The morning classes dragged on in a drowsy haze.
Jiang Yueming had only slept four hours the night before.
By the second period, he could no longer stay awake and simply gave in, falling asleep openly in class.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when someone shook his arm.
“Old Jiang, Old Jiang.”
He groggily raised his head, a trace of drool still at the corner of his mouth.
“Huh?”
Dong Ziyang pointed outside.
Jiang Yueming looked over and saw that Xia He had come to find him again.
Jiang Yueming froze for a moment.
Why is she here again?
He rubbed his eyes and stood up to head out.
The classroom, which had been noisy, suddenly quieted down.
Someone had spotted Xia He in the corridor first, causing the volume to drop sharply.
“Look, look,” someone in the back row whispered. “Xia He is here again.”
“Looks like she’s looking for Jiang Yueming. Damn, this guy must have some serious ancestral blessings.”
“Never mind that—check out Lu Renjia’s face. Fuck, he’s grinding his teeth so hard.”
Gossip spread like ants crawling out from every corner, filling the room with hushed murmurs.
Jiang Yueming pretended not to hear and continued walking out.
He had only made it halfway when a figure suddenly stepped out from the side and blocked his path.
Jiang Yueming’s steps halted.
It was Wen Xiaoyu.
She stood at the aisle between the desks, holding a thick stack of homework notebooks that nearly covered half her face.
Her braided pigtails rested quietly on her shoulders, and her expression remained as calm as ever, revealing no clear emotion.
“Wen Xiaoyu?”
Jiang Yueming was taken aback.
“What’s up?”
The whispering in the classroom shifted direction.
“Wen Xiaoyu? Why is she…”
“No way. Is this the three heroes fighting Lü Bu?”
“Shut up, don’t talk nonsense.”
Wen Xiaoyu didn’t move aside.
Her grip on the stack of homework tightened slightly, leaving faint imprints on the paper.
“Your homework,” she said.
“You didn’t turn it in yesterday.”
“Yesterday?”
Jiang Yueming thought for a moment.
“What homework?”
“Chinese. Reading comprehension.”
“Oh… that one. I did it this time. I’ll give it to you in a bit.”
Wen Xiaoyu looked at him, showing no intention of stepping aside.
“Give it to me now.”
In the corridor, Xia He was leaning against the railing, holding two bottles of oolong tea.
She saw Jiang Yueming being blocked inside the classroom, tilted her head slightly, but didn’t walk in. She simply waited quietly.
Sunlight fell on her, making her light blue school uniform appear almost white.
Students walking along the corridor all looked at her.
Some slowed their steps, tugging at their friends’ sleeves and whispering.
“Anything else?” he asked.
Wen Xiaoyu also sensed the atmosphere in the classroom.
She glanced back at Xia He outside in the corridor.
“That…” she said softly, “are you and Xia He… together now?”
Jiang Yueming hadn’t expected her to ask that.
The already attentive ears in the classroom perked up even higher.
Several students pretending to read were holding their books upside down without realizing it.
“No,” he replied.
“I see.” Wen Xiaoyu lowered her head, looking at the homework in her arms.
After two seconds of silence, she continued, “Then you and her…”
She didn’t finish her sentence. Urgent footsteps sounded from behind.
The steps were heavy, as if each one was trying to stomp through the floor.
The students in the classroom looked up one after another.
Lu Renjia had stood up from the last row and was striding forward.
He was very tall with long strides. In just a few steps, he crossed half the classroom.
As he walked past, he created a gust of wind that flipped several pages on a nearby student’s desk.
His face was dark, lips pressed into a tight line, and the sockets beneath his brow bones looked deeper than usual.
Everyone could tell—he wasn’t going to the bathroom or to get water.
His gaze had been locked on the figure in the corridor from the very beginning.
When Lu Renjia squeezed past Jiang Yueming and Wen Xiaoyu, his shoulder nearly brushed Jiang Yueming’s ear.
He didn’t even glance at Jiang Yueming as he strode out of the classroom door toward Xia He.
Students in the corridor quickly moved aside, like the Red Sea parting before Moses.
Someone holding a water cup was nearly knocked into, spilling water on their hand, but upon seeing it was Lu Renjia, they swallowed their complaints.
Jiang Yueming frowned.
He instinctively took a step forward, wanting to follow.
“Jiang Yueming.”
Wen Xiaoyu called out to him again.
Sunlight streamed in from the corridor, falling across Wen Xiaoyu’s face and splitting her expression into light and shadow—one half bright, the other in darkness.
“Wait a moment,” she said.
“I haven’t finished what I wanted to say.”
“I’ll talk to you later,” Jiang Yueming said, glancing toward the corridor.
“I have something to do right now—”
“It’s important,” Wen Xiaoyu interrupted.
Her tone carried an unquestionable firmness that was completely different from her usual indifference.
The students secretly watching exchanged glances.
“Wen Xiaoyu is blocking him from leaving?”
“Is she doing it on purpose?”
“What does that mean? She doesn’t want Jiang Yueming to go out and see Xia He and Lu Renjia?”
“Are you dumb? She doesn’t want him to go see Xia He.”
“Oh—ohhh!”
Some people suddenly understood, while others still looked confused.
But everyone realized one thing: this break was far more exciting than usual.
In the corridor, Lu Renjia had already reached Xia He.
He towered over her by a full head, standing there like a wall that completely blocked the corridor.
The students in the hallway seemed frozen in place.
All eyes focused on the tall figure and the quiet girl.
Some forgot to keep walking.
Some held their water cups but forgot to drink.
Some still had breakfast in their mouths, cheeks puffed out like hamsters, yet their eyes remained fixed on the scene without blinking.
“It’s over, it’s over, it’s over,” someone in the back row whispered as low as possible. “Is Lu Renjia about to make his move?”
“What move? Everyone already knows he’s chasing Xia He. The key is that Xia He never pays him any attention.”
“Today feels different. Look at his eyes—he looks like he wants to eat someone.”
“They won’t fight, right?”
“Fight? Over Xia He? Are you out of your mind?”
Lu Renjia stood in front of Xia He. His large frame blocked most of the sunlight, casting a shadow over her.
The corridor was so quiet that the sound of wind blowing in through the windows could be heard.
Xia He lifted her head. Her expression remained unchanged; she didn’t even frown.
“Is something wrong?” Her tone was indifferent, as casual as if she were asking a stranger for directions.
“Yeah,” Lu Renjia’s voice was low, audible only to the two of them. “I have something to tell you.”
“Go ahead.”
“Not here.”
Lu Renjia glanced toward the classroom door—Jiang Yueming was still being blocked by Wen Xiaoyu.
The two of them were still talking.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
That curve wasn’t quite a smile; it looked more like satisfied triumph.
“Let’s go somewhere else,” he said.
The eavesdropping ears in the corridor wished they could stretch even longer.
“Go somewhere else?”
“Where? Where?”
“Quiet! I can’t hear!”
Xia He followed Lu Renjia’s gaze and saw Jiang Yueming, as well as Wen Xiaoyu standing in front of him, stubbornly holding the homework and refusing to move.
Her eyes flickered for a brief moment.
Then they returned to calm.
“Fine,” she said. “Where?”
These three words were like a stone dropped into a calm lake.
The whispering in the corridor instantly exploded.
“She agreed?!”
“No way. Xia He actually agreed to go somewhere alone with him?”
“It’s over. Jiang Yueming is about to get his base stolen.”
“Are you stupid? Xia He comes looking for Jiang Yueming every day. If anyone’s getting their base stolen, it’s Lu Renjia.”
Lu Renjia hadn’t expected her to agree so readily.
He paused for a second, then stepped aside and made a “please” gesture.
“The garden downstairs.”