After saying that, Liu Zi felt embarrassed.
Thinking about how tough he had been with Yun Ci over the years and the harsh words he had said, now it was just awkward.
Embarrassed, he couldn’t help but drink more water.
Yun Ci kept the kettle in his hand, refilling Liu Zi’s glass every time he emptied it, then waited to see if he’d say thank you again.
Sure enough.
Liu Zi stuttered another: “…Th-thank you.”
“…”
Yun Ci finally couldn’t help but ask: “Was it safe when you were helping the old lady cross the street?”
“?”
Liu Zi, a bit slow, remembered his made-up excuse for being late.
Yun Ci: “Were there many cars on the road?”
Liu Zi imagined the scene: “Quite a few.”
Yun Ci understood and coldly continued: “So, you got hit in the head?”
Liu Zi: “………”
Even so, Liu Zi only said: “Damn, thank you for your co-concern.”
Yun Ci: “…”
Yun Ci stopped talking.
Under the table, he sent a WeChat message to Yu Xun.
Since they were still rivals on the surface and with Li Yan and Liu Zi present, direct conversation was inconvenient.
yc: [Is he crazy?]
Yu Xun didn’t reply immediately.
He had a minor incident on his end. Due to holding hands, his left hand wasn’t very flexible, and he accidentally knocked over a small dish.
Some sauce splashed onto Li Yan’s sleeve.
Li Yan also stuttered, mirroring Liu Zi’s state of mind: “This time, I’ll let it go. You… next time, be a bit more careful.”
Yu Xun raised an eyebrow: “…Why so polite all of a sudden?”
Li Yan: “Adults, polite, should be.”
“…”
So when Yu Xun finished reading the unread message, he replied.
yx: [Your buddy]
yx: [Is he crazy too?]
yc: [……]
After the meal.
A large group of people prepared to walk across the street towards the school gate. Li Yan and Liu Zi couldn’t stand the atmosphere any longer and took the first chance to slip away once they exited the restaurant.
With his hands in his pockets, Liu Zi waved at everyone, facing Yun Ci at the back of the group.
Awkwardly, he hoped any passing car would just hit him: “Lots of cars on the road.” He touched his nose, wracking his brain for one last bit of politeness, “…Be careful crossing the street.”
Outside the restaurant, without the tablecloth, Yu Xun couldn’t hold Yun Ci’s hand anymore.
He felt a bit bored.
His fingers unconsciously rubbed his knuckles, then looked at his long-time buddy and made a judgment: “He’s indeed crazy.”
Yun Ci: “Aren’t you going to show some concern?”
Yu Xun: “Not very concerned.”
He added, “More concerned about when we can be alone for a while.”
Their relationship wasn’t very free.
Their dormitory housed six people, they had classes to attend, and there wasn’t much time left.
Yun Ci didn’t speak and took out his phone.
Yu Xun: “What’s up?”
Yun Ci: “I’m checking on Li Yan.”
Just as Yu Xun finished speaking, Yun Ci’s attention immediately shifted to someone else. He released his grip on his knuckles: “Oh, Li Yan is more important than me, huh.”
“……”
“He’s gone crazy,” Yun Ci said, “Shouldn’t I be concerned?”
Yu Xun: “Liu Zi has gone crazy too, and I don’t want to be concerned.”
As they spoke, the traffic light changed.
But there were still cyclists disregarding traffic rules, weaving in and out.
Yu Xun was facing him as he spoke, with his back to the road.
Yun Ci’s first reaction was to grab his clothes and pull him to the side of the road.
Then the string of “So I’m not important to you” that Yu Xun was about to say willingly swallowed down.
—
That night, there were four people who couldn’t sleep.
Yun Ci was initially very sleepy, but Yu Xun kept sending him messages.
He opened them and found they were all pictures.
yx: [picture]
yx: [picture]
yx: [picture]
……
Stage photos.
From various angles, all of him and Yu Xun.
yx: [Couple photos.]
The photos were quite well taken.
Although his dancing wasn’t great, the still photos didn’t show any flaws in his movements. Standing on stage, with the light shining on them, it looked quite convincing.
In one of the photos, he and Yu Xun were standing very close, so close that it seemed like they were performing a duet.
The white shirt was slightly translucent under the light, the strong light shining through the collar, making the hollow between his collarbones especially prominent. After a vacation, Yu Xun’s hair had grown a bit longer. He wasn’t wearing makeup, but his features were so sharp they looked like they were deliberately outlined.
In almost all the photos, Yu Xun’s gaze was directed through the light at a specific person.
Yun Ci followed Yu Xun’s gaze in the photos to look at himself.
His features were softer in comparison, but the strong light added some depth on camera.
The jeans he was wearing were Yu Xun’s.
Before going on stage, the senior only announced in the group to wear tight low-waisted jeans, emphasizing the low waist.
At the time, someone commented: [That’s so flashy.]
Another said: [You really know how to work the show, brother.]
The senior replied: [Nonsense, don’t I know how well my own program is staged? I had to take a different approach.]
Yun Ci was at a loss.
Until his boyfriend asked him: “Want to wear mine?”
……
Now those jeans were hanging on the railing by his bed.
Yun Ci shook off some inappropriate thoughts and typed a message.
yc: [Aren’t you going to sleep?]
Yu Xun replied quickly.
yx: [I’ll sleep once all the photos are downloaded.]
yc: [How many photos?]
Yu Xun casually: [Just a few hundred floors left to save.]
yc: [……]
Yun Ci held his phone, listening to the slight movements from the lower bunk. Although he thought going to the forum to save photos was a bit silly, he still clicked save one by one.
The other two people who couldn’t sleep were one surnamed Li and the other surnamed Liu.
Li Yan never thought that one day, the person he chatted with the most would become Liu Zi.
He sent: [Can you sleep?]
Liu Zi replied instantly: [Do you think I can sleep? After all this, can I sleep?]
Li Yan had already accepted this ridiculous reality and asked: [When exactly did those two get together?]
Liu Zi still refused to believe it: [Didn’t you say seeing is not necessarily believing?]
Li Yan: [But I’ve seen it too many times.]
Liu Zi: [……]
Night chats easily spread emotions and lead to getting carried away.
The two’s conversation unknowingly turned to other topics, and they ended up arguing.
Li Yan: [Anyway, no matter how they got together, one thing is undeniable—it was that Yu kid who kissed my brother first.]
Liu Zi: [?]
Li Yan, passionately, his fingers almost sparking from friction with the phone screen: [This proves my brother is infinitely charming.]
Liu Zi: [……]
Lunatic.
Finding an angle like this.
He also sped up his typing to retaliate: [You’re talking nonsense.]
[You also know it was my brother who kissed him first? Don’t you understand, in a relationship, the dominant, proactive one is the one in control.]
[……]
—
Yun Ci knew nothing about the other two who couldn’t sleep.
After saving a bunch of “couple photos,” he slept soundly in the second half of the night.
Due to the excellent performance of the representatives from the two law classes at the literary performance, the next day, Gao Pingyang called them to the office and prepared small gifts to encourage them.
Yun Ci got up in the morning, before changing clothes, he leaned down to the lower bunk and tapped on the railing with his knuckles, reminding: “Pants.”
Yu Xun had just gotten up too, putting on a sweater: “What?”
Yun Ci: “The ones I borrowed from you, I’ll wash them and return them later.”
Yu Xun opened his eyes, still a bit drowsy, but said: “Why so polite?”
“No need,” his gaze locked on Yun Ci, emphasizing, “Whether I wear them or you wear them, it makes no difference.”
Since he said so, Yun Ci didn’t insist, casually saying: “Help me grab my coat.”
Yu Xun had already lifted the quilt and got up: “Which one?”
Yun Ci: “The white one.”
Yu Xun responded with an “oh.”
Then Yun Ci watched as he mixed up black and white, took out a very familiar black jacket from his own pile of clothes, and handed it to him.
Yun Ci reminded: “White.”
Yu Xun, expression unchanged: “I know.”
Yun Ci: “What did you take?”
Yu Xun: “Black.”
Yun Ci stopped talking, just looking at him.
Yu Xun raised his hand and tossed his own clothes directly onto the upper bunk, saying lightly, “Seeing you being so polite, I really want you to wear my clothes more often. You’ll get used to it after a few times.”
“…”
Wearing Yu Xun’s jacket had accidentally happened once before.
At that time, they were still in a “hostile” relationship.
The feeling now was very different from before.
If Yun Ci continued to refuse, it would seem pretentious, so he quickly put on the clothes and then climbed down from the upper bunk.
After breakfast, the two of them headed to the counselor’s office.
“These two books, I bought them with my own money,” Gao Pingyang handed them two copies of “The Details of Law” when they arrived, “I watched the performance, it was quite good. When you’re young, you should create more memories like these.”
Yun Ci accepted the book: “Thank you, teacher.”
Yu Xun, holding the book, said, “I think so too. You should invite us more to such events in the future.”
“…”
Yun Ci wasn’t that satisfied.
But he strongly suspected that Yu Xun was saying this because of the couple photos.
Gao Pingyang happily patted Yu Xun’s shoulder, as if he had been waiting for this: “I didn’t know how to bring it up, but since you mentioned it, I’ll be direct.”
Yun Ci’s right eye twitched.
Gao Pingyang: “Our school’s basketball team organizes games every year. Now that the weather is warming up…” As he spoke, he glanced at Yun Ci’s thin jacket, vaguely recognizing it but not thinking much of it, and continued, “Our grade needs to form a team too. Since you two are so enthusiastic, I’ll leave it to you.”
Yun Ci: “…?”
He interrupted, “Teacher, I don’t think I’m that enthusiastic.”
Gao Pingyang patted his shoulder: “I know, you have a cold exterior but a warm heart! Even if you don’t show it, your enthusiasm is undeniable.”
“…?”
And with that, the matter was decided.
In West High, he and Yu Xun had always led their own teams in basketball games.
Now, if the basketball game was assigned to him and Yu Xun, there was only one outcome: they would have to pick a few people from their respective teams and form a combined team.
Someone had once speculated about this on the West High forum.
[Does anyone think that if they played on the same team, West High’s strength would skyrocket?]
[I don’t think so, they don’t seem like they could cooperate.]
[If they could cooperate.]
[That’s a very difficult condition to meet…]
[……]
Now, this very difficult condition had been met.
After leaving the office, Yu Xun saw him lost in thought and asked, “What’s up?”
Yun Ci: “Nothing.”
He added, “Li Yan has been quite crazy lately.”
“If he finds out about this, he might go even crazier.”
Inside the office, after seeing off the two students, Gao Pingyang was on the phone, saying, “I’ve given them the books, but why didn’t you deliver them yourself?”
The person on the other end said something.
Gao Pingyang continued, “What’s inconvenient about it? One is your own son, the other is your former student. What’s inconvenient?”
The person on the other end said, “Thank you anyway, sorry to trouble you.”
Gao Pingyang: “No need for that.”
He then habitually reported Yun Ci’s recent activities to Yan Yue, “His coursework is going well, and I’ve arranged for him to participate in an activity. Don’t worry too much; it’s good for kids to get involved in activities.”
“And I think,” Gao Pingyang said, inexplicably thinking of the jacket Yun Ci was wearing, “These two kids have been getting along better recently.”
This surprised Yan Yue as well.
He remembered Yun Ci rarely clashing with him, usually because he didn’t want to see Yu Xun at home.
Yan Yue: “Getting along better?”
Gao Pingyang: “Yes, they’re even going to play basketball together.”
Finally, he added, “Maybe sharing a dorm and living together helps ease their relationship.”
Meanwhile, outside the door.
Yun Ci and Yu Xun discussed, each picking a few people from their own camps. After finalizing the list, they sent it to Li Yan and Liu Zi.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
They didn’t wait long for those two to freak out.
“Li Yan replied,” Yun Ci glanced at his phone and said.
Yu Xun: “What did he say?”
Yun Ci: “Three dots and an ‘oh.'”
Yu Xun: “So calm?”
Yun Ci hummed in agreement and asked, “What about Liu Zi?”
Yu Xun read from the chat window, “Damn, oh.”
“…”
