The dormitory building of Haicheng No.1 High School was made up of two-person rooms.
After evening self-study ended, the hallway was noisy. The laundry room was packed with boys. The weather had been hot the past few days, so their clothes got dirty fast, and their sneakers all smelled of sweat.
Chen Lang had reserved a spot ahead of time after school that afternoon. Now he was standing in front of the sink washing clothes. After finishing two pieces, he wiped his forehead and suddenly heard a commotion.
He looked up in response and saw someone who shouldn’t be there—Shen Shi.
Shen Shi stood at the end of the corridor, body angled, his facial features sharp and handsome, with a faint trace of impatience.
A few boys who didn’t understand the situation walked past him, all deliberately or subconsciously avoiding him.
He walked toward this side while checking the room numbers one by one.
Back in their first year, Shen Shi had been class monitor, so he still remembered roughly where the boys from Class Three lived.
Chen Lang quickly shook off the water on his hands and ran over. “Brother Shen? You guys are here? Aren’t you a day student?”
Hearing his voice, Shen Shi slowly looked over. “Chen Lang?”
“Ah? Yeah, it’s me. What’s going on, Brother Shen?”
“Nothing.” Shen Shi asked, “Which room do you live in?”
“Oh, I live in 201, the room at the end of the hall. It’s super quiet, far from the stairs, no one comes to bother us.” Chen Lang answered cheerfully.
He was very satisfied with his luck. It wasn’t just quiet, he could even secretly study at night.
But as soon as he finished speaking, he noticed Shen Shi’s expression turn even colder.
The boy’s narrow, pitch-black phoenix eyes stared at him unpredictably, as if sizing him up from head to toe. From that height, the pressure was inexplicable, leaving Chen Lang baffled.
“I’m going to sit in your dorm for a bit,” Shen Shi said after a moment, his tone indifferent. “You don’t need to mind me.”
“Sure. Did Teacher Yang send you to find me? Then wait a sec, I’ll go grab my clothes. Oh, right, my roommate might be in the room.”
“No problem.” Shen Shi glanced at him casually. Just that one glance made him frown instinctively. “You’re dressed like this?”
Chen Lang looked at himself: an old man-style undershirt and oversized shorts.
“Yeah.” He glanced at the guys around him. “Everyone dresses like this.”
Shen Shi had never lived in a dorm. He looked at the others and found it was indeed true. Some boys were even walking around in nothing but shorts, swaggering from room to room.
A layer of chill fell over his handsome face. He pressed his thin lips together and let out an irritated “Fine. I’ll go to your room first.”
Knowing Shen Shi came from a wealthy family, Chen Lang thought he must be very particular about these things. Feeling conflicted, he said, “My roommate dresses like this too… Brother Shen, why don’t we just talk in the hallway?”
The moment he said it, Shen Shi stopped immediately, his gaze turning dark. “What did you say?”
“My roommate… he’s just like me. Not particular about anything.”
Chen Lang felt a bad premonition. Before he could continue, he saw a subtle, unhappy expression appear on Shen Shi’s face. Then, without a word, Shen Shi walked straight toward Room 208.
Snapping out of it, Chen Lang quickly picked up his laundry basin from the washroom and ran after him toward 208.
Inside the room, the bed on the right was a complete mess. Shen Shi stood in the center, sweeping a look around. Room 208 had an overwhelming “lived-in” vibe, sneakers and clothes were scattered everywhere, and the balcony was full of drying laundry.
Chen Lang entered a moment later. Not seeing his roommate in the room, he let out a breath of relief.
“Brother Shen, have a seat.”
He walked to the left side and pulled out the chair in front of the left desk.
Shen Shi paused. “This is your bed?”
“Mm.” Chen Lang smiled. “The one next to it is my roommate’s.”
Shen Shi’s expression remained unreadable. He looked again at the bed on the right, dark blue sheets rolled into a lump, clothes piled messily, socks thrown onto the floor, and a few pairs of sneakers so dirty their original color was impossible to tell.
Following his gaze, Chen Lang said helplessly, “It’s messy, right? My roommate really doesn’t care about these things.”
Shen Shi gave him a glance. “Organized chaos. Acceptable.”
Chen Lang: “?”
He didn’t know how to respond. He simply pointed at his own chair. “Brother Shen, sit here. My desk is cleaner. My roommate piles everything in one place, there’s no room for anyone to sit.”
After a moment of silence, Shen Shi said, “The time constraint is understandable.”
Chen Lang: “???”
Rebellion rose in his heart. As a hardworking student, he had admired Shen Shi like an idol ever since entering the school. Now, realizing his idol’s eyesight was apparently faulty, he suddenly wanted to prove himself.
He pointed at the trash on the floor. “These were all thrown by my roommate. He even eats snacks on his bed.”
Shen Shi didn’t lift an eyelid. “Special circumstances. You’ll adapt.”
Chen Lang: “…” I’m the one who has to adapt???
“He doesn’t even wash his socks once a week. His shoes he bags up and takes home for his parents to scrub—”
Shen Shi said, “Good family environment. Understandable…”
His expression froze. He slowly turned his head. “Once a week?”
“Yeah!” Chen Lang thought he finally understood correctly. “He doesn’t wash his socks once a week. And he only washes his uniform if I nag him. Otherwise the room would definitely stink…”
He kept complaining nonstop, but Shen Shi’s fingers tightened inside his pocket. He closed his eyes deeply.
…Ye Ran only transferred today.
He and Chen Lang were not roommates.
Outside the door, right on cue, an angry shout rang out. A boy they didn’t know rushed in. Exposed by Chen Lang, he flew into shameful rage and reached out to put him in a chokehold. “Chen Lang! After all the good I’ve done for you, this is how you ruin my reputation out there?!”
Chen Lang was strangled to the point he couldn’t breathe. “Help… Brother Shen, help…!”
Frowning, Shen Shi separated them as easily as lifting two chicks.
Chen Lang’s face was bright red. He coughed while cursing, but before he could finish, Shen Shi cut him off, expression solemn. “You and Ye Ran aren’t roommates?”
“Of course not!” Chen Lang suddenly understood. “Oh, Teacher Yang told you to check on Ye Ran? He lives in 230, way down at the other end. It’s the only vacant room left on this floor, so he’s the only one living in it.”
…
Shen Shi didn’t understand why he came running here at all.
Walking down the hallway, he looked terrible. People automatically made way for him. He stopped at the stairs, face dark and rigid, standing there for a long moment. Eventually, irritated, he still walked toward Room 230.
Chen Lang already thought he was here on some assignment. If he didn’t go check on Ye Ran, what if Ye Ran complained tomorrow?
Room 230 was at the very end of the opposite hallway.
The farther he walked, the quieter it became, and the dimmer the light.
Only 230’s door was wide open, the light from inside spilling into the dark corridor.
Shen Shi stood outside, planning to take just one glance and leave.
…
Room 230 was spacious and tidy.
The lighting was bright.
The bed on the right was covered with brown striped sheets. The quilt cover was the same color, every corner neatly tucked. Books on the desk were propped upright with book covers, and the shoe rack under the bed held several pairs of spotlessly clean sneakers.
The person sitting on the edge of the bed lowered his eyes in exhaustion, wearing dark blue pajamas. He was leaning lazily against the railing, the corners of his upturned eyes tinged with red.
His long pant legs were rolled up to the knees. His calves were fair and well-shaped. Both feet were soaking in a basin, the water clear and steaming. He reached for the kettle beside the basin and poured in a bit more hot water.
The next second, Ye Ran jerked his foot up from the heat, immediately propping it on the basin’s edge.
He narrowed his eyes, his lips moving slightly, as if he let out a “hiss” from being scalded.
The ankle resting on the basin edge was slender and beautiful. Greenish veins curved like flower branches. The five toes were round and plump, faintly tinged with pink. Clear droplets slid down the back of his foot.
Ye Ran bent down again. His loose pajama top fell forward. The black strands at his nape hung naturally, revealing a small patch of delicate skin.
He stirred the water with his hand, testing the temperature.
A “whoosh.”
Ye Ran straightened up, looking strangely toward the door.
He seemed to have heard something.
Shen Shi left quickly, his whole body pulled tight like a stretched string. After stepping out from the shadows, the breath stuck in his chest burst out all at once.
His breathing was fast and uneven. His eyes were so dark they were frightening, thick as ink.
The fingers in his pockets trembled for no reason. A strange sensation ran from his fingertips to somewhere unknown. Shen Shi only felt hot, so hot he was drenched in sweat. His back was damp. His clothes stuck uncomfortably to his skin.
He forced himself upright, expression calm, yet his mind still imprinted with that scene just now.
That pretty, soft arch of a foot.
Very white.
Lightly flushed.
Easy to hold.
It was clearly the first time he’d seen it, yet Shen Shi felt something was missing from it.
If… if it could wear an anklet.
A red one.
To set off that skin.
He snapped back to himself, his expression instantly turning awful.
No!
How… how could someone wash their feet inside a dorm room?
Feet. Something like that, how could anyone wash them casually in a dorm!
How could their gay kind be so casual!
His breath caught in his chest again, stuck and unmoving. Irritability surged up. Everything he saw bothered him.
Chen Lang happened to walk by and noticed him, raising his eyebrows in surprise. He didn’t even get to ask, “Brother Shen, why are your ears and neck so red,” before Shen Shi brushed straight past him.
The boy’s suppressed aura was suffocating. He didn’t even glance at Chen Lang. He strode down the stairs; even his lowered eyelids were filled with hostility. No one dared stop him.
Chen Lang was completely confused. After thinking it over, he still walked toward Room 230 to find Ye Ran.
As soon as he stepped into that section of the hallway, he heard the building’s bell ring.
He looked up at the loudspeaker near the stairs and remembered, it was the dorm-closing bell.
Chen Lang: “…”
Chen Lang: “!”
Wait.
There’s still one person in this building who hasn’t gone home!
Night deepened.
The dorm building fell completely silent.
The dorm supervisor checked rooms from the sixth floor down, their flashlight sweeping around, occasionally scolding boys who were talking.
Even in summer, the nights were still cool.
Shen Shi stood expressionlessly behind the now-locked door, staring at the heavy chain around the handle.
He slowly closed his eyes, restraining the urge to kick the door open.
Behind him came faint footsteps.
He kept a cold face, didn’t turn around, assuming it was some boy rushing back to his room.
Until the footsteps drew closer, unhurried, stepping down the stairs toward him.
Shen Shi quickly turned back.
On the staircase, moonlight spilled down in a slant.
Ye Ran stepped out from the shadows, still wearing those familiar dark blue pajamas. He was in black slippers. His pale ankle looked like it could be encircled with one hand.
His eyes were half-narrowed with lazy sleepiness. His lips were soft and rosy. His long phoenix eyes lifted in a gentle curve. He beckoned to him, didn’t ask anything, simply lowered his voice and said softly:
“Come.”
The path ahead seemed to crumble, collapsing into an endless abyss.
Ye Ran had already turned, heading back the way he came.
Moonlight draped over him. His back was slim and supple. The skin at the hollow of his neck was white and smooth, framed by dark strands of hair as if someone hugged him from behind, they could press a kiss there and slowly leave a mark.
Shen Shi’s mind blanked for a second.
Before he realized it, he took a step into that abyss.
Only after stepping in did he discover the ground beneath him was soft, like collapsing clouds.
…This was wrong.
His heart thumped wildly, even his eardrums seemed to tremble.
His eyes were dark and conflicted. For a moment, he looked completely at a loss.
Ye Ran didn’t seem worried he wouldn’t follow. His silhouette faded through the staggered shadows, disappearing around the landing.
Just as he was about to vanish from sight, Shen Shi’s heartbeat stopped for a split second. He sped up suddenly, taking long strides, chasing after him.
His eyes were like a leopard before the hunt, focused and dark, locked tightly onto Ye Ran’s back. Only when he closed the distance to a single step did his tense body relax, his footsteps turning silent as he tried to erase his presence.
When Ye Ran turned and saw him, he nearly jumped.
The dorm supervisor had already reached the third floor.
The entire building’s lights shut off right on time.
Room 320 was pitch-black. The curtains were drawn tightly, like a gaping beast ready to swallow everything whole.
Shen Shi’s palms were sweaty as he walked in.
The moment he entered the room, he caught a faint hint of chamomile.
His eyelids twitched sharply. “What smell is that?”
“Oh,” Ye Ran carefully closed and locked the door. The little square window on the door was what the supervisor would check. There was no curtain. He said casually, “I just washed…” clothes.
“Stop talking!” Shen Shi cut him off immediately.
His expression was cold and hard, but his eyes were flustered and evasive. The faint red at his ears had spread down his neck. He quietly exhaled and said faintly, “I don’t want to know.”
Ye Ran: “?”
You brat… you’re begging for a beating.
Ye Ran almost laughed from anger. He stared at Shen Shi’s sharp jawline in the dark. Whatever softness he had just felt because of Shen Shi’s so-called “homoph*bic façade” evaporated instantly.
“The supervisor checks randomly at night.”
His eyes narrowed. As Shen Shi walked stiffly toward the empty bed, Ye Ran added lazily, “Tonight you have to sleep with me.”
Author’s Note: What time does little Shen sleep tonight? They’re about to start dating. Little Shen gets teased until his ears go red, chasing after kisses. Everything has to be taught hand-in-hand by his wife. The progress is fast. They’re already like an old married couple. Hurry into the sweet dating life!!!
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