HW Ch56: Cheating

People were coming and going on the street, not far from the teaching building, and the sound of bicycle bells filled the street.

As soon as Yun Ci placed his hand on Yu Xun’s, it was grabbed tightly in the next second.

The boy’s knuckles were very hard, making it uncomfortable.

The weather was too cold, and their hands were cold too.

But after the two of them held hands, the temperature gradually rose.

After holding hands for a while, they didn’t even know who started sweating first, their palms became scorching hot.

“It’s just holding hands with me, no need to be so excited,” after walking for a while, Yu Xun spoke, “both of us are sweating.”

“……”

Yun Ci moved his fingers slightly and said, “Who is sweating, exactly.”

Yu Xun denied it nonchalantly, “Anyway, it’s not me.”

“I didn’t sweat either,” Yun Ci said this and felt that arguing over this was a bit ridiculous, so he said, “Forget it, since no one admits.”

He forcefully tried to pull his hand away, “Then let’s not hold hands.”

Yu Xun briefly loosened his grip on Yun Ci’s hand.

But it was just to adjust the gesture.

When he held Yun Ci’s hand again, it turned into interlocking fingers.

After a moment, he admitted, “It was me.”

Not far away, some other students from different departments were holding cameras, working on their end-of-term projects, forming small groups. Some were filming the trees, some were filming the sky.

The final assignments to be submitted in the university campus varied by major.

A camera moved from the swaying branches to the street, and the person filming seemed to have captured something and pressed the shutter.

Others gathered around, “What did you take?”

“People? Didn’t the teacher say to submit landscape photos for the final?”

“Kind of handsome,” said the photographer, “Couldn’t resist.”

He added, “And it looks like they are holding hands.”

The photographer actually didn’t know who these two were, he just found them very eye-catching in the crowd.

One of them, a boy with slightly long hair, had one hand in his pocket and the other holding another boy’s hand, his expression was nonchalant but his grip was tight. It wasn’t clear if it was due to nervousness or exertion, but the veins on his hand were clearly visible.

Yun Ci and Yu Xun held hands all the way to the vicinity of the dormitory building.

Yun Ci: “You can let go now.”

Not having thought about how to explain to Luo Sifang and the others, and more importantly, feeling embarrassed.

Besides, holding hands felt quite personal.

However, Yu Xun said, “No.”

Yun Ci: “……Aren’t you shy?”

Yu Xun shamelessly said, “Shy is shy, but for those of us who have finally confessed our long-term secret love successfully, we just don’t like letting go.”

It’s not impossible to hold hands and go in.

They didn’t encounter anyone they knew on the way, the hallway was empty.

Moreover, winter clothes were thick, with hands half hidden in the sleeves, it wasn’t very visible. Even if seen, people would assume they were just friends walking together.

They walked to the corner of the hallway.

“Here,” Yun Ci said, “it’s about time, right?”

He glanced at the person beside him, “Can you walk any slower?”

Yu Xun had slowed down a lot since entering the teaching building, at their usual pace, they would have already reached the dormitory and even had time to sweep the floor.

Yu Xun tilted his head seriously, thought for a moment, and said with a slightly raised voice, “Actually, we can walk slower. How about we turn back now and walk again?”

“……”

Yun Ci recalled that he was facing someone who could take an hour to drink Huoxiang Zhengqi water.

Yu Xun said it, but didn’t really plan to hold his hand into the dormitory. He slowly loosened his grip.

Yun Ci was about to pull his hand away, but just before completely letting go, Yu Xun suddenly tightened his grip again, pulling him closer.

He leaned against the wall, and the two of them hid in a corner where no one could see. Then, with a restrained but uncontrollable manner, just before letting go, he lowered his head and kissed the back of Yun Ci’s hand.

It was a very light kiss.

Like a feather falling on the back of his hand.

It was an extremely cherished kiss.

In the dormitory.

Liu Sheng was browsing the campus network, trying to find last year’s exam posts for his major. As he was browsing, he suddenly came across a newly uploaded post.

It didn’t have any extra words, just shared a photo.

Meanwhile, in Li Yan’s dormitory.

Zhou Wenyu, who was also browsing the campus forum, clicked on it and zoomed in, staring at it for a long time: “Why are those two holding hands on campus?”

Li Yan glanced at it, going from shock to utter calmness in just three seconds: “Can you really call that holding hands?”

“?”

Zhou Wenyu asked, “If that’s not holding hands, then what is it?”

Li Yan: “They’re obviously pulling! They’re pulling each other hard.”

“Although the photo isn’t very clear, I could tell at a glance.”

Li Yan added, “It’s almost final exams, you know. They must be in the heat of a fierce battle, and this kind of dragging behavior is inevitable.”

Looking at the photo, perhaps influenced by Li Yan’s brainwashing, Zhou Wenyu’s perception of the romantic atmosphere dissipated. All that was left in his mind were three words: drag, pull, behavior.

Drag, pull.

…

Alright.

With this explanation, it did seem like they were dragging each other. It must be because there were many people on campus, so they couldn’t show it too openly. There was an undercurrent.

Li Yan: “Speaking of which, we haven’t heard from him these days. Why hasn’t he come to our dorm? Judging by the situation in the photo, he should be coming over to crash tonight.” As he spoke, he took out his phone, sending a message as he talked, “I’ll ask him.”

The message Li Yan sent disappeared into the void.

Yun Ci hadn’t responded all day.

Mostly because he didn’t have a free hand to respond.

After Yun Ci entered the dormitory, as long as Luo Sifang and the others weren’t there or no one was paying attention, Yu Xun’s hand would reach over to hold his.

Yun Ci didn’t mind holding hands.

But this person, after holding for a while, would start to play freely, not being very honest, sometimes pinching his knuckles or touching his fingertips, like tickling him.

“…”

Yun Ci held a pen, looking under the table: “How long are you going to hold?”

“It’s seven o’clock now,” Yu Xun looked at the time, then raised his eyes, “Until lights out.”

“I haven’t finished my homework,” Yun Ci said, “You doing this…”

All his attention was on this person.

But what he wanted to say became, “It affects my performance.”

“Then I’ll help you write.”

“…”

Yun Ci said, “Our handwriting is different.”

Yu Xun: “That’s true, my handwriting is prettier, too distinctive. If I help you write, it’ll be easily noticed.”

“…………”

He didn’t want to hold hands anymore.

He didn’t want a boyfriend anymore.

“Sit aside,” Yun Ci pulled his hand out, seriously working on his homework, “We’ll hold hands after I finish.”

Yu Xun responded, and although he was reluctant, he didn’t move his hand again. He leaned over, feeling a bit drowsy, playing with a pen slowly, twirling it around.

“Did you finish your homework?” Yun Ci asked, “I didn’t see you write it in class.”

He didn’t see him write it after class either, just holding hands all the time.

Yu Xun said, “I did.”

He took out his homework book and opened it, with just a few lines written on it.

Typical half-hearted homework.

The kind that would get called out by a professional course teacher.

“Just wrote something casually,” Yu Xun wasn’t serious about homework. He had too many things to do usually, so he just muddled through homework, “As long as I can score on the final exam.”

Yun Ci remembered that this was also how he was in high school.

Although he either missed exams or was among the top two in every exam, he was often called to the office by teachers for his homework: “Yu Xun, for these questions, you just wrote the answers? If it weren’t for the last big question that no one in the class got right, I would’ve thought you copied it—can you write out the process?”

Wearing his school uniform, Yu Xun nonchalantly said, “Sir, I’ll write the process during the exam.”

The math teacher, who was usually called “Ge” by the class: “Nonsense, if you don’t write the process during the exam, I’ll call you Ge!”

Yu Xun raised his eyebrows slightly, intrigued: “Alright. I’ll just write the answers.”

“…”

Their attitudes towards homework were completely different.

Yu Xun glanced at Yun Ci’s homework book, neatly done, every question meticulously addressed: “But you, why do you take after-class homework so seriously? The professional teachers might not even seriously grade them.”

In the dormitory, Luo Sifang and the others had just gone to the neighboring dormitory to visit, leaving the two of them alone briefly.

Yun Ci’s pen paused on the notebook, then after a while, he said, “Maybe, because of a very important person.”

Wanting her to see it.

Yu Xun: “A very important person?”

Yun Ci’s voice lowered: “Mm.”

The topic didn’t continue, both of them keenly sensed the change in the atmosphere. Then Yu Xun thought of Yun Ci sitting on the steps on the eve of New Year’s Eve, not sleeping, blowing in the wind.

Yu Xun didn’t pursue the topic further, just moved his hand, then placed it over his.

“I’ve let you write for a whole five minutes,” Yu Xun said, “Can we hold hands now?”

Yun Ci repeated his words: “A whole?”

Yu Xun retorted: “Is five minutes not long enough?”

“Starting from the second year of high school,” Yu Xun added, “Calculate how many minutes you owe me in total?”

“…”

The warmth of his palm smoothed out the emotions that had dipped just now.

So Yun Ci didn’t check his phone until bedtime.

By the time he saw Li Yan’s message, a long time had passed.

Li Yan’s string of self-talk began with: [I heard you got into a fight with Yu Xun on the way.]

Looking at this “fight,” Yun Ci didn’t grasp it immediately.

The second sentence: [Tomorrow is the final exam, how are you preparing?]

Yun Ci replied to the second sentence.

yc: [Not bad.]

On the day of the final exam, the atmosphere in the entire dormitory building was very tense. The teaching building was even more silent.

The two law classes had the same exam room.

The exam venue was the large classroom where they usually had lectures, and the exam required sitting with one empty seat between each student.

The classmates around were discussing:

“Back in senior year, who was it that kept saying university would be fun? I’m not happy, the amount of stuff on the final exam has increased.”

“Did you make a cheat sheet?”

“Yes, with so much to memorize, how else could I prepare?”

Before the exam, Wang Zhuang showed him and Yu Xun his equipment: “Look at my cheat sheet, the font size on this small piece of paper, used to the extreme. I dare say, in the entire classroom, no one has a smaller font on their cheat sheet than mine—”

Yun Ci: “How can you read such small text?”

Wang Zhuang pulled out a pair of glasses from his pocket: “I bought a magnifying glass.”

“…”

The response he got was Yu Xun’s lazy, slow clap: ” Zhuang-ge, if you don’t get a perfect score this final exam.”

After Wang Zhuang returned to his seat, Yu Xun asked, “Ever cheated, boyfriend?”

The seating for the exam wasn’t by class, but by the results of the last classroom test, probably to minimize the possibility of students copying from each other. When the professional course teacher brought the exam papers into the classroom, they said: “Don’t glance around at each other. Your scores are all about the same; what you don’t know, the others probably don’t know either.”

The top two students from the last test sat in the front two seats.

He was first, and Yu Xun, who took the makeup exam and got second, was second.

So they sat next to each other, with one seat between them.

Yun Ci didn’t understand what he meant by cheating: “?”

Yu Xun didn’t explain much, only saying: “I didn’t review much. If there’s a question I can’t do later, I’ll cheat off you.”

The exam bell rang.

Yu Xun quickly finished writing, then took a nap.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yun Ci saw him wake up, then start scribbling on the paper again.

Then, a paper ball quietly hit over.

It landed right on the corner of his desk.

Yun Ci thought he had a question he couldn’t do, but when he opened the paper ball, there was only one line:

-I look good in other places too.

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