15,015.

Page (1/3)

The two of them did not hold each other’s gaze for long.

In ordinary social interactions, after all, staring at a fellow student for more than three seconds was awkward. Chen Kuo calmly withdrew his eyes. On his desk lay the same bag of roasted chestnuts, its opening not sealed properly. A sweet fragrance had escaped and lingered stubbornly in the air.

“Roasted chestnuts?!”

Fei Shijie came hurrying over, and his eyes lit up at the sight. Without the slightest courtesy toward Chen Kuo, he pounced like a starving tiger, reaching to snatch them away. It was not yet the season for roasted chestnuts, but how could anyone’s mouth ever be allowed to rest? In any case, whoever saw them deserved a share.

Chen Kuo’s brows twitched. Quick as a flash, he reached out and pressed the bag down.

Before Fei Shijie could react, the first thing Chen Kuo did was tear off the note stuck to the bag and stuff it into his trouser pocket.

His hands moved so quickly that Fei Shijie did not even see what he had hidden. But Chen Kuo had already let go, which meant there was no way he could protect the bag of chestnuts.

Fei Shijie grabbed out a handful and took a deep sniff. “Smells amazing.”

He turned his head toward Chen Kuo, who was frowning as though lost in thought, and remarked, “You really do like the roasted chestnuts from this place. It must be the only shop that can make you willingly stand in line, right?”

Chen Kuo was not picky about food. That had a lot to do with his family.

Both of his parents were medical workers, and they were busy all the time. They had no elderly relatives around to lend a hand, either, so by the time they got home, they were exhausted. Naturally, when it came to cooking for their child, convenience came first.

Thus, in Chen Kuo’s worldview, standing in a long line just for something to eat was absolutely unthinkable.

Roasted chestnuts were an exception, though even then he judged according to the circumstances. If the line appeared to be longer than fifteen minutes, he would turn around and leave no matter how much he wanted them.

Chen Kuo: “…”

He remained silent. None of Fei Shijie’s words reached his ears. He was still trying to figure out what the note meant. It was not until Fei Shijie had nearly finished stealing all the chestnuts that he barely came back to himself and cursed, “Are you a pig?”

Although the thought of returning the bag of roasted chestnuts had existed in his mind for only a few seconds before he rejected it, that did not stop him from growing irritated when he saw the empty bag with only a few chestnuts left.

Fei Shijie did not care in the slightest. He unscrewed the cap of his bottle and took a drink of water.

Being full felt fantastic.

During the first evening self-study period, everyone in the classroom was reading or doing homework. It was so quiet that the only sounds were turning pages and the rapid scratching of pen tips. It was rare for Chen Kuo to become distracted, but he reached into his trouser pocket and took out the crumpled note.

This time, he understood what she meant.

He had been influenced by the misunderstanding from last time. She had merely been expressing her thanks.

He gathered his thoughts and let the matter end there. Then he crumpled the note into a ball and placed it together with the discarded sheets of draft paper. He would throw them away after class.

Students were not the only ones who suffered from holiday syndrome; teachers did too. On Sunday evening self-study nights, not a single teacher was willing to explain problems, so they were left to review on their own.

Zhang Yunyi breathed a sigh of relief. The atmosphere in the classroom was thick with the urge to study, and she had finished all her homework!

Whether she had gotten it right was completely irrelevant.

What mattered was that she had finished writing. One had to understand that with the examination papers of senior year, even if one simply made things up, managing to leave not a single question blank still required considerable skill!

Feeling refreshed, Zhang Yunyi ran into Chen Kuo on her usual visit to the restroom and greeted him cheerfully.

“Class monitor!”

She swallowed the words “What a coincidence.”

After all, running into someone outside the restroom hardly called for such a phrase.

Chen Kuo had almost forgotten about the bag of chestnuts, but seeing her reminded him. After several seconds of silence, he gave a quiet acknowledgment.

…

At ten ten, the bell signaling the end of evening self-study rang.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

Chen Kuo did not hurry back to the dormitory. He corrected the advanced exercise paper he had worked on that day, then studied several alternative solutions to the final major problem. By the time he finished, hardly anyone remained in the classroom. He left without hurry and headed toward the dormitory building.

At ten thirty, the dormitory was at its liveliest.

Several boys were still laughing and fooling around in the corridor. Chen Kuo avoided them, but he nearly collided with Shen Mingrui, who was wearing nothing but a pair of pajama bottoms.

Shen Mingrui turned around and nearly suffered cardiac arrest. He shouted toward the people inside, “Are you all blind? Didn’t you see Brother Kuo coming?”

Then he bowed to Chen Kuo in an exaggeratedly comical manner. “Brother, I was wrong.”

Chen Kuo glanced into Room 508. It was a complete mess. He said casually, “Once you bring the dorm supervisor over, you’ll all behave.”

The boys knew he was joking.

As class monitor, Chen Kuo was not particularly imposing. Although he had never truly blended into the group, he would still protect them whenever he could. Thus, every boy in the class, without exception, addressed him as Brother Kuo.

“That won’t happen!” A boy stepped out and cheerfully tattled, “Brother Kuo, this guy’s stinginess has angered both heaven and earth. We’re merely ridding the people of a menace!”

Shen Mingrui snorted. “You band of thugs! You stole my cookies and still think you’re in the right?”

“You’re stingy enough to ooze pus,” the boy shot back with a laugh. “Eating one jar of your cookies is practically the same as taking your life.”

Shen Mingrui hugged the transparent jar, now only one-third full, and said smugly, “What do you know? This was a gift from Big Sis Yi.”

Zhang Yunyi had returned to school this time with bags upon bags of things.

Apart from bringing food for her beloved roommates to soothe the psychological wounds they had suffered in their previous lives, she had also brought tasty treats for several classmates she was close to, including the class monitor.

In Zhang Yunyi’s view, this was perfectly normal. She and her close friends truly had not seen each other for a long time, and they had been friends since they were young.

Shen Mingrui was one of them.

She had given him a jar of freshly baked cookies from a bakery, moving him beyond words. He had sworn that he would join any sect she founded and never betray it. Who could have imagined that before he could bathe, burn incense, and properly savor even one cookie, those little bastards would eat more than half of them? Who could possibly endure such an outrage?

Chen Kuo’s steps faltered. He turned back and glanced at the jar of cookies in Shen Mingrui’s hands.

The “Big Sis Yi” Shen Mingrui had mentioned was Zhang Yunyi.

Almost everyone in the class knew that back in their second year, Zhang Yunyi, Xu Shishi, and Shen Mingrui had first been assigned to sit together. The three of them had compatible personalities and soon became close. Shen Mingrui often called the girls “Sis Shi” and “Sis Yi,” but Zhang Yunyi found the names unbearably unpleasant and chased him around to beat him several times. The clever boy eventually changed his form of address to “Big Sis”—and it had to be “Big Sis.”

So Shen Mingrui had received food from Zhang Yunyi as well.

She had not bought it just for him after all.

Chen Kuo could not help raising a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. What on earth had he been thinking about all day?

He no longer paid attention to the boys’ exchange of insults and went straight back to his own dormitory. After putting down his schoolbag, he headed directly to the sink and washed his face. He felt much better afterward.

—

The days that followed passed quickly.

There was not much rain in September, and Zhang Yunyi often ran into Chen Kuo when she got up early. It had become a habit. Whenever they met outside the dormitory building, they would exchange a few words—not many, and nothing profound, but just enough.

They would wish each other good morning.

She would complain a little about how exhausted and sleepy she was, and how much she wanted to die for a while.

He would occasionally be amused into laughter. Then they would part ways: she would go to the track to walk while memorizing passages and vocabulary, and he would head to the cafeteria.

In the eyes of her friends, Zhang Yunyi now seemed to have developed some serious problems. Her life consisted almost entirely of three things: eating, studying, and currying favor with her boss, in that order.

Another week passed, and her phone had become much quieter than before. Li Jiayue had gone from sending dozens or even hundreds of messages a day to sending only two or three. She was deeply relieved, because it meant he had accepted the situation and was close to moving on.

She sincerely hoped Li Jiayue would be all right.

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

She did not deny that her past life had happened, but privately, she also believed that if Li Jiayue had not ended up with her, perhaps he would have lived a happier life.

…

“He’s still not over it?”

The door to the private room swung open. Yu Kai entered carrying a bag of food and drinks. He surveyed the room. A young couple was clinging to each other, singing an unbearably sentimental love song. Several others were scattered around the booth. At the center sat a boy leaning back with an expressionless face. No one was willing to provoke him, so the seats beside him were empty.

Another boy desperately signaled to Yu Kai, blinking so hard his eyelids were nearly twitching.

This was not a subject to bring up lightly.

After all, the hopeless romantic Li Jiayue had been… well, dumped.

Saying they had broken up, or that he had been dumped, was somewhat exaggerated, because all the brothers knew that although he had been only one step away, Li Jiayue had never truly won Zhang Yunyi over. But to Li Jiayue himself, there was no difference. He had experienced every emotion that came with heartbreak.

The first stage was madness.

I don’t believe you! You’re lying! You’re only saying that in anger! You’re trying to deceive me!

The second stage was suspicion.

You’re insecure because I’m handsome, so you’re testing me, aren’t you?

The third stage was defiance.

Ha! How hilarious. It’s not as though I absolutely need you. Don’t think that ignoring my messages will make me miserable. It won’t!

The final stage was nihilism.

Love, romance—all of it. I’ve seen through everything. Let this damned world be destroyed!

Clearly, Yu Kai had not received the signal his friend was sending. He sat down beside Li Jiayue, took a drink from the plastic bag, and handed it over.

“That’s enough. What’s that saying again? There are plenty of flowers beyond the horizon. Don’t hang yourself from a single tree.”

Li Jiayue, who had still been wearing a cold expression, was nearly sickened to death by him. He cursed bitterly, “If you don’t know how to talk, then don’t. No one will mistake you for a mute.”

Yu Kai: “…”

So cool. So aloof. And she still dumped you.

He cleared his throat. “Then what do you plan to do?”

The whole routine of crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide required an audience, too.

“I’m not going to let this go.” The thought of it still pained Li Jiayue. After tossing and turning and reflecting deeply for so long, he had become much calmer, but that did not mean he had reached a state of peaceful acceptance. “I know her. Something must have happened—something I don’t know about. I have to find a way to figure it out. I can die, but I can’t die without knowing why.”

Yu Kai humbly asked, “What happened?”

“Didn’t I just say I don’t know?” If he had known, would he still be wasting time here with them?

Everyone in the private room fell silent.

Listening to his friends continue singing some sentimental song about loving each other forever, Li Jiayue grew irritated as well. He leaned forward, curled his fingers, and tapped the tabletop.

“Change the song. I want to hear ‘The Pain That Breathes.’”

Page (3/3)