Bai Yue ended up ordering a corn chowder and a croissant—no coffee.
He smiled at Ye Xi and said, “Lunch was too hectic. I barely ate, but I did have two cups of Americano.”
Zheng Yang scoffed beside them, thinking, Too bad you didn’t starve.
He felt thoroughly miffed by Ye Xi’s preferential treatment.
But Ye Xi was in a good mood now, so even though Zheng Yang was still annoying and sarcastic, he treated him fairly politely.
Just with a lot less warmth.
“And you? What do you want?” he asked Zheng Yang. “I’m on shift today—my treat too.”
Then he added, almost as an afterthought: “Unless you don’t want anything, then forget it.”
Zheng Yang froze—he had already pulled out his phone to scan the QR code.
But only for a second.
“I’ll take it. Why wouldn’t I?” he snapped.
He wasn’t going to fall behind Bai Yue in everything. This was a competition between the ‘legit brother’ and the ‘wanna be brother.’
He stared at the iPad for a while, then said, “A cupcake and a caramel macchiato. No ice.”
“Got it.”
Ye Xi replied, thinking you eat sweets like that and don’t worry about cavities?
But when he looked up at Bai Yue again, he wore a bright smile: “Just wait a bit, I’ll bring it right over.”
Bai Yue led the still sulking Zheng Yang to a table.
Ye Xi really did bring over the order quickly.
When he finally left the cart, Bai Yue got a full look at Ye Xi’s outfit.
He paused, eyes showing unconcealed amazement.
It was past 3 p.m., and the afternoon sunlight poured in through the glass skylights, filling the room with brightness.
Ye Xi moved quietly, arranging their plates with care, even adjusting the tiny silver spoon. A clean pale wrist peeked from his suit sleeve. The suit was well-fitted—slim and tailored. His legs were long and straight. As he bent slightly, the thin watch chain on his vest swayed in the air.
Delicate, fragile, yet elusive.
As if beckoning someone to reach out and pull its owner closer.
“You look really good.”
Bai Yue said softly, not even caring that Zheng Yang was sitting right beside them.
Ye Xi didn’t understand at first, looking at Bai Yue in confusion.
“I said you look really good in that outfit. I never thought you’d suit a suit so well,” Bai Yue smiled. “But now that I think about it, your coming-of-age ceremony is soon—you’ll need a suit.”
He silently decided: I’m the one who should gift him that suit. Every detail should match his size perfectly.
Even if Zheng Yang tried to fight for it, he wouldn’t win.
Ye Xi flushed. He hadn’t expected Bai Yue to compliment his outfit.
When Li Rui had dragged him to try it on a few days ago, he’d felt awkward—he always dressed for comfort, not style.
“Our class entertainment rep picked it,” Ye Xi said in a small voice, pointing to Liang Zhan, who was flitting around like a butterfly. “That’s him. He also does tarot readings—free with any 50 yuan purchase. If you’re interested, you can try it.”
But Bai Yue just smiled: “No need—someone already read my palm.”
He looked at Ye Xi as he said it.
Of course Ye Xi knew what he meant.
He smiled awkwardly—he had secretly learned palm reading from Liang Zhan himself.
Only Zheng Yang was clueless about their exchange of inside jokes.
He sipped his coffee and lazily said to Bai Yue, “Palm reading is all fake, right? What, your dad dragged you up a mountain to see a fortune-teller again?”
He knew Bai Yue had been taken to a fortune-teller by his dad years ago and had mocked him about it endlessly.
Bai Yue rolled his eyes and ignored him.
But even though Zheng Yang said all that, when Liang Zhan came over and offered a reading—
He acted all skeptical, but after a few sweet words and seeing those colorful tarot cards, he gave in and followed him.
Ha.
Ye Xi mocked him wildly in his head but kept his face neutral because Bai Yue was around.
He glanced at Bai Yue’s table. There wasn’t anything left for him to do here—he had to help other customers.
Li Rui had already taken off with Sheng Yuhe.
He couldn’t slack off now.
“I’ll go check on other tables…” he mumbled to Bai Yue.
Bai Yue knew he couldn’t keep him.
“Okay.” Bai Yue sipped some water, then asked, “How much longer until you finish?”
He said plainly, “I want to walk around the market with you afterward.”
What they saw didn’t matter.
What mattered was that it was with Ye Xi.
Ye Xi hadn’t expected that. He had been thinking about staying longer to help, but now he glanced at his watch.
“Twenty more minutes,” he said softly.
“Great.” Bai Yue smiled. “I’ll wait for you.”
For the next twenty minutes, Ye Xi worked like never before.
He had no choice. In his heart, he apologized to Liang Zhan—Sorry, I’m not trying to prioritize love over friendship… Okay, maybe I am.
He had to get off work on time today.
Bai Yue finished the last spoon of his corn chowder, wiped his mouth with a wet napkin, and walked over to Ye Xi’s side, helping with the orders and making coffee.
Ye Xi looked at him, a bit dazed.
Bai Yue took the iPad from his hands and smiled gently: “Why are you looking at me? I’ve got nothing else to do, might as well help out. I can make coffee, you know. I won’t be a terrible barista.”
Ye Xi finally realized that Bai Yue had come to help him with his work.
He blinked, wanting to say something, but just then, another customer came over asking for a new spoon.
He had no choice but to close his mouth and immediately go bring the spoon.
The two of them were busy together for about twenty minutes. At 4:10, Ye Xi finally took off the work badge on his chest and handed it over to the classmate coming to take over.
He snuck a glance toward Liang Zhan’s side.
Zheng Yang hadn’t left after finishing his reading and was actually still listening with great interest to how others were interpreting their cards.
Fortunately, aside from being a little annoying around Ye Xi, he wasn’t actually a bad guy. He politely asked the girl for permission to listen in, and the girl readily agreed.
Of course, Ye Xi was eager to ditch Zheng Yang.
But since Zheng Yang was Bai Yue’s best friend, he reluctantly asked, “Should we bring Zheng Yang along?”
“No need.”
Bai Yue was straightforward and decisive.
He took Ye Xi’s hand and walked out without looking back.
“It took a lot of effort to shake him off—why would I bring him along to cause trouble?”
Bai Yue said softly.
Ye Xi only caught the first half of that sentence. With Bai Yue holding his hand, he got swept away into the crowd.
He looked back and saw Zheng Yang still carefully examining the tarot cards.
He let out a quiet laugh, then turned his head and followed Bai Yue through the crowd, strangely feeling the kind of joy that came from ditching class.
……
By the time Zheng Yang realized the two of them had disappeared, Ye Xi and Bai Yue were already in the auditorium watching a performance.
This culture festival had two main parts—class booths outside and various performances in the auditorium.
Most of the performances were done by school clubs, but there were also class-organized performances. Participation was open to anyone.
From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the shows were scheduled neatly and printed in the program booklet. Visitors could choose which to attend based on their preferences.
Right now, a stage play was being performed—an adaptation of the fairy tale: Cinderella.
The original evil stepmother had been changed into a cross-dressing evil witch who even tried to seduce the king, only to be beaten up by Cinderella and the prince.
But in the end, Cinderella didn’t marry the prince. Instead, she rode off on a horse to explore the world.
And the prince didn’t inherit the throne either—he happily became a musical drifter.
Ye Xi flipped open the program and found a familiar name in the cast and crew list for the play.
Playwright: Song Jiaran.
It was the long-haired, glasses-wearing girl from the neighboring class who had specifically requested him to serve her earlier that morning.
Appearances really are deceiving—what a wildly reimagined story.
Ye Xi quietly closed the program booklet.
He had also been in the drama club before—as the scriptwriter.
But he’d been dragged into it, forcibly recruited by Li Rui. Later, when the club found a few more scriptwriters, he happily quit.
Just last year, one of his plays—The Last Night—had been performed on stage.
It was a whimsical little story: two long-time enemies reconciled their differences while fighting for custody of a little angel.
He’d even acted in it—purely because there were too many female roles and not enough actresses. He had no choice but to cross-dress as a noblewoman.
Truly a black mark in his personal history…
Ye Xi quietly used the program to cover his face.
It was so embarrassing that he’d told no one except Li Rui. The whole drama club had helped keep it a secret, or else he would’ve refused to go on stage.
Thankfully, the costume and makeup were heavy enough, and he’d spoken in a high-pitched voice—no one from his class had recognized him.
He figured Bai Yue probably didn’t know either…
Ye Xi was thinking this when he suddenly heard Bai Yue, while watching the play, ask softly, “By the way, didn’t you perform last year too? I still remember it—it was quite memorable.”
Ye Xi’s expression froze completely.
He stared at Bai Yue in disbelief.
No way… did he just hear my thoughts?
On stage, the evil witch’s scheme had been exposed, and the stepsisters under the spell had snapped out of it.
Meanwhile, Ye Xi was having a meltdown inside, but managed to keep a blank face. He forced himself to respond, “What are you talking about? You must be remembering wrong, Bai-ge. I didn’t participate in anything last year…”
Before he could finish, Bai Yue pulled out his phone, opened a private folder, and brought up a photo, showing it to him.
“Isn’t this you?” Bai Yue smiled.
In the photo, Ye Xi wore a pure white corset gown, his black hair was styled up, and he held a matching white lace fan covering the lower half of his face—only his cool, seductive eyes were visible.
Ye Xi swore that because the character always held a fan and had so few lines, barely anyone could’ve recognized him that day.
But now Bai Yue had casually shown him the photo.
Ye Xi’s expression cracked. His pupils trembled.
He looked at Bai Yue, defeated, like all the energy had been drained from him. He didn’t even have the strength to deny it.
But Bai Yue wasn’t done.
He chuckled softly and said, “You actually looked really pretty in that outfit. You stood out on stage. I recognized you right away. I even recorded it. Zheng Yang thought I was crushing on one of the actresses and offered to get her number for me, but obviously, he didn’t succeed…”
“Oh, and I never told Zheng Yang it was you.”
That last sentence brought Ye Xi back to life for a second.
Just as he gathered the energy to defend himself—
Bai Yue continued.
“I even printed this photo and tucked it into my family photo album. I take it out sometimes. It’s quite amusing.”
Ye Xi: “………”
Damn.
For the first time in his life, he saw a trace of sadistic amusement on Bai Yue’s face.
But what could he say? It was his own fault for boarding the drama club’s cursed ship and taking on that role.
He took a sip of his Coke with a lifeless look.
Ice cold.
Just like his frozen heart.
But when the performers took their bows on stage, he suddenly felt a hand gently hold his.
Thunderous applause erupted around them.
The reimagined play had been a hit—many young people loved this kind of fun, creative take.
Someone even whistled, shouting the names of classmates on stage.
Amid the noise, Bai Yue leaned close to Ye Xi’s ear.
“I meant it when I said you looked good. I wasn’t making fun of you—just like when I told you today that you looked good in a suit. I was sincere. That day, I was so focused on watching you, I didn’t even realize what was happening on stage. It wasn’t until your performance ended that I noticed my watch had fallen and been crushed.”
Ye Xi froze.
Amid the noisy crowd, he looked at Bai Yue. The ice in his cup was nearly all melted, yet it still clinked quietly when shaken.
Bai Yue let go of his hand.
He smiled at the slightly dazed Ye Xi next to him.
He said, “But honestly, watching your performance in exchange for a broken watch—I think it was worth it.”
