The pressure of the advancement exams loomed ahead, and students in both their final year of junior high and senior high lived days akin to ascetic training. Because Song Yu was right there, Yue Zhishi stayed in the Fifth Floor Activity Room every day, studying late into the night, waiting for Song Yu to finish his evening self-study session before going home together with his brother.

“Going to Beijing for training?” The bicycle's path swerved a little. Yue Zhishi quickly steadied the handlebars to keep his balance. “When?”

“The day after tomorrow.”

“So soon!? You're leaving the day after tomorrow?”

“Mhm.”

“Then... how long is the Math Olympiad training?” Yue Zhishi did his best to hide his deflated mood.

“One month.” After Song Yu said that, he opened his mouth again. Yue Zhishi thought he was going to say something more, but he didn't, not even by the time they got home.

On the morning the training camp students gathered at the school gate to take the bus to Beijing, Yue Zhishi was in English class and couldn't see Song Yu off. After class, he leaned against the window and looked for a long time. The school gate was empty, with nothing there.

The Math Olympiad Training Team only selected a very few people. Peiya School only had two, and one of them was Song Yu.

Jiang Yufan came over and bumped his shoulder. “Hey, I heard your brother was chosen for the Math Olympiad Training Team. They all say that if you get picked, you're guaranteed a spot at T University. Is that true?”

“I don't know,” Yue Zhishi said listlessly, remaining slumped over.

A month isn't too long.

He convinced himself in his heart.

The bus was provided by the Education Bureau. It started from Peiya School and stopped midway at Jingjian High School, where two more people got on. Song Yu, sitting by the window with headphones on and eyes closed, was suddenly tapped on the shoulder. He opened his eyes.

“Yo!”

The smile and the snaggletooth were super dazzling.

Song Yu took off one earphone, looked up to meet Xia Zhixu's eyes, and gave a slight smile without speaking. Xia Zhixu put his luggage aside, sat in the empty seat next to him, and started shaking his arms and massaging his legs. “I'm dead tired. I should've eaten more this morning.”

“Who told you to bring so much?”

“Who else but my mom.”

As expected, all mothers in the world are the same.

“We're about to enter the camp. I heard it's super strict, so it's bound to be ridiculously boring.” After saying that, Xia Zhixu looked at Song Yu beside him and sighed. “Good thing you're here. At least this month won't be too lonely.”

Song Yu's fingers toyed with his wireless earbuds. “My being here won't be of much use, will it?”

This kind of insinuation made Xia Zhixu feel very guilty. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Oh.” Song Yu raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean, 'oh'? You weirdo.”

......

The harshness of life in the training camp was even greater than that of the third year of high school. The volume of questions and intensity of training were many times the usual amount. This high-intensity, high-pressure training made the students grow quickly, but it also consumed a lot of energy.

Every night at ten, Yue Zhishi would send Song Yu a message. But the nature of his chats was very different from others. For example, his mom would often send questions like, “What did you have for dinner? Are you sleeping well? Are you tired?” and then wait for Song Yu's reply.

But Yue Zhishi wasn't like that. He would always send one-sided monologues, not needing any feedback. Sometimes he would send a photo of a small, fish-shaped cloud he saw on the way to school, a picture of his high-scoring test paper with a hand-drawn glowing effect around the score, and the latest flavor of a certain brand of soda he drank.

For the first three days, Song Yu didn't reply at all. The training camp teachers were very strict at the beginning; phones weren't allowed to be carried around and had to be left in the dorms. Song Yu would only see the messages after a long delay, and by the time he thought about replying, it felt awkwardly untimely.

But on the fourth day, he replied.

That night, he was so tired he could barely function. He didn't get back to the dorm until eleven-thirty. Lying on his bed, he looked up at the ceiling and opened his phone, but there was no message from Yue Zhishi. He fell asleep accidentally while holding his phone, and an unknown amount of time later, he was woken by a vibration. He frowned and opened his phone to take a look.

[Yue Zhishi: Shared an image]

His vision was blurry. The small thumbnail was a patch of white. He fought off his sleepiness and clicked on the photo to make it out, only to realize it was Yue Zhishi's arm, with a small patch of red rash on it.

Song Yu was instantly wide awake.

[Brother Xiao Yu: What happened to you?]

The other person replied almost instantly with a voice message, “Today, Jiang Yufan bought the new Oden from the school's small supermarket. I only ate a few of the meatballs. Turns out those unscrupulous vendors, they put a lot of flour in them.” His voice was a little indignant.

Soon, Yue Zhishi sent a second message, his tone very weak. “I didn't do it on purpose. The meatballs were white and looked delicious. I thought they would be pure fish meatballs like the ones at home.”

Xia Zhixu, having finished his phone call, returned to the room and was very surprised to see Song Yu, contrary to his usual self, sitting up against the headboard, typing quickly on his phone.

This guy was usually in extreme power-saving mode. Other than moving, he was sleeping. His schedule was practically robotic.

But sometimes Song Yu was quite strange. For example, when eating in the training camp cafeteria, he would usually keep his head down without saying a word, finish his food silently, and leave. But yesterday, the cafeteria's big screen was playing One Piece, and he actually looked up and watched for a few minutes.

How interesting. So the iceberg's heart actually belonged to a passionate anime fan.

Song Yu didn't notice his temporary roommate had returned. He quickly finished editing and hit send.

[Brother Xiao Yu: I've told you many times, avoid eating outside food as much as possible. It's hard to avoid common allergens like wheat. You're so old now, don't you know that?]

[Yue Zhishi: Okay, I know.]

He sent a crying puppy sticker.

Xia Zhixu roughly towel-dried his hair a few times, sat on the opposite bed, and teased Song Yu, “You're actually still chatting. How miraculous. I thought you were in seclusion for cultivation. I didn't expect you to have a friend who could make you sit up to chat.”

Xia Zhixu deliberately emphasized the words "sit up."

Song Yu's eyes left the phone screen. Without even glancing at Xia Zhixu, he retorted, not to be outdone, “Can't compare to you. One phone call lasts an hour, and you have to report the name of every dish you had for dinner. What, are you in a relationship?”

Xia Zhixu had just taken a sip of water and almost spat it out.

This guy is so aggressive...

“Who-who's in a relationship! How could I possibly be in a relationship?”

“Why so defensive?”

The phone vibrated again. Song Yu lowered his head to unlock it.

[Yue Zhishi: Brother Song Yu, I miss you]

“You're the one with a guilty conscience. My conscience is perfectly clear.” Xia Zhixu turned off the desk lamp and lay down on his side. “Time to sleep.”

But just as he said that, he noticed that in the darkness, Song Yu was staring blankly at his phone screen, his expression even showing a subtle change.

He even began to wonder if he was seeing things.

Xia Zhixu wrapped himself in his blanket and stared at Song Yu. “Hey, are you smiling? That's so creepy.”

The screen lock came faster than a reply. The last bit of light in the room vanished instantly.

“You saw wrong,” Song Yu denied.

“Impossible, I just saw your eyes smiling. A wonder of the ages!”

“You talk too much.”

“I talk a normal amount. Ah, I get it now. You were making a preemptive strike. The one in a relationship is you, right?”

“No,” Song Yu said decisively.

Xia Zhixu felt something was off, but he also thought this line of questioning might just get himself tangled up, so he turned over and blinked at the dark ceiling. “Alright then, me neither.”

In the darkness, he heard Song Yu's voice again.

“Xia Zhixu.”

“Hm?”

“Has no one ever told you that you're sometimes too stupid to be a top student?”

Xia Zhixu: “...”

From that day on, Yue Zhishi received a reply from Song Yu every day, so he would wait no matter how late it got. He didn't even dare to turn on Do Not Disturb mode when he slept, afraid he might miss a message.

Previously, Yue Zhishi was always afraid of being woken from his dreams by a phone notification, but now, with just a single vibration, he would wake up immediately, no matter how drowsy he was, to check his phone.

It was just that sometimes it was a false alarm—a spam text from an insurance company or a stock brokerage.

When he saw the photos Yue Zhishi sent of Orange and Cotton Candy fighting, Song Yu would reply with a question mark. When he saw photos of late-night snacks, he would reply with a period to reject the late-night temptation. Sometimes, when he sent a problem he couldn't solve, Song Yu would reply with a photo with the solution process a few minutes later.

Yue Zhishi felt that Song Yu was actually a chatbot for venting, just a more intelligent one. He could share his daily life and get a simple reply or comment. When he encountered a problem, he could also receive a solution.

This was very good. Maybe he himself was also a lonely little robot who needed to complete his daily interaction task with Song Yu to gain some emotional points.

Then neither of them would have any bugs in their programming, and life could continue to run.

“Aren't you a bit too clingy with your brother?” The cafeteria was crowded. Jiang Yufan sat beside Yue Zhishi, staring at his hands as he typed a message. “Their thing is about to end soon, right?”

Yue Zhishi had just typed the four words [Let me tell you] when he heard what Jiang Yufan said. He froze for a moment, then turned to ask Jiang Yufan, “Really?”

Jiang Yufan was on a completely different wavelength. “Yeah, isn't it just ten days left? I've been counting for you.”

“No,” Yue Zhishi asked again. “Do you really think I'm too clingy?”

“Oh, that. A little bit, I guess.” Jiang Yufan took a bite of his fried noodles, not paying much mind to what he'd just said, his attention quickly shifting. “It's called Shredded Pork Fried Noodles, so where's the shredded pork? The cafeteria is such a rip-off.”

Yue Zhishi was in no mood to care about the quality of the school cafeteria's food. He was just coming to a new realization about his clinginess and starting to panic over it. So much so that he, who had intended to delete the words in his text box, accidentally hit send instead.

[Yue Zhishi: Let me tell you]

After seeing it, he scrambled to unsend it, but a new message had already popped up in the chat.

[Brother Xiao Yu: Mhm]

So fast... Yue Zhishi thought for a long time. On one hand, he'd forgotten what he originally wanted to say. On the other, he felt that constantly chatting with his brother was indeed disturbing him, since he'd mentioned before that he had very little time to sleep.

So in the end, Yue Zhishi replied with "It's nothing."

A few seconds later, the phone vibrated again.

[Brother Xiao Yu: ?]

[Brother Xiao Yu: Then why did you send it?]

For the first time, Yue Zhishi felt that Song Yu wasn't actually as busy as he claimed. His first reaction to Song Yu's question was very simple, so he typed out a sentence without much emotion.

[Yue Zhishi: Can't I message you if it's nothing important?]

After sending it, he read it over and felt that something wasn't quite right, but he couldn't put his finger on what. After staring at it for a while, Yue Zhishi finally turned to Jiang Yufan for help.

Jiang Yufan squinted and leaned in, laughing. “Why do you sound like a pouting little wife? 'Can't I message you if it's nothing important?'” he recited in an exaggerated tone. “With your brother's temper, you actually dare.”

So that was it. No wonder he felt it was awkward; the sentence was emotionally ambiguous. If he had asked it face-to-face, it definitely wouldn't have been interpreted in the tone Jiang Yufan just used.

He was just about to explain to him, but unexpectedly, Song Yu replied.

[Brother Xiao Yu: You can.]

You can?

This was already very strange. What was even weirder was that he saw “The other person is typing...” continuously displayed in Song Yu's chat box. He waited for a long while without receiving a new message. Yue Zhishi was starting to suspect Song Yu was writing a whole essay to lecture him, and he felt anxious.

Just as they were leaving the cafeteria to go back for evening self-study, Yue Zhishi, just before turning off his phone, finally received a message.

[Brother Xiao Yu: You can call me after 10:15 PM. My training class ends at that time.]

[Brother Xiao Yu: If you want to.]

Xia Zhixu walked over with his tray and saw Song Yu staring at his phone. He had thought Song Yu wouldn't even bring his phone out, since there was only a signal in the cafeteria and the dorms.

He put his tray down on the table with a clatter. Song Yu looked up. Although the change in his expression was minuscule, Xia Zhixu could still detect that tiny hint of guilt. “Tsk tsk, look at you, with the expression of someone caught cheating.”

Song Yu placed his phone face down on the table and lowered his head to eat his wontons, appearing very calm. “Are you so bored that you've resorted to analyzing facial expressions for entertainment?”

“I can't believe I managed to force such a long sentence out of you.” Xia Zhixu laughed, his snaggletooth looking a bit arrogant. “I'm just so curious, who could make you so enthusiastic about chatting? Don't tell me a deadpan face like you has a thing for online romance.”

“I wasn't chatting,” Song Yu flatly denied. “Just reading the news on Weibo.”

The words had barely left his mouth when his phone suddenly went into a frantic message-receiving mode, one after another, making the whole table feel like it was vibrating along.

It was like it had a built-in function to expose his lies.

Song Yu, with an 'I'm not embarrassed' expression, calmly picked up his phone and opened WeChat.

[Yue Zhishi: Really?!]

[Yue Zhishi: I want to call!! I really want to!!!!]

[Yue Zhishi: Can I tonight, brother? I want to call today!]

[Yue Zhishi: Can I call every day? I promise I'll only talk for a little while, I definitely won't disturb you!]

[Yue Zhishi: I'm begging you [pitiful_puppy_sticker.jpg]]

Xia Zhixu couldn't hold back his laughter. “What big news happened on Weibo? The notifications are so exaggerated. Don't tell me some big star bravely announced their relationship again?” He took out his phone. “Let me check it out too.”

Song Yu felt a vein throb in his temple.

Right now, he was full of regret—regret for suggesting phone calls as a way to distract Yue Zhishi so he wouldn't be angry.

“Joking aside,” Xia Zhixu put down his phone and took a bite of his noodles, “you should reply quickly.”

The phone vibrated again. He took the opportunity to tease, “See? You're making them anxious.”

Song Yu hadn't planned on saying much to Xia Zhixu anyway and lowered his head to check his messages.

[Yue Zhishi: Brother Song Yu, are you on a break right now? Can I call for just one minute? I really want to hear your voice right now.]

Xia Zhixu watched as Song Yu, without even finishing his wontons, picked up his phone and walked outside the cafeteria. A moment later, as if he had just discovered a divine secret, he sent a message to Xu Qichen, who was far away at Jingjian.

[Zhixu: Let me tell you, Song Yu is definitely in an online relationship!]

The author has something to say:

After receiving this—[Yue Zhishi: Can't I message you if it's nothing important?]

Xiao Yu's inner thoughts: 'He's angry, isn't he? He's definitely angry, right? He must be. I made my little brother angry.'

Xia Zhixu: What's this deadpan face busy with?