In that instant, Xu Xing’s body reacted before his brain, springing off Lu Che’s lap like a shot, as if his entire being rejected the situation.

“Sorry about that…”

Xu Xing turned around to apologize with an awkward smile.

Lu Che’s handsome face was dark, stormy, and exuded a pressure that made Xu Xing feel the weight of impending doom.

When Lu Che had yelled at Xu Xing not to move, the rings in his water game were already teetering. They were like patients on the verge of death, ready to be saved but tragically interrupted when Xu Xing fell into him. The whole game was ruined.

Lu Che stared at the screen for a couple of seconds, realizing he’d lost the timed game. Then he turned to Xu Xing with a cold, furious look and said, enunciating each word slowly, “You… freaking…”

Even though Lu Che didn’t finish the sentence, anyone could guess what he meant: I told you not to move. Can’t you understand human language?

“…”

Far from being cold and distant, Lu Che had quite the temper.

This was the first time Xu Xing had heard such angry words that actually made him feel genuinely afraid.

At this moment, a boy from the back took Lu Che’s water game and interrupted, “The class monitor was actually helping me out! Hahaha, Lu Che, you didn’t see that coming, huh?”

Lu Che shifted his attention to the grinning boy, Ke Di, and snatched the water game back. “Get lost, I’m starting over.”

Lu Che then lowered his head and refocused on the game, expertly maneuvering the rings into place one by one.

Ke Di leaned on the desk, chuckling at Xu Xing, “Brother Lu is a bit of a perfectionist.”

“…Oh.”

Xu Xing felt conflicted.

Ke Di then invited, “Come join us, class monitor. We’re competing to see who can finish the ring-toss the fastest.”

Xu Xing declined, “No thanks. Class is about to start.”

He had no interest in the childish game, but he was more concerned about the strange incidents with Lu Che — falling into his lap now, and earlier bumping into him on the stairs. Were they coincidences or something caused by the red string?

Xu Xing’s body tensed as he felt a chill run down his spine. The more he thought about it, the more unsettling it became, and he could only hope it was all just his imagination running wild.

Before leaving, he stole one last glance at Lu Che’s red bow. What once seemed funny now felt downright eerie.

Xu Xing spent the next two periods trying to ignore the uneasy feeling growing in his chest.

During the break after the fourth period, Xu Xing went to the restroom, and when he returned, he found Fu Dai’s tall figure sitting in his seat.

Fu Dai, a playboy, used every trick in the book to chase after Xiong Huan, the academic queen. On the first day of school, he brought a brand new 2018 high school exam practice book and sat behind Xiong Huan, gently poking her slender back with a pen, pestering her to explain problems to him.

The phrase “Stay hungry, stay foolish” was vividly embodied in Fu Dai. However, “hungry” wasn’t literal, and “foolish” wasn’t genuine either.

Fu Dai had already indirectly made a high-profile confession earlier that morning. The whole class wasn’t blind or deaf, and everyone clearly understood Fu Dai’s adolescent crush. At this moment, the surrounding classmates were keenly watching the interaction between the two, but were tactful enough not to interrupt.

Xiong Huan maintained her cold and aloof academic goddess image, but couldn’t escape the curious gazes of the other students. She initially decided to ignore Fu Dai, but couldn’t fend off his seemingly legitimate request. Just as she was wondering how to brush him off, she saw Xu Xing return. She said to Fu Dai, “I haven’t done this problem either, why don’t you ask the class president?”

Xiong Huan’s voice was crisp and ethereal, but those words took on a different meaning when they reached Xu Xing’s ears.

Xu Xing and Fu Dai exchanged glances. After a brief two-second eye contact, Fu Dai tore off the first page of his scratch paper with a “rip,” crumpled it into a ball, and handed it to Xu Xing with a sincere smile: “Class president, could you throw this away for me?”

“…”

Xu Xing, fearing to meet Xiong Huan’s probing gaze, instinctively took the paper ball from Fu Dai and turned to walk away.

He hesitated slightly, as he saw Lu Che sitting in Fu Dai’s seat, his long legs stretching into the aisle, occupying most of the space.

Xu Xing, still rattled, hesitated for a moment before timidly slipping away, pretending to be nonchalant. He walked to the podium, flipped through the class log hanging beside the blackboard, and then made his way down the aisle between the first and second rows to the back of the classroom.

However, when Xu Xing finally reached the back door of the class, he found that the trash can, usually placed by the door, had been dragged to the back of the fourth group by Ke Di. Ke Di was lying sprawled on his desk mate Zhou Mang’s lap, snacking on sunflower seeds while Zhou Mang was setting his schedule.

“Starting today, you’re going to memorize 30 English words a day, understood?”

“How about 3 a day?”

“No.”

Ke Di tilted his head up in Zhou Mang’s lap, his big, shiny black eyes giving him a youthful look. He fed a plump sunflower seed kernel to Zhou Mang in an attempt to bribe him: “How about 5 words a day?”

Zhou Mang, with his sharp eyebrows furrowed, paused and said, “15.”

Ke Di tried to negotiate further, but Zhou Mang clamped his lips shut, effectively silencing him. All Ke Di could manage were muffled grunts of protest.

Xu Xing paused a few steps away, unable to resist glancing a bit longer at Ke Di and Zhou Mang.

Both were sports students with comparable athletic skills, but Ke Di was the typical case of focusing on sports and neglecting academics, while Zou Mang managed to maintain a solid academic standing, even ranking in the top 10 of the class at times.

Ke Di’s poor grades were no surprise, nor were Zhou Mang’s stellar scores, but their dynamic was somewhat…peculiar.

Xu Xing threw the paper ball into the trash can beside Ke Di, averting his gaze just as he was about to walk away. Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed Lu Che standing up from his seat, with the red bow tied to his crotch shining brightly.

Xu Xing froze in shock, thinking, “This can’t be good!”

His shoulders tensed, neck shrank back, and his right foot instinctively took a step back.

He watched as the red string connecting him and Lu Che stretched taut like a spring. Xu Xing’s eyes widened in disbelief. The next moment, the red string snapped back with tremendous force, pulling him straight into Lu Che’s arms.

Xu Xing’s face crashed into Lu Che’s firm shoulder, sending a jolt of pain through his teeth. He let out a muffled groan, barely managing to spit out a breathless “Oh…damn…”

The pitch of his voice rose from low to high, soft to sharp.

His breath mingled with the faint scent of detergent on Lu Che’s clothes.

How did he manage to fall again?

Xu Xing’s nerves were on edge. Even though he had instinctively adopted a defensive stance, he still couldn’t escape the red string’s mischief.

Lu Che: “…”

Once Xu Xing calmed down and his scattered thoughts returned, he awkwardly averted his gaze and mumbled an embarrassed apology, “Sorry…”

Lu Che, holding Xu Xing against his chest with one hand, sighed and coldly said, “Third time’s the charm, class president.”

It wasn’t even halfway through the day, and Xu Xing had already thrown himself into Lu Che’s arms three times! Even Xu Xing felt like his triple “accidents” were suspiciously like intentional trouble-making.

Xu Xing quickly scrambled off Lu Che, flustered and repeatedly mumbling, “Sorry, sorry…”

Lu Che let out a soft scoff, but just then, Tang Mian called Xu Xing’s name from outside the hallway. Grabbing the chance to escape, Xu Xing quickly bolted, fleeing from Lu Che as fast as he could, praying that the obnoxious red string would stop tormenting him.

Tang Mian was cooling off outside in the hallway. This classroom was in a good location, and while it might feel like an oven next May or June, for now, it was breezy and open on both sides, facing the front field with an excellent view.

At that moment, freshmen and sophomores were gathered under the trees, waiting for PE class. The seniors stood at a distance, surveying the scene like VIPs watching a parade, scanning the younger students one by one.

Still shaken, Xu Xing walked over to Tang Mian, who patted him on the shoulder with a smile. “Looks like Fu Dai really wants to swap seats with you.”

Xu Xing immediately rejected the idea without hesitation. “No way!”

Tang Mian leaned against the railing, grinning. “Wow, I didn’t think you were so attached to Wang Zicong.”

The “Zhongzhong” Tang Mian mentioned referred to Wang Zicong.

When they were first assigned to classes in their first year of high school, everyone came up with nicknames for each other as a way of bonding. Wang Zicong, the chubby boy, had his name turned into “Little Prince,” and soon enough, the “Zong” in his name was twisted to mean his size—big enough to be worth two people. By the second year, the nickname had “evolved,” thanks to a joke from a classmate: “Wang Zicong’s gotten so big this semester, he’s like Wang Zizhong.”

And so, “Zhongzhong” was born.

Xu Xing didn’t respond directly to Tang Mian’s teasing. His resistance to the idea wasn’t really about Wang Zicong. The truth was, he just didn’t want to be deskmates with Lu Che…

Xu Xing let out a deep sigh, his gaze drifting as he absentmindedly watched the students below. Tang Mian nudged him with his elbow, drawing his attention back. “Look at Ke Di and Zou Mang’s interactions. I swear, those two must be a couple.”

Ke Di was the carefree, playful type, always teasing Zou Mang, the straight-laced, righteous student. To make matters more confusing, Ke Di even had a girlfriend. They were the real-life version of a flirtatious, carefree “shou”^[1]bottom and a serious, loyal “Gong.”^[2]Top

Several girls in the class enjoyed the idea of shipping the two athletic boys as a couple, even sharing lists of similar novels from Jinjiang Literature City in their private QQ group.^[3]Tencent QQ (QQ) is an instant messaging software platform at the heart of China’s social networking scene. The group’s name frequently changed but always had a literary flair, with previous names like “Meet You at Beiti 2018,” “I’ll Wait for You at the Finish Line,” “The Track is Long, But You’re Amazing (?),” and “Love on the Track.”

Tang Mian was the group’s admin.

Following Tang Mian’s gaze, Xu Xing saw that Ke Di was still lying in Zhou Mang’s arms in a rather suggestive pose.

Before Xu Xing could see the red strings of fate, he too found their behavior suspicious. However, now he was certain of their innocence and confidently told Tang Mian, “They’re just good friends. You’re overthinking it.”

Neither of them had even the faintest hint of a red string, so they probably hadn’t met their destined ones yet.

Tang Mian gave Xu Xing a side-eye and retorted coolly, “How do you know? Straight guys’ intuition about this kind of thing is the least reliable. Of course, you can’t sense their ‘chemistry.’ If you could, you’d probably be halfway to being gay yourself.”

“…”

Xu Xing protested, “What’s wrong with my intuition?”

Tang Mian chuckled. “Let me ask you this: do you think Lu Che is handsome?”

Already annoyed with Lu Che, Xu Xing replied with a cold expression, “I don’t feel anything.”

In reality, Xu Xing wasn’t being completely honest. Anyone with working eyes could see that Lu Che was undeniably good-looking—his features were sharp, and his overall vibe was naturally attractive. But ever since the whole “red string” fiasco, Xu Xing harbored some resentment toward Lu Che.

He wasn’t blind, just stubborn.

Tang Mian let out a laugh and said, “See? All us girls think Lu Che is super handsome. Bet the gays do too.”

“…Oh.”

Xu Xing was at a loss for words.

So, complimenting Lu Che’s good looks was a privilege reserved for girls and gay guys, and Xu Xing had neither the right to disagree nor the grounds to be critical.

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Author’s Note: The forced fall caused by the red string serves two purposes: 1. To get Lu Che’s attention 2. To help Xu Xing build up some mental fortitude. First goal achieved √ [Hehe]

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