Under Xu Xing’s persuasion, Lin Peisang left first, returning to his seat.

As Xu Xing was about to go back with his cup, he suddenly realized something and looked up sharply—only to find that the red thread at Lin Peisang’s heart had vanished.

Xu Xing was momentarily stunned, instinctively lowering his head to glance at Liu Peilan, but the desk blocked his view.

However, he noticed beads of cold sweat forming on the back of Liu Peilan’s neck. Xu Xing frowned slightly and, respecting the gender difference, stepped down from the podium and said to the two girls at the back, “Liu Peilan seems to be feeling unwell; could you take her to the school nurse?”

The girls showed a flicker of reluctance on their faces and replied, “Oh, okay.”

Seeing the two girls hesitating, Xu Xing frowned even more tightly. Just then, he spotted Tang Mian entering from the back door. He walked over and said to her, “Tang Mian, can you check on Liu Peilan? She seems unwell.”

Tang Mian responded with an “Oh,” casually tossing her book onto the desk before hurrying to the front.

The two girls stood by, silent and eager to be overlooked as Tang Mian went to help Liu Peilan. Xu Xing stood at the back door of the classroom while Tang Mian turned her head to form the words with her mouth: “Menstrual pain.”

Xu Xing couldn’t decipher the meaning from Tang Mian’s lips, but he saw that the red thread on Liu Peilan’s heart had also disappeared.

Returning to his seat, Xu Xing recalled that the last time Xiao Shun’s red thread disappeared was after he collided with Jiang Jize, and Liu Peilan and Lin Peisang’s red threads disappearing likely meant that the red thread around the ankle had been untied. In both instances, whether actively or passively, Xu Xing had lent a hand.

He began to connect the two coincidences and had a vague thought: could he see everyone’s red threads again?

At least after the incident with Xiao Shun, he had a brief period of time over the next two days during which he could see the red threads.

As Xu Xing was lost in thought, he heard someone behind him ask, “Class monitor, what are you thinking about?”

Lu Che strode into his seat, holding a cup of sweet milk tea.

With a straw in his mouth, he twisted off the lid of the milk tea cup, and immediately a rich, creamy aroma wafted into the air, sweet and cloying.

Lu Che offered the milk tea to Xu Xing, asking, “Want to try some?”

Xu Xing instinctively recoiled from sweet things. He glanced at the thick milk tea in the cup, and the words of refusal circled his tongue, but he suddenly said, “Aren’t you a bit of a clean freak? If I take a sip, won’t you have to throw the whole cup away?”

Hearing this, Lu Che laughed, his deep, dark eyes looking at him. “Why not give it a try? Let’s see if I can still drink it.”

Xu Xing looked at Lu Che, finding nothing but his own reflection in those pitch-black eyes.

His gaze fell on the sweet milk tea in Lu Che’s hand. After a moment of hesitation, with a sense of experimentation, he leaned in, his lips touching the rim of the paper cup, gently taking a small sip.

Lu Che’s eyes were as dark as ink.

Xu Xing pursed his lips and frowned, “This is way too sweet!”

From a young age, he had never liked sweet foods; even Wangzai milk felt overly sweet to him, while this cup of milk tea was on the verge of making him gag.

At that moment, his expression was one of disgust. He lifted his head and saw Lu Che rotating the paper cup in his hand.

The spot he had just drunk from still held a wet mark, and Lu Che smugly smiled at that very spot—he first extended his tongue to lick the rim, then pressed his thin lips against it as if to seal it with a kiss.

Through the mist rising from the milk tea, Lu Che quietly looked at him, his dark eyes not lacking in emotion but instead filled with warmth, as thick and sweet as the milk tea itself, lingering on his lips.

After taking a sip, Lu Che softly said, “I think it’s particularly sweet today.”

Xu Xing: “…”

It’s over.

Xu Xing felt that Lu Che was finished.

He himself was also bound to be in trouble.

Xu Xing resisted the impulse to snatch the milk tea from Lu Che’s hand and throw it away, with only one thought left in his mind: if someone happened to see the two red threads around Lu Che’s ankles and realized that her idol was showing interest in him, wouldn’t they do everything possible to make his life miserable?

And Xu Xing naturally interpreted Lu Che’s interest in him as the latter being unable to withstand the influence of the red thread.

This… could it be blamed on him?

Xu Xing slightly furrowed his brow.

The discussions in class about the love triangle had yet to die down, leaving a lingering unease in Xu Xing’s heart.

There had been Yu Zanchun’s unintentional actions and now the turmoil between Liu Peilan and the seating arrangement.

He didn’t want to favor anyone or blame anyone.

If anyone were to be blamed, it could only be the red thread wrapped around their ankles.

However, regardless of how much grievance Liu Peilan had suffered, smashing Huang Mengjiao’s belongings was too cruel…

Xu Xing involuntarily shuddered as he put himself in Huang Mengjiao’s position.

With a complex mood, Xu Xing looked at Lu Che, who still shamelessly said to him, “Class monitor, can you help me lick around the rim of the cup? I feel like the second sip isn’t as sweet as the first.”

Xu Xing said with a dark face, “Get lost.”

He turned away, focusing on the math problems in his notes, his mind replaying the scene of Lu Che licking the rim of the cup.

It was way too obscene!

Xu Xing pressed his hands against his forehead and eyes, gently pinching his furrowed brow.

He tried to push Lu Che out of his mind and thought again about the influence of the red threads, wary of the actions of Yu Zanchun and Liu Peilan. He opened his eyes, hesitated, and turned back to Lu Che, softly saying, “I want to ask you something.”

Lu Che: “Love.”

Xu Xing: “…”

Xu Xing’s mood was subtle as he said, “I was just about to ask, what do you think about the girls who have crushes on you?”

Would he keep it ambiguous, or directly reject them? If it was the latter, then he could feel justified in acting on it.

“…”

Lu Che suddenly felt a bit gratified, thinking that Xu Xing had finally come around and was trying to test him. He retracted his earlier awkward flirting and happily declared his loyalty to Xu Xing, “I’m very straightforward when it comes to rejecting people—no beating around the bush. You don’t have to worry; I’m very easygoing!”

Xu Xing thought to himself, “What the hell does that even mean?”

He confirmed again, “Are you sure? You won’t feel attached?”

Lu Che leaned forward, closing the distance between them, and softly said, “If keeping them around would make you love me a little more, I might consider it.”

“…”

Xu Xing wanted to slap him but retorted angrily, “Get lost; stop being so frivolous. I won’t love you regardless of anyone else.”

Lu Che just laughed, not arguing the point. He stirred the milk tea with his straw, then looked at Xu Xing and asked, “What about you, Class Leader?”

Xu Xing shot him a glance. “What about me?”

Lu Che asked good-naturedly, “Surely there are quite a few girls who like you; would you directly reject them like I do?”

“…”

Actually, that wasn’t the case at all.

Xu Xing thought for a moment. The red threads were mutual, and if he wanted to untie the one around Lu Che’s ankle, he certainly couldn’t keep his own; otherwise, that would be too unfair.

Moreover…

The issue that Lu Che was worried about wasn’t really a problem—it just poked at Xu Xing’s sore spot: in comparison to Lu Che, who was so popular, he didn’t even have a single red thread on his ankle. He was at a significant disadvantage.

In some ways, Xu Xing actually had the upper hand.

He didn’t want to dwell on this fact, grunting, “Of course, I would directly reject them.”

Lu Che looked at Xu Xing and smiled, “Class Leader, you’re quite interesting.”

Saying “get lost” while simultaneously establishing rules for their relationship—wasn’t that just declaring possession?

His Class Leader still wasn’t being honest; he really had no way to deal with this~

Xu Xing felt goosebumps all over from Lu Che’s stare. He forced a serious expression and said, “We agreed to just be friends; don’t overstep your boundaries.”

Lu Che couldn’t help but chuckle and replied, “Alright~ Then as friends, is it too much to ask for you to take another sip of my milk tea? You should see if it’s still sweet.”

Xu Xing retorted angrily, “Get lost.”

After reflexively refusing, he felt his attitude was a bit too deliberate, so he explained, “It’s too sweet; I don’t like sweet things.”

Lu Che responded, “What a coincidence! I can help you eat all the sweet things!”

Xu Xing: “…”

Xu Xing ignored Lu Che and turned away, picking up the thermos on the table to take a sip of water, trying to wash away the sweetness left in his mouth from the milk tea.

At precisely two o’clock in the afternoon, the school bell rang, followed by music slowly starting to play from the loudspeakers.

Wang Zicong’s round figure appeared from the back door, and Ke Di, Fu Dai, and others were pushing and shoving each other as they returned to prepare for class.

Ke Di sat down in the last row, cheerfully humming along with the song playing on the radio, singing, “Clearly, you love me too; there’s no reason it shouldn’t have a result…” He couldn’t help but kick Fu Dai’s chair, making a face and laughing, “Buddy, doesn’t this song sing out your feelings?”

From what he knew, Fu Dai hadn’t been able to win over Xiong Huan since last semester.

Fu Dai snorted at that, dismissively saying, “Get lost, you don’t understand.”

His gaze fell on the girl in front, whose exposed neck was so fair it almost glowed, and her long, black hair was tied up in a ponytail, making her look even more energetic.

Others hadn’t paid much attention, but only Fu Dai knew: Xiong Huan rarely tied her hair in a ponytail, but ever since he complimented her on the first day of school, saying it looked good, the ponytail had become her most common hairstyle this semester—

On the first day of school, the whole class had cheered.

A boy stood on the podium and laughed, “Xiong Huan, you look even better with your hair in a ponytail than usual.”

The girl pretended to be calm as she read, but a blush crept from her pale neck to her cheeks and ears.

---

Author’s Note:

Below is a response to comments in the discussion section, which is quite long, so feel free to skip it~

=

Recently, some little angels in the comments or on Weibo have said that I’m “padding” the story with too many irrelevant side characters’ daily lives that clearly add little to the plot.

Let me explain here that at the beginning of this story, I mentioned that I’m trying to write about a group of people. I’m reminiscing about my high school days, writing down the experiences I’ve had and things I’ve seen and heard, while also trying to poke at your high school memories (obviously, I’ve failed since some readers say it feels like they didn’t read anything).

*

This is my first attempt at writing a multi-perspective story with many characters. The advantage of having many characters is that the points of interest are diversed, allowing readers to pick what they like; conversely, the disadvantage is that it’s impossible for every side character to be appealing, and there will inevitably be some dislikes.

*

All characters serve the plot, so I obviously can’t dedicate all my ink to every side character, but I will try to leave them a little space and some buildup. Every trivial daily incident that appears in the text is intentionally arranged; each character is continuously setting up flags for themselves, the protagonist, or the red threads.

What you find “useless” is simply because I “haven’t used it yet” [covering face].

*

For example, when Tang Mian goes from “washing her hair twice a week” to “washing her hair even on Fridays,” some readers think I’m just filling space. Perhaps, my friend, you can relate to these two sentences:

What’s most terrifying is when the person you like gets close to you after three days without washing your hair.

What’s most terrifying is when you’re dressed to the nines, but no one notices, while you look sloppy and encounter a love rival.

*

Yes, Tang Mian also has someone she likes now. I’ve said that all side characters are here to teach the protagonist about love; Tang Mian and the protagonist correspond to the earlier dialogue—

Xu Xing: “Why did we steam an extra (egg) today?”

Tang Mian: “My deskmate said he wanted to eat too.”

·

Tang Mian: “Why are you so hungry today? You ate six (sausages) by yourself?”

Xu Xing: “It’s because others said they wanted to eat.”

Childhood sweethearts are well aware of each other’s little habits.

The same goes for the deskmates.

(Above are just examples to illustrate; Tang Mian’s biggest role is still to assist the protagonist in gossiping [covering face]).