The homeroom teacher’s creative little game managed to motivate some of the students, while the rest didn’t really care much about it.

Xu Xing and Wang Zicong belonged to the latter group. The difference was that Xu Xing only cared about his upcoming monthly exam, while Wang Zicong was more focused on the National Day holiday after the exam. This year, the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays were combined, allowing the stressed-out senior students four days off.

After class, Xu Xing’s gaze drifted toward the front of the classroom, where the homeroom teacher was surrounded by three girls asking questions. Xu Xing glanced at Lu Che, noticing that Lu Che, who rarely lowered his head, was focused on his practice sheet, expertly spinning a pen between his fingers. Xu Xing couldn’t help but admire how fast Lu Che’s pen-spinning skills had improved, and he called out, “Hey.”

Lu Che lifted his head at the sound, smiled slightly, and said, “Hmm?”

Xu Xing cleared his throat and said, “You need to get today’s question from the homeroom teacher for my deskmate.”

Lu Che glanced toward the front of the room and replied, “Got it, I’ll get it from the homeroom teacher in a bit.”

After giving his instructions, Xu Xing turned back around and sat properly. He casually flipped through his notebook of mistakes, turning the pages with his left hand. As the pages flipped, a red string suddenly appeared in the palm of his left hand.

Xu Xing froze.

Glancing around, the red strings that existed in the classroom reappeared before his eyes.

Xu Xing was no longer confused by the appearance of the red strings. He began to purposefully test them one by one.

First, he looked down and found that the red string around his ankle was faint in color, but he still couldn’t touch it. Then, he deliberately dropped a pen on the floor and, while bending down to pick it up, noticed that the red string on Lu Che’s ankle hadn’t changed from the day before. Finally, he tried touching the red string around Wang Zicong’s ankle, only to find that he couldn’t touch that either.

However, he could touch the red string growing from Wang Zicong’s heart.

What kind of nonsense is this?

Xu Xing frowned slightly. Using his water cup as cover, he walked to the front of the classroom to observe closely: there was no change in the red string around Xiao Shun; the red string around Liu Peilian had disappeared; but the heart-to-heart red string between Lin Peisong and Huang Mengjiao was still there. And the red string around Yu Cancun still remained…

Xu Xing was speechless at the sight of Yu Cancun’s red string. He had managed to untangle so many potential threats, but the most obvious source of hostility was still unresolved.

His lips rested on the rim of his cup as steam rose from the freshly poured hot water. He blew the steam away.

As he was about to leave with his water, a male classmate came over to fill his cup. Xu Xing casually patted him on the back while greeting him, but once again, he couldn’t feel the red string.

Xu Xing began to understand, starting to confirm his previous assumption: not everyone’s red string could be touched.

Five minutes passed in a flash, and when the bell rang again, the red strings disappeared.

Xu Xing returned to his seat and added a few more marks to his notes, using symbols to summarize his observations: On the third day after untying Liu Peilian’s red string, the red string appeared for only five minutes, just like the previous days.

.

After morning classes ended.

Wang Zicong mentioned that friends from another class had invited him to lunch outside, so he left as soon as the bell rang. Meanwhile, Tang Mian had been busy helping Liu Peilian switch dorms. A girl from Tang Mian’s dorm was close with a girl in the neighboring dorm, so Tang Mian went to negotiate with that girl to switch with Liu Peilian, and the girl, being easygoing, agreed. The only remaining task was to get the dorm supervisor’s signature.

Xu Xing pulled out his meal card and a small pack of tissues from his bag. Just as he stood up, someone behind him grabbed his wrist and said, “Wait a minute, class monitor, let me finish this problem first.”

“…”

Most of the classmates had already left, and the few who remained were chatting, unaware of what was happening in the back corner.

Lu Che stretched out his arm on the table, holding Xu Xing’s wrist, while his other hand was quickly solving the math problem on a scrap of paper.

Xu Xing glanced at the test paper and realized that Lu Che was working on the same math problem, specifically the third question, that he himself had been stuck on during the break.

As Xu Xing focused on the solution, he unconsciously watched Lu Che’s process closely.

When Xu Xing finally grasped the key to solving the problem, he suddenly noticed that at some point, Lu Che had shifted from holding his wrist to holding his hand.

“…”

Xu Xing, as if shocked, jerked his hand away.

At the same moment, Lu Che finished the problem.

Lu Che casually tossed his pen aside and stood up, placing the test paper on Xu Xing’s desk. He said, “Class monitor, can you check my thought process later?”

Xu Xing: “…”

Lu Che smiled, pulling out his meal card. “Let’s go eat first.”

Xu Xing glanced at the test paper on his desk, feeling an unnamed emotion stirring inside him. Though he didn’t respond to Lu Che’s words, he no longer resisted walking together with him.

Distractedly, Xu Xing finished his meal. He and Lu Che seemed to have reached a tacit understanding: after the meal, one returned to the classroom while the other headed back to the dorm.

Xu Xing went back to the classroom alone, and as soon as he sat down, the test paper on the desk caught his attention.

He opened it, and all the problems were left blank except for the last big question.

Xu Xing sighed in resignation and, for some reason, felt a slight sense of guilt. He thought, If Lu Che paid this much attention to girls, they’d probably be head over heels for him.

But Lu Che had put all his energy into him…

Looking at the handwriting on the test paper, Xu Xing suddenly felt a bit flustered.

…

Around 1 p.m., Wang Zicong returned.

Xu Xing took a break from his sea of problems and looked up to see Wang Zicong’s chubby face full of grievance.

Xu Xing clicked his tongue and asked, “What did you eat for lunch? Was it that bad?”

Wang Zicong’s emotions were always tied to the amount and quality of food he had.

To his surprise, Wang Zicong said, “My girlfriend just argued with me…”

Wang Zicong pouted.

Xu Xing glanced at Tang Mian’s empty seat, regretting that their resident relationship expert wasn’t around to help, and asked, “Why did you argue?”

Wang Zicong, looking pitiful, replied, “I went out for lunch with my girlfriend’s friend, and we happened to run into my girlfriend. She got mad and walked off.”

Xu Xing asked, “Was the friend a guy or a girl?”

“A girl.”

“…”

This girl frequently invited Wang Zicong to meals, always with the same excuse: “I have a discount coupon for a two-person meal at such-and-such place, and it’s expiring today! It’d be a waste not to use it. I’ll treat you to lunch!”

And Wang Zicong, being a foodie, couldn’t resist. The dishes she chose were ones his girlfriend didn’t like, so he never mentioned it to her.

Even though Wang Zicong and his girlfriend attended the same school, they weren’t glued to each other, and Wang Zicong usually had meals with Xu Xing. This gave the girl an opening.

When his girlfriend walked in on him at the restaurant today, Wang Zicong, in his innocence, waved to her and said something like, “What a coincidence,” completely unaware that she would get upset and storm off.

Wang Zicong said to Xu Xing, full of grievance, “I thought she was mad because I didn’t invite her to the meal, but I don’t think that’s the real reason.”

Xu Xing looked at him in disbelief and asked, “You really don’t realize that the girl who invited you out is into you?”

Wang Zicong immediately shook his head and said, “Only my girlfriend would like me. Tang Mian said that no girl would ever consider me as a guy…”

Wang Zicong’s words left Xu Xing speechless.

Wang Zicong was well-liked among the girls, often praised for being kind and cute. Wherever he went, the girls treated him like a mascot. But because they didn’t see him as a guy, the girls were comfortable inviting him into their inner circle without any concerns.

Especially with someone like Tang Mian, who had known him for a long time. She often pinched Wang Zicong’s cheeks or held his hand, never once worrying about boundaries or propriety.

It seemed as though everyone had agreed that no matter how close Wang Zicong got to a girl, no one would ever associate him with romance.

When Wang Zicong first revealed he had a girlfriend, everyone thought he was joking. And Wang Zicong had only smiled shyly in response.

It wasn’t until people actually saw his beautiful girlfriend that they silently agreed: Wang Zicong managed to land such a pretty girlfriend? She must have some really unique taste… and maybe a bit of a quirky sense of humor.

The more Xu Xing thought about it, the guiltier he felt. He patted Wang Zicong on the shoulder and said, “Don’t listen to Tang Mian’s nonsense. It’s perfectly normal for a girl to like you. Your girlfriend was jealous, you know? So, you need to keep your distance from that other girl. If she keeps asking you to hang out and you keep going, she might get the wrong idea.”

Xu Xing was convinced that the girl liked Wang Zicong, after all, a red string had once appeared on Wang Zicong’s ankle.

Wang Zicong furrowed his chubby face and said, “Then… I won’t go out to eat with her anymore.”

Xu Xing nodded and added, “If you don’t like her, don’t give her false hope. Also, go apologize to your girlfriend quickly.”

“Mm, mm,” Wang Zicong responded, fully taking Xu Xing’s advice to heart.

Under Xu Xing’s urging, Wang Zicong set off to explain everything to his girlfriend. Before leaving, he hesitantly asked, “Xing Xing… can you help me copy the notes now? Lu Che asked me to finish it before lunch.”

Xu Xing: “…”

Looking at the teacher’s notebook in Wang Zicong’s hands and the conflicted look on his chubby face, Xu Xing sighed and took the notebook. “Fine, just go already.”

With a sigh of relief, Wang Zicong hurried out of the classroom.

Xu Xing looked at the teacher’s notebook in his hands, feeling the weight of it, and sighed again. Helping Wang Zicong copy down the problems was a small favor, but what really bothered him was that Lu Che would definitely use this as an excuse to tease him.

Xu Xing pondered for a while, scanning his classmates in the room, but they were all just acquaintances. He couldn’t find a reason to ask anyone else to help him.

Seeing that it was almost 1:30, with the classroom clock seemingly urging him, Xu Xing clenched his teeth and went to the back blackboard to copy the problems.

As the chalk scratched against the board, writing rapidly, Xu Xing pressed too hard, snapping the chalk in half and making a sharp screeching sound on the blackboard, sending shivers down his spine.

He paused for a moment and noticed there were no more pieces of chalk at the backboard, so he headed to the front of the classroom to get more. As he did, he unintentionally made eye contact with Yu Cancun, who was sitting in the front row.

Yu Cancun looked away, expressionless.

Xu Xing: “…”

This is seriously unlucky.

With a mix of emotions, Xu Xing returned to the back and continued writing. The problems took up a third of the board, and as he marked the final question, he sighed in relief and placed the chalk back on the ledge. Just as he was about to return to his seat, someone hugged him from behind.

A husky voice whispered close to his ear, “Class rep, I knew it~”

Xu Xing: “…”

You know nothing.

Just as Xu Xing was about to break free, he suddenly felt something strange on his earlobe—Lu Che had gently nibbled it with his teeth and even flicked his tongue.

Although Xu Xing couldn’t see Lu Che’s movements, he could guess from the sensation. The mental image forming in his mind was even more suggestive than reality, and Xu Xing immediately snapped, “Get off!”

He forcefully pushed Lu Che away, only to see him grinning shamelessly. “I just wanted to hug you~”

Xu Xing glared at him and shoved him harder, storming back to his seat, clearly irritated.