On the phone screen was the exquisite and perfect side profile of a girl who looked like a doll, her blank eyes suggesting she was thinking about all sorts of random things.
It might have been clothes she forgot to hang out to dry, or perhaps leftover food she wasn’t sure could still be eaten after reheating.
But that was just how it was in her eyes; a faint shroud of melancholy hung over her natural innocence.
She didn’t seem like the type to worry about life or the future, nor the type to worry about world peace or the apocalypse.
A young girl like her would only think about eating dumplings with you tomorrow; she liked adding vinegar, you liked adding chili, and you could both manage a couple of splashes of soy sauce.
Then, the two of you would post about the guy next door who added sugar to his dumplings on the internet.
With her hands hugging her knees, she listened carefully to every word you said, as if trying to catch every tone and emotion in her ears.
There wasn’t much flashiness, just a simple plaid skirt ending slightly above the knee, but even that couldn’t lower her doll-like, exquisite, and perfect appearance by even half a grade.
Her slender, well-proportioned legs extending from the hem of the skirt were wrapped in white silk, adding a particular touch of purity and fullness.
The girl hugged her knees, her eyes not looking at anyone, but you would know that you were the only one in her heart.
Gou Yu looked at his phone’s lock screen with an infatuated grin, and then he unlocked it.
Same position, same person.
Even the pose was almost the same, except one of the girl’s hands was hugging her knee while the other was raised, seemingly about to give the photographer a lesson.
She looked aggressively cute, not like she was truly angry, but more like she was flirting.
In fact, to Gou Yu, even Zhu Niao’s scolding had long since started to sound like acting spoiled.
He had even specifically cleared a page on his phone home screen with only a single app in the corner, allowing him to appreciate the peerless beauty of the photo he took without any software blocking it.
“Hey, what’s up with your Gou Yu?” Ye Qingchang nudged Zhu Niao next to her and asked.
“Don’t mind him. His wife ran away and he’s lost his mind; he’s currently looking at his late wife’s memoirs.” Zhu Niao didn’t even want to acknowledge Gou Yu next to her.
Although she was still sitting next to Gou Yu, she had insisted on not chatting with him for half the class.
This was a considerable improvement.
Of course, she was actually just afraid that when she turned her head, she would catch Gou Yu admiring her photos, which would inevitably be a bit embarrassing.
Yesterday she thought Gou Yu was joking, but she didn’t expect him to actually use those two photos as his lock screen and wallpaper.
He was even taking them out to admire them in public.
She would never wear stockings for Gou Yu again—never.
“Late wife’s memoirs?” Ye Qingchang’s voice came over. “But isn’t he looking at a photo of you?”
Zhu Niao was momentarily stunned. “You can actually see what he’s looking at clearly even with me in between you two?”
“I’m nearsighted, not blind.” Ye Qingchang pointed to her glasses. “Besides, I’m wearing glasses now. This is the power of super vision.”
Little Bird took another look at Gou Yu, who had a goofy grin on his face, and felt a surge of irritation.
The actual person was right in front of him, yet he was still staring at a photo.
So, huffing with anger, she lifted her foot and stomped down on Gou Yu’s foot.
Then Gou Yu, who jumped up, began to fabricate an answer to the question the teacher had just asked.
“Forget about this guy for now.” Zhu Niao gave a cold snort, ignoring Gou Yu’s pleading gaze. “Where’s Number Two? Why haven’t I seen her today?”
She was desperate to change the subject.
“Uh, Number Two… she has some problems at home, so she went back.” Ye Qingchang said, “She’s taken leave for the past few days, so it’s normal that you don’t see her.”
“Problems at home?” Zhu Niao raised an eyebrow. “How come I didn’t hear her mention it before? Is she the type of character who silently bears everything herself while maintaining an optimistic and cheerful facade in front of others, only to let everyone regret it once she can’t hold on anymore?”
“What’s with that long, complex sentence?”
After Ye Qingchang made her retort, she suddenly hooked her arm around Zhu Niao’s neck. “So, you didn’t look at the group messages yesterday either, did you?”
Zhu Niao suddenly realized something and looked toward Yang Shuli on the other side of Ye Qingchang.
Yang Shuli, who had just woken up, seemed to sense something and looked up at Zhu Niao with a smile.
It was a smile of schadenfreude, the kind from someone who was finally seeing someone else suffer along with them.
“You two in the back who are fighting, why don’t you two answer for the male student next to you who can’t provide an answer.” The teacher on the podium didn’t care about Zhu Niao being bullied and simply added insult to injury.
—
A Liu Xie without classes was Liu Xie in her best mental state.
Early in the morning—well, not exactly early.
At twelve noon, Liu Xie finally woke up naturally and got out of bed in the little nest she shared with Liu Anran.
She sat up, pulling the shoulder strap that had slipped down back onto her shoulder, and the soft weight that felt as heavy as Mount Tai rose along with the strap.
Liu Xie had stayed up late again, pulling a serious all-nighter just like usual.
Staying up late didn’t seem to mean much to her, but this time was different.
Usually, staying up late felt like squeezing time for herself out of her life, but this time, it was just to gain the time to wait for Liu Anran.
She didn’t remember what time she had fallen asleep; she only knew that the last time she checked her phone was four in the morning.
Liu Anran hadn’t come home all day yesterday and hadn’t replied to her messages.
Liu Xie curled up at the head of the bed, wrapped in a blanket that should have been fluffy and soft, but now felt a bit cold.
She grabbed her phone and looked at the new messages.
It was the dormitory group; Yang Shuli had sent a photo of the three people standing up in unison next to her, all with their heads bowed like a group of silent knights.
But in reality, they were just being punished by being made to stand.
Liu Xie laughed and quite decisively turned the photo into an emoji. If nothing went wrong, this emoji would be popular in the dormitory group for quite some time.
She wondered if her dear brother had a place to stay last night since he didn’t come home?
Thinking this, she opened the chat history with Liu Anran.
Looking through it, there were over a dozen missed calls.
“Hmm?”
It was a bit like a fisherman who caught nothing every day suddenly finding a whole bucket of fish.
She even began to suspect that Liu Anran had called the wrong number.
While she was hesitating, another call came in, scaring Liu Xie so much she almost threw the phone.
“Hello?”
She still answered and spoke.
Liu Anran’s voice sounded exhausted. “Sorry, I kept it from you. Actually, I wanted to…”
He still couldn’t hold it in. In this situation, how could he hold back when he saw Liu Xie looking so lost?
If he kept hiding it, the problem would be much bigger than it was now. What were business enemies compared to Liu Xie?
Liu Xie sat in a W-pose on the bed, holding the phone with both hands, listening to Liu Anran’s entire narrative like she was attending a lecture.
Then she extracted the key points.
First, Liu Anran was fine.
Second, Liu Anran felt she was important and apologized to her for the concealment that lasted only a day, including sleep time.
Then it was fine.
“So, do you need me to help with anything?”
“Just be yourself. Act as if you haven’t heard my plan. It’s best if you just stay home and don’t go out.”
“You can count on me.” Liu Xie patted her chest. “I’m actually an Oscar winner.”