September weather was as fickle as a baby’s mood, sunny one moment and overcast the next.
It had been cloudy when Liang Zhixia woke up that morning, but now a scorching sun blazed overhead.
Sweat trickled from his forehead down his slender neck. Liang Zhixia stood listlessly, listening to the school leaders drone on from the podium. Fan Li, standing in front of him, slipped him a mint when no one was looking.
The cool mint in his mouth chased away some of the heat.
Every school’s leaders loved to hear themselves talk. With his head bowed, Liang Zhixia spotted a small pebble on the ground, and his thoughts drifted to that message on his phone.
He had woken up to an unread message that morning, and it had jolted him fully awake.
A low, magnetic voice had emanated from the speaker. Startled, he quickly turned down the volume. The man’s voice was slightly distorted but unexpectedly pleasant.
He had scrambled out from under the covers, glancing toward the bed curtain like a thief. Fortunately, Lu Quan was no longer in the dorm.
And just moments ago, the man had even sent a good morning message.
With people all around him, Liang Zhixia could only read the text version.
What surprised him was that L remembered his wake-up time from the summer break.
It was exactly the time he used to get up.
So he had replied in kind.
[Baby good morning^-^]
Jiang Ling noticed his upturned lips and immediately started prying.
In the end, Liang Zhixia had no choice but to say it was an online friend.
Jiang Ling: “You’re not online dating, are you?”
He denied it at once.
But Jiang Ling, still worried, bombarded him with stories of people getting scammed in online romances.
“A lot of guys say sweet things online to deceive boys like you—tricking them out of money and innocence. Ninety percent of what they say can’t be trusted. A man’s words are the biggest lies.”
“But… I’m a guy.”
“That’s exactly the kind of cute, pretty boy they target.”
He still remembered the pitying look in Jiang Ling’s eyes.
—
“And finally, we wish this military training a complete success!”
As the leader wrapped up, the crowd below obliged with polite applause.
Liang Zhixia wiped the sweat from his nose and headed back to their class’s area with his classmates.
Fan Li eyed his flushed cheeks with concern. “Xia Xia, are you getting heatstroke?”
He shook his head. “No.”
As a top-tier university, A University hired active-duty soldiers as instructors for military training. They stood tall and dashing, exuding an awe-inspiring presence.
The instructor for their class looked about twenty-four or twenty-five, with a small dimple in his cheek when he smiled.
But he was strict about training.
Everyone had to follow discipline: uniform attire with no alterations or doodles, no jewelry, no tardiness or early departures.
Instructor: “If you need to speak, always say ‘Report’ first. If you feel unwell, report it immediately.”
After a morning of training under the blazing sun, Liang Zhixia’s throat felt like it was on fire. He chugged the water from his bottle in one go and tossed it into the trash bin.
Jiang Ling stood under the shade of a tree, frowning. “Are you guys going to eat?”
Fan Li glanced at the horde heading to the cafeteria and hesitated. “I’ll just go back and have instant noodles.”
Liang Zhixia shook his head too. “I’m skipping. I’ll munch on bread back at the dorm.”
The three strolled leisurely back to their dorms. When Liang Zhixia arrived, he found several people waiting outside his room.
He smacked his forehead. It was the third day—major cleaning day.
Sure enough, Auntie Wang was inside the dorm. He greeted her, then glanced casually at the plastic trash bag on the shoe cabinet. It held only a single piece of clothing.
Remembering the night before, he asked, “Auntie Wang, is this Senior Lu’s shirt?”
Auntie Wang: “Yes, the young master said he doesn’t want it anymore.”
He licked his parched lips, hands clasped behind his back, lashes lowered. “Auntie Wang, I’m heading down for food anyway. Let me take that and throw it out for you.”
With her permission, he swallowed hard, grabbed the bag, and walked calmly toward the elevator.
Only when the doors closed did he exhale in relief, slumping against the wall and wiping the sweat from his palms with a wet wipe.
He had tricked Auntie Wang by saying he was going for food, so now he wasn’t sure where to go.
Clutching the plastic bag, he looked around and spotted some benches in Bamboo Garden. They were secluded, with a clear view of the dorm entrance.
He could wait for Auntie Wang to leave, then head back.
He pulled the shirt from the bag. After a night, the water stains had faded. He knew Lu Quan was discarding it because he had touched it.
A quick search on his phone revealed the shirt cost five or six thousand!
The description praised its lightweight fabric, silky texture, natural materials, and skin-friendly feel.
All the fancy terms made his head spin—it seemed so luxurious.
At first glance, it looked like any ordinary shirt.
The money in his bank account was just enough for this semester’s living expenses. He folded the shirt neatly back into the bag, planning to hand-wash it first. If Lu Quan truly didn’t want it, he would save up to replace it.
It looked like he would need a part-time job after military training ended.
Zhuzi had sent him a bunch of messages complaining about how exhausting and hot training was.
Head down, he replied.
As he exited the chat, he accidentally tapped into his conversation with L. It was still on their morning exchange.
He recalled Jiang Ling’s words. He and L could never be in a romance—they had only a transactional relationship.
L remembering his wake-up time was perfectly normal; it was part of his job.
He imagined L keeping a little notebook with every client’s habits.
Maybe when not chatting with him, L was entertaining other brothers, sisters, or whatever.
But being remembered felt nice, undeniably so.
He set his phone on the other end of the bench, leaned back against the pillar, and tilted his head to gaze at the cloudless sky. The breeze ruffled his hair, casting a gently swaying shadow on the ground.
Twenty minutes later, he saw Auntie Wang and the other staff leave through the dorm entrance.
Five minutes after that, he got up and returned to the dorm.
As expected, the room was even cleaner now, with a faint scent of disinfectant in the air. Looking at the shirt in his hand, he pulled out his phone and messaged Xu Cheng.
[Senior, does Senior Lu come back to the dorm at noon?]
The reply came quickly.
[He doesn’t.]
That put his mind at ease.
Like a thief, he locked the bathroom door from the inside, turned on the faucet, and hand-washed the shirt following the tutorial on his phone.
With no major stains, it was easy work.
As he focused on scrubbing, his phone pinged.
He swiped it open with a fingertip and saw L had sent a photo of a meal.
Foie gras, cream of mushroom soup, salmon, steak, black tea.
All things he could never afford.
Suddenly, he pinched to zoom in. In the corner of the photo was a partially visible ice cream cup.
[Is that ice cream next to it?]
[L: Yeah, my friend ordered it.]
Liang Zhixia pouted. Sure enough, L was with someone else—chatting with him while accompanying another client. Not very professional.
He started typing a reply, but his wet fingers slipped, and the phone plunged into the water.
“…”
He fished it out as fast as he could, powered it off, wiped it dry, and set it on the balcony to air out.
All L’s fault!
He sat at the little balcony table, figuring he could drop the phone off for repair on the way to afternoon training.
That afternoon, he left half an hour early, pawning his student ID at the phone repair shop. By the time he reached the field, he was nearly late.
Fan Li, standing beside him, whispered, “Where were you? I messaged you—no reply.”
“Phone broke.”
Military training was mostly monotonous, repeating the same drills, but funny moments popped up now and then.
During a break, Liang Zhixia sat on the ground, watching two guys ahead get singled out for extra training by the instructor.
Their same-hand-same-foot flailing was heartbreaking.
Fan Li scooted closer and murmured, “How’d your phone break?”
He pressed his lips together. “Dropped it in water by accident.”
After a bit of chit-chat, the instructor called him to his feet for more training.
A University didn’t do surprise night drills. He said goodbye to Fan Li and Jiang Ling, then went alone to pick up his phone from the shop.
Just outside the school gate, the smell of roasted corn hit him.
His stomach, empty all day, finally protested. He licked his lips, planning to grab some after getting his phone.
He crossed the street to the shop. The boss glanced at him and handed over the phone.
After paying, he bought a cob of roasted corn.
He took a bite, humming in delight. So good!
The school entrance was packed with freshmen in military training uniforms, but Xu Cheng spotted Liang Zhixia at once.
He nudged Lu Quan beside him. “Your roommate.”
Lu Quan looked up. His sharp features softened with a trace of aloof detachment, his clear black eyes unmoved.
Across the street, Liang Zhixia’s pretty face was sun-flushed and rosy. A gust of wind pressed his loose uniform against his body, accentuating his straight waist and long, lean legs.
Xu Cheng crossed his arms with a sigh. “If he were a girl, I’d chase him for sure. Great personality, and he’s gorgeous.”
Lu Quan’s eyes flicked upward, a flicker of utter indifference in their depths. “Average.”
Xu Cheng: “?”
Lu Quan glanced down at his phone, which still showed no new messages. A stifled frustration welled up in his chest. He turned toward the pleased-looking Xu Cheng and said darkly, “You’ve quit ice cream.”
Xu Cheng: “???”
What the hell.
A jolt ran through Lu Quan’s palm, and he immediately looked down.
The screen had lit up with a new message.
[Just bought dinner—a grilled corn cob. It smells amazing, and it’s delicious too.]
Xu Cheng stared at Lu Quan like he’d seen a ghost.
“You just smiled.”
Lu Quan shot him a sidelong glance. “You’re sick.”
Xu Cheng trailed behind him, chattering nonstop, until he suddenly halted in his tracks. Bewilderment clouded his face, turning to outright shock.
“Aren’t you always saying street food is unclean?”
Lu Quan ignored the question. His slender fingers gripped a wooden skewer as he snapped a photo.
[It looks pretty tasty.]
