For Bai Yingchuan, both his vision and his cognitive abilities seemed to suddenly enter a state of stillness. 

Because he realized that the person who truly captivated Jiang Ruotang’s heart was Lu Guifan. That wasn’t just admiration and trust; it was the center of his spiritual world.

Why was this? What exactly did Lu Guifan do? Was it because he patiently helped him solve problems? Or because he fed him balls while playing? Or was it when he was misunderstood by Teacher Wang, and Lu Guifan rushed over to clarify for him?

 Bai Yingchuan was utterly perplexed. It couldn’t be just about looks, could it? 

Bai Yingchuan admitted that Lu Guifan, without his glasses, could become a top star in the entertainment industry with a little promotion, given his facial features and demeanor. 

But there were countless handsome men in the world. Jiang Ruotang’s affection for Lu Guifan was too special; it couldn’t possibly be just because of his face.

While Bai Yingchuan was in a daze, Lu Guifan slowly moved along the shelves, observing and sensing everything about Jiang Ruotang. 

For example, he liked to place black and white ceramic kittens together, their noses touching, both intimate and childish. 

Everyone else was looking at the sketches, but Lu Guifan noticed the watercolors and oil paintings. He casually picked up a painting placed furthest in—it was a moonlit sea, with stars shimmering in the ripples. 

A tattered, decaying wooden boat stood with its mast, and its sail caught the wind, with holes perfectly framing the moon.

It was beautiful, so beautiful that his heart was filled with a unique sense of belonging. It’s this painting… Jiang Ruotang had sent him a photo of it, and it’s also his phone’s background image. But seeing the original painting in person, with such luster and texture, Lu Guifan felt as if he could see every stroke Jiang Ruotang had made. 

Lu Guifan’s throat moved. He couldn’t describe the feeling of his soul being gently bumped by the boat in the painting. More than shock, it was a long-lasting throb. Jiang Ruotang had said that this painting… was his name.

“Oh, who is painted in this book? So beautiful!” Jian Sha exclaimed, drawing Cai Ji over.

“So familiar, who is this person?” Every stroke on the page seemed to break free from the constraints of time and space, engraved upon the viewer’s heart.

Lu Guifan followed their voices and, with just a glance, recognized that the entire book was filled with himself. Only, it was himself ten years later.

“Hey, it looks a lot like the class monitor! Class monitor, why don’t you take off your glasses so we can see?” Lin Lu said with a smile.

This made Jiang Ruotang a little nervous, because he only drew one or two books for other people, but he drew Lu Guifan, whether it was him at twenty-eight in his memory, or him at eighteen now, there were hundreds of drawings, at least a dozen sketchbooks. If others continued to look, they might ask him why he drew so many pictures of Lu Guifan, and what was so special about Lu Guifan?

Bai Yingchuan looked at Lu Guifan, a hint of coldness emerging in the depths of his eyes. This was the first time in his life he felt envious, no, to be honest, it was clearly jealousy towards someone.

Lu Guifan didn’t take off his glasses, merely calmly explained, “This isn’t me now; it’s an exercise Jiang Ruotang did, drawing what I’d look like ten years from now based on my current appearance.”

“If you look like this in ten years, class monitor… the people chasing you would circle the Earth three times!” Jian Sha praised generously, “A manga protagonist walking into reality…”

Jiang Ruotang let out a slight sigh of relief. Although drawing many sketchbooks of the class monitor wasn’t an unexplainable big deal, he was happy that Lu Guifan voluntarily spoke up for him.

Sister Juan’s voice drifted from downstairs. “Handsome boys and pretty girls, come down for hot pot!”

This immediately captured everyone’s attention. Zhao Changfeng yelled that he was hungry and led the way downstairs. Bai Yingchuan and Lin Lu walked at the very back. Lin Lu hadn’t expected to truly find no drawings of Bai Yingchuan in the art studio. It felt like Jiang Ruotang’s love and dislike were absolute; once he stopped loving, he would clear away all traces.

“Lin Lu,” Bai Yingchuan’s voice sounded.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Weren’t you and Jiang Ruotang deskmates for so long? How come there isn’t a single sketch of you?”

This question made Lin Lu almost miss a step and fall. It was understandable that there were no sketches of Bai Yingchuan, as Jiang Ruotang could have simply let go of his past obsession with him. But there were no sketches of Lin Lu either… Lin Lu clearly realized that he had been eliminated by Jiang Ruotang. If that was the case, did he also have no value to Bai Yingchuan? A sense of panic surged into Lin Lu’s heart again.

---

This hot pot was meticulously prepared by Sister Juan. The soup base she prepared was savory and delicious, with just the right amount of spice. Everyone ate with gusto, except for Lin Lu, who was distracted.

“These shrimp balls were hand-pounded by Sister Juan from fresh shrimp. The texture is especially similar to the filling of the shrimp wontons your mom makes,” Jiang Ruotang scooped two shrimp balls for Lu Guifan.

“Huh? Ruotang, you’ve eaten wontons made by the class monitor’s mom?” Cai Ji asked.

“Of course! I’ve also had her chive and egg pancakes, fú gēng, water chestnut and pork buns, handmade fish noodles…” As he spoke, Jiang Ruotang closed his eyes with an expression of enjoyment and licked the corner of his mouth.

“So you often go to the class monitor’s house…” Lin Lu said in surprise. Lu Guifan’s home must be small and simple. Could a young master like Jiang Ruotang get used to staying there?

“He must be going for tutoring, asking the class monitor to teach him, and pretending to be well-behaved so the mom would make him late-night snacks,” Zhao Changfeng said.

“Hey, worthy of being my brother, you understand me well.”

Jian Sha exclaimed, “I want to go to the class monitor’s house for tutoring too!”

Jiang Ruotang immediately put his arm around Lu Guifan’s shoulder, “No way, the tutoring spot at the class monitor’s house belongs only to me.”

“It’s the class monitor’s late-night snacks that are only enough for you, right?” Jian Sha hit the nail on the head.

Lu Guifan raised his hand and gently pressed the back of Jiang Ruotang’s head, “Teaching you to fly is harder than getting a 720 on the college entrance exam, so you, as one student, have already consumed all my brain space.”

Unexpectedly, Lu Guifan would also crack a joke one day. Everyone laughed obligingly.

After dinner, everyone started singing karaoke in the living room. Jiang Ruotang squatted in front of the TV to adjust the KTV mode, while Zhao Changfeng rummaged through the cabinet and actually found the microphone. After putting in batteries, he tested it with a couple of sounds, and their house naturally had a reverberation effect.

As he was adjusting, the ending theme song of Director Jiang Huaiyuan’s movie suddenly appeared. Bai Yingchuan, playing the young general, drew his sword, and a cold gleam passed over his eyebrows and eyes. The large LCD screen perfectly showcased his sharp and striking features.

“So handsome… that sword stroke just pierced my heart!” Jian Sha covered her heart with both hands.

Lin Lu subconsciously looked at Jiang Ruotang, because the system showed that this theme song had been played 672 times.

Cai Ji also clapped, “How amazing! The person on the big screen is actually sitting right next to us!”

Bai Yingchuan propped his chin, looking at the playback count. This should be evidence of Jiang Ruotang’s “past love,” right?

“Yingchuan, why don’t you sing the ending theme for us?” Lin Lu said. Jian Sha and Cai Ji also clapped and shouted, “One song!”

Bai Yingchuan leaned forward, turning his head to look at Jiang Ruotang: “Shouldn’t the host sing us a song first?”

“Huh? Me? Are you sure?” Jiang Ruotang pointed at himself.

“Mmm, you promised – Ai Pin Cai Hui Ying (No Pain, No Gain).”

Jiang Ruotang’s mouth twitched. “I’m afraid my singing will kill you all on New Year’s Eve.”

“Is that so? Then I’m willing,” Bai Yingchuan raised his chin, the smile in his eyes very soft.

It was the first time Jiang Ruotang had seen Bai Yingchuan smile like this, so gentle and doting. If this had happened in his previous life, or even four months ago, Jiang Ruotang would have gone mad, doing anything for him, unable to extricate himself. But now, Jiang Ruotang’s heart was as still as water. It seemed that timing truly was crucial when loving someone.

“If I must, I must.” Jiang Ruotang took the microphone and cleared his throat. “Friendly reminder, cover your ears!”

Zhao Changfeng immediately covered his ears without a word. Jiang Ruotang pointed at him unhappily and said, “Hey, you’re my brother! Everyone else can cover their ears, but you can’t!”

“This isn’t the time to play brothers; my life is more important!”

Jiang Ruotang took a deep breath and sang the first line, “一時失志不免怨嘆” (No need to complain when temporarily frustrated). Not only was it off-key, but his Hokkien was also very unstandard. Jian Sha was the first to burst out laughing. After that, every line Jiang Ruotang sang was accompanied by laughter from everyone, but he remained oblivious, like he was performing in a bar, singing from beginning to end.

He was able to do this because in his previous life, when he was negotiating resources with those big bosses, he would use this song in KTV to entertain them. 

The more serious his expression, and the more off-key his singing, the harder the bosses would laugh, and the less he would have to drink. 

His self-respect and dignity were trampled on the ground. At that time, he used to tell himself that when Bai Yingchuan finally became a Movie King and his status was secure, he would never be a laughing stock for these bosses again. 

It wasn’t until he was lying there undergoing chemotherapy that Jiang Ruotang suddenly realized that he himself was quite ridiculous.

Now, he could perform this song so nonchalantly in front of Bai Yingchuan and Lin Lu. Jiang Ruotang felt that actually, nothing in the past really mattered. 

Everyone was laughing, but Lu Guifan quietly watched Jiang Ruotang, his gaze distant, as if seeing the once somewhat ridiculous him. 

He was hesitant to speak, wanting to tell Jiang Ruotang that he didn’t need to sing to please anyone, but then he also felt that with Jiang Ruotang’s current mindset, how could he possibly be trying to please anyone? Jiang Ruotang was purely releasing himself, and purely happy.

Lu Guifan lowered his eyes and smiled faintly.

Lin Lu covered his stomach, laughing so hard he doubled over. He turned his face, wanting to see Bai Yingchuan’s reaction. Unlike the others, his smile was faint, as if he was watching a child who needed to be protected and indulged. Even if Jiang Ruotang’s singing was completely off-key, he could still appreciate it and listen until the end.

Finally, Jiang Ruotang’s devilish performance, which destroyed everyone’s impression of the original song, ended.

“How was it? Am I not very talented in comedy?” Jiang Ruotang pointed the microphone at everyone, acting like a big star waiting for his fans’ response.

“Director Jiang should make a comedy film and cast you as the lead!” Lin Lu laughed so hard his face hurt.

Jian Sha clapped like a seal, “You’ve broken my imagination of handsome guys! It’s my first time seeing a handsome guy being seriously funny!”

Jiang Ruotang directly passed the microphone over Zhao Changfeng. “You have no right to comment.”

“Why not?” Zhao Changfeng asked unhappily.

“Because you’ll definitely badmouth me.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Jiang Ruotang handed the microphone to Bai Yingchuan. In his previous life, whenever he started singing this song, if Bai Yingchuan was there, he would smile and find an excuse to leave, probably because he couldn’t stand Jiang Ruotang’s way of flattering those capitalists.

“Student Bai Yingchuan, how was my singing?” Jiang Ruotang asked with a grin.

Bai Yingchuan looked into Jiang Ruotang’s eyes, his expression surprisingly serious: “Full of energy, like a happy-go-lucky person, making one want to pocket and hide them away.”

Lin Lu understood the affection and implication in Bai Yingchuan’s words. He was unwilling, but more than that, he couldn’t cope. What he was best at controlling was other people’s favorability, and that favor was now continuously flowing towards Jiang Ruotang.