yet she’d still gotten into Guangba Number 8 High School—she knew she had some help.

When she’d arrived at school today, she saw Lin Mo’s name at the top of the rankings on the notice board.

And given how the teachers treated him, she figured Lin Mo was someone remarkable.

That’s why she wanted to thank him.

“Alright, skip Lao An—he’s eating with Mai Chuwen from the old Class Three. As for Old Mo...”

Fang Jun looked around and saw that Lin Mo was already gone from his seat.

“We can check if he’s around when we go eat,” Fang Jun said with a shrug.

“Fine. You know this place better than I do—you lead the way!”

“Works for me. Let’s go.”

Cai Junhuang, who was going home for lunch, packed her things and saw Fang Jun and Luo Ruiyu leaving together. She couldn’t help biting her lip.

Seeing him standing with another girl made her feel awful.

Still, she got up and headed toward the door.

After Cai Junhuang was gone, the girls sitting around her finally spoke up.

“Tsk, did you just see Cai Junhuang’s face? So sour.”

“Yeah, that was pretty bad.”

“We were saying this before—things between her and Fang Jun were never going to work out. She dumped him, and now he’s got an old classmate to pick up the pieces.”

“If that’s how you see it, maybe she’s regrets it?”

“Pfft, she’s way too proud to ever admit that. But the minute Luo Ruiyu showed up, Cai Junhuang lost her cool.”

These girls had never liked Cai Junhuang much, so seeing her unhappy was actually a good thing in their book.

What’s more, they planned to buddy up with Luo Ruiyu.

That way, they could rub Cai Junhuang’s face in it even more.

“Oh, by the way—I heard Cai Junhuang dumped Fang Jun because she had to compete in a tournament.”

“Wait, really? Where’d you hear that?”

“Can’t tell you that. But it’s the real deal.”