And also, think less about those things.

Bai Jiangxin couldn’t figure out why one person’s inner voice could split to such an extent—sometimes pure and cute, sometimes lewd and vulgar.

Or was it that that wasn’t her at all, and inside her body actually lived another perverted soul?

Because her personal image management was poor today, Xiang Di was indulging in self-pity.

“Xiang Di.” Suddenly someone called her.

It was the class monitor’s voice. She tidied her bangs and turned her head with restraint.

Ye Minjia said, “Didn’t you say yesterday you were going to bring medicine for me? Forgot?”

Only then did Xiang Di remember. “Oh, right.”

She hurriedly took the medicine out of her schoolbag, glanced at Bai Jiangxin who was seated at the same desk as Ye Minjia, and Xiang Di thought, the chance has come.

Another great opportunity to get close to Bai Jiangxin—she fixed her bangs, rubbed her eyes. The Xiang Di who was still feeling sad a second ago straightened up again this second.

The lady-like walk made a comeback. Putting on airs, she came to Bai Jiangxin’s desk, Xiang Di trying hard to control herself from looking at him.

【If I’d known, I should’ve sprayed some perfume before coming to school today.】

【Spray it nice and fragrant and tease him a little.】

Does she think she’s a slab of pork belly, fragrant and all?

Even if she really were a piece of fragrant pork belly, he wasn’t a dog who would drool the moment he smelled something good.

Just a moment ago she was still sad that he wouldn’t like her; now the pervert mode possessed her again. Bai Jiangxin gave a soft snort.

Fix your hair first, wash your face clean, then come talk about teasing him.

“Why did you bring so much medicine?” Ye Minjia exclaimed.

Xiang Di explained, “Everyone in my family is pretty healthy. We hardly get sick even a few times a year, so these medicines don’t really get used at home. My mom told me to bring more over.”

Ye Minjia casually picked up a box and asked, “What’s this one for?”

Xiang Di explained them one by one. “This one is for reducing fever, this one is for sore throats, and this eye drop is specifically for relieving eye fatigue. If your eyes feel uncomfortable, you can put in a drop.”

【Bring more medicine to school to keep on hand, so I won’t have to worry if my husband gets sick in the future, hehe.】

【My husband is so handsome, he must live to be a hundred.】

She carefully introduced the use of each medicine to Ye Minjia. In order to care about one person, she ended up caring about the health of everyone in the class.

Yet Bai Jiangxin, who heard every word of her concern without missing a single one, still had no expression on his face. He lowered his eyelids; in his cool, clear eyes, an almost imperceptible emotion slowly surged like a river beneath ice.

What direct relationship is there between being handsome and living to be a hundred? Empty sweet talk.

Might as well say she wants him to get sick less and stop taking so many days off, so she won’t be too bored at school every day without an object of lustful fantasy, lose her motivation to study, and then do poorly on exams—at which point he’d become a major sinner.

Ye Minjia was practically defeated by her thoughtfulness. He secretly glanced at Bai Jiangxin and found that he still wore an expression of having nothing to do with any of this.

This doesn’t move him at all? Is this guy’s heart made of iron, or did he misunderstand the relationship between the two of them?

Xiang Di’s seat was in the same row as Bai Jiangxin’s, while Ye Minjia was on the other side, so when she was introducing which medicine treated which illness, she needed to slightly brace herself against Bai Jiangxin’s desk for support.

Bai Jiangxin gentlemanly made room at the desk, leaning his body back against the chair to avoid accidentally touching her.

She had just been regretting not spraying perfume today, yet he could still smell a faint, sweet fragrance on her.

It was the scent of baby skincare cream, mixed with a hint of milky floral notes.

Baby–milk-scented Xiang Di suddenly started playing little tricks in her head again.

【I need to strike a pose that shows my curves, so he can see my body lines.】

Bai Jiangxin’s eyelid twitched.

…May I ask where the curves are?

It wasn’t summer yet; the girl’s small frame was completely hidden inside the loose autumn–winter school uniform. He couldn’t see anything at all.

Front and back curves—she was at the level where one hand could lift her up. She was far too confident in her tiny body that barely had any flesh on it.

So many schemes—perfume, posing her figure—what a pity none of it worked.

While mocking her inwardly, the corner of his eyes curved ever so slightly, and a fleeting arc appeared at the corner of his lips, unseen by anyone.

Xiang Di was still diligently holding her pose.

【So? Have you been dazzled by my perfect maiden figure?】

“……”

Dazzled, no—but wanting to laugh was real.

Bai Jiangxin picked up his water bottle, planning to take a sip to wash away the urge to laugh.

【Come on, don’t spare me just because I’m a delicate flower.】

【The Ba Mountains and Chu waters¹Ba Mountains and Chu waters (巴山楚水): A classical literary phrase referring to the mountainous and river regions of southern China (roughly modern Sichuan–Chongqing and Hubei–Hunan). In literature, it often symbolizes remoteness, exile, and emotional desolation rather than just a physical location.—a bleak, desolate land. Baby please f*ck me!】

“Pfft—”

“Ah!!!”

Caught completely off guard and sprayed all over, Xiang Di let out a scream.

Ye Minjia was startled too and shouted, “Holy shit, Bai Jiangxin, are you a fountain or something?”

The commotion here was too big, drawing the attention of the other students who were in morning self-study. One after another, they all looked over.

No one knew exactly what had happened. They only saw Xiang Di, soaked in water, droplets still hanging on her school uniform, standing there blankly with a dazed expression, while Bai Jiangxin had choked so badly that his face and the roots of his ears had turned red. He turned sideways, covered his mouth, and coughed hard several times.

Ye Minjia was extremely busy—patting Bai Jiangxin’s back with one hand while handing tissues to Xiang Di with the other.

“I’m just saying, how do you manage to choke just drinking water?”

“Xiang Di, hurry up and wipe it off.”

Still unable to believe she had actually been sprayed all over by Bai Jiangxin, Xiang Di took the tissues and slowly wiped the water stains from her clothes.

Ye Minjia asked, “Do you want to go to the restroom to deal with it?”

“I-it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s just water, it’ll dry soon.” Xiang Di’s tone was careful. “Classmate Bai, are you okay?”

She was expressing concern out loud, but in her heart, she was thinking something completely different.

【“Has my husband been hit by Mercury retrograde²Mercury retrograde refers to the optical illusion when the planet Mercury appears to move backwards in its orbit from Earth’s perspective. In Western astrology, this period is often associated with communication breakdowns, technology glitches, travel delays, and general misunderstandings. lately? He even chokes on water.”】

Right, you are my Mercury retrograde.

He could never stay pure-minded for more than three seconds before his thoughts would veer off in that direction. He really shouldn’t have softened his heart and held any expectations of her.

Bai Jiangxin’s chest hurt from choking, and he just wanted to roll his eyes.

Xiang Di was still looking at Bai Jiangxin with concern.

Normally, he always appeared aloof, proper, and unattainably elegant, as if he wouldn’t panic even if the world was ending. But then again, it really was rare to see him in such a disheveled state…

【OMG, he looks so enticing like this, his face and ears are all red, the corners of his eyes are red too, and his eyes are all wet… who understands, fam?】

【Emmm, wanna f*ck.】

? Where’s the ‘fam’?

Who f*cks who?

Having finally caught his breath, in the blink of an eye, Bai Jiangxin started coughing even more violently than before.

Ye Minjia was starting to get worried and suggested, “You don’t have pneumonia, do you? Maybe you should go to the hospital?”

After recovering once more, Bai Jiangxin pressed a hand to his chest, weakly shook his head, and didn’t want to say anything.

Ye Minjia asked Xiang Di, “Do you have any cough medicine?”

“I think I brought some.”

Xiang Di immediately picked up the cough syrup she had brought from home and carefully offered it to Bai Jiangxin.

“Classmate Bai, would you… like to take some of this?”

Bai Jiangxin glanced at the medicine in her hand, then glanced at her. His voice was still hoarse as he refused outright, “No.”

Having been directly refused like that, Xiang Di let out an ‘eh’ sound, then added, “But it’s quite effective for stopping coughs.”

“No. I’m not sick.”

Bai Jiangxin’s expression was unfriendly, his tone icy.

Although his cold attitude wasn’t unexpected, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness. Xiang Di pressed her lips together, said a feeble ‘okay,’ and returned to her seat, still in her damp school uniform.

“She was just concerned about you, thinking you’re sick. I say, can’t your attitude be a bit better?” Even Ye Minjia felt a bit sorry for her. “And you just sprayed water all over her; she didn’t even blame you.”

Bai Jiangxin’s tone was displeased, “You don’t even understand the situation, what are you standing up for her here for?”

Just as Ye Minjia was about to retort, he heard Bai Jiangxin say, almost through gritted teeth, “And besides, who do you think is the reason I’ve ended up in this state these past few days?”

Ye Minjia blinked.

“Who?”

Realizing his slip of the tongue, Bai Jiangxin’s expression stiffened slightly.

“No one,” he said stiffly. “I’m going to wash my face.”

Bai Jiangxin left the classroom, leaving behind a thoughtful Ye Minjia with an inscrutable expression, stroking his chin as he fell into deep thought.

It wasn’t until the person behind him poked him and reminded him, “Deaf? The homeroom teacher’s calling you.”

Ye Minjia snapped back to his senses and only then saw the homeroom teacher standing outside the window.

“Studied yourself silly?” Chen Jinghua said. “Called you several times with no response. Come over and help me with something.”

Ye Minjia hurried out of the classroom.

Before Chen Jinghua could say what he wanted him to do, Ye Minjia spoke first in a serious tone. “Teacher, I think I’ve discovered something.”

Chen Jinghua looked puzzled. “Discovered what?”

“The real culprit behind Bai Jiangxin not wanting to come to school for class, I think I’ve found that person.”

Chen Jinghua was a little surprised. “You found them that fast? Who?”

Ye Minjia gave a sound of acknowledgment, then immediately shifted his words. “But I don’t dare be certain yet.”

─── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ───

The second class in the afternoon was Chen Jinghua’s chemistry class.

It was probably another drowsy class, but after Chen Jinghua stepped up to the podium, he neither started teaching nor arranged a test.

Chen Jinghua said, “So, according to our class’s usual tradition, the joint exam is over. This period we’re changing seats. I’ve already arranged them all, I’ll project them directly onto the screen. You change seats according to the seating chart, and once that’s done, we’ll start class.”

It had to be said that the homeroom teacher really knew what he was doing. If class started straight away, not many people would be able to muster any energy—but mention changing seats, and suddenly no one was sleepy.

In the dull life of senior year, one of the few bits of fun was changing seats. Every time an exam ended and seats were rearranged, everyone anticipated which area they’d be assigned to this time and who their new deskmate would be—please don’t give me an annoying deskmate; if it were a friend they got along with, or someone they liked, even better.

But Chen Jinghua rarely let boys and girls sit together, so one could only pray to be seated a little closer to the person they liked.

The new seating chart appeared on the screen—sure enough, some were happy and some were unhappy.

Xiang Di spotted her name at once. She and Liang Qianqian had gone from deskmates to sitting in front of and behind each other.

Front and back was fine too—at least she’d still be close to Qianqian.

The next second, she went to look for Bai Jiangxin’s name, praying she could sit a little closer to him.

She had been praying for this from the first semester of senior year until now. Although it had never come true, it was like a beautiful hope that supported her through day after day.

Staring at the two names placed right next to each other on the seating chart, Xiang Di froze for a moment.

Huh? Did the teacher forget to add an aisle between her and Bai Jiangxin?

Liang Qianqian said blankly, “Holy crap, babe—you’re deskmates with Bai Jiangxin this time.”

Xiang Di said nothing, staring at the seating chart in disbelief.

It wasn’t just the two of them who were surprised; quite a few people found it surprising as well.

“Did the homeroom teacher mess up the seating? He put Bai Jiangxin and Xiang Di together as deskmates.”

“Did the homeroom teacher take some herbal medicine or something? He actually arranged a girl as Bai Jiangxin’s deskmate.”

“What’s going on?”

“No, when did those two get connected?”

“Are the two of them familiar?”

“Probably arranged to be desk mates because they’re not familiar, right? Otherwise, wouldn’t it just be creating an opportunity for them?”

Ye Minjia was also very puzzled at the moment.

Hold on, what kind of reverse logic is the head teacher using?

The classroom was currently bustling and noisy, with the sounds of moving desks and chairs mixed with voices. Chen Jinghua knocked on the lectern and urged, “Hurry up, hurry up. Everyone, finish changing seats quickly. You’re going to dawdle away the entire forty-five-minute class.”

It would be better if the class time was dawdled away, then they wouldn’t have to have this class at all. Everyone thought this inwardly but had no choice but to speed up their actions.

Happiness had come so suddenly that Xiang Di was completely dazed. But compared to excitement, what she felt more at this moment was nervousness and helplessness. She stood rooted to the spot, not daring to move.

God the Mother, Buddha the Father, was this not a hallucination before her death?

Bai Jiangxin only felt his head starting to ache again, a sense of powerlessness like “the roof leaks precisely during a night of continuous rain.”

Seeing that everyone else was almost done, Chen Jinghua directly called out their names.

“Bai Jiangxin, Xiang Di, what are you dawdling for? It’s just making you two desk mates, is it going to kill you?”

Footnotes

• 1
  Ba Mountains and Chu waters (巴山楚水): A classical literary phrase referring to the mountainous and river regions of southern China (roughly modern Sichuan–Chongqing and Hubei–Hunan). In literature, it often symbolizes remoteness, exile, and emotional desolation rather than just a physical location.
• 2
  Mercury retrograde refers to the optical illusion when the planet Mercury appears to move backwards in its orbit from Earth’s perspective. In Western astrology, this period is often associated with communication breakdowns, technology glitches, travel delays, and general misunderstandings.