Xavier Stone came back from the office and didn’t say much; it looked like Old Tang probably didn’t agree.

Almost every class in the morning was spent analyzing the test papers. There were two periods of math, back to back. After going over the test, the math teacher asked, “Did everyone understand?”

Henry Howard joined in the fun: “Yes, I understood.”

The math teacher directly threw the piece of chalk he hadn’t put down yet toward the last row: “A certain student, don’t go thinking you understood it all by yourself again.”

Henry Howard had actually been much more well-behaved in class lately, and he wasn’t seen playing games much either—probably still a bit traumatized from Old Tang’s last punishment.

But when Henry Howard wasn’t playing games, he became especially annoying. He’d learned palm reading from Wanda and insisted that Ethan Young hold out his hand, saying he’d mastered it and was really accurate.

By the time evening self-study rolled around, Ethan Young finally couldn’t take it anymore: “Where’s your stinky man? Not playing anymore?”

Henry Howard was stunned.

“Ah,” who knows what nerve the words “stinky man” hit, but Henry Howard leaned back and only spoke after a while, “That? Not playing anymore.”

All the way until the bell rang for the end of evening self-study, Henry Howard didn’t pester him about palm reading again.

After evening self-study, walking on the road, Henry Howard suddenly said, “Can’t play stinky man anymore.”

The sudden comment left Ethan Young a bit confused: “What?”

Even though the streetlights were on, it was still a bit dark all around.

“My sister, she changed the password,” Henry Howard walked a couple of steps ahead and said calmly, “Actually, the game account was one I stole.”

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33. Chapter Thirty-Three

Henry Howard didn’t care at all when talking about himself.

He didn’t seem to mind the family divorce, his mom taking his sister abroad, all those changes. When they left, his sister was only three, couldn’t even speak clearly, clinging to him and calling him brother.

The first year in country c, Kelly Howard would still cry and make a fuss about wanting to find her brother, but kids forget things quickly. As time passed, especially after she started school, her brother became like a favorite childhood toy—out of place, slowly fading away.

When Henry Howard talked about it, there was no negativity. In fact, he thought it was a good thing—thankfully she was young, so she could forget things in the blink of an eye.

Then go embrace a new life.

Ethan Young didn’t know what to say, so he simply said nothing.

“Let me say it again, it really wasn’t that tragic. It’s not some melodramatic amnesia drama, we’re just not close, that’s all.” Henry Howard said, “Think about it, she’s playing her game just fine, but every time she logs in, the equipment levels and the stinky man have all changed. It’s kind of creepy when you think about it.”

Henry Howard is a person with a very peculiar kind of emotional intelligence.

It’s hard to say if his EQ is high or low. In the end, he’s basically someone determined to move himself with his own drama.

Like right now—Henry Howard’s sister, far away in country c, logs into the game and finds that the levels she could never beat are suddenly cleared, and the male character she finally managed to win over has suddenly disappeared.

Yet another story of Henry Howard moving himself, moving the heavens, moving the earth, but never moving the other person.

Ethan Young said, “So you do know it’s creepy? Do you ever think about how moved you are by yourself?”

Henry Howard squatted on the edge of the flowerbed and laughed: “You know, maybe I am a little.”

Ethan Young never had much curiosity about other people’s stories, just thought this guy was a big idiot.

Maybe others didn’t know, but he knew all too well. Lately, he’d watched Henry Howard play dumb games, in class and out, sometimes even sending him screenshots in the middle of the night, asking which pair of shoes to pick.

He should have thought, what does this have to do with me? But for some reason—Ethan Young himself didn’t even know what he was thinking—he suddenly bent down, and when he came to, his hand was already on Henry Howard’s head.

Both of them were a bit stunned.

Henry Howard’s hair was short, a little prickly to the touch.

Ethan Young had to choose between “pushing him down” and “immediately letting go and walking away,” and he chose the latter: “I’m heading back.”

“Let’s go together,” Henry Howard jumped down and caught up, raising his hand to touch his own head as they walked, “Is there something on my head? Why are you walking so fast?”

After Ethan Young got back, he took a shower, didn’t even dry his hair, squatted by the bed, and dragged his suitcase out from under it.

It was full of study materials, mock test papers, and his usual notes—a whole suitcase packed full. Normally, they just lay quietly under the bed, locked up.

He thought he should do some problems to calm down.

Ethan Young squatted by the suitcase, staring at it for a few minutes, his fingers touching the cover of “Five Years Gaokao, Three Years Mock Exams.” He looked up at the window; a few dim stars hung sparsely in the night. For some reason, he suddenly remembered Henry Howard’s bright smile under the streetlight, as if it could cut through the darkness.

Henry Howard always seemed to live so freely every day.

Ethan Young was really curious what he had to be so happy about. A couple of days ago, he drank a soda and got a “try again” cap, passed it from the end of the row to the front to show off to Luke Carter and the others: “Everyone touch it, touch it! Today’s good luck starts with big bro’s bottle cap.”

Quinn Shaw was working on a test paper, not giving him any face: “What is this, you think you’re a koi or something?”

“Sister Qing, how can you say that? Just because I, Bro Henry, don’t hit women. Hey, Bro Henry, I’m not like her, I’ll play along,” Wanda said, hinting strongly, “Ah, I touched it, I can feel its magic, wow, this mysterious power from another dimension—Bro Henry, I’m a little thirsty, can you give this lucky bottle cap to your bro?”

“Nope,” Henry Howard took it back, “I’m saving it for my deskmate.”

But Ethan Young didn’t appreciate it. When he came into the classroom, he just said to the bottle cap, “If you want to throw out trash, do it yourself.”

Thinking of this, Ethan Young suddenly realized that the name “Henry Howard” had been coming up more and more lately.

Even Ray Jones knew he had a super handsome deskmate. Occasionally, when the two of them talked on the phone, the topic would always drift toward that super handsome guy.

Ray Jones noticed something was off and asked once, “You two are close? Boss Xie, I’ve known you for years and this is the first time I’ve seen you make a friend. Why do I feel like a proud dad?”

When Ethan Young and Grace Miller first arrived at Heishui Street, Big Ray was still the king of the kids there, wild as could be, watching these two people—who looked totally out of place—get off the long-distance bus.

Even after more than forty hours on the road, exhausted, the two of them didn’t let their guard down at all, especially the younger one, whose eyes seemed to hide knives, so sharp, looking at everyone like he was judging them.

When Big Ray was a kid, he didn’t know any better. When he saw Ethan Young, he thought he was a girl—such a pretty little girl—so he threw pebbles at him to show affection. Who knew that the next day, when Lei’s parents went to work, the cold “little girl” came to get revenge, temper flaring, grabbed him and pinned him to the ground: “Who are you throwing things at? Don’t you have any manners? Do you need me to teach you how to behave?”

Are we close? Ethan Young asked himself.

He and Henry Howard probably… aren’t that close, right?

Other than the excitement of the monthly exam, the rest of the week passed uneventfully.

Only Xavier Stone wouldn’t give up. Every day he came to find Ethan Young and Henry Howard, hoping the two of them would join his study group, work hard together, and raise the class average.

“43 points, that’s the gap between our class and Class 1’s average.” Xavier Stone wasn’t afraid of these two famous big shots, or maybe even knowing they could beat people up, he was still willing to risk his life.

“As the class study rep, I can’t let this happen—why don’t you like studying? Studying is so interesting. If you don’t study, what’s the point of life? If you trust me, let’s give each other a chance.”

Xavier Stone was basically a mad dog, and Henry Howard couldn’t do anything about him, couldn’t really hit him: “My friend, I think we should just let each other live.”

Ethan Young said all kinds of harsh things, even used the all-purpose eight-character phrase “none of your business, none of my business,” but Xavier Stone was completely unfazed, just repeating, “43 points, that’s the gap between us and Class 1’s average.”

Xavier Stone became famous in one battle, and was dubbed by Wanda: the man standing at the top of Class 3’s food chain.

“That scary?” After seeing the text from Wanda, Sean Parker looked up at the two big shots who seemed to have taken root in Class 8 these days. “No wonder you two keep coming to our class lately. Boss Ethan Young, have you noticed our class has been especially quiet recently?”

Ethan Young sat in the corner, looking down at his phone, not sure why the topic had turned to him: “Me?”