Turning on the tap, gushing water splashed out as Yu Guang cupped a handful, taking a few gulps.

As the smell of tobacco gradually dissipated from his body, he shook his head to clear it.

He managed to get through the rest of the class peacefully, maintaining the appearance of a good student.

The yellowing paper was filled with neatly or sloppily written characters in thin gold ink, without exception—all were the character ‘避’ (avoidance). 

He remembered that he could have practiced calligraphy with Ye Si today…

When did Ye Si’s attitude suddenly turn cold?

As his hand trembled, the ink fell too heavily, completely blackening the originally best-looking character ‘避’ (avoidance).

In the long silence, Yu Guang suddenly remembered the moment when Ye Si’s smiling eyes turned cold—

It seemed to coincide with the taste of blood filling his mouth and nose when he bit his tongue.

Was there any special connection between the two?

Yu Guang couldn’t figure it out for the moment. He stared at the paper as the drop of ink, the size of a fingernail, gradually absorbed and spread out. His sixth sense told him that there must be something he had overlooked, like the original “‘避'” covered by the later ink stain.

After the calligraphy class, students were required to clean their brushes and inkstones themselves. Yu Guang was about to leave when Chen Zhongguo hurriedly called him.

Pausing his footsteps, adjusting his expression, Yu Guang turned back to greet Teacher Chen, his head bowed, his body bent, as usual.

Although usually arrogant and accustomed to enjoying the respect of students, Chen Zhongguo did not accept this gesture. Instead, he lightly raised Yu Guang’s arm and did not accept the courtesy. Instead, he led him to the next empty classroom.

God knows how much effort it took for Yu Guang to resist the impulse to push Chen Zhongguo’s hand away.

He disliked Chen Zhongguo.

To put it another way—he hated Chen Zhongguo, he hated every arrogant old man with weak moral sense.

The next empty classroom was locked. Chen Zhongguo took out a bunch of keys from his pocket, looked through them, and picked one out from countless identical keys.

Without picking the wrong one, he inserted the key into the lock, and it clicked open.

Yu Guang stared at the bunch of jingling keys swinging back and forth for a long time.

He couldn’t understand why the keys to the floor that should have been kept by the floor manager were carried by Chen Zhongguo;

Nor could he understand how Chen Zhongguo could pick the right key from countless identical keys without any markings.

Perhaps these questions had answers.

It’s just that the answers weren’t so straightforward, making people reluctant to think about them.

When the empty classroom opened, countless fine dust particles rose into the air. Pulling the curtains and not turning on the lights, the sunlight was divided into broken lines, unable to illuminate a single inch of space.

Yu Guang calmly raised his eyes and glanced at Chen Zhongguo’s expression.

Chen Zhongguo said there was no need to turn on the lights, so he withdrew his hand that was already on the switch.

“Do you know Mr. Ye?” Chen Zhongguo stood very close to him, getting straight to the point.

Chen Zhongguo’s address was strange, an old man actually referring to a junior as “Mr.”

But Yu Guang thought for a moment and realized that he always subconsciously used honorifics for Ye Si, such as “you” or “please”…

It seemed that Ye Si naturally possessed an intimidating aura, an attitude of superiority like the top aristocrats in ancient times when class distinctions still existed.

Yu Guang’s every encounter with Ye Si always instinctively evoked a submissive posture.

The thought tangled in his mind for just a moment, and he remembered Chen Zhongguo’s question. He pursed his lips and timidly shook his head. He said, “Senior Ye Si… can’t really say I know him.”

To his surprise, Chen Zhongguo became even more excited after hearing his answer.

The murky pupils contracted slightly, the wrinkles on the old man’s face twitched, and the smile was juxtaposed against the dim light and shadows, appearing eerie and mysterious.

This smile disappeared in an instant, so quickly that Yu Guang began to doubt if he was seeing things.

But he knew he wasn’t.

“Raise your head.” he heard Chen Zhongguo enticing him.

With his head still lowered for a while without moving, standing stiffly and rigidly straight, Yu Guang did not make a move, and Chen Zhongguo impatiently wanted to pinch his chin.

At the moment when the other party raised his hand, Yu Guang silently lifted his head.

His bangs parted on both sides of his forehead, and his youthful features drooped down, but still couldn’t hide their delicate beauty.

Yu Guang heard Chen Zhongguo’s breath become heavier, and he glanced slightly through his lowered eyelids.

Chen Zhongguo’s old but shrewd triangular eyes narrowed as he looked at him, shining brightly like dark holes, making Yu Guang think of rats gnawing on rotten food in the gutter.

Rats were not to be feared, but they would gnaw on table corners and steal food.

Yu Guang wanted to crush it with one foot, but then felt he should spare its life, let it retreat to its nest, and then burn it with fire.

Chen Zhongguo’s wrinkled hand moved slightly, as if he wanted to pat his head.

Yu Guang’s pupils contracted, and he quickly dodged.

For a moment, he seemed to be pulled into another dimension.

His ears were covered with a layer of water, and the surrounding sounds seemed to come from a distant pulse, with only his heartbeat pounding like a drum.

There was a monster behind him, but he saw a glimmer of light coming through the crack of the door.

Yu Guang desperately clawed at the door. The latch loosened, opening a gap about an arm’s width wide. He hesitated to stretch his arm out and squeezed through bit by bit…

Suddenly, he snapped back to reality.

Chen Zhongguo’s hand, about to pat his head, remained frozen in mid-air. Yu Guang pretended not to have seen anything, took a few steps back, and ran towards the wooden door with sunlight streaming through the crack.

Surprisingly, the monster behind him didn’t stop him.

Yu Guang left the saliva-drenched rat alone in the dark classroom and quietly opened the door.

Outside, the sun suddenly emerged, its rays scorching the vegetation, causing the leaves to curl slightly.

Even the vegetation was guilty. Yu Guang felt that the fat rat couldn’t escape the slaughter of the sun god, but the stench of decay from the gutter seemed to follow him everywhere.

He turned back and saw the rat slip out through the crack in the door.

The rat’s shadow cast crookedly on the floor, twisted and distorted, clearly the silhouette of a bipedal creature.

Yu Guang reached for the cigarette box and lighter in his pocket.

Cold, just like his heart, both chilling.

He discreetly turned back to glance at the rat, which was running recklessly into the street, desperately hoping for a brave warrior wielding a stick to knock it dead.

But the corridor of the teaching building was now empty—only he and the rat were staring at each other a few steps apart.

Yu Guang clenched his fists behind his back, trying to force a smile at Chen Zhongguo.

“Teacher, I’m leaving.”

He didn’t even have time to wash the used brush. He quickly wrapped it in a plastic bag and stuffed it into his backpack, then hurried down the stairs.

The sticky gaze, like maggots on bones, finally disappeared, but Yu Guang still felt his back was sticky, as if covered in snail slime.

He leaned against a tree trunk and bent over to vomit, but since he hadn’t eaten breakfast, nothing came out, just the sourness in his stomach.

After retching for a while, Yu Guang gradually recovered, and slowly walked back to his dormitory with weak legs.

His face was pale as paper, his hair damp with cold sweat, and he even encountered several people asking if he had low blood sugar.

Yu Guang’s ears were ringing loudly, and he couldn’t hear what many people were saying clearly until the weight of the backpack behind him suddenly lightened.

Someone helped him pick up the backpack.

Yu Guang turned his head and saw, to his surprise, Ye Si, whom he had been thinking about.

Suddenly, joy came, followed by suspicion, because his current condition was really not good, his eyes were seeing stars, and he felt dizzy.

He blinked hard, and Ye Si’s face remained clear, and the stinging pain of his nails digging into his palm reminded him—

This wasn’t an illusion, nor was it a daydream.

Ye Si was looking at him with his eyes lowered.

Sunlight filtered through the branches, casting a vague shadow on Ye Si’s handsome profile. Compared to during calligraphy class, his expression was much softer.

Yu Guang knew this was the gentle mask Ye Si showed to others, not the real one.

But in his unusually exhausted state, he really wanted—

Whether real or fake.

He just wanted to find a stable place to curl up and sleep soundly.

Yet even so, he remembered to maintain a harmless appearance.

“How come Senior is here…” he asked softly, trying to take the backpack back from the other’s hand.

Naturally, Ye Si didn’t let him take it back, but instead lightly put it on his own back.

Yu Guang had never thought his plain black backpack could look so neat and handsome, so he looked at it slightly out of place.

Ye Si’s cold hand touched his forehead, and Yu Guang didn’t avoid it.

Ye Si felt the cold sweat in his hand, damp.

His sharp eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he somehow found a pink hard candy with a shell and stuffed it into Yu Guang’s mouth.

The cool fingertips touched Yu Guang’s lips and tongue.

Sweet, with a strawberry flavor.