Zhou Xinran knew that a beauty like Lin Xuechun staying single definitely wasn’t because no one was pursuing her—it was because her standards were too high.
“With requirements like yours, you probably couldn’t find even a few guys who qualify at our school. I suggest you go check out the sports university next door. And if you do end up with someone, do your sister a favor and introduce me to his roommate or something.”
“Then your Xu Yang would probably kill me.” Lin Xuechun made a frightened face.
Zhou Xinran teased, “Well then just show me some photos—let me feast my eyes at least.”
The two chatted and laughed all the way to the classroom.
Zhou Xinran had just started dating her boyfriend Xu Yang, and they were in the honeymoon phase—they’d picked all the same classes and were inseparable every day.
“Over here!” Seeing the two enter the classroom, Xu Yang raised his hand and waved.
Zhou Xinran pulled Lin Xuechun over. Xu Yang gave Lin Xuechun an apologetic look and pointed to the last row:
“When I got here, there were only two seats left in my row. I saved you a spot in the last row—next to that guy who’s sleeping. I put a calculus book on the seat.”
This was an elective course, so students from all majors were there, plus some people tagging along with their boyfriends or girlfriends. Seats were especially scarce.
“Then why didn’t you come earlier to save seats?” Zhou Xinran pouted at Xu Yang. She’d wanted to chat with Lin Xuechun during class.
“It’s fine, I actually wanted to sit in the back row anyway.” Lin Xuechun smiled. This wasn’t an important major course, so sitting in the back was perfectly fine.
“I’ll head over now.”
She said goodbye to the two and turned to walk toward the back of the classroom.
The room had tiered seating. She climbed the steps one by one until she reached the last row, and immediately spotted the calculus book on the desk.
The guy in the seat next to it was lying face-down, asleep.
He wore a loose gray hoodie with the hood pulled over his head. His back arched slightly, the line of his spine pressing a distinct ridge through the fabric.
His long legs were cramped awkwardly under the desk, looking like there wasn’t enough space for them—nowhere to put them.
Sometimes “handsome” is more about the vibe than the face, and this guy clearly had it.
Several girls in the front rows kept turning back to look at him, but unfortunately his face was buried in his arms, completely oblivious.
Confirming the seat was correct, Lin Xuechun sat down, stuffed her backpack into the desk compartment, and waited for class to start.
The bell rang, and the teacher walked in right on time.
She had a very artsy look—long flowing hair, a bohemian cotton dress, slim figure, radiating an air of peaceful elegance.
She looked around forty. After coming in, she played a few minutes of video clips, then started lecturing.
Before long, she drifted into a story about studying abroad in France in her early years, meeting her husband there, how happy their relationship was, then getting married, having a son, and how her son was also studying in France, and so on and so forth…
A few students in the front rows listened with great interest, occasionally letting out envious sounds of “Wow,” “Ah,” and “So happy.”
The female teacher got even more animated as she spoke.
Lin Xuechun half-listened, and when she noticed people playing on their phones, she pulled hers out too.
Somehow, she found herself tapping back into Ksmk123’s profile page.
Under the video, only her comment remained—no other girls had commented.
No one was interacting with her, and she was bored out of her mind. On a whim, she tapped into the private message feature and sent a message:
[I noticed there’s a mole below your collarbone, brother. Speaking of “below”…]
After the message was sent, there was no response from the other side.
The sleeping guy next to her did stir a little, seeming like he might be about to wake up.
But he didn’t wake until the first period ended.
Zhou Xinran came over to call Lin Xuechun to go to the restroom together.
Lin Xuechun’s dress today had no pockets, so it wasn’t convenient to carry her phone. She locked the screen and left it on her seat.
The classroom was noisy during the break.
All kinds of sounds kept flooding into his ears, and Xi Chenzhou was finally jolted awake.
Before even opening his eyes, his hand habitually reached into his hoodie pocket, pulled out his phone, and squinted at the time. There was still an hour left before the elective ended. With all this noise, he’d thought class was already over.
He frowned in irritation.
He’d just returned to the country and hadn’t gotten over his jet lag yet—he was severely sleep-deprived.
Just as he was about to shove the phone back and continue sleeping, a WeChat message suddenly popped up.
From his cousin: [What’s your Douyin account? Let’s follow each other.]
Over the summer, his cousin had visited him in the US. She’d made him register a Douyin account, saying they should follow each other. He’d casually registered one at the time, picked two videos from his phone to post, and never touched it again—he couldn’t even remember what the account name was.
He exited WeChat and opened Douyin.
There was a red notification number in the messages tab.
He tapped it open. First, there was a comment under the pull-up video, from someone called “Chunchun Loves Meat”:
[Help, it’s raining cats and dogs!]
He scrolled down.
There was also a comment under the sailboat video—
[Big brother on top, me on the bottom.]
Also from that same “Chunchun Loves Meat.”
Expressionless, he swiped past and tapped into the private messages.
Also from “Chunchun Loves Meat”:
[I noticed there’s a mole below your collarbone, brother. Speaking of “below”…]