Chen Qingning had always felt she possessed a touch of the Virgin Mary's gift.
She understood love, knew how to love, and was worthy of being loved. Wherever there was a handsome man, there was love. No matter when or where, she bestowed grace upon all sentient beings—captivating and theatrical.
A new theater—how could it possibly have only her as the sole performer?
So when the music box opened, she had to pull up a dance partner, and Yu Bei was the optimal choice.
The moment she entered, she scanned every corner of Yu Bei's room. Her eyes first landed on the stainless steel shelving unit in the corner—three tiers, stocked with instant noodles, small bread rolls for staving off hunger, and bottled water—half drinking water, half energy drinks.
They were all arranged neatly, perfectly orderly.
Following her gaze, Yu Bei said nothing. He walked over, stacked two packs of instant noodles together, and handed them to her. "Take these back to eat."
Chen Qingning lowered her eyes. The most back-to-basics flavor—Master Kong's Braised Beef Noodles.
She didn't take them, looking at him instead. "Why can't I eat them here?"
Yu Bei replied, "The smell lingers."
Chen Qingning bit back, "So when you eat alone, the smell doesn't linger?"
Yu Bei: "Then only I have to smell it."
Chen Qingning: "What's wrong with two people smelling it together?"
Yu Bei said, "When you go back, it'll be two people there too."
Chen Qingning was stumped. "Going back means I have to boil water."
Yu Bei said, "There's a hot water room next to the laundry."
Chen Qingning resorted to playing dumb. "I don't know where it is."
Yu Bei glanced sideways. "Do you know where my door is?"
Chen Qingning followed his gaze. Beyond the doorframe was a pitch-black corridor, the motion-sensor light already off.
Yu Bei's tone brooked no argument. "Go back."
Chen Qingning's lips parted slightly, silent for a long moment. The next second, she snatched the instant noodles from his hand and stormed out the door in a huff.
"He's so mean!" Stabbing her chopsticks into the soup bowl, Chen Qingning wept dramatically—then smacked her lips in bliss. "But also so dom."
The original owner of the chopsticks and noodle bowl, Qu Xiao, was confused. "What's dom?"
Chen Qingning propped her right foot on the chair, in no hurry to answer. After a long, loud slurp, she said, "It means getting kicked out by him feels really good and thrilling."
Qu Xiao: "…"
She still didn't understand what dom or whatever meant, but Chen Qingning was definitely a masochist.
Polishing off the noodles in one go, Chen Qingning stared at the soup bowl with dismay.
Why didn't Yu Bei buy cup noodles? Now she had to do extra manual labor. She sat there hugging her knees for a while, scrolling through Douyin, filing her nails, and catching sight of Qu Xiao coming out of the shower in her peripheral vision before she dragged herself up, unable to procrastinate any longer, and headed to the hot water room.
She video-called her mom.
The room was far from the dorm, and the Wi-Fi signal was poor, so her mother's kind face flickered in and out.
Annoyed, Chen Qingning switched to 5G and called back.
"Where's Chen Yu'en?" She pulled out the first name on her death list.
Shen Minhua smiled warmly at her. "He went out to eat and hasn't come back yet."
Chen Qingning pouted. "He's out there living the high life while I'm stuck here in prison. And I have to wash my own dishes!"
Shen Minhua said, "Don't you wash your own dishes abroad?"
Chen Qingning said, "My male servants wash them for me."
Shen Minhua knew exactly which poor unfortunate boys she meant, but still kept her eyes curved in a smile, concerned about her surroundings. "Where are you? Why is it so dark?"
"The Cold Palace."
Shen Minhua burst out laughing, then comforted her. "Don't worry, I'll have someone bring you some food later."
Chen Qingning had anticipated this, shaking her head smugly. "I've already prepared for that. There are two big boxes at home, in my room. I'll have Shen Can bring them to me tomorrow."
"Ah?" Her mother seemed taken aback. "Those are your things?"
"Yeah."
Shen Minhua thought back. "Can-can did come by the house this afternoon, but he didn't say they were your luggage. He only said they were things you'd brought back for him."
Chen Qingning was in full control. "I told him to say that, in case you guys confiscated them."
Shen Minhua paused, then let out an "Oh dear." "Your dad actually intercepted them."
"WHAT?"
Chen Qingning hung up, rushed back to her room in three quick steps, and sent a voice call to her cousin, demanding to know where the rest of her luggage was.
Shen Can's tone was helpless. "I gave them to your dad. He guessed right away they were supplies smuggled in for you."
Chen Qingning accused, "Why didn't you tell me!"
Shen Can muttered, "Uncle made me promise to keep it secret. He said he'd deliver them personally and surprise you."
"He would never!"
"He sounded really serious about it."
"Have you played so many games you've gone stupid? He was tricking you," Chen Qingning wailed. "I'm definitely not getting my stuff back."
"Don't think too badly of Uncle," Shen Can said, though he himself lacked confidence. Guilty as he felt, the sound of keyboard clacking never stopped through the receiver. "Just wait a bit longer, okay?"
Chen Qingning knew she shouldn't have entrusted things to her unreliable cousin, but she had no choice. After transferring to an international school in her third year of high school, she'd drifted apart from her old public school friends. Once she got into LIM, she'd completely worshipped everything foreign, only making internationally-minded friends. Now the aftereffects of that social overhaul had surfaced—after dropping out and returning to China, Chen Qingning found herself "neither East nor West," with only Shen Can, her useless teammate, to rely on.
She and Shen Can had been like demonic children incarnate since childhood, and when they teamed up to cause mischief, no one didn't tremble in fear—their families had more than their fair share of worry.
"Who were you arguing with?" Qu Xiao hadn't washed her hair and had deliberately worn a shower cap to preserve the curls Chen Qingning had styled for her.
She rarely did anything with her hair, so she wanted to cherish it for a couple more days.
Chen Qingning flattened herself onto the bed, exhausted in body and soul: "My brother."
Qu Xiao said, "You have a brother?"
"Cousin." A male cousin.
Chen Qingning was on the verge of tears as she grabbed her phone and brought it to her eyes—what time was it?
"It's already ten!?"
Qu Xiao responded, "Yeah."
In the few hours since her new roommate had arrived, she seemingly hadn't left the desk, but she'd been like a chipmunk, poking around left and right, sniffing here and there, occasionally chattering at her in disjointed fragments, continuously bustling within a small radius—quite productive.
"I still have so much to do." Chen Qingning nearly jumped off her pillow.
Qu Xiao said nonchalantly, "Take a shower first, then sleep."
Chen Qingning didn't reply. For the next hour, she either opened the wardrobe repeatedly or opened various boxes and bags, clattering and rustling, then lined up all the shoes she'd brought, stroking her chin as she compared them one by one, and only finally grabbed her pajamas and went to shower.
Qu Xiao, who was reviewing her lesson plans, sneezed.
She rubbed her nose and put her glasses back on. It was Chen Qingning who had lit a scented candle—the white bottle faintly bore the "Diptyque" logo. The fragrance was sweet and pleasant, but after being cooped up in it for a while, it also stung the nose a bit, much like Chen Qingning herself.
Qu Xiao didn't know how she'd fallen asleep. Chen Qingning could talk endlessly—topics stretched from her like extremely elastic pulled noodles, with no limit to how far they could go.
It was like a dream back to the start of undergrad, when the four roommates had just met, everything fresh between them, with endless things to say.
And Chen Qingning was three people in one.
In the end, Qu Xiao was like someone who'd had too much to drink, relying purely on instinct to hold on and respond, until she finally passed out and was completely liberated.
Whether it was a dream or a trip to the bathroom, Qu Xiao couldn't quite remember. Anyway, in the dead of night, Chen Qingning's seat was still glowing faintly, and the girl sat there in her white, fuzzy pajamas. Qu Xiao asked groggily, "What are you doing?"
Chen Qingning looked back at her, eyes sparkling: "I'm still deciding what nail art to wear tomorrow."
Qu Xiao glanced at the time, as real as it was surreal—03:26. She thought she was going crazy and collapsed back onto her bed.
When the alarm rang, Qu Xiao got up right on time. She glanced at the bed next to her—the person was gone—oh, no, still in bed.
Is this what skinny people are like? Qu Xiao squeezed out toothpaste and took another look at the undisturbed blanket. Wouldn't she have trouble breathing sleeping like that?
After packing up her teaching materials, the slender figure on the bed remained completely still. Qu Xiao vaguely remembered that Chen Qingning had plans with Yu Bei and considered whether to wake her up.
What came faster than her decision was Chen Qingning's alarm.
Qu Xiao tilted her head—it sounded familiar, like a song by some Korean girl group.
The song played twice, and Chen Qingning only arched her body, rolling slightly to the side, emerging from the bed.
Then again, she and Yu Bei had parted on bad terms yesterday, so standing him up today would be a normal reaction, right? Having finished her analysis, Qu Xiao quietly opened and closed the door and went downstairs alone.
When she ran into Teacher Yu at the stairwell entrance, Qu Xiao instinctively checked her phone—it wasn't even 7:30 yet.
"Morning, Teacher Yu." She greeted him as usual.
Yu Bei got straight to the point: "Morning. Where's Chen Qingning?"
Qu Xiao wasn't familiar with Yu Bei. When she'd been recruited to Baihe last year, he was already here. Her first impression was that he was taller than most people, with sharp hair and features; approaching him gave one a sense of pressure, and his expression was written with an air of inviolability. If her new roommate was the type who loved to smash doors down, then Teacher Yu definitely had a high threshold.
"Uh," Qu Xiao wasn't sure whether to report the truth. In the end, she compromised: "Her alarm was ringing when I left. She should be washing up by now."
"Alright, thanks." He said politely.
"No problem." Qu Xiao quickly left, then looked back twice, silently praying: Please, Chen Qingning, you'd better actually be brushing your teeth.
When the sports watch showed 7:35, Yu Bei called Chen Qingning. Fortunately, she picked up quickly. He asked, "Where are you?"
"Curling my hair."
Her words were muffled—clearly she had a toothbrush in her mouth.
"How much longer?" The result was better than he'd expected, so Yu Bei didn't call her out: "I need to head to the classroom."
"Oh my," her tone suddenly turned frivolous: "Brother Yu is so hard to read—chasing me out last night, but waiting for me this morning."
Yu Bei didn't play along with her game. He stated calmly, "Be on time, Teacher Chen."
"Oh!" She replied sweetly, probably quietly spitting out the foam, her voice much clearer now. She even took the opportunity to chat with him: "Teacher Yu, have you done your Baduanjin and Diamond Sutra today?"
Yu Bei hung up without hesitation.
Yu Bei would wait at most ten more minutes. If Chen Qingning still did whatever she pleased, then so be it. After agreeing to Principal Lin's request, he'd already sorted out his thinking. He didn't demand much of himself or anyone else. Once the six-month deadline was up and he'd sent this troublesome figure on her way, everyone would be safe and sound, and life would go back to normal.
Besides, she might not even last that long.
When the girl made her grand entrance in heavy makeup and elaborate attire, Yu Bei found it hard to tear his gaze away from her. It wasn't awe—it was absurdity so striking it demanded attention. Her look was even bolder than their first meeting yesterday, as if she were headed to a nightclub.
Chen Qingning had deliberately put on fishnet stockings.
This wasn't merely attraction—it was warfare. Yesterday, Yu Bei had dismissed her beautiful legs with a single glance, so today she'd make their presence twice as impossible to ignore.
Her dramatic flair was so overwhelming that even Yu Bei felt resigned. He looked at the huge black tote bag she was carrying, bulging and stuffed as if filled with vials of poison.
Sensing Yu Bei's gaze shifting, Chen Qingning offered the tote bag with both hands. Her makeup sat on her face like a custom-made mask, yet when she smiled, it was still clear and harmless:
"What's wrong? Brother Yu, are you offering to carry my bag for me?"
Yu Bei couldn't help but clench his fingers. At this moment, he overturned his initial assessment.
Chen Qingning was no mere witch—she was a nuclear explosion.