Dong Xi: “You mean our school?”
Yan Chen: “Yeah.”
Yang Liang: “Foreign language books? That’s definitely students from the Department of Foreign Languages!”
“Not necessarily,” Dong Xi considered objectively, “Students from other departments can also take a second foreign language as an elective, right? So technically it could be from any major.”
Yang Liang: “That’s true, but not many people who take a second language elective would be so diligent as to run to the library to study it this early in the semester, right?”
Dong Xi: “That makes sense. So the chances are still higher that they’re from the Foreign Languages Department.”
Yang Liang: “But we can’t rule out language fanatics either.”
Dong Xi rubbed his chin again: “Mm, that also makes sense.”
Yang Liang: “So the conclusion is still: it’s not certain. Even if you spend time doing a statistical survey in the library, you’d only get a probability figure…”
Somehow, the two of them went deep into this discussion.
By the time Dong Xi remembered to look up again, both Yan Chen and the towel draped over the back of his chair were already gone.
–
A rare free afternoon without classes.
Ye Wenyu sat in front of the computer, holding the mouse in his hand, his index finger clicking the left button at regular intervals every few seconds.
He switched between countless videos, each playing no more than five seconds. Even after scrolling to the bottom of a nearly full hard drive’s worth of bookmarks, not a single one caught his interest enough for a second glance.
The sound of this repetitive operation went on so long that even Chi Dongting couldn’t take it anymore.
Slumped back in his chair, he raised his voice and asked Ye Wenyu, “How many have you gone through already? Wenyu, what exactly do you want to watch? Why don’t you tell me and I will help you find it?”
Ye Wenyu shook his head and stopped what he was doing in frustration.
He hadn’t expected that person’s impact on him to be far more intense than he’d imagined.
It had already been nearly a week.
He’d gone from trying every way he could think of to meet again, to now instinctively avoiding every possible encounter…just to try and completely cool his head.
Unfortunately, it was completely useless. In fact, it only made things worse.
Because no matter what he did, as soon as his mind had a moment to relax, that person would be the first thing that popped into his thoughts.
Like someone who’d been vegetarian for years suddenly being gifted a small piece of richly aromatic roasted meat, just one sniff, one bite, and he was hooked, unable to forget the taste.
Those lips had been idealized to an extreme in his mind, almost placed on a pedestal, so much so that even in his memories, he had to look up at them.
He couldn’t stop himself from constantly comparing others to him, and the more he compared, the more he obsessed, the more he obsessed, the more he struggled. And the more he struggled, the more unsettled he became.
His emotions were so chaotic they were impossible to sort out, and he always felt a hollow emptiness in his chest.
The computer had been idle so long that the screen had gone black.
He stared at the blurry reflection of himself on the screen for a long time, then let out a deep sigh, closed his eyes, and lowered his head, burying half his face in his palm.
Chi Dongting had gone out earlier that afternoon and didn’t return until after dinner.
Carrying several small bags of food, he opened the door just in time to see Ye Wenyu, freshly showered and wearing pajamas, coming in from the balcony.
“Wenyu, did you eat dinner? You did, right? Then think of this as a late-night snack!”
He proudly displayed the takeout bags on the table: “Behold the land I conquered! This barbecue place is amazing, come try it.”
Ye Wenyu didn’t have much of an appetite, but Chi Dongting was so enthusiastic he didn’t want to let him down, so he tried a couple of bites just to be polite.
Chi Dongting hadn’t eaten dinner yet. He opened a bottle of Coke and ate the barbecue happily: “Wenyu, why haven’t you been going to the library lately?”
Ye Wenyu was a regular at the library. Normally, if he didn’t have afternoon classes, he’d just be getting back from the library around this time.
Ye Wenyu paused, hand holding a spoon, and replied vaguely, “It’s the same in the dorm.”
“Right!” Chi Dongting let out a loud burp: “I’ve always felt the dorm is better than the library anyway. When I’m studying, I can’t stand the sound of pages turning. Just hearing it makes me nervous.”
Chi Dongting: “Oh by the way, Wenyu, have you checked out our school forum lately?”
Ye Wenyu was already used to his unconventional thought process and calmly followed up, “No, why?”
Chi Dongting: “The list of candidates for school grass got updated again.”
The Xuan University forum was a paradise for academic discussion and scientific exchange, but where there were people, there was gossip. The more serious the atmosphere, the more it needed something lighthearted to help people relax.
And so, the post titled “Proposed School Grass Candidate List” appeared out of nowhere.
Since the thread was opened, the list had been continuously updated. Of course, some names were also removed, and there was only one reason for removal: the person graduated and had left Xuan University.
But even though the list kept updating, a true school grass was never officially selected. The reason was simple…there was never a voting option on the post.
Fortunately, everyone just treated the post as a way to “relieve eye fatigue” when needing a break. As for who the school grass really was, nobody actually cared.
Ye Wenyu didn’t have the habit of browsing forums. He only heard about this post from classmates and roommates and knew he seemed to be on the list as well.
Hearing that Chi Dongting sounded quite interested, he asked cooperatively, “Really? Who got added?”
Chi Dongting: “A guy from the sports department! He’s in the same year as us.”
He had clearly checked the post beforehand and grew more excited as he spoke. He immediately grabbed his phone and pulled up the post. “I’ll show you! This guy is seriously cool. When I heard people talking about him this afternoon, I didn’t believe it. Then I looked and realized it wasn’t exaggerated at all. I was instantly convinced. I heard he was already the school grass at the branch campus before transferring here.”
Ye Wenyu took the phone and looked down…
“Well? I didn’t lie to you, right?”
Chi Dongting saw Ye Wenyu freeze and thought was also blown away like himself.
Feeling validated, Chi Dongting happily took a bite of crispy roasted cartilage, raised his arm to check his own muscles, and chewed while sighing, “So cool… How do you even train to get a body that handsome? If I start working hard now, do you think I still have time…”
Ye Wenyu returned the phone to Chi Dongting with a calm expression. “It’s never too late to work hard, as long as you can stick with it.”
“That makes sense.” Chi Dongting nodded in agreement, then slumped a second later. “But I don’t think I can stick with it. Working out is too tiring. Forget it.”
The lights went out at exactly 11 p.m. Chi Dongting cleaned up the trash, turned on his phone flashlight, and went to shower. His off-key humming came in through the door, making the dormitory seem even quieter.
Ye Wenyu leaned against the headboard and awkwardly logged into the Xuan University forum on his phone. Fortunately, he quickly found the candidate list post.
He immediately scrolled to the bottom of the page and stopped at the last candidate’s profile. He tapped on the enlarged image.
The photo was taken on the basketball court.
The protagonist in the photo had just come off the court, sweat soaking the hair on his forehead. Under his thick eyebrows, his eye sockets were deep, his nose was high and straight, and his features were so well-defined that no flaws could be picked out.
He wore a basketball jersey and sat casually on the bench with a relaxed posture. His body leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and hands loosely holding a half-empty bottle of water. His broad shoulders, back, and muscular arms were on full display.
He seemed to have noticed the camera’s presence and glanced up just a second before the picture was taken.
His pupils were pitch black, his gaze cold and emotionless, like a lazy alpha wolf resting…deep, silent, as if it could contain everything, yet as if nothing could get in.
Yan Chen.
‘Specialized in swimming?’
No wonder he never saw him on the track.
Ye Wenyu stared at the photo for a long time and still felt it wasn’t even a tenth as good as seeing him in real life.
It was like scratching an itch through a boot.
A massive sense of loss swept over him. His heel gently tapped the mattress, as if there was a hollow space inside him urgently needing something to fill it.
This feeling of reason teetering on the edge of control was not good.
Ye Wenyu’s lips pressed into a straight line. He quickly exited the forum and opened another app instead.
Chi Dongting returned from his shower and saw a faint glow from Ye Wenyu’s bed, along with some low, fragmented sounds.
He blinked and curiously walked closer to listen…
“…”
“…Wenyu, seriously? You’re memorizing words in the middle of the night?”
“And words we haven’t even learned yet?!”
