Dazzling

As Qing Ye went upstairs, the gloom from earlier had completely dissipated. The lethargic feeling that had plagued her these past few days vanished instantly, replaced by a sudden clarity and refreshment that made her feel like she could tackle three hundred more exam papers. Truly, love was both wonderful and troubling—it could bring such joy and such worry.

After finishing her problems, she called downstairs, "I'm going to sleep now."

In truth, every time before bed, she would shout these words to Xing Wu. These four syllables could essentially be interpreted as "Come up quickly."

Sure enough, Xing Wu appeared shortly after. He seemed to have just showered, his hair still damp. By the time he entered the room, Qing Ye had already burrowed under the covers, leaving only her head exposed.

He directly pulled off his shirt and changed into clean pajamas. Normally, he would draw the curtain when changing clothes, but today Xing Wu didn't—he simply turned his back, everything feeling so natural. Thus, Qing Ye peeked shamelessly with just her eyes at his bare back.

Though she had leaned against his back while sitting on the motorcycle, seeing it with her own eyes was entirely different—broad shoulders, narrow waist, smooth lines, that attractive wheat-colored skin, even more sensual than she had imagined.

Without turning around, Xing Wu seemed to sense her gaze and asked, "Seen enough?"

He then adjusted his pajamas and turned back. Qing Ye covered her slightly flushed cheeks with the blanket. Xing Wu walked to her bedside, sat on his own bed looking at her, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he said, "I'm turning off the light."

She didn't respond, so Xing Wu stood up and switched off the light. His figure leaned through the darkness, kissing her exposed forehead. But Qing Ye suddenly reached out and hugged him, then consciously scooted over.

Xing Wu said with some surprise, "What's this about?"

"What are you thinking? I just can't sleep and want to chat with you."

"Couldn't you hear me from that bed over there?"

Qing Ye released him, turning away in a huff. Xing Wu chuckled, lifted the covers, and pulled her back over: "Go ahead and chat."

This was Qing Ye's first time lying in the same bed with him. The already narrow single bed felt incredibly warm with the two of them squeezed together.

Qing Ye had already forgotten what she wanted to talk about. Resting her head on Xing Wu's chest, listening to his strong, steady heartbeat, her own heart raced uncontrollably.

Xing Wu looked down, brushing aside her hair, and asked, "Weren't you going to chat? Was this just a trick to get me into bed to lull you to sleep?"

Qing Ye looked up at him with a smile and said, "Don't take that job."

Xing Wu continued absentmindedly playing with her hair, the sensation ticklish. Qing Ye turned over in his arms, her chin resting seriously on his chest as she said, "Did you hear me? No matter how much money, you can't take it. What if you end up with a deformed child later?"

Xing Wu raised an eyebrow: "You're already thinking about having kids with me?"

His words immediately made Qing Ye want to hide in shame. She buried her face directly in the crook of his arm: "What nonsense."

Then she tugged at his clothes and said, "Did you hear me or not?"

"Mm, I'll turn it down tomorrow."

Only then did Qing Ye lift her head with relief, draping an arm over his waist as she said intermittently, "Have you ever participated in a Winter Camp?"

"Do I look like someone who goes for competitions?"

"..." Qing Ye suddenly laughed.

She lifted her gaze, her eyes bright and sparkling in the darkness: "Lao Yang talked to me today—he insisted I sign up."Xing Wu said without a doubt, "You're the hope of our county. It's only right to have you sign up."

"There's a big problem with that. I heard from Xiao Ling Tong that the so-called David Cup is rigged. Jin Zhong leaked the questions in advance. We're just there to make up the numbers. Is that true or not?"

Xing Wu seriously furrowed his brows, pondered for a long while, and finally replied, "I don't know."

"..."

"Really don't know. I've never been before, so I don't even know how this competition works."

"I heard they solve problems on the spot, grade them, and announce the scores. It should be similar to a test, just with more difficult Olympiad math problems."

Xing Wu still had his brows furrowed, lost in thought, looking quite focused. Qing Ye waved her hand in front of his eyes: "Hey, let's go together. We'll have to stay overnight there."

"What are you afraid of? It's not like you'll be alone staying overnight. What could possibly happen?"

Qing Ye lowered her head and nuzzled against his chest: "That's not what I meant. I just... you know."

Xing Wu laughed: "You can't sleep without seeing me, right?"

Qing Ye bit her lip and glared at him with fierce yet adorable eyes: "Don't say it out loud."

Amused, Xing Wu scooped her up and kissed her cute little nose, then suddenly said to her: "Do you want to win?"

"Huh?" Qing Ye tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"You mentioned the leaked questions earlier. I have a way to deal with it. Just perform as you normally would."

Qing Ye suddenly flashed curious eyes, staring at him excitedly: "What's your plan? Wow, tell me about it."

She was practically leaning all the way out. Xing Wu pulled her back under the covers, wrapped her up, and said: "I haven't figured it out yet, but there should be a way. I need to try it first. It's past one o'clock, time to sleep."

He buried Qing Ye's head in his chest, not letting her look around anymore. Qing Ye shifted her shoulders, adjusted to the most comfortable position, then nestled against Xing Wu's chest. Breathing in his clean, crisp scent, she quickly fell asleep.

Just before drifting off, his words echoed in her mind again: "You boldly move forward, never look back."

She clutched the corner of his clothes. She didn't need to look back to know he was behind her. She wouldn't let go, no matter what!

But Xing Wu remained awake, unusually leaning against the headboard without looking at his phone, lost in thought. Only when Qing Ye's breathing became even did he stare at her sleeping face for a while before suddenly smiling in the darkness. When she was awake, she was all claws and fierceness, but now, with her eyes closed, she was as quiet as a little baby, curled up like that.

He watched her for a while until he heard movement downstairs. Li Lanfang was back from playing mahjong. He got up quietly, intending to get out of bed, but noticed Qing Ye was still tightly clutching the corner of his clothes, not letting go even in her sleep.

He gently pulled the fabric from her grasp. With her eyes closed, she instinctively made a grabbing motion in the air before turning over and continuing to sleep.

The next morning, right after class ended, Qing Ye turned around and urged Xing Wu: "Hurry up and go register."

Xing Wu lifted his gaze and looked at her. Qing Ye glared back. He smiled faintly, put his phone in his pocket, and leisurely strolled toward Lao Yang's office.Lao Yang's office was at the far end of the third floor. Throughout his three years of high school, Xing Wu had only been there a handful of times. Good things rarely came his way, and when Lao Yang summoned him for trouble, he usually ignored her. So even when something came up, the teachers had to personally fetch him from his classroom. He carried himself like some big shot—whether he’d acknowledge them depended entirely on his mood.

The few times he did go were when the shoddy air conditioner in their office stopped cooling, and they’d call Xing Wu to take a look—without paying him, of course.

So when Lao Yang saw Xing Wu saunter lazily into the office, she asked in surprise, "What are you here for?"

Xing Wu pulled a hundred-yuan bill from his pocket and tossed it onto Lao Yang’s desk. "Sign me up."

Lao Yang looked utterly bewildered. "You want to join the Winter Camp?"

Xing Wu gave a casual "Mm."

Before Lao Yang could respond, the teacher sitting diagonally across from her—Old Zhu—turned around and remarked, "Don’t waste your money. The school is providing buses, and you’d just be taking up a seat."

"???" Since when was he unworthy of a seat?

Xing Wu’s expression darkened as he looked up at Old Zhu. "I’m going to experience something new. Isn’t this voluntary? Why am I ‘taking up a seat’ all of a sudden?"

Lao Yang put the hundred yuan in her drawer and smoothed things over. "Alright, alright, you can go if you want. Just don’t cause any trouble."

"…"

Lao Yang had been dealing with these problem students for nearly three years, and Xing Wu still made her nervous. The young man didn’t say much, but the way he looked at people was far from friendly. Was he a troublemaker? Well, when the computer lab had issues or some hardware in the school malfunctioned, he’d help if asked. Aside from his lack of interest in academics, his intelligence and skills in other areas were exceptional.

Back when he’d just moved up from middle school, the county had promoted an integrated teaching platform. The school had purchased a set of servers through a bidding process, but after some use, the campus network crashed completely—even the newly built website vanished, along with all its critical data. The principal was so frantic he made calls everywhere.

At the time, Xing Wu had skipped so many classes in a row that the school was considering expelling him. They called him to the administration office, and just then, Principal Zhong rushed in, urging Director Gu to hurry to Electronics Street to find someone—he’d heard this person might be able to fix the school’s servers. With a public class scheduled for the next day, there was no time to waste.

But when Director Gu called the number, it was Xing Wu’s phone—right there in the office—that rang. Later, Lao Yang heard from the administrators who were present that day: Xing Wu had leisurely answered his phone in front of the principal and other school leaders, looked at them, and said he could give it a try—but he never worked for free, unless he was a student at the school.

And so the expulsion was quietly dropped. The school leaders waited from morning until late at night while he spent the entire day recovering data—and not only did he restore the servers, he retrieved all the lost information. After that, Xing Wu became a unique and peculiar presence in the school. Everyone knew he was just coasting, but they all turned a blind eye.

To Lao Yang, this young man seemed mature beyond his years in a way that was hard to pin down. So she didn’t bother him unless necessary, maintaining a mutual, polite distance to ensure these students graduated peacefully.

Now, seeing Xing Wu still standing in front of her desk, she looked up and asked seriously, "Is there something else?"

"My change.""..." Only then did Lao Yang remember, hurriedly pulling out twenty yuan to give him.

Xing Wu stuffed the money into his pocket and sauntered out unhurriedly, leaving Lao Yang and Lao Zhu clicking their tongues in amazement.

Huang Mao was loitering outside Class 2 after class, craning his neck but failing to spot Xing Wu. Seeing Xing Wu walk back from the far end of the corridor, he asked, "Where'd you go?"

"Went to the office."

Then he saw Qing Ye sitting in the classroom look up and mouth a silent question: "Reported it?"

He nodded at Qing Ye, and she immediately flashed him a sweet smile.

Huang Mao peeked in and asked curiously, "You two made up?"

Then with a sly grin, he grabbed Xing Wu's arm: "Who swallowed their pride first?"

Xing Wu rubbed his nose and said lightly, "She's still shorter than me after all."

"???" Huang Mao was utterly confused when the class bell rang.

Xing Wu removed his hand and tossed out: "Of course it had to be me who lowered my head."

Huang Mao stood dumbfounded outside Class 2, inexplicably fed a mouthful of dog food.