Calling every day, is this even okay?
But isn’t the Qinghe study buddy activity already over?
Ji Wenyu’s head was burning hot, and he decided to ask everything clearly in one go.
“Do you also call your previous study buddies every day?”
He no longer wanted to be kept in such vague suspense by X. He wanted to lay his cards on the table with X.
X’s answer was crisp and decisive: “I didn’t have a study buddy before. You are the first.”
“Then do you often voice chat with friends like this?”
“Never.”
This conversation seemed unsure of how to continue. Ji Wenyu nervously licked his lips.
In his twenty years of life, he had never experienced confessing to someone or playing push-and-pull. All of his emotional experience amounted to nothing more than having a secret crush on Xu Yuanzhe for over two years, where nothing ever happened and it was all entirely in his head.
The liquid in the coffee cup was being squeezed so hard by the young man that it felt almost warm.
Ji Wenyu said, “I’m also doing this kind of voice chat with someone for the first time. Except for playing video games.”
X cleared his throat: “Mhm. So shall we voice chat every day?”
His cheeks were burning. Ji Wenyu couldn’t stay seated any longer, standing up to toss the lukewarm iced Americano into the trash can.
“Would it be a little weird?” he asked tentatively.
X followed up on his words: “Then how would it not be weird?”
Ji Wenyu said, “The Qinghe check-in event is already over.”
X’s voice carried a hint of enticement: “We can be other kinds of buddies.”
His heartbeat was deafening. Ji Wenyu’s voice trembled imperceptibly: “Like what?”
It seemed as though X had walked out of a private room once again. This time, the other side was even quieter than before, so quiet that only their two chaotic heartbeats remained.
He acutely noticed that X on the other end seemed nervous as well. The other person took a deep breath before answering his question.
“Do you have someone you want to be with?”
It couldn’t quite be considered an answer.
X threw the question back to him.
Should he answer yes? What if X thought he liked someone else and backed down out of self-preservation? Should he answer no? Then what if X misunderstood that he didn’t like him and gave up?
After realizing that X was also nervous, Ji Wenyu suddenly felt much less anxious and uneasy.
At this moment, he was ninety percent sure that X liked him back.
Patting his hot, flushed face, Ji Wenyu’s lips curved upward, his voice uncontrollably sweet and syrupy: “Do you want to be that person?”
He felt as though he were soaking in a giant soda can filled with sweet syrup, the sugary aura spreading outward from his chest, bubbling over and overflowing with pure joy.
“I want to.” This time, X did not throw the question back, but answered him clearly.
Ji Wenyu said, “I suddenly realized we still don’t know each other’s names.”
X said, “You can call me A-yan.”
A-yan. It sounded like someone with great academic achievements. The young man silently repeated the name in his mind.
Ji Wenyu said, “You can call me A-yu.”
He didn’t have a nickname, and everyone at home called him Xiaoyu. But taking the initiative to let X call him A-yu felt a bit embarrassing.
Yet X did not obediently follow his exact wording: “Alright. A-yu.”
The upward curve of Ji Wenyu’s lips deepened once more.
“So A-yan, do you like me?”
“I like you. I like you.” X answered him earnestly. “What about you? Do you want to try being together?”
Want to try? X felt as though he were walking ahead, turning around to extend a hand toward him.
Without any hesitation, Ji Wenyu reached his hand out as well.
“Alright, I like you too, A-yan.”
Under X’s supervision, Ji Wenyu still forced himself to finish the winter camp application in the library, even though he was completely dazed, floating on a cloud with zero mood to do actual work.
“The application portal closes in a few days. You still need to leave a few days for your advisor to upload the recommendation letter. If all the materials are ready, submit it.” True to his reputation as an academic god, X had confessed to him a few minutes ago, yet a few minutes later he could calmly urge him to prepare his application seriously.
“I don’t want to do it, what should I do,” Ji Wenyu whined softly.
X threw out the ultimate bait: “After you finish what’s on your hands, won’t we have time to meet?”
Ji Wenyu’s eyes snapped wide open, and he straightened his back: “I’ll do it. I’ll do it right now.”
He checked the application interface over and over a dozen times after uploading the prepared materials according to the requirements, not daring to press submit.
“I’m heading back. Do you need me to help you review it once?” X and his voice chat had remained connected the whole time, taking the initiative to offer.
“Alright.” Ji Wenyu sent over screenshots of the page.
X carefully reviewed the page he sent: “No problem. Submit it.”
His mouse hovered over the submit button: “Have you ever used our school’s application interface before? I’m still worried I missed or got something wrong somewhere.”
Although X was a big shot, he was ultimately a Peking University student and wasn’t familiar with Bauhinia University’s application interface.
“The winter camp application interfaces for all schools are made the same way.” Guessing his concerns, X explained, “Mine is already submitted. Rest assured, you didn’t miss anything. Submit it, the library is about to close.”
“Alright.” Glancing at the time, Ji Wenyu realized there were only five minutes left until closing. There was no point in dragging it out, and he didn’t want to postpone it to tomorrow.
Taking advantage of the page remaining active, the young man pressed submit.
The heavy stone in his heart finally landed, and he let out a long sigh of relief.
Next came waiting for Chen Wang to receive the recommendation letter email and submitting it from the link within the email.
X said that after all materials were uploaded, the system would send a text message notification.
Staring blankly at the completed submission interface for a moment, the library closing bell rang.
The young man slowly packed the things on his desk into his bag and strolled toward the elevator lobby: “I’m heading back to the dorm.”
“Mhm.” X gave an acknowledgment, indicating he was listening, “The winter camp application is done. Get some rest tonight.”
Unwilling to hang up the voice chat with X, Ji Wenyu arrived downstairs at his dorm building, bypassed the elevator, and pulled open the door to the stairwell once more.
The steps in the stairwell were icy cold and a bit freezing to sit on, but he could hardly feel the chill.
“Chat a bit longer?”
X readily agreed: “Alright.”
Ji Wenyu asked, “Are you in your dorm?”
X answered, “In the study room outside.”
Ji Wenyu asked, “Can you talk in the study room?”
X answered, “I’m the only one in the room.”
Ji Wenyu said, “That’s great. What time do you usually go back at night?”
X said, “It depends. If I have things to do, it’ll be a bit later. What about you?”
Ji Wenyu said, “Me too.”
Holding his phone, the young man chatted about this and that. Bauhinia University and Peking University were separated by just a single street and shared many similarities. For instance, X’s dorm also housed four people, the campus library closed at ten o’clock, there was no curfew, and people often stayed up all night before exams. The entrance to Peking University’s campus also featured legendary shops similar to their old barbecue spot at Bauhinia, which were deeply loved by everyone.
It was the first time Ji Wenyu discovered he could generate so much curiosity and questioning about someone else’s life. Previously adhering to the principle of neither looking nor listening to anything improper, he rarely paid attention to trivial details like what others liked to eat, what time they returned to the dorm, what sports they enjoyed, or whether they overslept. Perhaps because he didn’t know X in real life, he was genuinely curious about what kind of person the other was, what he liked, what he didn’t like. He wanted to understand X a bit more, drawing closer to the other person step by step.
“So are we meeting tomorrow?” The cold wind blowing through the window made him feel chilled one second and burning hot from chatting with X the next. Leaning against the stair railing, Ji Wenyu felt his head spinning pleasantly.
He liked X, and the person happened to like him back. Such a fortunate thing, that the person you like likes you, had finally happened to him. The dropping red battery percentage, the heating phone battery, and the voice chat duration displayed on the screen were all demonstrating the reality of it all.
“Have you seen my photo?” X asked instead of answering.
“I saw one, it was very blurry. I heard Yan Qiong posted it,” Ji Wenyu answered honestly, not forgetting to tack on the last half-sentence to express his dissatisfaction.
X said, “Mhm, I had her delete it shortly after she posted it, but quite a few copies still spread around.”
Ji Wenyu asked, “Why did she post your photo?”
X said, “Someone probably asked at the time.”
Ji Wenyu asked, “Then why did she have your photo?”
He whined like a kitten, dragging out the ending note.
X on the other end couldn’t help chuckling: “We were working on a project during that period and were busy together every day. She has a partner.”
Ji Wenyu said, “Mhm, I know.”
X said, “You knew and still asked.”
Ji Wenyu pouted: “I wanted to ask anyway.”
The topic of the photo was carelessly glossed over, and the two of them started chatting about something else. Until the stairwell gradually grew quiet, the corridor no longer echoed with the sound of people walking around to wash up, and Ji Wenyu’s phone finally dropped to its last two percent of battery.
“What to do, my phone is dying.” The kitten frowned unhappily.
“It’s getting late, go back and rest.” X’s tone was gentle.
Ji Wenyu said, “In such a rush to hang up, A-yan?”
X said, “Go to sleep early, we’ll connect tomorrow. If you wake up in the morning, we might be able to meet at noon.”
The young man sprang up from the steps: “I’ll definitely wake up! Tell me what time, I’ll set an alarm.”
X’s voice carried a smile: “No need, just contact me when you wake up.”
Ji Wenyu said, “How can you be so sure you’ll wake up earlier than me? Isn’t this a form of looking down on people?”
X was very confident: “Then let’s make a bet. No setting alarms to cheat.”
Ji Wenyu thought about it and conceded defeat: “Forget it, no bet. I’m not competing with an academic god on this; I’m guaranteed to lose.”
Academic gods were high-energy beings; without the forced intervention of alarms, there was no way he could surpass them.
“Alright, head upstairs. Good night, Xiaoyu.” X’s voice was soft.
Ji Wenyu licked his slightly dry lower lip: “Good night, A-yan. See you tomorrow.”