Eric Yu took a hard fall.
He wiped his face, but the steaming dog shit smeared across it made his stomach churn with nausea.
And Evan Lin's words behind him made Eric Yu want to crawl into a hole and disappear.
"If I hear that your Yu family teams up with Sandra Ling to stir up trouble again, don't blame me for not being polite."
Evan walked right up to Eric Yu in front of everyone, crouched down beside him, and spoke in a calm voice, leaning in to whisper in his ear.
His voice wasn't loud—only Eric Yu could hear it.
As soon as he heard that, Eric's face turned even paler.
"This pile looks pretty fresh. Matches your face. Smear some more on."
Evan said coldly, a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.
Eric Yu shuddered all over.
Lynn Chen walked up, clearly a little annoyed.
She couldn't stand Eric Yu, but she liked seeing Evan Lin get into fights even less—that sort of thing was textbook 'problem student' behavior.
"Evan, that's enough. He didn't actually do anything that bad today."
Lynn hurried over, crouched next to Eric, and tried to help him up.
But to everyone's shock, Eric just lay there for a long moment, then suddenly reached out, trembling, and smeared a bit of fresh dog crap onto his own face.
"You..."
Lynn was stunned, totally lost for words.
Around them, students started making faces and backing away in disgust.
"Dude, what is Eric Yu even doing? Is he seriously gonna taste that stuff too?"
"Maybe he's got some kind of weird eating disorder!"
Ugh, my whole image of the school heartthrob just got wrecked. That is seriously nasty!
The students nearby all took a step back, like they were afraid Eric Yu's grossness might rub off on them.
Inside, Eric Yu was a total mess—furious, humiliated, fists clenched tight. But what he feared most was Evan Lin; he knew he was no match for him.
"Good."
Evan stood up, nodded slightly, and walked off through the crowd, leaving everyone staring after him—some in awe, some in fear.
Lynn Chen watched his back, her face full of complicated emotions.
Evan had promised her he wouldn't fight on school grounds, so he waited until Eric Yu was outside the gate before kicking him. Weirdly, Lynn actually felt kind of relieved about that.
Still, what really bothered her was how ruthless Evan's move had been. Sure, he didn't hurt Eric physically, but making him eat dog crap in public? That was next-level humiliation.
After this, Eric Yu's school life was basically over.
"He's not usually like this. Are you okay? Want me to help you wash your face?" Lynn sighed, looking at Eric Yu with genuine concern and a hint of apology.
"Yeah, I know." Eric forced a smile at Lynn Chen.
He was already humiliated enough, but deep down Eric refused to accept it. Looking at Lynn Chen, all he felt was anger—no matter what he did, it was obvious that Evan Lin would always matter more to her.
Now that he'd lost all dignity, Eric Yu was determined not to lose his cool too. He got up, forced himself to stay calm, and shook his head at Lynn. "I'll just go wash up by myself. I'm too filthy—don't want to mess you up too."
"Honestly, Lynn, I really do want to be friends with Evan Lin. But every time he sees me, he just beats me up for no reason. It's kind of depressing, you know?"
Eric put on his best wounded look, and Lynn couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable about it.
But lately, Lynn found herself less and less willing to criticize Evan—she was worried that saying too much might actually make him unhappy.
The past few days, since Irene Xu hadn't come back yet, that dinner with Lynn kept getting pushed off.
Whenever Evan actually showed up to school, people couldn't help but stare. Meanwhile, Eric Yu was suddenly way more low-key around campus—except he still stuck by Lynn Chen every day, hoping she'd eventually fall for him.
Evan was pretty chill lately, just taking calls from Warren Wu about the merger between Medicine King Valley and Miracle Hand Sect.
Both sects were famous for their medical skills, but if you looked closer, Medicine King Valley was all about connections—big shots and VIPs would go there for rare pills, and they'd usually get what they wanted. Miracle Hand Sect, on the other hand, was more like a bunch of wandering martial artists. They didn't have much social clout, but they had plenty of sources for weird herbs.
Besides that, Evan asked about the disciples' pill-refining skills in Miracle Hand Sect. Turns out, not many of them have real talent, but he wasn't in a rush—he could afford to wait.
Everything was moving along smoothly.
These days, Evan was just waiting for two things: the end of exams at Capitalview First High, and for the so-called master Mo Yang to show up.
Drake Huang had been dead for months, River City had a new king, and Seacrest Prefecture was a mess. If Mo Yang was still alive, he'd definitely hear about it.
A few days later, Irene Xu finally finished her flights and came home. Stella Huang told her that Evan had agreed to invite 'that girl' out for dinner, which made Irene both excited and a little nervous.
On one hand, if Evan was willing to bring 'that girl' to dinner with them, it meant he really saw her and Stella as friends.
On the other hand, they were both dying to know what kind of girl could actually catch Evan Lin's eye.
Most importantly, though, was the question of what to wear—both Irene and Stella were stressing out about it.
While those two were agonizing over clothes, Lynn Chen was still grinding away at her homework every day, backpack slung over her shoulder, working hard as always. She could already picture Evan Lin scoring another record-breaking result on the upcoming monthly exam.
Lynn's only wish was that, when the next monthly exam rolled around, she could close the gap with Evan Lin—even just a little. If she could move up even one spot on the ranking sheet, she'd be happy for days.
Finally, the dinner day arrived.
After school, Evan Lin leaned against the wall outside Class 2, hands stuffed in his pockets, yawning lazily with his backpack slung over one shoulder.
The sunset painted the sky orange. Inside, Lynn Chen finished a math problem absent-mindedly, packed up, and walked out with her head down and her heart pounding.
Almost everyone in Class 2 watched as Lynn walked straight over to Evan, stopping right in front of the school's legendary transfer student.
The girls were all jealous and gossiping; the guys just looked quietly heartbroken.
But no one was more crushed than Eric Yu. He'd already packed up, ready to walk Lynn home, but before the last period, she'd come over and, half-warning, half-pleading, told him to just go home alone tonight.
Eric clutched his backpack straps, feeling both angry and sad, but he still managed a forced smile and nodded, trying to look like the perfect gentleman.
The autumn breeze was crisp. Evan Lin, hands in his pockets, and Lynn Chen, head down, walked side by side down the hallway. All along the corridor, students stared at them, each with their own complicated feelings.
It was like the whole hallway was suddenly filled with the scent of youth.
Just then, Wendy Wen stepped out of the school radio room—she'd just played Glow's "Hollow Heart" as the dismissal song. Turning, she saw Evan Lin's calm face and Lynn Chen looking uncharacteristically shy and sweet at his side.
For a second, it felt like the whole world was just that song, that sunset, and the two of them—like you could almost smell what it meant to be young.