| BYSG | Caught in the Act | 23
Shen Yu carefully retraced his steps.
His lip balm was still there when he finished dinner at the cafeteria. He had even reapplied it after wiping his mouth.
Later, he and Cheng Mofei took a stroll to digest their meal before heading back to the dormitory. During that time, nothing happened, and the lip balm should have stayed safely in the pocket of his jacket.
Recently, the temperature had dropped, so before going out that evening, he had thrown on a light jacket. Perhaps the jacket’s pockets weren’t very deep, and he accidentally lost it on the way back…
“Lost it, huh?” Cheng Mofei asked, feigning ignorance.
In fact, he had witnessed the entire process of the lip balm being lost. Shen Yu liked walking along the edges of the landscaping, his steps wobbly and unsteady.
With the shallow pockets of his jacket, the lip balm had accidentally fallen onto the grass during this time. There were quite a few students coming and going around them, the atmosphere noisy and bustling.
A single lip balm didn’t make much noise when it fell.
Cheng Mofei had seen it happen but didn’t say anything. Instead, he had given it a subtle kick, sending it farther away, and then quickly led Shen Yu away.
Lost was lost. After all, he had already prepared something better for Shen Yu.
Shen Yu nodded, “I guess so. It’s fine. I’ll just go buy another one from the supermarket.”
Cheng Mofei immediately took out a familiar, unopened lip balm from his drawer and handed it to Shen Yu, making up a story on the spot: “My mom gave me this one a while ago, but I haven’t used it and probably won’t. I might as well give it to you.”
Shen Yu took the lip balm and realized it was identical to the one Cheng Mofei had given him in their previous life. He couldn’t help but curve his lips into a smile.
“Thank you, Brother Fei.”
After saying that, Shen Yu directly tore open the packaging of the lip balm, applied a little, and opened it.
It was from a very good brand, with a subtle floral fragrance. The effect was much better than the one he had randomly bought himself, and it wasn’t cheap.
Tsk, the pair of those awful underwear he had ordered for Cheng Mofei was becoming harder and harder to look at.
Maybe he should rethink and find something else to send…
Seeing that Shen Yu finally used the lip balm he gave him, Cheng Mofei felt that his trip back and forth that afternoon was worth it.
The last bit of unease in his chest was completely soothed, and in a good mood, he opened his computer and completed all the remaining tasks in one go.
Shen Yu also started on the homework assigned in class that day.
This time, he didn’t want to engage in the kind of high-risk work he had done in his previous life. He wanted to live a long, healthy life, longer than anyone else, and never let the people he cared about see him leave first.
He planned to continue studying after his undergraduate degree, pursue a master’s, then a doctorate, and stay at Yanda University to become a chemistry professor.
He could stay in the field he loved, and also stay in the place he loved.
When he had nearly finished his homework, all the clubs he had applied to a few days ago sent him invitations to join their groups one by one.
Shen Yu casually browsed through these club chats, and his attention eventually landed on the “Small Animal Rescue Association” group.
In the pinned messages, many animals awaiting adoption were posted, and with a sense of curiosity, Shen Yu really did find a litter of hamsters up for adoption.
It was a litter of abandoned baby hamsters, their mother had already passed away, but fortunately, the babies had already been weaned.
He immediately took a screenshot, preparing to send it to Cheng Mofei.
However, just as he exited the pinned messages, he saw someone post a message about him in the group.
[18 Chemistry Meng Li]: Shen Yu? You joined?
[18 Chemistry Meng Li]: [Surprised] [Welcome] [Confetti]
Shen Yu froze for a moment. Out of politeness, he replied with a nodding emoji.
[18 Chemistry Meng Li]: Did you finish the assignment for the major class today? There’s one question I’m not sure about.
Shen Yu quickly made up an excuse.
[18 Chemistry Shen Yu]: Haven’t done it yet.
The homework wasn’t due until the next day, and many students usually chose to start working on it the night before the deadline. That was quite normal.
Shen Yu it wasn’t that he was unwilling to help his classmates, he just didn’t want to deal with the hassle, especially since it wasn’t an urgent matter.
[18 Chemistry Meng Li]: Alright then.
[18 Chemistry Meng Li]: By the way, for tomorrow’s experiment, are you in Group 1 or Group 2?
Chemistry majors naturally had to do experiments, and the lab coats had already been distributed—those familiar, loose white coats.
The lab wasn’t very big, and since the class had a lot of students, they were divided into two groups to conduct experiments in two different rooms.
[18 Chemistry Shen Yu]: Group 1.
[18 Chemistry Meng Li]: What a coincidence! I’m in Group 1 too!
Shen Yu wasn’t really interested in chatting more with her in the club group.
As he was thinking about how to end the conversation, he suddenly heard Cheng Mofei’s voice from beside him, coldly asking, “Is this Meng Li your classmate?”
Shen Yu froze for a moment, then quickly realized that Cheng Mofei had seen the message in the club group.
He nodded and explained, “Yeah, you’ve seen her before. The girl who got heatstroke during military training.”
So it was her.
Cheng Mofei had some impression of her.
It wasn’t that he had any particular impression of that girl, but the day of the heatstroke had left such a deep impact on him that everything that happened that day lingered in his memory, more or less.
When Cheng Mofei distracted him like that, Shen Yu finally remembered what he was supposed to do. He immediately sent the screenshot of the hamster adoption to Cheng Mofei.
“Brother Fei, take a look at the picture I sent you.”
Cheng Mofei hummed in response, clicked on the image, and started reading carefully.
Half a minute later, Cheng Mofei looked up and said, “Sounds good. Adopting one is a great idea. I’ll go order the hamster supplies now.”
Because Shen Yu had been feeling uncomfortable in his mouth these days, he had almost forgotten about getting a hamster, but it seemed Shen Yu had kept it in mind for him.
Rather than going to the pet market to buy a hamster, adopting one seemed far more meaningful.
Cheng Mofei waved at him and smiled, inviting, “Come with me and help me pick out some things.”
Shen Yu immediately got up and moved to his side, helping him choose hamster supplies.
In the end, Cheng Mofei bought a luxurious 62 cm tall cage, complete with a toilet, running wheel, water bottle, food bowl, nesting area, climbing toys, food, bedding… he placed over twenty orders for deliveries.
Most hamsters are solitary animals with a strong sense of territoriality, so only one hamster can be kept per cage. If there are too many, they’re likely to fight and bully each other.
The joy of being a single hamster starts with living in a big mansion all by yourself.
Cheng Mofei, feeling satisfied, sent a message in the club group asking about hamster adoption. He swiped Meng Li’s messages up the chat, and said to Shen Yu, “Once these things arrive, we’ll go pick one up.”
“Okay.”
That night, Shen Yu had another dream.
In the dream, he turned into a small hamster and was being cared for by Cheng Mofei, fed until he was shiny, round, and chubby.
The little hamster had no worries, and all it had to do every day was to act cute for Cheng Mofei.
Cheng Mofei would feed it very sweet oranges, bathe it, and even blow-dry its fur.
When Shen Yu woke up from the dream, he yawned and sluggishly headed to his 8 AM class.
Today was a busy day with lots of classes. He still had to go to the lab in the evening for an experiment.
After the National Day holiday, Yanda University switched to a winter schedule, and the afternoon and evening classes became tightly packed. It was especially hectic.
After the last class in the afternoon, Shen Yu quickly finished his meal, returned to the dormitory to change into his lab coat, grabbed his experiment report and pen, and hurriedly left.
In addition, he put on a pair of black-framed glasses.
His nearsightedness wasn’t very severe, so it didn’t really affect him if he didn’t wear glasses.
However, he had a slight case of night blindness, and since it was his first experiment class, he decided to wear them. Plus, glasses also offered some protection during experiments.
He remembered that these glasses were the ones his homeroom teacher had taken him to get in his second year of high school.
The reason was that one night after self-study, he couldn’t see well and accidentally tripped. His homeroom teacher thought something was wrong with his eyes and took him to the hospital for a check-up.
His eyes were fine, except for slight night blindness and mild myopia. His homeroom teacher, however, paid for a pair of glasses out of his own pocket, saying that mild myopia should be taken seriously, or else it could worsen and become high myopia.
After all, the class’s average grade depended on Shen Yu, their star student.
The homeroom teacher taught chemistry, which Shen Yu also liked and excelled at.
Every time there was a test, he would always get the highest score in chemistry, the top score in the entire grade. Wasn't he the teacher’s most prized student?
Later, in their senior year of high school, the homeroom teacher would reward the top student with a hundred yuan after each major exam, and Shen Yu was always the one to receive it.
He knew the teacher understood his family situation.
His world was not entirely dark; at every stage, there had been a beam of light shining through.
...
After Shen Yu left, Xiao Xiong, while eating takeout, commented, "I have to admit, our Xiao Shen looks pretty good in a lab coat. He’ll definitely charm a lot of girls when he heads to the lab later."
Cheng Mofei was also eating. After hearing that, the image of Shen Yu in the lab coat quickly flashed in his mind.
He was indeed handsome, especially with the black-framed glasses. He looked nothing like his usual mild, obedient self. Instead, he had a sharp, scholarly vibe, which made him stand out even more.
Sun Xinghe nodded in agreement. "There must be a lot of girls who like him. My girlfriend’s heard of him too. She says there are a lot of handsome guys in this year’s freshmen, but Shen Yu from the chemistry department is the most low-key and hardest to approach. I’ve seen posts on the confession wall about wanting to find him, but I’ve never seen him respond."
Cheng Mofei heard this and immediately opened the Yanda University confession wall, quickly flipping through the posts.
Sure enough, he found a few looking for someone or confessing, all directed at Shen Yu.
[Confession Wall: Looking for this freshman in military uniform, does anyone know which department he’s from, his name, or if he has a partner?]
[Confession Wall: Just wondering if Shen Yu from the chemistry department is taken—asking anonymously, feeling shy.]
[Looking for the guy in the picture, does anyone know his info? A contact would be even better.]
...
Someone had indeed posted Shen Yu’s information, and there were even comments tagging Shen Yu directly.
One comment, from an account with a male avatar, read: [Asking for a friend, is Shen Yu straight? If not, could you give my friend a chance?]
Cheng Mofei’s brows furrowed into a "川" shape.
Sun Xinghe sighed, “I wonder who will win his heart in the end.”
Xiao Xiong's gossip-loving heart was immediately set ablaze. “I feel like the one who gave him lip balm has the biggest chance. If he wasn’t interested, he wouldn’t have accepted the lip balm, right?”
Sun Xinghe stroked his chin thoughtfully. “That’s a pretty reasonable point.”
Cheng Mofei, who had remained silent until then, suddenly spoke up with a bit of irritation, “The one who gave him the lip balm doesn’t have a chance.”
Both of their gazes immediately turned to him.
“Why’s that?”
“Brother Fei, you’re the closest to Shen Yu, do you know something? Which department is that person from? What year are they in?”
“Brother Fei definitely knows. Come on, tell us, don’t hide it from your brothers.”
Cheng Mofei: “…”
He didn’t know anything.
After that night, Shen Yu never brought up that person again.
Cheng Mofei wasn’t interested in gossiping about Shen Yu and the person who gave him the lip balm. He didn’t know if Shen Yu had anything going on with other girls either.
He might be the one who was closest to Shen Yu, but Shen Yu had never mentioned a word about it.
...
Why didn’t Shen Yu want to talk to him about it?
Shouldn’t best friends be the ones to talk about these things?
With so many posts on the confession wall, surely someone must have tried to approach or flirt with Shen Yu, yet Shen Yu had never mentioned it to him.
He even wondered if there were any oblivious guys harassing Shen Yu…
Cheng Mofei felt a knot of frustration in his chest, and his fingers cracked as he squeezed them.
After a few seconds, he suddenly stood up, leaving the chattering duo behind with just his retreating back.
“I’m going to play some basketball.”
The East Sports Field, the Chemistry Department, and the dorms were all on a straight line, so he might catch Shen Yu on his way back after class.
If Shen Yu happened to be walking with a girl, he would confront him right then and there—he would make Shen Yu explain whether he truly saw him as a brother.
...
The first lab class was very simple. It mainly involved cleaning and using the instruments, as well as familiarizing themselves with the laboratory’s safety protocols.
Additionally, the teacher demonstrated a few fun chemistry experiments to spark their interest in hands-on work.
Shen Yu was assigned to Group 1, with the seats organized by student number. He wasn’t sitting near Meng Li, and she only spoke to him a couple of times while they were at the sink cleaning instruments.
It was clear that the girl’s interest in him hadn’t faded, which made Shen Yu a little uncomfortable.
He didn’t want to be blunt and say, “I have someone I like, please don’t think anything of me,” because after all, she hadn’t really been pursuing him.
Such a conversation would only make things awkward for both of them, so he just hoped that her interest would fade on its own.
He actually admired people who were brave and proactive like her, and he didn’t want to make her feel bad.
So, when class ended, Shen Yu made a quick exit, wanting to avoid any chance of the girl coming over to talk to him.
—The best way to handle it was to simply avoid the situation.
Without any further interaction, her interest would eventually wane.
He was already near the door, so with just a few steps, he left the laboratory.
The hallway in the lab was dimly lit and a bit eerie, with the metal doors adding to the spooky atmosphere.
Luckily, the lab was on the first floor, and if he walked straight through the hallway, it would lead him to the building’s main entrance.
Shen Yu quickened his pace, and just as he reached the brighter lights of the lobby, he suddenly stopped, tightening his grip on his experiment report. His arm left a faint indentation on the report.
At the entrance of the first floor of the lab building, there were two large pots of ornamental oranges. Cheng Mofei was standing next to one of them, casually leaning against the wall, holding his phone. Their gazes met.
Perfect. Shen Yu had come out alone, with no suspicious individuals around him.
Cheng Mofei’s mood lightened a little. He put his phone away, straightened up, and walked a few steps toward Shen Yu.
Shen Yu snapped out of his thoughts and walked up to him.
“Brother Fei, what are you doing here?” Shen Yu asked.
“I just finished playing basketball. I thought you’d be out of class soon, so I figured we could grab a late-night snack together on the way,” Cheng Mofei answered.
Shen Yu nodded in understanding, then asked, “What do you want to eat?”
He was also feeling a bit hungry.
Cheng Mofei had already decided: “It’s been a while since I’ve had the Fuding pork slices at the school gate. They should still be open at this hour.”
Fuding pork slices were fine without spice, which was also friendly on Shen Yu’s lips.
As they were talking, many of Shen Yu’s classmates from the lab started to come out, one by one.
Almost everyone noticed the two standing together, especially the girls, who excitedly whispered to each other.
“Shen Yu,” Meng Li’s eyes brightened as she saw him still standing there. “Do you have time now? I wanted to talk to you about the welcoming party.”
Before Shen Yu could respond, Cheng Mofei raised his hand and grabbed the sleeve of Shen Yu’s lab coat, answering for him.
“We’re about to go grab a late-night snack; they’re closing soon. Whatever it is, talk later over it on the phone.”
Cheng Mofei recognized this girl.
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