Dazzling

Twenty-two minutes. The moment they laid down the moisture-proof mat, their team erupted into cheers. A military tent capable of accommodating eight people was fully assembled—sturdy, neat, and at an astonishing speed. Everyone turned to look at them. The members of their team leaped to their feet in excitement, while Xing Wu alone crouched in an inconspicuous corner, rolling up his sleeves and drinking mineral water.

The students from An Zhong instantly became pumped up, while the teacher from Jin Zhong across the way began shouting at his students to speed up.

Since no one dared to approach Xing Wu, they all crowded around Qing Ye, jumping and celebrating. Xing Wu tilted his head back, finishing the entire bottle of mineral water as he watched the scene of Qing Ye being surrounded like the moon among stars. A faint, amused smile tugged at his lips as he stared at Qing Ye, thinking, How can you so shamelessly bask in their admiration?

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Pang Hu’s large butt sticking up in the air, holding a support bracket with a constipated expression on his face. Xing Wu raised his hand and hurled the empty mineral water bottle at him, yelling, "Idiot, that’s the ground frame bracket. Slot it in."

Pang Hu immediately had a moment of enlightenment and quickly got to work. Due to the competition rules, Xing Wu couldn’t step in directly, so he crouched not far from Pang Hu’s team, occasionally uttering a syllable or two. After years of brotherhood, they had built up a tacit understanding—just a slight reminder from Xing Wu, and Pang Hu would instantly grasp the meaning, mobilizing the team accordingly.

Their team consisted of six boys, the group that three teachers had high hopes for. Their capabilities were decent, but they had lacked a leader earlier, each working independently without any coordination. Now, however, they suddenly seemed to have found their rhythm.

But just then, cheers erupted from behind. Xing Wu turned his head to see that Jin Zhong had already finished assembling one tent, taking forty-one minutes. The most intense moment had arrived. Despite the winter chill, sweat beaded on Pang Hu and his teammates’ foreheads, and their movements noticeably grew frantic.

Xing Wu turned back, his expression calm, and shouted to them, "Steady."

Unexpectedly, all six boys looked up at once and replied in unison, "We can win."

A smirk tugged at Xing Wu’s lips as he stood up, crossing his arms and issuing commands calmly.

"One diagonal beam short of six. Find it."

"That’s a door column, not a crossbar. Can’t you see the length difference? Are you blind?"

"Fatty, go tie the guyline."

"Throw the ground peg to Qin Wei."

Xing Wu kicked a hammer from beside his foot over to him.

In the end, Pang Hu’s team finished in fifty-three minutes, just two minutes faster than Jin Zhong’s second team, securing a spot in the top three.

With the outcome decided, the rowdy kids from An Zhong smugly flashed thumbs-up signs at Jin Zhong, then collectively turned their thumbs down, jeering loudly. Xiao Ling Tong, carried away by triumph, ran to the boundary between the two schools, leaped up, turned his back to the Jin Zhong students, and shook his butt provocatively. The sight was so infuriating that even Qing Ye felt the urge to smack him.

Surprisingly, a few female students from Jin Zhong were so frustrated they burst into tears. After all, this was their home ground. In previous years, Jin Zhong had always dominated An Zhong. But this year, right at the start of the Winter Camp, An Zhong—despite being outnumbered—had unexpectedly won the first competition. This completely shattered the morale of Jin Zhong’s top students. To make matters worse, the An Zhong students didn’t just win—they went out of their way to provoke their rivals. Even the Jin Zhong school officials wore stern expressions, and the students felt immense pressure.

The remaining teams mostly took over an hour to finish. Once all the tents were set up, the girls and boys selected their respective tents and settled in with their belongings.Five girls from Class Two had come this time, basically all sleeping in one tent. They chose the tent from Xing Wu's group for a simple reason—this tent felt secure to sleep in. Some of the other groups' tents were crooked and slanted, and they were genuinely afraid they might collapse in the middle of the night.

Teacher Dong shouted through a megaphone outside the tent, "Those who have put away their things, gather quickly and head to the dining hall."

Everyone else hurried out, but Fang Lei grabbed Qing Ye and, with a nervous glance outside, asked, "Did you bring it?"

It felt like some kind of underground deal. Qing Ye handed her the item from her bag and cautioned with some concern, "You should take it easy. There's plenty of time ahead. Is he really that handsome?"

Fang Lei, looking either nervous or excited, said to Qing Ye, "I'll point him out to you when we eat."

The two were the last to leave the tent. The main group had already headed toward the dining hall, while Pang Hu and the other guys were still sitting by the edge of the field, chatting. As the girls approached, the guys slowly stood up.

Qing Ye walked up to Xing Wu with a smile and asked, "Waiting for me?"

"What took you so long?"

"Just... had some stuff to do."

Xing Wu glanced at Qing Ye's clearly guilty expression, raised an eyebrow, and said nothing more.

However, when the group entered the dining hall, they were stunned. They had assumed they would be served ready-made food. Pang Hu, who hadn't eaten breakfast, had been complaining about hunger the whole way. But upon entering, they realized there was no prepared food in sight.

Ten people were assigned to a large round table. On the table were a big bag of flour, a cutting board, a knife, some meat, a large cabbage—and that was it.

Qing Ye stared blankly at the items and said, "What does this mean? Are we supposed to swallow raw flour and meat?"

Xing Wu shot her a sidelong glance. "Could you even manage that?"

Qing Ye actually swallowed, as if to say, "I absolutely cannot!"

Pang Hu immediately brightened up. "Let's make dumplings."

Qing Ye felt her vision darken. What kind of Winter Camp was this? It felt more like a training boot camp. Were they really expected to be self-sufficient for lunch too? So why had she come here to experience the hardships of life?

After washing their hands in line, Pang Hu immediately started chopping the meat. To be fair, his chopping posture had the serious vibe of a pork vendor at the market.

Qing Ye immediately thought of Huang Mao. "It's such a pity Huang Mao couldn't come this time. He's really good at kneading dough."

Xing Wu casually rolled up his sleeves, revealing his taut, well-defined forearms. He poured out the flour, kneading with one hand while adjusting the water ratio with the other. His movements were practiced and smooth. Qing Ye stood beside him, occasionally poking the dough and asking, "Is it ready yet?"

"Not yet."

"Can we wrap the dumplings now?"

"No."

"Is it almost done?"

"Not yet."

Finally, Xing Wu couldn't take it anymore. He turned and dabbed a bit of flour on the tip of her nose, saying, "Shut up."

Everyone across the table burst into laughter at the sight of Qing Ye's flour-dusted nose, looking utterly adorable. Annoyed, Qing Ye dipped her fingers in flour, stood on her tiptoes, and tried to smear it on Xing Wu. He tilted his head slightly, easily avoiding her. Frustrated, she tugged at his clothes and haphazardly smeared flour on his chin.

Xing Wu looked down at his black hoodie, which she had pulled down to his shoulders, revealing his distinct collarbones. The girls across the table blushed instantly. With a teasing curl of his lips and a bewitching gaze, he said, "Go on, keep pulling. Want to strip me bare?"Qing Ye quickly withdrew her hand, and just then, someone finally said, "You two siblings have such a good relationship."

Both Xing Wu and Qing Ye froze for a moment. Beside them, Pang Hu, who was chopping meat, added foolishly, "Y-yeah, that's right."

"..."

Xing Wu and Qing Ye consciously distanced themselves from each other and stopped fooling around. Qing Ye even guiltily shuffled away, moving to stand opposite Xing Wu next to Shi Min. She had already wiped the flour off the tip of her nose, but when she saw the white flour still smeared on Xing Wu's chin, she couldn't help but feel an inexplicable urge to laugh. His edgy buzz cut, combined with his sharp, cold eyes and the white flour on his chin, somehow made him look incredibly handsome—how was that even possible?

Xing Wu glanced at her almost imperceptibly. Though his expression remained completely neutral, Qing Ye just wanted to laugh.

After the dough was ready, Shi Min took charge of rolling out the dumpling wrappers, and Qing Ye naturally joined the dumpling-making team.

She had last made dumplings when she was very young, during New Year visits to her hometown with her mother. But back then, it could hardly be called making dumplings—it was more like playing with dough. So, this skill was practically nonexistent for her.

To avoid exposing her weakness, she seriously picked up a dumpling wrapper and stared intently at Fang Lei, trying to learn on the spot. Unfortunately, Fang Lei herself was only half-skilled, and the dumplings she made barely resembled sleeping crescents. As for Qing Ye, who was secretly observing, her dumplings were basically unrecognizable.

When she set her dumpling down, everyone leaned in to look and asked, "What is this?"

A burst of laughter erupted around the table. Even Old Zhu came over upon hearing the commotion and joked, "Qing Ye, did you make a xiaolongbao instead?"

Qing Ye's face flushed red as she looked up at Xing Wu. He gestured for her to come over, and she slunk away from the crowd, circling back to his side. He handed her a dumpling wrapper, and when Xing Wu finished his first dumpling, Qing Ye felt as if her eyes had deceived her. She hadn't even seen how he did it—he just clasped his hands together, and a perfect dumpling took shape.

Her mouth agape, she stared at him in astonishment and asked, "Is this your secret technique?"

Xing Wu nodded seriously. "I only pass it down to girls, not boys. Watch closely."

He then began teaching her, starting with hand positioning. Qing Ye had always been a quick learner, but she needed a reliable teacher—like the "Sniper Master" standing beside her, who was very patient. He looked down and explained which fingers to use and how to shape the wrapper, almost taking her hands in his to demonstrate before stopping himself, as if suddenly remembering their troublesome sibling relationship. He withdrew his hand and stuck to technical instructions. After trying twice, Qing Ye quickly got the hang of it and started making decent-looking dumplings. Even Pang Hu exclaimed, "Q-Qing Ye, you learn so fast. S-smart."

"Thank you, F-Fan Tong."

With everyone working together, the cabbage-filled dumplings were soon finished. Pang Hu and another boy carried them away to wait in line for boiling.

The cafeteria had over a dozen tables, and it was chaotic, but Qing Ye observed that although the An Zhong students weren't good at much, they were all quite skilled when it came to cooking. Was it true that children from poor families matured early?

At other tables, some were making noodles, while others were shaping buns—clearly more capable than the Jin Zhong students. Qing Ye was amazed to discover how capable everyone was; it was like a gathering of "Chinese Master Chefs."Xing Wu noticed her looking around and asked, "Hungry?"

Qing Ye didn't respond but rubbed her stomach. Suddenly, Xing Wu pulled out a chocolate bar from his pocket and handed it to her. Qing Ye's eyes lit up: "Do you perform magic tricks? Where did this come from?"

"Prepared it in case you got hungry."

Qing Ye unwrapped the chocolate, broke off a piece and put it in her mouth. The sweetness made the corners of her lips curl upward. Fang Lei, who had been starving, stared at the chocolate with wide eyes. Qing Ye broke off another piece and distributed the rest among them. While everyone was sharing the chocolate, she turned back and tilted her head, offering the piece in her hand to Xing Wu's lips.

As his thin lips parted to accept the chocolate, they brushed lightly against her fingertips. That subtle, electrifying contact made Qing Ye's heart race and cheeks flush even in the chaotic surroundings.

She lowered her head, not daring to look at anyone, while Xing Wu beside her curled his lips into a smile and gazed at her with amusement.