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Given that both second-year high schoolers still hadn't outgrown their edgy phase wanted cool black bracelets, Lu Chi thought for a few seconds before deciding to weave an Endless-Swastika Pattern bracelet for Yue Bin and a Key-Fret Pattern bracelet for Zhang Yang.

Around the year 2000, exchanging gifts like bracelets or knitted scarves was very popular among classmates. So the four of them bought black cord for weaving bracelets at the convenience store downstairs from the apartment complex.

Once they got in the car, Lu Chi had nothing better to do, so he took out the black cord and started weaving bracelets.

The thin black cord darted nimbly between his long, pale fingers. Unlike most students, who were clumsy and slow, Lu Chi's movements were practiced and swift. The fine cord moved through his fingers like a fish in water. Against the familiar, agile motions, the contrast between black and white became ever more pronounced—and increasingly dazzling to watch.

Yue Bin and Zhang Yang, who were also sitting in the car, stared blankly at Lu Chi's hands, utterly dazzled and unable to believe what they were seeing.

Lu Chi suddenly paused and asked, "Yue Bin, do you have a favorite life motto?"

Caught off guard, Yue Bin froze.

Lu Chi patiently repeated himself.

Yue Bin scratched his head awkwardly—he didn't actually have any particular life motto he liked. In his haste, he recalled a classic text Teacher Sun had forced everyone to memorize in Chinese class two days ago and immediately said, "The most precious thing a person has is life. A person only lives once. One should live one's life like this..."

Lu Chi's face darkened as he cut him off. "Something shorter."

Choked off, Yue Bin paused, thought for a moment, then continued, "Diligence is the path up the mountain of books; hardship is the boat across the boundless sea of learning."

The poem encouraging students to study that hung in the classroom!

Lu Chi's expression darkened even further. He gave Yue Bin an expressionless glance, and Yue Bin looked back at him innocently. "What?"

"Nothing," Lu Chi replied blandly. After hesitating for a moment, he resumed weaving.

Watching Lu Chi quickly weave a section of an ancient-looking, exquisitely patterned Endless-Swastika Pattern bracelet, Yue Bin immediately beamed. "This is great. I can wrap it around my wrist once. Any longer wouldn't be suitable."

"No." Lu Chi's hands did not stop moving as he replied flatly, "If the bracelet is too short, I won't be able to finish weaving it."

Hearing that, Yue Bin tilted his head and asked in confusion, "Finish weaving what?"

Lu Chi looked at Yue Bin in surprise. "Didn't you attend the International Boy Scout Training Camp?"

Yue Bin blinked, even more bewildered. "Yeah!"

"Then why are you asking?"

"!!!" Yue Bin looked at Lu Chi pitifully. "Why can't I ask?"

Zhang Yang, seated on Lu Chi's other side, also looked completely confused.

Lu Miaomiao, sitting in the front passenger seat, really couldn't bear to watch any longer. The little girl discreetly rolled her eyes, turned around, and said, "Brother Yue Bin, since you attended that Boy Scout training camp or whatever, you should know Morse Code, right?"

Of course Yue Bin knew it. When he had studied radio communication technology at the Boy Scout training camp, he had even learned Morse code—although it had already been discontinued by countries around the world in 1999. But that did not prevent Morse code from being widely used among radio enthusiasts and in everyday life.

Even in his second year of high school, he still had not outgrown his edgy phase, and as the school heartthrob, he had a particularly heavy image to maintain. Naturally, he could not pass up such a cool way to show off. Not only did he know Morse Code, he had learned it fairly well—at the very least, sending telegrams and reading ordinary encrypted telegrams posed no problem for him.

Listening to her brother's classmate patiently explain Morse Code to her, Lu Miaomiao was speechless.

The little girl once again concluded that even if this handsome, kind big brother's brain was fine, his reaction time was rather slow.

Thus, Yue Bin and Zhang Yang in the back seat watched in amazement as the formerly smiling, adorable Miao Miao suddenly changed expression. She sighed impassively and tapped the bracelet Big Brother Lu Chi was weaving with her slender finger.

Yue Bin and Zhang Yang followed Miao Miao's gesture and looked back suspiciously. The thin black cord moved obediently and nimbly beneath Lu Chi's hands, like several tamed little snakes, doing whatever he made them do. In the end, it became a black bracelet that looked exceptionally classy and impressive—while the three of them chatted and interacted in what Yue Bin and Zhang Yang believed was a conversation among themselves, Lu Chi had already finished the first bracelet.

He handed Yue Bin a black bracelet that was just long enough to wrap around his wrist twice.

By then, Yue Bin had forgotten all about Lu Miaomiao's strange reaction. He happily took the bracelet and slipped it onto his wrist—then his thumb suddenly felt a distinctly regular pattern of raised bumps on its surface.

Yue Bin instinctively ran his fingers over them. The raised portions were either dots or dashes, and each dash was about the length of three dots...

Yue Bin's expression changed. Even someone as slow as him should have realized it by then. "Morse Code?"

Lu Chi merely smiled without answering.

Lu Miaomiao gave him a look that said, "So you finally get it," watching Brother Yue Bin with a gratified expression—thank goodness he wasn't hopelessly stupid_(:з)∠)_

After receiving confirmation, Yue Bin's expression changed even more dramatically. His thumb slowly brushed over the barely visible raised portions of the bracelet, carefully reading their message. At last, he slowly said, "Where my will leads, I press forward without fear."

Lu Chi smiled slightly. "Didn't you want a cool bracelet? Is that phrase edgy enough—cool enough?"

Lu Chi changed his wording just in time, then rubbed the space between his brows in slight exhaustion beneath Yue Bin and Zhang Yang's utterly dumbfounded stares.

In order to help his two friends, who had clearly not outgrown their edgy phase, weave cool-looking bracelets, Lu Chi had considered the matter carefully before finally deciding to incorporate Morse Code into the bracelet patterns. The reason he had chosen the Endless-Swastika Pattern and the Key-Fret Pattern was also because the weaving methods for these two designs were especially suited to incorporating Morse Code—Morse Code was fundamentally composed of two basic signals: dots (.) and dashes (-), while the joints of the Endless-Swastika Pattern and Key-Fret Pattern happened to match the way Morse Code was represented.