AMA Chapter9

When Yu Chengsong came out of Yu Chengdi’s room, he ran into his mother, who was coming out of the kitchen with a glass of milk.

His mother glanced at him but said nothing, hurrying into the master bedroom.

It seemed the conversation earlier had been helpful. At the very least, he could sleep well tonight.

Unfortunately, he didn’t plan on sleeping early today.

The first monthly exam was starting next Monday. During the eighth class he spent in the office, Lao Li had nearly pulled his ear off, yelling at him to stop messing around and focus on studying for the next two days.

He always said the same thing before every exam, as if Yu Chengsong wouldn’t know how to review without being reminded.

Yu Chengsong pulled out a chair and sat at his desk. First, he took out a white notebook and wrote down his study tasks for the night. After finishing, he read through them again to ensure everything was clear and that there were no gaps before taking out a math exercise book and starting to write.

The cover of Exercise Book 53 was already thick with pasted-on questions. Some were single problems cut and glued in, while others were entire pages torn from different exercise books. Over time, Yu Chengsong had turned this plain workbook into a personal study guide filled with typical questions, past mistakes, and additional exercises. It was practically bursting at the seams.

He pulled out a piece of A4 paper and started solving problems. His handwriting was strikingly beautiful—every horizontal and vertical stroke sharp and defined, the strokes connecting naturally yet effortlessly. Any single character could probably win first or second prize in a calligraphy competition.

However, this stylish handwriting had a drawback. When clustered together, it became messy and hard to read. In contrast, ugly, carefully written words were actually more legible.

His Chinese teacher had called him out multiple times because of this, urging him to change his writing style. But Yu Chengsong’s response left the teacher speechless and unable to argue with him ever again.

“Teacher, I didn’t write this to look good—I wrote it to show off.”

He took a sip of water, spent an hour reviewing his science subjects, and then picked up his Mathematics 53 book to read through it.

Honestly, Lao Li didn’t need to worry about him. Even if he skipped reviewing for the next two days, his grades wouldn’t fluctuate. He never fell behind in his studies in the first place.

There was a certain kind of student—one who deliberately slacked off in class, studied in secret at home, and then shocked everyone during exams.

To be that kind of person, you needed two things:

First, a sharp mind, capable of absorbing and processing knowledge independently.

Second, unwavering self-discipline, ensuring efficient study sessions at home.

If you had both, then congratulations—you could start showing off.

Yawning, Yu Chengsong, who had been playing it cool from preschool to his second year of high school, put on his earphones for a quick music break.

“Young enough to be as straightforward as a wafer no matter who you meet, living half a day is like living a million years…”

He tapped the table in rhythm with the music while casually scrolling through his social feed out of routine boredom.

The first three posts were all about selling cosmetics. Yu Chengsong didn’t recognize the names, so they were probably old classmates from junior high.

Without hesitation, he deleted them one by one.

The fourth post was from Zhou Zheyu.

—Shocked my whole family, Brother Song is no longer single!

“F*ck.”* Yu Chengsong chuckled. Zhou Zheyu was using him to hit his social media engagement target again.

The comments were lively, with people asking who he was dating. Zhou Zheyu shamelessly replied to each one.

—Who else but me?

He was immediately met with a neat row of replies: “Go to hell with your clickbait.”

Yu Chengsong scrolled down again and suddenly paused.

Yin Gu had posted a photo an hour ago. It was a night scene, professionally taken, with perfect angles and lighting. It took Yu Chengsong a while to recognize the location—it was the old neighborhood across from the school.

He rented a place there?

He clicked on Yin Gu’s profile picture. It was a photo of himself, taken on a snowy roadside while crouching. He was holding a dirty, fat orange cat that was fiercely biting his finger.

The bite looked deep enough to draw blood. Did he get vaccinated?

Yu Chengsong’s thoughts wandered. He had once gone to the hospital for a rabies shot just because he petted a stray cat. He still had immunity for three years and took health precautions seriously.

Yin Gu’s feed wasn’t limited to the last three days, so it took a while to scroll through. Most of his posts were just pictures—scenery, people, and, most commonly, stray cats and dogs. No selfies.

Pretty low-key.

After skimming through, Yu Chengsong lost interest. Yin Gu’s social media presence was even faker than the persona he showed at school—completely useless for reference.

His eyes fell on the caption under the night scene photo: “An accident occurred.”

A thought crossed his mind. After hesitating for a long time, he finally tapped “like.”

It really was an accident. He hadn’t expected him to jump down from the alley and come to the rescue.

“En, thank you, teacher.” Yin Gu put the cell phone to his ear, holding a lit cigarette in his hand, and listened to Lao Li’s chatter patiently.

“No need to thank me—why be polite to your teacher?” Lao Li said. “If you’re unsure about the test next Monday, tomorrow’s the weekend. I can come over and tutor you for free, just to help fill in the gaps.”

“I think I’m okay.” Yin Gu chuckled. The thought of having a stranger in his home made him uncomfortable. “I’m used to studying alone. Don’t worry, I won’t hold the class back.”

“That’s not what I meant. Oh, forget it… How are you getting along with Yu Chengsong? Any problems you don’t feel comfortable bringing up with him? You can tell me, and I’ll talk to him. He’s an easy-going kid—he’d listen to me.”

“Not yet,” Yin Gu replied. “He’s a nice guy.”

“That’s good, that’s good,” Lao Li sighed in relief.

“Teacher, if there’s nothing else, I’ll go review first.” Yin Gu interrupted him before he started his speech on the next unit, using the same reason that teachers and parents of all ages would accept—I want to study.

As expected, Lao Li didn’t say anything else. He hung up after chatting for a few sentences.

Only then did Yin Gu put the half-burnt cigarette into his mouth and take the first puff.

School has already started for two days already ah…

He exhaled smoke and, surprisingly, did not feel the discomfort he had expected, at least not at school.

It seems that the environment does affect people. The simple folk customs of the school made him simple as well. He couldn’t help it, even after leaving school. After finishing a cigarette, he didn’t choose to lie down and play with his phone. Instead, he got out of bed, took out the test paper from his schoolbag, clipped it on the mat, leaned against the head of the bed, and started writing under the yellowed old-fashioned light bulb.

After all, it was his first exam after transferring to this school. There was no reason for him not to study hard; otherwise, he would be unworthy of being called a “good boy” by his deskmate.

Yu Chengsong didn’t go to bed until two o’clock in the middle of the night. He slept a little longer in the morning. When he came out after washing up, his mother and her two little sons had already eaten.

No one in their family has the habit of sleeping in. His mother has been preparing dinner at 6:30 every day for more than ten years. Except for him, no one dares to get up late, otherwise, there will be another bloody storm.

You can’t change a mentally ill person. There are only two options left: either obey her or battle with her.

But Yu Chengsong was also tired of battling everyday, so he just thinks that his mother is invincible, and her temper gets worse and worse.

“The whole family is waiting for you to have breakfast. You are already eighteen years old and still don’t know how to go to bed and get up early. You have no manners at all!” His mom glared at him.

Yu Chengsong lazily sat between his two younger brothers, served himself the meal, and drank half a glass of water before saying, “What’s the point of going to bed and getting up early? Can I live a hundred years?”

He looked up and smiled at his mother. “Aren’t you afraid that you will die while I am still alive ah?”

“You will get your comeuppance sooner or later!” His mother said.

“Thank you for your words.” Yu Chengsong said as he took a bite of the fried beans, which tasted salty. “But I don’t have the habit of dying alone, and I don’t really want to die right now. So, I’ll have to find a substitute who is related by blood to deceive the King of Hell.”

His mother’s face turned ugly in an instant, and she subconsciously pulled Yu Chengyuan towards her.

The six-year-old kid looks neither like his father nor his mother. He is as fat as a meatball due to overnutrition. Even at such a young age, his eyes have the same mean and pretentious look as his mother. He also imitated his mother and glared at him.

Yu Chengsong was not angry at the little kid. He just pretended nothing happened and ate the beans with so much salt that they were a bit choked with relish.

This morning, their mother even fried a dish of yellow croaker, but Yu Chengsong couldn’t eat it. He has a very sensitive nose, and he can’t eat fish or shrimp unless the fishy smell is removed. It’s already amazing that his mother can fry the dish, let alone remove the fishy smell.

Who would have thought that he was the best cook in the family? Not to mention that he could open a restaurant, but at least after tasting the dish, Zhou Zheyu would kneeled down and begged him to make another dish for him again.

Unfortunately, his mother doesn’t let him cook because she was afraid he’ll poison the whole family and inherit the property.

Yu Chengsong is getting more and more distracted, and the plate of yellow croaker on the table was getting closer and closer to Yu Chengyuan. Finally Yu Chengdi had to stand up and reach for it.

“Slap!”

Yu Chengdi suddenly retracted his hand, two red marks were drawn from the back of his hand by chopsticks.

“Do you have any manners? Eat what’s in front of you!” Their mother withdrew her hand and put the plate in front of Yu Chengyuan.

Yu Chengyuan grabbed it directly and asked his mother to stop.

“Don’t worry, Yuanyuan. Mom will pick out the bones for you before you eat them.”

Yu Chengsong silently watched the big drama that had to be performed at least once every day. His mother’s expression changed so much that she could perform on stage.

“Mom, hurry up!” Yu Chengyuan wiped his mouth with an oily hand.

Yu Chengdi, the punching bag, was so angry that he was only eating the rice and didn’t eat a single bite of the vegetables.

Yu Chengsong felt that this morning was not good, it was a very bad one, especially after staying up all night and then seeing this scene, which made his patience turn to ashes, and he was also urinated on.

“Yuanyuan.” He said, looking at Yu Chengyuan with a smile. “Big brother wants to eat fish, can you give me one?”

“No! You’re not my brother!” Yu Chengyuan protected the plate, his childish voice sounding innocent.

“I’m not your brother?” Yu Chengsong nodded as if coaxing a child, “You’re right!”

His mother looked at him warily.

“Am I your brother?” After Yu Chengyuan, he smiled at Yu Chengdi, making the child’s scalps numb.

“…Yes.” Yu Chengdi took a bite of rice and said in a low voice with flexibility.

Yu Chengsong nodded with satisfaction, picked up the bowl, and suddenly kicked the table without warning. The bowl in front of Yu Chengyuan was shaken and rolled to the ground, breaking into pieces with a “snap.”

Their mother was about to explode when Yu Chengsong picked up the fried fish and threw the entire plate against the wall.

“Aiyo, I didn’t hold it firmly.”

“Yu Chengsong!”

“Waa—”

“Ai, Yuanyuan, don’t cry. Yuanyuan, don’t be afraid. Mommy is here.”

“You should have eaten well in the morning.” Yu Chengsong looked at the mother and son lazily. “Being angry can easily lead to sudden death.”

His mother picked up her bowl and pretended to smash him.

Yu Chengsong pointed with his chopsticks and said with a smile, “Believe it or not, I can poke him blind.”

“You’ve gone crazy!” His mother screamed sharply.

Yu Chengsong was used to it and was no longer shocked that his mother even believed such things.

He didn’t say anything else, and his mother carried Yu Chengyuan and quickly returned to the room.

Yu Chengsong crossed his legs, took the braised drumsticks that were placed in front of Yu Chengyuan, and ate one in front of Yu Chengdi’s hungry eyes.

It’s really thin and tastes bad.

Yu Chengsong wiped his mouth with a piece of paper, turned around, and asked knowingly, “Want it?”

“Don’t want!” Yu Chengdi stuffed rice into his mouth viciously.

Yu Chengsong was amused by this little idiot for a long time and finally pushed the plate towards him and said wickedly, “Eat, little beggar.”

Yu Chengdi was so angry that he wanted to bite someone, but after glaring at his elder brother for a long time, he finally picked up the drumstick and put it in his bowl, then took a hard bite.

It smelled really good.