In fact, the students at No. 2 High School didn't know much about the legendary school big shots.
Although their bad reputation preceded them, opportunities to actually encounter them were few and far between. Most of the time, people only heard gossip about them and their impression of the big shots was based on blurry photos taken in the school forum.
Less than a week had passed since the school anniversary, and there were already over ten pages of posts about these two individuals in the forum.
At first, the posts were relatively normal, with comments like "The school anniversary video, high definition, ultra cool" and "These two guys are so good-looking!" and "Wow, look at Xie Yu's waist!".
But as the posts continued, the tone gradually shifted towards shipping the two big shots' CP.
During lunch break, the Unbeatable Most Handsome Squad gathered together, cautiously scrolling through the school forum.
"Hey, Hao-zi, take a look at this," whispered Luo Wenqiang as he scrolled down on his phone screen. "Remember the red string on He Chao's wrist at the opening ceremony, pointing to 3 minutes and 15 seconds? There's a surprise."
At 3 minutes and 15 seconds, when He Chao and Xie Yu high-fived, a half-length red string on Xie Yu's wrist was exposed. This detail was magnified and looked like the same one.
Liu Cunhao began to recall the stupid things he said in the past.
A bracelet for passing exams?
......
What a load of crap.
Liu Cunhao lightly rubbed his forehead and said slowly, "Reply to the post, reply! Just say that everyone in our class has one of these bracelets, nothing special. Tell them not to overanalyze it."
Luo Wenqiang: "Your excuse is pretty strong..."
Wan Da: "..."
That evening, they sat outside the main building chatting for a couple of hours. They all felt that what happened was both unexpected and inevitable. They had joked before that if these two kept acting like this, something was bound to happen sooner or later. They just didn't expect it to happen so soon.
They were the first couple in their class, and their situation was quite unique.
After discussing it, they all agreed that since the two of them hadn't said anything, they would pretend not to know and help keep it a secret.
During lunch, Xie Yu wanted to take a nap. He had just closed his eyes when he opened them again and looked past Luo Wenqiang's head out the window. He muttered under his breath, "Haven't they had enough."
There were always a few girls hanging around outside the door of Class 3, but now it seemed like there was at least one every break between classes.
A few days ago, some bold girls were secretly taking photos with their phones. Xie Yu went out and made them delete the pictures without any mercy: "Delete them."
The group of girls were so scared that their phones almost fell to the ground.
"What's wrong?" He Chao was scribbling on his paper with a pen, but stopped halfway and turned to look at him. He reached over and tapped on Xie Yu's desk. "...Is it too noisy?"
Xie Yu thought to himself that this fool probably hadn't realized that half of the girls in that line outside the window were there to see him.
Xie Yu leaned over and blinked his eyes. "What's this question?"
He Chao pushed his own draft paper over, and then realized that Xie Yu probably couldn't understand it. He explained, "It's the extension question that Old Wu left after class in the morning. I was bored and just took a look."
Although Class 3 was a science class, judging from the results of each exam, the emphasis of teaching was still on grasping the basics, getting the basic points that could be obtained, and then thinking about the difficult problems.
Xie Yu leaned over and tried to recall the problem. He could barely read what He Chao had written on the paper.
"But I think this," He Chao wanted to say that there was a problem with the train of thought he had written, and there should be a simpler algorithm. Just then, someone came in through the back door, making noise as they approached. He quickly changed the subject, "...This skill doesn't do much damage, but it's good for coordination. The operation is very important, so practice your positioning more."
Xie Yu: "..."
As the two classmates walked by, chatting and laughing, they accidentally bumped into the corner of the table where He Chao and Xie Yu were sitting. But they didn't notice anything wrong with the serious gamers sitting in the back row: "Sorry, Brother Chao."
He Chao remained calm: "It's okay."
After the classmates left, Xie Yu couldn't help but laugh, burying half of his face in his arms: "Are you crazy?"
"Have you laughed enough?" He Chao said. "It's not very nice to mock your boyfriend like that."
He Chao had a talent for hiding his true abilities, which he had developed over the years.
Plus, he had previously played with Lei Jun and his friends for a while, so he knew better than anyone how the underachievers managed to get through their classes every day.
Sometimes, Xie Yu forgets that the person sitting next to him is the "Trivia King" who can come up with three solutions to a difficult problem within ten minutes.
After finishing his explanation, He Chao felt pretty pleased with himself for his smooth and impressive performance. He chuckled and reached for the draft paper he had just handed over, but Xie Yu stopped him by placing his hand on top of his.
Xie Yu maintained his previous posture, with only his eyes visible. However, the smile in his eyes had disappeared. He placed his five fingers on the draft paper, which looked like a cursed talisman, and asked, "Then when can I stop mocking my boyfriend?"
He Chao was stunned for a moment before realizing the meaning behind Xie Yu's words.
"What are you thinking?" He Chao smiled. "I've thought about it...If I suddenly become the top student in our grade, not only will Old Tang be shocked, but even the class representative might faint."
Xie Yu let go of his hand.
He Chao took the draft paper back and casually folded it twice before stuffing it into his math book.
He had been playing this role for so long, from the beginning of his freshman year until now, and he couldn't get out of it for a while.
Most likely, people would think he had lost his mind and wouldn't be able to explain it clearly. They might even take him to the hospital for a check-up, thinking that something was wrong with him.
Xie Yu listened and felt that it was something He Chao would do.
He even planned out an inspirational plan for himself, including details like improving his ranking by twenty places in the final exam.
"I want to keep standing out there with you," He Chao stared into Xie Yu's eyes and said, "but I'm also afraid you'll get bored playing games alone. Twenty places seems like too many...Ah, let's just aim to improve by two for now."
As He Chao spoke, he immediately removed a zero and cut the plan down to a single digit.
Xie Yu lightly kicked him and laughed, "Two places? How many years do you want to improve for?"
He Chao's words were so natural that Xie Yu momentarily forgot that he was always the one being dragged down by this person during their standing punishments.
Who was really accompanying whom?
Suddenly, He Chao called out to him again, "Old Xie."
Xie Yu glanced at him.
"Do you remember that stupid game I played before?"
Xie Yu said, "You've played more than one stupid game."
"..."
He Chao cleared his throat before speaking, "Treating her well in your own way...may not necessarily be what she wants."
Sometimes, love means giving everything you can think of and can give.
Stubborn and one-sided.
Xie Yu leaned back and remained silent.
As lunch break was coming to an end, someone in the front row started banging on the table, "Hey, isn't the next class physical education? Isn't it our happy physical education class?"
With the end-of-term exams approaching, physical education classes had been taken over by other teachers, and everyone had low expectations. But today, they hadn't heard any teacher say they had taken over the physical education class, so they were filled with hope. "Sports committee, is our physical education class still alive?"
Normally sensitive to the words "physical education," Luo Wenqiang finally looked up after being called twice, "It's still alive."
"When it comes to physical education class, it's really a big show," Wan Da said with excitement, sitting in his seat with his legs crossed. "Originally, the English teacher took over the physical education class, but Old Tang went to fight for it. The two almost got into a fight in the office. In the end, Old Tang won the fight, but who knew that even after he got it back, he still let us take physical education. The English teacher was almost angered to death."
At the time, the battle was intense, and Wan Da deliberately went back to the classroom to bring them over to listen together.
Xie Yu was not too happy about it. "You can go, I'm not coming."
"It's really exciting. You definitely didn't know that Old Tang in our class has such a domineering side," Wan Da said.
"Let's go," in the end, it was He Chao who pulled him up. "Let's go listen."
As they walked to the door, they heard the English teacher shouting, "I haven't finished this unit yet, and I have to teach them these homework exercises today!"
Old Tang said, "Children need exercise. A healthy body is the foundation for learning and striving."
"..."
There were five or six classes on the exercise ground, and they could have free time after running two laps.
The physical education teacher held a toothpick in his mouth and squatted at the finish line, waiting for them. He had nothing to do and was even holding a stopwatch. "Those who need to borrow equipment can go to the sports committee rep," he said.
After a pause, the physical education teacher added, "Xue Xisheng, your English vocabulary handbook is sticking out of your pocket. Can you please show me some respect? Come over here later, and I'll play two rounds of badminton with you."
Everyone laughed when they heard this.
He Chao also laughed and whispered to Xie Yu, "The class representative is simply not human."
After disbanding, only Xue Xisheng was frowning while everyone else was so happy they could fly, especially Luo Wenqiang. After helping other classmates borrow equipment, he took Liu Cunhao and went to the basketball court to play.
As they walked, Luo Wenqiang said, "We still have an extra ball, does anyone want it?"
The court was empty and looked quite desolate, but Xie Yu was in a rare mood and rolled up his sleeves, gesturing to Luo Wenqiang, "Throw it over."
Luo Wenqiang was a little surprised and took two steps out before throwing the ball over.
He Chao happened to be walking by with a bottle of mineral water from the nearby convenience store. He had just taken a few sips and hadn't even put the cap back on when he saw Xie Yu dribbling the ball. He smirked and said, "Little friend, want to play a few rounds?"
As he spoke, He Chao put the cap back on the bottle and casually threw it to the side.
The two of them played a few rounds without any rules, one attacking and one defending.
Xie Yu's every move was crisp and clean, dribbling past defenders, slamming dunks from the free-throw line...It was incredibly satisfying to watch.
In the end, both of them took off their jackets. He Chao was only wearing a thin sweater underneath. Midway through the game, the ball wasn't passed to him, and he intentionally or unintentionally wrapped his arm around Xie Yu's waist, whispering a few words to him.
Then Xie Yu hit the ball out with a backhand.
Luo Wenqiang was warming up on the side, thinking that these two were really something to watch.
As he was halfway through his leg press, he vaguely heard a girl shouting not far away, "They're really a perfect match, oh my god."
"Look, the bracelets, they're the same type."
"..."
Wan Da nudged Luo Wenqiang with his elbow. "Are you going up or not?"
Luo Wenqiang turned his head and asked Liu Cunhao, "Are you going up, Hao-zi?"
Although it wasn't a physical education class, the schedule for Class 3 in their year had already been leaked on the online forum. So, these two girls decided to take a stroll around the exercise ground in hopes of running into a certain someone.
However, before they could even take a good look through the iron fence, they saw three boys walking towards them on the basketball court.
The muscular one in the lead was holding a basketball, and the three boys surrounded the girls.
Liu Cunhao cleared his throat and took the lead, saying, "Ladies, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say whatever you want."
Luo Wenqiang added, "These two classmates in our class are good brothers! Honest and upright good brothers!"
Wan Da chimed in, "Do you know what it means to be good brothers?"
A little frog who likes reading. Hope you liked this chapter, and thank you for your support! Coffee fuels my midnight translation binges.
Give me feedback at moc.ebircssutol@tibbir.