“Song Qiuyu, could I trouble you for a favor?” Jiang Xiao looked at Song Qiuyu, speaking with unusual politeness.
Song Qiuyu was touched involuntarily. Why was this guy suddenly being so polite?
At first, she felt a bit annoyed by this unexpected courtesy, but the feeling was quickly replaced by guilt, and she fell silent.
The nervousness and shame brought on by those ambiguous thoughts gradually melted away like ice, leaving no trace.
Let’s just hear him out.
Maybe she was overthinking. Perhaps this favor wasn’t so simple after all?
“Why be so formal between us? Just say it. What do you need help with?”
Song Qiuyu turned around, smiling warmly at Jiang Xiao as she spoke.
“It’s like this—I want to move out of the dorm and live elsewhere. Actually, I’ve already rented a place outside.”
Jiang Xiao spoke slowly, “But I don’t know how to tell Xie Zhuran and the others. Could you help me talk to them tomorrow?”
Song Qiuyu was momentarily stunned. She had been curious about what excuse Jiang Xiao would use to move out, but now he was asking her to speak on his behalf?
More importantly, could it be that little Jiang Xiao was…
“Tomorrow… you want to move out right now?”
“Yeah. I was supposed to move out last week, but I didn’t know how to bring it up, so I kept putting it off until now.”
Jiang Xiao nodded.
Many guesses and questions flooded Song Qiuyu’s mind, but she just smiled habitually and patted her chest, showing the reliable big-sister demeanor ready to cover for her little brother.
“All right then, leave it to me! How much stuff do you have to pack? Want me to help?”
“You’re not asking why I’m moving out?”
Seeing how readily she agreed, Jiang Xiao fell silent for two seconds before cautiously speaking.
“If you wanted to tell me, you’d have already said it. Since you haven’t, I won’t push you.”
Song Qiuyu smiled and said, “As for Lao Xie and Lao Lin, if they ask, I can only say… I don’t know either.”
She blinked, naturally steering the conversation back, “So, do you need me to help pack anything?”
Jiang Xiao shook his head.
Song Qiuyu smiled again and didn’t say much more.
She just put on a slightly firm but natural expression, confidently sending Jiang Xiao off.
She didn’t know why Jiang Xiao was moving out, but if asked whether she was curious, her answer would be—very curious.
If he was moving out to hide his gender, what about Jiang Xiao?
“This is where I say goodbye.”
Jiang Xiao stopped at the steps outside the dormitory, pushing his suitcase, glancing sideways at her as he spoke.
“Okay.”
Song Qiuyu nodded crisply in response.
The campus was exceptionally quiet at eleven o’clock. On the road, only a few couples strolled by occasionally, and a few postgraduate students hurried back from the study rooms.
But more than these, Jiang Xiao was bothered by the gaze fixed on him, even though it was time to leave.
Song Qiuyu hadn’t gone inside yet—she was still standing outside the dorm, watching him leave.
Faced with this, Jiang Xiao felt a little speechless.
After a while, that speechlessness turned into a faint urge to laugh, but the smile never quite formed, and the corner of his mouth tightened.
He wasn’t going far—just moving into a rental outside school.
But Song Qiuyu’s way of seeing him off didn’t look like a roommate sending off another roommate.
No matter how he looked at it, it was more like a wife sending off her husband.
Suddenly, he became very curious about what Song Qiuyu was thinking as she watched him leave.
She still stood outside the dormitory, gazing after Jiang Xiao’s retreating figure until he became a small dot, disappearing completely into the night.
“So he really moved out.”
It had only happened a few minutes ago, yet Song Qiuyu still hadn’t fully processed the reality.
She slowly turned around and walked back into the dorm.
Once inside, she closed the door, took off the warm coat draped over her shoulders, kicked off her shoes, and climbed the stairs to her bed.
Her gaze involuntarily flicked to the bed next to hers.
Her expression became subtle—since Jiang Xiao had moved out, she needed to hurry and find a place too.
Unfortunately, this time she hadn’t copied any homework.
Jiang Xiao was lucky; at least she helped relay messages for him…
She was left to face things alone.
With a sullen mood, she climbed into bed and pulled back the covers.
Then, as if remembering something, she picked up her phone and opened QQ.
She hadn’t checked Jiang Xiao’s messages yet today.
She switched accounts.
［Jiang Xiao: Peng’er, in the blink of an eye, the year is almost over. I wonder if you still remember the promise we made—to spend every New Year’s Eve together. You’ve already missed it three years running. This year, I really want to spend New Year’s Eve with you again.］
Promise, huh?
Song Qiuyu suddenly wanted to ask her younger self just how many promises she’d made with Jiang Xiao.
And also how big Jiang Xiao’s memory capacity was.
How could he remember everything from three years ago so clearly?
Every detail, even down to the exact words.
She really didn’t remember that well.
Luckily, she could still peek at Jiang Xiao’s messages and cheat a little.
Hmm, spending this year’s New Year’s Eve together—that wish shouldn’t be too hard to fulfill.
More accurately, it should be effortless.
Song Qiuyu set her phone aside, lay down, stretched out, and closed her eyes.
It seemed she was starting to look forward to it too.
What would they do on New Year’s Eve? No, what did Jiang Xiao want to do with Xi’er?
But before New Year’s Eve, there was Christmas Eve and Christmas.
Speaking of Christmas Eve, didn’t she have to buy Apples in advance? No, she had to buy Apples and wrapping paper in advance.
She couldn’t let those unscrupulous merchants earn more money!
Seeing them make money hurt more than losing money herself!
Her thoughts were slowly enveloped by soft sleepiness.
She dreamed of the Christmas Eve during the second year of middle school when the younger her purposely chose times when Jiang Xiao was busy to use Shen Xi’s account and play games with him.
The result, of course, was that she was rejected by Jiang Xiao.
After forcing him to feel guilty, she magnanimously bought a beautifully wrapped Apple online and delivered it to him punctually.
Then they made a pact—
［This year’s New Year’s Eve, and every New Year’s Eve after, we’ll spend together.］
That pure and innocent little virgin Jiang Xiao naturally fell completely into her carefully crafted romance trap.
From time to time, she would teasingly poke him as his roommate, sweetening his relationship with Xi’er.
Her roommates believed it too, unknowingly becoming her accomplices.
So Jiang Xiao sank even deeper.
The younger her was delighted beyond measure.
Yet while her lips still curled into a smile, suddenly a figure burst through the door, grabbing the collar of her School Uniform.
Then, she was dragged violently off the bed with no time to react.
Her vision spun, and she found herself pressed sideways against two strong legs.
She opened her eyes wide in terror, turning her head to see none other than the grown-up, eighteen-year-old Jiang Xiao!
The look in eighteen-year-old Jiang Xiao’s eyes…
Was firm, yet playful.
It was clearly the look of a seasoned hunter who had finally caught the prey that had been teasing him in youth.
This was the look of someone ready to give her a good spanking!