As soon as the words were spoken, silence fell.
"I haven't done between-class exercises in 800 years," Chi Wang said.
Su Lian was caught off guard and laughed, "This bet of yours is the most ridiculous I've heard in years. What were you thinking?"
Su Lian coldly retorted, "That's because you're ignorant."
Quickly imagining these two doing radio calisthenics with a straight face in front of everyone, Gu Anjiu laughed so hard he shook: "You must have taken all the bamboo shoots from the mountain. How standard does it need to be? Like this?" As he spoke, he spread his arms and did a 'great bird spreading its wings' pose.
Su Lian glanced at him, thinking to himself that Gu Anjiu was trying to distance himself from the situation.
"Let's just fight instead, simple and brutal," Chi Wang said casually as he rolled up his school uniform sleeves, revealing a glimpse of his toned muscles. It had been a while since he'd fought, so he might be a bit rusty.
But the other didn't take the bait, instead taunting: "Is this all the Third High School bully can do? Scared?"
The provocation was off the charts, leaving no room for negotiation.
"Hey, whichever of us loses, it'll be embarrassing in front of everyone," Chi Wang pondered for a moment, then looked up with a serious expression after careful consideration: "Let's change it. How about betting on drinking your health slurry for a month? That's sincere enough."
Just mentioning those three words made his stomach churn involuntarily, as if he had developed a conditioned response.
Su Lian shook his head: "No changes. You already agreed."
As for the health slurry, there was still a chance to drink an improved version later.
Not knowing why this person was so obsessed with doing exercises, Chi Wang thought for a moment and asked, "Say, aren't you afraid of losing yourself?"
Su Lian leaned against the door and smiled, saying slowly: "I am afraid, that's what makes it more exciting."
From their first meeting, this guy's expression had long been expressionless, always looking like he was about to clench his fist and punch someone, exuding a cool vibe. But now, when he suddenly smiled, with his lips slightly pursed and the corners of his eyes lifted, his gaze falling lightly, he somehow managed to look devilishly charming.
Chi Wang stared, momentarily dazed, and nodded unconsciously: "Then it's settled."
He must have been bewitched, he thought.
Su Lian responded with a smile: "Then let's wait and see."
"Alright, now that the bet is set, our grudge is settled," Gu Anjiu came over mysteriously, looking mischievous. "Can I ask a little gossip question?"
Su Lian was in a good mood at the moment and magnanimously said, "Go ahead."
Gu Anjiu pretended to cough, looked around, and lowered his voice: "The rumor says that the time you fought one against five was because you stole someone's girlfriend and offended a big shot, so they came to make trouble for you. Is that true or false?"
The smile that had just appeared instantly disappeared. Su Lian clicked his tongue and said, "What else did the rumor say?"
"It's not good to say," Gu Anjiu shrank his neck, looking quite cowardly. "I'm afraid of getting beaten up."
"Just say it, I won't lay a hand on you."
"They say you not only stole someone's love but also got the girl pregnant while simultaneously two-timing four women who had boyfriends, which is why the five of them ganged up on you. It's all from the online forums, I'm just repeating the gossip."
Not daring to pause for breath, Gu Anjiu finished in one go, then crouched on the ground hugging his head, trembling.
The night wind swept in from the window, feeling cool. The atmosphere in the room was heavy, eerily quiet.
Su Lian casually flexed his fingers, making a crisp cracking sound.
Chi Wang raised his eyes to stare at the face across the room. Tsk, from charming to killer in an instant, exuding murderous intent.
He drawled, "We've already made a bet, don't take lives."
Su Lian unclenched his fist and coldly swept a glance at the ground: "It's false. I can't believe you'd believe that."
"It's mainly because the person who leaked it told it so vividly. They say one of the girlfriends was even the campus beauty from your Eighth High School," Gu Anjiu slowly stood up, looking very disappointed, and added, "I saw her photo yesterday, she's really pretty."
Idiots of a feather flock together. Su Lian couldn't be bothered to respond further and turned to enter the room.
His legs were sore from standing. Chi Wang waved his hand and pushed open the door: "Goodnight, brothers. See you tomorrow."
Looking at the empty room opposite, Su Lian couldn't help but ask: "Does he have that dorm all to himself?"
"Yes," This time the stutterer answered promptly, but stumbled on the next sentence, "He's a r-r-r..."
"Rich second generation," Lin Yan kindly helped him finish. "Young Master Wang's family is very wealthy. He helps me with those flashy methods purely because he likes making money."
Su Lian's hand paused as he was unbuttoning. The Chi Wang he knew had a family so poor you could hear the echo, and it didn't seem like an act.
Back then, when they were just starting their business, they only had two suits to alternate between, with the cuffs worn white. Su Lian hadn't even graduated from university then, and the two of them were poor together. Those days could only be described as miserable.
The past was too painful to recall.
Perhaps something happened later that completely changed this person.
Su Lian lowered his eyes, not knowing exactly when the change had occurred.
"You seem very concerned about Chi Wang," Lin Yan quietly stared at him for a while, his eyes full of curiosity.
Su Lian came back to his senses, wrapping himself back in that hard shell, and said coldly: "No, I was just asking casually."
Followed by a "timi" sound, he added: "I sleep at eleven, everyone rest early."
The implication was clear - don't mess around at night.
Gu Anjiu, who had been implicitly threatened, shuddered his chubby hands on the keyboard and obediently lowered the screen brightness.
There was no choice but to bow to the dorm's evil forces, as the other's fists were hard.
Su Lian hadn't experienced a four-person dorm in a very long time, and now he felt a splitting headache.
All of his roommates were troublesome - one slept restlessly, constantly kicking the bed frame; another snored continuously with rising and falling tones; and the third mumbled in his sleep with a stutter, full of variety.
With this luck, he had assembled a full nighttime symphony orchestra in the dorm.
After being tormented on and off for several hours, Su Lian stared at the blindingly white ceiling, his mind filled with a looping cycle of the Great Compassion Mantra.
In a daze, he found himself oddly missing the night he had shared a room with Chi Wang. That guy slept well, not moving at all, and had no strange habits. He could sleep straight through until dawn.
However, given their current half-baked relationship, sharing a dorm wouldn't be appropriate.
Thinking back to the extremely embarrassing scene when he woke up that morning, he decided it was better not to.
Su Lian threw off his covers, got out of bed quietly, and turned on the small desk lamp to quickly review the key points he had drawn during the evening self-study session.
At 6:50, the other three gradually got up, and the dorm slowly became lively.
Gu Anjiu climbed down the stairs, staring at the lit small lamp in a daze: "No way, are you taking the bet this seriously? Burning the midnight oil?"
"The alarm kept going off all night, I couldn't sleep."
"Really? How come I didn't hear it?"
Because you were the alarm clock itself.
For the sake of dorm harmony, he held back and didn't say it.
Su Lian closed the exercise book filled with notes, went to the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face, and mechanically brushed his teeth in front of the mirror without emotion.
The mirror reflected a pale face with dark circles under the eyes.
After finishing his grooming, he casually tossed his toothbrush into the cup. The clock pointed to six o'clock.
Today's divination: third and fourth quadrants, neither good nor bad, barely acceptable.
When it's time for exams, the campus atmosphere is always filled with tension. Students cramming at the last minute rushed past, muttering to themselves, their hurried footsteps sometimes near, sometimes far. Su Lian looked up at the sky and found a rare sense of simplicity and fulfillment in campus life.
It seemed that coming back through time wasn't so bad after all.
Entering the exam room, Su Lian found his seat, unsurprisingly at the very back, with several empty seats in front of him.
The other three were scattered around. His gaze slowly swept to the side, and surprisingly, Chi Wang's seat was right at the front.
There was nothing to be happy about though, and he felt no internal excitement.
Was there any difference between being last and tenth from last? No.
As the exam bell rang, Chi Wang happened to turn his head and look back, catching someone's peeking gaze. The two made eye contact across several rows.
Su Lian didn't shy away, instead raising an eyebrow provocatively and pointing at the test paper in his hand, reminding him of last night's bet.
"Good luck," Chi Wang rested his chin on his hand and mouthed silently.
Quite respectful of his betting opponent.
"No talking or looking around during the exam," the young female invigilator said, eyeing the room full of poor students with a lack of confidence. "And no cheating either. You can't escape the all-seeing eye of the surveillance cameras."
Scattered laughter erupted in the classroom, sounding like malicious provocation.
The proctor teacher forced a stern expression, suddenly slamming the podium twice: "Quiet, do your test."
Su Lian thought to himself that Chi Wang surely wouldn't stoop so low as to cheat on an exam; he had at least that much confidence in him.
Returning to the exam hall after years away, it didn't feel particularly unfamiliar.
His pen flew across the paper. With twenty minutes left in the exam, Su Lian calmly closed his test booklet.
He leaned back in his chair, observing his surroundings. Some were sleeping with their heads down, others were scratching their heads in frustration, and some were acting suspiciously. There was a bit of everything.
Only Chi Wang sat with a straight back, his pen moving so fast it was almost a blur.
Su Lian's lips curled into a slight smile. Well, at least he had a competitive spirit.
The exam time flew by, and as soon as the bell rang, everyone listlessly got up to submit their papers.
As all the exam room doors opened, people swarmed out like bees, heading en masse to the cafeteria for lunch. The hallways instantly became packed.
Chi Wang came up from behind, casually draping his arm over Su Lian's shoulder with easy familiarity: "How'd you do on the test?"
"It was alright," Su Lian replied noncommittally, shrugging off the arm that had been placed on him.
Chi Wang nodded slightly, patting him sympathetically: "I felt really good about this one. Sorry to say, but you might want to start practicing your push-ups early."
Arrogant Wang, living up to his name.
Su Lian: "....."
He suspected the word "modesty" didn't exist in Chi Wang's dictionary.
"Hey, I've got a question for you guys. What was the answer to the last multiple choice question?" Gu Anjiu butted in, complaining indignantly, "I couldn't make heads or tails of that question stem."
Chi Wang: "B."
Lin Yan: "A."
Su Lian: "C."
"Damn, I chose D. We've got the full set," Gu Anjiu touched his chest, sighing wistfully, "Ah, that's so us."
Su Lian: "......"
Three people, and not one of them managed to guess correctly. The odds of winning the lottery were probably higher than this.
"A bunch of underachievers comparing answers, how amusing," a bespectacled boy muttered as he brushed past, deliberately bumping Su Lian's shoulder hard.
Chi Wang clicked his tongue, calling out to stop him: "Ai Xuexi, you bump into someone and don't apologize?"
"You were blocking the way, dunce," Ai Xuexi pushed up his glasses, sweeping a look of disgust over the group.
Su Lian put his hands in his pockets, his tone cold: "If we were blocking the way, couldn't you have just said 'Excuse me'?"
Knowing that each of these guys was more trouble than the last, Ai Xuexi still held himself in high regard, looking down on these bottom-ranking trash from the bottom of his heart.
He didn't mince his words: "Dunces will be dunces. You know you're blocking the way and still think you're in the right?"
"You keep saying 'dunce'. From the sound of it, are your grades that good?" Su Lian asked coolly.
Gu Anjiu quickly sized up the situation, whispering in his ear: "Lian bro, he's top of our class."
Ai Xuexi lifted his chin proudly: "I'm only tenth in our grade."
"That is a bit lacking," Su Lian considered, saying with some regret: "You still need to work harder."
Ai Xuexi laughed in anger: "You're just like me, except with 'bottom' in front. Oh right, you're not even bottom ten, you're..."
"Dead... last..."
Like an elementary school kid, he deliberately drew out the words in a loud, mocking tone.
Su Lian raised an eyebrow: "That remains to be seen."
Ai Xuexi pushed up his glasses: "Don't tell me you think you can get first place?"
"Mm," Su Lian nodded.
Ai Xuexi burst out laughing: "Alright, want to make a bet? My grades are passable at best. If you can score higher than me, I'll admit you're amazing."
A small crowd of onlookers had already gathered around, all ears pricked to eavesdrop on the conversation.
Always eager for drama, someone in the crowd egged them on: "Don't be a coward, make the bet! Loser has to call the winner 'grandpa'."
"I don't plan on taking on a grandson at the moment," Su Lian's expression remained impassive as he said coolly, "A bet is fine. How about this: whoever loses has to go to the broadcasting room and shout 'I'm a loser' five times, using their full name. We'll bet on our rankings in this mock exam. Are you in?"
"Lian bro, have you lost your mind?" Gu Anjiu frantically tugged at his sleeve, trying to calm him down in a low voice, "Don't be rash, don't be rash. We're all friends here, no need to embarrass yourself like this, right?"
"It's settled then, everyone heard it. No going back on your word," Ai Xuexi snorted coldly, hugging his books and turning away with his nose in the air.
He hadn't taken two steps when Chi Wang hooked a finger in his collar from behind: "You still haven't apologized to Su Lian."
"I'm sorry, happy now?" Ai Xuexi said, confident in his victory. He raised his chin provocatively: "Su Lian, I look forward to hearing the good news."
Watching the swaggering figure walk away, Lin Yan said disdainfully: "What an asshole, he's really asking for it."
"Is it too late for me to slip him some laxatives tonight? At least make him miss the science portion, then Lian bro might have a fighting chance," Gu Anjiu rubbed his chin, considering seriously. "Which laxative works best?"
Lin Yan pulled out his phone, deadpan: "Want me to look it up?"
After all this commotion, Su Lian found himself in an unexpectedly good mood: "Come on, lunch is on me."
Chi Wang couldn't figure out what had gotten into his new deskmate. Had taking the Chinese exam addled his brains?
Making such a losing bet, he was worried for Su Lian's future.
Entering the cafeteria, the aroma of food wafted through the air. Only then did Su Lian realize how hungry he was after a morning of mental exertion. Having offered to treat everyone, he generously paid for four meals, further depleting his already meager meal card balance.
Carrying his tray, Su Lian sank into thought. Maybe he should hit up an internet cafe and invest in some stocks, try to make some money.
"What are you thinking about?" Chi Wang sat down on his right, his long legs sprawled out carelessly.
He picked up a piece of braised pork with his chopsticks and put it in Su Lian's bowl, recommending: "This is Third High's specialty. I haven't touched it yet, try it?"
Su Lian froze for a second, suddenly looking up at him, words caught in his throat.
By sheer coincidence, he had stumbled upon Su Lian's favorite dish. How strange.
"No need to look at me so emotionally, it's just a piece of braised pork."
Perhaps it was the strong sunlight today, but Chi Wang's smile was dazzling.
Su Lian pressed his lips together, picking up the meat and putting it in his mouth, managing a few words: "Mm, it's delicious. Thank you."
"You're. Welcome." Chi Wang enunciated each word, his smile growing even more captivating.
The other three chatted and bantered, pulling conversations in all directions. Su Lian, being a man of few words, couldn't find an opening to join in, so he simply focused on eating.
Gu Anjiu seemed to know an endless amount of gossip, talking about everything from other schools to their own, from first-year students to seniors. Somehow, the topic circled back to Su Lian.
"If you don't mind me asking, why did you transfer here?" Gu Anjiu couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer, his knowledge-hungry eyes fixed expectantly on Su Lian.
Su Lian sipped his soup leisurely: "I just wanted a change of scenery, a change of mood."
At these words, the three quickly exchanged glances, various guesses spilling out.
Lin Yan: "He got dumped."
Gu Anjiu: "He came to pursue love."
After hearing these two versions, Chi Wang slowly added: "If it's for love, that's not really worth it."
This time, Su Lian unexpectedly responded: "Why not?"
"So it's true? You got dumped?" Chi Wang looked at his somewhat melancholic expression with surprise.
Su Lian gave an ambiguous answer: "I suppose you could say that."
Gu Anjiu, having gotten his hands on some prime gossip, could hardly contain himself from broadcasting it live in the cafeteria: "Heavens! The Eighth High School's tough guy, heartbroken and transferring schools! What shocking news!"
"Keep your voice down," Lin Yan covered his babbling mouth with a napkin. "Even meatballs can't stuff that mouth of yours."
Su Lian continued to be lost in thought. So, coming back in time, was it worth it or not?
To this question, he didn't yet know the answer.
Having uncovered someone's emotional wounds, the atmosphere grew silent, with no one daring to continue on the topic.
Chi Wang rested his chin on his hand, staring at him for a while. For such a cool guy to sound so dejected at the mention of an ex, his long lashes lowered, beautiful eyes filled with sadness – he did indeed seem deeply hurt, and quite devoted too.
Looking at him from all angles, he appeared quite pitiful and in need of some encouragement.
"You know, even though you come across as cold, you're actually not a bad guy. You even knew to bring me that health smoothie."
Chi Wang, feeling sympathetic, patiently comforted him: "It's alright, breaking up is just breaking up. The next one will be even better. Your ex clearly wasn't good enough. They must have been blind, heartless, cruel, and shameless."
Su Lian lowered his gaze. Fine, he thought, I'll give you a chance to berate yourself a bit more.
He rewound the recording and listened to it three times over. The more he listened, the more amusing he found it.
Just as he was holding back his laughter, he heard Chi Wang seamlessly conclude: "All in all, the one who broke up with you is an idiot."
Su Lian turned his head to stare at him, nodding thoughtfully: "That's certainly true."