Once people get busy, time tends to pass especially quickly.

For the past three days, they had spent almost all their time in a small rural village near City B.

The signal there wasn’t great. It was manageable during the day since they had plenty to do, but once night fell, all they could do was sit face-to-face and grin at each other like fools.

So, whenever boredom set in, someone would suggest playing little games together.

Pictionary, idiom relay, spotting planes in the sky, “Does this have anything to do with it?”…

Because of this, in just a few short days, the relationship between the students from the two schools deepened rapidly.

And since the mobile signal was poor, Yu Ju had been going to bed early and waking up early these past few days.

How early? He went to bed at nine in the evening, and how early did he wake up? By five the next morning, he was already up.

Then, at eight o’clock, he’d receive a “Morning.” message from Gu Qianxing, sent at seven-thirty.

Yes—although it was originally Yu Ju who had agreed to greet Gu Qianxing that day, in the end, Gu Qianxing beat him to it.

Between the lines of Gu Qianxing’s message, it almost felt like he was saying, If you won’t do it, then I will.

After receiving Gu Qianxing’s morning greeting, Yu Ju would politely return the gesture with a “morning” of his own.

So now, no matter what he was doing in the morning, around eight o’clock, the moment he had a break, the first thing Yu Ju would do was pick up his phone and check if that person named “G” was awake yet.

Gu Qianxing only ever sent one word—morning. Nothing more. He never followed up with any casual chat or small talk.

Which was just fine. Gu Qianxing was like someone who dangled a fishing hook into the river every day at the same time, baited with just that single word—morning—waiting for Yu Ju to swim over.

Sometimes, Yu Ju even felt like a hungry little thing, eagerly wondering if the person with the fishing rod might toss down an extra snack or two today.

He didn’t really want to admit it, but there were moments, lying in bed at night, when he would think of Gu Qianxing.

Sometimes he imagined the two of them going together to pick up Comma.

Sometimes he remembered how, after he was kicked out of the group chat that day, the others had teased Gu Qianxing.

And sometimes, he was just simply thinking about that person.

This kind of longing… had happened before, too—in the days right after his falling-out with Zhang Qiming.

Back then, he thought that calling Gu Qianxing “gege” meant he saw him as just that—an older brother.

It wasn’t until he had another strange dream—this time even more outrageous—and woke up still feeling reluctant to let it go, that Yu Ju realized something wasn’t quite right.

Tonight was their last night here, and clearly everyone had gone a bit wild. Their final round of the murder mystery game didn’t end until midnight.

Yu Ju was a little hyper too. As much as he liked this project, being stuck in the same place for three days straight, living in what felt like total isolation from the outside world—any modern person would start to feel the strain.

Especially since his mom had said she made him ginger syrup.

He missed home even more.

By the time he returned to his room and finished washing up, it was nearly 1 a.m. Yu Ju picked up his 2G phone and, with some effort, tapped open WeChat.

He originally just wanted to scroll through Moments for a bit. At this speed, it would probably be sleep-inducing anyway. But unexpectedly, as soon as he opened it, he saw that familiar cat avatar.

Gu Qianxing had posted something an hour ago.

It was just text, nothing else. It read: “The weather will be nice tomorrow.”

Just like that Weibo post from before, Gu Qianxing had ended the sentence with a period.

A period.

Yu Ju let out a muffled groan through clenched teeth.

What the hell—is something wrong with him? Why was he thinking about himself? What does this have to do with him at all?

Gu Qianxing said tomorrow, but that WeChat post was sent at 11:54 p.m., so technically, it was still today in terms of time.

Yu Ju, for whatever reason, opened the weather app to check tomorrow’s forecast for City A.

Fantastic. It had been a full minute and it was still loading.

His finger slipped, and he accidentally closed the app.

At this point, the person who had been on the verge of sleep suddenly found himself itching for something to do.

He opened Zhao Yi’s chat without thinking too much and typed: [Did you see the post Gu Qianxing just made on Moments?]

Heaven itself seemed to be urging Yu Ju to go to bed, because the moment he hit send, his phone signal miraculously shot up to 4G.

A second later, Zhao Yi replied quickly: [Yeah, I saw it.]

Zhao Yi: [The one that says ‘The weather will be nice tomorrow,’ right?”]

Yu Ju’s mouth twitched. That one reckless message was now prickling with embarrassment all over his nerves.

What does it have to do with you, huh?! Not even half a cent’s worth of relevance!

With a trembling hand, Yu Ju sent a message back: [Oh, oh, never mind.]

Then he tossed his phone aside.

After all that fuss, Yu Ju was now fully awake. Curled up under the blanket, he tried to console himself—It’s Zhao Yi. It’s fine. It’s totally fine. Totally.

Ugh! So embarrassing!

It took him a long time to finally fall asleep.

The next day, their flight was at 9 a.m., so the whole group had to get up early.

They caught the earliest bus to City B, then headed to the airport.

But strangely enough, today, Gu Qianxing didn’t send his usual “Morning.”

Was it not 7:30 yet?

It was 8:00.

WeChat was still completely empty.

Suddenly, a line Yu Ju had read somewhere came to mind—he didn’t even remember where he’d seen it. It went something like: If you say goodnight to someone every day, eventually, they’ll get used to your presence.

Back then, his reaction had been: Pfft. That’s it?

Now?

It had only been three days.

Ha.

So Yu Ju, is that all it takes for you?

At the airport, the students from the two schools shared brief hugs and farewells before going their separate ways.

And for the 800th time that day, Yu Ju checked his phone—under the full strength of a 5G signal, there was still no message.

Great.

After three hectic days, everyone was clearly exhausted. Upon arriving back in City A, Yu Ju decided to postpone the meeting originally scheduled for today and let everyone head home to rest.

Each person left in a different direction, and as the team leader, Yu Ju felt the weight on his shoulders suddenly lift. A wave of relief washed over him.

If there were a bed nearby, Yu Ju felt he could fall asleep right then and there.

Dragging his suitcase with one hand and rubbing his sore neck with the other, he tilted his head back to relieve the tension—when out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of someone standing not far away.

The next second, Yu Ju froze on the spot.

But his first thought wasn’t Why is Gu Qianxing here?

It was: Was that stretching pose just now super ugly?

Slowly, Yu Ju lowered his hand, staring blankly as Gu Qianxing walked toward him.

“Morning, Little Period.”

That was the first thing Gu Qianxing said to him.

Yu Ju gave a quiet, stunned hum of acknowledgment—just as Gu Qianxing reached out his hand.

Yu Ju instinctively let go of his hand, and Gu Qianxing naturally took over his suitcase.

Then he heard Gu Qianxing say, “What a coincidence.”

Yu Ju blinked lightly before asking, “What are you doing here?”

Gu Qianxing looked every bit like someone who had been waiting for him for ages, but what he said was, “Just passing by.”

“Passing by?” Yu Ju was skeptical. “The airport?”

The old airport in A City was so remote it might as well be the end of every road.

But Gu Qianxing still responded with complete confidence, “That’s right.”

Something tugged at Yu Ju’s chest—he couldn’t tell what exactly.

His voice lowered, uncertain whether it was grievance or something else: “Who are you trying to fool?”

Gu Qianxing gave a soft laugh and echoed him, “Yeah, who am I trying to fool?”

Yu Ju couldn’t help but bite his lower lip.

What is with this guy?

Just like that, Yu Ju was led away by Gu Qianxing.

As they walked, Yu Ju suddenly had a delayed realization.

So.

How did he, once again, end up being taken by Gu Qianxing?

He raised his eyes to glance at Gu Qianxing and asked, “How did you know I was on this flight?”

Gu Qianxing played along, “So you knew what I was here for.”

Yu Ju, not to be outdone, responded in the same playful tone, “I didn’t know.”

Gu Qianxing chuckled.

Yu Ju turned his head away, hiding his own smile from Gu Qianxing.

Gu Qianxing answered Yu Ju’s question seriously, “There’s only one flight coming from B City every day.”

Yu Ju asked, “How did you know I was coming back today?”

Gu Qianxing replied, “If not today, I’d come again tomorrow.”

Yu Ju was momentarily speechless. “Oh.”

Damn, what kind of words were those? So touching.

Yu Ju then added, “You could’ve just asked me.”

Gu Qianxing countered, “Would you have told me?”

Yu Ju was once again caught off guard.

And just like that, the topic was put to rest.

The silence lingered for a while, and only then did Yu Ju realize that Gu Qianxing’s appearance had revived him, making him feel much more awake—and a lot happier too.

It was ambiguous, something that could go either way, with room to advance or retreat.

His mood felt like a light feather, drifting effortlessly with the slightest breeze, soaring high and far.

After walking for a while, the person beside Yu Ju suddenly spoke up, “How could anyone come to pick someone up empty-handed?”

Yu Ju turned to look at him.

When Gu Qianxing said this, he was staring ahead, almost as if speaking to the air.

How could someone suddenly start talking while walking?

Yu Ju was inexplicably amused. “What else would I bring?”

Gu Qianxing kept his gaze fixed forward. “I’m not sure if Mr. Yu likes flowers.”

Yu Ju slowed his smile and rolled his tongue around his back teeth. “Who are you talking to?”

Gu Qianxing seemed not to hear. “Even if you don’t like them, I’ll buy them anyway.”

Yu Ju didn’t want to fall into it, but he couldn’t help thinking about the WeChat post Gu Qianxing had shared yesterday.

He said the weather would be nice tomorrow.

And he added a period at the end.

Ah, Yu Ju! Wake up!