Ye Xi entered the classroom.
Evening study hadn’t officially started yet. Li Rui was at his desk playing Five-in-a-Row with the guy at the next table, scratching his head in frustration—he was about to lose.
When he saw Ye Xi come in, he happily declared the game over and quit mid-match, leaving the guy next to him fuming.
But Li Rui didn’t care anymore. His bright eyes followed Ye Xi with fatherly pride, like a dad sending his kid off to their first coming-of-age ceremony.
Ye Xi was a little embarrassed under that gaze. He sat down and pretended not to notice Li Rui’s expectant expression.
Meanwhile, his phone on the desk vibrated again.
Ye Xi opened it and saw that Bai Yue had sent him another set of English reading exercises and a page of vocabulary—reminding him to practice and saying there’d be a pop quiz next week.
Ye Xi: “……”
To be fair, Bai Yue was taking his role as tutor pretty seriously.
If Ye Xi didn’t know he majored in finance, he might have thought Bai Yue was studying to be a teacher.
Still, the corners of his lips curled slightly. Putting on his cool expression, he sent Bai Yue a cat sticker.
[Okay.]
The little cat was rolling around on the floor.
Li Rui saw the whole thing and gave a teasing “Wooo~” as he nudged Ye Xi under the table.
“How was the date?” he whispered behind his book, lowering his voice.
Ye Xi locked his phone.
Thinking back over the afternoon, he answered honestly, “Pretty good. I did a full math practice paper. Bai Yue spent two hours explaining questions to me. Way more efficient than school.”
Though, to be fair, he had gotten distracted in the middle.
Though, yes, he had secretly admired Bai Yue’s beauty.
But honestly, for most of that afternoon, he had really focused. His head was spinning by the end—no more thoughts of attraction.
Li Rui nearly fell out of his chair.
“For real?” he stared at Ye Xi. “Bai Yue’s that oblivious to romance?”
Ye Xi nodded seriously.
He even showed Li Rui the messages—Bai Yue had sent a whole bunch of practice problems.
Li Rui’s mouth twitched. He was about to offer some sympathy—
But then Ye Xi said, “Although, I noticed that when Bai Yue explains stuff to me, I don’t feel so sick of studying. I actually learned a few questions today.”
He looked a bit lost and said to Li Rui, “Do you think my family’s been pushing me in the wrong direction all this time? Maybe if they’d hired a handsome tutor with an eight-pack earlier, I’d already be in the top 100.”
Li Rui almost spat out his water laughing.
But Ye Xi’s words sparked inspiration in him. He immediately started texting his own crush.
He sent over a few pages of completely mangled worksheets, followed by several cutesy stickers.
[Yuhe-ge, I bombed my test. My parents yelled at me. So sad QAQ.]
[You’re really smart, right?]
[Can I hire you to tutor me? Two thousand an hour. Interested?]
The reply came fast:
[………]
[You’re so dumb.]
His crush didn’t hold back at all.
…..
For the next two hours of evening study, Ye Xi and Li Rui sat at their desks, each lost in thoughts of their respective crushes.
Ye Xi had it a little better, though.
Because he actually finished another set of English multiple-choice questions that Bai Yue had sent.
After finishing, he even sent Bai Yue a screenshot.
Bai Yue replied instantly: [Great job.]
Ye Xi couldn’t help but smile.
It was rare for him to smile like that—so bright and carefree. Even the teacher at the front noticed something unusual. Remembering Ye Xi’s irritatingly terrible grades, the teacher walked over, thinking to lecture him about staying focused.
But upon looking down—
Oh?
Ye Xi did have his iPad out, but it was showing English problems—covered in scribbles and notes.
All clearly done.
The teacher was stunned, staring at Ye Xi with wide eyes.
After a moment, the teacher smiled and patted him on the head. “Not bad, doing extracurricular problems now. Keep it up.”
Being praised twice within five minutes left Ye Xi a bit flustered.
But once the teacher left, he pulled out a Pocky stick from his desk, bit into it with a crisp crunch, and couldn’t help but feel a little pleased.
He wasn’t delusional enough to think he could suddenly become a top student and miraculously get into a prestigious university.
But he thought, if he could just get into a school closer to Bai Yue, if he could sneak away between classes, take a taxi to Y University, and secretly catch a glimpse of Bai Yue, that would be enough.
However, Ye Xi’s burst of academic enthusiasm only lasted about an hour. Back in the dorm, he pulled out his iPad again—but this time, he was watching his seduction tips coaching videos.
Li Rui walked past him with a face mask on and was stunned.
“You’re still watching that?”
He looked at Ye Xi suspiciously, seriously starting to wonder if the guy had been scammed.
Ye Xi nodded solemnly. “I think this mentor is actually really helpful. She’s the one who encouraged me to ask Bai Yue for tutoring last time. Her advice has been pretty effective.”
Like suggesting subtle physical contact with your crush.
Whether it worked on Bai Yue was unclear.
But it had an immediate effect on him.
Li Rui looked doubtful. Really?
If it actually worked, maybe he should try it too. Maybe wooing a straight guy really did require the most superficial tactics.
Ye Xi didn’t know what Li Rui was thinking. Once the recommendation was over, his attention immediately returned to the video.
That day, the instructor wore a peach-pink cocktail dress, her hair elegantly pinned up. She gave a sweet smile to the camera.
“Today, we’re moving on to the next level. Did you all memorize the little seduction tricks from last time? If so, by now, you should’ve already stepped into his home and be enjoying a flirty dinner together.”
Ye Xi pondered for a couple of minutes.
A date? Probably not.
But Bai Yue’s home? He had been inside.
“Alright, now we begin the push and pull,” the charming instructor blinked at the camera with a mischievous smile. “Listen to me: ignore him. Don’t reply to every message right away—leave him on read. If he sends ten texts, you reply to one. Wait two hours before responding. Tell him you were out shopping with friends, playing tennis, watching a movie with coworkers—anything. Just make him feel uncertain, like your life is so exciting there’s no space for him. Then…”
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and threw a sultry glance at the camera.
“You can say to him, ‘I don’t know why, but I dreamt about you last night.’”
Ye Xi watched in awe.
Whoa.
So that’s a thing you can do?
Forget Bai Yue—even from behind the screen, Ye Xi, a gay guy, was getting a little flustered from her charm.
But then he started to feel conflicted about her advice.
Ignore Bai Yue?
Leave his messages unanswered?
First of all, they weren’t even at that level. And even if one day they did get flirty, Ye Xi knew he couldn’t do it.
He felt like Pavlov’s dog—every time his phone buzzed, his first instinct was that it might be Bai Yue, and his heart would start racing instantly.
Even delaying a reply by two seconds would take monumental effort.
Ye Xi leaned back, balancing on two chair legs, gently rocking, resting a pen against his chin in deep thought.
His imagination began to drift—if he really managed to seduce Bai Yue, he’d definitely tie him to the bed and—
His face flushed bright red from the thought.
And just then, his phone rang.
Ye Xi picked it up slowly.
He knew it was probably just a spam message, but he couldn’t help feeling a tiny spark of hope.
He opened it—and froze.
It was actually from Bai Yue.
Bai Yue had sent a photo: a delicately packaged bag of chocolate cookies.
Below it was a voice message.
Ye Xi, confused, tapped on it. Bai Yue’s gentle voice flowed through his headphones.
“I knew you were coming over yesterday, so I baked some cookies. I originally meant to give them to you to take back to school, but I forgot.
Next time you come over, I’ll make a fresh batch.”
Ye Xi felt like his phone was burning hot in his hands.
Bai Yue’s voice felt like it was whispering directly into his ear.
He gripped his phone, wanting to type something back, but didn’t know what to say.
He knew Bai Yue was good at cooking, and since he lived alone, making desserts now and then was normal.
But at this moment, Ye Xi felt like his heart was swelling with pink bubbles.
He remembered his 16th birthday—Bai Yue had made him a cake, too.
That time, Bai Yue sat beside him, teasing him for looking like a hamster.
Ye Xi thought, if he had any sense, he should’ve replied: Don’t trouble yourself. Thank you.
But looking at Bai Yue’s profile picture, a strange ache welled up in his heart.
In all of his almost eighteen years, the gentlest, most tolerant person to him had always been Bai Yue.
Even though he knew he was crossing the line, even though he knew Bai Yue was just well-mannered and polite to everyone…
He still wanted to act spoiled with Bai Yue.
His eyelashes fluttered, eyes watery like a little dog caught in the rain.
He held the phone close to his lips, voice soft and slightly trembling.
“Then I want the earl grey flavor.”
The message sent instantly.
On the other end, Bai Yue casually opened it.
He thought, Knowing Ye Xi, it’s probably a polite refusal again.
But when he heard the voice, he froze.
“Then I want the earl grey flavor.”
Ye Xi’s voice came through the phone—gentle, a little flat, but with a faint trace of nervousness.
In the quiet, empty room, it was like a feather drifting down—light, but hitting Bai Yue’s heart heavily.
“…Okay.”
Bai Yue replied immediately.
He sat on the sofa, eyes fixed on the round table in front of him.
That afternoon, Ye Xi had sat there, chewing on a pen, frowning in pain as he did his homework.
Bai Yue had sat opposite, watching him, heart melting from how cute he looked—but also overwhelmed with dark, dangerous thoughts.
Ye Xi’s cup had been right by his hand.
He thought idly: If I slipped a sleeping pill into his drink, Ye Xi would never know.
He could kiss his sleeping beauty.
He could hold his beloved close.
And Ye Xi would know nothing—just a clueless little canary caught in his cage.
But now, he played the voice message again. Over and over, Ye Xi’s voice echoed through the room.
Bai Yue thought: No, better not.
Birds are the most beautiful when they’re chirping freely in the branches.
He could still wait patiently.
Wait until Ye Xi kissed him first.
