68: Chapter 71 Chen Nuo's Lunch Box, A Boy Who Never Says "No"

The day after Han Bingbing returned, Class 18 was unusually quiet.

Fang Jiming leaned against the edge of the podium, flipping through his lesson plan notebook, his eyes sweeping across the room from time to time.

Han Bingbing sat in the third row from the back, by the window.

Today she was wearing a light blue short-sleeved dress, her hair tied in a low ponytail, looking much more energetic than she had at the night market two days ago.

Su Xiaoxiao, sitting next to her, proactively pushed her pencil case toward her and whispered, "You can use this highlighter."

Han Bingbing took the pen, her lips twitching.

She didn't say thanks, just nodded.

Fang Jiming took all of this in without a word.

During the first math class, he was teaching analytic geometry.

Halfway through, he scanned the state of the desks in the classroom.

Zhao Dazhuang was biting his nails, though his eyes were fixed on the blackboard.

Qian Duoduo had the right page open in his textbook, but it was upside down.

Lu Zihao was slumped over, his ears pricked up, having entered his unique mode of faking sleep while actually listening.

Fang Jiming's gaze slid over the fourth row by the aisle and stopped.

On Chen Nuo's desk sat two lunchboxes, one blue and one gray.

The blue one had its lid half-open, containing white rice with a few greens; the portion was small.

The gray one was exquisitely packaged, with a transparent insulated bag on the outside; one look told him it couldn't have come from the school Cafeteria.

Since Fang Jiming arrived, he had been providing hard meals for Class 18 three times a week in the name of The Foundation. Vice Principal Sun Yaozu, having no other choice, had flown into a rage and scolded his brother-in-law, Zhao Guangming, who ran the Cafeteria, telling him to make the food normal—if he wanted to die, he shouldn't drag him down with him.

Even so, the Cafeteria's food had only gone from terrible to passable.

Those with better family conditions either ate outside or had food delivered from home.

Fang Jiming didn't react, continuing his lecture.

The bell rang for the end of class.

Qian Duoduo was the first to jump up from his seat and pat Chen Nuo on the shoulder.

"Nuozi, can you go pick up that lunchbox for me at the gate?"

"My mom had the nanny make it; today it's sweet and sour pork ribs."

Chen Nuo stood up immediately and handed the gray lunchbox over with both hands.

"I got it, I got it. I was worried it would get cold, so I kept it tucked against my schoolbag the whole time."

Qian Duoduo took it without even looking at him.

His hands were very nimble, however, as he unwrapped the insulated bag.

"Alright, I'll buy you a bottle of water later."

Chen Nuo waved his hand with a smile.

"No need, no need, it was just a small favor."

Fang Jiming sat at the podium without leaving, flipping a page in his lesson plan notebook to continue reading.

Zhao Dazhuang wandered over to Chen Nuo, carrying an empty water bottle.

"Brother Nuo, help me fill this with hot water at the canteen, my legs are sore."

Chen Nuo stood up and took the bottle, his smile unchanged.

"Sure, you wait here."

Zhao Dazhuang leaned back in his chair and pulled out his phone to start scrolling through short videos.

Just as Chen Nuo reached the door, Ma Xiaotiao chased after him from the back row.

"Chen Nuo, wait up. Help me take pictures of yesterday's math notes, will you?"

"I left them at home."

"Alright, I'll go fill the water first and then take pictures for you when I get back."

Just as Chen Nuo stepped over the threshold, Su Xiaoxiao leaned over from the window and called out.

"Chen Nuo, Han Bingbing has a leave request form to submit to the Academic Affairs Office, could you take it for her while you're at it?"

Han Bingbing didn't look up from her seat, her fingers pinching the corner of the leave request form.

She wanted to go herself, but was too lazy to move.

Chen Nuo turned back and took the leave request form. With the water bottle in hand and Ma Xiaotiao's notebook resting on his shoulder, he took two more steps out when Wu Hao blocked his path from the back door.

"Nuozi, Nuozi, help me return this comic book to Li Hao in the next class, just leave it on his desk."

Chen Nuo had no hands free, so he clamped the comic book with his chin and nodded at Wu Hao.

"No problem."

The pen in Fang Jiming's hand paused, his brow furrowed, then relaxed.

At the same time, Teacher Wen Ruyan was coming out of Class 17, holding a stack of composition notebooks at the other end of the corridor.

She happened to run into Chen Nuo, who was returning from the Academic Affairs Office.

Chen Nuo was carrying the water bottle filled with hot water, a notebook tucked under his armpit that he was currently photographing. He had a pen in his mouth, and his other hand was clutching Han Bingbing's leave request form.

Teacher Wen Ruyan stopped and looked him up and down.

She blocked Chen Nuo.

"Chen Nuo, stop."

Chen Nuo stopped immediately, tilted his head back to spit the pen from his mouth into his hand, and revealed a standard good-student smile.

"Hello, Teacher Wen."

Teacher Wen Ruyan looked at the pile of things in his hands, then at the soaked back of his school uniform.

"Have you eaten lunch?"

Chen Nuo froze for less than half a second, then the smile hung back on his face without a tremor.

"I ate, I ate."

Just as he finished speaking, Chen Nuo's stomach rumbled.

Chen Nuo looked at Teacher Wen, at a loss.

Teacher Wen Ruyan's eyes darkened, and she didn't respond.

She didn't expose him, but simply placed the bread from the very top of her stack into Chen Nuo's arms.

"There was extra in the office, don't waste it."

Chen Nuo held the bread, his fingers tightening slightly, his lips moving.

"Teacher Wen, I really have eaten."

"Give this to another student."

Teacher Wen Ruyan had already walked away.

Chen Nuo stood alone in the middle of the corridor, holding the hot water bottle, notebook, leave request form, and the bread, sweating profusely.

He looked down at the bread, the plastic packaging printed with the expiration date and ingredient list.

It was just a very ordinary pineapple bun.

He stood there for a long while before slowly stuffing the bread into his school uniform pocket.

Then he hurried back to the classroom.

Seeing Chen Nuo return, Fang Jiming unscrewed his thermos and took a sip of water, a feeling he couldn't name stuck in his throat.

He silently counted in his mind; in one lunch break, Chen Nuo had run to five different places.

Helping Qian Duoduo get his food, helping Zhao Dazhuang fill his water, helping Ma Xiaotiao take notes, helping Han Bingbing submit a leave request, and helping Wu Hao return a comic book.

After finishing the five errands, Chen Nuo returned to his seat.

His forehead was covered in sweat, and the back of his school uniform was soaked through.

After sitting down, he didn't drink any water, but first closed the lid of his blue lunchbox and pushed it to the corner of the desk, with a bread now sitting next to the lunchbox.

Fang Jiming saw clearly that the food in that lunchbox had hardly been touched.

He closed his eyes and pulled up the System Panel in his mind.

"[Do you wish to use the item "Clear at a Glance" on student Chen Nuo? Consumes 30 points of Teacher Morality.]"

Fang Jiming silently recited "Use," and the System Panel unfolded quietly.

"[Student Name: Chen Nuo]"

"[Core Dilemma: Extreme people-pleasing personality, self-worth approaching zero.]"

"[True Inner State: Extremely exhausted. Long-term self-repression has led to severe lack of focus, and learning ability has been significantly eroded by emotional self-consumption. The superficial smile is a social mask trained over the years; the inside is nearing a state of idling.]"

"[Source Tracing: High-pressure shaping from "sensible" education in the original family. Parents long instilled the cognitive framework that "if you don't yield to others, no one will like you," causing Chen Nuo to equate the expression of his own needs with being hated and abandoned.]"

"[Dropout Tendency: 41%]"

"[Transformation Direction: Establish self-boundaries, learn to refuse, rebuild self-worth cognition.]"

Fang Jiming closed the System Panel.

He looked at the few students running on the playground outside the window and tapped his thermos twice with his finger.

Then he whispered a sentence that only he could hear.

"The better this kid smiles, the more rotten he is on the inside."

He opened the last blank page of his lesson plan notebook and wrote a few lines with a ballpoint pen.

Chen Nuo, people-pleasing, doesn't refuse, didn't eat lunch, 41%.

After finishing writing and closing the notebook, he unscrewed his thermos and took a sip.

The water had already gone cold.

During the break after the first class in the afternoon, most of the students in the classroom were fooling around or lying down for a nap.

Fang Jiming walked down from the podium, crossed several rows of desks, and stopped next to Chen Nuo's seat.

Chen Nuo was burying his head in copying an English composition; he didn't know whose it was he was copying.

He looked up and saw Fang Jiming standing in front of him, so he immediately stood up.

"Teacher Fang!"

Fang Jiming didn't speak; he poured half a cup of hot water from his own thermos and placed it on Chen Nuo's desk.

The stainless steel cup wall still carried the warmth of Fang Jiming's palm.

Chen Nuo looked at that half cup of water, and the smile that had been on his face all day cracked.

He immediately stood up straight, his hands placed in front of him.

"Teacher Fang, I'm not thirsty, let another student drink it!"

Fang Jiming stared at him.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Chen Nuo's smile began to falter.

Fang Jiming spoke, his volume just enough for only Chen Nuo to hear.

"I said it's for you, so it's for you."

Chen Nuo's lips moved.

"Sit down."

Chen Nuo slowly sat back down, his hands on his knees, his fingertips slightly curled.

He lowered his head to look at that half cup of steaming water, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Fang Jiming didn't stay long; he turned around and went back to the podium.

He picked up the lesson plan notebook, flipped to the page with Chen Nuo's name, and added a parenthesis after 41%; inside the parenthesis were four words—Key Focus Needed.

Under the podium, Chen Nuo used both hands to hold the stainless steel cup lid, drinking the hot water in very, very small sips.

He drank slower than anyone else, as if afraid that if he drank too fast, it would be gone.

In his pocket, the pineapple bun's plastic packaging was crumpled into a deep crease by his grip.

Fang Jiming's peripheral vision caught the blue lunchbox at the corner of Chen Nuo's desk, tightly covered and placed neatly.

He remembered the line on the System Panel.

Equating the expression of his own needs with being hated and abandoned.

Fang Jiming closed the lesson plan notebook and pressed his palm against the cover for a while.