Fake Slackers

Chapter 36: Yu-ge, you've changed

Xie Yu got up early. He changed into his school uniform and had a breakfast of congee and vegetables with Madam Gu. Then he glanced at the time and got ready to take the bus back to school. "I'm leaving. If anything happens, call me."

Gu Xuelan put down her chopsticks, got up, and said, "Let the driver send you back."

Xie Yu walked to the entryway and bent down to change his shoes. He hadn't brought anything back with him, and now he didn't take anything with him either. He didn't look like he was going back to school, but instead, going out to play. "No need. I'll go back on my own."

"You're going just like that? You're not even taking a backpack?" Gu Xuelan wasn't sure what to say to him. "Did you do the homework your teachers assigned this weekend?"

Xie Yu said, "I've done it. I did it in school."

This excuse was too fishy. There was no way Gu Xuelan would have believed it. "I think you didn't do it at all."

"There weren't many questions I could do, anyway." Xie Yu placed his slippers neatly to the side, pulled open the door, and went out. A gust of humid wind blew in from outside, brushing past his face. "It's the same whether I submit it or not."

Gu Xuelan was about to say, "It's getting cold, take care of yourself," but Xie Yu had already walked out.

The Zhong family's house was in a rather remote location and it was half an hour's walk to the nearest bus station.

A family on a morning jog was currently running laps in the nearby park. Towels hung around their necks and they panted as they ran.

Actually, not everything here was a source of frustration.

For instance, the glow of dawn that rose from the horizon, or the trees and blades of grass he had passed on the way here. Or the couple in front of him, running with their children; they had deliberately slowed their steps and looked like a slow-motion replay of a recording.

Xie Yu put in his earphones as he walked and put a song on, then stuck his hands back in his pockets.

Fresh air and a new day.

The time it took for Xie Yu to get back to school was determined by how smooth the bus was running. Sometimes, he was more unlucky—this time, for example, the bus broke down on the way.

The driver smoked a cigarette, examining the bus for a long time before he patted it with a hand. "No can do. You all wait for the next one."

The busful of passengers exploded.

Little friend, what time are you getting back to school?

What do you want

Did you miss me? I'll come meet you at the school gates

Are you sick?

Can we just have a proper conversation? Thank goodness I have a good temper... ah, when you get to school later don't rush to class. I'll wait for you in the bathroom.

He Zhao had probably gotten to the classroom early and had nothing better to do than bother him.

Xie Yu chatted on and off with him for a while; one of them wanted nothing more than to end the conversation while the other did their best to revive the dying tree.¹

The next bus arrived quickly. It stopped with a shudder, the '91' plate indicating its route hanging in the glass window.

When Xie Yu got to school, there were still ten minutes before class began; he wasn't late yet. Mad Dog couldn't do anything to him and could only glare from the school gates. "Hurry up! Start running! Every second counts!"