Chapter 72

A person’s attention would sometimes be scattered for one reason or another.

For example, at first, he couldn’t concentrate on the questions because seeing Yun Xiaoxu reminded him of the past.

Now it was because of Yan Mu, his entire mind filled with everything Yan-ge had said.

Jiang Zhihuo absentmindedly filled out a practice paper, struggled through a few major questions, then took out his phone and sent a message to Zong Bei.

Jiang Zhihuo: Son, it’s over.

Jiang Zhihuo: Oh no, it’s been over a long time.

Zong Bei: ?

Zong Bei: Huo? What did you do?

Zong Bei: Do we need to call the police?

Jiang Zhihuo: So you’ve already decided you’re my son?

Zong Bei: ……

Zong Bei: I can see you’re not interested in having a proper conversation. Goodbye.

Jiang Zhihuo: I really don’t want to have a proper conversation.

Jiang Zhihuo: I only want to fall in love right now.

Zong Bei: Then go fall in love. What are you coming to me for?

The chat went silent for a moment.

Thirty seconds later, Zong Bei sent several more messages.

Zong Bei: Talk about what? Love?

Zong Bei: With whom? God Yan?

Zong Bei: Are you serious?

Zong Bei: Wait, not now. A few days ago, Xie Qiu even told me to talk to you about leading the national competition participants astray.

Zong Bei: Wait until he finishes the competition, then talk!

Jiang Zhihuo: Do you really think I’m going to lead him astray?

Zong Bei: Uh, what else then? He skipped class to be with you. If he had skipped class for someone else, you wouldn’t be here telling me you want to fall in love, right?

Zong Bei: Huo, I didn’t realize you were this delicate in a relationship. Is it because you turned into an omega?

Zong Bei: That still doesn’t justify leading God Yan astray! He’s supposed to bring honor to the school!

Jiang Zhihuo: I can also bring honor to the school. I’ll work hard and aim for the provincial top scorer.

Zong Bei: You’re only one bed away from being the provincial top scorer¹[T/N: A sarcastic jab implying Jiang Zhihuo sleeps too much instead of studying.].

Zong Bei: Sleep well and have a good dream.

After exchanging a few meaningless, roundabout words with Zong Bei, his mood finally began to settle.

—Makes sense.

Everyone else was still focused on doing practice questions. Why was his mind wandering all over the place?

The noise from filming in the library wasn’t loud. Occasionally, the director would give cues, which made some sounds, but overall, it didn’t interfere with studying. However, being at the recording site, the others in the study room couldn’t focus on their work either. They kept glancing up to check on the filming, distracted and unable to settle down.

The only person truly studying with full focus and immersion was Yan Mu. A top student didn’t need sleep and wouldn’t be easily distracted.

Not long after, a few people arrived at the area where half the seats had been blocked off. Yun Xiaoxu and two of his teammates sat at a study table, discussing the newly discovered clue.

However, even after discussing for a long time, they still couldn’t come up with any leads.

“What should we do?” One of them rested his chin on his hand, looking helpless.

None of the three was good at academics, and making them solve math problems was almost torture. The production team seemed to love scenes like that, with the cameras zooming in closer and closer on their faces.

The director asked through the walkie-talkie, “Do you need to use a hint card?”

The teammate was starting to waver. There was really no other way. If you couldn’t do the math problem, you just couldn’t. “Maybe we should use it? This question’s impossible…”

Yun Xiaoxu rejected it firmly. “No! We can’t use it. The hint card has to be saved for the end!”

He looked up and glanced around. His eyes suddenly lit up.

—He saw Jiang Zhihuo and Yan Mu sitting face-to-face at a nearby table!

Aren’t they the two top students who just helped them solve the first level?!

The two top students were so handsome that they could debut based on their looks, and their teammates also didn’t forget about them.

Yun Xiaoxu and his teammates exchanged glances, and the three were more united than ever—

If you’re not smart enough, get outside help instead.

The three quietly and carefully walked toward the study area.

A commotion arose as three trainees cautiously approached and squatted beside the study tables. “Two brothers, can you help us out once more?”

As soon as Jiang Zhihuo saw their appearance, he smiled. “Which level is this already?”

“The third level.” Yun Xiaoxu lowered his voice, trying not to disturb the others, with a bit of pride, “We solved the second level, but the third level… we don’t understand it.”

He held the clue card with both hands and passed it between the two.

The camera then zoomed in closely.

Jiang Zhihuo easily figured out the answer. “Should I say it directly? Do you want me to teach you step by step?”

“Maybe no need.” Yun Xiaoxu chuckled awkwardly. “I don’t understand it.”

Jiang Zhihuo smiled. “The answer to the first question is 10.”

Yan Mu quickly wrote the two coordinates for the second question on the scrap paper: (10, 0), (1, 1).

“Okay, thank you!” Yun Xiaoxu noted down the answer and then sat back down in the original place with his teammates.

Besides the clue, they also discovered a sheet of paper at this level. The key to solving the code was hidden in the two math problems. However, after thinking for a long time, they still couldn’t figure out what the code was connected to in that pile of numbers.

Therefore, the three boys decided to rely on outside help once more. They walked back timidly and said, “Ge, please help us out to the end…”

Three handsome boys squatted pitifully by the table like three dogs with drooping ears. Not far away, two girls clutched their chests as they wildly recorded videos, shouting, “So handsome, so cute.”

Jiang Zhihuo had some thoughts when he saw the calculated answers.

He glanced at Yan Mu. Yan Mu didn’t show much expression, but it was clear they were thinking the same thing, and he gave a silent agreement.

Jiang Zhihuo then spoke to remind the three, “What comes to mind when you see 0 and 1?”

The three young men blinked simultaneously, thought for a moment, and stared intently with puzzled eyes at Yan Mu and Jiang Zhihuo in front of them.

It seemed they had an idea. Jiang Zhihuo nodded and encouraged them to speak out.

Yun Xiaoxu felt a little embarrassed and rubbed his nose.

Jiang Zhihuo said, “Say it.”

“Really want me to say it?”

Yun Xiaoxu looked extremely conflicted. It wasn’t something easy to say. However, seeing Jiang Zhihuo’s gaze, he still said, “0 and 1… the only thing I can think of is, he’s the 1, and you’re the 0… 0 and 1??²[T/N: In Chinese internet slang, 0 and 1 often refer to roles in a romantic or sexual relationship, especially in BL contexts. 1 being the top and 0 being the bottom.]“

The two teammates behind also nodded.

Jiang Zhihuo: “.”

Yan Mu: “.”

Jiang Zhihuo: “Yan-ge, let’s go. I can’t keep reading this book. It is so noisy here.”

Yan Mu also closed the book. “Mhm.”

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t leave.” Yun Xiaoxu hurriedly blocked the two, scratching his head. “I was wrong, I was wrong, but we couldn’t think of anything else.”

Yan Mu lowered his eyes, glanced at Yun Xiaoxu, touched Jiang Zhihuo’s finger, and calmly pushed Jiang Zhihuo slightly aside.

“When 0 and 1 appear, people usually think of binary. Periodic sequences aren’t out of the question either.”

Yun Xiaoxu didn’t notice Yan Mu’s action; instead, after hearing it, his expression slowly became one of confusion.

“I kind of know what a periodic sequence is, but what’s binary?”

The true character of the struggling student was clearly revealed.

Jiang Zhihuo rolled up the practice paper and tapped him with it, feeling a mix of worry and exasperation for these three blunt academic strugglers. “If you don’t know, just look it up yourself. You keep asking the two of us, do you not care about the cameras anymore?”

Two cameras were aimed directly at him; Yun Xiaoxu was a little stunned, thanked them, and quickly went back with his two teammates to continue searching.

He didn’t pay attention to the recording; the study time flew by quickly.

After finishing the few difficult questions, it was already past lunchtime. The two had recently drunk milk tea, so they weren’t very hungry at mealtime. Thus, at noon, they ate a little casually at the cafeteria, wandered around the hallway twice before returning to the study room.

The recording for the second half was not on this floor; it was estimated that this floor only held the clues, and after finding them, they would move to other floors.

The others in the study room, after a morning of excitement, gradually calmed down in the afternoon.

During the process, a staff member came to find Jiang Zhihuo and Yan Mu, who had appeared briefly; the clip was quite interesting and would most likely be edited into the main footage. They asked whether the previous shot could be aired.

Jiang Zhihuo recalled it shortly.

He only appeared on camera twice, both times during problem-solving.

The questions in the third round were the same as in the first round, not difficult; they were the type that must be tested in high school, but some traps were added, making them easy to get wrong.

However, if anyone in the class had done them, they could definitely write them out correctly.

Even if Jiang Zhihuo managed to pull it off, it would not break his character. Moreover, Yan-ge was right there with him, so it could all be easily fixed. There was no worry that the classmates would misunderstand after it aired.

Jiang Zhihuo nodded. “I have no problem. What about Yan-ge?”

Yan Mu naturally didn’t care, either. “Whatever.”

The staff thanked the two and then praised them, “You two young gentlemen are as good-looking as the trainees.”

After finishing the day’s study tasks, Yan Mu and Jiang Zhihuo prepared to leave.

Before leaving, the two ran into Yun Xiaoxu once again at the library entrance.

They had just finished filming the entire part, and the trainees gathered at the front gate with the staff. When the fans at the entrance spotted their idols, they went wild, screaming like crazy.

Yun Xiaoxu saw Jiang Zhihuo and Yan Mu, two top students who had helped them before, and actively pulled his teammates over to greet them. “Are you leaving?”

“Mhm, that’s right,” Jiang Zhihuo asked, “Did you find the thing?”

“I found it!” Yun Xiaoxu said.

“What is it?” Jiang Zhihuo asked with some curiosity.

“I can’t say. Watch the show,” Yun Xiaoxu said, “Pick U 101, you’ve watched it, right? The episode aired about a month or so ago.”

“Of course, the two of us both liked your post, didn’t we, Yan-ge?”

“Mhm.” Every day, Jiang Zhihuo would use his account to like the post twice a day.

“Really?” Yun Xiaoxu looked at his teammates, grinning foolishly. “The two top-student gege said they liked my post. I might truly get popular!”

The teammate laughed. “Top-student gege, give the two of us a like too, we don’t want to get eliminated in the first round.”

“No problem.” Jiang Zhihuo agreed with a smile.

The two teammates joked again, “We’ve got no way to repay you today. How about giving you an autograph, just in case we get famous?”

Jiang Zhihuo patted Yan Mu, and Yan Mu cooperatively took out a pen and paper from his bag. “Go ahead and sign.”

“Then we need to sign two.” Each of the two teammates signed both their names, giving one to Jiang Zhihuo and one to Yan Mu. Yun Xiaoxu went last, adding a stylish swipe and saying, “No need to write ‘To’ on it. My handwriting looks like a dog’s scratch anyway.”

Jiang Zhihuo looked at the bold stroke on the paper. “No way, your signature actually looks pretty cool.”

“It is pretty cool, right?” Yun Xiaoxu lifted his chin proudly. “My dad helped me design this signature.”

Jiang Zhihuo was momentarily stunned. The dad Yun Xiaoxu mentioned was supposed to be Professor Yun. His voice was a bit dry as he said, “You two have a really good relationship.”

Yun Xiaoxu handed the pen and paper back, shook his head, and said, “We only got close later. There was a period when things were really bad between us. I was pretty stupid…”

At this moment, the director called for a group photo. Yun Xiaoxu shoved the notebook into Jiang Zhihuo’s arms, waved as he walked away, and said, “Thank you, top-student gege! We’ll be going first!”

Jiang Zhihuo took the pen and paper, opened Yan Mu’s bag, and placed them inside. When he lowered his hand, Yan Mu grabbed his wrist and squeezed it with his five fingers.

“Don’t think about the past anymore.” He said.

“I wasn’t thinking about that.” Jiang Zhihuo twisted his wrist, pulling away from Yan Mu’s hand. Yan Mu hadn’t expected him to pull away and didn’t react in time, only for Jiang Zhihuo to grab his hand in return, threading his fingers through his and locking them tightly together.

Their palms suddenly pressed together. Yan Mu’s fingers felt as if he had touched something very soft, uncertain of how to react or move.

Jiang Zhihuo pulled Yan Mu along as they walked out, “Let’s go, Yan-ge. We still have to go to the bar later. It’s already pretty late.”

Although they had shared countless moments of physical contact before, such as kissing and hugging, this was the first time they had held hands like this. Yan Mu’s arm stiffened briefly, his fingers straightened, and he remained still for a moment.

Jiang Zhihuo didn’t pull any further and turned back. “Yan-ge?”

His emotions were already in turmoil. Yan Mu stared into those eyes, took a breath, and instinctively intertwined their fingers tightly.

Jiang Zhihuo curved the corners of his mouth in a smile.

He said nothing, unsure of what to say.

It was something he had wanted to do for a long time. There was no need to find an excuse or a reason; if he wanted to do it, he just did.

They exited through the side door because the main entrance was blocked and couldn’t be used. Everyone leaving had to go through the side door. However, many people were also crowded around it. As soon as fans saw someone coming out, they all started pushing forward, and the shouting was so loud it made their ears numb.

The people who appeared were not the trainees but two extremely handsome guys.

“This year’s talent show even has contestants joining midway?”

“They’re so handsome. They’re not any worse than the contestants at all!”

“By the way, are they just passersby? Were they, by chance, in the library?”

“Let’s ask them!”

The moment these words were out, a bold girl asked, “Handsome, are you guys contestants in the talent show?”

“No, definitely regular people. They don’t have anything on them.” The girl beside her directly opened a QR code. “You two little brothers, let’s add each other on WeChat!”

Without even turning around, Jiang Zhihuo could already picture the look on Yan Mu’s face. He gently brushed his thumb over the back of Yan Mu’s hand, then raised their clasped hands and said to the girls, “Sorry, we can’t add you.”

• 1
  [T/N: A sarcastic jab implying Jiang Zhihuo sleeps too much instead of studying.]
• 2
  [T/N: In Chinese internet slang, 0 and 1 often refer to roles in a romantic or sexual relationship, especially in BL contexts. 1 being the top and 0 being the bottom.