At 1 AM, Sheng Xia was as awake as a night-blooming cereus.

She’d turned off the lights at midnight but now remained completely sleepless. This would make it hard to concentrate on tomorrow’s exam.

Romance really could affect studies.

As soon as this thought emerged, Sheng Xia was startled – romance?

Who?

She wasn’t!

She had to do something to calm down, so she got up again to read poetry.

As bad luck would have it, by her pillow was a Yu Xiuhua collection, and randomly opening it she found a love poem—

[I am wrapped by the sky

Getting tighter and tighter

Yet I still make room in my heart’s left side to love you

What an incredible thing…]

What an incredibly annoying coincidence.

Sheng Xia angrily closed the book, then as if possessed, picked up her phone, as if possessed, opened QQ, as if possessed, clicked on “Song Jiang’s” chat window.

Suddenly, she heard Tao Zhizhi’s words in her ear: Of course you want to understand him, understand his past, and maybe, you just miss him…

Sheng Xia stared at the ceiling, giving up the struggle — she was afraid she was thinking about him.

This really couldn’t continue! Just as she was about to put down her phone, she saw Zhang Shu’s avatar appear under “Friend Updates.”

What had he posted?

Her hand moved faster than her brain, already clicking in.

Not many people posted updates at this hour, so as soon as she entered the space homepage, she saw Zhang Shu’s content.

Several consecutive posts.

The top two were just posted, just a minute ago:

[Sweet dreams.]

[Medicine is useless for me.]

Sheng Xia: …?

Had his account been hacked?

Scrolling down.

[Even if the Jade Emperor himself came tonight I’m destined for insomnia.]

[I’m completely done for tonight.]

[I give up.]

[Shared link: #Meditation Space 01#.]

Sheng Xia was completely confused.

[If you can’t sleep, try meditation training, it not only improves sleep quality but can enhance focus over time.]

[Little Sheng Xia, asleep yet?]

Seeing her name, Sheng Xia’s hand trembled.

What was he doing?!

She suddenly understood, reading from bottom to top, discovering they were connected, one after another, all meant for her.

Why not just message her directly? Posting in a public space like this, what was he trying to do?

And how did he know she couldn’t sleep?

Just because he confessed meant she definitely couldn’t sleep. Narcissist!

Meditation training.

Why did it sound a bit mystical? Driven by curiosity, she clicked in and found it was an audio file.

Soothing music came through, accompanied by a gentle, comfortable female voice: “Welcome to Meditation Space, let me accompany you to relax, become aware, heal, transform…”

“Now, please choose your most comfortable position, sitting or lying down, let’s take deep breaths together…”

“Breathe in deeply, exhale slowly, inhale, exhale…”

“Imagine yourself lying in clouds, your whole body sinking into soft cotton, completely relaxed…”

The voice seemed magical, listening made one truly want to follow along.

It restored calm.

Sheng Xia hit pause, turned off the lights, put the phone by her pillow, hit replay, and lay back down.

The female voice was very slow as if entering a realm without people. Sheng Xia was slowly guided to relax every part of her body, occasionally losing focus but brought back by the guiding voice, following the meditation rhythm, gradually falling into sleep.

One dream later, a new morning.

…

At 6:30 AM, Sheng Xia arrived at the classroom right on time. Surprisingly, Zhang Shu was already there.

Two classmates gathered around him, discussing a math problem.

Sheng Xia passed by and took her seat.

A food box sat on her desk, a familiar one – hadn’t he said he’d send food until she recovered?

She’d been recovered for a while now, right?

Sheng Xia glanced right, and at that moment Zhang Shu looked up, meeting her gaze, his eyes full of smiles though his mouth continued discussing the problem, not breaking rhythm.

So the classmates discussing the problem didn’t notice Zhang Shu’s small gestures at all.

Only Sheng Xia received them.

In that shared gaze, something seemed different from before…

She quickly turned back, her heartbeat accelerating without permission.

She’d already eaten breakfast – it was his small cake.

But opening the food box, the fragrance of custard buns wafted out, and she couldn’t resist picking one up and taking a small bite.

Soft, milky, sweet.

As if possessed, she slowly turned her face again, not knowing what she was thinking, just wanting to look at him once.

Just looking, it’s not like she hadn’t looked before.

But it was strange like two little people were playing tug-of-war in her heart: look, don’t look, look, don’t look! Look! Okay fine.

Finally, she glanced over.

Unexpectedly he looked up again, even winking at her…

Sheng Xia quickly turned back again, this time not looking at him anymore.

Had he grown X-ray vision? With people blocking, how did he know she was going to look at him?

Shaking her head, she ate while putting on headphones to listen to English listening practice. She didn’t notice when the students asking questions left. After finishing one set of questions and removing her headphones, she saw someone to her right propping his chin, staring straight at her.

The classroom was still sparse in the early morning. She returned the food box, complaining softly: “Why do you keep staring at me like that!”

“I look because I want to,” he answered matter-of-factly, “learn from me, look openly and honestly.”

Sheng Xia: …

She turned back to look at her book, not wanting to respond!

Hadn’t he been unable to sleep last night, medicine useless? How was he so energetic?

Zhang Shu looked at her face flushed pink and white, feeling elated – if he’d known confessing could feel this good, he should have made things official earlier.

But why was she so shy?

Didn’t she know there’s an idiom called “the more you try to hide it, the more obvious it becomes”?

Zhang Shu also hadn’t expected to stay awake all night yet not feel tired now. Taking advantage of the early hour, he prepared to work through a set of Five Three exercises.

Halfway through the reading questions, the student at the first desk by the door called: “Zhang Shu, someone’s looking for you.”

Zhang Shu looked up, furrowing his brows.

It was Chen Mengyao.

He stood up, noticing from the corner of his eye that Sheng Xia remained motionless as if everything around her was irrelevant.

But Zhang Shu noticed her pen paused on the draft paper for at least several seconds before continuing her original calculations.

He sauntered out of the classroom.

Chen Mengyao had come to name a price, “Two hundred per hour, what do you think?”

Zhang Shu said: “That’s the going rate for one-on-one outside? They must be going bankrupt?”

Chen Mengyao suppressed the urge to roll her eyes – outside tutors also provided emotional support, could he do that with his sour face?

But she still explained: “I asked around, for a one-on-one at institutions, teachers split the fee with the institution, so they end up with about this much, and they have to teach lessons. With me, you just need to explain problems.”

Honestly, for anyone else, at this price for this work, Zhang Shu wouldn’t have hesitated to accept, but—

“I don’t have time, I already have one student,” Zhang Shu said.

Chen Mengyao didn’t believe someone had beaten her to it.

“Who?”

Zhang Shu raised an eyebrow, “I need to ask her first if she’s willing to be my student.”

Chen Mengyao: …?

She was stunned – why did Zhang Shu’s speech seem increasingly mysterious and disconnected? Do all top students talk like this?

“Isn’t that perfect then, just tutor together, and you won’t think my price is too low,” Chen Mengyao hadn’t thought much about it, still trying to convince him.

“That won’t work,” Zhang Shu’s voice remained mild, “my student might want one-on-one.”

Chen Mengyao understood now – Zhang Shu was just making up nonsense, unwilling to tutor her.

“If you don’t agree just say so, why make up disconnected excuses to fool me?”

Chen Mengyao left these words and stormed off.

She was clearly both angry and frustrated.

Zhang Shu glanced at the group eagerly craning their necks to gossip in the classroom, his gaze finally landing on a serene profile.

She was fine, treating it as someone else’s business, hanging high above it all, immersed in study, lost to the world.

The Buddha was quite able to maintain peace of mind.

Good phenomenon.

Zhang Shu’s “not tired” backfired during the Chinese exam.

He was so sleepy his soul seemed to leave his body, especially after finishing the reading questions – he could no longer see clearly what he’d written.

Zhang Shu glanced at Sheng Xia to his left, puzzled at how she could enjoy dealing with text so much – it was hypnotic.

Zhang Shu thought for a moment, oh, it’s final exams, then no problem, might as well sleep.

Sheng Xia was halfway through her essay when she saw Zhang Shu had fallen asleep face down.

He’d finished?

So fast?

After the exam, lunch started early.

Hou Junqi ate while scrolling on his phone as usual, suddenly exclaiming: “Fuck, Shu how’d you secretly reach King rank?”

Zhang Shu glanced at him: “Is it hard?”

“Not… friend activity showed up in my feed, I thought I saw it wrong, didn’t you stop playing ranked matches long ago and drop tiers?” Hou Junqi said unclearly with rice in his mouth, “Consecutive promotions, let me see, 13 stars, damn, how long did you play…”

“Fuck you played all night? Why’d you play all night before exams? And didn’t even call me to play all night…”

Zhang Shu didn’t answer, just ate his food.

Hou Junqi exclaimed again: “Fuck you even posted updates? What the hell happened last night? Fuck I’ve never seen you post this stuff…”

“‘Medicine is useless’… Shu, are you sick? ‘Even if the Jade Emperor came tonight I’m destined for insomnia’… Shu you have insomnia? ‘I’m completely done for tonight’… what?” Hou Junqi read and commented while scrolling down.

“Shut up, enough with the ‘fuck,’ eat civilized, every grain represents hard work!” Zhang Shu couldn’t stand it anymore, stuffing a chicken leg in Hou Junqi’s mouth.

Sheng Xia paused drinking her soup.

Right!

His posts!

Last night she’d been guided into meditation and forgotten the key point!

How could he mention her name in his posts? With so many classmates from different classes, he might even have added teachers, what should she do?

Sheng Xia couldn’t eat, not caring that they were in the middle of lunch, she quickly picked up her phone and opened QQ, sending “Song Jiang” a message: “Delete them quickly!!”

After sending it she put down her phone, just as Zhang Shu’s phone on the table buzzed once…

Usually, Sheng Xia rarely looked at her phone while eating, so the movement was especially obvious.

The timing of one sending and one receiving was too “coincidental” – Hou Junqi’s gaze wandered between the two: what were they doing? This was a table for three, was this appropriate?

Zhang Shu’s lips curved as he picked up his phone. Sheng Xia watched him tap tap typing, then put the phone back down.

Her phone was on silent, and she deliberately waited a moment before picking up her phone again.

Song Jiang: “Why?”

Still, asking why?

She replied: “Bad influence.”

Across the table, Zhang Shu picked up his phone again, the corners of his mouth still smiling, this time holding his phone with both hands to type.

Sheng Xia hadn’t put down her phone, receiving seconds later—

Song Jiang: “How is it a bad influence?”

Song Jiang: “Do you mortals have rules against cultivation at night, only sleeping allowed?”

He also sent a screenshot of his space.

It turned out only the three posts Hou Junqi read were public, the others all had a lock symbol.

Meaning, only visible to her?

Sheng Xia was slightly embarrassed, feelings complicated, asking: “Why not send me private messages?”

Song Jiang: “You? Like the princess and the pea, what if you were already asleep and got startled awake by message vibrations?”

Sheng Xia’s heart was gently pinched, tingling.

She fell silent, no longer replying, putting away her phone with what she thought were natural movements, and continuing to drink her soup.

He- he…

Sheng Xia was speechless.

How could there be such an indescribable person?

However, this indescribable person didn’t intend to end the topic. Sheng Xia heard him lean over and ask: “So, did you sleep well last night?”

His voice was utterly flirtatious.

Gnawing on his chicken leg, Hou Junqi’s pupils shook.