Part 2
The smile froze on his face. Those four boxes of merchandise absolutely could not be discovered by him!
Especially the box dedicated to Bian Rui, which was already stuffed full. If Bian Rui saw that with his own eyes, Bai Sinian wouldn’t be able to explain his way out of it even if he had ten mouths.
“No, no way. I just developed these few…” Bai Sinianās eyes darted around, his voice becoming very weak.
Bian Rui put down his own photo and casually picked up the one of Cui Yeyi. “I remember finding a photo of Cui Yeyi at your house last time. It wasn’t this one. So, you’ve been taking and developing photos since way back then?”
“No, that’s not it!” Bai Sinian denied it vehemently. “That one… was just a test. Just testing.”
“Heh.” Bai Sinian added an unconfident, dry laugh.
Bian Rui, please stop being so clever!
Bai Sinian snatched the photo from his hand and gathered up the ones on the desk.
“I just firmly believe you guys will get famous, so I collected photos of the big stars in advance to sell to fans for a high price later,” Bai Sinian tried to bullshit an explanation.
“If we get famous, you can have as many photos as you want.”
Bian Rui got up from the chair and threw himself onto the bed, his two long, muscular legs dangling off the edge. Bai Sinian stole a glance, then another. Really good-looking.
“Are you tired? You sleep first then; I need to go take a shower.”
“Mhm.”
Bai Sinian packed away the photos and took his pajamas to the bathroom.
Having suddenly blurted out half a secret, his heart felt much lighter. Bai Sinian hummed a little tune as he took a cheerful shower.
When he returned to the room, Bian Rui was lying on his bed, reading A Global History.
Bai Sinian didn’t disturb him. He tiptoed onto the bed and lay down next to him.
Wrapped in the quilt, he silently stared at Bian Ruiās side profile. It was so handsome. He was good-looking from 360 degrees without a single dead angle. Even from this unflattering angle, his handsomeness shone through. Bai Sinian found himself staring unknowingly.
Suddenly, Bian Rui turned his head and looked down at him. “Seen enough?”
Bai Sinian blushed instantly. Bian Rui closed the book, stuffed it under the pillow, slid down, and burrowed into the quilt.
“Lights off. Sleep.”
“Ah, okay!”
Bai Sinian was close to the switch. He stretched out his arm and clickāturned off the bedside lamp. The pitch-black room instantly became much quieter.
“Right! I haven’t told Auntie that you’re feeling better!” Bai Sinian suddenly shot up from the bed.
Bian Rui turned on his phone, pulled up his mother’s contact, and handed the phone to Bai Sinian.
Bai Sinian understood immediately. He called Zhou Yingzi to report that they were safe. Zhou Yingzi had calmed down as well and spoke politely.
Lying back down, Bai Sinian asked the darkness where he couldn’t even see his own hand, “How do you plan to communicate with Auntie?”
“Haven’t thought about it.”
Bai Sinian paused. “Well, no rush. There’s still some time. Maybe we can convince her!”
Bai Sinian was also calculating in his head how to persuade Zhou Yingzi. He really wanted to help Bian Rui.
“Mhm. Go to sleep. We’ll talk about future things in the future.”
Bian Ruiās voice gradually grew faint; he seemed exhausted. Bai Sinian sensibly shut his mouth. Soon, he could hear the sound of Bian Ruiās even breathing.
This is great. Sleeping in the same bed as my idol again.
When he woke up the next day, Bai Sinian had once again missed the prime opportunity to take a “bed photo.”
Bian Rui was already dressed and sitting at the desk reading A Global History. Bai Sinian opened his bleary eyes and stared at Bian Ruiās back for a long time.
“You like reading history that much?” Bai Sinian asked in a raspy voice.
Bian Rui turned around and chuckled lightly. “It’s alright. While I haven’t forgotten the high school curriculum, I might as well read a bit. It’s quite interesting.”
“Get up. It’s past eight. We agreed to meet at the coffee shop at ten.”
“Mmm… meeting at ten. There’s still time.”
Bai Sinian sat up with a bird’s nest of hair, sleep still lingering on his face. Bian Rui was already used to seeing him like this in the mornings.
He walked to the wardrobe, grabbed two pieces of clothing at random, and tossed them into Bai Sinianās arms. “Can’t forget to exercise just because it’s the holidays.”
“Ah! We’re going running?”
“Yes.”
And so, on the first day of vacation, Bai Sinian was dragged by Bian Rui to the nearby park for an hour of morning exercise.
The park was lively in the morning. In the slightly warm weather of June, morning exercise felt cool and comfortable. The park was full of people working out.
Grandpas practicing Tai Chi sword forms, aunties square dancing, and young people jogging in sportswearāeverything was full of vitality.
It was Bai Sinianās first time seeing such a scene. Usually, he would be at school at this time, rarely experiencing the city’s passion for movement.
They ran a few laps around the park, did some stretches, went home to shower, and then headed to the agreed-upon coffee shop together.
The coffee shop was filled with a rich aroma. They found a large square table near a corner floor-to-ceiling window that could fit five people. The ten o’clock sunlight spilled in through the gaps in the leaves. The temperature, the lightāeverything was just right.
Bai Sinian took out his laptop. Bian Rui brought several notebooks and five black gel pens.
Just as Bai Sinian was about to complain about why the others hadn’t arrived yet, he saw Cui Yeyi and Fan Hongyi squeezing each other at the door, neither willing to let the other enter first.
Bai Sinian: …
I really wish I didn’t know them.
“Sinian! Bian Rui!”
“We’re here!”
The next second, the two who had squeezed in simultaneously shouted over to them.
Bai Sinian put on a fake smile. “Good morning. Sit.”
Truly two childish brats.
“Scan the code on the table to order,” Bian Rui said without looking up, busy searching for College Entrance Exam questions and answers on the computer.
Cui Yeyi teased, “Haven’t seen you for a few days, and you’ve become a waiter? So skilled itās heartbreaking.”
Bian Rui couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge him. Bai Sinian was always afraid they would start fighting; Cui Yeyiās mouth just loved to provoke Bian Rui. He quickly changed the subject. “Where’s Shen Bei? Why isn’t he here yet?”
“I’ll ask.” Fan Hongyi lowered his head and started tagging Shen Bei in the group chat.
“Let me see what to drink. Bai, what are you drinking?” Cui Yeyi asked casually while scrolling through his phone after scanning the code.
At the sound of “Bai,” Bian Rui and Fan Hongyi both looked up from their busy work to stare at him.
Even the “Bai” in question looked at him in confusion. Since when did he call him something so intimate?
Feeling the weird atmosphere, Cui Yeyi looked up to see three pairs of eyes staring straight at him. He swallowed hard. “What? I was too lazy to say three syllables. Is that not allowed?”
Fan Hongyi narrowed his eyes. “Then you could call him ‘Nian’…”
Cui Yeyi: “‘Nian’? Is that appropriate? That sounds way more intimate, doesn’t it? And I can’t call him ‘Si’ since it sounds like ‘death’. Bad luck.”
“Sigh, whatever you want!”
Bai Sinian compromised, thinking he actually had a point.
Bian Rui and Fan Hongyi went back to their busy work.
Bai Sinian recommended a Jasmine White Coffee he really liked, so Cui Yeyi ordered the same.
“Hi! Everyone! I’m here!” Shen Bei burst through the door, dusty and windblown. He was wearing a white T-shirt with SpongeBob SquarePants on it. The curly hair on his forehead had been blown upward by the wind, making him look like a Teletubby.
“Hand out the pens and notebooks,” Bian Rui said to Bai Sinian.
Bai Sinian waved hello to Shen Bei, then distributed a notebook and pen to everyone. Shen Bei sat next to Bai Sinian.
“We’re going to start estimating our scores now. Although it’s not perfectly accurate, at least we’ll know our baseline scores.”
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