Su Lian quietly moved away, ignoring the burning sensation on his leg, feeling that patch of skin become flushed with heat.
He cleared his throat and spoke in a hoarse voice: "You..."
"Don't ask." Chi Wang stiffly turned to the side, pulling the blanket to cover himself completely, "It's normal at this vigorous age, right?"
Su Lian's face also reddened slightly as he turned away: "I didn't say it wasn't normal."
He just hadn't expected to wake up and open his eyes to such an impactful situation.
One leg bent back against the wall, neither able to get up nor lie down properly.
Once again cursing this too-narrow bed, where every reaction was exposed, leaving them both extremely embarrassed.
The two fell into wordless silence, with the messy blanket strewn between them as the last shred of modesty on this miserable morning.
This couldn't go on. Su Lian kicked Chi Wang's calf lightly and said softly: "Get up."
"I'd like to, but please don't touch me." Chi Wang's ears were bright red, his hand gripping the blanket unable to move.
The more he tried to suppress it, the more intense it felt.
To make matters worse, the instigator was still lying beside him, each breath making the scene replay vividly in his mind, quite torturous.
A minute later, Chi Wang clicked his tongue and complained through gritted teeth: "You home-wrecking Su Daji."
"Who?" Su Lian frowned, "You're talking nonsense this early, still half-asleep?"
Chi Wang rubbed his face with his hand, lamenting: "Is your phone there? I need a calming mantra."
Su Lian wordlessly reached for the phone under his pillow and opened the audio player.
So at 6 AM, room 404 was filled with the sound of ancient zither and chanting sutras.
"All sentient beings have afflictions, all afflictions are suffering. Afflictions neither arise nor cease, are neither defiled nor pure, neither increase nor decrease..."
Five minutes later, Chi Wang bent his knee casually, slightly open, and said nonchalantly: "As expected of Buddhist scriptures, they really work."
Su Lian: "..."
This guy probably has a screw loose somewhere.
Having resolved the awkward physiological issue, Chi Wang felt much lighter. He turned and felt Su Lian's forehead: "The fever seems to have gone down, feel it yourself."
Pressing a hand to his own forehead, Su Lian nodded: "It's gone down, 37.5 degrees."
Glad to have this human thermometer, Chi Wang was relieved to see his condition improve, letting out a long sigh.
Given how Su Lian had developed a fever just from getting caught in the rain before, he'd thought it would last for days, but it cleared up quite quickly.
"You should get up soon, and remember to turn off that speaker." Su Lian lifted the blanket and got up, climbing over Chi Wang and down the ladder, returning to the room across the hall to change and freshen up.
As the person beside him left, the bed gradually emptied. Chi Wang lay there motionless, lost in thought.
Come to think of it, was it normal to dream about Su Lian? Was it reasonable?
Although he currently had no interest in romance, he'd always thought himself straight as an arrow. He'd hung out with Gu Anjiu and Lin Yan since childhood. The chubby one wasn't much to look at, but Lin Yan was quite the handsome charmer, loved by all.
They'd skipped class together, gone to internet cafes, swimming, basketball, joined bands, done everything together. Spending time together day and night, seeing each other constantly, yet he'd never experienced anything like this before.
Could it be that dreams really do stem from daytime thoughts?
Unable to find an answer, Chi Wang sighed softly, forced himself to get up and took a cold shower. It worked - his senses instantly cleared.
Next door, people gradually got up. The group walked to class together. Gu Anjiu eyed him suspiciously up and down: "Didn't you sleep well last night? You look like you've been wrung dry."
Chi Wang draped an arm over his shoulder, drawling: "A vixen came to claim my life, nearly did me in."
Su Lian chimed in: "I slept in the same bed as you, how come I didn't know?"
Because you are the vixen yourself, Chi Wang thought, giving him a deep look.
Chi Wang humbly asked for advice: "Let me ask you something, is it normal to have that kind of dream?"
Lin Yan looked confused: "What kind?"
Gu Anjiu declared with certainty: "A wet dream, right?"
Chi Wang hesitantly responded with a "Mm", his gaze fixed ahead.
That "bite me" echoed in his mind like a song on repeat, going round and round.
The instigator was walking right beside him. Su Lian's fingers, voice, collarbone, Adam's apple - every detail seemed magnified a thousand times, making it impossible to look at him directly.
"It's normal, I've dreamed about my goddess before." Gu Anjiu patted his shoulder reassuringly, "Our little Wang is growing up."
"Shut up." Chi Wang tugged at his sagging school uniform, smiling as he kicked him.
Lin Yan sighed meaningfully: "Not even six months till you're eighteen, truly the awakening of young love."
Chi Wang cursed: "Go to hell."
"But weren't you sleeping with Su last night? Don't tell me..." Gu Anjiu's gaze flickered between the two of them, "It's the dry season, things got heated, you two should be mindful of your influence."
They'd made much cruder jokes before, but at these words, Chi Wang felt as if a needle had lightly pricked his ear, his heart suddenly uneasy.
Su Lian snorted: "It has nothing to do with me, he just got worked up watching some videos last night."
Who knows what vixen possessed him in his dream to get so worked up this morning.
Gu Anjiu frowned: "You have such good stuff and didn't share with me? What kind of brother are you? Hurry up and send me that vixen that made our Wang grow up overnight so I can critique it."
Chi Wang quickly entered the classroom, drawling lazily: "Deleted it all, wasn't interesting."
Gu Anjiu mocked: "You've already watched it all, no wonder you're talking tough now."
Chi Wang's gaze met Liu Youyou's from group four. She was resting her chin on her hand, her amorous eyes looking towards the door.
Her face full of romantic charm, anyone who didn't know the situation would think she'd fallen madly in love with someone.
Sensing the gaze, Su Lian walked expressionlessly to the back row, tossing his bag down with some force.
"Who upset you now?" Chi Wang glanced at his deskmate, thinking to himself that he should listen to some calming mantras too, to curb his arrogance and impatience.
Su Lian slapped his notebook on the desk and continued organizing his materials without another word.
Chi Wang nudged him with his elbow: "By the way, my sister wants your autograph. Could you tear off a piece of paper and write one for her?"
Su Lian scrawled his name in a flourish, slapping the paper to the side: "You're welcome."
Though the person was irritable, the handwriting was quite nice. Tonight's calming mantra would have to be arranged too, Chi Wang thought as he twirled his pen.
As early self-study was ending, Li Guoqing came in and announced: "I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
No one below responded. He clicked his tongue and muttered to himself: "The good news is, we get eight days off for Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day. Of course, the price for these eight days is that we won't have this weekend off, we'll need to make up classes. I'm giving you advance notice that the next monthly exam will be scheduled for after we return from the National Day break. You still have about half a month, so don't just focus on having fun, make sure to review well."
A chorus of laments rose from the classroom.
"No way, didn't we just have a diagnostic test? Another exam already?"
"Have some humanity please, we have to make up classes the weekends before and after the eight-day break, how is that different from not having a break at all?"
"It's over, two hits in a row since school started, my mom's stick is already twitching in anticipation."
"I don't even want to talk, having classes for over ten days straight will make me puke."
As a perpetual underachiever, Chi Wang's expression remained unchanged. After all, he neither made up classes nor reviewed.
He gripped his pen, focusing intently with the carefree air of a contemporary ink painting master creating an impromptu work.
On that autographed paper, he slowly sketched out a cartoon Shiba Inu.
Gu Anjiu turned around: "Wang, what are your holiday plans? Want to go play for a couple days?"
Chi Wang didn't even look up, carefully drawing the Shiba's eyes: "Nah, boring."
"You need to review your lessons." Su Lian calmly interjected, "Little Jiu can have you for two days, I'll take the other six."
Chi Wang felt a chill down his spine. Pretending not to hear, he continued sketching: "My drawing skills are really not bad. I'm a prodigy, lifelike. I should find a way to make this into an emoji, might be able to get rich."
Su Lian raised his voice slightly: "I'm talking to you, did you hear me?"
A strong sixth sense told him that war was about to break out. Gu Anjiu quickly turned back around, leaning forward in his chair to escape World War III.
Sure enough, half a second later, the two big shots rapidly began their verbal sparring.
Chi Wang lowered his eyelashes, his posture relaxed, face full of reluctance.
"I heard you, please do me a favor and give me a break during the holiday."
"No way, with your grades, it'll take at least half a year of work to get into a top university."
"Who said I want to go to a top university? My ambition is to reach for the stars, earn millions a day."
"'Constantly improving', you're pretty smooth with the school motto. You must have been punished to copy it quite a few times, huh?"
"No, it's 'xin' as in salary, 'yi' as in billions."
"..."
The next second, Su Lian raised his hand and gripped Chi Wang's wrist as he was drawing, making a cracking sound, almost but not quite breaking it.
Chi Wang winced in pain, thinking to himself that the Su Daji in his dream was indeed much cuter.
-
Su Lian worked quickly. In one day, he had organized about 70-80% of the key and difficult points for each subject from the previous month.
He stared at his notes, puzzled. He had the materials, but where was he supposed to sell them?
As soon as evening self-study was over, Chi Wang left without a word, hurrying off with a few buddies. Who knows where they went off to fool around again.
The dormitory was empty, with only him and Song Jiaci left, each on their own side, heads buried in revision. It would probably be pointless to ask them anything.
Taking out his phone, Su Lian typed slowly, sending a WeChat message to the social butterfly Gu Anjiu: "Little Nine, got a question for you."
[999 Little Clever]: Wow, Brother Lian, what's up?
[999 Little Clever]: If you're asking where Wang is, he's at the internet cafe! Want to come?
True to their brotherhood, he betrayed the location without hesitation.
[SU]: ...Tell him to come back quickly. I wanted to ask, do you know where I can sell study materials?
[999 Little Clever]: You want to sell? I'm in a lot of groups, not sure which one might be useful. Why don't you ask around in each group?
[SU]: Okay, send me the QR codes.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh, the other side sent over a dozen codes at once, lined up in a row, quite an impressive sight.
[999 Little Clever]: Just found a few, see if they work for you. Remember to use an alt account to protect your personal safety!
[SU]: Mm, got it. Thanks.
[999 Little Clever]: Wang says he'll be back within 10 minutes! Please show mercy! Spare his life!
The barrage of exclamation marks gave him a headache. Su Lian flexed his fingers slightly, deciding to sort out the materials first, then deal with Chi Wang.
He saved the QR codes, quickly applied for an alt account, and started scanning the codes one by one.
Just as he was scanning the second one, his phone started vibrating frantically, buzzing non-stop.
Su Lian frowned, went back to the chat window, and found that the messages in the group he had just joined were refreshing madly, constantly pinned, with the chat count instantly going over 999+.
Quite popular, he thought. He clicked into the group chat, his gaze lingering on the group name: Taro Pudding Bobo Fan Club Group 1.
His mind flashed back to the chat logs he saw last night with that No. 2. Could this be Chi Wang's fish-raising group?
A full 500 friends, quite a wide net he's cast. Impressive indeed.
Since these were Chi Wang's fish, it would be a waste not to fleece them. Might as well fleece them to death.
Su Lian started typing on the keyboard: "Selling key study materials for second year high school, with a hit rate of up to 70% for similar questions. Trial reading available. Subjects include Math, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Interested parties please DM..."
Before he could finish typing, he received a group @: [Congratulations on becoming Taro Pudding Bobo Member 500. As the last member to join Group 1, our fan club presents you with a special gift package. Please check!]
Su Lian: "?"
Member 500? Who? Were they talking about him?
His finger moved up, trembling as he downloaded the compressed file and opened it. Ten high-definition photos of him and Chi Wang doing morning exercises popped up, covering all 360 degrees without a blind spot, looking utterly ridiculous.
Su Lian: "..."
He had a kind of ominous premonition. He continued scrolling down and found another long image with unclear text.
[S]: Excuse me, how do I view this image?
[Taro Pudding Bobo Member 1]: Silly, download it to your album and flip it left and right.
In the internet cafe, Chi Wang lazily sprawled on the sofa, his eyes lowered, staring at the messages in the small group. Liu Youyou had privately messaged him to be more active as the fan leader. With his alt account already set up, he was forced to act enthusiastic.
Sure enough, there were people in this world as dumb as him who couldn't figure out how to view the image.
Su Lian stared at that Member 1, his eyes blazing. So this was the main consort of Chi Wang's fan club. Huh, very well, caught them all in one net.
He typed "Thank you" expressionlessly, following the instructions to flip the image. His finger enlarged the screen, slowly zooming in.
As the words jumped into view one by one, his usually impassive expression began to crack slightly.