Chapter 44: Back Home

The window of the sports car rolled down, and a youth with dyed yellow hair inside waved at Huo Zhanyan, saying, "Bro, I'll take the car first."

Huo Zhanyan didn't even turn his head, simply uttering a casual agreement before walking toward Wen Xiao.

Huo Zhanyan had been tall since childhood. Wen Xiao looked up at him, estimating his height to be well over one hundred and eighty-three centimeters.

Combined with his sturdy build since youth, his every movement exuded a strong sense of power, making him feel like a solid wall when standing before someone.

Yet, that red hair...

Wen Xiao frowned, his mind involuntarily drifting toward some unpleasant thoughts.

"How is it? Is my hair handsome? After a separation of three days, one must look at each other with new eyes." Relying on his long legs, Huo Zhanyan took two large strides to stand right in front of Wen Xiao, flashing a row of white teeth.

Huo Zhanyan's facial features belonged to a type that appeared cold and fierce when he wasn't smiling or when he sneered.

Yet, when he genuinely smiled, it carried the sunny, cheerful radiance typical of someone his age, transforming the wild and untamed aura surrounding him into something vibrant and unrestrained.

"You and your buddy together look exactly like a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes," Wen Xiao said expressionlessly, before stepping back immediately after registering what he had said, putting some distance between himself and Huo Zhanyan.

Huo Zhanyan's dyed red hair resembled tomatoes, while the guy who had driven him here with his bright yellow hair was the scrambled egg; put together, they really made quite the appetizing pair.

A few passing students overheard and couldn't help covering their mouths to chuckle.

Hearing this, Huo Zhanyan instinctively grabbed Wen Xiao's wrist, as if refusing to let him leave.

"Take a good look and don't you dare lie. You're calling me a tomato? Your eyes were practically glued to me just now. You're just being contradictory, lying ever since you were little..."

Huo Zhanyan stood extremely close, attempting to pull Wen Xiao toward him. As he lowered his head to look at him, their heads almost touched.

Wen Xiao raised his gaze slightly to look at him. Face-to-face like this, the handsome face framed by red hair intruded directly into his vision, the vast expanse of red even swallowing the peripheral light at the corners of his eyes.

Not knowing where he found the strength, he suddenly shook off Huo Zhanyan's hand, clutched his school bag, and bolted backward.

Huo Zhanyan froze for a moment, and just as he prepared to give chase, Song Jingbai pressed a hand down on his shoulder.

Song Jingbai offered a smile completely devoid of warmth, looked at Huo Zhanyan's red hair, and said, "Student Huo, dyeing hair is prohibited at school."

"Song Jingbai, what business is it of yours whether I dye my..." Huo Zhanyan was still staring in the direction where Wen Xiao had vanished. Had Song Jingbai not been holding him down, he would have sprinted after him at full speed by now.

Why did Wen Xiao turn and run the moment he saw him?

Huo Zhanyan pondered this for a long time without finding an answer. Glancing at Song Jingbai, who was looking at him with a gentle smile, he felt even more convinced that the other person was gloating.

It was most likely that Song Jingbai had spoken ill of him right in front of Wen Xiao. Such occurrences were hardly rare; he knew perfectly well how stealthily malicious Song Jingbai could be.

Only those clueless fools called him a campus male god day in and day out, completely shameless.

"I am the Disciplinary Committee member. Do you still think it's my business or not?" Song Jingbai seemed entirely unprovoked by his attitude, though a thoughtful expression crossed his face as he looked at Huo Zhanyan's red hair.

"If you don't want to go, I don't mind finding someone to come over and dye your hair back for you."

Even while delivering a threat, the corners of Song Jingbai's lips maintained a polite, composed smile, yet no one would doubt the genuine intent behind his words.

"Song Jingbai, you're just jealous that he looks at me instead of you." Huo Zhanyan's tone was icy. Seeing that the figure in the distance had completely disappeared, he finally withdrew his gaze. When his eyes met Song Jingbai's, it felt as though sparks could ignite in the space between them.

"Even if the principal himself came, he couldn't control me. Song Jingbai, you can save yourself the trouble." Huo Zhanyan flashed a cold sneer, which, paired with his arrogant, defying-the-heavens face, was enough to make anyone keep a respectful distance.

However, Song Jingbai clearly did not belong among those people.

On the lawn behind them, a male student holding a phone was suddenly pinned down by two security guards. His phone was confiscated, and several live commentary messages were still scrolling across the screen.

"I bet those three definitely have a story."

"A triangle is the most stable structure after all."

"Grabbing someone's hand and refusing to let go right off the bat, and looking at them like that just now—it's like pulling them straight into an embrace! The divine perspective shift, the height difference is top-tier!"

"Who is that red-haired handsome guy? How can he be so unpolite even to Song Kaizhi's son?"

"He's probably the very first person daring to dye his hair at Slanert School."

"I suddenly thought of someone..."

The livestream footage ended abruptly right there.

Wen Xiao naturally had no idea what had transpired after he left. Huo Zhanyan's shock of red hair lingered persistently in his mind, though the face kept shifting, throwing his thoughts into absolute chaos.

One moment, it was cold, fierce, and devoid of emotion, the tone icy and disdainful.

The next moment, it smiled like a rebellious, vibrant young man, his eyes drawing close enough to clearly reflect Wen Xiao's own image within them. With an uplifted tone and striking features, he appeared extraordinarily vivid.

Unawares, Wen Xiao had already reached the front of the main teaching building. The plaza in front was crowded with freshers and senior students alike, alongside student union members guiding new students through course selection and registration.

Promotional banners had long been erected on the lawn behind the main teaching building, with students eagerly trying to recruit newcomers into various clubs.

Wen Xiao walked straight through the crowd, retrieved his schedule from the office, and felt a slight sense of relief upon realizing he had no classes scheduled for the entire morning.

Internally, he cursed Song Jingbai for most likely knowing this all along, resenting the fact that he had assumed Song Jingbai kept reminding him about being late in the mornings simply because he had a first-period class.

Starting in the second year of high school, students had to choose courses based on their intended academic tracks. In addition to mandatory daily subjects, they also had to study several specialized courses depending on their major.

As Wen Xiao descended the stairs, he suddenly spotted someone walking upward in a hurry with lowered head, crashing right into him.

The textbooks in the other person's hands went flying in a clatter, and the schedule sheets in Wen Xiao's hands scattered into the air as well.

Struck so abruptly, Wen Xiao lost his center of gravity, his mind going blank for a split second.

Before he could react, however, he felt a hand grip his wrist while another hand supported his waist, preventing him from tumbling to the floor.

"I'm sorry," Wen Xiao said, his gaze shifting to the bright bronze school emblem pinned to the other's chest—a clear indication that this person was a newly admitted scholarship student.

When he looked up again into that pure, endearing face, his eyes widened suddenly. He yanked his hand away from the other's grip and stepped back.

Seeing such an intense reaction, the newcomer's expression grew even more apologetic. He hurriedly crouched down to pick up the scattered schedule sheets from the floor, babbling, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you. I was just rushing to get to my first-period class, I was in such a hurry, so..."

The next second, the morning bell rang out. These chimes seemed to drag Wen Xiao back to reality. He blinked, suppressed the absurdity churning in his heart, and said, "Never mind."

With that, Wen Xiao hurried downstairs, brushing past the scholarship student as if he didn't want to linger for even a single second longer.

Behind him, the scholarship student seemed on the verge of calling out, but hesitant because he didn't know the other's name. Still holding the schedule sheets the boy had left behind in his haste, he stood there hesitating.

The young man stood near the staircase, staring at the printed name in the top-right corner of the schedule, and softly murmured, "Wen Xiao."

Suddenly, he looked up toward the upper landing, his gaze locking directly onto a pair of dark, gloomy eyes.

A long-haired male student was gripping the iron handrail, watching him silently. That tranquil pair of eyes was as deep as an abyssal pool, yet seemed pregnant with some impending, volatile emotion.

The youth was dressed in a black uniform, the vest beneath showing not a single crease, with the high-collared shirt buttoned up to the very top.

Half of his slightly long bangs were tucked naturally behind his head, exposing half of his forehead. His features were exquisitely delicate, while a few loose strands fell naturally, half-shading his eyes and lending him an even more melancholic temperament.

His black hair wasn't overly long, brushing just against his shoulder blades, yet it fluttered slightly in the breeze when he walked, the school emblem on his chest catching the silver light.

By the time the boy finished picking up the books from the floor, the long-haired youth had already walked right up to him, fixing those pool-like eyes upon him.

"You did it on purpose," the long-haired youth said, word by word.

Other students passed by in the corridor, slowing their paces only slightly as their gazes drifted back and forth between the two, whispering quietly only once they had walked a safe distance away.

"That person just now must be the scholarship student, right? Why did he go and provoke Wei Nanxing of the Wei family the moment he arrived?"

"Wei Nanxing doesn't like to talk, but when he stares at you like that, it gives you goosebumps. He's even harder to deal with than Huo Zhanyan."

"If he doesn't want to bother with you, he won't give you the time of day. But if he does pay attention to you, it usually means you're in trouble. Did you see Wei Nanxing's expression just now? It looked like he was about to eat someone."

"What on earth did that scholarship student do?"

The murmuring voices gradually faded away. The boy blinked blankly, looking as though he couldn't quite comprehend what Wei Nanxing was talking about, tightening his grip around the books in his arms.

"I really was just in a hurry..." Not knowing why this sudden classmate was pinning such a charge on him, he simply rushed to offer an explanation.

Yet Wei Nanxing appeared completely unresponsive to his words, merely holding out a hand and demanding, "Give it here."

Standing side by side, one bore a cold expression and an aggressive tone, while the other lowered his head in apology, appearing helpless and pitiful—a sharp contrast in strength.

Yet the passing students dared not intervene, nor did they dare ask why.

Studying at Slanert School, there were a few individuals one simply had to recognize: Huo Zhanyan of the Huo family, Song Jingbai of the Song family, Wei Nanxing of the Wei family, and Wen Xiao, whose relationship with all these families was extraordinarily close.

Though Huo Zhanyan acted with unbridled flamboyance daily, defying discipline and breaking school rules, and was rumored to skip classes and get into fights, these infractions remained out in the open; no one had ever actually witnessed the campus tyrant leading the bullying of any fellow student.

Song Jingbai had always served as the school's disciplinary committee member, treating others with gentle courtesy, winning universal praise from teachers and students alike without a shred of arrogance. He had once been voted Slanert's campus male god, and even the most critical of individuals likely could not pick a single flaw in him.

Wei Nanxing, on the other hand, existed almost like a transparent entity within the school. His rare appearances always coincided with moments alongside that Wen fellow. Some claimed they would invariably bump into this prominent figure in the most unexpected places, giving the distinct impression that even when he wasn't physically present, his legends permeated every corner of the campus. He was uniquely independent with an eccentric personality.