Early in the morning, the dormitory was filled with the sound of shivering gasps from the cold, both inside and out.

Xie Ci got out of bed and took a look at the balcony, noticing it was a gloomy, rainy day. He casually grabbed a hoodie and put it on.

By the time he finished washing up and returned, Gu Yufeng, who had a hard time waking up, was finally up. He sat up slowly, his fluffy hair sticking out in all directions. When he yawned, he was so dazed by the cold that he sneezed, almost biting his tongue in the process. He hissed a couple of times, and that finally woke him up completely.

Where did that elegant vibe from his past life go? Was it all just his imagination?

Xie Ci thought to himself, tossing a towel and cup over: “Did you bite your mouth?”

Gu Yufeng grinned, looking a bit unhappy.

Xie Ci found it amusing and stood by the bed, beckoning him with a finger, signaling him to lean over: “Let me take a look.”

Gu Yufeng shot him a glance, reluctantly leaned over the bed railing to let him check.

Still half-asleep, he misjudged his strength and almost crashed into Xie Ci.

Seeing Gu Yufeng’s suddenly enlarged face, Xie Ci stepped back a bit.

Gu Yufeng noticed this little move and teased, “What are you dodging for? Afraid I’ll give you a good morning kiss?”

“Your mouth is already hurt, and you still want to be flirty?” Xie Ci gently pinched his lower lip and flipped it out, revealing a bloody bite mark on the inside, still oozing a bit of blood, but it didn’t look too serious.

The warm touch on his lips made Gu Yufeng glance at Xie Ci’s hand, then silently shifted his gaze elsewhere.

Xie Ci took a quick look and then let go: “Just lick it yourself.”

Gu Yufeng instinctively licked it, tasting the metallic flavor of blood, and resignedly crawled out of bed to sit on the lower bunk to put on his shoes.

Xie Ci turned around to organize the things he needed for the day on his desk, casually reminding him: “It’s cold today, wear more.”

“It’s way too cold! I’m thinking of wearing a down jacket!” Jiang Chenyu came back after washing up, sniffing and adding another layer of clothing.

As they were about to head out, Xie Ci grabbed the school uniform jacket hanging on the back of a chair. He noticed Gu Yufeng obediently added a light brown sweater vest over his shirt and thought for a moment before going back to grab a folding umbrella.

Just after the second class started in the morning, it began to drizzle outside.

A gust of wind blew into the classroom, making everyone shiver and complain.

Seeing his foreign classmate shivering and learning to huddle like someone from the Northeast, Xie Ci reached out to close the window, leaving just a crack open for ventilation.

His phone, which was in the drawer, vibrated. He turned to shield his screen from others and secretly checked the message.

Yang Le: [The teacher’s paintings are starting a preview at Yishu today. The person in charge just called, saying there are a lot of inquiries.]

Yang Le: [The agent from Mingjian also called, unhappy about us entrusting the paintings to Yishu for auction, argued with me for a long time.]

After their discussion on Saturday, Mingjian indeed started promoting his dad’s paintings right away.

Xie Ci checked the gallery’s official website, and his dad’s works were prominently displayed on the homepage.

Additionally, he had Jiang Chenyu inquire with his family, and some business people who had previously consulted the gallery had received preview calls from Mingjian one after another.

Mingjian Gallery had been operating for many years, with a fairly stable client base. Plus, it was his dad’s previous exclusive agency, so promoting it would be faster and better than finding someone else.

As a result, the gallery was busy with free promotions, and not only did they not get a single painting, but Yishu Auction House also loudly listed his dad’s works for auction, opening up for preview consultations, and the painting was one of the three that had been returned from Mingjian.

Mingjian worked hard for half a day, only to end up making a wedding dress for someone else; it would be strange if they were happy about it.

Xie Ci replied: [There’s no contract binding you, no need to be polite with him.]

Yang Le: [Got it.]

Soon, Gu Yufeng also received a message from Lin Ying, mentioning the time for Yishu’s auction of Jian Yan’s works.

Lin Ying: [I’ve checked with Yishu, it’s Jian Yan who entrusted them for the auction, unrelated to Mingjian.]

Gu Yufeng turned to look at Xie Ci, who was seriously listening to the class, feeling even more puzzled.

After the contract was terminated, they still wanted to squeeze out more benefits, utilizing their limited resources to the fullest; this kind of operation felt all too familiar to him.

But the old fox was still young; maybe it was just a coincidence?

From the moment Xie Ci sent the paintings, to Feihong’s Lei Qiliang squeezing out the Xie family, to Mingjian’s unusual promotion of Jian Yan’s works, and now to Yishu Auction House, it felt like there was an invisible hand controlling everything, step by step pushing Jian Yan’s market value higher.

But could a poor high school student who just escaped a bad foster family really achieve this?

Was he overthinking it?

Or was there something more to it?

Xie Ci felt a chill down his back from Gu Yufeng’s stare and, after holding it in, quietly reminded him: “This is Old Class’s class, focus.”

“I’m very focused,” Gu Yufeng replied.

Focused on thinking about the problem.

On the podium, Xiang Haibin turned around and immediately spotted the two people in the back row whispering to each other, with Gu Yufeng even boldly showing his back to him.

“Gu Yufeng, come up and solve this problem.”

Gu Yufeng was suddenly called out, looking up at the blackboard: “Which problem?”

Xiang Haibin had a stern face and tapped the blackboard with chalk: “This one on the right! Are you daydreaming? Were you even paying attention in class?”

The other students in the class watched Gu Yufeng leisurely get up and walk toward the podium.

Now even Xie Ci was starting to learn; the most relaxed person in the whole class was Gu Yufeng, as if he came to play every day. He had never seen him rush through homework, and he only wrote the questions he liked on tests. The key was that the teacher didn’t say anything; even if he did, it wouldn’t matter, and he was comparable to the old Xie Ci.

Gu Yufeng took the chalk, glanced at the problem, and started solving it, but his mind was full of thoughts about how the little wolf dog turned into an old fox.

After finishing, he casually tossed the chalk back into the box, and a small, unintentional action made all the girls in the class light up.

“Wait.”

Xiang Haibin called out to him.

Gu Yufeng: “What now?”

“You solved it wrong!”

Xiang Haibin frowned and circled the mistake, glaring at him, “Explain to me, what does writing ‘Xie’ mean?”

Gu Yufeng turned to look and indeed saw the character ‘Xie’, feeling speechless.

“Being polite can’t be wrong.”

“Pfft, hahahaha…” Many people in the class laughed out loud.

Xiang Haibin was both angry and helpless: “Go back and copy ‘解’ three hundred times and hand it to me.”

To fall into the same pit twice, Gu Yufeng was furious: “It’s a pity you’re not switching to being a primary school Chinese teacher.”

Xiang Haibin: “Get back to your seat.”

When Gu Yufeng returned to his seat, he saw Xie Ci holding his forehead, unable to stop laughing.

“Is it that funny?”

Xie Ci: “Isn’t it funny?”

Gu Yufeng pulled out his chair and sat down, speaking softly: “I wrote ‘Xie’ because I was thinking about you the whole time.”

He didn’t deliberately lower his voice, and the whole class heard it.

The atmosphere in the classroom froze for a moment.

When Xie Ci looked up, he indeed saw Xiang Haibin looking over with a sour face.

A minute later, Xie Ci and Gu Yufeng were both standing at the back of the classroom as punishment.

Looking at the indifferent smile on the little foreigner beside him, Xie Ci couldn’t laugh anymore.

With nothing to lose, this kid was invincible.

The fourth period was a physics lab class, and they had to go to the lab building.

It was raining outside, and there was a stretch of road between the teaching building and the lab building that was uncovered.

The rain wasn’t heavy, and Gu Yufeng planned to just walk through it.

“Old Gu, didn’t you bring an umbrella?” Fang Sizhe asked as he passed by.

Gu Yufeng glanced at the few people beside him: “Aren’t you all without one too?”

“We have hats.” As he spoke, Fang Sizhe put on the hood of his hoodie.

“I felt it would rain this morning, so I specifically wore a hoodie,” Jiang Chenyu chuckled.

Zhang Ruochuan: “Me too, saves the trouble of carrying an umbrella.”

Only then did Gu Yufeng notice that they were all wearing hooded clothes today.

Suddenly, an umbrella was moved over his head. Gu Yufeng turned to see it was Xie Ci.

“Let’s go.” Xie Ci urged him while holding the umbrella.

Gu Yufeng took a look and saw that Xie Ci was also wearing a hoodie today, probably thinking the same as Fang Sizhe and the others. So why did he bring an umbrella?

Was it specifically for him?

The wind was strong outside the teaching building, and a group of students were shivering and shouting. The umbrella swayed in the wind, almost flipping over.

Gu Yufeng noticed that Xie Ci was standing on the windward side, and the umbrella in his hand was also tilting toward him, unable to suppress the smile creeping up his lips.

Hearing Gu Yufeng’s light laugh, Xie Ci asked in confusion: “What are you laughing at?”

Gu Yufeng sighed softly: “You keep doing this, how can I not think about you?”

Xie Ci: “…”

Gu Yufeng was so straightforward, and his tone carried the usual nonchalance and casualness, which made it hard for people to have strange associations.

The students around them who heard this all laughed, thinking he was just joking.

Jiang Chenyu, walking in front, turned around with a smile: “Old Gu, finally realized how good our Xie team is, huh?”

Gu Yufeng: “If I were a girl, I’d want to marry him.”

Jiang Chenyu and the others laughed loudly.

“If I were a girl, I’d marry him too!”

Gu Yufeng turned to ask Xie Ci: “Are you this nice to everyone?”

Xie Ci, hearing them tease, showed no emotional waves on his face: “Of course not.”

Before Gu Yufeng could feel happy, he heard Xie Ci’s words laced with thorns: “They’re not my upper bunk, they won’t catch a cold and occupy my bed.”

Gu Yufeng leaned in deliberately: “Is it just because of that?”

Xie Ci stepped back a bit: “Be honest, or you’ll get wet later.”

Gu Yufeng wasn’t going to listen to him.

The two of them squeezed together, dodging each other, and a gust of wind blew by, causing Xie Ci’s umbrella to flip over, turning into an upside-down funnel.

Gu Yufeng got splashed by the wind and rain, turning to see Xie Ci’s appearance, laughing heartily.

Xie Ci fixed the umbrella back to its original state, feeling a headache coming on.

Kids are really hard to handle; they’re too exhausting.

On Thursday morning, during the first class.

The bell rang, and Xiang Haibin finished the last bit of content, telling everyone: “Next month, we’ll hold the autumn sports meeting. If you want to participate, go sign up with the sports committee. Hand in the list to me this week.”

“Sports meeting?!” Everyone in the class was surprised.

“Didn’t the seniors not have to participate in the sports meeting for the past two years? Why do we have to this year?”

“This is too sudden, right? There are only a few days left, no time to prepare.”

“Every day doing exercises, where’s the time to participate in the sports meeting?”

Xiang Haibin made a shushing gesture: “It’s not mandatory; if you want to participate, sign up. It’s fine if you don’t, as long as it doesn’t affect your studies.”

During the break, the class was discussing the sports meeting.

Fang Sizhe privately went to find Old Xiang to understand the situation and learned that some parents had complained to the education bureau. Originally, the school didn’t allow seniors to participate in the sports meeting.

The sports committee was worried about the list.

They said it was voluntary, but since they had to participate, the number couldn’t be too small or it would look bad. After all, it was a competitive event, and they were a key class; they couldn’t really not care about the rankings.

By the end of the day, not many people had signed up, and they had no choice but to seek help from class leader Fang Sizhe. The two of them went around asking based on the participation situation from the previous two years.

By the time evening self-study came around, the list was still sparse.

Fang Sizhe walked over to Xie Ci’s seat: “Old Xie, you should fill in a spot.”

Xie Ci didn’t care about participating in the sports meeting; to him, it wasn’t something that needed special preparation. In the end, he signed up for the 200 meters, 1500 meters, and the 4×100 meter relay.

Fang Sizhe looked at Gu Yufeng: “Old Gu, why don’t you join in?”

“I’m not really interested.”

Gu Yufeng’s reaction was flat.

Fang Sizhe: “Old Xie running the 4×100 alone is too lonely; come keep him company?”

Gu Yufeng raised his head and teased: “Isn’t the 4×100 in China run by one person?”

Fang Sizhe stubbornly replied: “…Isn’t it because there’s no one?”

Xie Ci glanced at the events on the list and casually said: “You have good explosive power; you can add the 100 meters. You have long legs and good flexibility; try high jump.”

Fang Sizhe hurriedly wrote Gu Yufeng’s name down: “Then we’ll definitely win big!”

Gu Yufeng: “…”

The two of them played off each other, tricking Gu Yufeng into joining.

After Fang Sizhe left, Gu Yufeng squinted at Xie Ci: “How do you know I have good flexibility?”

Xie Ci was caught off guard by the question and realized he had let something slip. Pretending to look at the problems, he held back for a long time before saying: “Haven’t I played ball with you before?”

Gu Yufeng: “Did I do any difficult moves when playing ball?”

Xie Ci: “…Maybe?”

Gu Yufeng nodded slowly: “So when you were playing ball, your attention was all on my body’s flexibility?”

Xie Ci: “…I noticed a bit.”

At 7:30, Xie Ci’s phone vibrated; it was a message from Lei Qiliang.

His dad’s painting was going up for auction tonight, and Lei Qiliang was accompanying a few friends from the business circle to attend. He asked the other party to take him along to see the situation.

That evening, Xiang Haibin was out for a meeting, so Xie Ci put his phone in his pocket and made an excuse to go to the bathroom, slipping out of the classroom through the back door.

At this time, he couldn’t get out of the school gate, so he had to find a suitable corner to climb over the wall.

Having not done this for a long time, Xie Ci hesitated for a moment at the bottom of the teaching building before deciding which direction to go.

“Where are you going?” Gu Yufeng’s voice came from behind.

Xie Ci turned around: “What are you following me for?”

Gu Yufeng walked over: “I’ll do whatever you do.”

Xie Ci put on a stern face, but Gu Yufeng was unfazed, nodding toward someone behind Xie Ci: “Someone over there has come; go say hi?”

Xie Ci looked and saw it was the head of the teaching department, so he turned around and walked away.

“That person over there—uh!”

Gu Yufeng deliberately made a sound toward the approaching person, but Xie Ci quickly covered his mouth and pulled him away.

It had been raining for days, and the lawn was all wet.

A row of ginkgo trees was planted by the wall, and Gu Yufeng followed Xie Ci sneakily until they stopped at a spot.

Gu Yufeng looked up: “A wall over three meters high; how can we jump over without a running start?”

On their way here, they had seen two or three teachers, seemingly patrolling. Making a running start would definitely attract attention.

The surroundings were pitch black, and Gu Yufeng watched as Xie Ci looked around, returning with an old paint bucket and placing it in the corner of the wall.

“Step on this to get up.” Xie Ci lowered his voice, signaling Gu Yufeng to go first.

Seeing the shoe prints on the paint bucket, Gu Yufeng raised an eyebrow: “You’ve done this a lot, haven’t you?”

Xie Ci urged: “Hurry, someone’s coming.”

Both of them were tall enough, and with a jump, they easily cleared the wall’s railing.

On the other side was the street, and after walking a few steps, a familiar Land Rover drove up.

Gu Yufeng opened the back door and nodded to Xie Ci: “Get in.”

Xie Ci looked at him deeply: “Do you know where I’m going?”

“To the Yishu auction; is it hard to guess?” Gu Yufeng pushed him into the back seat and got in himself.

As the car started, Gu Yufeng noticed Xie Ci staring at him, feeling a bit helpless: “Don’t look at me like that.”

Xie Ci: “How did you know?”

Gu Yufeng: “When you came to my house that day, you asked my dad about Jian Yan’s situation. A painter isn’t a secretive profession; I could find out who he is with a little research.”

Xie Ci thought to himself that this was indeed true.

His dad wasn’t deliberately hiding his identity; it was just that at this point in time, he was still an unknown little painter.

If Gu Yufeng wanted to investigate, it would be easy to find out, not to mention that on the day his dad went to his aunt’s house, Gu Yufeng was also there, and many details could be pieced together.

However, he had ulterior motives for sending the paintings; he didn’t know if Gu Yufeng had already sensed it or if he would mind.

To avoid complications, Xie Ci sent a message to Lei Qiliang, telling him not to wait for him.

Since they had already opened up, Gu Yufeng took the opportunity to probe: “The agency your dad signed with has issues; do you know?”

“I know.”

After sending the message, Xie Ci put away his phone, “The contract with them has already expired.”

Gu Yufeng continued to probe: “Your dad’s paintings suddenly entrusted to Yishu; was that your idea?”

Xie Ci replied calmly: “Recently, I heard from Old Jiang that many people want to buy my dad’s paintings, but he’s not in good spirits and can’t face clients directly, nor is he good at these things, so I wanted to try this method.”

Gu Yufeng couldn’t read anything from his expression and asked again: “Did you know your dad liked Jian Yan’s paintings all along?”

Xie Ci stared straight ahead, his eyes darkening slightly.

Gu Yufeng had indeed started to suspect; this kid’s intuition had always been sharp.

“That painting was a gift for you.”

Xie Ci turned to meet Gu Yufeng’s gaze, “If I had known your dad would like it so much, I would have given him two.”

Seeing his attitude so open, Gu Yufeng fell into thought.

Hoping for that outcome, he subconsciously aligned all the facts and details toward what he wished for; was he just overthinking it?