Haicheng No.1 High School starts morning self-study at seven o’clock sharp.
When Ye Ran entered the classroom, the sun had risen, and the teaching building was covered in a layer of golden light.
Zhang Xuyang was already sitting in his seat. When he saw him come in, he stammered a greeting: “Y-Ye Ran, you’re here?”
There weren’t many people in the class.
Class Three wasn’t a class that studied as if their lives depended on it. Their overall grades were steadily above average in the grade, and most of the students only rushed in one after another around seven.
Ye Ran gave a light “mm,” swept his eyes around the classroom, and saw a certain figure lying on the desk catching up on sleep.
He withdrew his gaze, sat down, and found Zhang Xuyang offering him a large rice ball as if presenting a treasure.
The rice ball was stuffed full, with bacon and pork floss inside. The aroma was mouthwatering.
“This… this is what my mom made,” Zhang Xuyang said softly. “Thank you for, for buying me fruit yogurt yesterday.”
Ye Ran paused. He had eaten a bowl of wontons in the cafeteria that morning, but since the rice ball was clearly an attempt to repay yesterday’s treat, he didn’t refuse.
He accepted the rice ball and smiled. “Thank you, it looks delicious.”
Zhang Xuyang’s eyes lit up, unable to hold back his pride in his mother’s cooking. “There’s also… also cheese bits inside. It, it can stretch…”
……
This morning, Yu Ting arrived at school on time and even brought sandwiches for Shen Shi on the way.
So early in the morning, when he got Shen Shi’s call, he thought he was still dreaming. Shen Shi spoke so naggingly, demanding two sandwiches, two milks, all hot, all freshly made.
Back when they pulled all-nighters at the internet café, he had never seen him be so particular.
Yu Ting grumbled internally. When he arrived at school and slipped in through the back door, he saw Shen Shi who had arrived even earlier sitting in the shadows, lifting his eyelids slightly, not knowing what he was looking at. There was an inexplicable chill about him.
“Here, your breakfast.” He tossed the plastic bag onto Shen Shi’s desk. “All freshly made.”
Shen Shi glanced at it but didn’t move. “Thanks.”
Completely different from how he had rushed him on the phone.
Yu Ting found it odd. “Anyway, what did you even forget at school last night? Jiang Yun and I waited forever for you at the internet café, and you never showed.”
Yesterday, right before leaving the school gates, Shen Shi suddenly said he had forgotten something and had to go back for it. His departing figure looked hurried, so he and Jiang Yun went ahead to the café.
Yet after two rounds of games, Shen Shi still hadn’t appeared. They called him, he didn’t answer. They texted, no reply. In the end, the two of them could only go home and sleep.
Shen Shi replied flatly, “My phone.”
“Your phone?! You can even forget that at school? Good thing it didn’t get stolen,” Yu Ting said.
“Stolen by whom?”
Jiang Yun entered the classroom at that moment. He looked exhausted to the point of drifting as he walked. Seeing food on Shen Shi’s desk, he reached out for it. “Chen Ji’s sandwiches? Give me one.”
Chen Ji was an old, well-known shop that originally only made buns and steamed rolls. Later the shop revamped and began making Western pastries too, and the taste was great. It was one of Haicheng’s must-visit stops.
But before his hand touched the sandwich, Shen Shi lifted his eyes toward him. Impatient: “Move.”
Jiang Yun silently pulled his hand back and ate his bread with tears.
It was almost seven, and the classroom grew noisier. Day students and boarders alike all sat down at this time to recite or rush homework.
Yu Ting and Jiang Yun also began scribbling furiously.
Shen Shi calmly looked ahead, his gaze falling on the two figures sitting quite close. When he saw Ye Ran taste a rice ball another man had given him and show a surprised smile, his expression didn’t change as he pulled at the corner of his lips.
Great.
It was clear Ye Ran didn’t care at all about what had happened last night.
All that suppressed fire in him, he lowered his head, stared at his book, then moments later lifted his eyes coldly. Looking at the glaring smile on Zhang Xuyang’s face, how clingy he was with Ye Ran, how happy he looked when Ye Ran liked the rice ball, his face flushing with excitement.
Shen Shi went still for a moment, then looked back at Ye Ran.
Ye Ran was still eating the rice ball. The morning sunlight shone on his face, outlining his black hair with a halo of gold.
He ate slowly, unhurried, delicate and refined.
His lips didn’t open much. The soft, rosy lips had a smear of salad dressing on them. And right in front of Zhang Xuyang, he even licked it.
Shen Shi’s head buzzed. His expression darkened terribly. He suddenly stood up.
A loud “bang.”
The chair toppled, and half the class turned to look.
Ye Ran, holding the rice ball, also turned his head.
He didn’t see anything. He only saw Shen Shi’s furious back as he walked out.
The shadows draped over the back row.
Shen Shi’s figure merged into the darkness, making those watching feel inexplicably uneasy.
Ye Ran unconsciously put down the rice ball. Beside him, Zhang Xuyang’s trembling voice sounded: “See… see? I told you, Shen Shi is very bad. He… he’s not a good person. You shouldn’t, shouldn’t be so close to him.”
The richly flavored rice ball suddenly tasted bland.
Ye Ran rewrapped the rice ball in plastic wrap. Under Zhang Xuyang’s fearful gaze, he once again lost any desire to speak.
……
Everyone thought Shen Shi wouldn’t come back to school.
Yet after the morning self-study bell rang, Shen Shi returned through the back door, his face gloomy. Under Yu Ting’s and Jiang Yun’s bewildered stares, he expressionlessly took out his phone and started playing a game.
His hair was a little wet, washed with water, hanging over his forehead and hiding his eyes.
Morning self-study was English.
The English teacher was a fashionably dressed woman who was always smiling, but never went easy when punishing students.
Today she was explaining the test paper, and a few sentence patterns were singled out for detailed explanation.
The classroom was very quiet. Only her gentle, guiding voice could be heard as she analyzed the questions.
Shen Shi hadn’t slept all night. In front of him, Jiang Yun was already fast asleep, drooling all over the desk.
Yu Ting was actually listening seriously, and only after he understood did he start secretly playing on his phone.
Shen Shi’s mind felt hazy. His half-lowered eyelids were like a black curtain. Sitting in the quiet classroom, scenes from last night replayed themselves. He felt once again the supple, flexible body in his arms, the smooth, soft skin around the boy’s waist, sinking under his grip, flesh pressing between his fingers, making him want to tangle deeper.
When he kissed him, he was even more obedient than usual. Arms around his neck, fine eyelashes trembling, the tip of his tongue wet with saliva, feeding it into his mouth, letting him suck and kiss.
He had been so good last night…
Shen Shi’s throat tightened. Just recalling a few moments was enough to make his body heat up faintly.
He drew in a deep breath and looked forward.
The students in the row by the window were all good students, hardworking and diligent.
They were all lifting their heads high, like rows of wheat shoots, anxiously taking notes from the blackboard.
Shen Shi drew his gaze back from them. After a few seconds, he slowly frowned and looked again at the group behind Ye Ran.
He heard a few whispers of complaint.
Shen Shi had sharp hearing, and he caught them clearly.
“Are you done copying? I can’t see.”
“I finished. Here.”
“So annoying. He’s so tall. Why did the teacher put him in front?”
“…From the capital. I heard he’s the homeroom teacher’s relative.”
Shen Shi’s eyes suddenly went cold, and he looked again at Ye Ran.
Ye Ran was sitting by the aisle. At this moment he was leaning over his desk, keeping a deliberately lowered posture so as not to block anyone’s view. It was clear he wasn’t feeling well. Every few minutes he would pinch the back of his neck; the pale skin there had turned red, and no one knew how much force he was using.
Zhang Xuyang had no sense of the mood. At this moment he was still talking to him, leaning his body over, which made a few boys in the back row even more impatient.
Shen Shi’s face was expressionless, but anger was rising in his chest.
A vague, inexplicable fierceness pressed against his heart. He stared at the curve of Ye Ran’s lowered neck, then, after a moment, looked away.
“What’s wrong?” Yu Ting, sensitive as ever, noticed his bad mood.
Early in the morning, who had irritated Master Shen again?
“Nothing,” Shen Shi didn’t look at him. “The seat in front of me is pretty empty.”
Yu Ting: “?”
It’s been empty for half a year. You’re only noticing now?
Shen Shi said, “It should have someone sitting there.”
A whole morning of classes left Ye Ran mentally exhausted.
He wasn’t actually a kid of this age. Some things only took a little thinking for him to understand.
The class committee members who had been friendly to him yesterday barely spoke to him today. The arts rep looked awkward, as if she wanted to tell him the reason, but at the last moment her deskmate pulled her away.
Every class is its own little society.
In society, some have high status; others have low.
Class Three was mostly residential students. The boarding students formed their own circle. Everyone inside that circle had to obey the atmosphere and rules, openly or subtly. Otherwise, it was betrayal, being “unable to play the game.”
Thinking back to what he overheard during morning study, Ye Ran understood. Someone had been talking about him behind his back, and in just one night, those rumors had already influenced so many people.
Ultimately, it was the seating arrangement that caused the trouble.
Ye Ran wasn’t going to let the situation keep developing. And solving it was simple, just change seats. He planned to visit Yang Wei at noon and ask to be moved back a little.
He was tall, so sitting in the back was normal. Nothing to feel wronged about.
At noon he went to the cafeteria for a meal.
The stir-fry on the second floor of the cafeteria was pretty good. After eating his fill, Ye Ran returned to the classroom and waited until noon self-study before going to the office to find the teacher.
Unfortunately, today all homeroom teachers had a meeting at the auditorium during noon study. Ye Ran had no choice but to wait for another chance.
The afternoon passed just as slowly.
By evening self-study, even Zhang Xuyang had sensed something was off. He wanted to ask whether Ye Ran really had any connection to Yang Wei, but hesitated.
Ye Ran was annoyed and only responded half-heartedly.
His eyes drifted to the back row and he noticed Shen Shi wasn’t there. But Yu Ting and Jiang Yun who were always glued to Shen Shi were sitting properly without causing trouble.
The first evening self-study period was independent study. Homework from each subject was written on the board. The classroom was still a bit noisy at first; students chatted in low voices, and under the class committee’s supervision, the room gradually quieted.
Several blank test papers were stacked on Ye Ran’s desk.
He looked at those familiar questions with a headache, unsure where to start. After finally comparing with the workbook and finishing two problems, the front classroom door was suddenly pushed open. Yang Wei walked in with a cold expression.
His brows were tightly knit, still the same stern, rigid look. The enamel mug he always carried was missing today; he held only a sheet of paper.
“Everyone, put down what you’re doing. I need to say a few words first.”
“Before last semester ended, I told you all that we would rearrange the seats at the start of this semester. Some of you couldn’t even wait a few more days. Luckily, I’ve already printed the new seating chart, otherwise who knows what kind of nonsense you’d stir up among yourselves.”
“Since it’s not class yet, you can move people, but don’t move desks. Start switching.”
Yang Wei swept his gaze coldly across several students. Seeing that even his subject rep was among them, he looked even more disappointed.
The classroom fell into a strange silence.
The class president silently walked up to the podium and projected the seating chart.
The students looked at the chart with complicated expressions, murmuring softly anyway.
Whispers filled the room.
Some girls looked at each other with reluctance. A few boys looked guilty, too ashamed to lift their heads.
Zhang Xuyang was among the nervous ones. He sat straight, found his and Ye Ran’s names on the chart. He was still in the front row but Ye Ran had been moved back.
From the second row… to the second-to-last row.
Zhang Xuyang felt chaotic. Thinking of the rumors in class, he couldn’t understand. If Ye Ran really was Yang Wei’s relative, why was he being moved even farther back?
He secretly looked at Ye Ran, but Ye Ran, unexpectedly, was propping his chin on his hand, staring at the chart in thought, not angry at all.
But his focus wasn’t the same as Zhang Xuyang’s.
Ye Ran was looking at the “Shen Shi” behind his own name, and slowly began to smile.
Some people claimed they were “just ordinary classmates.”
But actually wanted to be back-row neighbors.
…
The classroom was full of clattering and scraping.
Half a period later, everyone finally finished moving.
Ignoring Zhang Xuyang’s gloomy expression, Ye Ran took a few blank papers and walked toward the back.
Jiang Yun was a perfectly competent deskmate, either sleeping or gaming.
He didn’t gossip and didn’t get involved in the class’s messy drama.
The back row seats weren’t cramped. As Ye Ran pulled out the chair, he noticed Shen Shi’s long legs casually stretched out over the boundary line. The boy was playing on his PSP, looking a bit lazy. Realizing Ye Ran hadn’t sat down yet, he raised his eyelids and glanced over.
Seeing Ye Ran looking at him, Shen Shi froze, then calmly raised a brow, silently asking what was wrong.
Ye Ran pointed at his over-the-line foot.
Shen Shi followed his gaze, stiffened, slowly retracted his legs, pretended to keep playing, though his breathing was slightly uneven.
Only then did Ye Ran sit down, leisurely. After a moment’s thought, he tore off a piece of scrap paper, wrote something, then crumpled it and tossed it toward Shen Shi.
The paper ball landed in the middle of the desk.
The sound was soft.
But it was like plucking a tight nerve inside Shen Shi.
He lifted his eyes, expression unchanged, but his hand instantly turned off the game and opened the note.
His mind was full of guesses.
Ye Ran must have noticed he went to speak with Yang Wei.
Some things he could help Ye Ran with, but the effect wouldn’t be as good as Yang Wei stepping in.
If Ye Ran wanted to thank him, he would accept it. But anything else, Ye Ran shouldn’t even think about. He was straight. He helped only because the rumors were disgusting and disrupted class order.
Shen Shi’s face stayed calm. He held his breath and looked at the note.
——【Are you coming to my dorm tonight?】
Shen Shi: “……”
Shen Shi: “…………”
His breath stalled. He clenched the note hard, as if hiding indecent thoughts.
Last night’s lingering, damp breaths and kisses curled before his eyes like drifting smoke. Shen Shi involuntarily swallowed, his throat dry, his gaze dark, the tips of his ears red. He wrote back calmly, though the handwriting tilted.
——【Do you need something?】
——【You know I’m straight.】
——【What happened yesterday, once is enough, twice is impossible, let alone a third time.】
Ye Ran slowly opened the notes one by one.
Before he even finished reading, more notes fluttered onto his desk like snowfall, giving him no time to reply.
——【If you’re trying to thank me in person, I can reluctantly accept it.】
——【Like we agreed, we act like ordinary classmates in public. Don’t get any other ideas.】
——【I didn’t bring a spare uniform. If I go, tomorrow I’ll have to wear regular clothes.】
——【I need to go home after evening study first.】
Ye Ran narrowed his eyes, tapping the desk lightly, smiling, and waited.
After a moment, the final note came.
——【What are we doing in your dorm】
The tone was serious. Upright.
Ye Ran picked up a red pen and wrote slowly on it.
——【You’ll know when you come [heart jpg]】
Silence from behind.
A few minutes later, a calm note arrived.
——【Okay, got it】
…
Taking a deep breath, Shen Shi silently balled up all the ruined drafts and tossed them into the trash. Only the two notes Ye Ran had written were kept tightly in his hand.
The redness on his ears spread down to his neck. His expression was cool, breathing steady, perfectly composed.
…Right. He couldn’t throw the notes away.
What if Ye Ran changed his mind?
Author’s note: Little Shen’s happy life has begun.
But not too happy—
Because Yezi is way too experienced.
Little Shen: In your eyes, what am I???
