Huai Zhou No. 3 High School has two famous figures.
One is Wei Yuanxi, clearly a school bully, yet ridiculously good at studying and always placing first or second on exams.
The other is Zhou Zhi, gloomy and withdrawn, and always competing with Wei Yuanxi for first or second place.
The two top students never crossed paths before their second year of high school, until the arts and sciences were divided into separate classes, and they ended up in the same class.
They even became deskmates!
Everyone thought this would be a fight to the death, a battle for the ages.
But to Wei Yuanxi, who considers everyone under heaven a brother, Zhou Zhi is simply another person to recruit into his brotherhood.
The trouble is, this guy is impossible to get along with.
He's cold, says little, and has four big words written all over him: Keep Your Distance.
Wei Yuanxi tried to be friendly several times, but got nowhere. With no other choice, he added Zhou Zhi to his secret hit list.
Then one day, in a gloomy, dimly lit alley leading to a bar, he saw his deskmate in a leather jacket, leaning against the wall with a cigarette between his lips.
Wei Yuanxi: "Huh? A twin?"
Zhou Zhi had always thought his new deskmate was a clueless sweetheart.
Every day he laughed and joked, carefree and untroubled, getting into fights and climbing over walls and through windows with his "good buddies."
For a long time, the only thing in Zhou Zhi's head besides studying was this: How could this guy be so hopelessly unserious and still place first or second?
Zhou Zhi couldn't make sense of it, and ignored Wei Yuanxi's friendly overtures.
Then one day, outside the bar he often visited, he saw his deskmate dressed neatly, leaning over a table as he picked vegetables and sweetly cajoled an elderly woman beside him.
Zhou Zhi: "Huh? Multiple personalities?"
After discovering each other's other side, their relationship did not improve. Instead, their rivalry grew more intense, until they could hardly stand the sight of each other.
When Zhou Zhi rehearsed with his band at the bar, Wei Yuanxi made a point of extending his hospitality by "carefully inspecting" from the sidelines.
When Wei Yuanxi chatted with his grandmother, Zhou Zhi used his status as a good deskmate to "listen attentively" nearby.
They kept getting in each other's way, neither willing to yield. They were at each other's throats, like fire and water.
Until one event at the bar, when Zhou Zhi stood at the center of the band, gripping the microphone and singing in a low voice.
Wei Yuanxi stood below the stage, looking up at him with shining eyes.
Their gazes met across the crowd, and Wei Yuanxi suddenly thought: Maybe Zhou Zhi's singing shouldn't be heard only here.
The school bully at school and the well-behaved boy outside school, bottom x the gloomy-at-school, cool-and-rebellious-outside-school top
Wei Yuanxi x Zhou Zhi
1. School life, both are virgins, happy ending, no real-life basis
2. Small-town story, slow burn
3. They get together after both are adults, with a second-chance romance plot
4. Not suitable for readers with extreme top- or bottom-favoring preferences. Please do not direct any form of malicious insults or personal attacks at the characters.
Plot idea recorded on January 6, 2025. Blurb screenshot taken on March 13, 2026
Theme: Face yourself
