“Shiyu, why are you sleeping again?”

Gao Jie wanted to share the imported lemon cookies his mom bought for him, but when he turned his head, he saw Lin Shiyu asleep with a textbook covering his face. He then handed the cookies to Zhong Qi, asking him to take one.

Tao Chen and Shen Ziyi walked up to Zhong Qi’s desk. Tao Chen asked, “Zhong Qi, the Freshmen Welcome Party is next week. I was wondering, what kind of clothes are you planning to wear?”

Before Zhong Qi could respond, Gao Jie exclaimed, “What’s up? Are you two planning to wear couples outfits?”

Shen Ziyi chuckled and playfully hit him. “What do you mean by couples outfits? When performing on stage, the clothing style naturally shouldn’t differ too much. You gossip too much.”

Zhong Qi said, “I’ll just wear my usual clothes.”

“Ah… then wear a white short-sleeved shirt.” Tao Chen brushed strands of hair behind her ear. “I’m planning to wear white dress that day, what do you think?”

Shen Ziyi couldn’t help but stick her tongue out and laugh. Tao Chen quickly bumped into her, signaling her not to laugh.

“Up to you,” Zhong Qi said.

After the girls left, Gao Jie gave Zhong Qi a meaningful look and whispered, “How’s it going with her?”

Zhong Qi pushed away his chubby face. “I don’t like her, don’t gossip.”

“No way, if you don’t like her, then who do you like…”

“Shiyu!” Mao Silu burst in holding a stack of assignments and forcefully shook Lin Shiyu’s desk. “Wake up and collect the assignments.”

Lin Shiyu, who was shaken awake from his dream, swatted Mao Silu’s hand away in irritation. “Collect what assignments?”

“The biology homework. You’re the class representative, aren’t you?” Mao Silu held his red hand and sighed in pain.

The other group leaders breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the class representative finally awake. They each hurriedly handed over the collected assignments. In no time, a thick stack of workbooks was piled up on Lin Shiyu’s desk.

Lin Shiyu stared at the stack of workbooks on his desk, clearly not fully awake from his slumber.

Zhong Qi snapped his fingers in front of Lin Shiyu. “Still half-asleep?”

Lin Shiyu snapped out of his daze and turned to glare at him.

“Who made me sleep poorly last night?” Lin Shiyu gritted his teeth.

Zhong Qi earnestly asked, “Who?”

Gao Jie showed an expression like he heard something ridiculous.

“Instead of completing the missions properly, someone insisted on taking me to jump through some stone door.” Lin Shiyu was furious. “What kind of door is that difficult to jump? I couldn’t reach the top even after jumping all night!”

Zhong Qi remained composed. “I didn’t ask you to jump all night.”

“Who laughed at me for not being able to jump?”

“I didn’t laugh at you, I just offered appropriate care and encouragement to someone who couldn’t do it.”

“Encouragement?!”

Zhong Qi reminded him timely, “Homework.”

Lin Shiyu turned and grabbed his assignments, completely enraged, and left.

Gao Jie, having seen the argument, curiously asked, “You both played a game together?”

“Yeah.”

“You guys seem to have a good relationship.”

With the pen spinning in his fingers, Zhong Qi said, “Good enough.”

“It’s already good.” Gao Jie pondered, stroking his chin. “Our Shiyu doesn’t hang out with anyone, being all cool and stuff, but him playing games with you means you guys have a pretty good relationship, doesn’t it?”

Zhong Qi didn’t say anything and casually played with his pen.

Lin Shiyu returned to the classroom after submitting the assignments and sat down at his seat.

A “clack” sound echoed as the spinning pen flew out and landed on the floor.

Zhong Qi bent down, picked up the pen without changing his expression, despite Lin Shiyu’s puzzled gaze.

“Shiyu!”

On the playground, Mao Silu walked over to Lin Shiyu, dribbling a ball. “Wanna play?”

After they finished their warm-up run, the PE teacher allowed them ample free time. Lin Shiyu, still catching his breath, replied, “Not playing.”

Mao Silu was almost accustomed to being rejected, so with a good temper, he looked at Lin Shiyu as he walked away, holding the ball.

Next to them, Ruan Zhikai asked, “Why do you always look for him? Clearly, he has a terrible temper.”

Mao Silu and he walked towards the basketball court, the basketball rhythmically bouncing on the cement. “He’s always alone.”

“Are you feeling overly sympathetic?”

“Not really. He’s always by himself, so I thought he might be free to hang out.”

“Do you think he’s keen on hanging out with you?”

Mao Silu was stumped by the argument so he kicked Ruan Zhikai lightly. “It’s not like he’s entirely unwilling. I also can’t figure out why, forget it.”

Lin Shiyu actually wanted to play basketball.

However, his basketball skills were terrible because he’d never played before.

Basketball was something that didn’t matter to him, and he didn’t want to embarrass himself. This was what Lin Shiyu told himself.

During the free period in PE class, Lin Shiyu often had nothing to do. He left the playground and detached from the group, thinking of going back to the classroom to catch up on sleep. Last night, he was playing a game, jumping through the stone door till late, couldn’t make it and he was angry. His dreams were filled with images of Zhong Qi standing at the door, mocking him.

As Lin Shiyu approached Class Seven’s door, he saw someone in the classroom.

Zhong Qi was sitting at his desk, holding a guitar, one foot on the chair, sitting alone in the empty classroom and playing with the guitar strings. The wind rushed in from the window, blowing the half-drawn curtains.

Hearing Lin Shiyu, Zhong Qi turned his head, raising an eyebrow. “Skipping class?”

Lin Shiyu couldn’t believe where Zhong Qi got the nerve to accuse him of skipping. Shiyu ignored him and went straight to his seat. He saw Zhong Qi playing the guitar with a lack of interest and asked, “You practice alone?”

“I like to practice alone.”

“Don’t you like practicing with Tao Chen?”

“Why should I like practicing with her?”

 

Edited by: Jaisland

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