In the morning for the first class, Song Yu arrived at the classroom early.
He had woken up around six, a habit cultivated since childhood.
After breakfast, he read for a bit in the dorm and arrived at the classroom before 7:40.
A few weeks into the semester, student enthusiasm had sharply declined; previously, at least a third of the seats would have been filled at this hour, but now the large classroom contained only Song Yu.
After reviewing vocabulary for a few minutes, he stared at the words on his phone screen, then hesitated before tapping the screen to open a social media app.
He self-destructively scrolled to the very end of his chat history, selecting the profile labeled “He Chang.”
The last message was from a month ago, and the next two pages consisted almost entirely of messages Song Yu had sent after He Chang proposed breaking up.
[Song Yu]: He Chang, can we talk?
[Song Yu]: Don’t treat me like this… You promised we would make it to the end.
[Song Yu]: Can you meet me? Please.
Each message sent was like a whip, striking Song Yu’s face—painful and humiliating.
He shut his eyes, his fingers trembling. He couldn’t understand.
In his senior year, he had watched He Chang stay up until two in the morning, working tirelessly to keep up with him, going from barely passing to achieving scores that reached the second-tier university threshold by the end of the college entrance exam.
To be with him at the same school, He Chang enrolled in a nearby institution. Song Yu had thought everything would improve.
They had endured so much hardship together… Why choose to give up now?
Song Yu couldn't fathom it.
No matter how he asked, He Chang had never answered him.
Gradually, students started trickling into the classroom.
Song Yu turned off his phone screen.
Seated near the door, he gazed blankly at the students rushing in, each moving in different directions.
A figure entered the room, with long legs clad in black pants, but unlike the others, this person hesitated as they approached Song Yu, their steps slowing.
When Song Yu looked up and recognized the face, he realized it was the guy from the other day.
Ji Mian's face was quite recognizable, especially with the earring in his left ear.
“Hello.” It was Song Yu who spoke first. “You must be Lu Zhou, right?”
Ji Mian was taken aback.
Song Yu smiled softly. “I heard from Classmate Lin that you explained to the teacher about my absence from the advanced math class.”
He recalled something and added, “Classmate Lin is my roommate—naturally curly hair.” He gestured to his own hair, “You should remember.”
Ji Mian nodded.
“Thanks for that.” Song Yu smiled warmly, though a hint of hidden melancholy flickered in his eyes.
Song Yu had a unique aura, one rarely seen in either gender—a scholarly vibe that intensified when he smiled, like a dew-kissed flower blooming.
Ji Mian felt his ears heat up instantly.
He was caught off guard, coughing heavily, then awkwardly looking around, avoiding making direct eye contact with Song Yu.
“By the way,” he turned his head away, “why are there so many unfamiliar faces in the classroom today? They don’t seem to be from our major?”
“Yeah, it seems this class is a required course for us, but also an elective open to the computer science department. A few students are from there,” Song Yu explained.
The course was titled “Enterprise Management System Development,” sounding impressive, but it was challenging and required some knowledge of web front-end development, necessitating a programming background.
The course was poorly designed; most freshmen hadn’t systematically learned programming yet, making it tough to jump straight into developing a system.
Moreover, the course content didn’t quite align with the economics department, leading to complaints from many past students. Freshman year typically involved general foundational courses, and even when they touched on related subjects, they were usually gradual. This course was notably harsh.
Only because A University students generally had strong self-learning abilities and the professors were lenient did the final grades not appear too disastrous.
Today was the first class for this course.
At that moment, Ji Mian felt a tap on his shoulder.
He turned his head. The person who tapped him was a tall guy with trendy, styled short hair.
“Lu, remember me?” the guy grinned.
Though not as striking as Ji Mian or Xie Heng, the guy was still attractive enough, and his height and style made for an appealing overall impression.
Ji Mian recalled that he found the person somewhat familiar, but he just couldn't remember their name.
He was good at remembering people's appearances and names, so the only reason he couldn't recall this time was that he wasn't well-acquainted with the guy in front of him.
"I'll be playing ball at the second playground tonight," the boy said, his smile fading slightly.
This time, Ji Mian remembered. "Oh, it’s you. I recognize you."
He had seen this boy a few times; although they had never spoken or played basketball together, they often crossed paths at the court.
Just a vague impression...
The boy's smile turned slightly downwards as he appraised Ji Mian with a gaze that felt somewhat invasive.
"I'm Han Ji, from the Computer Science department."
"Want to play ball together sometime?"
"Sure," Ji Mian responded readily.
Han Ji smiled slightly but was about to say more when someone walked past him, casually tossing out a cool, “Morning.”
The voice came from beside Han Ji but wasn’t directed at him.
Han Ji turned to look and saw that it was a boy taller than him, with a buzz cut and a profile that could only be described as perfect.
“Morning,” Ji Mian replied, turning his head.
Xie Heng had only slowed down a bit when passing Ji Mian, and after receiving a response, he didn’t look back and went straight to find a seat.
Han Ji narrowed his eyes.
This guy has some attitude.
Xie Heng found a spot, sat down, and took out his laptop. The black screen reflected his shadow.
He randomly tapped on the keyboard a few times before pressing the power button.
While waiting for the computer to boot up, Xie Heng lowered his gaze and noticed two band-aids on his elbow—both were from Ji Mian.
His gaze shifted to the boy at the front of the classroom, who was talking to Song Yu, and he recalled Ji Mian's blushing face from a few days ago when he complimented Song Yu on being "very handsome," suddenly understanding: oh, the boy he mentioned wanting to pursue was this one.
【Affection Level +40, Contributor: Xie Heng.】
In the next moment, Xie Heng unexpectedly locked eyes with Ji Mian, who had just looked up.
Both felt a strange sensation in their hearts at the moment of eye contact.
Xie Heng's computer screen lit up, showing the time as 7:56 AM.
Class was about to start.
Ji Mian withdrew his gaze, said something to Song Yu, and then walked toward a seat on the other side of the classroom, putting some distance between himself and Xie Heng.
Not long ago, Ji Mian had been the one who actively sat next to Xie Heng.
—He’s avoiding me, Xie Heng thought.
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