“Students who have received their mats and blankets, hurry back to your class’s resting area. Lights out at eleven sharp. Everyone, make the most of your time! … Hey, you there, stop! Aren’t you from Class 3? Why are you in Class 5’s line?”
The PE teacher, dressed in sportswear, grabbed a pimply-faced boy by the collar and yanked him out of Class 5’s queue.
The Class 3 boy grinned sheepishly. “Teacher, my good buddy’s in Class 5.”
“Even if your own brother was in Class 5, it wouldn’t fly!” The PE teacher shoved him back toward his own class, picked up the megaphone tucked under his arm, and announced to everyone: “Listen up, all of you—no switching classes! No switching classes! Each class’s spot is pre-assigned. Get your bedding laid out and lie down. Stop chatting!”
Due to this sudden downpour, all the sophomore boys had been assigned to spend the night in the Gymnasium—over two hundred of them in total. With such a massive group of boys crammed together, it was like a pack of wild, unruly dogs, giving the teachers a real headache.
But the biggest headache wasn’t even discipline—it was hygiene!
These Xiao Wusuns rarely bathed daily, let alone washed their feet. Plus, the boys all favored thick basketball shoes, and the moment those came off, a sour, indescribable stench spread everywhere.
They didn’t show the slightest embarrassment. Some even balled up their socks and tossed them at each other.
The PE teacher wasn’t much older than these stinky kids himself. He shouted himself hoarse trying to maintain order while dodging the boys’ “sock balls.”
Watching socks fly everywhere, Shen Yuze, standing in the corner, fell silent.
Lu Ping lifted his chin huffily. “Didn’t you say you wanted to stay away from me? You can go sleep with the class monitor right now!”
“…” Shen Yuze’s expression shifted a few times, but in the end, he picked up his mat and blanket and returned to Lu Ping’s side.
Lu Ping: “Hmph.”
The school-issued mats and blankets had been piled up in the warehouse for who knew how long. Even after Lu Ping shook them out repeatedly, a lingering smell remained. But Lu Ping wasn’t fussy; he was like a weed that could sprout even if tossed by a muddy ditch.
He straightened out his mat and folded his school jacket into a pillow on top. He placed his shoes and socks neatly to the side, revealing two pale, tender feet.
Perhaps because his parents were both short, Lu Ping’s feet were on the small side among the boys. They were slim, and even athletic men’s shoes felt loose on them. His ankle bones were round, his Achilles tendon long and slender—viewed from behind, his calves looked delicate and alluring.
Lu Ping wiggled his toes; his neatly trimmed nails were a light pink. A bit embarrassed, he tucked his feet under the blanket.
He glanced at Shen Yuze, only to see the young master wearing a look of utter disgust, his eyes fixed on the mat and blanket as if they were torture devices.
Lu Ping asked, “Shen Yuze, aren’t you going to lay out your bedding and sleep?”
Shen Yuze’s lips pressed into a thin line, his words sparse as gold: “Dirty.”
“It’s not that bad, just a bit smelly. And this is the cleanest set available. If you think it’s too dirty, you can’t seriously plan to stay up all night sitting there, right?” Lu Ping asked.
Shen Yuze didn’t reply, but his expression made it clear he had exactly that plan.
Lu Ping: “Forget it. Once lights out hits, the teachers will patrol. Even if you don’t want to sleep, you’ll have to lie down.”
Just as Lu Ping predicted, with five minutes to eleven, the PE teacher came over and urged Shen Yuze to lay out his bedding and get to sleep.
Their mats were far from the “main group.” The other boys, afraid of the cold, huddled their mats together, laughing and playing blanket-snatching games. Stinky shoes and dirty socks were tossed aside carelessly, with no worry about germ transmission. Three boys on two mats wasn’t uncommon; there were even five squeezing onto three.
In comparison, Lu Ping and Shen Yuze’s mats lay perfectly flat, separated by about ten centimeters.
The PE teacher wondered to himself: Were these two on good terms or bad? If good, why weren’t they huddling like the other stinky kids? If bad, why had they both retreated to this corner?
Whatever. It wasn’t his job as PE teacher to figure it out.
After the teacher left, Shen Yuze reluctantly lay down. He pillowed his head on his folded jacket, the blanket covering his chest, his body rigid and unrelaxed.
Lu Ping lay on his side and teased him. “You don’t look like you’re sleeping at all like that.”
“Then what do I look like?”
“Like you’re on your deathbed.”
Shen Yuze: “…………..”
“Relax a bit. It’s really not that dirty,” Lu Ping comforted him. “Besides, we’re both using the same stuff. If it’s dirty, I’ll be dirty right along with you.”
At this point, Shen Yuze turned his head to look at him, his words loaded with meaning: “I’m not tense because of the dirty mat.”
Lu Ping blinked in confusion. “Then what is it?”
Shen Yuze didn’t answer, just gazed at him steadily.
After a long moment, the young man turned away, slowly closing his eyes. “Sleep,” he murmured softly. “Sleep.”
Soon, the overhead lights went out. The entire Gymnasium plunged into darkness, the venue that had buzzed with chatter gradually falling quiet. Outside, gale-force winds howled, thunder and rain clashed, the downpour hammering the roof and cascading from the eaves without cease.
The black night and storm wove into a symphony, cold air seeping everywhere, forcing wakefulness.
Shen Yuze lay awake, his senses heightened. He could clearly hear every movement from the person beside him—the breathing, the shifts, even the rhythm of their heartbeat.
“Shen Yuze,” the boy’s voice came very softly, easy to miss if not listening closely. “Are you asleep?”
“No.” The young man replied.
“Are you scared?”
“…”
“It’s dark now, and still raining. Are you scared?”
“…”
Shen Yuze sensed what was coming. He pondered for a few seconds—a silence that felt like a century to Lu Ping, who held his breath.
Finally, Shen Yuze answered: “Yeah, I’m scared.”
The next second, he heard the boy beside him quietly roll over and lift his blanket.
Then, something soft slipped under Shen Yuze’s blanket, fumbled for a moment, and gently settled on the back of his hand.
It was Lu Ping’s hand.
The hand had rounded knuckles, a soft palm, and a familiar warmth.
“Now you don’t have to be scared—” Lu Ping’s voice carried a smile, full of delight. “—I’ve got you holding my hand.”
Shen Yuze gripped the boy’s hand tightly in return, their fingers interlocking, unwilling to let go.
From above, overlooking the entire Gymnasium, countless mats crowded together in disarray, utterly chaotic. But off in the quiet corner, away from the crowd, two mats floated like lonely boats on a vast sea, supporting and drawing close to each other.
…
Outside the Teaching Building, rain poured in sheets.
Howling winds whipped the school garden’s trees into a frenzy, their shadows swaying grotesquely across the glass.
In High School Year 2 Class 8’s classroom, all the girls had joined their mats together, cranked the AC to max warmth, wrapped tight in blankets, and sunk into slumber.
Chen Miaomiao was always a heavy sleeper; even with the storm raging outside, she dozed soundly. Just as she was chomping on fried chicken legs in her dream, a pair of hands landed on her shoulders and gently shook her.
“Miaomiao, Miaomiao.” Zhou Yue’s voice rang out in the darkness. “Wake up.”
Chen Miaomiao hadn’t quite gotten her dream chicken leg yet. She blinked awake in a daze, half-asleep as she asked: “Huh… what’s up?”
Zhou Yue said, “I need to use the toilet. I… I don’t dare go alone. Will you come with me?”
“Oh… sure…” Though her sleep was interrupted, Chen Miaomiao had no morning grumpiness. She yawned and climbed up from the floor.
Zhou Yue was Chen Miaomiao’s desk mate; their personalities couldn’t have been more opposite. Chen Miaomiao loved excitement, gossip, and wild fun, while Zhou Yue was quiet and introverted, speaking in the softest whispers.
The women’s toilet was at the other end of the hallway. Hand in hand, they headed into the corridor’s depths.
No. 1 High School’s Teaching Building was shaped like a “回” (a closed loop). All three high school grades were in one building, just on different floors. This layout connected everywhere, but its flaw was obvious—on such a pitch-black night, it was easy to take a wrong turn.
“Huh? Did we go the wrong way?” Chen Miaomiao stopped. “I remember this corner leads to the women’s toilet. How’d we end up at the utility sink?”
Each floor had four corners, clockwise: men’s toilet, fire equipment room, women’s toilet, utility sink. Their classroom was between the men’s toilet and fire equipment room. Right turn twice from the door should hit the women’s toilet—but after walking so long, they’d reached the utility sink.
The utility sink door was shut tight, a “Temporarily Out of Service” sign hanging at the entrance, swaying in some gust of wind through the night.
“No.” Zhou Yue whispered. “We didn’t go back the wrong way—we passed it…”
Chen Miaomiao slapped her forehead. “Oh, right right. We passed it.” She turned, linking arms with Zhou Yue again. “Hurry to the toilet. This rain’s so heavy; the sound makes me need to go too.”
They backtracked one corner and finally spotted a small door. Chen Miaomiao reached to push it open, but something was off—they were back at the fire equipment room?!?!
There was supposed to be a women’s toilet between the utility sink and fire equipment room. A whole huge women’s toilet—where did it go?!?!
Chen Miaomiao’s voice trembled, but she forced bravado. “Yue’er, did we… pass it again?”
Zhou Yue was timid to begin with; now she shook all over. “Miaomiao, I don’t need to go anymore. Let’s head back.”
But Chen Miaomiao wouldn’t buy it. Stubbornly, she dragged Zhou Yue back to find the women’s toilet.
When they reached the previous corner, they were at the utility sink again!
—The women’s toilet had truly vanished!
In the darkness, the “Temporarily Out of Service” sign swayed on the utility sink door. Zhou Yue’s tears fell as she clung to Chen Miaomiao, pleading: “Miaomiao, let’s go, let’s go back!”
Chen Miaomiao was bull-headed; the weirder it got, the more she had to see. Her palms dripped cold sweat, but she gritted her teeth and reached for the utility sink door.
Just then, a bolt of lightning flashed outside the glass window, instantly lighting up the entire corridor!
Thunder boomed deafeningly, drowning out the door latch. The utility sink door creaked twice and slowly swung inward—and in that hazy moment, a stark white ghostly figure appeared before the two girls…
“—There’s a ghost!!!!!”
…
At five in the morning, Lu Ping’s biological clock woke him right on time.
He was used to early rises; every day at this hour, he helped his mom set up her stall—365 days a year, with barely a handful of lazy days. But habit or not, which young person didn’t love sleeping in? Especially on a drizzly morning like this, raindrops pattering on the eaves like nature’s lullaby. Lu Ping let his soul sink step by step into the warm depths.
The air outside the blanket was too cold, with the exhaled breath nearly condensing into frost. Lu Ping felt listless; he buried his head deeper into the pillow, pulled the blanket over himself, and curled up into a little shrimp.
It was still warmer inside the blanket. Although the mat beneath him was thin and hard, he had a comfortable big pillow. The pillow was large and soft, full of elasticity. As he huddled in the pillow’s domain, it felt just like… just like lying in someone’s arms…
…Huh???!!!
It was as if a basin of cold water had been dumped over his head. Lu Ping snapped alert and abruptly opened his eyes.
Just as he had sensed in his sleep, he really was lying in someone’s arms—Shen Yuze’s sleeping face was right in front of him, his half-long strands of hair falling over the young man’s forehead, revealing his refined and handsome features.
The sleeping Shen Yuze lacked the sense of distance he had when awake. He slept deeply, his eyelashes lightly closed, his chest rising and falling steadily. The dim light fell on his profile, making him look like a Greek sculpture slumbering in a museum.
Lu Ping’s head was about to explode. He truly had no idea how this had happened.
Before going to sleep last night, the two of them had been properly lying in their own bedding, holding hands in a pure and innocent manner. But how, upon opening his eyes, had he rolled onto Shen Yuze’s mat, with the two of them sharing a blanket in a tangle?
In fact, if Lu Ping had lifted his head to look at the other boys in the gymnasium, he would have discovered that their sleeping positions were even more intimate. The gymnasium was too cold, so many people had instinctively drawn closer to the heat sources beside them after falling asleep—your leg draped over my stomach, my arm poking into your head… Scenes like human pyramids were everywhere.
It was just that Lu Ping and Shen Yuze’s position was somewhat special: Lu Ping’s head was pillowed in the crook of Shen Yuze’s arm, while his own arm was wrapped around Shen Yuze’s slim waist… Even in their sleep, they presented a posture of mutual cuddling and mutual protection.
The only silver lining (if it could be called that) was that they had slept fully clothed last night, so their clothes were still quite proper.
Lu Ping quietly lifted his arm and slowly shifted his body backward, trying to escape Shen Yuze’s embrace with the lightest movements possible.
But at that very moment, a phone vibration buzzed loudly—it was Lu Ping’s daily morning alarm!!
His phone was stuffed in the pocket of his school uniform jacket, which he had folded into a makeshift pillow last night. After a night of tossing, the jacket had rolled to the side of Shen Yuze’s mat, meaning the vibrating phone was mere inches from Shen Yuze…
Lu Ping lunged forward at top speed to turn off the phone, but he was still a step too late. The beautiful young man in deep sleep slowly opened his eyes. His deep amber irises blinked lightly, and after a brief moment of unfocus, his gaze landed on Lu Ping.
That profound gaze reflected Lu Ping’s figure. He propped himself up with one hand and leaned slightly forward to look at the boy whose face was flushed red.
“It’s still early,” Shen Yuze’s voice was like the siren call of a sea nymph. “Pingping, don’t you want to sleep with me a bit longer?”
