HCILH Ch. 39

Chapter 39: Sleeping Hand in Hand

Hou Mo, worried that Sui Houyu might fear he’d die in his sleep, made an effort to stay awake after Sui Houyu applied medicine for him. He listened to class attentively, for once not dozing off.

Although usually lazy and relying on his sharp memory, today Hou Mo even took a pen to jot down a few key points in his textbook. 

Supporting his chin with one hand, he spun the pen casually while glancing over at Sui Houyu.

Sui Houyu couldn’t sit still in class and was always fidgeting. Strangely enough, being distracted was his way of focusing. 

Today, his “small distraction” was carving a rubber stamp. Every now and then, he’d glance at the board and scribble down key points in his notebook.

Noticing Hou Mo’s gaze, Sui Houyu paused his carving and looked back. Their eyes locked, and an unspoken exchange began—a silent duel of glances, like waves crashing against rocks or matches striking red phosphorus. Neither side gave in.

After a long moment, they finally looked away.

The teacher tapped the blackboard. “This part is important. Make sure to note it.”

Sui Houyu glanced at the board, but when he tried to write in his notebook, he accidentally poked a hole in it with his carving tool.

“F*ck…” he muttered.

He’d forgotten to switch to a pen.

Hou Mo chuckled softly, a clear gesture of mockery.

Sui Houyu closed the cap on his carving knife and picked up a pen to jot down the notes properly. He flipped back through his notebook, trying to see if he could salvage the torn page, then simply taped it up with some decorative tape from his stash.

He was a fan of stationery, always having plenty of it on hand. Even pens with little trinkets fascinated him—like springs with dangling figurines that made taking notes almost fun. Watching the toy bounce as he wrote made him feel motivated.

Just as he was getting into the rhythm of note-taking, a small paper ball rolled across his desk. He turned to see Hou Mo motioning for him to open it.

Inside the paper ball was a diagram of a tennis court, complete with annotations.

Symbols like “S” represented Sui Houyu, while “SP” referred to Hou Mo. 

A solid line with an arrow represents their movement paths, while a dashed line with an arrow indicates the trajectory of the ball.

The court diagram also has a few circles and a black box filled with slanted lines, representing a specific area.

He first looked at Hou Mo’s handwriting, then pursed his lips and glanced at his own notebook. The difference in their handwriting was undeniable. His handwriting could be described as childish, with each stroke drawn slowly and elongated, all tilting in the same direction, as if the words on the page were walking with their heads held high.

Not ugly, but definitely not good-looking.

But Hou Mo’s handwriting… is really pretty.

He glanced at the blackboard and the teacher again, listening to the lecture with his ears, but his eyes remained fixed on the diagram.

It was clear that Hou Mo’s drawing was teaching him movement routes, along with some summarized techniques on the side, such as:

At the net: Defend against cross-court shots and mid-height cross-court shots.

Not at the net: Use straight shots, sharp angles, or powerful cross-court shots.

The layout of Hou Mo’s diagram was so unique that only Sui Houyu could understand it. 

It took him a moment, but he eventually grasped the strange movement patterns.

Just as he set the paper down, another ball of paper was thrown at him. 

His excellent reflexes made him instinctively reach out and catch it, holding it neatly in his palm. However, the sudden movement was too noticeable and caught the teacher’s attention.

Sui Houyu had practically thrown a punch out of nowhere at his desk, grabbing something mid-air with lightning speed—so fast the teacher couldn’t tell what he caught.

The teacher gave Sui Houyu a glance and then said: “Alright, Sui Houyu, you can answer this question.”

Sui Houyu stood up, looking at the blackboard. It seemed like he was putting his hand in his pocket, but in reality, he was tucking away the crumpled paper ball.

After a three-second pause, he answered the question.

Absolutely correct.

The teacher motioned for him to sit down.

Once seated, he noticed Hou Mo trying hard to stifle a laugh. He didn’t make a sound, but his shoulders were shaking, making him look extremely deserving of a beating.

Sui Houyu shot him a glare, then opened the crumpled paper. This time, the drawing was even more bizarre…

What are these drawings?

He glanced at the picture, then at the text below it, and finally figured it out: Hou Mo had drawn some kind of code. Those weird shapes turned out to represent hand signals.

In doubles matches, coordination between partners is crucial.

Some of those signals were specifically for strategies at the net. Hou Mo, positioned at the front, would make hand gestures behind his back to signal him. For example, a clenched fist meant “stay in place and guard your area.”

Ignoring the eye-offending drawings, Sui Houyu focused on the text.

Thankfully, Hou Mo had written things like “open palm” and “extend index finger” beside the illustrations—otherwise, they might’ve looked like pig hooves to him.

The handwriting was quite neat, so why were the drawings so ugly?

Is something wrong with Hou Mo’s brain?

Just then, a third paper ball landed on Sui Houyu’s desk. He thought it would contain more notes, but when he opened it, his expression stiffened.

This time, it was a drawing of two stick figures standing side by side, holding a trophy.

The one with a scribbled mess of hair was probably him. It looked like someone had repeatedly drawn circles in one spot, resulting in a dense clump of hair. To make it worse, a few stray lines at the top indicated his curls.

The other figure must have been Hou Mo. Hou Mo hadn’t spared himself either—one side of his face was smeared with ink, making him look like a yin-yang face.

The only readable thing on the paper was a giant “Yay!”

After looking it over, Sui Houyu crumpled the paper again and threw it away.

These drawings were an assault on his eyes.

When class ended, Hou Mo immediately leaned over and asked: “Why didn’t you reply to my note?”

This guy was still holding onto his childish antics, wanting to pass notes like a kid?

Sui Houyu stared at him for a moment, then took out his phone, found Hou Mo in his WeChat contacts, and sent him a two-word message: Got it.

After seeing the message, Hou Mo sighed helplessly and held his phone up to Sui Houyu’s face.: “Look at you. Other than cursing me, you’ve never sent me a message longer than two words.”

Sui Houyu glanced at the screen and asked: “What’s with the nickname?”

“Well, I can’t keep calling you Little Sister Yu  forever, can I?”

“Change it.”

“Nope.”

Sui Houyu glared at him, then opened his own phone and changed Hou Mo’s nickname: Shameless Big Dog.

Hou Mo saw it but didn’t get mad. Instead, he laughed. “Accurate.”

Not bothering to argue further, Sui Houyu asked, “Why are your drawings so ugly?”

“Did you understand them?”

“More or less.”

Hou Mo gave him a nudge, making him sit by the window while he took the aisle seat beside him.

He spread out the notes and began explaining the match strategies to Sui Houyu, pointing at the diagrams with his long, slender fingers. “You’ll serve from here, move to this position, and I’ll be here. The opponent will probably return the ball like this, and then we’ll…”

As Hou Mo’s finger glided across the paper and occasionally tapped certain points, his relaxed but pleasant voice filled the air.

The two sat very close. Since they were both leaning in the same direction, their long legs under the table occasionally touched, making Sui Houyu yawn.

The atmosphere was so soothing that Sui Houyu started to feel sleepy.

Seeing this, Hou Mo shifted his body slightly, avoiding any contact, and continued: “In this situation, you can take a crossover step to intercept balls that are far from your body.”

“Oh.” Sui Houyu responded lazily, gazing at the paper.

This class was a double period, and after the first session ended, the students took a break to drink water and use the restroom. When the teacher saw that most of the students had returned from the restroom, they resumed the lesson, though Hou Mo hadn’t yet made it back to his seat.

While the teacher was writing on the board, Hou Mo reached over to grab his textbook from his desk and placed it in front of him. 

Then, he began tidying up Sui Houyu’s desk, which was littered with eraser shavings.

Once he was done, Hou Mo stood his textbook upright as a screen and resumed drawing diagrams. It was still a layout of the court—during his earlier explanation, he had noticed that his diagram wasn’t detailed enough and wanted to make some improvements.

Sui Houyu sat quietly beside Hou Mo for once, unusually calm and focused. As he waited for Hou Mo to finish drawing, he seriously listened to the lecture, occasionally glancing at his seatmate.

The late-morning sunlight was perfect.

On Sui Houyu’s side, the curtain blocked half the window, and the sun filtered softly through the white fabric, casting a gentle light onto Hou Mo. The dappled light looked like sheer fabric breathing, draping delicately over Hou Mo.

Perhaps Hou Mo had slept awkwardly the night before, causing a stray lock of hair on his forehead to stick up, shimmering in the sunlight like amber. His pale hair, against his fair complexion, accentuated his well-defined profile, giving him an exotic vibe. It was no wonder Sui Houyu had thought he looked like a foreign kid when they were younger.

Hou Mo had a habit of licking his lips unconsciously while drawing, and Sui Houyu could see the tip of his tongue.

As he watched, Sui Houyu yawned again and gradually lay down on the desk.

When Hou Mo finished his drawing and was ready to show it, he noticed that Sui Houyu had fallen asleep, tugging on the sleeve of his sportswear jacket.

With his face buried in his arms, only his smooth, slender jawline was visible—too lean, with no trace of excess fat.

Hou Mo glanced at him and decided not to wake him, knowing that Sui Houyu hadn’t slept well the previous night.

Fearing that Sui Houyu might stir awake, Hou Mo adjusted his chair to sit closer, lying down beside him with his head resting on his arm, facing Sui Houyu. Even though all he could see was Sui Houyu’s curly hair, he still found it amusing.

It felt oddly intimate.

Hou Mo reached out with his finger and gently touched Sui Houyu’s hair, letting the soft strands curl around his fingertip. His hair was both soft and stubborn—the curls held their shape firmly.

He withdrew his finger, and the curls bounced back to their original shape, making him want to keep experimenting and see if he could alter the curve of Sui Houyu’s hair.

After several attempts, he realized that any changes were minimal.

In the end, he gave up and rested his head on his arm, gradually dozing off.

Half-asleep, worried that Sui Houyu might wake up if he didn’t feel his presence, Hou Mo reached out and felt around until his hand found Sui Houyu’s. He stopped only when their fingers touched, then hooked his index finger around Sui Houyu’s, finally feeling at ease enough to fall asleep.

Not long after, the students sitting in front noticed the scene. Su Anyi turned her head, saw them, and nudged Ran Shu with her elbow.

Ran Shu glanced back as well, seemingly unsurprised by the sight. Seeing Su Anyi’s confusion, he leaned closer to explain the backstory.

It wasn’t easy to talk in class, so it took them quite a while to whisper the whole story.

After hearing it all, Su Anyi stayed silent for a moment before softly whispering: “I get the logic, but… why do they have to hold hands while sleeping?”

“..” Ran Shu was stumped and couldn’t respond for a while. He looked back at the two again, finding it hard to believe as well. He reached out, intending to separate their hands.

But the moment he tried, Sui Houyu stirred in his sleep and clung even tighter to Hou Mo’s hand, refusing to let go.

Ran Shu gave up and shrugged: “Maybe they used to hold hands a lot when they were kids.”

Just before the lunch break, Ouyang Ge returned to the classroom, only to see most of the class dozing off. He had planned to question Sui Houyu about something, but then realized that Sui Houyu was asleep, too.

This wasn’t what Teacher Li had told him!

Ouyang Ge approached and frowned at the sight of the two boys holding hands while sleeping: “What’s going on?”

Deng Yiheng, who had noticed the situation earlier, remained calm: “Gege, they’re practicing doubles. Building chemistry, you know?”

Ouyang Ge picked up the notebook beside Hou Mo and glanced at the diagrams—indeed, they were doubles strategy layouts.

He didn’t press the issue and left.

When the athletes’ lunches were delivered, someone hesitated, wondering if they should wake Sui Houyu and Hou Mo.

Deng Yiheng waved his hand to stop them. “Nah, they’re not hungry. Beautiful people survive on fairy energy.”

Sweetness can fill you up better than food.