The people in Dormitory 316 gradually woke up, each carrying their own washbasin to freshen up.

Gu Yufeng struggled to open his eyes and just happened to see Xie Ci standing by the bed, taking off the T-shirt he wore to sleep.

Xie Ci was 1.9 meters tall, and even though he was sleeping on the upper bunk, Gu Yufeng could see the lines of his shoulders and arms as he moved, slightly thinner than he remembered.

Perhaps noticing Gu Yufeng’s gaze, Xie Ci slightly turned his head. The morning sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a soft glow over his sharply defined profile.

The interplay of light and shadow made his face even more striking. Compared to the calm and composed gaze of Xie Ci in his thirties, the eyes before Gu Yufeng now held a hint of sharpness, a remnant of the seventeen-year-old who hadn’t yet been dulled by life’s experiences.

It was this guy who had kicked him off the bed last night.

Just thinking about it made Gu Yufeng feel a slight sting in his backside. Sure, it was his fault for sleeping in the wrong bed, but he had corrected his mistake in time and was ready to sneak away. He didn’t expect this guy to have such a poor sleeping posture, kicking him just as he was about to get up.

The dormitory beds were only one meter wide, leaving him no chance to buffer the fall, and he landed directly on his backside on the floor.

He had shared a bed with Xie Ci for five years, and despite the wild movements in the past, he had never fallen off the bed. Who would have thought he would trip over himself this time?

Gu Yufeng still felt a bit angry about it.

“Still not awake? Why do you look so dazed?” Xie Ci put on his clothes. “Hurry up, we’re going to be late for morning run.”

Gu Yufeng rolled over. “Not going.”

Xie Ci put on his school uniform jacket and asked Zhang Ruochuan, who was getting up across from him, “How many reflections do you have to write if you skip the morning run?”

“Five hundred!”

Zhang Ruochuan put on his shoes. “And you’ll have to stand on stage during the Monday assembly as punishment.”

Gu Yufeng: “…”

High school students really had no rights.

With a face full of morning grumpiness, Gu Yufeng walked out of the dormitory with Xie Ci and the others.

Jiang Chenyu asked Xie Ci and Gu Yufeng, “Did someone fall off the bed last night?”

Xie Ci casually asked, “Who?”

Jiang Chenyu replied, “If it wasn’t you, then it must be Gu. The noise came from your side.”

“Fell from the upper bunk?!”

Zhang Ruochuan looked at Gu Yufeng. “Are you okay? Is it your first time sleeping on the upper bunk? Maybe you should switch to the lower bunk?”

Xie Ci made a double entendre: “Not sleeping very honestly, are we?”

Who was not sleeping honestly?

Gu Yufeng smiled, his words laced with sarcasm: “I dreamt of being kicked by a wild boar. If I dream about it again tonight, I’ll chop it up.”

Xie Ci: “…”

His ex-husband was wild and hard to tame, hard to teach.

Everyone gathered at a corner of the playground to take attendance and started jogging in circles.

A few boys were chasing and playing around, and one of them backed up and almost bumped into Gu Yufeng, who kicked him in the back of the knee, nearly causing him to fall.

“What are you doing?” Yang He turned around angrily.

“Good dogs don’t block the way.” Gu Yufeng tossed out a line and ran ahead.

Yang He pointed at his back and cursed, but his companions advised him to let it go.

It was true that Yang He had bumped into Gu Yufeng first, and if it escalated and Old Xiang saw it, he would definitely get scolded again.

But Yang He was unwilling to back down. He had been kicked by Gu Yufeng in front of everyone before and called “trash,” and now being kicked in the leg was the last straw.

“What’s so great about you?”

Yang He quickly caught up with Gu Yufeng, “Starting next week, you’ll be my class monitor for a semester.”

Gu Yufeng shot him a look of disbelief: “Me, be your class monitor? Who do you think you are?”

Hearing this, Yang He burst into laughter.

“Hasn’t Xie Ci told you yet?”

As soon as he mentioned Xie Ci, Gu Yufeng felt something was off.

Before he could ask, Yang He recounted the bet from last night: “If Xie Ci loses, you have to help me with my duties!”

Gu Yufeng’s brows twitched.

Xie Ci was a slacker with a big appetite for gambling, and with his terrible grades, he dared to bet with others, dragging Gu Yufeng into this mess.

Gu Yufeng sized up Yang He and asked with certainty, “You’re second to last in the class, right?”

Students around them stifled their laughter.

His mouth was too sharp; it could infuriate someone in seconds.

Yang He, who had come to provoke Gu Yufeng, was now insulted and furious: “I’m ranked twenty-sixth! Sixty-seventh in the grade!”

Gu Yufeng fell silent for two seconds: “What about the exam in a few months?”

Yang He replied, “This Friday’s quiz! This week!”

Gu Yufeng: “…”

Today was Monday, leaving only four days until Friday.

Getting the second-to-last student to break into the top twenty was nearly impossible.

Xie Ci and a few boys from the basketball team finished their run and sat on the steps of the bleachers to rest.

Feeling someone approaching quickly from behind, Xie Ci turned around in confusion, only to be pulled by the collar by Gu Yufeng.

“What’s wrong with you?” Xie Ci looked up at Gu Yufeng, “Let go.”

Gu Yufeng pressed him against the wall with one hand, his voice low: “Did you ask for my opinion before using me as a bet?”

This awkward position attracted the attention of passing girls, who stopped in their tracks.

The school hunk was being “wall slammed” by a guy?!

Only then did Xie Ci remember what he had casually said earlier and pulled Gu Yufeng’s hand away: “Don’t worry, I won’t lose.”

“So it’s true?”

Gu Yufeng raised an eyebrow, his tone not so pleasant, “You really don’t consider me an outsider, do you, Xie Captain?”

Xie Ci replied, “A desk mate should share both joys and burdens, right?”

Gu Yufeng: “What kind of joy is this?”

Xie Ci: “The emphasis is on the first half of the sentence.”

Gu Yufeng: “…”

You’re something else, you really are.

Zhang Ruochuan and the others, hearing them talk about the bet, joined in the conversation.

“Don’t worry, Old Gu, we’ll help Old Xie catch up in the next few days.”

“The time is tight, but it’s not hopeless.”

“With Xie Captain’s brain, winning against Yang He is definitely no problem.”

Gu Yufeng glanced at them: “If you lose, will you do my duties for me?”

The group fell silent, unable to hold back their laughter.

Old Xie’s bet was indeed not very fair.

That night, when they returned to the dormitory, Zhang Ruochuan and the others got to work.

Xie Ci and Yang He were competing in math, so they marked the key points of the week’s math lessons, breaking down all the knowledge points and preparing to explain them to Xie Ci one by one.

When Xie Ci returned from his shower, they were already busy, with various study materials spread all over the table.

“Working so hard?”

“Of course!”

Jiang Chenyu waited for Xie Ci to sit down before handing him his notebook, “We’re serious about this.”

Xie Ci took it and flipped through it, clearly seeing the effort put into it.

There was a knock on the door, and Zhang Zhijie, sitting closest to the door, went to open it.

“Is Xie Ci here?” Fang Sizhe stood at the door, holding a math practice book and some scratch paper.

Zhang Ruochuan, hearing his voice, quickly invited him in: “Old Fang, you came at the right time! Quickly, help Old Xie come up with an emergency catch-up plan. We don’t need him to score high, just higher than Yang He.”

“Helping Old Xie catch up?”

Fang Sizhe sat down in the empty seat across from Xie Ci, which was Gu Yufeng’s seat, but he was out tonight. “Why don’t you go help Old Xiang instead?”

Jiang Chenyu didn’t understand: “What do we need to help Old Class with? Are we tired of living?”

Zhang Ruochuan caught on and leaned over to ask, “What do you mean? Don’t keep us in suspense.”

Fang Sizhe opened his math practice book, flipped to a page, and pushed it in front of Xie Ci: “Old Xie, can you help me look at this problem? I’ve been stuck on it all night.”

Zhang Ruochuan was dumbfounded.

“Wait, Old Fang, if you can’t solve it, how can Old Xie solve it—”

Halfway through, he suddenly realized, looking at the calm Xie Ci, as if he understood something.

No way?!

Xie Ci took the practice book, listening to their conversation, and suddenly recalled some past events.

It was a winter night in their first year of high school. After finishing his shift at the bar, he was riding home and passed a bridge when he noticed a shadow standing by the river. Something felt off, and upon closer inspection, he found it was the class monitor, Fang Sizhe.

Fang Sizhe’s parents were both government officials, and his family was well-off. He was polite and well-mannered, and with his outstanding grades, he was well-liked at school.

In contrast, Xie Ci was busy making money and had to deal with the sports school crowd, so his reputation at school was terrible, and few people spoke to him.

Before this day, their relationship was merely passing messages—“The homeroom teacher is looking for you.”

Who would have thought that Fang Sizhe, born at the finish line of others, like a winner in life, would be standing by the river at midnight with swollen eyes, contemplating ending it all?

Xie Ci rarely had the time to pay attention to others, nor did he care to meddle, but tonight was different.

Fang Sizhe’s state was off, and no matter how indifferent he was, he couldn’t pretend not to see.

“Enjoying the view by the stinky river? The class monitor has such a unique hobby?” Xie Ci remembered saying that.

Fang Sizhe turned around, surprised to see him: “What are you doing here so late?”

Xie Ci replied, “Just finished work.”

“Work?!”

The two sat down and chatted for a bit, only to find out that Fang Sizhe was in this situation because of family issues.

His parents were strict about his grades, to the point where it was unbearable.

They were two extremes—one was overly controlled, and the other was completely neglected.

“Even you are struggling?” In the dormitory, Fang Sizhe saw Xie Ci lost in thought and was somewhat curious.

Xie Ci snapped back: “I can’t remember this knowledge point.”

Watching Xie Ci flip through the book, Fang Sizhe teased, “It’s rare for a problem to stump you.”

Xie Ci replied, “I’m not good at everything.”

While waiting for Xie Ci to solve the problem, Fang Sizhe recalled that night.

That day, he had received the lowest score in math history.

Even if he had failed, he wouldn’t have been scolded, but his parents’ earnest words felt like shackles, like a giant stone piled on his head, growing heavier and suffocating.

No one cared about the effort he put in behind the scenes; his parents just wanted a “child like others.”

The days of torment seemed endless, and he wanted to end it all, not expecting to meet Xie Ci.

He had heard about Xie Ci to some extent—usually indifferent to others, with terrible grades, but he was undeniably handsome and good at basketball, recognized as the school hunk.

Xie Ci’s parents were divorced, his mother remarried, and his father was a drifter, often absent, which might have contributed to Xie Ci’s flawed personality and twisted character.

Every time he delivered materials to the office, the name he heard most was Xie Ci, and it was often not for good reasons.

They were in the same class but lived two completely different lives, coexisting peacefully, with no chance for deeper interaction in this lifetime.

That night, perhaps his mindset had collapsed, or perhaps in front of someone like Xie Ci, who was so laid-back, he could let his guard down for a moment.

He sat by the river and shared many things he had kept bottled up for a long time, things he had never told anyone else.

“Your tutoring class exam? Is it hard?”

Fang Sizhe saw Xie Ci pick up the crumpled test paper he had crumpled, looking at it under the distant streetlight, “You didn’t solve both major problems, but it is indeed difficult; the knowledge points are beyond the syllabus.”

Xie Ci said this, but after just a glance, he solved the problem that Fang Sizhe couldn’t crack, explaining the process without needing to write a draft.

Fang Sizhe was astonished: “Why do you pretend to be bad at studying?”

Xie Ci countered, “Then why do you pretend that studying is easy?”

Fang Sizhe fell silent: “I don’t want to disappoint my parents’ expectations.”

Xie Ci leaned on his hands, casually sitting on the ground: “I was quite envious of you; your situation tonight makes me feel down too.”

Fang Sizhe asked, “What are you feeling down about?”

Xie Ci replied, “I don’t know who to envy anymore.”

Fang Sizhe thought for a moment and said seriously, “Overall, I’m still doing better than you.”

Xie Ci: “Are you trying to comfort me with that?”

Fang Sizhe: “Seeing you struggle like this makes me feel much better.”

As Xie Ci prepared to leave, Fang Sizhe called out to him, looking at the dark, swirling river, and said softly, “Thank you, I’ve figured it out. Let’s work hard together; one day we’ll be able to take control of our lives.”

After that day, they became study partners.

Fang Sizhe would secretly lend Xie Ci his tutoring class notes, and in exchange, Xie Ci would help him solve some difficult problems.

But since they were now living on campus, they didn’t have to go through the hassle of meeting outside anymore.

While Xie Ci was helping Fang Sizhe with problems, Gu Yufeng was sitting in his low-key Land Rover, brainstorming various plans to help Xie Ci improve his grades, all of which had ended in failure.

Roberson was organizing materials when he suddenly heard Gu Yufeng slam the keyboard, startling him.

“Is this partner not to your taste?”

Gu Yufeng pondered: “Since we can’t improve his grades in a short time, we can only let him eat something good to nourish his brain.”

Roberson: “…?”

What does that mean?

Gu Yufeng rushed back to the dormitory before lights out, laying out a pile of takeout on the table.

Jiang Chenyu leaned over, sniffing the aroma: “What’s this? It smells so good!”

“Braised pig brain.”

Gu Yufeng waved at Xie Ci, “Come here, you can’t sleep until you finish this.”

“…” Xie Ci looked at the mountain of takeout boxes, “How much did you buy?”

Gu Yufeng replied, “Ten kilograms.”

Xie Ci: “…”

Xie Ci turned to leave.

Gu Yufeng grabbed him and pushed him into a chair, placing the braised pig brain in front of him: “If you can’t beat Yang He, then our fateful connection ends here.”

Xie Ci looked up at him: “You said that.”

Gu Yufeng nodded slowly: “When the time comes, you can choose whether to hang on the wall or the tree.”

Xie Ci: “……”