At the same time, a sharp wave of stinginess welled up at the tip of Tang Yu’s nose. He took a quick breath, trying hard to rein in the sudden rush of emotion.
Genuinely touched as he was, a cool, badass school boss couldn’t possibly burst into tears in front of a crowd. That would be way too embarrassing.
The members of Class 1 gave Tang Yu a long-lost sense of belonging. Truth be told, he hadn’t felt anything quite like it since his adoptive parents passed away in that tragic air crash.
During his freshman year of high school, he’d been brought to live with the Qin family. Old Mrs. Qin had treated him very well, but just as Mrs. Qin had pointed out: wasn’t the old lady only being kind to him to spite her daughter in law? Tang Yu, as the person stuck in the middle, could tell whether someone’s warmth was genuine or calculated. The internal politics of wealthy families were far too convoluted, and Tang Yu wanted no part in them.
Yet now, he’d crossed paths with a group of people who trusted him wholeheartedly…without hesitation, without logic, relying purely on instinct. This feeling of being affirmed and accepted was precious beyond measure to him right now.
Deeply moved, Tang Yu tilted his head up slightly and turned back toward his seat, terrified that if he didn’t move fast, his tears might fall for everyone to see.
Just then, someone stepped through the back door.
The newcomer walked right up to him and gently smoothed down the stray tuft of hair sticking out on top of Tang Yu’s head. A low, velvety voice brushed over his eardrums from above: “I believe you too. You’d never do something like that.”
Tang Yu: “…”
Why did ninety percent of my urge to cry just instantly evaporate?
He walked back to his desk in silence, only to hear the class monitor, Liu Shantong, exclaim from a few desks ahead: “Huh?! Yushen is amazing! He actually deleted the post slanderous to Tang Yu!”
Xie Tianyi, who had been obsessively monitoring the school forum, noticed it right away. He scrolled through the feed from top to bottom, but couldn’t find a single post containing the words “Tang Yu” or “School Boss.”
“Wait, it’s really gone? Yushen is insane! The undisputed top hacker of High School!”
Tang Yu turned to him, utterly stunned. “You deleted it?”
Bai Yuenian nodded calmly. “I learned a little bit of programming back when I was competing.”
Tang Yu: “…”
So for top students, ‘a little bit of programming’ means completely bypassing the system administrators and hacking the whole school forum?!
Remembering his own failed attempts to get the post taken down through formal reports, Tang Yu piped up, “Why didn’t you say so earlier? Help me delete another post while you’re at it!”
Bai Yuenian asked, “There’s another one? Is it urgent?”
Tang Yu: “Not urgent.”
Bai Yuenian: “Just tell me the thread title. I’ll get rid of it for you tonight.”
“Awesome!” Tang Yu brightened up immediately. “The title starts with $2n+$…”
He froze mid-sentence.
Judging by Bai Yuenian’s clueless expression, he probably had no idea about that fanfiction ship thread disguised as a math problem, right?
If he blurted out the title, wouldn’t Bai Yuenian end up reading all the thread comments when he went to delete it?
Those shippers on the forum held absolutely nothing back! They were openly writing outrageous stuff like “Bai Yuenian slept with him on the couch.” It was practically throwing explicit adult content into an innocent high school board!
Tang Yu looked at Bai Yuenian’s cold, ethereal face…the portrait of a refined, unattainable academic prodigy. If a guy like that saw those wild rumors…
Aaaaaah! A sudden, intense wave of embarrassment surged in Tang Yu’s chest.
The words trapped in his throat turned into a bottled-up huff. His puffed-out cheeks slowly deflated, looking for all the world like an angry kitten that had just been smoothed over.
Seeing Bai Yuenian still waiting for the title, Tang Yu let out a long sigh. “Never mind!”
Bai Yuenian: “Hmm?”
Tang Yu: “Nothing left to delete.”
Noticing that Bai Yuenian had already jotted down “$2n$” on his notepad, Tang Yu tried to cover his tracks. “That was just a math problem I saw earlier.”
Bai Yuenian fell silent for a beat. Ultimately, he couldn’t help asking, “A math problem you read at an internet cafe?”
Tang Yu: “…”
Get out of here!
There was only one chemistry class remaining after PE. The atmosphere in Class 1 had been warm and reassuring because everyone there trusted Tang Yu. But once school ended and Tang Yu stepped onto the campus pathway, the whispers around him returned in full force.
“Is that Tang Yu? He’s actually pretty handsome.”
“What’s the point of being handsome? Do you girls care about looks more than ethics? He teamed up with street thugs for campus bullying!”
“Are we sure that’s true though?”
“Are you treating him like your idol or something? The evidence is staring you right in the face and you’re still in denial?”
“Aiya! Stop talking, he’s looking over here!”
Tang Yu shot them a sideways glance before casually looking away.
When he reached the school gates, the chatter only grew louder.
“I honestly don’t know how a student with trash grades like Tang Yu managed to squeeze into Class 1.”
“Money, obviously! He probably has some shady connections with the school administration. Notice how the post was deleted right after it got exposed? Otherwise, way more people would’ve seen his true colors.”
“Exactly, it got deleted way too fast! My desk mate called in sick today so she missed it. If I hadn’t sent her a screenshot, she wouldn’t even have caught the drama!”
“She said she was lying in bed reading my messages and got so shocked she dropped her phone right on her face.”
“Look, isn’t that Bai Yuenian over there? The legendary competition god on our school website! Why is he walking with Tang Yu?”
Tang Yu instinctively veered off his path, putting some physical distance between himself and Bai Yuenian.
“You didn’t know? Tang Yu and Bai Yuenian are classmates.”
“Oh really? I wonder if Tang Yu forces Bai Yuenian to do his homework for him. You know that guy in our class who always makes us copy homework for him? It’s so annoying!”
Just as those words drifted over, Tang Yu felt the back of his hand brushed by the person beside him.
Then, he heard Bai Yuenian’s quiet voice: “May I?”
Tang Yu gave an absentminded “Mhm.”
In his head, he was already mentally firing back at the gossiping crowd: I don’t even bother turning in my homework, and the teachers don’t even bother asking for it! Why on earth would I force someone else to write it for me? Wouldn’t that just be looking for trouble? I’m not stupid!
The next second, fingers slightly warmer than his slid through the gaps of his hand, intertwining securely with his own.
Tang Yu: “???”
Tang Yu froze in his tracks. He looked down in utter disbelief at their tightly locked fingers.
At the exact same time, a sudden wave of collective gasps rippled through the surrounding crowd.
“Ahhh… okay! I get it now. Even if Bai Yuenian did write Tang Yu’s homework, he did it completely willingly!”
The onlookers who had just been trash talking Tang Yu: “…”
Yu-shen, what’s wrong with you?! If you’re being held hostage, blink twice!
Tang Yu himself: “…”
No! Bai Yuenian has never written a single word for me! The premise doesn’t even exist!
Yet right on cue, Bai Yuenian spoke up softly: “Next time you have anything to copy out, I’ll write it for you.”
Did he accidentally say his inner thoughts out loud?! Definitely not! So why on earth was Bai Yuenian responding to them?!
Tang Yu sputtered, “I don’t need you to write anything for me!”
The hand holding his felt slightly larger than his own, with longer, slender fingers. Entwined like this, Tang Yu could clearly feel the distinct line of the other boy’s knuckles.
At first, the hand had held his with a firm, dry grip. But perhaps its owner was holding someone’s hand for the very first time…he seemed a little nervous, a faint sheen of sweat pooling between their palms as his hand trembled almost imperceptibly.
Tang Yu’s heart skipped a beat. Wait, why am I analyzing this so carefully?! Whatever Bai Yuenian does is none of my business!
Snapping back to reality, he swallowed hard, abruptly tore his hand away from Bai Yuenian’s grip, and bolted straight toward the car.
Tang Yu…who usually greeted the driver with a cheerful “Hello, Uncle Zheng!” whenever he hitched a ride…sat in the backseat in absolute silence.
Bai Yuenian had jogged after him. Right as Tang Yu was about to get in, Bai Yuenian reached out a hand over the edge of the roof to shield his head, keeping him from accidentally bumping himself in his hurry.
This sight sent another shockwave through the onlookers.
What was this? Was this the kind of attentiveness only seen from personal bodyguards, assistants, or private drivers of high-society bosses in dramas?!
Yushen! Where is your aloof, cold persona?! Has your untouchable academic prince archetype completely shattered?! How did you turn into a devoted puppy overnight?!
The secret shippers who had only dared to fantasize in private were going wild!
And the students who had genuinely believed the rumors about Tang Yu were losing their minds too…
It was peak after-school traffic, and congestion on Xuefu Road was heavy. The black sedan sat through three red lights in a row without even clearing the school zone.
Inside the car, Tang Yu’s volatile emotions had shifted from complete indifference toward the forum rumors to utter confusion and embarrassment.
Why did Bai Yuenian do that?
Did he intentionally hold his hand right after hearing those people talk smack, just to save face for him?
…That was actually pretty thoughtful of him!
Tang Yu stole a casual glance toward the side. To his surprise, Bai Yuenian sensed it immediately. He lifted his head from his homework, his deep eyes meeting Tang Yu’s gaze directly through his thin lenses.
Tang Yu: “…”
Why does this scene feel so familiar?
Did Bai Yuenian know when he peered through the curtains to look at him yesterday, too?!
The sudden realization stung his pride. Tang Yu whipped his head back, but moved a bit too fast…banging his head right against the backrest.
A dull thud resonated through the cabin, prompting Uncle Zheng to check the rearview mirror. “You okay back there?”
Tang Yu: “I’m fine.”
The sedan Bai Yuenian’s family owned was top-tier; the leather seats were soft as pillows. How could a little bump hurt?
After a moment, Tang Yu’s mind began to wander again.
He couldn’t help thinking that Bai Yuenian had really nice hands. His fingernails were trimmed neatly, and even the tiny white crescents at the base looked meticulously calculated…not too big, not too small, just perfect.
When holding a pen, his fingers looked exceptionally long and elegant. When he wrote, the subtle flex of his wrist would pull a neat line of muscle taut along his skin.
Hands like that could probably debut on their own in the entertainment industry.
…But why were his hands trembling just now?
Tang Yu pulled out his phone and typed a line into the search bar: [What causes sweaty hands and hand tremors?]
The browser instantly spat out its diagnostic results:
[Hello!
Sweaty hands can occur during moments of anxiety or nervous excitement, leading to hyperactive sweat glands. This can be treated via minimally invasive thoracic surgery…
Hand tremors have various causes, including epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. Treatment options include…
If you require medical attention, please call…]
Tang Yu: “…”
Epilepsy my ass! Does Bai Yuenian look like he has epilepsy to you?!
When they finally arrived home, Bai Yuenian…who had remained silent the entire ride…dropped a sentence just before Tang Yu stepped out of the car: “Don’t worry. Tomorrow, the truth will come out.”
Tang Yu’s brain was still reeling from the web search results. It took him a second to realize Bai Yuenian was referring to the forum incident from earlier today.
I see you don’t have epilepsy, you just have way too much time on your hands!
Recalling Xie Tianyi’s suggestion about finding the girl to clear things up, Tang Yu turned around, bent down slightly, and looked at Bai Yuenian inside the car with a clear tone of warning: “Bai Yuenian, I appreciate you deleting the thread so fewer people saw it. But don’t do anything unnecessary. I’m the last person who cares about my reputation.”
Who knew Bai Yuenian would only offer two words in reply?
“Rest easy.”