The next morning, Lu Jingcheng woke up very early and, along the way, woke Ye Qingyang as well.
Ye Qingyang, still groggy, looked at him. “So there actually is a day you wake up earlier than me? That’s rare.”
Nonsense, Lu Jingcheng thought. He was the host here—how could a host ever get up later than a guest?
“Hurry, wash your face, brush your teeth, change clothes, then we’ll go downstairs for breakfast.”
Ye Qingyang nodded, unbuttoning his pajamas and getting changed.
At first, Lu Jingcheng watched calmly, but gradually his gaze shifted—he didn’t dare look directly.
Damn, he’s so pale… so thin, so soft… this is really testing my self-control.
Ye Qingyang didn’t notice him at all. Once dressed, he went to the bathroom to wash up and brush his teeth.
Seeing them go downstairs together with their backpacks, Lu Jingcheng’s mother exclaimed, “I thought you weren’t going to school until you recovered. Feeling better?”
Just then, Lu Jingcheng sneezed.
Shaking her head, his mother said, “Looks like you’re not fully well yet.”
“I’m just too diligent and studious, okay?” Lu Jingcheng said.
His mother was shocked. “You? Diligent and studious? Which part of those four words applies to you?”
Lu Jingcheng: … Is this really my mother? Ye Qingyang is standing right here! How can she ruin my image like this?
He pretended to be calm as he sipped his yogurt, then replied, thinking quickly, “Fine. I’m such a good person, doesn’t that count as being ‘good’?”
His mother nodded. “Well, you’re certainly not a bad person.”
“…Thanks,” Lu Jingcheng muttered.
“You’re welcome,” his mother accepted happily.
Ye Qingyang listened to the mother-son banter and thought they were both quite amusing.
After breakfast, the driver took Lu Jingcheng and Ye Qingyang to school together.
Chen Wei watched them enter the classroom and was astonished, his eyes nearly popping out.
“You and Ye Qingyang reconciled?” he asked anxiously after Lu Jingcheng sat down.
Lu Jingcheng nodded. “Mm.”
“Finally, he likes you?”
Lu Jingcheng turned to him. “He always liked me.”
Chen Wei didn’t believe it. “Weren’t you crying a few days ago saying he didn’t like you?”
Lu Jingcheng: ???
“Your crying—what kind of rhetorical device is that? Making things up?”
“It was a vivid description of your miserable inner feelings at the time,” Chen Wei replied.
Lu Jingcheng kicked him lightly. “Get out! You’re the one who had the miserable inner feelings!”
“Weren’t you?” Chen Wei retorted.
“Of course not,” Lu Jingcheng refused to admit.
“See? Now that you have him, you’ve forgotten how pitiful you looked back then.”
“Hmph,” Lu Jingcheng scoffed. “You don’t understand. He refused me back then for my own good, hoping I’d be with a girl. It wasn’t because he didn’t like me.”
“Really?” Chen Wei doubted.
“Of course,” Lu Jingcheng affirmed confidently.
“Fine, you talk too much, it’s disturbing my reading,” Chen Wei said, pulling out his book.
Chen Wei: ???
“Disturbing your reading?” Chen Wei, thinking he might be deaf, asked, “You? Reading?”
“Yes,” Lu Jingcheng sighed. “Wei, if we’re not on the same page, either we progress together, or you don’t disturb my study, got it?”
Chen Wei probed his forehead. “You’re still not well?”
Lu Jingcheng swatted his hand away. “You don’t understand. This is just a student’s nature.”
“I’d call it walking the tightrope for love,” Chen Wei said mercilessly. “You’re afraid you’ll fall behind Ye Qingyang and won’t match him, right?”
“Ridiculous. I don’t not match him,” Lu Jingcheng laughed. “He likes me so much. Only we two are perfect for each other, understand?”
Chen Wei shook his head. “Not necessarily. With Ye Qingyang’s trajectory, this time he’s 14th, next time maybe 7th. Maybe he’ll even move to the honors class. If your grades don’t improve, a regular-class student can’t match a top-class student.”
With a snap, Lu Jingcheng slammed his book on the desk. “Then I’ll show you I can do it.”
“Good luck,” Chen Wei said perfunctorily.
Lu Jingcheng sneered and opened his book, but… sigh, his head really hurt from the psychological pressure!
For the first time, he regretted not studying hard in the first year of high school. Now, his headache felt incurable.
But there was a remedy. At least, when Ye Qingyang sat beside him at night to explain problems, Lu Jingcheng felt much better—not only that, but his mind became very sharp.
While Ye Qingyang was tutoring him, his phone rang—it was Wang Hui.
He thought for a moment. Of course, after last week’s incident with Lu Jingcheng, he hadn’t gone home over the weekend. That meant ever since he got three thousand from Wang Hui two weeks ago, he hadn’t returned. Wang Hui’s worry was normal.
He answered, gave a few perfunctory replies, promised to go back that weekend, and hung up.
“You’re going home this weekend?” Lu Jingcheng asked reluctantly.
The room was quiet, but both their heartbeats were loud.
After a kiss, Lu Jingcheng removed his hand from Ye Qingyang’s eyes, awkwardly clenching his fists.
Ye Qingyang felt unusually shy, his face warming as he sneaked a glance at Lu Jingcheng—and saw that Lu Jingcheng was peeking at him too. Their eyes met, and both were caught red-handed.
Ye Qingyang smiled awkwardly.
Lu Jingcheng pinched his cheek, thinking: so hot, he really is shy.
“Let’s do homework,” he said, withdrawing his hand and pulling out a physics test paper.
Ye Qingyang had no choice but to do physics with him again.
It wasn’t until midnight that they finally finished showering and went to bed.
Though only a week had passed, Lu Jingcheng felt like he hadn’t been on Ye Qingyang’s bed in a long time.
He climbed into the covers, holding Ye Qingyang in a somewhat rediscovered embrace.
Ye Qingyang turned off the light. “Good night.”
“Good night,” Lu Jingcheng replied.
Thinking for a moment, he kissed Ye Qingyang’s forehead.
“What? Hoping I dream about you tonight?” Ye Qingyang teased.
“Dream on. You cling to me during the day, and now you want to dream about me at night too, little rice cake.”
“Then don’t dream about me,” Ye Qingyang said.
Lu Jingcheng chuckled. “Dreams are contrary. If you say you won’t dream about me now, you’ll definitely dream about me later.”
“Then do you want me to dream about you or not?” Ye Qingyang asked.
Lu Jingcheng poked his face gently. “I’m not that domineering to control your dreams. Anyway, you’re already in my arms.”
He thought: whether you dream about me or not, as long as I dream about you, that’s enough.