SLWP Chapter 2

“Chen Xu! Chen Xu! Chen Xu!!!”

Sleeping with his head on the desk wasn’t exactly comfortable, and the math book left imprints on his face.

Summer was approaching, and the sunlight streaming through the window made Chen Xu’s cheeks feel warm.

Next to him, his deskmate Xu Ke kept persistently calling his name, leaving him unable to sleep. Chen Xu rubbed his eyes and sat up.

“What’s up? Isn’t this a self-study period?”

“Yeah, but uh…” Xu Ke scratched his head and frowned, leaning closer to Chen Xu and whispering, “That guy, Ji Chunxiao from Class 12, has been standing by the window staring in our direction for the entire class. He just left.”

Xu Ke added awkwardly, “The look in his eyes was really weird, like a stray dog that’s been abandoned and wants to bite you.”

“What did you do to piss him off? Owe him money?”

“…No.”

Chen Xu rubbed his temples. How was he supposed to know what was up with Ji Chunxiao, that spoiled young master?

He glanced out the window. The spot where Ji Chunxiao had been standing was now empty, with only a few roses in the flowerbed, their petals curling slightly under the sun’s heat.

Students from PE class were trickling back to their classrooms, wearing their blue and white school uniforms. The boys had their arms slung over each other’s shoulders, loudly discussing next week’s basketball game, while the girls linked arms and headed to the restroom together.

This was the high school life Chen Xu used to know so well.

The car accident on that winter night at twenty-two years old felt like a horrifying nightmare, but under the protection of his body’s survival instincts, Chen Xu could barely remember the details of his previous death.

He wished it were all just a dream, but he was painfully aware that it wasn’t.

Because the five years he had spent with Ji Chunxiao were etched clearly in his mind, every moment, every day.

In his previous life, he had just learned that he’d been in love with the wrong person, but before he had time to figure out what to do, disaster struck. Perhaps the heavens couldn’t bear to see him suffer, so they gave him a second chance.

This time, there would be no confusion, no mistakes. Nothing had started yet, and he hadn’t mistaken anyone.

Song Ming was sitting two rows ahead of him, his back straight, and the white school uniform shirt slightly fluttering in the breeze.

It felt like everything was pointing Chen Xu in the right direction—towards the person he was truly meant to love.

Time to correct the mistakes.

The last class of the morning was English, and most students were already starving, too distracted to pay attention to the listening exercises. In the final fifteen minutes, everyone kept glancing at the clock, eager to dash to the cafeteria the moment class ended.

Their school, No. 1 High School in Jin City, was one of the top high schools in the country. Besides having a strong faculty, its best perk was the excellent food in the cafeteria.

But the school had its downsides too. Most of the students who could attend were from well-off families, with very few coming from humble backgrounds. As a result, the school’s goods and services were priced to match the wealthier students’ spending habits, making it far from affordable.

Chen Xu rarely ate in the school cafeteria. Two years ago, his parents had started a business venture, pouring in a lot of money but seeing no returns. They wanted to stop the losses, but it was too late to turn back. They kept holding on, hoping for a breakthrough.

Every month, they scraped together a bit of money from their strained finances to send to Chen Xu as living expenses. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for him to get by.

But back in high school, Chen Xu never wanted to spend money.

He had matured early, always worrying that his parents might need more money in the future, so he saved every penny he could.

During lunch, while other students went to the cafeteria, Chen Xu stayed in the classroom to study a bit more, then went back to his dorm to eat instant noodles or bread.

Until one day, when he opened the door to his dorm and found a deep blue lunch box sitting on his desk.

Inside was a meal that smelled absolutely delicious.

The dorms at No. 1 High School were two-person rooms, but because there was an odd number of boys in Chen Xu’s class, he didn’t have a roommate.

He couldn’t figure out who had left the lunch for him.

But day after day, whether he ate it or not, the lunch would always appear on his desk, and by evening, the lunch box would be gone.

He had tried to find out who was leaving the food, but he never managed to catch anyone in the act.

Chen Xu couldn’t remember exactly how he felt when he started accepting the lunch every day. Maybe it was a mix of gratitude, embarrassment, and warmth…

That meal delivery continued for almost half a year, from the second semester of his sophomore year to his junior year.

Later, when his parents’ business picked up and he didn’t need to save money anymore, the lunch deliveries stopped.

But Chen Xu had never forgotten. He always wanted to find the person who had secretly been giving him meals.

Fate didn’t make him wait long.

After the junior year class reshuffle, Ji Chunxiao from Class 12 got into their honors class thanks to his family’s connections and even became Chen Xu’s deskmate.

This young master had a reputation for being difficult to deal with. Spoiled by his family, he had the temper of a pampered princess. If it weren’t for his good looks, which made people reluctant to hit him, he would have been beaten up long ago.

Chen Xu didn’t want to provoke him and tried to keep their interactions minimal. But Ji Chunxiao had a knack for making life difficult for everyone around him.

This young master was at the bottom of the class, playing on his phone during lessons and sleeping between them. When he was bored, he would tease his new, serious deskmate.

Ji Chunxiao had taken a liking to Chen Xu, finding him obedient and fun to mess with.

“Chen Xu.” Leaning against the wall with his arm resting on the desk, Ji Chunxiao lazily kicked the leg of Chen Xu’s chair and ordered, “Go get me some water.”

Chen Xu’s eyes remained on the test paper in front of him. Without looking back, he replied, “Give me your math workbook first.”

He was the class’s math monitor, and ever since Ji Chunxiao joined, he hadn’t been able to collect a complete set of assignments.

“Oh.” Ji Chunxiao thought for a couple of seconds before remembering what a math workbook was. “It’s in the drawer. You can get it yourself.”

He said that, but made no effort to move, meaning that if Chen Xu wanted the workbook, he’d have to push past him.

Chen Xu hesitated for a few seconds. He didn’t have the guts to shove the young master, so after a moment of thought, he simply crouched down and reached through the gap between Ji Chunxiao and the drawer to grab the workbook.

The sudden movement startled Ji Chunxiao. His extreme germophobia made him very averse to physical contact with others. Normally, no one would get close to him, but now, Chen Xu had suddenly leaned in, causing Ji Chunxiao to jerk back.

Noticing the commotion, Chen Xu glanced up in confusion.

His soft, dark hair fell over his pale skin, and his slightly parted lips were a soft red. Ji Chunxiao noticed his deskmate’s eyes had a faint brown tint, like some kind of small animal.

The second button of his white school shirt was fastened, but from this angle, Ji Chunxiao could see the boy’s thin collarbone.

Ji Chunxiao’s brain went “boom,” as if a firework had exploded, its brief burst of brilliance quickly followed by a blank void. He didn’t even know what he was thinking.

For some reason, his face felt hot.

He pressed his lips together, backed away from Chen Xu, and fled out of the classroom toward the flowerbed outside.

What the heck?

Chen Xu frowned as he watched Ji Chunxiao’s retreat, then turned back to search for the math workbook among the untouched pile of books on his desk.

Finally spotting the white-covered workbook, Chen Xu tugged it out, but something unexpected came with it.

A deep blue lunch box tumbled out of the drawer, rolling onto the chair before landing at Chen Xu’s feet.

It looked way too familiar.

Chen Xu felt his breath catch in his throat. He quickly picked up the familiar lunch box and looked at the top right corner, where, sure enough, there was the logo of a certain luxury brand.

He had noticed the logo before and had even looked it up online, finding out that the lunch box was a limited-edition item from the brand’s collection, with only a few ever made.

There was no mistake.

He gripped the lunch box tightly, the edges digging into his palm painfully, before carefully placing it back into Ji Chunxiao’s drawer.

Chen Xu couldn’t describe how he felt at that moment. It was like he had been searching through a foggy day and finally found his destination. He couldn’t help but curl his lips into a smile.

He gently ran his hand over the cover of the workbook, where the bold characters of “Ji Chunxiao” were written.

In a quiet voice, he whispered, “Thank you.”