Xu Xing, unwilling to give up, attempted to draw another bowknot. But every time he tried to add the tassels, it ended up as a cylinder again!

Watching Xu Xing’s increasingly frustrated expression as he compulsively redrew the indescribable doodle, Lu Che couldn’t help but ask, “What exactly are you doing?”

Unable to explain verbally, Xu Xing furiously drew three, four, five, six, seven, or eight more sketches. Finally, exasperated, he threw down the pen, clutching his head in frustration. “This is completely abnormal! Haven’t you noticed that every single drawing is exactly the same?”

Each drawing, as if copy-pasted, was identical, with no deviation whatsoever.

It was only then that Xu Xing realized he had once again fallen into the trap of the red string. The strange sentence earlier was already peculiar enough, and now he was drawing this cursed object at the worst possible moment.

Lu Che glanced at the paper and, with an amused smile, said, “Class president, have you been practicing this? Are you hoping for some praise?”

“…”

Xu Xing was so exasperated that he didn’t even have the energy to glare at him. Internally, he screamed: Praise, my foot! Only a crazy person would practice this! Anyone practicing this must be out of their mind!

Blinded by rage, Xu Xing briefly lost all reason and clarity. Once he calmed down, he reflected on how he must appear from Lu Che’s perspective—a complete madman.

With a defeated sigh, Xu Xing muttered, “I just wanted to draw a bowknot…”

Not wanting to completely crush his spirit, Lu Che replied, “Well, you know, it kind of looks like one.”

“…”

Xu Xing was even more frustrated now that Lu Che could vaguely recognize the word “bowknot” in his explanation. It was as if all his efforts to explain had only backfired.

Exhausted by the red string, Xu Xing felt drained, his head throbbing, and his thoughts were a jumbled mess. He had no idea how to explain things to Lu Che without tripping over the red string’s manipulative influence.

He crouched down on the floor, staring intently at the red string dangling from the chair.

In his muddled mind, a rare moment of clarity emerged, and he calculated the odds of rushing over and forcibly untying the bowknot.

The red string glowed faintly, not bright but incredibly attention-grabbing…

After a brief standoff with the string, Xu Xing ultimately gave up. Every time it glowed, it felt as if it was luring him into another trap, like a fisherman using a light to attract fish.

Lu Che, completely bewildered by Xu Xing’s strange behavior, saw him crouching down in despair and thoughtfully offered, “Class president, if your legs are numb, just sit down. Why are you squatting?”

He patted the chair next to him, signaling for Xu Xing to sit.

Xu Xing looked up with a dazed expression, sighed deeply, and reluctantly stood up, tearing off the page full of strange drawings and crumpling it into a ball. “Lu Che, let’s just pretend none of this ever happened today. Forget it all, and we’ll go back to minding our own business.”

Lu Che chuckled and teased, “Your memory is really that bad, class president? Should I send you a copy of the recording to jog your memory?”

“…”

In a conciliatory tone, Xu Xing pleaded, “Please just delete the recording…”

Lu Che didn’t mince words, replying directly, “No chance.”

Xu Xing’s frustration surged, and he could no longer contain his anger. He slammed his hand down on the desk and shouted, “That recording isn’t even my voice!”

The loud bang of his hand hitting the desk caught Lu Che’s attention. He looked at Xu Xing’s reddened hand, feeling a twinge of sympathy, wanting to offer some comfort.

An awkward silence lingered for a few seconds.

Before Lu Che could speak, a knock came from the back door. A stern voice followed: “Xu Xing, keep it down. You’re disturbing the other classes.”

“…”

Embarrassed, Xu Xing turned around, his temper instantly evaporating. He forced a smile and politely nodded at the chemistry teacher. “Sorry, teacher. We’re heading out now.”

Once the teacher returned to their class, Lu Che couldn’t hold back his laughter and said, “Your acting skills are impressive, class president.”

Xu Xing shot him a fierce glare, not wanting to prolong the interaction any further, and slunk downstairs to prepare for roll call.

Five minutes before PE class ended, the students gathered for attendance. When the dismissal bell rang, they disbanded.

Dragging his feet back to the classroom, Xu Xing was soon joined by his classmates as the school bell rang once more, causing the red strings to disappear.

This time, Xu Xing was only mildly surprised that the red string had lasted less than half an hour. Aside from that, he had no other thoughts.

Xu Xing no longer dared to underestimate the red string. Rather than worrying about it, he was far more concerned about the recording in Lu Che’s possession. Although the words he had spoken were strange, if Lu Che were to spread it as a joke, the recording would be quite damaging to Xu Xing’s image. It would make him look like a hypocrite—pretending to be righteous while secretly being sleazy. Worse yet, Xu Xing himself couldn’t even explain it properly.

With the recording in Lu Che’s hands, Xu Xing lived in constant dread.

Regardless of what Lu Che might have been thinking, Xu Xing was determined to follow his own advice: pretend none of this had happened, dive into his studies, and try to distract himself from it all.

In the afternoon, during the break after the third period, Xu Xing took out his phone to look up some English words. He noticed that Xu Yin had sent him a message ten minutes earlier: “When you go to send the package, can you also buy me a box of milk-flavored white chocolate? The ones I ordered online weren’t good.”

Xu Xing stared at the chat with Xu Yin, his eyes drifting to the message she had sent him the day before—

“How’s Lu Che… doing?”

Xu Xing suddenly felt a headache coming on, sensing that something was off.

Back before the semester started, when Xu Xing first discovered that he could see the red string of fate, he spent two days brooding over it alone before eventually confessing everything to Xu Yin in a panic.

Xu Xing suddenly recalled that day: after hearing his story, Xu Yin consoled him and told him to calm down. About twenty minutes later, she knocked on his door and asked, “Lu Che… he’s the one who transferred to your class last semester, right?”

At the time, Xu Xing only felt annoyed when he heard it, but now as he thought back, he was terrified.

Xu Xing thought about it carefully, his fear growing, his fingers trembling as he nervously typed a message to Xu Yin on his phone: “Sis… do you remember what I told you the day before school started?”

Xu Yin had just finished her military training early and replied promptly: “Yes, I remember.”

Xu Xing felt his temples throbbing with anxiety. “Can you repeat what I said to you back then?”

Xu Yin asked curiously, “What do you mean?”

Xu Xing carefully chose his words: “Just… what exactly did I say to you? Could you summarize it?”

Xu Xing anxiously waited for Xu Yin’s reply. Although he thought he was prepared, when he saw the message pop up on the screen, he still felt like the world went dark—

“Coming out?”

“!!!”

Xu Xing was speechless with frustration. “Coming out my foot! Who am I coming out to?!”

Xu Yin responded again: “You came out to me… about your secret crush.”

“Who!?”

“Lu Che…”

Xu Xing was completely dumbfounded. “What the heck???”

That day—

Xu Xing suddenly saw a red string connecting his parents and the couples walking by, and then he noticed his own left hand was tied to something unspeakable in his lower body. He had been troubled by it for a long time and finally couldn’t hold back from knocking on Xu Yin’s door.

“Sis…”

Xu Xing usually called Xu Yin by her name, only switching to “sis” when he needed something from her.

Xu Yin was lounging in her hanging chair reading a book. Without looking up, she asked, “What do you want?”

Xu Xing closed the door behind him, afraid their parents in the living room would hear.

Only then did Xu Yin tear her eyes away from her book and look up at Xu Xing. She saw him standing there, hesitating and unsure of how to start. “I have something I want to talk to you about…”

Xu Yin found this unusual behavior concerning, so she closed her book, sat up, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Xu Xing had rehearsed this in his head, but now standing in front of her, he stumbled over his words, stammering: “I don’t know what’s happening, but two days ago, I started seeing something weird—like… like red strings (on couples) on Lu Che.”

Xu Yin was dumbfounded. “You…”

She was shocked by Xu Xing’s strange words, ready to scold him. What “that” was he talking about? But as she pieced together his vague sentences, she realized her brother might be revealing a secret he was struggling with. Was Xu Xing… coming out to her?

Xu Xing tried to explain further, comparing what he saw to the red strings tied by the matchmaking deity in ancient folklore. But before he could continue, Xu Yin cut him off: “Wait, wait.”

Xu Xing, feeling uneasy, obediently stopped talking when Xu Yin interrupted him.

Xu Yin tried to dissect his rambling words. Though she was confused, she didn’t press him further, afraid of touching a sensitive nerve. Rearranging Xu Xing’s jumbled thoughts, she guessed that he must have accidentally seen something of Lu Che’s, maybe while they were in the restroom or the locker room during swim class. And after seeing it, he started feeling abnormal.

Xu Yin furrowed her brows, staying silent for a while, not daring to say what was on her mind for fear of hurting Xu Xing’s fragile state.

Xu Xing, face scrunched up in distress, sighed, “Sis, this really isn’t normal. What should I do?”

Who else can see red strings connecting people? Obviously, it wasn’t normal!

Seeing Xu Xing so dejected, Xu Yin’s heart softened, and she changed her tone: “Does anyone else know you can see this… thing?”

Xu Xing shook his head. “No, they don’t.”

He could see the red strings between others, but it didn’t seem to affect them at all…

Xu Yin, relieved, said, “Good, it’s best if no one knows. For now, keep this to yourself and don’t overthink it. Just… let it be.”

Finally, Xu Yin couldn’t help but add sternly, “This isn’t your fault. You’re not sick, okay? You can’t control this, and since it’s already happened… don’t stress too much. Just stay calm. If you can pretend it never happened, that’s best. If not… we’ll deal with it after the college entrance exams, alright?”

Xu Xing nodded absentmindedly, his head spinning, and he stumbled back to his room.

Meanwhile, Xu Yin remained in her room, feeling unsettled.

“Lu Che…”

Xu Yin had heard of this transfer student.

When Lu Che transferred into their school last semester, he caused quite a stir among the girls—everyone knew that a handsome transfer student had joined Class 7 in the second year of high school. He quickly joined the school basketball team and led them to win the city’s high school championship. Xu Yin had been dragged by her classmates to watch Lu Che play basketball, and one girl even commented that watching the handsome junior was the best way to unwind from academic stress.

Additionally, since some classmates knew Xu Yin’s brother was the class president of Class 7, a few girls half-jokingly asked her to get Lu Che’s contact info from him.

Xu Yin had no interest in these things and didn’t actually ask Xu Xing. But she remembered Lu Che as a good-looking guy who was popular with his “older sister fans.”

However, Xu Yin never imagined that the next time she heard Lu Che’s name after graduation, it would be as the awkwardly stammered love interest of her brother.

Xu Yin felt conflicted.

Xu Xing, meanwhile, had no idea that his confession about the red strings had somehow turned into a coming-out story in his sister’s eyes. It had taken him this long to realize it.

This whole red string thing was getting out of hand.

This is insane!

Xu Xing, frustrated, felt like banging his head against the wall. Trembling, he tried to explain things clearly to Xu Yin over text.

He had braced himself for the difficulty of explaining it, but to his surprise, this time he was able to articulate the situation about the red strings.

He frantically typed out a message: “Are you crazy?! I never even mentioned Lu Che that day!!! I didn’t say anything about him or his ‘what’ or ‘whatever’!!! I was talking about seeing couples’ red strings, red strings!!! Like the ones tied by the matchmaking god in ancient mythology!!!”

Xu Xing, furious and exasperated, couldn’t stop adding exclamation marks, wanting to scream his frustration through the screen.

But just as he hit send, his phone signal dropped to zero. The message spun for a while before failing to send.

At this point, Xu Xing was no longer surprised by these kinds of mishaps.

And right then, Lu Che walked over to the water dispenser at the front of the classroom to fill his cup with warm water and started walking down the aisle.

Lu Che was just about to pass by Xu Xing when Xu Xing, staring at the failed message on his phone, felt a rush of panic and impulsively grabbed Lu Che’s wrist.

“Um…”

Lu Che stopped beside Xu Xing, letting him hold his hand, a playful smirk already forming on his lips.

Xu Xing had intended to show Lu Che the message he was about to send to Xu Yin, but as soon as Lu Che leaned over, Xu Xing’s phone crashed, the screen going black, and it shut down on its own…

“…”

Lu Che gently shook the hand that was being held and asked, “What’s up?”

Xu Xing, as if holding something burning, immediately let go of his hand and shook his head vigorously, like a bobblehead.

Xu Xing was filled with despair, feeling like he was suffocating, and had completely given up struggling.

Lu Che lightly laughed and ruffled Xu Xing’s hair, saying, “So many little thoughts.”

Xu Xing: “…”

Please leave. Thank you.

After Xu Xing restarted his phone, he could only avoid any questions about the red string and explained plainly to Xu Yin: “Sis, I don’t like Lu Che, and I’m not gay, please believe me.”

Xu Yin replied: “Got it. Stop overthinking and focus on your studies.”

“…”

Xu Yin’s nonchalant response clearly showed she didn’t believe Xu Xing. Whether she was comforting him or just brushing him off, no matter how much Xu Xing tried to explain, it felt futile. It seemed like the issue was all in his head.

Xu Xing was mentally exhausted, beyond words. That night during self-study, after a quick trip to the bathroom, he returned to find the class advisor standing at the back door, supervising.

The class advisor saw Xu Xing and pulled him aside into the hallway, expressing concern, “Class monitor, you haven’t been in great shape lately. Is the pressure of senior year getting to you?”

Xu Xing shook his head and said that he could still handle the workload.

The class advisor patted his shoulder and said, “That’s good. If you’re troubled by anything, remember to talk to me. Good luck on the midterms.”

Xu Xing nodded and was about to head back to class but couldn’t resist turning back to say earnestly, “Teacher, during the midterms, I hope you’ll cut back on the tricks and be a little more sincere.”

Class advisor: “???”

Xu Xing sighed softly.

---

Author’s note:

Xu Xing: Friends, let’s pretend today never happened. [Bowing out][Bowing out][Bowing out] (Can’t afford to offend anyone, I’m out of here.)

The red string is one of the untouchable boundaries.

The red string effect on Lu Che: Xu Xing’s personal 200% beauty filter, with infinite tolerance [Humbly offering it, please accept with a smile.]