Zhou Shiyi lay in bed, tossing and turning.

His sleep had always been good, but this time he suddenly couldn’t fall asleep.

Gu Sheng had already left, and the exhaust fan had carried away the last faint trace of mint-scented pheromones, but Zhou Shiyi still felt uneasy, as if Gu Sheng were still beside him.

After Gu Sheng said those words, Zhou Shiyi’s pupils constricted.

“Gu Sheng, do you know what you’re saying?” Zhou Shiyi yanked his hand back abruptly.

Feeling the palm go empty for a moment, Gu Sheng looked at Zhou Shiyi with a dangerous gaze.

Seeing Gu Sheng expressionless and motionless, staring at him, Zhou Shiyi felt that sensation of being watched by a large predator grow stronger and stronger deep inside.

“I know perfectly well.” Gu Sheng tugged at the corner of his mouth and showed an obedient little smile, but his words betrayed that he wasn’t as tame as he looked — he was a wolf that had been hungry for a long time.

“Do you need me to say it again?” He closed in step by step; the corners of his eyes were growing red, and with that obedient smile, he looked extremely dangerous.

“I said, Zhou—”

As if knowing what Gu Sheng was about to say, Zhou Shiyi covered Gu Sheng’s mouth with his hand, afraid he’d blurt out something shocking to the world.

“Shut up, I heard you.”

Gu Sheng saw that Zhou Shiyi’s ears had gone red. He gave a soft laugh, his peach-blossom eyes rippling as they stared straight at him.

Something soft brushed across the palm of his hand, making him feel ticklish.

Realizing what it was, Zhou Shiyi’s whole body went rigid.

Gu Sheng’s laughter grew louder and louder, his face being squeezed out of shape by Zhou Shiyi’s forceful hand.

“Mmm mmm mmm.” Gu Sheng struggled a bit, and Zhou Shiyi loosened his grip.

“Zhou Shiyi, I’m getting aroused for you.” Gu Sheng’s voice came through from the hollow of Zhou Shiyi’s palm, muffled.

As if burned, Zhou Shiyi sharply withdrew his hand; his ears were so red they looked like they might bleed.

“Shameless.” Zhou Shiyi said softly, took a deep breath, and looked at Gu Sheng. “Gu Sheng, you’re still young, don’t casually say things like that.”

“I’m an adult.”

Zhou Shiyi was momentarily at a loss.

“I know you’re an adult too. So what’s the problem if I say something like that?”

“Zhou Shiyi, I like you.”

Zhou Shiyi could hear his heartbeat in his eardrums; after Gu Sheng said those words, it kept getting faster.

“I—”

“If you’re going to reject me, then don’t say anything at all.” Gu Sheng cut him off.

Zhou Shiyi felt a turmoil in his chest, not knowing what to say; it was the first time someone who considered him a good friend had confessed to him, and he didn’t know how to respond.

Hearing Gu Sheng say that, he yielded to his own feelings, and the two of them stood like that for a while.

Gu Sheng lowered his eyes to the ground, his tone very despondent.

“All right, I understand what you mean. Before you leave, can I hug you? Just once, just as a farewell gift for me.”

Zhou Shiyi hadn’t yet sorted out the tangled mess in his head when he heard that he was leaving; in the end, Zhou Shiyi gave in.

Though he said nothing and made no physical move, Gu Sheng and Zhou Shiyi had been together long enough to know that Zhou Shiyi’s silence meant consent.

Gu Sheng stepped forward and gave him a gentle hug.

“I’m leaving tomorrow. Take good care of yourself. Grandma’s getting old and she’s got trouble going up and down the stairs—spend more time with her.”

“Mm.”

“Pack my things for me and mail them over—don’t throw anything away.”

“Mm.”

“Zhou Shiyi, I really, really like you.”

“”

Gu Sheng lifted his head from Zhou Shiyi’s stiff embrace and smiled, saying, “Zhou Shiyi, your heart is beating so fast.”

Zhou Shiyi’s hand clenched abruptly; he wanted to say something, but Gu Sheng had already straightened up.

“Alright, I have to go too. You get some rest. My flight’s early tomorrow, I can’t go back with you—please explain things to Grandma for me.”

Gu Sheng straightened the rumpled parts of Zhou Shiyi’s clothes. After fixing his own appearance, he said his goodbyes to Zhou Shiyi.

Zhou Shiyi expressionlessly walked him to the door. Gu Sheng happily waved goodbye.

As he left, Zhou Shiyi could sense Gu Sheng’s current mood, and that strong scent of pheromones seeping into his clothes.

“Sorry, I couldn’t control myself.”

Gu Sheng of course knew what his pheromones had done; his scent tended to reveal his true thoughts, sometimes being more honest than he was.

It’s not that he couldn’t control himself — it’s that now he’d already ripped through that thin veil, and he felt a bit reckless.

Zhou Shiyi watched Gu Sheng smile so innocently. Without expression he closed the bedroom door, keeping Gu Sheng and his pheromones outside.

Gu Sheng stared at the shut door, but the anger and unease he’d felt at the start were gone. He gave a small, knowing smile — Zhou Shiyi wasn’t entirely indifferent to him, and the unpleasant symptoms of the sensitivity period couldn’t spoil his good mood.

Gu Sheng sprayed himself with a pheromone blocker and stuck a pheromone-blocking patch on the back of his neck.

The tiny needle on the pheromone blocker pierced his skin, the medication entering the glands and gradually taking effect.

The warmth drained from Gu Sheng’s face, and the pheromones emanating from his body retreated considerably.

He stepped into the elevator; that night there was only him inside.

The elevator descended slowly. When Gu Sheng stepped out downstairs, his mind was clear and his pheromones had been suppressed. If not for the pheromone blocker on the nape of his neck, others might have mistaken Gu Sheng for a beta.

There was no sign at all that he had just come out of the alpha isolation room today.

The pheromones lingering in the air would, with time and ventilation, gradually dissipate, as if Gu Sheng had never gone upstairs.

He and Gu’s father and mother were all staying at this hotel.

And he truly wasn’t lying — he was leaving tomorrow.

Today he learned that Zhou Shiyi had already left and was determined to be discharged, which frightened the others into silence.

Early the next morning, Gu Sheng was already sitting in the car heading to the plane, sending Zhou Shiyi a message.

“I’m heading to the airport now.”

“Image.jpg”

Zhou Shiyi still hadn’t replied; Gu Sheng watched for a moment, then put his phone away.

Nian Meilan, seeing Gu Sheng texting someone, asked, “Shengsheng, are you dating someone?”

“No.” Gu Sheng hesitated, “Mom, instead of that, why don’t you worry about Big Brother? I saw his secretary yesterday — she messaged at two in the morning that she was off work. Big Brother must be secretly working overtime behind your back. He’s so old and still doesn’t even have a partner.”

Mentioning the eldest son immediately shifted Nian Meilan’s attention to Gu Yuan.

Gu Yuan had excelled in both character and academics since childhood and never needed her worry, but when it came to dating he seemed entirely focused on work and simply never considered finding a partner.

Far away in H City, Gu Yuan sneezed. Under his secretary’s concerned gaze, Gu Yuan shook his head and asked the secretary to brew him another cup of coffee.

Zhou Shiyi got on the car home and slowly made his way back.

Once home, Zhou Shiyi told Grandma Zhou that Gu Sheng had been taken back by his parents, and to not worry.

Zhou Shiyi, familiar with the routine, packed up Gu Sheng’s things.

Gu Sheng hadn’t brought many things with him; most of them were bought after he arrived.

Although he often went into Gu Sheng’s room, this was the first time Zhou Shiyi really noticed what was in there.

On the bedside table was something covered like a picture frame—something that seemed to have been knocked over during Gu Sheng’s sensitive period before, which Zhou Shiyi went to set upright.

When he opened it, he didn’t mean to look at what it was, but as soon as his eyes fell on it, it was his own handwriting.

Zhou Shiyi held the photo frame in his hands and recognized it as the “three rules” he’d written for Gu Sheng.

Gu Sheng had brought this along, and even had it framed.

At the time Zhou Shiyi’s thought was simply that he couldn’t let underage Gu Sheng, during his uncontrollable period of susceptibility, be with others and make an irreparable mistake. He didn’t expect that even then, Gu Sheng had already had feelings for him.

Zhou Shiyi put the frame into Gu Sheng’s suitcase and covered it over, piling some things on top.

He’d known early on not to have too many expectations. Even in his teens he seemed like someone without much desire; even his expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness were muted. Zhou Shiyi had always felt his inner world was like a still pool, calm and untroubled.

That pool wasn’t truly dead water — he was just too lazy to stir it. He didn’t want to do things that were uncertain, actions whose returns he couldn’t calculate.

But there was someone who, time and again, stirred that stagnant pool of his; even after leaving, the surface still looked calm, as if nothing had been left behind, yet the undercurrent kept telling him that, indeed, someone had left a trace.

Only the ripples stirred up by Gu Sheng seemed to grow larger and larger. Zhou Shiyi closed his eyes, held them shut for a long while, then let out a soft sigh that soon dissipated into the air.

Zhou Shiyi packed his things, wrapped them up, and sent everything to the address Gu Sheng had given.

After getting home, Zhou Shiyi felt a bit at a loss about what he should do.

“Xiaoyi, go water the plants.” Grandma Zhou sat in the lounge chair in the yard fanning herself with a palm fan; seeing Zhou Shiyi standing there with nothing to do, she called out to him.

“Alright.”

Zhou Shiyi took the watering can and went to fetch water.

While drawing the water, he suddenly noticed the fish tank that had been moved outside to bask in the sun.

The turtle inside was crawling slowly in the fish tank.

Zhou Shiyi suddenly remembered he had forgotten something — he had forgotten Gu Sheng’s turtle.

In the small town, parcels are sent only once a day. When Zhou Shiyi went to send something earlier, he watched the truck drive away, so it was already too late to send anything else today.

Besides, I don’t think you can send live animals by courier.

He hadn’t slept well last night, and with packing Gu Sheng’s things today, he couldn’t help but keep thinking about that absurd confession from last night.

He had never felt Gu Sheng’s presence so strong.

Zhou Shiyi rubbed his brow, watched the sun gradually sinking, and sighed again.

Today he had sighed more times than he usually did in an entire month.

Zhou Shiyi could only take a photo of the fish tank and send it to Gu Sheng.

“Image.jpg”

Gu Sheng: “?”

Zhou Shiyi: “You forgot your turtle.”

Gu Sheng: “Ah, what do I do, could you do me a favor and keep it for a few days?”

Zhou Shiyi thought for a moment. A turtle really wasn’t much trouble to take care of, so he agreed.

“Sure.”

Gu Sheng: “Mm, thanks.”

The message Gu Sheng sent showed not a hint of ambiguity — it was as if last night’s confession had been nothing more than Zhou Shiyi’s illusion.

Zhou Shiyi sighed and went to water the flowerbed in the courtyard.

After Gu Sheng left, the little house was left with just Zhou Shiyi and Grandma Zhou — one old, one young. Neither of them were talkative, so with him gone the place felt especially quiet.

It wasn’t only Zhou Shiyi who felt it; Grandma Zhou also seemed a bit unaccustomed to the calm after the bustle.

“Xiyi, let’s go to the flower-and-bird market again tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

At the flower-and-bird market, Grandma Zhou left Zhou Shiyi behind and went off to haggle with the stall owners on her own.

Zhou Shiyi stood aside, unable to help, so he wandered around.

The vendor who used to be selling turtles where Gu Sheng had been fishing was now selling fish fry, drawing a lot of children to scoop up fish.

The market was noisy and smelled of many things mixed together, and in that jumble of scents Zhou Shiyi suddenly caught a faintly familiar smell, barely there.

……

After Grandma Zhou finished swapping tips about planting with the flower seller, she turned and saw Zhou Shiyi standing there holding a pot of mint.

Grandma Zhou was a little surprised.

As a novice gardener, few people choose to grow mint.

Although mint is a very easy plant to keep alive, most novice plant owners tend to choose flowering succulents.

“What made you think of buying this?”

To be honest, Zhou Shiyi was a little baffled himself. When he turned around, he saw an unassuming pot of mint sitting on the plant stand.

By the time he came to his senses, he’d already paid, and the vendor had kindly wrapped up the mint and handed it to him.

“Just browsing.”

After going home, Zhou Shiyi put away the seeds his grandmother had bought and went to water the plants.

After dinner, Zhou Shiyi looked up how to care for mint.

He thought placing it on the bedroom balcony would work, so he put the mint there—so that when he opened his eyes each morning, he’d almost always see it.

After Gu Sheng left, Zhou Shiyi did take some time to adjust; afterwards he found things to occupy himself with.

He’s already an adult; a lot of things have become available to him.

Zhou Shiyi signed up for a driver’s license class and spent his evenings on a programmers’ forum, picking up small gigs.

Life was, more or less, fulfilling.

One night later, during a heavy downpour, Zhou Shiyi went to close a window and suddenly noticed the pot of mint looking a little wilted.

He touched the mint’s leaves, unsure what was going on.

He took a photo of the potted mint and posted it online, then looked it up.

The internet said it was overwatered; mint is the kind of plant that’s better planted in the ground. Even if you leave it alone, it can still grow well.

Zhou Shiyi thought for a moment—there’s another, slightly smaller flowerbed in the yard that would work—so he decided to try it tomorrow.

He took out his phone and saw Gu Sheng had sent him a few messages asking about that turtle.

After Gu Sheng returned, he didn’t keep in frequent contact with him; occasionally he’d ask about that turtle, or about the things left at Zhou Shiyi’s home.

Compared to before, the two seemed to have an endless stream of things to talk about and often shared little incidents from daily life—now the frequency of their chats had sharply declined.

But Gu Sheng had just confessed that day, so getting the two of them back to how they were before seemed a bit difficult.

Zhou Shiyi had always regarded Gu Sheng as a friend he could talk to, and after spending a long time together, Zhou Shiyi had long since come to see Gu Sheng as the first true good friend he had made in this world.

But it was already impossible to go back — moving forward, he wasn’t mentally prepared to turn a friend into a lover; stepping back to keep things as they were would be unfair to Gu Sheng.

Zhou Shiyi sent the photos he’d taken of the turtle earlier; while choosing images, his eye had fallen on the mint photo he’d just taken.

He hesitated for a moment, then sent the turtle photo.

After sending it, regardless of any reply from Gu Sheng, he tossed his phone aside and didn’t sigh until a long time later.

Early the next morning, Grandma Zhou saw Zhou Shiyi digging a hole in the flowerbed.

She saw the wilted mint at the side and understood.

“Grandma, can I plant it here?”

When it comes to planting, it’s better to ask someone who actually grows flowers.

Grandma Zhou glanced over, and Zhou Shiyi picked a flower bed that hadn’t been used to grow other plants for the mint.

She said, “Mint is the most domineering plant. It grows so fast that once you plant it, even the weeds can’t survive—the mint will take over the whole space. Are you sure you want to plant mint there?”

Zhou Shiyi held the limp pot of mint and thought for a moment before saying, “Yeah.”

By the day it was planted, the mint had almost come back to life.

Running his fingers over the mint’s lively leaves, Zhou Shiyi felt a small ease settle in and could understand how gardeners felt about their plants.

Zhou Shiyi had only been handling it a short while when Grandma Zhou gave the back of his hand a light smack.

“Let it grow on its own. Don’t touch it unless necessary.”

Grandma Zhou’s poke wasn’t hard, but it was like she’d tapped into some tender spot—Zhou Shiyi awkwardly adjusted his glasses with his fingers.

The prescription in Zhou Shiyi’s glasses had increased by a whole diopter compared to before he transmigrated. During the holiday, because learning to drive was inconvenient, he’d had a new pair of gold-rimmed glasses made; they made him look rather genteel.

Gu Sheng had been busy at the office all day; the moment work ended he only wanted to lie down and scroll his phone.

When he got home, Gu Yuan hauled him off to the company—under the noble pretext of getting some exercise first.

The frequency of his messages depended on how busy he was, but there was still a nightly goodnight text every day. He actually entertained the idea of keeping Zhou Shiyi hanging. A kite string is better when it has a bit of give.

Every time he looked at Zhou Shiyi’s side, he would reply to a message sluggishly.

When Gu Sheng thought of that person over there, cradling his phone, furrowing his brow, weighing each word he sent—wondering if he might unintentionally hurt him—Gu Sheng felt like laughing.

On the day of the confession, Gu Sheng clearly heard Zhou Shiyi’s heartbeat quicken because of his confession. The thought that Zhou Shiyi might not be completely indifferent to him was what gave Gu Sheng the confidence to keep Zhou Shiyi waiting.

Zhou Shiyi was the type to react slowly; he wouldn’t take the initiative until he was sure there was no danger. If someone tried to drag him into something at that moment, he would very likely take a step back.

Gu Sheng had considered all that, so he took the initiative to keep his distance from Zhou Shiyi; he figured he could add a little fuel to the fire.

He lay on the bed, took out his phone, and suddenly saw a message from Zhou Shiyi sent proactively.

He sat up sharply, his heart pounding with nerves. He opened the chat and saw that Zhou Shiyi had sent him a photo.

The turtle was lazily sprawled in the fish tank, basking in the sun, utterly at ease.

It was clearly just an ordinary photo, yet Gu Sheng let out a soft, amused laugh.

With Zhou Shiyi getting his driver’s license, the start of school was approaching.

Zhou Shiyi greeted the neighbors and asked them to look after Grandma Zhou, telling them to call him if anything happened.

Considering Grandma Zhou’s age and her dislike of strangers in the house, Zhou Shiyi hired a familiar auntie to come by every so often to clean upstairs and keep Grandma Zhou company.

The job was relatively easy and not daily, so the auntie agreed readily.

“Xiaoyi, do you really not need me to go with you?”

“Grandma, don’t worry. People in City A are all nice, and I’m an adult now—you don’t need to worry.”

Zhou Shiyi packed his luggage; many things didn’t need to be brought along and could be bought there.

During the break, Zhou Shiyi also earned a little money, so he didn’t have to worry at all about living expenses.

Under Grandma Zhou’s eager gaze, Zhou Shiyi boarded the train to City A.

……

Zhou Shiyi had just gotten off the bus when he saw upperclassmen from various universities wearing volunteer shirts outside the station, setting up a booth with their school names to welcome new students.

Many schools started at the same time; after checking, Zhou Shiyi boarded the bus heading to B University.

Led by the upperclassmen, Zhou Shiyi completed his enrollment procedures. He didn’t have much luggage, and he was fairly familiar with B University, so he politely declined their offer to take him to the dorm.

Holding the slip, Zhou Shiyi went to the dormitory office and picked up the key to Room 409.

Dorm B’s dormitory was a four-person room; when Zhou Shiyi opened the door, no one was inside yet.

Only one bed had been chosen, and there were some things on it—obviously its owner had stepped out.

Zhou Shiyi picked the bed by the door from the other three empty beds.

He put his things down, went to the supermarket to buy some household items, then went out to the balcony, dampened the towel he had bought, and wiped down the bed and the chairs.

During that time his roommate also arrived.

“Hi, my name is Wang Henian, I’m in Biomedical Engineering. What’s your name?” Wang Henian was a very pretty-looking boy; seeing Zhou Shiyi half a head taller than him, he sighed inwardly—could he be the shortest in this dorm?

Zhou Shiyi nodded at him: “Hi, I’m Zhou Shiyi, also in Biomedical Engineering.”

Zhou Shiyi still chose the major he liked in his past life. Though biology was a bottomless pit, and biomedical engineering even more so, Zhou Shiyi truly liked it.

“You’re the Zhou Shiyi who got a guaranteed admission? Big shot, I didn’t expect we’d be roommates. Four years of university—please take care of me.” Even before arriving at school, Wang Heniang had found the homeroom teacher and joined the class group, so he’d long heard the name Zhou Shiyi.

“Hardly a big shot. Four years of university—I’ll be counting on you too.”

Getting into B University meant you were a genius from your province; Wang Heniang just acted a bit over the top, but the fact he could get into B University already said a lot about him.

While they were talking, Wang Henian’s parents finished tidying up his bed.

Zhou Shiyi’s third roommate arrived as well — a tall, burly man with dark skin, who looked very intimidating.

Wang Henian looked at him with his mouth agape, seeming a bit dazed.

“Hi, I’m Zhou Shiyi, Biomedical Engineering.”

“Lu Qi, Biomedical Engineering.”

With Lu Qi looking like that, if he didn’t say he was in the same major as them, people would have believed he was an athletic student.

The three exchanged greetings. Zhou Shiyi told them where the campus supermarket was, and they all said they’d go there to buy some daily necessities.

Just then, the door to dorm 409 was opened from the outside; when he saw everyone inside had all gathered, Gu Sheng looked a little surprised.

As soon as Gu Sheng opened the door he saw Zhou Shiyi inside. Gu Sheng gave a light smile and said, “Hello everyone, I’m Gu Sheng. I’m studying finance in the School of Economics and Management.”

The other two were very surprised—there were students from other departments as well.

As for Zhou Shiyi, he was also surprised when he saw Gu Sheng, but he remembered how secretive Gu Sheng had been when filling out his college choices, not letting him see.

Seeing Gu Sheng in the dorm was unexpected, yet not entirely surprising.

Zhou Shiyi watched as Gu Sheng and the other two quickly struck up a rapport; the eyes behind his glasses flickered.

Gu Sheng recognized the roommate from his past life and felt very familiar with him.

Although they still didn’t know him now, Gu Sheng was very familiar with them, so in just a few sentences he was chatting with them.

He walked up to Zhou Shiyi and smiled, holding out his hand. “Hi, I’m Gu Sheng from the Business and Management College.”

Zhou Shiyi glanced at him, put away the student handbook in his hand, reached out, and gave a light shake. “Zhou Shiyi from the Biology College.”

Their hands clasped briefly in midair.

*

Author’s note:

In case some little angels feel that Classmate Zhou’s feelings appeared too abruptly, here’s a brief explanation.

This story actually contains very little psychological depiction of Classmate Zhou; his joys and sorrows are all shown very lightly, just like he is. Classmate Zhou is an extremely abstinent person—he suppresses all his emotional needs, his likes and dislikes are pushed to the extreme—appearing like a dead pool of water. Of course, it’s only an appearance; Classmate Gu is the one stirring that pool.

Whether Classmate Zhou admits it or not, Classmate Gu has left marks in that dead pool. What Classmate Gu is doing now is basically jumping straight into the pond, forcing Classmate Zhou to face himself.