[“This is the Bai Jinyan I know.”]
[“Only after joining the group did I realize I had to learn acting? My goodness, is there such a weird thing?”]
[“Did Jin Zirui really believe what Bai Jinyan said just now? Hahaha, he’s just coaxing his wife, why take it seriously?”]
The assistant shrank his neck, thinking about what Jin Zirui said earlier, and there were still some words not fully conveyed, but he didn’t dare to speak up–
The rain was light and drizzling. However, the sky had been overcast since early morning. Qiao Huaiyao didn’t have much appetite in the morning. He took his books and umbrella and left home. He arrived early in the classroom, and there weren’t many people there yet. He found a seat and started organizing the notes from the previous class.
People gradually came into the classroom. A shadow fell beside him, and Qiao Huaiyao’s fingertips paused. He looked up and saw Qiu Shufeng standing in front of his desk.
“Good morning, Qiao Huaiyao.” Qiu Shufeng smiled and shook the things in his hand, passing them to him. “Here, I brought breakfast from the canteen for you.”
Qiao Huaiyao politely declined, “No need, thanks.”
“Your Brother asked me to bring it.” Qiu Shufeng put the breakfast in front of him without further explanation. “Your Brother gave me the money. It’s a waste if you don’t eat.”
“Brother?” Qiao Huaiyao raised an eyebrow.
Seeing his surprise, Qiu Shufeng explained, “The department head put the contact information of the class monitor on the official website, and your brother contacted me… Well, ‘contacted’ is not accurate; he hired me to bring breakfast to you every day.”
As a class monitor, he contributed to his classmates, and he got paid more than his work-study job while having less work to do. Who wouldn’t like such a good thing?
Qiu Shufeng said, “I was hesitating about the menu the other day, and today I’ve finally decided. Look, your brother picked the food combinations himself according to what you like to eat.”
Qiao Huaiyao glanced at the note on the paper bag, with the quantities specified inside. “Thank you for the trouble.”
Qiu Shufeng waved his hand. “Just eat it. I won’t bother you anymore; class will start soon.”
After saying that, Qiu Shufeng turned and went to the back row to sit with his dorm mates.
Qiao Huaiyao opened the paper bag, which contained a bottle of milk, a box of dumplings, and an egg pancake, all still warm. He didn’t hurry to eat; instead, he took them all out, placed them together, and took a photo to send to Bai Jinyan.
Qiao Huaiyao: [Clever Cat Squatting.jpg]
Bai Jinyan replied quickly: [How does it taste?]
Qiao Huaiyao: [Delicious.]
As he sent the message, he took a bite of the dumplings and couldn’t help but ask: [Why did you think of asking someone to bring me food? Just tell me, I can buy it myself.]
The university canteen wasn’t crowded in the morning, and most people ordered convenience foods like wraps and instant noodles, which were quick to prepare, so there was rarely a queue.
Bai Jinyan replied: [If you could go yourself, you wouldn’t have skipped breakfast today.]
Qiao Huaiyao: “…”
He couldn’t refute it.
Qiao Huaiyao asked again: [When did you find Qiu Shufeng?]
Bai Jinyan: [The day before yesterday.]
Bai Jinyan had saved the contact information of every teacher and the teaching assistants, including Qiu Shufeng’s.
Qiao Huaiyao picked up a piece of egg pancake. Breakfast and lunch were different for him. In his previous life, he never had breakfast at the canteen. As for Qiu Shufeng, he had brought him food in the past, but Qiao Huaiyao had always declined without hesitation. After doing so repeatedly, Qiu Shufeng stopped bringing him food.
Now, thinking back, most of the packages he received from his mother contained branded toys and accessories, and there was never any food. The food he received was probably sent by Bai Jinyan using his mother’s name. Bai Jinyan was truly… peculiar.
The breakfast wasn’t much, and the taste didn’t linger. After finishing it, Qiao Huaiyao neatly packed the box and put it back into the outermost layer of the bag.
The teacher for the next class hadn’t arrived yet. Qiao Huaiyao thought for a moment and took out his phone, opening the food delivery app–
The director rolled up the script and said, “Good! We’re done. Teacher, tidy up and get ready for the next scene.”
The assistant took off Bai Jinyan’s Wiya, and another assistant ran over, “Boss, hot milk tea just arrived. You should drink it while it’s still warm.”
Bai Jinyan didn’t even look at the milk tea and said, “I don’t drink sweet. Take it away.”
The assistant’s hand froze in midair, “Then, Boss, let me make some hot tea for you.”
Bai Jinyan’s favorite tea was always prepared when he came to the set. The staff would always prepare it for him. The assistant had forgotten about it with the milk tea, thinking that Bai Jinyan would drink it after the shoot when it had gone cold, but he didn’t expect him to refuse.
The manager saw this and clucked his tongue, taking the milk tea from the assistant and said, “Brother specifically asked for it. Won’t you drink it?”
Bai Jinyan’s steps paused, and he turned to look. The manager raised his chin slightly and handed him the milk tea. This time, Bai Jinyan didn’t decline and took the milk tea back to the resting area.
The assistant scratched his head, “Sister Liu, do I still need to make tea now?”
The manager patted his shoulder and smiled, “Go do something else.”
Qiao Huaiyao had just finished class and received a message from Bai Jinyan. When he opened it, he saw a picture of a milk tea.
Pasted on it was a note: “Milk tea, no sugar, black oolong tea base.”
Qiao Huaiyao squinted his eyes and asked, [This shop has good reviews. Can you handle the sweetness?]
Most milk tea shops pre-make big batches of milk tea, so once an order is placed, they pour it directly, and there’s no option to customize the sweetness level.
Qiao Huaiyao’s message sent, and suddenly, a pop-up emoji table appeared above the chat, all related to sweetness. He quickly clicked one without paying much attention.
However, after the emoji was sent, he noticed the small line of text below the table: “Is he sweet, or am I sweet?” It even had a gradient color scheme.
He quickly held down the emoji to recall it, but Bai Jinyan had been looking at his phone and naturally noticed it.
Bai Jinyan: [?]
Qiao Huaiyao, juggling his books and typing with one hand, was a bit flustered and hastily explained. But when he was only halfway through the text, Bai Jinyan replied: [There’s no sugar in the milk tea, it’s pure oolong tea and a bit astringent.]
This was actually a coincidence as Qiao Huaiyao didn’t mean to send such a suggestive emoji. But it seemed that Bai Jinyan caught on, causing Qiao Huaiyao to feel slightly embarrassed.
Every word didn’t mention sweetness, but every sentence spoke about sweetness.
Qiao Huaiyao leaned against the staircase handrail, the corners of his mouth slightly lifting, attempting to suppress the smile that emerged, but he couldn’t hide it at all. He cleared his throat, deleting the previous messages, and typed again: [Next time, I’ll ask the milk tea shop to change it to jasmine tea. (Curious Cat.jpg)]
After sending the message, Qiao Huaiyao noticed that Bai Jinyan’s profile picture had changed.
It was just a slightly dim-colored avatar before. His finger couldn’t help but tap on the avatar, and when it enlarged, the image became clear. It was… a photo of milk tea. Even the small text on the sticker on the milk tea cup was clearly visible.
Qiao Huaiyao suddenly widened his eyes; his own avatar was cropped from the breakfast he received this morning. A paper bag with a printed label on the outside, and the label listed the types of food inside the bag. He switched back to the chat window, looking at these two plain and extraordinary avatars.
Qiao Huaiyao chuckled softly and couldn’t help but take a screenshot of the chat interface. He didn’t send it, just saved it in his album–
In the evening, the bedroom only had the bedside night light on. Qiao Huaiyao was flipping through his textbooks in an orderly manner, occasionally checking his phone.
Bai Jinyan had informed him earlier that he would be recording the program overnight, but he still didn’t want to sleep early. He wanted to wait for Bai Jinyan to finish his work and send him a message, read it, and then go to rest. He had flipped through half of the book but didn’t continue to flip. He picked up his phone; Bai Jinyan hadn’t messaged him yet, so he probably hadn’t finished his work. However, someone mentioned the class group.
Qiu Shufeng: [The military training is going to start the day after tomorrow. As former students of our department, we’ll have a gathering before the training.]
[We talked to the instructor, and we’re not organizing it with the whole department. We’re setting it for tomorrow afternoon when we have no classes. Also, having the gathering tomorrow means we can rest for a day after that before the military training starts.]
[The money for the gathering will be shared among everyone. If there are any issues, feel free to raise them, and we can make changes accordingly.]
[If anyone has suggestions for the gathering place or any dietary preferences, you can share them here in the group or send me a private message if you prefer.]
……
Qiu Shufeng considered everything comprehensively and provided solutions to potential problems in advance. Scrolling down, there were only two words, “received,” and no one raised any objections.
Qiao Huaiyao also replied with “received” and then stopped checking the group, turning to open Weibo. He had recently registered a new account and only followed Bai Jinyan.
After logging in, he searched for news related to Bai Jinyan, and the recommended content was all about him. The most popular thing lately was his live variety show.
Qiao Huaiyao clicked on Bai Jinyan’s Weibo and liked his latest post. Most of the posts were about his work, mostly managed by his studio and not posted by Bai Jinyan himself. Qiao Huaiyao rarely posted anything on his own Weibo, usually just liking or retweeting Bai Jinyan’s posts.
He considered this account a small one, and even Bai Jinyan didn’t know about its existence.
Qiao Huaiyao thought for a moment and decided to post a picture of his breakfast with the caption: “First day.”
In the early hours of the morning, Qiao Huaiyao received a message from Bai Jinyan: “Just got off work, arrived at the restaurant.”
Qiao Huaiyao thought about replying, but it was too late, and he was afraid that if he responded, Bai Jinyan might call him directly. Besides, if Bai Jinyan knew he stayed up so late waiting for his message, he might not send one next time. So, Qiao Huaiyao didn’t reply, said “good night” silently in his heart, and put down his phone.
However, before he could even close his eyes, the phone screen lit up again. He picked it up and saw Bai Jinyan’s message: “Still awake?”
Qiao Huaiyao: “?!?!”
Suddenly, all his drowsiness disappeared. How did my brother know I’m not asleep?
Qiao Huaiyao couldn’t figure it out and wondered if Bai Jinyan was teasing him, so he didn’t rush to reply. Seeing that he didn’t respond, Bai Jinyan sent another message: “It showed you were typing just now.”
Qiao Huaiyao: “……” Why does this messaging app have this annoying feature?
With no choice, Qiao Huaiyao finally replied: “Having a bit of trouble sleeping, will sleep soon. Brother, you should rest early too.”
As soon as the message was sent, Bai Jinyan called him. Since he had classes, his phone was always on silent mode. The continuous buzzing of his phone made him hastily pick up the call, “Hey, Brother.”
On the other end of the phone, there seemed to be the sound of water, and then Bai Jinyan’s voice came through somewhat muffled, “Why can’t you sleep?”
“Mmm… Maybe I’ll sleep for a while in the afternoon when I get back, and then I won’t feel sleepy,” Qiao Huaiyao replied hesitantly.
Bai Jinyan suggested, “Next time you don’t have classes, let’s go out for a walk. Don’t stay in the dorm all the time.”
“Sure, okay,” Qiao Huaiyao agreed, but he knew he didn’t have anywhere to go when Bai Jinyan wasn’t around. It was quite amusing to think about.
He might as well go to the lab to do some chemistry experiments.
As he was thinking, a light and melodious tune played on his phone. Qiao Huaiyao raised an eyebrow, “Brother?”
Bai Jinyan placed the phone on the bedside table and said, “It’s a soothing tune. Close your eyes and try.”
Qiao Huaiyao was taken aback. He hadn’t expected Bai Jinyan to play a soothing tune for him. Besides the music, there was nothing else, just a sense of tranquility that made him say softly, “Okay.”
He obediently lay down, placing the phone by his pillow, and closed his eyes. “Goodnight, Brother.”
“Goodnight,” came a soft response, merging with the music, clear in Qiao Huaiyao’s ears. Despite the distance, their breaths seemed to synchronize, as if they were close to each other—within arm’s reach.
The next day, Qiao Huaiyao had his first class-free morning, but he still woke up early. Bai Jinyan wasn’t there, so he rarely stayed in bed. Sitting on the sofa, sipping warm milk, he noticed that his phone was almost out of battery.
Qiao Huaiyao quickly connected it to the charger, but the battery was so depleted that it couldn’t be turned on immediately. He had been on the phone for so long yesterday that he didn’t even remember when he fell asleep.
After turning on the phone, Qiao Huaiyao glanced at the call duration. It was hung up automatically due to low battery, and the call lasted almost until dawn.
He sent a “good morning” message to Bai Jinyan, and surprisingly, there was no reply. Bai Jinyan was probably still asleep. So, he refrained from sending more messages, as he knew Bai Jinyan didn’t have his phone on silent, and the continuous message notifications might disturb him.
When the phone’s battery was sufficiently charged, it was almost time for classes. Perhaps due to the recent rain, the ground outside was slightly wet, and the air carried a hint of post-rain freshness.
Qiao Huaiyao adjusted his coat; it was still a bit chilly in the morning. This class was also the last professional course before military training.
The classroom was fuller than usual. The professor didn’t rush into the lecture and stood at the podium, pushing his glasses up with a kind and amiable smile. “Classmates, today’s class is the last one before military training.”
“Please listen carefully and review the content after returning; don’t forget the undergraduate materials during the military training,” he continued.
“After the military training, on the first day back, we’ll have an exam, and the content will be what we’ve covered these days, so it will be straightforward.”
Upon hearing this, many students gasped. However, when the professor continued, “If any of you fail the exam, your final grades for this course will be canceled, and you’ll have to retake it next year.”
Students: “???”
Is this fair?
No chance for a makeup exam, just a direct retake!
Qiao Huaiyao raised an eyebrow; no wonder so many seniors were attending the class from the beginning. The professor looked so cute, like a little old man, but his words had not changed even in the face of the shocked new students.
“That’s it then. I’ll start with today’s content. Please pay attention, everyone.”