'Let's date.'

'Smoke Cessation Candy?'

At the security booth by the School's back gate.

Hu Pang pinched the lollipop stick, squinted at it for a moment, and asked distrustfully, 'You guys didn't specially prepare a prop just in case I caught you smoking, did you?'

Yu Fan leaned against the wall, looking momentarily speechless. He pulled another unopened candy from his pocket and tossed it to him.

Hu Pang took it and looked it over. The candy really did have that bizarre design, with 'Smoking Cessation Miracle' written in bold capital letters on the wrapper.

Yu Fan's hands really didn't smell like smoke either.

'Since it's your Smoke Cessation Candy, how did it end up in Chen Jingshen's mouth?' Hu Pang asked.

'...I,' Yu Fan paused, then mumbled vaguely, 'thought it tasted good, so I gave him one.'

'Is this candy something you can just casually give to a classmate? Stand up straight — is that the posture a teenager should have?' Hu Pang clasped his hands behind his back, frowning angrily. 'If you weren't smoking, then why did you run?' And he'd chased him all the way to the back gate!

Yu Fan: 'Habit.'

'...'

Hu Pang took a deep breath, then looked at the other student standing beside Yu Fan. His expression relaxed significantly in a second. 'Jingshen, how come you were in the Experimental Building classroom too?'

Chen Jingshen's hands hung at his sides, his eyes lowered as if lost in thought. It took him a moment to realize he was being asked.

He looked up, about to speak.

'I called him over,' Yu Fan cut in lazily.

Hu Pang shot him a glare, then turned back to Chen Jingshen. 'You didn't touch anything a student shouldn't, did you?'

'He didn't smoke,' Yu Fan said.

Hu Pang asked in a softer voice, 'Then why did you run with them just now?'

'I grabbed him and ran,' Yu Fan said.

'Was I asking you? When did I ever notice you were this talkative??' Hu Pang finally lost his patience and turned to scold him. 'Then you tell me — why did you drag someone else along?'

Yu Fan closed his eyes and made something up. 'He was standing next to me, so I just grabbed him on impulse.'

Hu Pang laughed in exasperation. 'So impulsive, huh? Then why don't you impulsively drag him home after school?'

'...'

Hu Pang wanted to keep scolding, but the two in front of him suddenly turned their faces away from each other in unison.

Frowning in confusion, Hu Pang unscrewed his thermos, took a sip of hot tea, and started interrogating who had been in the classroom earlier.

But even by the time the bell rang, he hadn't gotten a single name.

Yu Fan was as tight-lipped as ever, while Chen Jingshen just said 'didn't see clearly,' 'don't know,' 'don't remember,' leaving Hu Pang huffing and puffing in frustration.

He waved his hand and told them to get the hell back to class for the next period.

During the break, the School briefly came alive again. The Academic Building's hallways were packed with students bustling about.

Yu Fan walked toward the Classroom with his head down, moving a bit too fast. The students coming toward him instinctively stepped aside.

Just as they were about to reach the Classroom, a voice came from behind him. 'What did you say to me when we were running? I didn't catch it.'

'...'

The thin school T-shirt didn't hide much. Chen Jingshen could clearly feel his deskmate's shoulders stiffen, his pace slow down, his whole walk turning awkward.

Then, after a few seconds, Yu Fan shot back coldly, 'Didn't catch it? Too bad.'

Chen Jingshen's shoulder brushed against his. He said flatly, 'Sounded like you wanted to talk about something with me?'

'...'

Then how the hell did you hear it??

Wang Luan'an saw them come back to the Classroom. He leaned halfway out the door and called out, 'Yu Fan —'

He only got the name out before he saw his buddy charge into the Classroom with his head down, moving so fast no one could even see his face.

Wang Luan'an watched him return to his seat, then turned around blankly after a long moment and asked the person following Yu Fan, 'Study god, what's up with him? Did Fatty Hu give you guys detention?'

Chen Jingshen said, 'No.'

'Then he...'

Chen Jingshen walked past him with a cool expression and went back to his own seat.

Wang Luan'an: '...?'

Next period was Chinese. Yu Fan stared at the reading comprehension passage on his test paper and couldn't comprehend a single word. He propped his elbow on the gap between the two desks, rested his head on his hand, faced the window, secretly closed his eyes, and scrunched up his whole face —

How the hell did he just blurt that out in the heat of the moment...

He'd searched up a bunch of stuff about dating last night. Dozens of answers, all jumbled — things like being considerate of the other person's feelings, staying by their side, surprising them anytime, going on dates, hugging, kissing —

He couldn't do a single one.

He'd never been good at, or even thought about, building a close relationship with anyone.

So last night, after turning off his phone and lying in bed, he stared at the ceiling and thought, forget it, it's too much trouble. Who knows how long Chen Jingshen would even like him. Maybe after a while, Chen Jingshen would decide dating someone with a better personality was more comfortable.

He'd made up his mind before bed. But when Chen Jingshen grabbed him and ran, when he looked back at him — flustered yet so calm — his mind went completely blank. By the time he came to, he'd already said everything.

And he'd shoved the half-eaten candy right into Chen Jingshen's mouth.

And Chen Jingshen had finished it.

'...'

Yu Fan rubbed his face hard. He couldn't help shifting his head, peeking out from between his fingers to sneak a look at the person beside him.

Chen Jingshen was writing annotations on his test paper. His note-taking handwriting was messy — cursive and careless. Actually, his handwriting on homework and tests wasn't that neat either. Only when he wrote essays or love letters...

Yu Fan cut off that thought. His mind in a mess, he stared fixedly at Chen Jingshen's hand, watching without blinking as he stopped writing, moved his hand up, shifted the pen tip to the blank space at the top of the paper, and suddenly wrote in clean, steady strokes —

〈What are we talking about?〉

'...'

Yu Fan jerked his head back as if stung.

Yu Fan couldn't focus on any class that day. When Wang Luan'an and Zuo Kuan came to ask about Hu Pang, he couldn't be bothered to say much. He also didn't speak to his deskmate again.

But his deskmate was very patient.

During the last period before noon, Yu Fan had his head buried under his desk reading a hot-blooded manga when his Mobile Phone vibrated. A message popped up at the top: [s: What are we talking about?]

Yu Fan jerked his head up and happened to see his deskmate put his phone back in his drawer, his expression cool as he continued listening to the lecture.

'?' Yu Fan muted notifications for his chat.

At lunch, while eating noodles, he felt his hands were idle and opened the Snake Game app. He saw his top-ranked friend's avatar was a Doberman, with the player name: [What are we talking about].

Wang Luan'an was eating happily when the person next to him suddenly started coughing violently.

During the last self-study period in the afternoon, Yu Fan was starting to get PTSD from his Mobile Phone. He didn't know what else to do, so he pulled out his math test paper and got stuck on the last few big problems.

He read the questions twice, then instinctively moved the paper over and, frowning, called out habitually, 'Chen Jingshen...'

Crap.

Yu Fan's voice cut off abruptly. He snapped out of it, didn't dare look up, and immediately tried to pull his math paper back.

Chen Jingshen pressed it down with one hand. He couldn't pull it out.

'...'

In a flash, the Classroom door was pushed open.

'Everyone, stop for a moment. There's a temporary announcement — at seven tonight, the School is organizing a movie screening on the School Playground. Both boarding and day students need to attend.' Zhuang Fangqin glanced at her watch. 'Some leaders are coming to watch tonight, so the School Playground, the Presidium Platform, and the bleachers all need to be cleaned. Each class is responsible for one area. Our class is in charge of the section in front of the left bleachers. I need three students to grab tools and come with me now. Any volunteers —'

'Me!' The sound of a chair scraping back. Someone stood up abruptly.

The whole class instinctively looked back, then collectively froze.

Zhuang Fangqin was also stunned for a moment when she saw who stood up. After a beat, she added, 'Those thinking of skipping class, drop that idea.'

'Not trying to skip,' Yu Fan let go of his paper. 'I'll go sweep.'

Zhuang Fangqin hesitated, then said, 'Still need two more.'

As soon as she finished, the Class Monitor and the labor representative both stood up in sync. Zhuang Fangqin nodded approvingly and pointed to the back of the Classroom. 'Alright, grab three Brooms and follow me downstairs... Yu Fan! There's a door — why are you jumping out the window?? Are you asking to be yelled at?!'

Yu Fan silently picked up three Brooms and headed downstairs without looking back.

Zhuang Fangqin still wasn't reassured. She hurriedly said, 'Continue self-study,' and followed him down.

Chen Jingshen withdrew his gaze and silently twirled his pen.

After a moment, he took the test paper that had been shoved over, along with Yu Fan's tattered scratch pad, and started writing out the detailed solution steps.

At first, Zhuang Fangqin thought Yu Fan was either trying to skip class or slack off.

But out of the three, he was the most diligent. From the moment they came downstairs, his Broom never stopped moving, his eyes fixed on the ground the whole time.

Zhuang Fangqin didn't hold back on praise. 'Not bad, pretty clean. Looks like you shouldn't be a trash picker — you should be a sanitation worker. You've got the talent.'

Yu Fan didn't look up. 'Thanks, I'll consider it.'

Zhuang Fangqin laughed and tapped him on the head. 'Alright, I've got a small meeting to go to. You keep sweeping well. Make sure to come watch the movie on time tonight — there'll be a roll call.'

The School's notice came pretty late. By the time they went downstairs to clean, it was almost dismissal.

Zhuang Fangqin was unlucky — the cleaning area she drew was the largest in the entire grade. By the time they finished, the School was covered in a layer of gold, and only a few scattered people remained on the campus paths.

They still had to wait for the Student Council to inspect before they could leave. Yu Fan just sat down on the bleachers, propped his Broom beside him, hunched his back lazily against the steps behind him, and waited.

The sunset was golden, with burning clouds in the sky, splashed like ink across a stretch of red. Yu Fan stared at those clusters of clouds for a while, until he heard a rustling sound beside him.

Caught off guard, he turned his head and met Chen Jingshen's gaze.

Crap...

Yu Fan braced his hand to get up and leave, but a chilled bottle of Cola was handed to him.

'The teacher sent me to bring drinks,' Chen Jingshen said flatly as he sat down beside him. 'No Mung Bean Smoothie left.'

'...'

Yu Fan had been sweeping for almost half an hour. He hadn't noticed the lack of water before, but now that he saw it, his throat felt dry.

He glanced around warily. The Class Monitor and the labor representative were sitting two steps below him, each holding a bottle of Cola too.

So it really was sent by Fangqin.

Yu Fan grunted in acknowledgment, took the Cola, and chugged several big gulps. The icy liquid rolled down his throat, and he instantly relaxed a lot.

So when he glanced down and casually noticed something seemed to be written on the exposed plastic bottle, he didn't react right away.

Yu Fan lifted the bottle and held it up to his eyes. All he could see was a blurry black streak.

What was it? A Cola promotion? Buy one get one free? Did he win a prize?

Yu Fan tilted his head back and took another big gulp, then raised the Cola bottle again. In the fiery red light of the sunset, he made out the words written on the plastic bottle in thick black marker —

〈What are we talking about?〉

Yu Fan: '...'

The plastic bottle was crushed with a forceful squeeze, letting out a few pathetic creaks.

Chen Jingshen's half-lowered eyes blinked. He was already prepared for the person beside him to throw the bottle and walk away.

The next second, his collar was grabbed. He looked up in slight surprise —

'Chen Jingshen, are you done or not? You don't know what I want to talk to you about??'

Chen Jingshen's brief surprise quickly faded. 'I don't know.'

'Dating!!!'

Yu Fan's face burned as red as the clouds. He kept his voice restrained but it came out both suppressed and furious. 'Dating! I want to date you, damn it! We're dating!! Got it now?!'

'...'

Yu Fan caught something in his peripheral vision and immediately turned to yell, 'Hey, that guy down there — yeah, you — do you just litter anywhere at school?! See how clean the ground is? And you still have the nerve to drop that? Pick it up and throw it in the trash!'

That student was startled, immediately picked up the plastic bag he'd dropped, and scrammed out of sight.

Yu Fan watched him all the way until he ran out the school gate, then turned back with a face full of irritation.

And saw Chen Jingshen with his head tilted, his shoulders trembling slightly as he tried to hold back laughter.

Yu Fan froze. He was still holding Chen Jingshen's collar. He yanked it without much force and growled, 'Chen Jingshen, what are you laughing at??'

Chen Jingshen pressed his lips together, turned his face toward him, then looked away again, clearly struggling to hold it in.

Just before Yu Fan could explode again, Chen Jingshen finally spoke. 'Because I'm happy.'

'Yu Fan, this is my first time dating,' Chen Jingshen said. 'I'm really happy that you can be my boyfriend.'

Boy...

Boom! Yu Fan felt his brain explode.

His hand gripping Chen Jingshen's collar slowly, slowly loosened. His shoulders relaxed bit by bit. His mind buzzed for a long, long time. Finally, after what felt like forever, he squeezed out a weak, 'Oh... oh.'