They left the supermarket.

They headed toward their rental.

Halfway there, they ran into the class president, who was carrying a basket of groceries.

They sized each other up.

The class president’s gaze settled on Ye Yubai.

Girls—especially girls their age—were naturally drawn to top students.

And even more so when the top student was as good-looking as him.

“Ye, are you free this weekend?”

She wore a positively friendly smile.

“If you are, how about we go to the bookstore and work on our homework? We said we’d do it together last time!”

Ye Yubai smiled too.

“I’m busy. My cat just had a bunch of kittens, so I have to stay home and help her through her recovery.”

Gan Lan frowned and shot him a look.

Wow.

He didn’t even need to rehearse that lie.

Since when do you have a cat?

The class president sounded a little disappointed as she said, “Oh.”

“All right, then… Maybe some other time…”

Let’s do it another day!

How could those few words be so hard to say?

She dithered for ages without getting to the point, and Ye Yubai gave a quiet snort.

What a boring woman. Why was she always trying to chat him up?

It wasn’t like he didn’t know she was using homework as an excuse to get him to buy her milk tea!

“If that’s everything, we’ll get going. See you, class president.”

As he spoke, Ye Yubai gave Gan Lan a subtle nudge on the shoulder, steering her forward.

Even after they’d gone a long way, Gan Lan could still sense the complicated gaze lingering behind them.

The class president seemed interested in Ye Yubai too.

…

“So why lie?”

Gan Lan asked casually.

She’d never noticed before, but now she suddenly realized that Ye Yubai was a compulsive liar.

And the worst part was, even when he lied, he made it sound so natural!

He was only seventeen!

If he picked up a bad habit like that now, what would become of him later?

As his childhood friend, Gan Lan felt it was her duty to set him straight before he went any further down the wrong path.

But before she could say a word, Ye Yubai cut her off.

Ye Yubai said nonchalantly, “If I didn’t lie, I’d have to go with her. That’d cost money, and I don’t want to do homework with her or spend money on her. So I had to lie.”

It sounded almost reasonable.

Gan Lan sighed. “You, honestly…”

Ye Yubai glanced at her, the corners of his mouth slowly lifting.

“Still, I really don’t have anything to do this weekend. How about you and I go on a date?”

Gan Lan stopped short.

A date?

Yeah, right!

As far as she was concerned, they were both guys. What kind of look would it be to spend all day stuck together?

“You might be free, but I’m not.”

Gan Lan pushed open the metal door at the entrance to the stairwell and headed for the stairs.

“This weekend I have to finish correcting my mistakes, do two math practice tests, and, oh, clean the place and do laundry…”

She sounded pretty busy.

Ye Yubai sighed.

He could tell Gan Lan was brushing him off.

Sure, those things took time, but they wouldn’t take up an entire weekend.

As he thought that, a sudden idea flashed through his mind.

“If I make him finish all that stuff tonight, then he’ll be free to spend the weekend with me, right?”

Now that was clever.

…

Once they were inside,

Gan Lan habitually turned on every light in the apartment.

She was an anxious person, and after dying once, she’d become even more uneasy.

“I need to go take care of something. Make yourself some instant noodles for now. We can figure out a late-night snack when I get back…”

Gan Lan put down her schoolbag, changed out of her uniform, and dug out her bank card.

Then she hurried out.

Ye Yubai was busy in the kitchen and didn’t hear her say a thing.

He came out carrying two bowls of instant noodles and called Gan Lan’s name. When no one answered, he realized she’d already gone out.

“Honestly, what’s she so busy with?”

He had no choice but to sit down and eat dinner alone.

But instant noodles were nowhere near as good as the noodles Gan Lan made for him.

They tasted like nothing.

After only a couple of bites, he dumped the noodles and broth into the trash.

Whether it was the Ye Yubai of the future or the Ye Yubai of now, he was a picky eater.

He sprawled on the sofa, pulled out his phone, and messaged Gan Lan.

“What are you doing? Come back soon!”

He sent the message.

Five minutes passed.

Still no reply.

He tapped out another message.

“Bring me some little wontons on your way back. Oh, and get me a bottle of soda.”

More than half an hour passed.

He’d even fallen asleep waiting.

Then he heard a knock at the door.

Ye Yubai got to his feet, still half-asleep, mumbling, “Coming, coming,” as he headed for the door.

His hand had just reached the doorknob when he froze.

Wait a second.

Gan Lan always checked her keys over and over before going out. She wouldn’t knock.

Ye Yubai woke up in an instant.

“Who is it?” he asked through the door.

The person outside hesitated. “I’m… I just moved in. We’ll be neighbors from now on, so I thought I’d bring you a little gift and introduce… introduce myself…”

Ye Yubai frowned and opened the door.

A girl stood outside, wearing a high school uniform just like his.

She had a ponytail and black-rimmed glasses. Her face was small and delicate, and she was clearly at least the class-beauty type.

At the sound of the door opening, she instinctively took a small step back.

Then she slowly raised her head and looked at Ye Yubai.

The moment their eyes met, hers suddenly lit up.

What a handsome guy!

And it looked like they were both students renting a place around here for a while. What a coincidence!

“Hello.” Ye Yubai gave her a polite smile.

The girl’s face turned bright red all the way to her neck.

He was handsome when he wasn’t smiling.

He was even more handsome when he smiled.

Oh my gosh, what kind of fairy-tale fate was this?

She’d actually met a guy this handsome—like a god descended from heaven—in a shabby old apartment building like this!

“Um, um, I’m…”

Her head was spinning. In a panic, the girl held out the pastries in her hands to Ye Yubai.

“I made these myself. They’re a little welcome gift. Please don’t mind them… I hope you don’t mind them…”

Her voice grew quieter with every word.

Ye Yubai accepted what she’d handed him.

“Thanks.”

He turned and went inside.

He casually grabbed a few cartons of milk from the shopping bags he’d brought back earlier and handed them to the girl as a return gift.

“We’re neighbors. No need to be so formal.”

Just then,

footsteps sounded from around the corner of the hallway.

Ye Yubai recognized them at once. Gan Lan was definitely back.

“Excuse me, coming through.”

He slipped past the girl and jogged down the stairs.

Puzzled, the girl walked over to the railing and leaned her head to look downstairs.

Her eyes lit up.

There was another handsome guy besides Ye Yubai!

Oh my gosh, what kind of magical apartment building was this?

It seemed to churn out handsome guys by the dozen!