The evening sea breeze grew even more humid.
That question had exploded out so suddenly that Shi Jing had been completely unprepared.
He pressed his lips together and said, “There are quite a few reasons. Which one do you want to hear?”
Jiang Yu took a sip of his drink. Lowering his eyes, he stared at the distant lights and said, “The most unreasonable one.”
Shi Jing’s memories were suddenly dragged back to the end of the first semester of their sophomore year of high school.
Canghe was a fairly cold city. When winter arrived, heavy snow began falling early.
The entire city was covered in silver-white snow.
Half a month before the final exams, Shi Jing had started staying up late every night in order to reclaim first place in the grade.
One workbook after another.
From textbook exercises to competition-level problems.
During every ten-minute break between classes, he spent the first seven minutes asking teachers questions and the last three rushing to the restroom.
Especially during the final week, he had become almost neurotic.
Shi Jing had not been first in the grade for a very long time.
He wanted that number-one ranking far too badly.
So he poured his heart and soul into studying for half a month, determined to push Jiang Yu down and reclaim his throne as the top student.
The final exam seating assignments had been rearranged. Shi Jing deliberately avoided finding out which exam room Jiang Yu was in, afraid it would distract him.
Suppressing his exhaustion, he finished the last exam.
Shi Jing walked out of the examination room brimming with confidence.
Then he suddenly heard that Jiang Yu had not shown up for the exams.
The moment he heard the news, he held onto a tree and smiled at Qin Yu.
“What did you just say?”
Qin Yu was as oblivious as ever. He completely failed to notice the dark circles hanging beneath Shi Jing’s eyes or the bloodshot veins in them.
“I said Jiang Yu didn’t come to the exams.”
Shi Jing: “…”
The single breath that had been supporting him all this time vanished instantly.
For a moment, the world spun around him.
Overcome by exhaustion and frustration, he was hospitalized.
Because he had pushed himself too hard, he remained in the hospital for two days.
On the third day, just as he was preparing to be discharged, Jiang Yu unexpectedly arrived carrying flowers.
Lying in bed, Shi Jing glared at him.
“What are you doing here? To laugh at me?”
Jiang Yu set the flowers on the table and said with complete seriousness, “I’m here because I care about you.”
Shi Jing treated that statement like complete nonsense.
“Why didn’t you come to the exams this time?”
“I stayed up all night playing games and overslept.”
Shi Jing sneered.
“You slept for two days and two nights?”
“No. I was thinking…” Jiang Yu paused thoughtfully. “Since I was already late for one exam, I figured I might as well skip the rest.”
Shi Jing nearly suffocated.
“So,” Jiang Yu continued, “I went to watch the World Cup.”
That final sentence would have been better left unsaid.
The moment he heard it, Shi Jing felt like coughing up blood.
Damn it!
He had worked himself to the bone, studied diligently, sat in the examination hall taking every test seriously, checking each answer over and over for fear of losing points through carelessness.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yu had been sitting at a World Cup match watching soccer?!
Shi Jing grabbed the bouquet from the table and hurled it at him.
After Jiang Yu left, a sharp pain came from his hand.
Only then did he notice that the flowers Jiang Yu had brought had thorns.
—They were red roses.
Shi Jing let out a cold laugh.
Jiang Yu claimed he had come to visit him out of concern, yet he had not even bothered choosing the flowers carefully. He had actually brought an enormous bouquet of red roses.
What kind of idiot brought red roses to visit a hospitalized classmate?
Because of Jiang Yu, Shi Jing’s blood pressure shot up, and he ended up staying in the hospital for another day.
After Shi Jing briefly recounted the story, everyone present fell silent for several seconds.
All of them were students at Lan University.
Back in high school, every single one of them had been top students.
They understood that feeling all too well.
Zhang Yanzhou clicked his tongue and quietly said to Jiang Yu,
“You know, I think there’s a reason you can’t win your wife over.”
Jiang Yu was already irritated enough.
“Get lost.”
In the final round of the game, Jiang Yu and Shi Jing finally ended up facing each other.
Jiang Yu had already finished his bottle of fruit wine.
As he played with the empty bottle, he asked,
“Truth or dare?”
Shi Jing did not want to choose truth.
Because that bastard Jiang Yu would definitely ask something he didn’t want to answer.
But he didn’t want to choose dare either.
Because that bastard Jiang Yu would definitely make him do something he didn’t want to do.
After weighing the lesser of two evils, Shi Jing said,
“Dare.”
Jiang Yu’s fingers tapped lightly against the bottle.
During those few seconds of silence—
Only the fitness tracker on Shi Jing’s wrist knew how fast his heart was beating.
A moment later, Jiang Yu moved.
He pulled out his phone, tapped a few times, then held up a QR code.
“Add me on WeChat.”
“This time, you’re never allowed to delete me again.”