Chapter 13 : Utter Chaos

Something similar happened in junior high.

Back then, they had a great relationship, and Jiang Xiao would often take Song Qiuyu to play basketball.

He’d directly remind the other person that wearing wet clothes for too long could make them sick.

But now, Jiang Xiao’s words were caught in his throat, unsure how to say them.

After a long moment, he looked away and continued to hang clothes.

Song Qiuyu draped the dry towel around her neck, turned, and pulled out the laundry basket.

She put the dirty clothes into the washing machine one by one, then added laundry detergent.

The washing machine began to hum.

She found the hairdryer and started drying her hair.

Lin An and Xie Zhuran were no longer at the table; they had already climbed into their respective beds and were lying there playing on their phones.

Before her hair was even dry, the clothes were already washed.

Song Qiuyu thought about needing to wear them for military training tomorrow, so she immediately turned off the hairdryer and quickly walked to the balcony.

She opened the washing machine, first took out her top, hung it on a hanger, and used the clothes-forking pole to lift it up to dry.

Snap!

The clothes-forking pole broke, splitting in half right in the middle!

“That was close!”

She lunged forward and caught the clothes that almost fell to the ground.

She sighed with relief for the clothes, then looked at the two pieces of the broken clothes-forking pole in her hand, a sigh escaping her lips.

This pole had been left behind by a senior who used to live in this dorm.

She figured since they had it, there was no need to buy a new one and save money.

Jiang Xiao and the others probably thought the same, which is why no one bought one.

She tried to hook the hanger onto the broken pole, lifted it high, stood on her tiptoes, stretched her arms straight, and strained with all her might to poke it onto the clothesline high above.

“Just a little more, just a little more…” Song Qiuyu gritted her teeth, gradually losing patience.

Seeing her full effort, Jiang Xiao narrowed his eyes and walked behind her.

“Let me do it.”

Before Jiang Xiao’s voice even fell, his body acted with incredible speed.

He took hold of the half-broken pole from behind, as if he didn’t want to talk much and just wanted to help and then leave.

“Huh?”

Song Qiuyu froze, tilting her head back.

She was surprised by his proactive help, yet not entirely so.

This was something the old Jiang Xiao would do.

It was only when she tilted her head back that she belatedly noticed something: in just three years, Jiang Xiao had really grown tall and strong.

Wearing a short-sleeved shirt now, his arms showed quite noticeable muscle definition.

Her girl’s body seemed a bit petite next to his man’s body.

Before the summer vacation of her senior year of high school, she was also a boy.

Since they were both boys, why had Jiang Xiao’s body developed so well? What in the world did he eat? Hormones?

Jiang Xiao inadvertently lowered his eyes, feeling a bit stunned himself.

Her collar was already dry, and the semi-circular neckline naturally opened up, revealing slightly raised skin.

Looking back at her face, her delicate features held a faint blush, and fine beads of sweat were clearly visible, sliding down her cheeks.

“…”

“Well then, thank you, Jiang Xiao!” She seemed to ponder seriously for a moment, then let go of the clothes-forking pole.

Like a little deer, she turned and ran back to continue drying her hair.

Jiang Xiao silently withdrew his gaze from her and helped her hang the clothes.

He felt a bit speechless at the thought that had just flashed through his mind.

Others aside, he had been Song Qiuyu’s junior high roommate for three years.

Misidentifying her gender again was simply inexcusable.

The early sun rose, and morning mist was hazy.

A group of excited freshmen broke free from the “duvet curse,” carrying bags filled with necessities, and gathered neatly in front of their respective dorm buildings.

The bus was scheduled to depart at 6:30 AM, so everyone gradually took their seats around 6:10 AM.

On the bus for Class 2 of the Directing Department, most people were already slumped over, having collectively entered sleep-catching mode.

Dorm 602 was still sitting together, occupying the last row.

“Jiang Xiao, motion sickness medicine!” Song Qiuyu handed the medicine to Jiang Xiao, who was sitting by the window.

With that, she also twisted open her own hot water cup and pretended to take a motion sickness pill first.

The bus started moving.

The sudden lurch forward woke up countless dreamers.

A gentle morning breeze blew in through the open window, sweeping through the bus, across Jiang Xiao’s face, and then Song Qiuyu’s.

A few strands of hair slipped down by her ears, but she seemed completely unaware.

She simply turned her face, carefully watching Jiang Xiao’s condition, a smile spreading across her face – it looked like the motion sickness medicine was working really well!

Soon, the morning breeze was heavily tainted with the smell of car exhaust.

At this moment, Song Qiuyu was teaming up with her other two roommates to play a game.

She had tried to invite Jiang Xiao to join them earlier but was coldly rejected.

They were currently on an eight-game winning streak.

The smell of car exhaust grew stronger.

Jiang Xiao frowned slightly and irritably pulled the window shut.

After her winning streak, Song Qiuyu triggered a game mechanism and ended up losing miserably, feeling completely numb.

Jiang Xiao closed his eyes.

Even though he had taken motion sickness medicine, the smell inside the bus after the window closed still made him uncomfortable, leaving him quite restless.

“Jiang Xiao, what’s wrong?” Song Qiuyu’s gaze caught Jiang Xiao’s unusual behavior, and she couldn’t help but worry.

Jiang Xiao subconsciously forced himself to shake his head, saying lightly, “The smell on the bus is just a bit uncomfortable.”

Song Qiuyu frowned.

Student Song, Student Song.”

Suddenly, a familiar voice came from the front seat.

Song Qiuyu looked up in the direction of the voice.

She saw a head wearing a military training hat peek out from the front seat.

The person pulled down the mask covering their face, revealing a charming and delicate face.

It was Sang Tian.

“What a coincidence, so you guys are sitting behind me. I had my headphones on just now and didn’t hear your voices.” She continued, “I didn’t realize Student Jiang also gets motion sickness. Student Song… I bought oranges, do you need any?”

Sang Tian took two well-shaped red oranges from the bag on her lap and offered them to Song Qiuyu.

Song Qiuyu was taken aback.

Oh right, Sang Tian had mentioned last night that she herself got motion sickness.

These oranges really came at the right time.

“Yes, I do! Thank you so much!” She excitedly took the oranges and quickly peeled one.

“Mmm…”

The refreshing scent of orange lingered in the air, and Jiang Xiao felt much better.

He slightly opened his eyes and saw the orange segments in Song Qiuyu’s hand, his gaze momentarily lost in thought.

It was the summer of their eighth grade, and the school had organized a trip to the museum.

Although he had bought motion sickness medicine, he also bought a bag of oranges when he passed a fruit stand, thinking of someone specific, and brought them onto the bus.

After getting on the bus, the first thing he did was take a picture of the oranges, then opened her chat box and sent it to her.

The next moment, there was a ding, and Shen Xi replied.

[Xi’er]: You bought oranges?

He could completely imagine her reaction on the other side of the phone screen, and he immediately had to suppress a laugh.

He wanted to tease her, curious about her reaction. So, Shen Xi received this reply:

“Yup, I bought them just for you!” accompanied by a cat-heart emoji.

[Xi’er]: “Really really?”

[Jiang Xiao]: “Really really, but you can’t eat them, what a pity. If you were beside me, we could eat them together.” accompanied by a photo of orange segments.

The chat box went silent.

Instead, the seat beside him dipped as Song Qiuyu, with incredible speed, claimed the last seat in the back row, the one right next to him.

“So many oranges! Can I have a few?” Song Qiuyu also loved oranges.

After that, two-thirds of the entire bag of oranges were eaten by Song Qiuyu.

On that day’s bus, the smell was also very unpleasant, and only the fresh scent of oranges helped him get through it.

Jiang Xiao recalled the past, pressing his lips together.

Completely unaware of his thoughts, Song Qiuyu fanned her small hand around the orange segments like a fan, trying to direct the orange scent towards Jiang Xiao’s nose and mouth.

“How is it, Jiang Xiao? Are you feeling any better?”