As the spring equinox approached, the temperature gradually warmed up.

The food street outside Liyang No. 2 High School was decorated with banners that were even more festive than during the New Year. From afar, the entire street was filled with the words "Celebrating the Start of School".

After a long winter break, many people only started catching up on their homework as the end of the break approached. They worked tirelessly for several days, but still couldn't finish everything. In the end, they had to accept their fate and plan to arrive at school early on the first day to try and catch up.

As Xie Yu walked up the stairs, he heard a group of students from Year 2's Class 3 screaming in agony: "We have to hand this in too?!"

"What kind of English essay is this?!"

"Who did the math workbook? I'll trade my Chinese test paper with them..."

As Xie Yu passed by the back window, he curled his fingers and tapped lightly on the glass twice.

Liu Cunhao, the class representative who was leading the homework copying, had a few Chinese test papers in his hand. Before he could finish his sentence, he heard the sound of tapping on the window and was so scared that he almost jumped up: "Oh my god!"

Outside, the wind was strong and Xie Yu was wearing a hat and coat.

He hurriedly entered the room and then remembered to pull down his hat.

Everyone thought it was Mad Dog coming to patrol, and the classroom was quiet for two seconds before it exploded again: "You scared me to death...Brother Yu, you're not the Brother Yu I know anymore."

"Are you happy with your little prank?"

"You're bullying your weak and helpless classmates like this?"

"..."

He Chao arrived early and was napping in the classroom. He vaguely heard the noise and opened his eyes halfway.

He had returned to school a day earlier.

All the dormitory students who returned to school early underestimated the passion that Mad Dog had for the broadcasting career. Their beloved Head Teacher Jiang started shouting, "New semester, new beginning!" before 6 o'clock in the morning.

He Chao stood up and watched as the little friend walked over.

At first, he didn't feel anything about the official tone of Mad Dog's words, but it was only when his gaze fell on Xie Yu that he truly felt it: a new semester.

A new day.

He Chao smiled and greeted him, "Good morning."

Xie Yu walked over to his desk, slightly bent down, and helped him zip up his coat that was stuck at his chest: "Morning."

The sunlight shone in from outside the window, brightening up the classroom a bit.

Liu Cunhao was still looking for a friend who was willing to exchange homework with him.

He Chao flipped through his math workbook from the desk, which he had only done a little bit of. However, according to his steady upward plan, his error rate was still quite high. "Hao-zi, let's switch."

Liu Cunhao looked at him silently for a few seconds, then turned his face back in silence and continued to ask, "Are there any other friends?"

"What, you're looking down on me?" He Chao asked.

"I dare not, you got a 49," Liu Cunhao said, afraid of affecting his confidence. After a bit of flattery, he couldn't help but want him to face reality. "But, Brother Chao, you can't be too arrogant, you know what I mean."

"Hao-zi, I don't care about you now," He Chao said, throwing the workbook onto the table. "From now on, I'll make you unable to keep up with me."

Liu Cunhao looked completely lost, as if he didn't know who he was or where he was, their class's big bro seemed to have completely gone mad: "..."

Xie Yu reached into the side pocket of his backpack for his pen, almost wanting to throw it at him upon hearing this.

It wasn't until the bell rang for class that the classroom gradually quieted down.

On the first day of school, all the teachers were instilling the idea that "it's okay if you didn't do well on the final exams, just work hard from this semester onwards." They hoped that the students would snap out of their holiday craziness and quickly adjust to their studies.

Especially their Chinese teacher, Old Tang, treated their class like a meeting and didn't cover much new material. He was too busy trying to give them words of encouragement.

Xie Yu was getting a bit sleepy from listening, propping his chin up with his hand. He caught a glimpse of He Chao playing with his phone during class. "Playing games?"

He Chao calmly returned to the home screen and responded with a simple "ah" in agreement.

Xie Yu didn't pay much attention and closed his eyes to sleep for a while.

Only then did He Chao reopen the chat box with Shen Jie and typed in response: What's wrong with you?

He had been thinking about what to give his little friend for his birthday these past few days. After much consideration, he still didn't know what to give, so he asked Shen Jie. However, after waiting for a few minutes, he received three words in response: Refuse to chat.

[Shen Jie]: I think it's better for us to contact each other after class.

[Shen Jie]: Don't even think about causing trouble for me again!

[He Chao]: ...

After the embarrassing incident in the teacher's office last time, the psychological shadow left behind was too deep. Shen Jie remembered the lesson learned from blood, tears, and self-reflection, and would never be foolish enough to team up with He Chao to play games during class again.

Likewise, chatting was also avoided whenever possible.

On Shen Jie's desk stood a textbook, with his hands hidden in his lap. He typed on his phone, pausing to make sure the teacher was still writing on the board before continuing: Brother Chao, please pay attention in class! Don't chat with me!

Xie Yu's birthday was in mid-March, and there wasn't much time left to prepare.

During the ten-minute break between classes, He Chao could only quickly arrange to meet Shen Jie at the staircase: "Do you have any suggestions?"

Shen Jie wanted to say: If it were someone else, I could help brainstorm ideas, but your Xie Yu is...

Xie Yu was a mysterious person, difficult to read. Even though they had become closer recently, his preferences were still a mystery.

"What should you give him?" Shen Jie racked his brain, finally hesitating before blurting out three words: "...a human head?"

He Chao didn't know whether to praise this brother's rich imagination or not: "You fucking be more normal."

Shen Jie was at a loss and couldn't come up with a second idea even if he went bald: "Your Old Xie, you should know better than me. Think about what he's interested in."

He Chao sat on the steps, pondered for a while, and finally said, "Me."

Shen Jie: "...Huh?"

He Chao continued, "Me. He's interested in me."

That day, they couldn't chat anymore.

Shen Jie lowered his head and wiped his face with his hand, feeling extremely hopeless: "Anyway, we have to buy a cake. Otherwise, we can just write on the birthday cake..."

At the staircase landing, which was very close to the corridor, Shen Jie's two shouts of "cake" echoed loudly. Wan Da happened to be returning from the teacher's office and didn't notice anyone at the staircase landing. But upon hearing the sound, he stopped in his tracks and took two steps back: "What birthday cake? Who's having a birthday?"

He Chao: "..."

Xie Yu wasn't quite sure what He Chao and his group had been talking about since the start of the school year, but he felt that they were a bit strange, although he couldn't quite put his finger on what was strange about them.

Every time he passed by, Wan Da would immediately awkwardly change the subject: "I love my country..."

When Wan Da came knocking on his door in the middle of the night, asking if he wanted to take a stroll around the dormitory building, Xie Yu finally found a suitable reason for this "strangeness": "Are you sick?"

Wan Da stood at the door, looking a bit melancholy as he said, "I can't sleep. I've been under a lot of pressure lately and I wanted to look for you for a chat."

Xie Yu leaned against the door and glanced at the time displayed on his phone.

It was already half past eleven.

The dormitory building was quiet and eerie, with all the lights turned off.

The dormitory building at No. 2 High School only had six floors, and the rooftop terrace was always locked, prohibiting students from going up there. But Wan Da said he wanted to take a walk around the dormitory building and actually led him upstairs.

"To be honest, I've been feeling really lost lately," Wan Da said as they walked. "I can't find direction in life and I toss and turn every night."

Xie Yu remained silent, which was unusual for him as he would normally say something like "What's that got to do with me?"

As he thought about Wan Da's recent strange behavior, several thoughts raced through Xie Yu's mind in just a few minutes. When Wan Da pushed open the iron door to the top floor, Xie Yu was about to say, "Don't do anything stupid," when suddenly someone hugged him from behind and covered his eyes with a hand.

Everything went black.

The hand was warm and had distinct knuckles, and it forcefully blocked all of Xie Yu's vision.

He was led forward a few steps, and the wind from the rooftop blew into his clothes.

Then the hand slowly released him, and in the darkness, Xie Yu caught a glimpse of some flickering lights through the slightly opened fingers.

Suddenly, everything lit up before Xie Yu's eyes.

The rooftop wasn't very big, and looking down from the top floor, there were scattered lights and the sound of car horns coming from the surrounding roads, as well as the noisy wind blowing all around.

From somewhere, they had gotten a folding table and placed the birthday cake on top. The rooftop was decorated simply, with a few bags sitting nearby.

As He Chao spoke, his voice rose slightly, circling around in Xie Yu's ear.

"Happy birthday."

Not just one voice.

Almost all of Class 3's boarding students were there, gathered together in a lively group. "Happy birthday, Brother Yu!"

Xie Yu didn't really remember his own birthday.

If it weren't for Madam Gu reminding him every year and asking him if there was anything he wanted, he would have probably forgotten about his birthday altogether.

A few days ago, Madam Gu had reminded him again. Xie Yu was doing a test while on the phone, and by the time he finished a big question, he had already forgotten what Madam Gu had said on the phone.

"You guys tricked me? Where did you get the key from?" Xie Yu glanced at them and said, "Wan Da, you're lost on the path of life, feeling confused?"

He Chao cleared his throat and said, "I picked it open."

Wan Da tried to change the subject, lit a candle, and urged Xie Yu to make a wish. "Brother Yu, this demon wind...oh my god, blow it out quickly, or it will go out on its own."

Several people gathered in a circle, trying to block the wind. "Hurry, hurry, we can't block it much longer."

The more they urged, the more blank Xie Yu's mind became. When all the candles were extinguished, he still hadn't thought of a wish.

The others cheered and waited for the cake to be cut.

He Chao rummaged through the bag for knives and forks, but found only beer underneath. "Mr. Know-it-all, I asked you to buy food, why did you buy so much beer?"

Wan Da didn't admit that he just wanted to drink: "As a man, in this kind of rooftop gathering atmosphere..."

On the rooftop, beer cans were thrown around haphazardly.

Whenever the wind blew, they would roll and clatter along the ground.

During a lull in their drinking, He Chao casually asked, "What wish did you make just now?"

Xie Yu replied, "I didn't."

"Ah?"

Seeing that he was skeptical, Xie Yu laughed and repeated, "I didn't make a wish."

He hadn't made any wishes, but he felt like anything was possible.