After the rain, the air smelled like a muddy camphor leaf.

Le Zhishi was stepped on by the orange cat that jumped onto the bed. He opened his eyes in a daze and realized that he had overslept.

It was only a few times a year, but it happened on the first day of school. How unlucky. Hearing Auntie Rong calling him from downstairs, Le Zhishi hurriedly responded a few times. The cat stepped over his stomach again and lightly jumped off the bed. He also quickly washed up and changed his clothes, grabbed his schoolbag and ran out.

“The alarm didn’t ring?” Lin Rong calmly poured out a glass of milk. “Eat breakfast. The rice noodles were mixed with the braised beef yesterday. It’s delicious.”

Le Zhishi had already run to the entrance. He didn’t have time to eat breakfast.

“I forgot to set a new alarm because I didn’t have morning self-study before the opening ceremony. Aunt Rong, where’s brother Song Yu? ”

The little Pomeranian at home followed behind him and sat on the ground obediently to watch him change his shoes.

“Your brother left early. Isn’t today the opening ceremony? He said he was on duty today. Do third-year high school students have to be on duty?” Lin Rong put down the glass, wiped the water off her hands, and turned around. “The opening ceremony of the junior high school should be held together with the senior high school …”

When she turned around, Le Zhishi had already opened the door. The Pomeranian crazily scratched his leg and wouldn’t let him go.

Lin Rong anxiously shouted, “Le! You can’t not eat breakfast! ”

Le Zhishi squatted down, rubbed the dog’s head, kissed it, and left in a hurry. “I’m going to buy rice noodles. Bye bye, Aunt Rong.”

“Don’t eat anything!”

Out of the house, Le Zhishi rode his bike straight to the breakfast stall outside the community. His grandmother, who had been selling rice noodles before, didn’t open the stall today. Le Zhishi heard her say that her waist hurt. He estimated that she would have to rest for a few days. He must buy more next time he saw her. The soup noodles shop next door was fragrant. He could smell the fragrance of stewed beef offal from afar.

“Le, is it too early? Come and eat some powder. ” The owner of the beef noodle shop pulled out a ladle with rice noodles from the big soup pot. The hot soup under the ladle was like white satin, rising and falling.

“I’m going to be late, Uncle Chen. Let’s eat tomorrow!” Le Zhishi stopped the car and ran into the convenience store. He didn’t have time to make a choice. He took a bag of cornbread, paid for it, and left. This was one of the few snacks that Le Zhishi could buy in the convenience store.

It rained all night last night. The rain in this city was never gentle. It was always accompanied by lightning and thunder, which made him unable to sleep for the entire night. She remembered that the first night she had arrived at Song Yu’s house, it had also been this torrential rain, with lightning tearing through the night sky. When he heard the thunder, he was so scared that he cried. He ran straight to Song Yu’s room and climbed onto his bed.

From then on, he instinctively began to rely on his brother, who was not related to him by blood.

Le Zhishi’s father, Yue Yi, and Song Yu’s father, Song Jin, were close friends who had grown up together.

The old man in the Yue family had passed away early. Before they moved to England, Yue Yi was almost a non-staff member of the Song family. They ate and lived together. Yue Yi liked extreme sports. Once, he met the English girl, Olivia, while rock climbing. The two of them fell in love and gave birth to the cute Le Zhishi. But their happy time was too short. Eleven years ago, the couple was skiing in the Alps. They were accidentally caught in an avalanche and both died.

Le Zhishi lost his parents overnight. Even Song Jin, who had flown to England to pick him up, didn’t know how to explain all this to a three-year-old child.

At that time, Le Zhishi grabbed Song Jin’s sleeve and only knew how to sweetly call him uncle. He didn’t know what death was and what foster care was. He was brought back to the Song family, and from then on, he took root in Jiangcheng.

The red light at the intersection forced Le Zhishi to stop the bicycle. He had woken up too quickly in the morning and was still a little dazed. His gaze was fixed on the light on the red light, and his thoughts were jumping and scattered. Last night’s dream was only a broken silhouette in his mind. It was as if he had turned into a small ball, following Song Yu around. He couldn’t even speak Chinese properly and only knew how to pester people.

Lin Rong always teased Le Zhishi with a jealous tone, saying that the first Chinese word he learned was “brother”.

However, Song Yu was a man of few words and was neither cold nor warm to anyone. Fortunately, although he didn’t pay much attention to Le Zhishi, he wouldn’t chase him away and let him pester him. It was just that when they grew up and started primary school, Le Zhishi’s mixed-race appearance became more and more eye-catching.

Song Yu was already outstanding, and with a foreign child as a burden, he had to deal with gossip about his family almost every day. After a long time, Song Yu really lost his patience. It just so happened that he moved to a new house and left the previous school district and primary school classmates. After entering junior high school, he set three major rules:

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You’re not allowed to call me brother outside.

You’re not allowed to go to school or go home together.

You’re not allowed to let others know that you’re staying at my house.

At first, Le Zhishi couldn’t accept it at all. Being separated from Song Yu when he entered junior high school was a big enough blow to him, not to mention not being able to call him brother. However, he had always been a child who followed Song Yu’s lead, and abiding by the rules came first. After all, compared to being ignored, Le Zhishi could still accept keeping a distance from him outside.

In Le Zhishi’s heart, Song Yu was like a benchmark that always stood in front of him, and he had been chasing after him since he was a toddler. When Song Yu was six years old and he was three years old, he stumbled out of the house with his brother to see ants moving house. Song Yu was ten years old and he was seven years old. It was the first time he went to primary school with his brother, and he was so happy that he sang on the bus that his mouth was covered. Song Yu was fifteen years old and he was twelve years old. Under the hot sun, he held a small electric fan, and the grandfather who sold ice cream gave him a bench so that he could sit and wait for his brother to come out of the examination room. He still remembered that he ate three popsicles that day, and Song Yu didn’t notice. He gave up taking the school bus for him and took a taxi to eat crayfish.

The crayfish that day were especially big, and he ate twenty-three of them. Fifteen of them were peeled for him by Song Yu because he was too slow. He remembered retorting, “Although I don’t know how to peel crayfish, I’m good at hiding, right? Your classmates didn’t see me.”

Song Yu didn’t think so. “But I saw you at a glance, so you didn’t hide well.”

Le Zhishi always insisted that he was good at hiding, including his relationship with Song Yu. Later, he had to admit that Song Yu was right.

“The light is green, let’s go.”

The sound of the road interrupted his thoughts. Looking at the time, Le Zhishi stepped on the pedals and sped up. His thin body arched as he pedaled hard. The early September wind was still warm, drying his body and making his summer school shirt puff up. Le Zhishi’s slightly curly brown hair glowed golden under the sun, fluffy and soft.

He sped all the way to school. Just as he parked his bike, he saw a large group of people patrolling the gate. He vaguely felt that he had forgotten something.

“Le!” Someone suddenly patted his shoulder. Le Zhishi was startled and turned around. It was his close friend and deskmate, Jiang Yufan.

Le Zhishi’s surname was special. Many people would pronounce it as Le, which meant happy, at first glance, rather than Le, which meant music. The frequency of his mistakes was so high that he had a nickname — Le. Not only his family, but his close friends and classmates also called him that.

After getting what he wanted, Jiang Yufan’s face was full of pride. He touched his small crew cut that his mother had forced him to clean. “Why did you come to school on time today?”

“I slept.” Le Zhishi pulled Jiang Yufan and rushed to the school gate. “There are so many people at the gate.”

Jiang Yufan was calm. “The more you don’t attend morning self-study, the more people are late.” He saw the student on duty wearing an armband from afar. He checked his school uniform and glanced at Le Zhishi.

“Hey, wait.” Jiang Yufan grabbed him. “Le, where’s your nameplate?”

Le Zhishi, who was walking quickly, suddenly woke up. He touched his chest. Sure enough, it was empty.

“Oh no. Aunt Rong always takes off my nameplate when she washes my clothes. I left in a hurry today and forgot about it. ”

“What should we do?” Jiang Yufan tiptoed and looked at the gate. “Damn, Compass is also here.”

Compass was the nickname of the Dean of Junior High School. Because he was tall, skinny, and meticulous, everyone called him that.

Le Zhishi was even more anxious. Compass was famous for being very serious. He even had to report when a girl changed her school uniform. Today was the opening ceremony. Maybe he would be on the list later.

He pulled his bag and tried to cover it. “Jiang Yufan, help me cover it.”

“Okay, maybe we can fool them.”

Jiang Yufan covered half of his body. The two of them quickly walked to the gate like conjoined twins. They tried to sneak past a group of students who were being checked.

Compass’s voice was very sharp. “You over there, take out your uniform collar. There will be a video of the opening ceremony later. It will be uploaded to the school’s official website. Your image is the image of Peiya. Do you understand? ”

Le Zhishi clutched his bag tightly. He stuck close to Jiang Yufan and moved forward with his head lowered.

“What’s wrong with your pants?”

“Teacher, my school pants are not dry. I’m wearing a pair of similar …”

“Two pairs of school pants are not enough for you to change?!”

Le Zhishi lowered his head even more. He had already prepared an apology.

“Stop.”

He was so scared that he stopped in his tracks. But he still did not dare to raise his head.

It’s not me. It’s definitely not me.

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“I’m talking about you.”

Compass walked closer. The student on duty was standing next to him. “Girl with short hair, where’s your nameplate? Which class are you from? ”

Le Zhishi had just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Compass say, “I’ve said it countless times. You have to wear a student’s nameplate when you come to school. Is it that hard to do? Who else isn’t wearing one? ”

Me too.

Le Zhishi’s body stiffened. It was as if a strange hand had suddenly appeared and pulled him out of the crowd. He slipped in front of Compass and pointed at the piece of cloth without a nameplate on his chest.

At the moment when his nerves were at their most tense, his arm was actually grabbed. His heart skipped a beat. Le Zhishi subconsciously apologized, “I’m sorry …”

But in the next second, the hand followed the line of his arm and grabbed his hand. Then, the hand separated his fingers in the crowd. A piece of metal with a warm body temperature was stuffed into it.

It sounded mysterious, but Le Zhishi recognized who it was just by looking at the hand. He looked up and saw a cold and familiar face.

The person was wearing a high school uniform with a red armband on his arm. Under the direct sunlight, his brows were slightly furrowed.

It was none other than his “big brother” who lived under the same roof as him.

Le Zhishi’s eyes widened slightly. His light-colored pupils were as clear as amber under the sunlight. When he saw Song Yu, a layer of electricity ran through his body. He instinctively wanted to say something, but in the next second, he instinctively swallowed the word “big brother” that was at the tip of his tongue.

When their eyes met, Song Yu let go of his hand and looked away. His gaze was indifferent. It was as if they were really just a senior on duty and a junior who had violated the rules. He glanced at his watch and took out a pen from his pocket to jot down the latecomer list.

Everyone’s attention was still on Compass and the girl who was being scolded. No one noticed this secret exchange. Le Zhishi lowered his head and looked at the nameplate in his hand. It was engraved with the words [Peiya Junior School Le Zhishi]. Before Compass noticed, Le Zhishi quickly pinned the nameplate on the front of his shirt.

As soon as he put down his hand, he saw a pair of shrewd eyes glance at him. Le Zhishi looked up and smiled at Compass. He was born with an innocent face and a pair of pure-hearted dog eyes. Although his appearance did not make him attractive, his beautiful face made it hard for people to be harsh on him.

“You were almost late.” Even so, Compass still let him go. “Go in.”

“Okay.” Le Zhishi nodded obediently. “Thank you, sir.”

At that moment, the school clock tower rang. He could not help but turn around. Song Yu was as tall as a redwood in the crowd. He looked like the kind of person who would shine when he appeared in a comic.

There was not much time left. The whole class had to gather in the classroom before the opening ceremony. Le Zhishi did not want to be late. He ran towards the classroom with all his might. However, Jiang Yufan felt that something was amiss. “No, Le Zhishi, stop! I saw everything! ”

“I’m going to be late. I’m going to be late.” Le Zhishi ran forward. His heart was beating fast.

Jiang Yufan chased after him until he was out of breath. “Don’t … don’t interrupt. Tell me the truth. How did your nameplate end up in Song Yu’s hands?”

Maybe … he just picked it up.”

“Picked it up?”

How could he pick it up when it was so small?

“I don’t believe you!” Jiang Yufan frowned and followed Le Zhishi to the second floor of the middle school. He continued to ask, “Even if he picked it up, how did he know that you were Le Zhishi?”

Le Zhishi asked back, “Am I not easy to recognize?”

“That’s true …” With his mixed-race face, Le Zhishi was one of the most popular students when he first entered the school. However, Jiang Yufan still found it strange, “I was scared to death just now. When I saw Song Yu’s armband, I thought you were done for. ”

Le Zhishi held onto the stairs and gasped, “Was it necessary?”

“Why not? You broke the rules on the first day of school and even met Song Yu, a cold big shot, on duty. When he pulled you, I thought he was going to do you on the spot. ”

When they were almost there, Le Zhishi turned around and shushed him. He quickly walked into the classroom.

Coincidentally, the class monitor was taking attendance. Le Zhishi tried his best to hold his breath and stood at the door. His hair was curled up from running, “Miss …”

The homeroom teacher, Wang Qian, was a young male teacher. He taught Chinese and could get along well with the students. However, he was also ruthless when he was strict. Fortunately, Le Zhishi had always been the representative of good students. He was never late, never skipped class, never caused trouble, and had good grades. Miss Wang didn’t give him a hard time, “Come in.”

However, Jiang Yufan wasn’t so lucky.

Wang Qian had a playful smile on his face, “Isn’t this the permanent guest of the Tardiness Team of Class 8?”

“Miss Wang,” Jiang Yufan touched his buzz cut, “I’m just two steps behind Le Zhishi.”

“Yes, I think it’s good to be more standard.” Wang Qian clasped his hands behind his back. “From today onwards, you are only allowed to be two steps behind your deskmate. Otherwise, you will be punished by standing in the morning self-study session.”

“Ah?” Jiang Yufan frowned. The students of Class 8 who were watching the fun all laughed.

“What are you yelling for? Come in. ” After Wang Qian finished speaking, he began to warn the other students, “I don’t care if it’s just a small fight, but at the opening ceremony, behave yourselves. If you’re caught by the Dean, I won’t bail you out. It’s fine if you’re sentenced publicly. If you become famous in school before entering high school, you won’t have studied in junior high school for nothing.”

Everyone was snickering, except for Le Zhishi, who had yet to recover from his panting. He tried to stuff his bag into the desk, but he couldn’t. Then he realized what was in the drawer. He reached in and took out an exquisite sapphire blue gift box.

Strange. He took a closer look.

“Who gave it to you? It’s so cool. I got a gift on the first day of school. “Jiang Yufan leaned on the table and teased in a low voice.” It’s good to be handsome. ”

“No, it’s not.” Le Zhishi raised his head and glanced at Wang Qian. He opened the gift box. There was an exquisite white fountain pen and a bottle of ink. There was a card on top. He didn’t touch the fountain pen. He just opened the card and read the words on it. Then he put it back in the drawer.

Jiang Yufan, who was always gossiping, came over. “Which class is it from? This fountain pen doesn’t look cheap. ”

Le Zhishi pursed his lips, as if he was thinking.

“After the opening ceremony, we won’t go home, right?”

“No, we probably have to go back to the classroom. Why? ”

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“I want to go to Class 11 and return this.”

Everyone in the class stood up and prepared to go to the school gymnasium. Jiang Yufan didn’t understand Le Zhishi’s action of returning the gift. “No way, Le. If you really return it, the little girl will be sad.”

Le Zhishi was a little hungry. He unzipped his bag and took out some bread. He tore it open and bit off half of it. He said vaguely, “If I don’t return it, she might think that I agreed. But I didn’t. That’s not right. And I’m only in the third year of middle school. I can’t date. ”

Jiang Yufan looked incredulous. “Oh my god, where did you come from? That guy in the next class had three girlfriends last semester. Fine, you won’t understand a girl’s feelings when she’s heartbroken. ”

Heartbroken.

Le Zhishi really couldn’t feel it. But he weighed the seriousness of heartbreak and being cheated and made his decision.

“I’ll talk to her.” Le Zhishi quickly chewed the bread in his mouth and stood up with the other students. A brand new medicine box fell out of his bag. He bent down to pick it up. He wanted to put it in his pocket, but the pocket of his school pants was too small. So he tried to tear open the package, but the quality of the plastic was too good.

“Let’s go.” Jiang Yufan pulled him.

“Oh, okay.”

The whole school flooded into the gymnasium. When he came in, he found that there was no trash can. Le Zhishi quickly finished the last bite and folded the bag in half and stuffed it into his school pants pocket.

Peiya was one of the most famous high schools in the area. Compared to the quiet and thrifty performance-driven education next door, this school was quite western-style. Many students went abroad to further their studies. There was even a saying that “only half of Peiya’s third-year students took the college entrance exam.” Plus, the school was rich and could afford to expand. The middle and high school departments had never been separated.

With such a large number of students, the annual opening ceremony was naturally a big event on campus. No matter how free and unorganized it was, this day couldn’t be wrong.

The high school students went in first and sat in the auditorium according to their class. Compass stood in front of them and said, “Third year, Class 6 to Class 11, please sit in the middle.”

“Huh?”

“Why is it the blue class again?”

“We’re going to sit on the floor again.”

Peiya Junior School’s summer uniform was light blue short-sleeved shirts, while the high school uniform was white. The winter knitted vest was also the same color. Over time, everyone used the uniform colors to refer to the junior high school.

Everyone looked for their seats. After not seeing each other for the whole summer, the first thing the girls did when they gathered was gossip. After all, this was always a favorite topic.

“Did you see the confession wall last night?”

“No, who is it this time?”

“It’s a second-year student. She confessed to Song Yu. She wrote a lot and said that she had a crush on him for a whole year.”

“Wow, the school hunk … is so brave.”

“Is there a school hunk in our school? Why haven’t I voted? ”

“No, but Song Yu can be considered to be publicly acknowledged. She actually dares to pursue him. I’ve never seen him get close to any girl. Not even the high school, let alone the junior high school. ”

Hearing Song Yu’s name, Le Zhishi was a little happy, but also a little uncomfortable. His face was itchy. He pulled his hair, looked around, and slowly followed the crowd. The class monitor arranged for everyone to sit on the floor. Le Zhishi sat at the back of the boys’ group. The girls in front of them gossiped about the second-year girl confessing to the senior high school student to the few Peiya Junior School hunks.

“Then there was an argument below the confession wall. Someone said that Song Yu has a poker face and doesn’t care about anyone. He’s not even as good as Le Zhishi from the junior high school. I’m dying of laughter. Gossiping about my own class. ”

“What do you mean by not even as good as him? Le is very good-looking. Isn’t his mixed-race face good looking? And he has a good personality. ”

“Someone said that he’s too young. But then it became the junior high school and the senior high school. That way, there was no more debate. ”

“Hahaha, that’s true. They’re the kind of rich skins that stand in a crowd. When are they going to stand together and compare? ”

“They can’t even stand in the same frame. There’s no interaction at all.”

Jiang Yufan pricked up his ears and listened back and forth. He was speechless. “Little Le is not bad. He’s almost as good as Song Yu.”

Le Zhishi was so focused on stretching his neck to look for Song Yu in the audience that he didn’t hear the girls talking about him. He was a little confused by Jiang Yufan’s cue. “Huh?”

Who knew that the girl diagonally in front of him would turn her head at this time with a gossipy face. “Le, what do you think of Song Yu? Except for his personality. ”

This was the first time he was asked about Song Yu in school since he entered junior high school.

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Le Zhishi felt guilty. It was the same feeling he had when he was hiding under the sun to wait for Song Yu. He unconsciously blinked faster, trying to give an answer that sounded more like a stranger’s.

“Senior Song Yu is very handsome and his grades are very good.”

But in the end, he couldn’t resist the urge to protect him. “And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with his personality.” Le Zhishi’s tone was unusually serious. “He just doesn’t like to talk. That doesn’t mean he has a bad personality. Although he looks a little scary, he’s actually a very nice person …”

The more the girl listened, the more she felt that something was wrong. She interrupted in confusion. “Wait, how do you know he’s a nice person?”

Sure enough, he wasn’t good at hiding.

Le Zhishi was momentarily speechless. Unexpectedly, Jiang Yufan interrupted. “Song Yu is indeed a little better than I thought. He was on duty today and didn’t report Le’s nameplate when he picked it up. He even helped him hide it from Compass.”

“Really?”

“He’s our savior.”

“As expected of a handsome guy!”

When the ceremony started, the class monitor reminded them to stop talking. Only then did the gossip stop. Le Zhishi breathed a sigh of relief. He almost exposed himself. With how gossipy they were, if they knew about their relationship, they wouldn’t stop.

Every year at the beginning of school, the content was similar. The leaders’ speeches on stage made his soul leave his body. After a while, it was the junior high school student representative. It was the top student in their class. Le Zhishi was very supportive. He straightened his back and raised his head, trying to listen to the speech. Unfortunately, the lights in the gymnasium were too bright. He gradually lowered his head like a wilted sunflower in the sun.

He didn’t know if it was because he ate the bread too quickly, but his stomach felt a little uncomfortable. It was like a ball of cotton that couldn’t go up or down.

Rubbing his stomach, Le Zhishi looked at the dirty little spot on the tip of his canvas shoes. As he focused his gaze, the little spot gradually expanded, like a dark cloud with low pressure. The applause from the audience was like boiling water pouring into his ears, burning his chest, and filling his lungs with steam.

There was a small commotion among the students. His throat was dry, like a feather stuck in it. Le Zhishi lowered his head and cleared his throat. The new student representative walked on stage.

When he got close to the microphone, there was a sharp roar of electricity, like a premonition of a strong tone.

The next second, a low voice came from the uncooperative microphone.

“Sorry.”

Le Zhishi suddenly raised his head and looked at the person on stage. His chest rose and fell.

“Good morning everyone, I’m Song Yu from Grade 12 (5) class.”

His heartbeat accelerated. It was a pathological rate.

Like the girls said, Song Yu’s good looks were recognized. But his bones were long and narrow, his eyes were long and narrow, and the corners of his eyes were sharp. All of these gave him a strong sense of oppression and distance.

It was difficult to find too many traces of emotion on his face.

In contrast, Le Zhishi’s facial features were soft and childish. He didn’t have any offensive power. His clear amber eyes were sincere and naive.

“Today is the first day of school …”

Song Yu lowered his eyes and his gaze fell on the open folder on his forearm. His tone was neither fast nor slow. Occasionally, he would raise his head, his gaze calm.

Le Zhishi liked to listen to Song Yu’s reading voice since he was young, no matter what it was. But he didn’t feel right at the moment. He wanted to listen to every word clearly, but he couldn’t concentrate. The dry itch in his throat became more and more obvious.

His windpipe seemed to be compressed bit by bit. The airflow was squeezed in the narrow tunnel, unable to go up or down.

Oh no.

This reaction was too familiar. Le Zhishi pulled out the packaging. The sound of the airflow in his lungs was like a bellows.

Sure enough, he bought the wrong one. This brand of ordinary bread and cornbread was different except for a logo at the bottom right corner. Everything else was the same.

Le Zhishi suffered from a serious wheat allergy. In addition to the common rubella and throat itching, the most uncomfortable food allergy asthma was the clinical reaction. It would only appear when he was exposed to a large amount of allergens, and it came fiercely.

The gymnasium was too quiet. Le Zhishi could only hear Song Yu’s voice and the increasingly obvious growl in his chest.

His first reaction was regret. He regretted leaving the medicine on the desk. Who would have thought that the allergy would act up after just one use?

But this thought didn’t last long. The instinct to call for help came even faster. His asthma took away his strength. Le Zhishi leaned forward and grabbed Jiang Yufan’s arm.

The people around them also noticed something strange.

“A new semester means a new beginning.”

Standing on the stage, Song Yu lowered his eyes and read the script.

There was a sudden commotion among the students below the stage. They gathered at the end of a class. A few people even stood up and formed a circle. Students from other classes also noticed something. They craned their necks to look.

“This will be a breakthrough and a critical point. The accumulation of the past is about to explode. The turning point is just ahead …”

Song Yu didn’t care about what happened. This was his personality. He only looked up occasionally. Through the gaps of the chaotic crowd, he saw half of the person’s face on the ground.

“Le Zhishi! Are you okay?! ”

The Dean of Teaching, who didn’t know what was going on, came out to maintain order. “Hey, that class, what are you doing?”

Jiang Yufan knelt on the ground and said anxiously, “Teacher! Someone’s not feeling well! ”

The speech on the microphone was abruptly cut off. There was a clatter. It was the sound of a folder falling. The sound was amplified by the loudspeaker. It was particularly hurried and abrupt.

The Dean of Teaching turned around. There was no one on the podium. “It’s a mess!”

The student from the photography club, who was responsible for recording the entire event, held the camera in a daze. He didn’t know whether to chase after the student representative or continue to aim at the empty podium.

Something unexpected happened at the conference. Suspending the speech was barely a normal reaction. But the representative on the podium left the stage without saying anything.

And this person was Song Yu.

This was too abnormal.

The stadium was filled with people.

Le Zhishi lay on his side on the ground. His symptoms were getting worse. He wanted to take deep breaths, but the flow of air into his body was getting weaker and weaker. It was as if there was a hole in his chest that was leaking air. Before he could even take a breath, he started coughing violently.

Sensing that his student’s condition was very bad, Wang Qian was also very anxious. “Le Zhishi, what’s wrong? Are you okay? Can you talk? “He helped Le Zhishi up and patted his back.” Try to take deep breaths. Slow down. ”

Just when everyone didn’t know what to do, a white figure broke into the light blue crowd and broke through the crowd.

“Spread out. Don’t crowd around him.”

The surrounding classmates were shocked. No one expected that Song Yu, who had just spoken on the stage, would appear here at this moment.

Wang Qian was also a little surprised to see Song Yu. This was also a student he had taught before. Back then, he felt that this child was very cold and didn’t even have many good friends. He didn’t seem like the type to be brave.

Song Yu squatted down and half-hugged Le Zhishi, who could no longer speak. He adjusted his sitting position and then took out the medicine from his pocket.

Seeing the medicine, Wang Qian was a little confused. He asked carefully, “Song Yu, can he use this medicine? I’ve already called the emergency personnel at the school hospital. They’ll be here soon. ”

“It’s too late. This is his medicine. “Song Yu was so calm that he didn’t seem like a student. He was more like a professional emergency personnel. He looked up and ordered the people around him, “Everyone, spread out a little more.”

He loosened Le Zhishi’s school uniform tie and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt to expose his neck. He put an arm around his shoulders and stabilized his head. With his other hand, he aimed the aerosol directly at Le Zhishi’s mouth. His movements were smooth and fast. “Le Zhishi, take the medicine.”

At this moment, Le Zhishi’s forehead was covered in cold sweat and his lips were slightly purple. He instinctively grabbed Song Yu’s arm and used all his strength to suck the mist into his lungs.

It had been a long time since he had an asthma attack. The feeling of uncontrollable tears and breathing came crashing down like waves. Everything was blank, but he could hear Song Yu’s voice, which gave him an invisible comfort.

“Again.”

They had been in the same class for two years, but this was the first time the surrounding students had seen such a scene. They were all stunned. Those who were familiar with him more or less knew that he was allergic, but it was usually just a rash. It had never been this serious.

A few minutes later, Le Zhishi’s heaving chest recovered bit by bit. His breathing was no longer as rapid and weak as before.

“Are you feeling better?” Wang Qian was still worried. “I still need to send you to the infirmary to rest.”

“Yes,” said Wang Yao. Song Yu removed the medicine bottle and looked away from his pale face. He inadvertently glanced at a package on the ground with the word “bread” printed on it.

He reached out and placed his palm on Le Zhishi’s chest to feel his heartbeat. Then, he grabbed his arm and turned it over. He checked his neck to check the rash.

Although the symptoms were alleviated, Le Zhishi’s consciousness was still lagging. Every time he had an asthma attack, he would develop a strong sense of dependence, like a fledgling whose life was saved in the midst of a struggle.

During the emergency treatment, he couldn’t think of anything. He only knew that Song Yu must be saving him. After he recovered, Le Zhishi wanted to confirm it, so he weakly looked up and saw Song Yu’s face. Only then did he feel relieved.

“Brother …” His voice was weak, and his fingers weakly held onto Song Yu’s arm. The illness swept through him like a gale. His remaining willpower made him completely forget the promise and disguise.

Jiang Yufan, who had sharp ears, repeated it without thinking, “Brother … Brother?!”

This word passed through a layer of human-shaped loudspeakers and spread like ripples.

Song Yu was Le Zhishi’s “brother”.

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On the day of the opening ceremony, this secret that Le Zhishi had kept for two years was known by the whole school.

There were always a few outstanding students in a school. They were either talked about or surrounded.

Le Zhishi and Song Yu were typical examples. However, no one expected that these two people who usually had nothing to do with each other would have such a close relationship.

The news spread the fastest in the dense crowd. Not long after, the accident at the opening ceremony became the topic of everyone’s discussion.

Le Zhishi’s childhood had never been peaceful.

When he first came to the Song family, he was transferred to a kindergarten class. There were no familiar children, and there was a language barrier. Most importantly, he looked different from everyone. He was often surrounded like an animal in an acrobatic troupe. He was even bullied by some older children, who gave him nicknames like “yellow hair” and “little bastard”.

He didn’t like kindergarten and didn’t want to go to school every day. He only wanted to hide at home and draw. He would cry at the entrance of kindergarten and be carried out of the car.

Although he was often surrounded in primary school, at least Song Yu was there. When he was unhappy, he would look for Song Yu. Sometimes, when Song Yu finished class, he would look back and see the pitiful Le Zhishi leaning against the door frame at the back of the classroom, like a puppy that hadn’t been weaned.

As his peers gradually became more sensible, fewer people ostracized him, and everyone gradually got used to it. Later, the taste of children who grew up changed. More and more people began to think that Le Zhishi was good-looking. He was so good-looking that he left his peers in the dust. He also had a good personality. Le Zhishi, who was bullied, inexplicably became the target of admiration. In short, there was no end to it.

Le Zhishi didn’t like to be the center of attention and didn’t want to be publicly executed at the opening ceremony. However, in the end, he became the focus of the whole school in an even more spectacular way.

Lying on the bed in the infirmary, he stared at the ceiling in a daze. The doctor on duty examined him. He obediently cooperated like a soulless toy. After the examination, he lay down and continued to rest.

His steady breathing made him feel at ease.

Since he was young, Le Zhishi had a rich imagination. He could associate a small stain on the ceiling with a hermit crab on the white beach, and then from the small space in its shell, he could associate it with a karst cave or even a black hole.

Just as he was exploring the universe in the ceiling, the door suddenly opened. Le Zhishi turned over and pulled the bed curtain open a small gap. He glanced at it, but when he saw Jiang Yufan’s face, he fell back on the bed in disappointment.

“Le?” Jiang Yufan lowered his voice, as if he was afraid of waking him up.

“I didn’t sleep.” Le Zhishi sat up from the bed and pulled the curtain open. “It’s over? That was fast. ”

“Yes.” Jiang Yufan took his schoolbag and handed him a carton of milk. “You’re not allergic to this, are you? I see you drink it usually.” Seeing him shake his head, Jiang Yufan was relieved. “The teacher said that you don’t have to go back to report. You can go home directly after you’ve rested.”

Le Zhishi sucked on the milk. “Miss Wang didn’t call my parents, right?”

This was an accident. He was careless and didn’t want Aunt Rong to worry about him.

“I don’t know. Anyway, he stopped Song Yu and talked for a while. He probably wanted to understand the situation.” At this point, Jiang Yufan became more confident. “I knew it couldn’t be such a coincidence. He just happened to pick up the nameplate and recognized you. He ran down from the podium to give you first aid in the middle of his speech. He also happened to have your medicine on him. If you didn’t call him ‘brother’ at the end, I would have suspected that you two have an unspeakable relationship. ”

Hearing the last sentence, Le Zhishi quivered. “No, no, no. How could that be?” After saying that, he explained, “We’re not biological brothers.”

In fact, he regretted it very much. When he woke up and recovered his strength, he recalled the scene of him calling Song Yu ‘brother’ in front of everyone. Le Zhishi beat his chest and stamped his feet in regret.

“Not biological brothers? Cousins? “Jiang Yufan suddenly understood.” I knew it. You two don’t look alike at all. You don’t even have the same surname. ”

“That’s not it either. Listen to me.” Le Zhishi zipped up his bag again and gave him a simple explanation of his foster care situation.

Although he played it down, no matter how silly Jiang Yufan was, he was still somewhat surprised. “I see …”

The word foster care was too heavy for teenagers like them. It equated to misfortune, misery, and living under someone else’s roof.

Jiang Yufan thought to himself, “No wonder Le Zhishi pretended not to know Song Yu at school.” He scratched his head. “Then, then … his family treats you well, right?”

Le Zhishi smiled. “Yes, they treat me like their own.”

“That’s good, that’s good. But, “Jiang Yufan asked again,” why didn’t they just be straightforward? I mean, adoption … “He said the word very softly.

Le Zhishi didn’t seem to mind. “Oh, I asked that before. Uncle said that my parents are great people. They are my only parents, and no one in the world can replace them. He hoped that I would remember them. And they said that even without this program, they would take good care of me. “He added,” Uncle Song is my father’s best friend. They grew up together like brothers. ”

“I see …” Jiang Yufan looked relieved. He patted him on the shoulder and said seriously, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I’m very tight-lipped.”

“It’s okay.” Le Zhishi lowered his head and suddenly found that his buttons were undone. His tie was also pulled open, but he didn’t remember when he was semi-conscious. He even muttered as he buttoned up, “What’s going on …”

“Your brother … no, Song Yu undid it during the emergency treatment.” Jiang Yufan continued, “You definitely didn’t see it. The way he rushed down from the stage was so cool.”

Le Zhishi really didn’t see it. It was a pity, but he could imagine it. Looking down, Le Zhishi saw the black spots on the tips of his shoes. He thought of the haze he imagined before he got sick. He was shrouded by the dark clouds and trapped.

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The way Song Yu rushed down was probably like a sharp beam of light that broke through the haze and found him.

This scene materialized in front of Le Zhishi’s eyes. A sense of joy rose in his heart, and even the milk became sweet. When he took out his school bag, he found that it was bulging. He opened the zipper and saw the gift box he received in the morning. “You even put this in?”

“I thought you’d go to Class 11 after you were done.”

“Okay.” He squeezed the milk box and threw it into the trash can. After tying his tie, he used his swinging leg to touch Jiang Yufan’s leg. “Let’s go home and eat.”

It was early September in Jiangcheng. The lush branches of the Luan trees that hadn’t been pruned for many years almost reached through the window on the third floor. These warm green leaves were blocked by the closed glass window and looked pitiful.

It was just like when Le Zhishi was a child and looked at Song Yu through the glass door of the study. His chubby face was squeezed out of shape.

Jiang Yufan had been Le Zhishi’s classmate since the first year of junior high. He knew about his allergy, but he didn’t expect it to be so serious. He asked curiously, “How did you know you were allergic? If it’s so serious, it should have been very dangerous when you first found out. ”

First time …

Actually, he had some impression of it, but it wasn’t very deep. Moreover, he had been to the hospital too many times when he was a child, so it had diluted his memory of the first time he found out about his symptoms.

“I don’t remember. I was only three years old at that time. I think I was hospitalized.”

“Three years old!” Jiang Yufan couldn’t imagine. “You were scary enough today. Fortunately, your brother was here. I just searched on Baidu and was scared to death. It turns out that asthma can kill people if they don’t have medicine with them.”

Le Zhishi comforted him. “What happened today was a very small probability event. It was the worst of the worst.”

But then he remembered that Song Yu seemed to be there when he first had an attack.

After saying goodbye to the doctor on duty, the two of them were ready to go downstairs. Unexpectedly, as soon as they went out, they met a pretty girl with short hair. She was wearing the same junior high school uniform as them. Her face was red and her voice was very soft. “Le Zhishi …”

Le Zhishi didn’t look familiar. He looked at Jiang Yufan for help.

Jiang Yufan thought of something and lowered his voice to remind his best friend. “This is the girl who gave you the gift. She’s from Class 11.”

Le Zhishi said in a low voice.

“Are, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m better now.” Le Zhishi said thank you.

The girl was relieved. She tucked her hair behind her ear. “I went to your class to look for you this morning. You weren’t in school yet, so I put the gift in your desk …”

Le Zhishi saw her ears and blushed.

“I hope you like it.”

The sun was so bright that the girl’s voice was drowned out by the chirping of the cicadas.

He held the strap of his school bag and was silent for two seconds. In the end, he unzipped it and took out the gift box. He handed it back to her with both hands.

Jiang Yufan couldn’t bear to look. This scene was too suffocating. He turned his head and looked down from the third floor. To his surprise, he saw a familiar figure. He was very tall and was wearing a white shirt.

Wasn’t that Song Yu? Jiang Yufan narrowed his eyes and took a closer look.

It was really him!

Song Yu was pushing his trolley towards them. He stopped under a camphor tree and looked down at his watch. When he looked up again, his eyes met with Jiang Yufan’s.

His aura was so strong that even Jiang Yufan, who was a few meters away, was shocked by his cold gaze. He immediately turned his head and pretended that nothing had happened.