/
Chapter 51: Exclusive Favouritism
Song Yu stared at Yue Zhishi. He initially managed to keep a straight face, but he suddenly started to chuckle.
“Why are you laughing?” Yue Zhishi caught and shook Song Yu’s shoulder twice, but Song Yu started laughing even harder. His amusement was different from usual — rather than just the corners of his mouth curling, his eyes curved too, and his entire person became livelier, more vibrant. The more Yue Zhishi told him not to laugh, the harder it was for Song Yu to hold back, and he eventually fell to the side.
“Honestly, what are you laughing about? What’s so funny?”
But not only did Yue Zhishi not manage to get an answer, it was like he was infected as well, and he also inexplicably started to laugh, collapsing onto Song Yu’s body. After they slightly calmed down, he again ordered Song Yu to not laugh; he also remembered his earlier question. “You’re so unserious. You can’t actually think he’s better looking than I am, right?”
The amusement on Song Yu’s face had still yet to fully fade away. “I think your brain’s different from normal people’s brains.”
“How come you’re doing personal attacks again?” Yue Zhishi pulled at Song Yu’s clothes and used his phone like a small gavel to pound Song Yu’s leg. “Silence. Do you have any objections to my opinion?”
“No objections. Is that okay, little judge?”
Song Yu gave him a look, his face appearing warmer and gentler after laughing.
Yue Zhishi somehow said okay, and then afterwards, thought he had been a bit silly.
He abruptly realised it had been a very long time since Song Yu had laughed like that. He searched through his memories, and it was very hard for Yue Zhishi to find a similar scene. In front of him, gege forever seemed to be a precision machine with a fixed program, carrying out orders unlikely to be wrong and forever doing the correct things.
Suddenly, Yue Zhishi sat straight and gazed at Song Yu’s pair of dark eyes.
“Gege, you look the best when you’re laughing.”
Song Yu froze, but he didn’t stay still for too long before he moved his eyes away. He even took away his phone in Yue Zhishi’s hand, the laughter on his face already completely disappeared. He once again returned to the quiet, taciturn Song Yu.
The screen of his phone lit up, showing Qin Yan’s missed call.
“I’m going to make a phone call.”
After Song Yu got up and left, Yue Zhishi shifted and moved to rest against the bean bag Song Yu had just been on — gege’s warmth still lingered on it. He replayed the last few minutes in his mind and felt he must’ve been thinking too much, causing Song Yu to laugh at him.
But he also hoped Song Yu could laugh more, just like then — it was fine even if he was making fun of him.
Time disappeared in a flash. Yue Zhishi was very happy when he received his letter of admission, and he was even happier to learn a few of his friends also got into the same university as him. Jiang Yufan’s exam score may have been a bit low, but he had applied for an unpopular major and successfully entered Wuhan U to become Yue Zhishi’s schoolmate.
What surprised Yue Zhishi the most was that on the day he went to Wuhan U for his first day, he found out Jiang Yufan had become his dorm mate.
“My major just so happened to have me as an extra person, so I need to live with other majors.” Jiang Yufan was so happy he was beaming with joy. “At first I was a bit annoyed since this place is so far from my faculty building, but I didn’t expect to live with you — the heavens must’ve been touched by our strong friendship!”
“You’re right.” Yue Zhishi was also very happy and pulled him out to eat some KFC together even though he pretty much couldn’t eat any of it. He was only able to eat some ice cream.
His one and only regret was that this initial start of the term just so happened to coincide with Song Yu needing to do some fieldwork in the mountains. Song Yu wasn’t able to take Yue Zhishi to the university, and he was also unable to teach Yue Zhishi each and every road in Wuhan U like how Yue Zhishi had previously requested.
“I hear Shen Mi also got into the law faculty?” Jiang Yufan took a sip of peach oolong tea. “He’s pretty awesome. He was able to transfer directly into your class 10 despite it being difficult to transfer classes in Peiya, and now he’s also in the same faculty as you.”
“But we’re not in the same major.” The sundae was overly sweet, and Yue Zhishi also took a sip of his drink to cleanse his mouth. “He helped move a lot of my luggage when we first started school, and that’s when I found out he actually lived in the next building.”
Jiang Yufan couldn’t help but emotionally sigh. “What a loyal friend. Auntie must definitely have stuffed a bunch of stuff into your luggage. Is there anything delicious? Give me some.”
“Yeah, there is. Aunt Rong’s already packaged everything for me — there’s your portion, Shen Mi’s and my other dorm mates’ portions. But she doesn’t know you already own one of my dorm mate portions, so I have an extra pack. I’m planning on giving it to Qin Yan gege.”
“Ah, that’s right, senior Qin Yan is also here as a gifted student.” Having eaten his fill, Jiang Yufan leaned back against the chair and stretched. “It’s so good to have everyone together in the end.”
Military training started the third day after reporting to school. This city’s summer was always extremely hot — people standing underneath the sun were pretty much walking pieces of butter, feeling as if they could completely melt at any point in time. This kind of heat was different from merely sitting in the sun: the Yangtze River ran through this city, and the many lakes made for a humid climate. The city was like a natural food steamer once summer arrived — it was like stepping into a sauna as soon as people went out, let alone all the new students who needed to wear their military training uniforms.
Every day Yue Zhishi went back to his dorm, he felt like he’d lost a layer of skin. He was pretty much able to immediately fall asleep as soon as he cleaned up and got into bed, but he always tried his hardest to resist falling asleep. He sent messages to the far away Song Yu, sharing his new student life with him.
The mountains didn’t have good reception, so it was very rare for Song Yu to be able to see his messages as soon as they were sent. There was always a lag in their communication — Yue Zhishi would silently send out his messages, and after a bit of buffer time, he’d receive a few responses.
It was like there was no way to get rid of these difficult to avoid delays.
Because of Yue Zhishi’s distinctive features, he was always noticed by either his female fellow schoolmates or their drillmasters during their military training. The drillmasters always liked to joke with the students with especially strict facial expressions or voices, and Yue Zhishi would frequently be pulled out as an example.
“You’re too pale, you’ll look more like a man once you get a tan.”
That was something a drillmaster said, and Yue Zhishi thought he was being serious — so on the second day of military training, he didn’t follow Aunt Rong’s instructions to put on sunscreen. He didn’t expect to lose a layer of skin on his nose after just one day.
Once he returned back to his dorm, Yue Zhishi took a video and showed Song Yu his peeling nose. “Gege, look, don’t I look like an onion.”
It was already noon the next day when he received Song Yu’s reply. He was on his way to pick up a delivery after eating lunch, and he hurriedly replied to Song Yu’s message. Song Yu had seemed a bit angry at him not having put on sunscreen.
Yue Zhishi hadn’t had much of an appetite when he was eating lunch earlier, so he hadn’t eaten much. The weather was honestly too hot, and his eyes started to blur as he gazed at his screen. He started to feel dizzy, and he’d only just sent out two short messages when he could no longer steadily stand. It was hard for him to breathe, and he felt nauseous.
His body had always been weak. Yue Zhishi was very sensitive to any uncomfortable reactions in his body, so he wanted to look for a place where he could sit. He’d only taken two steps when his vision went black.
He heard a very warm and gentle voice, a pair of hands holding his arms. “Fellow student, are you okay?”
His vision recovered slightly. A beautiful, tall and slim girl with black wavy hair stood in front of him, wearing a baby blue dress. She looked worried. “Are you suffering from a heat exhaustion? There’s so much sweat on your forehead, let me help you find a place to rest.”
Yue Zhishi said thank you very softly. She was visibly much more familiar with this area and brought him directly away from the little garden to a convenience store with air-conditioning. Yue Zhishi felt much more comfortable after he went inside.
“Sit here for a bit.” She escorted Yue Zhishi to the bar counter. “I’ll be back very soon.”
Worried his asthma would act up, Yue Zhishi looked for his inhaler in his bag and pulled it out in case he needed to use it. He then held his phone and finished sending his messages to Song Yu.
That girl came back very quickly, her hand carrying a small bag, and went to the entrance of the convenience store to buy a bottle of water. She walked to Yue Zhishi, giving the bottle to him after opening it. “Drink some water first.”
The plastic bag rustled as she opened it. “I bought some Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid and cooling patches for you.” She pulled open a patch and very naturally tugged off the cap on Yue Zhishi’s head to stick it onto his forehead.
“I can do it myself.”
“It’s okay, it’s already on.” The girl also opened a bottle of the Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid. “Students suffer from heat exhaustion every year. This isn’t something minor — you’ll still feel dizzy if you suffer from minor heat exhaustion, but a serious case can give you stomach flu. You’ll need to be sent to the hospital if you end up developing heat stroke.”
Yue Zhishi could tell: “Are you a senior sister?”
She chuckled very gently. “Is it that easy to tell I’m older than you?”
“No.” Yue Zhishi immediately explained, “I just feel like you’re really familiar with this place, and it also doesn’t look like it’s your first time seeing someone suffering from heat exhaustion.”
“You’re right, I’m in third year. I used to be the manager of my faculty’s basketball team, and many team members would often get symptoms during training.” She introduced herself graciously. “I’m Nan Jia, in the law faculty. What about you?”
Yue Zhishi was a bit astonished — who would have expected something so coincidental. “Me too.”
“Then we’re faculty senior sister and junior brother? How lucky.” Nan Jia also found it very miraculous. “In that case, we might end up seeing each often in the future. You can look for me if you need help with anything, no need to be shy.”
Nan Jia suggested for him to get up and walk around after he sat there for a while and brought out a little electric fan for him from the bag. “Use this, and don’t wear your cap for a bit.” Hearing that Yue Zhishi needed to pick up a delivery, Nan Jia brought him along a shorter way, and the two of them went back to the law faculty building on their way. Yue Zhishi kept expressing his gratitude as they walked, but Nan Jia said he didn’t need to worry about it.
“I have a little brother too, and he’s about the same age as you. He’s studying in a different province, and I think of him whenever I look at you.” Nan Jia smiled again after she finished speaking. “Of course, he’s not as handsome as you.”
At the dormitory building, they bumped into Jiang Yufan who’d come downstairs to buy some drinks, and he was particularly agitated at seeing Nan Jia. He ran over, grabbing Yue Zhishi, as soon as she left. “Hey, how did you end up walking with the law faculty flower!”
“Faculty flower?” Yue Zhishi didn’t understand. “You mean senior Nan Jia?”
“Yeah, you didn’t know? She was in charge of the volunteers when all of us new students came to report, and she even gave me directions at that time.” Jiang Yufan’s face was full of excitement. “The second year senior brother who picked me up said she was the law faculty flower, beautiful and kind, with many people chasing her.”
Yue Zhishi couldn’t help but ridicule him. “Don’t forget you’re someone who has a girlfriend.”
“Understood. I just instinctively appreciate beauty, and obviously the person I like the most is my Xiao Ya.” Jiang Yufan looked Yue Zhishi up and down, and seeing the cooling patch on his forehead, he said, “What’s wrong with you? Are you sick? You can’t be allergic to something, are you!”
Yue Zhishi was afraid he’d make a big fuss, so he explained as they went upstairs together, conveniently also telling him about how he met Nan Jia.
“As expected, it must be nice to be a handsome guy. You even meet faculty flowers randomly.”
“What do you mean, you’ll meet nice people too if you end up suffering from heat exhaustion.”
Jiang Yufan helped Yue Zhishi ask for leave from the afternoon military training session. Since Yue Zhishi had a special body constitution and had a history of asthma, the drillmaster didn’t dare be careless — he allowed Yue Zhishi to rest in his dorm for the afternoon.
And even though his dorm mates urged him to not continue attending the military training, Yue Zhishi still stubbornly returned the next day. To a certain extent, he was very stubborn and committed seriously to anything he did.
There were less than four days to their military training performance, and he was chosen to be a flag bearer by the battalion commander. He didn’t dare relax at all.
There weren’t many flag bearers — they were all students with honest features and well proportioned figures chosen by their various faculties, and they were in charge of escorting the country flag at the beginning of the performance. To Yue Zhishi, this was something very glorious; the thing he regretted the most during high school was not being able to be in charge of raising the flag. He hadn’t done well when the school had selected the flag raisers, and his raised flag had swished downwards, covering up his entire person.
And so he had lost such a glorious opportunity.
In order to not make a single mistake this time, he constantly stayed back after they were dismissed to do some solo training. He goose-stepped around the sports ground as many people watched on, but Yue Zhishi didn’t care about other people’s gazes.
The day of the military training performance, Qin Yan also appeared on the dais in his role as the president of the literature and arts student society. Yue Zhishi initially didn’t notice him until he passed the dais carrying his class banner. He heard a familiar voice, and only then did he realise Qin Yan was the broadcaster — but he was locked in his goose-steps and had no way of turning back to see.
After they were dismissed, every faculty’s flag bearer was given fresh flowers from girls except for Yue Zhishi. The law faculty didn’t have any precedent of arranging for flower delivery.
But Yue Zhishi wasn’t disappointed at this, because he felt like holding a bouquet of flowers was something a bit awkward.
Once the performance was over, the drillmasters took all of them and left the stadium. Yue Zhishi’s phone rang with a call from Qin Yan.
“Le Le? Wait for me at the stadium entrance.”
Ten minutes passed, and Qin Yan finally arrived after two girls came together and left after hitting on Yue Zhishi. Qin Yan was holding a bunch of sunflowers, and Yue Zhishi didn’t understand what they were for.
“Take them.”
Yue Zhishi found it very strange — he’d never been given flowers by a guy before. “There’s no need.”
“Just look at how unwilling your face is.” Qin Yan couldn’t hold back his laughter. He told him the truth. “These are from your brother. He told me to give them to you during your performance since he’s still in the mountains.”
“My ge bought these?” Yue Zhishi immediately took the flowers from Qin Yan’s hands. The black paper packaging held eleven sunflowers just in bloom, the flowers the size of his palms. Every single one of them was carefully chosen, pulsating with life, and a black card was stuck right in the middle of the bouquet. It held a typed message with no signature.
[Congratulations on successfully completing your military performance, little flag bearer.]
It didn’t feel like Song Yu’s style to send flowers, but sending a message did. He flipped over the card. An introduction to the flowers was typed on it, and the name of this particular breed was very special — they were called earthwalkers.
“I don’t know why he chose these flowers, what’s wrong with roses? People usually give roses or lilies since they look nice. Sure enough, a person like Song Yu who’s been single since he was born has tastes like a straight man.”
Head lowered, Yue Zhishi stared at that card, a subtle suspicion growing in his heart. Maybe he was thinking too much, but maybe this was also another one of Song Yu’s riddles.
Perhaps Song Yu’s signature was the name of the flowers — he was someone wandering around the earth, an earthwalker.
Yue Zhishi felt a deep sense of satisfaction at getting something with a meaning so hidden underneath the surface, something only the two of them would understand — as if he really was different from everyone else, as if he really was someone special.
Seeing him stand in place in a daze, Qin Yan placed his hands in his pockets and said, “Come, I’ll take you to get some food.”
“Ah?” Yue Zhishi hugged his flowers. “I don’t think it’s good idea going like this.”
“What, are you afraid of people misunderstanding?” Qin Yan laughed. “Don’t worry, my girlfriend will be there too. Let me take you to meet your sister-in-law.”
Yue Zhishi held an instinctive natural opposition to the word sister-in-law after his childhood blunder, so he didn’t make a single noise and only followed behind Qin Yan. He passed by a flower shop on the way, and he bought a clear and glittering crystal vase. They went back to his dorm before they went to eat, and Yue Zhishi placed the sunflowers neatly into the vase, changing his clothes before he went back down.
Qin Yan brought him to a little diner near campus. It wasn’t very large, but it was extraordinarily busy. His cute, short-haired girlfriend had lined up and gotten in early, and she matched very well with Qin Yan.
“I feel like everyone suddenly got a girlfriend,” Yue Zhishi said without thinking.
“Yeah, so when are you getting one.” Qin Yan ordered, and even though Yue Zhishi didn’t speak, all of the things he ordered were food Yue Zhishi could eat. Qin Yan’s girlfriend took out her phone, a forum post appearing on the screen. She said, “Don’t worry, your junior brother has pretty much harvested a bunch of female hearts over this military training. It’s comparable to three years ago
”
“The Song Yu from three years ago,” Qin Yan very tacitly continued, and then he told his own girlfriend, “The two of them during high school were so very eye-catching.”
A big bowl of sliced fish in chili oil was brought up, a bunch of bean sprouts and kelp laid at the bottom. Fillets of catfish filled the top, the soup red and the fish white, and a layer of chives and sesame seeds was sprinkled on top. The lady boss came over as well, her hand holding an iron ladle full of hot oil. She poured the oil over the bowl, and the fragrance wafted to everyone’s faces.
“We weren’t that eye-catching.” Yue Zhishi poured and sent over cups of hawthorn juice. He thought of something, and so he asked Qin Yan, “I keep seeing clubs advertising for new members lately. Is the basketball team also looking for new people?”
Qin Yan gave a meaty and tender piece of fish to his girlfriend. “You asked the right person. I’m the vice captain of the university team and am in charge of recruiting new people. I’ve been trying to get more people — I interviewed a bunch of people just yesterday. You want to join too?”
“Yeah.” But Yue Zhishi knew himself very well: “My body’s not as strong as other people’s, so I might not be able to get into the main team.”
“You can train with your faculty team first. If you really want to join, you can. It’s just that you temporarily might not be able to actually play in a competition.”
“I’ve already signed up to the faculty team. They said they’ll give us training and that I don’t have to worry if I don’t play well.” He even specifically went to look for senior Nan Jia in order to enter the faculty team — even though she was no longer in the team, she still managed to take him directly over. Everything went very smoothly.
That day, Nan Jia had sent him a bunch of information about the faculty and university teams, as well as information about training. She hadn’t chatted much, and this let Yue Zhishi feel she was warm-hearted, yet tactful.
Qin Yan nodded in agreement. “That’s true. You’ll be able to gain some popularity as well. You can play for just half a session if your physical abilities aren’t enough. The only thing is your brother might not agree, just in case something happens.”
Yue Zhishi silently said in his heart, he wanted to join the university team specifically because of Song Yu.
“Gege should be the main force in the university team, right?”
“What else. A lot more people watch too if he’s playing,” Qin Yan said, producing a long sigh after he finished talking.
Yue Zhishi was a bit confused and asked in concern, “What’s wrong?”
“A while ago, I told him to come back earlier for training, but he told me he wanted to drop out. He said he’s too busy and doesn’t have the time to compete anymore.” Qin Yan poured a spoonful of soup onto his rice and mixed everything together. “If he really does drop out, we’ll lose a great general. I don’t know if we’ll be able to find someone reliable.”
Yue Zhishi was suddenly disappointed at hearing this — he’d wanted to enter the basketball team from the moment he’d signed up to the university. He’d even planned to enter the faculty team first before slowly expanding into the main team. He didn’t think Song Yu would quit. But now that he’d already signed up and had even troubled his senior sister, it might be too much to drop out of the team now too.
Wuhan U was still very lively at night, and after he separated from Qin Yan, Yue Zhishi slowly walked back to his dorm. Each day Song Yu didn’t return, each day he felt this place didn’t seem like Wuhan U at all — it felt very foreign. He was already used to going to the library whenever he was by himself, and he read textbooks about his major just like before, when he had yet to start school.
He returned back to his dorm at 10pm. Yue Zhishi noticed a bunch of food placed on his desk, many of them snacks he would usually buy. Jiang Yufan was up in his bed, video chatting with his girlfriend, and he dragged open his bed curtain, pulling out an ear bud. “Shen Mi was just here. He bought you a bunch of fruit and snacks, and even bought us milk tea. What a good friend.”
“He left already?” Yue Zhishi sat down. He’d eaten too much during dinner and wasn’t able to eat any of the snacks, simply touching the sunflower petals.
“Mn, he waited for you for a bit, and then he left since you weren’t back yet.”
Yue Zhishi said okay and also said he’ll visit his dorm tomorrow, before he went into the bathroom. When he came out, he saw his phone on his desk light up and saw a message from Song Yu after he went over to have a look.
[Gege: I’ll be back tomorrow.]
Just a second ago he was like a frosted eggplant — and at this very second, Yue Zhishi immediately came back to life.
[Yue Zhishi: Really? I’ll pick you up tomorrow, where are you guys getting off the car?]
He mutely read his reply again after he sent it out, realising he truly was very impatient to see Song Yu.
[Gege: We’ll be dropped off directly at the school entrance, no need for you to come.]
Yue Zhishi wasn’t satisfied with this — he still wanted to see him. No matter what time it was, as long as it was to see Song Yu, he would never find it troublesome. But he’d only typed up half of his message expressing his disagreement when he received a new message from Song Yu. It was like a patch coming in just in time.
[Gege: I’ll look for you.]
The corners of his mouth rose at once. This patch successfully managed to cover up the small hole in Yue Zhishi’s heart.
“Le Le, what are you looking at that’s making you so happy?” A dorm mate looked at Yue Zhishi as he came in with a washbasin. “Are you grabbing red pockets?”
“Nope.” His voice unconsciously lilted up in happiness in his reply. Once he sat back down, Yue Zhishi saw the sunflowers on his desk and thought for a bit, before he took a photo. He shared it on his Moments without any text.
He only realised he forgot to set who could see the photo after he submitted it; this update accidentally entered his public Moments. He wasn’t able to delete it before someone noticed it.
Shen Mi was the first person to give it a like. He even commented twice.
[Shen Mi: Yo, who gave you this?]
[Shen Mi: Did you see the snacks I bought for you?]
Yue Zhishi didn’t reply to his first comment, because he felt Song Yu wouldn’t want others to know he gifted someone flowers — this was something truly unusual for Song Yu, and it might destroy his public image. So Yue Zhishi responded only to Shen Mi’s second question, telling him he was really thankful. This particular update very quickly gained a bunch of likes, including from Qin Yan and senior Nan Jia.
The last person to like the photo was Song Yu. Seeing the like notification, Yue Zhishi thought Song Yu wouldn’t comment; it wouldn’t be his usual behaviour. But a few seconds later, he received a new notification from Song Yu’s comment.
[Gege: I was even thinking you wouldn’t show off what I gave you.]
Yue Zhishi was very surprised. He even swiped out and entered the app again before he read the comment once again — the comment truly was from Song Yu.
This curious and rare comment naturally pulled in Qin Yan, who liked to make a fuss and watch.
[Senior Qin Yan replied to gege: have you been possessed? (it was already very strange to deliver flowers, but this handsome man still helped out free of charge)]
Qin Yan wasn’t friends with Shen Mi, so Shen Mi wouldn’t be able to see this comment. Thinking Song Yu wouldn’t reply, Yue Zhishi put down his phone, spraying his earthwalkers with some water.
Unexpectedly, Song Yu actually responded.
[Gege: What’s so strange about it, don’t all the other flag bearers receive flowers from their faculties.]
[Gege: For the sake of fairness, it can’t be just my flag bearer who doesn’t receive flowers.]