Song Yu's life after the college entrance exam wasn't much more eventful than before.

He still woke up early every day, went to the Provincial Library with his bag, and stayed for the whole day. He would come home for dinner in the afternoon, and when he had nothing to do at night, he would play games in his room for a while. It was so monotonous it didn't seem like the daily life of an eighteen-year-old boy.

A fifteen-year-old boy's hobbies were obviously much more extensive, but Yue Zhishi had no time to make his own life happy. All his time was squeezed into studying. The high school entrance exams were getting closer, and even he, who was usually not nervous, was forced to tense up along with everyone else.

The Song Family was clearly more nervous about him taking the high school entrance exams than they were for Song Yu. To make it convenient to take him there, Lin Rong figured out the route to the exam site several days in advance and planned the menu for the exam days, afraid that Yue Zhishi might have an allergic reaction or get an upset stomach.

During the menu testing period, all the dishes were reluctantly eaten by Song Yu. His treatment as the biological son was to be a free guinea pig for the younger son, with no room for protest.

The night before the exam, Yue Zhishi came home early from school. Lin Rong gave him a long list of things to remember, telling him to check it against the list after dinner to avoid forgetting anything. Yue Zhishi thought they were being too dramatic, but even the usually very Zen-like Song Jin felt that such worry was necessary.

In the whole family, only Song Yu showed an uncaring attitude towards Yue Zhishi's exam.

This stark contrast made Yue Zhishi feel a bit frustrated.

He felt that Song Yu didn't care about him as much as he cared about Song Yu.

After dinner, he was urged by Lin Rong to go upstairs and take a shower. "You must go to bed early today, understand? Not sleeping well is no joke."

Yue Zhishi nodded, got up, and was about to go upstairs when he heard Lin Rong teasing Song Yu, "Xiao Yu, why do you run to the library every day? Could it be that you're on a date with a girl you like?"

Song Yu said expressionlessly, "You can follow me."

"That's no fun." Lin Rong put the dishes into the dishwasher. "I'm just curious, you're an adult now, have you really not had anyone you liked at school all these years?"

Song Yu was silent, but his expression was more one of ignoring this kind of gossip.

Lin Rong automatically took this as a denial and sighed, "You're so unlike me. I had a boy I liked in elementary school."

Yue Zhishi dragged his feet upstairs back to his bedroom. Lin Rong had even placed a clean set of pajamas for him on the bed.

For some reason, the two teasing remarks Lin Rong made to Song Yu kept echoing in his mind. He was a little absent-minded. He went into the bathroom, undressed, and showered. Water poured down from his head, soaking his hair and eyelashes. Everything before his eyes was misty, turning white, then gray. Then he imagined a scene where Song Yu met some girl at the Provincial Library. It was a very cliché plot, like the two of them happening to meet on opposite sides of the same bookshelf, happening to like the same book, and then happening to reach for that book at the same time.

This plot seemed to appear often in shoujo manga, but Yue Zhishi didn't like shoujo manga.

He also didn't like the girl who prompted Song Yu to go to the library, even though she might not exist.

This slightly malicious thought appeared for less than a second before it was shattered by a knock on the door and vanished into thin air. Yue Zhishi wiped his face and turned off the water.

"Who?"

"Me." It was Song Yu's voice. "Are you showering? I'll come back later then."

"I'm done!"

Yue Zhishi quickly dried the water from his body, casually rubbed his hair a few times, and stepped out of the shower area, but he couldn't find his pajamas in the dry area.

Usually, he would put them on the shelf.

Song Yu stood at the door, waiting. Suddenly, the bathroom door opened a small crack. He thought Yue Zhishi was coming out, but unexpectedly, a pale hand, still steaming, reached out from the crack. Song Yu couldn't help but walk over to see what he was up to. Just as he reached the door, the hem of his own shirt was grabbed by Yue Zhishi's hand.

The accuracy with which Yue Zhishi grabbed the shirt was like a robotic arm in a gold mine grabbing a stone—a perfect catch every time. He tugged, realized something was wrong, and immediately let go, reaching back through the crack in the door.

"What are you doing?"

"I..." Yue Zhishi hid behind the door, revealing only his eyes, his neck beaded with water, and a small part of his collarbone. "I forgot my clothes. Are they on the shelf by the door?"

Song Yu averted his gaze and glanced around sluggishly. "No."

Yue Zhishi suddenly remembered. "On the bed! Can you get them for me, brother?"

Song Yu walked inside, took out the pajamas, and handed them to him. Then he stood by his desk, waiting for him to finish dressing and come out.

Yue Zhishi, fresh from his shower, was enveloped in a soft, warm mist, his hair still a bit damp. He ran out barefoot, his feet padding on the floor. Although he was only a head shorter than Song Yu, Song Yu always felt he had a natural innocence about him.

He knew that people often engaged in interpersonal relationships based on their expectations of others. These expectations were some imagined image, many illusory attributes subjectively assigned, such as kindness, elegance, and innocence.

He knew all this, but he still insisted on believing that Yue Zhishi was genuinely innocent.

"Did you need me for something?" Yue Zhishi tilted his face up slightly to look at him, his eyelashes still beaded with water, like morning dew on the tip of a leaf.

Only then did Song Yu remember the purpose of his visit. He walked to the door, brought in the small cardboard box that had been placed there, and set it on the floor where Yue Zhishi was standing. "I sorted these out after graduation. You might still be able to use some of the notes, so you can keep them and take a look." After speaking, he looked down and took two things out of his pocket to hand to him. One was the amulet Yue Zhishi had given him the other day, and the other was a pen.

"This is the pen I usually use the most. It writes well. You can use it as a spare." After this simple explanation, Song Yu told him to rest early and turned to leave, but Yue Zhishi stopped him. "What's this?"

Song Yu turned back and saw him squatting on the floor, holding a handmade sketchbook, tilting his head at him in confusion.

"This... I bought it before. Bought the wrong one and never used it."

"Where did you buy it? The quality of the paper is so good! Are you really giving it to me?" Yue Zhishi stood up, hugging the sketchbook.

Song Yu gave a muffled "mhm" and turned to leave.

Yue Zhishi felt that this behavior of his was somewhat familiar.

Just like Orange, who, whenever he was being petted to his satisfaction but pretended to be disdainful, would also let out a muffled purr from his throat.

Yue Zhishi held the sketchbook in one hand and the amulet and pen from Song Yu in the other, lowering his head to examine them closely. There was nothing on the front of the amulet, just as it was before he gave it away. It wasn't until he flipped it over that he discovered there was writing on the back in Song Yu's neat handwriting, the strokes sharp and clean.

"Invincible in every endeavor." He read it aloud softly.

He had thought it would say something like "Good luck on your exams."

It wasn't just about the exams; Song Yu hoped that his life would be free of setbacks.

Hugging the many little things he had gotten from Song Yu, Yue Zhishi was completely content and fell back onto his soft bed.

A small piece of his heart sank in as well.

When the exam finally arrived, Yue Zhishi was more relaxed than he had imagined. The questions weren't as complex as the practice mock exams. Math was a little harder, but he was very lucky; the last two major problems were questions he had recorded in his error correction notebook, and Song Yu had explained them to him, leaving a very deep impression.

Most crucially, the pen Song Yu gave him played a huge role. The pens he had brought himself didn't write smoothly—several of them were like that, and they were from a new pack he had just bought. The batch quality was probably bad.

Thankfully, he had Song Yu's pen.

After finishing several consecutive exams, Yue Zhishi felt he had performed quite well and was in a good mood. For the last exam, he conscientiously checked his work until the very last second.

Outside the exam hall, the sun was shining brightly. As soon as Yue Zhishi came out, he was spotted by Lin Rong, who was holding an umbrella. She went up to him and led him back to the car.

"It's hot, isn't it, sweetie? Hurry and get in the car for the AC."

Yue Zhishi pulled open the car door and was surprised to see Song Yu was also there. On such a hot day, he never would have dreamed that he would come to pick him up.

"Brother Song Yu, what are you doing here?"

The tone of his question completely exposed his ecstatic delight. Song Jin, sitting in the driver's seat, joked, "It's quite a coincidence today. I was supposed to go sign a contract, but the client's representative suddenly had an urgent matter, so we signed early. Xiao Yu also seemed to say something was up at the library, so he didn't go this afternoon."

Song Yu, uncharacteristically, took the initiative to add, "Renovations. They're only loaning out books."

For Yue Zhishi, this was excellent news. In his mind, good news left no room for doubt. But what followed was a piece of bad news.

"We can't go to Japan anymore?" Yue Zhishi leaned against the seatback like a deflated ball. "I already made a whole itinerary."

He had looked up restaurants he could go to with his brother, and merchandise stores he liked.

And Mount Fuji, which his brother would probably like very much.

Now it was all gone.

Lin Rong, in perfect sync, also leaned back in the passenger seat. "Sigh, who could have expected a typhoon warning? And for it to last for so long."

Song Jin tried to comfort them, "Safety first, safety first."

The Japan trip was temporarily postponed. Yue Zhishi was dejected about it for a good while. On the third day after the exams, his classmates organized a KTV dinner party. Yue Zhishi initially had little interest, but Jiang Yufan called him two hours before the party.

"One Piece merchandise? The limited edition one? For real?" Yue Zhishi was very surprised. While being fed by Lin Rong, he ate a large piece of watermelon, the very center piece at that.

"I'll go too, then. Wait for me." Yue Zhishi hung up the phone, went upstairs contentedly, and came back down holding a basketball. It was something he had bought a long time ago to give to Jiang Yufan.

"Are you going to play basketball?" Lin Rong asked.

"This is a graduation gift I bought for Jiang Yufan. I'll give it to him at our dinner party later." Yue Zhishi showed it off in advance. "Jiang Yufan got me the limited edition merchandise I've always wanted. I was originally planning to buy it myself this time in Japan."

Lin Rong used a round spoon to scoop out a full plate of watermelon pulp. "That's great. Invite Xiao Jiang over for dinner in a few days."

Half an hour after Yue Zhishi left, Song Yu came out of his room. Lin Rong was just about to bring him a plate of chilled watermelon when they met at the top of the stairs.

"Perfect, you're down. Come eat some watermelon." Lin Rong pulled him to the dining room to sit, then remembered to chide him. "Just stay home and be a recluse all day. Even your younger brother has gone out for a dinner party with his classmates."

Song Yu looked up at the time. "A dinner party? Where?"

Every time Yue Zhishi went out, he would report the time and location to his family, and this time was no exception. Lin Rong told Song Yu the place, and Song Yu only found it somewhat familiar.

The place chosen for the dinner party was a budget KTV with a dinner buffet. Yue Zhishi arrived later than the others, and everyone had already started eating and drinking.

"Lele's here!"

"Lele, come over here and sit."

Most junior high boys and girls matured early. Even in a huge private room, everyone sat separately. Girls who got along well sat in groups, while the boys gathered in a corner. The lighting here wasn't very good. Yue Zhishi carefully walked to the very back to meet up with Jiang Yufan.

When Jiang Yufan saw him actually holding a basketball, he felt it gave him a lot of face. He pulled Yue Zhishi to his side and took out his gift. The other male classmates nearby were very envious.

"You two are really close."

"This basketball is nice. Let's go play a couple of games later."

Yue Zhishi didn't actually like places like KTVs very much. They were noisy, and when there were a lot of people, they liked to get rowdy and make jokes that Yue Zhishi didn't like. But Jiang Yufan was there, and his new merchandise was exquisitely made. Facing the light of the karaoke screen, Yue Zhishi observed it so intently that he didn't even hear Jiang Yufan say goodbye when he went to the restroom.

There were two or three boys in the class who were very precocious; dating, smoking, and fighting, they didn't miss a thing. The KTV was practically their home turf. Yue Zhishi was a little hungry. He took a small piece of apple from Jiang Yufan's buffet plate and popped it into his mouth. After just two chews, he saw those boys coming toward him.

"Lele's here, huh? Why aren't you singing?"

Yue Zhishi shook his head and mumbled that he wasn't very good at singing. The few of them, holding glasses, pushed aside the people next to Yue Zhishi and sat down. One of them had a cigarette clamped between his fingers, glowing like a red dot in the dim space.

The spreading smell of smoke made Yue Zhishi's throat uncomfortable. He tried to clear his throat by coughing, but it wasn't very effective.

"My smoke is bothering you, huh?" The smoking male classmate stubbed out the cigarette on the table and clapped his hands. "Look at you coughing, your face is all red."

Yue Zhishi's throat was still uncomfortable. He wanted to drink some water. There were many glasses on the table, all looking the same. He picked up the one closest to Jiang Yufan's plate and took a sip, but he realized something was wrong—it smelled of alcohol.

"That's my beer."

"Ah?" Yue Zhishi quickly put it down and coughed a few times. "You're still a minor, you can't drink alcohol."

All of them burst out laughing. Yue Zhishi felt like he was being mocked again. The boy on his right joked, "Lele is a good boy. Don't smoke and drink in front of him, you'll look like a little hoodlum."

"How am I a hoodlum? I didn't teach him anything bad. Didn't I just put it out?"

"You could teach him how to jack off."

The moment this was said, all the boys around them burst out laughing. Only Yue Zhishi was confused. He didn't understand what was happening and asked with an innocent face, "What's jacking off?"

Everyone knew Yue Zhishi was a late bloomer and had a simple personality, but they didn't expect him to be this naive.

"Damn, you're about to start high school and you don't even know this?!"

"That's hilarious. A guy who doesn't know what jacking off is?"

Their over-the-top reaction made Yue Zhishi a little unhappy. He felt like he was a fool in their eyes. He lowered his head and took out his phone. "I'll just look it up."

"Don't." The boy who was smoking grabbed his arm. "We're bored anyway, let us give you a little sex ed lesson."

And just like that, Yue Zhishi was dragged out by a few of them.

The so-called sex ed lesson was actually in a small, empty private room, where one of the boys took out his treasured, certain indescribable website for everyone to watch.

"This one's hot. This one has a great body."

"Dude, your stash is really something else."

Yue Zhishi watched with the serious mindset of someone trying to learn. He felt the reactions of the boys around him were overly excited, but the explicit images still had a considerable visual impact on him.

The boy who had been smoking bumped Yue Zhishi's shoulder and teased him deliberately, "Exciting?"

Yue Zhishi answered honestly, "It's alright."

"This isn't exciting to you?" He shook his head. "You don't have some kind of problem, do you?"

He reached out, intending to touch Yue Zhishi's crotch. Yue Zhishi was so scared he fell directly to the right. In the panic, someone's hand accidentally touched an ad, and the video that was playing switched to another screen. A huge animated ad appeared on the entire screen.

"What the fuck, who did that?"

"Lu Zi, are you a pervert? You're into this stuff? I gotta stay away from you."

"Fuck, it really wasn't me. I don't know how it jumped."

Everyone's attention shifted to the phone screen. Yue Zhishi took the opportunity to push himself up on the sofa and glanced at the content on the screen. To be honest, it was no different from the previous video, but the only difference was that the female role had been replaced by a man—very thin, very pale, and not resisting.

Yue Zhishi's heart rate suddenly sped up. It felt as if countless tiny needles were pricking his face, and a current ran through his entire body.

"LMAO, a real man fucks another man!"

"Hurry up and switch it back, I've gone soft, fuck."

He averted his face, but the images wouldn't go away. Yue Zhishi suddenly began to cough violently, his face flushing red. The small amount of alcohol he had drunk earlier burned its way down his throat, making his whole body feel hot.

He pushed away the classmates who were crowding him and fled from the small, smoke-filled room.

Such a small amount of beer shouldn't have caused such a severe allergic reaction. But he truly felt hot, and the air felt thin. So he ran straight down the corridor, went downstairs, and ran to the KTV entrance, wanting to breathe some fresh air.

To his surprise, at the main entrance, he actually saw Song Yu's back. He was standing next to a parked black car.

Yue Zhishi thought it was a hallucination. Just then, a window on the second floor opened. It was Qin Yan's voice. "Song Yu, are you still airing out? Don't bother, they're smoking. It'll still smell like smoke when you come up later."

Song Yu looked up, but the first thing he saw was Yue Zhishi standing at the entrance. He told Qin Yan he wasn't coming up for now, and then walked towards Yue Zhishi.

"What are you doing here?" Yue Zhishi asked him, standing on the steps at the entrance. Song Yu walked up to him. Because of the steps, they were at eye level for the first time.

"Same as you, a group activity."

After Song Yu spoke, he noticed something was off about Yue Zhishi. He put his hands in his pockets and leaned his face a little closer, intending to observe him.

The distance between their noses instantly shortened. A very pleasant scent emanated from him—the familiar fragrance of Yue Zhishi's shower gel, mixed with the faint, lingering smell of minty smoke.

So close, Yue Zhishi's Adam's apple bobbed. He restrained himself from letting his thoughts run wild.

"What have you been doing? Why is your face so red?"

Author has something to say:

The older brother didn't smoke. Someone else was smoking, and he didn't want to bring the smell of smoke to Lele.

The classmates don't know what his allergen is. They didn't make him drink on purpose, and it was just a small sip. It's nothing serious, so everyone, don't be nervous.

I don't recommend everyone read my new work (and future ones) with impressions from my other novels, because I want to constantly adjust and change. In other words, I won't write what I've written before again. I have many themes and styles I want to slowly try. Every time I start a new novel, I have to go through the process of being compared to my previous works. I haven't even written that many books, and it's already become a cycle, hahaha.

It's the same old saying: read whichever book you like. Comparisons aren't really meaningful. Even if you say a previous work was good, I won't go back and copy it.

This slice-of-life novel was something I initially intended as a palate cleanser, because my next book is planned to be plot-driven, and I wanted to intersperse it with a healing, daily-life story (another reason is that I wanted to read a childhood friends story myself, but the fandom is too niche, so I decided to write my own fanfiction for myself, hahaha). Unexpectedly, while writing the drafts, I found that slice-of-life is really hard to write. Without a plot full of twists and turns, you need to make the life in the novel seem like real "life," really like a daily routine. You also have to use these plain stories to establish the characters. So throughout this piece, my style has changed quite a bit. Change is what I want to see; I always hope to have room for change.

So, it's obvious that a slice-of-life novel needs a plain and simple writing style. It's not really suited for grand, universal romance or boundless fantasies. A small life also has many shining fragments. It's very ordinary, but the little details of two people accompanying each other as they grow up are also very beautiful.