November 6, 2025 — 12:24 pm

Chapter Five

Night markets everywhere were equally bustling. Lu Bai grabbed Zhang Xiaotian’s arm, “Hold onto me tightly, let’s not get separated.”

“Okay,” Zhang Xiaotian nodded, letting him hold his arm. Lu Bai’s body heat spread through his palm, making Zhang Xiaotian a little thirsty.

“Let’s go eat skewers at that place, see if it’s as good as the one outside our high school,” Lu Bai spotted a popular fried skewer stall and pulled Zhang Xiaotian over.

The two of them tried everything, and before they were halfway through, Lu Bai was already holding a lot of food.

“Let’s find a place to sit and eat slowly,” Zhang Xiaotian said, “Don’t buy any more, we might not even be able to finish this.”

“Alright, I’ll listen to you,” Lu Bai followed Zhang Xiaotian and casually sat down at an empty seat at a barbecue stall.

“After eating all this, it’s still not as good as the one outside our high school,” Lu Bai smacked his lips.

“Then you can go back and eat when you have a break,” Zhang Xiaotian saw some sauce on the corner of his mouth and pulled out a tissue, intending to hand it to him, but then hesitated and pulled his hand back.

“Will you come back with me then?” Lu Bai suddenly grabbed his hand before he could retract it and asked.

“Go back where?” Zhang Xiaotian didn’t react immediately, then understood what he meant. “I’ll definitely go back, where else would I go?” His mother had left him an apartment there, where their family of three used to live, but now he lived there alone.

“Then when we go back, we’ll go back to eating outside the school gate,” Lu Bai let go of his hand and said with a smile.

“Help me take a look, my eye is a little itchy.” When Zhang Xiaotian returned to the hotel and put down his bag, he heard Lu Bai call him.

“Let me see.” Zhang Xiaotian went to wash his hands, “Sit properly on the bed.”

Lu Bai couldn’t help but rub his eye. As soon as he raised his hand, Zhang Xiaotian pushed it away, “Dirty!” He gently pulled open Lu Bai’s eyelid, “It seems a little red, did some river water get into your eye?”

“I think so,” Lu Bai thought for a moment.

“I’ll go buy some eye drops,” Zhang Xiaotian put on his jacket again, “You wash your face and tidy up first.”

Zhang Xiaotian went downstairs to a nearby pharmacy. When he returned, a man and a woman were standing at the front desk, looking like a couple.

Zhang Xiaotian didn’t stop, he ran back to the room a few steps, and before he could knock, Lu Bai opened the door from the inside.

“I knew it was you just by your footsteps. You don’t weigh much, but your steps are heavy,” Lu Bai pulled him inside.

Zhang Xiaotian walked in with the force, not paying attention, and stumbled at the threshold, his hand landing on something. When he regained his balance, he realized his hand was on Lu Bai’s chest. Lu Bai had come to open the door for him and was only wearing pants.

“Did you take a shower?” Zhang Xiaotian quickly withdrew his hand, instinctively swallowed, and quickly lowered his head to walk inside.

“Mm-hmm,” Lu Bai followed him.

“Why aren’t you wearing more clothes?” Zhang Xiaotian put his hand on Lu Bai’s shoulder and pressed him onto the bed, “Lie down.”

“Isn’t it the same in the dorm?” Lu Bai asked, confused.

Yes, he was always so casually shirtless in the dorm, why had he never cared so much before? Zhang Xiaotian was stunned by the question and could only vaguely say, “It’s not the same here as in the dorm. Don’t ask anymore, close your eyes.”

After the eye drops were applied, Lu Bai was about to say something, but Zhang Xiaotian covered his mouth.

“You’ve talked too much today,” Zhang Xiaotian said, “It’s time to sleep. We can talk tomorrow.”

“You slept so long this afternoon, can you still sleep now?” Lu Bai’s lips moved under his hand, and Zhang Xiaotian felt his palm getting wet from the warmth of his breath.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” Zhang Xiaotian didn’t take his hand away.

“Chat with me for a while,” Lu Bai opened his eyes, took Zhang Xiaotian’s hand from his face, and placed it on his chest. Only a bedside lamp was on in the room, and under the dim yellow light, Lu Bai’s eyes looked very bright.

“Close your eyes properly,” Zhang Xiaotian withdrew his hand, “We’ll chat when your eyes are closed.”

“Okay,” Lu Bai obediently closed his eyes again.

“What do you want to talk about?” Zhang Xiaotian lay down on the other bed and asked.

“Tell me where you studied in your third year of high school, was it far?” Lu Bai asked.

“Not far, still within the province,” Zhang Xiaotian said. “I took the exam back there too.”

“I didn’t even see you.”

“You didn’t know which exam center I was at, so it’s normal that you didn’t see me.”

“Who was your deskmate there?”

“Why are you asking?” Zhang Xiaotian smiled, “You wouldn’t know them even if I told you.”

“Then were you close with him? Closer than we are?” Lu Bai suddenly sat up.

“Go to sleep, lie down!” Zhang Xiaotian was startled, “What’s wrong with you in the middle of the night?”

“Oh,” Lu Bai lay back down.

“We were in our third year of high school, there was no time for friends,” Zhang Xiaotian recalled, “I didn’t even recognize everyone’s faces.”

“That’s good,” Lu Bai mumbled softly.

“Why are you acting like a child?” Zhang Xiaotian chuckled softly.

“So what if I’m a child?” Lu Bai said, “Promise me, from now on, you’ll be the best to me in the world.”

“Stop messing around,” Zhang Xiaotian said.

“I’m not messing around, hurry up and say it,” Lu Bai wouldn’t let him off, “If you say it, I’ll sleep well.”

Zhang Xiaotian had no choice but to give in, “I’m good to you, the best in the world, okay?”

“You said it, don’t forget,” Lu Bai turned to face him.

“I won’t forget,” Zhang Xiaotian closed his eyes, “Sleep, Lu Bai, take care of your eyes.”

As a result, neither of them slept.

After hearing the couple in the next room confessing their love for the third time late at night, Zhang Xiaotian gritted his teeth, “Lu Bai, what kind of room did you book? The soundproofing is terrible.”

“Heaven knows, this can’t be blamed on me,” Lu Bai also frowned tightly. “Do you think the couple next door knows the soundproofing is bad?”

“No,” Zhang Xiaotian said.

“How can you be so sure?” Lu Bai asked.

“Why are you so sure about what?”

“Didn’t you just say they don’t know?”

“You…” Zhang Xiaotian was so angry he wanted to curse, and he turned his back to Lu Bai.

“Ah, are you angry?” Lu Bai quickly got up and lunged onto Zhang Xiaotian’s bed, landing directly on him. “Deskmate, Tian’er, I was wrong, I was just teasing you, don’t be angry.”

“Get up, get up!” Zhang Xiaotian, pinned down, pushed him off with his hands and feet, “I’m not angry, I just can’t sleep because it’s too noisy, it’s bothering me.”

“Then I’ll sleep with you!” Lu Bai seized the opportunity and “slid” into Zhang Xiaotian’s quilt.

“What are you doing?” Zhang Xiaotian was completely frozen now.

After what happened in the bathroom earlier, and now this, did Lu Bai really have no sense of boundaries?

“Why are you so resistant?” Lu Bai rested his head on Zhang Xiaotian’s pillow and even nuzzled him, “You’ll sleep even better with me warming the bed.”

“Go back quickly!” Zhang Xiaotian felt stiff all over, “This bed is too small, go back to your own bed.”

“I won’t,” Lu Bai remained motionless.

“Lu Bai! I’m really going to sleep!” Zhang Xiaotian started to push him. With him here, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep all night!

“Really?” Lu Bai looked like his plan had succeeded. “Then call me Master once!”

“Master,” Zhang Xiaotian complied readily.

“Oh, you… wait, what did you say? Say it again!”

“Good words are not repeated.” Zhang Xiaotian decided to give up communication, not knowing if Lu Bai would pester him to say it many times.

“Look at you, you can’t take a joke,” Lu Bai pouted, and also turned over, covering himself more snugly with the quilt. “If you don’t call me, fine, hearing it once is enough.”

He didn’t know when the noise from the other side finally stopped. By the time Zhang Xiaotian woke up, it was already dawn, and Lu Bai was still sleeping beside him.

When Lu Bai learned that Zhang Xiaotian had changed his part-time job, he didn’t seem as happy as Zhang Xiaotian had imagined, which surprised Zhang Xiaotian a little.

“I told you I would help you…” Lu Bai was a little unhappy, then asked again, “And when did you become so close with Xu Yan?”

“We’re not particularly close?” Zhang Xiaotian was a little bewildered by the question. “He’s local, isn’t it more convenient for him to find a part-time job than you? Besides, Xu Yan is just that kind of warm-hearted person.”

“Okay,” Lu Bai looked a little wronged. “Then I’ll accompany you after class.”

“How will you accompany me if I’m going to be a tutor?” Zhang Xiaotian asked. “Why don’t you go find Li An?”

“We only met once when I helped him, and I haven’t contacted him since.”

“What about others?” Zhang Xiaotian asked again.

“There are no others.”

“Then you can play on your phone in the dorm,” Zhang Xiaotian was really at a loss with him. “Otherwise, find something to do yourself. It’s not good to bring you along when I’m tutoring.”

“You’re so heartless,” Lu Bai put on a show of pouting, “I’m not talking to you anymore.”

As a result, after class, Zhang Xiaotian found that Lu Bai had indeed not followed him.

Not just that day, but for several days afterward, Lu Bai didn’t pester him after class.

Perhaps he had met some friends, or… was he really angry with him?

Zhang Xiaotian pondered, tapping his pen a few times.

“Teacher, is something bothering you?” the child sitting quietly doing his exercises asked.

“It’s nothing,” Zhang Xiaotian retracted the tip of his pen, “Do you have any questions you don’t know?”

“Not yet,” the child shook his head and looked at the book open in front of Zhang Xiaotian. “Teacher, do you also like to color in the closed parts of characters?”

“Ah?” Zhang Xiaotian didn’t understand what he was talking about.

“Look, in the character ‘結’ (jié) from ‘結果’ (jiéguǒ), there’s a ‘口’ (kǒu) at the bottom,” the child wrote the character ‘結’ on the draft paper, “I like to color in this ‘口’ too.”

Zhang Xiaotian looked at the draft paper and then at his own book. He hadn’t even noticed this habit of his.

“Do your exercises properly,” Zhang Xiaotian closed the book, “Check them for me when you’re done.”

“Oh,” the child pouted and listlessly resumed his exercises.

This child was just like Lu Bai. Zhang Xiaotian couldn’t help but smile, but when he thought of Lu Bai, he felt annoyed.

Where had Lu Bai gone? He was really making Zhang Xiaotian worry.

“Teacher Zhang,” Zhang Xiaotian walked out of the child’s room, and the child’s parents quickly greeted him. “Does he listen to you? Has he made any progress these past few days?”

“Don’t worry, a child’s grades improve little by little. He’s been doing quite well with his exercises recently,” Zhang Xiaotian said.

“Thank you for your hard work. The woman in front of him was well-maintained, making her age hard to guess. “My child doesn’t have many friends and doesn’t get along with anyone, but he gets along very well with you. If his grades improve, we’ll have to trouble you more in the future.”

“You’re too kind, please don’t be so polite,” Zhang Xiaotian exchanged a few more pleasantries before leaving. As he walked to the entrance of the residential complex, a figure suddenly darted out from a corner.

Zhang Xiaotian was so startled that he stumbled back a large step, losing his balance. Just as he was about to fall, the person grabbed his arm and pulled him into an embrace.

“Lu Bai!” It wasn’t until he smelled the familiar scent that Zhang Xiaotian came to his senses and punched Lu Bai, “You scared me to death!”

“Hehe, I was wrong. I came to pick you up from class, Teacher Zhang,” Lu Bai lowered his head and grinned at him.

“Next time, use a more normal way to appear,” Zhang Xiaotian said to him as he stood up.

“Okay,” Lu Bai nodded. “I’ll listen to you.”