“Are you heading back?”
The soy milk in the cup had hit rock bottom. Ji Wenyu looked out the window and was surprised to find that sporadic snowflakes had started drifting down outside.
His face-to-face meeting with X tonight was completely unexpected, yet it was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise.
It was all Wang Xinnuo’s fault for providing the wrong information earlier, which made him mistakenly believe that X was a student at Capital University. He hadn’t entertained any other possibilities, leading to this passive situation where only upon meeting tonight did he discover that X was actually Xu Yuanzhe.
“Alright.” Xu Yuanzhe nodded, taking the lead to stand up. He retrieved a dark gray scarf from his pocket, naturally leaned in closer, and wrapped the scarf around Ji Wenyu’s neck.
This wasn’t the first time Xu Yuanzhe had gotten close to his side, but the young man felt an unprecedented level of tension, forgetting even how to breathe for a moment.
He stared dazed at Xu Yuanzhe’s face, unaware of when the other person had finished putting on the scarf or when he had noticed his gaze, until the youth let out a low chuckle and, unable to help himself, raised a hand to lightly flick the bridge of his nose with the knuckle of his index finger.
“What are you staring at, little fool.”
His “little fool” successfully caused the young man’s face to flush red.
“Hey.” Ji Wenyu pouted in feigned dissatisfaction. “Didn’t we say you’re re-courting me? Why are you calling me something so affectionate.”
“I am re-courting you, otherwise you wouldn’t be my little fool anymore.” A rare flash of cunning crossed Xu Yuanzhe’s eyes.
Ji Wenyu asked curiously: “Then what would I be?”
Xu Yuanzhe reached out to ruffle his beanie: “Agree to be with me, and I’ll tell you.”
“I won’t ask then!” The young man turned his head away, presenting the back of his head to the other person. “I don’t even want to hear it.”
On the way to the coffee shop, Ji Wenyu and Xu Yuanzhe had walked one after the other, deliberately keeping a distance of about a meter. On the way back, the two of them shifted to walking side by side.
Xu Yuanzhe perfectly controlled the distance between them to within half a meter, his lowered hand swinging back and forth with his steps, the back of his hand occasionally brushing against Ji Wenyu’s.
The first time, the second time, Ji Wenyu brushed it off as an accidental touch. But the third time, facing the youth’s deliberate flirting, he still uselessly walked right into the trap.
Catching the other person’s hand was almost an instantaneous instinct. By the time he realized what he had done, he was already locking eyes with Xu Yuanzhe’s smiling gaze.
“Classmate Xiaoyu, you’re holding my hand.”
This cunning hunter who had packaged himself as the prey.
For the first time, Ji Wenyu discovered that Xu Yuanzhe had such an unserious side.
“You’re the one who seduced me first.” Even so, the young man had no intention of letting go, casually pulling up an excuse, “Besides, I have night blindness and can’t see the road clearly. As my roommate, isn’t it only natural that you should support me a bit?”
“Oh, so it’s night blindness.” Xu Yuanzhe nodded knowingly, cooperating fully by holding the young man’s hand without letting go, even sliding his fingers bit by bit into the gaps between Ji Wenyu’s fingers, interlacing their fingers tightly. “Then we definitely need to hold hands and walk, be careful not to trip.”
Actually holding Xu Yuanzhe’s hand made Ji Wenyu’s mouth curl up almost to his ears. But after walking a few steps toward the school gate where people were coming and going, a sudden sense of timidity crept over him.
“If the two of us do this, will we run into anyone?”
Xu Yuanzhe tightened his grip on his hand: “I’m single, and I haven’t messed with anyone else besides you, I’m not afraid of running into anyone.”
That seemed reasonable enough. But—
“You’re the top student in the Artificial Intelligence department and famous on the school’s handsome guys ranking. If people find out I used proximity to snatch you away, will I get someone to put a hit out on me?” The young man looked deeply worried.
“You think I haven’t seen that ranking?” Xu Yuanzhe shot him a sidelong glance. “Your ranking is completely on par with mine, Classmate Ji Wenyu, who attracts romantic debts and peach blossoms everywhere you go.”
“I don’t…” The young man tried to defend himself.
“Didn’t you notice that every time you play basketball, the number of people gathering around the court increases?”
“In your two years at the student union, weren’t all their events exceptionally smooth? Did you ever need to scrape people together to fill seats?”
“Do you want me to help count how many love letters you’ve received in the library and how many times people have asked for your contact info?”
Xu Yuanzhe delivered a triple soul-striking blow.
Ji Wenyu shrank his neck defensively.
“None of those were my doing… I always told outsiders I have no interest in dating and wasn’t looking for a partner.” The young man abruptly narrowed his eyes. “How did you know I received love letters in the library and got hit on for my contact info? Were you stalking me?”
Busted, Xu Yuanzhe shrugged, similarly avoiding eye contact with a guilty conscience: “I only saw it because I happened to be there. By the window on the sixth floor, am I only allowed to go there, and you aren’t?”
“Fine, Xu Yuanzhe, you really did plot this for a long time.” Ji Wenyu couldn’t help laughing at the youth.
Xu Yuanzhe raised his chin, acting fully justified: “So what if I did? Will you yield or not?”
Snowflakes landed on the young man’s dense eyelashes, and the youth naturally raised a hand to gently brush them away. Arriving downstairs at the dormitory building, the two of them stopped in their tracks simultaneously.
“Time to go up.” Ji Wenyu pulled his hand back.
Xu Yuanzhe acknowledged: “Mhm. Not telling the two of them yet?”
Ji Wenyu glared at him: “Tell them what, didn’t you say you wanted to re-court me?”
Xu Yuanzhe soothed him with a smile: “Alright, alright, then we won’t tell them yet. I like you, and I’m going to chase you.”
Ji Wenyu: “If you really chase me, they’ll figure it out without you even saying anything.”
The youth nodded: “Fine, then let’s wait for them to figure it out on their own. Go up, it’s cold outside, and you haven’t fully recovered from your illness yet.”
Only a single Friday remained before the weekend.
Ji Wenyu naturally had no heart for class, yet he wanted to stay with Xu Yuanzhe.
[Little Fish: What time are you heading out tomorrow morning?]
Back in the dorm lying on his bed, the young man messaged the other person.
[Xu: Around seven-thirty, why?]
[Little Fish: Want to be with you]
Crap, wasn’t he making Xu Yuanzhe chase him? Why did it look like he was chasing Xu Yuanzhe instead?
[Xu: Do you have class first period?]
[Little Fish: No]
He had class during the second period, which happened to be the same professional class as Xu Yuanzhe: Machine Learning.
[Xu: Then sleep a bit more, see you at Zhizhi Building, I’ll bring you breakfast]
Ji Wenyu’s lips curved upward.
[Little Fish: Where are you going early in the morning?]
[Xu: Jogging, eating, reading for a bit]
Good grief, Xu Yuanzhe could accomplish this much more than him in a single morning.
[Little Fish: Where are you jogging, I want to go too]
[Xu: You’re not fully recovered yet, let’s wait a bit]
[Little Fish: Disappointed Loopy GIF]
[Xu: Be good GIF]
[Little Fish: Then save a seat for me in Machine Learning]
[Xu: You want the front row?]
Ji Wenyu gritted his teeth.
[Little Fish: Yes]
[Xu: Alright]
Anyone who knew would know he and Xu Yuanzhe were dating; anyone who didn’t would think he was following Xu Yuanzhe like a disciple sprinting toward graduate recommendation.
Oh well, the front row it is. Although he wanted to rest for a bit after midterms, he had already made up his mind to seriously boost his GPA this semester anyway, since graduate recommendation was imminent.
Feeling a bit excited, but perhaps because his illness hadn’t cleared completely, Ji Wenyu fell asleep shortly after lying down that night. Before sleeping, he originally wanted to turn off silent mode so Xu Yuanzhe could call him awake the next morning, but he fell asleep before he could mention it. Fortunately, he had his regular weekday alarms set in advance.
Waking up with the final alarm and remembering that Xu Yuanzhe was bringing breakfast, Ji Wenyu didn’t rush too much, leisurely washing up and heading out to ride his bike to Zhizhi Building.
When he went upstairs, Xu Yuanzhe had already entered the classroom, sitting in the front row of the row closest to the door, with a bag of xiao long bao and a cup of porridge placed on the desk.
The young man walked into the classroom, and when classmates in the back rows saw him, they immediately waved him over. But Ji Wenyu shook his head and stopped right beside Xu Yuanzhe in the front row.
The youth stood up, making space for him to enter. Ji Wenyu squeezed past, smilingly brushing his shoulder against the youth’s chest.
The porridge was piping hot millet porridge, and the steamed buns were still warm—the exact xiao long bao he usually bought. Even though Xu Yuanzhe always sat in the front row acting like he lived in a world of his own, he clearly hadn’t stopped secretly observing him in private.
Ji Wenyu couldn’t help chuckling softly, taking a bite of a meat-filled bun.
“What are you smiling at?” Xu Yuanzhe noticed his smile and asked in a low voice.
Ji Wenyu casually replied: “I’m happy to sit in the front row.”
“Then sit in the front row from now on, and sit with me.” Xu Yuanzhe didn’t call him out, playing along with his words.
Ji Wenyu: “What class do you have this afternoon?”
For the two slack classes in the afternoon, he had Political Theory with Huang Bin, and Art Appreciation all by himself in the dorm. Xu Yuanzhe had already taken Political Theory last semester, so he wasn’t taking it with them this term.
Xu Yuanzhe: “Operations Research, and Swimming.”
“You’re taking Operations Research too? So psycho.” Ji Wenyu couldn’t help marveling.
Xu Yuanzhe: “Thought it was interesting, so I picked it.”
That was a top student for you. Taking a psycho elective from the math department with an expressionless face.
“Where is swimming, can I audit?” Ji Wenyu asked.
“You just got better, don’t catch a cold.” Xu Yuanzhe looked at him.
Ji Wenyu blinked: “I’m not going in the water, just going to observe.”
“The natatorium is near the north gate, basically opposite the dorms. Second period in the afternoon.”
“Alright, I’ll head over then.”
After finishing the buns, a mouthful of porridge remained. Just then the class bell rang, and the teacher closed the door to start the lecture.
Lunch was eaten together at the first canteen, heading to the grilled fish stall on the fourth floor where there were fewer people.
Mindful that he had just recovered from his illness, Xu Yuanzhe dictatorially chose a non-spicy fermented black bean flavor for the two of them.
The school’s grilled fish used the cheapest grass carp, and aside from the belly, there were tiny bones everywhere.
Sitting face to face, the youth immediately picked up a piece of the fish belly and transferred it to Ji Wenyu’s bowl.
“You eat too.”
Ji Wenyu raised his hand intending to transfer the remaining boneless parts to Xu Yuanzhe’s bowl, but the other person shook his head.
“Fewer bones, leave them for you, the fish belly has higher nutritional content.”
Ji Wenyu smiled with his eyes: “Shouldn’t the nutritional content of the meat across the entire fish be the same?”
Xu Yuanzhe said seriously: “Of course it’s different, the fish belly is the richest in nutrients.”
Ji Wenyu hesitated slightly: “You know how to pick out fish bones, right?”
Dining with Xu Yuanzhe in the past, he had never seen the guy eat fish; it felt like someone who would find it too troublesome and wouldn’t know how to debone a fish.
The youth raised an eyebrow, dipped the other half of the fish belly in a bit of sauce, and placed it in his bowl too: “Of course I do. Eat.”
The fermented black bean flavored grilled fish tasted unexpectedly good. Grass carp had many bones, and the two of them ate extremely slowly. By the time they finished, it was almost time for the first class of the afternoon, directly missing their midday nap.
“Where’s your first class this afternoon?” Xu Yuanzhe picked up his cutlery while Ji Wenyu asked empty-handed beside him.