Chapter 5

No matter where the night market is, it's always bustling. Lu Bai grabbed Zhang Xiaotian's arm and said, "Hold on to me. Let's not get separated."

"Yeah." Zhang Xiaotian nodded and let him hold his arm. Lu Bai's body temperature spread through the skin of his palm, making his mouth dry.

"Let's go eat the skewers from that place and see if they're as delicious as the one in front of our high school." Lu Bai saw that a fried skewers stall was very popular, so he pulled Zhang Xiaotian over.

The two of them tried everything they saw, and before they were halfway there, Lu Bai had a lot of things in his hands.

"Let's find a place to sit and eat slowly," Zhang Xiaotian said, "don't buy any more. You may not be able to finish all this."

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Lu Bai followed Zhang Xiaotian and sat down in an empty seat at a barbecue stall.

"No matter how many times I eat, none of them are as delicious as the ones at the entrance of the high school." Lu Bai smacked his lips and said.

"Then you can go back and eat it during the holidays." Zhang Xiaotian saw that there was sauce on the corner of his mouth, so he took out a piece of paper and wanted to hand it to him. But just as he stretched out his hand, he wanted to take it back.

"Then will you go back with me?" Lu Bai suddenly grabbed his hand before he could take it back and asked.

"Where are you going back to?" Zhang Xiaotian was stunned for a moment, then finally understood what he meant. "Of course I have to go back. Where else can I go?" His mother had left him an apartment there. It was where they used to live as a family of three, but now he lived alone.

"Then let's wait until we get back and eat at the school gate." Lu Bai let go of his hand and said to him with a smile.

"Help me take a look, my eyes are a little itchy." After returning to the hotel, Zhang Xiaotian just put down his bag when he heard Lu Bai calling him.

"Let me see." Zhang Xiaotian went to wash his hands. "Sit on the bed."

Lu Bai couldn't help but rub his eyes, but Zhang Xiaotian pulled his hand away as soon as he raised it. "Dirty!" He gently pulled open Lu Bai's eyelids. "It seems a little red. Did river water get into your eyes?"

"It seems so." Lu Bai thought about it.

"I'll go buy some eye drops." Zhang Xiaotian put on his coat again. "You wash your face and clean up first."

Zhang Xiaotian went downstairs to a nearby pharmacy. When he came back, there was a man and a woman standing at the front desk. They looked like a couple.

Zhang Xiaotian didn't stop and trotted back to the room. Before he knocked on the door, Lu Bai opened it from the inside.

"I knew it was you when I heard the footsteps. You weigh only a few pounds, but your steps are very heavy." Lu Bai pulled him in.

Zhang Xiaotian followed the force and walked inside. He stumbled at the threshold and grabbed something. When he stood firm, he realized that his hand was on Lu Bai's chest. Lu Bai came to open the door for him, wearing only a pair of pants.

"Have you taken a shower?" Zhang Xiaotian quickly withdrew his hand, swallowed subconsciously, and quickly lowered his head to walk inside.

"Yeah." Lu Bai followed him.

"Why don't you put on more clothes?" Zhang Xiaotian held his shoulders and pushed him onto the bed. "Lie down."

"Isn't it the same in my dormitory?" Lu Bai was puzzled.

Yes, wasn't he also shirtless like this in the dormitory? Why didn't I care so much before? Zhang Xiaotian was stunned by the question and could only say vaguely: "How can it be the same here as in the dormitory? Don't ask, just close your eyes."

After applying the eye drops, Lu Bai was about to say something when Zhang Xiaotian covered his mouth.

"You've talked too much today," Zhang Xiaotian said. "It's time to go to bed. We can talk tomorrow if we have anything to say."

"You slept for so long in the afternoon, how can you still sleep now?" Lu Bai's lips moved under his hand, and Zhang Xiaotian felt his palm wet by the heat from his words.

"It's none of your business." Zhang Xiaotian didn't take his hand back.

"Chat with me." Lu Bai opened his eyes, took Zhang Xiaotian's hand from his face, and placed it on his chest. There was only one bedside lamp on in the room, and under the dim light, Lu Bai's eyes looked very bright.

"Close your eyes." Zhang Xiaotian retracted his hand. "Close your eyes and we'll chat."

"Okay." Lu Bai closed his eyes again obediently.

"What do you want to talk about?" Zhang Xiaotian asked him after lying down on the other bed.

"Tell me where you went to study in your senior year of high school. Is it far away?" Lu Bai asked him.

"It's not far, still within the province." Zhang Xiaotian said. "I'll go back to take my exams."

"I didn't even see you."

"You don't know which test center I was at, so it's normal that you didn't see me."

"Who will be your deskmate over there?"

"Why are you asking that?" Zhang Xiaotian smiled. "Even if I tell you, you wouldn't know him."

"Then are you on good terms with him? Are we on good terms?" Lu Bai sat up with a flutter.

"Go to sleep, lie down!" Zhang Xiaotian was shocked. "What's wrong with you so late at night?"

"Oh." Lu Bai lay back down.

"I'm already in my third year of high school, so how can I have time to make friends?" Zhang Xiaotian recalled, "I don't even recognize all the faces."

"That's good." Lu Bai muttered softly over there.

"Why are you like a child?" Zhang Xiaotian smiled softly.

"I'm a child, so what?" Lu Bai said, "Promise me that you and I will be the best friends in the world from now on."

"Stop making trouble." Zhang Xiaotian said.

"I'm not making a fuss. Tell me now." Lu Bai didn't let him go at all. "I'll sleep well if you tell me."

Zhang Xiaotian was at a loss: "I'm good to you. I'm the best in the world, okay?"

"You said this, don't forget it." Lu Bai turned over and faced him.

"I can't forget it." Zhang Xiaotian closed his eyes. "Go to sleep, Lu Bai, be careful with your eyes."

As a result, neither of them fell asleep.

After hearing the couple opposite him pouring their hearts out to each other for the third time late at night, Zhang Xiaotian gritted his teeth and said, "Lu Bai, what kind of room did you book? The soundproofing is terrible."

"God knows, this is not my fault." Lu Bai also frowned. "Do you think the two people across the street know that this room is not soundproof?"

"I don't know." said Zhang Xiaotian.

"How can you be so sure?" Lu Bai asked.

"What am I so sure about?"

"Don't you mean they don't know?"

"You..." Zhang Xiaotian was so angry that he wanted to curse, and turned over with his back to Lu Bai.

"Ah, are you angry?" Lu Bai quickly got up and pounced on Zhang Xiaotian's bed, knocking him down. "Classmate, good day, I was wrong. I was just teasing you. Don't be angry."

"Get up, get up!" Zhang Xiaotian was hit directly, and used his hands and feet to pull him off him. "I'm not mad at you, it's just too noisy and I can't sleep. I'm upset."

"Then I'll sleep with you!" Lu Bai took advantage of the situation and slipped into Zhang Xiaotian's bed.

"What are you doing?" Zhang Xiaotian was completely afraid to move.

Lu Bai had just been in the bathroom for a short while, and now this happened again. Does Lu Bai really not know how to keep his distance?

"Why are you so repulsive?" Lu Bai rested his head on Zhang Xiaotian's pillow and rubbed it. "You'll definitely sleep better with me warming your bed."

"Go back quickly!" Zhang Xiaotian felt his whole body stiffen. "This bed is too small. Go back to your bed."

"I don't." Lu Bai didn't move.

"Lu Bai! I really need to sleep!" Zhang Xiaotian started to push him. He would definitely not be able to sleep all night with him around!

"Really?" Lu Bai said, his evil plan succeeding. "Then call me Master!"

"Master." Zhang Xiaotian readily followed suit.

"Oh, you just...wait, what did you say? Say it again!"

"Nice words don't have to be said twice." Who knew how many times Lu Bai would pester him and make him call him that? Zhang Xiaotian decided to give up communicating.

"Look at you, you don't know how to be funny." Lu Bai pouted and turned over, covering himself with the quilt more tightly. "If you don't want to call me that, forget it. I've heard it once, and that's enough."

I don’t know when the situation on the other side stopped. When Zhang Xiaotian woke up, it was already dawn and Lu Bai was still sleeping beside him.

When Lu Bai learned that Zhang Xiaotian had changed his part-time job, he did not seem as happy as Zhang Xiaotian had imagined, which surprised Zhang Xiaotian a little.

"I told you I would help you..." Lu Bai was a little unhappy, and then asked him, "Also, when did you become so close to Xu Yan?"

"Not particularly good, huh?" Zhang Xiaotian was a little puzzled by the question. "He's a local, wouldn't it be easier for him to find a part-time job than for you? Besides, isn't Xu Yan such a warm-hearted person?"

"Okay." Lu Bai looked a little aggrieved. "Then I'll go with you after class."

"How are you going to accompany me when I become a tutor?" Zhang Xiaotian asked, "Why don't you go find Li An?"

"We only met once last time because I helped him, and I haven't contacted him since."

"What about others?" Zhang Xiaotian asked again.

"There's no one else."

"Then just play with your phone in the dormitory." Zhang Xiaotian really had no idea what to do with him. "Otherwise, find something to do yourself. I can't take you with me as a tutor."

"You're so heartless." Lu Bai pouted artificially, "I'm going to ignore you."

After class, Zhang Xiaotian discovered that Lu Bai really didn't follow him.

Not only that day, but for several days in a row, Lu Bai didn't bother him after class.

Maybe he met some friends, or... he was really angry with him?

Zhang Xiaotian pondered and pressed the pen a few times.

"Teacher, are you worried about something?" The child who was sitting quietly doing his homework asked him.

"It's okay." Zhang Xiaotian put the pen back. "Are there any questions you don't understand?"

"Not yet." The child shook his head and looked at the book in front of Zhang Xiaotian. "Teacher, do you also like to black out the closed structures in the words?"

"Ah?" Zhang Xiaotian didn't react to what he was saying.

"Look, the character '結' (result) has a '口' underneath it," the child wrote on a piece of scratch paper. "Just black out the '口'. I like to play that way, too."

Zhang Xiaotian looked at the draft paper, then back at his book. He had never noticed this habit of his.

"Do the exercises well." Zhang Xiaotian closed the book. "Check them for me when you're done."

"Oh." The child pouted and began to do the questions listlessly again.

This kid is just like Lu Bai. Zhang Xiaotian couldn't help laughing, but when he thought of Lu Bai, he felt upset.

I really wonder what Lu Bai is doing.

"Teacher Zhang." Zhang Xiaotian walked out of the child's room, and the child's parents hurried to greet him. "Does he listen to you? Has he made any progress in the past few days?"

"Don't worry, the child's grades are improving little by little. He has been doing well in his homework recently," said Zhang Xiaotian.

"Thank you for your concern." The woman in front of him was well-maintained, her age difficult to tell. "My child doesn't have many friends and doesn't get along well with anyone, but he gets along very well with you. If his grades can improve, our child will have to rely on you in the future."

"No, you're welcome." Zhang Xiaotian said a few more polite words before leaving. When he reached the gate of the community, a figure suddenly jumped out from the corner.

Zhang Xiaotian was so frightened that he took a big step back. He lost his balance and was about to fall down when the man grabbed his arm and pulled him into his arms.

"Lu Bai!" Zhang Xiaotian didn't come to his senses until he smelled a familiar scent. He hit Lu Bai, "You scared me to death!"

"Hehe, I was wrong. I'm here to pick you up after class, Teacher Zhang." Lu Bai lowered his head and grinned at him.

"Let's try a more normal way of appearance next time." Zhang Xiaotian stood up and said to him.

"Okay." Lu Bai nodded. "I'll do as you say."