Just as his mind was shifting, lost in thought and confusion, a graceful figure paused in the classroom hallway and tapped the edge of Lin Wangye’s desk.
“Hello, new student.”
Shi Shi gave a small bow, raising a hand to wave gently at Lin Wangye with a friendly smile on her face. “I’m Shi Shi. I missed your enrollment because I was overseas for eye treatment. Is it too late to make friends with you?”
Lin Wangye, who had been whispering with Lin Shen, turned his head and looked up.
She wore a soft cream green down jacket over a beige turtleneck sweater, paired with pure white wide-leg pants—her outfit alone gave off an undeniable aura of sweetness and gentleness. With such a beautiful face to match, it was hard not to be drawn in by her presence.
Lin Wangye locked eyes with Shi Shi for a few seconds, and suddenly, he understood why his father disliked her so much.
Every expression, every movement seemed too perfectly calculated, as if carefully designed—deliberate and far too perfect.
But she revealed a small detail: her eyes kept glancing secretly toward Lu Chengxuan.
Piecing together the rumors floating around the school, Lin Wangye quickly realized what Shi Shi’s real motive was.
She was indeed genuinely trying to make a friend, but the real reason behind it was most likely to get close to Lu Chengxuan.
And his father, of course, would never want her getting too close to him.
“Ah, if I have the honor, then of course, I’d be happy to,” Lin Wangye blinked, putting on a surprised expression, as if a little flustered, even somewhat excited. “By the way, were you the one who used to deliver love letters to Lu Chengxuan? Could you maybe take that job back? I’m not really interested in doing it anymore.”
With that, the classroom fell into a sudden, dead silence. It was so quiet that even the sound of a piece of paper falling could be heard.
The only sound breaking the silence was a suppressed laugh from Lin Shen’s side.
That response was completely out of left field.
No matter how the question was planned, no one could have predicted such an answer.
Shi Shi was clearly taken aback by the unexpected reply, her smile freezing for a moment. She instinctively glanced toward Lu Chengxuan, who was standing nearby.
However, Lu Chengxuan didn’t pretend to be oblivious or dodge the topic. As soon as Lin Wangye finished speaking, he raised his head to look at him, his expression cold and unreadable, before speaking in a low voice, “The previous love letter delivery person was Lin Shen.”
Lin Wangye was furious. He turned to Lin Shen. “Then why didn’t you send it?”
Lin Shen propped his head up, lazily twirling a pen between his fingers.
“Because I’d always open it first to check if it was for me. Once they found out, they exposed me in a group chat and I had to quit my job as a delivery guy. So by the time it got to you, they’d learned to write ‘For Lu Chengxuan’ on the envelope.”
With that, Lin Shen patted Lin Wangye’s shoulder with a serious expression and continued, “The older generation plants the tree, and the younger generation enjoys the shade. You need to remember this kindness, Xiao Lin.”
Lin Wangye’s response was perfect, just flawless. As the new guy, it was completely natural to think that Lu Chengxuan’s deskmate would need help delivering love letters, so he’d never put Shi Shi in an awkward position.
The classmates around them, upon hearing this, immediately understood he was just joking, and no one thought too deeply about it.
That subtle distance was only noticeable to Shi Shi.
It was rare for anyone to make her feel this way, overlooked.
In the past, there had been Lu Chengxuan, and then Lin Shen.
Now, there was Lin Wangye.
Someone who could afford to go abroad for vision treatment surely came from a good family. Perhaps it was because she’d been the center of attention all her life, always pampered, that Shi Shi struggled to find the right words to join the conversation naturally. She stood there for a moment, not quite knowing how to jump in.
Luckily, at that moment, Fu Xuexue returned. Seeing Lin Wangye sitting at her desk, she immediately rushed over, pretending to be furious, and teased, “Are you drawing Old Ding on my textbook again?”
“That’s a false accusation,” Lin Wangye raised his hands in surrender, looking completely innocent. “It was Lin Shen who drew it!”
Hearing that it actually was drawn, Fu Xuexue immediately flipped through the book, checking the pages, and sure enough, she found some fresh stick figures on the contents page. She threw the book in front of Lin Shen.
“Erase it!”
Sitting in the classroom, the blame just fell on Lin Shen out of nowhere, but he tried to argue his way out.
“It’s not me! I saw this little guy sneakily drawing it!” he protested.
Fu Xuexue snatched the pencil from between his fingers, holding it up as undeniable evidence. “Still saying it’s not you?”
“My God!” Lin Shen immediately straightened up, putting on a serious face and said, “This is slander, pure slander! Until my lawyer gets here, I’m not saying another word.”
In the past, even if Lin Shen had done it, he would’ve admitted it right away.
Fu Xuexue suddenly seemed unsure, so she turned to Shi Shi and asked, “Shi Shi, who do you think it was?”
Shi Shi, who hadn’t really been paying attention, gently replied, “I didn’t see anything.”
The only possible witnesses at the scene, aside from the two main suspects, were two others: Shi Shi and Lu Chengxuan.
Fu Xuexue had asked Shi Shi, but when she turned to look at Lu Chengxuan, hesitation flashed across her face. She didn’t speak up immediately.
“Lin Wangye drew it,” Lu Chengxuan suddenly said.
“Aha~” Lin Shen grinned smugly, whistling and flicking Lin Wangye on the forehead. “Trying to mess with me? Too naive, way too naive.”
Lin Wangye turned and shot Lu Chengxuan a confused glare.
This guy had been focused on his book, completely in his own world, so when did he notice all these little movements?
At this point, Lin Wangye could only grab Fu Xuexue’s textbook, stand up, and return to his seat. He bent down, erasing the doodle of Old Ding, grinding his teeth in frustration.
With that little episode over, the teacher for the next class happened to walk in. Shi Shi smoothly returned to her seat, as if nothing had happened at all.
Visually speaking, snow is a beautiful natural phenomenon.
After multiple failed weather forecasts, the first snow of this winter finally arrived in the latter half of November, on the day of the minor snow festival. By the time the bell rang for dismissal, a thin layer of snow had already settled on the pine trees around the campus.
The weather was so cold that Lin Shen didn’t feel like heading to the internet cafe anymore. Instead, he started leading Lin Wangye and Lu Chengxuan to the cafeteria.
In his previous life, when Lu Chengxuan helped build the library, he also renovated the cafeteria, adding more food counters and replacing the old, worn-out tables and chairs.
Now, the cafeteria at the Seventh High School was much simpler than it had been during Lin Wangye’s last time there. The tables were the most basic, square metal ones you could find anywhere, each one fixed to four immovable little stools. It was as plain as could be.
With the cold weather, there were clearly more students staying close to campus to eat.
Luckily, the three of them arrived early enough to find an empty table to sit together. Lin Shen told Lu Chengxuan, the ‘great Buddha,’ to sit down and save the seats while he snatched his meal card and went to grab food with Lin Wangye.
Lin Wangye felt a bit awkward about freeloading off Lu Chengxuan, so he got himself a meal card.
With his salary from being a substitute jungler for the Phantom Wail team, plus the prize money from winning tournaments and the red envelopes from Boss Yang when he was in a good mood, he had saved up 9,800 yuan.
While that amount wasn’t much for investment—certainly not impressive in the eyes of someone like a young master—it was enough to solve his immediate needs and give him a bit of security.
Lin Shen, on the other hand, was completely shameless. Not only did he pick all meat dishes, but he also chose the most expensive drinks, as if he planned to bankrupt the Lu family. Lin Wangye, in comparison, was much more careful with his spending. Maybe it was because he earned his own money that he understood the value of it—he ordered a mixed meat-and-vegetable set meal that cost only twelve yuan.
By the time all three of them had gotten their food, Lin Shen and Lu Chengxuan were sitting across from each other, while Lin Wangye sat next to Lin Shen. The last seat remained empty.
“Is there a gym class this afternoon?” Lin Shen casually asked while eating, glancing out the window. “With this heavy snow, I bet we’ll miss it again.”
Lin Wangye grabbed the piece of rib with crispy bones from Lin Shen’s plate.
“Even if it wasn’t snowing, we wouldn’t have gym class. The math teacher will definitely take over. I’ve only had one gym class since I’ve been here. And don’t even get me started on our field—it’s full of mud, and after the snow melts, we’ll be covered in it.”
“Once I have money, I’m going to expand the field at least ten miles. Let’s see who dares to take my gym classes!” Lin Shen said angrily, lifting his head and speaking to Lu Chengxuan with passion.
“And the cafeteria—whoever came up with these crappy chairs that make your butt sore after sitting too long, I’m leaving it to you. Make it into a high-end restaurant! When you wave your hand, there should be twenty beautiful waitresses lined up to serve us.”
Lin Wangye froze for a second, his chopsticks halting mid-air.
Lu Chengxuan: “You’re coming back here to eat after graduation?”
Lin Shen: “Just answer if you’re doing it or not.”
Lu Chengxuan: “Sure.”
Lin Shen: “Then it’s settled.”
Since Lin Wangye had been looking down at his plate, neither Lin Shen nor Lu Chengxuan noticed the change in his expression.
Lin Wangye stared at the rice in his plate, his gaze unfocused as his thoughts drifted. His mind sped through images, as if he was suddenly back in the cafeteria of his previous life, eating the same food for three years at the Seventh High School.
The dates of the school’s renovation were carefully documented in the school’s history, leaving no room for tampering.
Lin Wangye was certain that Lin Shen only expanded the sports field after Lu Chengxuan had already planned to start the renovations. It was because of this that he had always thought his father’s actions were out of rivalry with Lu Chengxuan.
But now, that possibility seemed to be falling apart.
Initially, the idea of renovating the school had come from Lin Shen. However, after the two had gone their separate ways and put the matter aside for years, for reasons unknown, Lu Chengxuan had suddenly taken action.
The library and the experimental building seemed almost like mere accessories.
What Lu Chengxuan really seemed to have wanted to renovate that year was, most likely, the cafeteria…
Lin Shen joining in wasn’t about rivalry—it was about fulfilling the promise made between the two of them at that very moment.
After fulfilling the promise, they didn’t laugh off past grievances or turn swords into plowshares.
Instead, they walked further apart, backs turned to each other.
“Xiao Lin, Xiao Lin?” The voice calling his name suddenly snapped Lin Wangye back to reality. Lin Shen’s fingers pinched his face, reminding him, “What’s going on with you? You’re chewing so hard, you’re gonna break your teeth.”
Lin Wangye realized he had been chewing on bone fragments. He turned his head to spit them out, then glanced at the two of them. His expression suddenly turned serious and focused.
Fate had brought him here for a reason.
He had to change history.
A moment later, Lin Wangye set his chopsticks down and spoke earnestly, “Let’s swear an oath, the three of us.”
Lin Shen looked utterly confused. “Huh?”
Lin Wangye took a deep breath. “By heaven and earth as witnesses, from today on, we three will truly treat each other as brothers. We’ll share the good times and the bad, stick together through thick and thin, and never let each other down.”
TL: Hey everyone!
I’m so sorry for not being regular with my updates! Compared to last year, I have way more exams, so I haven’t been able to translate as much. Really sorry about that!
But good news—I got a short break and stocked up on chapters to release, so no more missed updates (yay!).
Also, if you have a moment, I’d love to see some comments! This is the first time I’ve translated a novel with no comments at all, and even a small message would really motivate me to keep going!
Hope you’re all enjoying the novel so far! Wishing you a great day! (˶◜ᵕ◝˶)
(P.S. If you’d like early access to chapters, I’ve made them available in my Ko-fi shop! 💕 You can check it out here: [link])
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
This is my first time commenting, but i had to thank you for translating this novel, I’m loving it