The trend of cross-dressing seems to be gaining popularity. When Old Tang wasn't paying attention, Liu Cunhao and his friends secretly searched for skirts on the public computer. "How about this one? It's a lace strap princess style, with a hint of elegance in its romance."

Wan Da suggested, "Why not choose this maid outfit? This is good, this is good, it looks incredibly tempting."

Luo Wenqiang was feeling hopeless, "..."

"The one on top, scroll up," after the commotion with Xie Yu, He Chao bent down and lifted the chair with one hand, joining in on the fun. "Not that one, go up higher."

"Which one?" Liu Cunhao flipped through the pages for a long time, but couldn't find anything suitable. The more he searched, the more confused he became. "Brother Chao, did you make a mistake?" 

Next, He Chao showed off his cross-dressing standards to the whole class without reservation: "Counting from the top, the third one, this one is good."

On the screen was a slim-fit long skirt with a garish red and green dog poop color and peony pattern.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" He Chao sat in his seat, looked at the screen, and then at his desk mate. "What do you think, isn't this one good?"

Liu Cunhao and the others were completely subdued by this tacky skirt and He Chao's textbook-like aesthetic, unable to utter a word.

Xie Yu said, "Don't you have any sense of shame?"

"I think it's okay, if this were in the game, I would definitely get a high score."

"RMB players have no right to speak."

"Trust me."

"Shut up."

"Just look at these colors, so vibrant..." 

"Vibrant?" Xie Yu mocked bluntly, "The taste of the square dancing* aunties surpasses you by miles."

*T/N: A popular form of group dancing that typically takes place in public squares, parks, or other open spaces. It is a recreational activity enjoyed by primarily middle-aged and elderly women.

As soon as Xie Yu finished speaking, Wan Da applauded, "Well said, exactly right."

Liu Cunhao chimed in, "Thumbs up for Brother Yu."

He Chao: "..."

After He Chao's interruption, Luo Wenqiang's mood fluctuated greatly. With such a comparison, he suddenly felt that the previous romantic princess dresses and maid uniforms were not so difficult to accept.

So Luo Wenqiang buried his hands in his palms and reluctantly said, "Then, then, the one from earlier will do."

"Brother Chao, you're awesome!" 

Wan Da had clearly overthought things and realized that He Chao deliberately chose the ugliest outfit to provoke the sports committee representative. He gave He Chao a thumbs up and sincerely said, "You're really cunning." 

"Not at all," He Chao was confused, but he responded smoothly. After finishing, he leaned in and whispered to Xie Yu, "What did he praise me for?"

Xie Yu pushed his head away and didn't feel like talking.

In the last class, everyone packed up their bags early and prepared to go home. The on-duty student had already erased the blackboard.

The boarding students were more concerned about what they would have for dinner. He Chao had been playing with his phone since the last class, and even sneaked out to make a phone call when Old Wu wasn't paying attention.

Jin Bang Restaurant recently launched a service to deliver food to the school and sent a text message about this to its customers.

After selecting the food, He Chao asked, "Where will you deliver it to? Which gate?" 

Shen Jie emerged from the bathroom, coughing and surrounded by smoke. He was about to spray himself with air freshener to mask the smell when he noticed He Chao standing at the corner of the staircase, one hand in his pocket and leaning against the wall.

"What are you doing, Brother Chao?" Shen Jie asked as he walked over, still spraying himself.

He Chao glanced at him but didn't respond. After a moment of thought, he spoke into his phone, "Add another dish of fish." He then moved the phone away from his ear and faced Shen Jie. "What was the name of the fish you ordered at Jin Bang last time?"

Shen Jie replied, "Huh? What fish? The one that fell on the ground? It was steamed sea bass. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," He Chao said as he gave the name of the dish to the person on the other end of the phone. "The little friend likes it."

Shen Jie's hand shook. "...Oh my god."

As the school bell rang, the delivery person called. 

When He Chao went downstairs to get his meal, there were hardly any students left in the classroom. Those who lived in the dormitory had gone to the cafeteria to eat, leaving only the on-duty students to clean up.

The classroom was now quite empty.

Xie Yu sat there bored, wondering what He Chao was up to. Just before class ended, He Chao told him to stay put and not move, but before he could finish his sentence, Xie Yu kicked him.

During the last math class, Old Wu mentioned a new type of question in the monthly exam for top schools, but didn't go into detail.

Xie Yu had nothing better to do, so he wrote down the steps to solve the problems in his phone's memo. He grabbed a piece of paper and started to draft.

He only had one pen - after going through the monthly exam, he realized that the students who were struggling mostly lacked stationery. They either didn't have erasers or 2B pencils, and some didn't even have pens to answer the questions. 

A group of people were helping each other out, lending a hand here and there. Some were even using replacement ink to write their exams.

Xie Yu's pen had probably been dropped a few times, and it had stopped producing ink. He threw it away and went to look for a new one on He Chao's messy desk.

In order to cover up their game-playing during class, He Chao's desk was cluttered with books from various subjects.

Xie Yu searched through the mess and didn't find a pen, but he did come across a strange piece of paper in his math book. The writing was illegible, but it looked like a set of problem-solving steps. 

He didn't have time to examine it closely before He Chao walked in with a bag of things and said, "Clean up the desk. Take all the books off, there's no place to put dinner."

Xie Yu stuffed the paper back into the book.

There were four or five dishes, each in a disposable container, and two boxes of rice. 

Xie Yu felt a sense of familiarity as he looked at the fish on the table. "Jin Bang?" he asked.

He watched as He Chao picked out the green onions from the sea bass with his chopsticks before pushing the dish towards his desk mate. "Ah, I snuck it over the wall. They said they would deliver to the school, apparently it still counts as being on campus even with the wall in the way," he explained.

Xie Yu knew he was picky about his food, and Madam Gu usually cooked with care. However, the dishes He Chao ordered this time didn't hit any of his dislikes.

He vaguely remembered He Chao asking him about his dietary restrictions last time. Did this idiot really remember for so long?

"Eat up, what are you staring at?" He Chao said. "Do you want me to feed you? I don't mind. Just call me 'brother', I'm easy to talk to."

Xie Yu was about to pick up his chopsticks when he threatened, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" 

Wan Da came in humming a tune from the hallway, holding a cup of milk tea after finishing his meal. As soon as he entered, he smelled something and looked inside, "You two are too much. The food in the cafeteria today is tasteless, and it's all leftovers from lunch...you guys are living it up."

After finishing the last two bites of rice, He Chao asked, "You're living it up too, where did you buy the milk tea? Is it good?"

"At the Fudan Milk Tea shop at the entrance," Wan Da said, "It's okay, but I can never seem to find the pearls in my pearl milk tea."

Xie Yu asked, "Then why do you still buy it."

"To be honest, Fudan* is my dream," Wan Da replied.

*T/N: Fudan is the name of a prestigious research university in Shanghai, China.

"..."

This week, everyone's thoughts were focused on the sports meet. Xu Qingqing chose a practical hoodie as the class uniform, which they could continue to wear on a daily basis. Luo Wenqiang, on the other hand, wore an elegant and noble princess dress, holding a sign and leading the parade.

The PE teacher also gave everyone some free practice time and provided guidance.

"Who in our class signed up for push-ups?" After giving some pointers to the shot put athletes, the teacher blew his whistle and walked over. "Who signed up for push-ups? Wasn't it eight of you? Come on out and show your abilities."

He Chao, Xie Yu, and the others stepped forward.

"It's not about how many you do, it's about whether your form is correct or not. At last year's sports meet, there was a row of athletes who did it with great enthusiasm, competing to see who could do it the fastest. They went up and down so quickly, but you know what? I'll tell you, the slowest one won." 

The PE teacher made them do push-ups on the ground, starting from the front of the line and going all the way to the back. Before he even began counting, some of the boys couldn't hold themselves up and fell down.

The first one fell, and then like a domino effect, three or four more fell down.

He Chao didn't feel anything. He could have kept going for a long time, but seeing everyone else sitting on the ground, he felt a little silly continuing to push himself up. So he sat down with Xie Yu.

The PE teacher stopped and said, "...You guys are a bit weak. You can't even handle this. Do you still want to achieve good results in the sports meet?"

Xie Yu had originally planned to skip PE class and go back to the dorm to study, but Luo Wenqiang dragged the whole class to prepare for the sports meet.

The eight push-up competitors sat on the ground in the gym, while a few pairs of their juniors were playing badminton around them. Shuttlecocks were flying everywhere in the gym, rising and falling.

"How many can you do?" He Chao asked.

Xie Yu watched the person across from him take a few steps forward and then jump up to hit the shuttlecock, casually saying, "I don't know, I've never counted."

"Want to compare later?"

The PE teacher didn't give them a chance to compete, instead pulling out his signature move, claiming he could elevate their push-up skills to unprecedented heights in just one class.

"Yes yes yes, coach, I want to learn!" Wan Da raised his hand.

The PE teacher smiled mysteriously and said, "Then let's begin."

Xie Yu had a bad feeling about this.

Two minutes later, his premonition came true.

The shuttlecocks in the gym were no longer flying around, instead there were cries of "wow" coming from all around. 

The PE teacher squatted on the side and said, "Odd-numbered students, lie down. Even-numbered students, let's begin. I'll count to one and you do one. Rest after fifty."

Xie Yu lay under He Chao, slowly and complicatedly uttering a word, "...fuck."

He Chao supported himself with both hands on the outside of Xie Yu's arms, using his arm strength to support his upper body and keeping a distance from Xie Yu. He kept adjusting his posture and couldn't help but laugh, "Who came up with this? They're talented. No wonder it can push you to unprecedented heights."

Wan Da was at a loss and said to his buddy, "Come on, try harder, if you can't hold on, something bad will happen."

His buddy was also nervous, "I-I-I'll try my best."

After they adjusted, the PE teacher blew the first whistle, "One!" 

As He Chao lowered himself, the distance between him and Xie Yu became closer. Even though he tried to control it, their bodies still touched lightly through the thin fabric. It was as if their body heat was passing through the fabric, and their heartbeats and warm breaths were intertwined.

Just a moment ago, He Chao could still laugh at this miraculous push-up exercise, but now he couldn't laugh anymore.

The two of them inevitably had to look at each other's faces, and it was a magnified version - their eyes, nose, eyelashes, and even every subtle expression on their faces were clearly visible.

It turned out that Xie Yu had a very small mole under the corner of his eye. 

He suddenly couldn't take it anymore. He didn't know who turned away first, but this long staring contest finally came to an end.

He moved his fingers and noticed some sweat forming in his palm.