ATIBESLM 5

The lights in the classroom flickered on.

The breathing of the person behind him was very faint, nearly negligible if one wasn’t paying special attention. His arm reached over Ye Lingwei’s shoulder to rest against the wall. As Ye Lingwei turned his head slightly, he could see the defined lines of the other’s forearm muscles beneath the thin fabric.

Now that the lights were on, the other person immediately dropped his hand and took a few steps back. Ye Lingwei turned around with a complicated expression. He had confirmed the classroom was empty just before turning off the lights, so where had this person suddenly sprung from?

The other boy clearly looked like he was about to leave the classroom as well, having taken off his school uniform. Underneath, he wore a thin and loose black long-sleeved T-shirt. His uniform dangled from his hand and a black backpack slung over one of his shoulders, the bag looked so light that there was clearly no way it contained any books.

“I thought there was no one left in the classroom.” Ye Lingwei said, “My apologies.”

Fei Lan’s lips curled in a half-smile that wasn’t quite a smile. “Are you targeting me?”

Ye Lingwei didn’t want to provoke anyone right now. He curled his eyes into crescents, his youthful peach-blossom eyes making him look exceptionally innocent. “Classmate, why would you think that?”

Standing on the teacher’s podium, Fei Lan was a full head taller than Ye Lingwei, and then more. He looked down at Ye Lingwei from his height, his crow-feather lashes overlapping with his lower eyelids, looking as if he were wearing natural eyeliner.

“I should probably remind you, my name is Fei Lan. The Fei as in ‘baffling,’ and the Lan as in ‘waves rising from a calm surface,'” Fei Lan softly said. He appeared relaxed and pleasant, but as Ye Lingwei looked up at him, he couldn’t sense a single trace of goodwill.

Ye Lingwei nodded. “Alright, I’ve got it, Classmate Fei Lan.”

Fei Lan sized Ye Lingwei up for a while before suddenly breaking into a smile. “Ye Lingwei, you’re quite interesting.”

Only then did the other’s unrestrained scrutiny fade slightly. He looked as though he had truly accepted Ye Lingwei as his classmate starting from tonight. At this moment, he could have successfully deceived anyone.

Ye Lingwei was slightly dazed for a moment, not stopping to consider just how deep or calculating the other person might be. In fact, Fei Lan had succeeded—he had successfully caused Ye Lingwei to lower his guard in a very short amount of time.

Ye Lingwei also had no way of knowing just how dark and deep a boy around his own age could actually be.

Perhaps he’s just a bit strange at most, Ye Lingwei thought.

Since Fei Lan had shown an intent to make peace, Ye Lingwei also retracted his thorns. “I should be considered quite good-looking.”

With this face belonging to the original host, no matter how highly Ye Lingwei spoke of himself, it couldn’t be considered narcissism.

Fei Lan gave a light chuckle, hands tucked in his pockets, as he lazily sauntered out of the classroom, not forgetting to remind Ye Lingwei, “Remember to turn off the lights, Classmate Ye Lingwei.”

Watching Fei Lan disappear around the corner of the hallway, Ye Lingwei confirmed once more that the classroom was truly empty before unhurriedly preparing to head back himself.

At the main entrance of the teaching building, the aluminum gate was illuminated by the lights from the sports field, reflecting a piercing glare. A person, upon spotting Ye Lingwei, walked straight toward him.

Ye Lingwei’s steps grew slower and slower. He was trying to confirm if the person was indeed heading toward him, until the figure came to a halt right in front of him.

Ye Lingwei: “…”

He didn’t recognize anyone right now and was truly terrified of blowing his cover. Therefore, his only option was to stay silent, which luckily served as a way to bluff his way through.

Lin Chudong looked at Ye Lingwei, frowning and hesitating for a long while before finally asking, “Why did you have to come to our class?” His tone was purely accusatory, as if Ye Lingwei had committed some heinous and unforgivable crime.

Ye Lingwei was the type to meet strength with strength. He asked back with a hint of confusion, “And why can’t I come to your class?”

Even Fei Lan wouldn’t have the nerve to ask him something like that. Who is this guy?

Lin Chudong hadn’t expected Ye Lingwei to take such an attitude and tone with him. He was struck speechless for several seconds. Then, his face flushed red as he said, “You promised back then that you wouldn’t pester me anymore. If the teachers find out, we will both be finished. Is your love really this… sh…shameless?”

Lin Chudong was a “good student”—a good student through and through. Even when scolding someone, he acted as if he were the one with a guilty conscience. After he finished speaking, he was actually the first to lower his head, looking for all the world as if Ye Lingwei were bullying him.

Pester?

That word was used quite aptly. Almost instantly, Ye Lingwei knew exactly who this handsome and clean-cut boy standing before him was.

Lin Chudong—the person the original host of this body had pined for until his very last breath.

This person had rejected Ye Lingwei on the grounds that early romance was harmful and studying was more important. It wasn’t an excuse, but a genuine reason, because Lin Chudong truly believed it at the time. Yet in the end, he did indeed engage in a grand and passionate romance—something Ye Lingwei never got to see in the story, but was mentioned in the novel’s blurb.

The original host of this body really was just a pure piece of cannon fodder in the book.

Ye Lingwei didn’t let the disgust show on his face. At least for now, in the eyes of many insiders and the person before him, he was still supposed to be in love with him.

“The teacher was the one who sent me to Class 1.” Ye Lingwei said in a low voice, “I’ll make sure not to speak to you.”

Under the slightly dim lights of the hallway, the fine and soft fuzz on the profile of Ye Lingwei’s face was faintly visible, enveloping him in a layer of soft and hazy shadows from the light.

Lin Chudong was caught off guard by the other’s reaction. He had thought Ye Lingwei was going to pester him, and indeed, Ye Lingwei’s initial attitude had been both nasty and strange. However, this current state was clearly even harder to handle.

Lin Chudong didn’t intend to bully anyone. He didn’t like Ye Lingwei because he wasn’t lively and cheerful like a typical high schooler, and his grades were poor. Besides, if early romance was caught by the dean’s office, it would lead to expulsion.

No. 3 High School was exceptionally strict with its monitoring and management of such matters. Only a week had passed since the start of the school year, and two students from the second year had already been expelled.

Now that Ye Lingwei had transferred into his own class, it was essentially like “committing a crime right in the middle of a crackdown.”

However, seeing the other person’s aggrieved and pitiful appearance…

Lin Chudong felt conflicted for a moment and took two steps back. He explained, “I didn’t mean to blame you. From now on, just keeping your distance from me will be enough.”

Ye Lingwei kept his head lowered so that Lin Chudong couldn’t see his expression. The faint shadow cast by his eyelashes made him look pale and fragile.

In reality, Ye Lingwei was extremely impatient.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ye Lingwei said. Once he finished speaking, with his head still bowed, he walked around Lin Chudong and quickly exited the teaching building.

Because he was unfamiliar with the layout of the teaching building, Ye Lingwei even tripped over the threshold at the entrance. In Lin Chudong’s eyes, it looked as though the other was so heartbroken that he couldn’t even walk steadily. At the sight of this, Lin Chudong was overcome with guilt.

Ye Lingwei, however, didn’t think that much—he had never been one to overthink things. He had originally been just a university freshman, not much older than these high schoolers. If it weren’t for the fact that he knew a little more than they did, he likely wouldn’t be much ahead of them.

—

The camphor trees of Shencheng had crowns like canopies, remaining evergreen throughout the year. The light from the streetlamps spilled down through the broad and dense foliage, creating flickering, indistinct shadows.

Ye Lingwei was suddenly bumped into by someone. That person was in a great hurry, and something from their pocket hit the ground with a heavy thud. Ye Lingwei called out to them, but the person acted as if they hadn’t heard a thing and vanished in an instant.

Ye Lingwei crouched on the ground, staring at the object on the floor. A book?

A white book cover—A Tribute to Our Grand and Passionate Early Romance.

!

Ye Lingwei’s brow twitched, and his throat felt constricted as if he were being strangled, making it hard to breathe. This book was identical to the one he had picked up in the university library. The only difference was that this book’s cover was brand new, whereas the one he had found was old and ruined.

Ye Lingwei picked up the book and tucked it into his backpack. He wanted to run home, but his physical condition wouldn’t permit it. Only after he had finished everything and was sitting on his bed was he finally able to focus all his attention on flipping through this book once more.

Under the swan-white desk lamp, Ye Lingwei leaned back against the bed. The content of the book was exactly the same as what he had read before. When he reached the chapter where the original host died silently of a heart attack during a nap, he felt a sympathetic shortness of breath and a dull ache in his chest. However, when he tried to flip past it… was it just blank paper?

Confused, Ye Lingwei continued to flip through, but it was still nothing but blank pages. In other words, this book had no ending. If so, then who was the tribute on the cover meant for?

Ye Lingwei now cursed himself for only skimming through it. He should have used a magnifying glass to read that book word by word until the very end, so he would at least know what happened after his death. 

As a result, he currently wasn’t even sure if Lin Chudong was actually the male lead or not.

Ye Lingwei let out a sigh, and before he could even draw his breath back in, he heard the sound of the electronic keypad at the door being pressed open. Only the original host’s family knew the code, so he didn’t even need to think to know that it was definitely a family member.

Ye Cen hadn’t originally intended to come over, but his assistant had been nagging him all day, saying things like how Ye Lingwei must have been bullied and so on. Having just signed a contract, he stopped by to check in since he was passing the school on his way back.

He hadn’t expected him to be asleep so early today. Normally at this hour, he would definitely still be glued to his phone. 

At the same moment Ye Cen switched on the living room lights, Ye Lingwei emerged from his room.

He put on an act of being bleary-eyed with sleep as he looked at Ye Cen.

Ye Cen felt a bit awkward being stared at like this. His gaze shifted down to Ye Lingwei’s two bare calves, and his brows furrowed. “Is this what you wear at night?”

Ye Lingwei lowered his head blankly, wiggling his toes. “Wearing this is comfortable.”

Ye Cen: “…”

In the past, Ye Lingwei had never talked back.

Not bothering to argue with this little brat, Ye Cen sat down on the sofa and looked at Ye Lingwei, who was standing opposite him. He asked, “Is anyone bullying you at school?” 

Ye Lingwei was stunned for a moment before immediately nodding. “Yes.”

A ready-made blade—it would be a waste not to use it.

“Bullying you? How?” Ye Cen’s expression grew cold. He truly didn’t like Ye Lingwei because he was neither ambitious nor outstanding enough, spending all day curled up in his own shell. However, that didn’t mean he would allow anyone else to bully Ye Lingwei.

“Quite a lot.” Ye Lingwei counted on his fingers, tallying them up one by one for the original host. “Hiding my homework notebooks, the teacher making me sit by the trash can, classmates throwing trash at me, calling me a ‘sickly weakling’ behind my back… it goes on and on.”

So many things—he had suffered so much mistreatment.

Ye Cen’s face turned completely cold.

However, Ye Lingwei cut in before he could speak. “But I don’t want your help. You’re not helping me because you’re my brother—you’re helping me because I carry the Ye surname.”

Ye Cen frowned. “What’s the difference?”

Ye Lingwei’s neck bowed softly, bathed in a layer of moonlight-white glow. “It’s different.”

He had grown up. Ye Lingwei had grown up.

Although he was still thin and frail, appearing very much like that same little boy who would hide in his room at the slightest provocation, Ye Cen inexplicably sensed that Ye Lingwei was keeping him at a distance of a thousand miles, as if a thick and transparent glass wall had been erected between the two of them.

Ye Cen scoffed, laughing out of sheer frustration. He stood up with hands on his hips, and paced several laps around the living room. Finally, in a fit of pique, he snapped, “Fine, do whatever you want.”

Originally, his relationship with Ye Lingwei was merely a matter of obligation. Since the boy wasn’t willing to accept it, he was more than happy to be free of the burden.

Ye Lingwei watched as Ye Cen slammed the door and left, his eyes darkening. He was going to make all these people lose sleep because of the guilt they owed the original host of this body, until they all came to beg for his forgiveness, rather than receiving this kind of high-and-mighty charity they were currently offering.