Mr. and Mrs. Gu were sent back to rest, leaving Gu Yuan and Gu Jinyan to watch over Gu Sheng.

Gu Yuan was injured himself, so it was only Gu Jinyan running back and forth. She hadn’t expected that in the time it took her to fetch some water, Gu Sheng would end up like this.

Later the hospital director arrived with the head of psychiatry and, very tactfully, suggested that someone in Gu Sheng’s condition would be better off seeing a psychiatrist—earning Gu Jinyan a glare.

Gu Jinyan wasn’t confident either. They all knew Gu Sheng had a serious mental illness, but in front of them he still seemed normal.

But now, rather than saying he suddenly became like this, it’s more accurate to say Gu Sheng had been suppressing himself all along, forcing himself to be a normal person.

It’s just that a sudden event triggered Gu Sheng’s painful memories, causing him to go into shock now.

Gu Jinyan thought of her family being tortured like that and felt furious — if she found out which bastard did it, she would never let him off.

Meanwhile, Zhou Shiyi suddenly sneezed and was scolded by Grandma Zhou.

“It’s just the beginning of summer, you young people like to chase the cool, wearing so little—can you not catch a cold?”

Zhou Shiyi neatly folded the blanket on the hospital bed and said, “Grandma, the hospital’s air conditioning is too strong. I’m not sick—maybe someone was thinking about me.”

Seeing he had no further reaction, Grandma Zhou was half convinced, half doubtful.

Today she finally received the doctor’s clearance for discharge. Back home she should take her medicine, rest well, and not overexert herself. After a few courses of treatment, they’ll reassess.

The old woman hurriedly told Zhou Shi Yi to go handle her discharge paperwork. She didn’t say it out loud, but Zhou Shi Yi knew she’d always been worried about spending extra money.

After Zhou Shi Yi got everyone settled, he threw himself back into his studies.

He was still a student for now—first he had to take the college entrance exam.

At school, He Yanqing returned to classes on the third day.

Zhou Shiyi didn’t ask where he’d been; He Yanqing breathed a sigh of relief.

A week later, Gu Sheng returned to school.

After he came back, Zhou Shiyi keenly sensed that Gu Sheng seemed different, though he couldn’t say exactly how. If he had to put it into words, it was that his demeanor had grown darker. But demeanor is something you can see but not touch — saying it out loud made Zhou Shiyi doubt whether it was just his imagination.

It was only that when Zhou Shiyi looked back and met Gu Sheng’s gaze on him for the third time, he furrowed his brow slightly.

It seemed he hadn’t expected Zhou Shiyi to suddenly turn his head; Gu Sheng was momentarily startled, then stopped pretending and openly stared at Zhou Shiyi.

Being stared at like that, Zhou Shiyi suddenly couldn’t calm down enough to do his homework.

He silently mouthed to Gu Sheng: What are you doing?

Gu Sheng raised an eyebrow and mimicked him: Looking at you.

Zhou Shiyi: What are you looking at me for?

“Ahem, you two in the back, I’ve been watching you flirt for half the class—enjoying the show?” The Chinese teacher didn’t name anyone, but the other students were already drawn in.

At the teacher’s tease, the students of Grade 2 Class 1 burst into laughter, and those who had been dozing off were jolted awake.

They turned their heads, eager to see who the two protagonists were.

Zhou Shiyi was also daydreaming in class for the first time; when called on, he felt a little embarrassed.

“Okay, since you’re embarrassed and not paying attention, go stand at the back.” The Chinese teacher had a strong impression of Zhou Shiyi as a good student, so she let it go this time.

Zhou Shiyi took his book and went to stand in the back row, and Gu Sheng stood up as well.

The other classmates were all a bit surprised, and Gu Sheng was among them.

Gu Sheng already had his share of talking in class; Zhou Shiyi kept his head down, packing his textbooks.

Gu Sheng walked past him, carrying a book.

There was nothing unusual about that, but as he passed, Gu Sheng murmured—loud enough for only the two of them to hear, “Nice.”

It felt like an answer to Zhou Shiyi’s earlier question about why he was staring; Gu Sheng replied, “Nice.”

It was as if he were answering the Chinese teacher’s question: Is it good-looking?

Zhou Shiyi couldn’t tell for a moment which one Gu Sheng was talking about.

But no matter which one Gu Sheng meant, Zhou Shiyi found the remark extremely ambiguous.

The Chinese teacher, seeing that Gu Sheng had gone to stand at the back as well, swallowed the words that had been on their lips.

Gu Sheng had originally been an outstanding student—excellent in conduct and grades, with good looks and family background. If there was anything in class that needed announcing, people would send Gu Sheng to deliver the message; no one would object.

After that, Gu Sheng kept asking for leave throughout the semester; he hadn’t done well on the midterms either. He felt it was a shame and hoped Gu Sheng could catch up later.

The two of them stood on either side; when the class bell rang, Zhou Shiyi moved his aching leg and went back to his seat.

Gu Sheng passed by him, and Zhou Shiyi unconsciously sat up straight. Gu Sheng passed by him, a gust of wind following in his wake; returning to his own seat, he flung his textbook onto the desk and dragged his chair over to sit next to Zhou Shiyi.

Zhou Shiyi tilted his head, a little puzzled.

“Thanks for what happened last time.”

The thing from last time? Zhou Shiyi suddenly realized Gu Sheng was referring to what happened at the banquet.

Zhou Shiyi said lightly, “It’s nothing, that’s what I should have done.”

Gu Sheng’s hand clenched suddenly; in his previous life Zhou Shiyi had said the same to him.

He said he was simply employed to do a job—it was his duty—and told Gu Sheng not to take it to heart.

The Gu Sheng from high school wasn’t the kind to stick his warm face to a cold butt.

Since Zhou Shi Yi had said as much, Gu Sheng didn’t force himself on him. He just paid attention to anything Zhou Shi Yi might need help with, but he found that Zhou Shi Yi really seemed to have no needs at all.

In this life, Gu Sheng planned to take the initiative: if the mountain won’t come to me, then I’ll go to the mountain.

Gu Sheng suspected Zhou Shiyi of having ties to extremist groups — maybe Zhou Shiyi was even involved in this attack.

Otherwise, how could Zhou Shi Yi, a high school student, have shown up at the banquet? And of all times, it was this attack that happened to catch Zhou Shi Yi there.

“You did this, so of course I should thank you. I heard there was some trouble at your home before; if you need anything, feel free to come to me.”

Zhou Shiyi’s hand holding the pen paused; what Gu Sheng was referring to must have been the hit-and-run involving the truck driver, and he wasn’t surprised that Gu Sheng would know about it.

He just didn’t want to have much to do with Gu Sheng; even He Yanqing and Zhou Shiyi planned to stay away.

It wasn’t that they had done anything wrong; he himself wanted to live an ordinary life, and being around them meant he was bound to attract attention.

“Thanks for your concern. If I need anything, I’ll come to you.”

Gu Sheng was not at all surprised by Zhou Shi Yi’s refusal. His eyes flickered, and suddenly he reached out and grabbed the collar of Zhou Shi Yi’s school uniform.

Zhou Shi Yi was startled and leaned back, avoiding Gu Sheng’s move.

But Gu Sheng had already seen what he wanted.

There were still teeth marks on Zhou Shiyi’s collarbone; they had scabbed over, leaving a neat set of bite marks around the clavicle. The edges of the wound were a bit blurred, but anyone could tell what had happened at a glance.

“What are you doing?” Zhou Shiyi grabbed both of Gu Sheng’s hands, his expression displeased.

But Gu Sheng looked as if he were in a very good mood. “I’m just looking at your wound. Why are you so worked up?”

He lay across the table, looking up at Zhou Shi Yi’s eyes from below.

For someone usually so unflappable, Zhou Shi Yi’s gaze showed a flash of displeasure; the nasty streak in Gu Sheng was rampaging through him.

He just liked tearing apart that facade Zhou Shi Yi wore, the act-like-you-don’t-care mask—making him upset was, after all, his own little talent.

“Hey, what should we do? It’s so deep, it’ll scar, won’t it?”

Gu Sheng’s eyes kept flicking to his collarbone; even through a shirt, Zhou Shiyi felt like Gu Sheng’s gaze wanted to flay that strip of skin off him.

“Are you sick or something?” After class it was a bit noisy, but the two of them tugging at each other still drew other people’s attention.

Seeing that he was truly angry, Gu Sheng put on a pleading expression again. “Sorry, I just wanted to see how your wound was doing—don’t be mad.”

The corners of Gu Sheng’s eyes drooped; when he looked up from below it always gave the mistaken impression that he was acting coy. Especially with his now aggrieved, appeasing face, Zhou Shiyi felt the anger he’d been building halfway extinguished.

He pulled a workbook out from under Gu Sheng’s arm.

“No need to apologize, you didn’t do it on purpose.” Zhou Shi Yi replied stiffly.

Gu Sheng watched Zhou Shi Yi sit properly, his back straight, every movement textbook-perfect, and suddenly felt a tingling at the root of his teeth.

His gaze circled once around the collar of Zhou Shi Yi’s school uniform, then returned to the hand Zhou Shi Yi was using to write.

Zhou Shiyi’s ten fingers were long and slender, the knuckles clearly defined; when he flexed them you could see blue veins beneath his pale skin. His pen grip was textbook—these hands were like works of art, making everything he did look elegant.

Even the way he held a scalpel was perfectly proper.

“Zhou Shiyi, your hands are really beautiful.” I seriously wanted to chop them off.

Gu Sheng leaned on Zhou Shiyi’s desk, staring at his hands with an infatuated look.

It didn’t seem like a hallucination — Gu Sheng really was acting strange.

Zhou Shi Yi paused with his pen, expressionless as he looked at him. Gu Sheng tilted his head and gave him an innocent smile, as if that earlier remark hadn’t been his.

“If you’re sick, go see a doctor. I don’t have time to chat with you.”

Gu Sheng’s face twisted slightly; he straightened up, a look of displeasure crossing his features as he stared back at Zhou Shi Yi.

When Qin Shu came in through the back door, he saw Gu Sheng and Zhou Shiyi sitting together.

When Gu Sheng saw him enter, he suddenly retracted the spikes that had been protruding from his body, turned to Zhou Shiyi and gave him a very bright smile: “Thank you for helping me. I really enjoyed chatting with you.”

Although Qin Shu found it a bit odd, he still greeted Gu Sheng.

Gu Sheng acted as if nothing had happened, returned to his own seat, and didn’t bother Zhou Shiyi again.

Unless you count Gu Sheng’s aggressively conspicuous gaze as being forward.

From that day on, they noticed that Gu Sheng and Zhou Shi Yi were clinging to each other again.

To be precise, Shi Gu Sheng had been glued to Zhou Shi Yi’s side so much that even He Yanqing couldn’t squeeze in.

Everyone in the class was saying in the group chat that Gu Sheng was really good to Zhou Shiyi — like a true friend. Even though Zhou Shiyi never gave him a pleasant look, Gu Sheng never once held a grudge against him.

Aside from the first day, when Gu Sheng ignored Zhou Shiyi’s wishes and forcibly pulled open his school uniform, everything Gu Sheng did seemed like he genuinely wanted to be friends with Zhou Shiyi.

“Zhou Shiyi, my dad found that driver.”

Gu Sheng’s words struck like a bolt of thunder from nowhere; Zhou Shiyi turned his head to look at him.