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“What are you doing behind us?” Qi Yu asked.

The boy’s voice had an edge to it. “What — is the space behind you two a billboard? Reserved for rent?”

Qi Yu: “……”

Li Kuiyi: “……”

He really was insufferable. No exaggeration.

Not bothering to engage, Qi Yu turned to Li Kuiyi and said warmly: “About the birthday gift — you really don’t need to get me anything. I invited everyone because I wanted us to eat and enjoy ourselves together; the birthday itself isn’t really the point. Focus on your exams these next couple of days — don’t waste energy thinking about presents.”

Li Kuiyi was just opening her mouth to say something when He Youyuan lazily hijacked the conversation: “And what about me? Do I not need to bring anything either? Or is it only her who gets that privilege?”

Qi Yu smiled with mild awkwardness: “Of course it goes for everyone.”

What a shameless person — turning up at someone’s birthday party, eating the food, enjoying the fun, and still not wanting to bring a gift. Li Kuiyi, clearly wanting to needle him, said to Qi Yu: “That won’t do. You’re taking us out and treating us to everything — we’re already embarrassed enough. If we also don’t bring gifts, we’d have absolutely no shame at all.”

The moment she finished speaking, someone gave her ponytail a gentle tug from behind — her head tilted back slightly with the pull.

Not hard. Not painful.

But she was so angry.

Li Kuiyi had every reason to believe that the culprit was the hand He Youyuan had slung across Qi Yu’s shoulder.

Clearly in the middle of doing something sneaky, he still managed to maintain a perfectly innocent expression and say to Qi Yu: “That’s right — we can’t have absolutely no shame.”

Qi Yu, unaware of the mischief happening behind his back, considered for a moment: “Alright then, but please don’t spend too much. I’ll be happy with anything.”

Li Kuiyi no longer had any mental energy to spare for gifts. When they reached a fork in the road, she stopped abruptly. “You two head back — I need to make a quick stop at the school shop.”

Then she stepped in front of He Youyuan, tilted her head up to look at him directly, and said: “Could you wait for me at the school gate after evening study? I have something I need to ask you to pass along to Fang Zhixiao. Thank you.”

He Youyuan was caught off guard by this sudden “summons.” A hundred and twenty possible scenarios flashed through his mind in rapid succession. He looked into her eyes — dark and clear, still as undisturbed water, drawing him down slowly — and his lips moved, then, before he could even work out why she was asking him, he panicked, nodded, and agreed.

Beside them, Qi Yu looked away.

Before the evening study session began, Li Kuiyi returned from the school shop. She was carrying a large plastic bag — visibly stuffed full — with a corner of the packaging peeking out showing it was packed with snacks.

Zhou Fanghua looked at the bag she put under the desk, curious. “Why did you suddenly buy so many snacks?”

“For a friend of mine,” Li Kuiyi said.

“Fang Zhixiao?” Zhou Fanghua asked.

Li Kuiyi’s lashes flickered. She gave a soft “mm.”

Qi Yu sat in the row behind the two girls and heard all of it. So she really does have something to pass along to a friend, he thought. He’d assumed Li Kuiyi had just made up an excuse to see He Youyuan.

After all, his friend had a face that girls tended to be drawn to.

Even someone as pretty as Xia Leyi.

When the class bell rang, the classroom quickly fell quiet. Everyone was reviewing for the upcoming exams — some working through problems, some silently memorizing. Li Kuiyi took out a sticky note and wrote on it: “I asked Qi Yu — he said he doesn’t have anything he particularly wants. His only hobby is doing problems. So I’ve come up with a short list of things we could give him. Pick two, and once you’ve decided, I’ll go buy them.

“① Fiction or literary books; ② a thermal flask; ③ wool gloves; ④ the math olympiad collection Toward IMO; ⑤ a fountain pen.

“If you have additions, write them at the bottom.”

When she was done, Li Kuiyi slid the sticky note in front of Zhou Fanghua.

Zhou Fanghua read it and couldn’t help smiling, charmed as always by this quality in Li Kuiyi.

She really did love solving problems. When she didn’t know what to get as a gift, she went directly to ask the person receiving the gift what they liked. Just as the last time, when Li Kuiyi had no shovel, she’d gone to borrow one from He Youyuan — didn’t manage it, but the next day still found a way to bring her a small one.

There was something very reassuring about a person like that.

Zhou Fanghua picked up her pen and circled “thermal flask” and “wool gloves” — winter was almost here, after all.

Li Kuiyi saw it, made an “OK” with her fingers, tucked the sticky note away, and bent her head over her studies. She had an uncanny ability to enter focus mode instantly. One moment she could be chatting and laughing; the next, she’d pulled over a math problem and was already deep into it.

But there was someone who could no longer focus at all.

He Youyuan had a copy of the first politics textbook open on his desk, as though he were reading it with great concentration — but the text had long since dissolved into meaningless static.

He was thinking: why did Li Kuiyi want to see him?

It definitely wasn’t to pass something to Fang Zhixiao. He’d gone back to the classroom and observed Fang Zhixiao’s behavior carefully — she was the same as always, laughing and joking around, without the slightest trace of having had any falling out with her best friend. If they hadn’t quarreled, there was no need to send anything through him.

Which meant she was coming to him directly.

Was she — about to confess to him?

He Youyuan’s breath involuntarily caught.

It had to be. He couldn’t think of any other reason she’d want to see him.

My god — was she really going to confess to him this soon? They hadn’t even known each other that long. Oh wait — she already knew him. She’d been secretly in love with him for three years. That was long enough.

So what was he supposed to do?

He’d have to turn her down, of course — it wasn’t like he liked her. Being rejected by someone you’d loved for three years must be really painful. Would she cry? If she cried, would he need to comfort her? But she wasn’t the sort of person who was easy to comfort……

Then what? He couldn’t say yes either. Dating Li Kuiyi would be so bizarre — she pulled that sour face at him every single day. How would he stand it? And besides, dating meant holding hands, hugging, ki—

He Youyuan promptly cut off his own thoughts, yanked up his school jacket sleeve, and slapped away the goosebumps that had risen on his forearm.

He spent the entire evening study session lost in this chaotic spiral. When the dismissal bell suddenly rang, he jumped, and glanced down at his notes: China’s distribution system is primarily based on the principle of “to each according to their work,” with multiple forms of distribution coexisting — well. He had technically studied something tonight.

He deliberately dawdled packing up, glancing around with uncomfortable self-consciousness — as if everyone in the room somehow knew he was about to be confessed to.

Walking to the school gate felt like walking toward his own sentencing.

He came out late, and by the time he reached the gates, the crowd had thinned. He spotted Li Kuiyi standing at the roadside, holding a large bag. He had a rough idea what was inside.

Sour-faced Pineapple, are you serious? Nobody confesses while holding a bag of snacks. People use flowers and chocolates.

At that moment, Li Kuiyi saw him too.

The instant her gaze landed on him, he felt as though a bullet had passed straight through his brow.

He Youyuan’s Adam’s apple rose and fell. He cursed himself inwardly.

What is wrong with him? He’d been confessed to ever since primary school. He’d seen every kind of relentless pursuit. He was practically battle-hardened — so why was he nervous now?

He steadied himself, shoved both hands into his pockets, arranged his face into its usual casual expression, and walked over.

Li Kuiyi saw him approaching, and with the bag of snacks tucked in her arms, she moved a little further away — talking at the school gate was hardly appropriate.

She walked ahead, and he followed. Between them, a gap of about five paces. They passed under streetlamp after streetlamp, through patch after patch of tree shadow, with cars occasionally rushing past and blurring the sounds around them. He watched the slight movement of the back of her head, and inside him, the tide rose and fell.

Finally, they reached a quiet little plaza and she stopped.

In the daytime this place must have been lively — there were still a few cigarette butts scattered on the ground, and faint chalk drawings from some child on the stone tiles. But right now it was utterly still, and He Youyuan could hear the sound of breathing.

He didn’t know whose breathing.

Li Kuiyi turned to face him.

She looked at him and drew a long, steady breath, like someone steeling herself before making a decision.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing,” she began.

Her expression was calm. Her voice was even. It was entirely unlike any confession He Youyuan had ever encountered, and it left him with a vague unease.

“But I find it very unpleasant when you——” Li Kuiyi paused, as though searching for the right word, “——when you harass me in that way.”

Harass her?

He Youyuan felt something jolt inside him. He stood frozen where he was.

Li Kuiyi met his expression and went on: “I mean things like tugging my ponytail, taking my coins, flicking the back of my head.

“I know, from your perspective, these are all trivial things — you probably think you’re just joking around. But I find them unpleasant and bothersome. If I don’t say something now, you might never realize. I think I have the right to refuse any contact from another person that makes me uncomfortable. So the reason I wanted to see you today is this: I’d like you to please not do that anymore.”

He Youyuan’s fingers curled slowly inside his pockets, his lips parting then closing without a word.

But she had already moved on, speaking steadily: “That day, you asked whether I knew who helped me three years ago. I’m sorry — I lied to you. I knew it was you, and I’d known for a long time. The reason I didn’t admit it was that I was afraid you might misunderstand something — like…” she pressed her lips together briefly, “like thinking that I liked you.”

Something crashed inside He Yuanyuan — the sound of something collapsing.

She had said she did not like him.

This question he had speculated about countless times, had eventually felt so certain of — she had given him the answer herself, from her own mouth.

“But keeping it from you wasn’t fair to you, so I chose to tell you today.” She held out the large bag of snacks. “This is a small token from me, to express my gratitude.”

He Youyuan didn’t take it.

Whether or not she admitted that the one who had helped her was him — that no longer mattered to him, not at this moment.

Li Kuiyi pressed the bag into his arms, then pulled his hand out of his pocket and curled his arm around it to hold it steady. Once she was sure it wouldn’t fall, she looked up at him again.

“I’m not saying any of this to criticize you. In my heart, you’ve always been a genuinely good person — that’s the impression you left on me three years ago. And it’s precisely because of that impression that I don’t want to see it broken. He Youyuan, you should be someone of integrity.”

She turned and left. The little spider hanging from her backpack still blinked its bright, innocent eyes, swaying gently as she walked.

He watched her figure disappear at the end of the road. Then he turned his head aside and looked at a corner of the building beyond, blinking hard. His tongue shifted slowly against his teeth. In the end, his cheek grew warm — and he pressed the back of his hand roughly across it, and it came away damp.