Chapter 0083: Down in One Gulp, Deep in Affection

Zhou Zhexiao bit onto it, but when Xia Chiyi pulled it away, the cheese stretched out into a long, rich string. As Xia Chiyi flusteredly cupped his hand underneath to catch it, Zhou Zhexiao stuck out his tongue and licked upward.

His lowered eyelashes, beautiful eyes, and an expression seemingly devoid of desires, paired with the stretched cheese…

It was incomparably suggestive.

It felt like there was a rabbit jumping up and down inside Xia Chiyi’s heart. He suspected that Zhou Zhexiao knew exactly what he was thinking and was deliberately using this method to retaliate against him.

“You… eat it yourself.” Xia Chiyi shoved the remaining half into Zhou Zhexiao’s mouth, just wanting to leave immediately.

But Zhou Zhexiao grabbed him and handed him the pizza in his other hand. “I’ve been holding this for a long time.”

Meaning: I’ve been saving it for you all along.

The rabbit in Xia Chiyi’s heart was about to bounce all the way to the ceiling.

Could you please not speak so seriously, especially while wearing that face, acting like you only treat me well in the whole world?

“Got it.” Xia Chiyi took that slice of pizza.

That night, Xia Chiyi was originally leaning against the headboard playing on his phone, while Zhou Zhexiao was reading his poetry book again.

Just looking at his quiet side profile, Xia Chiyi couldn’t suppress the urge to kiss him.

Was it because I’ve been single since birth for too long, so meeting someone good-looking makes me itch to commit a crime?

No, it was because it was Zhou Zhexiao.

Xia Chiyi suddenly threw off his blanket, got out of bed, straightened his body, and started doing push-ups.

Zhou Zhexiao turned his face and put down the hardcover book in his hands. “It’s just the calories from three slices of pizza. It won’t cause your body fat percentage to go up.”

Xia Chiyi said casually, “I’m not like you. I get fat just from drinking cold water!”

“If cold water makes you fat, then drink hot water.”

Xia Chiyi: “…”

Is this room still livable!

This isn’t a problem of drinking hot or cold water, it’s the problem of me having wild fantasies about you!

Xia Chiyi suddenly jumped up, shoved his room card into his pocket, and said, “I’m going out for a run—”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

Zhou Zhexiao was just about to get up when Xia Chiyi pushed him back down.

“You only ate one slice of pizza, why are you running! Just stay in the room!”

With that, Xia Chiyi didn’t even cast another glance at Zhou Zhexiao before walking out the door.

Looking at the ruthlessly closed door, Zhou Zhexiao frowned.

The evening breeze blowing against him was truly refreshing. Having escaped Zhou Zhexiao’s presence, Xia Chiyi suddenly felt like he had become a decent, upright person again—no longer seduced by beauty!

He pumped his arms and started running.

Zhou Zhexiao went to the window, watching Xia Chiyi’s figure running further and further away outside, and took a deep breath.

Xia Chiyi hadn’t run far before he heard someone calling him.

Turning around, he found it was Yang Huaiyu, and he was holding a paper cup filled with oden.

“How bold! If your coach finds out, be careful you don’t end up like me and Zhou Zhexiao!”

Yang Huaiyu waved his hand and smiled. “The group stage is over. Tonight is a night of indulgence. Though… aren’t you afraid of getting kidnapped, coming out without your bodyguard?”

“Who would kidnap me?” Xia Chiyi found it funny and glanced at his paper cup. “Is your so-called ‘indulgence’ just eating some fish balls and kelp?”

“Who said that? We’re about to team up for some games. We’ve already found an internet cafe; I was just sent out to buy snacks. Do you want to join us?”

With Yang Huaiyu mentioning it, Xia Chiyi felt an itch in his heart. It had been a long time since he played games. It was fine when no one brought it up, but now that he did, the urge to play was super strong.

“Who’s there?” Xia Chiyi asked.

“Who else? Me, Ke Yan, He Zhan, Meng Ting. With you, that makes exactly five.”

“What about Li Shunchuan?”

Yang Huaiyu smiled. “He’s a good boy. He doesn’t play games.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Xia Chiyi bumped Yang Huaiyu with his shoulder.

The internet cafe they picked had a pretty good environment. No one was smoking inside, the air was fresh, and the lighting was bright. It didn’t have that dark, sneaky, underground-operation feel.

What Xia Chiyi didn’t expect was that Yang Huaiyu was actually very good at the game, saving Xia Chiyi’s little life countless times.

“Pro! Carry me!” Xia Chiyi kicked Yang Huaiyu’s chair next to him.

“Carrying you is fine, but shouldn’t you at least call me ‘Brother’?” Yang Huaiyu smiled. Paired with his deep double eyelids, he looked incredibly coquettish.

“Sure thing, Brother Huaiyu, carry me—” Xia Chiyi winked at Yang Huaiyu.

Yang Huaiyu lowered his head, clutching his chest. “You actually attacked me.”

“How did I attack you? Is it a crime to wink?”

From the other side, Ke Yan smiled and said, “Haven’t you seen the TV drama called Princess Huaiyu?” (Note: Huaiyu in the drama sounds identical to Yang Huaiyu’s name).

Hearing this, Xia Chiyi laughed so hard he leaned back and forth. “Oh right, Brother Huaiyu! You are an eternal classic! Who is your emperor?”

Yang Huaiyu’s hand reached over, completely covering Xia Chiyi’s head. “You little brat, I think you want to ascend to heaven. Next round, you can just be a little loot box!”

Xia Chiyi’s phone started vibrating constantly; it was Zhou Zhexiao’s number.

His originally happy mood was once again dominated by that secret, unspeakable fluttering. Xia Chiyi didn’t understand. This wasn’t even on the basketball court; why did merely seeing Zhou Zhexiao’s name have such massive lethal power?

“Hey, your imperial bodyguard is calling. Aren’t you going to pick up?” Yang Huaiyu leaned back in his chair, hands hooked behind his head, wearing an expression ready for a good show.

Xia Chiyi originally wanted to go outside to take the call, but being stared at by Yang Huaiyu like this, hiding away would make him lose face instead.

“Zhou Zhexiao, you’re looking for me?”

“Where did you go?” Zhou Zhexiao’s voice came through.

“Huh? I was running and ran into the guys from Qincheng University, so I went to an internet cafe with them to play games for a bit. I’ll be back after one more round!”

Ke Yan, Meng Ting, and the others burst into laughter.

“Hey, doesn’t this sound exactly like when Jiong Li’s girlfriend used to call to check up on him?”

“It does, super similar. It’s just that Xia Chiyi is calmer than Jiong Li!”

“Leaving Zhou Zhexiao alone in the room is not very kind of him.”

Zhou Zhexiao’s voice turned cold. “Does playing games burn calories too?”

“Even though it doesn’t burn calories, it puts you in a good mood!”

“I heard Qincheng University’s assistant coach in the hallway saying he was going to nearby internet cafes to catch people. Look out for yourself.”

Xia Chiyi’s heart leaped into his throat. His first reaction was to look at the entrance of the internet cafe. “Why didn’t you say such an important piece of news earli—”

Zhou Zhexiao cleanly hung up the phone, not giving Xia Chiyi a chance to complain.

Xia Chiyi yanked Yang Huaiyu up. “You liar! Didn’t you say you guys could indulge tonight? Your team’s assistant coach is out catching people!”

Hearing this, Yang Huaiyu dropped his crossed legs, stood up immediately, and started walking quickly towards the exit.

Ke Yan pulled Meng Ting up too. “Isn’t Jiong Li staying in his room? Why didn’t he tip us off that someone was coming to catch us?”

The group of five walked closely together on the way back to the hotel.

Yang Huaiyu glanced at Xia Chiyi. He wanted to say something, but just smiled.

Soon, the phone in his pocket vibrated. It was a WeChat message from Ke Yan: [I asked Jiong Li. He specifically went to the assistant coach’s room pretending to ask for medicated oil, and the coach is definitely in his room watching a livestream!]

Yang Huaiyu quickly replied with one hand: [Isn’t it obvious? Zhou Zhexiao misses Xia Chiyi.]

Ke Yan: [Damn… he misses him so he scares us all to death?]

Yang Huaiyu: [If you want revenge, wait for the quarterfinals.]

When Xia Chiyi returned to the hotel, he opened the door to find the room completely dark.

“What’s going on?” Xia Chiyi fumbled around and realized the room card providing power had been taken out.

Xia Chiyi inserted his own room card. The lights came on, but he found the room was empty.

Where did Zhou Zhexiao go?

Did that guy go out for a run too?

Xia Chiyi opened the location tracker on his phone, his face full of question marks.

—Zhou Zhexiao was actually at an internet cafe!

This guy didn’t have a smartphone; did he specifically go to an internet cafe to surf the web?

Xia Chiyi called him. “Zhou Zhexiao, what are you doing at an internet cafe?”

“Oh, I ran into Ling Huanzhen on my way out to find you.”

“And then?”

“And then, he brought me to the internet cafe to play games, saying we’d be an awesome duo.”

Xia Chiyi: “…”

What is this feeling of doubting life itself?

Didn’t he say Qincheng University’s assistant coach was going to internet cafes to catch people?

And their own Ningchang University coach had directly brought his ace player to an internet cafe?!

Xia Chiyi pulled his room card out and left the room once again.

This world was too bizarre; he had to go see for himself.

Xia Chiyi arrived at that internet cafe, searching row by row, and sure enough, he saw the two of them sitting side-by-side.

This was the first time he had seen Zhou Zhexiao wearing a headset, completely focused on something outside of the basketball court.

It was truly magical.

Xia Chiyi knew that if he greeted them during this passionate moment, neither of them would pay attention to him.

Zhou Zhexiao repositioned expressionlessly, while Ling Huanzhen charged forward without any scruples, showing an unbelievable level of trust in Zhou Zhexiao. Their tacit understanding made it seem like they had been gaming together for many years.

Xia Chiyi couldn’t hear the sounds of gunfire and explosions, so he could only get closer and closer. Without realizing it, his chin gently rested on Zhou Zhexiao’s shoulder.

The more he watched, the more excited he got. Xia Chiyi’s chin forgot to regulate its force and fully pressed down on Zhou Zhexiao. During a critical moment, he couldn’t help but rub his chin against him.

If he hadn’t rubbed, it would have been fine. But the moment he did, Zhou Zhexiao almost blasted Ling Huanzhen.

“Great Demon King, what are you doing! You almost shot my family jewels off!”

“…No, I didn’t.”

Just as he spoke, Ling Huanzhen was killed by an opponent.

He took off his headset in annoyance. “You did that on purpose! You used to complain I was a noob! But you’re not much better yourself!”

Ling Huanzhen turned his head and finally noticed Xia Chiyi.

Xia Chiyi raised his hand, waved, and leaned toward Ling Huanzhen. “Excuse me, how long ago is this ‘used to’?”

Ling Huanzhen opened his mouth, momentarily not knowing how to explain.

“Fifteen, sixteen years ago. Back then, he was playing CrossFire, and the one who endured him the most was Jiao Yingfeng,” Zhou Zhexiao said.

“Hey! You…” Ling Huanzhen looked at Zhou Zhexiao, his eyes saying, What nonsense are you spouting, kid?

Fifteen years ago, this body of yours was only three years old. What games were you playing with me?

“Oh, I thought it was World of Warcraft. But you’re really good at CS. Who did you learn it from?”

Xia Chiyi continued to rub his chin against the other boy, his main strategy being: As long as you don’t reject me, I’ll stick to you until you get used to it.

Zhou Zhexiao raised his hand. Xia Chiyi’s heart tensed up, just like when a teacher checked his homework when he was little.

He’s probably going to push my head away.

“Learned it from you,” Zhou Zhexiao replied. His hand pressed directly against the side of Xia Chiyi’s face, squishing his cheek into the shape of a pufferfish.

Seeing Xia Chiyi’s reaction, Ling Huanzhen immediately understood that this kid already knew the Great Demon King’s secret.

His suspended heart could finally be put down.

It made sense. Xia Chiyi and Zhou Zhexiao spent day and night together. As Sheng Xingming’s number one fan, if Xia Chiyi couldn’t sense anything at all, he might as well find a brick and smash his own head open.

Ling Huanzhen complained, “Damn, you learned to play from Xia Chiyi? Just because he shoots hoops well doesn’t mean he plays CS well. I even heard Ye Zhaoying call him a black hole before! Playing games with him is like eating an iron weight—you sink to the bottom and can’t fly up no matter what!”

“It’s clearly Ye Zhaoying who’s a noob! If you don’t believe it, call him out and see if he can carry you!”

The happiness in Xia Chiyi’s heart overflowed onto his face, impossible to hide. Perhaps afraid that Ling Huanzhen would discover his little secret, Xia Chiyi turned his face sideways. His nose pressed right into the crook of Zhou Zhexiao’s neck, half of his face hiding in the shadows.

Zhou Zhexiao’s throat bobbed, and Xia Chiyi could clearly feel the other boy’s neck tense up.

Was I getting too carried away?

Xia Chiyi was just about to sit up, but unexpectedly, Zhou Zhexiao tilted slightly towards him, offering the side of his neck to Xia Chiyi’s nose.

Then, Zhou Zhexiao adjusted his sitting posture, causing Xia Chiyi’s lips to brush right against his neck.

In that moment, he didn’t even dare to breathe. An unprecedented impulse surged up from the bottom of his heart. If Ling Huanzhen weren’t there, he suspected he wouldn’t be able to resist wrapping his arms around Zhou Zhexiao’s neck and kissing him hard.

“I’ll call Ye Zhaoying right now!” Ling Huanzhen took out his phone.

Xia Chiyi rolled his eyes. “Old Ling, can you act a bit like a coach?”

Ling Huanzhen took a deep breath and tilted his head back. “I feel like I haven’t even had a good time in my youth, and I’ve already stepped into middle age.”

“Go say that to Jiao Yingfeng. He’d probably ask you—was your youth unhappy because of him?”

Ling Huanzhen instantly changed his tune. “No, no, no, Jiao Jiao is the only sweetness in my youth.”

“So gross,” Xia Chiyi muttered softly.

“Mm,” Zhou Zhexiao nodded in agreement.

Unexpectedly, at this very moment, Ye Zhaoying called.

“Did you guys know? Did you know?! Pang Shuai, the class monitor, and the other classmates booked a KTV room to celebrate us taking first place in the group, but none of us school team members were invited! Isn’t that despicable?!”

Xia Chiyi nodded. “Yeah, truly despicable.”

“It was only when I WeChatted Pang Shuai that he let it slip! I’m going to sing, are you guys coming?!”

Xia Chiyi glanced at the time. “Ye Zhaoying, it’s almost eleven, and you’re going singing?”

“We don’t have a game tomorrow! Isn’t today an indulgence day? We’ll just go show off a bit and come back by midnight!”

Ling Huanzhen overheard their conversation and smiled. “Sure, I’m doing room checks at midnight.”

Xia Chiyi knew Zhou Zhexiao didn’t like these kinds of lively occasions. Just as he was about to say “we’re going back to sleep,” Ye Zhaoying shouted, “Okay, see you at the KTV!”

Then the address was sent to Xia Chiyi’s WeChat.

Xia Chiyi looked at Ling Huanzhen in confusion. “As the coach, shouldn’t you do something about this?”

“Do what? The upcoming matches are going to be even more tense. Even if I make Ye Zhaoying sleep in his room, he might not be able to. Besides… I’m the one who paid for Pang Shuai and the others’ KTV, to thank them for coming to cheer for us.”

Xia Chiyi’s eyes lit up instantly. “Old Ling, you’re super generous today! Buying us pizza, and paying for the schoolmates to sing KTV?”

“I originally wanted to treat you guys to KTV too, but I was afraid you’d go crazy and ruin your voices. Now it doesn’t matter—I only paid up until midnight. I told the Student Union that for everyone’s safety, they must go back before twelve. So…”

“So even if we go, it’s just one last hour of happiness.”

Xia Chiyi stood up and tugged at Zhou Zhexiao’s back collar. “Let’s go, let big brother take you to see the world.”

Zhou Zhexiao quietly glanced at Ling Huanzhen. Ling Huanzhen raised his hand, meaning Go ahead, it’s fine.

By the time they arrived at the KTV room, most people had died down. Only Ye Zhaoying was still energetically singing the localized ending theme of some anime.

Seeing Xia Chiyi arrive, Pang Shuai immediately gave him a bear hug.

“I missed you so much! I really missed you to death!”

“You missed me so much, but you didn’t invite us to sing KTV?” Xia Chiyi asked in amusement.

“Wasn’t it because Coach Ling was afraid you’d ruin your voices shouting and affect your performance?” Pang Shuai smiled.

The other classmates who had fallen asleep on the sofa also woke up. Seeing Xia Chiyi and Zhou Zhexiao was like seeing idol stars.

“You two are so handsome! This is the first time our Jin Province has produced star players!”

Xia Chiyi smiled embarrassedly. “It’s only the group stage, ‘star players’ or whatever… is too early to say, right?”

Behind him, Zhou Zhexiao spoke up unhurriedly, “Because of the first-love face.”

“Huh? Isn’t saying that a bit too hurtful? Are my basketball skills really not as good as my face?” Xia Chiyi looked at Zhou Zhexiao, pretending to be angry.

“Hahaha, maybe Zhou Zhexiao also thinks looking at your face easily reminds people of their first love?” Liang Qin from the Student Union walked over. “This room only has about forty minutes left. I wonder if we could use the remaining time to do a fun interview with the basketball team?”

“What kind of interview?”

“It’s very simple. I have a phone here. I’ll set a ten-second timer and pass it around among the basketball team members. Whoever is holding it when it rings has to answer a question from the Student Union. This way, the content of our school magazine will be more interesting. We’ll let you review it before publishing.” Liang Qin smiled excitedly.

Xia Chiyi figured there would definitely be some prank questions mixed in. But thinking about how everyone had scrambled for tickets, prepared all sorts of support materials, and spent time traveling back and forth, letting them ask a few questions to tease them a bit wasn’t a big deal.

“Sure, bring it on,” Xia Chiyi smiled.

“For real? The basketball team only has us three here, including Zhou Zhexiao, who only speaks in concise sentences?” Ye Zhaoying put down the microphone. Although he thought this interview method was interesting, playing with only three people wouldn’t be fun.

“Then we’ll include Pang Shuai. He’s the basketball team’s official photographer, after all,” Xia Chiyi said.

Hearing this, Pang Shuai’s expression changed entirely. He felt a sense of pride at being recognized.

“Then our fun interview begins!”

Liang Qin handed the phone to Pang Shuai. Pang Shuai hit start and quickly passed it to Xia Chiyi. Xia Chiyi immediately handed it to Zhou Zhexiao. The tense rhythm slowed down by half a beat when it reached Zhou Zhexiao; he passed it to Ye Zhaoying at a very normal speed.

Just like that, when the phone returned to Zhou Zhexiao’s hands, his unhurried attitude caused the ringtone to go off before he could pass it on.

“I didn’t expect the first question to be for Zhou Zhexiao! Listen closely—Does Xia Chiyi have any flaws that you really dislike?”

As soon as Liang Qin asked the question, everyone started jeering and making noise.

If this question wasn’t answered well, the Ningchang University basketball team might just disband.

Ye Zhaoying looked at Zhou Zhexiao, using his eyes to signal the other to follow his lead. “I think Xia Chiyi has no flaws in your heart. You’d even think his farts smell good, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, even scooping poop looks like playing golf!” Pang Shuai quickly smoothed things over.

But actually, Xia Chiyi really wanted to know if he had any flaws in Zhou Zhexiao’s heart.

Zhou Zhexiao slightly raised his chin. He was someone who didn’t know how to lie, even though Ye Zhaoying and Pang Shuai were both hinting for him to say something nice.

“Xia Chiyi doesn’t know how to distinguish between people’s genuine goodwill towards him and them having ulterior motives,” Zhou Zhexiao answered.

“Ulterior motives? What motives would they have towards me?” Xia Chiyi blurted out.

“A face that makes people want to fall in love, a body that stimulates hormone secretion, and a defenseless personality,” Zhou Zhexiao answered with the attitude of answering an exam question.

“A face that makes people want to fall in love—that’s a first-love school idol face!” Pang Shuai nodded.

“Ooh, a body that stimulates hormone secretion, that’s praising you for being sexy,” Ye Zhaoying leaned close to Xia Chiyi’s ear and explained.

“A defenseless personality… does that mean I’m easy to trick…” Xia Chiyi felt a bit aggrieved.

Clearly, Zhou Zhexiao is the kind of person who would click into scam messages when he saw them, alright!

Liang Qin froze for a moment. “Why do I inexplicably feel like that was a bit sweet?”

“The question is… is this content that can be written into the school magazine?”

The phone started passing around again. Every time it reached Zhou Zhexiao’s hands, Xia Chiyi would yell, “Hurry, hurry!”

Finally, the phone stopped in Xia Chiyi’s hands this time.

Liang Qin revealed a big smile. “Student Xia Chiyi, this question is very easy to answer. Please tell us, what part of Student Zhou Zhexiao’s body do you envy or want to possess the most?”

“Hahaha…” Ye Zhaoying laughed joyfully upon hearing it. “This feels like one of those 100 questions for married couples at night…”

“If it were me, I’d want all of it.” Pang Shuai was incredibly envious of Zhou Zhexiao’s physique.

Xia Chiyi glanced at Zhou Zhexiao and quickly looked away. “His nose. His nose bridge is high, and the tip looks good too.”

Who knew Zhou Zhexiao would frown and mercilessly expose him, “Isn’t it my abs?”

Ye Zhaoying also chimed in happily, “Yes, yes, yes! It should be the abs! I often see Xia Chiyi inspecting Zhou Zhexiao’s abs from all angles—that’s the core strength area for doing double-clutch layups! This kid is dying of envy, alright!”

Xia Chiyi immediately tried to cover up, “I just didn’t react in time, I thought you meant facial features!”

“Student Xia Chiyi lied, so the penalty is a cup of a specially mixed drink!”

Liang Qin brought a cup of green liquid in front of Xia Chiyi.

Xia Chiyi gritted his teeth, revealing an expression of burning his bridges. “Here goes nothing—”

He was already analyzing the drink’s ingredients in his mind based on its color.

Visually, it had bitter melon, wasabi, broccoli… and so on.

At most the color was weird, but the contents should be healthy.

“Down in one gulp, deep in affection—”

After Xia Chiyi finished it, he froze. There was absolutely no nose-burning taste of wasabi; instead, it was very sweet. “Is it a mixed juice of kiwi and cucumber?”

Liang Qin smiled. “What, did you think there was wasabi in it? We wouldn’t bear to make you choke to tears! The main goal is just to fill you up with water!”

“Actually, it’s mainly because we wanted to buy wasabi but couldn’t find any,” Zhang Xiulin exposed from the side.

Xia Chiyi laughed along, thinking he was really lucky.

But what was this surging strength coming up from his stomach?

His throat also felt like it was on fire.

The game continued. During the second round, when the phone reached Xia Chiyi and he wanted to pass it to Zhou Zhexiao, Xia Chiyi—who was clearly the best at judging distance—felt as if space had warped. He somehow couldn’t place the phone into Zhou Zhexiao’s hand.

The phone rang. As everyone jeered and yelled “Boom!” “Boom!”, it was Xia Chiyi’s turn to answer a question again.

“It seems Xia Chiyi really wants to answer our Student Union’s questions! He couldn’t even bear to hand the phone to Zhou Zhexiao.” Liang Qin said jokingly.

“No… I just… just now…”

Xia Chiyi felt his eyelids growing a bit heavy. And Zhou Zhexiao opposite him… the dim light in the private room fell on his face, light and shadow intertwining, infinitely magnifying his mysterious and melancholic beauty.

This guy’s eyes and eyelashes were exceptionally blessed by nature, especially when backlit.

Xia Chiyi raised his hand to cover his eyes. Can’t look anymore… can’t look anymore…

“What’s wrong?” Zhou Zhexiao’s palm covered Xia Chiyi’s cheek. “Why is your face suddenly so hot?”

His voice was very concerned, not concealing his care for Xia Chiyi in the slightest even in front of so many people.

But the more he acted this way, the more panicked Xia Chiyi became. He didn’t know how long this special treatment would last, or if one day Zhou Zhexiao would discover his secret little crush.

“N-nothing.” Xia Chiyi turned his face, waved away Zhou Zhexiao’s hand, and raised his chin, acting as if it was no big deal. “Liang Qin, what’s your next question?”

Liang Qin covered her mouth and smiled. “Then for the sake of fairness, I’ll ask you the same question—Does Zhou Zhexiao have any flaws that you really dislike?”

Xia Chiyi frowned. His brain seemed to have jammed. He clearly understood every word she said, so why couldn’t he decipher what they meant when strung together?

Seeing Xia Chiyi’s troubled expression, Ye Zhaoying couldn’t help but laugh. “Does he have too many flaws for you to count?!”

“Oh? Ye Zhaoying, do you have any insider information?”

“Yeah, you could give a few options and let Xia Chiyi choose!”

“Yes, yes, let Xia Chiyi choose.”

Ye Zhaoying proudly held up a finger. “First, Zhou Zhexiao is too hardcore! Every morning he goes for a run before dawn, and his volume of weight training and skill drills is massive. If we try to match his training volume, the entire Ningchang University team will die from overwork!”

Everyone looked towards Xia Chiyi, but Xia Chiyi tilted his head, looking at Ye Zhaoying with extreme confusion. “Training hard, isn’t that a merit?”

Liang Qin and the other students also nodded. “Yeah, yeah, that should be a merit!”

Ye Zhaoying held up two fingers. “Then how about the fact that this guy absolutely refuses to buy a smartphone, insisting on mooching off yours? To this day, other than Xia Chiyi, no one else has Zhou Zhexiao’s WeChat—Xia Chiyi, do you really want to be Zhou Zhexiao’s personal little secretary that badly?”

Hearing this, Liang Qin and the other students were stunned.

“Zhou Zhexiao can actually resist buying a smartphone?” Liang Qin’s eyes widened.

“And the fact that no one besides Xia Chiyi has Zhou Zhexiao’s WeChat ID, what does that mean?!”

“What does it mean?”

“—It means he deliberately wants to share everything with Xia Chiyi!”

Even Zhang Xiulin’s mouth was open wide enough to fit a quail egg. “Why are you two even teammates? Even married couples of three or five years can’t achieve sharing a phone!”

What?

Married couples of three or five years?

Xia Chiyi felt a sudden, inexplicable shock. What was everyone talking about?

He quickly glanced at Zhou Zhexiao opposite him, wanting to clearly see his expression.

Zhou Zhexiao didn’t seem to care at all about what the people around them were discussing. His gaze toward Xia Chiyi revealed a sense of concern.

Ye Zhaoying lifted his chin at Xia Chiyi. “Tell me, does this count as a flaw?”

Xia Chiyi felt his cheeks burning even hotter.

“Eliminating ineffective socializing and useless information isn’t exactly a flaw, right? He’s just more focused on basketball,” Xia Chiyi said in a very certain tone.

“Damn—”

“You’re defending him way too much!”

Ye Zhaoying held up three fingers. “Then what about being a shopaholic? Does that count? How many times have we accompanied him with a trolley to pick up packages! Don’t forget, this guy even wanted to have a rowing machine shipped to the dorm!”

Xia Chiyi looked at Ye Zhaoying. “Maybe to others that’s a flaw… but I don’t think I have the right to complain about it…”

“Why?” Ye Zhaoying asked.

“Because he let me use a lot of those things… like ankle braces, fascia massage blades, wristbands, jump ropes, mats…”

Ye Zhaoying: “…”

Pang Shuai forcefully rubbed his face. “I didn’t feel it when we were in the dorm before, but now I suddenly feel like these two are just flaunting their affection. It’s truly hateful!”

The other students nodded along.

“You might as well just say Zhou Zhexiao has no flaws!” Ye Zhaoying said in annoyance.

Xia Chiyi frowned and subconsciously glanced at Zhou Zhexiao.

The other boy clearly sat in place, completely motionless. He had been looking at Xia Chiyi the whole time. Those eyes were like flowers quietly blooming in the interplay of light and shadow, silently seducing Xia Chiyi’s gaze.

“He… inherently has no flaws,” Xia Chiyi said in a very certain tone.

“Damn, I can’t take this anymore.”

“Goosebumps are falling off me… someone help me catch them!”

Pang Shuai directly placed another cup of green drink in front of Xia Chiyi. “Alright, no more nonsense, just drink it in one go!”

Xia Chiyi frowned, picked up the drink, and downed it in one gulp. The rich kiwi flavor was very sour, and the taste of cucumber came up. Even without wasabi, the taste was so intoxicating.

And… that throat-burning sensation returned. Even his stomach followed with wave after wave of heat.

“Five minutes left, the interview continues!”

The phone started passing around again. Xia Chiyi kept his head down, the back of his neck already entirely red.

He clearly hadn’t done anything to feel guilty about, nor had he done any high-intensity exercise, yet his heart was thundering loudly.

Fortunately, this time, the phone went off when it reached Pang Shuai’s hands.

Liang Qin’s question was very simple: “As the roommate of the basketball team members, what are your troubles, Pang Shuai?”

“What else could it be? They’re taller than me, handsomer than me, and they wake up earlier than me! Why is it that when it gets to me, the question has zero gossip value? I refuse to accept this!”

Waves of laughter rose and fell.

It went around two more times after that. Xia Chiyi kept his head down. All the sounds entering his ears felt like they were coming through a membrane.

He tried very hard to sit up straight, but he didn’t realize he was leaning closer and closer to Zhou Zhexiao.

When his shoulder touched Zhou Zhexiao, it felt like being burned by fire. He immediately sat up straight, but was tightly grabbed by the other’s hand.

Zhou Zhexiao turned his face and leaned close to his ear. “You’re unwell, we’re going back right now.”

I’m unwell?

Why would I be unwell?

“I’m very comfortable right now…” Xia Chiyi leaned on Zhou Zhexiao’s shoulder, tilting his face up and staring at him with wide eyes.

Zhou Zhexiao’s other hand had just reached around. His fingertips were originally going to gently brush away the hair at Xia Chiyi’s forehead, but now they froze.

Ye Zhaoying seemingly answered something wrong and was being punished with drinking the vegetable juice. He nonchalantly took a big gulp, but suddenly spat it right back into the cup.

“Ye Zhaoying, what are you doing? That’s so gross!”

Ye Zhaoying brought the cup to his nose and sniffed. “What are you guys doing? Why does this smell like baijiu?!”

“Baijiu? Why would there be baijiu?” Liang Qin brought another untouched cup to her nose. Amidst the aroma of fruits and vegetables, a completely incongruous, pungent smell pierced through.

“Oh no, I forgot!”

A male student suddenly raised his hand and yelled.

“What did you forget?” Liang Qin turned to ask.

“Because I couldn’t find wasabi, I bought a bottle of Erguotou and mixed it in… otherwise the penalty for the game would just be vegetable juice… wouldn’t that be boring…”

Under the condemning glares of the crowd, that person shrank back more and more.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier!” Ye Zhaoying looked at Xia Chiyi. “I was wondering why Xia Chiyi was acting so weird!”

“I forgot, I really didn’t do it on purpose… I remembered at first, but after singing for a while, and everyone getting so excited when you guys arrived, I genuinely completely forgot about it…”

“My god, Xia Chiyi drank two cups! Are this guy’s nose and tongue broken? How could he not feel that something was wrong?” Pang Shuai looked at Xia Chiyi. The guy had already collapsed against Zhou Zhexiao and entered giggling mode.

Ye Zhaoying’s brows furrowed. “What’s the alcohol content of that Erguotou? How many cups of juice did you mix it into?”

“I didn’t look closely… I don’t drink either… I just mixed the whole bottle into these few cups of juice… I didn’t think we’d bring it back to the rooms…”

“Erguotou is usually… around fifty percent alcohol… Mixed into a dozen cups of juice, there’s quite a bit in each cup…” Zhang Xiulin scratched the back of his head. “How about we quickly take Xia Chiyi back to the hotel to rest?”

Ye Zhaoying and Pang Shuai both had dark lines running down their foreheads.

Fifty-proof Erguotou… even mixed with juice, for Xia Chiyi—who had only ever drank mojitos—this was tantamount to a critical strike to the brain.

At this moment, even blaming the classmate who mixed the Erguotou would be useless. The most important thing was to get Xia Chiyi back to his hotel room to rest quickly.

“Thankfully… there’s no game tomorrow…” Pang Shuai scratched the back of his head.

Ye Zhaoying covered his eyes. “Not having a game isn’t an excuse to get drunk either…”

At this time, Xia Chiyi was leaning in close to look at Zhou Zhexiao’s face. He grabbed his ears with both hands and started shaking them, staring straight at Zhou Zhexiao with wide eyes.

“You… you have a flaw. Your flaw is super… super big…”

Zhou Zhexiao looked at Xia Chiyi with deep, dark eyes and asked calmly, “Oh? What is my flaw?”

“Your flaw is that you’re too handsome—the way you play basketball is super handsome… the way you sit on the bus is handsome… even the way you sleep on your desk in the study hall…”

The KTV room was noisy, and Xia Chiyi’s voice was intermittent, so Zhou Zhexiao brought his ear closer to his lips.

Xia Chiyi looked at the contour of the other boy’s ear, giggled twice, craned his neck, and without a word, pressed his lips to his earlobe, his teeth mischievously and finely grinding over it.

Zhou Zhexiao’s pupils dilated instantly, and all the surrounding noise rapidly faded away.

His hand gripped Xia Chiyi’s waist, his palm pressing forcefully against the curve of his waist through the thin fabric of his clothes.

“Let’s go, Zhou Zhexiao, we’re going back to the hotel!” Ye Zhaoying turned around and returned in front of them.

“Okay.”

Zhou Zhexiao grabbed Xia Chiyi’s shoulder with one hand and hoisted him up from the seat.

“Do you need our help? He looks quite heavy,” Liang Qin asked.

“He’s not heavy.”

With that, Zhou Zhexiao half-carried Xia Chiyi to the door of the private room single-handedly.

Ye Zhaoying also waved his hand, saying, “You guys shouldn’t follow us. Too many people will draw attention, and word will reach the coach’s ears by tomorrow. Xia Chiyi might get benched for the next game.”

After he said that, the classmate who mixed the Erguotou was fiercely scolded again and apologized profusely.

When they left the KTV, a cool breeze hit their faces. Leaning on Zhou Zhexiao’s shoulder, Xia Chiyi heavily lifted his eyelids.

“I don’t know how this guy’s brain is wired. Couldn’t he smell that strong stench of alcohol?” Ye Zhaoying stood with his hands on his hips, looking speechlessly at Xia Chiyi acting shamelessly like a koala.

“Don’t blame him. When we came, Ling Huanzhen said he paid for the KTV room and explicitly forbade drinking. That’s why Xia Chiyi had no guard up.”

Xia Chiyi leaned against Zhou Zhexiao’s shoulder. One moment, he was pinching the tips of his hair; the next, he was trying to bite his earlobe again. Except that his distance estimation repeatedly failed, and without even touching it, his chin would drop back onto Zhou Zhexiao’s shoulder.

This made Xia Chiyi frustrated.

“Zhou Zhexiao—do you really think you’re the Emperor?”

__

[Author’s Note]
Xia Chiyi: I’m doomed, doomed, doomed. Drunken words speak a sober heart. My secret is going to be discovered by Zhou Zhexiao.
Zhou Zhexiao: Getting drunk and puking is true, but where are the true words?
Xia Chiyi: Relieved. My secret is safe.
Zhou Zhexiao: I just wanted to hear your secret one more time.
Xia Chiyi: …