Gu Chuan strolled into the classroom at an unhurried pace. The freshman ceremony was about to begin, and everyone was in high spirits.

Most of them were probably talking about one thing.

How many pretty freshman girls there would be this year.

But the instant Gu Chuan stepped into the room, all that chatter died out. The classroom atmosphere dropped into a strange silence.

In that silence, the only sound was the crisp, easy motion of Gu Chuan casually tossing down his sling bag.

Then he quietly took out the books for today’s lessons from his bag, lined them up neatly on his desk, stuffed the bag into the drawer, and finally sat down. One smooth sequence.

Whether he studied or not was another matter.

But neat was neat. Everything had to be in order.

Gu Chuan didn’t have OCD, but he had all the symptoms of it. It just didn’t torment him that badly.

His gaze swept past pairs of eyes filled, more or less, with disdain, then turned straight toward the window, toward that stretch of beautiful blue sky outside.

He could vaguely hear the sounds of training drills coming from the field.

He closed his eyes, as if feeling the soft breeze drifting in through the not-quite-shut window.

His flawless profile settled into a picture.

Anyone who saw that scene, male or female, had to admit it.

Gu Chuan absolutely deserved his endless luck with romance.

The classroom’s strange silence broke at that moment and quickly returned to normal.

Gu Chuan’s seat was in the back row, in the corner by the window. He was tall, had good eyesight, and on top of that, his grades were bad. Landing in a spot like that was perfectly normal.

But his deskmate was the strange one.

He was short, had poor eyesight, wore glasses all year round, and had good grades. Yet somehow, he ended up sitting next to Gu Chuan.

His name was Wen Tinghan. He was a boy around 1.6 meters tall, with delicate features and a soft, timid personality.

He was Gu Chuan’s only male friend.

Even now, Gu Chuan still didn’t know what their homeroom teacher had been thinking.

But one thing was beyond doubt.

Gu Chuan was grateful for that chance, because it made him and Wen Tinghan friends.

Speak of the devil, and he appears.

Their homeroom teacher stepped into the classroom from outside. He was thin and tall, wore black-rimmed glasses, carried a briefcase, and was dressed, as always, in an old mouse-gray suit.

As he entered, his sharp eyes flashed and swept across the room from left to right, lingering for a moment on Gu Chuan’s seat.

Half for Gu Chuan.

Half for the empty desk beside him.

“Student Wen Tinghan is on sick leave today.”

“Everyone, stand up. Bring your books and get ready to head to the school auditorium for the freshman ceremony!”

“Bring books?”

“What books...?”

Murmurs like that rose nonstop.

Homeroom teacher Song Yuhui put on a stern face and planted his hands on his hips.

“What books? Math, obviously! Use the chance to memorize more formulas. How many times have I told you brats already? Memorize the formulas, memorize the templates, and when the exam comes, you’ll naturally know how to apply them!”

Even though they were only in the second year of high school, Song Yuhui, whose actual subject was math, was already teaching his students with the attitude of someone preparing them for the college entrance exam.

His educational philosophy was simple: be strict when it was time to be strict, relax when it was time to relax, and don’t waste a single minute.

Everyone sighed, but they still obediently picked up their math textbooks, exercise books, or review materials.

As the school broadcast came on, they stood from their seats under the class monitor’s lead and headed toward the school auditorium for the freshman ceremony.

Only when there were barely any students left in the classroom did Gu Chuan finally move his gaze away from his deskmate Wen Tinghan’s desk. Then he stood up, ready to attend the freshman ceremony that so many people were looking forward to, but that meant nothing to him.

As usual, he had brought his phone.

If he got caught, not only would he lose conduct points, it would also be confiscated.

And if it got confiscated again this time, he’d probably have to find himself a new “girlfriend” before he could afford another phone.

What no one knew was that ever since Gu Chuan entered high school, he had never had a “girlfriend” in the true sense of the word.

At first, it was a girl from the same grade, Lin Churou, who approached him first and asked if he’d be willing to be her rental boyfriend.

At the time, she was planning to write a youth novel centered on campus romance.

According to her, from the very first moment she saw Gu Chuan, she felt like the male lead in her story had come alive in the real world.

Like he had suddenly gained a face.

Back then, the conflict between Gu Chuan and his foster parents had become impossible to resolve. His home life was already close to emotional neglect.

So he moved out of Ji Gewei’s house and rented the tiny place he lived in now by himself.

He was short on money.

Very short.

The idea of a rental boyfriend was something he’d heard for the first time back then.

But unexpectedly, he didn’t feel any resistance to it at all.

He had plenty of gentleness and tender affection to sell...

And Lin Churou had been straightforward too. She was willing to pay by the hour. It seemed she was already a fairly well-known online author in the women’s fiction space, able to live off copyright income, though very few people knew that.

Thinking it was all upside and no downside, Gu Chuan shamelessly agreed to her request.

And from that day on, he officially became her rental boyfriend. The job mostly involved reenacting scenes from her work and saying the cheesy lines she had written herself.

In short, it became a stretch of memories that had been unbearably embarrassing at the time, yet now felt unbearably precious.

Finally, on the day Lin Churou finished the first volume of her draft—

It was Gu Chuan who proposed the breakup.

Because he had sworn that he would absolutely never get dumped by a woman again.

As for whether Lin Churou’s work became a huge success, Gu Chuan, who only read light novels, had neither the interest nor the means to find out.

Their relationship had faded to the point that even if they ran into each other on the street, they would often hesitate over whether they should say hello.

But what Gu Chuan didn’t know was this.

That volume Lin Churou wrote had actually been a work written only for herself.

Even now, she still refused to publish it.

And yet she didn’t dare read it either.

...

Gu Chuan thought back, trying to remember whether he had refilled cat food and fresh water for the little cat at home, Xuechun, last night.

Then he figured that maybe, after turning into a catgirl, Xuechun could probably make food for herself and take care of herself just fine.

That thought eased his mind.

He didn’t bring any books. He slipped his phone into his pocket, stood up from his seat, and prepared to catch up with the class.

Without Wen Tinghan beside him, he felt his marginal place in the class even more clearly.

His gaze drifted, intentionally or not, toward the front rows of the classroom, landing on a slender back.

She had also dragged things out and stayed behind till the end. That really didn’t suit her personality.

The girl Gu Chuan was looking at was An Qianmeng.

His previous “girlfriend.”

Without question, that had also been rental boyfriend work.

And once again, Gu Chuan had been the one to dump her.

She was the daughter of a wealthy family, and the acknowledged school beauty. Ji Gewei was a goddess; a flighty title like school beauty didn’t suit her temperament.

Gu Chuan quietly swallowed.

Then he quickened his pace and walked past An Qianmeng’s side.

But just as he was about to leave the classroom—

He heard a familiar voice, one already carved deep into his soul.

It was so fragile.

So irresistible.

Like an evening sky stained with rosy haze, faintly intoxicated.

“Gu Chuan... stay with me.”