You Said My Eyes Look Like a Puppy’s

In 2015, a reporter interviewed Xu Zhangsheng, who had just won an international award. The mathematician had risen to fame in the blink of an eye, and much of the news coverage focused on his tragic childhood.

Reports said he was an orphan, that he had suffered domestic abuse, that his hands were stained with blood from a young age, and that he had paid for school by selling scrap...

In this interview, however, the reporter asked a particularly unusual question: “Professor Xu, if you have any regrets in life, what do you think they would be?”

Silence fell over the room. The reserved mathematician said nothing, seemingly unable to answer. Just as the reporter was about to change the subject, he suddenly spoke. “Many years ago, when I was powerless, I loved a boy... He was the best person in the world. Even now, I still don't have the courage to tell him.”

A few months later, the controversial and astonishingly young mathematician died alone in his apartment, just twenty-three years old.

-

At twenty-eight, Wendai was the owner of a small barbecue stall. He had no car, no house, and no friends. One day, when luck was at its worst, he stepped on a banana peel while serving food and went sprawling face-first.

When he opened his eyes, he was back at eighteen.

Eighteen, brimming with ambition and the limitless promise of youth.

At eighteen, he was a problem student whose grades gave his teachers headaches. But to his classmates, he was handsome and loyal, with countless admirers. His schoolmates called him both the school bully and the campus heartthrob.

Back then, he acted like he didn't care, but secretly he was terribly pleased with himself.

Wendai: “...”

Was he really that much of a chuunibyou at eighteen?

But before he could dwell on that, his biggest worry about returning to school was his studies. Then he unexpectedly discovered that his deskmate seemed to be a mathematician, only he had died young and Wendai had forgotten about him. He also realized that this future big shot, now a bookish deskmate with puppy-dog eyes...

...seemed to like him?

After a series of complicated thoughts, shock, confusion, smugness, and more, Wendai thought: Don't blame me for shamelessly using my looks to sell you out, bro.

Later, Wendai discovered that his belief Xu Zhangsheng liked him had been nothing but a misunderstanding and wishful thinking.

Wendai: “...”

Awkward. He'd already broken the ice and brought it up.

-

Wendai thought he and Xu Zhangsheng had fallen out for good, until one rainy night when the other boy stood downstairs from his home, soaked through, looking up at him.

Wendai snapped at him to get lost and stop being an eyesore.

But Xu Zhangsheng rushed over, hugged him, and murmured, “A Dai, I don't know exactly what it means to like someone. But you said my eyes look like a puppy's. Would you be willing to be my owner?”

Wendai: “...”

1. Pairing: A straightforward, black-bellied nerdy puppy top x a tough-talking, soft-hearted, hot-blooded straight-AU school bully bottom

2. One-on-one, both are virgins, happy ending. Cover art materials courtesy of the artist “Shuyin Zhaoshui” on Xiaohongshu.

2026/5/28

Theme: No matter when, may you always be passionate, brave, and fearless