As Yan Xiu passed by them, he remembered something, turned back, and grabbed a can of sweet milk from the cabinet before passing them again.
He looked down at his phone, typed a message, and sent it. With the hand holding the sweet milk, he used three fingers to reach for the doorknob and open it
Upon opening it, there was a person in front.
Yu Sui, wearing a long-sleeved cotton T-shirt and fish-head slippers, was looking at his phone, completely unaware that the door had opened by itself. He raised his free hand and knocked twice on Yan Xiu.
“…”A moment later, Yu Sui realized something was wrong. He looked up, slightly surprised. Having just showered, he looked like a steaming white ball. After a brief silence, he realized his hand seemed to be resting on Yan Xiu’s collarbone; those two “knocks” almost slipped inside Yan Xiu’s clothes.
He immediately withdrew his hand, the tips of his ears hidden beneath his hair slightly reddening. He grumbled, “What are you standing here for?”
A new message popped up in the chat interface.
Ren Mu: [Where are you?]
Fish Can: [At the door]
Yan Xiu lowered his gaze, taking in the two lines. He placed a hand on Yu Sui’s shoulder, pushing him slightly outward, and closed the dormitory door.
“Didn’t you say I’d come find you in thirty minutes?” Yan Xiu said.
Right.
Yu Sui had gone to shower right after sending the message. After coming out, he quietly waited for thirty minutes, but the other person hadn’t given him any response.
He clicked his tongue lightly. “It’s been longer than that.”
Yan Xiu looked down at him, fingers holding the can of sweet milk. For a long time, he didn’t know what to say.
The corridor was cast in shadows by the fluorescent green glow of the safety indicator lights, just barely falling behind Yu Sui’s heels.
The handsome young man lazily lowered his eyes and swiped his phone, then glanced at him, smiling with a hint of nonchalance.
It was already late. The lights-out bell had rung once, the dormitory building was quiet, and there was no one in the corridor.
Perhaps it was too quiet, or perhaps he sensed something from Yu Sui’s lighthearted attitude, but Yan Xiu felt an illusion of being allowed to do whatever he wanted.
He felt he was about to grasp something, even though it slipped through his fingers at that moment.
When Yu Sui looked up again, his shoulder was suddenly gripped, and he was pulled into a brief hug. A can of sweet milk was pressed into his hand.
The young master asked teasingly, “Not angry anymore?
Minister Yan seemed unwilling to admit it, only saying, “Drink it tomorrow morning. It’s too sweet.”
Yu Sui hummed in acknowledgment. “So thoughtful.”
Honestly, when he posted that moment, he hadn’t expected Yan Xiu to react to it. He had already mentally prepared himself to go upstairs and coax him. The young master hadn’t coaxed many people in his life, but when it came to Yan Xiu, everything felt strangely refreshing.
Now that he had finally come upstairs, he couldn’t bear to let go of the inexplicably ambiguous atmosphere and didn’t want to let Minister Yan go back so easily.
So, with one hand holding the sweet milk and the other holding his phone, Yu Sui spread his arms. “Since you’re not angry anymore, how about a hug?”
Sure enough, the atmosphere grew even stranger after those words.
Perhaps the first person who started shipping Yu Sui and Yan Xiu truly had the eyes of a matchmaker. They say some people just naturally create chemistry when standing together—they simply complement each other.
Yu Sui wanted to believe that, but he pretended not to have seen it, pretended not to know, looking at Yan Xiu with an open, clear, gentle, and obedient gaze.
Yan Xiu paused for a moment under his gaze.
A short while later, Yu Sui was pulled over with such force that his chin nearly collided with Yan Xiu’s, the crisp scent of medicinal herbs lingering around them. Apart from the sound of his own increasingly rapid heartbeat, he could hear nothing else.
After that incident, Yu Sui never again mentioned to Yan Xiu that he should pay for the drawings. As a wealthy fish, he held a substantial sum of money his parents had entrusted him with to take good care of his “gege” from a prominent family, yet he had no opportunity to spend it. He briefly worried about this for a while.
They continued to busy themselves with rehearsals.
Yang Feiwen stepped onto the scale and announced that he had lost a few pounds recently.
During break time, others in the same classroom collapsed on the steps, staring at the ceiling and pointing a finger toward the sky: “Don’t let me hear even the slightest sound right now—I’d rather my ears were already deaf.”
Watching this, Yu Sui leaned against the wall and laughed for a long time.
The closeness he had playfully sought from Yan Xiu was more effective than any stimulant, keeping him lively and energetic for several days
After running non-stop until now, he finally felt a tightness in his throat. He drank half a cup of warm water but still didn’t feel better, so he stopped training.
Yang Feiwen noticed that something was wrong with him and climbed over two steps to ask him, “How are you?”
“I’m resting for a bit,” Yu Sui said, deftly pulling out his phone. He refreshed the screen and saw that someone pinned to the top had also changed their profile picture.
It was no longer completely black; it looked like a rough sketch, but it was extremely blurry. Yu Sui zoomed in many times but still couldn’t make out anything.
He did know that after he changed his profile picture, the official CP thread had been buzzing for a long time. This was because a certain minister had never drawn anything for anyone else, but had suddenly drawn two pieces for him.
Floor #12280: [Don’t ask! Just letting you know that my fish is handsome. Who wouldn’t want to draw him?]
Floor #12281: [Seriously, this lazy fish is a perfect match for our minister!]
Floor #12282: [The minister is truly the minister. I really want the minister’s hand!]
Floor #12283: [Who dares to draw a couple’s profile picture based on this?]
Floor #12284: [@Fish Can, Sui’er, let’s return the favor!]
Floor #12285: [@Fish Can]
However, Fish Can hadn’t logged into the forum for a while. This section was a screenshot Liang Wen sent him separately.
In the classroom, a boy noticed Yang Feiwen and Yu Sui’s interaction and came over. He picked up a jacket someone had left nearby, bundled it up, and placed it behind Yu Sui’s head, saying, “Are you taking cold medicine tonight? It’s been raining these past few days —better guard against getting sick.”
After saying this, he patted the bundled jacket: “Lean back a bit, I’ll help you massage your vocal cords.”
Every school in G7 had a quota—some schools had more, others had less—and none were willing to concede to the others. Thus, the annual warm-up competition was a small-scale battle for pride.
As the “big shot” of their side, everyone was concerned about Yu Sui’s physical condition.
Coupled with his good looks, he was practically treated like a national treasure.
When Yan Xiu arrived, he saw the young master lying on the steps above, one leg bent and the other stretched out, while a boy knelt on the step below, facing Yu Sui.
Upon closer, he saw the boy’s hand resting on Yu Sui’s neck, pressing and touching near Adam’s apple. They were very close, perhaps even close enough for whispers to mingle with their breaths.
Yan Xiu frowned, his beautiful eyes narrowing slightly.
The others were completely oblivious, still discussing the short break. Their rehearsal was nearing its end, and they had been practicing for a long time, fine-tuning every detail.
“Let’s stop for tonight.”
“We can rest for the next few days.”
Taking advantage of the professor’s absence, they relaxed a lot while discussing this.
222Yu Sui was holding his phone high to play on it, though his arm was starting to ache. Seeing that it was almost time, he was about to ask Yan Xiu when they would finish today when he suddenly noticed the surroundings had fallen silent.
The boy massaging his vocal cords had a nickname, Rabbit, because of his prominent front teeth. Rabbit was always warm, his fingers were always hot, and everyone in the classroom liked to come to him for massages.
So the feeling of Rabbit raising his hand to let the cold air flow in through the gaps was particularly stimulating. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone approaching. The person’s hand hung at their side, their long, slender fingers slightly curled, and he could vaguely see thin calluses on their index and middle fingers.
Then Rabbit withdrew their hand.
Yu Sui tilted his head slightly and looked up to see his deskmate’s handsome face.
It had been half a day, but his deskmate was still as handsome as ever.
He just seemed to be in a bad mood.
Yu Sui blinked and raised his phone. “I was just about to look for you.”
He hadn’t noticed it before, but now that he spoke, he realized his voice was indeed a bit hoarse —just a slight rasp. The young master paused, thinking his voice sounded rather sensual, and continued, “What’s wrong?”
The young master had been lying back, his dark short hair and fair neck exposed, the top two buttons of his uniform undone. It was indeed sensual, yet he wore a slightly dazed expression.
Yang Feiwen, after all, was the frontline moderator of the CP forum. He felt Yan Xiu’s demeanor was somewhat familiar—a kind of cross-dimensional familiarity—though at that moment, he didn’t know what this familiarity meant. Subconsciously, he urged himself to explain, “Sui’er has been rehearsing a lot lately, and his throat might be tight. We were worried he’d strain it, so Rabbit was just massaging his vocal cords.”
Yan Xiu remained silent.
He sat down in the spot next to Rabbit, glancing at Yu Sui’s disheveled appearance.
He wasn’t the type to be unreasonable, so even if he felt awkward, he held it in, maintaining his usual calm and composed demeanor. He acknowledged with a sound, then looked at Yu Sui.
For some reason, Yu Sui felt a bit guilty and said to Rabbit, “I’ll do it myself.”
“Alright.” Rabbit, who had been caught breaking rules before, didn’t dare sit next to Yan Xiu. “Remember to return the jacket to Xiao Lin later.”
“Okay.”
Yu Sui leaned against the steps and sat down next to Yan Xiu.
These days, Yang Feiwen has grown increasingly bold and said in a particularly annoying way, “Yan-ge, do you want to give it a try?”
“Try what?” Yan Xiu asked.
Yang Feiwen said, “Vocal cord massage. You could help Sui’er. He’s lazy—if no one massages him, he won’t move.”
This was a very constructive suggestion, one that made Yu Sui’s temples throb. Having Yan Xiu massage him? That would be the death of him.
He thought Yan Xiu wouldn’t entertain such a strange request. After all, Minister Yan’s hands were meant for holding paintbrushes—his fragile vocal cords weren’t suited for Yan Xiu.
He couldn’t help but glance at Yan Xiu, only to see him nod slightly. “I’ll give it a try.”
Yang Feiwen briefly explained the position to Yan Xiu, mainly reminding him to use a gentle touch. Yan Xiu’s gaze then fell upon Yu Sui, carrying a hint of inquiry in his eyes.
Faced with such a Yan Xiu, Yu Sui found it impossible to refuse.
He remained silent for two seconds, silently closed his eyes, and tilted his head back, looking as if to say, “Do whatever you want with me.”
The moment that slightly cool hand touched his Adam’s apple, an electric current seemed to concentrate at that single point, requiring every ounce of his willpower to remain still.
“That’s about right,” Yang Feiwen chimed in, leaning over.
He didn’t realize he was being superfluous, and neither of the other two minded his presence. In moments like these, a little external disturbance could actually serve as a reminder, keeping them alert and grounded.
The fluorescent light overhead did nothing to diminish the contours of the young master’s face. Yan Xiu raised his eyes and saw his back pen straight leaning against the steps, his face was faintly visible. He was so pale that there was almost nowhere to hide when the blush flared up.
“You two sit close together as desk mates, so you can help each other relax from time to time. It doesn’t need to be for long,” Yang Feiwen dutifully explained, but the boy lying back suddenly grabbed Yan Xiu’s wrist.
“That’s enough,” Yu Sui’s voice came out even tighter than before. His lowered eyelashes trembled slightly, as if touched by a cold breeze, glistening with moisture. Then he let go. “I need to use the restroom.”
In just a few seconds, he practically fled in panic.
Yang Feiwen stood up as well but didn’t even get a chance to speak. When he later glanced back at Yan Xiu, he noticed Yan Xiu had no intention of stopping him either.
Yan Xiu gently rubbed his fingertips together before curling his fingers inward.
Two days before the warm-up competition, all rehearsals at No. 26 Middle School were suspended.
The head of the Moral Education visited Class 3 Arts twice to confirm they were still in good health.
Lao Gu, on the other hand, was quite relaxed.
Given their current dietary restrictions, Lao Gu couldn’t buy them snacks, but he could lighten their academic workload appropriately.
As a result, Class 3 Arts spent the entire day acting rather boldly, even placing their phones openly on their desks.
Yi Tian said with a smile, “The teachers are too nervous.”
Yu Sui leaned against the wall, his hands still tucked under the desk, quickly sending messages on his phone.
After the warm-up competition, following a brief collective training session, they would accompany the professor to G7. The exhibition was held in another city, and each professor would only bring three students.
Although they were still saying that the selection would be from among the candidates, Yu Sui knew perfectly well that he and Yan Xiu had already secured two of the three spots in Class 3 Arts. The other spot would most likely go to the class monitor, Yi Tian.
Since Yi Tian was a girl, he’ll most likely share a room with Yan Xiu during their stay.
Yu Sui was looking forward to it.
Not because he expected anything to happen, but simply because he anticipated the possibility of having some time that belonged solely to the two of them.
As for what would happen after they returned—they could deal with that later.
Yan Xiu celebrated his birthday according to the lunar calendar, which required calculating the date every year. After checking, Yu Sui realized Yan Xiu’s birthday fell on the 14th—Valentine’s Day.
His mood gradually lifted, and he felt a quiet joy over this subtle coincidence.
“What are you smiling about?” a clear voice sounded beside him.
Yu Sui turned off his phone and slumped onto the desk, shaking his head, keeping his secret tightly guarded.
Recently, while Class 3 Arts was taking a break, the student council hadn’t stopped working. However, considering how busy the students in their class were, the student council had temporarily eased their responsibilities.
Yan Xiu didn’t press further.
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152