Xu Xing’s initial reaction to his newfound ability was panic and fear, but he soon realized that the red strings didn’t cause him any physical harm or interfere much with his daily life. He could mostly ignore their existence—until he discovered they had far more dangerous implications.

If every encounter with Lu Che meant being forced to “accidentally” fall into his arms, that would be a serious problem.

That night, as Xu Xing lay tossing and turning in his top bunk, the endless chatter of dorm gossip only worsened his already restless mood. Staring at the ceiling, he resolved that from now on, he would stay at least two meters away from Lu Che at all times. If he had to fall, he’d rather fall flat on the ground and preserve the last shred of his dignity as a straight guy.

The next morning.

Xu Xing, munching on a baguette^[1]a long, narrow loaf of French bread., headed back to the classroom. Just as he stepped out of the dormitory, he ran into Xiao Shun—another poor soul who had also experienced the unfortunate fate of being caught by the red string.

Xu Xing swallowed the dry bread and quickly caught up to Xiao Shun, casually greeting him, “Morning!”

Surprised, Xiao Shun turned his head and politely replied, “You’re up early too.”

Xiao Shun wasn’t very tall, about 1.7 meters, and he had a habit of looking down while speaking, avoiding direct eye contact. Xu Xing didn’t know him well; their interactions were limited to brief nods and hellos when they passed by. Xu Xing would never have guessed that their most significant commonality would involve discussions about strings of fate—and men.

Both fell into an awkward silence as they walked toward the academic building.

Xu Xing was weighed down by his gloomy thoughts, while Xiao Shun was simply not a talkative person.

It was only 6:30 in the morning, and the dorm hallways and corridors were still eerily quiet, with occasional muffled conversations drifting out from some rooms. Xu Xing suddenly remembered that Xiao Shun had the key to their classroom and was responsible for opening it early every day. The only reason Xu Xing had woken up so early was to avoid any chance of running into Lu Che in the dorms.

“By the way, um… class monitor.”

Xiao Shun broke the silence first.

“Hm?” Xu Xing turned his head.

“Did you report the broken facilities in our classroom? A few of the fans and the projector’s mounting brackets need checking, and the screws should be tightened.”

“Oh,” Xu Xing responded, amused by how Xiao Shun’s conversation opener was so unconventional. “The school already has a maintenance schedule. They probably checked it during our holiday. Unless something actually breaks, we won’t need to file a report.”

Xiao Shun nodded. “Oh, right. Got it.”

Xu Xing looked at him and coughed awkwardly, turning his gaze forward.

He really wanted to ask Xiao Shun about the red strings, but starting that conversation seemed even stranger than talking about fixing fans. He couldn’t just ask, “Hey, have you been falling into any male classmates’ arms lately?”

He’d be labeled a lunatic in no time.

Xu Xing had no choice but to drop the idea.

---

That Saturday, the entire school was eerily quiet, void of any usual noise. There were no bells to signal the start and end of classes, no music for morning exercises after the second period, and even the small campus shop—usually packed with students—was deserted. The shop’s loud owner could be heard scolding her seven-year-old troublemaker of a son from inside, who had been causing mischief since coming back from vacation.

The only students on campus were Xu Xing and his peers, freshly labeled as “seniors.” Although Saturday classes were an added burden, it was an age-old tradition. Luckily, they only had two periods in the afternoon, which gave the students some relief from the feeling of a stolen day off.

Before class, Xu Xing stood in line at the water dispenser, waiting for his turn. Ahead of him were Fu Dai and another boy: Fu Dai was holding a light green thermos, which Xu Xing recognized immediately since it had been on the desk in front of him for a whole year, sometimes even blocking his view of the blackboard. The other boy held two cups, identical in design but different in color. Xu Xing watched as the boy filled both cups and returned to place them on the desks of two girls in front of him. The three of them chatted and laughed together.

Xu Xing couldn’t help but glance again. One of the girls and the boy were connected by a red string, but the other girl’s red string was wrapped around the boy’s ankle.

He clicked his tongue: a love triangle.

At first, Xu Xing thought that a string tied around the ankle indicated a one-sided crush, or at least a chance that the crush could eventually turn into a mutual connection. But after seeing Lu Che with two huge clumps of red strings attached to his feet, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

Xu Xing filled his thermos with warm water and was about to head back to his seat when he suddenly saw Lu Che walking toward him from the front of the classroom. Without a second thought, Xu Xing spun around and hurried in the opposite direction.

Lu Che: “…”

Xu Xing spent the entire day anxiously avoiding Lu Che, dodging every possible close encounter. He barely managed to make it through the day without any incidents.

As the class finished, a group of boys called out to each other, gathering to play basketball. The sound of the ball bouncing against the floor echoed loudly, followed by shouts of “Don’t play in the classroom!” and others calling for the ball to be passed to them, creating a lively mess of noise.

Xu Xing, with his backpack slung over his shoulder, made his way toward the back door. Just as his phone buzzed with a notification, he absentmindedly pulled it out to check. At the same moment, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a tall, dark figure jump into his line of sight. Before he could react, an invisible force yanked him backward—hard.

As Xu Xing fell, he knew it was all over—Bo X4 was about to be achieved.

The moment his butt hit the ground, Xu Xing’s apology was almost automatic: “Sorry!”

He kept repeating his apology over and over, switching between “Sorry,” “Apologies,” “Excuse me,” and even “So sorry,” until the words lost their meaning and sounded like nothing more than a tired cliché, capable of making anyone’s ears go numb.

However, after he blurted out his apology, Xu Xing suddenly realized that something didn’t feel quite right underneath him: a firm, circular object was supporting his backside, holding him securely in place.

Xu Xing glanced down, his face turning pale as he discovered he was sitting on a trash can.

“…”

A trash can of all things!

Feeling utterly embarrassed, Xu Xing tried to push himself up with both hands and feet. Just then, someone crouched down beside him, their typically expressionless face lit up with a rare smile.

“Class monitor, who are you apologizing to?”

“…”

Lu Che crouched down, looking at the embarrassed Xu Xing from above, but made no move to offer a hand to help him up.

There was a smug tone to Lu Che’s words that Xu Xing couldn’t help but pick up on. It felt like Lu Che had deliberately aimed to collide with him, only for Xu Xing to apologize first—even though he wasn’t the one who had actually been hit.

Fortunately, there weren’t many people in the classroom at the time, so Xu Xing’s humiliating situation didn’t become public entertainment. He gritted his teeth and got up, brushing the dust off his backside. He completely ignored Lu Che and refused to engage.

Lu Che stood up too, casually sticking his hands in his pockets, and teased, “Good thing I dodged quickly.”

Xu Xing: “…”

Lu Che’s remark was laced with irony. After all, being bumped into four times in two days, and then seeing Xu Xing accidentally sit on a trash can and apologize reflexively—it definitely looked like Xu Xing was purposely trying to crash into him.

Xu Xing gritted his teeth, frustrated but unable to say anything. He couldn’t bring himself to confidently declare that he wouldn’t fall into Lu Che’s arms again, knowing deep down that it was bound to happen.

Angry and flustered, Xu Xing stubbornly retorted, “You better hope you dodge quickly every time.”

As soon as he said this, Xu Xing regretted it.

Wasn’t this basically admitting that he intended to fall into Lu Che’s arms on purpose?

Even though, in truth, he’d rather fall flat on the ground than end up in Lu Che’s arms again.

Lu Che didn’t seem angry, but instead smiled, as if he’d never encountered someone so brazen before.

Xu Xing hurriedly left, leaving Lu Che’s laughter behind.

·

On Sunday at home, Xu Xing was pacing around, sighing heavily. His dad and mom, seeing this, felt both worried and pleased. It seemed their troublesome youngest son, now a senior, was finally starting to feel the pressure and anxiety.

Xu Xing’s mom had prepared a stack of study materials for him, saying that his older sister had left them behind, even including her notes. Since the eldest daughter had gotten into a top university, all her study books had suddenly become highly valuable, too precious to discard as junk.

She placed the materials on Xu Xing’s desk and made him a cup of herbal tea, gently advising him, “If you run into any tough questions, just call your sister. She’s fresh out of the college entrance exams, so her knowledge is still sharp, and she can also help you cope with senior year stress.”

Xu Xing: “…Got it.”

He didn’t have the heart to explain that his current frustration wasn’t related to academic problems. Nor did he want to mention that he’d found a little secret in his sister’s study materials—a full page of scribbles that culminated in a scrawled “Yi Ze can go to hell.”

His older sister, a quiet honor student and the perfect daughter in their parents’ eyes, had apparently been involved in a high school romance.

Xu Xing had no idea who Yi Ze was.

But right now, he really wanted to fill a page with curses and tell Lu Che to go to hell too.

That evening, Xu Xing’s mom prepared a lavish dinner and called him to the table.

His dad sat down first, while his mom was still busy in the kitchen. Between his parents, the bright red thread of their fate was clearly visible.

Xu Xing walked out of his room, feeling down. He ignored the red thread as he shuffled across the room but suddenly stumbled when his foot got caught on it, nearly falling over.

“Hey—”

His dad turned to see Xu Xing standing there, gripping a chair for support, hunched over slightly. He asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! I’m just going to the bathroom.”

Xu Xing hurriedly blurted out the excuse and rushed to the bathroom.

It wasn’t that his hands were clenched into fists, but rather that he had grasped the thread of fate connecting his parents.

Finally!

He could feel the red thread again!

Afraid the red thread would disappear at any moment, his first reaction was to dash to the bathroom, lock the door, and stand in front of the mirror.

The red thread hung lightly behind him like a delicate feather.

He couldn’t rely on any external objects to interact with the thread—it couldn’t be grasped or torn apart. In frustration, Xu Xing grabbed hold of it, wrapping it around his hand and yanked hard.

“Ah…”

A sharp pain shot through him, making him loosen his grip.

Xu Xing gritted his teeth at the pain, which surged through him like a hit of wasabi, intense but brief.

Ignoring the shame, he pulled down his pants to check if everything was normal down there. It was. The red thread was intact too.

Xu Xing frowned, deeply conflicted as he stared at the thread.

What now?

He couldn’t help but think back to the last two days, constantly falling into Lu Che’s arms, and Lu Che teasing him with, “Good thing I dodged quickly.” Being controlled by the red thread was turning into a nightmarish experience.

After weighing his options, Xu Xing once again wrapped the thread around his hand, gritted his teeth, and tried to pull it out again. Though this time, he didn’t use as much force, the pain, like a swarm of ants crawling inside him, was even worse. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he trembled as the pain overwhelmed him, making his vision blur.

Glancing down, he noticed the thread had merged with the lines of his palm, glowing faintly red.

His mom’s voice came from outside: “Xu Xing, are you done?”

He was in so much pain that he couldn’t even respond.

Xu Xing crouched down to recover, enduring the agony for a while before it finally subsided. He washed his face, wiped off the cold sweat, and returned to the dinner table, acting as though nothing had happened. He finished his meal absentmindedly.

On the way back to school, as his dad drove, Xu Xing was lost in thought: The plan to remove the red thread was clearly a failure. What now?

The neon lights outside the window flickered over his face, alternating between light and shadow.

Xu Xing frowned deeply, completely clueless.

Xu Xing: “…”

His gaze shifted to Lu Che, who was sleeping on his desk. The red string, tied into a bow, floated like seaweed in water, drifting freely in the air.

With a thought, Xu Xing walked over to Fu Dai’s seat, sat next to Lu Che, and faced the blackboard. He quietly pulled out a notebook and a pen from his bag, trying to look busy while also being careful not to make noise and wake Lu Che.

Once ready, Xu Xing nervously surveyed his surroundings. The homeroom teacher had returned to the podium at the front, busy preparing lessons. The class was silent; some students were buried in books, while others were secretly playing on their phones. No one was paying attention to him.

Xu Xing’s eyes locked on the red bow at Lu Che’s waist. The dangling ribbon seemed to beckon him to pull it.

Xu Xing hesitated, remembering the sharp pain he felt when trying to remove his own red string earlier that night. He worried that pulling Lu Che’s string might cause the same pain. But he held onto a sliver of hope that perhaps it wouldn’t hurt if he only untied the bow.

With the right time, place, and opportunity, Xu Xing couldn’t resist any longer. Carefully, he reached out to the red string near Lu Che’s waist.

Just as his fingers were about to touch the floating bow, the ribbon suddenly deflated like a limp balloon, drooping against Lu Che’s pants.

Xu Xing: “…”

This made it harder to grasp the string. Holding his breath, Xu Xing gingerly pinched the ribbon, terrified that his fingers might touch something inappropriate.

The red string was as fine as thread, smooth and slippery. After some effort, Xu Xing finally managed to hook the ribbon with his pinky finger, gently lifting it between his thumb and forefinger. Nervous sweat dotted his palm as he slowly tugged on the string.

To his surprise, the bow, tied into an infinity symbol, loosened with just a light pull!

But before he could feel triumphant for more than three seconds, Xu Xing’s hand was suddenly grabbed with a firm grip.

Startled, Xu Xing looked up to see Lu Che, now awake, gripping his right hand tightly, forcing his fingers to release their hold.

A shadow crossed Lu Che’s face, while Xu Xing’s face flushed red with embarrassment.

Lu Che’s grasp burned with the heat of summer’s lingering warmth, despite the coolness of early autumn. His lips curled into a mocking smile. “Class monitor, care to explain?”

Xu Xing’s mind went blank.

Suddenly, the red string wrapped around his fingers vanished before his eyes.