Shen Qingqiu opened the envelope.

And the envelope is open.

"..."

Huh. With all that tension in the room, he half expected the letter to start singing or hopping off the envelope and do a little waltz on his desk.

He pulled out the letter and start to read it out loud in his head.

Wait. But how should he read it?

Should it be read with a happy-sounding narrative? Or should he read it as a student who didn't want to do this but was forced to?

Meh, never mind. He'll decide along the way. He began reading the letter. Hello-

"Hey, guys! Have you guys read your letter yet?" a boy in front of Shen Qingqiu and Xie Lian's shared desk turned around in their seat with a letter in their hand.

"Oh, hello Qingxuan," Xie Lian said politely, "I was just about to."

"Well, I opened mine already! And I'll say I think I got lucky!" the boy boasted proudly.

"Oh?" Xie Lian said, bemused.

"Yeah! Well, look, my pen pal said that he was supposed to say something about himself. So he said he would describe how he looks.

But I guess he's too lazy because he just put a photo of himself along with the letter. But look, he's hot!"

"..."

Both boys leaned in to look closely at the photo showcased to them by Shi Qingxuan.

"That is the best 'I don't give a shit about anything' facial expression I have ever seen," Shen Qingqiu commented.

"Sheesh, I think he's just having a bad day. But get this! His name is He Xuan! The Xuan in his name is the same character Xuan in my name! You can't tell me this is a coincidence! It must be

fate!!" Shi Qingxuan shouted excitedly.

Lucky for him, Lan Qiren had left the room a while ago and left his nephew, Lan Xichen, who doesn't really mind loud noises as much in charge.

Although Shi Qingxuan did earn himself some curious glances from nearby students.

But who cares about them? Shi Qingxuan is just being his wonderful self. *inserts sparkles*

"...I think you are being too excited about this pen pal thing," Shen Qingqiu told the energetic boy.

"Oh, Shen-xiong! I'm just having fun! You should loosen up more. You are like my mom sometimes," Shi Qingxuan grumbled.

"...Better your mom than your brother I guess."

"Shhh! He can hear you!" Shi Qingxuan looked around in a panic.

"He doesn't even go to this class," Shen Qingqiu raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever! Just keep it down, let's not talk about my brother anymore."

Xie Lian doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Shen Qingqiu shook his head and pick up his letter. He started reading it again.

But Shi Qingxuan grabbed onto both Xie Lian and Shen Qingqiu's arms and whispered, "Look at Lan Wangji. How does he do it? His facial expression never changes! It's like he's a statue or sculpture or something."

Both boys turned their heads to look across at Lan Wangji. The other boy was reading his letter in absolute silence with a stoic face.

Then Shi Qingxuan tilted his head to the right. "Well, he's definitely good-looking enough to be one," he said, admiring Lan Wangji's side profile.

"...I thought that pen pal of yours was your type."

"Hey! This has nothing to do with my type! Can't a person just admire beauty without being judged? All I said was Lan Wangji looks good. But he's too boring to hang around with," Shi Qingxuan said hotly.

"I thought I was too boring?" Shen Qingqiu questioned, amused.

"Not really, you're not, Shen-xiong. You can be cool, you're sarcastic," the other boy grinned and gave him two thumbs up.

"..."

Shen Qingqiu gave the boy a slight one sided-smile and picked up his letter again.

Only for Xie Lian to say, "I always wonder. Maybe Wangji-xiong never talked to people because there was no one for him to talk to. Maybe I should talk to him."

And before Shi Qingxuan or Shen Qingqiu could stop him, he stood up and walked over to Lan Wangji.

"Hey, Wangji-xiong! Are you alright? What's your pen pal like?"

Lan Wangji looked up at the smiling boy standing by his desk.

For a moment, Shen Qingqiu thought the boy will just ignore Xie Lian and go back to reading his letter.

But to all their surprise, Lan Wangji showed the letter to Xie Lian.

Both Shen Qingqiu and Shi Qingxuan hurried over (almost tripping over a chair in the process) and the three boys huddled together in front of Lan Wangji to read the letter.

"'To whoever my pen pal is...'"

Yep, I really just ended the chapter there :p

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Thank you for reading!

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Comments and votes will be appreciated!

Word Count: 872

A few more chapters and we will be back with the boys from Mengdie! Wonder what they are doing right now...

Yes, I love beefleaf {🍖🍃}