C78

"Heng Ge, you have a nosebleed!”

“……” Only then did Xie Heng feel a warmth in his nostrils.

Ji Mian hurriedly searched for tissues for him.

After receiving the tissues, Xie Heng quickly took care of it and dashed to the restroom.

When he returned, the class bell rang just in time.

Ji Mian looked at him with concern. “Are you feeling overheated?”

Xie Heng felt utterly embarrassed and didn’t dare to look at him. “A bit.”

“Then you should eat lighter lately. Don’t eat in the cafeteria; the food is too oily.” Ji Mian, worried that he still wasn’t well, handed over the last tissue in his hand to Xie Heng.

His pale hand reappeared in Xie Heng’s line of sight. Xie Heng instinctively touched his nose with his finger. Luckily, nothing else came out.

“……Yeah.”

—

A few days later, Ji Mian’s injury had mostly healed. It still hurt a bit if he bumped it, but at least he could raise his arm now.

As soon as he felt better, he returned to the basketball court and started playing.

When Xie Heng arrived at the field with him, Ji Mian was nowhere to be found after their jog.

He looked down and sent Ji Mian a message.

【Xie Heng】: Where are you?

After waiting for two minutes with no reply, Xie Heng put his phone away and entered through a small gate next to the court. After six months, he was familiar with several of Ji Mian's basketball friends.

“Senior.” He called out to a boy watching from outside the court. “Where’s Lu Zhou?”

“Xiao Zhou?” The boy thought for a moment before replying, “He just got called away by a girl. I think he went that way.”

He pointed toward the left side of the court, where the door was far from the dormitory and supermarket, so usually, not many people used it.

“Thanks, senior.” Xie Heng expressed his gratitude and started toward the door.

“Uh, wait…” The boy scratched his head, hesitant to say that it might not be convenient for Xie Heng to go over right now.

It was late at night, and a girl had called him to a secluded path; what else could it be but a confession?

Xie Heng paused, waiting for him to finish.

“Uh, never mind.”

Xie Heng turned back and exited through the door the boy had indicated.

Once outside, he found himself next to a narrow path lined with lush trees. There were no streetlights, and he could barely make out the ground beneath him, relying on the faint light from the playground.

As he walked along the path, he slowed down as he approached a corner.

“……These things, you may not remember, but for me, every single one is a precious memory.”

The girl’s voice had a hint of tears, “I… really like you.”

The air fell silent for a moment, the wind rustling through the treetops, creating a desolate whisper.

After a long pause, a familiar voice, one that Xie Heng knew all too well, responded:

“Sorry…”

That gentle “sorry” weighed heavily on Xie Heng’s heart, like a mountain pressing down on him.

He realized that his own fate would probably just end with such a soft “sorry.”

He stood there for a moment before turning back.

—

Months later, the freshman students faced their second final exam week of university.

Ji Mian had crammed for half a month and, after finishing his last exam in early July, slumped over the table like a boneless piece of slime, completely motionless.

Xie Heng entered the classroom from another exam room and noticed Ji Mian was the only one left. He approached him. “How did it go?”

“……Not bad.” Ji Mian replied weakly, “At least I won’t fail. What about you, Heng Ge?”

“I’m okay too.”

Ji Mian struggled to lift his head slightly.

He knew that Xie Heng’s “okay” was on a completely different level. When Xie Heng said “okay,” it meant he was at least securing a score above ninety.

When grades were announced last semester, Xie Heng ranked third in their department, and his GPA was firmly in first place—a solid candidate for graduate school.

Xie Heng asked, “Do you want to go out for dinner?”

“Hmm? Don’t you usually skip dinner, Heng Ge?”

“The semester is almost over; I wanted to go out with you.”

Ji Mian paused for a moment. It was rare for Xie Heng to take the initiative to suggest going out.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t go today.

“Sorry, Heng Ge, I can’t go today.”

“Do you have plans with someone?”

Ji Mian touched his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed as he replied, “Not exactly. I’m going to find Song Yu…”

“Why are you looking for him?”

“I, um…” Ji Mian stammered, and within seconds, his cheeks turned red.

Seeing his reaction, Xie Heng paused.

“Are you going to confess?”

“Ah… ha.”

Xie Heng fell silent.

“I thought, since the semester is ending… and you think I’m pretty good too, what if Song Yu agrees?”

“What if? What if he rejects you?”

Ji Mian frowned. “Heng Ge, you shouldn’t discourage someone at a time like this. Say something auspicious.”

Xie Heng tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Then I can only wish you success.”

Ji Mian’s face lit up with a smile. “If I succeed, I’ll treat you to a meal!”

“What if you don’t succeed?”

Ji Mian: …

Why did he feel like Xie Heng was hoping for his confession to fail?

He ground his teeth and said, “If I fail, you treat me… to ice pops!”

Xie Heng lowered his gaze. “Okay.”

—

Ji Mian took his wager to go confess.

This was his second time confessing for a task, and it was different from the first world.

When he first started the task, his mind was clear and unburdened when he confessed.

But now, he had feelings for someone else and was about to confess to another person. Even though he knew he would likely be rejected by Song Yu, it still felt a bit strange.

He had arranged to meet with Song Yu and kept his words as brief as possible: “If you don’t have anyone you like yet, could you… consider me?”

As soon as Song Yu saw the message from Ji Mian asking him to meet, he guessed the situation.

He pressed his lips together and said, “Lu Zhou, you’ve helped me a lot…”

Ji Mian interrupted, “Don’t say that. I hope you like me simply because you like me, not because I’ve helped you.”

Song Yu was momentarily taken aback.

The boy in front of him, whether in his eyes or others’, was an ideal partner.

He was like the sun; even if you’ve never interacted with him, just watching him from a distance would warm you up with his brilliance.

Song Yu thought that if he hadn’t met He Chang first, he would have undoubtedly nodded in agreement to Ji Mian’s confession.

But he had known He Chang.

From his first year to his second year of high school, Song Yu didn’t have a deep impression of He Chang. He only knew that He Chang was the troublemaker sitting behind him, who spent most of the class sleeping and rarely spoke to anyone. More accurately, he rarely spoke to him.

He Chang got along well with the other boys around, but he had never taken the initiative to talk to Song Yu.

Once they moved up to the second year of high school, the academic pressure increased. Song Yu had never liked being active, and with the heavy workload, he often sat in class all day long.

During that time, he always found excuses to skip morning exercises, even running for the position of discipline committee member just to stay in the classroom during morning drills.

As a result, his physical fitness fell behind that of other students.

At the end of the first semester of the second year, the school arranged for the final physical fitness test. Unfortunately, their gym teacher was a responsible young teacher who didn’t let up at all.

Song Yu only had the spirit to tackle difficulties in his studies; he preferred to retreat when it came to other aspects. Thus, the hardest and most exhausting 1,000-meter test was pushed to the end—after all the other events were completed and his energy was nearly depleted.

Song Yu remembered that day was particularly sunny. Although it was winter, the temperature was unusually high.

He wore a thick down jacket and was left at the back of the line.

Whether it was the glaring sunlight or the suffocating down jacket, by the last lap, he started feeling dizzy, and the track beneath his feet seemed to warp and distort.

Then, his legs began to weaken. Song Yu clearly realized that he was about to be the only one to faint during the fitness test in recent years.

Before he lost consciousness, his last thought was: So embarrassing.

When he woke up, he was lying on the school nurse's bed. The nurse informed him that there was nothing wrong with his body, but because he had been asleep for a long time, his friends who accompanied him were called back to class.

The school nurse’s office was very warm, the heating turned up high.

His down jacket was placed beside the bed, and he was covered with a slightly worn but clean school jacket that had faded.

He returned to the classroom wearing that unfamiliar jacket and handed it back to the anxious boy sitting behind him.

He Chang looked shocked. “How did you know it was mine?”

Song Yu hesitated for a moment before answering, “Uh, because there’s a hole in the sleeve…”

Then he saw the usually quiet boy’s sun-kissed cheeks turn bright red.

“You’re mistaken, it’s not mine.”

Song Yu knew he wasn’t mistaken, but he didn’t call He Chang out on it.

That jacket hung on his seat until the semester ended, eventually being quietly taken away one day.

Song Yu always understood that He Chang’s kindness was like that slightly worn school jacket. It may not compare to the sun’s brilliance, but it poured out all its warmth for him.

He lowered his head and softly said, “I’m sorry.”

……

After Song Yu left, Ji Mian stood in place for a long time, gazing at the waning moon in the night sky and letting out a long sigh.

It was over.

When the next semester started, if Song Yu and He Chang got back together, his task in this world would be completely fulfilled.

He slowly made his way back to the dorm, not forgetting his bet with Xie Heng.

As he approached the supermarket, Ji Mian took out his phone to ask where Xie Heng was, but the system intercepted him first.

【No need to ask.】

Ji Mian was momentarily stunned and looked up.

Right in front of him, next to the supermarket entrance, a person was leaning against the wall, nibbling on an ice pop and waiting for someone. In the other hand, he held a transparent shopping bag filled with ice pops.

Moments later, Xie Heng seemed to sense something and turned his head, his gaze locking onto Ji Mian’s.

After a brief moment of surprise, he smiled at Ji Mian.

That almost gentle expression inexplicably tightened Ji Mian’s heart.

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