Xie Yu often called him a fool, a retard, and all sorts of similar names. The only thing he called him that could be considered a compliment was "Brother Show-off", but even that didn't sound like a good thing.

So when Xie Yu said "Brother Chao" in a flat tone, without any ups and downs, He Chao was stunned for a moment.

His hand almost couldn't hold onto the chopsticks.

By the time he reacted, the last piece of cornbread had already been snatched away by Luo Wenqiang with his hand.

Luo Wenqiang had one foot on the chair, and he was exceptionally bold. He was willing to do whatever it takes to eat, so he gave up on the chopsticks and went straight for it with his hands. "Hahaha, Brother Chao, it's your loss!"

Xu Qingqing said, "Sports committee representative, I never thought you were this kind of person." 

Liu Cunhao shook his head, "I never thought so either...to go to such lengths just for food. Are you telling me that you really only missed dinner last night? You probably didn't eat anything all day yesterday."

Luo Wenqiang bit into his cornbread, trying to defend himself, "It's not that bad, it's just that I have a big appetite."

He Chao cleared his throat, about to ask why he referred to him as 'Brother Chao'.

Then Xie Yu spoke up, "I don't like cornbread."

"I didn't manage to snatch it anyway," He Chao said, "Then what do you want to eat?"

Xie Yu pointed to the pot of soup still steaming on the other side of the table.

The table was already a mess, with a plate of vegetables somehow piled high with shrimp and a small piece of pork from some other dish.

He Chao stared at the chaos and thought to himself, let alone one bowl of soup, I'll do anything you ask for! 

He Chao reached out to rotate the turntable, but suddenly a thought came to him. His hand stopped and he casually said, "Want to eat? If you want to eat, just call me once more."

After saying this, He Chao felt that this little brat was definitely not that obedient. Maybe he would just kick him directly. If he got irritated, he could even roll up his sleeves and give him two words in a very cold tone: "Get out."

But the little brat called out again without any burden, "Brother Chao."

"......"

He Chao felt his throat tighten.

Almost everyone he knew called him Brother Chao.

But these two words sounded different coming from Xie Yu's mouth.

After calling out, his heart skipped a beat.

His mind was in chaos, and finally, a thousand words gathered into one sentence: This goes against the rules.

Xie Yu's mind was also in chaos.

He stared at the bowl of soup for a long time, and finally stirred it with a spoon. Actually, there's nothing wrong with eating cornbread, and he didn't really feel like having any soup either.

But...what was he trying to do?

Is it just a sudden urge to call out to him, out of the blue?

"Do you want some more beer?" Liu Cunhao asked.

Luo Wenqiang replied while eating, "Yes, yes, yes! The last bit wasn't even enough to get stuck in my teeth."

These guys rarely go out, and with no one to supervise them, they act like little adults, ordering food and drinks. They have a strange obsession with drinking, as if once they start drinking, all the rules and restrictions disappear.

He Chao and Liu Cunhao had already finished a few bottles.

Xie Yu also had a few drinks, but didn't dare to have too much. It seemed like he was already a little tipsy. 

This hotel that Liu Cunhao booked had impeccable service. When the birthday cake was brought out, the lights in the private room automatically turned off. Xie Yu was still sipping his soup when suddenly the surroundings went dark.

"Did the power go out?" someone shouted.

The next second, the door to the private room was pushed open by a waiter, and on the food cart was a large cake with seventeen candles. The candles emitted a faint light, swaying with the wind as the cart moved forward.

No one knew who started singing "Happy Birthday" first, but soon everyone joined in, singing in unison, "Happy birthday to you~"

Xie Yu also sang along for a couple of lines, his voice drowned out by the others. He was closer to He Chao, who could vaguely hear a few notes.

It was quite pleasant to listen to.

After the song ended, everyone clapped and shouted, "Make a wish! Blow out the candles!" 

Liu Cunhao closed his eyes and made a wish before starting to blow out the candles. But before he could even exhale, the others joined in to help blow them out. Then Luo Wenqiang exclaimed excitedly, "Let's cut the cake!"

Liu Cunhao teased him with a smile, "Haven't you eaten enough? All you ever do is eat. How do you normally survive with the school cafeteria?"

"I make do," Luo Wenqiang replied. "...I get two portions of rice every day. What else can I do?"

Everyone laughed and joked around for a bit before each person received a slice of chocolate cake.

Wan Da sneaked a bit of cream from the leftover cake on the food cart and snuck up behind Liu Cunhao, waving the cream in his face and winking at the group.

Everyone understood the unspoken message and shared a knowing smile. 

Liu Cunhao was unwrapping a gift. Even though he had shamelessly begged for it, as he tore off the wrapping paper, he put on a show of surprise, as if he had no idea what was inside. "Wow, oh my god, isn't this the gift I've always wanted? My dear Da Da, you really understand me so well..."

But before he could finish his sentence, his dear Da Da smeared whipped cream all over his face.

Wan Da started the cake-smearing game, and soon the group grew larger and larger, chasing each other around the private room.

Xie Yu had just taken a few bites of the cake. He Chao withdrew from the chaos, and saw his little friend sitting alone and walked over, patting Xie Yu's shoulder. As Xie Yu looked up at him, He Chao smeared whipped cream all over his face.

Xie Yu: "..."

"Old Xie, you can't escape," He Chao said. "The cream must be spread where it needs to be spread." 

Then Liu Cunhao and the others watched as the two powerhouses in their class started fighting again. 

But this time, it was a cream battle. 

Xie Yu held a handful of cream and greeted He Chao's head, "You fucker, do you think this is fun? Are you happy?"

Although Xu Qingqing was called "Brother Qing" by everyone, she was still a girl and basically only had the job of applying cream on others. When she got tired, she stopped to rest for a while and took out her phone, smiling as she took a picture. "Hey, should we take a photo together? Let's count down from three and everyone say 'cheese'."

He Chao had a natural desire to perform in front of the camera, even though his face and hair were covered in cream, he still hooked his arm around Xie Yu's neck and tried to strike a pose. "Cheese! Old Xie, look at the camera."

Xie Yu clearly didn't want to cooperate: "Fuck off." 

Xu Qingqing didn't care if they were ready or not, she was ready herself. With a click, she pressed on the camera button.

It was the class representative's 17th birthday.

Everyone's face was smeared beyond recognition, especially Liu Cunhao, who only had his two eyes exposed.

And then there were the two boys in the back row, one black and one white.

Xu Qingqing suddenly thought, how nice.

After reading so many youth novels, even though her daily life was not particularly exciting, just ordinary days filled with worries about exams and staying up late to do homework...but it was still nice.

After dinner and their cake battle, Xie Yu wiped his face with a few napkins and found that the stickiness wouldn't come off.

He Chao suggested they go to the bathroom to wash up. Afraid that it would be crowded later, the two slipped out the back door. 

"You're too vicious," He Chao directly leaned his head under the faucet while washing and said, "Where else is there?"

Xie Yu washed quickly, getting a little water on his cheeks and nose. After finishing, he carefully began to wash his hands. He turned his head and said, "Behind your neck."

He Chao lowered his head and reached back with his hand, "Here?"

"No," Xie Yu said, "A little lower."

He Chao searched for a while but couldn't find it. He was a little tired from bending over for so long and propped himself up on the edge of the sink, saying casually, "Are you teasing me?"

Xie Yu reached out - his hand was still damp, and it felt cold as he placed it on He Chao's neck, "Here."

He Chao: "..."

Liu Cunhao and the others tried wiping with tissue but couldn't get it clean. They came over shortly after. 

As they saw He Chao and Xie Yu in the bathroom, both looking a bit strange, Liu Cunhao couldn't help but ask curiously, "What are you two doing in here?"

Xie Yu didn't say anything and stepped aside, walking out of the bathroom.

He Chao blinked, water droplets from his hair clinging to his eyelashes. He wiped his face and said, "Nothing...we're done. You guys can go ahead and wash up."

Liu Cunhao didn't have much time to think, as Wan Da and Luo Wenqiang had already rushed over to claim two empty spots. He lamented, "Can you two take care of the birthday boy?"

Luo Wenqiang shook his head and bobbed around, chuckling as he leaned over the sink, and perfectly missed the water flow.

Wan Da wasn't much better, starting to sway his hips in front of the mirror and saying, "Music, music." 

Liu Cunhao noticed that something was off: "Are you guys drunk or something?"

They had planned to go sing karaoke, but had to cancel because a few of their teammates were too drunk.

"Hao-zi, you and Ding Ding take care of the sports committee rep," He Chao said while helping Wan Da, "Old Xie and I will take care of this one. We'll just take him straight back to school."

Wan Da stumbled and, with his last bit of reason, bid farewell to the class representative upon hearing the words 'back to school': "Hao, Hao-zi, happy birthday."

Liu Cunhao struggled to support Luo Wenqiang: "Thank you, that's enough...I mean, seriously, how can these two have such poor alcohol tolerance?"

"Forget about their poor alcohol tolerance," Xie Yu said, "they still dared to be so loud at the dinner table, boasting about how they could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk." 

He Chao also said, "These two people don't know their own limits." 

They kept calling for the alcohol, bottle after bottle. 

They even howled, "What's this little bit of alcohol? I don't feel a thing. I must be like those from the legends who can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk! Come on, let's keep going!" 

They hailed a taxi, and luckily, Wan Da's alcohol tolerance wasn't that bad. He didn't insist on dancing and fell asleep as soon as they got in the car. 

"Mister, take us to Liyang No.2 High School." 

"No.2, okay." The driver checked the route and focused on driving. 

They didn't talk along the way. 

He Chao could handle his alcohol, but drinking with Liu Cunhao today made him drink a bit too much. Now that he had calmed down, he felt a bit hot all over. 

His stomach was also burning. 

He wanted to open the window for some fresh air and turned to see that the little friend next to him was also asleep. 

Xie Yu's hand was right beside him - the hand that had just touched his neck after being wet with water. Back then, on the first day of the new semester, he had also grabbed this hand and asked him about the "black nail polish".

The scenery outside the window whizzed by.

He felt like he had been suppressing his emotions all day, but now, because of these seemingly insignificant details, they suddenly erupted.

Just like Shen Jie had said, he was about to explode.

Xie Yu had a headache and felt even more uncomfortable after the bumpy ride. He closed his eyes to take a break, but suddenly someone grabbed his hand.

But this time it was different, their fingers were intertwined. 

The boy's finger joints were hard and a bit rough, making it uncomfortable to hold. He held it carefully, as if not wanting to disturb him, but couldn't help but exert some force. And his hand was surprisingly hot, even transmitting his heartbeat little by little.

Xie Yu felt like he was burning up too.