They remained in the classroom until the afternoon sunlight finally receded. Only when a faint cool breeze appeared did Zhi Li agree to leave. Ke Bu was already starving. Come to think of it, why hadn’t Xin He brought Zhi Li his lunch today? Ke Bu had been waiting to mooch some food.
“Did something happen to Xin He?” Ke Bu wasn’t deliberately cursing Zhou Xin He. Unless something unusual happened, she was always extremely punctual.
“She texted earlier and said she came to the classroom but felt too embarrassed to come inside, so she went to the club building.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”
“Was I supposed to?”
“I don’t have the strength to argue with you.”
The moment they entered the club building, the cold air instantly cooled their bodies. Everyone else was already there, and the place was noisy and chaotic. Some were watching movies, some eating snacks, some listening to music, and some lifting dumbbells. Ke Bu headed straight for Zhou Xin He, opened the lunchbox, and immediately began eating. “I’m starving.” Zhou Xin He looked awkwardly between Ke Bu and Zhi Li. “I only made enough for one person.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Zhi Li’s appetite gets really small in summer. Plenty of times, I’m the one who finishes the lunch you make for him.”
Chu Hao Yu spoke up for Zhi Li. “No matter what, Xin He made that for Zhi Li. Even if he can’t finish it, shouldn’t he get to eat first? You expect Zhi Li to eat your leftovers?”
Ke Bu gave the meddling Chu Hao Yu a dirty look. “What’s wrong with eating my leftovers? I’ve eaten his leftovers plenty of times. The actual person involved doesn’t object, so why are you making noise?”
“How do you know Zhi Li doesn’t object?” Chu Hao Yu turned toward him, and Zhi Li answered, “I don’t object.”
“Zhi Li! I’m speaking up for you!”
“He helps me get off. Which one do you think is more important?” Zhi Li asked with his head tilted. Chu Hao Yu was immediately rendered speechless, while Ke Bu choked on his food and started coughing uncontrollably. “You—cough, cough—you…” After thinking about it, Ke Bu decided to stop there. If they continued, the conversation would never end.
Ten minutes later, Ke Bu finished eating, leaving exactly as much food in the lunchbox as Zhi Li would be able to eat. Ke Bu knew him far too well. What he liked, what he hated, what time he usually woke in the morning, which hand he habitually used to play with his phone—so naturally, Ke Bu knew how much he would eat. It was a very simple question.
“You Yan, how are the things I told you to prepare?” Zhi Li wasn’t in any hurry to eat.
“They’re ready.” Su You Yan pointed toward the bamboo sleeping mats and pillows behind the sofa.
“Don’t tell me you’re sleeping here tonight?” Ke Bu asked.
“Otherwise, did you think I made You Yan prepare them just for fun?”
“Won’t the power here be shut off at a certain time just like in the classrooms?”
Zhang Luo, who was playing a computer game, waved a hand. “The newly appointed student council president is pretty good at winning people over. I heard she submitted a request to the administration earlier and gave them all sorts of reasons until she convinced the school to allow the club buildings to keep their electricity on overnight.”
“I heard about that too. She’s only a first-year, so a lot of people inside the student council were originally unhappy about her appointment. Now their attitude toward her has completely changed.”
Gong Zhu, who had been constantly chatting on his phone, joined the conversation too. “You can know someone’s face without knowing their heart. None of us has actually dealt with her, so who knows what kind of person she really is? The previous president was more reliable.” Ke Bu glanced at him. “You’re still in contact with Yan Feng?” Gong Zhu looked startled. “How did you know?”
“It was incredibly obvious from your tone just now.”
“Fine, yes. That’s all I’m telling you. Everything else is confidential,” Gong Zhu said mysteriously.
“I have absolutely no desire to know.”
Chu Hao Yu patted Ying Xiu Jie on the shoulder. “There are fewer and fewer single people left in this club. You’d better hurry.” Ying Xiu Jie folded his arms. “I’ve had no luck with women since I was a kid. I’ve never noticed any woman liking me.” With Ying Xiu Jie’s one-track mind, he probably wouldn’t notice even if one did for the rest of his life.
Gong Zhu immediately started gossiping. “How’s your girlfriend? Your living allowance probably isn’t enough to support her, right?” His tone was sarcastic. Gong Zhu almost never had a favorable opinion of heterosexual relationships, although there were exceptions.
“Paying for meals and buying a small present now and then is fine, as long as it doesn’t go over a certain amount. I’m not stupid. If she scams all my money out of me, she might dump me and go find another man. So before she gives up trying to scam money out of me, I’m definitely going to scam as much of her body out of her as I can.” Chu Hao Yu’s girlfriend was rather pitiful too. She had terrible luck—not only had she failed to find a rich second-generation heir, she had ended up with a scumbag instead. Now it was simply a contest to see which of them was more experienced.
After eating his fill, Ke Bu lay on the sofa and picked up a manga. He flipped through it until he fell asleep. He had no idea how much time had passed when noises woke him. Squinting, he saw that several people were carrying bamboo sleeping mats.
“You’re all sleeping here?”
“I can’t live without the air-conditioning anymore. We even found sleeping mats for you and Xin He. If you don’t want to sleep here, then forget it.”
“I never said I wasn’t sleeping here.”
The several grown men casually tossed their sleeping mats down and went back to doing their own things. Zhou Xin He voluntarily cleaned up after them. She first cleared a clean section of floor, then spread the mats out one by one. She even deliberately added a cooling mat to the place where Zhi Li would sleep. Finally, she clapped her hands in satisfaction. Gong Zhu enthusiastically suggested, “Oh, right! Why don’t we have a pillow fight?”
“What’s fun about that?”
“They always do it in anime.”
“People in anime can get flattened and return to normal afterward too. Why don’t you try that?” Ke Bu reopened the manga he hadn’t finished earlier.
“Lord Zhi Li, come play. It’ll be fun.” Gong Zhu ignored Ke Bu and went straight for the key person he needed to convince. Zhi Li spun the pen in his hand. “How do you play?” Chu Hao Yu picked up two pillows and handed one to Zhi Li. “I’ll teach you. Like this: I hit you once, you hit me once, and when everyone keeps hitting each other back and forth, that’s called a pillow fight.” Chu Hao Yu swung his pillow into Zhi Li. Zhi Li looked at the pillow in his own hand, swung it at Chu Hao Yu, and under everyone’s gaze, Chu Hao Yu collapsed facedown onto the floor and stopped moving.
Zhang Luo stared at the corpse on the ground. “I think Ke Bu was absolutely right! Pillow fights really aren’t fun at all!”
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