The heating was still on in the classroom, so William Carter took off his jacket and hung it on the back of his chair, leaving only a short-sleeved polo shirt underneath. From Brian Cooper’s angle, he could see the two protruding lines on his back where his shoulder blades pressed against the fabric.

Brian Cooper thought, there must be a woman at William Carter’s home who takes great care of him—maybe his mom, or perhaps his grandma. His outfits always looked casual, but once he put them on, he stood out from the crowd, looking both stylish and refined... as long as he didn’t roll around in sweat and mud on the basketball court, or twist and fidget in his seat like a big monkey.

Brian Cooper watched as he alternated between spinning his pen, scratching his head, blacking out all the circled letters in his English book, and carving a radish into his eraser with a utility knife...

In short, Someone Carter’s soul was still at play, but his body was trapped between the wooden desk and chair. He didn’t dare make too much noise under the watchful eyes of Qilixiang, nor did he dare disturb the studious Henry Clark, so he could only amuse himself. After fidgeting for more than ten minutes, he finally settled down and started working on his math homework with the little self-study time left.

Brian Cooper glanced down at his watch and realized he had spent the entire time observing William Carter’s “prelude” to doing math homework—he could practically write an observation report about it.

“Am I out of my mind?” Brian Cooper thought, quickly skimming through the new test paper from Qilixiang and finding that all the questions were ones he’d seen before. Uninterested, he folded the paper and tossed it aside, then glanced at William Carter again, catching sight of the green peach heart on Captain Carter’s thumb that he’d been picking at for ages but still couldn’t remove.

“His hobbies are a bit odd,” Brian Cooper thought.

Brian Cooper put half his mind on his homework, and the other half on what had happened in the bathroom earlier—he didn’t know why William Carter had suddenly kicked the door open to stop David Wright and the others, but judging by the outcome, Brian Cooper felt he probably owed William Carter a favor.

He was very good at dealing with other people’s malice, but not so good at handling “favors.”

Brian Cooper mulled it over for the entire self-study period and decided that after class, he’d go say something to William Carter. No need to be too friendly—just a simple “I remember what happened today, I’ll pay you back next time” would suffice.

But after class, just as Brian Cooper was still hesitating and organizing his words, he saw William Carter, who had stayed behind for cleaning duty, put on his jacket and stop David Wright at the door.

“I was a bit harsh earlier,” William Carter patted David Wright on the back. “You didn’t take it to heart, did you?”

An hour or so was enough time for David Wright to cool off from his rage and start thinking about how to wrap things up. Since William Carter was extending the olive branch, David Wright naturally accepted it. “No, I didn’t.”

“Senior year is coming up,” William Carter said. “The less trouble, the better, you get it?”

David Wright nodded silently. “Our class is on flag duty at the flag-raising ceremony next Monday. You’re in, right?”

William Carter said, “Yeah, sure.”

And just like that, the two of them let bygones be bygones about what happened in PE class and made up.

Brian Cooper saw that they had patched things up in just a few words and were back to being partners in crime. His face instantly darkened, and he tossed aside the conversation he’d been preparing all class, turning away gloomily.

After finishing his cleaning duties with a mix of play and mischief, William Carter was planning to hang out at the McDonald’s where Henry Clark was working, but then he got a call from his family’s empress dowager, telling him that Charles Foster was coming over with her child that evening. He had to rush home to get ready for guests, so he said goodbye to his gang of friends and headed home early.

Because guests were coming for dinner, Mrs. Bennett started busying herself in the kitchen early, and Dou Dou the dog was locked in the basement ahead of time.

William Carter made a special trip to the basement, where he jumped around and made faces at the tied-up Dou Dou, making the dog howl in frustration, wishing it could gnash its teeth and draw blood.

“Mom, wasn’t Orange doing just fine chanting sutras in America? Why is she suddenly coming home for a divorce?”

James Carter had been helping Mrs. Bennett peel potatoes in the kitchen, but with her clumsy hands, potatoes were rolling all over the floor, so she was kicked out and ended up hanging out with her idle son. She answered bluntly, “Oh, that nouveau riche husband of hers has his eye on some vixen. The old house caught fire, burning like crazy—he insists on giving the mistress a proper title and is forcing her to step down. Your godmother has been chanting sutras for years, has seen through the vanity of the world, and says she’s long over that man. She’s coming back to fight this time, determined to make him leave the money and get lost.”

William Carter: “She’s really open-minded.”

“Very open-minded,” James Carter said. “Hey, look at this dog—such a temper, but pretty funny. Go tease it some more.”

Mother and son sat one after the other on the basement stairs, playing with the dog. Amid Dou Dou’s mortified howls, William Carter asked, “So who will the kid live with after this?”

James Carter said, “Usually with the mom, but with Charles Foster’s temperament... hard to say—though I hear the dad isn’t much better.”

Based on Charles Foster’s tearful complaints over the phone, James Carter had gotten a rough idea of the situation.