Bai Jiao lay on the bed with only one corner of the blanket draped over his abdomen. He watched the little white ball floating back and forth above his head and asked, “Did Bai Jingzhuo faint in the bathroom? Why has he been in there for so long without coming out?”
He had no idea what had gotten into Bai Jingzhuo. The other boy had stubbornly insisted on taking another bath before he was willing to go to sleep.
【Reporting to the host: Your little cub is currently standing in the corner, reflecting on his mistakes.】
“Why? Does he like the smell of the bathroom?”
He had seen all kinds of strange fetishes. There was no shortage of people who enjoyed killing or simply went mad, so the fact that Bai Jingzhuo liked spending time in his fragrant bathroom wasn’t particularly strange either.
【I don’t know. You could ask him yourself and show some concern for your little cub’s physical and mental well being.】
Relying on the fact that no one except Bai Jiao could see it, 886 flew into the bathroom and began circling around. 【But you probably shouldn’t go in right now. Your cub is sitting naked in the bathtub, staring into space.】
Bai Jiao had his own bathing pool and didn’t need to use the bathtub in that bathroom, so his attention was drawn to something else instead.
“I remember the Virtue System has restrictions regarding minors. Haven’t you already changed from the Career System to the Virtue System? Then how do you know he’s naked?”
Most missions assigned by the Career Division involved bloodshed and violence. As an important partner responsible for assisting its host, a system had to ensure the host’s safety at all times. Naturally, it wasn’t equipped with restrictions regarding minors. After all, even a tiny, seemingly harmless fragment of a shattered body in those worlds could be turned into a deadly weapon. Even a small piece of flesh could become a blade capable of killing someone.
The Virtue Division, however, was different. Its missions revolved primarily around romance and relationships. To prevent systems from watching their hosts engage in activities that were forbidden on Jinjiang and thereby infringing upon their hosts’ privacy, all systems in the division were equipped with restrictions regarding minors.
【The restrictions regarding minors turn naked bodies into a big, blurry mosaic, making it impossible to see anything clearly.】886 spoke in its most alluring, mature voice, yet its words were full of grievance.
Back when it had been working on missions for the Career Division, it had even watched major villains engage in activities forbidden on Jinjiang. It had watched everything in meticulous detail, and nothing had happened to it at all.
Bai Jiao sat up in bed, looking thoughtful. “Does that mean I’ll only be able to see a bunch of mosaics too?”
To test his theory, he got out of bed and walked barefoot across the soft carpet toward the bathroom. His steps made no sound at all.
When he reached the bathroom door, Bai Jiao stopped and called out directly, “Bai Jingzhuo, open the door.”
His voice suddenly rang out, immediately provoking a flurry of splashing water from inside.
“B Bai Jiao, is something wrong?”
This was Bai Jingzhuo’s first time soaking in a bathtub. He had deliberately filled it with relatively cool water, hoping to calm himself down. The moment he heard Bai Jiao’s voice, however, he remembered that this was Bai Jiao’s bathtub and that he had used it without obtaining Bai Jiao’s permission. Anxiety and remorse immediately overwhelmed him. He hurriedly stood up from the tub, preparing to get out.
Of course, Bai Jiao knew that saying something like I want to see your naked body would make him sound like a complete pervert.
Fortunately, he had a perfectly reasonable excuse ready.
“You’ve been in there for so long that I wanted to check whether you’d fainted while bathing.”
“I’m fine.” Bai Jingzhuo breathed a sigh of relief and stopped his attempt to get out.
He hadn’t expected Bai Jiao to be so concerned about him. Just thinking about it made warmth spread through his heart.
“Your voice sounds so weak. It doesn’t seem like you’re fine at all. Open the door and let me take a look.”
Bai Jiao genuinely only wanted to see whether the person in front of him would appear as a blurry mosaic. He had absolutely no ulterior motives.
“I’m really fine! I’m soaking in the bathtub!” Bai Jingzhuo shouted at the top of his lungs, desperately trying to prove that his voice wasn’t weak in the slightest.
Bai Jiao began considering what other excuses he could come up with.
886, whose thought process was just as abnormal as its host’s, didn’t find anything wrong with Bai Jiao’s reasoning. Apparently, there was a difference between being a pervert who wanted to see someone naked and a perfectly innocent person who merely wanted to check whether the naked person was covered in mosaics.
However, it soon dug out the Virtue Handbook and read aloud, 【Host, the handbook says that the other person must give their consent before you can look. If they don’t like you and you look anyway, that’s sexual harassment, and you’ll have to be dragged out and shot.】
“So I can see him clearly.” Having obtained the answer he wanted, Bai Jiao immediately lost all interest in continuing his investigation. He turned around and walked away.
Bai Jingzhuo stood nervously in the middle of the bathtub for quite some time before he finally realized that Bai Jiao had already left. By then, the air conditioner had also blown enough cold air over his wet body to leave him feeling chilly.
Bai Jingzhuo: “…”
Bai Jiao’s concern for him was truly impossible to understand.
Still, Bai Jiao hadn’t reprimanded him for using the bathtub…
His thoughts drifting elsewhere, Bai Jingzhuo slowly lowered himself back into the tub. However, he lost his footing and slipped with a sudden splash, falling into the water with a loud plop. Even then, he didn’t dare make so much as another sound.
His mind was in such a mess that he couldn’t remember whether he’d locked the bathroom door. He was terrified that Bai Jiao might hear the noise and come straight inside.
Meanwhile, in the warm and comfortable bedroom, Bai Jiao had already instructed his system to activate Do Not Disturb mode for sleep. He was lying peacefully in bed, fast asleep.
He wasn’t concerned about Bai Jingzhuo at all.
*
Bai Jiao attended Qianhe High School, the finest private high school in Jiangcheng. Whether in terms of its campus environment or the quality of its teaching staff, the school ranked among the very best in the entire city.
Countless outstanding graduates had emerged from its gates over the years. Yet, in the original novel, the school had been reduced to a stage dedicated almost entirely to romance and relationships. It was also where the main storyline truly began to unfold.
In the original novel, when Bai Jingzhuo first arrived at the gates of this prestigious private school, he had taken the bus there alone. Apart from marveling at the school’s magnificent architecture, he had been overwhelmed by an inescapable sense of inferiority. At the same time, he had desperately yearned to find someone he could call a friend.
Now, however, Bai Jingzhuo was dozing against a soft cushion, so sleepy that he could barely keep his eyes open. He didn’t even spare the scenery outside a glance, let alone experience the rich inner turmoil that had once filled his mind.
“Wake up. We’ve arrived at school.”
Bai Jiao pinched Bai Jingzhuo’s soft earlobe, his tone carrying a hint of playful amusement.
“Hmm?” Bai Jingzhuo jolted awake. When he saw Bai Jiao’s face right in front of him, his drowsiness disappeared almost instantly. “We’re here?”
“Mm. You were drooling.” Bai Jiao pointed at the perfectly clean corner of his mouth and deliberately furrowed his brows as though he were serious.
Bai Jingzhuo’s cheeks turned visibly red at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye. He turned away from Bai Jiao and frantically wiped the corner of his mouth with his hand.
Bai Jiao pinched the back of his neck and chuckled. “I’m teasing you.”
There was no excess flesh at the back of Bai Jingzhuo’s neck. It was too firm when pinched, not soft in the slightest.
So, when Bai Jingzhuo stopped wiping his mouth and turned back around, Bai Jiao moved his hand to his cheek instead.
As expected, it was much softer than the back of his neck. The sensation was wonderful beneath his fingers.
886 popped up to provide sound effects. 【Smooch! Anger, disappear!】
Just as 886 had predicted, Bai Jingzhuo had originally intended to settle the score with Bai Jiao. But before his anger could even surface properly, Bai Jiao’s sudden actions had already extinguished it.
“Stop fooling around. What if we’re late?”
Bai Jingzhuo’s voice softened, and his expression became strangely complicated, leaving Bai Jiao unable to understand what was going through his mind.
“Then let’s get out of the car.”
Bai Jiao studied his reaction with an inquisitive gaze, and the interest in his eyes grew even stronger.
Beyond the privacy tinted car windows, all kinds of luxury vehicles were parked along the roadside. When the students getting out of those cars caught sight of the one Bai Jiao and Bai Jingzhuo were riding in, they slowed their steps and repeatedly glanced in their direction.
The worlds of novels were always infused with a certain degree of dramatic exaggeration, and extraordinary, larger than life figures seemed to emerge one after another. Bai Jiao’s current identity was one such example. And in less than ten minutes, Bai Jingzhuo would become one of them as well.
Sure enough, the moment the two of them stepped out of the car together, they immediately became the center of attention. Every student lingering near the school gates noticed the two boys and turned to stare at them in unison, unable to believe their eyes. Not a single person even bothered to conceal their curiosity.
For about three seconds, the atmosphere seemed to freeze completely. Then, as though someone had suddenly pressed a button, the students began whispering among themselves, discussing what they had just witnessed and pulling out their phones to spread the news.
Bai Jiao leisurely took out his own phone as well and opened the school’s forum. Posts discussing him and Bai Jingzhuo were already accumulating replies at a rapid pace, with one new comment after another piling up beneath them.
Bai Jingzhuo was becoming a prominent figure far more quickly than Bai Jiao had anticipated.
“Hurry up, where’s the classroom? Am I supposed to report to the teachers’ office first? Can you tell me how to get there?”
Bai Jingzhuo was so sleepy that he kept yawning one after another. As he gazed at the enormous campus, the only thing occupying his mind was his complete confusion about where he was supposed to go. He showed none of the timidness and insecurity described in the original novel.
At that very moment, the development of the story seemed to have taken an entirely different direction.
……
Senior Year, Class 1.
Bright sunlight flooded the spacious classroom, illuminating every corner and making the entire room look exceptionally bright and airy. Yet, the atmosphere inside was so oppressive that the mood seemed to have sunk to rock bottom. Everyone communicated through private messages on their phones, not daring to speak openly.
The reason was simple: Shen Jin, the school’s notorious troublemaker, had arrived that morning with a face as dark as a storm cloud. An intense aura of hostility radiated from him, making it obvious to anyone who looked at him that he was in a terrible mood. No one wanted to become the unfortunate person who served as an outlet for his anger, so everyone did their best to minimize their presence and avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
However, it didn’t take long for them to discover the reason behind Shen Jin’s foul mood on the school’s anonymous forum.
【Original Poster: I spotted our male idol’s car license plate! Claiming the first floor before anyone else!】
【Reply 1: My husband hasn’t come to school in ages! Why would he suddenly show up today? And he’s wearing his own clothes instead of his uniform! Ahhhhhhh, he’s so handsome! I’m going to lick, lick, lick him to my heart’s content! Slurp, slurp!】
【Reply 2: What? My husband went to school today? Ahhhhhhh! I’m coming to school right this instant!】
【Reply 3: Our male god has already decided to graduate and go to SU. This is supposed to be the time when he gets to stay home and enjoy himself. Why would he suddenly come to school for no reason? I refuse to believe it! You’re all just trying to trick me into coming back to school and serving a prison sentence!】
……
【Reply 23: Holy crap, our male god just got out of the car! He really did come to school! But who’s that boy standing beside him?】
【Reply 24: Someone, please tell me! That boy! Who is he?! How did he end up riding in the same car as my husband? Ahhhhhhh! I’m so jealous!】
【Reply 25: I don’t recognize him, but he’s so handsome! And when he stands next to my husband, he doesn’t get completely overshadowed by my husband’s looks at all. Wow~】
【Reply 26: Two different types of husbands! I love them both so much!】
【Reply 27: Our male god is mine! Who the hell is that boy? What gives him the right to ride in the same car as my husband? And why are they chatting and laughing together? What’s with that slightly doting expression on my husband’s face? I’m going insane! Where did this random nobody come from, trying to steal my husband from me?!】
【Reply 28: Noticed that doting expression too! +1. I’ve never seen our male god smile at anyone with such genuine affection before. (And that includes a certain obsessive admirer surnamed Shen!)】
Everyone who had read the posts secretly glanced toward Shen Jin before quickly looking away again, afraid that he might catch them staring.
Who at Qianhe High School didn’t know that their notorious school bully, Shen Jin, liked Bai Jiao?
Precisely because of this, many people who also liked Bai Jiao, particularly the boys, were too intimidated by Shen Jin’s influence to confess their feelings openly. All they could do was vent their frustrations and indulge in their fantasies on the anonymous school forum.
Wherever there was oppression, resentment was bound to accumulate.
Although they had no idea who the boy riding to school with Bai Jiao was that morning, seeing Shen Jin so furious actually gave them a certain amount of secret satisfaction. Some of them even covered their mouths and quietly snickered to themselves.
Several students who were on good terms with Shen Jin wanted to approach him and offer some words of comfort. They opened their mouths, hesitated, and ultimately couldn’t quite bring themselves to do it.
The stalemate continued until they heard someone outside the classroom call out a name they all knew so well.
“Bai Jiao, stop pulling my clothes off!”