In the darkness, Lu Ping could hardly see anything. He only felt the boy’s icy fingertips quietly hooking onto his pinky finger before slowly tickling his palm.
It was a little itchy. Not just his palm—it made the tip of his heart itch too.
Lu Ping’s face turned red. He was somewhat glad that the power was out; otherwise, everyone would have seen his unnaturally flushed cheeks. Not only was his face burning, but his body and his palm were scorching hot too. He gripped Shen Yuze’s hand in return, using the heat from his own palm to dispel the chill from Shen Yuze’s fingertips.
He said in a gruff voice, “Shen Yuze, y-you’re not scared, right?” He squeezed tighter. “I’ve got you.”
People who had never experienced a typhoon day found it hard to imagine the oppressive feeling brought by the looming dark clouds. The gale-force winds and torrential rain battered the Teaching Building’s glass windows, making them rattle loudly. In the face of nature’s power, humans were so insignificant.
Lu Ping thought that Shen Yuze, being from the North, had probably never seen anything like this and would be scared—it was normal… right?
Lu Ping dutifully took on the role of “protecting Shen Yuze.” The class was in chaos, but he and Shen Yuze sat steadily in the back row, quietly holding hands under the dual cover of the desk and the darkness.
The darkness made time lose all meaning. They held hands quietly for a while, neither saying a word.
His heart was like a steam engine slowly starting up, its beating speed gradually accelerating until it nearly burst out of his chest. Lu Ping suspected he had a fever. His mind was foggy, and an unrealistic longing arose—if only he could keep holding hands with Shen Yuze like this forever.
It was too strange, really too strange. Why was he having thoughts like this?
In the powerless classroom, Lu Ping strained to open his eyes wide, trying to make out the outline of the boy beside him.
The teachers patrolled the corridors with flashlights, and beams of light swept through the gaps in the classroom’s front and back doors. Those faint lights fell on Shen Yuze, plating him with a layer of pale gold—his hair, his nose bridge, his eyelashes… all dyed in golden hues.
What was Shen Yuze thinking about right now? Did Shen Yuze hope the power outage would last longer? Was Shen Yuze wishing the rain would stop more slowly?
Lu Ping’s brain was almost entirely filled with thoughts of Shen Yuze. He was like a little mouse lost in a maze, bumping here and sniffing there. He had faintly smelled the cheese, but he kept circling in place, unable to find the way forward.
He didn’t understand why he had become so strange. It was just holding hands, yet he was nervous enough to sweat all over.
It was unclear how much time passed—maybe a few minutes, maybe ten or more—when finally, the overhead lights flickered, and light returned to their world.
Their eyes had grown accustomed to the dark, so when the lights suddenly blazed on, Lu Ping’s eyes stung with pain. He instinctively wanted to raise his hand to shield them, but before he could move, the boy beside him reached out and gently covered his eyes.
“Don’t open them yet.” Shen Yuze held Lu Ping’s hand with one hand while shielding the light with the other. “Wait until your eyes adjust, then open them slowly.”
Lu Ping obediently kept his eyes closed. He didn’t know that his eyelashes had been trembling the whole time, the thick lashes brushing lightly against Shen Yuze’s palm like feathers.
After a moment, Lu Ping finally adjusted to the brightness. He opened his eyes, a bit of physiological tears lingering at the corners.
He felt too embarrassed to look at Shen Yuze. They had just been holding hands in the dark, but now that the lights were on, Lu Ping inexplicably felt awkward, as if some secret, shameful thought had been exposed in that instant.
Lu Ping raised his hand as if to rub his eyes, and their intertwined hands naturally parted.
Shen Yuze looked at his now-empty palm but said nothing.
The teacher at the podium had changed. The homeroom teacher, Wu Yingxia, hurried in and concisely organized the class discipline.
“Classmates, due to the heavy rain and lightning strikes, many areas in Jiaojiang City have lost power, and several streets are flooded. The school received notice from the Education Bureau that, to prevent accidents on the way home, all students will stay overnight at school tonight! The school will provide mats and blankets, and food supplies are plentiful. Everyone, don’t worry!”
The announcement was completely unexpected. After Wu Yingxia finished, the class erupted.
“Stay at school? How? Sleeping on the floor?”
“How long will this rain last? If it’s a week, do we stay here the whole time?”
“What about brushing teeth and washing up?”
“Teacher, will boys and girls sleep together?”
Teacher Wu answered each question one by one.
Jiaojiang No. 1 Middle School didn’t have many students—just five hundred per grade. The seniors were already boarding, so they could return to their dorms. Sophomores and freshmen would be separated by gender: girls stayed in their classrooms for safety, while boys were assigned to art rooms, music rooms, and the indoor Gymnasium. The school had handled similar situations before, so there were enough mats and blankets, and air conditioning would keep the rooms from getting too cold.
As for personal hygiene, teachers had already gone out to buy disposable toothbrushes. Special times called for special measures—everyone would make do.
No one knew how long the storm would last. The meteorological bureau predicted the typhoon would pass in two days, but forecasts weren’t guarantees. The best outcome was that the rain would weaken tomorrow, allowing everyone to go home.
This was the best arrangement the school could offer.
The students exchanged glances. After a brief shock, they quickly accepted the fact of staying overnight, and close friends immediately started forming groups, discussing sleeping arrangements.
“Miaomiao, the three of us can sleep together tonight. We’ll push the desks aside and sleep in the middle.”
“Sure, sure! But can we add one more? My deskmate wants to sleep with me too.”
“Class Monitor, I brought my phone—wanna play online tonight?”
“Get lost, I’ve got to organize class discipline. Don’t pull out your phone, or if it’s confiscated, I can’t save you!”
“Fuck, I don’t wanna room with you anyway—your feet stink!”
“Your feet stink! Scram, who wants to anyway?”
Noisy discussions broke out all over the class.
Lu Ping instinctively looked at his deskmate.
Shen Yuze met his gaze and nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
Lu Ping played dumb. “…Sure about what?”
“You were asking if I wanted to sleep together, right?” Shen Yuze raised an eyebrow. “I agree.”
Lu Ping hemmed and hawed but couldn’t get a word out. He really wanted to point out that they were just sleeping on mats side by side, not “sleeping together,” but after racking his brain, he couldn’t find a better phrase.
Seeing Lu Ping’s nervous expression, Shen Yuze comforted him instead. “Don’t worry. Even if you snore, grind your teeth, or talk in your sleep, I won’t mind.”
“Who snores or grinds teeth or talks in their sleep?!” Lu Ping hurriedly defended himself. “I sleep very quietly!”
“Really?” Shen Yuze chuckled lightly. “Then tonight, I’ll observe you closely.”
“…”
…
After afternoon classes ended, everyone rushed to the cafeteria for dinner. Lu Ping hadn’t been to the cafeteria since his injury, and he somewhat missed the food there now. It was Shen Yuze’s first time entering the cafeteria since transferring. He followed behind Lu Ping, finding everything novel.
Lu Ping asked, “Didn’t your old school have a cafeteria?”
“It did.” Shen Yuze looked around as he answered. “My old school’s cafeteria was a buffet, mostly Western-style, but there was a ‘special order’ day each week—like sushi theme, tea theme, or Asian theme.”
Lu Ping: “…Sorry, here we only have the big-pot rice theme.”
They lined up at a random window. Though crowded, each line moved quickly. The cafeteria aunties in white uniforms wielded large iron ladles, dishing out food to the starving students at top speed. They were all mental math whizzes—the meat and veggie dishes had varying prices, decimals like .2, .5, or .8—but they could glance and quote the exact total.
The stir-fried dishes were arrayed in rectangular stainless-steel trays, waiting for students to choose. Lu Ping hadn’t reached the front yet, but he’d already eyed the desired dishes from others’ trays and planned his meal!
Finally, it was his turn!
Lu Ping eagerly swiped his meal card and called out, “Auntie, winter melon with meatballs, and kung pao chicken! Three liang of rice!”
The auntie took a plate in one hand and ladle in the other, shook her wrist precisely, then shoved the meager plate out the window. “Eight yuan twenty fen.”
Lu Ping wheedled, “Auntie, add a few more meatballs?”
The meatballs were quail-egg sized, and the ladle was mostly winter melon with just three or four meatballs.
The auntie scooped once and reluctantly added one more.
Lu Ping: “…” Better if she hadn’t!
After he finished buying, Shen Yuze, standing behind him, ordered the same two dishes.
But Shen Yuze’s plate was piled like a little mountain! His kung pao chicken was all chicken, his winter melon meatballs were all meatballs, and even the same three liang of rice looked noticeably larger.
“Why is yours all meat?” Lu Ping nibbled his chopsticks.
“Maybe because I’m handsome.” Shen Yuze stated the fact.
“…” So annoying. Could good looks let you do whatever?
They found an empty table at the cafeteria edge to eat. Shen Yuze wasn’t used to the big-pot rice flavor—the chicken was too dry, the meatballs too starchy—so he only took a few bites and stopped.
Lu Ping scolded him. “Shen Yuze, how are you so picky? Wasting food is shameful!”
But after scolding, Lu Ping still swiped his card and dashed to the stir-fry window next door, ordering a steaming bowl of mai shrimp for the young master.
Mai shrimp was a Jiaojiang specialty. Despite the “shrimp” in the name, it was actually a noodle-like food. It resembled northern noodle drop soup, but the drops were noodle strips instead of lumps, and the broth veggies differed.
The mai flour was mixed into a thin batter, then shaved into strips with a sharp knife straight into boiling water. After blanching, various veggies and meats were added. Authentic mai shrimp used seafood, but since the young master was allergic, Lu Ping instructed the chef to use only vegetables and beef.
On a night like this with thunder and pouring rain, what could comfort the heart more than a steaming bowl of mai shrimp?
As expected, Young Master Shen loved it and politely ate more than half the bowl.
As for Shen Yuze’s original two dishes, Lu Ping couldn’t bear to waste them and stuffed them all into his own stomach. Sadly, he couldn’t eat another bite of rice and had to toss it into the leftovers bin.
He rubbed his round belly, suspecting he’d gained three jin again.
…
After dinner, Lu Ping and Shen Yuze returned to class. Tonight was special, with two evening self-study sessions. By the time they ended at 9:30 p.m., the main event of the day finally arrived!!
Under the homeroom teacher’s command, the boys pushed all the desks and chairs in the class against the walls, clearing out a large open space in the middle for the girls to rest.
Once that was done, the boys filed out one after another and obediently followed the class monitor to the gymnasium to set up bedding on the floor.
There were few boys in the liberal arts classes—only twenty across three classes—so they naturally stuck together.
The class monitor warned everyone, “When we go to the warehouse to get the bedding, listen to my command. When I say ‘charge,’ everyone charges in. We absolutely cannot let those wolves from the science classes get the upper hand!!”
Shen Yuze: “…”
As soon as Shen Yuze heard that they had to fight for the bedding, his brows furrowed.
Lu Ping, on the other hand, listened intently. He even rolled up his sleeves and started jogging in place to warm up, clearly gearing up for a big battle.
Shen Yuze thought he was worrying too much. “Didn’t the school say there were enough mats and blankets?”
Lu Ping patted his shoulder and said in an old-soul tone, “Shen Classmate, you still lack social experience. ‘Enough’ is one thing, but quality is another. This is the south—walls get damp every returning south wind season. Think about how long those blankets and mats have been sitting in the warehouse. If we don’t grab the good ones, are we supposed to fight over the moldy ones?”
“!!!” Shen Classmate’s handsome face paled.
When the warehouse doors opened, a wave of dust hit them in the face. That smell was like a signal—regardless of grade or class type, all the boys charged in desperately.
The class monitor was instantly swallowed by the crowd. He raised one hand amid the sea of people and shouted, “Liberal arts boys will never be enslaved!!!”
Unfortunately, his voice was quickly drowned out by the science class boys’ slogan: “For the science alliance!!”
Lu Ping and Shen Yuze got separated in the crowd. Lu Ping was jostled every which way and somehow ended up in front of the blanket pile. He finally steadied himself and reached out to pick one, but before his hand touched it, an unfamiliar boy snatched the blanket away.
Lu Ping grabbed the other end. “Let go! I saw this first!”
The stranger boy said, “You saw it first? Who can prove that? If you have the guts, call it! If it answers you, then it’s yours!”
The guy was shameless, but no problem—Lu Ping could be even more shameless.
Lu Ping called out, “‘Blankie~’ ‘Hey~!’—See? It answered!”
The stranger boy: “…”
Lu Ping lifted his head, yanked hard on the other end with both hands, and snatched the blanket back!
He used the same trick to bravely wrest another good blanket from someone else. The strength he built from helping his dad carry gas canisters every day came in handy in this blanket war!
He tucked the two blankets under his arm and slipped out of the chaotic warehouse while no one was looking. One was for Shen Yuze—that young master with his delicate skin looked like he didn’t belong to the mortal world. Lu Ping was certain he wouldn’t hold his own in such a rough scrum.
But when Lu Ping emerged from the warehouse covered in dust and grime, he saw Shen Yuze leaning against the door with his hands in his pockets, waiting for him.
And at Shen Yuze’s feet… were two spotlessly clean mats.
Lu Ping’s hair was messed up, his clothes dirty, but Shen Yuze was pristine from head to toe, looking like he hadn’t been through any battle at all.
Lu Ping glanced at the mats, then at him, and asked suspiciously, “Where’d you get those two mats?”
Shen Yuze shrugged. “When I went in, I ran into the warehouse admin auntie. I called her ‘A’jia,’ and A’jia gave me these two clean mats.”
“…” Damn, so it was the pretty boy ploy.
Good-looking people really had advantages everywhere. At the cafeteria, they could make shaky aunties steady their hands despite Parkinson’s; at the warehouse, they could get the storeroom lady to open the back door for them. Lu Ping was jealous and envious, practically turning into a giant lemon on the spot.
They dragged their blankets and mats back to the gymnasium. The gym had the heat on, but it wasn’t enough—it still felt drafty and cool. Each class had assigned spots, and High School Year 2 Class 8’s corner was far from the AC vents, shadowy and cold.
The issued mats were only a bit thicker than foam yoga mats, and the blankets were on the thin side. With the rain pounding outside and the indoor temperature refusing to rise, who knew how many people would catch colds sleeping in the gym tomorrow.
An inch-headed boy from the next class suggested to his friend, “It’s too damn cold. How about we put our mats together, stack the blankets, and squeeze in to sleep?”
The other boy winked, pinched his fingers like an orchid, and giggled, “Young master, if you wanna gay me, just say so. It’s my first time~”
“Yeah, yeah, I wanna gay you~ Little miss, here comes your young master!”
Jokes like this were commonplace among high school boys. They tossed around words like “gay you” and “do the base” without a care.
But the speaker meant nothing by it, while the listeners took it to heart.
Lu Ping, whose face had turned red for some reason: “…”
Shen Yuze, whose expression looked strained for some reason: “…”
Lu Ping sneaked a glance at Shen Yuze, and the tingling sensation from holding hands in the dark classroom earlier crept back into his heart.
The little mouse was still oblivious, fumbling through the maze on instinct alone.
He asked, “Shen Yuze, how about we…”
But Shen Yuze suddenly took a big step back, putting distance between them. He bent down as if arranging his blanket, hiding a certain change. “Lu Ping, it feels really hot in here. Let’s sleep a bit farther apart.”
