The boy who had spoken was Wei Yao, who sat to Xu Muchan’s right.
His appearance and voice both carried the same reckless, blunt quality. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with strong, well-defined features. He was the kind of person who looked like trouble just from his appearance. His delinquent-student aura was completely at odds with the entire Elite Class.
When Xu Muchan had come over earlier, Wei Yao had been lying on his desk catching up on sleep. He had only slept for a few minutes before being awakened by the noise. He had vaguely heard that the new transfer student was somehow related to Xu Wangchuan.
He turned his head to look. The transfer student had snow-white skin and a slender frame, wearing a gray long-sleeved T-shirt with black cargo pants. He looked quite distinctive. Although Wei Yao could only see half of his profile, that skin was so white…
His sleepiness instantly vanished, and he leaned over to join the fun.
When he heard Xu Muchan’s words, Wei Yao’s first reaction was disbelief.
He was slightly nearsighted, and happened to not be wearing his contacts today. Squinting, he leaned closer and carefully examined the transfer student. He tugged at the end of the hair hanging over Xu Muchan’s shoulder and tilted his head in confusion.
“You really are a guy? How can a guy be this pale and keep his hair this long? You look like a girl.”
There was another sentence that sounded a little perverted, so he swallowed it instead of saying it:
Pretty good-looking.
Xu Muchan did not particularly like that description. Back when he was in middle school, his classmates often said that he was too fair and delicate-looking, like a girl. The boys did not want to play with him, while he could not participate in the girls’ activities either. This situation did not improve until high school.
At least, it had been a long time since anyone had said something like that to his face.
Xu Muchan had originally planned to get along harmoniously with his new classmates after moving to a new environment. He slowly tilted his head, his dull eyes blinking as he pinpointed Wei Yao’s position.
The corners of his lips curled up, and he said in a gentle voice, “If this classmate has a gender identity disorder, you should see a doctor instead of going around questioning other people.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the fake smile on his face immediately disappeared. Expressionless, he turned his head away and put both earbuds in.
Wei Yao was somewhat stunned, unable to react for a moment.
Some boys who were close to Wei Yao started heckling.
“Whoa! The little blind guy’s got quite an attitude!”
“Hey, Wei Yao, why are you spacing out? Didn’t you hear him say you’re sick? Why don’t you go check yourself into the infirmary?”
“I think the transfer student isn’t wrong, hahaha…”
Xu Wangchuan stepped in to smooth things over.
“Wei Yao, don’t take it seriously. He was just joking with you.”
Wei Yao’s face gradually turned green. He pointed at Xu Muchan in midair, then remembered that Xu Muchan was blind and could not see it. Grinding his teeth, he said, “Xu Muchan, right? I’ll remember you!”
Xu Muchan was listening to an English listening exercise through his earbuds, completely unmoved.
News that the new transfer student in the Elite Class was blind, had quite the attitude, and had cursed out Nanming’s little tyrant on his very first day quickly spread through the various student group chats.
Xu Muchan knew nothing about it. He seriously listened through the remaining two classes.
Because he could not see, he had to concentrate intensely in order to memorize and then process what the teachers said. Fortunately, the self-study he had done during winter vacation came in handy. Although keeping up was somewhat difficult, he could at least understand most of it.
After the two classes ended, Xu Muchan was somewhat exhausted.
It was now lunchtime. Xu Wangchuan asked him if he wanted to go to the cafeteria together.
Nanming did not allow students to order takeout. Most students ate in the cafeteria during lunch break. Xu Muchan was actually a little tired and did not really want to move, but after thinking that he needed to memorize the route to the cafeteria as soon as possible, he still went with Xu Wangchuan.
Along the way, they inevitably encountered many students. Xu Wangchuan seemed to be quite popular at school. Quite a few people took the initiative to come over and greet him or chat with him. Then, when they saw Xu Muchan beside him with his white cane, they would naturally ask a few questions as well.
The questions were always the same few, but Xu Wangchuan answered them tirelessly.
Xu Muchan thought the only pity was that Xu Wangchuan did not have a loudspeaker in his hands. Otherwise, he might have used one to announce to all the teachers and students in the school that this little blind guy named Xu Muchan, whose eyes might or might not be curable, had come from Yundong.
His grades were not particularly good, but he was eager to learn and determined despite his disability.
You ask where Yundong was?
Who knew? Probably somewhere in some remote mountain ravine. It might not even have a location on Baidu Maps.
He was practically going to announce Xu Muchan’s ID number as well. Of course, he had not done so—perhaps not because he did not want to, but because he had never seen Xu Muchan’s ID card.
“Xu Wangchuan.”
Xu Muchan suddenly stopped. He slightly turned his face toward Xu Wangchuan’s direction and called his name.
“What’s wrong?”
Xu Wangchuan, who had been chatting enthusiastically with someone, turned around. His gentle tone concealed his impatience very well.
Xu Muchan said, “Do you want me to give you my ID card?”
Xu Wangchuan did not understand for a moment.
“Why would you give me your ID card?”
Xu Muchan raised his face and smiled faintly.
“So you can announce my ID number to everyone, too.”
The remark was so absurd that a passing student who overheard it burst out laughing before covering his mouth. His eyes darted excitedly between the two brothers, his face full of the thrill of watching some juicy drama.
Xu Wangchuan also heard those suppressed laughs. His expression gradually became ugly. After all, they were at an impulsive age, and no matter how good he was at pretending, he could no longer maintain his friendly facade.
“What do you mean?”
Xu Muchan was very direct.
“I don’t like you telling everyone my private information.”
Xu Wangchuan’s face flushed red. He wanted to explain something, but the gazes being directed at them from all around made it impossible for him to speak.
Meanwhile, Xu Muchan stood there straight and tall, completely unmoved by the looks and comments of others, making Xu Wangchuan seem as though he had suddenly become a clown.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to. It’s just that everyone else is probably more curious about you…”
Xu Wangchuan really wanted to turn around and leave, but when he thought of his adoptive parents, he did not dare to simply abandon Xu Muchan. He could only grit his teeth and remain where he was.
Xu Muchan stopped after making his point and did not argue any further. He continued walking forward with his white cane. When he realized that there were no footsteps following behind him, he stopped again and asked, “Are you still going to the cafeteria? If you’re not, I can call the driver. He can take me around and help me memorize the route too.”
“…”
It was clearly a threat.
Xu Wangchuan failed to control his expression, and for an instant, his face twisted viciously.
But he quickly adjusted his emotions again, forcing out an ugly smile. He caught up and said gently, “Mom entrusted you to me. I have a responsibility to take care of you. Let’s go.”
The short sentence was spoken through gritted teeth.
Xu Muchan did not care. He concentrated on memorizing the route with his white cane, paying no attention to Xu Wangchuan’s mood.
After all, on his very first day back home, this adoptive older brother had already displayed a faint trace of malice. Xu Muchan had already put him on the list of people he did not need to pay attention to.
The two of them continued toward the cafeteria, and the people who had stopped to watch the show gradually dispersed.
Not far away, Wei Yao stared at the particularly straight and proud back of that little blind guy. He turned his head toward his group of buddies and said,
“Looking at it this way, he has a much worse attitude toward Xu Wangchuan, his older brother. Toward me, he seems pretty friendly?”
With Xu Wangchuan’s public embarrassment as a comparison, Wei Yao suddenly found the little blind guy’s earlier suggestion that he go see a doctor rather endearing.
His buddies looked at him as though he were a lunatic.
“Brother Yao, how about you really go to the infirmary and get yourself checked? If you don’t have the money, we’ll start a crowdfunding campaign for you!”
Wei Yao kicked each of them once.
“Get lost!”
After realizing that Xu Muchan only looked soft and mild but was actually a prickly hedgehog, Xu Wangchuan did not dare cause any more trouble.
However, he was probably too angry to hold it in. Halfway through the meal, he used going to the bathroom as an excuse to leave Xu Muchan alone in the cafeteria.
Xu Muchan’s seat was in a corner on the first floor, at a large four-person table. As soon as Xu Wangchuan left, the empty seats were occupied.
Three people carrying their trays sat down and spoke to Xu Muchan with grins.
“New guy, you look pretty cocky. Heard you even dared to mess with Wei Yao?”
Xu Muchan could not see what they looked like, but from their hooligan-like tone, he knew they had not come with good intentions.
He ignored them and continued eating with his head lowered.
Seeing him lower his head and refuse to acknowledge them, the leader, Jin Qi, became annoyed and kicked the table leg. The metal cafeteria table scraped against the tiled floor with an ear-piercing screech.
The cafeteria fell silent for a moment before quickly returning to normal.
Some people noticed the commotion in the corner, but they did not know any of those involved. Who knew what was actually going on? Although Nanming was considered a prestigious school by outsiders and its university admission rate was far ahead of other schools, it still had an international department. There were always some rich young masters and young ladies who relied on their families’ connections to get in despite being academically useless, and they caused no shortage of trouble at school.
Everyone was actually quite accustomed to things like this.
Xu Muchan was accustomed to them too.
It seemed students were the same everywhere. No matter how good the school was, bullying was never uncommon.
Xu Muchan had plenty of experience dealing with such situations. This was not the time to act tough. He slipped one hand into his pocket and grasped his phone, already preparing to call his homeroom teacher. When he had saved his homeroom teacher’s number earlier, Xu Muchan had set it as a speed dial.
But just as he was about to make the call, Xu Muchan hesitated.
He remembered something from a long time ago, probably when he was in fourth grade.
Because he had been too thin and small, his classmates had bullied him. He had wanted to fight back, but at the time he was skinny, small, and weak. He had lost when it was three against one, and he was so upset that he cried all the way home.
After he got home, his older brother appeared and asked how he had gotten his injuries.
Xu Muchan had been very frightened at the time, but the grievance of being isolated and losing the fight had overwhelmed his fear. In the end, he told his brother everything that had happened.
After listening, his brother said nothing and disappeared.
But the next day, when Xu Muchan went to school, he heard that the three boys who had beaten him had suffered terrible misfortunes.
One of them had slipped while using the bathroom and fallen face-first into a squat toilet. Not only had his face been covered in feces and urine, he had also knocked out one of his front teeth.
The other two had collided with each other while playing on the parallel bars and fallen down. One had broken his arm, while the other had fractured his lower leg.
Similar incidents happened several more times afterward, and no one dared bully Xu Muchan anymore.
Of course, no one dared become friends with Xu Muchan either. Behind his back, they called him a jinx, saying that anyone who got close to him would suffer bad luck.
Xu Muchan had scoffed at that claim. He had come to school to study anyway, so he did not care whether he could make friends.
But later, Xu Muchan gradually discovered that it seemed to be true—whoever got close to him really did suffer misfortune.
His older brother not only protected him, but also refused to let him make friends with anyone.
Xu Muchan thought that now that his older brother no longer cared about him, there should not be any problem with making new friends at school, right?
With that thought, he released his phone, slightly raised his head, and “looked” toward the people in front of him. In a soft voice, he asked, “Do you need something? Do you want to be friends with me?”
“Be friends?”
Liang Yong, sitting beside him, laughed as though he had just heard the funniest joke of the century. He laughed so hard that he collapsed onto the table, tears nearly coming out of his eyes. He asked the two companions opposite him, “Hey, he’s asking you guys. Do you want to be friends with him?”
Jin Qi grinned, kicked him, then extended a hand toward Xu Muchan.
“Yeah. We want to be friends with you. Tomorrow after school, let’s officially get acquainted in the equipment room at the gymnasium. We’ll introduce you to a few new friends. You dare come?”
Xu Muchan obviously could not see, yet he accurately grasped the hand extended toward him. He smiled as well.
“Sure.”