After My Secret Identity Was Revealed, My Crush Said He’s My Biggest Fan - Chapter 1

“Ten years of sharpening the sword, today we reveal its blade!”

“Accumulate strength to break through, forge ahead without looking back!”

“Good luck on the Gaokao! No. 1 Middle School will prevail!”

“It is a deal then, we will meet at Hongdu University!”

Light.

There was light everywhere.

The playground he was most familiar with was drenched in radiance.

The Gaokao was not actually that far away. Only seventy days had passed since the graduation ceremony in the grand auditorium, but Lin Yu had already lost count of how many times he had dreamed of his days at Mengze No. 1 Middle School.

The sky on June 6th was incredibly clear. Groups of students wearing black, white, and red school uniforms stood before a gold and red background, boldly shouting their most exciting goals and slogans. The rushing spirit of youth made Lin Yu daze for a moment. Dressed in an incongruous grey hoodie, he stood under the dazzling, familiar sunlight of his alma mater, yet he felt completely out of place among this crowd of passionate teenagers.

“Lin Yu, keep it up! We are waiting for you to top the rankings!”

Suddenly, an excited voice rang out beside his ear. Lin Yu’s entire body shuddered instinctively. He turned his head in panic and met the person’s eyes, seeing, as expected, the face of a middle-aged woman.

It was Qian Ying, his high school English homeroom teacher.

Seeing the teacher he once trusted most again in a dream after two months, Lin Yu felt a thousand emotions clog his heart. Guilt and sadness swept through him instantly. The more Qian Ying had valued him over the past three years, the more that failed Gaokao made this teacher feel disappointed.

Lin Yu’s Adam’s apple rolled as he tried to say something, but the dream seemed to physically sever his vocal cords, leaving him unable to produce a single syllable. He could only watch Qian Ying’s lips move as she spoke in her most gratified and encouraging voice.

“Do not worry, with your strength, you can definitely get into Hongdu University! Do your best on the exams tomorrow and the day after. We are waiting for your good news!”

“Hongdu University, Hongdu University, Hongdu University.”

“Good news, good news, good news.”

The moment Qian Ying’s voice fell, countless echoes rang through Lin Yu’s mind. Subsequently, the playground under the brilliant sun was swallowed by a surging black tide. He felt his body suddenly lose weight, plunging downward at high speed into a void of chaos.

Nothing in the dream was real. Lin Yu reached out his hands, grasping wildly at the empty air, trying to find a single point of support in the pitch black. Unfortunately, there was no warmth in the murky night. He struggled for a long time like a drowning person, but in the end, his hands remained empty.

As expected, he could not catch it. He could neither hold onto the flourishing success of reality nor the fleeting memories within his dreams.

Sorrow and self-deprecation bound Lin Yu tightly. He curled his lips into an extremely bitter smile, and a layer of grey gradually clouded his beautiful, deep black eyes. He wanted to close his eyes and simply fall asleep within the dream itself.

Escape had always been the best way to face pain. At least, that was what he had believed since the Gaokao.

However, today’s dream did not seem to want him to get his wish so easily. Not long after his eyes closed, Lin Yu felt an incredibly piercing white light appear beside him.

What was this? Was this dream determined to make him suffer?

The light was so sharp it made his whole body uncomfortable. Lin Yu struggled to open his eyes, wanting to see what was forcibly dragging him out of his state of escape. Upon opening them, the text he least wanted to see rushed directly into his vision.

Candidate Name: Lin Yu. Total Gaokao Score: 657. Provincial Ranking (Science): 503. Hongdu University Strong Foundation Plan: Not Shortlisted. First Choice: Hongdu University, Not Admitted. Second Choice: Huaqing University, Not Admitted. Third Choice: Qingyun University, Not Admitted. Fourth Choice: Siyuan University, Not Admitted.

The moment he saw the cold black letters against the white background, Lin Yu felt as if his entire body had been frozen. The blood in his body solidified rapidly. For a moment, the disheveled youth could no longer move, leaving him to stare blankly as his soul fell.

This was his final score from the Gaokao. It was the most tragic failure of his life and the nightmare he was least willing to face. He had lost in the final exam. Let alone the top fifty in the province, which would have meant his score was hidden for privacy, he had not even made it into the top five hundred.

An irresistible sense of helplessness took complete control over Lin Yu. He instinctively wanted to flee, but his body no longer belonged to him. Yet, the dream insisted on kicking him while he was down. Countless mean voices that he knew all too well rang out, surrounding the black and white text.

“I am going to die laughing. Does he still have the nerve to hide behind a secret identity and shout online? He does not mention at all that YLH’s final score was nearly at the top. Is it because his grades were too good and you got jealous?”

“What do you mean, top three in the senior year? Did you even get into the top fifty during the first or second mock exams? Now you remember to use your education to attract traffic, but the Qingda Medical School and Qingda are two different schools!”

“Little brother, there is no one behind you. You have become a famous joke for the whole grade! Everyone, do not be fooled by how he acts here every day. This blogger is not a normal person. In real life at school, his popularity is terrible and he is actually quite disgusting!”

“Just because you went to a summer camp last year, you really think you are something? Do you even deserve to go to Hongdu University? Hahaha, look at those videos you filmed, they are so boring. The only reason you got any traffic this time was by dragging your classmates into a live stream. Lin Yu, you really are like a piece of sticky candy, clinging onto YLH!”

Stop, stop saying it.

The double impact of sight and sound made Lin Yu completely unable to breathe. Tears of pain overflowed uncontrollably from the corners of his eyes, and everything around him seemed to shatter. The dull, knife-like pain in his chest was about to tear him apart, leaving only a few syllables winding through his chaotic mind: Gaokao, scores, Mengze No. 1 Middle School. Failed admissions, Qingda, Hongdu University Summer Camp.

Various complex voices echoed together, but the five syllables of “Hongdu University Summer Camp” unknowingly took over the main melody, repeatedly striking his eardrums. Out of some unknown consciousness, he struggled to open his eyes amidst the haze, barely discerning the scene before him through a blurry curtain of tears.

Clear skies, white clouds, the laughter of youths. The auditorium, green trees, red walls, and dark tiles.

The moment that iconic gate slowly emerged in the light and shadow, Lin Yu felt his heart jump heavily. His soul wanted to save itself desperately. The sound of his violent heartbeat even drowned out the malice from his former classmates. An uncontrollable longing led him, making him drift all the way toward the large lake.

This was the Hongdu University Summer Camp. It was the camp he had signed up for himself last summer, and he was the only person from Mengze No. 1 Middle School who went.

Why was he dreaming of his most high-spirited time again? He was just in the middle of self-destruction within a cruel reality, so how was he suddenly brought back to that most unforgettable, brilliant summer?

The most intense beauty of the past unfolded in the light and shadow of the dream. Lin Yu watched blankly, and without realizing it, he regained sensation in his limbs. He landed quietly amidst the laughter of those around him. He instinctively looked down and discovered that he had changed clothes.

He was wearing a summer T-shirt in white and light blue. The thin short sleeves fluttered in the scorching wind of the hot Hongdu city summer, making Lin Yu even more dazed. A beam of sunlight fell on him through the leaves above. He raised his hand to touch the impossibly bright spot of light on his shoulder, but the moment his hand touched it, he suddenly noticed something.

There was no wolf-tail hairstyle draped over his shoulders. In this dream, he had short hair.

Short hair?

Lin Yu did not remember what he looked like with short hair. His senior year had been too chaotic. Although Mengze No. 1 Middle School was strictly managed, teachers like Qian Ying did not dare to control him when his grades and mental state were in inverse proportion. Therefore, he had been consciously growing his hair out since the New Year. By the time he entered university, his hair reached his shoulders, making him look like a completely different person from the outstanding boy with a student haircut who was full of spirit during the summer after his sophomore year.

“Hey! Old Lin!”

Before he could snap out of it, he was startled by the excited voice of a boy beside him. Sun Chen, the friend from the same province he had made at the summer camp, ran over with a smile. He grabbed Lin Yu’s wrist and started running forward.

“There is a movie screening in the auditorium today! Let us go now and try to grab some good seats!”

“Hey, wait!”

Sun Chen’s overly enthusiastic movement was too sudden. Before Lin Yu could fully recover, he was pulled along for a distance. The small shoulder bag he was carrying failed to stay balanced during the sprint. It was about to slide down, threatening to spill everything inside onto the ground.

Oh no, the zipper was not closed.

The terrible thought flashed through Lin Yu’s mind. At seventeen, he hurriedly turned back, trying to reach out to save his bag. Just then, another summer camp group brushed past them. Before Lin Yu could act, the bag was caught by someone else.

“Careful!”

Everything happened in a flash, but a single glance changed the rest of his life. The sound of cicadas in midsummer was too noisy. Bursts of heat waves passed through the spacious and beautiful campus of Hongdu University, and also through the racing heart of the young boy.

The falling bag landed in a large palm. A figure also wearing the blue and white uniform unexpectedly entered Lin Yu’s sight. The deep, handsome features of the boy’s face carried a sense of supreme confidence and unbridled spirit.

“Your bag fell. Check if anything is missing?”

Perhaps it was because the sunlight on the dream campus was too warm, but in that moment, Lin Yu felt his entire world dazzled by the light. The boy’s dark brown hair and sparkling eyes were so beautiful; so beautiful that Lin Yu almost stared at his face in a daze.

It was not until Sun Chen touched his arm again that he hurriedly took the bag from the handsome youth. When he opened his mouth, he could only manage a polite sentence.

“Ah, thank you, classmate.”

“Hey! Let us go!”

Seeing Lin Yu give his thanks, the tall, handsome youth seemed to want to say something more. However, a companion from his group suddenly called out to him. The tone was full of urgent and excited prompting. The handsome youth responded brightly and then turned back to Lin Yu.

“Classmate, if everything is okay, I will head out first. Be careful next time; it is hard to find things once they are lost.”

After saying this, the handsome youth curled his lips and gave him an incredibly high-spirited smile. Then, he blew away like a gust of hot summer wind, quickly catching up with his provincial team in the summer heat. In just an instant, he was far away from Lin Yu again.

Ah, why am I dreaming of him again?

Lin Yu did not know this boy, yet he had seen him countless times in his illusions. After that brief encounter at the Hongdu University Summer Camp, this person had begun to enter his dreams frequently starting from the second half of his senior year.

They had only locked eyes for a fraction of a second under the green trees and scorching sun, yet the boy had been firmly engraved into his heart. The summer at his dream school was too beautiful, and that person became the incarnation of midsummer, the only light in his countless oppressive dreams.

But a person who shone so brightly like that has probably successfully made it into Hongdu University by now.

Meanwhile, he had failed his final exam. He would likely never meet that person again in this lifetime. He did not know which province the person came from, did not know his name, and did not even know who he spent the rest of the summer camp with or where they stayed. That brief, startling glance on the Hongdu University campus was probably the only intersection between him and that handsome youth.

“Ring ring ring!”

The phone alarm went off.