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Su Junzhe readily agreed. "Sure."

[Su Junzhe is an angel on earth / heart]

[Little Su is so nice]

[I'm so worried Susu's own progress will suffer]

There was no need to worry about that.

In Lai Yudong's view, Su Junzhe was neither a cold, selfish egoist nor an indiscriminately selfless do-gooder. He knew what to prioritize, was good at adjusting his approach to the situation, and helped others selectively.

Qu Xincheng in Class B was more worrying. He turned no one away, personally helping everyone correct their mistakes, and it was highly likely that he wouldn't have enough time to practice the theme song himself.

His performance in the in-class assessment had clearly been commendable. If he missed out on Class A again for this reason, it would be such a shame.

In the blink of an eye, it was eleven at night.

Liang Zhisheng was the earliest of the lie-flat crowd to return to the dorm. He had finished dinner at seven, rested until eight, and practiced for another hour. He couldn't be called hardworking, but he hadn't slacked off either, putting him a little above average among the 101 trainees.

At the "ripe old age" of twenty-five, he wasn't as energetic as the boys in their late teens who had just come of age. After the grueling study for the postgraduate entrance exam, his body could no longer take a beating. Staying up late made him dizzy and nauseous, too much exercise left his back and waist aching, and he had traded iced happy water for longan and goji berry tea. His main focus was maintaining his health.

But when he returned to the dorm, no one was there, and he had to wait a full hour before Li Xu finally showed up.

After his shower, Liang Zhisheng returned to Dorm 707 carrying his washbasin. He glanced at the two empty lower bunks and looked up. "Those two still aren't back?"

The red-haired youth sitting on the upper bunk wore wired earphones and turned a page of the music theory book in his hands. "Xu An came back not long ago. He went downstairs to shower. Didn't you run into him?"

"No, we must've missed each other." Liang Zhisheng took out a hanger and hung up the class uniform he had just washed by hand. "Has You Shu been back?"

Without looking up, Li Xu said, "No."

"Ah, it's good to be young."

Only after Liang Zhisheng sighed did he remember that the roommate currently in the dorm didn't look very old either. He changed the subject jokingly. "It's like neither of us feels any sense of urgency."

Li Xu said matter-of-factly, "If I'm too tired to get up, it'll affect how well I do in class."

"Class B's professional class is first thing in the morning?"

"Yeah, vocal class at eight."

"That's rough. Class A and Class C both start at ten thirty, though ours is dance class." Liang Zhisheng shrugged. As he moved the clothes rack aside, his movements paused slightly, and a moment later he remembered something. "Wait, doesn't that mean Class F has class at eight?"

"Only just realized?" Li Xu closed his book. Music theory was the best way to put him to sleep; he hadn't read for long before he was too sleepy to keep his eyes open. "So I suspect Miura doesn't know he has an early class tomorrow."

"He takes things pretty seriously. There's no way he doesn't know." Liang Zhisheng instinctively defended the roommate who had made a good impression on him. "He probably just wants to practice a little longer, since his foundation isn't very good."

"True. People who can stick to eating breakfast usually have amazing willpower. I wonder how long he can keep it up." Li Xu lay down and pulled up his blanket, his manner of speaking as blunt as ever. "I'm going to sleep. I'll try not to wake you when I get up tomorrow morning, so I hope you won't disturb my sleep."

"Want me to turn off the light?"

"No need."

Liang Zhisheng didn't take the rather unpleasant conversation to heart. Speaking plainly was better than bottling everything up and making people guess, and Li Xu's request was perfectly reasonable. It was one of the most common sources of conflict in a dorm, so there was no harm in laying it out and clearing things up early.

It also reminded him that they should make some dorm rules when they had time.

About fifteen minutes later, the dorm doorknob turned, and Xu An returned from his shower.

They hadn't seen each other for a few hours, and exhaustion was written all over his face. One look was enough to tell that dancing had put him through the wringer.

"Shh—"

Liang Zhisheng made a gesture for silence and pointed to Li Xu, who was already asleep on the upper bunk.

Xu An nodded in understanding and took his hair dryer into the hallway to dry his hair.

Skin care, getting his clothes, tidying his desk, turning off the light, setting his alarm—everything was ready for bed. Before climbing into bed, Liang Zhisheng glanced at Miura Yuki's bunk. The guy still wasn't back.

He thought worriedly, Don't tell me he really forgot Class F has an early class.

In the early hours of the morning.

The dorm building was silent at night. Every dorm room had its lights off and door shut; only the hallway lights remained on for the convenience of trainees getting up in the night.

Liang Zhisheng woke from sleep to use the bathroom. In a daze, he held onto the ladder as he climbed out of bed and found the door in the dark.

The doorknob creaked, and brilliant light squeezed through the crack in the door, falling across the floor like a beam of moonlight, only brighter.

Liang Zhisheng had turned his back with his eyes half-closed as he went out, and he had been so sleepy he might as well have been sleepwalking, so he hadn't noticed the state of the dorm. Only when he returned, by the light from the hallway, did he realize with a start that the bunk below his was empty.

The blanket was neatly folded, exactly as it had been when its occupant got up that morning, which meant he hadn't been back.

After standing there blankly for a few seconds, Liang Zhisheng sluggishly climbed the ladder and reached for the alarm clock beside his pillow. It showed 3:40 a.m.

—3:40!!?

He wouldn't have known if he hadn't looked, and the sight gave him a fright. Liang Zhisheng was instantly jolted wide awake. He rubbed his eyes hard, but he hadn't seen wrong. It really was almost four in the morning.

What's going on? Did my roommate stay out all night?

Liang Zhisheng's first reaction was to suspect that something had happened to Miura Yuki. If a college roommate had disappeared, he might have gone out clubbing or for a late-night snack, but this was a closed-off filming environment. There was nowhere to go except between the seven floors of the building.

The only possibility was that he was in a practice room.

The problem was that Class F had an eight o'clock class. Did people really stay up in the middle of the night and hole up in a practice room...?

He found himself a little unsure.

After thinking it over, Liang Zhisheng decided to go look for Miura Yuki. Better safe than sorry; he was awake anyway, and a few minutes' sleep wouldn't make a difference.

With that thought, he climbed straight down from his bed, grabbed an army-green padded coat, wrapped it around himself, and ran out.