Can I still be saved? [Transmigration] - Chapter 43.2

These past few days, with Fu Hanzhou’s moods swinging up and down, Finally, when Su Yunjing was on the verge of getting angry, he returned to normal.

He decided he would repeat his third year of high school, so that he and Su Yunjing could take the entrance exam for Beijing University together. Because of that, he had been studying very hard lately.

Su Yunjing, for once, had some free time. As soon as he logged into QQ, a bunch of old classmates’ avatars lit up.

Before, because the original Su Yunjing rarely logged in and was slow to reply, most of them had gradually lost contact.

The only ones still reaching out were Tang Wei, Lin Lie, and Chen Yuechao.

Tang Wei sent him a friend verification and then pulled him into a group chat called “The Four Heavenly Kings of Nanzhong.”

The overwhelming whiff of middle-school cringe made Su Yunjing’s eyelids twitch, but he still clicked to agree to join the group.

Tang Sect’s Top Secret: “Holy sh1t, Wenci, you finally came online. I thought someone had mummified you.”

Know You by Voice: “…”

Call Me Boss Lin: “Long time no see, Wenci.”

Just as Su Yunjing was about to reply, Tang Wei sent a video call.

He accepted, and Tang Wei and Lin Lie both appeared on his screen together.

Su Yunjing was a bit surprised and asked, “Why are you two together?”

When it came to this matter, Tang Wei got all fired up: “You ask this bastard — on a weekend, he just had to come to my house for tutoring. Tutoring my ass, do I look like I’m cut out for studying? What a damn pipe dream!”

Lin Lie didn’t get angry, just said calmly, “Who came to my place in the middle of the night last week, wiping his tears and saying…”

Before he could finish, Tang Wei panicked and cut him off. “Fvck, Shut the hell up! Don’t say it.”

Last week during the midterm exams at Nan High, Tang Wei once again came dead last. His parents teamed up and gave him a good “loving education.”

Tang Wei wasn’t scared of getting beaten, what really pissed him off was that they always compared him to “other people’s kids.”

His pride wounded, Tang Wei ran away from home and crashed at Lin Lie’s for a night.

In his parents’ eyes, Lin Lie was one of those “other people’s kids.” His overall ranking was average, but his science scores were impressive.

With Lin Lie’s mediation, Tang Wei’s family reconciled.

Lin Lie hadn’t come looking for Tang Wei today with any real hope he’d study properly. But at the very least, he had to put on a bit of a show, so his own parents could see he was hanging out with someone who at least had the desire to improve.

As for Tang Ye running away from home after a beating, he felt that was way too embarrassing to admit, so he absolutely refused to let Lin Lie bring it up.

Lin Lie patted his ‘special needs kid’ head with the air of a grandfather doting on a grandchild. “Alright, alright, I’ll give you some face and keep quiet.”

“Get lost.” Tang Wei smacked his hand away.

Su Yunjing watched from the side, amused.

Comparing Tang Wei, the rebellious little middle school kid to his own mischievous little cool boy, he realized that even Fu Hanzhou on his worst days seemed better behaved.

Not wanting to bicker, ‘Grandpa Lin’ changed the subject and asked Su Yunjing, “It’s Sunday. You home alone?”

But Tang Wei’s eyes were sharp. “Wait a sec, why’s your bed a bunk bed? And whose legs are those next to you?”

“That’s my brother Fu’s legs. I recognize them!” he exclaimed.

Su Yunjing: …Yeah, that’s definitely a hardcore fanboy. He’s even unlocked the skill of recognizing people just by their legs.

Even Lin Lie thought that was a bizarre skill, he glanced at Tang Wei and asked, “How’d you recognize them? Even if you’re into legs, you can’t be staring at men’s legs every day, right?”

Tang Wei’s reputation took a hit, and he exploded in curses: “Leg fetish my ass!”

“You don’t get it. This is called a strategic setup. My mom uses this trick on me all the time. First she slaps me with some baseless accusation, then when I get all worked up trying to defend myself, she catches the holes in what I say.”

A new ‘knowledge point’ explained by Tang Wei.

Lin Lie figured not everyone was as dumb as Tang Wei, blurting out his own guilt, but he was more concerned with whether Su Yunjing and Fu Hanzhou really were living together.

He asked, “So that’s Fu?”

Realizing he couldn’t hide it, Su Yunjing turned the webcam so that Fu Hanzhou, sitting on the upper bunk with a Chinese textbook, came into view.

Lin Lie clicked his tongue. “Tsk, it’s really him.”

Tang Wei, with his unique way of seeing things, suddenly cursed out loud:

“Fvck—seriously, Brother Fu, what the hell is that in your hand? Is that… a Chinese textbook?”

Back at Nanzhong, Fu Hanzhou had always been securely ranked dead last in the entire grade. Right above him, second-to-last, was Tang Wei.

After Fu Hanzhou transferred out, Tang Wei naturally inherited the title of absolute last place. That was why he’d been beaten at home again.

Now seeing someone who was even worse than him actually holding a book, Tang Wei howled in despair, trying to shake Fu Hanzhou awake from his ‘scholarly betrayal’.

“Weren’t we supposed to be illiterates together? Brother Fu, what the hell are you doing, snap out of it!”

Fu Hanzhou, slandered like this, finally lifted his eyes. He glanced at Tang Wei through the screen, and slowly, leisurely, tossed him eight words of wisdom.

“Study hard. Improve every day.”

Tang Wei: “…”

Su Yunjing twisted the knife: “ Student Fu here got over 300 on midterms,ranking in the middle of our school. Xiao Tang, it’s time for you to work harder. I believe in you.”

Fu Hanzhou’s liberal arts were strong. English was flawless, Chinese and social studies mostly depended on memorization, so as long as he worked at it, his scores were good.

But his math, physics, and chemistry scores were a bit more difficult to describe.

Xiao Tang, who scored less than 200, couldn’t stand it any longer and shut off his microphone.

Lin Lie was tactful, didn’t pry into why the two were living together. Instead, he said, “New Year’s is coming. We’ve got four days off. Are you spending it with family or going out?”

After his parents divorced, each started new families of their own. He didn’t want to live with either side, so he stayed by himself in a two-bedroom apartment.

Tang Wei’s parents were always busy, and they didn’t have a tradition of celebrating New Year’s together.

So the two planned to go abroad to ski, and asked if Su Yunjing and Fu Hanzhou wanted to join.

Su Yunjing hesitated. That little tsundere, Fu Hanzhou, hated the cold, going somewhere so freezing, he probably wouldn’t be able to stand it.

But Su Yunjing vaguely remembered that the car accident had happened right around New Year’s, and that was when the novel’s Female lead had saved him.

Fu Hanzhou hadn’t been badly hurt in that crash, but it had triggered one of his episodes. In his confusion, he had grabbed the Female lead’s hand.

The kindhearted heroine saw something was wrong with him. Not daring to leave, she stayed at the hospital to take care of him through the night.

When Fu Hanzhou woke up the next afternoon, she was already gone. It wasn’t until many years later that they met again.

After that, every time Fu Hanzhou had an episode, she just happened to be there. Slowly, inevitably, his feelings for her grew deeper.

Su Yunjing had nothing against the Female lead herself, but since she was already the official pairing, he didn’t want his little tsundere dragged into it, becoming that pitiful supporting character who pines for love he’ll never get.

That was why Lin Lie’s suggestion tempted him. If the little tsundere went abroad, maybe he could completely avoid colliding with the original storyline.

Su Yunjing turned to look at Fu Hanzhou.

“Want to go?”

Tang Wei jumped in: “Come on, let’s all go! Who wants to mope at home over the holidays? Skiing, soaking in the hot springs, it’s gonna be great.”

Study? What’s so great about studying?

Tang Wei leaned in hard, trying to sway Fu Hanzhou.

At the mention of hot springs, Fu Hanzhou wavered. Finally, he gave a small nod.

With that decided, Su Yunjing chatted with them a bit longer before ending the call.

Seeing Lin Lie resting his chin on his hand with a thoughtful look, Tang Wei asked, “What are you thinking about, looking all… sleazy?”

Lin Lie smiled mildly. “What am I?”

Tang Wei felt a chill watching him like that, but he just couldn’t suppress his own mischievous streak. Taking advantage of a moment when Lin Lie wasn’t paying attention, he yanked up the belt lying nearby and gave Lin Lie’s backside a hard smack with it.

Tossing the belt aside, Tang Wei burst out laughing and bolted from the bedroom.

Lin Lie narrowed his eyes, picked the belt up off the floor, and charged after him.

…..

That night, Su Yunjing lay in bed, his thoughts circling around Fu Hanzhou’s car accident and the messy love triangle between him and the novel’s male and female leads.

From the top bunk, a ribbon suddenly dangled down, the end tied to a chocolate bar. It swayed back and forth in front of Su Yunjing, as if tempting him.

Su Yunjing chuckled, kicked at the bunk above, and deliberately nitpicked, “Giving me chocolate to eat in the middle of the night? Are you trying to make me get cavities on purpose?”

“This is the heating fee,” Fu Hanzhou hinted, “My cold’s all better now.”

Heating fee again, and saying his cold was gone, his little scheme was blatantly obvious.

But Su Yunjing wouldn’t take the bait. “You think one chocolate’s enough?”

No sooner had he said that than the ribbon lowered a bit more, this time with a cup of Xiangpiaopiao milk tea tied behind the chocolate.

Su Yunjing still acted picky and said, “Things are different now. Times have changed. Inflation’s gone up.”

Fu Hanzhou said nothing, just lowered another length of silk ribbon.

When he saw that behind the Xiangpiaopiao milk tea came a Youlemei, Su Yunjing couldn’t help but laugh.

The chocolate had only been the opener. Behind it followed Xiangpiaopiao, Youlemei, preserved plums, beef jerky, and even a bag of spicy dried tofu.

Other than the chocolate, everything else was what Su Yunjing loved to eat.

The ribbon was long, and the chocolate had already dangled all the way down to Su Yunjing’s bunk.

Still, he didn’t give in. Raising a brow, he said, “That’s it? Just this little bit?”

The person above shifted again. This time, the ribbon was tied around Little Cool-Prince’s right wrist and dropped down.

A handsome face leaned over the top bunk, jet-black eyes fixed on Su Yunjing.

“And this too.”

He pointed at himself.

Su Yunjing felt thoroughly teased, and silently untied all the snacks and said,“These are all mine. The last one’s yours.”

Fu Hanzhou hugged a pillow, swung his long legs over, and jumped straight down from the top bunk.

“The earlier ones were freebies. This one at the end is the real product, you can’t refuse it.” After a pause, he added with mock seriousness,“All final interpretation rights belong to the seller.”

Su Yunjing: “…”

Fu Hanzhou lifted the blanket and quickly slipped inside, using his actions to perfectly explain what ‘no returns after purchase’ really meant.

This time, he lay properly beside Su Yunjing, not like before when he’d always inch closer to him.

Su Yunjing happened to want to chat a bit, so he asked,“What kind of girls do you like?”

He wasn’t worried about much else, only that if he blocked Little cool boy from meeting the heroine this time, one day he might still end up liking her.

Fu Hanzhou’s eyes stayed closed, his expression calm. “Don’t like any kind.”

He didn’t like girls. He only liked the person lying next to him now.

Su Yunjing: … Alright then. Before meeting the heroine, any assumptions were pointless anyway. After all, her protagonist halo was right there.

When Su Yunjing fell silent, Fu Hanzhou flipped the question back,“What about you, what kind of person do you like?”

Su Yunjing was the type to be very… conventional. He liked girls with long hair, cute personalities, and pretty looks.

He thought about that kind of girl, planning to match it with a celebrity from the entertainment industry. But the first image that popped into his head was actually Little tsundere during his ‘long black straight hair’ phase.

Aside from the wrong gender, everything else really did line up.

Feeling a little awkward, Su Yunjing cleared his throat and said,

“No specific type. As long as we click, that’s fine.”

Only then did Fu Hanzhou brighten, turning onto his side and resting a hand on Su Yunjing’s bare waist.

Su Yunjing instantly rejected him three times in a row: “Hey—hey—hey!”

Fu Hanzhou chuckled slowly and said,“I won’t move it up. Just leave it here.”

That instantly reminded Su Yunjing of what had happened in the classroom.

Sh1t. He cursed and smacked Fu Hanzhou’s hand away in irritation.

Fu Hanzhou’s smile only deepened. He put his hand back.

Su Yunjing batted it down. He placed it again.

Down. Up. Down. Up.

Finally, Su Yunjing realized how childish this was and stopped responding, leaving Fu Hanzhou the ultimate victor.