CS Chapter 3

Hen Xingran didn’t meet Lin Wenjing again for a long time.

Different majors, a huge campus, and they never had a single chance encounter. Even at the occasional club activities, Lin Wenjing was nowhere to be seen.

But he would frequently think about how Lin Wenjing looked when he played the drums; his short sleeves revealing his well-proportioned and strong arms, his large-scale drumming movements, and the graceful and nimble turning of the drumsticks.

Lin Wenjing told him to look forward, but he found himself searching through his past memories for Lin Wenjing’s appearance. However, their interactions were far too few—scattered and fragmented, impossible to piece together into anything substantial.

It was the end of the school term when they saw each other again. Everyone was hanging out in the library study area. When it was time for the school building to turn off its lights, He Xingran came out of the study room, passed by the all-night study room, and saw Lin Wenjing sitting in the back row.

Lin Wenjing sat by the window, wore white earbuds, and he would write down something from time to time.

He Xingran walked over and sat next to him, then saw that he was doing a mock test.

The study room was quiet. Lin Wenjing also didn’t care who sat next to him. He Xingran sat for a while before writing a note and passing it over.

“Classmate, can you give me your contact info?”

It was a very tacky note.

The hands that passed it over had distinct joints and long, slender fingers.

Lin Wenjing stared at the familiar handwriting on the note, then lowered his head and wrote a string of numbers on the back of it.

He Xingran held the note in his palm, a bit upset.

It turned out that Lin Wenxing’s contact information was this easy to get.

Lin Wenjing didn’t look at him, which made him even more upset.

He thought about it, then entered the string of numbers on his phone and called it.

Lin Wenjing’s phone was casually placed on the desk. He Xingran watched as the phone screen lit up, saw the caller ID, and was stunned for a moment.

Why did Lin Wenjing have his number?

And the caller ID was Starlight…¹

Lin Wenjing flipped the phone over on the desk, tilted his head to look at him, and whispered, “What is it?”

He didn’t look surprised at all, as if he knew the phone number belonged to He Xingran.

But He Xingran was caught completely surprised. It took a while for him to think of an excuse to ask him out, “…Want to grab a late-night snack?”

Lin Wenjing looked at him, then looked at his review material, and nodded reservedly.

He Xingran somehow thought of that ridiculous rumor—that Lin Wenjing joined the music club to pursue someone.

And what was even more ridiculous was that he felt that this person might be him.

☆☆☆

C University’s night market was at the back gate of the school, behind the boys’ dormitory building. There was a street of food stalls along the river. The potato dumplings, grilled tofu skewers, stir-fried noodles and fried rice were all delicious and inexpensive.

He Xingran and Lin Wenjing walked from the beginning of the night market to the end of the street, and finally, the two sat in front of a stall selling glutinous rice balls. Each person ordered a bowl of brown sugar glutinous rice balls.

He Xingran asked him, “Why do you have my phone number?”

Lin Wenjing ate a spoonful of glutinous rice balls, and his lips were smeared with the color of brown sugar. It looked very sweet.

“I found it in the club’s directory.”

He Xingran asked him again, “Do you recognize my handwriting?”

Lin Wenjing lowered his head and didn’t say anything, a silent confirmation.

He Xingran also wanted to ask what the caller’s name meant, why he held his hand that day, and whether he deliberately avoided him during this period… He had a lot of questions he wanted to ask, but he didn’t know where to start.

But after all, he and Lin Wenjing weren’t close.

After finishing the bowl of glutinous rice balls, He Xingran asked his third question.

“Did you know me from a long time ago?”

Lin Wenjing looked at him and softly made a “mhm” sound.

“Since long ago,” he said. “Freshman year during military training. In the military boxing formation, you were standing right in front of me.”

He Xingran looked extremely handsome when he was boxing.

The sun was blazing, causing the back of the camouflage uniform to be soaked in sweat after a whole day. He lifted the hem of his shirt to wipe off the sweat, revealing his firm abdominal muscles, which was enough to leave anyone stunned.

Later, he found out that he was called He Xingran, who had the highest score in the major he was admitted in. He joined the basketball club and the music club. He was both a good student and had good morals. He was straight and was said to be very difficult to get with.

Lin Wenjing was only mediocre in basketball and had no hope of making the school team, so he could only join the music club. While he was still hesitating about the morality and feasibility of turning a straight man gay, He Xingran was taken by Ye Heng.

Lin Wenjing cursed a whole bunch of profanities in his heart, then withdrew his intentions.

He originally thought the relationship between him and He Xingran would just be like this, with his unrequited love never seeing the light of day. However, he never expected that He Xingran and Ye Heng would break up, and he certainly didn’t expect that kiss.

Even if it was due to He Xingran being drunk and mistook him for Ye Heng.

But once his unrequited love which had been hidden, sees the light, it could no longer be hidden.

He really liked this person.