Chapter 42: One Should Not Eat Too Many Oysters

Xia Chi-Yi walked while asking Zhou Zhe-Xiao, "When did you get here?"

"When that guy did the reverse layup."

"Then why didn't you call me?"

"I saw you were having fun playing."

Xia Chi-Yi stepped forward quickly, bumping him with his elbow a few times. "Do you even know who that reverse layup guy was?"

"No."

Zhou Zhe-Xiao's subtext was: I'm not interested either.

"He's Yang Huai-Yu! Yang Huai-Yu from the Qincheng University varsity team!"

This name successfully made Zhou Zhe-Xiao stop in his tracks. "The King of Reverses?"

"Yes, yes, yes! But this guy deliberately held back his strength in front of me today; I feel like he's got way more in him than that. Maybe it was because Tao Tao from the opposing side brought freshmen who weren't skilled enough. Oh, I forgot to mention, that Tao Tao is from the Mining University varsity team, and he's a fierce competitor too!"

"So you just did your absolute best to show off everything you're good at, leaving Yang Huai-Yu with a five-star impression of you, and now he wants to recruit you into Qincheng University?" Zhou Zhe-Xiao countered.

"I was trying to seduce him..." As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Chi-Yi suddenly wanted to beat up Ye Zhao-Ying to see what kind of nonsense that guy had been teaching him.

Sure enough, Zhou Zhe-Xiao stopped walking and turned around.

Standing under the streetlamp, the look in his eyes carried a chill.

"Seduce him... You really do have a talent for that."

"I didn't say that, Ye Zhao-Ying did! Don't you remember the request he made before we left? He told us to seduce the people from Qincheng University, let them see how amazing we are, and then accept our invitation for a scrimmage!"

Zhou Zhe-Xiao reached out and flicked Xia Chi-Yi lightly on the forehead.

"If that's what you call 'seducing,' you truly are gifted."

"Huh? Don't think I didn't catch that—you're being sarcastic!"

"How is that sarcasm? That's praise. By now, the number of people you've seduced must be quite high."

"No way!"

"Ling Huan-Zhen, Jiao Ying-Feng, Fan Qing-Liang, today's Tao Tao, Yang Huai-Yu, and... Sheng Xing-Ming." Zhou Zhe-Xiao's final sentence was very low, swallowed up by the night.

Xia Chi-Yi's stomach let out a rumble, and he put on a pitiful expression. "I'm really hungry..."

"Eat up. Your oyster pancake is still warm."

"You're the best!"

Xia Chi-Yi took the paper bag containing the oyster pancake and was about to take a bite when he remembered how hard Zhou Zhe-Xiao had queued up for it. Just as he was about to offer him the first bite, Zhou Zhe-Xiao shook his head and picked up the box of cold, sticky takoyaki instead.

"I'll eat this."

Even though Zhou Zhe-Xiao said that, Xia Chi-Yi still brought the first bite to his lips. Zhou Zhe-Xiao pressed his lips into a tight line and took half a step back.

"I don't like food prepared this way."

"Oh, you should've said so earlier... You waited in line for so long for nothing."

Xia Chi-Yi opened his mouth and, completely unguarded, took a huge bite.

In an instant, the fishy taste of oysters exploded in his mouth, accompanied by a unique scent reminiscent of a seafood market, along with some unidentifiable shrimp stench in the sauce that instantly assaulted Xia Chi-Yi's brain.

"Blech—"

He sprinted at half-court speed to the trash can and spat it out.

Zhou Zhe-Xiao walked over unhurriedly, popping a takoyaki into his mouth and chewing slowly.

"Why... why is it so fishy?"

Xia Chi-Yi looked at Zhou Zhe-Xiao with a puzzled expression.

"Oysters are naturally fishy." Zhou Zhe-Xiao handed him a napkin.

"You knew? Why didn't you warn me then!"

"When I was in line, a tourist bought one and started eating it on the side of the road, and then, just like you, hugged the trash can and threw up."

With that, Zhou Zhe-Xiao picked up a spring roll and brought it to his lips, holding it with the air of someone smoking a cigar—truly embodying the style of a big boss.

"Then you could have told me!"

"I called, and I texted you, but you didn't reply."

Xia Chi-Yi pulled his phone out of his pocket and found one missed call and one unread text message.

The message read: [The oyster pancakes are very fishy, are you sure you want to eat them?]

The timestamp was twenty minutes ago, right around the time he must have started playing basketball with Yang Huai-Yu.

"Because I didn't say I didn't want it anymore, you just kept waiting in line?" Xia Chi-Yi asked.

"Mn."

At that moment, Xia Chi-Yi suddenly felt that the oyster pancake in his hand was extremely precious.

He swallowed hard, held his breath, scrunched his face up into a bun, and took another huge bite.

Zhou Zhe-Xiao suddenly snatched the paper bag back. "If you're not used to it, don't eat it!"

Xia Chi-Yi looked at him, his mouth full of seafood stench, tears practically welling up in his eyes: "Mmm-gack-ooo-uuu..."

"Spit it out quickly." Zhou Zhe-Xiao grabbed the back of Xia Chi-Yi's neck, forcing him to face the trash can.

Xia Chi-Yi had wanted to tough it out, but he ended up spitting it out anyway.

"What did you just say?"

Xia Chi-Yi sniffed. "I just said... even if you're crying, you still have to finish what you bought..."

Zhou Zhe-Xiao seemed to sigh again. "Give me your phone."

Not knowing what he was up to, Xia Chi-Yi watched as Zhou Zhe-Xiao went to the convenience store across the street and bought him a bottle of mineral water.

"Rinse well. Don't gas me out in our sleep tonight."

Xia Chi-Yi used the entire bottle of mineral water to rinse his mouth.

When he raised his head, Zhou Zhe-Xiao held out a fish ball on a stick for him. "I tried this one. The taste is normal."

The moment Xia Chi-Yi bit into the fish ball, his tastebuds were revived, and an overwhelming sense of happiness washed over him.

"Let's go. Return the school uniforms, and we'll go get seafood barbecue."

If Zhou Zhe-Xiao hadn't reminded him, Xia Chi-Yi would have completely forgotten that he was still wearing a high school uniform.

"Seafood barbecue? After this oyster pancake experience, I don't think I can trust online recommendations anymore."

"I asked a local. They recommended a barbecue night market."

Looking at Zhou Zhe-Xiao again, Xia Chi-Yi thought his silhouette looked genuinely like the most handsome guy in the world.

When they arrived at the photo studio to return the uniforms, the owner was incredibly enthusiastic the moment he saw them.

"You're back from your walk? Our photographer is back too. Would you like to take a set of photos as a souvenir?"

"But it's nighttime now, there aren't any themes we could shoot, right?" Xia Chi-Yi asked.

"There's the evening study hall theme!" The owner enthusiastically opened up his photo album.

Xia Chi-Yi took a glance and felt that the vibe was purely sweet, secret-crush aesthetic. For instance, a girl resting her head on a study hall desk to sleep, while a boy rests his head right across from her, not closing his eyes, but gazing at her affectionately.

"Uh, we're both guys, aren't there any suitable themes for us?"

The owner chuckled. "Was your deskmate in high school a guy or a girl?"

"A guy."

"Well, there you go! Just do us a favor and help the studio out—we've never shot a theme with two guys before. We'll pick one to hang on the photo wall for promotion, and today's photos will be free for you three! We'll waive the uniform rental fee too!"

Hearing that, Xia Chi-Yi nodded in agreement and looked back at Zhou Zhe-Xiao.

"Mn." Zhou Zhe-Xiao gave a faint assent.

Both of them refused makeup and appeared bare-faced.

The photographer led them to the evening study hall set, and only then did Xia Chi-Yi realize the set actually consisted of just three desks, with the rest of the space occupied by lighting equipment.

The desks were piled with all sorts of props: *Three Years of College Entrance Exams and Two Years of Simulations*, *Advanced Physics*, *Golden Chemistry Test Papers*—truly both familiar and anxiety-inducing. The moment Xia Chi-Yi saw them, he instinctively leaned back in tactical retreat.

"Did you do this many test papers for the college entrance exam?" Zhou Zhe-Xiao casually picked up a mock exam booklet, the pages flipping rapidly through his fingers.

"Yeah... those past events are too painful to look back on. You must have never heard those slogans, like 'Struggle for three years, live happily for a lifetime,' 'Better suffer a hundred days of hardship than leave a lifetime of regret,' or 'No hardship, no fatigue, senior year is tasteless; no struggle, no fight, life is lived in vain!'"

Zhou Zhe-Xiao reached out and ruffled Xia Chi-Yi's hair. "It's fine, the light boat has already sailed past ten thousand mountains."

"Wow, you even know Li Bai's poetry."

The photographer was a young man with dreadlocks who looked quite artistic. He was initially just testing the lighting, but casually raised his camera and snapped a few frames, unable to keep from marveling inwardly.

These two handsome guys were practically born for the camera!

Just chatting casually like this—you looking at me, me messing with your hair—created such an atmospheric vibe, and every single photo told a story.

It made you wish they could just sit there chatting with each other like that until the end of youth.

"Alright, you two handsome guys, now let's assume a scenario. Young man on the left, pick up your pen, spread the test paper across the desk. You don't know how to solve this problem—what kind of expression would you make?"

Xia Chi-Yi muttered softly, "Not knowing how to solve the problem is the default state of senior year..."

As he spoke, he pouted and balanced his pen on his upper lip, rocking it back and forth.

Zhou Zhe-Xiao had been standing with his arms crossed, looking thoroughly uninterested, but when Xia Chi-Yi made that expression, he inched closer bit by bit, finally resting his chin in his hand as he looked at him.

So *that's* where Xia Chi-Yi's habit of pouting when he was deep in thought came from?

The photographer's heart skipped a beat. He had seen countless sweet-looking young couples before, and he was thoroughly sick of that sweet-yet-cloying flavor.

For some reason, though, the look in the right-hand guy's eyes as he watched his companion was like someone who had traveled across mountains and rivers from a very distant place, and upon finally seeing him, felt only restraint and tolerance.

"Um, handsome guy on the right, your deskmate has completely drawn a blank on this problem. What would you do?" The photographer prompted the next part of the scenario.

Xia Chi-Yi looked over eagerly. "Hey, I don't know how to do this."

Whether due to the lighting or not, Xia Chi-Yi's eyes were round and bright, reminding Zhou Zhe-Xiao of the cat Fan Qing-Liang used to keep—every time it wanted a can of food, it would make that exact same expression.

Zhou Zhe-Xiao desperately wanted to ask: Back then... did you look at your monitor like that too?

Is that why he still hasn't gotten over you to this day?

Zhou Zhe-Xiao remained silent, and Xia Chi-Yi laughed awkwardly, figuring this guy probably hadn't even looked at a handful of test papers in his life, let alone understood them.

"Fine, I'll do it."

Zhou Zhe-Xiao suddenly reached out, pinched the edge of the test paper, and dragged it toward himself.

Xia Chi-Yi leaned in closer. "Hey, the scenario was supposed to be you teaching me how to do the problem! How did it turn into you doing it for me?"

"Didn't you say senior year was hard? If I were your deskmate, I wouldn't make you use your brain anymore. Just finishing it for you is easier, right?"

Xia Chi-Yi paused for two seconds, then his eyes curved into smiles as he bumped his shoulder against Zhou Zhe-Xiao's repeatedly. "You do it then! Let's see you try! Go ahead, tell me which question you can even understand?"