Lu Li waited an entire day, but no one applied to join the group he had created. He was frustrated, thinking, Can any of those people join a group where the group owner actually gets to sleep in the same bed as Jiang Yi?

As the group owner, he could share a bed with Jiang Yi every night. So why wasn’t anyone joining his group?

The next day, the group had only one member left—himself.

Zhong Mao had been forced to hand over his phone after performing terribly on his midterm exams. Before giving up his phone, his family had also ordered him to leave all the random online groups he was in.

Jiang Yi was completely unaware of this. He only knew that lately, Lu Li seemed particularly obsessed with creating fake accounts.

As for what Lu Li did with these accounts, Jiang Yi wasn’t quite sure. He assumed Lu Li was probably practicing using the accounts to play games by himself. After all, every time there was a holiday, Lu Li would drag Jiang Yi along to play games with him.

However, Jiang Yi only liked playing casual games like Happy Eliminate, and he strictly followed the in-game rules—only playing when his energy was fully restored. If his energy hadn’t replenished, he wouldn’t log in, no matter what.

When he wanted to play but had no energy, Jiang Yi would draw his own version of Happy Eliminate on a flat surface, manually “eliminating” blocks and making them “fall,” having a great time as if he were solving a puzzle.

One time, Lu Li couldn’t take it anymore and secretly topped up Jiang Yi’s Happy Eliminate account, purchasing a ton of items to restore his energy.

When Jiang Yi logged in and saw the enormous amount of energy, he was so shocked that it took him over a year to use it all up.

During that year, Jiang Yi remained firmly in the top spot of his grade, while Cheng Chao consistently held second place. They spent three full years as desk mates.

In their second year of middle school, watching Cheng Chao sit next to Jiang Yi for so long drove Lu Li to ask Zhong Mao to buy a stack of tutoring books and practice materials. He left them on the desk of another student, Cai Fang, hoping Cai would catch up to Cheng Chao in grades and become Jiang Yi’s desk mate instead.

Given the choice between Cai Fang and Cheng Chao as Jiang Yi’s desk mate, Lu Li would definitely prefer the quiet and honest Cai Fang.

Cai Fang, bewildered by the sudden pile of study materials, was nonetheless encouraged, believing that someone in the grade had great confidence in him.

Unfortunately, despite the mysterious encouragement, Cai Fang never managed to surpass Cheng Chao, whose academic prowess was simply too strong. He never became Jiang Yi’s desk mate again.

Inspired by the support given to Cai Fang, Jiang Yi felt that Lu Li needed the same kind of motivation.

During the time when Lu Li sprained his ankle, Jiang Yi helped carry his backpack and was shocked to find that it contained only a few half-heartedly chosen books.

Convinced that Lu Li needed the same push Cai Fang had received, Jiang Yi used his prize money from various competitions to buy a massive amount of tutoring books and practice exercises, secretly placing them on Lu Li’s desk at home.

Lu Li didn’t want to do the work, but knowing that Jiang Yi had earned that prize money through hard work, taking exams and winning competitions, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to finish the exercises.

Seeing that Lu Li had completed the practice materials, Jiang Yi was thrilled. He used the rest of his competition winnings to buy even more tutoring books and exercises for Lu Li, feeling grateful to the mysterious person who had once given Cai Fang those practice materials.

If it weren’t for that person, Jiang Yi wouldn’t have known how to motivate Lu Li to finish his work.

Under the weight of all those tutoring books and practice exercises, Lu Li, who was in the international class, managed to break into the top 50 of the grade. He maintained that rank steadily for three whole years.

As the high school entrance exams approached, Jiang Yi began to worry.

He was concerned that Lu Li’s grades might not be stable enough for them to attend the same high school.

Lu Li reassured him calmly, “Don’t worry. If it really doesn’t work out, I’ll just ask my dad to donate two buildings.”

“Zhong Mao’s dad has already donated his.”

Jiang Yi: “…”

A few days before the exam results were released, the city’s top high school, City First High, personally called Jiang Yi’s house to recruit him, hoping he would enroll.

Jiang Yi, rubbing his nose, hesitated for a long time before quietly asking if he could ask the admissions office a question. The person on the phone, laughing warmly, told him to ask anything.

The admissions officer assumed Jiang Yi’s question would be about dorm conditions or university acceptance rates, but instead, Jiang Yi asked if anyone had recently donated two buildings to the school.

The admissions officer was confused. Jiang Yi then tentatively asked, “Did the person who donated them have the surname Lu?”

The admissions officer awkwardly dodged the question, as they couldn’t confirm or deny such information, since it concerned the school’s reputation.

Jiang Yi had no choice but to hang up.

The call from the admissions office came before the exam results were released. When Jiang Yi and Lu Li checked their scores together on the computer, Lu Li’s results were high enough to secure him a spot at City First High.

Jiang Yi was overjoyed, maintaining a calm expression as he said, “I knew you’d make it into City First High.”

Lu Li was happy too, but in front of Jiang Yi, he tried hard to act calm and indifferent, as if everything was going exactly as planned.

It wasn’t until their graduation dinner with Zhong Mao and the rest of the group that Lu Li learned from Zhong Mao that on the day the exam results were released, the admissions officer had called Jiang Yi, and Jiang Yi had sneakily asked if the Lu family had donated any buildings.

Remembering how serious Jiang Yi had been while praising him, Lu Li couldn’t help feeling both amused and annoyed.

During the summer break after middle school graduation, without the pressure of exams, Jiang Yi found himself with plenty of free time while waiting for high school to start.

In September, the sunlight was bright and warm, casting a lazy, comfortable heat on anyone it touched.

The outdoor pool at the Lu residence shimmered in the light, its blue waters glistening with golden ripples from the swimmers.

Beside the pool, a boy lay on a lounge chair, wearing a bathrobe with a book covering his face. One hand hung loosely by the side of the chair, and his exposed chin revealed soft, rosy lips.

As the sounds from the pool quieted, the black-haired boy reached up to remove the book from his face, but before he could, another hand grabbed it away.

Jiang Yi opened his eyes to see the frowning face of a blonde boy standing before him, droplets of water still clinging to his body from the pool. His expression was rebellious, his muscles taut and defined.

With a stern face, Lu Li scolded, “Stay in the sun properly. Stop being lazy.”

Jiang Yi blinked, looking innocent and obedient as he lazily replied, “Oh.”

Jiang Yi was a picky eater and hated vegetables. A recent checkup had shown he was severely deficient in vitamin D, and the doctor had advised him to eat more vitamin D-rich foods and spend time in the sun.

While Jiang Yi didn’t take it seriously, Lu Li did. Without fail, he dragged Jiang Yi out to sunbathe every day.

Lu Li sat down next to him, drying his hands with a towel, then pulled up Jiang Yi’s bathrobe, gripping his ankle. “Covering yourself like this—are you sunbathing the air?”

The coldness of Lu Li’s large hand made Jiang Yi instinctively flinch, but he couldn’t escape. Sighing, he said, “I wasn’t being lazy. Let go of me first.”

Lu Li took a towel from a maid and casually draped it over himself. Without much emotion, he replied, “You sunbathe, I do what I want. Why do you care?”

His tone was flat, giving away neither anger nor amusement.

But Jiang Yi knew Lu Li was still upset.

As Lu Li grew older, his anger became harder to detect. Sometimes, he’d be smiling on the outside, but his eyes wouldn’t reflect it, making him look terrifying.

Jiang Yi tilted his head slightly, softening his voice. “I’ve already prepared your birthday present. When do you want to come get it?”

Lu Li paused, his expression easing. “So, you actually remembered my birthday?”

Jiang Yi didn’t respond.

Lu Li, still playing with Jiang Yi’s ankle, asked, “You really aren’t coming to the party tonight?”

Jiang Yi shook his head, picking up the book again and covering his face. “Too many people.”

“I’m not going.”

Tonight was Lu Li’s sixteenth birthday party, and everyone attending was from prominent families connected to the Lu family. With such a major event, everyone in their social circle was eager to attend and build connections.

Jiang Yi felt the grip on his ankle tighten a little. He heard Lu Li ask in a low voice, “If there are too many people, you can hang out in the bedroom upstairs and play puzzles. Can you at least come down and cut the cake with me?”

Jiang Yi still shook his head.

Lu Li said nothing, his rebellious face clouded with frustration. After a long silence, he quietly muttered, “But I only have one birthday a year.”

Unable to hold back, Jiang Yi kicked Lu Li’s arm with his free foot, removing the book from his face and glaring at him. “But you’ve already cut eight cakes this year!”

Every year as Lu Li’s birthday approached, he would begin to push Jiang Yi’s patience.

If Lu Li wanted Jiang Yi to sleep over, he’d buy a cake, cut it, and pretend to make a birthday wish—usually wishing to sleep with Jiang Yi that night. Inevitably, Jiang Yi would show up with his pillow.

If he didn’t want Jiang Yi to do his homework and instead play video games with him, he’d bring another cake, and Jiang Yi would spend the whole Saturday gaming with him.

For the past week, Lu Li had been cutting cakes every day and making birthday wishes.

JLu Li pretend not to hear him, added, “Would you like to see Qin Lan and the others standing next to me when I cut the cake tonight?”

Jiang Yi: “I’m fine with it.”

Lu Li: “…”

Jiang Yi patted his head, saying honestly, “If this were the first time you were cutting the cake today, I would’ve definitely gone.”

Lu Li: “…”

Looking at the boy in front of him, Jiang Yi’s heart softened. He relented, “But I’ll come over tonight to sleep with you.”

As they both grew older, Jiang Yi became less willing to sleep in the same bed as Lu Li.

He didn’t know what Lu Li was eating to grow so fast—his body was all muscle, and at night, he’d hug Jiang Yi so tightly that it was uncomfortable. Sometimes, when they were messing around, Lu Li would secretly leave bite marks on Jiang Yi’s skin.

And the next day, Lu Li would deny it.

Once, Cheng Chao saw the marks and reacted strongly, spending the entire day hovering between Jiang Yi and Lu Li. He also gave Jiang Yi strange looks—looks Jiang Yi couldn’t quite understand.

It wasn’t until Jiang Yi and Lu Li visited their grandmother’s house for the New Year that it made sense. The family had recently started raising a pig, and Lu Li, not knowing what to feed it, saw the pig looking hungry and decided to pick two heads of cabbage from the garden to feed it.

The way Jiang Yi’s grandmother looked at the cabbage being fed to the pig was exactly the same as the way Cheng Chao had looked at the marks on Jiang Yi’s skin.