Chapter 10: Forum

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As dusk painted the sports field in a honey-gold hue, Lin Yumo removed her military training cap, the faint scent of jasmine from her hair mingling with a trace of sweat.

She ran her fingertips through the hair marked from the cap’s pressure, giving her head a small shake so that the strands released a barely-there fragrance of jasmine into the air.

“Little Jasmine~” Song Xingran clung to her like a koala. “I’m melting… seriously melting…” Suddenly, she leaned in close to Lin Yumo’s neck and took a deep breath.

“Ah—back to life! How come even your sweat smells good?” Lin Yumo squirmed at the ticklish touch, laughing as she gently pushed her away.

“Quit fooling around, pack your things,” she said with a smile, dodging another playful nudge.

“I’m fully recharged now!” Song Xingran swung her backpack up, her energy instantly restored.

As the two of them joked their way toward the school gate, Class 1’s camouflage formation had just been dismissed.

Jiang Bozhou, like an unleashed hunting dog, bounded over, twisting open a bottle cap in three quick strides. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he drank, a bead of water slipping from the corner of his mouth and leaving a dark patch on the front of his training shirt.

“Want some, Chi Ling?” he asked, tilting the bottle toward him, a droplet still clinging to the rim.

Chi Ling paused mid-motion while crouched by his backpack. His obsidian eyes flicked toward the mineral water in Jiang Bozhou’s hand, carrying a hint of distaste.

Moving unhurriedly, he pulled out a neatly folded tissue, and in the glow of the setting sun, began to wipe his forehead and neck with precision—each movement like carving an artwork, even the creases in the tissue hinting at deliberate order.
“You drink it yourself,” he said evenly.

Through the crowd, Lin Yumo spotted Chi Ling standing in the dappled shade, meticulously wiping his neck.

The metal water flask in his hand caught the sunlight, flashing silver—a detail that instantly made her think of Song Xingran’s earlier remark about “Ling God’s abs.”

Her ears flushed red.

Jiang Bozhou scratched his head, unfazed by the cold reception, and turned his attention to Wen Yannan, who was tying his shoelaces. Sidling up like a loyal dog, he asked, “Yannan, want some?”

The only response was a cool glance. Wen Yannan wiped his sweat with a tissue in a casual sweep, focusing entirely on his shoelaces as though the surrounding noise had nothing to do with him.

Even after being rebuffed twice, Jiang Bozhou didn’t lose heart. Humming an off-key tune, he grabbed a towel and wiped his face with broad, careless strokes.

Then he froze mid-motion, staring intently into the distance. He jabbed his elbow against the two beside him, the fabric of their training shirts rustling with the movement. “Look, there’s a really pretty girl over there.”

Wen Yannan followed his gaze, the eyes behind his glasses flashing briefly before returning to their usual coolness. Pushing his glasses up, he tossed out a curt, “Go study,” then bent his head again to pack up his things. But the way his lashes lowered couldn’t quite hide the flicker of awe that had crossed his eyes.

Chi Ling’s reaction came a heartbeat later. When he lifted his gaze, it locked right onto Lin Yumo’s faintly smiling face.

She was laughing at something Song Xingran had said, brows curved, eyes bright. The sunset poured its gentle light over her flushed cheeks, as if wrapping her in a hazy, soft-focus glow. Her fair skin held a healthy blush, like the translucent flesh of a peeled lychee—moist and inviting.

This image overlapped perfectly with the fleeting glance they had shared that morning. Chi Ling’s fingers tightened involuntarily around the tissue, his knuckles paling, before he smoothed his expression back to calm indifference. His eyes lingered on her for three extra seconds before he shifted them away without a trace.

“What? How did I get in the way of your studying? You want to compete with me?” Jiang Bozhou barked in mock indignation, puffing out his chest.

Wen Yannan shot him a look, silently thinking: This big oaf looks carefree, but his grades are always among the top in class. Makes you wonder if he’s secretly grinding harder than the rest of us.

Deciding not to bother with him, Wen Yannan kicked the back of Jiang Bozhou’s shoe, signaling him to hurry up. He then slung his bag over his shoulder and strode forward.

Flustered, Jiang Bozhou stuffed his towel into his bag and ran after him, shouting, “You kicked me? I’m kicking you back!”

Chi Ling watched the two girls teasing each other, the corners of his lips unconsciously lifting into a faint smile, and he stepped forward to follow them.

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Dusk settled in. After parting with Song Xingran at the school gate, Lin Yumo slipped into the car that had been waiting for her.

Uncle Wu thoughtfully lowered the air-conditioning, and the jasmine tea prepared in the back seat was still steaming.

“Little Jasmine, you’re back?”
Her mother, Lin Xue, came out the moment she heard the door open. She took the heavy schoolbag from her daughter’s shoulders with a soft “Oh dear,” and asked, “Did you get sunburned today?”
As she spoke, she gently smoothed down the ends of Lin Yumo’s hair, flattened from her cap.

Lin Yumo sank into the sofa like a cat that had used up all its strength.
“My bones feel like they’re falling apart…”

Before she finished speaking, a cup of warm water appeared before her. Two jasmine buds floated inside, fully unfurled.

She cradled the cup, sipping slowly. The warm water carried the delicate floral fragrance down her throat, spreading a comfortable heat through her chest.

In the frosted glass of the bathroom, her silhouette appeared as she loosened her braid. When the water streamed down her back, she noticed a faint tan line at her waist.

The mark stood out against her fair skin, and it made her recall how, earlier in the day, Instructor Fang had pointed to her military posture and said, “This is the standard.”

The changes brought by her golden finger weren’t just in memory and figure—it also let her find, through repetitive movements, a long-lost sense of control over her own body.

After her shower, wrapped in pajamas, she curled up at her desk. Damp hair darkened her shoulders with small wet patches.

Her vocabulary book lay open to a dog-eared page; fifty new words were committed to memory in just twenty minutes. She glanced at her phone—her 8 p.m. alarm had just gone off.

When her phone buzzed on the nightstand, twenty-nine friend requests flashed across the screen. Each note read something like “Class Seven classmate” or “Saw you during military training.”

She accepted each Class Seven request one by one. Then she noticed Song Xingran’s avatar flashing at the top. In the chat box was:
【You’re famous now!!!】
Three exclamation marks bursting like tiny fireworks.

Right after came a forum link.

Lin Yumo tapped it open. The homepage was dominated by a high-definition photo of Chi Ling holding the class sign.

He stood under the blazing sun, sweat tracing a line down his sharp jaw and scattering into tiny glints of light in the sunlight.

The post title read boldly: 【God Ling holding the sign is so handsome!! Anyone have his contact info?】

Lin Yumo’s fingertip unconsciously brushed the screen as her eyes skimmed through the rapidly growing comment section:

【It’s Chi Ling. If you don’t know him yet, you’re missing out—top scorer in this year’s high school entrance exam in A City, insanely handsome, great family background. Any one of these tags would make me lose my mind; he’s got all three. Okay, I’m officially gone!!!】

This comment was pinned at the top, followed by a chain of replies that made her ears burn:

【I heard when he plays basketball, his abs are super defined…】
【Please, someone get a candid of him changing clothes!】
【Girls above, calm down—you’re drooling on my screen.】

Flustered, Lin Yumo quickly locked her phone and set the warm device face-down on the desk.

The room suddenly felt oppressively quiet, broken only by the sound of her slightly quickened breathing.

After a few seconds, she couldn’t help herself—she lit the screen again and quietly saved the photo into a hidden album.