Tan Xiao held the flowers, constantly being stared at by Kong Xuan with a hint of resentment.

After coming down, Lin Yang immediately teased with a grin, "This kind of man is no good, he's reluctant even when giving flowers, and needs the guidance director to urge him. Do you regret having him as your deskmate now?"

They had only switched seats, and the difference from last semester wasn't particularly big.

But Lin Yang saying this kind of thing was truly despicable. Kong Xuan glared at him.

Lin Yang: "I remember, last semester Tan Xiao even gave you flowers..."

Kong Xuan couldn't hold back anymore: "What do you know, this is the same bouquet from last semester!"

Lin Yang still felt this was all a continuation of the program's effect. Hearing Kong Xuan's words, the classmates around them all started laughing. Lin Yang was also happy to play along and said to Tan Xiao, "Your current boyfriend is very handsome, but also really stubborn."

Kong Xuan: "..."

"Haha, we were just saying, only you two could go perform that play, even the guidance director was cheering you on. If it were anyone else, it definitely wouldn't work," Yu Zhenzhen also joined the conversation.

"Why do you say that?" Kong Xuan thought, maybe the teachers could also see that he and Tan Xiao were not ordinary. Didn't Ji Huiming also arrange for them to be proper deskmates.

"Uh," Yu Zhenzhen had thought this was something everyone could understand implicitly. They were all high school students, and the school was preventing puppy love as if their lives depended on it. "Because the teachers would be afraid of inducing students to fall in love..."

But they were both boys, and the program effect was too good. The teachers would only think it was rehearsed. After coming down, everyone was playing along with the joke.

Hearing this, Kong Xuan was a bit puzzled. The cheering was actually for the opposite reason. In fact, he had long been very confused. The school rules clearly stated that puppy love was not allowed, but he had previously seen a senior schoolmate whose relationship with her deskmate was suspiciously strange.

He frowned, "But students can't engage in puppy love."

Lin Yang casually said, "Boss, why are you so rigid? It's only puppy love if you get caught. If you don't get caught, it's just classmate affection, studying together and going to and from school together, that's all."

Kong Xuan: "!"

"Are you teaching Kong Xuan to exploit loopholes? Hahaha, don't let him learn it." Yu Zhenzhen burst out laughing. To be fair, the study atmosphere in their class was still very strong. Basically no one had time to think about those things.

"Class monitor, can you come over for a bit." Tan Xiao called Yu Zhenzhen and ran to the side to whisper.

Kong Xuan was still pondering how humans were really good at exploiting loopholes.

The activities were almost over. Lin Yang took out his phone boredly to browse and saw a news article.

"Wow, what's this? It says there was a guy who sleepwalked barefoot from near the Second Hospital at night all the way to Mount Qiyun. The next day he woke up in the mountains and was late. Hahaha." Lin Yang couldn't help but click in to read after seeing a local push notification while browsing.

Locals all knew that the Second Hospital was located in a more central part of the city, while Mount Qiyun was dozens of kilometers away from the nearest part of the urban area. Running there barefoot overnight was quite something. The weather was still cool now, wouldn't this directly lead to catching a cold?

At this time, Tan Xiao and Yu Zhenzhen finished whispering and walked back. Lin Yang immediately showed it to him, "Hahaha, look at this!"

Kong Xuan glanced over from the side, but discovered that there were very unhealthy advertisements below Lin Yang's push notification. As an adult peacock, he immediately averted his gaze and covered Tan Xiao's eyes, "He's still a minor, what are you showing him!"

Tan Xiao: "..."

"..." Lin Yang felt Kong Xuan was being too exaggerated. He closed the ad, "Keep your voice down, people will misunderstand me!"

He must be retaliating for him teasing about this boyfriend of his.

Tan Xiao didn't see anything clearly before Kong Xuan tightly covered his eyes. Feeling that Kong Xuan seemed especially nervous, "Hey, what, Lin Yang what did you show me?"

"See, see, this is going to cause misunderstanding." Lin Yang said aggrievedly, "I was just looking at news."

Tan Xiao was still holding the flowers with one hand. With the other hand, he pried Kong Xuan's hand away. Lin Yang's phone was already held up to his eyes, and he could immediately see the news summary, attracting his gaze. "Sleepwalking can go this far? No wonder it made the news."

Because he was looking at the news, after prying Kong Xuan's hand away, he didn't immediately let go. His hand fell down a bit slowly, unconsciously pausing, looking like he was single-handedly holding Kong Xuan's hand that was wrapped around him at the shoulder.

"Do you think this sleepwalking is real or fake?" Tan Xiao turned his head to look at Kong Xuan. He didn't make a sound, "Hm?"

Kong Xuan's gaze was wandering.

He even got distracted. Tan Xiao continued searching in the news and discovered that there were expert analyses of sleepwalking behavior inside, but it didn't say if they were hospital experts or experts from 404.

Kong Xuan slowly came back to his senses and looked around. Only then did he discover that there were actually several pairs with similar postures as them, both boys and girls. It was very normal for classmates with good relationships to put their arms around each other's shoulders. No wonder Tan Xiao so naturally held onto him.

Kong Xuan had seen a lot in the human world and was actively learning the rules here - physics, cell phones - but this time it seemed a little different. He imitated the movements of others, slowly leaning his body forward, lowering his usually slightly raised head, and placing his chin on Tan Xiao's shoulder, gradually relaxing.

Tan Xiao felt a bit of cool skin brush past his ear and shrank his neck. His hand let go of Kong Xuan but he still stood in place, supporting the frame that was one size larger than himself.

This wasn't the first time Tan Xiao had a posture of embracing with Kong Xuan, but it was the first time Kong Xuan, in a way of imitating mortals, infinitely approached the bearing of an ordinary high school student.

Compared to when he had caught Tan Xiao under the rooftop before, or held Tan Xiao's hand and pinched decisions on the altar, at this moment in the still slightly chilly early spring cold wind, Kong Xuan used the method he learned to half-hang on the boy, showing an increasingly different side.

Tan Xiao had his back to Kong Xuan, so Kong Xuan also couldn't see that Tan Xiao was still staring at Lin Yang's phone screen. His eyes swept to the side and revealed a smile.

Lin Yang looked at the two of them and suddenly felt it was quite dull to hold up his phone. "Can you two say something."

Because he was leaning on Tan Xiao's shoulder, half of Kong Xuan's face was exposed, looking a bit gloomy, "Why are you bringing a cell phone to school, Teacher Ji--"

Lin Yang: "Ahhhh, it's a big holiday!!"

......

Because he had given flowers in front of everyone, Tan Xiao had no choice but to keep holding the flowers until returning to the classroom. Only then did Kong Xuan stare at Tan Xiao without saying a word, but it was much sunnier than when he looked at Lin Yang.

Tan Xiao pretended not to know and lowered his head to smell the flowers. "Oh, so fresh."

"Don't rub the petals off!" Kong Xuan's tone wasn't very fierce, more like resentment. "Reflect on yourself, is this what a shaman should do?"

"Got it, fragrant flowers for offering, here." Tan Xiao finally returned the flowers to Kong Xuan.

Holding the bouquet, Kong Xuan discovered an extra flower with a slightly different texture. Pinching it, he realized it was made of paper. He looked at Tan Xiao in shock.

"Returning it to you, with an extra flower as interest. But there's nowhere to find fresh flowers right now, so I learned from the class monitor and folded one. This one doesn't need preserving," Tan Xiao said.

Kong Xuan carefully tucked the paper flower back into the bouquet. He felt Tan Xiao had put a lot of thought into it. The paper flower was even folded from a page of physics problem answer keys, full of formulas and full of heart.

Lin Yang ran past and saw this scene. Thinking the flowers had been returned again, he concluded they must be props. But how come there was an extra flower? He shouted, "Wow, which underclassman girl gave you this? Tsk tsk, so girly. Can I take a look?"

As Kong Xuan lowered the bouquet, by the time Lin Yang turned around to look again, the flowers had vanished.

Lin Yang was dumbfounded. "...What close-up magic is this?!"

Performing magic at such close range made Tan Xiao a bit nervous. He said guiltily, "Um, do you want me to explain the principle to you?"

"No no!" Lin Yang directly covered his ears. "Definitely don't tell me! Magic loses its fun if the secrets are revealed! You absolutely can't tell me!"

Tan Xiao: "......Okay."

......

Some time had passed since the start of the semester when Tan Xiao received news from the Bureau 404 again.

Apparently, Mr. Xu and that Qi Province recruit had first gone to places like Yunmeng before coming to Nanchu, and brought the latest investigation progress.

Mu Fei video called Tan Xiao to tell him about it. "Hello little brother Tan Xiao, say hi to Mr. Xu. It's been a while since you've seen each other."

"Tan Xiao, are your grades still good? Is your schoolwork busy?" Mr. Xu looked quite a bit thinner. Since he was talking to a student, he had to ask about studies first thing.

"It's alright." Tan Xiao noticed a figure behind Mr. Xu, a young man in a leather jacket with hair dyed a bit blue. Only half his body was visible, but his appearance was quite distinctive. Tan Xiao suspected this was the Qi Province recruit.

This person looked quite fashionable. Just from his appearance, Tan Xiao really couldn't tell what species he was.