The Wisdom Fruit app.

The notification was concise and to the point: Dear user, your wait was not in vain, we are back again!

Xie Yu was taken aback.

Back? Wasn't it shut down?

He had forgotten to uninstall it and left it in a corner. He never thought it would come back to life. Xie Yu stared at the notification for a long time, then remembered the stupid thing he did during summer vacation - staying up all night with a crazy person to compete for first place in solving problems.

After hesitating for two seconds, Xie Yu finally clicked on it.

- Updating, please do not exit~

Perhaps they had found new investors, because the game had even updated its question bank, adding new test questions from various universities that had been released in the past few months, including even the midterm exam questions from No. 2.

Xie Yu quickly glanced at the screen and noticed that the quiz mode had changed. Players were now categorized by bronze, silver, and gold, and quizzes would randomly drop items, including some hidden papers that were not publicly available.

These details made the app even more enjoyable to play, and someone who didn't know better might mistake it for a video game.

The discussion area for Trivia King Battle remained the same, and the active players were ecstatic about the changes.

"I Love Learning": I knew it, the passion for learning will never die!

"For a Better Tomorrow": Without Trivia King Battle, I would be alone, silently doing quizzes on countless lonely nights without anyone to accompany me.

"Top Ten in The Grade": @English Class Representative, I have already mastered level eight vocabulary. Let's compete!

......

"Boss Xie," Xie Yu hadn't had time to look closely when Zhou Dalei called, "When I was updating my games today, I saw the one we played during summer vacation. Damn, it's back?"

Zhou Dalei's phone was filled with games that automatically updated every day. He probably couldn't keep up with all of them, and "Trivia King Battle" was just mixed in there. When he received the notification that the update was complete, he was also startled.

Xie Yu vaguely said, "Oh."

Zhou Dalei sat on a plastic stool at the barbecue stand, wearing slippers, with the grill behind him. The thick smoke and the smell of grilled meat drifted in the wind. He took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, saying, "This time I made it to the game lobby. Even with zero points, I can get in."

Xie Yu replied, "Is that so."

Zhou Dalei continued, "There are even different levels...you know, like bronze and stuff."

Xie Yu glanced hastily at him and vaguely remembered that there was a "King" title next to his user avatar's level bar. He casually asked, "So what level are you?"

Zhou Dalei replied, "Me? I'm a stubborn piece of scrap metal."

"..."

"Pretty impressive, right? I've been playing games for so many years and I only knew there was bronze. I never thought there was also scrap metal. I've learned something new," Zhou Dalei boasted.

Xie Yu chuckled and asked, "Are you working at the stall?"

"Yeah." As he was speaking, Zhou Dalei's mother bent over to drag a box of food ingredients and kicked him because he was in the way. He almost fell off his chair.

The weather had been getting colder lately, and preparing ingredients took a lot of effort. It was easy to get angry when busy, and even though she usually thought her son was perfect, at times like this, she found him particularly annoying. "Get out of the way," she scolded.

Zhou Dalei was at a loss with his menopausal mother and was about to walk away when she wiped her hands and asked, "Who are you talking to on the phone, is it Little Yu?"

"I'll talk a little to him," before Dalei could answer, his mother snatched the phone away and said, "You go away."

Dalei felt that his mother's tone with Xie Yu on the phone was better than ever, as if Xie Yu was her own son.

When He Chao pushed open the door, Xie Yu was sitting on the bed, looking down and talking on the phone.

Xie Yu had just taken a shower and was wearing a sweater. Although the color was cool, the fabric looked soft, making him look a little softer too. Even his voice was gentle, "Mm, I know."

Mother Lei has a loud voice, even when she speaks calmly to someone, her volume doesn't go down: "Last time you came back, both Lei-zi's dad and I were not at home, we didn't get to meet. When are you on break, come stay for a few days..."

Xie Yu was still wearing his school pants, loose-fitting with a gray stripe on the side and folded up twice to reveal his ankles.

Upon hearing the movements at the door, Xie Yu finally looked up and made a gesture at He Chao: Close the door.

Mother Lei was talking about the new mahjong tournament in the neighborhood.

Although Xie Yu didn't do well in Blackwater Street, Aunt Mei and the others were still happy to take him out to cause trouble. Sometimes, when they lost badly playing with new partners, they would ask Xie Yu to help play a few rounds and break even.

He Chao closed the door and squeezed onto the bed with Xie Yu, waiting for him to finish the call.

Xie Yu was listening on, when He Chao suddenly leaned in and planted a kiss on his face.

"...What are you doing?" Xie Yu asked.

As Mother Lei was in the middle of speaking, she stopped upon hearing the sudden interruption from the other side. "What?" she asked.

He Chao finished his antics and laughed as he retreated to the right side, leaning against the head of the bed without bothering Xie Yu any further.

Next to the bed was a desk, and while Xie Yu was on the phone, He Chao casually flipped through some books on it. Among them was a book titled <Improving Bad Temper, Facing Life with Calmness and Serenity>.

He Chao opened it and saw four words written on the title page: "Happy Birthday, Boss Xie."

"Is this your birthday gift?" He Chao asked when Xie Yu hung up the phone. "Who gave it to you? They're quite thoughtful."

Xie Yu glanced at it and replied, "The one from the police station."

Zhou Dalei had specially wrapped the book in red ribbon and tied it into a butterfly knot.

Thinking of this, Xie Yu laughed and added, "I almost broke his leg."

But He Chao thought, what break his leg.

Wasn't the book was still well-preserved until now.

His little friend may seem tough on the outside, but he's not really like that on the inside.

After finishing his sentence, Xie Yu suppressed his laughter and tossed his phone aside.

Earlier, Mother Lei had said a lot of things on the phone, and although Zhou Dalei had tried to grab it, he failed. After the voices on the other end abruptly stopped, he suddenly felt a bit disappointed.

This feeling of disappointment was like the first few days after moving out of Blackwater Street. Every morning, he would wake up and subconsciously want to go to Mother Wang's place for breakfast, but he realized he could no longer hear the sounds of street vendors outside his window.

Xie Yu thought about it some more and felt annoyed.

He would usually just curse under his breath and be done with it, but this time He Chao was sitting right next to him.

The idiot was reading that book about staying calm and facing life, and when he came across something interesting, he read it out loud to him: "Little friend, have you not read this book? I think it's quite useful...Your breadth of mind determines your capacity, and your state of mind determines your level. Learn more, don't just focus on...well, don't just focus on using your fists and feet on me."

He Chao swallowed the words "domestic violence".

Xie Yu opened his mouth and called out to him, "Brother Chao."

He Chao stopped reading halfway.

Xie Yu didn't know what to say. It felt too melodramatic to bring it up, and he wasn't used to confiding in others. He regretted speaking up as soon as he did. So

the two of them just looked at each other for a while, and Xie Yu said, "It's nothing, just calling you."

This guy would never idly call him "brother". He remembered the first time he called him that was at Liu Cunhao's birthday party, and after he did, he went back and said, "You're asking for trouble."

He Chao replied, "Nothing my ass."

In fact, it was nothing much.

Xie Yu thought about those days that he couldn't go back to, and those noisy, vulgar, and crude voices.

As Xie Yu spoke, one foot hung down, barefoot, tapping on the floor.

It was a bit chilly.

"Well, then think of something else," He Chao laughed, "like...your present and future with your Brother Chao."

He Chao said this very seriously, without his usual carelessness, and his figure was reflected in his eyes.

So seriously that Xie Yu was caught off guard.

As Xie Yu leaned in to kiss He Chao's lips, he thought to himself, why bother with all this flirting, let's just get down to business.

The moment their lips touched, all thoughts fled from his mind.

He Chao was afraid of hurting Xie Yu again, so he tried to control himself. But when Xie Yu took the initiative to touch his tongue, all bets were off.

And that was just the beginning.

Xie Yu's hand had somehow undone the waistband of He Chao's pants, which were already loose to begin with. His hand slipped inside without hesitation.

Xie Yu's fingers were a little cold, and they curled slightly when they touched something warm. He hesitated for a moment before daring to move again.

He Chao cursed with a "fuck" and his hand also began to explore. "Are you trying to kill me."

The lights were about to go out, and outside the dormitory, someone was blowing a whistle.

Once both of them finished, the dorm room was pitch black, with only the sound of their heavy breathing filling the air as they clung to each other.

Relying on his memory, Xie Yu fumbled around the bedside until he finally found a pack of tissues.

He handed them over to He Chao, who intended to help him clean up, but before his hand could even touch Xie Yu, he nearly got kicked off the bed. "...Don't touch."

After a moment of hesitation, He Chao asked, "Should we sleep together?"

Xie Yu retorted, "Can you really sleep with that stick of yours?"

"..."

That's true.

The bed was too small for them to sleep separately, so they had to sleep together, pressed up against each other.

Xie Yu sat up and reached for the switch of the rechargeable desk lamp on the bedside table.

In the dim light, He Chao could see that Xie Yu's sweater had rolled up to reveal his waist, and his loose school pants were hanging off his hips, which he had just helped him take off.

As he looked at him, he couldn't resist lowering his head and touching Xie Yu's lips: "Then I'll be going now."

Xie Yu: "Just go already."

His attitude was as if he didn't care about him after doing the deed.

He Chao smiled and let go of him.

Although He Chao had left, the scent of his presence lingered in the air for a long time.

Aside from the desk lamp, Xie Yu noticed that the phone he had casually thrown on the bed earlier was also lit up.

Messages were popping up one after another.

Thinking it was something else from He Chao, Xie Yu picked up his phone, unlocked the screen, and saw a dozen or so private messages.

"..."

- Dear user, hello. We are the organizers of the Trivia King Battle competition.