School of Foreign Languages.
The designated classroom for Class 1 of the Sophomore Translation major was at the very end of the third floor.
The entire afternoon was taken up by specialized courses. Specialized courses were generally taught in small classes, so they stayed in the same classroom all afternoon.
During the break, Zhou Xiaqing leaned her cheek against her hand, staring blankly at the materials on the table, completely devoid of energy, as if surrounded by a dark mist capable of draining one’s life force.
She hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in nearly a month.
Not only was it hard to fall asleep, but once she finally drifted off, she was easily startled awake. Her sleep was intermittent, and the quality was extremely poor.
In Xu Ling’s words, ever since returning from her trip, she had returned to that state of “hanging by a thread” all day long.
Zhang Mingzhu had just returned from getting water in the corridor. She walked up to Zhou Xiaqing, patted her shoulder, and winked: “Class Monitor Zhou, someone is looking for you.”
Zhou Xiaqing stood up. Outside the door, Class 2 monitor Qi Yanlang was looking in her direction, and just as she walked out, their eyes met.
A gentle and clear smile hung on his face, and Zhou Xiaqing smiled politely back at him.
Seeing her looking listless several times, Qi Yanlang’s eyes showed a bit of concern as he asked, “Haven’t you been resting well lately?”
Zhou Xiaqing didn’t want to share too many personal details with someone she wasn’t particularly close to, so she answered simply: “It’s okay, just haven’t slept well occasionally.”
“The written test for the competition is still about two months away; there is plenty of time, so don’t push yourself too hard.” His voice was gentle when he spoke, and his tone was unhurried. He was clearly someone who had been raised to be as mild-mannered and refined as jade since childhood.
Besides Zhou Xiaqing, he was the second English major sophomore to receive a recommendation and be able to participate in the Cultural Tourism Translation Competition.
“Alright, I also go out to play and relax often.” Zhou Xiaqing continued with her polite, fake smile, pursing her lips as she asked about business, “Is there something you needed to see me about?”
Before he could answer, a woman’s voice suddenly rang out: “Qi Yanlang, you happen to be here. What format does your class plan to adopt for the volunteer activity organized by the Youth League?”
Liu Jia had just come from the water dispenser. The lid of the thermos in her hand was open, and wisps of thin, white steam drifted out, quickly vanishing into the air.
She was Zhou Xiaqing’s roommate and also the class Youth League secretary. Having worked with committee members from other classes, it was natural that she knew Qi Yanlang.
“It’s not determined yet,” Qi Yanlang replied. “I’ll have our class Youth League secretary communicate with you when the time comes.”
“Great, then you guys talk.” Liu Jia smiled at Zhou Xiaqing and turned to leave.
Qi Yanlang raised his hand and handed the materials he was holding to Zhou Xiaqing. “These are the materials I compiled. You can use them for reference.”
“You’re so thoughtful. Thank you so much.”
Zhou Xiaqing lowered her head to flip through them roughly. Just at that moment, Liu Jia returned, seemingly having forgotten a question she needed to ask.
However, she didn’t know how she got tripped up. Her body staggered, and the hot water she had just gotten poured out toward the direction of Zhou Xiaqing’s hand.
Long-term sleep deprivation had slowed Zhou Xiaqing’s brain down considerably. Before she could even react, there was a clatter; the thermos hit the ground, dragging the materials with it.
But her hand didn’t feel the expected sharp pain.
“Sss…” the person opposite her hissed softly.
Her gaze shifted slightly to the left, and she saw that the back of Qi Yanlang’s previously clean and blemish-free hand had instantly swelled red over a large area, the scalding hot water dripping down between his fingers.
Liu Jia also hadn’t expected an accident to happen. Her expression went blank, and she stood rooted to the spot for a moment.
“Quick, rinse it with cold water,” Zhou Xiaqing hurried to say.
Only then did Liu Jia react, rushing to pull Qi Yanlang to the sink outside the restroom to rinse his hand.
Zhou Xiaqing bent down to pick up the materials and the empty thermos. A small portion of the materials were soaked; even if they were dried, they would surely be crinkled and difficult to take notes on.
She first returned to the classroom, wiped the outside of the thermos dry with a paper towel, placed it back on Liu Jia’s desk, wiped the materials, and placed them at her own seat.
Then, she went out to find a mop to clean up the water stains, preventing anyone from slipping.
Having handled the aftermath, she went to the sink outside the restroom. She looked at Qi Yanlang, who was rinsing his hand, with a guilty expression. She first thanked him for blocking the water for her, then suggested: “Should we go to the school infirmary to get it checked out?”
“It’s nothing serious.” Qi Yanlang gave her a reassuring smile.
“No, we must go.” Liu Jia, standing on the side, felt incredibly guilty. “I’m the culprit; I’ll go with you.”
She turned the faucet on. Seeming to have lost all sense of proportion in her urgency, she didn’t care about his wishes, grabbed his arm, and prepared to head toward the stairs.
“Zhou Xiaqing?” He called her name for some reason.
“I will relay the message to your class students and have them explain the situation to your instructor.”
“…Thank you.”
Before the next class started, Zhou Xiaqing returned to her seat. She listened to the lecture with full concentration, and it wasn’t until she reached out to hold her pen to take notes that she slowly sensed a burning pain on her thumb.
Looking closely, the skin on her thumb was slightly red and swollen; it hurt intensely when she applied even a little pressure.
After class, Liu Jia went off to tutor as usual. Zhou Xiaqing headed to the cafeteria with Xu Ling and Zhang Mingzhu.
In early November, the leaves of the ginkgo trees on campus had turned yellow. Looking out, it was like a golden ocean, swaying with the wind as if the tide were surging—a truly spectacular sight.
Her silver-gray casual sneakers stepped over the scattered leaves on the avenue, Zhou Xiaqing lowering her eyes to hide the indifference and exhaustion in them.
She had no mood to appreciate the scenery at all; her whole body felt listless, and her temples were throbbing faintly again.
Distraught.
Beside her, Zhang Mingzhu formed an extremely sharp contrast. This god-like person recounted gossip vividly, her steps light and her spirit soaring the title of “Gossip Transfer Station” was truly well-deserved.
“Do you know?” After Zhang Mingzhu finished the previous bit of gossip, she didn’t hesitate to launch into the next, “Qi Yanlang from Class 1 his uncle is a school board member at our university!”
“Really?” Xu Ling chimed in.
“Absolutely true! And some students often see him being picked up and dropped off by luxury cars!” Zhang Mingzhu patted her chest excitedly. “I, the great beauty, saw it with my own eyes last time. It’s truer than diamonds!”
“His family background must indeed be very good; you can tell by the clothes he wears,” Xu Ling said.
“How can you tell? I didn’t see any big brands,” Zhang Mingzhu asked curiously.
“My dear great beauty, there is also something in this world called ‘private customization’.”
“I know that, of course, but isn’t that something that only appears in novels? I really didn’t expect the person by my side in reality to be the protagonist of a novel.” Zhang Mingzhu counted his advantages on her fingers, sighing with emotion, “Not only is his family background good, but he’s also blindingly handsome, has strong professional skills, and has a very popular ‘warm man’ personality. Does such a person—clear and bright as the breeze and moon, gentle and moist as jade—really exist in reality?”
She shook her head, tut-tutting: “Unbelievable!”
After speaking, she turned her head to look at Zhou Xiaqing, who had no reaction. “Class Monitor Zhou, don’t you think it’s very magical?”
Zhou Xiaqing snapped back to reality abruptly and nodded along, “It really is.”