When it was the weekend, Xu Tangcheng rushed home like there was fire and wind on his heels, bringing a pile of presents with him. Yi Zhe knew he was coming back and went downstairs very early to wait for him, using the time to also feed the black cat that he had not seen for a long while.

The day after the results were out, Yi Zhe called Xu Tangcheng, saying that he wanted to treat him to a meal. Xu Tangcheng guessed that Yi Zhe probably wouldn't go to his class party so he said, "I remember you said that you have friends who helped you with your studies. Do you want to treat them? That way, you can also meet up with them."

No matter what, Xu Tangcheng believed that friendships formed in high school were not the same as those made in university, post-graduate and other stages of life. The teenage years were the most innocent, the most passionate, and the school grounds in those years were also the most irreplaceable.

On the other end, Yi Zhe thought for a while and said, "Okay." Then, he immediately added, "You should come too."

"It's not appropriate for me to join you and your schoolmates, is it?"

Xu Tangcheng wanted to say that after Yi Zhe met up with his school friends, he would take him out to eat something good but Yi Zhe said, "It's okay. You're also one of those who helped me."

When he put it like that, Xu Tangcheng's heart softened and he agreed.

"Where are we eating tonight?"

Yi Zhe took the things from Xu Tangcheng's hands and helped him carry them to his house.

"At first, I wanted to treat you guys to something nice but… I'm working at a skewers shop and the boss insisted that I hold the meet-up there." He watched Xu Tangcheng's face carefully and asked, "Do you want to eat that? If you don't, we'll go somewhere else. You pick."

"It's fine," Xu Tangcheng immediately said happily. "I've not had skewers in a long time. The skewers shops near our university are all restaurant-style and aren't as enjoyable as the open-air ones back home here."

Yi Zhe felt reassured but asked again, "Is Tangxi coming along? If she is, it's better not to go for skewers. Too smoky."

"She's not coming. She went to visit my uncle."

Yi Zhe nodded. The two of them reached upstairs. Yi Zhe passed the bag in his hand to Xu Tangcheng but Xu Tangcheng waved him off. "It's for you. A congratulatory gift."

Yi Zhe stared blankly. Xu Tangcheng smiled and tugged at one side of the bag to show him what was inside.

"It's nothing much. I bought a school bag for you and also a watch."

When he was at No. 1 High, everyone's books were kept at school all year round. There was only one and a half days of break in a month; practically no one brought their books home. Xu Tangcheng thought that Yi Zhe would definitely not have something like a school bag and so had gone to pick one out for him. As for the watch, it was a present to celebrate him entering the next stage of education that Xu Tangcheng had thought about for a long time before deciding.

Even though Yi Zhe didn't know the different brands of watches, looking at the style and the packaging, he knew that it must not have come cheap.

"You don't have to always buy things for me." He gripped the shopping bag and lowered his head, then lifted it again. "You…"

He wanted to say, You only need to come back, but when the words were on his lips, he wasn't sure if such words would be rather presumptuous.

"You…"

The door opposite suddenly opened. Zhou Hui poked her head out and smiled when she saw them. "I was just thinking that I heard some noise outside the door. Why didn't you come in when you're back already?"

"Right away." Afraid that Yi Zhe would again refuse the present, Xu Tangcheng took the chance to push the bag into his hands. "I'll go get changed and come out right after. Why don't you put these things away first?"

Yi Zhe looked at him, then at the gentle-faced Zhou Hui behind him, and nodded silently.

The watch was cold on his skin when he put it on. Yi Zhe quietly watched the second hand complete a few circles, and still felt that he hadn't looked at it enough. When Xu Tangcheng saw that he was wearing the watch, he was very happy and kept praising how good it looked on him.

"Looks like I have a good eye for style." When walking on the road, he even pulled Yi Zhe's hand over to himself to admire. "It caught my eye immediately. Don't you think that the design of the watch face looks especially good? And it looks even better on you than it does on me. My wrist is thinner and it looks too big on me. It doesn't suit me. The salesperson also didn't encourage me to buy it but at that time, I thought that it should fit just nice if you wear it."

He extended his own wrist and compared it with Yi Zhe's. Yi Zhe turned his head to see, then moved his forearm, adjusting it so that it was completely parallel to Xu Tangcheng's and also closer.

His own arm was indeed thicker and also more tanned.

The corners of Yi Zhe's mouth curved up.

Everyone had agreed to meet in front of the skewers shop and hence, there were only the two of them for the entire walk there. The journey wasn't long, just roughly more than ten minutes, but the conversation between the two of them never stopped. Not everything they talked about was very meaningful; most of the time, they were just idly talking nonsense. For example, when waiting for the lights to change, Xu Tangcheng saw a milk tea shop at the roadside and asked, "When did that milk tea place open here?"

Yi Zhe turned his head to see but he was actually also unsure of when the shop had started operating there. He seemed to not really pay attention to the changes in his surroundings. Even if he walked past this road every day, he would not spend any extra time looking around.

"It should have just opened recently."

"It looks pretty decent. Are the drinks good?"

"I haven't tried."

The lights had already changed, yet Yi Zhe didn't move.

"Do you want to try it? I'll go…" He paused, then changed his words. "Why don't we go try it out?"

"Better not." Xu Tangcheng thought about it. "Skewers and milk tea don't really go together."

As usual, after Xu Tangcheng made his decision, Yi Zhe nodded and made a noise of assent.

After a couple of steps, Xu Tangcheng exclaimed and asked, "Is there going to be a generation gap between me and you guys later?"

He counted on his fingers. No matter how he went about it, there were six years between them, enough for two gaps.

"What should I do if I can't understand what you guys say?" Thinking about this, Xu Tangcheng himself thought that it was funny. He felt that when he hung out with them, he would completely become an "old-timer."

Yi Zhe immediately said, "You just need to talk to me. You can understand what I say."

"How can I do that?" Xu Tangcheng laughed. "Don't worry. At the very least, I've spent a few hard years in the student council. I will do my best to keep up with you guys later and won't embarrass you."

"It's not that," Yi Zhe explained. "They're too noisy. Especially the one with dyed hair. He's called You Fang. He insisted on coming along. He talks a lot, you can ignore him."

Upon hearing that, Xu Tangcheng could only laugh and shake his head. "Nah, I need to appear like a proper older brother from next door."

Soon after the two of them reached, Zhao Weifan and the rest also arrived. The skewers shop's boss happened to be carrying a tray of peanuts and green soybeans out, and immediately called out when he saw them. Not content with greeting them, he also introduced them to his friends who were there to eat and was even so enthusiastic that Yi Zhe regretted agreeing to have the meet-up there.

"Aiyo, you don't know this but that table is all students who are good at studies." Like he was showing off his own children, the boss pointed at Yi Zhe and Zhao Weifan and said, "See them? Those two work here at my shop. They scored over 700!"

A round of admiring gasps and calls of "Amazing!" sounded from that table but Yi Zhe felt so awkward he wanted to dig himself a hole in the ground. He looked around him in a fluster and saw that at the side, Xu Tangcheng was hiding a smile behind his fist.

You Fang seemed to think it wasn't exciting enough. He lazily draped an arm across the back of the chair and brought his other arm up to clap on Jiang Ziyang next to him. "Boss, there's one more here who also scored over 700. In total, there are three people who got over 700 eating at your place!"

His smack sent Jiang Ziyang sprawling forward. The other boy reached up and pushed up his glasses.

Zhao Weifan glared at You Fang.

Hearing that, the boss immediately cried out. "Another over 700! Aiyo, how did you kids do it! That's right, have you all seen the large banner hung up at No. 1? Not only No. 1, quite a few main roads also have banners. I guess your names should be up there!"

When he brought that up, Yi Zhe felt even more awkward. No. 1 had also put up this kind of banner in the past but they usually waited until after the university enrollments before hanging up stuff like "Our hearty congratulations to [name], a student of our school, on his/her admission to University [name]." This year, it was probably because their results were indeed good and the school principal was so overjoyed that their three names had been displayed the moment the results were out. The very sight of them gave Yi Zhe goosebumps and he wasn't even willing to pass through those few roads.

When the boss was done showing off, he came over and rested both hands on the back of a chair. "This table is a table of academic tyrants."

"I'm not one," You Fang quickly cleared his name.

"Didn't you get over 600? You're also an academic tyrant."

The boss looked at Xu Tangcheng. "I think this one here is also an academic tyrant."

Yi Zhe had kept his head lowered the whole time, focusing on poking the green soybeans on the table. Now, he suddenly lifted his head and said to the boss, "Yeah, he goes to University A."

The boss exclaimed, a look of admiration on his face. Yi Zhe straightened his back and added, "He has a PhD."

When the boss had walked away shaking his head and sighing in admiration, Xu Tangcheng scooted closer to Yi Zhe. "I've only been studying for my PhD for a year."

"It's just a matter of time."

Hearing that the boss was still loudly proclaiming their deeds, Zhao Weifan bit on a peanut and covered her face, saying softly, "Does the entire city have to know that we're eating here this evening?"

Sitting at the side, You Fang laughed wickedly. "Who told you guys to be the top three?"

"Then why did you come along?" Zhao Weifan sniped back.

You Fang smiled at her. "I'll go wherever you go."

"Even Yi Zhe is aware enough to buy us a meal as thanks for tutoring him. You? We tutored you for so long yet you didn't even buy us a plate of green soybeans."

"Aiyo, jiejie, you can't slander others like this." You Fang leaned towards Zhao Weifan. "Didn't I ask you out to eat every day? You told me that you wanted to sleep, that you weren't free, that you wanted to play with your nephew, that you weren't free, that you needed to work, that you weren't free… and you didn't even take me along when you got a job. You didn't give me a chance to show my gratitude…"

Xu Tangcheng watched their lively bickering with great interest. After a while, he took a pair of chopsticks still in their wrapper and poked Yi Zhe. Yi Zhe moved his head closer and Xu Tangcheng asked him in a whisper, "Are they together?"

Yi Zhe shook his head and said into his ear, "He's going after Zhao Weifan but it's one-sided."

Xu Tangcheng nodded in understanding. He sat back straight but no matter how he looked at it, he felt that the girl had some intentions in that direction. Her every word clearly sounded like she disliked the guy yet they were neither too casual nor too serious, exuding an obvious feeling of intimacy.

The good thing about knowing the boss was that the boss was quick with their requests. Other customers had to urge and hurry him a few times while their table was covered with food in just a short while. Familiar with the place, Zhao Weifan and Yi Zhe went themselves to get a few bottles of beer and brought them back.

Yi Zhe put a bottle of Bei Bing Yang in front of Xu Tangcheng. "Drink this."

Xu Tangcheng didn't understand, "Why should I drink this?"

"Your alcohol tolerance isn't very good, is it? Don't drink alcohol." Yi Zhe pried open the cap with a bottle opener, then pushed the bottle towards Xu Tangcheng.

Xu Tangcheng swatted his wrist and slipped around his hand to take a bottle of beer.

"Who are you looking down on?"

Seeing the way he downed two mouthfuls before anything else, Yi Zhe raised his brows. In his heart, he thought that if Xu Tangcheng wanted to drink, then he should drink. At worst, he would just carry him home.

Xu Tangcheng indeed did not have a generation gap with the few of them. Not only that, it was also easy for him to talk with them, especially with You Fang. After drinking just two glasses of beer, You Fang had already switched to sitting next to Xu Tangcheng, his hand on Xu Tangcheng's shoulder and his mouth calling him ge repeatedly.

Who's your ge?

The sight made Yi Zhe cross and he downed an entire glass of beer.

When they were almost done with the meal, Xu Tangcheng suddenly reached out and nudged his thigh. Yi Zhe's entire body stiffened and he quickly steadied himself. "Yes?"

"Don't just keep drinking on your own," Xu Tangcheng whispered to him. "The others helped you so much, you should say something to thank them."

"Okay." Yi Zhe subconsciously obeyed his words and stood up with his glass raised. But after standing up, he realised that there was no need for such a grand gesture. Him suddenly standing up made everyone at the table look at him, including, of course, Xu Tangcheng.

But it would look too silly if he sat back down now.

"Erm…" Yi Zhe cleared his throat. "In the past, I was not very good at English and literature…"

He had never spoken such words, had never experienced such a situation. The moment he opened his mouth, he was stuck.

It was the noisy and bustling peak dinner hour and they were surrounded by chaos. He stammered, unable to continue with his whys and therefores. Awkward and flustered, his first reaction was to look for Xu Tangcheng.

When he turned his head, Xu Tangcheng was leaning back comfortably against the chair, hand crossed and resting lightly on his legs, head slightly tilted, face looking at him with a faint smile.

The lights of the revelry were reflected in his eyes and in the center was him, Yi Zhe.

His heart seemed to have just stirred awake after many years of lying in a deep sleep. Yi Zhe had no way to accurately describe the shock those eyes gave him. All he knew was that in all the years of his life until that point, he had never been looked at with a gaze like this.

In that pair of eyes, there was encouragement, belief, anticipation, and even…

Pride.

Pride. This became his faith for many years.

— END OF VOLUME 1 —