With the opening exams just around the corner, the teachers in the second-year teaching office were taking advantage of the long break to discuss the teaching arrangements for the new semester. No. 1 High School had a lot of exams. There was the opening exam at the beginning of the semester, monthly exams and midterms during the school year, and once they reached senior year, there would be all kinds of weekly tests and random exams during evening self-study.
The second-year opening exam was this weekend, and stacks of freshly printed test papers were piled up around the office.
“Do you think the students are under a lot of academic pressure right now?” Director Xu, who was in charge of student affairs, asked. “I feel like the second-years might be under a bit too much pressure. They look a little listless to me.”
“They’re fine,” Teacher Li said. “Those kids were still using my account to listen to music just now. They have their own ways of entertaining themselves. Just give them enough space and time.”
“Oh, right, Teacher Li.” The homeroom teacher of Class 3 from Grade 1, who happened to be passing by the teaching office, knocked on the door and came in to complain. “Xiao Yan from your class went to our classroom door after evening self-study yesterday and tried to pick a fight with Luo Zhiyu. They didn’t actually get into a fight because the teacher in class stopped them. Luo Zhiyu was also at fault in this matter. He shouldn’t have told Teacher Zhang that he was Xiao Yan.”
“Do those two kids really have to have such a bad relationship?”
“Huh? No, they don’t.” Teacher Li recalled what she had seen yesterday evening. “Their relationship is actually pretty good. Xiao Yan was even helping Luo Zhiyu with his homework last night. Luo Zhiyu was listening very seriously. When I saw them, they were discussing the problems intensely. The learning atmosphere was great.”
“?”
Inside the classroom of Grade 2, Class 3—
Luo Zhiyu leaned against the doorway, waiting for Xiao Yan’s answer. Xiao Yan clearly heard someone nearby say, “Holy shit,” followed immediately by all kinds of whispers that they couldn’t quite hide.
“What’s going on?”
“Tangyuan and Xiao Yan are roommates. Why do you think Tangyuan knows so much about scumbags?”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Good-looking guys are all unreliable. I’m ugly, but I’m reliable.”
“Wait, don’t get so excited. Isn’t that Luo Zhiyu from first year?”
After enduring the feeling of being watched from all sides for more than ten seconds, Xiao Yan put the previous topic aside and ran through everything that had happened recently in his mind. He finally remembered why Luo Zhiyu had come looking for him.
Of all times, he had to come now.
“Didn’t we agree on next week?” Xiao Yan remembered the schedule. He stood up and walked toward Luo Zhiyu. “I have the opening exam this weekend.”
The moment he finished speaking, before Luo Zhiyu could say anything, the whispers in the classroom started up again.
“He still wants to wait until next week?”
“He’s still thinking about taking exams?”
“The school heartthrob’s image has collapsed?”
Xiao Yan: “……”
Luo Zhiyu: “?”
“What are they talking about?” These people weren’t whispering at all. Their voices were only slightly quieter than the sound of students reading during morning study. “Your class is really lively during the long break.”
“……Come with me.” Xiao Yan grabbed Luo Zhiyu by the wrist and led him out of the classroom.
The eyes of the entire Class 3 followed them, moving from the front door to the back door until the two of them disappeared from sight.
The suspicious gazes in the classroom then shifted back onto Fan Yue, Tang Yuan, and Zhang Shu.
Fan Yue: “……”
Fan Yue: “Wake up, all of you. That’s Luo Zhiyu from Grade 1, Class 3.”
“Right, that’s Luo Zhiyu.” Tang Yuan chimed in. “There have been hundreds of posts about him on the school forum. Their pheromone compatibility is zero percent. There’s no way our class’s golden boy and him could have anything going on.”
“They’re both pure. A pheromone compatibility rate of zero percent means there’s no possibility of a relationship.” Zhang Shu summed it up. “How could Xiao Yan be a scumbag? Don’t overthink it.”
“……” Fan Yue said, “Putting everything else aside, you guys can at least trust my character, right?”
“So what were you guys talking about in class? Were you talking about me? The moment I said something, they all looked at you.”
Luo Zhiyu had been led all the way to the end of the hallway by Xiao Yan. There was a small extended terrace there, a place where hardly anyone usually went.
“Because you came looking for me.” Xiao Yan released Luo Zhiyu’s wrist. “You mean the second pheromone compatibility test? Why did they move it up to this week?”
“They’re probably in a hurry. It’s pretty rare, after all.” Luo Zhiyu turned his back to Xiao Yan and leaned against the railing, letting the breeze blow over him. “The driver who usually takes me has to go home this weekend to see his daughter. We both have to get tested anyway, so just give me a ride.”
Xiao Yan: “……”
“Why are you hesitating?” Luo Zhiyu’s low-key act had reached its limit. “I’m just riding in your car to the hospital. It’s not like I’m going to do anything to you.”
He leaned against the railing and reached out to catch the raindrops falling from the sky. His school uniform zipper was undone. The ill-fitting uniform was a little too big for him, and the collar half-covered, half-revealed his neck. His differentiation observation period had already passed, so Luo Zhiyu was no longer wearing a pheromone-blocking patch.
Xiao Yan’s gaze paused for only a moment before immediately shifting elsewhere, causing him to miss what Luo Zhiyu said.
“I’m asking you.” Luo Zhiyu frowned. “Why are you so absent-minded? Don’t tell me your class is having some kind of group sex party.”
Yes.
This was the usual Luo Zhiyu.
“Why were you acting so low-key just now?” Xiao Yan asked, still dizzy from the black pot that had fallen on his head out of nowhere.
“I was asking you for a favor, Xiao Yan.” Luo Zhiyu said, “Unless you want me to bring a broom next time. You’re not addicted to getting beaten up by me, are you?”
One sentence, one black pot after another.
And yet, for some inexplicable reason, Xiao Yan felt pleased for half a second because of the words “asking you for a favor.”
He reached out and pulled Luo Zhiyu back from the railing, then zipped up Luo Zhiyu’s school uniform properly to the collar.
“Treat my school uniform better.”
“You’re so damn troublesome……” Luo Zhiyu didn’t understand why this guy’s school uniform was so precious. He was just about to argue when the warning bell for class rang.
“Come to the entrance of the first examination room on Saturday afternoon and wait for me.” Xiao Yan casually helped Luo Zhiyu fold his collar properly, then tapped the name tag on Luo Zhiyu’s chest. “I’ll take you there after the exam.”
Xiao Yan walked all the way back to the classroom and ran into his homeroom teacher, Teacher Li, at the doorway as she came to teach the next class.
“Why aren’t you staying in the classroom and chatting on a rainy day?” Teacher Li asked with concern. “Where did you go?”
“I don’t dare chat anymore.” Xiao Yan said, “I still love studying. Studying is a student’s main task during high school.”
Teacher Li: “?”
From a distance, Fan Yue gave Xiao Yan an OK sign and a thumbs-up gesture indicating that everything was done.
By the time Teacher Li entered the classroom, everyone had already switched into study mode in a single second. Even so, throughout the class, Teacher Li kept feeling that several students were secretly sneaking glances at Xiao Yan.
That evening, Luo Zhiyu ran into Xiao Yan again in the cafeteria.
He had just finished dinner. When he looked up, he saw a familiar back of a head at the table diagonally ahead on the right.
Luo Zhiyu was in a very good mood.
“What are you doing?”
The cafeteria was giving the first-years an extra treat tonight, with each student receiving an additional piece of fruit. Luo Zhiyu had picked a tangerine.
While Jing Ximing was eating, he watched as Luo Zhiyu pulled a marker out of his pocket and drew eyes and eyebrows on the tangerine peel, turning it into a meme of someone eating a melon.
“Does it look like him?” Luo Zhiyu held the tangerine up in his hands and admired it. “It looks exactly like him.”
He added a few more strokes to the peel to make hair.
It looked exactly like that idiot who had sat in front of him during military training, eating melon.
“Like what? What are you doing? The drawing is pretty vivid, though.” Jing Ximing didn’t understand what he was doing. “Why did you suddenly draw this?”
“Shh.”
Luo Zhiyu got up and put his tray in the designated area. He paced around the edge of the table twice, picked a good position, and took one step backward.
His right hand swung upward.
The little tangerine traced an arc through the air before accurately smashing into the head of a second-year male student sitting at the edge of the table in front of them.
Then it rolled straight into the student’s meal tray.
And then Jing Ximing watched as his roommate snatched up his schoolbag at lightning speed and bolted out through the back door of the cafeteria.