Chapter 67

It really was just anemia. She Xiao hadn’t been eating or sleeping properly, so his body had sent out a distress signal.

After the third mock exam, She Xiao missed a few days of school. Li Balei felt guilty every day he was gone, praying for him to be okay and return to class quickly.

When She Xiao answered Lin Xigu’s video call that night, Lin Xigu asked hoarsely, “Do you feel sick? Where does it hurt?”

She Xiao was home alone. He was lying on his side and looking at the camera with one arm folded under his head like a pillow. He smiled as he answered, “Doesn’t hurt.”

Gazing at She Xiao’s thin, wan face through the phone screen, Lin Xigu’s throat closed up,

“Smile for me,” She Xiao said softly.

“I can’t,” Lin Xigu bit his lip. “My heart’s about to break and you expect me to smile? Am I a dummy?”

She Xiao only smiled at him faintly, his eyes gentle as he watched Lin Xigu.

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“Eblal eke usw bkv uswa blye? Fbso xl,” Nkd Dktw ypjle.

Fbl Dkys pbssj bkp blye pzktbvzu. “Ls.”

Nkd Dktw bye dsv lmrlnvle bkx vs, ps bl eke dsv kdpkpv. Rdpvlye, bl kdpvawnvle pszlxdzu, “Zsw byhl vs pvyu pvasdt yde bsze sd.”

Tkp nsxxldv xyel Fbl Dkys zywtb yde bl vswnble Nkd Dktw’p qynl vbaswtb vbl pnalld. “R okzz.”

Fllkdt bkx zywtb xyel Nkd Dktw qllz lhld osapl; vbl xsal Fbl Dkys vakle vs pxkzl, vbl xsal kv bwav. Tl czlo y jkpp yv vbl rbsdl okvb bkp lulp xkpvkdt shla yde pyke, “El csvb okzz.”

Fbl Dkys czkdjle sdnl pzsozu, ytallkdt, “Yd.”

---

Xd vbl eyu vblka pnsalp olal yddswdnle, Nkd Dktw bye clld dyrrkdt sd bkp elpj yzz xsadkdt.

Fkdnl Fbl Dkys oyp zypv bsprkvyzkgle, Nkd Dktw’p xldvyz pvyvl bye vyjld y ekhl qsa vbl osapl, rzwdtkdt bkx cynj kdvs bkp zso pvyvl qasx plhlayz xsdvbp raksa. Tl elhlzsrle kdpsxdky ytykd, yzsdt okvb puxrvsxp sq ydmklvu, yde kv eke dsv tlv clvvla ds xyvvla bso xydu vkxlp Fbl Dkys nyzzle bkx sa ynnlrvle bkp hkels nyzzp.

He would be startled awake time and time again from vivid dreams and spend the rest of the night staring at nothing in particular in the dark, his eyes open wide. Although he still made an effort to complete practice questions during the day, the speed and accuracy with which he did so had markedly decreased.

Meng Tong was the art student who was also his tongzhuo. He would sometimes wake Lin Xigu up to get him to pay attention in class.

“What’s wrong? Do you feel sick?” Meng Tong had asked one time.

“No, I’m just a little tired.” Lin Xigu had said with a dry laugh. “I can’t seem to stay awake. It’s like I have narcolepsy.”

“Get up and take a walk. You can’t keep sleeping like this.” Meng Tong had handed him a bottle of water and motioned for him to drink.

Lin Xigu had unscrewed the lid and taken a sip, shaking his head and hoping to jolt himself awake.

Meng Tong was the one who woke him the day their mock exam results were posted. Lin Xigu was slightly addled upon waking, groggy from sleep.

“We’re getting our marks back,” Meng Tong informed him.

Lin Xigu blinked. “Where?”

Meng Tong pointed at their teacher at the front of the room who was holding a stack of papers.

When Lin Xigu received the report with their official marks, passed down to him from the row ahead, he scanned the middle of the page, knowing where he usually stood in relation to everyone else, but he didn’t see his name there.

Shocked, he took a closer look. When he saw the number in front of his name, he was almost reluctant to believe what he was seeing. 

He was tenth.

Lin Xigu’s math and science scores weren’t as bad as he had thought, and he had outdone himself on the Chinese and English exams. He took out his phone in a daze, snapped a picture of his score, and sent it to She Xiao.

She Xiao replied:

Very impressive.

Lin Xigu asked Li Balei:

Hey Princess, how did She Xiao do?

Li Balei instantly replied:

We haven’t received our scores yet. Have you gotten yours? How did you do? Why hasn’t She Xiao come to class yet?

Lin Xigu:

I did okay. And don’t worry, he’s fine.

Li Balei:

I’ll let you know as soon as we get our marks back!

Lin Xigu:

Sounds good.

Although Lin Xigu was glad to have achieved the score that he did, he felt a little underwhelmed; he understood his limits well. The score was indeed an anomaly, and he wouldn’t be able to reliably replicate his exceptional performance on the Gaokao exam. He shouldn’t get his hopes up for the real thing just because he did well one time.

Then again, the only reason he was aiming for a high score was to be able to attend a university close to She Xiao, no matter where She Xiao went. Other than that, he couldn’t care less.

Lin Xigu texted She Xiao:

Where’s my reward?

She Xiao texted back almost immediately:

33

She Xiao had completely mastered the art of playing cute. Lin Xigu stared at the “33” and laughed to himself. What a warm, gentle, cool and adorable boyfriend.

“What did you get on the exam?” It took forever for Lin Xigu to remember to ask his tongzhuo and he tossed out the question casually.

Meng Tong had stuffed his report card who-knows-where and was playing a mini game on his phone. “300 or so. I don’t remember.”

“How many points do you need?” Lin Xigu asked.

“300 is enough. My art specialization more than makes up for it.” Meng Tong glanced at him, then laughed. “You look cheerful though.”

He thought Lin Xigu’s mood had been lifted by his exam score.

Lin Xigu smiled but did not disagree. Although he couldn’t admit that the two “kisses” his boyfriend had sent him was the real reason for his good mood, the effects were the same nonetheless.

He really did feel happier.

Lin Xigu received Li Balei’s follow-up text after class that evening.

Reporting for duty! We got our grades back! She Xiao is first again! Pretty cool! He only placed first in our school though. I heard he got third place overall for the city.

Lin Xigu laughed out loud and replied to her:

Roger that!

Putting away his phone, Lin Xigu shuffled his feet excitedly. Sigh, the thing about having a high-achieving genius for a boyfriend was that he wanted to brag about him from the rooftops but had no one he could tell. He was pent-up.

In truth, the score would have been unsatisfactory compared to the grades She Xiao had gotten in the past. She Xiao had the ability to score even higher, and effortlessly at that. He was supposed to be even more brilliant.

But Lin Xigu did not worry about that at the moment, as long as She Xiao was doing well otherwise. She Xiao had fallen to 12th place last time because his arm injury had impeded his writing. Now that his arm had healed, his grades had shot back to the top.

He wasn’t at his most optimal state, but Lin Xigu was satisfied.

It was enough if She Xiao could maintain this current state.

After evening self-study ended, Lin Xigu packed his backpack and turned to his tongzhuo, “See you tomorrow.”

His tongzhuo replied, “Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

Hoisting the backpack onto his shoulders, Lin Xigu walked out of the classroom.

He took out his phone and sent a text to She Xiao:

Congratulations to my boyfriend for being first again. Two kisses for you too. =33=

She Xiao didn’t reply.

Walking down the stairs, Lin Xigu dialled She Xiao’s number. He couldn’t wait another minute to talk to She Xiao. He was in a great mood. Not even getting a good score of his own could compare to the joy of She Xiao’s success.

She Xiao hadn’t replied to Lin Xigu’s text, but he answered the phone right away.

“Good evening, She Xiao!” Lin Xigu chirped.

The background noise on She Xiao’s end seemed noisier than usual as he replied, “Good evening.” 

Talking as he walked, Lin Xigu followed the crowd with a hop in his step, heading in the direction of the school gate. That is, until he heard She Xiao’s voice interrupt him with a hint of a smile. “Look up.”

Lin Xigu stopped and looked up instinctively, then froze in place.

There was a boy standing at the school gate.

Tall and thin, he was wearing a black denim jacket and joggers and looked too good to be true.

He stood there, quietly watching Lin Xigu with a shadow of a smile on his face. His eyes were beautiful.

Lin Xigu’s nose suddenly tingled.

“Come here,” She Xiao said over the phone.

Lin Xigu sniffed and shuffled over, looking at his feet until he was standing in front of She Xiao. He stowed his phone in his pocket.

She Xiao stood out and many of the girls in the vicinity were peering at him. Lin Xigu didn’t bother himself with that. He was too afraid to show his face, knowing that doing so would betray the fact that he was on the verge of tears.

“Why are you here…?” Lin Xigu asked shakily, wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

She Xiao laughed as he said quietly, “It’s your reward… for making the top ten.”

Lin Xigu blinked. Fuck, he wanted to cry even more now.

Someone whistled at them as they walked by. Lin Xigu looked up to see his tongzhuo, Meng Tong, looking at them with a deviously arched brow. Lin Xigu shooed him off.

Recovering from the shock, Lin Xigu grabbed She Xiao’s hand and practically flew out the school gates with him, his heart soaring higher and higher with each step. She Xiao was here! She Xiao was walking beside him!

When they at last made it into an alleyway with no one else around, Lin Xigu shoved She Xiao against the wall, tilted his chin down towards him and covered his mouth with his own.

He kissed She Xiao urgently, extending his tongue to trace the shape of his lips. She Xiao held him with one hand clasped firmly around Lin Xigu’s waist, his eyes closed as he returned Lin Xigu’s kisses.

Lin Xigu clung onto She Xiao’s neck tightly, pressing against him with such force that it was like he wished their bodies could merge together.

This was She Xiao, his heart, his life.

So many emotions were present in the kiss that Lin Xigu didn’t know how to describe his feelings at that moment. Excitement, joy, anxiety, grievance, worry— there were too many to put into words. The kiss was the only way to calm his wildly beating heart.

Tears slid from the corners of Lin Xigu’s eyes and disappeared into his hair.

“She Xiao…” Lin Xigu buried his face in She Xiao’s neck, shrinking himself into She Xiao’s arms, quaking.

She Xiao stroked the back of his head, still short of breath as he said, “No crying.”

“I’m not,” Lin Xigu sniffed, pressing his lips against She Xiao’s neck and kissing the same spot gingerly a few times. “I’m happy. I’m very, very, very happy.”

She Xiao laughed out loud and tugged on Lin Xigu’s earlobe.

Lin Xigu touched She Xiao’s head too, asking quietly, “Where did you hit it?”

She Xiao leaned back, not letting Lin Xigu touch his head, and brought Lin Xigu’s hand to his mouth where he kissed his palm twice.

Lin Xigu moved in to kiss his lips again. It was less urgent this time – a lingering, gentle kiss.

---

His dad wasn’t home yet when they returned to the house. Lin Xigu hurried She Xiao into his room and found him a set of fresh clothes to change into.

Then, Lin Xigu dialled his dad’s number. His dad was eating out for dinner, and it sounded as though he had stepped away to answer the call. “What is it, son?”

“The world’s coolest dad!” Lin Xigu shouted as quietly as he could, standing on the balcony. “My favourite dad!” 

“What do you want?” His dad answered, laughing. “Out with it.”

His dad thought for a moment then asked, “Who’s your friend? She Xiao?”

Lin Xigu clenched his jaw and decided to come clean. “Yes.”

His dad sighed, pausing, then said, “Fine, but you better behave yourselves. You know what you’re allowed and not allowed to do. You’re old enough that you don’t need me to explain myself.”

His tone was serious. Lin Xigu blushed, declaring, “Understood! Thanks, Pops! You’re the coolest!”

After the call, Lin Xigu took a few deep breaths where he stood before heading back to his room.

He watched She Xiao through the doorway. She Xiao had already changed out of his clothes and was perusing the class notes Lin Xigu had left on his desk. The soft yellow light from the desk lamp cast a warm glow over him, making him look exceptionally gentle.

Lin Xigu’s heartbeat started to quicken. He took a couple of small steps forward but then, feeling as though he couldn’t control himself any longer, he leapt at She Xiao, wrapping his arms around his neck and seating himself on his lap. She Xiao couldn’t brace himself in time as both of them fell back onto the bed.

Throwing caution to the wind, Lin Xigu worked his hand under She Xiao’s shirt.

She Xiao accepted his biting kisses for a while then broke away suddenly, chuckling.

Lin Xigu blushed at his laughter and nipped She Xiao’s lip again. “Stop laughing.”

She Xiao blinked, setting his hand on Lin Xigu’s waist, stating in a low voice, “You’ve lost weight.”

Lin Xigu’s eyes turned red as he leant down to kiss She Xiao’s cheek, asking hoarsely, “Who’s skinnier? Me or you?”