The last withered leaf trembled and detached from the branch, spiraling to the ground just as the second-year high school students finished their final standardized exam.
Li Wu and Ran Feichi had been in the same examination room. After handing in their papers, they walked out while comparing answers. As soon as they stepped into the hallway, they saw Gu Yan waiting there.
Ran Feichi, who had been chatting animatedly moments before, abruptly said "I've got something to do" and rushed straight toward his girlfriend.
Gu Yan playfully slapped his arm in mock annoyance, while Ran Feichi beamed with a smile so bright he might as well have been wagging a tail.
Li Wu stood rooted to the spot, watching their retreating figures with an expressionless face.
The surroundings were bitterly cold. After a moment, he exhaled a puff of white breath and went downstairs alone.
Back in the dormitory, Li Wu unusually didn't pick up a book to read. He took off his coat and school uniform, sat on his bed, and put on his MP3 player.
Leaning against the wall with earphones plugged in, the boy isolated himself from the world.
Lately, he had been repeatedly listening to these English works until they became thoroughly familiar—some passages he could even recite effortlessly.
But there was no opportunity to prove himself.
For nearly a month, Cen Jin had been swamped with work, dropping him off at the residential gate every weekend before rushing back to the company to work overtime.
She returned late and woke up late; even when they were in the same apartment, they rarely crossed paths.
Their WeChat conversations were pitifully sparse, mostly about daily life and studies, with casual chats few and far between.
This state felt somewhat passive, but Li Wu knew the distance between him and Cen Jin was vast. He couldn't deliberately close that gap—excessive attention might easily make her suspicious.
So powerless.
After stewing in frustration for a while, he yanked off his earphones and decided to get down and read.
Cheng Rui and Lin Honglang barged into the dormitory, shoving each other playfully. Lin Honglang looked thoroughly disgusted, while Cheng Rui wore a cheeky grin.
Cheng Rui glanced up at the boy with one foot on the ladder: "Where are you going?"
Li Wu stepped down two rungs in quick succession and nimbly jumped to the floor: "Where else? To study."
His tone was cold, prompting Cheng Rui to scrutinize him: "Did you not do well on the exam?"
"No." Li Wu pulled out a chair and sat down.
Cheng Rui followed and pretended to massage his shoulders: "Then what's wrong, dear customer~"
Li Wu stayed silent for two seconds, shrugging in an attempt to shake off the hands but failing. He only said, "It's nothing."
The room was already chilly, and Li Wu was radiating cold like a refrigerator. Cheng Rui's teeth chattered, and he immediately changed the subject: "Where's that bastard Ran Feichi?"
Lin Honglang, chewing gum and starting a game of Honor of Kings, didn't look up: "Probably off having fun with his girlfriend."
"Ooh—" Cheng Rui snickered mischievously, then whispered conspiratorially: "How far do you think they've gone?"
Lin Honglang snorted: "At least kissing."
"Ah!" Cheng Rui suddenly shrieked dramatically: "I won't hear it! I won't! My pure ears can't handle such things!"
Lin Honglang cursed: "Did you catch rabies?"
Cheng Rui calmed down instantly, adopting a dreamy, boyish expression: "What do you think kissing a girl feels like?"
"Well..." Lin Honglang shot him a sidelong glance, smirking without answering.
Cheng Rui understood perfectly and chuckled foolishly.
Li Wu grew increasingly agitated, his ears flushing bright red.
Annoyed to the extreme, he snapped his book shut, pulled on his school uniform, and stormed out.
Hearing the door slam, Cheng Rui turned back in confusion: "What's up with him?"
Lin Honglang, still basking in his recent triple kill, replied dismissively: "Why do you care?"
Li Wu stayed on the sports field until seven o'clock.
Until the sky turned a deep blue-black, devoid of crescent moon or stars.He walked aimlessly along the rubber track, reciting vocabulary and sentence patterns silently in his mind against the surging cool breeze, as if only this could filter out the restlessness within him.
But it was utterly useless.
Li Wu pulled out his phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen with no notifications, like looking at an empty room with four white walls. The biting wind pierced through his jacket, only making him more frustrated with himself. Li Wu left the playground.
Back in the dormitory, he took a shower and brought a book to bed.
After confirming his emotions refused to settle, he proactively sent a WeChat message to Cen Jin: "I finished the exam."
He tapped the screen and waited a few minutes. There was a response. Li Wu hurriedly opened it—just two words: "Okay."
A moment later, another question followed: "Are you on break?"
Li Wu replied: "No, I still have classes tomorrow."
Cen Jin: "Mm, rest well tonight."
Those last four words were clearly meant to end the conversation, something Li Wu was all too familiar with.
He tried to continue, starting to type: "Are you still working overtime..."
As he typed, his hand paused again. The boy stared at the blinking cursor for a while, then deleted all the words.
It was almost ten o'clock, and Ran Feichi still hadn't returned to the dorm.
Cheng Rui sat cross-legged on his bed, looking around: "Where's Ran Feichi? Why isn't he back yet?"
Lin Honglang glanced at his phone: "No reply to messages, and he's not answering calls either."
Cheng Rui put on a serious face, no longer joking: "Did he go to a hotel?"
"Wearing his school uniform? What hotel would dare let him in?"
"There are some that don't follow the rules."
"Let him be. A man has to have his first time someday," Lin Honglang said indifferently.
As soon as he finished speaking, a booming baritone suddenly came from next door: "Room check! Is everyone here?"
"Shit? A surprise room check today?" Cheng Rui broke into a cold sweat and quickly stuffed his phone back under the covers. "Li Wu! Turn off the lights, quick!"
Li Wu lifted his eyes, momentarily confused.
"Hurry!" Cheng Rui urged frantically.
Only then did Li Wu lean toward the headboard, reach out, and snap all the switches off. The entire dormitory was instantly plunged into pitch darkness.
Through the wall, the voice of the dorm inspector was clearly audible: "Everyone's here, right... Good, all of you go to bed early. You still have classes tomorrow."
This was followed by scattered "Good night, teacher" and "See you, teacher."
Having encountered this for the first time, Li Wu sat motionless in his spot.
Lin Honglang leaned halfway out of his bed and whispered urgently, "What are you sitting there for? Quickly put a couple of pillows in Ran Feichi's bed!"
Li Wu lowered his voice: "Will that keep us from getting caught?"
Lin Honglang said, "Leave it to fate. I used this trick to get away with going out to an internet cafe before."
The sound of footsteps in the corridor grew closer.
Li Wu immediately got up, leaned over, and strode to Ran Feichi's bed. Just as he was about to grab his pillow—
The doorknob rattled. It was clearly too late.
The fluorescent light from the hallway flooded in.
Along with it came the tall, dark silhouette in the doorway.
"Is everyone here?" the male teacher asked sternly, sweeping a flashlight around randomly.
Li Wu quickly turned his face away, steadying his breath.
The male teacher stepped inside, carefully scanning the room.
The upper bunk near the door looked unusual—the quilt and pillow were still neatly folded. He grew displeased: "Where's the student who sleeps in this bed?"
He glanced at the bathroom. The door was open, dark and clearly empty.
Cheng Rui, who had been lying flat in terror for a while, sat up and rubbed his eyes, feigning drowsiness: "Ah... Good morning, teacher."The male teacher was amused by him: "What do you mean early?" Then he put on a stern face again: "Whose bed is this? Where is the person?"
The entire dormitory fell into a tense silence, with no one speaking.
"Speak up!" the teacher roared again.
With no time to hesitate, Li Wu steadied himself and reported his name in a deep voice: "Li Wu."
Cheng Rui let out a soft hiss but didn't say anything more.
In the darkness, the boy spoke clearly and firmly, having made up his mind to take the blame: "It's Li Wu's bed."
The teacher raised his flashlight and checked the resident student roster: "Li Wu from Class 10, Grade 11, right? Do any of you know where he went?"
The light shone directly on Li Wu, who remained unmoved: "I don't know."
Lin Honglang chimed in to help cover for him: "He went home. After the exam today, he said his blanket was too thin and went back to get a thicker one. He'll definitely be back tomorrow morning."
The teacher clearly didn't buy it, snorted coldly, marked a cross on the form, scolded them a few more times, and finally left.
Only when the footsteps faded away outside did Cheng Rui let out a relieved breath, rubbing his arms vigorously: "Damn, that scared me to death. I'm still covered in goosebumps."
Li Wu remained silent and returned to his side of the room.
Watching his calm demeanor, Cheng Rui began showering him with exaggerated praise: "Li Wu, I've never met anyone more loyal than you. You're like a bodhisattva descended to earth. I bet our dorm won't even need lights anymore—your holy radiance alone will see us through to graduation."
"What a drama queen," Lin Honglang sneered coldly.
Li Wu didn't respond, simply spreading out his blanket and lying back down.
Still curious about his thought process during those two short minutes, Cheng Rui asked, "Seriously, Li Wu, what were you thinking? Why did you take the fall?"
Li Wu finally spoke: "I'm alone."
Cheng Rui understood—if Ran Feichi got caught, Gu Yan would likely be implicated too, and they might end up as a pair of star-crossed lovers. The more he thought about it, the more impressed he was with his new roommate. Feigning sobs, he said, "I'm so touched, Li Wu. From now on, you're my idol."
Li Wu ignored him.
Having never lived in a dorm before, Li Wu wasn't familiar with the rules. He turned over and asked, "What happens next?"
Cheng Rui said, "You'll get called to the office for a lecture. Worst case, they'll call your parents."
"What?" Li Wu sat up abruptly.
"What's wrong?"
Li Wu rubbed his head hard—it was too late for regrets now.
—
Cen Jin didn't get home until early morning. By the time she finished washing up, it was almost 2 a.m. Exhausted, she collapsed into bed and slept until her pre-set alarm woke her.
Cen Jin half-opened her eyes to check the time and noticed two missed calls.
The caller ID clearly displayed the name "Teacher Zhang."
Her mind flooded with exclamation marks, Cen Jin immediately called back.
The call connected instantly, and though the tone was imposing, it wasn't harsh: "Are you Li Wu's parent?"
"Yes, I am..." Cen Jin hesitated, unsure how to define her relationship. After a two-second pause, she said, "I'm his sister."
"Li Wu didn't return to the dorm last night."
"What?" Cen Jin was genuinely stunned.
The homeroom teacher, shrewd as ever, successfully extracted information: "So you didn't know either?"
Cen Jin fell silent: "No."
Teacher Zhang pressed further: "So he didn't go home, right?"
Cen Jin still replied with a "No," already having exposed herself. There was no point in trying to cover it up now. But she was also curious—how could Li Wu have stayed out all night? If he wasn't in the dorm, where else could he have gone?
The words "unlicensed internet café" began looping obsessively in Cen Jin's mind."Could you come to the school? Please talk to him. He’s usually such a diligent child, and given his unusual upbringing, I’m worried he might stray if we’re not careful," Teacher Zhang sighed softly, sounding helpless. "When I asked him about it today, he wouldn’t tell me the truth. I just don’t understand…"
Cen Jin tidied up briefly, applied only light makeup, and hurried to Yi High School.
On the way, she sped up several times, eager to uncover the truth yet feeling a mix of frustration—both at herself and at Li Wu.
She arrived at Yi High School just as classes were letting out. The hallway buzzed with noise as Cen Jin strode swiftly, handbag in hand.
Her camel-colored coat accentuated her graceful figure, and her striking beauty, paired with an imposing aura, made the teenagers along the way instinctively step aside, whispering as they watched her pass.
The office of the high school sophomore teaching group was bright and clean.
Cen Jin spotted Li Wu immediately. The young man stood sideways, his upper body mostly obscured by the vibrant green plants on the windowsill. His expression was calm, bathed in the warm sunlight—like a still from a youth film.
—That is, if he hadn’t been standing there as punishment.
Cen Jin took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, then forced a faint smile as she stepped inside.
Teacher Zhang noticed her first and waved. "Over here!"
Only then did the young man turn his face toward her, a slight ripple of emotion finally stirring in his clear eyes.
"Teacher Zhang," Cen Jin stopped beside Li Wu, shot him a sharp glare, then turned to the teacher with a smile. "Sorry to worry you."
For some reason, that powerful glare seemed to hit Li Wu’s sweet spot.
He had to turn his face slightly away, pressing his lips together to suppress a smile.
"Where did you go last night?" After apologizing to the teacher, she interrogated him. "Tell the teacher the truth."
Li Wu remained silent.
"Huh? Say something." Cen Jin’s temper flared, her tone sharpening.
After a moment of quiet, Li Wu said, "I went home."
That was a complete lie. Yet the young man’s gaze was steady, unwavering—so much so that Cen Jin almost believed him. She paused. "When?"
"After the exam," Li Wu replied calmly, his tone reasonable. "You were working overtime yesterday. When I went to bed, you hadn’t come home yet. Then this morning, I left for school before you woke up. That’s why you thought I never came back."
Almost swayed by his persuasion, Cen Jin’s eyelashes fluttered rapidly before she suddenly fell silent, unable to utter another word.
They locked eyes briefly until the piercing class bell rang, jolting Cen Jin back to reality.
She turned to the teacher. "May I speak with him alone for a moment?"
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