HTC 1

In early September, the weather in Jiangcheng was still scorching hot.

This kind of weather was perfect for Xie Huai to skip class.

Xie Huai stood by the wall, glanced around, and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw no one was there.

He adjusted his school pants and took a few steps forward before effortlessly leaping up, jumping on the wall.

There was a slight pain in his shoulder and calf. It may have been hurt while exercising a few days ago, but it was nothing serious.

When Xie Huai was about to jump down, a man wearing the same school uniform as him and carrying a bag on one shoulder walked towards him. He then stood directly below Xie Huai and raised his eyes to look at him.

A familiar face in a familiar position.

Xie Huai knew he couldn’t escape this time. It seemed his plan to skip class had failed once again.

Regret flashed through Xie Huai’s mind for hesitating just now. He had missed the optimal time to escape.

“Class monitor…” Xie Huai awkwardly smiled. “How about letting me off this time?”

He wasn’t actually afraid of Jiang Xu. After all, he was the renowned school tyrant at Shi Wai High School. It was just that Xie Huai had a protective instinct towards good-looking and academically talented students, so whenever he had such thoughts, he felt like a pervert.

Jiang Xu didn’t speak, just looked at Xie Huai lightly.

Xie Huai thought to himself, ‘Forget it, I’ll try again in a few days.’

“Class monitor, let’s discuss something,” Xie Huai suggested. “If you keep standing here, I won’t be able to jump down. You’ll have to catch me, or else we might end up with you dead and me injured. Don’t blame me then.”

Xie Huai initially intended to persuade Jiang Xu to make way so he could jump, but unexpectedly, he heard a faint laughter from the other person.

Xie Huai: “?”

Jiang Xu nodded at him: “Turn around.”

Although Xie Huai was a little puzzled, he complied.

“Jump.” Jiang Xu said lightly.

Xie Huai looked at the place under the wall where he had just stood, where there was still a not-so-obvious shoe print, and felt for a moment that his brain had been kicked by a donkey.

This kind of thing has never happened before. Maybe it was because it was the start of a new semester, and Jiang Xu had become a little more handsome.

Xie Huai: “…”

So embarrassing.

But it was fine. He definitely wouldn’t be embarrassed by something like this.

Xie Huai cleared his throat, trying to conceal his subtly complicated emotions.

Then he jumped down in Jiang Xu’s sight.

Today was the first day of the second year of high school. Morning self-study hadn’t ended yet; after morning self-study was the flag-raising ceremony that happened every Monday. Xie Huai had a bit of compulsive behavior; he only skipped class on Mondays. If he managed to escape, it was good luck. If he didn’t, he would be caught and forced to attend the flag-raising ceremony.

Unfortunately, Jiang Xu always managed to catch him on Mondays. So, regretfully, from his first year of high school until now, he had never successfully skipped a class.

Xie Huai squatted down to retie his loose shoelaces. By the time he stood up, Jiang Xu had already flipped over the wall and landed right next to him.

Jiang Xu familiarly grabbed Xie Huai’s wrist and expertly led him back into the classroom. Xie Huai had no thoughts about this anymore – he was tired and numb, so he just went along with it.

Just as they stepped into the classroom, the bell for the end of morning self-study rang.

Jiang Xu hung his backpack on the hook next to his desk, then pulled Xie Huai into the line in the corridor.

Their classmates were used to this by now; some of them even joked about them.

“The Class Monitor has arrested his wife who skipped class again to participate in the flag-raising ceremony.”

During the New Year’s Eve party, they drew game cards. Jiang Xu drew a “boss” card, and Xie Huai drew a “boss’s wife” card. They didn’t know who started calling them this, but ever since then, whenever Jiang Xu did something to Xie Huai, these people would say, “Jiang Xu, what have you done to your wife again?”

None of them were people who couldn’t take a joke, and they didn’t say much about it.

Jiang Xu remained silent, and Xie Huai finished speaking and shrugged, “There’s nothing I can do. My partner here is just too vigilant. Can’t escape even if I want to.”

After saying this, Xie Huai clearly felt the hand that Jiang Xu was holding his wrist tighten a bit. He didn’t pay it much mind and continued chatting with the classmates behind him.

“I’ll try not to get caught next time I skip class,” Xie Huai said with a smile.

Someone chimed in: “Brother, I don’t have many blessings for you, so I wish you an early escape from the clutches of the Class Monitor.”

“Liu Yi, you really are my good buddy. When the time comes, your big brother here will definitely treat you to a lollipop as a token of gratitude,” Xie Huai expressed his satisfaction.

“Got it,” Liu Yi gave him a thumbs-up.

Jiang Xu glanced at the two of them, his expression emotionless. Liu Yi immediately shut his mouth upon Jiang Xu’s gaze. Xie Huai couldn’t find anyone to talk to, so he settled down.

With nothing else to do, Xie Huai started playing with Jiang Xu’s hand. However, his left hand was held by Jiang Xu’s grip and he couldn’t move much, so he could only use his right hand. Xie Huai lightly pinched Jiang Xu’s finger joints and then tapped the slightly prominent blue vein on the back of Jiang Xu’s hand due to his fair skin.

“What are you doing?” Jiang Xu’s face slightly changed. When he looked at Xie Huai, his voice was low, audible only to Xie Huai.

Xie Huai’s gaze was still fixed on Jiang Xu’s hand, and he answered without lifting his head, “I think your hand looks pretty.”

There was a moment of silence, but Jiang Xu still didn’t let go of the hand he was holding, allowing Xie Huai to toy with it.

In a little while, the deep voice of the headmaster came through the intercom, announcing that all students and teachers should gather on the sports field for the weekly flag-raising ceremony.

Jiang Xu was the student representative and would be giving a speech under the flagpole. After they arrived at the sports field, he disappeared from Xie Huai’s sight. Xie Huai was the second tallest in the class, just a bit shorter than Jiang Xu, so he quickly spotted Jiang Xu standing beside the flagpole.

As Jiang Xu stepped onto the platform to speak, the surrounding students seemed visibly excited. Xie Huai could even hear the hushed discussions among the girls from the class in front of them, some expressing their interest in pursuing Jiang Xu.

This person turned out to be a popular guy?

If Xie Huai hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would have doubted his ears were malfunctioning.

This was possible? Jiang Xu always had that cold expression on his face, and it was understandable if he attracted girls, but how could he also attract guys?

Xie Huai looked up at the flagpole with a skeptical attitude and complex emotions.

Although he seemed a bit aloof, he did indeed appear quite likable.

Back in the classroom, Xie Huai started to sleep before class started.

When Jiang Xu returned to the classroom, he saw Xie Huai sprawled over his desk sleeping like a log, completely motionless.

Walking over from behind Xie Huai, he took a seat in the adjacent desk, then pulled out a set of papers to start working on questions.

It wasn’t until the bell rang for class to begin that Jiang Xu woke Xie Huai up.
“Huh? Why did I fall asleep on your desk again?” Xie Huai, just waking up, still felt a bit groggy. Apparently, he had been lying down for too long, as there was an imprint of the moon pattern from the uniform sleeve on his forehead.

Same as Bao Qingtian, but not as dark as Bao Qingtian.

Jiang Xu glanced at him and couldn’t help but chuckle softly. Immediately, he turned his head away, but the slight movement of his shoulder betrayed him.

“Why are you laughing? Am I that funny?” Xie Huai was puzzled. He tried to pry Jiang Xu, but the latter remained unmoved.

“Am I funny?” Xie Huai turned his head and asked the other classmates.

When the other students heard this, they looked at Xie Huai, and when they saw the moon pattern on his forehead, the whole class burst into laughter.

Xie Huai: “?”

At that moment, someone said, “Huai Huai, take a look at the window next to you.”

Xie Huai turned his head back and looked at the window to Jiang Xu’s right.

“Damn.” Xie Huai was stunned for a second, then quickly raised his hand to cover his forehead and lowered his head.

The whole class couldn’t help laughing after seeing this series of actions.

Forget it.

“Jiang Xu, why didn’t you tell me,” Xie Huai lowered his voice and said with gritted teeth, “You don’t care about your tablemate too much, and you even laughed at me.”

Xie Huai covered his forehead and didn’t move, his expression was a little embarrassed, Jiang Xu rarely felt that Xie Huai like this was cute.

“I’m sorry.” Jiang Xu said.

“Ah?” Xie Huai heard Jiang Xu apologize to someone for the first time, and that someone was him. He covered his forehead and raised his head, saying, “… well, you don’t need to apologize. It’s my fault for sleeping in my school uniform.”

Jiang Xu: “…”

The first class was taught by their homeroom teacher, Yao Wenjing. When Yao Wenjing entered the classroom, the atmosphere was lively.

“Oh, everyone is so happy on the first day of school?” Yao Wenjing put down her Chinese textbook and smiled, asking them.

Not a single student in the class spoke, but all eyes turned to Xie Huai. Sensing the gazes directed at him, Xie Huai felt uncomfortable. Generally, in this kind of situation, the teacher would definitely guess who was responsible, and the teacher would surely ask that person what had happened.

“Xie Huai? Everyone is looking at you. It seems you must know why they are so cheerful?” Yao Wenjing remarked.

As expected.

Xie Huai was helpless and had to lower his hand from his forehead.

Perhaps the mark was too noticeable; Yao Wenjing, standing at the front of the class, could clearly see it. To be honest, it was quite funny, but she managed to hold back her laughter.

Yao Wenjing joked: “Alright, I understand now, but I didn’t realize that you actually like Bao Qingtian.”

“I don’t,” Xie Huai explained, “I don’t like Bao Qingtian.”

“Okay, okay, it’s normal to have a favorite character, Teacher understands, pft.”

Xie Huai: “…”

No need to explain further; he could like whoever he wanted.

Unfortunately, his desk mate laughed again, prompting Xie Huai to directly grab Jiang Xu’s hand.

“No more laughing.”

“Okay, I won’t laugh,” Jiang Xu replied softly, and indeed, he didn’t laugh.

Seeing that Jiang Xu had really stopped laughing, Xie Huai let go of his hand.

Then he buried his head and continued to sleep.

A few seconds later, Xie Huai remembered something and immediately took off his school uniform, tossing it into his desk. Now there definitely wouldn’t be a moon-pattern mark.

They were sitting in the second-to-last row. Yao Wenjing was used to Xie Huai sleeping in class. She had talked to Xie Huai privately a few times about it. Each time, Xie Huai would promise not to sleep, but he would still doze off when back in the classroom. He could even manage to fall asleep while standing outside the classroom.

So, Yao Wenjing just let Xie Huai sleep as long as he didn’t disturb the other students during class.

The classroom was air-conditioned. In such conditions, one would usually wake up from the cold after half a class. However, a whole class had passed, and Xie Huai showed no signs of waking up.

***

In the second class, Xie Huai slowly opened his eyes. He realized he was covered with a school uniform that didn’t belong to him, emitting a faint fragrance of grass and wood.

It smelled quite nice.

Xie Huai sniffed again.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jiang Xu, who was wearing only a short-sleeved shirt.

Xie Huai was taken aback. This school uniform belonged to Jiang Xu.