Huo Yuhao ate every last bite and drank the final mouthful of soup before setting down his bowl and chopsticks somewhat bashfully and looking up at Wang Dong across from him.
A little sheen of oil still clung to his lips, his cheeks were faintly flushed, and his voice carried a trace of shyness. "Senior Wang Dong, I'm finished. Thank you."
Seeing him looking so sweet and shy, Wang Dong felt as though a cat's claws were scratching at his heart, making it itch unbearably. He was wondering how to stay a little longer when his mouth got ahead of him and the words slipped out:
"Since you're done, let's head back to the dorm together!"
Huo Yuhao froze, blinking his large eyes as he looked at him in confusion. "Back to the dorm together?"
Only then did Wang Dong realize what he had said, and his mind buzzed.
He finally remembered that things were different from the original story now. He was a boy, and Huo Yuhao was a girl, so there was no way they could share a room. What a... shame.
He hurriedly coughed and added with a show of composure, "I meant I'll walk you back to your dorm. You just got to the academy and don't know your way around. What if you get lost?"
Warmth spread through Huo Yuhao's heart at those words. Though a little embarrassed, he still nodded. "Sorry for the trouble, then."
By the time they left the dining hall, the sky had begun to darken. The lingering sunset spilled across the academy's bluestone paths, stretching their shadows long behind them.
Wang Dong walked beside Huo Yuhao, deliberately slowing down to match his pace.
Huo Yuhao stole a glance at him, thinking what a nice senior he was-handsome, gentle, and so considerate toward him.
At the foot of the girls' dormitory, Huo Yuhao stopped and was about to say goodbye when Wang Dong suddenly frowned.
He had noticed the quilt Huo Yuhao was carrying in his arms. It was thin, old, and stiff-looking, with edges worn into fraying threads, like something that had been used for years.
Wang Dong's heart tightened. How could that quilt keep anyone warm? Shrek Academy was up in the mountains, where the nights were windy and bitterly cold. With a quilt that thin, he'd probably wake up freezing in the middle of the night.
"Wait here," Wang Dong said, turning and running toward the boys' dormitory.
Huo Yuhao stared in surprise. "Senior? Where are you going?"
"I'll be right back!"
Wang Dong ran like the wind and soon returned with a brand-new quilt in his arms. Thick and fluffy, it was made of fine cotton fleece and clearly hadn't come cheap.
He stuffed it into Huo Yuhao's arms, his tone perfectly casual. "I happened to buy an extra quilt, so you can have it."
Holding the soft quilt, Huo Yuhao looked down at it, then back up at Wang Dong, and his eyes suddenly reddened.
He wasn't stupid. Who would buy an extra quilt for no reason? Wang Dong had clearly seen how old and thin his quilt was and made up an excuse to give him this one.
"Senior Wang Dong..." His voice trembled slightly. "This must have been expensive, right? I can't take it."
"What are you talking about?" Wang Dong waved a hand, looking utterly unconcerned. "It's just a quilt. It didn't cost much. Just use it, and don't stand on ceremony with me."
Huo Yuhao bit his lip, his grip on the quilt tightening again and again. Apart from Tian Meng, no one had ever treated him with such wholehearted kindness in all his life.
The people of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion regarded him as worthless weeds. His mother had died young, and his father... that man had never even looked him in the eye. He had thought he was used to cold stares and indifference, yet Wang Dong's unexpected kindness made his nose sting with the urge to cry.
"Thank you..." He lowered his head, his voice muffled. "Thank you so much."
Seeing his shoulders tremble faintly, Wang Dong felt his own heart soften. He resisted the urge to reach out and ruffle his hair, and simply smiled. "All right, don't overthink it. Get some rest. You still have to report to class tomorrow."
Huo Yuhao nodded and went upstairs with the quilt in his arms. At the turn of the staircase, he looked back at Wang Dong once more. The boy stood in the sunset, his long pink-and-blue hair edged with gold, like someone who had stepped out of a painting.
He pressed his lips together and silently etched that name into his heart: Wang Dong.
Not far away, a white-haired old man reclined beneath an old pagoda tree, watching the scene through narrowed eyes. He held a palm-leaf fan and waved it lazily, a somewhat speechless expression on his face.
"Tsk, young people these days... starting puppy love as soon as they enroll?"
The old man shook his head and muttered, "This trend of puppy love among the new students is getting worse and worse... Should I step in?"
He thought about it, then shook his head again. Forget it. They were young; a little vitality was a good thing.
He was the current Sea God Pavilion Master, known as Mu En. Having lived so many years and weathered every great wind and wave, he wasn't about to give a few children a hard time.
As Mu En was thinking, he suddenly saw the pink-and-blue-haired boy walking toward him. The boy came up to him, stopped, and gave him a polite smile.
"Hello, Grandpa."
Mu En was taken aback, and even the palm-leaf fan in his hand stopped moving. This boy... had actually come over to greet him? He had always kept a low profile at the academy and rarely shown his true identity. Most new students had no idea who he was.
Yet this boy had greeted him with a simple "Hello, Grandpa," and sounded so sincere about it, too.
For some reason, Mu En felt rather pleased, and a slight smile appeared on his face. "Mm, hello, hello. Young man, are you new here?"
"Yes, Grandpa." Wang Dong smiled sweetly. "My name is Wang Dong. I'm a new student this year. Are you enjoying the cool air out here, Grandpa? It gets windy at night, so please take care of yourself."
Wang Dong's flurry of solicitous concern left Mu En unsure whether to laugh or cry. He waved a hand. "Off you go, off you go. Don't stand around here."
Wang Dong smiled again before turning to leave. Once he had walked some distance away, he felt secretly smug. That was a worthwhile boost to the Sea God Pavilion Master's favorability.
Wang Dong returned to the boys' dormitory, pushed open the door, and entered his room. It was a two-person room with two beds, one by the window and one by the door.
The bed by the window got plenty of sunlight and had already been made up, seemingly as part of the academy's standard arrangements.
Wang Dong put his belongings on the bed by the door. He was about to tidy up and lie down when a question suddenly occurred to him: who would his new roommate be?
He was rather curious. In the original story, his roommate had been Huo Yuhao, but that clearly wasn't the case now. Who could it be, then?
As he was wondering, someone suddenly pushed the dorm room door open from outside.
A boy strode in. He was tall and handsome, with short black hair, but his most striking feature was his eyes. They were naturally different colors and carried an air of untamed arrogance.
The boy surveyed the room, his gaze landing on Wang Dong, then checked the positions of the two beds and frowned slightly.
He walked over to the bed by the window, patted its frame, and turned to Wang Dong, his tone commanding and brooking no argument.
"I'm taking this bed. You move to that one."
Wang Dong raised his eyebrows and said nothing.
When he got no response, the boy seemed to grow impatient and added, "My name is Dai Huabin. From now on, I'm the boss of this room. You'll be responsible for the cleaning and everything else."
He paused, lifting his chin slightly, a confident, arrogant smile on his face. "But in exchange, I can watch your back at Shrek Academy."
"You won't lose out!"
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