When Pei Huan brought the painting back to the dorm, the other three were busy finishing the assignments he had already completed. The assignments were due tomorrow.

Xiao Dong saw Pei Huan come in and exclaimed, “Huan Ge, help me out!”

Pei Huan immediately understood what was wrong with Xiao Dong. The others were just copy-pasting from the internet without using their brains. He glanced at the error running on the computer, placed the painting on the desk, and walked over.

“Damn, I’ve fixed this a hundred times, and there are still mistakes!” Xiao Dong quickly moved his chair aside.

Pei Huan sat down, “Let me take a look.”

Zhao Di also knocked on Pei Huan’s chair, “After you check his, take a look at mine too.”

Pei Huan responded with a sound of acknowledgment.

Now that Pei Huan was back, Zhao Di and Xiao Dong no longer felt anxious. They had just been cursing everything and everyone a moment ago, but now they were relaxed enough to start peeling the sunflower seeds on the desk.

Just as Pei Huan had returned with a bag that was a bit large, the two of them curiously peered inside.

“It’s a painting,” Xiao Dong said.

Pei Huan blinked at the computer screen, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly, “Yeah.”

Zhao Di chimed in, asking, “Is it from Zimi?”

Pei Huan replied, “Yeah.”

Zhao Di’s interest was piqued: “Can we see it?”

Pei Huan said, “Sure.”

Zhao Di opened the bag a bit more, and with Xiao Dong’s help, carefully took out the painting.

“He just painted one for you a few days ago, didn’t he? How come there’s another one?” Zhao Di noticed the person in the painting. “It’s him!”

Pei Huan tapped away at the keyboard, casually responding, “Is it good-looking?”

“It’s beautiful,” Zhao Di immediately praised. “You can tell it’s professional; the style is so pleasing. This could be a profile picture or even a background!”

Xiao Dong nodded in agreement, “It really is good-looking.”

Pei Huan smiled, “Of course.”

Zhao Di expressed his envy, “What did you two talk about for him to give you this? Now I want one too! Can he paint one for me?”

Pei Huan asked, “Who are you?”

Zhao Di, feeling defensive, walked over to Pei Huan’s side, “I’m his senior!”

Pei Huan chuckled softly, “He calls everyone who’s a sophomore or above ‘senior.’ So, does that mean everyone gets a painting?”

Zhao Di pondered for a moment, then managed to say, “Well… doesn’t that make you his senior too?”

Pei Huan laughed.

Zhao Di laughed along and asked, “What are you laughing about?”

Pei Huan continued typing on the keyboard, “You don’t get it, do you?”

Zhao Di asked, “What do you mean? Are you two hiding something?”

Pei Huan didn’t answer, as Xiao Dong suddenly shouted.

“Wow! That’s enough!” Xiao Dong excitedly patted Pei Huan’s shoulder, looking at the computer. “My Huan Ge really lives up to the name—so impressive!”

Pei Huan waved his hand and turned to Zhao Di, asking, “What’s wrong with you?”

Zhao Di responded with an “oh,” pointing at his computer, “I can’t run mine either.”

Pei Huan pointed at the painting in Zhao Di’s hand, saying, “Once you’re done looking, put it back.”

Zhao Di carefully placed it back in the bag. “Wouldn’t want to break it or something.”

Pei Huan quickly spotted Zhao Di’s little mistake.

He tapped a couple of times on the keyboard, “Done.”

Zhao Di exclaimed, “Wow! My Huan Ge really lives up to the name—so impressive!”

After saying that, he immediately asked, “What do you think? Should I ask Zimi to paint one for me too?”

Pei Huan turned to look at him.

Zhao Di laughed at himself, “Isn’t that a bit…?”

Pei Huan completed Zhao Di’s thought, “Shameless.”

Zhao Di chuckled, “Haha, definitely.”

“So how did he paint it for you?” Zhao Di seemed genuinely interested, “Did you get two pieces?”

Pei Huan thought for a moment and recalled.

He had asked for them himself.

Both pieces were.

Seeing that Pei Huan wasn’t responding, Zhao Di added, “I want a painting of me and Ya Ya. She’ll be back for a few days in a couple of weeks, and I could give it to her.”

Pei Huan replied, “Are you trying to win over your ex-girlfriend with Zimi?”

Zhao Di felt a bit embarrassed, “No, no, that’s not what I meant.” After thinking for a moment, he suggested, “What if I pay? It seems like many artists charge for this kind of thing.” He asked Pei Huan, “Right?”

Pei Huan said, “He doesn’t charge me.”

Zhao Di shrugged in resignation, “Sure, sure, you’re different.”

After saying this, Zhao Di picked up his phone, “I’ll just ask Zimi myself.”

Pei Huan glanced at Zhao Di’s computer and felt a sudden urge to revert his assignment back to its original state.

Despite calling out Zimi’s name more affectionately than anyone else in front of everyone, Zhao Di seemed a bit hesitant when he picked up his phone.

They hadn’t even chatted yet, and now Zhao Di had a favor to ask.

After thinking for a long time, he finally typed: “Zimi.”

Unfortunately, just then, a call came in for Yan Zimi.

It was an unknown number without a name attached. Yan Zimi answered, “Hello.”

On the other end, the voice said, “Hey there!”

Yan Zimi’s mood instantly sank. “How do you have my phone number?”

The voice chuckled, “Isn’t it normal for a cousin to have their younger cousin’s number?”

Yan Zimi asked, “What do you want?”

The cousin replied, “Tell me if this is funny or not. The other day, I thought that guy looked familiar, and the more I thought about it, the more familiar he seemed.”

Yan Zimi frowned.

The voice on the other end continued, “So I opened that video, and guess what I saw?”

Yan Zimi took a gentle breath. “What do you want?”

The cousin replied, “I just have one small request, you know.”

Yan Zimi asked, “How much?”

The cousin said, “We’re all college students here, so I won’t ask for too much. Just borrow another 800 this time, and I promise to pay you back quickly.”

Yan Zimi thought for a moment but felt compelled to ask, “Does Uncle not give you money? Why do you need so much?”

The cousin replied, “That’s none of your business. What you should be worrying about is your senior—what’s his name? The one from the math department, Pei Huan,” he chuckled. “Right? His name is Pei Huan, isn’t it?”

Yan Zimi was silent for a few seconds. “I’ll give it to you later.”

After saying this, he hung up the phone.

He quickly tapped a few times on the payment app and then tossed his phone aside.

Before long, his phone chimed with a WeChat notification.

Yan Zimi propped his head up and stared at the phone for several seconds before finally picking it up.

It was a message from Zhao Di.

A few minutes earlier, Zhao Di had sent: “Zimi.”

And just now, he wrote: “Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you take commissions for paintings. I’d like to have one made. If not, I apologize for being so forward.”

Yan Zimi replied, “What do you want to paint?”

Zhao Di quickly responded, “I want a painting of me and my ex-girlfriend.”

Zhao Di sent a photo.

Zhao Di added: “Just this one.”

Zhao Di asked, “How much will it be?”

Yan Zimi glanced at the photo and replied, “What style do you want?”

He added, “It won’t cost you anything; I’ll give it to you as a gift.”

After a moment, he added, “But I don’t really do this as a business.”

Unbeknownst to Yan Zimi, Zhao Di shouted “Yay!” in the dorm and smugly showed the chat records to Pei Huan, saying, “Now I have one too.”

Pei Huan didn’t respond.

Zhao Di replied, “You can choose the style; just paint it however you think looks best.”

Zhao Di continued, “Thank you so much! I’ll treat you to a meal!”

Yan Zimi said, “No need.”

He added, “Just treat Pei Huan instead; that would be like treating me.”

On the other end, Zhao Di let out a laugh.

Pei Huan turned his head to glance at him briefly before looking away.

Zhao Di leaned a bit closer to Pei Huan. “Do you know what Zimi just told me?”

Pei Huan replied in a somewhat lazy tone, “No idea.”

Zhao Di immediately showed him the messages.

Only then did Pei Huan smile. He asked Zhao Di, “What are you planning to treat me to?”

Zhao Di patted Pei Huan on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m not stingy when it comes to this. I’ll treat you both!”

Zhao Di sent several more messages, expressing his gratitude, praising Yan Zimi as a great person, and saying that art students are just so generous.

He also threw in a comment about Pei Huan, saying that anyone Pei Huan willingly adds on WeChat must be a worthy friend! I love you all!

The screen was filled with compliments, and after reading them, Yan Zimi couldn’t help but smile. It was the first time he had seen Zhao Di so chatty, openly expressing affection and admiration.

Yan Zimi didn’t know how to respond to Zhao Di’s enthusiasm, so he could only politely say, “No need to thank me; it’s a small thing.”

However, Zhao Di misunderstood. Yan Zimi typically didn’t entertain requests that seemed like thankless tasks; he wouldn’t agree to such things unless there was a reason.

After all, he was just Pei Huan’s roommate.

The shadow cast by his cousin’s call disappeared with that conversation, and Yan Zimi opened his payment app to screenshot the two transactions. Then he grabbed the English exam paper beside him.

As he picked it up, a small transparent box was revealed underneath.

Yan Zimi’s attention was immediately drawn to it as he lifted the box.

Inside were the earrings he had bought a few days ago—two different designs. One was a tiny rectangular piece with two rows of colorful gems, resembling a rainbow but not quite, which felt a bit odd until he saw the other one.

It had two letters: a black “h.”

It turned out to be an “h”. As Yan Zimi criticized the creativity of something that seemed only the chemistry club would buy, he found himself buying it without a second thought.

“H.”

Yan Zimi opened the transparent box and took out two earrings. Then he flipped to the most recent question he had worked on, placing the earrings on the side while picking up his phone camera.

After adjusting the angle, he noticed that although the letters were in the corner, they were fully visible. It was enough to show a few colors of the test strip; the test strip itself wasn’t important.

Once he took the photo, he sent it to Pei Huan with a note: “Teacher Pei, I only got three questions wrong.”

Teacher Pei quickly replied: “👍 Great improvement!”

Then, Pei Huan diligently sent a voice message to help Yan Zimi analyze why those three questions were incorrect.

Before Yan Zimi could open the voice message to listen, Pei Huan sent another image.

It was the same picture that Yan Zimi had just sent, but Pei Huan had circled the letter “h” in the corner.

Fire: “What is this?”

Yan Zimi: “Earring.”

Fire: “H?”

Yan Zimi smiled; indeed, Pei Huan had noticed.

But he replied, “Yeah, the ‘h’ and the test strip—it’s quite fun, isn’t it?”

Pei Huan neither agreed nor disagreed about it being fun; instead, he asked Yan Zimi, “Do you have an ear piercing?”

Yan Zimi, who had been leaning on the desk, sat up straight.

He wasn’t sure how Pei Huan would feel about a guy having an ear piercing.

But now that the topic was out in the open, after some hesitation, Yan Zimi finally said, “Um, I have one.”

After sending that message, Yan Zimi kept his eyes glued to his phone, watching as “fire” changed to “typing” and then back to “fire.”

Fire: “Put it on and show me.”

Yan Zimi let out a breath and smiled.

Fire added, “Wear the one with the letter.”

Yan Zimi hadn’t worn earrings in a long time, and suddenly doing so made him feel a bit awkward.

After fiddling in front of the mirror for a while and adjusting the letter, he picked up his phone and took a selfie.

Feeling a bit dissatisfied, he put on his gold-framed glasses and snapped another photo.

Many people had told him that he didn’t smile in photos, and Yan Zimi himself had noticed this. However, he felt awkward smiling at the camera.

After a moment of thought, he decided to go with it as it was.

But instead of sending that photo to Pei Huan, he zoomed in and in again until only his ear was visible in the frame, then took a screenshot of that and sent it to Pei Huan.

Pei Huan replied quickly: “The pixel quality is so low; did you enlarge the screenshot?”

Yan Zimi leaned back on the desk again. “You caught me.”

Fire: “What about the original photo?”

Yan Zimi: “It’s on my phone.”

Fire: “Aren’t you going to show it?”

Yan Zimi: “You really want to see it?”

Fire: “Yes.”

So, Yan Zimi had no choice but to send the original photo.

However, to his surprise, Pei Huan didn’t reply immediately. Yan Zimi stared at his phone for a long time, and the other person wasn’t even typing.

Anxiety began to creep in for Yan Zimi.

After more than ten seconds, Pei Huan finally spoke.

Fire: “Looks good.”

Yan Zimi leaned his head on his arm and grinned at his phone.

Yan Zimi: “I’ll take that as you saying I look good.”

Pei Huan: “I’m talking about you.”

Yan Zimi chuckled, “I’ll wear it for you to see next time we meet.”

Fire: “Are you free tomorrow morning?”

Yan Zimi: “I’m free.”

Yan Zimi: “What’s up?”

Fire: “What else? Don’t you want to divide that lousy listening practice of yours?”

Yan Zimi smiled, “I want to, I want to.”

Fire: “Let’s go to the library together tomorrow.”

Yan Zimi: “Sounds good!”

Fire added, “Wear the earrings.”

Yan Zimi’s eyes sparkled as he replied, “Okay, okay!”