Lin Yu wasn’t the type of person who excelled particularly at sports.
To be precise, his stamina had been great during the first seventeen years of his life. Back when he was the Bilibili creator Yu Mingchuan, he used to run all over the province every few days to shoot various materials. Having grown used to trekking through the mountainous terrain of Lingyun Province, other places were an absolute breeze for him.
However, after spending time hospitalized in his third year of high school and losing too much freedom of movement, he had gradually developed into a somewhat frail-looking person. Moreover, whether in the past or the present, he had zero athletic aptitude. Having decent stamina was one thing, but being completely clueless about playing sports was another matter entirely.
Therefore, upon hearing Xia Chenxuan say those words, Lin Yu visibly felt a glimmer of hope that his GPA wouldn’t be dragged down to death by physical education. He then shrugged at Xia Chenxuan, his tone light and breezy:
“All right, then I’ll check out the course registration system later.”
Having received a satisfactory response, Xia Chenxuan curved his eyes into a happy smile toward him, then turned and walked into his own room. Lin Yu first enrolled in that volleyball class following the teacher’s name sent by Xia Chenxuan via WeChat, and then switched to another chat window:
[31]: Latest development, my roommate invited me to take a volleyball class together.
[I Love Succulents]: Not bad, not bad.
[I Love Succulents]: Your progress is fast. Didn’t you guys just meet two days ago?
[31]: But to be fair, I haven’t seen him post anything about volleyball matches in Yanchun on his Moments.
[I Love Succulents]: Isn’t he a sports-loving sunny guy? It should be totally normal for him to know how to play volleyball.
[31]: Right, during the dorm gathering before, he also said he liked these things.
[31]: But he really hasn’t posted about it. Who knows what’s going on.
Yan Yi had already happily moved out to commute from home, so Lin Yu stretched himself out on the un-mattressed platform bed in the dorm and began chatting casually with Yang Yuanran. But just halfway through their chat, a notification popped up in the dorm group chat:
[Fly]: @B Lin Yu, ahhhhhhhhh crap
[Fly]: Bro, you made it onto the Tree Hole!
[Fly]: #3485221 Go take a look, our dorm has finally made a name for itself!
The other suite-mates from rooms C and D quickly appeared, and everyone expressed great curiosity and envy that Lin Yu had been fished out on the Tree Hole just as school started. Lin Yu perplexedly replied with a few polite emoticon stickers in the group chat, then switched apps to open the Tree Hole, typing in the post number sent by Yin Hongfei.
As soon as the search results came out, the person involved raised his eyebrows in surprise. The tags and content of Tree Hole 3485221 were as follows:
[#Romance #Life #SeekingHelp #Haidilao: Asking if the handsome guy in the pic has an npy. Judging by the path after exiting Beishi, he should live in North Building 17. I love this kind of long-haired guy with his own melancholic vibe [Picture]]
The poster had uploaded a photo of him eating at the North Cafeteria that afternoon. At that moment, he had just removed his mask while seated, leaving his exquisite facial features fully exposed. The comment section of the Tree Hole had already piled up several floors:
[1L: ? Does QYU have a handsome guy like this, how come I’ve never run into him?]
[2L: Same question, OP has great luck.]
[3L: North 17 should be the Public Health building. Does 24 Preventive Medicine have such a pretty little freshman? Interesting.]
[4L [OP]: Ahhh, what the person above said is right. Before I posted this post, I always felt it was a bit weird to call him handsome. Hearing it put this way, the right word should be pretty. This is a gorgeous, pretty beauty.]
[5L: This batch of freshman guys has quite a few lookers. I saw two handsome guys in the School of Physics homeroom class today too, sitting together and looking especially pleasing to the eye.]
[6L: These legs are longer than any 3D guy I’ve ever seen, making me a bit jealous.]
[7L: True, and judging by the photo, he’s also exceptionally thin, like a producer.]
[8L: His mullet is so handsome. Bro, I’m gonna get one cut next time too.]
[9L: Take it easy upstairs. Guys with long hair are extremely demanding on bone structure.]
[10L: Lmao, so does anyone upstairs have a hair salon to recommend?]
…
[23L [OP]: Ahhhhhhhhh, the topic drifted, come back! So does this younger brother have an npy? This is very important to me.]
[24L: School has only started for two days, OP, even if you fish him out it’s no use. The younger brother probably isn’t even familiar with his roommates yet.]
Seeing the sentence posted by the eleventh floor, Lin Yu subconsciously refuted it in his mind with “I’m still somewhat familiar with my roommates.” Meanwhile, the vast multitude of browsing Qingda students continued down the thread:
[25L: Then we’ll just wait for the person himself to browse and reply. Based on my observation, every batch of freshmen loves browsing the Tree Hole right when they enter school.]
[26L: Or a high school classmate. There should only be a few hundred high schools nationwide every year that can get students into Qingda.]
This remark reminded Lin Yu of Yu Linhan’s arrogant and overbearing face. His hand and heart trembled at the same time, and for a split second, he couldn’t even hold his phone steady. He hurriedly exited that Tree Hole post, stared at the dorm’s pale white ceiling for a long while, and then a sudden thought popped into his head.
Right. He and Xia Chenxuan had only reunited two days ago, and Xia Chenxuan wouldn’t tell him about a lot of things. But there must be quite a few people who got into Qingda from a high school like Yanchun Shendu. If he posted on the Tree Hole, would he be able to learn a little more about Xia Chenxuan?
After all, the almost irreconcilable alumni relationship he shared with Yu Linhan was a rarity. Lin Yu thought about it for a moment while lying on the wooden bed frame, ultimately deciding that this plan didn’t seem too unreasonable. So, after discussing it briefly with Yang Yuanran, he edited and posted the very first Tree Hole post he had ever made during his four years at Qingda:
[#Romance #HandsomeGuy #Emotions #Haidilao: Fishing for 24 Preventive Medicine xcx. Asking if he currently has an npy; if not, what type of girls does he like?]
Right as he was about to hit send, a flicker of hesitation crossed Lin Yu’s heart. He stared quietly at the three letters npy for a moment, then tapped his keyboard to change the final sentence, while also adding a new tag:
[#Romance #HandsomeGuy #Emotions #Haidilao #LGBT+: Fishing for 24 Preventive Medicine xcx. Asking if he currently has an npy; if not, whether it’s possible for him to be bent, and what type of people he likes]
The opening ceremony is a mandatory ritual hosted by every university when freshmen enter campus, and Qingda was naturally no exception. At ten o’clock the next morning, tens of thousands of freshmen were gathered onto the large lawn in front of the Qingda Twin Towers, sitting sequentially on plastic stools to prepare to listen to the leadership speeches.
The weather in Hujiang on this day was blazing with sunshine, the sky so clear that not a shred of white cloud could be seen. Every square inch of outdoor space felt like a sweltering steamer. After waking up, Lin Yu first vented to Yang Yuanran on WeChat, then put on the college uniform issued to them by Qingda.
Slipping into that blue outfit printed with the Qingda emblem and the words “Mingdao College,” Lin Yu felt momentarily dazed. He remembered that when he first met Xia Chenxuan at the Hongda Summer Camp, the two of them had also worn similar light blue T-shirts, though back then they didn’t know each other at all.
Looking at the vaguely familiar color, Lin Yu blanked out for a long moment. Afterward, he pulled himself out of his emotions, left his suite, and walked out toward the dorm.
Qingyun University is a collegiate university, and all its majors are roughly categorized into five colleges based on the classification of Humanities, Social Sciences, Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Among them, the college housing the School of Public Health is named Mingdao. Each college has its own uniform and representative color, and they sometimes compete in certain events as collegiate units.
If he remembered correctly, Lin Yu thought continuously while riding his shared bike toward the Twin Towers lawn, the School of Microelectronics where Yu Linhan was located should belong to Qiancheng College. That college consisted mostly of engineering departments, and its representative color was red.
Amidst these reflections, the shared bicycle quickly zipped to the bustling Twin Towers lawn. A large red backdrop reading “Qingyun University Class of 2024 Freshman Opening Ceremony” was erected in front of the Twin Towers, and freshmen wearing the five-colored college uniforms were gathered in groups, holding small electric fans and excitedly discussing various topics.
“You’re here?”
Seeing Lin Yu follow the directions on his phone to find the main group, Xia Chenxuan walked up and greeted him. Lin Yu replied:
“Mmhmm, I’m not late yet, am I?”
“Nope, Xiuren College just went in, the rest of us are still in line. Put this on, it’s pretty sunny right now.”
With that, Xia Chenxuan gently placed a baseball cap onto his head, pressing down his mullet bangs. This action made Lin Yu freeze for a second, while Xia Chenxuan tilted his head toward him as if nothing happened:
“Counselor Wen uniformly distributed these to every dorm, saying every 24 freshman gets one, just take it as an admission souvenir.”
Xia Chenxuan was indeed wearing a cap identical to his right now. The hat was a dark navy blue, printed with the bold letters QYU. Lin Yu raised a hand to adjust his cap straight, then said:
“Then thanks to Counselor Wen. And thanks to you, Xia Chenxuan.”
Qingyun University’s management was well-organized most of the time, so within ten minutes, it was Mingdao College’s turn to enter. A sea of blue thus appeared right at the front facing the main stage. This time, Lin Yu and Xia Chenxuan had Yin Hongfei sitting between them, so Lin Yu felt reassured enough to open up the Tree Hole and scroll through it.
The weather in Hujiang in late summer was no joke; Lin Yu started sweating profusely not long after sitting down and was forced to turn on the mini fan hanging around his neck. The Tree Hole post he had posted last night was already very lively:
[1L: Mini-program]
[2L: Worrying for nothing]
[3L: Wanting to eat the wedding feast]
[4L: Sense of shame]
[5L: ? What are the first four floors doing]
[6L: Lmao, anyone looking at upstairs can tell they’re a freshman. This is a tradition in QYU fishing posts, you’ll get used to it later.]
[7L: Why is it Preventive again? Two Preventive handsome guys fished out of the Tree Hole in one breath today, are they this fierce?]
[8L: Where on earth did you get so many handsome guys? Could it be the same person?]
[9L: No way, I know xcx, he doesn’t look like that other post.]
Seeing that someone who looked like an acquaintance of Xia Chenxuan had seemingly appeared on the ninth floor, Lin Yu and the others in the Tree Hole were mutually stimulated with curiosity. A bunch of netizens chased after the ninth floor posting a bunch of curious little ear emojis, and this classmate didn’t reappear until several floors later:
[17L: Gosh, I opened my notifications and thought I was getting chewed out. Let’s just casually tell OP a bit about xcx.]
[18L: The fishing results here are way better than that other post, squatting curiously.]
[19L: Squatting too.]
[20L: I was in the class next door to xcx in high school. He was very famous in our high school, but he probably doesn’t know me. xcx was the star figure of our cohort, good-looking, athletic, and exceptionally good at grades. The boys and girls who liked him could directly form a liberal arts class if you put them together.]
[21L: ? Forming a liberal arts class lmao, looking at it this way this younger brother’s conditions must be pretty great too.]
[22L: Are you kidding, xcx belongs to the authoritative tier of hard-core handsomeness at our high school. His dad is Han and his mom is Mongolian, so his facial features are exceptionally striking, and that bridge of his nose could literally let people slide down a water slide. At the time, even the grades above and below had a bunch of people wanting to pursue him, but in the end, he didn’t say yes to a single one.]
[23L: Wow, what kind of web novel male lead setting is this?]
[24L: Mixed-race ethnic minority? So cool.]
[24L: Wait, with conditions this good and not dating a girlfriend, could it be that he’s actually bent?]
[25L: Ah, that works, OP hurry up and come out.]
[26L: Don’t even think about it. It’s impossible for xcx to be bent. Everyone in our grade knows he doesn’t date in school because he has someone he likes, and it’s a long-distance internet relationship. The two of them have an exceptionally strong bond.]
[27L: Also, if OP is LGBT+, I suggest changing targets early on. Although xcx is frequently touted as the ultimate top-tier crush in the gay community, he is extremely homophobic. If you insist on pursuing him, be careful of getting beaten into the hospital by him.]