After Tang Mian handed in her sticky note, she walked over to chat with Xu Xing and Wang Zicong.

Tang Mian sighed and said, “Oh, Xing Xing, if you hadn’t taken a leave yesterday during self-study, we wouldn’t be separated like this.”

Xu Xing also felt quite emotional; he hadn’t expected Lu Che to become his backseat buddy so randomly. Fortunately, things had been peaceful recently, and the red thread had calmed down quite a bit.

At that moment, the sound of something dropping on the ground—”thud”—was heard.

Lu Che lightly tapped Xu Xing’s shoulder and said, “Class leader, can you help me pick up my pen?”

Xu Xing’s chat with Tang Mian was interrupted. He looked down and found the gel pen that Lu Che had dropped on the floor, picked it up, and handed it back to him.

Lu Che took the pen.

Xu Xing didn’t even turn his head, continuing his conversation with Tang Mian about some irrelevant topic.

“Thud—”

Lu Che’s pen fell on the ground again.

This time, when Xu Xing picked it up for him, he was a bit impatient. After picking it up for a short while, he heard two light sounds of Lu Che twirling the pen behind him, and sure enough—

Another “thud.”

This time, before Lu Che could tap Xu Xing’s shoulder again, Xu Xing bent down to help him pick up the pen. When he handed it back to Lu Che, he complained, “If you can’t twirl the pen properly, can’t you just sit still?”

Lu Che smiled and asked, “Can you do it? Teach me, please.”

Xu Xing turned around, snatched the gel pen from Lu Che’s hand, held it between his thumb and index finger, flicked it around his thumb with his middle finger, and then pushed it back with his index finger, making it rotate around his thumb again.

The pen spun back and forth around his thumb. After showing off his skills, Xu Xing slapped the pen down onto Lu Che’s desk and shot him a glare.

Lu Che tried not to laugh. When he saw Xu Xing turn back around, he changed the subject again: “Class leader, did you finish your homework? Should we check number 7 today?”

Lu Che stretched his long legs, saying it playfully.

Xu Xing turned around and glared at him: “Can you please stop bothering me?”

Lu Che rested his face on his hand and said to Xu Xing, “Then I’ll ask you every day which number we’re checking. You just tell me the number, and that’ll be it, okay?”

Xu Xing reacted quickly and immediately said, “I choose number 1, thank you.”

Lu Che chuckled and said, “Class leader, are you secretly watching me? You even know I’m number 11.”

Xu Xing: “…”

Lu Che was quite pleased with Xu Xing’s retort and smiled, saying, “Alright then, I’ll follow your lead.”

Xu Xing: “…”

Lu Che accepted happily, but Ke Di, who was sitting behind him, couldn’t handle it. He had just finished putting up sticky notes and happened to overhear Xu Xing and Lu Che discussing the random homework check. With wide eyes, he asked, “Che Ge, this can’t be true, right? Are you joking?”

Lu Che turned around and said, “I follow all the class leader’s instructions.”

Lu Che, with student number 11, treated this as a little game of love, while Ke Di, with student number 51, was left confused.

“…”

Ke Di didn’t know what had gotten into Lu Che and could only look for a new target. He turned to Xu Xing with a gloomy face and said, “Class leader, this isn’t good…”

Just then, Zhou Mang walked in from outside. Ke Di turned around and threw himself into Zou Mang’s arms, complaining, “Zhou Mang Mang—class leader is bullying me.”

Zhou Mang raised his brows slightly and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Xu Xing: “…”

He couldn’t help but doubt the accuracy of the red thread: how could he and Lu Che, who were practically strangers, be connected by the red thread? He seriously suspected that before the thread worked its magic, Lu Che didn’t even know his name, while Ke Di and Zou Mang, who were overly gay, turned out to be straight men?

Excuse me?

Xu Xing was still feeling indignant when he heard a soft, magnetic voice from beside him: “Wuli Xing Xing~”

“…”

Xu Xing glared at him: “Shut up.”

Don’t lead me astray, bro!

Lu Che smiled with the corners of his lips upturned.

It was Monday morning, and the second period was math class.

The math teacher was the head of the senior three math group. He was knowledgeable and had years of teaching experience. However, since all the classes he had taught before were advanced classes, his teaching style was rather straightforward and forceful: explaining basic problems seemed like an insult to his intelligence. He focused on guiding students to solve difficult problems with the simplest and most optimal ideas, which earned him applause from the whole class.

Clearly, the math teacher’s class was an upgrade for students with a solid grasp of the basics, but for those with weak foundations, his teaching style was undoubtedly a heavy blow, akin to listening to a foreign language.

After one math class, the whole class felt defeated, like a typhoon had swept through, and there was a chorus of wails.

Wang Zicong, lying on the desk, complained to Xu Xing, “Xing Xing, can you give the math teacher a suggestion? Ask him to explain some basic problems during class.”

Xu Xing was able to keep up with the math teacher’s thoughts and felt that the class was packed with useful information, benefiting greatly. However, he still replied to Wang Zicong, “Okay, I’ll talk to him about it today.”

Wang Zicong sighed, saying, “After one math class, I suddenly feel so hungry.”

This showed how seriously he had been in class, as mental labor consumed a lot of calories.

Xu Xing twisted open the lid of his thermos and took a sip of warm water. He turned to look out the window. The schoolyard broadcast announced the marching tune for the morning exercise, and it was the turn of the first-year students to do their calisthenics today.

Their classroom was on the third floor, and from the window, they could clearly see the youthful faces of the younger students.

Xu Xing glanced casually a few times. The person behind him rested his elbow on the window ledge, looking out at the laughing and noisy first-year students, and remarked, “This year’s new students are not that great.”

Xu Xing glanced at Lu Che.

Lu Che turned around and smiled at him, saying, “None of them look better than me.”

“…”

Xu Xing was deeply speechless at Lu Che’s shamelessness.

Fu Dai chuckled, “A Che, you’re increasingly aware of your ‘school grass’ status now.”

He used to scoff at the title “school grass,” but now he had learned to boast about himself.

Xu Xing ignored the two behind him. Tang Mian ran over and asked him and Wang Zicong, “I’m so hungry! Let’s go to the convenience store for food.”

Wang Zicong, who had been lying weakly on the desk, perked up and said, “Sure!”

Xu Xing asked Tang Mian, “Aren’t you steaming eggs anymore?”

Tang Mian had sneakily brought a steamer last week and had already steamed boiled eggs for Xu Xing and Wang Zicong once. Wang Zicong even had a stash of small soy sauce packets under his desk from sushi takeout.

Tang Mian said, “I forgot to buy raw eggs yesterday, and there aren’t enough left.”

Xu Xing remembered that Tang Mian had bought six raw eggs last time, and after cooking, there were still three left. How could that be not enough? But Xu Xing didn’t ask further. He rummaged through his bag for change and said, “Then let’s go.”

As Xu Xing got up, he was called by Lu Che, “Class leader, I want to drink Wangzai milk.”

Xu Xing responded casually and left.

Xu Xing didn’t think there was anything wrong with what Lu Che said; he just thought that Lu Che was quite demanding.

However, Tang Mian, as an outsider, could hear the affectionate undertones in the request: when expressing the same question, “I want to drink Wangzai milk” and “Please bring me a box of Wangzai milk” were two phrases that could distinctly define the level of intimacy.

During the morning exercise break, the school’s convenience store saw sales that could rival an entire day’s worth of retail. The store was crowded, people jostling together, and it was noisy.

The lady at the cashier’s desk shouted in a rough voice, “Students, please line up; don’t rush; we’re out of tomato-flavored crunchy noodles; I know I owe you five yuan; we’re boiling water over there, so those who want instant noodles need to wait a bit longer—”

Xu Xing had Tang Mian and Wang Zicong wait at the door. He had a height advantage over Tang Mian and didn’t have Wang Zicong’s chubby physique working against him. He stood out in the crowd, watching the shelves and counting what he wanted to buy. He felt great admiration for the cashier lady’s eloquence and quick reactions.

Nearby, a boy stretched out his hand, waving the twenty yuan in it, shouting, “It’s my turn now, auntie!”

Xu Xing found the voice familiar. Turning to look, he saw Lin Peisang from his class.

Xu Xing’s gaze landed on Lin Peisang’s stretched-out arm—his right hand waving the money had a spring-like black rubber band around the wrist, identical to the one Tang Mian used to tie his hair.

Xu Xing only glanced curiously, wondering why a boy would wear that, but he didn’t pay much attention.

Xu Xing walked out with six black pepper sausages, two packs of crunchy noodles, and a box of Wangzai milk. Tang Mian and Wang Zicong, waiting at the door, eagerly took the bags from him, each holding up two black pepper sausages and enjoying them.

They stood in a corner of the corridor, finishing the sausages before heading upstairs to return to the classroom.

As Xu Xing reached the back door of the classroom, he happened to see Lin Peisang coming out of it—

Xu Xing initially didn’t pay much attention to the approaching figure, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the red thread on Lin Peisang.

The red thread, influenced by gravity, emerged from Lin Peisang’s chest, falling to the ground and slowly stretching toward Huang Mengjiao in the classroom.

Meanwhile, several loops of scarlet red thread were wrapped around Lin Peisang’s ankle, as if it had adhesive properties, with the other end anchored at Liu Peilian’s heart.

Xu Xing was taken aback. He hadn’t expected to see the red thread again, this time appearing between Lin Peisang and the two girls at his desk.

Xu Xing didn’t quite understand the purpose of the red thread. He casually placed the Wangzai milk on Lu Che’s desk and let his gaze linger a bit longer on Huang Mengjiao and Liu Peilian. It was still the same situation as last time: Huang Mengjiao and Lin Peisang were heart-to-heart, while Liu Peilian’s red thread was tangled around Lin Peisang’s foot.

Lu Che inserted the straw into the box’s straw hole, glanced over in the direction of Xu Xing’s gaze.

At that moment, the class bell rang hurriedly, cutting off the question Lu Che hadn’t had time to ask.

Noon.

Xu Xing and Tang Mian went to the cafeteria for lunch, where they happened to see Lin Peisang and three others sitting at an empty table in front of them: Lin Peisang and his deskmate, along with Huang Mengjiao and Liu Peilian.

Since the division of classes into arts and sciences, the four of them had been seated at the front and back of each other, forming close bonds. Or rather, their interactions were more frequent than with others.

After sitting down, Huang Mengjiao brushed her hair to one side and said playfully, “I really have the memory of a goldfish; I forgot to bring a hair tie again.”

Hearing this, before Liu Peilian could speak, Lin Peisang reached out his right hand to Huang Mengjiao and said, “Here, for you.”

Huang Mengjiao’s gentle eyes lit up, and seeing the hair tie on Lin Peisang’s wrist, she couldn’t hide her smile as she said happily, “How do you have a hair tie?”

Liu Peilian, watching this scene, felt a pang in her heart.

Lin Peisang’s deskmate teased, “Oh my, how thoughtful!”

With a cheeky grin, Lin Peisang replied, “Last time I saw Peilian struggling with her hair while eating, so I thought I’d bring an extra hair tie from now on. That way Mengjiao doesn’t have to borrow from Peilian, and both of them can have one.”

“…”

After Lin Peisang finished speaking, Huang Mengjiao lowered her eyes without expression, while Liu Peilian’s emotions became complicated: after feeling disappointment and loss, a glimmer of hope rose again—maybe, perhaps, who knows…

Her mind was filled with these thoughts.

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The author has something to say:

Everyone, Lin Peisang and Huang Mengjiao are not in a romantic relationship at this time!!!