His old school also had a forum, but it was very quiet. After all, it was a key high school where teachers would check students' phones with mine detectors when they entered the school gates, so phones could be confiscated at any time. Generally no one used these forums, at most gossiping within WeChat groups on a small scale. 

Jiang Cheng had never experienced the kind of open discussion on forums like this before.

The fujoshi thread claiming that they had good chemistry was started on the day of the competition, and now after just one day, the number of clicks and replies was already astounding.

Jiang Cheng hesitated for a good while, but in the end did not open the thread to read it.

Although this kind of random gossip among young girls was very common, even if they were pairing him up with Wang Xu, he would not have any feelings about it. But being associated with Gu Fei made him uncomfortable.

In the end, he opened the thread discussing the popular Gu Fei.

There were quite a few photos of Gu Fei during the competition, from various angles. That girl must have walked around the court many circles to take these photos. There were also some pictures taken from below of Gu Fei dunking, not sure how she managed to take those.

The first few posts were just photos and the original poster's crazy squealing, as well as rows of exclamation marks. Further down were more echoes of agreement and shrieking.

It wasn't until around post 30 that a different voice appeared.

-He's just so-so, a dime a dozen on the streets.

This reply stirred up a storm, with 7-8 pages of angry replies just on this post, all scolding the commenter. 

Jiang Cheng took a look at the ID of the replier and couldn't help saying: "F*ck!"

Fancy Handsome.

"You're really bored huh," Jiang Cheng looked at Gu Fei. 

"If I wasn't bored who'd come up here to see this," Gu Fei took his phone back, smiling as he glanced at it, "See, you model students are too dignified to look at this kind of thing."

"I was...looking too," Jiang Cheng said, "But our high school forum was like a ghost town, nobody went on it."

"What's your ID?" Gu Fei turned his head.

Jiang Cheng hesitated for a moment: "Some Cheng." 

"What?" Gu Fei didn't hear clearly.

"Main ID is Some Cheng, side ID is Some Other Cheng," Jiang Cheng said.

"What kind of name is that, and you're laughing at me," Gu Fei said, "Your WeChat name is Jiang, why don't you call yourself Jiang So-and-so."

"Mainly too lazy to think of names," Jiang Cheng asked.

"I don't even need a note for yours," Gu Fei glanced at him, "Was going to note you as Brother Cheng." 

"I feel like Cute Little Bunny would be a good note for you," Jiang Cheng smiled.

After that neither of them spoke again. Jiang Cheng took out his own phone and continued chatting nonsense with Pan Zhi, originally wanted to go back to the No. 4 High forum to take another look, but with Gu Fei next to him, he felt he shouldn't.

Pan Zhi was quite envious that the No. 4 High forum was so lively, said he wanted to go in there to pick up girls. Jiang Cheng laughed for a long time. Looking at the time, it was almost midnight, so he prepared to sleep.

He glanced at Gu Fei's side, and at some point Gu Fei had already fallen asleep, curled on his side with half his head covered by the blanket. 

Jiang Cheng looked towards the headboard, there was a switch. He pressed it and the lights went out, the room instantly pitch black. It took several seconds before he could make out the faint light coming in through the curtains again.

After lying down on the pillow, Jiang Cheng turned on his right side. He always slept facing right, but turning that way he was looking right at Gu Fei's back.

So he had to flip over facing left and closed his eyes.

He remembered there was a small survey before on couple's sleeping positions, things like side by side, facing each other, etc. The most popular was spooning with both facing the same direction...

F*ck, what did it mean that he suddenly thought of this.

Gu Fei slept very quietly, breathing evenly, and it had a hypnotic effect. Following his breaths, Jiang Cheng soon became drowsy. 

But maybe because of the different bed or having someone next to him, he slept very lightly the whole time, never fully falling asleep. He could feel it whenever Gu Fei moved next to him, half dreaming and half aware that he was dreaming.

And the dreams were all disjointed, changing one after another.

In the end he dreamed that he and Gu Fei were standing in the middle of the basketball court, naked and surrounded by a group of people with paper bags over their heads, taking pictures of them while hurling all kinds of insults and jeers.

This is a dream.

And it was quite strange, he didn't know why he would suddenly dream this kind of content.

He reminded himself, this isn't real.

But this dream didn't go forward and back randomly like the previous dreams. It steadily pushed forward step by step. 

His perspective kept changing, sometimes it was himself facing the onlookers and taunts, sometimes it would switch to an outsider's view, rotating around the two people in the court like a spinning camera.

In the midst of chaos and panic he turned to look at Gu Fei.

Gu Fei looked at him expressionlessly, saying something he couldn't hear at all.

Do you see me seeing.

Listen, to the erased panic.

Gu Fei heard the door and opened his eyes. It was almost dawn, a faint warm yellow light coming in through the curtains. Gu Miao walked in barefoot without glancing around and sat on the sofa, arranging the small cushion before lying down.

He let out a soft sigh and slowly sat up.

Gu Miao used to share this room with him. After starting elementary school Gu Fei had her sleep alone, but every time Gu Miao sleepwalked she would still come back, and could remember Gu Fei's education that "Brother is a boy now, you can't just sleep in the same bed as boys." She went straight to the sofa.

Gu Fei looked at Jiang Cheng's face for a moment. Jiang Cheng seemed to be sleeping deeply but his breathing was a little uneven, probably dreaming. 

Supporting himself with one hand on the bed, he knelt by Jiang Cheng's side, and put his other leg over Jiang Cheng's body. The guy took up quite a bit of space when sleeping, so as not to step on him, Gu Fei almost pulled a muscle stretching his leg over.

Next he pushed himself up, preparing to climb over Jiang Cheng.

But just as he passed over Jiang Cheng's body, Jiang Cheng suddenly frowned and flipped over. The two instantly ended up face to face.

Gu Fei felt Jiang Cheng was not sleeping soundly, with the furrowed brows and uneven breathing...He hurriedly pushed himself up some more, wanting to get over quicker.

Just as he was about to use the leg inside to push off the bed and directly jump down, Jiang Cheng opened his eyes.

Gu Fei wanted to speak but was afraid of waking up Gu Miao who had just lain down. He didn't know if she was out of her sleepwalking state yet, so he could only glare silently at Jiang Cheng, waiting for him to become fully aware.

Jiang Cheng's eyes snapped open from a slit to saucers in an instant, staring at him for several seconds in confusion, shock, and a bit of horror, before hoarsely saying in a muted voice: "F*ck..."

Not quietly at all. Gu Fei was startled and hurriedly covered his mouth.

Jiang Cheng's eyes widened even more, and immediately started struggling as if stabbed, flailing his arms and kicking out. Gu Fei didn't dare let go of his mouth, but in this position he was completely exposed. He was also afraid Jiang Cheng would knee him in the crotch...

After much effort he finally grabbed one of Jiang Cheng's hands, then sat heavily on him, lowering his voice to say: "Gu Miao!"

Jiang Cheng froze for a moment, then fiercely rolled his eyes towards the sofa.

Gu Fei let go of his mouth: "She just came in, don't know if she fell back asleep yet. I need to go check." 

"Mm," Jiang Cheng responded, lying there motionless.

Gu Fei got off the bed and went to squat in front of the sofa, looking for a while before taking a small blanket from the cabinet and covering Gu Miao with it.

Jiang Cheng also sat up, glaring at Gu Fei, now completely awake and clear-headed as if he'd downed two bottles of health tonic.

Opening his eyes to Gu Fei on top of him was really too shocking for someone used to sleeping alone.

In that moment he couldn't even distinguish if he was dreaming or had woken up. The frightening scene from the dream mixed with Gu Fei's position, until he saw Gu Miao on the sofa did he suddenly come to his senses.

Only then did he realize he was drenched in sweat at some point.

Cold sweat.

The scene in the dream had already overwhelmed him. Abruptly imagining what it would look like if Gu Miao woke up and saw this misleading position...

Jiang Cheng closed his eyes for a moment.

He suddenly understood why he didn't open that thread.

He was afraid.

For the first time, he felt deeply afraid.

Even just a little girl sleepwalking on the sofa could blend together so vividly with the dreamscape.

"That's why I told you to sleep inside," Gu Fei said softly after covering Gu Miao with the blanket, "With you on the outside I have to climb over you when I get up at night."

"What time is it?" Jiang Cheng also asked softly.

"Just turned 6," Gu Fei looked at the small alarm clock on the nightstand.

"Oh." Jiang Cheng sat there holding the blanket, not moving.

"What's wrong?" Gu Fei got back in bed behind him, also sitting up after getting under the covers. He reached out and felt Jiang Cheng's pajamas, "You're..."

Jiang Cheng slapped his arm backhanded.  

"Do you have a fever?" Gu Fei pulled his hand back and finished his sentence.

"No," Jiang Cheng tugged at his clothes a bit embarrassed, "I just..."

"Did I scare you just now?" Gu Fei lay back down with a soft sigh, "In all my years you're the most easily scared study god I've ever seen."

"F*ck off," Jiang Cheng turned to look at him, gesturing with one hand, "With you in that position, it's already proof of great mental fortitude that I wasn't scared to death, okay?"

"Sorry about that," Gu Fei smiled.

Jiang Cheng didn't speak, continuing to sit there. After sitting for a few minutes he sneezed helplessly and lay back down, pulling up the blanket.

He really couldn't fall back asleep now. Jiang Cheng stared blankly without knowing where.

He felt his psychological resilience was probably lacking. Even with small things, he couldn't help overthinking and turning over endlessly, affecting his mood and often stressing him greatly.  

He understood the logic, but just had trouble controlling it.

Sometimes he rather envied Pan Zhi, with a heart big enough to hold three and a half universes. No matter failing an exam, getting punished, or premature heartbreak, one night's sleep then yelling "F*ck your mom" to vent and he could get over it.

While he...maybe due to his childhood family environment, could never manage the same.

6 AM wasn't too far from when he should wake up. Unable to sleep, Jiang Cheng could only rest with eyes closed, struggling between aimless overthinking and stopping the overthinking.

Gu Fei next to him had fallen back asleep after lying down, probably sleeping quite soundly making up for lost sleep.

He was wide awake listening to Gu Fei's breathing slowly become steady, then after some unknown amount of time, it gradually quickened again. Then he turned over, probably awake now. Jiang Cheng could feel Gu Fei reach for his phone from the pillow to check the time.

When he should have been sleeping he couldn't fall asleep. Now knowing it was time to get up, Jiang Cheng suddenly felt drowsy and didn't want to open his eyes.

Gu Fei moved, and as Jiang Cheng was debating whether to open his eyes now or wait until Gu Fei climbed over him to get up, Gu Fei's fingertips gently tapped his forehead.

He suppressed the urge to immediately flip over and kick out. Gritting his teeth he didn't move.

"No fever," Gu Fei said softly, then sat up.

Fever?

Jiang Cheng was confused for a moment, then remembered Gu Fei had asked before if he had a fever.

He persisted in keeping his eyes closed without moving, but suddenly felt his nose turn sour.

This damned nose, getting all sensitive like a delicate lady at the slightest thing.

He rarely received such attentive care. Even in the past at home when he was the "favorite son", if he felt unwell he still had to tell his parents himself.

After telling them he would receive very good care of course, but if he didn't say anything, as long as he didn't faint on the spot, no one at home would notice if he was sick.

And after coming here it was even more unbelievable. If he really had a fever now, he wouldn't even know who to tell. Li Baoguo?

Even if he did tell, then what.

The more he thought about it, the only thing he could do was call Old Xu to ask for sick leave, then sleep half a day or whole day in that room devoid of any sense of belonging...

"Brother Cheng," Gu Fei's voice interrupted his thoughts. At some point Gu Fei had gotten up and lightly kicked his leg, "Time to get up."

"Mm," Jiang Cheng opened his eyes.

Gu Fei had put on a jacket over his pajamas, and was about to get off the bed from the foot.

Jiang Cheng felt it was definitely unintentional, but still his eyes went straight to the bulge in Gu Fei's loose pajama pants.

He couldn't even think of how to react anymore, just sighed and blurted out: "Don't you wait for your little brother to settle down before getting up every day?"

"...I need to pee," Gu Fei said.

"Not afraid that your pee will fly too far?" Jiang Cheng didn't understand why he was going along with this topic as if he hadn't woken up fully, when he was clearly wide awake.

"Yours will? I'll teach you..." Gu Fei said as he walked out, "Just stand further back and walk forward as you pee."

"F*ck off!" Jiang Cheng shut his mouth.

Psycho.

After Gu Fei went out, he got out of bed. Gu Miao was still sleeping face down on the small sofa, probably about to wake up too. He stood up and took yesterday's pants to change into.

Picking them up, he found that in his hurry yesterday he hadn't shaken the clothes out. The wet clothes were all bunched together so now everything was damp.  

Even though it was wearable, and it would dry after warming up for half an hour on his body...it was still pretty gross.

He was worrying over this when Gu Fei came in brushing his teeth and handed him a new toothbrush. He took it, "Thanks."

Still brushing, Gu Fei opened the wardrobe and pointed.

"No," Jiang Cheng took one look at the row of Gu Fei's clothes and immediately shook his head. "No, not wearing yours."

"Hm?" Gu Fei looked at him, not really understanding.

"You're stylishly handsome, the whole school watches you. I suspect even your underwear style is public knowledge," Jiang Cheng said. "Last time I wore your clothes even Old Xu recognized it. I'm in awe." 

Gu Fei laughed, still chuckling as he brushed his teeth and headed back out.

Jiang Cheng decided to suffer wearing his own damp clothes. 

With the bathroom occupied, he could only change in the room. He glanced back at Gu Miao who was still unmoving, and quickly stripped off his pajama pants to pull on his jeans.

He was a bit vain about his looks, and even bought skinny jeans. But when the legs were a little wet the pants were hard to pull on. He got them halfway up when Gu Miao turned over, and before he could react Gu Miao was suddenly sitting up.

F*ck!

Gu Miao's smooth and practiced motions made him so shocked he almost fell over. Holding up his pants he rushed out before Gu Miao could turn her head.

Pulling up the zipper while running, he dashed into the bathroom.

Gu Fei was brushing his teeth and glanced at him, "That urgent?"

"Urgent my ass," Jiang Cheng buckled his belt, "I was halfway into changing my pants and Gu Miao suddenly got up...she has no buffer when waking up!"

"Always been like that," Gu Fei smiled, "Sits right up then blankly zones out for five minutes before becoming fully aware."

"Oh." Jiang Cheng breathed a sigh of relief.  

Gu Fei finished washing up and went out, carrying Gu Miao back to her own room. He put a set of clothes on the bed and closed the door before coming back to the living room.

Normally he wouldn't get up this early. Usually Gu Miao would wake up by herself and go out for breakfast, then he would get up after she left. With no school for Gu Miao to go to right now, she was still strictly keeping to her former schedule and routine without any changes.

With the never-late top student at his house today, he couldn't just sleep in and get up at class time.

When Jiang Cheng came out after washing up, Gu Fei asked: "What do you want for breakfast? I'll have Er Miao buy some back in a bit."

"No need," Jiang Cheng said, "I...don't want to eat anything. I'll go to school first."

"Oh?" Gu Fei was puzzled for a moment, then nodded, "Okay."

Jiang Cheng quickly packed up his things. After chatting with Gu Miao for a couple sentences as she rubbed her eyes walking out from the room, he picked up his schoolbag and walked out of Gu Fei's home.

Running down seven flights of stairs, the wind blew through his still damp clothes before he suddenly came to his senses. He felt that leaving in such a hurried and unsteady manner this morning seemed a little... not so good.

When Gu Fei heard that he didn't want breakfast and insisted on leaving first, the expression on his face was clearly one of surprise.

Not to mention that Gu Fei had sheltered him last night and let him eat a pretty tasty meal, or that Gu Fei was concerned about whether he had a fever, or that Gu Miao's face was full of anticipation, but just the fact that he had run out like this without even the most basic courtesy.

He took out his phone and leaned against the wall by the street to block the wind, then called Gu Fei's number.

"Did you forget to take something?" Gu Fei answered the phone.

"Bring Gu Miao downstairs," Jiang Cheng looked at the time on his phone, "Let's go eat stuffed pancakes at Wang Xu's shop, there's still enough time."

"Alright." Gu Fei didn't ask why he suddenly suggested this and directly agreed.

When he saw Gu Fei bringing Gu Miao out from the stairwell, Jiang Cheng suddenly felt somewhat regretful that he had told Gu Fei about his own matters. 

He didn't know when he would be able to be as frank as Gu Fei, without deliberately approaching or keeping his distance, without thorns ready to stick out at any time.

"We're going over now, we'll arrive in a bit," Gu Fei called Wang Xu while saying, "Don't need to specifically prepare anything, just eating a simple breakfast."

"Is there a bus we can take over there?" Jiang Cheng asked. 

It was fine to walk over to school from here, but it was a bit far to walk over to Wang Xu's shop.

"Let's drive over," Gu Fei said.

"Drive what?" Jiang Cheng was confused, "The little mantou car?"

"Mm," Gu Fei nodded, "What, you look down on little mantou cars?"

"No," Jiang Cheng sighed, "Fine, the little mantou car it is."

Gu Miao seemed to really like the little mantou car. As soon as Gu Fei drove the car out, she ran over holding her skateboard and very adeptly climbed into the back seat.

"You two squeeze together a bit," Gu Fei said, "Gu Miao put your skateboard to the side."

This time Jiang Cheng remembered to put the driver's seat down first before crawling in, squeezing in side by side with Gu Miao in the back seat. 

Gu Miao smiled at him, looking quite happy.

After the little mantou car's door closed, Jiang Cheng felt much warmer. He pulled at his clothes and conscientiously held them close, hoping they would be dry after getting out of the car later.

"Those clothes I lent you last time," Gu Fei said while driving, "I thought about it, and they were probably what I wore when I went on stage to read a self-criticism during morning assembly last semester."

"That definitely wasn't the reason," Jiang Cheng said, "If it was Zhou Jing up there, no one would know what he was wearing even if he read an entire little yellow book* aloud."

*T/N: Porn material.

Gu Fei laughed. "Thanks for the compliment."

"When did I compliment you?" Jiang Cheng looked at the back of his head, "I think you shouldn't be called Fancy Handsome anymore, Fancy Shameless fits you better."

"Okay, I'll make a small account with that name." Gu Fei nodded.

"What kind of self-criticism did you read?" Jiang Cheng wondered and asked after a moment.

"I was late and was trying to scale the wall to get into school, and broke off a branch on the tree by the wall," Gu Fei said, "Just for that."

"Fuck," Jiang Cheng couldn't help laughing, "Couldn't you climb a different tree?"

"That one was the closest," Gu Fei said, "Ever since I broke that branch off, a lot fewer people have climbed over the wall to get in. Our school wall is too high, you can't get over without climbing the tree."

Jiang Cheng didn't speak, just laughed wildly leaning against the little mantou car's window, not even knowing what he was laughing at.

Actually this was pretty good too. 

When he didn't think too much, Gu Fei was the only one who could make him completely relax.