What's the Point of Living, when the best is Sleeping? [BL]

20

Ye Ming was too calm. That was what Bai Yuer observed.

The supposed attraction of those three men toward her had been snatched by the extra, the person whose only role was Ye Ming's brother, destined to die helping her.

What could she do? Only recently did she discover that she was the protagonist of a book titled Lady Primrose. The audacious content, a stomach-twisting plot, was never what she thought her life would become.

Her plan was simple: follow the script of the book while minimizing the number of people involved, whether by accident or cooperation. The events were supposed to happen. But... there was always a "yet." A twist she hadn’t seen coming—the plot diversion she secretly hoped for, but it came in a way that made her uneasy.

Her light brown eyes wandered, observing a group of newly arrived students. One had red hair, obviously dyed, and another was a young man with white hair, which was actually platinum blonde thanks to his foreign mother. The next to enter was the person she hated most.

Finally, the last to arrive was the current protagonist, Ye Ming. His body slumped lazily as he walked in the opposite direction, finding a chair far from the other individuals.

The more Bai Yuer watched him, the more her fists clenched. She envied him. It was as though Ye Ming had control, with the proverbial leashes of those three men firmly in his grasp. It was like he was playing with fire, knowing full well that the flames wouldn’t dare to burn him, too afraid to cause him harm.

As time passed, the foundation of their school came and went, just like what will happen to their first semester. Tests were fast approaching, and the students were busy with last-minute activities. Some reviewed for exams, while others planned to attend cram schools.

But none of that mattered to Ye Ming. He remained unfazed by it all, even bringing a pillow to sleep during the self-study sessions. He enjoyed the quiet two-hour period of the day when he could peacefully doze off.

For Ye Ming, the subtle peace in the room was immeasurable. It was a rare reprieve. No calculating Guang Kai, no annoying Li Wei, only Jing Jian, who occasionally scratched his head while pretending to struggle with a math problem. Jing Jian's act was obvious—he hoped Ye Ming would help him, but that was unlikely.

The object of their obsession had been asleep for most of the day, starting with the first subject and continuing right through the self-study period.

What could Ye Ming do? He wasn’t perfect, not by any measure, and certainly not in his past life, which he preferred not to remember.

He couldn’t understand it. Life seemed too dark and heavy at times, yet occasionally, it felt bright and light. These extremes made him question everything—his existence, his purpose. What part of him, he wondered, had attracted those three people in the first place? It was a mystery.

It felt like solving a puzzle without all the pieces. Finding his purpose in life was like trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle that didn’t seem to fit together.

“How do you find the loss?”

Ye Ming opened his eyes slightly, only to find Jing Jian’s face a mere three centimeters away from him. His gray eyes locked with Ye Ming’s blue ones.

“What’s the problem?” Ye Ming muttered, pushing his heavy body upright from his desk. He hugged the pillow he had been using and glanced at Jing Jian’s paper, which was filled with messy scribbles of math equations. “You need to figure out how much the seller lost after selling the boxed product. He bought it for four hundred dollars and sold fifty items for five dollars each. Fifty times five equals two hundred fifty. Then, four hundred minus two hundred fifty equals one hundred fifty. The seller lost one hundred fifty dollars.”

“And what about the percentage?” Jing Jian pressed on, eager to seize this rare opportunity to hold Ye Ming’s attention.

“You need to use the equation: percentage loss equals the loss divided by the cost price, multiplied by one hundred,” Ye Ming explained, his voice trailing off for a moment as he tapped his fingers against the clean desk. “The answer is… 37.5%.”

Even though Jing Jian already knew the answer, he clapped his hands in admiration of Ye Ming’s quick mind.

“Thank goodness the teacher supervising us went for a bathroom break,” Jing Jian murmured, grateful for the opportunity to pester Ye Ming without consequence.

As Ye Ming leaned back in his chair, he let his eyes fall shut once more. He knew that Jing Jian’s antics were just another form of attention-seeking. In fact, each of the three men orbiting around him had their own reasons for trying to pull him into their world.

Guang Kai’s perfectionism and cold demeanor masked a deep desire for control, while Li Wei’s annoying persistence came from a place of stubbornness, a need to prove something to himself. Jing Jian, with his casual charm and laid-back attitude, was no different. He sought Ye Ming’s approval in his own roundabout way.

But none of that really mattered to Ye Ming. He wasn’t interested in being anyone’s object of fascination or desire. He had enough on his plate, trying to navigate his own sense of purpose in a world that often felt disjointed and surreal. His past life—whatever that meant—was something he tried not to think about too much, but it lurked at the edges of his consciousness.

The classroom, which had once been filled with quiet rustling as students focused on their work, began to grow noisier as the self-study session neared its end. One by one, students packed up their books, whispered to their friends, and made plans for the rest of the day.

Ye Ming remained still, lost in his own thoughts as he waited for the bell to ring. For now, he could escape the pressures of those around him, even if only for a few more minutes.

Meanwhile, Bai Yuer sat across the room, her gaze still fixed on him. She could feel the frustration boiling beneath the surface. She had hoped to maintain control, to be the protagonist of her own story. But somehow, Ye Ming had stolen that role without even trying.

It was maddening.