Can I still be saved? [Transmigration] - Chapter 28
Tang Wei was about to dump all the food into the pot when Su Yunjing quickly stopped him.
“Don’t put in too much. These kinds of pots aren’t good for cooking.”
The alcohol stove obviously wasn’t as powerful as an induction cooker. It took over ten minutes before the broth finally started bubbling.
When the broth in the pot came to a boil, Tang Wei cursed, “Damn, I forgot to bring chopsticks.”
Su Yunjing: “…”
Lin Lie: “…”
Even Fu Hanzhou looked up from his handheld game console and glanced at Tang Wei.
Not only had Tang Wei forgotten chopsticks, he hadn’t brought any dipping sauce or even bowls.
Everything else was manageable, but without chopsticks, they really couldn’t eat.
Lin Lie rolled his eyes. “What, are we supposed to eat hotpot with our hands?”
Tang Wei looked anxiously at the cooked lamb. “This is our first time. No experience, okay?”
Su Yunjing stood up helplessly. “I’ll go grab some from the cafeteria.”
By the time he got back, the lamb was already overcooked.
Without dipping sauce, the taste was a bit bland, and it was piping hot.
Tang Wei ate quickly and hurriedly, burning his tongue. “Tss—hot, hot, hot!”
Fu Hanzhou only ate a few bites before putting down his chopsticks.
“You’re done, Brother Fu?” Lin Lie asked in surprise.
Fu Hanzhou shook his head.
Tang Wei, still gobbling food, chimed in, “You don’t like hotpot?”
Fu Hanzhou didn’t dislike hotpot. From what Su Yunjing observed, he just didn’t want to share a pot with Tang Wei.
Maybe because it was too hot, but Tang Wei had a bad habit, he licked his chopsticks.
Then put them back into the pot to swish things around…
Fu Hanzhou had always had mild OCD. since he was a child. Except for Su Yunjing, he would not touch anything that others had bitten.
After eating, Su Yunjing went to the school shop and bought two cups of instant noodles.
Fu Hanzhou barely ate anything, so he was definitely still hungry.
Su Yunjing cleaned the pot and cooked two packs of noodles for Fu Hanzhou.
He poured in half a bag of milk and added the leftover fish balls, veggies, meat slices, and mushrooms.
The milk turned the broth white. With the red and green veggies, it looked really appetizing.
Tang Wei leaned over and took a whiff.
He touched his stuffed belly and gave up on the idea of eating more, flopping back to nurture the fat.
“If I knew you were making noodles for Brother Fu, I would’ve saved some room,” Tang Wei said regretfully.
He loved instant noodles.
Actually, he loved anything junk food-related.
Lin Lie wasn’t as shameless as Tang Wei. He had some idea why Fu Hanzhou hadn’t eaten and shot Tang Wei a glare. “Forget it, don’t even look at that pot of noodles.”
“Hey, stop insulting the chef after putting your bowl down,” Tang Wei said, patting his belly. “Don’t forget, I brought that hotpot!”
Su Yunjing listened to them bicker while stirring the noodles in the pot with chopsticks.
He seemed to enjoy this kind of lively atmosphere, his brows and eyes were relaxed.
Fu Hanzhou narrowed his eyes.
Under the shadow of his brow bone, there was something unreadable in his gaze.
Once the noodles were done, Su Yunjing poured them into a bowl and handed them to Fu Hanzhou.
“Lunch break’s almost over. Eat quickly, then we can rest a bit before heading back.”
Fu Hanzhou didn’t say anything and took the noodles.
He ate exactly as he did when he was little, slow and reservedly.
No matter how hungry he was, Su Yunjing had never seen him wolf down food.
The portion was a bit much. Fu Hanzhou didn’t finish, leaving behind some fish balls and crab sticks, especially the fish balls Su Yunjing had saved for him.
Fu Hanzhou didn’t touch the fish paste.
Su Yunjing didn’t think too much of it. Maybe he’d eaten too much fish over the years and didn’t like it as much as he did when he was little.
Su Yunjing was also quite full, but didn’t want to waste food.
He picked out the fish ball, crab sticks, and meat slices to eat.
When just a little bit of noodles was left, he gritted his teeth and stuffed it all down.
Finally finishing, Su Yunjing let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Tang Wei patted his belly. “Am I gonna be an uncle now? You look like you’re five months pregnant.”
“Get lost.” Su Yunjing laughed and smacked his hand away.
Feeling extra sluggish after overeating, Su Yunjing was just about to slump down when the rooftop door burst open.
They all jumped.
Tang Wei blurted out, “Sh1t, who is it?”
The dean shouted angrily,“What are you all doing here?!”
Seeing it was the infamous strict dean, Tang Wei practically lost half his soul.
His butt sprang up like a loaded spring, instinctively ready to run.
Tang Wei was one of the school’s most notorious troublemakers, and he and the dean had been locked in a love-hate battle for over a year.
This was the roof of the third floor, and the only place to go out was that door. But now the dean was blocking it.
Tang Wei looked like a desperate ant on a hot pan, almost ready to jump off the third floor.
He was still considering whether to make a run for it when the dean recognized him.
“Tang Wei, it’s you again!”
Yuan Liang was furious. “You think I can’t recognize you with your T-shirt over your head?!”
Looking at Tang Wei with his shirt pulled over his head like a sneaky rat, Su Yunjing’s lips twitched.
Compared to Tang Wei, Lin Lie was much more reliable.
While the dean was focused on Tang Wei, Lin Lie tried to hide the alcohol stoves to destroy the evidence.
But Yuan Liang had eagle eyes. As soon as Lin Lie moved, he barked, “Don’t bother hiding it! I see the pots. What, you think the school’s a restaurant? Eating hotpot on the roof? Want me to bring out a roast lamb too?!”
Realizing they couldn’t get away with it, Su Yunjing stood up and admitted his mistake.
“Sorry, sir. We shouldn’t have cooked here. We’re willing to write 2,000-word reflections and clean the old lab building for a week.”
Thanks to his good attitude, Yuan Liang’s expression finally softened.
Tang Wei pulled down his shirt and stared at Su Yunjing like he was crazy.
Two thousand words?
He had a hard time writing an 800-word composition.
But Yuan Liang was even harsher. “Two thousand is too little. Make it least 3,000 words, and hand it in to my office tomorrow morning.”
“And clean the old lab building for a month. If it’s not spotless, add another month.”
Su Yunjing: “…”
As expected, he is an old OG who has been in charge of the school for more than ten years. He easily saw right through his attempt at a lenient punishment.
He thought volunteering for punishment would score them points. Turns out Yuan Liang didn’t buy it at all.
After recording their class, names, and student numbers, the dean finally left.
As soon as he was gone, Tang Wei started wailing, “If I could write 3,000 words, I’d already be our province’s top liberal arts student!”
Lin Lie couldn’t help replying, “You’re saying our province’s top students got there by writing reflection essays?”
“Even the top students probably couldn’t write 3,000 words over one hotpot incident!”
The more Tang Wei talked, the more aggrieved he sounded. “Even if I wrote out how long to cook each ingredient, it wouldn’t hit 3,000 words!”
To him, even 500 words was a stretch.
“I mean, a simple ‘I shouldn’t have eaten hotpot at school, I won’t do it again’ should’ve been enough.
Who the hell invented self-reflection letters anyway?!”
Glancing at Fu Hanzhou, who sat calm as ever, Tang Wei pinned all his hopes on him.
“Fu-ge, how about you call our dad? I mean, he did donate a whole lab building. Shouldn’t the school cut us some slack?”
Fu Hanzhou lifted his eyelids slightly and gave him a look full of ambiguous meaning.
Tang Wei quickly backed off. “Right, sorry, forgot. our dad’s super busy. He definitely wouldn’t care about stuff like this.”
Su Yunjing: “…”
Tang Wei, you’re something else.
The guy looked more panicked, as if he owed three million words, not just three thousand.
Even Lin Lie was worried; his strength was science, but when it came to writing, he was hopeless.
Eventually, Su Yunjing stepped up. “I’ve done this before. I can handle 3,000 words.”
At that moment, in Tang Wei’s eyes, Su Yunjing was like the Virgin Mary descending from the heavens, glowing with holy light.
“Brother Wen, you’re my father.” Tang Wei quickly latched onto his thigh. “Our happiness depends on you!”
Su Yunjing: “…”
–
As the technical pillar of the group, Su Yunjing started furiously writing the reflection while they cleaned the old lab building after school.
Tang Wei swept the floor.
Lin Lie cleaned chemical bottles and test tubes.
Fu Hanzhou stared blankly out the window, a soul member of the team who didn’t need to contribute.
Everyone had their role.
The reflection was actually easy; it just had to be divided into three parts.
Part one: detail the mistake.
Part two: sincerely admit guilt.
Part three: promise not to do it again.
Three thousand was a lot, so Su Yunjing described their actions in great detail.
And he milked plenty of words in the apology too.
Just as he finished writing, Old Wu called to check in.
“Hello? Uncle Wu? Yeah, Hanzhou and I are still at school. We’re on duty today, so we’ll be a bit late.”
After hanging up, Su Yunjing looked over at Fu Hanzhou.
The sun was setting.
The golden-red glow stained the young man’s delicate and elegant features.
Fu Hanzhou gazed into the distance, his black eyes now dyed in the color of honey.
But they looked so empty.
So empty it felt like no one had ever lived in them.
Su Yunjing felt like something just stung his heart.
Tang Wei came over with a mop and asked, “Finished?”
Su Yunjing snapped out of it and nodded.
Seeing the densely written reflection, Tang Wei gasped. “Mater Wen, you’re amazing! Long live Wen-dad!”
Su Yunjing: “…”
“Old Lin, stop wiping those broken test tubes. Come and copy it quickly so you can hand it in tomorrow.”
Tang Wei called Lin Lie who was wiping the glass test tube.
Upon hearing it Lin Lie dropped his rag and rushed over.
Afraid they’d copy everything word-for-word, Su Yunjing came over to guide them.
Tang Wei waved him off. “Relax. I’m a pro at this.”
Lin Lie jabbed, “True, you’ve been practicing since elementary school. When it comes to copying, no one beats our Tang-ye.”
“Shut up.” Tang Wei laughed and kicked him.
But reflection letter weren’t like homework. Even Tang Wei, the expert, was stuck scratching his head.
“How am I supposed to do this? I know I shouldn’t copy word-for-word, but if I don’t, I’ve got nothing.”
Su Yunjing said, “It’s actually simple. Just master the three elements and reword things in your own way.”
Tang Wei blinked. “Three elements of a reflection? Master Wen, you’re a professional. You’ve done this a lot, huh?”
Su Yunjing had only written one before, but he’d researched it thoroughly online.
He started coaching the two of them like a tutor.
With Su Yunjing’s version as a guide, Tang Wei and Lin Lie finally got into the groove.
Tang Wei was writing furiously when he suddenly remembered. “Brother Fu, aren’t you writing one too?”
He turned but Fu Hanzhou was already gone.
Lin Lie glanced at the time on his phone and said to Su Yunjing,“It’s 7:30. You should go. Leave the reflection with us. We will help you deliver it to Lao Yuan’s office tomorrow morning.”
Tang Wei: “Yeah, go look for Brother Fu. See where he went.”
Su Yunjing hadn’t noticed when Fu Hanzhou left.
He thought maybe he got bored and went back to the car.
But he wasn’t in the car either.
“Uncle Wu, has Hanzhou come back?”
“No, isn’t he with you?”
“He left before me. Can you give me his number? I’ll try calling.”
Old Wu replied with a sigh, “His phone broke last semester. He hasn’t bought a new one.”
So Su Yunjing could only go out tfind Fu Hanzhou.
He remembered Tang Wei mentioning that Fu Hanzhou had been seen smoking in a nearby alley.
Su Yunjing searched several alleys, and finally saw Fu Hanzhou in a very remote place.
He had a lit cigarette in his mouth.
His handsome face was shrouded in bluish smoke, his expression was dull and indifferent, and there was a kind of decadent and listless temperament around him.
At his feet were a few stray cats, munching on something with their heads down.
The alley was dim. Su Yunjing squinted for a while before he saw that Fu Hanzhou had half a sausage in his hand.
Su Yunjing smiled. So he came here to feed stray cats.
“Fu Hanzhou,” Su Yunjing called.
Fu Hanzhou lifted his eyes slightly.
Su Yunjing stood at the edge of light and shadow in the alley, his delicate features soft and clear.
He smiled and said, “Let’s go home. Uncle Wu’s waiting for us.”
Fu Hanzhou’s body stiffened.
He narrowed his eyes, his gaze deep and unreadable.
Just for a moment, the boy saying “let’s go home” overlapped perfectly with someone from his memories.