But he smiled.
She didn’t know what he was smiling about, but Xiang Di was captivated.
It was as if an iceberg struck by the Titanic had cracked open, letting in a ray of light.
The curve of his lips was very restrained, but he couldn’t hide the faint smile in his eyes.
A particularly corny line suddenly popped into Xiang Di’s mind.
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen Young Master smile so happily.”
In the dead of night, it made one dizzy.
Xiang Di’s face flushed slightly.
Anyway, there was no one else here now.
Given how much she liked him, just this once, could she be a little self-absorbed and believe that he was smiling because of her?
“Oh my goodness, I’m done for.”
“How can this boy smile so beautifully, so handsomely?”
The dialect she learned from the internet sounded a bit funny because it wasn’t standard, and she deliberately used a humorous tone to cover up the extreme flutter in her heart at that moment.
Paired with her sweet voice, it had an inexplicably silly charm.
She admitted she was boy-crazy; she was simply captivated by him.
“I like it so much, so much, so much, I’m crazy about it.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down with difficulty, his cold, stern eyes completely disarmed, along with the fluttering of his dark eyelashes.
Bo Jiangxin’s forehead warmed, and he raised a hand to cover his cheek, coughing a few times as if he had choked.
Xiang Di asked, “Are you okay? Did you catch a cold because of the strong wind tonight?”
“Maybe.”
The night temperature was low, but his earlobes and the back of his neck were burning, so it did feel a bit like catching a cold.
Bo Jiangxin’s voice was a little hoarse, “You go up.”
Xiang Di nodded, “Okay, then you should also hurry home, don’t catch another cold. Bye-bye.”
Bo Jiangxin hummed and watched Xiang Di turn around, push open the glass security door, and walk inside.
The distance wasn’t far, and her inner monologue was still within his reception range.
He only heard her sigh, and then grumble to herself.
“My husband’s body isn’t great, he catches a cold every other day.”
“They say if a man has a weak constitution, his time in bed will be very short, and the sperm activity won’t be good either.”
“Such a prominent nose bridge, it should look quite big down there too, but he’s actually a sickly beauty, good to look at but useless…”
Bo Jiangxin’s face darkened, and his previous good mood vanished.
The lecherous groundhog would never be honest for more than three seconds and would always circle back to this topic.
He turned and walked away.
“But it doesn’t matter, it’s none of my business. He doesn’t even want to be deskmates, how could he like me? We can’t be together anyway. It’s already great to see him at school every day.”
“Cheer up, he walked you home today and even bought you cream puffs! You’re already a super lucky little girl, you should be content.”
Xiang Di tugged on her backpack straps while waiting for the elevator, looking up at the numbers on the elevator, lost in thought.
There weren’t many residents using the elevator at night, so it quickly arrived on the first floor.
Xiang Di walked in, turned around, and looked out the glass door.
Sure enough, there was no one outside.
Bo Jiangxin had already left.
Although she also hoped he would hurry home, his actually leaving like that still made Xiang Di feel a little disappointed.
Well, as a classmate, it was already very responsible of him to walk her to her apartment complex today.
They weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend; he had no obligation to watch her walk into the elevator.
The door closed, the elevator began to ascend, the distance widened, and the scattered thoughts that had echoed in her ears all night finally faded completely.
Bo Jiangxin hadn’t gone far.
The moonlight and the lights of the complex fell on him, his expression calm, his brow bone lowered.
He should have just not cared, like before, but…
Now he had truly met his nemesis, someone he couldn’t help but care about.
His Adam’s apple subtly bobbed.
Bo Jiangxin finally sighed helplessly, looking down at the bag of cream puffs in his hand.
His breathing, though restrained, was still a little ragged in the cool breeze of the early spring night, turning into silent, invisible water vapor that dispersed around him.
The elevator reached her floor.
Xiang Di quickly opened the door and entered the house, not even noticing that someone was sitting in the living room at that moment.
She rushed to the balcony, opened the window, and looked out.
Her family lived on a high floor, so it was hard to see people downstairs, especially since he should have already left by then.
Xiang Di pouted.
Suddenly, a lazy, annoying voice came from behind her.
“Going crazy in the middle of the night? It’s freezing, close the window quickly.”
Xiang Di hummed and closed the window.
Walking back to the living room, she glanced at the person sitting on the sofa and said in a flat tone, “Why are you home?”
The person sitting on the sofa was Xiang Di’s older brother.
He was a senior in college this year and had already secured admission to a graduate program, and it was at their own university.
The professor guiding his graduation thesis liked him very much and had already reserved him as a direct disciple.
So, while other graduating seniors were frantically working on their theses, her brother’s thesis had already been approved by his advisor.
He was as idle as an unemployed vagrant every day.
Therefore, from the perspective of Xiang Di, a high school student who would be heading to the battlefield of the college entrance exam in three months, her brother’s leisure was extremely annoying.
Xiang Di didn’t want to see him at all and wished he would hang out outside every day.
Furthermore, the relationship between the siblings was far from harmonious or loving.
They weren’t strangers, but it was a fact that they didn’t get along.
“Is this your house alone? Can’t I come back?”
Xiang Sheng wore a wrinkled hoodie, propped his chin, and spoke lazily, leaning back on the sofa with his legs crossed.
The coffee table was covered with orange peels and sunflower seed shells from his snacks.
He waved at her as if shooing a small dog.
“Go away, don’t stand in front of the TV, you’re blocking my view.”
Xiang Di clicked her tongue in disdain but still moved away.
Receiving his sister’s disgusted look, Xiang Sheng returned a scornful one.
“What are you looking at? Haven’t you seen a handsome guy? Aren’t you going back to your room to do your homework?”
“…”
Xiang Di said, “Only those who are handsome and don’t know it deserve to be called handsome. Please be aware of that.”
For example, someone like Bo Jiangxin.
Once a handsome guy knows he’s handsome and starts showing off, he becomes greasy.
Xiang Sheng laughed, “Handsome and unaware is called blind. Let me tell you a cruel truth, any man who is handsome puts on an act.”
Xiang Di couldn’t help but retort, “There are some who don’t, okay?”
“Who?” Xiang Sheng bit into an orange segment, mumbling, “The guy you have a crush on?”
Xiang Di’s eyes widened, “I don’t have a crush on anyone, okay?!”
Xiang Sheng scoffed and ignored her.
“…I’m going to do my homework, turn down the TV volume, and also.” Xiang Di frowned, looking at the mess on the coffee table,
“Clean up after you eat. Don’t blame me when Mom and Dad come back and say I did it. I won’t take the fall for you.”
Xiang Sheng pulled his lips with a sneer, “What’s wrong with taking the blame for your dear brother? Have I taken fewer falls for you all these years? When you were in junior high, if it weren’t for me when you were reading erotic novels…”
“Hey!!!”
Xiang Di shrieked.
Xiang Sheng was so startled by her ear-splitting scream that he practically jumped off the sofa.
“What are you yelling about, are you a reincarnated groundhog?” Xiang Sheng said, clutching his chest, “You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“Get lost!” Xiang Di gritted her teeth, “You made such a mess in the house, just wait to be cleaned up.”
“You might be disappointed.” Xiang Sheng slumped back onto the sofa, raised an eyebrow, and gave her a lazy, smug smile,
“Mom and Dad’s units have inspections from their leaders, so they’re working overtime these few days and won’t be coming home.”
Xiang Di glared at Xiang Sheng, then went straight back to her room, slamming the door shut.
That annoying brother, always bringing up sensitive topics.
Sooner or later, she would film him in this state at home and post it on his little influencer account, so all his female fans could see what kind of slob that “fresh college boy” they craved, who constantly did slow-motion, beat-synced outfit changes online, was like in private.
Thinking this, Xiang Di decisively pulled out her phone, intending to film now.
The phone recognized its owner and as soon as the screen lit up, a flood of WeChat messages poured in.
The school had repeatedly forbidden bringing phones to school, but some people still couldn’t be stopped from bringing them.
Xiang Di used to bring hers too, but with the college entrance exam approaching, she was afraid she wouldn’t have the self-control, so she reluctantly left her phone at home.
Anyway, if she needed to look something up, she could borrow a classmate’s.
But just now at the bakery, she saw Bo Jiangxin pull out his phone directly from his pocket, and she thought, “Sure enough, I’m the only honest one.”
The WeChat messages were mostly group chats, class groups with just emojis, and family groups, including a “Happy Family” chat with the entire extended family.
Every day, elders would send “Good morning,” “Good night,” and “chicken soup for the soul,” or send links asking for likes and votes, or asking for help with “bargaining down” prices.
In addition, Xiang Di’s family also had a small group of four: Mom, Dad, her brother, and her.
In the afternoon, Dad said in the group that he and Mom would be staying at work overtime for the next two days, and then he @Xiang Sheng, telling him to come home.
Xiang Rongqiang: [You stay home for these few days. @Mr.sandman]
Xiang Rongqiang: [Your mom and I are worried about your sister being home alone.]
Xiang Sheng: [She’s eighteen, she can handle herself.]
Luo Qinshu: [Are you coming back or not?]
Xiang Sheng: [No, my roommates and I planned to go on a trip out of town for these two days.]
Luo Qinshu: [If you come back, I’ll have your dad give you 5,000 yuan for your travel fund.]
Xiang Sheng: [!!! Thank you, Mother!]
Xiang Rongqiang: [I’m giving you the money, and you’re thanking your mom [picking nose]?]
Xiang Sheng: [Thank you, Father!]
Xiang Rongqiang: [Hmm, you may withdraw. Take good care of your sister.]
Xiang Sheng: [Yes, your son obeys.]