CY – Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Zhang Xiaotian felt that Lu Bai was sulking with him again for some reason, but no matter how he asked, Lu Bai wouldn’t admit it. Zhang Xiaotian didn’t press further, only asking if he was still going to watch his competition.

“I’ll go,” Lu Bai replied quickly, though he was still upset. “I’ll go to the competition, and I’ll go to your rehearsals too.”

“Rehearsals are not allowed. For the competition, you can tell the Class Monitor. The Class Monitor can reserve a seat for you in the audience,” Zhang Xiaotian told him.

Hearing this, Lu Bai’s mood immediately brightened. “Did you ask the Class Monitor to reserve a seat for me?”

“No,” Zhang Xiaotian said, turning his head away. “I don’t have that kind of time.”

“Heh heh, deskmate, I knew you were good to me.” Lu Bai’s mood improved again, and he quickly messaged the Class Monitor.

A moment later, Lu Bai leaned over and whispered to Zhang Xiaotian, “The Class Monitor said I should come to the study room first that day, and after the student union finishes taking attendance, I’ll sneak to find you.”

Seeing Zhang Xiaotian nod, Lu Bai happily opened his book to read. After reading only a few words, his phone on the desk vibrated. It was a message from the Class Monitor:

Tell Zhang Xiaotian to look at his phone!

Lu Bai was about to call Zhang Xiaotian, but the hand he extended hadn’t touched him when he instead directly picked up Zhang Xiaotian’s phone from the corner of the desk.

“What are you doing?” Zhang Xiaotian asked.

“You muted it again.” Lu Bai looked at the password entry screen, typed in a string of numbers, but it didn’t open. He tried fingerprint unlock, and only after it unlocked did he get to look at the phone. Before he could examine it closely, it was snatched back. He didn’t try to grab it again, just leaned over to look at it with Zhang Xiaotian.

There were a few unread messages in the skit group chat. The Class Monitor was notifying them of a change in rehearsal location for tomorrow. A string of “received” replies followed. Zhang Xiaotian also replied with a “received.” Just as he was about to put his phone down, a friend request popped up on the screen, with the note “Zhang Ting.” Zhang Xiaotian clicked to accept, and the other party quickly sent a message:

I’m Zhang Ting. I saw that we were the only two in the group who weren’t friends, so I sent you a request.

A moment later, she added: It’s more convenient to be friends, right?

Zhang Xiaotian replied: Okay.

The reply came back quickly: Mhmm, then you study. I won’t bother you. She sent a “cheering” emoji. Zhang Xiaotian replied “okay” again. After thinking, he felt it was a bit impolite, so he decided to send an emoji back. Just as he was looking for a suitable one, a hand blocked his view.

“Stop chatting. Just reply ‘okay’,” Lu Bai said softly, looking at the phone screen. “Zhang Ting, why is she looking for you?”

“Just adding a friend,” Zhang Xiaotian said, pushing his hand away. “Don’t mess around, Lu Bai.”

Lu Bai watched Zhang Xiaotian lower his head to reply to messages and suddenly said, “I’m going tomorrow too.”

Zhang Xiaotian lowered his head, not looking at him. “What are you going for?”

“To visit the ‘Movie Star Zhang’,” Lu Bai said, propping himself up on the desk with only his eyes showing. “And to bring some benefits to the crew members. Is that not allowed, Movie Star Zhang?”

What benefits! Zhang Xiaotian put his phone back and picked up his pen. But Lu Bai’s intense gaze made him unable to write a single word. He was so angry he wanted to throw his pen.

“Fine, fine, do as you please,” Zhang Xiaotian sighed, bending his arm to cover his face. “Don’t bring anything, and don’t talk to me anymore.”

“Got it!” Lu Bai agreed readily and then honestly opened his book to read.

When the movement beside him stopped, Zhang Xiaotian quietly shifted his arm and looked towards Lu Bai. He felt that Lu Bai was sometimes excessively intimate with him, and at other times inexplicably angry. He couldn’t understand the reason.

Could it really be that he had done something to displease him? Zhang Xiaotian carefully recalled what he had done just now, but couldn’t find any fault.

He didn’t have so many strange habits before!

Lu Bai read for a while, then casually picked up his phone and typed a few words. Without even looking at Zhang Xiaotian, he pointed to the phone with his chin. Zhang Xiaotian, not understanding, picked up his phone again. On the lock screen was the message Lu Bai had just sent him:

Read your book. Don’t talk to me.

I haven’t said anything yet! Zhang Xiaotian thought wryly, wanting to laugh, and didn’t reply.

The school team had training, so Lu Bai didn’t go with Zhang Xiaotian, only saying he would find him after training. Although he had promised not to bring anything, Lu Bai still ordered takeout for everyone. During the rehearsal, Zhang Xiaotian received a call and almost didn’t react. As it happened, they had already practiced for a long time, and Zhou Bin, shouting “Brother Bai is mighty,” went to get the food for everyone. The rest of them drank water or chatted, only the Class Monitor was still poring over the script.

“Class Monitor,” Zhang Ting said, fanning herself with the script and fanning the Class Monitor a few times as she spoke. “Take a break. You can look at it later.”

“Just a moment,” the Class Monitor said, rustling through the script pages. “Look here…”

“Milk tea is here!” Zhou Bin returned with a takeout bag, taking out the milk teas one by one. The other cups were all the same, except for one that was hot pure tea.

“There’s one different cup,” Zhou Bin said, holding it up. “Xiaotian, did Brother Bai order it for you? You’re quite health-conscious.”

Zhang Xiaotian knew it was ordered for him. He had intended to take it quietly, but being pointed out by Zhou Bin made him a little embarrassed. He reached out and took it. The label on the cup read “three parts sugar.” His fingers couldn’t help but trace those words, and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards, yet there was an unspeakable bitterness in his heart. Zhang Xiaotian held the cup of tea, reluctant to drink it for a moment. Then, remembering he had brought water, he temporarily set it aside.

“Now that everyone is here, let’s discuss it together,” the Class Monitor said after taking a sip of milk tea, then picking up the script again. “I timed it during rehearsal just now. We exceeded the allotted time by almost ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes?” Zhou Bin exclaimed. “It didn’t feel like we went over by that much when we were performing.”

“It’s a bit too long. If we go on like this, we’ll probably lose a lot of points.”

“What should we do then?” Zhang Xiaotian flipped through his lines. “If we practice more and speed up the pace, will that help?”

“But going too fast isn’t good either. I think the current pace is quite good.” Hearing someone say this, everyone fell silent, looking down at the scripts in their hands.

“Um, I have an idea,” Zhang Ting said, flipping to a page in her script. “I think this part of the plot is a bit redundant. Class Monitor, why don’t we delete this small section?”

“Which section?”

Zhang Ting showed everyone the section she had circled. Zhou Bin spoke up quickly, “I think it’s fine! We can also memorize fewer lines. Sister Ting, that’s a good idea!”

“Anyone else have any different opinions?” the Class Monitor asked the others. Seeing everyone else nod, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Then it’s settled. Everyone remember to mark it in your scripts,” the Class Monitor declared. “Let’s take a few more minutes of rest, and then we’ll rehearse a few more times at the top of the hour.”

The people sitting together dispersed with their things. Zhang Xiaotian, holding his tea, also got up to leave. He looked back and saw that Zhang Ting’s milk tea was still unopened. Frost had formed on the cold cup, and droplets of water were trickling down.

“Zhang Ting,” Zhang Xiaotian hesitated and called out to Zhang Ting, who was still standing there. He then looked at the milk tea beside her.

“Hmm?” Zhang Ting looked up at him and then followed his gaze down, finally understanding.

“Do you… not like it?”

“Oh, no, it’s not that,” Zhang Ting said a little shyly. “It’s just that I can’t drink it right now. It’s too cold.”

Zhang Ting pointed to herself. “It’s my period, and I’m afraid drinking cold things will cause me pain.”

Zhang Xiaotian suddenly understood and felt he might have been presumptuous, feeling a bit awkward. He looked down at the hot tea in his hand, thought for a moment, and then offered it.

“No need, Zhang Xiaotian, I don’t need it.” Zhang Ting was a little surprised and tried to refuse.

“It’s okay, I actually want to drink something cold,” Zhang Xiaotian said, then took her cup. Zhang Ting then accepted.

By the time Lu Bai arrived, Zhang Xiaotian and the others were almost done practicing, only needing to run through it one last time with background music to see the effect. Zhang Xiaotian was waiting to deliver his lines when he caught sight of Lu Bai lurking suspiciously at the back door of the classroom out of the corner of his eye. Half his mind was no longer on the rehearsal. Lu Bai saw that Zhang Xiaotian had noticed him, smiled, winked at him, and then walked towards the seat where the hot tea was placed. Midway, he realized that the items on the table were not Zhang Xiaotian’s. He looked up at Zhang Xiaotian again, but it was precisely Zhang Xiaotian’s turn to perform.

“Brother Bai!” Lu Bai looked in the direction of the voice. It was Zhou Bin, who had just finished his lines and was temporarily backstage.

“Xiaotian’s spot is over there,” he said, lowering his voice and pointing to a corner with his finger. Lu Bai walked to the table and sat down. He no longer looked at Zhang Xiaotian, but instead looked down at the items on the table. At the corner of the table were cold milk teas, like everyone else’s, unopened. The paper cups felt a bit soft from the condensation.

Zhang Xiaotian tried hard to resist looking at Lu Bai. He almost called out Lu Bai’s name several times while acting with others. He seized the gaps between performances to glance at Lu Bai several times, but Lu Bai kept his head down, seemingly looking at something. After several attempts to make eye contact that failed, Zhang Xiaotian began to feel like he was being overly sensitive.

“You agree, don’t you, Xiaotian?” Zhang Ting said her line and waited for Zhang Xiaotian to respond. Zhang Xiaotian, however, was a bit distracted, so she reached out and gently touched his arm.

“Huh? Yes!” Zhang Xiaotian snapped back to attention and quickly responded, and the two of them finished the scene. Once the run-through was over, everyone walked over and gathered around the Class Monitor. Zhang Xiaotian also went over and apologized before the Class Monitor could speak.

“It’s okay,” Zhou Bin said. “Actually, it wasn’t very noticeable. If you hadn’t said anything, we wouldn’t have known you were distracted.”

“Your distracted state is very fitting for the character you’re playing,” the Class Monitor also said. “A con artist who deceives young students into taking campus loans. Once he’s got the person hooked, it’s logical that he’s no longer paying attention to them.”

“The Class Monitor is so serious when comforting people,” Zhang Ting said with a laugh.

“Indeed, the Class Monitor does everything very seriously. Last time, my partner and I had a fight…” Zhou Bin quickly interjected, but the Class Monitor cut him off before he could continue:

“Alright, alright, everyone did well this time. Go back and memorize your lines more. Let’s strive for no mistakes in the competition in a couple of days!” The Class Monitor said, and seeing Zhou Bin about to pick up where he left off, he quickly ushered everyone out.

“Quick, quick, go eat. No one can be late for evening study. The student union is coming to check attendance today!”

“Class Monitor, you’re going to be in trouble!” Zhou Bin said, carrying his things as he walked out, still teasing. “Sister Ting, I’ll continue telling you later, last time…”

“Zhou Bin, you’ll be waiting for evening study!” The Class Monitor, carrying his things, chased after him. In a blink of an eye, only Zhang Xiaotian and Lu Bai were left in the room. Zhang Xiaotian picked up his script and walked over, tidied his things, and slung his bag over his shoulder, only to see that Lu Bai had no intention of leaving.

“Let’s go, to the cafeteria,” Zhang Xiaotian nudged Lu Bai’s shoulder, but Lu Bai grabbed him and pulled him to sit right next to him.

“Hey!” Zhang Xiaotian was startled. “What are you doing?”

“What’s the rush? Going to the cafeteria now will just be crowded.” Lu Bai held Zhang Xiaotian’s arm and then leaned his head on Zhang Xiaotian’s shoulder. “Let me rest for a bit.”

The two of them were suddenly very close. Zhang Xiaotian didn’t dare to move, so he let Lu Bai lean on him. After a while, Lu Bai seemed to feel uncomfortable. He moved his head, then stopped. Perhaps feeling it was beneath him, he stiffly endured it, but the hand holding Zhang Xiaotian loosened. Zhang Xiaotian sighed and relaxed his body, thinking of letting him lean more comfortably.

“Drink that milk tea,” Zhang Xiaotian said. “It’s too sweet, I can’t get used to it.”

“If you can’t get used to it, why did you take this cup? Didn’t I order hot tea for you?”

“Zhang Ting is on her period, so I gave it to her.”

“Zhang Ting?” Lu Bai seemed to recall, deliberately drawing out his voice. “Oh, your girlfriend.”

“Lu Bai,” Zhang Xiaotian shrugged and flicked his forehead. “Don’t talk nonsense.”

“Tch.” Lu Bai pouted. After a moment, he asked again, “Did you practice the whole class just now?”

“Yes,” Zhang Xiaotian shifted, pretending to take something out of his bag. Lu Bai took the opportunity to sit up. “There aren’t many days left until the competition.”

“They don’t act as well as you do,” Lu Bai said seriously.

Nonsense, you didn’t even watch me, Zhang Xiaotian thought to himself, but he couldn’t help but be happy. “How do you say that?”

“Didn’t Zhou Bin say you could win a Golden Statue?”

“Anything else?”

“Anything else?” Lu Bai leaned back, extending his arm from behind Zhang Xiaotian’s head to rest on the back of the chair. “Also… the Class Monitor, didn’t the Class Monitor praise you just now? Right!”

“Hahahaha!”

“What are you laughing at? He said it to your face, didn’t you hear him?” Lu Bai was inexplicably confused by his laughter. Seeing Zhang Xiaotian laughing heartily, he couldn’t resist wanting to tickle him. Zhang Xiaotian was trying to calm himself down when he suddenly felt two warm hands on his waist. Startled, he jumped up and looked back to see Lu Bai’s hands still there. His face immediately flushed with heat.

“What are you looking at me for?” Lu Bai retracted his hands. “Look at you, your face is red from laughing.”

“You… you startled me!” Zhang Xiaotian gasped for breath, not daring to look at Lu Bai’s face. He picked up his things and stood up.

“Let’s go, I’m hungry,” he said, walking out the door without looking back, only managing to notice if Lu Bai was following.

Soon, it was the day of the competition. Lu Bai knew it was just an activity for academic credits, but he had been thinking about it. The team captain saw that he was distracted during training and was getting in the way, so he sent him off early to attend to his own matters. Lu Bai followed the pre-arranged plan and went to the study room first to wait for the attendance check. He sat on the stool, fidgeting, repeatedly scrolling through his recent chat history with Zhang Xiaotian.

Lu Bai: Have you arrived at the venue?

Zhang Xiaotian: Arrived.

Lu Bai: How is it? Nervous? Confident?

Zhang Xiaotian: It’s okay.

Lu Bai: Are there many people?

Zhang Xiaotian didn’t reply for a long time, probably because he was looking at the script again and couldn’t be bothered to look at his phone.

Lu Bai knew Zhang Xiaotian’s seriousness wasn’t about competing for rankings, but he couldn’t help but worry for him. After finally getting through the student union’s roll call, he quickly ran out of the study room and took the elevator to leave the teaching building as the student union members entered the next room.

By the time he reached the venue, one class was just finishing their curtain call. Lu Bai quickly sat in the seat next to the Class Monitor and whispered, “Is it our department’s turn yet?”

“You came at a good time. It’s right after this one finishes,” the Class Monitor said. “This class that’s finishing is quite strong. The judges will probably give them a high score. I don’t know if our class can score higher.”

Lu Bai’s heart sank again. He nudged the Class Monitor with his elbow. “Don’t be too demanding. I’m telling you, no matter how they perform later, you can’t criticize them!”

The Class Monitor gave him a sidelong glance. “Why would I criticize them? It’s already a miracle that we’ve been able to cooperate this far. I’d be willing to go on stage and kiss each of them now.”

“Then no,” Lu Bai imagined it and shivered. “Calm down, Class Monitor. Impulsiveness is the devil.”

“Get out of here!” the Class Monitor laughed, then said with a solemn expression, “I’m not worried about their scores now. I’m only afraid they’ll be nervous. Today’s opponents are all truly strong. My palms are sweating just watching from the audience. Do you think they won’t feel the pressure?”

Hearing this, Lu Bai couldn’t help but look towards the backstage, his heart in his mouth.

At this moment, the class on stage was still waiting for the judges’ scores. The audience was so quiet that you could hear people breathing. Lu Bai was about to send Zhang Xiaotian a comforting message when he heard a commotion beside him.

“100 points! Lu Bai, out of 105, they got 100!” The Class Monitor frowned.

This score was quite high. “Let’s take a short break, and we’ll continue in ten minutes,” the host on stage announced. Lu Bai shot up and walked directly backstage.

The few people waiting backstage were all nervous to varying degrees. Zhang Xiaotian, at this moment, had no mind to pay attention to what others were doing. He repeatedly recited his lines, not even bothering to drink water.

“Xiaotian, I’m so nervous,” Zhou Bin said, no longer in the mood for banter. He lifted a small gap in the curtain and peeked outside. “Why are there more and more people out there? What if I forget my lines later?”

Zhang Ting comforted him, “It’s okay. If you forget your lines, just try to keep going. We’re here too.”

“I originally just wanted to get academic credits, but I didn’t expect to get this far,” Zhou Bin said, letting go of the curtain and looking back at Zhang Xiaotian, who was still reciting. “Fortunately, you guys are here. If it were just me, I wouldn’t even dare to go on stage.”

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaotian just nodded, his hands still moving as he flipped through the script again. Seeing him about to flip again, Zhang Ting called out to him, “Zhang Xiaotian, why don’t the few of us run through our lines? It’ll be more efficient, and we’ll all feel more confident.”

Lu Bai followed a group of people and quietly entered the backstage. From afar, he saw Zhang Xiaotian standing very close to Zhou Bin and Zhang Ting, holding a script and seemingly running through lines. Lu Bai quickened his pace towards them, vaguely hearing their conversation.

“Ah, it’s just this line. I get stuck here every time.”

As he got closer, he could hear Zhou Bin’s voice.

“Just think, the previous line already mentioned the prohibited electrical appliance, so the next part is to solve the problem. That way, you can remind yourself.”

Zhang Ting’s idea is good. Zhou Bin, don’t mess up.

“It has to be you, Sister Ting. It’s almost our turn, is there still time to run through it again?”

If I go past these people, it will be our turn…

“As long as no one comes to disturb us, there’s still time.”

Hearing Zhang Xiaotian’s words, Lu Bai’s feet felt rooted to the ground, unable to move. The clear voices of the people around him were now drowned out by the clamor of the crowd. Lu Bai looked at the back of Zhang Xiaotian’s head through the gaps in the passing people and suddenly felt that his presence was superfluous. A staff member, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, said a few words to them, apparently indicating that it was their turn. Seeing everyone stand up to tidy their things, Lu Bai decided to return to the audience. Before he had taken a few steps, he couldn’t resist looking back. Just then, he met Zhang Ting’s gaze as she turned to pick up something. He saw that Zhang Ting seemed surprised to see him and even patted Zhang Xiaotian to get him to look in his direction. Lu Bai’s body maintained the posture of turning his head back, watching Zhang Xiaotian slowly turn his head, unconsciously holding his breath, waiting for him to meet his gaze, feeling like he had waited an eternity.

When Zhang Xiaotian turned his head and saw Lu Bai, he was stunned and quickly smiled and waved at him. Lu Bai’s smile was faint. As he turned, he stumbled, startling Zhang Xiaotian. Zhang Xiaotian wanted to go over and say something to him, but before he could call out to him, the staff member came to hurry them onto the stage. Zhang Xiaotian had no choice but to look at Lu Bai again. Lu Bai waved at him and mouthed a few words.

“Good luck, I’m leaving.” Lu Bai said, then waved forcefully and turned to walk into the crowd, disappearing from view.

The School of Medicine ultimately took fourth place. After a simple awards ceremony, only the contestants and organizers from a few classes remained at the venue. The head of the department was clearly excited. “This skit competition, our School of Medicine has never even reached the university level. Class Monitor, bring the award certificate to my office later and put it in the most prominent place! All participating students, come over for a group photo. I need to post it on my Moments!”

“Thank you, Sister Ting, for saving my life!” Zhou Bin’s voice was so loud it was as if he was speaking through a megaphone. “If you hadn’t winked at me just now to remind me to pick up the line, we would have had a stage accident!” He then gave Zhang Ting a solemn bow.

Zhang Ting playfully punched him, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Zhang Xiaotian was still immersed in the excitement of the scores just announced. He looked at his classmates who were talking heatedly beside him and was about to say something when someone grabbed his wrist from behind.

“Tired?” Lu Bai asked him.

“Hmm? What did you say?” It was a bit noisy around Zhang Xiaotian, so he didn’t hear clearly.

“Come here.” Lu Bai applied a little more force, and Zhang Xiaotian was pulled a couple of steps towards him.

“I asked if you’re tired?” Lu Bai asked him. “I’ll take you for a late-night snack later.”

“I…” Zhang Xiaotian had only said one word when he was interrupted by the Class Monitor. “Zhang Xiaotian, come over for the photo first!”

“Then I’ll go over first,” Zhang Xiaotian said to him, gesturing for him to let go of his wrist.

“Class Monitor,” Lu Bai didn’t let go. Instead, he moved even closer. “I’ll take the photo too. Just to join the fun, alright?”

“You weren’t competing, why are you getting involved?” the Class Monitor walked towards them.

“Lu Bai, wait for me here for a bit,” Zhang Xiaotian patted his hand.

Lu Bai had no choice but to let go.

Zhang Xiaotian followed the Class Monitor towards the head of the department and looked back at Lu Bai. Lu Bai stood motionless, still holding his bag. He waved at Zhang Xiaotian.

“We’re going out for a meal later, just the contestants and me,” the Class Monitor said as they walked. “If Lu Bai wants to accompany you, he can come too.”

“Okay,” Zhang Xiaotian took out his phone, wanting to message Lu Bai, but the Class Monitor called him again. “Stop looking at your phone, Xiaotian. Take the photo first!”

He had no choice but to put his phone away.

Fortunately, everyone was eager to eat, so after a few simple photos, they stopped and gathered to discuss where to eat. Zhang Xiaotian didn’t care about these things and ran back to find Lu Bai.

“We’re having a team dinner later, you should come too.”

“I’m coming too?” Lu Bai asked. “Isn’t that inappropriate? The Class Monitor said it, and I wasn’t competing.”

“It was the Class Monitor who said you should come.”

“Alright then.” Lu Bai raised his hand, paused in mid-air, but only took Zhang Xiaotian’s bag off his shoulder.

“No need, it’s not heavy.” Zhang Xiaotian tried to take it back, but Lu Bai didn’t give it to him.

“I’ll carry it,” Lu Bai said, putting the bag on his shoulder and walking towards the others. “You guys have done a great service to our class, so we can’t let our heroes be tired.”