Points deducted

As soon as Ke Yueyi left, Jimo grew fed up before he had even filled two sheets.

He had never planned to finish. He would write a couple of sheets to get by, and that would be that.

It wasn't as though he was studying and could actually learn anything from it.

It was purely that man's twisted idea of fun.

Jimo put down the pen. He simply couldn't sit still.

He got up and looked around. There was only one enormous window in the room, and he could get out through it too.

Jimo tried pushing it, but it was locked tight.

That wouldn't stop him. Jimo found a piece of iron and tapped away at the edge, loosening the screws until he could remove a small pane of glass in one piece.

Jimo carefully set it aside, wiped the sweat from his brow, and jumped onto the windowsill.

The cold wind on the tenth floor hit him, and Jimo's face turned pale.

From inside, there was nothing about the window's construction to suggest they were so high up.

He had also forgotten that he and Ke Yueyi had taken the elevator up. His attention had been entirely on the other man, and he hadn't noticed which floor they were on at all!

Jimo went rigid. He inched back without daring to take another look, then hurriedly jumped back inside.

Only when his feet touched the floor did he feel settled again.

"Creak..."

Jimo shifted slightly, and the sound of breaking glass rang out. The whole, intact pane had cracked in a spiderweb pattern.

"..."

He had actually jumped onto the glass.

Ke Yueyi had intended to return to the lounge and let him go, but halfway there he suddenly received an important phone call.

The trip there and back delayed him, and by the time he returned to the lounge, it was nearly midnight.

Inside, the young man lay asleep on a pile of papers.

Beside him was a stack of punishment copies he had already finished.

They were densely covered with the words "My brother Ke Yueyi is good-looking."

Ke Yueyi picked them up and flipped through a few pages. Jimo's handwriting was neat and delicate, and the first few sheets were very tidy.

On the later sheets, it was clear from the handwriting that their writer had lost patience. It gradually became sloppier, the characters practically flying off the page.

His gaze shifted to the young man, who lay on the table with his mouth slightly open and his brow furrowed, sleeping soundly even like that.

Ke Yueyi watched him for a while, then raised a hand to take off his glasses.

As soon as he touched them, the sleeping young man woke up.

Jimo blearily raised his eyes, then sat up straight the moment he saw Ke Yueyi. "Brother! You're finally here. I thought you'd forgotten about me. You have no idea how cold it is in here."

He had waited from daylight until dark. If Ke Yueyi hadn't left him food, Jimo would have thought the other man meant to starve him to death.

Ke Yueyi raised an eyebrow. "If you were cold, didn't you know to close the window?"

The wind billowed the curtains. Ke Yueyi walked over and reached out, only to find his hand going straight through where the glass should have been.

He looked back at Jimo.

Jimo nearly bit his tongue off. Of all the things he could have brought up.

He said sheepishly, "The wind was so strong it cracked the glass, but I've already swept it all up."

He had meant to destroy the evidence.

"Looks like I didn't make you copy it enough."

Jimo pulled a long face. "I couldn't even finish what you already gave me," he said quietly.

Ke Yueyi heard him. "Then come back tomorrow and keep copying."

"I still have classes tomorrow, and I have quite a lot to review." Jimo was terrified the other man would really make him finish.

Ke Yueyi said nothing.

Jimo studied his expression. "I'll owe you for now. Brother, I'll definitely come back and copy it when I have time."

"Mm."

The other man was surprisingly easy to negotiate with.

Ke Yueyi headed for the door. When he noticed Jimo wasn't following, he asked, "Want to spend the night here?"

"No." Jimo hurried after him. "Brother, you haven't given me back my phone!"

Ke Yueyi had his phone, and he was deliberately keeping it from him. Jimo couldn't leave even if he wanted to.

In the end, he had to tag along behind Ke Yueyi and share a late-night meal before the other man returned his phone.

As soon as he had it, Jimo opened his messages. Sure enough, Jiang Wangshu hadn't been able to find him and had called several times.

It was so late that he was probably asleep by now.

After some thought, Jimo left him a message saying something had come up and he hadn't checked his phone. He told him not to worry and said he would explain tomorrow.

It was nearly two in the morning by the time Jimo reached the dorm.

Zhuang Zhe had thought he wasn't coming back and had locked the door. He was completely bewildered when he was woken up to open it, and as soon as he unlocked it, he fell right back asleep.

Jimo quickly washed up and hurried to bed.

In class the next day, Jimo's head was foggy. He had dreamed the night before that Ke Yueyi was forcing him to write his name, watching him with a whip and lashing him once for every repetition he missed.

The dream had scared him awake, and it had only been a little after five.

Jimo could barely keep his eyes open, but he still had to go to class. He usually sat in the front row, and after sleeping only a few hours and sleeping so poorly at that, he began nodding off during the lecture.

Although the rules in their major weren't strict, there were still strict professors.

Unfortunately, this class was taught by the strict Professor Xiang.

Someone had some nerve, openly sleeping in his class. Holding his book, Xiang stepped down from the lectern.

The students followed the professor's gaze and noticed Jimo sleeping with his head down. Some of them looked on with schadenfreude.

Zhuang Zhe's eyes widened. Startled, he nudged Jimo. "Jimo, wake up!"

Jimo opened his eyes in a daze and saw Professor Xiang staring coldly at him.

"I remember you. You're the student who always sits in the front row."

Jimo's sleepiness vanished. He hadn't meant to do it; somehow, he had fallen asleep while listening.

Xiang snorted. "It's bad enough that some people scrape in at the bottom by paying their way, but they have a poor attitude toward their studies too. Do you think you can live off your parents' savings for the rest of your lives? Do you think an Easton diploma is that easy to get?"

"Whatever your reasons for choosing this major, and whatever you intend to do after graduation, I don't care. But you must pay attention in my class and give it your full effort."

Jimo immediately stood up. "Professor, I'm sorry."

Seeing how readily he admitted his mistake, Professor Xiang's expression softened considerably. He glanced at the name on the book's cover. "You're the first person who's dared sleep in my class. I'll only give you half credit for your coursework grade this term."

The exam and coursework grades made up sixty and forty percent of the total, respectively. With only fifty points for coursework, Jimo wouldn't score above eighty in this subject no matter how hard he worked.

He needed to rank in the top ten in the department overall, and losing those twenty points made a real difference.

"Yes, Professor." Jimo lowered his eyes and slowly sat down.

Jimo kept his back straight until class finally ended. He didn't even dare let his mind wander, let alone fall asleep.

Only when the bell rang did Jimo finally relax.

He had thought making the top ten in his major wouldn't be a problem, so lately he had focused his review on medicine. He hadn't expected this to happen.

Along with his headache, Jimo felt even more dissatisfied with Ke Yueyi. If not for him, he wouldn't have fallen asleep in class.

Holding his books, Zhuang Zhe watched worriedly as Jimo silently packed his things. Seeing that he seemed down, he hurried to comfort him. "It's fine. Even with half credit for coursework, you can still pass. Don't worry. Professor Xiang is just like that, and you had to go and sleep right under his nose. Of course he'd be angry."

"You got off lightly. I heard that in the previous class, he called on someone to stand up. That student's family had some connections, and he actually talked back to the professor on the spot. The professor didn't say anything then, but he failed him in the course at the end of the term. Later, the student probably realized he couldn't get his diploma and dropped out."

Jimo knew Zhuang Zhe was trying to comfort him in a clumsy way.

Look, although you came in second to last, it's fine. Isn't there still someone in last place? You've already beaten him.

"Mm, I know," Jimo answered softly.

If all he wanted was to pass, this wouldn't matter at all. But Jimo wanted more.

He would just have to spend more time on his own major from now on.

"It's fine." Jimo smiled. "Let's go eat."

The two went to the cafeteria. Jimo didn't have much of an appetite and casually picked out a couple of things.

He had spent too long copying the night before, and his hand still trembled a little when he held his chopsticks.

Zhuang Zhe talked to him, but Jimo was somewhat distracted. Jiang Wangshu still hadn't replied to the message he'd sent him yesterday.

Could something have happened?

As Jimo ate from his tray, he quietly thought that he would go find Jiang Wangshu after eating. It should be about time for his part-time job.

When they had finished eating, the two cleared their trays and headed out. At the entrance, Jimo stopped. "I'm going off campus for a bit. You go back first."

Zhuang Zhe asked, "What for?"

"I'm going to find Jiang Wangshu."

Unexpectedly, Zhuang Zhe frowned at that. "That special-admission student? Jimo, I don't think you should get too close to him."

Jimo looked at him, unable to understand why Zhuang Zhe's attitude changed from one day to the next, as if he were changing masks.

Some time ago, Jiang Wangshu had come to see him, and Zhuang Zhe had been very rude to Jiang Wangshu's face. He had felt embarrassed about it afterward and had even wanted to have a meal with him, bringing it up several times in private.

Now he seemed to have completely forgotten about it.

Seeing Jimo's reaction, Zhuang Zhe seemed surprised instead. "Haven't you checked the forum? It's full of gossip about that special-admission student."

?

He had only gone one day without checking the forum. Jimo hurriedly pulled out his phone and opened the top-ranked thread.

The original poster: [I, Hu Sanhan, am back again. A while ago, one of my underlings lost my phone while trying to photograph the special-admission student surnamed J. I don't know which asshole picked it up and deleted all my posts... Never mind that for now. Guess what good stuff I caught on camera this time.]

A whole stream of people had replied. They were all cursing the asshole who had deleted the posts, while some told the original poster to stop keeping them in suspense and get on with it.

Asshole?

Jimo stared at the poster's username. Easton's number one gossip, huh? I'll remember you.