He Yang: “A fruit basket. Lin Zhexia just gave it to me to bring to you.”
Lin Zhexia wouldn’t deliver a fruit basket to him for no reason.
It was sent on Lin He’s instructions, so Chi Yao didn’t say more.
But He Yang had more questions: “Why didn’t she come herself? Did you two have another fight?”
Chi Yao raised his eyelids slightly: “She said we fought?”
He Yang: “No, she didn’t, but she did say something very strange.”
Chi Yao motioned for him to continue.
He Yang: “She asked me if there were many blind people at our old school, and I told her there were quite a lot.”
Chi Yao: “…”
Even though it sounded like nonsense.
It was indeed the kind of question she would ask.
Chi Yao sat down on the sofa with his wet hair, his collar open down to below his collarbone. He picked up the remote to turn on the TV, turned his head to glance at the game cartridge in He Yang’s hand, and asked: “Want to play?”
He Yang was almost entranced by the “male beauty” before him.
Perhaps it was Lin Zhexia’s strange question earlier that triggered certain memories, and he suddenly recalled some scenes from when he attended school with this young master.
It was true that Chi Yao was famous at their previous school.
But that kind of fame wasn’t ostentatious; it was more like an unspoken understanding.
A person everyone tacitly acknowledged from a distance, difficult to approach, and beyond reach.
Chi Yao had good grades, but he was casual in class.
Sometimes he would secretly play games during class and get sent out to stand in the corridor as punishment.
The young man would lean in the shadows, back against the wall, tall with long legs, wearing the school uniform.
—Drawing many furtive glances.
After a moment, He Yang snapped back to reality and said: “Let’s play.”
“But could you put your clothes on properly first?” He Yang added, “Even though I’m also a guy, and I’m very straight, aren’t you afraid I won’t be able to control myself?”
Chi Yao pulled his collar back and cursed at him: “Idiot.”
A moment later, the two sat on the sofa, each with a game controller.
He Yang manipulated his game character: “But have you finished your homework? Is Second Middle School that relaxed, with hardly any homework?”
Chi Yao: “Some preview assignments, not worth doing.”
“You already know all of it?”
“Thanks to a certain person,” Chi Yao said with his fingers resting on the controller, speaking casually, “I studied it during the break to teach her.”
Lin Zhexia found herself learning the new semester’s content unusually quickly.
For several consecutive days, whether it was the material covered in class or the difficult problems assigned by teachers afterward, she grasped everything quite well.
Soon, it was time for PE class again.
Lin Zhexia thought about the eight yuan she had tricked Chi Yao out of last time and considered buying him something to eat as repayment.
She went to the school store with Chen Lin, who suggested buying sandwiches, but Lin Zhexia refused: “He doesn’t like bread.”
“He doesn’t eat fast food either.”
“Snacks are also not good.”
“…”
“He’s so difficult,” Lin Zhexia looked around and found that the school store didn’t sell anything Chi Yao liked. Finally, she went to look at the refrigerated section, “Let’s just get water, it’s more practical.”
Chen Lin: “How do you spend eight yuan on water?”
Lin Zhexia: “This time we’ll buy something more expensive, like this twelve-yuan imported mineral water. It’s four yuan more than eight, showing how generous I am.”
Chen Lin: “…”
Chen Lin recalled that after sending Lin Zhexia the link yesterday, her deskmate had only replied with a speechless expression emoji.
So she couldn’t help asking: “You didn’t know before? About him being famous.”
Lin Zhexia finished paying and said, “I wasn’t at the same middle school as him, so I wasn’t aware.”
Chen Lin was still amazed that the school-wide sensation of a handsome guy she had discovered while browsing the forum turned out to be her deskmate’s childhood friend.
“Let me ask,” Chen Lin said, “what’s it like growing up looking at a face like that?”
She was about to say, “If it were me, I’d be smiling in my dreams.”
However, Lin Zhexia thought for a moment and answered seriously: “…Itchy hands.”
Chen Lin: “?”
Lin Zhexia: “Like, many times, I want to punch him, but can’t win—that kind of feeling.”