Lu Guifan felt a lump in his throat, and the familiar itching sensation in his heart returned. He was about to say something when Jiang Ruotang flipped over to face the wall, yielding the space, and the tantalizing image quickly disappeared.

“Hahaha, the class group chat is so funny! So many people are saying they want Bai Yingchuan’s second button from his school uniform for a keepsake. These guys have watched too many shojo mangas! If it were me, I’d rather have your button—bless me, God of Literature, may every exam be a success!”

“Why the second button on the chest?” Lu Guifan asked.

Jiang Ruotang crossed his legs, his toes slowly dangling in the air. “Because the second button is closest to the heart.”

“Then Bai Yingchuan can give them to six people, because he has two school uniform jackets, two long-sleeved shirts, and two short-sleeved shirts.”

Jiang Ruotang was amused by Lu Guifan’s serious analysis. “Class Monitor, who are you giving your button to?”

“No one,” Lu Guifan said, then sat on the edge of the bed, pulled back the thin blanket, and lay down.

“Oh, you stingy thing! It’s just a button, not your IQ.”

After lying down for a while, Jiang Ruotang nudged Lu Guifan’s shoulder again.

“What’s wrong?”

“How about you give me your button? I’ll seal it up and put it in a bank safe. When you win the Nobel Prize someday, I can auction off your buttons.”

“Why would you auction them?”

“What if my investments fail and I become a pauper?” Jiang Ruotang genuinely thought this. In his previous life, he had been poor.

Lu Guifan sighed helplessly. “I’ll leave all my school uniforms to you. You can take your time cutting them up.”

“If you leave them all to me, what’s there to cut? I’ll just sell them as a complete set, won’t the price be even higher?”

Jiang Ruotang spoke and then leaned close to Lu Guifan’s ear to say it. The repeated warm breaths were both desirable and suffocating. Lu Guifan simply raised his hand, pressed the back of Jiang Ruotang’s head, and pulled him into his embrace.

“Sleep.”

Those two words were spoken with a hint of gritted teeth.

But Jiang Ruotang was determined to cause trouble, his hands fumbling and pressing. For the first time, Lu Guifan felt impatient. “If you don’t sleep now, I’ll…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. His blood rushed up, almost exploding.

Lu Guifan pushed Jiang Ruotang away, springing up. “You bit me?”

Jiang Ruotang also sat up, panting heavily. “You almost murdered me, you almost suffocated me—can’t I bite you back?”

“Are you going to sleep or not?”

“Sleep!”

With that, Jiang Ruotang flopped back down, pulled the thin blanket over him, and turned to the wall, feigning an “I’m not talking to you” attitude.

Then, he licked his front teeth and took a sharp breath. Oh no… I think I bit Lu Guifan’s…

Ouch, no wonder he looked like he wanted to kill someone.

He wouldn’t break off their friendship, would he?

Jiang Ruotang started to worry.

He was about to turn around and apologize to Lu Guifan, but unexpectedly, Lu Guifan just threw off the blanket and left!

The other boy put on his slippers and walked out, his footsteps subtly quickening. Only after the bathroom door closed did Jiang Ruotang slowly sit up.

“Did I bite very hard?”

He thought about it for a long time, reviewing on his own arm for a while, but no matter what, he felt he hadn’t bitten very hard.

But either way, when Lu Guifan returned, Jiang Ruotang had to apologize.

He tossed and turned in bed for a while, but Lu Guifan still didn’t come back.

Oh no, was this guy planning to stay in the bathroom until dawn?

“Is this guy disgusted by my saliva and washing his pajamas in the bathroom?”

After another long while, the sky outside the window seemed to be hinting at dawn. Was he really going to live in the bathroom?

Could it be that Lu Guifan was so angry he couldn’t even bother to talk to him, and just called a taxi home in his pajamas?

Jiang Ruotang quickly put on his slippers and went to the bathroom door. He twisted the handle and found it locked. He took a deep breath. It seemed Lu Guifan was still inside.

He gently knocked on the door and whispered, “Lu Guifan… Lu Guifan, are you still in there?”

At this moment, Lu Guifan was forcefully tilting his chin, his handsome face bearing a suppressed expression. Something like a surging flood had nowhere to go, but when Jiang Ruotang’s voice came from the other side of the door, all barriers instantly collapsed, and a ray of light suddenly appeared, allowing Lu Guifan’s pent-up breath to finally release.

Followed by a violent, thundering heartbeat.

“What is it?”

Only after speaking did Lu Guifan realize his voice was terribly hoarse.

But Jiang Ruotang on the other side of the door didn’t realize it at all.

“You’ve been in the bathroom for a long time… Are you feeling unwell? Or… out of paper?” Jiang Ruotang asked softly.

Lu Guifan calmly adjusted his breathing. After a few seconds, he spoke again: “Do you need to use the bathroom?”

“No… not really. I just saw you hadn’t come back…” Jiang Ruotang said guiltily.

“I’ll be out soon.”

As he spoke, Lu Guifan turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on his face.

Hearing him say that, Jiang Ruotang returned to his own little space.

Lu Guifan came in. For some reason, he exuded an aura that was both cold and steaming hot, a contradictory feeling that made one’s heart race.

He had no expression, indifferently took off his glasses, and placed them back on the bedside table.

As soon as he lay down, Jiang Ruotang moved closer and poked his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, you pressed me so hard I couldn’t breathe, that’s why I bit you. But… it shouldn’t have hurt much, right…”

Listening to Jiang Ruotang’s guilty yet self-justifying tone, Lu Guifan was both annoyed and amused.

“How do you know it didn’t hurt?”

“My fault, my fault. I’ll let you bite me back, okay?”

“You said it.”

The next second, Lu Guifan grabbed Jiang Ruotang’s shoulder and pushed him down. Jiang Ruotang was still wondering what was happening when his head hit the pillow, and then he let out a wail!

Holy cow! It hurt so much!

Lu Guifan quickly covered his mouth with his hand, otherwise, Zhao Changfeng next door would have been woken up by his wails.

Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, and Jiang Ruotang whimpered a couple of times.

When Lu Guifan moved his hand away, Jiang Ruotang pitifully said, “You definitely retaliated double! I couldn’t have bitten you that hard!”

Lu Guifan snorted softly, “How are you so sure?”

“I’m sure! Because I care about you, how could I bite you to kill?”

The phrase “I care about you” pierced Lu Guifan’s heart.

He let out a breath and lay back on his pillow. “Are you sleeping? It’s almost dawn if you don’t.”

“Sleep.” Jiang Ruotang rubbed the bitten spot. He genuinely suspected the other person wanted to bite off a piece of him.

After a while, Jiang Ruotang’s prolonged breaths indicated he was asleep. Lu Guifan had truly never felt so exasperated with anyone.

This guy, who specialized in tormenting people… he should have bitten harder just now.

This was also the first time Lu Guifan slept until lunch.

---

Graduation and Confessions

A few days later, they returned to Beicheng Guangyao for their graduation ceremony.

In the school auditorium, the principal said he had sent off batch after batch of students, tears welling in his eyes. Even the other teachers wiped away tears, feeling the same emotions.

Lu Guifan also spoke on stage as the student representative of their graduating class.

Jiang Ruotang watched him stand under the spotlight, inexplicably imagining how he must have looked giving speeches on international stages in his previous life, a sight he had never witnessed.

Everyone initially expected Lu Guifan’s speech to be serious and full of the responsibility befitting a class monitor and top student. But unexpectedly, after he went on stage, he smiled softly, then took off his glasses and clipped them to his chest pocket.

At that moment, the entire auditorium erupted in a chorus of “Wow—”

Many knew he was handsome, but under the spotlight, he was truly as handsome as a CG model, yet so gentle and ethereal.

The entire grade, hundreds of students, pulled out their phones to record what was said to be the strongest academic prodigy in Beicheng Guangyao Middle School’s history giving his last speech as a high school student.

“Dear classmates—today may be the last time we gather as high school students. I originally thought high school, like the past nine years of compulsory education, was merely mechanical, repetitive, a life not worth remembering. However, at this moment, I realize… we are bidding farewell to our youth.”

His enunciation was clear, and his face held a broad, shallow smile that no one had ever seen before. Everyone realized that Lu Guifan… was someone who smiled so beautifully, and whose voice was so gentle.

“My senior year was like a time capsule, full of unknown surprises and expectations. I’m not referring to first prizes in math and science competitions; I’ve long since become numb to those awards.”

As his words fell, waves of applause erupted from the audience, and even those classmates who had previously spoken coldly to him because he collected homework were now cheering him on.

When others said they were numb to winning awards, it was bragging.

When Lu Guifan said he was numb, it was frankness and honesty.

“Not only are you numb to winning awards, but we are numb to hearing about you winning awards too!”

Someone shouted out, followed by another round of laughter.

A girl in the front row shouted, “Then what surprises and expectations did your senior year hold? Prodigy—did you secretly fall in love too?!”

Hearing this, the principal and other teachers were both helpless and amused. Old Master Wang puffed his beard and glared, but it was the students’ graduation ceremony, and it would be too much of a spoilsport to restrict them further.

Lu Guifan smiled, and in a calm and restrained tone, began: “Someone understood me, respected me, encouraged me, and even made me. I am no longer a lonely individual, because my classmates have woven a myriad of ties connecting me to this world, showing me a broader horizon, a world that Einstein and Newton couldn’t comprehend and no law could summarize. I would feel a sense of accomplishment for teaching a problem, I would understand the meaning of companionship because of his unremitting closeness, I no longer stood aloof like an observer watching the joys and sorrows of others, I would feel that everything was meaningful because of his little by little progress.”

Immediately, many people turned to look at Jiang Ruotang.

The “he” Lu Guifan referred to, besides Jiang Ruotang, no one else could possibly fit.

Everyone knew that Jiang Ruotang was like a seed, taking root and sprouting in Lu Guifan’s heart, bringing Lu Guifan down from the high clouds into the mortal world. Therefore, all of Lu Guifan’s favoritism towards Jiang Ruotang seemed so natural to those around them.

Everyone cast a kind smile at Jiang Ruotang. On the contrary, Jiang Ruotang’s ears turned red, but he didn’t lower his head. Instead, he looked earnestly at Lu Guifan on stage.

“Dear classmates, we are about to leave campus and scatter across the world, becoming scattered stars. But distance will not change the resonance of our souls. When we gather again years later, I believe that the moment we see each other, we will still exclaim—’It’s so good to have you, truly the one who amazed my youth.’ To the most special you in my life!”

The entire audience was in tears. No one had expected Lu Guifan’s graduation speech to be so unconventional and so natural.

Amidst the waves of applause, Lu Guifan returned to Jiang Ruotang’s side and sat down.

“My eyes are going to pee! Everyone thought you were going up to give a Nobel Physics Prize acceptance speech, but you gave a ‘farewell to youth’ literary piece instead!”

Lu Guifan leaned close to Jiang Ruotang’s ear and said in a voice only he could hear: “Mm, I said it for you.”

At that moment, an incredible emotion surged. Jiang Ruotang’s eyes widened as he looked at Lu Guifan.

Tears instantly welled up, because at this moment, he felt that his rebirth was truly worthwhile.

Zhao Changfeng, beside them, didn’t know what was happening, only that Jiang Ruotang was inexplicably crying. He fumbled to borrow a tissue from Jian Sha on the other side and then foolishly pressed it onto Jiang Ruotang’s face.

Lu Guifan smiled, took the tissue, and wiped away Jiang Ruotang’s tears. “Don’t cry anymore. If you keep crying, you’ll get snot, and in many classmates’ eyes, you’re an artistic handsome guy. Snot running down would really ruin your image.”

---

Clearing the Air and New Beginnings

The students left the auditorium and returned to their classrooms. Song Qinghe still had things to discuss regarding college applications, and when everyone was about to tear up reference books and throw paper out the window, he sternly said, “No one is allowed to tear books or throw papers out the window! Violators will stay behind to clean the entire campus!”

Although everyone had looked forward to that exhilarating scene from TV dramas during their three years of high school, cleaning the entire campus… would wear out brooms. So they all sat obediently in their seats.

Once all the necessary announcements were made, the students were free to do as they pleased.

Regarding the buttons, Jiang Ruotang’s words indeed came true.

Zhao Changfeng was surrounded by several girls asking for his buttons as keepsakes.

“No… what do you want my buttons for?” Zhao Changfeng stammered, it being his first time surrounded by so many girls.

“Because you look so cool when you play basketball, we’re all your fans!”

“Yeah, your account on Xiaotianguo is super popular! Everyone says you’ll be at least a professional basketball star in the CBA someday!”

“Of course, we want to collect your buttons before you become famous!”

Zhao Changfeng looked at Jiang Ruotang; Jiang Ruotang was the one managing that account.

Not just girls, but even several boys from the next class who liked playing basketball, and even freshmen and sophomores, came to ask Zhao Changfeng for autographs and graduation wishes.

Jian Sha and Cai Ji exchanged glances and simultaneously exclaimed, “So the big shot was right by our side all along!”

Lu Guifan was tidying up his drawer. He didn’t have many books of his own, but there were some unorganized draft papers filled with Jiang Ruotang’s handwriting.

He didn’t throw them away. Instead, he patiently smoothed each page and organized them.

“Aren’t you throwing them away?” Jiang Ruotang asked, tilting his head.

“No, I’m not. Later, when I’m tired or bored, I’ll take out these draft papers of yours to look at. It’ll probably make me laugh a lot.”

“What? You’re treating me as a joke!”

Jiang Ruotang pretended to grab Lu Guifan’s neck. Lu Guifan just sat there calmly, showing no intention of dodging.

Just then, someone walked to Lu Guifan’s desk. It was their class beauty, Li Minzhen.

“Um, Class Monitor, can I have the second button from your school uniform as a keepsake?”

Lu Guifan froze for a moment. He wasn’t some campus idol, yet someone wanted his button?

Perhaps because Lu Guifan didn’t respond, Li Minzhen quickly explained, “My sister is taking the college entrance exam the year after next. Although the results aren’t out yet, the whole school believes you’ll definitely get into Capital University of Science and Technology! Most likely as the top student in the province… so I wanted to ask you for a button for my sister as a good luck charm.”

After Li Minzhen said this, even more people gathered around.

“Class Monitor, give me one too! I’m probably going to retake the exam, let me soak up some of your aura!”

“Me too, me too! My cousin is taking the college entrance exam next year. Burning incense and praying to Buddha is not as good as the Class Monitor!”

Lu Guifan was pressed against the desks in the back row because of the students’ enthusiasm.