The night passed.
The next day, Ye Xi went to class with massive dark circles under his eyes.
Even Li Rui was startled when he saw him.
He handed breakfast to Ye Xi.
“What’s with you? Did you stay up all night reading a novel or something? I know you have good skin, but you can’t abuse it like this. Staying up ruins your face.”
Ye Xi yawned, didn’t say a word, took the breakfast from Li Rui, poked open the milk carton, and bit onto the straw.
He definitely wasn’t reading a novel last night.
Ye Xi thought blankly.
It was all Li Rui’s stupid idea—telling him to look up tips online on how to flirt.
He hadn’t really taken it seriously at first. But then he casually clicked on one, and boom—he opened the door to a whole new world. He ended up studying it until the middle of the night.
Still…
Ye Xi sipped his soy milk, his eyes unreadable.
Whether or not those videos could actually help him seduce Bai Yue and have one sweet night with him—
Just the content alone had already been eye-opening, like diving into some kind of mysterious new academic subject.
He hadn’t realized there were so many techniques and approaches even when feelings were one-sided—when only one person had fallen.
He’d never been in a relationship, nor had any real-life experience, so every point the blogger made felt extremely reasonable to him. He wanted to analyze every word and study every frame.
Before class started, Ye Xi had already finished his breakfast in just a few bites.
Their first class that day was math, and there was a pop quiz. Ye Xi skimmed it—half the problems looked like ancient hieroglyphs to him.
Still, he yawned and filled in the answers as best as he could.
But by second period—English—his eyelids really couldn’t hold up anymore. In an attempt to stay awake, he took out his earphones, popped them in, and reopened the video he’d watched halfway through last night: the “How to Seduce a Guy” tutorial.
At this private high school, most students came from wealthy or influential families. Teachers naturally focused more on the top-performing students. As for academic stragglers like Ye Xi, while teachers would still be responsible, they wouldn’t be too strict.
Even if some students here failed academically, their parents had other plans already lined up.
For someone like Ye Xi, who ranked at the bottom and whose parents never communicated with the school, there was even less reason to come down hard. The school’s teaching philosophy always emphasized mental health first.
Li Rui wasn’t doing much better. He had originally been reading a comic, but halfway through, he wanted to share a funny scene with Ye Xi and accidentally glanced at Ye Xi’s phone screen.
At first, he didn’t realize what Ye Xi was watching. He just found it odd that he was staring so intently at a cute anime girl—was she some kind of cosplayer?
But when he took a closer look, the girl suddenly pulled down a whiteboard on-screen, revealing a huge PowerPoint slide that read in bold:
“The Rules of Seduction: How to Attract the Person You Like.”
Li Rui: “…”
The girl on screen started flipping through more slides and even pulled out a pointer stick to go through each main point one by one. Then, recalling the nonsense he’d blurted out to Ye Xi yesterday, Li Rui suddenly felt like he’d been struck by lightning.
“What the hell are you even watching…”
He nudged Ye Xi. “Don’t tell me you’re seriously studying how to seduce a guy?”
Just as he said that, Ye Xi’s phone was playing another PowerPoint slide that read:
“Appropriately showing a little vulnerability can spark a protective instinct in your target.”
Li Rui twitched at the corner of his mouth and muttered, “Vulnerable, my ass. Who’s even buying that anymore? These days, how many girls are actually ‘delicate’? That stuff’s outdated. Look at Liang Zhan—she was just joking around with me the other day and almost punched my intestines out.”
Liang Zhan was the girl who sat in front of them.
Ye Xi turned the volume down and gave Li Rui a bit of attention.
But he firmly refused to let Li Rui insult his newly discovered dating coach.
Ye Xi slowly defended,
“I think it’s helpful. The blogger said this method has never failed her. Everyone she wanted to date said yes. She’s had over ten boyfriends.”
Li Rui scoffed. Well, duh. What, was she going to say her method didn’t work and ruin her own brand?
Only Ye Xi would fall for that.
Even though he was the one who originally spouted the nonsense, Li Rui knew perfectly well how shady online stuff could be. These so-called course sellers would say anything, so he had immediately stopped himself before dragging Ye Xi too deep into the mess.
But looking at Ye Xi now, completely absorbed, Li Rui was starting to suspect it was already too late.
Still, what harm could it do? Li Rui figured, Even if Ye Xi actually tried this stuff on Bai Yue, the only one who’d suffer would be Bai Yue, not Ye Xi.
Worst case, Bai Yue just avoids Ye Xi more than he already does. Not much difference.
After thinking it over, he added, “Anyway, just don’t get scammed. Watching videos is fine, but if anyone tries to sell you a course or invite you to a group, ignore them. They’re all frauds.”
Ye Xi silently nodded and said nothing.
He didn’t dare tell Li Rui—
He’d already bought two different courses from two different influencers. They both gave him a 12% discount, costing a total of 7,680 yuan.
…..
Ye Xi spent the entire morning watching, and Li Rui felt like he was getting a cavity just watching him.
He’d never seen Ye Xi this focused in class before.
Last year, the school arranged special tutoring for underperforming students. Ye Xi reluctantly signed up for English but only attended three sessions before jumping out the window and ditching to play Gomoku outside.
But now? He was staring at a cute girl explaining “how to light yourself for the best date effect” without blinking. He even pulled out a brand-new, pristine notebook and began furiously taking notes.
Look at that.
Li Rui couldn’t help but sigh—This is the power of love.
Only Bai Yue could make Ye Xi study seriously, even if the subject was a little… off.
He couldn’t resist adding fuel to the fire, nudging Ye Xi and saying, “Hey, instead of believing that, why don’t you come with me this weekend to buy a peach blossom charm? It’s been blessed—it really works. My sister got one from that temple, and she found a boyfriend a few months later.”
Ye Xi looked away from the video and glanced at Li Rui.
As a proper, idealistic successor to socialism, he didn’t really believe in this kind of stuff. A girl in the front row once tried reading his tarot and said he was fated for romance this year—he didn’t buy it.
But now that Li Rui had mentioned a real-life example, his interest was slightly piqued.
He raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
“More legit than your ‘love guru,’” Li Rui teased. “My sister said her bestie also got one and met her soulmate while traveling abroad. I’m planning to get one too. At least the Bodhisattva isn’t going to sell you a 3,999 yuan course. The charm only costs like 30 yuan.”
Ye Xi was a little tempted, but he still wasn’t that motivated about such things.
Li Rui saw his hesitation right away and scooted closer, elbowing him again.
“Let’s go today. No need to wait for the weekend. Last class is P.E. anyway—who cares if we skip it? We can go straight after school. It’s only like 20–30 minutes away.”
He wanted to go but felt too embarrassed to go alone, so he insisted on dragging Ye Xi along.
Ye Xi was getting shoved left and right, the teacher was starting to notice, and he finally gave in. “Fine.”
So at 4 p.m., he and Li Rui left school with their backpacks and took a cab to Yuanxi Temple in the next district.
The temple wasn’t far—about a 20-minute ride. It closed at 5:30, so they arrived just in time, with an hour to spare. They received three complimentary incense sticks each and went inside.
Not only did Ye Xi make a wish—Li Rui did too. Why else would he have been so determined to come?
This temple was known for being effective in love matters. Li Rui was 100% sincere now, none of the teasing attitude from earlier—he looked like he was fully possessed by some superstitious spirit.
Seeing him like that, Ye Xi couldn’t help but smile.
Of course he knew who Li Rui liked.
At their age, Ye Xi had developed feelings for Bai Yue. Li Rui, being a healthy young gay guy, naturally had someone he crushed on too.
But they were opposites.
Ye Xi’s crush on Bai Yue was like a wild weed growing in the shadows—so timid it didn’t even dare to rustle.
Li Rui, on the other hand, was a total love fanatic. He fell in love at first sight with a handsome stranger, tracked down which school the guy went to, and confessed five times over two years. He failed every time—but kept going.
That poor guy had been so worn out by him that he didn’t even bother insisting he was straight anymore—he just said, “Thanks, but I refuse.”
Still, watching Li Rui sincerely praying in front of the Bodhisattva, Ye Xi felt a bit envious.
Li Rui wasn’t wrong—secret crushes lead to nothing. Whether or not he eventually won his crush over, at least he had left a strong impression.
Someday, that guy would remember a boy standing in the pouring rain, holding balloons and roses, confessing his love.
But as for Bai Yue—so far, his only impression of Ye Xi was still “that annoying little brother of my friend.”
Li Rui mumbled nonstop, telling the Bodhisattva all about his love life, asking to be blessed so his crush would become his partner—he repeated it at least eight times.
When he finally looked up, he saw Ye Xi still staring at the statue, dazed, with his incense completely unlit, not to mention unoffered.
“What are you doing?”
Li Rui stuck his incense into the burner and asked curiously, “We came all this way. What are you zoning out for? Hurry up and make your wish so we can head back.”
Ye Xi looked a little blank.
He hesitated, then asked Li Rui, “What kind of wish should I make?”
Li Rui was about to say, How should I know? but then Ye Xi added—
“If I make a wish to sleep with Bai Yue just once… is that too much? Will the Bodhisattva strike me with lightning?”
Even his usual poker face was starting to crack.
Li Rui also froze for a moment.
“Ha…” He scratched his head awkwardly. “That’s true.”
Making such steamy and outrageous wishes in a sacred Buddhist temple—who knows if that would offend the Bodhisattva?
Ye Xi stared at the incense in his hand and slowly said,
“As for wishing for me and Bai Yue to smoothly start dating—forget the Bodhisattva, even I don’t believe in that. It’s like buying a 30 yuan ticket and trying to wish for 30 million. The Bodhisattva wouldn’t even bother listening.”
The two looked at each other.
Li Rui felt like Ye Xi made such a convincing point that he started reconsidering his own wish.
“Forget it. Just wish to have more chances to be around Bai Yue,” Li Rui said, glancing at the time—almost closing time for the temple. He shoved Ye Xi forward, adding, “Bai Yue is such a nice guy. You should just get mugged on his usual path and have him swoop in like a hero. Then you could throw yourself into his arms, and then… heh heh heh.”
Ye Xi thought Li Rui was so full of nonsense—no wonder the guy he liked never accepted his confessions. With how much BS he spewed, no one could take his feelings seriously.
Still, he didn’t want to delay any longer.
He stepped forward and lit the incense in his hand. Then he closed his eyes and pressed his palms together.
In that moment of stillness, he made a silent wish before the Bodhisattva:
He wished Bai Yue wouldn’t hate him.
He hoped that in Bai Yue’s eyes, he wasn’t that despicable, hateful kid who, along with his mother, ruined Zheng Yang’s family.
He just wanted to be seen as a normal younger schoolmate.
That was enough.
That way, when he approached Bai Yue, he wouldn’t feel so guilty and anxious. The thought that Bai Yue might secretly look down on him felt like a bone stuck in his throat.
Ye Xi bowed three times with sincerity, then respectfully placed the incense into the holder in front of the Bodhisattva.
Wisps of smoke curled upward.
There were still a few tourists lingering nearby.
But for a moment, everything around him seemed to fall silent. He couldn’t hear a single sound. His hand trembled slightly as a bit of ash dropped onto the back of it.
“Hiss—”
Ye Xi winced slightly but when Li Rui looked over, he shook his head, indicating he was fine.
After offering their incense and making their wishes, they found the booth selling blessed peach blossom charms and each bought one.
Only one was allowed per person.
The charm came in a pink silk pouch, embroidered with the temple’s name and peach blossoms. It included a certificate to confirm it had been blessed and wasn’t fake.
Ye Xi glanced around.
He still half-doubted the charm’s effectiveness, but like Li Rui, he solemnly tucked it into his pocket.
With the charms in hand, their temple trip was officially over.
The temple was about to close. Ye Xi and Li Rui, each holding an ice cream, slowly made their way down the mountain path.
A breeze blew in from somewhere, carrying the faint scent of freshly blooming osmanthus, drifting softly over their shoulders.
Li Rui sniffed the air and murmured,
“October is just around the corner…”
Ye Xi replied with a quiet “Mm.”
Usually, the two of them chatted nonstop. Ye Xi might be cold to others, but he always responded to Li Rui. On the way up the mountain, they’d been noisy, talking from newly released games to the upcoming comic con.
But ever since they left the temple, both of them had grown strangely quiet, distracted, absentmindedly licking their ice creams.
Only the peach blossom charms hanging from their bags swayed with each step, hiding the unease of youth.
They stayed quiet even after returning to school, though something unexpected happened when they stopped to eat outside.
Li Rui tapped Ye Xi’s shoulder and whispered,
“Look—Isn’t that your brother?”
Ye Xi froze and turned his head. It really was—at a narrow table in the small restaurant sat none other than Zheng Yang.
Ye Xi instinctively looked across from Zheng Yang.
But unfortunately, the seat was empty.
Zheng Yang was sitting alone. The person Ye Xi had hoped to see wasn’t there.
“Ugh, just our luck running into him,” Li Rui muttered, nudging Ye Xi’s back. “Wanna go somewhere else?”
Ye Xi thought for a moment. “No need.”
It was a small restaurant near the school—it wasn’t strange for them to run into Zheng Yang.
Though they’d been at each other’s throats as kids, Zheng Yang had mellowed out over the years. Now, he just mocked Ye Xi coldly but didn’t start fights anymore.
“Let’s just find any open table,” Ye Xi said.
But while Ye Xi wasn’t planning to bother Zheng Yang, it seemed Zheng Yang noticed him. Maybe he was just bored eating alone, but he kept glancing over.
Ye Xi immediately got a bad feeling. And sure enough, it came true.
Zheng Yang finished eating but didn’t leave. Instead, he walked right over and sat down across from Ye Xi.
Without the slightest sense of intrusion, he casually pulled out the chair beside Li Rui and sat down like he owned the place.
Li Rui was stunned, still chewing on a carrot stick, looking completely confused.
Ye Xi had already put down his chopsticks, brows slightly furrowed, glaring at Zheng Yang with little patience.
He had no idea what nerve Zheng Yang had struck to make him come over and act like he was picking a fight—maybe trying to relive their childhood brawls?
If Zheng Yang really wanted to fight, Ye Xi wasn’t scared. But this was a business, after all—if they were going to fight, they should at least take it outside.
Zheng Yang’s eyes fell on Ye Xi’s forehead, where a scab still hadn’t fully healed.
Truth was, he didn’t even know why he came over. This little brat had never been an obedient younger brother to him. Just looking at him made his blood boil.
But the sight of the wound on Ye Xi’s head made his mood even worse. Even though the underclassmen who caused it had already been punished with written apologies and a month of volunteer work, he was still pissed.
Zheng Yang’s lips twitched.
“Why isn’t that cut on your forehead healed yet?”
Ye Xi had been bracing for a confrontation, ready to pin Zheng Yang to the table if he dared start anything—but this question caught him off guard.
He froze. The fists he’d subconsciously clenched loosened. He had no idea what Zheng Yang was trying to pull.
He frowned in confusion.
“What’s it to you?”
He didn’t provoke Zheng Yang, but he didn’t hold any affection for him either.
As expected, Zheng Yang was infuriated by his ungrateful attitude and stood up at once.
Li Rui tensed beside them, hand on the table, ready in case Zheng Yang flipped it.
Ye Xi, meanwhile, leaned calmly against the back of his chair, chin slightly lifted, his dark eyes cool and unwavering. There was no friendliness in his gaze, but he didn’t look hostile either—just as if Zheng Yang was some random stranger.
Suddenly, Zheng Yang lost interest.
“Forget it. Not like I care or anything,” he sneered.
“It’s just Bai Yue told me not to target you because you got hit and looked pitiful. If you ask me, you’re just being a baby.”
And with that, he turned and walked away without another glance.
Even his retreating figure radiated frustration. As he exited, he got smacked by the bamboo curtain at the door.
Li Rui had been fuming, but the sight made him laugh. He gloated,
“Serves him right.”
Then he turned to Ye Xi, confused.
“Your brother’s totally nuts. Didn’t you say his mom was some super intelligent beauty? How’d she end up with a son like that? And calling you delicate—please, I’ve never seen anyone more stoic than you.”
Ye Xi looked down at the small green dish in front of him, also finding Zheng Yang’s behavior strange.
After their years of fighting ended, the two of them treated each other like air for a long time. But in the past couple of years, Zheng Yang kept trying to get his attention again.
Sometimes, Ye Xi even felt… it was like Zheng Yang was purposely trying to start conversations—but just didn’t know how to speak like a normal person.
But that idea was too creepy. Just thinking about it gave Ye Xi goosebumps, and he quickly pushed it aside.
Li Rui continued,
“But Bai Yue is really such a good guy. Not only did he take you to the hospital, he even asked Zheng Yang to stop picking on you. How are they even friends? They don’t seem like they’d get along at all.”
He smacked his lips. “No wonder you’re head over heels. Totally understandable.”
Bai Yue was practically glowing with saintly light.
At the mention of Bai Yue, Ye Xi’s expression softened, and even his usually cool eyes held a trace of a smile.
“He really is a good person,” he murmured.
If Bai Yue weren’t so amazing, how could he be so hopelessly in love?
During his miserable childhood, Bai Yue had been the only one to read him bedtime stories. On stormy nights, Bai Yue’s hand had gently rested on his forehead.
Back then, under that warm light, Ye Xi had looked up at Bai Yue and thought—this person is like an unreachable dream.
