Ye Yubai had long legs, so it only took him a few strides to catch up with Gan Lan.

The sour feeling in Gan Lan’s heart had just passed, but the moment he saw Ye Yubai, his gaze started to wander again.

Ye Yubai ruffled his hair, messing up his bangs completely.

“Why are you running?”

“I’m going back to hang up the laundry…”

“Don’t use the laundry as an excuse!”

Ye Yubai looked like he’d seen right through him.

“Are you interested in one of the girls in there or something?”

Gan Lan froze at Ye Yubai’s question.

Did he really look like he was interested in someone?

He didn’t even know any of those girls!

Ye Yubai hooked an arm around his shoulders. “If you’re interested in any of them, just tell me. I’ll put in a good word for you. How about it?”

Gan Lan replied expressionlessly, “No, thanks.”

When Ye Yubai heard him say no, he suddenly felt a lot more at ease.

So he wasn’t jealous over the girls.

The way he’d just spoken, that look on his face—I’d thought he was jealous!

Wait…

No, that’s not right!

Ye Yubai frowned.

His judgment couldn’t possibly be wrong. That had definitely been the tone of someone who was jealous.

So who exactly was Gan Lan jealous of?

Ye Yubai couldn’t figure it out, no matter how hard he tried.

Suddenly, a strange thought flashed through his mind.

“Could it be… that he likes me?!”

The terrifying thought nearly made Ye Yubai topple over.

“No, no, no! Gan Lan’s straight. He must’ve fallen for some girl, but he’s too embarrassed to tell me because he’s worried about our friendship!”

Ye Yubai hurriedly tried to talk himself into believing it.

How could his best bro possibly have a crush on him?

It wasn’t like he was all that charming!

…

The two of them headed back home.

When they reached the bottom of the building…

Ye Yubai suddenly let out a surprised “Huh?” and said, “Hey, Gan Lan, look! There’s a luxury car parked downstairs in the building across the street!”

Gan Lan looked in the direction he pointed.

Sure enough, there was a black Maybach.

He stared at it, momentarily dazed.

The area was close to the school district, so quite a few students lived here.

But the stairwells were old and the conditions were poor. Most of the students living here came from ordinary families. There was no way a rich kid would live in a place like this.

At the thought of “rich kid,” Gan Lan shifted his gaze to Ye Yubai.

He also thought of that call from Zhongxi Construction.

“Could the owner of that car have some connection to the Ye Family?”

As Gan Lan wondered, he saw two neatly dressed adults come out of the stairwell in the building across the street.

Ye Yubai had already gone into the stairwell.

When Gan Lan didn’t follow after him, Ye Yubai came back down.

That was when he saw Gan Lan standing stock-still at the entrance to the stairwell, staring blankly in the direction of the luxury car.

The car had already driven off with its headlights on.

“Hey! Gan Lan?”

Ye Yubai waved a hand in front of Gan Lan’s face.

Gan Lan jolted back to his senses.

“What’s with that face? See a ghost or something?” Ye Yubai teased.

Gan Lan shook his head and glanced at him with a complicated expression.

He’d seen who owned that luxury car.

It was none other than Ye Zhongxi—Ye Yubai’s obnoxious older brother!

A rich kid like Ye Zhongxi looked completely out of place here.

There was no way his arrival was a coincidence.

Which meant the phone call from earlier hadn’t been a coincidence either!

For some reason, Gan Lan suddenly caught a whiff of conspiracy.

“Ye Zhongxi had started deliberately asking around about Ye Yubai back in his second year of high school, yet it took another four or five years before they officially acknowledged each other as brothers?”

As Gan Lan thought it over, an idea flashed through his mind.

“Could the Ye Family have known about Ye Yubai all along?”

“Was it all arranged—the father and son acknowledging each other in his third year of college, then the brothers acknowledging each other in his fourth?”

The more he thought about it, the more chilling it seemed.

Gan Lan suddenly felt that the world of the wealthy was a deep, dark place.

“When Uncle Ye adopted him, did he already know the truth about his identity?”

…

With all those strange thoughts on his mind, Gan Lan went back upstairs.

Ye Yubai helped carry the laundry basket and even went ahead and hung up the clothes.

When he was done and came back, he found Gan Lan sitting on the sofa, one hand propping up his chin as he scrolled on his phone with the other.

Ye Yubai casually leaned closer and caught a glimpse of words like “Zhongxi Construction,” “Chairman Ye Zhongxi,” and “estimated assets.”

He couldn’t help clicking his tongue.

“Gan Lan, what are you looking at?”

The sudden voice behind him startled Gan Lan. His hand jerked, and his phone nearly hit the floor.

Ye Yubai reacted quickly and caught it for him.

“Why are you so jumpy? Got something to hide?”

Gan Lan patted his chest and let out a breath. “How come you make no noise when you walk?”

Ye Yubai laughed. “I make plenty of noise when I walk. You were just too focused to notice me.”

Gan Lan glared at him and quietly put his phone away.

Ye Yubai had seen what he’d been looking at, but didn’t seem suspicious at all.

Gan Lan breathed a sigh of relief.

Until he knew what the Ye Family was planning, he didn’t intend to tell Ye Yubai too much.

Ye Yubai was smart, but in the end, he still thought like a kid. He wasn’t level-headed enough, and he didn’t have any impressive achievements to show for himself.

At the very least…

they had to wait until after the college entrance exams, when he had his score report in hand!

Thinking about it, Gan Lan suddenly felt the weight of a huge responsibility on his shoulders.

Starting today, he had to keep Ye Yubai on track and make sure he studied hard, so he could avoid the regrets of his previous life and get into Tsinghua or Peking University!

“Ye Yubai, let’s study together from today on.”

Gan Lan said it just like that.

His tone was serious.

His gaze was sincere.

Ye Yubai, on the other hand, looked a little uncomfortable. “I know you like studying, but…”

But he didn’t like it!

He just liked watching Gan Lan study. He just liked being the one who kept him on track!

Gan Lan gave his shoulder a firm pat. “Let’s get into Tsinghua or Peking University together.”

Ye Yubai stared at him in alarm. “What did you just say?!”

Gan Lan repeated himself, adding a few words: “I’m serious.”

Ye Yubai eyed him doubtfully.

He reached out and felt Gan Lan’s forehead.

“Huh. You don’t even have a fever. What kind of nonsense are you spouting?”

It wasn’t that he looked down on Gan Lan.

It was just that Gan Lan really didn’t have what it took to get into Tsinghua or Peking University.

With his terrible grades in math, physics, and chemistry, he’d have to be at the top of his game just to get into a second-tier university.

Tsinghua or Peking University?

That’d probably take cheating on the entrance exam—and getting lucky enough to copy Ye Yubai’s answers.

Ye Yubai sighed. “Gan Lan, it’s good to have dreams, but you’ve gotta keep them realistic.”

Gan Lan said, “If I can’t get in, do you think you can?”

Ye Yubai scratched his head. “I probably…”

Gan Lan let out a breath.

He stood up.

Then he placed both hands on Ye Yubai’s shoulders.

“Starting today, we’ll work hard together.”

“We’ll aim for Tsinghua or Peking University.”

“And we’ll keep pushing until the very last day.”

“If I can’t get in, you get in for me and make me proud, okay?”