“Isn’t this your CP?” Zhao Ke teased Zhou Ziheng as he leaned in close, showing him the photos and videos he had seen on his WeChat Moments. “Hey, he’s really good-looking, isn’t he? Much better-looking than the girls in our class.”
“There are only six girls in our class.” Zhou Ziheng scoffed, then lowered his head to continue working on the unsolved problem, but he didn’t put on his headphones.
“Oh, I mean he’s better-looking than all the girls in our school, with fair skin and a good-looking face. Hmm, I didn’t expect that. I thought you were just a regular couple, but it turns out you’re so close in private. He even comes to see you during self-study.” Zhao Ke’s imagination ran wild, “He probably prepared a love lunch box for you, right?”
Zhou Ziheng twirled his pen between his fingers, then placed it on the desk with a click and looked up at Zhao Ke. To say the least, Zhou Ziheng’s gaze was absolutely the most intimidating, exuding a “don’t mess with me” vibe. Zhao Ke immediately covered his mouth, “Study, study.”
A love lunch box?
With his cooking skills, it’d be a miracle if he didn’t poison someone.
Strangely, Zhou Ziheng actually imagined the bizarre scene of Xia Xiqing handing him a pink lunch box. When he opened the lid, there was a large black mass inside.
Crazy, crazy, what the hell is this? Zhou Ziheng held his forehead with his left hand and absentmindedly scribbled on the draft paper with his right hand.
Why would Xia Xiqing come to their school? And he didn’t even tell him about it, even though he was just retweeting the magazine’s official Weibo post like he was.
Could it really be that he came to find him?
No, no, no, he must have ulterior motives.
“Hey, Ziheng.”
His jumbled thoughts were interrupted by Zhao Ke’s voice. Zhou Ziheng snapped back to reality and realized he had written Xia Xiqing’s name all over the draft paper, startling himself. He quickly turned the paper over and pressed it down. “What… what’s wrong?”
Zhao Ke pointed to his calculation paper with his pen. “Prove Bloch’s theorem for me. I’ve been trying to prove it for a while, but something feels off.”
“To be honest, the hardest part of this proof is the eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian operator. Calculating them directly is too much work, so here we need to introduce a translation operator because these two operators have the same eigenfunctions, and the eigenvalues of the translation operator are easier to calculate,” he said, lowering his head and carefully writing formulas and derivations on the paper. “This is like taking a detour to achieve the goal. Actually, the rest is just an assumption. It’s enough to conclude that it is a periodic function.”
“Oh, I get it now.” Zhao Ke took the calculation paper and said, “You’re so talented! Be honest, did you secretly study while filming?”
Zhou Ziheng snorted and said, “If I had been cramming, would I be here studying on my own now?”
Studying on my own…
Now, even saying those two words felt strange. Zhou Ziheng quietly took the scrap paper with Xia Xiqing’s name on it under the table, thinking about crumpling it up. His fingers paused for a moment, then he folded it a few times and stuffed it into his pocket.
Xia Xiqing, who had almost been crumpled into a ball, finally arrived at the Art Academy with the help of enthusiastic female students. His former assistant professor, Professor Wang, had specially arranged for a student to pick him up. The student was quite good-looking and full of energy, greeting him enthusiastically as soon as they met.
“Senior Xiqing, I heard from Professor Wang that you were a prominent figure at the Academy of Fine Arts.” The younger student looked up to him with admiration. “I saw many of your previous works on Professor Wang’s computer, and I really like them, especially ‘The Lady in the Boboli Gardens.’ It’s really…” He couldn’t find the right words to describe it, his face flushed red, his index finger still raised excitedly.
Xia Xiqing found it amusing. He reached out and took his junior brother’s finger back, then patted him on the shoulder.
“Thank you.”
The junior brother’s face turned even redder, and he quickly caught up with Xia Xiqing. “Senior Brother, I watched your program. You are really amazing. And when I was just looking at your works before, I never imagined that you would be so… handsome.” As he uttered the last four words, he suddenly felt a bit uneasy, and his voice grew faint.
He was a bit afraid of awkwardness, after all, for most boys, being praised for their looks by another boy isn’t something to be overly happy about.
Little did he know that Xia Xiqing turned his head and gave him a gentle smile, “Then I’m truly honored, as it happens to align with your aesthetic preferences.”
With that, the innocent younger brother was completely charmed, excited yet nervous as he led him to the location arranged for the sculpture exhibition.
On the way, Xia Xiqing had already seen the materials and design sketches for this modern sculpture art exhibition sent by Professor Wang. Upon arriving at the site, he found that Professor Wang hadn’t exaggerated—with only two days left, many things were still unfinished.
“We originally had enough time, but the team responsible for the main exhibit encountered some issues, and the final result left the teacher particularly dissatisfied. Therefore, we had to ask you, Senior Brother, to come and assist us in completing this exhibit.”
The so-called main exhibit was actually a 3.2-meter-tall surrealist sculpture. In the original design draft, they had planned to use resin and fiberglass to create a highly realistic male head, but what Xia Xiqing saw was a defective piece that was completely out of proportion and only had the lower half of the face completed.
“Senior classmate, we were originally planning to dismantle it, but the teacher said to wait until you arrived to take a look first.”
Xia Xiqing didn’t say anything, just rubbed his chin, picked up a pencil from the ground, and walked around the defective exhibit holding the design draft, occasionally stopping to jot down notes or sketches.
After twenty minutes, the younger apprentice sitting on the ground waiting impatiently was about to fall asleep when a piece of paper suddenly appeared in front of him, featuring a design draft completely different from the previous one.
The original surrealist style had been discarded, but the disproportionate defective human figure was retained. However, the top of the head had been removed, creating a hollow skull, from which complex, intertwining lines erupted. These lines were rendered using materials like wood chips, acrylic, metal, and colored resin, but the outer layer was wrapped in black cotton thread, coiled in layers.
The left side of the lower half of the face was shattered, covered in cracks, with a tear made of resin filling the gaps in the broken face.
The theme was written in the bottom right corner of the design sketch—imprisonment.
Imprisonment of thought…
Such a concept is truly astonishing. The younger apprentice held the design sketch, unable to speak for a moment, looking up at Xia Xiqing, who was crouched in front of him, “This… this…”
Xia Xiqing merely tilted his lips and pointed his thumb toward the defective exhibits behind him, “Let’s get started.” As he spoke, he stood up, tugged at his off-white knit sweater, furrowed his brow slightly, and asked, “Junior disciple, do you have any clothes that are more resistant to dirt?”
In the library, Zhou Ziheng was still sitting in his usual spot studying, but the commotion behind him was growing louder as the girls gathered in groups and whispered among themselves.
“Hey, it’s been so long, and Xia Xiqing still hasn’t come to the library. Maybe he got lost.”
“Our school has several libraries. Who knows?”
“Stop gossiping. Maybe he wasn’t even here for Zhou Ziheng. My classmate at the art academy said Xia Xiqing was asking everyone on the way where the art academy was, not the physics department.”
“Is that true? Oh, so it was a fake. No wonder Ziheng didn’t move at all.”
…
There was complete silence in the headphones, no music at all. In the quiet study room, even the slightest whisper could be heard. Zhou Ziheng didn’t react, but Zhao Ke turned around and glared fiercely at the girls in the back row.
Zhou Ziheng took off his black-framed glasses and rubbed his nose. Looking at the table covered in draft papers, he couldn’t help but pull out his phone from his pocket and unlock the screen.
There were no messages.
He couldn’t help but open WeChat, where a flood of new messages had piled up, pushing the chat window with the [terrorist] to an invisible corner. He had to scroll through several pages to find it.
What the hell was this guy doing? He had come to school without even giving him a heads-up, causing him to be surrounded by everyone and become the last person to know about it.
Never mind.
No matter what he came for, it wasn’t to find him.
Zhou Ziheng had never been one to flatter himself. As an actor who had grown up in the public eye since childhood, he didn’t even have the excessive confidence that other people in his profession had. He thought that being a celebrity was just an ordinary job, and that he should be grateful for being liked by so many people.
He never thought that someone would appear just for him.
What’s this, a new push-and-pull tactic?
He couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong, but Zhou Ziheng suddenly collapsed onto the desk, still holding his phone, his face buried in his arms.
“Hey, Zhou the academic genius, the big star, the handsome guy, what’s wrong with you?” Zhao Ke whispered, “Watch your image. There are fans everywhere. I spent an entire hour getting ready before leaving just to study with you.”
“I’m tired. I just want to rest for a bit,” Zhou Ziheng said in a muffled voice. “My fans won’t come near me.”
Perhaps because Zhou Ziheng was still so young, constantly juggling his studies and acting career was already exhausting, so his fans were very understanding. Even if they saw him at school, they wouldn’t disturb him excessively.
“Alright, but your CP is here. Aren’t you going to go see him?” Zhao Ke smiled and poked his elbow with a pen. “What if he comes looking for you later?”
Zhou Ziheng, who was lying on the table, was annoyed by the question and began to sound impatient. “Shut up, I have nothing to do with him.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than the phone in his hand suddenly vibrated. Zhou Ziheng guessed that it must be another nosy person and didn’t want to answer it, so he slammed it down on the table. To his surprise, after a moment, the phone began to vibrate loudly, causing the desk in the study room to make a noticeable noise. He quickly picked it up, and the screen displayed several large characters.
[Terrorist]
Zhou Ziheng immediately sat up straight.
“Who is it?” Zhao Ke glanced at it and was startled by the name. “Holy crap, bro, are you going to star in a counter-terrorism movie lately? 666!”
“Fuck you.” Zhou Ziheng looked at the phone that kept vibrating, hesitated for a moment, and finally hung up the call.
If they wanted to call, they would have called earlier. Now that they’re contacting me, they must need something from me.
The phone vibrated a few more times—it was a WeChat message.
[Terrorist: Oh, I forgot you were studying, so you couldn’t answer the call~]
[Terrorist: I’m currently at your school’s art college. You should know about this by now.]
Zhou Ziheng snorted coldly, picked up his phone, and started typing. Zhao Ke, sitting beside him, observed his best friend discreetly. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was off. Zhou Ziheng was usually a model student radiating a saintly aura—how could someone have provoked him like this?
[Terrorist: Of course it does. I’m starving right now. I haven’t eaten since this morning and I’m about to faint. Handsome and kind-hearted Zhou Ziheng, could you please send some food to your CP?]
[Terrorist: Share your location.]
Sure enough, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Zhou Ziheng was furious. After all, he’s the hottest young actor right now. Why should he be bossed around like this? Is he crazy? Who told him not to eat? He deserves to starve to death.
Zhao Ke watched as Zhou Ziheng’s expression changed repeatedly, looking like he was about to explode. He was terrified that Zhou Ziheng would lose his temper on the spot and drag him into the trending topics, so he was ready to grab Zhou Ziheng at any moment.
But Zhou Ziheng suddenly stood up, grabbed his backpack, and prepared to leave. Zhao Ke grabbed his arm and whispered, “Hey, hey, hey, what’s wrong? Where are you going?”
Zhou Ziheng stammered, avoiding the question, “I’m going out for a bit. I have something to do.”
Watching his hurried departure, Zhao Ke shook his head with an expression of “I see through everything” and shared the firsthand news in the [Zhou Ziheng Gossip Squad] chat group.
[Captain Zhao: Report! Ziheng is gone! Art Academy squad members, please be on alert—the target is approaching!]
Zhou Ziheng didn’t know what was wrong with him. On one hand, he cursed Xia Xiqing for being an idiot, but on the other hand, he really did act like an idiot and went to Changchun Garden to buy him a meal, carrying it all the way to the Art Academy.
Following the location shared by Xia Xiqing, Zhou Ziheng walked through an academic zone and arrived at a semi-open hall backed by a garden, where various large and small sculptures were displayed, many covered with cloth. Unlike the sculptures Zhou Ziheng had previously imagined, many of the works here were modernist pieces distinct from classical sculpture, even more abstract in style.
As he moved through the densely arranged exhibits, he faintly heard Xia Xiqing’s voice.
Zhou Ziheng tilted his head and looked toward the massive sculpture at the far end. The exhibit was surrounded by steel scaffolding, with two people standing on it. Below the scaffolding was a thin protective mat, resembling something borrowed from a taekwondo dojo, and several students were busy working on the overhead elements nearby.
As Zhou Ziheng approached, he looked at the person wearing a loose black denim jacket on the scaffolding. His hair was half-tied, and he stood on the left side of the giant skull, facing away from Zhou Ziheng, filling the cracks on the face with black resin.
This was the first time Zhou Ziheng had seen Xia Xiqing working seriously.
Another young boy stood beside him, and the two chatted and laughed as they worked on the massive exhibit. Everyone was so focused on meeting the deadline that no one noticed Zhou Ziheng approaching.
Xia Xiqing turned his head toward his younger apprentice and said, “Xiao Qi, hand me that chisel.”
Xiao Qi responded with a “Yeah,” then crouched down to retrieve the chisel from the toolbox. When he stood up too abruptly, the steel frame shook slightly. Xia Xiqing quickly grabbed Xiao Qi to steady him, but lost his balance himself, slipping out of the safety zone.
Seeing Xia Xiqing lose his footing, Zhou Ziheng’s heart sank. He dropped what he was holding and rushed forward, instinctively reaching out his arms to catch the falling person.
As he embraced him, Zhou Ziheng felt a sharp pain in his arms. The impact of the fall made him clench his teeth, and he looked worriedly at the person in his arms.
He saw an unexpected look in Xia Xiqing’s eyes that he had never seen before.
Although Zhou Ziheng was tall and muscular, he had overlooked the fact that Xia Xiqing was also a man. The force of the fall, amplified by gravity, nearly overwhelmed him, causing his knees to buckle. Ultimately, both of them collapsed onto the mat.
Before he could process what had happened, Xia Xiqing, who had fallen heavily, was already lying in Zhou Ziheng’s arms, resting on his chest, held tightly by his arms. His body beneath provided Xia Xiqing with enough cushioning.
But the shock in Xia Xiqing’s heart could not be calmed.
He climbed to his feet, his disheveled hair hanging loosely over his face, obscuring his handsome features. He stared blankly, reaching out to grab Zhou Ziheng’s arm, pulling him up forcefully, his voice trembling slightly, “Hey… are you okay…”
Zhou Ziheng furrowed his brows, his arm tensing as Xia Xiqing gripped it. “Wait…”
Xia Xiqing grabbed his collar, and the face that had always worn a gentle mask finally revealed an expression of emotional turmoil. “Are you fucking crazy? I fell and didn’t die, so why the hell did you come to catch me? Do you really think you’re the male lead in a hero movie now?”
His chest rose and fell, and the hand gripping Zhou Ziheng’s collar gradually loosened. The boiling emotions cooled down, and he muttered under his breath, “You’re really fucking crazy…”
Despite being berated like this, Zhou Ziheng didn’t feel the slightest bit upset.
He looked up at Xia Xiqing, his lips curving into a slight smile, and propped himself up with his other hand to sit halfway up.
The hat he had been wearing fell off when he hit the ground, his hair was a bit messy, but his smile was breathtakingly beautiful. His deep eyes gazed at Xia Xiqing, filled with starlight.
He tugged at Xia Xiqing’s denim jacket, his low voice tinged with laughter.
“Hey, this jacket is too ugly.”
He picked up the baseball cap that had fallen beside him, reached out to Xia Xiqing, who was still a little dazed, and put the cap on his head.
“You might as well wear mine.”
Author’s Note:
Hengheng’s inner monologue:
Why is Xia Xiqing so annoying? He follows me everywhere I go—I wasn’t waiting for him—sigh, he didn’t come here for me—he came to find me! —He’s only here to have me deliver food—how could a big star like me deliver food to someone else!?—Never mind, I’ll just do it—he’s wearing someone else’s clothes and chatting with them—holy crap, my wife fell out of the sky!
To reiterate: Hengheng is 20 years old (192 cm), and Xiqing is 25 years old (185 cm), so it’s a five-year age gap setting.
Actually, I mentioned it in the first chapter, but everyone ignored Hengheng’s age. He’s just a (physically) dominant, arrogant yet pure-hearted younger guy.
