After finishing his takeout, Xu Xing cleaned up his desk and took the few bags of takeout boxes left at the back of the classroom.

Tang Mian followed him and took two of the bags from his hands, saying, “Xing Xing, I’ll go down with you.”

Two boys sitting at the back turned their heads and smiled, saying, “Thanks, class monitor and Tang Mian~”

Tang Mian walked downstairs with Xu Xing. It was late, and the streetlights along the school path had already cast a soft, yellow glow, attracting moths that fluttered around the glowing bulbs.

Tang Mian could never hide her thoughts for long. After a few steps, she couldn’t help but say, “Hey, Xing Xing.”

Xu Xing walked beside her and turned to look at her when he heard her voice.

Tang Mian tactfully said, “Well, just now, out of all those takeout orders, yours was the only one missing… I was wondering, could it be that someone did it on purpose?”

Xu Xing’s first thought at the vague mention of “someone” was of Yu Canchun…

Xu Xing frowned slightly and said, “Don’t talk nonsense. Who would mess with me? What kind of grudges could I possibly have with anyone?”

Tang Mian shrugged and stuck out her tongue.

Although Xu Xing told her not to falsely accuse anyone, her words left a subtle doubt in his mind. He wanted to ask her who would have a motive to mess with him, but the moment the thought crossed his mind, a voice answered for him—because you attracted Lu Che’s attention.

Xu Xing remembered that the red thread extending from Yu Canchun’s heart was tied around Lu Che’s ankle.

For a moment, Xu Xing was dazed, then he reassured himself not to overthink it. He cleared his throat, threw away the trash, and returned to the classroom with Tang Mian. Just as they reached the back door, Lu Che called out to him from the hallway.

Lu Che and Ke Di were leaning against the hallway railing, enjoying the breeze.

As soon as Lu Che saw Xu Xing coming back, he smiled and asked, “Class monitor, where did you go?”

Lu Che had gone to the restroom with Ke Di earlier and came back to find Xu Xing missing from his seat.

Xu Xing was about to respond.

Just then, Yu Canchun walked up from the back door, smiling as she interrupted their conversation, “Class monitor, your seafood baked rice was 24 RMB. My deskmate covered for you. Lu Che and Ke Di, you two can just send me a WeChat red packet to pay me back~”

Ke Di turned his head and replied, “Got it. Mine was 26, right?”

Lu Che added, “Ke Di, pay for mine too. It’s 26.”

Ke Di pulled out his phone, unhesitatingly agreeing, “Sure, so that’s 52 altogether.”

Yu Canchun: “…”

She was not in a great mood: she had originally planned to use this opportunity to add Lu Che on WeChat. If she’d known this would happen, she would have asked Ke Di to pay her classmate directly.

After evening self-study.

As soon as Xu Xing returned to the dormitory, he quickly went to take a shower. Afterward, with a towel hanging around his neck, he carried a basin of laundry out of the bathroom, only to find that there was now another person in the dorm room—

Lu Che raised the neatly folded sports uniform in his hand and said, “Class monitor, I’m returning your clothes.”

Xu Xing raised his chin and said, “Just toss it on my bed.”

Lu Che chuckled, “Can I toss myself onto your bed too?”

“…”

Xu Xing shot him a glare, “Get lost.”

Lu Che laughed, placing the clothes on Xu Xing’s bedside, his gaze following Xu Xing’s movements.

Xu Xing had sharp, clean features. Though his eyelids were slightly hooded, his eyes appeared large and lively, thanks to the natural shadows under them. His bright eyes seemed to sparkle with stars. He had a high, straight nose with delicate nostrils, and his upper lip had a sensuous curve, while his lower lip was slightly plumper—it looked like it would be really nice to bite.

Xu Xing didn’t notice Lu Che’s gaze. He carried his laundry out to the balcony, sighing as he prepared to hand-wash his clothes.

The dormitory didn’t allow washing machines. Summer uniforms were light and breathable, so hand-washing them wasn’t too difficult, but winter was a different story—it was pure torture. During the winter, Xu Xing only hand-washed his undergarments, bringing the rest home over the weekend to wash in the machine.

While Xu Xing squatted on the balcony to wash his clothes, Lu Che followed him out, casually lifting the towel from Xu Xing’s neck to help dry his hair.

Xu Xing leaned his head back, frowning, “Hey, no, no, what are you doing?”

Squatting in front of him, Lu Che smiled, “Why are you being so polite with me?”

Xu Xing flatly refused, “No need. Go take a shower already. It’s getting late.”

Xu Xing’s eyes landed on Lu Che’s uniform, noticing that he was still wearing his socks and sneakers—clearly, he had rushed over right after returning to the dorm, without even changing his shoes.

It was already past 11 PM. The others in Xu Xing’s dorm were all hurrying to shower before lights out. After a few rounds of Xu Xing’s urging, Lu Che finally, and reluctantly, went back to his own dorm.

The next day.

The sunlight was blinding, and the weather felt stifling.

During morning self-study, Xu Xing finished his daily practice test and paused to rest, rubbing his wrist. Suddenly, he heard a sharp voice behind him, “Put your phone away!”

It was Ke Di’s voice, filled with tension and anxiety.

Curious, Xu Xing turned his head to glance behind him. His eyes hadn’t yet reached the back seats, but they landed on the metal fire door at the back of the classroom, where the head of the senior year stood silently.

The classroom door was transparent, so the grade head could clearly see everything happening inside. The students who were secretly goofing off were startled when they spotted the head standing at the back.

Fu Dai had been playing with his phone under his desk, but thanks to Ke Di’s warning kick to the chair leg, he hurriedly stashed his phone away, scratching his head as if he was struggling with the exercises.

——Fortunately, it was just a false alarm.

The grade head had a well-known reputation throughout the school. The graduating class from last year had even given him the nickname “The Phone Terminator.” He held the record for confiscating 20 phones in a single week, and throughout the entire school, including graduates, the number of students who had their phones taken by him could circle the campus three times.

After the first class ended, Fu Dai exclaimed, “Wow, that was really scary just now!”

Ke Di, holding an English vocabulary book, flipped to the next page with a serious expression and said, “I think you could say it differently, like ‘Oh shit, just really scare die me.’”

Fu Dai ignored his wrong english grammar suggestion and kept staring at the back door of the classroom, still shaken by how the Dean of Discipline always appeared silently at the door.

Fu Dai said, “I need to come up with a solution…”

The morning sun always shone through the transparent glass on the back door of the classroom, bothering the student sitting at the last desk of the second row. A patch of irregular sunlight landed on their desk, lighting up half their face, so they had to use a book to block it.

After thinking all morning, Fu Dai came back in the afternoon and asked Ke Di for some clear single-sided tape, the kind he had used to stick post-it notes before, and then pulled out two A3-sized scratch papers from under his desk, leftover from exams.

In the name of benefiting his classmates, Fu Dai stuck the two sheets of scratch paper onto the classroom door—one on the top and one in the middle. The top sheet was taped on the outside of the door, while the middle sheet was taped on the inside. Only the bottom gap of the door was left uncovered.

He thought to himself, the Dean wouldn’t crouch down to spy on the class just to check on us, right?

The thought of the Dean squatting at the door to peek inside made Fu Dai laugh to himself. If the Dean were really that dedicated, he’d risk having his phone confiscated just to snap a picture of the scene as a graduation memento.

After taping the papers to the door, Fu Dai grabbed a pen and eagerly wrote three lines on the scratch paper outside the door:

Name: Sunshade;
Purpose: To block the sun. Please do not tear it down. Thank you for your cooperation.
Note: To the inspecting teachers, you are welcome in our class. When checking the classroom, please lift from below. Please do so gently, thank you for your understanding, and here’s a little heart for you. ❤️

Ke Di, standing behind Fu Dai watching the whole thing, laughed so hard he could barely stand up straight. “Man, you’re way too creative!”

Fu Dai proudly said, “We’re fighting back against surveillance now. If anyone lifts the scratch paper from the outside, the sunlight will flash, and we’ll know someone’s at the door.”

Xu Xing came back from the office and happened to see Fu Dai finishing up at the back door, looking pleased as he returned to his seat. Xu Xing turned to glance at the back door of the classroom—

“…”

Xu Xing walked past Ke Di and returned to his own seat.

Ke Di sighed, “Speaking of our senior year Dean, back in sophomore year, I got caught smoking by him once. That was one bitter experience…”

Fu Dai asked, “What happened?”

Ke Di propped his chin up and sighed, “In sophomore year, I was hiding in the stairwell on the top floor with Che Ge, smoking…”

When the Dean came to catch them, Ke Di thought he was done for, but at least he had Lu Che for company. However, as soon as the Dean reached the stairwell, Lu Che grabbed the handrail and leaped down, landing perfectly and walking away like nothing happened, leaving Ke Di standing there dumbfounded. He wanted to applaud Lu Che’s agility but realized it was hardly the time. He and the Dean just stared at each other, equally stunned.

Fortunately, Ke Di was representing the school in a city competition at the time, so his punishment was light. He was only made to clean the athletes’ locker room for a week.

Ke Di still got teased by the athletes because of it. Among the sports students, many smoked and drank, despite the Dean constantly catching students smoking in the boys’ bathroom. Yet the athletes smoked freely on the training field, and the teachers turned a blind eye, only occasionally getting kicked by their coach, Director Guo, who would shout, “Put out the cigarette!”

They’d obediently put it out, only to repeat the routine the next day. Over time, it became a sort of unspoken agreement that smoking on the training field was a way to relieve stress, and even the teachers seemed to accept it.

After hearing Ke Di’s story, Fu Dai laughed and praised, “Che Ge is awesome!”

But Lu Che, unlike his usual smug self, quickly explained to Xu Xing, “That was just some dumb stuff I did back in sophomore year. I’m really trying to quit smoking now, class president.”

Lu Che’s sincere expression, like a kid trying to redeem himself, made Ke Di and Fu Dai burst into laughter.

Seeing Lu Che’s earnest eyes, Xu Xing wondered: Why is he so eager to clear his name? Is he afraid I’ll tell the teachers?

As the class president, Xu Xing indeed had a duty to report certain situations to the teachers, but snitching wasn’t his style.

Xu Xing said casually, “Quitting would definitely be for the best. Ke Di, you should quit too.”

Ke Di sighed, “It’s my mental fuel. It’s not so easy to quit. You see, ever since Che Ge started quitting, he’s been so out of it. His hands shake so much he can’t even spin a pen properly anymore, and it breaks my heart, honestly.”

“…”

Lu Che leaned against the wall, snickering. These days, he was so busy sticking close to the class president that spinning pens was the last thing on his mind.

At that moment, even the usually quiet Zhou Mang chimed in, advising Ke Di, “Smoking will affect your heart and lung function. If your heart and lungs can’t keep up, you won’t be able to increase your speed. Director Guo has warned you plenty of times to cut back on smoking and drinking, hasn’t he?”

In the sports student circle, there was a saying: “Smoke for 800 meters, drink for 100.”

It meant that smoking affected lung capacity, and drinking affected explosive power. Ke Di indulged in both.

Ke Di flopped into Zhou Mang’s arms, grinning, “I only smoke half a pack a day, and I can still run 800 meters in 2:04, and that’s just in regular shoes. With spikes, I can push it to 2:02. Don’t worry, next year we’ll both make it to Beijing Sports University, just like we promised.”

Ke Di and Zhou Mang’s post-it notes were stuck side by side on the bulletin board behind them:

“See you at Beijing Sports University 2018—Ke Di.”
“See you at Beijing Sports University 2018—Zou Mang.”

In reality, Zhou Mang had only written his note because Ke Di had pestered him into it.

Xu Xing didn’t like how indifferent Ke Di was about the whole thing. Compared to him, Lu Che seemed much more conscientious…

Xu Xing glanced at Lu Che, then turned back to rest on his desk, trying to catch a few minutes of sleep during the break.

The classroom was stuffy, but there was a faint breeze outside.

Most students opened their windows halfway to let in some air, but Lu Che left most of the airflow for Xu Xing, only keeping a small gap for himself.

At first, Fu Dai and Ke Di were chatting and didn’t notice, but when Fu Dai realized the window on his and Lu Che’s side was almost closed, he complained, “Che Ge, open the window! I’m dying from the heat!”

Hearing this, Ke Di looked up from his vocabulary book and teased, “You’re dying from the sun?”

Fu Dai swore, “Screw you!”

Lu Che rested his cheek on his hand and said, “The wind’s too strong. Can’t open the window.”

Fu Dai was speechless. “You can’t be serious. Are you going to say you’re cold?”

Lu Che twirled his pen slowly, a smile tugging at his lips, and casually replied, “Nope, I’m just worried it’ll mess up my hair.”

Fu Dai: “…”

---

Author’s note: The “good guy card” Lu Che gave to Xu Xing in previous chapter was meant to confuse Xu Xing, not you guys! [Shakes your shoulders.gif]

Lu Che’s original line, “If it happens, it happens, just go with the flow,” was actually code for “Don’t hold back anymore, darling, just come love me!”