After Xie Yu finished speaking, there was a long silence from He Chao.

The fool probably didn't realize that he could still survive with all his limbs intact. He was usually so playful, but now he was staring at him like a mute while pressing him against the door panel.

He didn't know that at this moment, He Chao was thinking, fuck, how many rounds of fireworks have exploded already, why is it still not finished.

Xie Yu's wrist was still held in his hand, and he couldn't help but struggle. "Have you stared enough?"

"..."

"No."

Upon hearing Xie Yu's voice, He Chao finally came back to his senses. The corners of his mouth couldn't help but slowly curl up, and he laughed, repeating, "Not enough." 

Xie Yu had originally planned to follow up his statement of "you provoked me first" with: if you just think it's fresh and fun, I don't have time to play with you.

He couldn't be sure what He Chao's feelings really were, so he habitually protected himself and almost passively wanted an ending already.

He even thought that He Chao might back off.

But He Chao didn't.

He said he was very serious and liked Xie Yu in the way of wanting to date him.

Xie Yu felt like he had been infected by He Chao, his mouth starting to turn up uncontrollably, unable to suppress his foolishness. He simply turned around and opened the door to leave: "I'm going back."

He Chao didn't stop him, but as Xie Yu took two steps out, He Chao called out to him from behind: "Xie Yu."

Xie Yu opened the door, turned around and leaned against the door, looking up at him. He Chao didn't stop and called out again.

Xie Yu was getting a little annoyed by his constant calling and wanted to say, "Are you calling a ghost?"

He Chao stood at the opposite door, his black coat unzipped halfway, looking a bit flashy. Xie Yu only just noticed that he had even put on an earring today.

He Chao said, "It's nothing, just getting familiar with my boyfriend's name."

Those words sounded familiar, and Xie Yu felt like he had heard them before. Before he could remember, He Chao said again, "Take care of me in the future, boyfriend."

Then he remembered.

It was the first day of school, and He Chao was sitting in the back row, calling him in the same way and casually saying, "Getting familiar with my new desk mate's name...take care of me in the future, desk mate."

Now those same words were coming out of He Chao's mouth again, but "desk mate" had become 'boyfriend'. 

This feeling was so strange.

It was like they had gone in a circle and ended up back here.

When He Chao finished speaking, the two of them stood at the doorway, staring at each other for what felt like an eternity.

It was like the feeling of two young lovers on the phone, saying "goodnight" but neither wanting to hang up, just listening to each other's quiet breathing.

"You should go inside," He Chao said. "Get some rest."

Xie Yu turned and went into the room, closing the door behind him.

After returning to his dorm, Xie Yu took a shower and then did some practice exams. He thought he wouldn't be able to concentrate, but after picking a few questions and solving them, he found it wasn't so bad.

He flipped through the pages of the exam after finishing, and when he looked up from the sea of questions, he realized it was almost eleven o'clock. 

As he closed his eyes and prepared to sleep, he suddenly felt his heart racing uncontrollably. Before drifting off, Xie Yu's last thought was, damn, I'm in love.

The next day, Head Teacher Jiang's morning broadcast was right on time, never late and never absent. With his voice, he aroused the energy of all the dormitory students: "Students, it's another new day again, is everyone happy?"

As soon as Head Teacher Jiang spoke, someone under their covers began to wail, "Oh my god—why?!"

"This is inhumane!"

"Why does life have to treat me, a weak and helpless child, like this?"

Head Teacher Jiang was completely unaware of the chaos in the dormitory building, lost in his own motivational speech. "As the mid-term exams approach, are all of you students feeling a little excited? This is not just a test, but also the day you will reap the fruits of victory. Now, get up! Wake up, all of you who want to score high!"

Xie Yu endured for a while, but couldn't take it anymore. He reached out from under the covers and felt around for his earplugs, but couldn't find them. He pulled his hand back in frustration.

The hallway outside began to get lively.

In the midst of the commotion, several voices called out "Brother Chao." He greeted everyone and walked to the opposite door, raising his hand to knock. "Old Xie, are you up yet?"

In response, Xie Yu threw his alarm clock at the door, causing it to bounce back and roll on the ground for two circles.

He Chao: "..." 

Onlookers witnessed the scene, which played out almost every day. What was even more bizarre was that He Chao didn't seem to be angry. He patiently squatted at the door, waiting for the master inside to calm down before opening the door for him. Unable to resist, someone approached and asked, "Brother Chao, does the west building's Xie Yu have a temper like this every day?"

"Yes," He Chao smiled, "Isn't it cute?"

The person left, doubting whether he had misheard. Did Brother Chao mean to say "scary" instead of "cute"? Or did he simply not understand what was cute?

After about two minutes, Xie Yu finally got up to open the door for He Chao. 

He Chao had not slept all night. After Xie Yu had left the night before, He Chao deleted the string of "ahs" on his user account, but didn't know what to replace it with. So, he typed out another string of "ahs" and saved it. 

He stayed up until two or three in the morning with his eyes wide open. 

All he could think about was how Xie Yu was his now, his little friend. 

When He Chao went in, he collapsed onto the bed. Xie Yu leaned against the door, wondering what was wrong with this guy. He had his own bed, but he insisted on coming over to take up his space: "Didn't sleep last night?" 

He Chao replied with half-open eyes. "I went to bed after three. Are you still sleeping?" 

"You took up the whole bed, how can I sleep?" Xie Yu said. 

"Boyfriend," He Chao moved over and made some space, "come up here." 

Xie Yu bent down to pick up the alarm clock and threw it at He Chao. 

Meanwhile, on the radio, Head Teacher Jiang continued his speech: "Waking up early is a great habit. Personally, I like to wake up at 5:30 and breathe in the fresh air outside. At this time, you will find that life is so beautiful." 

"..."

Before opening the door, Xie Yu hesitated for a moment. He had just established this new relationship and hadn't quite recovered yet - in this brand new relationship, this person, this idiot, was no longer just someone else.

Something had changed, but it also seemed like nothing had changed. 

Xie Yu didn't know how other people dated, as Zhou Dalei's failed relationships were hardly a good example.

He had also considered the possibility of feeling uncomfortable, strange, or awkward, but as soon as this person appeared, all those thoughts disappeared.

He Chao, who was always late, surprisingly wasn't late today. 

During the first Chinese class of the morning, Tang Sen praised He Chao and encouraged him to keep it up, then called out Wan Da for being late: "What's wrong with you? Why were you late today?" 

Wan Da drank too much alcohol yesterday and woke up with a pounding headache. He couldn't get up, but he couldn't admit it was a hangover. He was afraid they would call his parents if he did. So, he racked his brain, trying to remember how his classmate He Chao usually made excuses for being late. Finally, he came up with a sentence: "It's like this, teacher. This morning, Shen Jie, a student in Class 8, his illness relapsed."

He Chao: "..."

Xie Yu: "..."

Everyone who attended the birthday party yesterday and knew the truth: "..."

And Shen Jie, who wasn't present: "..."

"That, that illness," Wan Da forgot what it was called. The name was so long that he couldn't remember it. He stuttered, "That stomach..."

He Chao reminded him from behind, "Chronic non-atrophic gastritis."

Wan Da nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, that's it." 

Tang Sen trusted his students, especially Wan Da, who had always behaved well and had never been late before. However, Shen Jie had been sick many times before, so Tang Sen said, "You did a good job. You should help your classmates when they need it. But speaking of which, that little student in Class 8 really needs to take care of his health. Why does he keep going to the infirmary every other day?"

Wan Da broke out in a cold sweat and sat down, relieved that he had narrowly escaped punishment. 

Liu Cunhao and the others buried their heads in their arms and laughed uncontrollably.

Just as the bell rang for the end of class and Tang Sen left, they burst out laughing even louder. "Hahaha, Shen Jie from Class 8, you're really something, Wan Da! You're so slick!" 

Liu Cunhao wiped away his tears of laughter and asked, "What were you thinking?" 

Wan Da said, "I was thinking about Brother Chao and wanted to imitate his style."

Hearing this, He Chao couldn't help but laugh and said, "You can't just copy this directly. With such talent, why don't you say you help old ladies cross the street? Luckily, Old Tang is foolish. If it were the Mad Dog, your dad might be on his way to beat you up."

Wan Da rubbed his head and said, "Why say such scary things? Luckily, luckily..."

"What's lucky about this'," Xie Yu said. "Shen Jie is already on his way to beat you up."

Wan Da: "..."

After Xie Yu finished speaking, Liu Cunhao and the others burst into laughter.

"Oh, by the way, do you know what you looked like yesterday when you got drunk with the sports committee representative?" Xu Qingqing laughed and remembered this incident. "It was my first time seeing someone go crazy from alcohol. It was too exaggerated." 

After waking up, Wan Da couldn't remember anything and his roommate just shook his head when asked. Little did he know, his previous prediction of "self-destruction from within" had come true during his delirium: "What am I like? I should be okay, right?"

Xie Yu didn't want to talk.

He Chao didn't want to dwell on it either, only saying, "You're a bit too confident in yourself."

During break time, Shen Jie finally showed up and stood by the window for a few minutes before shouting, "Wan Da, you're amazing! Do you know that? I just ran into your class's Old Tang in the bathroom and he told me to take care of myself. I thought I had some terminal illness that I didn't even know about." 

After Shen Jie finished shouting, he instinctively looked towards the spot where his brother He Chao usually stood. He noticed that He Chao and the cold-blooded killer were huddled together, whispering about something. 

It was a seemingly ordinary scene, but Shen Jie couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. 

He stared intently and finally realized what was wrong...Where was He Chao's hand reaching towards?!