Hell High School (3): Substitute Literature

Tan Xiao held Wen Yi’s hand and walked back to the neighboring 521 dormitory. He noticed that Wen Yi hadn’t changed his clothes. “Haven’t you taken a shower?”

Wen Yi shook his head. “Not yet.”

He wasn’t actually complaining about Wen Yi. “You’ve been cleaning for so long, your clothes and hair are all dusty. How can you sleep like this? Go wash your hair and take a shower in your own dormitory first. I’ll come over and tidy up the blankets.”

Wen Yi looked down at Tan Xiao as he let go of his hand, feeling a bit unhappy inside, but he didn’t show it and obediently walked next door.

This city was in the south, and the school didn’t provide central heating. By the time Wen Yi returned to his own dormitory to take a shower, Tan Xiao had closed the doors and windows, turned on the air conditioner, and set the temperature to 30 degrees.

The air conditioner started running with a hum, but it seemed to have a very poor heating effect; after a few minutes, the air blowing out was still cold.

Tan Xiao looked somewhat awkwardly at the two beds in the dormitory; his quilt was big enough, but the beds were obviously not big enough.

The beds in the school dormitory were fixed to the ground, and even if he had great strength, it would be difficult to drag the two beds over and push them together.

In the dormitory, the two beds were there; his bed was on the left, a bit farther from the door, with about one and a half meters of space between the two beds.

The bed on the right was piled high with various cardboard boxes. He was already exhausted from cleaning up, and a lot of clutter was piled on top of the right side.

Moving things to the table below would only take a few minutes, but the problem was he didn’t have an extra blanket. It was almost eleven o’clock now, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to disturb other classmates with such matters.

He bought a big comforter, not one of those super large blankets. A comforter could stretch from this bed to the other side.

Tan Xiao counted the clothes he owned; various thick garments sent from home filled the wardrobe. Besides the new quilt he bought from school, the only bedding he had was a woolen blanket his “mom” sent over.

This white cashmere blanket was a carpet, meant to be laid on the floor. It could barely serve as a mat, but it couldn’t be used to cover oneself.

Tan Xiao only bought a bed sheet, which hadn’t been through the washing machine yet, so he used a cashmere blanket as a mattress, laying it on the 1.2-meter-wide dormitory bed. The size was just right, and with a fluffy thick quilt on top, it perfectly filled the gaps on both sides of the bed, making the cold winter nights very warm.

He had planned everything well, but unexpectedly, Wen Yi accidentally spilled a thermos cup on the quilt.

After taking a shower, Tan Xiao crawled in and felt the quilt; it was very thick and, just as he had imagined, warm and comfortable.

The blanket was just too big, so the space on the bed was compressed even smaller. He was already tall and not of a slender build, so sleeping alone was just about right, but it always felt like two people would be very cramped.

However, he had promised Wen Yi, and it would be too disheartening to go back on his word.

After working hard for a few hours and taking a shower, lying in the warm bed was incredibly comfortable. Just as Tan Xiao was starting to doze off, the door opened.

It was Wen Yi who just came back from washing his hair and taking a shower.

Wen Yi walked in with his hair still wet, wearing a cotton pajama set.

His pajamas were a summer style, very simple and made of pure cotton, short sleeves and short pants, exposing his arms and calves. The blue plastic slippers he wore made his feet look very white.

Tan Xiao instantly sobered up and immediately rolled out of bed.

His tone turned fierce: “Don’t you have any winter pajamas? Why are you dressed like this? Aren’t you afraid of getting sick?”

It was so cold outside, the phone said it was only five degrees! Winter in the south was like a magic attack; sometimes it was colder indoors than outdoors. Even with the air conditioning on, the heating effect was so poor that the indoor temperature didn’t exceed ten degrees.

Yuying High School was a school that vanished in flames, and the students of Hell High were not afraid of the cold.

As the core of this scenario, Wen Yi only felt heat. They turned to ashes in the flames and were reborn from the fire. How could the vengeful spirits who died in the fire fear the cold?

Tan Xiao first pulled the person inside, touched his icy hand, and suddenly asked, “Did you just take a cold shower or a hot shower?”

If he just took a hot shower, he’d still have some warmth coming off his body, but Wen Yi was as cold as an ice cellar, shivering a bit from the chill.

Tan Xiao stared into his new deskmate’s eyes, not allowing him to play dumb: “Look me in the eye and tell me the truth, no lying!”

Wen Yi answered with a hint of guilt: “Cold shower.”

He didn’t lie; he just felt like he had done something wrong, so he was feeling weak.

“Oh my gosh! Taking a cold shower in the middle of winter and wearing so little, are you trying to get sick on purpose?”

Tan Xiao was extremely angry. Unable to hold back, he took action, controlling his strength, and gave Wen Yi’s butt a light but firm smack!

It seemed that spanking was a tradition for educating disobedient children. Tan Xiao was mischievous in his childhood and had also been spanked by his own mother.

Because the buttocks have more flesh and are not exposed, being hit there doesn’t hurt as much, unlike being slapped on the face, which is humiliating. But tools can’t be used; it must be done with a hand, so the force is mutual, allowing for better control of the strength.

Wen Yi’s eyes widened, like a startled rabbit, his lips slightly parted, clearly not understanding why Tan Xiao suddenly hit him… hit him on the butt!

Could it be that the previous time he spilled water on the quilt, the evidence was too obvious, and Tan Xiao found out?

Although he was angry, he couldn’t ignore Wen Yi: “Next time, don’t wear so little!”

Tan Xiao was wearing a set of coral fleece pajamas, with a dark gray thermal underwear underneath. As he spoke, he quickly unbuttoned his top and wrapped his pajamas around Wen Yi.

He helped zip it up and urged his new desk mate, who didn’t care at all about taking care of himself, to hurry up and get into bed.

If it weren’t for the dormitory beds being in a lofted configuration with a desk underneath, requiring a ladder to climb up, Tan Xiao would have already picked him up and put him on the bed: “Hurry up and get under the covers, what are you looking at? Climb the ladder, why are you just standing there like an idiot? You’ve lived in this dorm for several years, you can’t possibly have been sleeping on the floor the whole time, right?”

Under Tan Xiao’s urging, Wen Yi got into bed, his face hanging with displeasure. What was wrong with taking a cold shower? How could he casually hit someone in such a sensitive area?

Although Tan Xiao’s strength was not great, and it was more like a friendly pat than a hit, he was too fierce.

Wen Yi felt deceived by the transfer student. The kindness he showed on the first day was just a facade to trick him, to coax him, to give him a little bit of kindness, and then reveal a ferocious face.

He exuded a gloomy aura, causing the temperature in the dormitory to plummet.

Tan Xiao sneezed from the cold: he had just said that the air conditioning’s heating function was useless, and now that he had taken off a jacket, he could feel the chill.

Clearly, he had not noticed that the source of the cold air was his own bed.

When Wen Yi climbed up, Tan Xiao found a down jacket from the closet and put it on, then dug out the hairdryer he bought at the supermarket and crawled onto the narrow little bed.

Seeing him come up, Wen Yi’s accumulated anger was interrupted, and he looked over with some curiosity.

Tan Xiao burrowed into the quilt, and immediately felt much warmer. He sighed comfortably, “I told you, it’s warm under the quilt. How can you be so clueless about cold and hot?”

When Wen Yi arrived, he had already dried his hair, and there were no more drips, but it was obviously still damp.

“Sit still, I’ll help you dry it. Don’t move around, short hair dries quickly.”

The hairdryer was very powerful, and soon it was blowing out scorching hot air. Tan Xiao carefully grabbed Wen Yi’s damp hair and quickly dried it.

While bragging, he said, “Let me tell you, I used to have straight hair just like yours, super straight. Then I had a dream where the TV was leaking electricity, and when I woke up, my hair had turned curly. This dream is really amazing, don’t you think?”

Wen Yi nodded, it really did sound quite amazing.

The warm breeze brushed against Wen Yi’s head, and the hand holding his hair moved very gently. The scent of mint mixed with lemon from the boy was even more intense.

The sound of Tan Xiao had a hypnotic effect that was comparable to soft music. Wen Yi felt as if he were soaking in a hot spring, warm and particularly comfortable.

He suddenly stopped being angry with Tan Xiao: the other party was just too concerned about him and acted out of desperation. Besides, the blow wasn’t that painful. Considering Tan Xiao’s good intentions, Wen Yi decided to generously forgive him.

The sound of the hairdryer abruptly stopped. Tan Xiao looked at his hair, which he had just dried, with satisfaction. He examined his handiwork: “You must dry your hair before sleeping, otherwise, when you get older, you might easily get migraines. Look how fluffy and dry it is now, it’s great.”

Wen Yi obediently nodded and Tan Xiao continued, “Your bangs are a bit too long, they cover your eyes and affect your vision. Tomorrow during lunch break, let’s go back to the dorm together, and I’ll help you trim them. Then we can wash your hair.”

Wen Yi responded slowly, his expression looking somewhat reluctant, “Oh.”

The male high school student was clearly dissatisfied with his response, “Oh what oh, my skills are very good, I won’t mess up your hair.”

He took out his phone from the small blue iron frame on the bedside and opened the front camera: “Look, look, I styled your hair so well, you have to trust my taste!”

Influenced by his family upbringing, Tan Xiao still payed a lot of attention to his personal image. After all, according to his dad, it was because he looked good back then that his biological mom was able to take a liking to him.

No matter how handsome a man is, if he has a bowl haircut and doesn’t pay attention to his clothing and grooming, even a beautiful man will blend in with the crowd.

Wen Yi looked at the blurry ghostly face on the camera, his eyes flashing a crimson hue. The image in the camera instantly distorted like ripples on water, then returned to the appearance visible to the naked eye, where Tan Xiao was.

He agreed, “Okay.”

Tan Xiao yawned; he had just been full of energy, but after staying under the blanket for a while, fatigue overwhelmed his entire body.

“I can’t take it anymore, I’m so sleepy, I really need to sleep.”

He bent down, tossed the hairdryer onto the table below, pulled the remote light switch left by the previous senior on the wall, which was just a wire connected to a stick, and with a tug, he could turn off the lights in the dormitory entrance.

The white light instantly went out, and Tan Xiao burrowed his entire body under the blanket. He originally thought the blanket would be very warm, but in reality, it wasn’t.

Wen Yi might have taken a cold shower earlier and then stood in the cold wind for a while wearing thin pajamas. Now, although his body wasn’t as cold as before, it wasn’t warm enough either.

Tan Xiao used his body heat to warm up the blanket. Fortunately, he was young, and his body was like a constantly burning furnace. The slightly cold blanket quickly became warm.

Tan Xiao couldn’t help but mumble, “Your hands and feet are icy in the middle of winter; you have a cold constitution. Tomorrow, go to the supermarket and buy two hot water bottles. Put them in your bed before you sleep, and you won’t be cold anymore.”

Wen Yi responded, but then heard Tan Xiao’s breathing become very shallow. Clearly, after saying that, the other person had already fallen asleep successfully.

While Tan Xiao, without any chaotic thoughts, could fall asleep in seconds, Wen Yi couldn’t quite manage to sleep.

This 1.2-meter single bed was too narrow. The right side was against the wall, and the left side had a metal railing. He slept against the wall, while Tan Xiao slept on the left. The thick blankets on both sides made them almost completely pressed against each other.

Wen Yi slept on his own pillow. In the darkness, his vision was no different from during the day. Turning his face, he could see the fine hairs on the boy’s cheeks very clearly, the small fuzz on his fair face.

When he was asleep, the dimples on Tan Xiao’s face were not very noticeable. Wen Yi extended a finger and gently poked that spot. Upon touching the warm sensation, he quickly retracted his hand as if electrocuted.

“Thump, thump, thump.” In the quiet dormitory, one could hear the sound of breathing and the heartbeat, but only Tan Xiao’s heartbeat.

Wen Yi pressed his face against Tan Xiao’s chest, listening to the other’s heartbeat, while placing his other hand on his own chest, letting the simulated heartbeat gradually synchronize with Tan Xiao’s heartbeat.

Because he was wearing tight thermal underwear, the muscle lines on Tan Xiao’s upper body were very obvious to Wen Yi, who had excellent night vision.

On both sides, there were slightly raised arcs, not very distinct contours, but in the middle, there was also a raised area, which was a round circle.

Wen Yi was very curious; only male cats had multiple nipples. Could it be that Tan Xiao was not human but a transformed spirit?

He couldn’t help but poke the central circle with his finger, and then realized it was hard there; he had misunderstood. It seemed to be a ring.

Only then did Wen Yi notice the thin red string around Tan Xiao’s neck. He carefully pulled it out and discovered it was a very special ring—a platinum ring in the shape of a Möbius strip.

On the inner side of the ring, three inconspicuous letters were hidden: WLT.

After all, this was a coming-of-age gift that Wen Yi bought for himself, and at first, it only had the letter W.

But the moment he decided to give it to Tan Xiao, he engraved two more letters on it, meaning “Wen Yi loves Tan Xiao.”

This ring was not like giving Li Li a hard slap in the face to deal with Wen Yi. It was originally something he gave away, and sensing the familiar aura, how could it possibly reject its former owner?

But Wen Yi just thought the ring looked somewhat familiar, played with it for a while, and then handed it back to Tan Xiao.

He lay back down next to Tan Xiao, and even though he didn’t need to sleep, he still quietly closed his eyes.

About two hours later, Tan Xiao fell into a deep sleep, and in his dreams, he murmured, “Wen Yi, don’t mess around… Baby.”

In his dream, Tan Xiao dreamed of Wen Yi as Dr. Wen. Men always have a particularly vivid memory of their first time. Perhaps it was because Wen Yi was wet today, combined with keywords like “shower,” that triggered the memory. In his dream, he saw a somewhat blurry image of his first time.

Although Tan Xiao was in a deep sleep, he habitually turned to his side and hugged Wen Yi, who was next to him.

The latter immediately stiffened, but when he heard his name, he tried hard to relax his body.

But the next moment, he heard Tan Xiao murmuring, “Dr. Wen…”

Wen Yi’s mind seemed to have a tsunami; Dr. Wen? Which Dr. Wen?!

Wen Yi knew that the Möbius strip symbolizes infinity and endless cycles, but making it into a ring added another layer of ambiguous meaning: eternal, unending love.

If that ring was given to the transfer student by Dr. Wen, then this Dr. Wen was very likely to be Tan Xiao’s lover. Tan Xiao’s voice was tender, filled with deep desire.

Although Wen Yi had no experience in this area, he could tell from the expression on the other person’s face that Tan Xiao was probably dreaming a dream called spring.

The explosive jealousy gnawed at Wen Yi’s soul like countless ants. He looked at the ring with immense resentment, wanting to crush it into dust.

But seeing the happy smile on Tan Xiao’s face, he eventually put his hand down.

A person who could become a doctor must be a socialite, a cunning adult man. Tan Xiao was still a student, a high school student who was innocent and easy to deceive, definitely someone who had been tricked by an older man both physically and mentally.

But what if Tan Xiao wasn’t that good at all? If he had someone he loved in his heart but fell in love with him at first sight, it meant Tan Xiao was a big jerk.

There was also a possibility that he looked very much like that Dr. Wen, so Tan Xiao’s kindness towards him was just a simple case of transference.

Wen Yi’s fingertips dug deeply into his palm, using immense self-control to calm his boiling emotions.

It was hard to come across someone who could make his heart flutter, and he absolutely would not give up so easily, handing him over to someone else.

It was okay, Dr. Wen was just a thing of the past; he could be the stand-in for Dr. Wen.

They would spend day and night together, and sooner or later, the stand-in would be able to replace the original!

Tan Xiao slept very soundly, and it wasn’t until the campus broadcast rang out at 6 o’clock that he woke up.

He opened his eyes and found someone sitting on him.

That familiar face inexplicably overlapped with the dream from last night. In that moment, Tan Xiao thought he had traveled a few years into the future, with Wen Yi, full of charm, sitting on him and waking him up with special services.

This overlapping scene made Tan Xiao unable to suppress his excitement. After all, last night’s erotic dream was a bit too stimulating for him.

Although the Wen Yi in the dream seemed more mature and sexy, his face was not as youthful as the Wen Yi from high school.

When the two of them were together, Tan Xiao felt completely like a naive young kid, with his body and emotions completely under the other’s control.

But it was a dream, so it was normal for there to be discrepancies between dreams and reality.

High school boys have many advantages, such as fast metabolism, strong recovery ability, and good physical fitness, but the disadvantages are also very obvious, like having difficulty controlling their normal physiological responses, making them easily impulsive.

But soon, Tan Xiao realized that there was still a thick winter quilt between him and Wen Yi.

Wen Yi had slept inside last night, and was carefully trying to pull himself away, probably just wanting to step over him to reach the ladder at the end of the bed.

Tan Xiao’s face suddenly turned bright red, but his heart calmed down.

This time, it wasn’t the shy reaction from a dream, but the shame of his own shameless and lewd reaction: where was the promised pure love warrior? They were still just friends, and yet he couldn’t stop thinking about those things all day long. How shameless!

The blanket was very soft, but Wen Yi was very sensitive. Even through the blanket, he could keenly sense something.

His hair was a bit messy, but the well-behaved black-haired boy lowered his head and calmly asked with a smile, “Need any help?”

His tone was so casual and ordinary, as if he wanted to lift the blanket and crawl in.

Tan Xiao realized what Wen Yi meant, and it felt like being struck by lightning. He tightly clutched the blanket on him, letting out a sharp, explosive sound like a kettle boiling: “No way!”

Wen Yi’s face instantly darkened. The speculation from last night was confirmed at this moment: Tan Xiao didn’t like him at all; he had someone else in his heart. So, what Dr. Wen could do, he couldn’t.

A cold, twisted voice seemed to mock him in his mind, making him, who was already not very positive or sunny, even more dark and twisted: “He’s the real deal; you’re just a substitute!”