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The disciplinary record and the honor roll at No. 6 High School were positioned very close to each other. The two adjacent glass display cases were always occupied by two photographs: on the right, Zhou Ai, the reclusive mute seen by everyone as unloved by his family and friendless; on the left, Chen Xunfeng, the school’s golden boy, seen by everyone as reckless and lawless.
The two were originally completely unrelated. However, when someone once made a flippant remark about a “mute” in front of Chen Xunfeng, he grew cold-faced on the spot and slammed a basketball heavily toward them. This incident firmly established the dynamic of “top student vs. school bully” as rivals.
When Chen Xunfeng finally cornered Zhou Ai at the cramped back school gate, the surrounding students were already rolling up their sleeves, eager to leave a scar on the mute’s beautiful face. Yet, the school bully, usually known for his cold indifference, leaned against the wall and asked in a low, gentle voice, “I’ve waited over half a year, hanging around in front of you every single day have you really forgotten me?”
Zhou Ai lifted his eyelids, which were always lowered in cold detachment. In front of everyone, he slapped the untouchable Chen Xunfeng across the face. They also saw Zhou Ai use sign language for the first time; only Chen Xunfeng, standing there, understood the message.
Zhou Ai had signed: “Finally done pretending?”
The mute had never been able to speak, but back in kindergarten, no one dared to look at him twice because he had a domineering little madman by his side who would bite anyone he laid eyes on. They were the weirdest combination in the entire kindergarten the dirty little madman and the clean, fair-skinned mute. No one could get close to their world.
But only a few years later, the madman was adopted by someone, and the mute truly became a lonely, mute child. The mute walked his solitary path until the age of sixteen, when the madman finally reappeared forcefully by his side.
From that point on, the madman and the mute never parted again.
Many years later, the mute is still a mute, and the madman is still a madman. But every day at 6:00 PM, the madman pulls himself away from all his affairs to wait outside the research institute, picking up the mute after work to take him home.
