The Physics Representative and the Blacklist Blunder

The night passed, and Chu Ci successfully became an insomniac.

Early the next morning, he deliberately made up an excuse to leave Ji Yanli’s house early. As he walked toward school alone with his backpack, he felt utterly listless.

The weather wasn’t great today; gloomy dark clouds were piled up in the sky. Chu Ci walked forward with his head down, his drifting thoughts making him fail to notice someone approaching from behind.

It wasn’t until he heard distinct footsteps and felt a strong impact hit his back that he reflexively staggered forward. Turning around, he realized the newcomer was actually Lin Yu.

“I saw you from a mile away! I called out but you didn’t react at all.” The youth hooked an arm familiarly around Chu Ci’s shoulder, then pointed in surprise at the two dark circles under Chu Ci’s eyes. “What were you doing last night? Your dark circles are so heavy!”

With that, he even fished a small mirror out of his schoolbag and held it up to Chu Ci’s face.

Chu Ci looked at his reflection in the mirror—his small face was deathly pale, his lips lacked color, and the dark circles under his eyes, while not deep in hue, were exceptionally prominent. He looked quite frightening.

He silently looked away, not answering Lin Yu’s question. Chu Ci felt his relationship with Lin Yu wasn’t that deep yet, so he awkwardly pushed away the hand resting on his shoulder.

“It’s nothing,” Chu Ci replied softly.

It was just that he was regretting not blocking Ji Yanli on social media sooner.

Thinking about it made Chu Ci feel a chill in his heart; after all, he had spent the entire night deleting countless old posts one by one until his feed was spotless.

“I don’t believe you.” Lin Yu looked at him, laughing mischievously. “High schoolers this age stay up late either to play games or for romance. Which one are you?”

Chu Ci glanced at him and let out a disdainful snort.

Heh. The Cult of Deletion is eternal.

Seeing that he wouldn’t answer, Lin Yu’s curiosity grew. He pestered Chu Ci with questions until Chu Ci finally made up a random excuse to brush him off: “I stayed up late doing homework.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Yu immediately stopped asking, his gaze even carrying a hint of respect.

The two chatted idly as they walked into the school. Lin Yu’s classroom was downstairs, and he refused to let go until he forced Chu Ci to promise they’d go home together after school.

The morning study bell rang just as Chu Ci stepped into his classroom. He put down his bag and happened to see Ji Yanli rushing in. Ji Yanli always had a strong sense of time and was usually the first to arrive; seeing him barely make it was quite a novelty.

Chu Ci watched him walk to his seat. As usual, before putting down his bag, Ji Yanli pulled a thick stack of love letters out of his desk drawer. Boys and girls at this age were still innocent; even if they secretly confessed over the phone, a handwritten letter remained the most sincere and direct way to express affection.

After all, until half a month ago, Chu Ci had been one of them.

Ji Yanli stared at the letters for a few seconds before habitually setting them aside. He never read the contents; after class, he would find time to return them to the senders one by one. This gentle, gentlemanly side of him was exactly why those pursuers persisted in writing every day.

Chu Ci watched Ji Yanli’s back for a moment before looking away. After what happened last night, Chu Ci decided that from now on, he would avoid Ji Yanli whenever possible.

Morning study ended quickly, followed by the various subject representatives standing up to collect last night’s homework. Chu Ci pulled his workbooks out one by one. Because he hadn’t slept well, he was incredibly drowsy; his eyes were dry and slightly red, and his eyelids felt like they were weighed down by stones.

He looked around. There were still a few minutes before class started, and since his seat was hidden and he was a “background character” with zero presence, no teacher would notice him. Chu Ci collapsed onto his desk, closing his eyes to sleep. Just then, his desk was tapped twice: “Knock, knock.”

The sound was jarringly loud in the classroom. Chu Ci nearly jumped out of his chair in fright. Sensing the eyes of several classmates on him, he rubbed his eyes and turned to see who was standing there.

It was the Physics Representative.

The guy had a typical bowl cut and thick glasses. He wasn’t tall, but his expression was arrogant—the kind of person who was clearly a sycophant in front of teachers.

“Where’s your homework?” The representative scanned Chu Ci up and down, his brow furrowed in impatience.

Chu Ci patted the stack of books at his elbow. “In there. Find it yourself.”

The representative didn’t move or speak. He looked at Chu Ci, then at the pile of workbooks in his own arms, his eyes seemingly blaming Chu Ci for his lack of “situational awareness.”

Chu Ci understood what he meant. He grumbled internally about what a troublesome kid this was and began flipping through his workbooks to find his physics assignment.

But after flipping through every single book, he couldn’t find the one labeled “Physics.”

Crap.

Alarm bells went off in Chu Ci’s head.

He had encountered the number one horror of student life:

Forgetting his homework.

“Did you actually write it or not?” The representative couldn’t help but “tsk,” his disgust barely concealed.

Chu Ci pulled his bag out of the drawer, practically shoving his whole head inside to look. “I wrote it, I really did! Just let me look a bit longer.”

The representative rolled his eyes and pouted.

[If you didn’t write it, you didn’t write it. Why pretend?]

[Just wait until I tell the Physics teacher. He’s finished.]

[By the way, Chen Yang got the exact same answer wrong as me last time. Was he copying me?!]

[I’ll ask the teacher to analyze it later.]

“How much longer?!” The representative grew more frustrated the longer he waited, slapping Chu Ci’s desk hard. “Class is starting! Do you want the whole class waiting for you?”

He was certain Chu Ci hadn’t done the work and, without giving him a chance to explain, turned to leave with the other assignments.

The next second, Ji Yanli, who was sitting in the front row, suddenly stood up and walked over to Chu Ci’s desk.

“Wait.” His gentle voice reached everyone’s ears. His slender fingers held a thin workbook, which he placed on top of the stack. “His physics homework is with me.”

The representative froze, staring blankly at the beautiful youth. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and a suspicious flush crept onto his cheeks. “What… what’s going on?”

The arrogant attitude he’d shown Chu Ci vanished instantly, replaced by a bashful, stuttering demeanor like a “blushing bride.”

Ji Yanli let out a soft laugh and turned to meet Chu Ci’s eyes. “Classmate, did you forget? Yesterday I saw that your method for solving the last problem was very unique, so I borrowed it to study.”

The curve of his lips was tender. The other students looked on, eyes nearly sparking with jealousy, wondering why that smile wasn’t directed at them.

[To have Ji Yanli proactively borrow his homework… where did this kid come from? You better be grateful!]

[I want to possess that background character! Possess him!!]

[Damn it, my Ji Yanli is smiling at you like that and you have zero reaction!]

Chu Ci couldn’t hear those thoughts. He stared at Ji Yanli for a few seconds before finally reacting. “You stole my homework?!”

Ji Yanli blinked innocently. “Classmate, you’re misremembering. You lent it to me.”

Chu Ci gnashed his teeth. ‘You definitely stole it!’

‘If this crappy representative believes this, I’ll…’

“So that’s how it is!” The representative interrupted, glancing at Ji Yanli with a red face. “Thanks to Classmate Ji. Otherwise, if the teacher found out, this student would definitely have been punished with extra writing.”

With that, he ducked his head and hurried away.

Chu Ci: “??”

‘Couldn’t you just… not tattle?!’

Amongst the noisy thoughts of the crowd, Chu Ci’s internal monologue was sharp with hostility. Ji Yanli looked down at Chu Ci’s frustrated expression, the smile on his lips deepening. “Why didn’t you wait for me this morning?”

Chu Ci looked at him, bewildered. “Didn’t I say? I had an emergency.”

“You didn’t,” Ji Yanli replied.

Chu Ci took a breath. “I left you a note!”

Ji Yanli looked even more aggrieved. “That wasn’t saying it to me in person.”

Finally realizing this person was just looking for trouble, Chu Ci rolled his eyes, plopped back into his seat, buried his head in his arms, and began to play “deaf.”

Ji Yanli persisted, sticking close. “Why are you unwilling to talk to me?”

Chu Ci felt a vein in his temple throb.

‘Whose fault do you think that is?!’

‘Who told you to go around liking my social media posts for no reason!’

“Oh—” Ji Yanli crouched down, drawing out the sound. He tilted his head to peer up at Chu Ci from beneath his arms. “Is it because you cursed me on your feed, and then I saw it?”

Chu Ci opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Ji Yanli’s devastatingly handsome face.

He didn’t want to imagine how strange Ji Yanli’s posture looked right now, but the glares from the surrounding students were enough to burn a hole through him.

Feeling numb all over, Chu Ci sat bolt upright, looking at Ji Yanli as if he were a monster. The other’s eyes were bright as he blinked, looking for all the world like he wasn’t the one who’d been cursed.

‘Is there something wrong with his brain…’

‘Is he saying this just to make me embarrassed again??’

Chu Ci closed his eyes.

“I’ve thought about it, and I really think we should just delete each other.”

“A spot on your friend list is too precious. I’m not worthy.”

Ji Yanli shook his head without hesitation. “But I’m not angry.”

“Besides, the way you talk is quite fun. If I have insomnia in the future, I’ll curse people like that too.”

He spoke with such conviction that words others might find sarcastic sounded perfectly sincere coming from him.

Chu Ci felt like he was going to die of exasperation.

‘Big brother, do you have any idea how OOC you are being right now??’

“You left too early today, and you didn’t reply to my messages.” Ji Yanli looked up into Chu Ci’s eyes like a pitiful puppy. “I thought you were unhappy.”

Chu Ci thought about it.

Then he remembered that in his panic last night, he seemed to have accidentally muted/blocked Ji Yanli’s chat window along with everything else.

The corner of his mouth twitched, and he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. “Uh…”

Suddenly, Chu Ci’s wrist was gripped tightly by Ji Yanli.

The youth crouching before him lowered his eyes slightly.

“In the future, don’t ignore me, okay?”