After finishing organizing the military training uniforms with class monitor Yu Sheng, Gu Qichi wiped the sweat from his forehead. Just as he reached for the water placed on the table, someone bumped into him hard.

Yu Sheng leaned close to his ear, whispering breathlessly, “Did you see that? The guy under the basketball hoop?”

Gu Qichi steadied his water, focused entirely on unscrewing the cap, and took a few small sips before unhurriedly lifting his eyelids to look toward the basketball court.

It was getting close to dusk, not as scorching hot as the afternoon. The saturated moisture in the air blurred the straight beams of light into a scattered glow, which happened to fall right on that empty space of the basketball court.

From Gu Qichi’s angle, he could only see a section of the other person’s back.

His figure wasn’t considered lean; he had broad shoulders and long legs, with a thin layer of sweat floating on his skin. Because he was playing basketball, his movements were exceptionally fast. Even from this distance, Gu Qichi could clearly see his explosive muscles when he dribbled the ball.

Probably because he scored a basket, cheers erupted from the court. The person who had been dribbling also stopped in his tracks, smiling as he turned his face to the side.

His gaze shifted, and across the green chain-link fence, he happened to look at Gu Qichi from afar.

Gu Qichi calmly withdrew his gaze, picked up the water in his hand, took another sip, and asked evenly, “Who is he?”

Beside him, Yu Sheng’s face revealed a look of astonishment. She bumped his shoulder, dragging out her syllables: “Bo Yu, ah! He’s our school’s universally popular student council president. You didn’t know?”

“After he graduated, you became the new campus idol. I thought you knew him…” Yu Sheng patted the dust off her military training uniform, muttering softly.

Gu Qichi listened to her speak and looked up again at the position from just now.

Bo Yu was saying something to the person opposite him, a light smile appearing on his face, washing away some of the coldness brought about by his sharp features.

Gu Qichi turned around, picked up his own military training uniform, and nonchalantly led Yu Sheng past the basketball court, casually answering her previous question: “I know him…”

“We won! We won! We won!”

“All thanks to Bo Yu, haha!”

The moment he spoke, his voice collided with the cheers from the court. His not-so-loud voice was drowned out in the fierce celebration. Yu Sheng turned her head blankly, asking what he had just said. Gu Qichi smiled, shifted his gaze away from Bo Yu, and said idly, “Nothing, military training starts tomorrow, right?”

Yu Sheng nodded matter-of-factly: “Of course. Assembly is at 7:30 AM, make sure you absolutely aren’t late.”

The two walked out of the basketball court and parted ways. Gu Qichi took out his phone, opened the freshmen group chat, looked at the constantly scrolling messages, and accurately pinpointed the one he was most interested in—

School Basketball Team Manager Recruitment Info. Posted by: Bo Yu.

Gu Qichi found the contact information attached, switched to WeChat, and added the person as a friend.

As he walked to the front of his dormitory building, he looked up at the round moon hanging above the streetlamp, narrowed his eyes, and mumbled two words.

“Bo Yu.”

How could he not know him? That was the person he was most interested in here.

…………
…………

It wasn’t until the evening that the school basketball team belatedly accepted Gu Qichi’s friend request.

The other party sent a message very quickly.

[Lover]: You’re junior Gu Qichi, right? I’m glad you have the idea of joining the school basketball team. I’d like to know, do you have any experience or thoughts on this area?

Gu Qichi stared at that cartoon avatar and paused for a long time. His fingers tapped away, finally popping out a few words.

[Chi]: Sorry, Senior Bo. I haven’t participated in the school basketball team before.

Before he could finish typing the remaining words, the other side replied crisply.

[Lover]: Ah, junior, I’m not Bo Yu. I’m the team captain.

Just as he expected. Gu Qichi put down his phone, losing the desire to continue chatting. After asking about the interview time, he quickly ended the conversation using tomorrow morning’s military training as an excuse.

It was unexpected yet completely reasonable. The person on the other end wasn’t Bo Yu. Probably, to attract more people to join, the school basketball team had deliberately used Bo Yu as a gimmick.

Facts proved that the effect was indeed very good. A large swath of students, including Gu Qichi, had taken the bait.

A University turned off its lights early. Gu Qichi lay flat, looking at the pitch-black ceiling. He massaged between his eyebrows, pondering his next plan. What would be the best way to get to know Bo Yu…

He didn’t think for long before being defeated by sleepiness, closing his eyes and drifting off.

…………
…………

The days of military training were exceptionally arduous. Enduring the scorching sun every day while undergoing countless training exercises made the college freshmen complain incessantly.

Fortunately, the weather was cooperative. Such days only lasted for a week, followed by a week of consecutive overcast days, which somewhat lightened everyone’s burden.

It wasn’t until the military training drills ended that Gu Qichi got a little breathing room to let himself rest.

But the time was still very short, because the very next day, right after his classes, he hurriedly rushed to the gymnasium where the team manager interviews were taking place.

Bo Yu had been forcefully dragged over by the team captain. The captain had earnestly persuaded him for a week and even humbly called him “daddy” for a week, begging him to help the team drum up popularity and conveniently find a talent capable of comprehensive planning. Only then did Bo Yu relent. When Gu Qichi pushed the door open and slipped in, he saw Bo Yu sitting on the edge of the furthest desk, spinning his pen somewhat irritably.

He wasn’t wearing his basketball jersey today, just the simplest white T-shirt and washed jeans, looking clean and refreshing. Gu Qichi’s gaze swept over his exposed forearms; the muscle lines were smooth, clearly the result of years of sports and exercise.

Probably finding the interviews a bit boring, Bo Yu didn’t ask a single question the entire time. He just sat quietly in the corner scribbling and drawing, occasionally spinning his pen for fun.

His loose hair fell across his forehead, covering part of his eyes, leaving only a portion of his facial contours—cold and sharp. When he sat up straight, revealing his eyes and brows, one could see his eye color was exceptionally deep, looking pitch-black and making it impossible to fathom what he was thinking.

Gu Qichi arrived relatively late, happening to be among the last few. There was a line of people ahead of him, and at a glance, most were exquisitely dressed girls whispering to each other.

He really is popular, just like in high school. Gu Qichi lowered his eyes and found a corner where he could see him to sit down.

More than half the people had been interviewed. Utterly bored, Bo Yu was reciting vocabulary in his head, just planning to find an excuse to head back to the dorm to rest, when he looked up and saw someone sitting across from him.

The person’s head was lowered; only clean, fair ears and a section of a slender shoulder and neckline could be seen under fragmented black hair. As if sensing his gaze, the person lifted his eyes, exposing his entire face to Bo Yu’s line of sight.

Strikingly bright and flamboyant features. His eyes were upward-slanting peach blossom eyes, his irises a crystal-clear amber, a high nose bridge, and water-red lips. Under the warm yellow lights of the stadium, when he slowly lifted his eyes to look at Bo Yu, he looked like a soul-stealing fox spirit.

Bo Yu’s pen-spinning motion paused for a second. He felt this person looked somewhat familiar, but for a moment, he couldn’t recall where he had seen him before.

He frowned. While he was pondering, the people in front of Gu Qichi had all finished their interviews. The person who was just sitting across from him now sat right in front of him. The distance was suddenly closed, allowing Bo Yu to see the expression on his face more clearly.

Very cold, as if his entire body was covered in a layer of snow. Even those clear eyes seemed to contain a layer of mist.

The basketball team captain held his resume, voicing his surprise: “You are Gu Qichi?”

Gu Qichi nodded and introduced himself expressionlessly.

He was actually completely clueless about basketball and had no interest in it either. After talking for a while, the only thing that seemed remotely useful was that he had been the student council president for two years in high school, possessing a certain degree of organizational and planning ability.

The basketball team captain was in a tough spot. He flipped Gu Qichi’s resume back and forth for a long time, wanting to find a question to ask, but Gu Qichi had explained things so clearly that he genuinely couldn’t find one in the moment.

Just as he thought of something and was about to speak, Bo Yu, sitting in the furthest corner, threw out a question first: “Since you’re not interested in basketball, why do you want to be the team manager here?”

His voice was low, but not as cold as when he usually spoke; it carried a hint of a smile.

Gu Qichi turned his head, his gaze landing squarely on him, and answered without holding back at all: “Because there’s something here I’m more interested in.”

The few people in charge of the interview froze for a moment upon hearing this, Bo Yu included. But his interest was clearly piqued by Gu Qichi’s words, and he followed up: “Then may I ask, what attracted you?”

Gu Qichi sat in the chair, hands folded, and shook his head exceptionally coldly.

“I can’t say right now,” he said. “But I believe my abilities are more than enough to be competent for this position. Don’t you think?” he retorted with a question.

He wasn’t asking the other interviewers; he was only looking at Bo Yu as he asked.

Bo Yu cleverly paused for a moment. He didn’t speak, but he didn’t refute it either. He also had a copy of Gu Qichi’s resume in front of him. A quick glance just now confirmed it was indeed outstandingly excellent.

“Then go back and wait for the news. We will send you the specific details via email.”

The interview abruptly ended there. Gu Qichi didn’t say anything, slung his backpack on, and prepared to leave, only casually glancing at Bo Yu right before he walked away.

…………
…………

Inside the stadium, several managers gathered together, talking all at once as they discussed who should take the position of team manager.

Everyone had their preferred candidate. Back and forth, the discussion was incredibly intense.

Bo Yu sat in the furthest corner, Gu Qichi’s face surfacing in his mind over and over again, yet he couldn’t figure out who he was, ultimately giving up.

He unhurriedly grabbed his bag, stood up, picked up a resume from his desk, and walked to the center of the group.

He was 189 cm tall. Looking down at people from this height was exceptionally oppressive. When everyone looked up in surprise, they saw Bo Yu impassively smack the resume in his hand onto the center desk and lift his chin.

“Choose him,” he said.

It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

The team captain’s face contorted into a grimace as he weakly protested, “We wanted to choose a girl…”

Aren’t soft, sweet-smelling girls nice?!!

Bo Yu narrowed his eyes, a half-smile on his face: “When you begged me to come over, you gave me veto power.”

Team captain: “…”

He had nothing to say. After all, a female underclassman had previously liked Bo Yu and, after becoming the team manager, ran to his dorm to harass him every other day. Bo Yu had rejected her multiple times but couldn’t dampen her enthusiasm, almost quitting the team over the matter.

Fearing a similar incident, he had given Bo Yu veto power so he could pick someone he wasn’t so repulsed by.

But the prerequisite was a girl!!!

The team captain wanted to argue some more, but Bo Yu tapped his finger twice on the desk, his tone brokering no argument: “I just want him.”

The moment the words fell, regardless of whether they agreed or not, he was already walking away with his bag.

After all, having wasted his entire evening for this chore, Bo Yu really wasn’t in the mood to stick around.

However, just outside the gymnasium doors, he saw someone unexpected.

Bathed in a dim layer of light, Gu Qichi stood in front of the doors. A white shirt draped loosely over his body, making him look exceptionally slender. His shoulder blades protruded slightly, propping up a thin silhouette, and where his shirt was tucked in, a segment of his waist was shockingly narrow, as if it could be grasped with a single hand.

Gu Qichi turned his head, his eyes carrying a hint of surprise when he saw him: “Senior?”

Bo Yu stepped forward and replied, “Why are you here? Haven’t you gone back to the dorms yet?”

Gu Qichi pointed to the pattering raindrops in front of the door, shrugging helplessly: “I got a little lost coming out of the office. After walking around for a long time, I only realized it was raining when I finally got to the door…”

Bo Yu nodded in understanding, looking outside. The raindrops had connected into strings; evidently, it had been raining for a while.

The rain outside wasn’t too heavy yet, but no one knew if it would pour harder. The dormitory area was still a good distance away from the gym. Walking back recklessly would definitely leave one drenched.

Gu Qichi’s concerns weren’t without reason.

Bo Yu rummaged through his bag twice, wondering if he had brought an umbrella when he went out today.

Gu Qichi, sharp-eyed, spotted the metallic umbrella handle in his bag. Without batting an eye, he shoved his own umbrella to the very bottom of his bag, leaving not a trace visible from the outside. Only then did he look at Bo Yu, speaking with a hint of vulnerability:

“Senior, can I borrow your umbrella and have you walk me back to my dorm?”