Are You Desperate or What?

Saintland had chartered several private jets to fly them to the island, but even though there was no rush to catch a flight, everyone still had to show up at school at the usual time. That was because Country A sat almost directly opposite them on the globe, spanning eight time zones—the flight would take a full day.

So what was everyone doing in the hour before takeoff?

Fu Haoyao was jolted awake by his fifth alarm. He sat up groggily, took a full minute to process where he was, then hauled himself out of bed. He jogged a kilometer around the yard, hit the home gym for some weightlifting, and finally squeezed in a five-minute battle shower before throwing open his walk-in closet to pick out his outfit.

His luggage had been packed ages ago, but knowing he might run into Fu Liangxia before takeoff, he’d even swapped out his usual earring for a more mature, minimalist black diamond stud. Paired with a newly purchased luxury hoodie and styled hair, he looked so sharp he practically sparkled.

Fu Langshu, on his way out, caught sight of him and raised a rare eyebrow. “Got an event today?”

Fu Haoyao had already vaulted into the driver’s seat of his Lamborghini. He floored the gas and called back, “School camping trip—I won’t be home for a couple of nights.”

With that, he roared off in a cloud of exhaust.

Fu Langshu watched the fading taillights and slowly shook his head.

That wasn’t a camping trip—that was a peacock showing off its feathers.

...

But fate had other plans for Fu Haoyao. The plane seats were assigned by class, and no matter how you arranged it, Class Two and Class Ten could never end up on the same flight.

Fu Liangxia boarded with just one light suitcase, looking far more nimble than her classmates lugging heavy bags.

She was about to head to her assigned seat when a voice called out from first class.

She looked up to find Bai Yan.

“Saved you a seat,” he said, his tone as casual as if he’d grabbed her a takeout meal.

But this wasn’t an ordinary airline. Saintland’s chartered jets didn’t sell first-class tickets for money—not even close. Everyone on board could afford it, except the special admits. Seating priority went to board members’ big shareholders first, then smaller ones, then heirs of families who’d donated buildings to the school. Fu Liangxia fit none of those categories, but her two group members happened to come from one of the major shareholder families.

She wasn’t one to turn down a comfier seat, so she thanked Bai Yan and settled where he indicated.

But when she checked the seating chart in the class group chat, she saw Bai Yan beside her, Bai Xin directly ahead, Su Xingshu diagonally in front, and—conveniently enough—Ju Jinghuan, who’d once invited her out, behind her. The moment she processed the layout, she felt a wild urge to bolt back to her original seat.

But she was here now.

There was still time before takeoff. Su Xingshu, Bai Xin, and Ju Jinghuan’s seats were empty. Bai Yan, after pointing her to her spot, had reclined and was frowning at his phone, replying to messages, and hadn’t yet bothered to talk to her. That let Fu Liangxia breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

Then, out of nowhere, a WeChat message popped up from Fu Haoyao.

Fu Haoyao: 【We land in the middle of the night, so we can catch the sunrise at the beach. I’m going with Xingzhou—want to come?】

Less than two seconds later, he added: 【Of course, if you don’t want him there, I can kick him out.】

Su Xingshu had known him forever.

He smirked: Jealous?

Fu Liangxia was genuinely tempted by the idea of watching the sunrise by the sea, but after landing, they had group activities planned—the school had arranged scuba diving and a helicopter island tour, with skydiving in the afternoon. She wasn’t sure she’d have the energy for the rest of the itinerary after sunrise.

Plus, since it was a group activity, she needed to check with Bai Xin and Bai Yan first.

Fu Liangxia thought it over and replied: 【Not sure yet—I need to ask Bai Yan and the others.】

Fu Haoyao: 【I can hog-tie them along if you want to go.】

He sent a sticker of a dog spinning in frantic circles.

Fu Liangxia felt that dog was basically him and couldn’t help but smile. She replied: 【I probably won’t last long—I’ll need to come back and catch up on sleep.】

Fu Haoyao was quick: 【We won’t stay long either. We all need to adjust to the time difference.】

Fu Liangxia: 【Okay, see you guys soon.】

Fu Haoyao: 【Rest well. Are you in first class? Want me to get you moved there?】

Fu Liangxia: 【Since when are you this thoughtful?】

Fu Haoyao: 【I’m a gentle, caring, mature eighteen-year-old man. You like this persona, right?】

Fu Liangxia: 【...】

Fu Liangxia: 【Thanks, gentle, caring, mature eighteen-year-old man, but Bai Yan already got me into first class.】

Fu Haoyao: 【He’s so scheming.】

He followed up with another sticker of a dog throwing a tantrum, which looked even more like him—almost as if he were standing right in front of her.

The smile tugged harder at Fu Liangxia’s lips.

Just then, Bai Xin walked in and caught that expression. He gave her a curious, lingering look, his face thoughtful.

Meanwhile, Fu Haoyao sent another message: 【Cheng Xingzhou just swiped my phone to add you on WeChat. Don’t accept him.】

Attached was a sticker of a dog holding up a gun in a threatening pose.

A second later, a red notification dot appeared in her contacts—sure enough, a friend request.

The profile was ancient-official style: a starry-night sky as the avatar, and the name was just a single character, “Zhou.” The request message read: 【Add me.】

Even the request sounded like a command. He was probably the first person to do that.

Fu Liangxia was annoyed by his arrogance. She didn’t hit accept. Instead, she replied directly: 【Fu Haoyao said not to add you.】

Cheng Xingzhou: 【?】

It took over a minute for him to respond: 【You listen to him?】

Fu Liangxia: 【Mainly because I don’t want to.】

At that, Cheng Xingzhou—who had been sitting upright in his seat—suddenly clenched his phone, his brow furrowing. What had he done to deserve this? Not even a WeChat friend request?

His face stayed blank, but a cold aura radiated from him: 【Why?】

Fu Liangxia: 【Why are you adding me? You’re just going to lecture me again.】

Cheng Xingzhou was irritated. Fu Haoyao could add her, Su Xingshu could add her, but he couldn’t?

Yet his fingers typed calmly: 【No.】

A beat later, he added: 【I won’t manage you anymore.】

He’d been worried about her before, afraid she’d anger the wrong people. But looking at it now, he’d overthought it.

Everyone was getting along just fine on their own.

And between them, something had subtly shifted lately.

It wasn’t just others—Su Xingshu’s glances at him were off. Sometimes, when Cheng Xingzhou turned his head, he’d catch the other guy staring straight at him, almost making him question Su’s orientation.

It wasn’t until later, when Cheng Xingzhou noticed Fu Liangxia’s slightly unusual attitude toward Fu Haoyao and found himself sizing Fu Haoyao up, wondering what he had, that he realized Su Xingshu’s orientation was perfectly normal.

Not just normal—it alarmingly overlapped with his own.

Fu Liangxia: 【Honestly, I didn’t really care.】

In the end, she hit accept.

Cheng Xingzhou’s lips curved slightly as he lazily swiped into her Moments. There were only a handful of posts, mostly random photos of scenery, and the newest was a German song link.

He had an insatiable curiosity about everything related to her. He tapped through each post, savoring them—until he reached the latest one and paused.

It showed two comments.

WeChat only displayed comments from mutual friends, so he could guess who’d left them.

Cheng Xingzhou tapped in and saw Su Xingshu had written: 【I’ll play this for you on the camping trip.】

And Fu Haoyao had replied to Su with a single word: 【Tch.】

Cheng Xingzhou’s gaze darkened for a split second. He lifted his head to look at Fu Haoyao, who was still sulking with his back to him, and asked, “Did you invite Su Xingshu to watch the sunrise?”

Fu Haoyao was still fuming about having his phone snatched and his contact shared, so he didn’t even turn around. “No! I didn’t even want to invite you.”

Cheng Xingzhou chose to ignore the second half. “Good, that’s good,” he said with a nod.

Su Xingshu had come over to their side and, hearing his name, raised an eyebrow. “What, no one invited me?”

But neither of them paid him any mind.

Fu Haoyao turned to shoot Cheng Xingzhou a glance. “What did you talk to her about? Do you two even have common ground?”

Cheng Xingzhou: “I asked if she was going.”

Fu Haoyao snorted. “Maybe after you ask, she won’t.”

Cheng Xingzhou lifted his eyelids and gave him a look from the corner of his eye, a faint glint in his dark pupils. “But she added me.”

Fu Haoyao: “...”

Fu Haoyao got even angrier.

He knew he had no right to be jealous—Fu Liangxia could do whatever she wanted—but he couldn’t help the sourness churning in his chest.

Of course, Su Xingshu was the most annoyed of all. He glanced from one to the other and finally spoke up. “Seriously, is anyone going to acknowledge me?”

Fu Haoyao: “Nothing.”

But Cheng Xingzhou studied him quietly for a few seconds before saying, “You’re going to sing for Fu Liangxia?”

“How do you know?” Su Xingshu was taken aback. His guitar was in his suitcase, not on him. How had Cheng Xingzhou figured it out? Had Fu Liangxia told him? Were they that close?

Cheng Xingzhou said flatly, “Saw it in her Moments.”

That sent Su Xingshu off-kilter. He froze, then stood up straight from his casual lean against the doorframe, his eyes narrowing. “You added her too.”

“Yeah.”

Cheng Xingzhou answered with a single word, and when he looked up, something unreadable was flowing in the depths of his gaze.

Su Xingshu stared at him for a few seconds, then let out a short laugh.

His striking red hair framed sculpted features that twisted into a mocking expression. He leaned in closer to Cheng Xingzhou and said slowly, “When she liked you, you couldn’t be bothered. Now that she won’t even look at you, you suddenly care?”

Cheng Xingzhou’s face hardened.

But Su Xingshu, ignoring the simmering anger, curled his lips and pressed on. “Is it that the unattainable always tantalizes? Or is it more thrilling to chase a girl your bro likes?”

“Cheng Xingzhou, are you desperate or what?”