KMYB | Chapter 1

[There's a basketball game tonight between our school's sports college and the nearby Jingti University. Want to go watch?]

[I'll go if I can boo them.]

Jing University was the full name of Jingcheng University, the highest-ranked institution in the country. It had the largest campus of any university and the widest range of majors. It boasted a dozen signature programs. Besides the medical school and the school of science, which were especially strong academically, it also had highly specialized schools of dance and physical education.

The School of Dance and the School of Physical Education had been merged into Jingcheng University years ago. Their predecessors were Jingcheng Dance College and Jingcheng Physical Education College. But ever since the three schools were folded into one, they were all called Jing University students.

[We can go look at abs.]

[You can look at Jingti University, not Jingti.]

Jingti University and Jingti were not the same thing.

Jingti University was an independent university, with the full name Jingcheng Physical Education University, while Jingti was Jingcheng University's School of Physical Education. But Jingti was so dominant, and its seniority really was older than Jingti University, and it even had a living hell king in charge, so Jingti University had no choice but to use a three-character abbreviation.

The one replying in the group chat was Xi Shui's roommate, while the one who wanted to go look at abs was another of Xi Shui's roommates. They had been tugging back and forth in the chat for nearly half an hour.

Lin Xiaojin's attention shifted to Xi Shui.

He @-ed Xi Shui in the group chat: Xiao Xi, come keep me company and watch the basketball game!

Xi Shui was stretching in the practice room, pressing one leg open, and replied as he went, "I'm not going."

His reason was simple.

Even though Jing Dance and Jingti were both departments under Jingcheng University, they could not stand each other.

The two sides looked down on one another, brawled, sneered, and mocked each other for years, yet still had to be bound together. They went hard on their own people, but if outsiders picked on them, they defended each other like mother hens.

Lin Xiaojin kept bombarding Xi Shui with voice messages. "Come with me, come with me, I'll buy you juice."

Xi Shui's heart softened.

"Two cups!"

Xi Shui lowered his leg from the barre. "I'll shower and come over. Wait for me at the West Garden gate."

Lin Xiaojin excitedly sent a message: "I love you, Xiao Xi!"

Dance students had morning and evening practice every day. Xi Shui was now a sophomore in the ballet department of Jingcheng University's School of Dance. Because the school practice rooms were locked after eight at night and students were not allowed to use or enter them anymore, his parents rented a two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment in the residential complex next to campus. One of the bedrooms had been converted into a simple practice room, so Xi Shui could practice whenever he wanted.

The complex was less than a ten-minute walk from the school, just through a park.

The summer night was still scorching hot. Xi Shui carried a pink water bottle and drank as he walked.

By the time he reached the West Garden gate, Lin Xiaojin was just coming over from the dorms.

From far away, Xi Shui was already in Lin Xiaojin's line of sight. They were both ballet dancers, but Xi Shui's presence stood out far above the average student in the same major, for two reasons. First, Xi Shui came from a ballet family. Both of his parents were ballet dancers, and his grandmother had once been the prima ballerina of the Jingcheng Ballet Troupe. Raised in that environment, Xi Shui had a naturally better build than his peers from a young age, and a deeper understanding of dance.

Second, his talent in dance was genuinely extraordinary. He won the gold medal in the youth division of the Taoli Cup in high school, then won the gold medal in the youth division of the Taoli Cup and the classical ballet choreography competition in his first year of college. Now he was already preparing for next year's Varna International Ballet Competition.

He also had a great personality and never put on airs as a little genius. He helped classmates choreograph dances, corrected their movements, and was extremely popular in the School of Dance, almost on par with that demon king over in the sports college.

Xi Shui stood to one side of the big iron gate of West Garden, carrying a white canvas bag and clutching a 1,000-milliliter pink water bottle.

He had never cared about clothes or styling. It wasn't that he lacked taste, quite the opposite. Every performance costume he wore onstage was stunning, whether in material or design. Xi Shui just couldn't be bothered to spend effort on anything except dancing.

A loose white T-shirt, black knit pants, simple colors. Combined with his excellent figure, he stood out among the passing students like a spirit fallen into the human world.

The streetlight fell across his dark lashes, like the wings of a black butterfly.

"Xiao Xi, I'm here, hurry up, hurry up. I had a friend on the sports team save us seats, the best seats!" Lin Xiaojin jogged over all the way and grabbed Xi Shui, dragging him forward.

Xi Shui was slow to react, so he let Lin Xiaojin lead him and asked curiously, "You have friends in the sports college?"

When Jingti and Jing Dance quarreled, Jingti mocked Jing Dance for having shoulders that couldn't carry anything and hands that couldn't lift anything, while Jing Dance shot back that Jingti had strong limbs and a weak brain. The grudge had been there all along, and since the majors were so different, the two schools didn't interact much.

Lin Xiaojin blinked, suddenly shy.

"Did I not tell you? The person I like is on the Jingti basketball team. I'm going tonight just to see him."

"You never told me. I didn't know."

"Well, I'm telling you now. Don't tell anyone else."

"Okay."

–

There were still ten minutes before the basketball game started, and the gym was packed beyond belief. Xi Shui and Lin Xiaojin entered directly through the staff passage on the first floor.

Every seat in the gym was full, and people were even sitting in the aisles. The two basketball teams had not started playing yet, but the students, acting as the audience and support squad, had already raised a banner that read, "Jingti, Jingti, number one!"

The players were warming up on the court. On the surface they looked like they were exchanging friendly greetings, but in reality every movement crackled with sparks.

Xi Shui felt like his ears were almost going deaf.

Lin Xiaojin dragged him all the way to the basketball team's resting area.

Xi Shui looked at the group of tall, broad-shouldered boys in front of him and froze. Boys who studied ballet generally weren't short. He was just under 180 centimeters, and usually thought of himself as quite tall, but compared with this group of sports students, the difference was obvious at a glance.

They were wearing black jerseys, each with their own number on the chest and back. Their skin tones varied, none of them especially fair, and some were astonishingly dark.

The moment they noticed the unexpected visitor, they stopped fooling around.

Meng Kewen, who was sitting on a bench, stood up. "Lin Xiaojin, come here."

The resting area was right behind the stands. Just a few steps around the stairs was a shortcut up.

Xi Shui hugged his water bottle and slipped past the basketball team, then sat down in the seat Lin Xiaojin's friend had saved for them.

"Hello, I'm Meng Kewen, Lin Xiaojin's childhood friend." Meng Kewen greeted Xi Shui. The moment Xi Shui and Lin Xiaojin walked into the gym, he had noticed him. His aura was too good. He looked like the cold, aloof type, a little unreachable.

"I've heard Lin Xiaojin mention you. Your name is Xi Shui."

"Yes, hello." Xi Shui nodded, all business.

"…"

Xi Shui didn't understand basketball, and he wasn't very interested in it either. He put on his Bluetooth earphones, took out his phone from his shoulder bag, and opened a few ballet videos he had saved to enjoy.

At his side, Lin Xiaojin and Meng Kewen were discussing things with great enthusiasm.

"Has Wu Fengyi arrived yet?"

"Not yet. He should be here soon. He just called and said he was already at the entrance."

"Xiao Xi, I'm so nervous." Lin Xiaojin suddenly called out to Xi Shui.

Xi Shui asked, "What's there to be nervous about?"

"The person I have a crush on is at the entrance."

Xi Shui looked at Lin Xiaojin. Lin Xiaojin looked at Xi Shui.

After a long moment, Xi Shui said, "So…"

Lin Xiaojin gave up. He gave up trying to discuss love with a fool whose entire brain was devoted to dancing.

Xi Shui continued watching the video he hadn't finished yet. Before his finger even touched play, the uproar from the stands behind him suddenly swelled louder, surging like a tide.

Xi Shui curled his fingers and looked toward the direction everyone else was staring at.

Two boys came out from the staff passage, both wearing black jerseys, with the numbers 1 and 2 on their chests. They looked to be at least 185 centimeters tall, broad in the shoulders and long in the legs. The muscles on their arms were solid but not overdone, and the fresh, vigorous scent of youth and hormones hit head-on.

Lin Xiaojin started slapping Xi Shui's thigh hard. Xi Shui guessed that the person Lin Xiaojin had a crush on should be one of those two.

Meng Kewen wasn't all that excited. They were teammates, after all, and saw each other all the time. Instead, when he saw the person behind Wu Fengyi, his expression turned visibly dazed. "Old Zhou is here too?"

Xi Shui still hadn't lowered his head.

Behind the two boys in jerseys, there was another boy in a black T-shirt and black pants. He was very tall, holding a bottle of mineral water in one hand in a casual way. His features were sharp and hard-edged, and his skin was several shades fairer than any of the sports students Xi Shui had seen today.

Lin Xiaojin barely contained his excitement. "Why is Zhou the demon king here too?"

Xi Shui also browsed forums.

He knew that Zhou the demon king was the sports college's boss. Sometimes when he went on the forum, he would see it, because people there always liked to pair him with Zhou the demon king from the sports college and ship them. But it wasn't just that pair. The forum shipped all kinds of crazy CPs.

Still, apart from the title Zhou the demon king, Xi Shui knew nothing else.

"Wenzi, still sitting up there? Get down here." Wu Fengyi tossed a bottle of mineral water toward Meng Kewen. Meng Kewen reached up and caught it, then stood and said to Lin Xiaojin, "I'm going down."

Lin Xiaojin now only had eyes for Wu Fengyi's abs and couldn't be bothered to care where his childhood friend was going.

Meng Kewen jumped down from the steps in one stride. He walked up to Wu Fengyi and greeted the person beside him. "Old Zhou is here too?"

"Staying home was boring, so I came to take a look." Zhou Zeqi walked to the front of the bench, and several teammates quickly made room in the middle.

Xi Shui lowered his eyes and looked at the boy standing below him. He was dressed as casually as Xi Shui was. Although his posture was lazy, his presence was impossible to ignore.

The other man's calm gaze lingered briefly on his face for a few seconds, then he turned and sat down.

Lin Xiaojin scooted closer to Xi Shui and lowered his voice. "This is Zhou Zeqi, a junior in the sports college majoring in sports rehabilitation. Among the forum's CP posts, yours with him is the hottest."

The other man had already sat down on the bench directly in front of Xi Shui.

It was clear now. Zhou Zeqi had broad shoulders and a wide back. Through the thin summer fabric, the smooth, beautiful lines of the muscles underneath were faintly visible.

"Why?" Xi Shui didn't even know this person.

"Then you have to ask the people on the forum. They say that's what CP chemistry is, something you can only understand, not put into words."