Xie Yu woke up early, changed into his school uniform, and had some porridge and small dishes with Madam Gu. Checking the time, he prepared to take the bus back to school. "I'm leaving. Call me if there's anything."

Gu Xuelan put down her chopsticks and stood up. "Let the driver send you over."

Xie Yu bent down to change his shoes at the entrance. Just like when he came back, he didn't bring anything and looked like he was going out to play instead of going to school. "No need, I'll go by myself."

"You're going like this? How can you not even bring a backpack?" Gu Xuelan didn't know what to say. "Did you finish the homework the teacher assigned for this weekend?"

"I did. I finished it at school," Xie Yu said.

This excuse was too fake. Gu Xuelan didn't believe him. "I don't think you even started doing it." 

"There weren't many questions that I could answer in the first place," Xie Yu straightened his slippers and opened the door. A gust of wind rushed in, carrying with it a dampness that hit his face. "It doesn't matter if I brought it back or not."

Gu Xuelan was about to say, "Be careful of your health, the weather is getting colder," but Xie Yu had already taken several steps outside.

The location of the Zhong family's house was quite remote, and the nearest station was half an hour's walk away.

There were residents nearby who came out for a morning run, circling around the park with a towel around their necks, panting as they ran.

In fact, not everything here was annoying.

For example, the sunrise that spread across the sky, or the plants and trees along the road. Up ahead, there was a couple with their child jogging together, purposely slowing down their pace, looking like a comical slow-motion replay. 

As Xie Yu walked, he put on his headphones and played a random song, then put his hands back in his pockets.

The fresh air and a new day greeted him.

Xie Yu's arrival time at school depended on whether the bus was running smoothly on the road. Sometimes he was unlucky - like now, when the bus stalled halfway.

The driver smoked a cigarette and squatted by the side of the bus, looking at it for a long time before patting it with his hand. Finally, he came to the conclusion: "It's no good, you guys wait for the next one behind."

The passengers on the bus were exploding with emotions.

- Hey little friend, when are you getting to school?

- Why

- Did you miss me? I can come pick you up at the school gate.

- Are you crazy?

- Can't you just chat nicely, luckily, I have a good temper...Hey, when you get to school, don't rush into class. I'll be waiting for you in the toilet.

He guessed that He Chao probably arrived at the classroom early and had nothing to do, so he came over to bother him. 

Xie Yu chatted aimlessly with him for a while, one wanting to end the chat quickly, the other determined to continuously revive the conversation.

The bus behind them arrived quickly, swaying to a stop with the license plate of 91 hanging on the window.

Xie Yu arrived with ten minutes to spare before class, not considered late. Even the Mad Dog couldn't do anything about him, so he stood at the school gate glaring: "Hurry up, start running! Time is of the essence!"

The Mad Dog continued, "You have no idea how to seize the moment. You're about to enter your senior year, do you still think you just started school...Do you know, I used to catch your desk mate all the time. He would sneak over the wall every morning, and I would bring people to block him at the wall." 

Xie Yu walked past Head Teacher Jiang at his usual pace, not particularly interested in hearing about the heroic deeds of this Mad Dog. "Excuse me, Head Teacher Jiang, goodbye."

As Xie Yu ascended the stairs, he vaguely saw someone swaying back and forth in front of the door of Class 3. Wan Da was leaning against the windowsill with one hand, peering in this direction. 

Xie Yu didn't pay much attention and was about to walk past when someone suddenly grabbed his wrist from behind and pulled him in the opposite direction.

Caught off guard, Xie Yu took two steps back with the force and before he could react, he was already being pulled into a stall in the men's restroom.

"I told you not to go into our classroom," He Chao let go of Xie Yu's hand. The stall was a bit cramped for two people, and they were standing very close to each other. "...Didn't you see the class representative wandering in the hallway?" 

Wearing his school uniform with a thin jacket over it, He Chao looked relaxed in his black hoodie with a pair of sharp strokes forming large wings on the back, with a glimpse of his white shirt underneath.

Xie Yu didn't take He Chao's 'I'll wait for you in the bathroom' seriously while he was waiting for the bus. "What's he up to?"

"He said he's going to explain trigonometric functions to us today," He Chao scratched his hair, looking helpless. "...He was reciting formulas in front of me as soon as I walked into the classroom this morning."

Xie Yu: "..."

"You wouldn't believe he would go this far, I'm really impressed. He's going to do great things in the future," He Chao said.

After the weekend, Xie Yu almost forgot about this person in their class who was crazy about improving the class average. 

Xue Xisheng was a man with an unparalleled focus and endurance. Just look at his desk covered in sticky notes and the various textbooks that couldn't fit under his table anymore, and ended up being stuffed into the class library.

For the past few days, Xue Xisheng not only completed his own homework but also pondered on how to lead everyone in studying together.

After squeezing into a bathroom stall for a while, Xie Yu felt it was a bit ridiculous to hide in the bathroom early in the morning. It was better to go back and listen to Xue Xisheng recite formulas.

This led to a small argument between the two.

"You can't abandon me."

"Don't block the door."

"Old Xie, once you leave this door, we're no longer brothers."

"We weren't to begin with."

"..." 

As class was about to start, a student on duty came to clean the bathroom with a cloth. After turning off the faucet and wringing out the cloth, he was about to leave when he heard a faint sound coming from one of the stalls. He stopped in his tracks and looked around.

Inside the stall, He Chao leaned against the door, blocking it from being opened. 

Xie Yu reached around He Chao's waist to grab the door handle, but He Chao pushed him back inside.

Their opposing forces collided, and although their movements were small, Xie Yu accidentally kicked the trash can behind him, causing it to topple over and crash to the ground.

He Chao was afraid Xie Yu would fall, so he reached out and pulled him back. 

However, this caused Xie Yu to lose his balance and fall backwards, exclaiming, "Fuck!" 

The on-duty student felt that he must have forgotten to check the almanac before going to the bathroom, otherwise he would have seen the three big characters "avoid the toilet".

Finally, the last cubicle door slowly opened, and he clearly saw Xie Yu sitting on the toilet seat, while He Chao bent over with one hand on Xie Yu's neck.

Their posture was quite ambiguous.

"I, I didn't see anything..." The on-duty student walked backwards towards the door, "I really didn't see anything."

Xie Yu remained silent with a cold face.

He Chao straightened up and said, "Hey, friend."

The on-duty student was probably too frightened, and as he backed away, he blurted out, "Don't kill me."

What happens in the toilet stays in the toilet, but rumors spread like wildfire.

After the first class, Wan Da came over and asked, "What happened in the toilet this morning?"

"Nothing much," Xie Yu finished his homework and casually asked, "Are you itching for a beating today?"

"Itching yes, but not for a beating," Wan Da replied.

He Chao watched as Xue Xisheng followed behind Tang Sen, he could lower his guard, and finally joined the chat army, "You're so well-informed?"

"My elementary school classmate's high school classmate is good friends with the homeroom teacher's cousin next door," Wan Da reported his convoluted chain of intelligence and then asked, "Speaking of which, Brother Chao, did you really strip off Brother Yu's clothes?"

Xie Yu put the cap back on his pen and finally looked up, staring seriously at Wan Da, "What?" 

Xie Yu's expression was hard to read, whether he was a little unhappy or extremely unhappy couldn't be determined. 

After pondering for a while, Wan Da thought that his risk level shouldn't be that high: "I don't know what the original version was, but when it got to me, it was like this - you two were having a fierce battle in the bathroom, disheveled and in disarray...in short, it was very exciting."

Rumors are the kind of thing that can spread like wildfire, even if there's nothing to it.

Finally, Wan Da asked again, "Is it true? Come on, let's get closer and whisper, I promise to keep it a secret."

Xie Yu leaned back, not in the mood to talk about it.

It was actually He Chao who leaned in mysteriously and said, "Do you want to know?"

Wan Da replied, "Yes."

"In fact, we did more than just that," He Chao said, "We also did some more exciting things..." 

Wan Da squinted his eyes in a lecherous manner, daydreaming to himself, "Oh?"

Taking advantage of Wan Da's lack of vigilance, He Chao quietly rolled up a stack of student newspapers next to him and smashed it on top of Wan Da's head, shouting, "You! Motherf*cker! How dare you even gossip about me! Did Big Brother give you too much freedom lately?"

Wan Da was stunned by the blow, holding his head and looking at Xie Yu with teary eyes, clearly conveying the message: Your desk mate is bullying me.

Xie Yu was actually a little annoyed at first, but seeing the two of them making such a scene, he felt that it was not necessary to make a big deal out of it anymore.

"How could you do this?" Xie Yu said, and Wan Da vigorously nodded his head, almost wanting to shout, 'From today on, you are my real brother!' But Xie Yu rolled up his English textbook and said the second half of the sentence, "...How can you use a newspaper? It's so light, are you just playing around?"

He Chao laughed out loud after hearing this. 

Wan Da looked at the thick English book and turned around to run away, feeling particularly wronged: "You've changed, Brother Yu, you've changed..."

It was lunch break.

Luo Wenqiang had been eagerly anticipating the first official sports event of No. 2 High School, and finally got his hands on the registration form for the autumn sports meet from Tang Sen's office. He returned to the classroom with great enthusiasm and shouted, "Classmates - I have an announcement to make!"

Wan Da and Liu Cunhao both imitated Old Tang's speech, speaking slowly and leisurely, sounding about 60-70% like him: "Autumn sports meet, Luo Wenqiang, you organize it...Encourage everyone to sign up and show our class's vitality."

Luo Wenqiang's words were snatched away, and he felt a bit embarrassed on stage: "Why are you two like this, trying to steal my thunder?"

The classroom was in an uproar. 

Xie Yu was resting his eyes on the desk, having been staring at his phone all morning and feeling a bit of strain in his eyes.

However, He Chao thought his desk mate was sleeping. As Xie Yu lay there, he felt something warm and soft pressing against his right ear, muffling the sound of Luo Wenqiang and the others talking.

It was He Chao's hand.

Then he heard He Chao shush the others, saying, "My desk mate is sleeping, keep your voices down."

In fact, Xie Yu was not the only one lying down in class. Several girls in the front row were also sleeping and found the noise bothersome, but they were too embarrassed to speak up.

Xie Yu moved his fingers, wanting to open his eyes, but ultimately decided to stay in his original position without moving.

He hadn't been sleepy before, but as he lay there with his eyes closed...he eventually fell asleep.