Zhou Xiaqing had actually come to the neighboring shop to get her phone repaired.
Thanks to a certain someone, the phone she had carefully cherished for five years had slammed onto the ground, the fractures spiderwebbing across the screen causing her chest to ache with intense regret.
Consequently, after her afternoon classes wrapped up today, she had headed out with Xu Ling to the phone repair shop outside the campus gates to replace the outer glass.
Following a meticulous inspection, the shop owner lifted his head to address her: “Classmate, looking at this model, you’ve probably used this phone for five years already, right? Does it lag a lot during everyday use?”
Zhou Xiaqing nodded, weighing her words carefully: “A little bit.”
It was more than just “a little bit.” Her phone frequently threw glitches, its processing speed was incredibly sluggish, and typing occasionally suffered from a delayed response.
However, she had long since grown accustomed to its quirks she even knew exactly how long each lag would last and would peacefully utilize those brief pauses to handle other small tasks.
The owner offered his professional advice: “For a model this old, you’re honestly better off just upgrading to a new phone rather than paying to replace the outer screen. At least a new one will run smoothly.”
“No need, I like this phone,” Zhou Xiaqing stated with absolute certainty. “When will the outer screen be ready?”
“Come back to pick it up in two hours.”
“Alright.”
Right next door stood the newly opened milk tea shop, which boasted a rather pleasant aesthetic.
Xu Ling suggested they grab a couple of drinks, and Zhou Xiaqing nodded, stepping inside alongside her.
Xu Ling placed her order first.
Zhou Xiaqing stared up at the digital menu board, her eyes scanning the array of beverages from left to right as she battled a wave of indecision.
Noticing her hesitation, the clerk pointed toward the rightmost edge of the screen, recommending in a friendly tone, “Classmate, we just launched our new strawberry season items today. Would you like to give one a try?”
She shook her head.
She didn’t like eating strawberries, nor did she care for any desserts or beverages infused with strawberry flavoring.
She gave the list of drink names another sweep.
Just as she was about to make up her mind, Xu Ling suddenly spoke up beside her: “Xiaqing, look over there isn’t that Gao Zhiyang and your childhood friend?”
Following the direction of Xu Ling’s gaze, she looked toward the corner tables.
Sure enough, Chen Jinshan and Gao Zhiyang were sitting together, with two girls seated directly opposite them—one sporting a playful short haircut, while the other possessed long, chest-length hair and exceptionally striking features.
Because Xu Ling’s voice had been a fraction louder than usual just now, the two boys turned their heads in response to the sound.
Gao Zhiyang offered them a brief nod as a greeting, while Chen Jinshan froze entirely, his expression going utterly blank as if he had been struck by a binding spell.
“Judging by the setup, this is definitely a group mixer,” Xu Ling murmured under her breath.
Hearing those words, Zhou Xiaqing’s brows knit together involuntarily.
She cast a mere fleeting glance in their direction before swiftly turning her back, finally locking in her order with the clerk: “I’ll have a Mango Coconut, room temperature, thirty percent sweetness.”
Xu Ling added from the side: “Make both of those to-go, please.”
As the staff began preparing their drinks, the two girls found a nearby table to sit and wait.
A meticulously bound booklet lay resting on the tabletop.
Zhou Xiaqing casually flipped it open, finding that it was filled with handwritten messages left behind by various students.
The content was primarily split into four major categories: making friends, making wishes, celebrity idols, and campus running proxies.
“Want to write something?”
Watching the array of wishes others had left behind, Zhou Xiaqing gradually found herself growing a bit intrigued.
Xu Ling peered over to scan a few lines as well, before stating with absolute conviction: “Pass.”
She extended a finger with each point she made, maintaining a completely solemn demeanor.
“First of all, I already have someone to flirt with.
Secondly, every single one of my wishes has already been fulfilled.
Thirdly, I don’t follow celebrity idols.
And fourthly, the guy I flirt with practically fights others for the chance to complete my campus running requirements for me.”
Zhou Xiaqing let out a soft laugh, her tone intentionally exaggerated: “Anyone who hears that would have to crown you the absolute winner of life.”
Following that, she picked up the mechanical pencil resting beside the booklet, clicked it a few times, and sketched a simple line drawing on the ninth-to-last page.
In the center was a small boat floating and swaying gently upon the water.
In the upper-left corner sat a large sun, its bright rays illuminating the left half of the vessel.
Over on the right side, a misty drizzle fell, the raindrops steadily covering the right half of the little boat.
Down in the bottom-right corner, she signed her English name along with the date.
Caroline, 11.5.
Having penned the final digit, she stared at the drawing thoughtfully, a subconscious inkling telling her that something was still missing from the picture.
The exact moment she closed the booklet, a startled and panicked female voice abruptly cut through the air from the corner of the shop: “You’re bleeding from your nose!”
She turned her head slightly toward the source of the commotion, tracking it to the beautiful girl sitting directly across from Chen Jinshan.
The girl, alongside Gao Zhiyang, was frantically handing tissues over to Chen Jinshan.
Though he used a tissue to staunch his nose, the moment he pulled it away, fresh blood continued to flow outward.
Zhou Xiaqing’s eyesight had been top-tier ever since she was a child.
Consequently, even though a fair distance separated their tables, she clearly witnessed the entire process of several droplets of blood splashing onto his dark-colored hooded sweatshirt.
Instinctively, she opened her mouth, wanting to call out a reminder.
Yet before a single sound could escape her parted lips, she watched as that very girl extended her arm, using a tissue to gently wipe away those subtle, inconspicuous traces of blood from the front of Chen Jinshan’s hoodie.
In an instant, Zhou Xiaqing’s mind drifted.
She lost every single reaction she should—and shouldn’t—have had.
Her heart began to thump violently.
It wasn’t the heavy, rhythmic thudding akin to a tolling bell that she usually heard whenever she struggled to fall asleep; right now, her heartbeat had completely lost its cadence.
It felt distorted, sharp, and entirely alien.
It was a sensation she had never experienced before in her life.
An unnamable, inexplicable emotion flooded her system.
It felt exactly like biting into an unripe green apple, a wave of sharp bitterness and sourness overwhelming her palate, filling her heart to the brim.
She felt incredibly sad.
Yet she couldn’t even begin to fathom the underlying reason or logic behind it.
The threads of thought within her brain tangled and knotted together in a chaotic mess; she could only think about how that girl was clearly so friendly, so wonderful, and entirely filled with pure goodwill as she stepped forward to help Chen Jinshan out of his unexpected predicament.
Why on earth should she feel sad over that?
It was truly a bizarre thing.
She felt deeply disappointed in herself.
Over in the corner, facing Zhou Zhou’s kindness, Chen Jinshan subtly shifted his body to evade her touch, taking the tissues to wipe away the blood himself. “I can handle it myself, thank you.”
As he vigorously dabbing at his clothes, a sudden prickly sensation washed over his back as though an elusive, spectral gaze had just landed upon him.
Realizing what it meant, his heart went into a frantic panic.
The moment he cupped his nose and turned his head toward her direction in a state of sheer, helpless anxiety, his eyes locked dead-on with her utterly disappointed gaze.
Zhou Xiaqing stared at him silently for a brief moment, before cleanly severing the connection and shifting her eyes away, her face written entirely with unbothered indifference.
She lowered her head, wordlessly fidgeting with her own fingers.
“Are you in a bad mood all of a sudden?”
Xu Ling inquired, having sharply detected the shift in her friend’s emotional state.
“No, it’s just my old ailment acting up again.”
Zhou Xiaqing pressed a hand against her temple, which wasn’t entirely a lie. “My head hurts.”
After a few more minutes of waiting, their milk tea was finally ready.
Zhou Xiaqing and Xu Ling took hold of the takeout bag and pushed through the glass doors to exit the shop.
Seeing them make their exit, Chen Jinshan who had been monitoring their every move sprang to his feet.
He tossed the blood-soaked tissues onto the table carelessly, entirely ignoring the astonished expressions of the other three people as he bolted toward the door with reckless abandon.
He was thoroughly frantic, nearly tripping over a chair as he lunged forward, his desperate and disorganized movements cutting a rather disheveled figure.
He couldn’t let her misunderstand.
He couldn’t let her just walk away like this.
He couldn’t allow her to look at him with utter disgust.
Zhou Xiaqing could hate Chen Jinshan all she wanted, but she could not look at him with that cold, detached, and dismissive gaze.
She could not cast him a thousand miles away, and she absolutely could not look at him as if he were someone repulsive.
The light rain continued to fall outside.
As Zhou Xiaqing and Xu Ling stood beneath the shelter of the overhanging eaves, Zhou Xiaqing opened her umbrella to shield the two of them.
Just as she was about to take a step out into the rain, the sharp sound of the door being thrown open echoed from behind them, followed closely by a trembling, panicked voice.
“Zhou Xiaqing.”