Lu Yang’s mood was like an eagle breaking out of its cage and soaring into the sky.
He made it back to the classroom and sat down just as the afternoon preparatory bell started. Having pedaled his bicycle all the way, his heart also raced like the wind, reaching 180 mph without stopping.
His body was sitting in the classroom, while his soul had already flown thousands of miles away, freely roaming the sky.
Xin Hexue had driven him back to class.
Although he hadn’t agreed to be with him, he also hadn’t torn up the make-up coupon. That meant he was tacitly accepting it.
Tacit acceptance meant he was letting him pursue him. Letting him pursue him meant he liked him. If he liked him, they could get married.
That person called Gu Renyu was right.
*** Gu Renyu means “as the ancients say”. He mistook the saying “as the ancients say” as a name of a person.
Start a family first, then build a career.
If he didn’t get together with Xin Hexue, how could he achieve great things and build a career?
Good things come in pairs, double happiness arrives together.
The school’s efficiency was very high. The subject intention forms collected on Monday morning were already posted on the grade bulletin board this afternoon, listing the class assignments.
Lu Yang had hit a stroke of dog luck and was still in the same class as Xin Hexue.
Not just them, Lin Oufei, Tian Fengyu, and Yu Zao were also bundled together and shipped off to Class 14.
After the re-sorting into Arts and Sciences, the ratio was roughly one to three.
Classes 1 to 4 were Arts classes, located on the second floor. The remaining floors above were all Science classes, thirteen classes in total.
Tian Fengyu patted his shoulder, “I never thought we’d also be born at such a good time.”
The Education Bureau of Lingzhou City said that this year, setting up elite classes or rocket classes wasn’t allowed. At No.1 High School, the enforcement was even stricter, so with one sweep, all classes became regular classes.
Tian Fengyu sighed with emotion, “I originally thought I’d be separated from you, good brother. Without you, I’d have to face the unpredictable new class alone and still be the bottom feeder for the new classmates.”
Lu Yang: “Stop your nonsense. I made the top ten in last month’s exam.”
Tian Fengyu: “The bottom top ten, and you’re so proud. Now that you’ve advanced, you’ve forgotten our days when we were tied for last place. Now that you’re doing well, you only know how to find a wife and forget your brothers.”
He just said it casually, not knowing which wire got crossed in Lu Yang’s head, but he actually didn’t fire back with harsh words.
His expression even seemed twisted with a kind of…
Secret delight?
Tian Fengyu found it bewildering. He even wondered if his Chinese language skills were adequate enough to describe this vivid expression.
Lu Yang reveled happily for a while, then instantly changed his expression, “What do you know? Who’s your brother? Did we swear brotherhood to Guan Gong for you to call me brother?”
Xin Hexue was different.
They had already sworn to Guan Gong together, so what was wrong with performing the wedding bows next?
Since he was the best in the world, what was wrong with his good brother becoming his wife?
Even Guan Gong didn’t object, which meant this was a good thing.
Rounding it off, he and Xin Hexue were practically betrothed since childhood.
How could they be so destined?
There were clearly so many people in the world. One was called Xin Hexue, the other was called Lu Yang. One name had three characters, the other had two characters. No matter how you looked at it, they were a perfect match.
Even Heaven must envy him for his good fate.
Lu Yang was brimming with high spirits.
During the last class in the afternoon, the homeroom teacher said that class changes would happen on Friday afternoon, along with a grade-wide cleaning.
It meant the fate that had bound their class together since the start of high school would end by this week.
For Lu Yang, there was no sense of melancholy. His heart was only filled with the thought that he and Xin Hexue were still in the same class.
When he returned home, he noticed that Xin Hexue’s QQ was online.
At the beginning of this year, Lu Guoxing used his first pot of gold to install a computer at home and warned Lu Yang that it was for studying. If he dared play games, he’d have his mother beat him from Lingzhou City all the way to Siberia to dig potatoes.
Lu Yang said he didn’t have a visa and couldn’t enter illegally.
Although this computer wasn’t allowed for playing games, it could access the internet.
Lu Yang immediately added Xin Hexue on QQ.
However, the distance between them seemed to make communication software unnecessary; he could dash downstairs and run to the entrance of Xin Hexue’s building and yell up in just three minutes.
But both Lin Oufei and Xin Hexue, who lived next door to each other, had added QQ. Their families had installed computers earlier than his family, so there was no reason for him and Xin Hexue not to add each other.
The default QQ theme was blue sky and white clouds. Lu Yang had downloaded a black skeleton skin himself; he thought it was super cool.
But Xin Hexue had borrowed his computer to do homework on a weekend before, saw it, and said he was a non-mainstream. Because Lu Yang’s window was so ugly, he said he didn’t want to chat with him.
Lu Yang stared intently at Xin Hexue’s lit little penguin avatar with the red scarf for a while, and decided to make a decision that betrayed his ancestors…he changed the theme back to blue sky and white clouds.
Perhaps it really had an effect in some mysterious way.
Lu Yang received a message from Xin Hexue.
………
Lin Oufei brought today’s notes over to Xin Hexue.
His notes were always very brief, his handwriting flamboyant and cursive. Probably because his brain worked too fast, and his pen couldn’t keep up with his brain speed, his notes often jumped directly from the beginning to the conclusion, leaving the middle blank.
So even if there were classmates who hadn’t finished taking notes in class, they were unwilling to borrow Lin Oufei’s. If you asked him what the omitted note content in the middle was, you would only get a strange look, the meaning very clear…you have the beginning and the conclusion is given to you, can’t you just deduce it?
Yu Zao told Xin Hexue that when he and Lin Oufei were seated front and back, he often felt offended when he went to ask Lin Oufei a question, because even if Lin Oufei didn’t say it out loud, his entire aura seemed to be mocking him, as if Yu Zao could ask such a question, then he might as well put on brown clothes and be flushed down the toilet together.
Xin Hexue could only offer a comforting smile.
He could only say that Yu Zao’s feeling was correct, because Lin Oufei had actually said something similar to Lu Yang.
As for Xin Hexue’s notes, they were quite popular. You could say they were the user-friendly version. The thought process was complete and clear, and the handwriting was elegant and beautiful like a landscape. After all, they were designed so that Lu Yang could understand them at a glance.
Noticing that Xin Hexue was holding the pen absentmindedly, Lin Oufei looked up from his homework, glanced over and asked, “Is there anywhere I wrote unclearly?”
Xin Hexue shook his head, “No, um… it’s very clear. Thank you for lending me your notes.”
Lin Oufei pressed the back of his hand against Xin Hexue’s forehead, then used his other hand to feel the temperature of his own forehead for comparison, and judged, “The fever has gone down.”
Xin Hexue: “I slacked off a bit for one day. I can go to class tomorrow.”
Lin Oufei: “Mm. This Friday afternoon is the class split. We’re in the same class.”
He briefly explained the class assignment situation to Xin Hexue.
Zhuang Ping brought back a roast duck and two pounds of river snails after work today, and asked Lin Oufei to invite Auntie Lin to simply come over and have dinner together at their place.
At that moment, the kitchen was filled with the sound of crackling high heat and clanging spatulas.
Lin Oufei noticed Xin Hexue had stopped writing again, his gaze vaguely falling on the corner of the wall.
Lin Oufei asked directly, “What are you thinking about?”
Xin Hexue unconsciously blurted out the question in his heart, “What exactly does it feel like to like someone?”
Lin Oufei was startled and he averted his gaze as if some secret might leak out from his eyes.
His voice sounded a bit hoarse for a moment, and his words gradually slowed down, “Liking someone is… being happy when you see them, and unable to stop thinking about them when you can’t. Feeling at ease when they are by your side, unable to control the urge to look for them when they’re not, feeling jealous and sad when you find them with someone else.”
Xin Hexue looked at Lin Oufei with some surprise.
Lin Oufei said, “It’s written in books.”
As if to prove his point, Lin Oufei said lightly, ” ‘Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind’.”
“From Shakespeare’s words, this feeling should be a failure of rationality under the influence of hormones.” Lin Oufei analyzed, then abruptly concluded, “So liking someone is a grand illusion. The feeling of being in love is just because your body is secreting hormones and neurotransmitters. When your brain becomes weary, love ceases to exist.”
Xin Hexue blinked, not understanding how the conversation suddenly switched to the biology channel, “…Is that so.”
Regardless, he should respond first.
Lin Oufei asked keenly, “Did Wu Ke’er confess to you?”
“No, but how did you know…” Xin Hexue was astonished.
If Miao Ling hadn’t told him about the love letter, Xin Hexue wouldn’t have known. After all, they weren’t in the same class, and his only impression was that she was a shy girl.
And Lu Yang even thought the love letter was written by Miao Ling.
But Lin Oufei said, “It’s obvious.”
He hid it better than Wu Ke’er, so he spotted it easily.
“Puppy love is bad for studies,” Lin Oufei said.
Xin Hexue inexplicably felt his lips tingling with warmth. Even though it was Lu Yang’s problem, it felt like he himself also had a guilty conscience by association.
He gave Lin Oufei a vague reply and handed the copied notes back to him.
After Lin Oufei left, Xin Hexue went to Zhuang Tongguang’s room to go online.
The computer at home was installed a long time ago. The machine was one discarded from Xin Zhiying’s workplace. Its usual function was just to look up information. It was installed in Zhuang Tongguang’s room when he had just started high school, for the two brothers to share.
And now that Zhuang Tongguang was in university, his room and the computer in it completely belonged to Xin Hexue.
He sent a message to Lu Yang.
[SNOW: You are not allowed to tell anyone about what happened at noon. You must not tell a single person.]
The reply came instantly, as if Lu Yang had been staring at his QQ status all along.
[SUN: A lot of things happened at noon. Which one are you talking about?]
Lu Yang was being deliberately obtuse.
Sure enough, it annoyed Xin Hexue.
[SNOW: You’re so annoying.]
When Xin Hexue registered his account, he casually filled in a word related to his name. Lu Yang later insisted on being like Xin Hexue and also chose an English nickname.
Fortunately, the imagery of his name was also relatively simple.
The more Lu Yang thought about it now, the more he felt he was exceptionally brilliant.
Look, one word had four letters, the other had three letters. Even their nicknames were like couple names.
[SUN: I’m not annoying.]
[SNOW: Get lost.]
[SUN: I won’t get lost. I want to talk to Snow.]
[SNOW: …]
[SNOW: In short, you are not allowed to tell anyone that you like me.]
[SUN: Then can I tell you? I like you, did you hear me?]
[SUN: I want to say it every day, I like you.]
Xin Hexue’s nickname was cute.
Xin Hexue chatting with him was cute.
Xin Hexue’s chat window was cuter than everyone else’s.
The words Xin Hexue typed were cuter than others’ too.
Lu Yang’s heart surged with excitement. The excitement from his confession made him sweat, his abundant energy making him wish he could run ten laps around the residential area. In the end, he just ran to the kitchen to wash his hands and splashed water all over his face, making Zhuang Cuifeng think he had been electrocuted in the brain by aliens.
Lu Yang washed his face, dried it, ran back to his room, and couldn’t help sending messages.
[SUN: Xin Hexue, let’s have a phone call, okay? I really want to call you and say I like you.]
‘Why is he so cheesy?’
Xin Hexue, who was doing his homework, almost choked on his water.
[SNOW: Shut up. You are not allowed to type, nor are you allowed to call, and even less are you allowed to climb over through the window.]
Xin Hexue declared this person guilty, stripping Lu Yang of all rights.
[SUN: Okay.]
[SNOW: I said you’re not allowed to type.]
[SUN: It’s the puppy typing now.]
[SUN: Hello, I’m not Lu Yang, woof woof woof.]
Xin Hexue couldn’t believe someone could be so thick-skinned, but since it was Lu Yang, it made sense.
He pursed his lips slightly, rubbed his snow-white, pink-tipped ear. So strange, his hand was itchy, he really wanted to punch Lu Yang twice.
After thinking about it, he decided to close QQ.
[SNOW: I’m going to take a shower. You can stay here and bark.]
[SUN: Okay, Master.]
When Xin Hexue finished his shower and dinner, he remembered that he had to look up some English information while doing homework, so he went to Zhuang Tongguang’s room again and turned on the computer. A red 99+ message window immediately popped up. He saw that Lu Yang was still barking at a rate of one woof per minute.
Is he mentally ill?
Xin Hexue’s eyelid twitched.
He ordered Lu Yang to go to sleep.
………
By the time his biological clock woke him up the next day, Xin Hexue’s fever had completely subsided.
He lay in bed for a while coming to his senses. As his consciousness returned, his brain suddenly and uncontrollably began replaying the scene from yesterday.
Lu Yang’s burning gaze as he confessed with a seriousness he had never had before.
“Xin Hexue, I like you.”
Were these words some kind of spell?
What was the difference between Lu Yang’s “like” and the “like” from their childhood friendship as close friends?
He didn’t understand, wasn’t clear about it, and didn’t get it.
Xin Hexue sat up with his hair sticking up. He opened the wardrobe, stripped off his pajamas and changed into his school uniform. He bent his arms and put them into the sleeves of the jacket, then he pinched the zipper and pulled it up with a sharp “swish”. He straightened the collar in the mirror, and combed his hair.
His hands slipped into the jacket pockets and touched the make-up coupon he hadn’t torn up yesterday.
It was just one day, but the drawn picture suddenly seemed glaring. From junior year of middle school to senior year of high school, it hadn’t really been that long, yet friendship had suddenly become candy that had changed flavor.
After holding it for a while, Xin Hexue still didn’t tear it up.
He let out a faint sigh in his chest.
His fever had not fully recovered; his nose was uncomfortable, and he still had a bit of a cold.
But Xin Zhiying had been very busy recently, working overtime and coming back late. It was already midnight by the time she got in bed. His uncle would leave early in the morning, so the family wasn’t making breakfast for him.
When Xin Hexue got up, his aunt was still asleep, so he washed up quietly, shouldered his backpack, took the breakfast money Xin Zhiying had left under the blue flower glass on the dining table, and gently closed the front door.
Because his nose was sensitive, he wore a white mask to avoid catching a chill from the wind again.
The collar of his summer school uniform under the jacket was buttoned all the way up. Under the sunlight, his eyelashes were long and thick. Because the mask covered the lower half of his face, the small mole at the corner of his left eye became particularly noticeable.
It inexplicably stirred one’s emotions and desires.
Xin Hexue waited for Lin Oufei in the corridor for a while.
Lin Oufei came out of his home, took Xin Hexue’s backpack, and stuffed a box of milk inside, “Let’s go.”
When they went downstairs, Lu Yang was already waiting for them.
Xin Hexue said he hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. He originally intended to ride his bicycle and buy something on the breakfast street along the way, but Lu Yang directly shoved a bag of steamed buns and soy milk into his hand, patted the back seat of his bicycle, and give a perfectly good reason: “You’re not fully recovered from your cold yet. Sit on my back seat, and I’ll block the wind for you.”
Lin Oufei pushed his bicycle over from under the sunshade, looking at him calmly.
Xin Hexue stood still, pursing his lips slightly.
He thought of sitting in the back seat of Lin Oufei’s bicycle but immediately nipped this thought in the bud.
Because making such a choice would seem like he was avoiding Lu Yang.
It was clearly Lu Yang who had ghosts in his heart, and he was the one who shamelessly said he “liked” his childhood friend he grew up with. The shock was comparable to a teddy bear he’d played with for over ten years suddenly growing private parts.
Xin Hexue had no ghosts in his heart, so why should he avoid him?
The straw pierced the plastic film with a crisp sound in the sunlight.
He simply sat on the back seat of Lu Yang’s bicycle, took a sip of the soy milk, and urged his exclusive little dog car forward, “Giddy up.”
