SBS chapter 32

Because of those few sentences from Bai Yue—and because he bought him takoyaki when they left the auditorium—Ye Xi was quickly coaxed back into a good mood.

He couldn’t help it. He had no principles when it came to Bai Yue, and the takoyaki was really delicious.

He popped another into his mouth.

Recently there’d been news about restaurants accidentally serving blue-ringed octopus. Li Rui, who made a big deal out of everything, kept nagging him about how dangerous takoyaki could be, which had stopped him from sneaking out to buy any.

But clearly, Bai Yue, like him, had a rational mind and knew takoyaki was innocent.

Ye Xi was very pleased.

He carried his little paper box and walked with Bai Yue along the school street. Though the wind blew against his face, he didn’t feel cold.

For this year’s culture festival, aside from the gym and auditorium, some sheltered outdoor corners were also put to use.

Every few steps, there was a tent labeled with different class names—some sold oden, others offered Hanfu makeovers, and some performed shadow puppetry.

Bai Yue stopped by a shooting game booth and played a few rounds, eventually winning a small toy bunny for Ye Xi.

Ye Xi held it in his hands and thought of the teddy bear Bai Yue had given him last year.

Bai Yue always seemed to like giving him soft, plush toys.

It made Ye Xi look at him with a slightly puzzled expression.

He liked everything Bai Yue gave him.

But he was turning eighteen soon—he was really past the age of sleeping with stuffed animals.

He was just thinking that when someone nearby voiced his thoughts out loud:

“Yan Jiangbai, are you crazy? I’m not three years old. Why would I want this dolphin pillow?”

Ye Xi quietly nodded to himself.

Yes, yes—though he’d never say that to Bai Yue.

“I’d be happier with a bar of gold, honestly. I’m just that kind of money-loving person.”

Wait no—Ye Xi was about to nod again but stopped. That didn’t apply to him.

He was certainly a bit of a flirt, but he wasn’t money-hungry.

Still… he leaned over curiously, wanting to see who this kindred spirit was.

But as soon as he looked over, he met a pair of sharp eyes on a familiar face—the current student council president, Yan Jiangbai, who had dropped by earlier that day.

Ah-ha. Ye Xi immediately recognized the guy.

He turned his gaze with interest.

And sure enough, across from him stood Tao Che, the guy in the white puffer jacket whom Li Rui had pointed out to him—sharp chin, beautifully upturned eyes, fox-like features.

It was probably because Ye Xi’s gaze while watching the gossip was too intense that the two people outside the tent immediately noticed it. Their eyes snapped over in unison.

At that moment, Bai Yue also lifted the flap of the tent and stepped out. “Ye Xi, let’s go…”

He immediately drew their attention.

Well, now this was awkward.

Eight eyes met.

The former and current student council presidents met in front of the school’s small stall.

Both had once been quite prominent figures in school. But now, one had Ye Xi’s side bag slung over his shoulder, and the other was holding Tao Che’s chipped thermos cup, along with a dolphin plushie.

They oddly gave off the vibe of proper family men.

The air turned a little still for a moment.

“Hello, senior.” In the end, it was Yan Jiangbai who nodded first. After all, he had worked with Bai Yue in the student council, so they were somewhat familiar.

A few minutes later, they found a small stall selling oden and stewed beef, and sat under a sun umbrella the vendor had set up.

Since they were at least old acquaintances, leaving without saying a word would have seemed too cold.

And conveniently, Ye Xi was hungry, so Bai Yue suggested they grab a bite on the way.

Yan Jiangbai gave Bai Yue a strange look as Bai Yue carefully wiped a spoon clean for Ye Xi before handing it to him.

There was no record of Ye Xi in his mental database.

He and Bai Yue had a decent relationship and had worked together in the student council, so he knew roughly who was in Bai Yue’s social circle.

But he had never seen Ye Xi before.

So he asked, “Senior… who is this?”

Bai Yue pursed his lips. He often told others that Ye Xi was his little brother, but in front of a former junior, that felt a bit too presumptuous.

So reluctantly, he handed Ye Xi back to Zheng Yang.

“He’s Zheng Yang’s younger brother,” Bai Yue replied casually but subtly emphasized, “I’ve known him since we were little. It’s just that in school, because we’re in different grades, you rarely see him coming to find me.”

In reality, Ye Xi had almost never come to him on his own.

Thinking of that, Bai Yue’s smile faltered a little.

But Yan Jiangbai wasn’t the type to pry. He felt Bai Yue’s explanation had holes everywhere, but he just nodded indifferently.

He glanced at Tao Che next to him. From the moment they sat down, Tao Che hadn’t said a word and kept his head down eating oden, looking like he had no interest in participating in the conversation.

For some reason, this annoyed him. He took the initiative to introduce him: “This is Tao Che, in the same grade as me. You might not recognize him since I only got close to him this year.”

It was a very official, precise introduction.

To which Tao Che let out a cold laugh.

Bai Yue’s eyes flickered slightly. He wasn’t stupid—he could tell there was something off between these two.

But he didn’t show it on his face, simply smiled politely at Tao Che and said, “Nice to meet you.”

Ye Xi, however, looked at Tao Che with visible curiosity.

He hadn’t gotten a clear look back at the class stall, and only now did he notice—Tao Che was really good-looking. Fair skin, delicate features, and a subtly seductive vibe.

He sat next to Yan Jiangbai, clearly sulking, not speaking a word, barely touching his food.

But a beauty is a beauty—being angry only made him look prettier…

Ye Xi thought to himself as he popped a piece of stewed beef into his mouth—only to get burned a second later, wincing in pain.

After eating, there wasn’t much more to say, so everyone split up.

Yan Jiangbai and Tao Che were headed to the library, while Ye Xi wanted to stroll around the market a bit.

So the four of them parted ways.

Ye Xi watched Yan Jiangbai and Tao Che walking side by side. Tao Che looked annoyed but still accepted the little dolphin plushie Jiangbai had won for him.

Thanks to Li Rui’s earlier hints, Ye Xi had a sudden realization. With sharp perception, he immediately saw through them—they were clearly a couple, even if they were in the middle of a lovers’ quarrel, the atmosphere between them was still sticky and sweet…

So nice.

Ye Xi was practically turning into a lemon from jealousy.

It was winter, yet everyone seemed to be hotly in love. Was there no space left for the single people to live?

He glanced gloomily at Bai Yue beside him.

But Bai Yue didn’t get his hint at all and asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong? Are you still burned from earlier?”

What a big dummy.

Ye Xi thought impolitely to himself. He’d grown bolder after spending more time with Bai Yue and had even started badmouthing him mentally.

But complaints aside, after walking a bit, he still gently tugged at Bai Yue’s sleeve.

He asked, “Bai-ge, there’s a bonfire party tonight, only for the senior year students. They said it’s also to boost morale. Can you stay too?”

He looked up at Bai Yue.

Of course, Bai Yue knew about the event. He’d run into a teacher when he arrived who invited him, as a graduate, to join.

If he didn’t mind, he could even give a speech to the juniors.

But Bai Yue had declined.

Yet faced with Ye Xi’s invitation, he didn’t hesitate at all.

“Of course I can,” he said.

….

At 7 PM that night, Bai Yue and Ye Xi showed up at the school field together.

The bonfire in the center of the field had just been lit.

Due to safety concerns, the fire wasn’t large and was strictly contained—more symbolic than anything, illuminating the dark winter night.

But that didn’t dampen the students’ excitement. Around them, some parents who had stayed behind were snapping pictures.

Ye Xi went to the distribution booth and received a lantern shaped like a little snow house, along with a small slip of paper and a pen.

Every senior got one.

The purpose of this event was to have students write down their wishes for the future and their dream universities, tuck them into the lanterns, and place them on a multi-layered rack set up by the school.

After the college entrance exams and the final summer of high school, they would take their lanterns back and see whether their wishes had come true.

But Ye Xi, holding the pen, looked conflicted.

Because to this day, he truly didn’t have any dream university.

He didn’t even know what he wanted to study.

“What’s wrong?” Bai Yue noticed his expression and seemed to guess the reason. “You don’t know what to write?”

“Mm.”

Ye Xi nodded, looking a little dejected.

“I don’t know what school I can even get into… there’s not much to choose from,” he muttered.

Though thanks to Bai Yue’s tutoring, he was now barely hovering above the undergraduate cutoff line, his options were still very limited.

“That is a bit of a problem,” Bai Yue chuckled softly. He pulled Ye Xi aside so others could use the distribution booth.

He took Ye Xi’s pink slip—it was completely blank.

He said, “Actually, I’ve already helped you plan out some potential schools. There are still a few decent options. Like Zhenhua Polytechnic—it doesn’t have a high cut-off for humanities. Or Jiangyan Normal University—they have good humanities programs, and the facilities aren’t bad. At least the dorms are decent…”

He hadn’t even planned this thoroughly for his own college applications back then.

While running around managing things at school, he’d still come home and research schools for Ye Xi.

He asked, “What about you… do you have any plans or preferences?”

Ye Xi froze.

He hadn’t expected Bai Yue had actually been planning things for him behind the scenes.

He looked at Bai Yue, momentarily speechless.

He’d always thought no one would care what school he got into—including himself.

He’d never told anyone—not even Li Rui really knew—that his life dream was to buy a small villa in the Netherlands, preferably one with windmills outside, and just live out his days doing nothing, maybe walking a dog.

He had no grand ambitions—just wanted to read comics and novels in peace, undisturbed.

A quiet, unnoticed life that didn’t bother anyone and wasn’t bothered by anyone.

But he hadn’t expected… Bai Yue would care.

Bai Yue genuinely cared what school he got into. He’d seriously planned it out like a parent would.

He worried about the facilities. Worried whether he would be happy there.

It made Ye Xi’s throat tighten.

Originally, he wanted to tell Bai Yue, why don’t we just write something random?

It’s not like I’ll actually go. I’ll run far away, leave all of this behind.

But now, looking at Bai Yue, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Bai Yue was still studying the blank slip and said to Ye Xi, “Do you want to stay close to home? I actually think it’s pretty nice to stay here in our own city…”

That was really what he wanted to say.

He didn’t want Ye Xi to go too far away from him.

But before he could finish or bring out all the reasons he’d prepared to persuade Ye Xi—

He saw Ye Xi lightly nod.

“Mm, I want to stay in this city too,” Ye Xi said softly.

He looked at Bai Yue and suddenly, the Dutch villa and the windmills felt blurry and distant.

All the things he once wanted to escape now felt weightless and unimportant.

He looked into Bai Yue’s eyes and said, word by word, “I want… to stay somewhere close to you. When I’m in university, I want to be able to come find you between classes.”

“Can I, Bai-ge?”

His final question was asked very gently. He knew he wouldn’t be refused, but his heart still pounded and his voice trembled a little.

Bai Yue hadn’t expected a response like that.

All around them, students were chatting and laughing, the bonfire crackled warmly in the not-too-cold winter night.

Some students were already placing their lanterns on the rack, excitedly calling out their goals.

“Of course you can,” Bai Yue replied to Ye Xi. The bonfirelight reflected in his eyes like a tiny flame had lit up in them too. “I told you—if you ever want to see me, you can always come.”

On Ye Xi’s final little note, he wrote:

Changhuan Language Institute.

History Department.

He had actually chosen the major himself. He muttered, “History is the only thing I’m a bit good at anyway. Might as well go with it—at least it won’t make my hair fall out.”

Bai Yue was amused by him and went with him to place the snow-white lantern on the rack.

The moment they pressed the button on the bottom, the electronic candle inside lit up.

It stood firmly on the rack. From a distance, it really looked like a flickering wish.

An 18-year-old’s wish—burning hotter than fire in the ice and snow.

Bai Yue said to Ye Xi, “This winter break, I have to attend a study camp. After that, I’m going to the Netherlands with my family. So I might not have much time to see you.”

Ye Xi had heard Bai Yue mention it before.

Although he felt a bit disappointed, he completely understood. “That’s okay…”

But before he could finish speaking, Bai Yue added:

“I’ll try to come back early. Before your winter break ends, and before my birthday is over.”

Bai Yue turned his face. In the dark winter night, the flickering lantern light made his face look especially gentle. His eyelashes were long and thick, every strand clearly visible.

He said, “If I make it back in time, spend my birthday with me, Ye Xi.”

Bai Yue’s birthday was February 28—just one day short of being a once-every-four-years occasion.

Ye Xi was stunned at first but quickly caught on, overjoyed and overwhelmed.

“Okay,” he responded softly. His nose was red from the cold night, yet he still smiled at Bai Yue like a fool.

…

Not far from them—

Zheng Yang was placing his own lantern on a rack. Since he had already secured a guaranteed admission, he didn’t really have anything to write.

So he was just going through the motions.

After placing the lantern, he started looking around the venue for Ye Xi, intending to check on his little brother’s future.

Luckily, though the place was packed and chaotic, with students scattering like wild dogs, he quickly spotted his target in the crowd.

Ye Xi stood before another rack, with Bai Yue right beside him.

Zheng Yang relaxed and strolled over casually. But he had only taken a few steps when he saw Bai Yue holding Ye Xi’s hand, the two of them hanging the snow lantern up high together.

Moments later, they were talking when a student accidentally bumped into Ye Xi.

Bai Yue immediately shielded him with his arms.

He placed a hand on Ye Xi’s back and gently patted him, as if soothing a child.

Even after the student apologized and left, Bai Yue didn’t let go. He kept holding Ye Xi, the two of them standing by the rack and talking intimately.

Zheng Yang suddenly stopped walking.

He couldn’t see Ye Xi’s face, but thanks to all the lanterns on the rack, every detail of Bai Yue’s face was clearly lit.

Including his smile and the gentle, water-like gaze he had while looking at Ye Xi.

Zheng Yang rarely saw Bai Yue smile like that.

They had known each other forever—grew up being mischievous together, able to read each other’s thoughts with just a glance.

Then, in the next second, Bai Yue suddenly looked up and met Zheng Yang’s eyes in the crowd.

When Bai Yue saw Zheng Yang, his smile briefly faded—but only for a moment.

He made no move to release Ye Xi. In Zheng Yang’s direct view, he continued holding Ye Xi close, like he was holding his whole world.