Saturday morning.

It had rained last night, but by dawn the sun was already out.

The morning air felt crisp.

Gan Lan and Ye Yubai, who’d both slept badly all night, somehow decided in perfect unspoken agreement to sleep in all morning.

By the time they woke up, it was already noon.

Insomnia was miserable.

When Gan Lan got out of bed, her head still felt a little foggy, and her feet unsteady.

When she came out of her room, she saw Ye Yubai admiring himself as he tried on new clothes.

A blue shirt, black skinny pants, and a light-colored casual jacket. Add a little styling to his hair, and his looks were sure to get a perfect score again.

Gan Lan stared at him, a little dazed.

She couldn’t help thinking about what had happened last night.

Her heart suddenly began beating much faster.

“Ahem, ahem…”

She coughed awkwardly and avoided Ye Yubai’s gaze.

She picked up the cup beside the water dispenser and filled it to the brim with cold water.

Then she gulped it all down.

“Come on, let’s go downstairs and get something to eat?”

Ye Yubai was already changing his shoes as he spoke.

“After we eat, I’ll book a couple of movie tickets. Wanna go see a movie?”

Gan Lan frowned.

What movie?

She wasn’t interested.

The thing was, her memory was too good. She could still remember most of the movies that had come out in the past few years.

Watching one again…

Wouldn’t that just be a waste of money?

Money was tight right now, so she had to plan carefully and save wherever she could.

But with Ye Yubai looking at her so eagerly, she couldn’t bring herself to turn him down too bluntly.

“I haven’t finished my homework yet. I’m planning to catch up on it this afternoon.”

That was a perfectly good reason.

But as soon as Ye Yubai heard it, his face fell.

“Huh? Studying again? Why do you study all the time?”

Gan Lan said without expression, “If I don’t study, what am I supposed to do? Pick up trash?”

Ye Yubai said, “Huh? Th-that’s a little extreme, isn’t it?”

Gan Lan went on, “You should study more when you have time, too. Stop thinking about going out to play, watching movies, drinking milk tea, playing arcade games, and hanging out at internet cafes all day. None of that’s going to help you in the future.”

Why was she using that parent-like tone again?

Ye Yubai fell silent, giving her a strange look.

Holding her cup, Gan Lan went into the bathroom.

While she brushed her teeth, Ye Yubai finished changing his shoes.

He sat on the couch with one leg crossed over the other, playing on his phone.

He opened QQ.

There were two new friend requests.

“Hm? Who’s this…?”

Ye Yubai spotted a request with a pink anime avatar.

The message said: Jiang Qingqing, Grade 11 Art Class.

Because of the packet of razor blades in Gan Lan’s desk, Ye Yubai hadn’t felt much like dealing with anyone from the art class lately. He was about to reject the friend request outright.

But then he vaguely remembered that Jiang Qingqing might be the art class monitor.

Maybe she knew who had put those things in Gan Lan’s desk.

Ye Yubai’s expression darkened.

He moved his finger and tapped Accept.

…

“Hey, he accepted!”

Jiang Qingqing instantly got excited.

The girls around her crowded in, too.

Every one of them wore a fake smile and offered insincere congratulations.

“No way! Ye Yubai accepted your request!”

“Nice one, Qingqing.”

“He must remember you carrying the flag at the sports meet.”

“Maybe he already likes you!”

But what did a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl know about how cruel people could be?

Jiang Qingqing brushed back her long black hair and smiled confidently.

It seemed like her friends might actually be right.

With her heart pounding, Jiang Qingqing sent him a message.

“Hi, Brother Ye! Let’s get to know each other! (shy face)”

…

“Ugh, this girl’s so cheesy.”

Ye Yubai saw the cloying “Brother Ye” and the shy-face emoji, and immediately looked disgusted.

It wasn’t like he could be blamed for reacting that way.

As one of the most popular guys in school, he got at least five messages like this every week.

And they were always from different girls.

He’d planned to close the message right away, but for Gan Lan’s sake, he’d have to put up with it for now.

Ye Yubai: Hi there, cutie~

Jiang Qingqing: I was wondering if you had time to get together and do homework, Brother Ye?

Ye Yubai: (smiling face)

Jiang Qingqing: Are you busy, Brother Ye?

Ye Yubai: (I’m a little short on cash lately.jpg)

Jiang Qingqing: My treat! I just got my allowance! I’ll pay!

Ye Yubai: Oh, then pick a place and I’ll come.

Jiang Qingqing: Okay~

Ye Yubai: By the way, do you mind if I bring my best friend along?

…

“Ye Yubai’s best friend?”

Jiang Qingqing thought about it, puzzled.

Then she remembered.

That short guy with the permanently aloof look—Gan Lan!

The girls around her, who’d been reading the messages with her, chimed in, too.

“Gan Lan’s pretty good-looking, too. Just kind of girly.”

“What’s wrong with a little girly? A pretty face is all that matters!”

“Hehe, Ye Yubai’s just so handsome that anyone looks bad next to him.”

“I still like Ye Yubai’s type best.”

None of them were particularly interested in Gan Lan, but buying one more person milk tea was no big deal if it meant getting Ye Yubai to come.

So Jiang Qingqing pretended to be considerate and replied, “Sure! The more, the merrier. We’ll get more homework done that way, too.”

…

Ye Yubai looked at the message.

He rubbed his chin.

“I wonder if Gan Lan will come.”

He glanced toward the bathroom, looking a little worried.

Just then, Gan Lan came out, wiping her face with a towel.

They looked at each other.

“Um…!”

“Um…!”

They spoke at the same time.

“You go first!”

“You go first!”

Once again, they spoke at the same time.

Gan Lan coughed awkwardly and turned away from him, continuing to wipe her face.

“Y-you wanted to say something…? Go ahead.”

Her voice sounded much less confident.

Ye Yubai felt a little embarrassed, too.

He’d made up his mind last night to keep his distance from Gan Lan.

But the moment he saw her, his mind filled with all kinds of things they could do and excuses to ask her out.

He thought there might be something wrong with him.

Still, as long as he could talk to her, even being sick felt pretty nice.

“Ahem, so, Jiang Qingqing from the art class invited us to do homework together. Do you want to go?”

In high school, inviting someone out to do homework usually meant getting fast food or milk tea, or going online together—using homework as an excuse to get closer.

Gan Lan understood girls like that pretty well.

Most likely, the girl would be paying. And for Ye Yubai’s sake, she’d probably pay for Gan Lan, too.

But Gan Lan had no intention of mooching off them.

She knew better.

“I’ll pass. You go ahead.”

As she spoke, Gan Lan started gathering up the dirty clothes.

“I’m going downstairs to do laundry. Do you have anything that needs washing? Underwear and socks don’t count!”

Ye Yubai tossed her two dirty jackets, stood up, and headed for the door.

“Then wait here. I’ll bring you something tasty when I get back. I’ll only be gone an hour.”

With that, he left.

It was more than ten minutes after he’d gone before Gan Lan noticed that he’d left his homework and his phone behind!

She picked up her phone.

A call came in just then.

The number wasn’t saved in her contacts. It looked like a business number.

“Zhongxi Construction…?”