Chapter 2, "Watching the Road".

As usual, a flag-raising ceremony was held early Monday morning. Before going downstairs, Song Ke, carrying a stack of materials, called out to Tang Ci.

"Squad leader, what's wrong?" Tang Ci turned around and subconsciously reached out to help him carry the materials in his arms.

Song Ke smiled and said, "I just want you to help me deliver the materials."

Tang Ci nodded, took half of the document from his hand, and the two went downstairs together.

The classes on the playground had already formed their formations, and the few scattered students were also neatly returning to their ranks. The row of boys standing idly under the podium looked particularly out of place.

None of them were wearing school uniforms, but their faces were all bruised.

Sheng Yu, standing in the middle, was the most prominent; even the bruises on his cool-colored skin were more noticeable than those of the others.

Tang Ci lowered her eyes and followed Song Ke toward the stage. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Sheng Yu's arm. His wrist was hastily bandaged with white gauze, and a hideous red scar protruded from the edge of the gauze, its edge still whitish.

She was stunned for a few seconds, and before she knew it, her feet were caught in a tangled mess of microphone wires. She lost her balance and fell towards Song Ke's back.

Tang Ci didn't have time to react. In her panic, she closed her eyes. The expected impact did not occur. Instead, her arm was gripped tightly by a strong palm, which brought her to a stop in place.

She lifted her trembling eyelashes and met Sheng Yu's gaze through her non-prescription glasses.

Sheng Yu had already let go of her hand, and with a slight movement of his thin lips, he said, "Watch where you're going."

A deep voice lingered in her ears, and Tang Ci resisted the urge to rub her ears, lowered her eyes and said thank you.

When Song Ke turned around and saw Tang Ci with her head down, he instinctively thought that Sheng Yu and her group had done something wrong. He reached out and pulled Tang Ci to his right, and asked in a low voice, "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

Jin Ming already disliked these hypocritical good students, and upon hearing Song Ke's words, he immediately became furious, "Open your dog eyes and see, Brother Yu just helped this bookworm."

Song Ke glanced at Jin Ming and said, "If you swear again, you'll be in for a disciplinary action."

Jin Ming was furious and rolled up his sleeves, wanting to go forward and argue with him, but was scared back by a warning look from the head of the grade.

He was seething with anger, and looked up at Sheng Yu with a mournful expression.

Despite being misunderstood, Sheng Yu remained indifferent, casually putting his hands in his pockets. His gaze swept across Tang Ci's face, and he subtly raised his brow bone.

Tang Ci felt her ears starting to burn. She avoided Sheng Yu's gaze and whispered to Song Ke, "I almost fell just now, and it was Sheng... Yu who pulled me up."

Looking at Tang Ci's flushed cheeks, Song Ke assumed she was lying because she was scared, and reassured her in a deep voice, "Tang Ci, don't be afraid. Look, your face is all red from fright."

As the class monitor, Song Ke's voice was loud enough. Although he lowered his voice at this moment, people nearby could still hear him clearly.

Tang Ci bit her lower lip awkwardly, looked up and met Sheng Yu's ambiguous smile. Without explaining further, she grabbed Song Ke's sleeve and quickly walked to the conference table to set up the documents.

Back in the class line, the flag-raising ceremony officially began.

After the flag-raising team finished raising the flag, the school leaders gave their routine speeches, and finally, the meeting came to the part where criticisms were announced.

Under the stern reprimand of the grade director, Tang Ci learned that the fight she witnessed last week was caused by Sheng Yu and a male student from a vocational high school arguing over a female student from the same school. The argument escalated into a brawl involving knives.

As soon as the director finished speaking, a noisy discussion broke out in the rows of students from each class.

Sheng Yu, who always kept everyone at arm's length, got into a fight for a girl.

This is explosive news.

The mischievous boys cheered and whistled, while many girls who admired Sheng Yu were secretly heartbroken.

Tang Ci clenched her fingers, ignoring the surrounding noise, and heard the head of the teaching department slap the table and continue to talk about the punishment for Sheng Yu, "Sheng Yu has been given a major demerit this time. After discussion among the school leaders, if he violates school rules again, he will be expelled directly."

The dean of students continued to announce the punishments for the other students, but Tang Ci was no longer listening.

Through the surging crowd, she looked at Sheng Yu below the stage. The young man still stood lazily in the morning light, his eyelids drooping as he stared into the void, as if he was already tired of everything around him.

His current state makes one think that if he were to drop out of school right now, he would leave without hesitation.

A white mist suddenly appeared before Tang Ci's eyes, and the distant summer cicadas, hidden deep in her memory, began to chirp. The boy held her face and laughed wildly, "Little one, since you're so reluctant to part with me, then come to our school."

/

The news of Sheng Yu's punishment circulated throughout the school all day.

The person at the center of the conversation never showed up for class. As school was about to end, the class representative, who had just returned from delivering materials to the office, brought new gossip.

"I heard that President Sheng was furious and rushed back from abroad. He even personally ordered Sheng Yu to wait in his office."

As a leading entrepreneur in the city and also an honorary board member of the school, Sheng Hong's decisions are so influential that no one dares to disobey him.

The students of that year were fortunate enough to meet Sheng Hong once at the opening ceremony of the first year of high school. The middle-aged man was dressed in a suit and tie, with a cold expression and a stern look in his eyes. He took the stage to speak in place of Sheng Yu, who was the top student in the grade at the time but was absent due to illness.

Tang Ci silently put the completed exam paper into the folder. The class monitor, having finished gossiping, remembered the important matter and called out to her, "Tang Ci, Old Chen wants you to go to the office to get the scholarship application booklet."

Tang Ci paused in her work, stood up from her seat, nodded and said okay, then rushed out of the classroom.

Jiang Chan watched as her usually mild-mannered friend suddenly disappeared and murmured, "Only money can make her care like this."

The office door was ajar, and the figures of Lao Chen and Sheng Yu could be vaguely seen sitting on either side of the office.

Old Chen's unique, low voice leaked out from the crack in the door.

"What you consider trivial now may turn out to be very important later on..."

Life is a long journey, and it's normal to take a break now and then, but you still need to pack up and move on to the next step—

"What road?" Sheng Yuqing's clear voice cut off Old Chen's words, and then he sneered and answered himself, "I'm too lazy to walk any road, so don't bother trying to influence me."

"Sheng Yu!" Old Chen slammed his hand on the table, a rare stern gesture, before speaking again in a calm tone, "Then forget about any path, just study and take the exams with everyone else. Get into university first, then think about other things."

Sheng Yu rested his elbows on the table, sitting opposite Lao Chen, his posture extremely relaxed. "What's the point of studying with my bottom-ranked grades? It's useless for you to bet on me. Taking care of the top student in the grade is what you should be doing."

Old Chen was so angry at his arrogant attitude that he stood up from his desk, a few strands of hair falling out of his meticulously styled hair bun.

Sheng Yu stared at Lao Chen with a cold expression, showing no intention of giving in.

The tense atmosphere was broken by the creaking sound of the door opening. Tang Ci stood awkwardly by the door and explained softly, "...a gust of wind blew the door open."

Old Chen's expression softened, and he beckoned to her, "Tang Ci, come here, let me explain the rules for setting up this year's scholarships."

Tang Ci swallowed hard and walked into the office, sitting down next to Old Chen. Throughout the entire process, Sheng Yu didn't even raise an eyelid.

Old Chen was in a stable mood and had regained his usual patient demeanor when explaining the scholarship rules to Tang Ci. However, Tang Ci was unusually not listening attentively. Her gaze lightly fell on the boy opposite her before quickly looking away.

Click—

The tightly closed door was opened again, and a stern-faced, tall middle-aged man walked in. The man first said in a deep voice, "Teacher Chen," and then walked straight toward Sheng Yu.

Sheng Yu finally lifted his eyelids, his gaze towards Sheng Hong deep and sharp, completely different from the indifferent and relaxed expression he had just shown when looking at Lao Chen.

Tang Ci noticed that Sheng Yu's palm on the table tightened, and the veins on his pale arm bulged.

This action resembles a kind of instinctive stress response in animals.

Tang Ci's throat tightened, and she inexplicably began to feel nervous.

The next second, a fleeting image of the middle-aged man's wristwatch flashed before her eyes, and Sheng Hong punched Sheng Yu hard in the face. "You've disgraced the Sheng family! Do you even know what shame is?!"

Sheng Yu quickly turned his head, but still took a punch to the corner of his mouth.

Bones collided through the skin and flesh, producing a dull thud that jolted the sweltering, weary summer evening awake.

Tang Ci's eyes widened instantly, and she stood up from her seat in a panic, her fingertips unconsciously clenching the tissue in her coat pocket.

Sheng Yu raised his injured hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, and chuckled as he asked Sheng Hong, "Do you know I have no sense of shame?"

Sheng Hong's temples throbbed with veins. Ignoring Lao Chen's attempts to stop him, he threw another punch at his son, but this time Sheng Yu held his wrist tightly.

Sheng Yu slowly stood up from his seat, his hand gripping Sheng Hong's wrist tightening until he saw cold sweat beading on Sheng Hong's forehead.

Old Chen patted Sheng Yu's arm anxiously, "Let go! I'll talk to you about it, just let go first!"

As soon as Sheng Yu let go, Sheng Hong, panting heavily, cursed angrily: "You unfilial son—when are you going to stop causing trouble?!"

Old Chen caught a glimpse of Tang Ci, who was frozen in front of her desk, and quickly said to her, "You go back first."

Tang Ci nodded, as if she were stunned. Instead of avoiding the chaos in front of the desk, she walked directly between Sheng Yu and Sheng Hong.

The clothes rubbed together, producing a soft, low sound, and Sheng Hong was pushed back a step.

/

As the car changed lanes, the driver quickly glanced at the boy in the back seat through the rearview mirror.

Although he had injuries on his lips and hands, Sheng Yu's expression remained as cold and stern as ever, revealing no emotion whatsoever. He was even more unpredictable than Sheng Hong, leaving the driver, who was adept at reading people, with no opportunity to flatter him.

Everyone in the Sheng family knew that Sheng Hong didn't like the son born to this ordinary woman, but Sheng Yu happened to be his only son.

As his strong physique gradually deteriorated, Sheng Hong probably panicked. In recent years, he brought many women back to the Sheng family, but they would leave after a short while.

It is said that they were all done by Sheng Yu.

Thinking of this, the driver sneered inwardly. Sure enough, young masters from wealthy families are all shrewd. No matter how much Sheng Yu disdains the Sheng family on the surface, he still covets their rich fortune.

There is still a woman guarding the Sheng family villa. She is a lawyer whom Sheng Hong met at an international summit. She is determined to marry into a higher social class and, disregarding Sheng Hong's need to work overtime at the company at night, she comes to the Sheng family villa first to show off her status as the lady of the house.

The driver parked the car in the backyard of the villa, got out and respectfully opened the car door for Sheng Yu, but deep down he felt a little excited.

There's going to be a good show.

Sheng Yu strode up the steps and opened the door. As soon as he stepped into the foyer, he saw a woman sitting on the sofa in the living room.

Hearing footsteps, the woman turned her head and looked at him as if she hadn't noticed the injury on his face at all. She still smiled and reached out to him, "You must be Sheng Yu. I often hear your father mention you."

Sheng Yu ignored her actions and sat down on the sofa next to her.

The woman awkwardly withdrew her arm and sat down opposite him.

Seeing Sheng Yu casually pick up a book from the bookshelf and start reading, the woman tilted her head to look at the title. Recognizing it was by an author she was familiar with, she tried to strike up a conversation again, "You also like Murakami's novels?"

Sheng Yu's slender fingers turned the pages of the book, and he lifted his eyelids to ask, "Which ones have you read?"

"I've seen them all." The woman smiled sheepishly, racking her brains for a topic.

“I haven’t read many, but I do remember the story ‘Barn Burning.’” He slammed the book shut and looked at the woman directly for the first time. “Have you read it?”

The woman felt a chill run down her spine under his dark, inky eyes, and stammered involuntarily, "I...I've seen it."

Sheng Yu smiled and said, "You're the fourth warehouse this month."

/

A constant buzzing in her ears, the woman sat in the luxurious, temperature-controlled living room, goosebumps rising on her arms.

She swallowed hard, stood up from the sofa, looked unwell, slung her bag over her shoulder, and left.

With a blank expression, Sheng Yu walked past the maid who hurriedly lowered her eyes. As she went up the stairs, she put her hands into the pockets of her windbreaker pants, but her fingertips unexpectedly touched a hard, sharp plastic corner.

He slowed down and took something out of his pocket.

It was a pack of unfamiliar tissues, about the size of a palm.

The plastic bag looked like it had been squeezed hard, with a tear at the seal.

The pristine white paper exudes a delicate fragrance.

Sheng Yu's lips twitched instinctively, and she belatedly realized that her wound was hurting.