Chapter Thirty: Fighting

Having not eaten or drunk anything all morning, Chen Guang's stomach was now completely empty, and his hunger was stronger than usual. He stood in the long line at the order window, counting the seven or eight people ahead of him, silently calculating when it would be his turn.

The aroma of food wafted in, and he stared at the menu hanging in the window above him. He decided to order a large mutton hot pot first, along with a bowl of boneless meat and tofu soup, to fill his empty stomach with the piping hot broth and, incidentally, to ease the inexplicable irritation that had welled up inside him when he had just bumped into Lin Yu and her shifty-looking boyfriend.

"Stop pretending to be innocent. You're so shy about even a kiss on the cheek." The boy behind me tugged at his collar, his reindeer scarf casually stuffed into the side pocket of his backpack, half of the tag showing. "If it weren't for getting her, I wouldn't bother with this cheap stuff. It's giving me rashes on my neck."

His companion let out a lewd, sticky laugh and said meaningfully, "Maybe she's just an ignorant girl who knows nothing about matters between men and women, waiting for you to 'teach her a lesson,' hahaha."

The boy deliberately raised his voice, as if to show off, and for a moment his voice drowned out the noisy background noise in the cafeteria. "I've slept with plenty of virgins, I'll get her sooner or later."

"You don't know, I asked her to go to a hotel today, and she pretended not to understand."

"Maybe it's edged with gold, hehehe." The two men's lewd laughter made Chen Guang feel nauseous. He unconsciously clenched the plate in his hand and pushed it hard into his stomach.

"But these kinds of girls are usually really hot the first time, I'll live stream it for you."

"That's a deal, buddy!"

After saying that, the boy behind her patted his chest confidently. "Of course, she doesn't even realize that someone like her should be grateful that I found her."

Chen Guang turned around abruptly, his body reacting before reason could take over. He rushed to the throne in a few strides, grabbed his collar, grazed the throne's nose, and delivered a heavy punch to his face.

That punch, brimming with all his inexplicable frustration and suppressed anger, landed squarely on that repulsive face.

The throne slammed backward like a discarded tattered sack, crashing heavily onto the greasy cafeteria floor before sliding two meters away. He jerked to his feet in terror, his glasses askew on his face, blood streaming from his nose.

The bustling noise in the cafeteria seemed to be paused instantly, leaving only the inappropriate Christmas carols continuing merrily, creating a sense of absurd dislocation.

Chen Guang looked down at his broken, trembling knuckles and the reindeer scarf lying to the side. At this moment, he suddenly understood Qu Lei's anger back then, even though their circumstances were completely different.

After a brief silence, the crowd instantly stirred, with some people taking out their phones to take pictures.

"Someone's being attacked! Someone's being attacked!" Wang Wei's companions screamed, but when they met Chen Guang's burning red eyes that seemed to devour people, all their bravado vanished instantly, and they dared not take another step forward.

Wang Wei, clutching his face, curled up on the ground in agony, groaning as he tried to salvage some dignity with his incoherent words. "Are you fucking crazy? I'm calling the police! I'm going to make sure you get fired!"

But Chen Guang just stood there, coldly looking at him, as if he were looking at a pile of rotting flesh.

His stomach ached with hunger. However, a more primal, burning emotion had completely overwhelmed him, a torrent of disgust, protectiveness, and a sense of trampled justice.

This brute force propelled him forward again, recklessly punching and kicking the mangled flesh. Every blow landed without mercy, as if he wanted to shatter the other's foul language, along with the inexplicable irritation in his own heart.

......

The infirmary reeked of disinfectant mixed with a faint smell of blood. When Lin Yu and Yao Fangfang pushed open the door, Wang Wei was sitting in a chair in the infirmary, having his head pressed down as the school doctor disinfected his wound. His shattered glasses lay askew on the table, coldly watching Wang Wei grimace and scream.

Chen Guang sat silently on the hospital bed by the door, his hand wound already bandaged. He was squinting at the bruised and swollen throne, as if he were looking at a hopeless mess.

Wang Wei was the first to spot Lin Yu standing at the door. He struggled to get up as if he had seen a savior, but was shoved back into his chair by the school doctor.

"What are you doing? If you don't behave, I'll call both of your advisors! One of you will get a disciplinary action." The tweezers tapped on the tray, making a crisp sound.

Hearing the noise at the door, Chen Guang slowly turned his head, calmly placing his gaze on Lin Yu, but his body remained motionless. He stared at her expressionlessly, his eyes distant as if he were looking at a complete stranger.

Lin Yu glanced past Chen Guang, walked past him without a word, and politely asked the doctor, "Teacher, are they alright?"

"It's nothing serious." The school doctor stopped bandaging the wound, looked up at Lin Yu who was standing bent over to the side, and glanced between her and the two boys. "One has a scraped fist, and the other has a bloody nose."

Lin Yu nodded after hearing this and thanked the doctor again. "I'm sorry to have troubled you." His heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down a little.

Wang Wei immediately put on his dramatic act, groaning exaggeratedly, "Yu Yu, it hurts so much... This guy just came up and beat me up for no reason. I'm going to tell my dad that he knows the school leaders."

Chen Guang snorted coldly, drawing everyone's attention to him. But he said nothing, only continuing to watch the scene unfold with that icy gaze.

Lin Yu pursed her lips, ignoring the king's performance, and turned to the school doctor again. "Teacher, can they leave now?"

"You can leave after the bandage is applied. But..." The school doctor looked at the two sternly. "I won't report it this time, but if it happens again, I'll send them directly to the student affairs office. Understand?"

The two nodded reluctantly. The school doctor shook his head and continued to treat the throne's wound.

......

The cheerful Christmas carols playing over the campus loudspeaker created an absurd contrast with the tense atmosphere in the four-person dorm room. Lin Yu strode back to his dorm, his shoes making a soft rustling sound as they swept through the snow.

Wang Wei pressed his hand to his bandaged nose, his broken glasses blurring his vision. He staggered as he followed her, mumbling incoherent curses at Chen Guang. "He's a madman! Yu Yu, you'd better stay away from that kind of person! I'll make him pay sooner or later..."

Yao Fangfang and Chen Guang were left behind. "You've really made a name for yourself," Yao Fangfang teased. "Now the whole school knows you can send people flying with one punch. Hasn't the National Space Administration called you, begging you to be their human thruster for their Mars mission?"

"I was just going to have a meal, not planning to fight!" Chen Guang's gaze remained fixed on the entangled figures in front of him, as if he wanted to cleave them in two with his eyes. "Otherwise, I would definitely have brought a bow and shot that 'cheapskate' straight out of the stratosphere."

"Who said you two were fighting!" Yao Fangfang sneered. "The video clearly shows you two were dancing an impromptu tango!"

"I really don't understand you girls." Chen Guang frowned and looked at Yao Fangfang. "What is Lin Yu trying to do to me?"

"Where did I go wrong? Did I do anything wrong?"

"I swear to God, I don't know what's wrong with me. As soon as I meet Lin Yu, I start quantum entanglement, and everything gets into a mess."

Chen Guang couldn't understand what he had done to offend Lin Yu, that she had created a red light for him in her world, making all other paths seem impossible.

He would bring her milk tea when she went to study, and lend her his coat when it rained. When hooligans harassed her, he rushed over from afar to rescue her in the middle of a competition, fearing that something might happen to her.

Chen Guang was too embarrassed to tell her that he had been spied on in the library. The next day, he sat in the guard room at the school gate and checked the surveillance footage for six hours, hoping to find some clues and keep that pervert locked up for a few more days. He was more dedicated than the police.

She can't even kick a shuttlecock properly. He's the one who's always worried about her, and in the end she chose such a useless, unreliable boyfriend, and now he's the one who has to clean up her messes.

What more does she want? Just because she doesn't have a silver tongue, does she think she can just turn her glorious deeds into an audiobook and play it on repeat for her? Does she really think she'd rather be with that good-for-nothing scoundrel?

With her hand so badly injured, she thought that when she saw him in the infirmary, Lin Yu would rush over to thank and comfort him immediately. But instead, she just glanced at him indifferently, not even offering a word of concern. Who was he doing all this for?

Chen Guang was angry, even somewhat frustrated. He wanted to turn around and leave, disappearing from Lin Yu's world forever. But for some reason, he felt a pang of reluctance. Reflecting on the time Lin Yu had been away, even basketball and video games had become utterly tasteless.

But he was ashamed to admit his predicament, and even less willing to see someone like Wang Wei and Lin Yu end up together peacefully. Just thinking about Wang Wei's smug face made him feel hot with anger.

He believed that Lin Yu, who was blind to the truth, would soon regain his sight and come to him to confess his unpredictable mood swings.

However, Yao Fangfang's words struck Chen Guang like a blow to the head, catching him completely off guard.

“Chen Guang, you’ve actually been making mistakes regarding Lin Yu.” She looked at him meaningfully, but didn’t directly answer his question. “Today’s fight for the throne only reinforces your mistakes.”

"As a friend..." Chen Guang's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily as he tried to find a reasonable motive for his actions, almost as if he were hypnotizing himself.

"Before bringing up your friend, figure out your own position first," Yao Fangfang interrupted him bluntly. "Think about what you really want to be with her? If she's a friend, then you have no right to interfere in her private life, after all, you're not her guardian."

If you're someone who admires someone, you should be honest about your feelings instead of overstepping boundaries and disciplining them. Yao Fangfang swallowed the second half of her sentence, leaving it for Chen Guang to ponder. She wanted to see if this kid was really so clueless.

Chen Guang looked at Yao Fangfang with a mixture of confusion and annoyance, his brown eyes filled with genuine bewilderment. "You all conspired to keep her dating a secret from me. In her heart, what am I? Just a complete stranger."

“Chen Guang, you may feel that you are doing a thankless job. But think about it, today you seem to be punishing the throne, but in fact you are confirming Lin Yu’s incompetence.”

"You negated her judgment, overturned the equal relationship that should have existed between you, and made her feel even more unworthy of being loved."

Yao Fangfang paused for a moment, then continued, "No one can accept it again and again. Some people always deny themselves in public, as if to say that without your help, she only deserves to be deceived by this kind of scum."

"So the answer to why she resents you is here. That's why she would rather have the false respect of the throne than accept your real help."

Yao Fangfang finished speaking in one breath, then stopped and sighed softly. "As for why she hid her relationship from you, I think you should ask her yourself."

Chen Guang was stunned; he seemed to have never considered the issue from this perspective before. He had always thought he was protecting Lin Yu, but he had never considered that his actions might have hurt her self-esteem.

The throne was still chattering incessantly beside Lin Yu, but Chen Guang's heart suddenly calmed down.