Chapter 1 Trespassing
In the sweltering heat of July, the sun blazes fiercely.
The Binzhou Medical University family compound was deserted in the afternoon, with only the incessant chirping of cicadas echoing in the air.
Peng Chengyi, carrying two heavy boxes of farm eggs, climbed the stairs, sweating profusely, and nudged the door of room 201 with her elbow.
"Chen Yubai, your boss is back! Aren't you going to come and greet me at once!"
After waiting a while and seeing no response, Peng Chengyi, whose wrists were starting to ache, simply put down the eggs and took out a bunch of jingling keys from the pocket of her denim shorts.
She looked down and carefully selected the bronze key, which clicked open the tightly closed door.
Then he picked up the eggs, kicked off his sandals, and walked barefoot into the house.
The sycamore trees outside the window are in full bloom, blocking most of the sunlight and making the living room a bit dim.
You can vaguely see a box of instant noodles with only red broth left on the coffee table.
They eat instant noodles and aren't afraid of malnutrition.
And they don't even bother to tidy up before going out; it'll spoil by the evening.
Peng Chengyi mentally grumbled, put down the egg, and picked up the instant noodle box with disdain.
Just as she was about to empty the sink, she heard the sound of a door opening behind her, accompanied by the boy's usual lazy voice—
"Breaking into my house is one thing, but why did you have to steal my instant noodle soup?"
Unexpectedly, he was actually at home. Peng Chengyi was so startled that her hand trembled, and the instant noodle box drew a dangerous arc in the air, almost spilling all the soup onto the ground.
Fortunately, she reacted quickly and managed to steady herself.
"Oh, and there are also acrobatics."
The person behind him added with a lazy smile.
"..."
Peng Chengyi's lips twitched slightly as she slowly turned her head.
Chen Yu came out of the bathroom, drying her wet hair with a white towel.
He was still enveloped in lingering mist, his figure tall and slender, the black T-shirt casually draped over his shoulders accentuated by his broad shoulders, creating a sharp silhouette.
Even in the dim light, his features still looked as if they had been drawn with charcoal.
However, his eyes droop lazily at the corners, giving him an air of unruliness and nonchalance.
After staring into his dark eyes for a moment, Peng Chengyi, regaining his composure, said fiercely, "Say one more word, and believe me, I'll dump instant noodles on your head!"
"And," she narrowed her eyes, "why didn't you come and open the door for me when you were home?"
"..." Chen Yubai shrugged noncommittally.
Peng Chengyi frowned even more displeasedly: "What do you mean? Don't give me riddles."
Chen Yubai chuckled and tugged at the corner of his lips: "It's not that you're not letting me talk, I just don't want you to smear instant noodles all over my head right after I took a shower."
Peng Chengyi: "..."
This dog deserves to have his head smashed; it would be a disservice to his mouth if he didn't.
Peng Chengyi took a deep breath and, suppressing her impulse, poured the instant noodles into the sink.
"Can you talk now?" She turned her face away.
"I was taking a shower just now, I didn't have time to open the door for you." Chen Yubai casually hung the towel on the clothes rack and walked towards her.
Peng Chengyi: "Why are you taking a shower in the middle of the day?"
"Eating instant noodles makes me sweat all over, it's uncomfortable," he said slowly.
"Then why don't you turn on the air conditioner?" Peng Chengyi looked at the boy who walked up to her.
He seems to have grown taller in the two weeks since I last saw him.
She had to look up to meet his lazy, lowered gaze.
This feeling of looking up at her made her feel a little uncomfortable.
She couldn't help but take two steps back, putting some distance between herself and him.
"The air conditioner is broken, and someone won't be here to fix it until this afternoon." Chen Yubai paused slightly, then asked her, "Why are you backing down?"
"Have you grown taller again? It makes my neck tired," Peng Chengyi said honestly.
"Maybe, I didn't measure it." Chen Yubai paused for two seconds, then suddenly took a long stride forward, shortening the distance between them.
The fresh scent of citrus shower gel emanating from the boy's body wafted into her nostrils without warning.
Peng Chengyi was stunned for a moment, and tried to back away, but her waist got stuck on the edge of the sink, leaving her with nowhere to retreat.
She could only wrinkle her small nose and tilt her head back: "What are you going to do?"
"Measure your height." Chen Yubai casually raised his hand, swept it over her head, and gestured in front of him. "Indeed, you only reach my shoulder now."
"...?" Peng Chengyi took two seconds to react, then suddenly straightened her face and stood up straight. "Impossible! That wasn't accurate. Measure me again! I was only a head shorter than you before."
"You still can't reach my chin even if I measure you again." Chen Yubai chuckled lazily, gently patting her head with his well-defined knuckles. "Shorty."
"...Who are you calling a little dwarf! I'm your boss, okay!" Peng Chengyi angrily slapped his wrist and glared at him.
"That was really ruthless." Chen Yubai raised his hand, a faint blush rising on his pale skin. "Doesn't your hand hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt. I'm not as fragile as you, my little brother." Peng Chengyi endured the burning pain in his palm and forced himself to maintain his boss's authority.
She was so angry with the dog that she forgot that forces are reciprocal.
"Oh." Chen Yubai glanced at her clenched fist, a smile playing on his lips. "But I remember, you insisted on having me as your little brother because I'm shorter than you. So shouldn't you call me 'brother' now?"
"..."
Upon hearing this, Peng Chengyi froze for a moment.
During the summer vacation before entering junior high school, she watched a bunch of Young and Dangerous movies on DVD at home, which sparked her idea of becoming a gang leader.
Given that she and Chen Yubai were born on the same day, month, and year, and that she refused to acknowledge that he was born 3 hours earlier than her, and that she had developed earlier than him, she used the excuse that he was shorter than her to force him to become her younger brother.
Three years have passed in the blink of an eye, and the high school entrance exam is over, but her height seems to have stopped at that summer.
He has only grown two centimeters taller so far, from 1.59 meters to 1.61 meters.
"Is that so? I don't remember."
Peng Chengyi, unwilling to give up her position, pretended to be stupid.
"Don't you remember? Then why did I become your underling?" He narrowed his long, narrow eyes and gave her amusement.
"Because I'm better than you in every way." She looked away guiltily and quickly changed the subject, "Um, I brought you a box of farm eggs from Grandma's house, I put them on the coffee table, thank me quickly."
Chen Yubai glanced back at the two boxes of eggs beside the coffee table, then looked at her with a playful expression and said, "Thank you, little sister."
Peng Chengyi: "..."
After a moment of silence, feeling a tightness in his chest, Peng Chengyi had a new idea. He immediately raised his eyebrows and said, "Call me Boss, and I'll take you to my house to enjoy the air conditioning."
Looking at the girl in front of him, with her cute round face, big cat-like eyes, and soft, sweet voice, he insisted that she call him "boss".
Chen Yubai couldn't help but want to laugh.
His smile made Peng Chengyi feel that he was looking down on her again.
He was immediately enraged and said, "Fine, you've got guts! I'm going home to enjoy the air conditioning myself. You can just die of heat."
After uttering those harsh words, Peng Chengyi flicked her high ponytail, stormed out of his house, and opened the door to apartment 202 across the street.
The house, which had been empty for half a month, was covered with a thin layer of dust on the floor, and the air inside was even more stuffy than Chen Yubai's house.
Peng Chengyi quickly pulled out the air conditioner remote, turned the most powerful standing air conditioner in the living room to 16 degrees Celsius, then sprawled on the sofa, turned on the TV, and started watching "Lonely Rock" for the second time.
This is her current favorite anime, which tells the story of a group of high school students growing up together while pursuing their dreams of becoming a band. Because the female lead, "Pochi-chan," has a socially awkward and slow-to-warm-up personality that is somewhat similar to hers, she can empathize with many of the plot points.
Although she wasn't as socially anxious as Boqi Jiang, Chen Yubai was indeed her only close friend from childhood to adulthood.
The only other person Chen Yubai was close to was Zhang Yang, his best friend from junior high school.
It's unclear whether it's because Chen Yubai is always by her side that it's difficult for others to approach her as friends, and she's not used to taking the initiative to interact with others.
If only she could join a band like Boqi, but she can't play any instruments.
Why don't you take advantage of this summer vacation to learn guitar?
But going to a completely unfamiliar environment to learn guitar is a considerable challenge for her, and she feels she has to persuade Chen Yubai to go along with her...
Just as I was thinking, there was a knock on the door.
The rhythm of that knocking is unmistakably Chen Yubai's.
Guessing that he might have come to her to apologize because he couldn't stand the heat, Peng Chengyi smiled, paused the TV, jumped up from the sofa, and cheerfully opened the door.
"Little brother, you've arrived."
Seeing her looking up with a smug expression on her clear, bright face, Chen Yubai flicked her smooth forehead with his finger: "Who are you calling 'little brother'?"
"Ouch." Peng Chengyi rubbed her forehead and glared at him. "Why are you still being stubborn? I won't let you in unless you call me 'boss'!"
"Oh, I've taken all the eggs." Chen Yubai waved the free-range eggs in his hand at her and turned around gracefully.
Peng Chengyi then realized that she had left in such a hurry that she had forgotten about the box of farm eggs at her home.
If her mother finds out when she gets back, she'll scold her for being so forgetful, not even knowing how to deliver an egg properly.
"Wait!" Peng Chengyi quickly grabbed the hem of his T-shirt. When his mischievous gaze swept over, she cleared her throat in a nonchalant manner and said, "Since you helped me bring the eggs back, I'll skip the 'boss' title. Come in."
"Oh." Chen Yubai's lips curled up almost imperceptibly as he casually followed her into the house. "Where are your parents?"
"They went to my grandma's to deliver eggs, but I was too lazy to go with them, so I got off the bus and came back first." Peng Chengyi sat cross-legged on the sofa, picked up the remote control, and pressed play again. "I shared this show with you before, did you watch it?"
Chen Yubai spread his long legs and sat down next to her, glancing at the TV: "I've watched it."
"What do you think?" she asked tentatively, glancing at him.
He leaned lazily against the sofa, his damp, tousled hair hanging over his forehead, and replied in a lukewarm tone, "Not bad."
"Did it ever make you want to form a band?" Her clear, almond-shaped eyes lit up.
"No." He paused, turning his face away. "What? You have this urge?"
"Yes!" Peng Chengyi nodded, and said enthusiastically, "I want to be a guitarist!"
"When did you learn to play the guitar?" Chen Yubai raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know how yet, but I’d like to learn this summer. What do you think?” Peng Chengyi blinked.
"Didn't you say you were going to play games this summer? I've already bought all those games you sent me." Chen Yubai looked at her speechlessly.
“That can wait. I have higher goals and ideals now,” Peng Chengyi said seriously.
Chen Yubai: "...Could you refund my game money?"
Peng Chengyi pouted: "It's not like I'm not going to play anymore, you're so stingy!"
Chen Yubai was both annoyed and amused, and said, "Me, stingy? Whose allowance did you steal to buy that whole cabinet of comic books in your room?"
Peng Chengyi pursed his lips guiltily, but still refused to admit defeat, saying, "Wasn't that tribute you gave me as my subordinate?"
Chen Yubai was stunned, then completely amused by her, his dark eyes glancing at her with a chilling gaze.
"Peng Chengyi, have I spoiled you too much, giving you the illusion that you can ride roughshod over me?"
A note from the author:
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Here we go! This is my first attempt at writing a childhood sweetheart campus romance novel. It's based on the college entrance exam format from ten years ago, with divisions into arts and sciences. The city and schools are fictional, and the timeline isn't strictly adhered to, so recent anime elements might appear. Overall, it's a story about youth and growth, with a small ensemble cast, slice-of-life, and a bit slow-paced. It's set in high school and university, and there's no romance between minors. I hope you all enjoy it! [Let me see][Let me see][Let me see]
The commentary section is now open! Let's give away some red envelopes in the comments! Thank you for your support!
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