USF Chapter 8: Come Find Me

On the way to the cafeteria for breakfast in the early morning, Lin Ye and the others ran into a trainee from Class B who was pretty close with Xia Dongchan. Seeing Lin Ye chewing on chocolate, the other trainee looked surprised and asked, “You’re eating something this high in calories so early in the morning?”

Xia Dongchan explained on Lin Ye’s behalf, “He tends to get low blood sugar when he wakes up in the morning.”

The trainee let out an “oh” before asking tentatively, “What’s Class D’s progress right now?”

Lin Ye replied, “We haven’t started memorizing the lyrics yet.”

Hearing this, the other trainee sighed in relief but then frowned and complained to Xia Dongchan, “What’s up with Class A? I heard that their classroom is always the first to turn off the lights at night, but they’ve already finished learning the song.”

Xia Dongchan just smiled without saying anything. Zhao Yisheng, Lin Ye’s roommate from a different company but also in Class D, tugged at Lin Ye’s shirt and whispered, “Our progress is way too slow. The instructor is coming over for vocal lessons this afternoon, and we haven’t even finished going over the dance yet. I just happen to know someone in Class A. How about we go get help from them after breakfast?”

Lin Ye remembered his conversation with Jiang Lian in the corridor yesterday afternoon and remained silent.

Zhao Yisheng, already talking to himself, declared, “Alright, it’s settled then.”

Half an hour later, the two entered the Class D classroom one after the other. Zhao Yisheng, eager as ever, rushed to the mirror and called out to the others, “Everyone, pause for a moment. Lin Ye and I are planning to go to Class A to get some help with the dance details. Anyone else want to come along?”

Most of the trainees had dance instructors guiding them step by step when they were at their companies. But once they came here, they could only learn by following dance tutorial videos in front of the mirror, it felt like falling from heaven to hell overnight.

Therefore, as soon as Zhao Yisheng spoke, nearly ten people surged forward, eagerly asking, “I want to go too, but would Class A really be that generous to help us with the dance?”

Zhao Yisheng, standing in the middle of the crowd, smiled confidently, “Don’t worry about that, everyone, I know someone in Class A.”

Like a leader, he led the group outside, only to turn back as if remembering something. He glanced at Lin Ye, who was bent over by the video player, and said, “What are you spacing out for? Let’s go.”

Lin Ye straightened up, pushing himself off his knees, hesitating for a moment between going or not. In the end, he considered how Zhao Yisheng was still his dormmate who he’d have to see pretty often, he slowly took a step and trailed behind at the back of the group, following the others out.

All six members of Class A were in the classroom, but only four were practicing.

Zhao Yisheng entered first, calling out, “Xiao Yuan.” He then shifted aside to reveal nearly ten people behind him and smiled sheepishly, “When they heard I was coming to find you, they all tagged along.”

The one called Xiao Yuan froze for a moment before curving his almond-shaped eyes , “Come on in.”

The group in purple class uniforms streamed in, revealing Lin Ye who was at the very back.

The smile of the person with slightly curved almond-shaped eyes froze, albeit almost unnoticeably.

Lin Ye raised his eyes just in time to meet the gaze of the person standing a few steps away. Although the heavy makeup from the initial evaluation was gone, he could still recognize Li Yuan.

His peripheral vision briefly flicked from the window to Jiang Lian beside it, recalling the inexplicable hostility he had felt from that comment on the first day when he had accidentally walked into the wrong dorm. He now quickly realized that following along might have been a mistake.

Lin Ye shoved his hands into his pockets, looking for an excuse to leave.

But Li Yuan wasn’t about to let him go that easily. Muttering under his breath, he counted off from Zhao Yisheng to the trainee right before Lin Ye and then frowned awkwardly, “An odd number is hard to arrange into formations, and I can’t keep track of everyone with so many people. I’ll just take eight. As for the last one, everyone in our class is here, so why don’t you find someone else to help you?”

The remaining trainees all turned their eyes toward Lin Ye.

Lin Ye raised his eyes and scanned the room.

The three trainees from Class A, who had been practicing with Li Yuan earlier, were now facing away from them, sitting cross legged in the corner, practicing singing with an indifferent air as if they weren’t part of the situation.

Ming Rang and Jiang Lian were sitting with their legs folded under the window, the former looking eager to watch the drama unfold. The latter wore a white baseball cap with the brim pulled low, exposing only his well shaped chin and lips. Since they entered, neither had lifted their heads.

Lin Ye even had enough reason to suspect that Jiang Lian had been on his phone the entire time.

Jiang Lian hadn’t been willing to help him with his dance moves in private, even when Lin Ye had threatened to report him for hiding a phone. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little bothered by it, even now, standing here, Lin Ye couldn’t help but feel a twinge of awkwardness when facing Jiang Lian again.

Though most of the awkwardness was mixed with a sense of relief, especially since Jiang Lian hadn’t looked at him once since they arrived. It hadn’t been a full 24 hours since being rejected by Jiang Lian, and Lin Ye still couldn’t manage to stand in front of him and pretend like nothing had happened.

What he didn’t expect was what Jiang Lian did next.

While everyone else waited for Lin Ye to make a fool of himself, Jiang Lian suddenly pushed himself up off the ground with his hands on his knees, striding through the scattered crowd. Without a glance at Lin Ye, he walked straight out of the classroom like an indifferent passerby.

Lin Ye froze for a moment, and the embarrassment that hadn’t come when Li Yuan had deliberately made things difficult for him now flooded in.

Although Lin Ye didn’t expect to hold a significant place in Jiang Lian’s circle of friends, he at least thought their relationship had smoothly transitioned from strangers to acquaintances, somewhere between nodding acquaintances and friends.

Jiang Lian’s attitude felt like a sharp wake up call to Lin Ye for the self delusion he’d been indulging in over the past two days.

Lin Ye said, “Since there are too many people, I’ll just head back and practice on my own.”

He smiled softly, walking toward the door as Li Yuan’s expression faltered slightly. As he walked, he pulled a piece of chocolate out of his pants pocket, absentmindedly unwrapping it.

Passing by the stairs in front of the Class A classroom, Lin Ye crumpled the wrapper in his hand and turned to toss it in the trash can at the stairwell.

But as he rounded the corner, he nearly bumped into a figure standing at the stairway.

He quickly stopped in his tracks, and the crumpled chocolate wrapper was snatched out of his fingers.

“My time every day is already planned out in advance,” Jiang Lian said, tossing the wrapper into the nearby trash can. “If you want me to take out the extra time to help you with your dance, what are you offering in return?”

Lin Ye looked up in surprise, yet he only saw the shadow cast over his face by Jiang Lian’s baseball cap.

Jiang Lian ignored the change in Lin Ye’s expression and let his gaze linger on Lin Ye’s slightly puffed cheeks for a few seconds. “What are you eating?” 

Lin Ye answered, still stunned, “Chocolate.” 

Jiang Lian asked, “Got more?” 

Lin Ye said yes.

Jiang Lian didn’t ask him again, but instead looked at him from top to bottom. He then stepped forward and casually slipped his hand into Lin Ye’s slightly bulging pants pocket.

When he pulled his hand back, a piece of chocolate was resting in his palm.

“Then let’s trade with this.” Jiang Lian glanced down at the chocolate between his fingers, then took off his white baseball cap from the top of his head, flipped his wrist, and placed the cap onto Lin Ye’s head.

The brim of the cap blocked most of his view, so Lin Ye couldn’t see his face clearly. He could only hear Jiang Lian’s voice, neither too close nor too far, neither too loud nor too quiet, but always just a bit unclear.

Jiang Lian let out a laugh like he was in a good mood, but it also carried his usual indifferent tone.

Then, he heard Jiang Lian say, “Come find me at A class’s small classroom at 10pm.”