Xi Shui stood up straight by himself.
He looked at Zhou Zeqi and suddenly felt his impression of him had improved considerably.
In fact, Xi Shui wasn't particularly sensitive to physical appearance. There were too many good-looking people at CUDC. From childhood to adulthood, his parents, his grandmother, his relatives and friends all had impeccable appearances and manners. His parents had told him that outward appearance couldn't represent a person's entirety.
So when Xi Shui chose friends, looks were secondary. He valued hygiene, politeness, patriotism, studiousness, respect for women...
Zhou Zeqi met his first requirement.
He didn't smell bad.
CUDC and CUSC were no different in this aspect. Long periods of high-intensity training inevitably led to profuse sweating, which was why their professional practice rooms were all equipped with changing rooms and showers. But Xi Shui used to have classmates who wouldn't shower for days, wouldn't change clothes, and would pull out their practice clothes from their bags as a black, crumpled mess, reeking of sauerkraut and foot odor. It was really unbearable. He heard that CUSC had people like that too.
But Zhou Zeqi wasn't like that.
Xi Shui was pleasantly surprised.
Zhou Zeqi's gaze swept away from Xi Shui's face. "Grapefruit laundry detergent, you can try it too."
Xi Shui chuckled, "I thought it was the scent of pheromones, so it's laundry detergent?"
"?"
Zhou Zeqi had been praised excessively since childhood. So tall, so handsome, men and women flocking to him endlessly. He had developed a super strong immunity to flattery.
There were also many people who tried to attract his attention in roundabout ways.
But Xi Shui didn't seem like that kind of person.
Pheromones?
Xi Shui had a face that looked like he didn't even know what pheromones smelled like, let alone pheromones.
"Why did you move out to live on your own too?" On the way back, Xi Shui initiated a conversation with Zhou Zeqi.
Zhou Zeqi was a bit taller than Xi Shui. When he was with Wu Chibang and the others, he rarely walked this leisurely.
He answered, "It's more comfortable living alone." The school's iron bunk beds were terribly cramped to sleep in.
"What about you?"
Xi Shui hugged his water bottle and replied, "I need to practice dancing. The practice rooms at school close too early, and Lin Xiaojin always asks me to go out to eat. Oh, Lin Xiaojin is my friend."
"Asks you to go out to eat?" How could this be a problem?
"We're dancers, you know. We can't gain weight." Xi Shui had only eaten a bowl of salad in the afternoon. CUDC had its own cafeteria, and the meals they served met the needs of the dance studio. The calorie and nutritional value wouldn't let them starve to death, but it definitely couldn't be called delicious.
"What do you like to eat?"
Talking about this, Xi Shui became animated.
"Fried skewers, barbecue skewers, mille-feuille cake, fried chicken, hotpot, french fries, hamburgers..." Xi Shui counted on his fingers, then put them down. "But I haven't eaten any of those for a long time. The last time I ate cake was at the beginning of last month."
He could remember so clearly simply because he rarely got to eat anything tasty. Every time he ate, it was with a mouthful of tears, even licking the cake box clean.
Seeing his famished look, Zhou Zeqi slightly furrowed his brow. "Don't you exercise a lot? Why is your diet so strictly controlled?"
"Because eating once is fine, but we can't eat like that every day. It would be terrible if we developed bad eating habits." Xi Shui remembered a senior in his department who, heartbroken after a breakup, indulged in binge eating. As a result, he couldn't lose weight, so he induced vomiting, sticking his fingers down his throat until he had a gastric hemorrhage. Later, he took a leave of absence due to depression and bulimia nervosa.
Afterwards, their counselor had a heart-to-heart talk with them. They were deeply aware of the physical requirements of their profession. Some people were naturally gifted, while others had to tighten their belts for life. There were gains and losses, and the counselor hoped they could rationally balance their desires and ideals.
Xi Shui's ideals outweighed his desires, so he decided it was better to eat less.
Zhou Zeqi lowered his eyes to look at Xi Shui's collarbones exposed above his collar, like two small hills. He was already very thin.
"I can cook. If you have the chance, you can come over and try it," Zhou Zeqi said in a low voice.
"Ah, you can cook? What can you make?" Xi Shui was a bit surprised because Zhou Zeqi didn't look like someone who could cook at all. He looked more like someone who would smash plates and throw bowls.
"Quite a lot."
"What does 'quite a lot' include?"
Zhou Zeqi was silent for a moment, then turned his head and looked at Xi Shui, who was determined to get to the bottom of things, with a hint of a smile. "Are you thinking that if I can cook things you don't like, you'll refuse me?"
Xi Shui's face heated up, and he hurriedly clarified, "I wasn't thinking that."
"I was thinking that after you told me what you can cook, I would say, 'Wow, that's amazing.'" Xi Shui honestly confessed his intentions.
Zhou Zeqi: "......."
-
The next morning.
As usual, Xi Shui began his morning practice at six o'clock. Afraid of disturbing the neighbors, he closed the floor-to-ceiling windows and only went out to the balcony to fetch his clothes after he finished practicing.
He had a few pots of cacti on his balcony, which Li Wanzhi had brought from home. They were already growing well, with fire-red flowers blooming on the palm-sized cacti.
Xi Shui needed to shower after his morning practice.
As the automatic clothes drying rack slid down and then up again, the door of the neighboring apartment suddenly opened. The new neighbor, holding a T-shirt, was putting it on over his head while yawning.
The morning sunlight fell precisely on the new neighbor's well-defined six-pack abs. The new neighbor's skin was quite fair, and his physique was flawless, leaving Xi Shui somewhat dazed.
Lin Xiaojin had told him before that abs also depended on genetics. Some people only had six-packs or four-packs, and no matter how much they exercised, the number wouldn't increase.
Zhou Zeqi was so genetically blessed.
Zhou Zeqi also saw Xi Shui.
He ruffled his hair, "Morning." Having just woken up, his tone was lazy and his voice low and hoarse.
Xi Shui inexplicably felt his throat tighten.
The beads of sweat on Xi Shui's face were gleaming, probably due to the sunlight. Half of his face was bathed in golden light, almost translucent, and you could even see the blue veins beneath his neck.
"Morning," Xi Shui responded before hugging his clothes and returning to his room.
Zhou Zeqi went back to his apartment. He had just moved in, and there wasn't much furniture, making it feel empty.
This apartment was bought by his father for his sister when she was studying at Capital U years ago. Later, when Zhou Zezhi went abroad to study, the apartment had been left unoccupied. His parents hadn't mentioned it to him until he complained about the discomfort of living in the school dormitory, and his father suddenly remembered he had an apartment near the school.
The apartment was spacious, nearly 200 square meters, and the decor was still quite new. There was only one bedroom; the other rooms had all been renovated. The small balcony at the back had a large area for flowers and plants, but because no one had tended to them for a long time, the ground was covered with withered branches and leaves, and climbing plants covered the surroundings like a net.
Zhou Zeqi called a housekeeping service to remove all the flowers that Zhou Zezhi had cultivated.
He didn't like things that were too troublesome.
-
When Xi Shui left his apartment with his bag, he ran into Zhou Zeqi, who was also just leaving. Zhou Zeqi pulled the key out of the door. "Together?"
Xi Shui wanted to refuse but didn't feel comfortable doing so. After all, they were going the same way. Could he really say, "You go first, you go first"?
They walked in silence, with Xi Shui looking at his phone as he walked.
CUSC and CUDC were in different directions.
But the sight of the two of them entering the school together was still captured on camera.
[It's only been a few days, and this is the second time they've been seen together, right? And they're coming to school together, in the morning. What were they doing last night?]
[How did you even manage to capture this? Don't you sisters sleep in the morning?]
[Oh, I've been preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam recently. I get up at 4:30 in the morning. Now I've already finished my first round of review. After getting this sweet treat, I feel like I can do another hundred practice questions!]
[They must be dating.]
[Little Stream's expression looks so cold. Hasn't he noticed that Zhou the King of Hell has been looking at him the whole time?]
Xi Shui no longer visited the forum. He had already clarified yesterday that he and Zhou Zeqi didn't have that kind of relationship. They were just friends, nothing more.
But Lin Xiaojin was browsing enthusiastically.
Lin Xiaojin had changed into his practice clothes and was sitting in front of the mirror, scrolling and giggling. Xi Shui came out after changing his clothes. With his long arms and legs, he had the best physical conditions in the class. Learning ballet had its own professional requirements for a dancer's physical condition.
Flexibility, splits, body shape, lower body should be longer than the upper body – for boys, it should be more than 10cm longer, for girls 12cm. Xi Shui's lower body was 18cm longer than his upper body, which was considered extremely advantageous.
He bent down to see what Lin Xiaojin was looking at, then kicked him lightly. "Class is starting."
Xi Shui suddenly turned around and hugged Lin Xiaojin's leg. "You're here? Tell me, how did you end up coming to school with Zhou the King of Hell today?"
Xi Shui paused, "We live in the same neighborhood. We ran into each other this morning."
"Wow..." Lin Xiaojin stood up, clapping his hands. "Let me show you the way Zhou the King of Hell looks at you. Isn't he drooling?!!!"
Xi Shui didn't understand Lin Xiaojin's excitement.
Nor could he make sense of the dark image shoved in front of his face.
"What's this?" Xi Shui asked.
Lin Xiaojin replied: "This is a zoomed-in picture of Zhou the King of Hell's gaze!!!"
Xi Shui: "......"
Today was weigh-in day.
Girls first, then boys.
They usually don't crowd around when the girls are weighing in, as it's impolite.
Xi Shui sat on the ground at the back, recalling the movements they had been rehearsing. Lin Xiaojin and Zhao Mengzi were horsing around beside him.
"Boys! Boys, come here!" The teacher called, holding a record book. "We'll go through the basic training afterward. Don't think I don't know some of you have been slacking off lately."
Lin Xiaojin felt a chill run down his spine.
He dreaded the foot arch stretches the most. Pointing his toes was fine, but every time they did foot arch stretches, someone had to step on his feet. His classmates would be gentle, but not the teacher. The teacher would crush him.
Xi Shui got up from the ground. He didn't particularly like weigh-ins because his weight tended to fluctuate.
Two days ago, he was 60 kg.
It had only been two days, so the change shouldn't be too drastic.
Xi Shui stepped onto the scale under the teacher's sharp yet loving gaze.
61 kg.
Xi Shui's heart sank.
He looked at the teacher with a pitiful expression.
The teacher held a new teaching cane, "Come here, come here."
Xi Shui walked up to the teacher, and the other boys and girls started to tease him.
"What's going on, Little Stream? Been sneaking snacks again?"
"Why do you always sneak food? It's giving big sister a headache."
"Hey, what was it last time, 59?"
"You're not supposed to go over 60!"
Xi Shui felt embarrassed and frustrated. He turned to them and said, "You guys are so annoying."
"Oh, we're annoying, we're annoying."
The teacher also laughed, lightly tapping Xi Shui with the cane, "And now you're getting upset. Tell me, why are you so much heavier than last time?"
Xi Shui still looked miserable, his face scrunched up, "Maybe it's because... I... haven't used the bathroom yet."
The teacher put down the cane and pinched the flesh on Xi Shui's belly. "Xi Shui, you have a natural talent for dancing, but this mouth of yours, it's really... Why are you so gluttonous?"
Xi Shui remained silent.
Because what the teacher said was true. He really was gluttonous.
"It's not a big deal," the teacher said, crossing her legs. "Boys are different from girls. Girls really can't gain weight, or else you won't be able to lift them. But for boys, as long as it doesn't affect your aesthetics, a bit of extra weight is fine."
Xi Shui felt that the teacher's resigned tone was even more disheartening.
"I'll be more mindful in the future," Xi Shui promised, "and I'll try hard to lose a couple more pounds."
*
Little Stream: I have an idea!
Teacher: What idea do you have?
Little Stream: I heard kissing can help you lose weight.
Teacher: ......