Normally, this excuse would be pretty bad.
But coming from these two who usually fought all the time, this lame excuse actually convinced Luo Sifang.
Luo Sifang’s brain started working: “I just remembered, the final exam results are out!”
“…”
Yu Xun and Yun Ci’s final exam results were a hot topic; he had heard some gossip from Li Yan and Liu Zi when they occasionally visited the dorm.
Li Yan had been aggressive: “Uncle! You tied in the finals this time, aren’t you dissatisfied?! Do you want to ask the teacher to make a new test paper for a retake?”
At that time, Yun Ci had been in the dorm, looking at him coldly, as if he were an idiot: “Why would I cause trouble for myself?”
Li Yan had been taken aback, reminding him of old memories: “…You did that in high school.”
Li Yan: “You insisted on having the math teacher make new problems, causing the math teacher to be very stressed for days.”
Yun Ci: “…”
When Liu Zi came to the dorm, he was even more exaggerated. He had prepared two sets of test papers: “I got these from the neighboring school. Yun Ci hasn’t done them. Take them to him and retake the test, show him who’s really the top student.”
“…”
Thinking about this, Luo Sifang felt the midnight fight was more convincing and asked them, “So, have you finished fighting?”
Yu Xun: “No, we just started.”
This time he spoke with obvious irritation, sounding genuinely angry: “Why are you awake? Did you have to get up at this time?”
Luo Sifang: “…”
Yun Ci didn’t say anything.
He elbowed Yu Xun’s side; the action was clearly a warning.
Receiving the hint, Yu Xun climbed down.
They had thought this incident would spread through the dorm, expecting to be gossiped about for a while. But surprisingly, Luo Sifang didn’t tell anyone and instead took quiet action—
The next night, just as Yu Xun lifted the blanket and was about to climb into his boyfriend’s bed, he saw a dark figure sitting quietly at the long table in the middle of the dorm.
Yu Xun, who rarely swore, couldn’t help but mutter “f*ck.”
The figure moved.
“I set six alarms throughout the night,” Luo Sifang turned on his phone, the glow illuminating his face, making him look like a beacon of justice in the dorm. “I was afraid you two would sneak off to fight again.”
Luo Sifang said, his determined gaze locking onto Yu Xun: “Caught you again.”
Yu Xun: “…”
On the upper bunk, Yun Ci, who had just prepared to sleep but received a message from the black profile picture saying “hold me before you sleep”: “…”
“Turn off the remaining five alarms and go to sleep.” Yu Xun couldn’t even muster any anger.
Luo Sifang: “So, you won’t fight tonight?”
Yu Xun: “Yeah.”
Luo Sifang asked again: “What about tomorrow night?”
“…Won’t fight.”
Luo Sifang went to sleep contentedly, and the dorm returned to quiet.
Yun Ci, feeling complicated, buried himself under the blanket. The black profile picture sent a message.
yx: [……]
Six dots.
Yun Ci interpreted these six dots as a lot of meaning, such as four words: “Is he sick or what?”
With Luo Sifang watching so closely, it was unlikely Yu Xun could sneak up after lights out again.
Yun Ci searched through his expression library for a while and finally found a somewhat affectionate emoji.
yc: [/hug]
It was just an emoji.
Yu Xun suddenly lost all his mood.
yx: [Forget it]
yx: [Let him off the hook]
In the second semester of freshman year, Yun Ci’s schedule was even busier than the last. He also tutored, often rushing to the station after class to go to Liu Jiayu’s house.
After finishing tutoring and hurrying back, sometimes he barely made it to the dorm at the last second, and sometimes he had to climb over the wall—together with his boyfriend.
After Liu Jiayu started school, his attitude toward tutoring suddenly became enthusiastic: “Do I only have two papers for homework this time?”
Yun Ci caught his keyword: “Only, two?”
Liu Jiayu: “The second-to-last in our grade is also getting tutored, and that idiot is afraid if I improve faster than him, he’ll become the last one.”
By now, Yun Ci had gotten to know this kid: “You usually don’t care.”
If Liu Jiayu thought being last was shameful, he wouldn’t have stayed there so long. He had been comfortably last and had even resisted tutoring at first.
“I didn’t care, but now that he’s acting like this, I have my pride too.”
“?”
Under the gaze of his tutor brother, who once topped West High’s most handsome list, Liu Jiayu slammed the table: “I can’t afford to lose face. I need to make a qualitative leap in my grades in the next exam. I must be the second to last!”
“…”
Liu Jiayu sensitively caught Yun Ci’s silence: “Why aren’t you saying anything? Do you have no confidence in me?”
Yun Ci packed up his materials, ready to leave: “With such a low goal, what else is there to say?”
“…”
That Friday, Liu Jiayu was let out of school early. After finishing his tutoring session, he left Liu’s house, and it was still early when he approached the school.
On the bus, Li Yan sent a few messages.
Li Yan: [Are you off work?]
Li Yan: [Wanna play games?]
Li Yan: [I had a fight with my dad over the phone. Now I’m at an internet cafe outside school.]
Yun Ci originally wanted to reply “No,” but after seeing the third message, he deleted those two characters: [Address.]
It was still the internet cafe near the East Gate. Yun Ci, familiar with the place, went straight there. Li Yan had saved a computer for him.
As soon as Yun Ci arrived, Li Yan couldn’t help but complain: “I said I wasn’t sure about my career development yet, was that wrong? It’s only been half a year, I barely understand this major, how can I have a development plan?”
Yun Ci pressed the power button, casually comforting him: “Don’t take it to heart.”
Li Yan: “Could you be any more perfunctory with your comfort?”
Yun Ci: “Yes.”
He added, “Be strong.”
Li Yan: “…F*ck.”
Between men, not much more needed to be said.
“Wanna queue?” Yun Ci asked directly.
“Sure,” Li Yan took a big gulp of cola, trying to drown his sorrows with it, “but it’s just the two of us? This game needs at least three players.”
Yun Ci rarely posted on his social media, but he did this time, with a straightforward caption: [Endless Glory, 2=1.]
The first person to reach out to him was Yu Xun.
Black profile picture: [Wait for me a few minutes.]
yc: [?]
yc: [You at the internet cafe?]
Black profile picture: [Almost at the dorm.]
Black profile picture: [Borrowing the dorm leader’s computer, he’s going to class.]
Yun Ci looked up and told Li Yan: “We’ve got someone. Wait for him.”
Li Yan: “Who?”
The two characters “Yu Xun” rolled around his mouth and finally turned into two words: “My partner.”
Li Yan: “Damn, impressive.”
Li Yan had always been curious about his partner: “Haven’t met them yet. Are they coming to the internet cafe?”
Yun Ci: “They’re in the dorm.”
Li Yan: “Makes sense. It wouldn’t be good for them to be at the internet cafe with us. The first time I meet your partner, it should be more formal, like at a restaurant.”
Li Yan, who had just fought with his dad, was also emotionally unstable today.
Yun Ci remained silent on that.
Li Yan then brought up the final exam: “Did you and that Yu guy retake the test? Who scored higher?”
Yun Ci casually started a small game, opening a round: “Didn’t retake.”
Li Yan asked: “Why not?”
Yun Ci replied calmly: “Too stupid.”
“…”
True.
After all, they were now university students.
“Forget it, let’s not talk about him, bad luck. Tell me about your partner.” Li Yan said, “Do they like this game? There are very few female players in this game. How does she play?”
Yun Ci said ambiguously: “You’ll know when they arrive.”
The internet cafe was quite crowded. Typically, it was off-peak before exams, but just after the start of the term, before coursework picked up, it was the busiest time.
The surrounding noise was constant: “Damn it, use your ultimate!”
“My connection’s lagging.”
“This cafe? Lagging my ass, your hand speed’s slow, don’t blame the lag.”
“…”
While waiting for Yun Ci’s partner, Li Yan casually scrolled through his phone. After a few swipes, he accidentally clicked on an ad: [Click to discover a passionate love story~]
The ad led to a novel recommendation, complete with a picture of one boy pinning another against a wall.
Novel synopsis: He! Is the high school’s top flower. And he! Is a delinquent!
Everyone thought these two had nothing to do with each other, but at a class reunion, someone saw the delinquent pinning the top flower against the wall and kissing him fiercely! In the delinquent’s eyes, there was a gentleness no one had seen before!
“…”
Li Yan muttered to himself: “What the hell is this?”
Though he said that, he closed the ad page, but his right eyelid inexplicably started twitching.
Next to him, Yun Ci had just finished a round of the casual game he opened. His phone screen lit up.
yx: [Log in.]
Soon after, another message.
yx: [I changed my name, he shouldn’t recognize it.]
Yun Ci instinctively replied: [Changed to what?]
yx: [Weren’t we talking about a gradual approach?]
[…]
He remembered, they did have such a strategy.
Yun Ci had never added Yu Xun as a friend, so he couldn’t see the new name in advance, until a string of garbled characters requested to join his team.
“yx1120wzxhyc“1YX1120WZXHYC: Yú Xún 1120 (Yun Ci’s Birthday) Wǒ zuì xǐhuān yún cí (I like Yun Ci the most.) requests to join the game team.
Seeing the “yx,” Yun Ci: “……..”
The game name looked like gibberish at first glance, similar to his own ID.
But upon closer inspection, it was full of details.
Yun Ci, sitting at the computer, rarely felt nervous, secretly watching for Li Yan’s reaction.
Li Yan indeed found the name familiar: “yx?”
Then he quickly convinced himself, “yx is just an abbreviation for ‘game2 游戏 (Yóuxì),’ right? Your girlfriend’s name is really straightforward.”
Yun Ci didn’t know whether to relax: “Think of it that way if you want.”
After Yu Xun joined the team, the three of them immediately queued into the game.
It was Yun Ci’s first time in a relationship. Towards his brother’s partner, Li Yan showed extreme enthusiasm, constantly offering items: “You take this.”
“Do you want this?”
“Don’t be polite, anything I have, you can ask for.”
“Don’t go alone, it’s dangerous.”
After a while, Li Yan noticed the other party wasn’t speaking: “Why aren’t you talking?”
The game allowed for text chat.
So, in the bottom left corner, a few lines of text appeared in the team chat box.
[yx1120wzxhyc: I’m introverted.]
[yx1120wzxhyc: Don’t dare to go to the internet cafe.]
[yx1120wzxhyc: Embarrassed to play games loudly in the dorm.]
Finally, from who knows where, Yu Xun even sent an emoticon.
[yx1120wzxhyc: qwq]
Yun Ci: “…”
___________
Author’s Note:
Li Yan: You dare to mess with me.
That is a name full of meaning for sure djjfhdjs