“Your son?” Chun Chang was somewhat incredulous: “Have you started following celebrities?”
Cen Jin held her phone up a bit higher to examine it: “Is that necessary? Can he compare to idols?”
She exclaimed in disbelief, completely unaware of the sparse, unconscious pride that leaked through as she said these words.
Chun Chang stuck close again with cloying interest: “I didn’t look carefully just now, but even at a glance he’s not bad.”
She tried to grab the phone: “Let me see again!! Let me see!! Let me look properly!!!!”
Cen Jin raised her hand to avoid it, initially not wanting to share, but her friend’s deliberately pitiful puppy eyes were too much to resist, and she helplessly handed over the phone.
Chun Chang excitedly cradled it, staring intently at Li Wu’s photo, zooming in and out, out and in, studying his features and figure for quite a while as if examining cell components, then drew in a breath: “Not bad at all… tall too.”
Her head dropped lower and lower, eyes nearly touching the phone.
Cen Jin touched her eyebrow, saying with disgust: “You’re going too far, you’re about to lick it.”
“No, no,” Chun Chang sat up straight, smiling brightly: “It’s just been so long since I’ve seen such fresh young flesh in a school uniform, have some sympathy for this old auntie.”
Cen Jin pulled her phone back, tucking it into her pocket: “Doesn’t your magazine photograph handsome guys? You see male celebrities and models every day, don’t you?”
“You don’t understand, those are all packaged handsome guys, this one looks so pure, and those eyes, oh my god, incredible,” Chun Chang was still savoring and clicking her tongue, finally returning to the main point: “But who is this handsome little brother?”
Cen Jin paused, unsure where to begin.
Seeing her expression slightly stiff, Chun Chang pointed at her, with a mysterious smile: “Oho— something is going on!”
“Stop,” Cen Jin met her gaze, instantly understanding the meaning in her eyes: “Don’t think in that direction. Do you remember the sponsored child I complained to you about two years ago?”
“Mm, you ranted about it for three days and nights.”
Cen Jin let out a light sigh: “The one in the photo is that child. Something happened to his family, and I helped him transfer to Yi Middle School.”
“Is this considered striking gold? Was this kid always this good-looking?” Chun Chang clicked her tongue in wonder.
“…That’s not the point, thank you.”
“So he’s living with you now?” Chun Chang’s eyebrows shot up high, excited as if she’d been injected with hormones, gasping: “Ah! Oh my god!”
Cen Jin could already guess what kind of scene she was imagining: “He lives at school.”
“I’m so disappointed, my friend, you’re so boring,” Chun Chang instantly deflated with regret: “You don’t know, high school boys are diamonds, diamonds!”
“?”
…
Before going to bed, Cen Jin suddenly remembered she hadn’t replied to Li Wu’s message, and opened the chat interface.
Chun Chang’s earlier exclamations still echoed in her mind as she opened the photo again, examining it anew.
The fact that Li Wu was good-looking was something Cen Jin had always known, but it wasn’t as exaggerated as Chun Chang had described.
Perhaps it was her friend’s effusive praise providing a filter effect, but now the young man in the photo looked… somehow more pleasing to the eye than before.
The woman’s gaze shifted from analytical to appreciative.
After a while, she withdrew her attention, casually set this photo as Li Wu’s contact picture, then tossed the phone aside and put on her eye mask.
That night, Li Wu didn’t receive Cen Jin’s reply.
Leaning against the bed headrail, restless for nearly an hour, Li Wu pursed his lips and questioned the culprit: “Cheng Rui, this photo you took doesn’t seem very good.”
Cheng Rui protested: “What the hell, what’s wrong with it? I practically knelt to make you look two-point-eight meters tall.”
“The background’s a bit messy.” At least it wasn’t a problem with himself.
Cheng Rui was provoked, sitting up straight and speaking sarcastically while pointing under the bed: “Then shall we go down and retake it now? We’ll use Lin Honglang’s white T-shirt as the background, it’ll be good enough for your passport photo when we’re done.”
Li Wu: “…”
Lin Honglang: “nmsl.”
Can Feichi started cackling in the darkness.
Can Feichi clicked his tongue: “What kind of elder asks for school uniform photos? Could it be some online dating partner, Li Wu? I’m experienced in this, you can’t escape my discerning eyes.”
“It’s not.” Li Wu’s denial came as fast as a reflex.
“You’re acting suspicious, something is going on.” Can Feichi declare?
Cheng Rui chimed in with sudden enlightenment: “Right right right right! They were probably just exchanging photos, so I was just making clothes for someone else?”
Li Wu was completely speechless, his eartips turning slightly red. He tossed his phone back beside his pillow and lay down, using this to pretend invisibility, reducing his presence.
Lin Honglang laughed lazily: “Give the guy some face, anyone can see Li Wu’s a rookie, what’s wrong with having a virtual romance?”
Cheng Rui shot back: “Like you’re any different.”
Lin Honglang was like a flammable gas tank: “Get lost! What do you know?”
The two started arguing again, locked in endless dispute.
Finally able to escape, Li Wu calmed himself down and secretly took out his phone again to check his messages.
Still no reply.
Li Wu put it back beside his pillow, turned over, and forced himself to sleep.
A dreamless night passed.
The next day, Li Wu got up early as usual. The morning light filtered through the not-quite-opaque curtains like egg whites shimmering behind a thin membrane.
His roommates were still sound asleep, their snores and breathing rising and falling.
Li Wu turned on his phone, clicked into the message folder, and the chat record still ended with his photo.
The light in the young man’s eyes dimmed slightly, and then his arm dropped, letting the phone rest loosely on the blanket.
After finishing his morning routine with a heavy heart, Li Wu went with his roommates to eat breakfast and return to class.
Fortunately, once he reached the classroom, those wild-growing, tangled emotions that had almost trapped him in a dead end instantly subsided.
This was his sterile paradise, where he could eliminate distractions.
When the break bell rang, Cheng Rui came to invite him to use the bathroom and get some air in the hallway. Li Wu shook his head in refusal, just sitting at his desk reading, creating his isolated barrier.
He always maintained perfect posture, as if full of reverence for studying, and rarely sought help from classmates when he had questions, preferring to go to teachers for explanations instead.
This attitude naturally earned praise from teachers and parents, but in the eyes of his peers, it seemed a bit “pretentious” and somewhat “pedantic,” especially since he spoke little and was very proper, like a lone pine mistakenly planted in a windswept birch forest, out of place among the surrounding clamor.
“You’re reading again? I want to see how much you’ll score on the midterms.” Every time the boy in front turned around to talk, Li Wu was reading, and feeling ignored, he couldn’t help but mock.
“Anyone would think the college entrance exam was next month.” His deskmate sneered in agreement.
The pen tip paused, Li Wu was about to speak but stopped, when suddenly from the side came a dry shout: “Li Wu!”
Li Wu looked up, his brow slightly furrowed.
Standing beyond the window frame was an exasperated-looking Cheng Rui, along with three unfamiliar girls. They stared at him curiously for a few seconds, some covering their mouths, some adjusting their bangs, then ran off arm in arm, giggling.
This kind of situation had been increasing daily since his second week after transferring.
Cheng Rui returned to the classroom with disgust, saw that Li Wu’s front-seat classmate had gone to play with others, and directly straddled his chair, facing Li Wu, placing his chin on Li Wu’s book: “So annoying, a bunch of fangirls from other classes, next time I’m charging an observation fee.”
Li Wu glanced up, not understanding: “What’s wrong?”
Cheng Rui tilted his head: “Are you for real?”
“?”
“You don’t know what these girls are doing?” Cheng Rui rubbed his bristly forehead, then exploded: “They’re here to see you! Handsome guy!”
“What’s there to see.” Li Wu was indifferent, continuing to solve problems.
“Wow, so aloof, they like you,” Cheng Rui acted out with difficulty breathing, pinching his voice to repeat: “They like you~”
Li Wu: “…”
Cheng Rui stared at him for a moment, coming up with a new way to get rich: “Li Wu, can you send me that school uniform photo I took of you?”
Reminded of this matter, Li Wu’s heart sank a few degrees: “What do you want it for?”
“I want to print and sell it, 20 yuan per copy, oh, and do you have QQ or WeChat? These can be sold too, definitely more demand than supply.”
“…”
“We’ll split it fifty-fifty, okay? This way you won’t need to eat at the poverty assistance window anymore,” Cheng Rui was already imagining the future: “I’ll have money to buy player cards on Q coins when I go home on weekends, it’s win-win, our quality of life will both significantly improve, I don’t think anyone would refuse such a money-making deal.”
Li Wu wasn’t buying it: “No.”
“How can you be so inflexible, wasting your good looks, it’s against heaven’s will.”
Li Wu lowered his eyes and picked up his pen, his whole demeanor turning cold and solemn, his attitude of refusing further communication evident without words.
Having failed before even starting, Cheng Rui wanted to say more, but just then Li Wu’s front desk classmate returned, so he was shooed away like a duck.
Reluctantly moving back to the aisle, Cheng Rui was about to return to his seat when girls in the corridor called Li Wu’s name again, and he immediately shouted back fiercely: “What are you looking at! Li Wu has an online dating partner!!”
The whole class fell silent, then after a few seconds, returned to clamor.
Li Wu was stunned too, turning his head to look for him, eyes full of confusion.
Cheng Rui glared back, making a knife-hand gesture across his own throat: If I can’t have you, I’ll destroy you!
Having taken a solid loss, Li Wu didn’t get angry but smiled, his lips slightly curved, somewhat helpless yet carrying a warning.
Cheng Rui suddenly felt his scalp tingle and slunk back to his seat.
―
Returning to the dorm after lunch felt like re-entering a cursed world, that constricting feeling attacking again. Li Wu just wanted to find an exit quickly. After sitting down, he almost unconsciously took out his phone from the drawer.
There was a new message notification on the screen.
In an instant, Li Wu’s body and mind relaxed. He leaned back in his chair and opened it.
Cen Jin: Forgot to reply to you yesterday.
Cen Jin: Looking good.
The young man’s lips curved, a smile spreading from his eyes. He discreetly glanced sideways, checking his roommates, and finding they weren’t paying attention, safely returned his gaze to the second message, to those two words.
After looking for a while, he flipped the phone face down, suddenly feeling somewhat restless.
He placed one hand on the edge of the desk, tapping many times like playing random piano keys as if having nowhere to release his feelings. Yes, there was no way to ease this happiness.
Li Wu flipped his phone back over, propped his head up, and read the message for the third time.
Can’t look anymore.
He told himself, putting it back in the drawer, locking it tight as if hiding a treasure chest.
After a quiet moment, Li Wu pulled out an English textbook from the bookstand, turned to the end, and began reciting softly.
The dormitory’s noise suddenly stopped.
The young man’s voice was low and clear, rhythmic:
“adolescence, a-d-o-l-e-s-c-e-n-c-e, adolescence.”
“adore, a-d-o-r-e, adore.”
“a/dult, a-d-u-l—”
The next moment, his roommates’ collective abuse came from beside him: “Are you crazy, memorizing vocabulary at noon! Do you have to be so pretentious!”