Jiang Youyi wasn’t very sociable, so she rarely stayed at the school dormitory.
On weekends in the past, she would usually spend her time at internet cafes until the early hours of the morning or sing at KTVs late into the night before heading home. Sometimes, if she really didn’t feel like going back, she would just find a random place to spend the night. When her dad eventually tracked her down, she’d inevitably get a beating.
This was the first weekend she had stayed at school since the semester began.
This middle school had a lot of out-of-town students, and more than half of them stayed on campus over the weekends. The dorm supervisor wasn’t as strict about rules during this time, so even though the lights were already out, the hallway outside was still noisy and bustling.
Jiang Youyi rolled over and continued playing on her phone.
There was no way she could fall asleep at this hour. If Yan Wei hadn’t dragged her back, she’d still be at the internet cafe right now.
Or maybe she’d already be lying in a hospital bed.
Her dad had called her several times, but she hadn’t answered a single one, completely absorbed in her game. A few missed call notifications popped up in the notification bar, but she didn’t even glance at them.
Halfway through a newly unlocked level, a text message suddenly appeared in the notification bar: “Yan Wei asks if you’re asleep yet.”
The sender was an unfamiliar phone number.
Jiang Youyi paused the game, switched to the messaging app, and first clicked on the phone number to create a new contact. She typed in “Zhou Xiaoxiao,” saved it, and then replied: “Not yet.”
Immediately, two more messages came through.
Zhou Xiaoxiao: “Yan Wei asks if you want to play badminton tomorrow.”
Zhou Xiaoxiao: “If it doesn’t rain, she’ll go borrow rackets from the equipment room.”
Jiang Youyi: “Has she finished her homework?”
In another dorm room not far away, Yan Wei, who had just received Zhou Xiaoxiao’s feedback: “…”
Too much.
The next day, Jiang Youyi slept until 11:30 a.m. She woke up because she slept in an awkward position, her face pressed against a few unorganized comic books she hadn’t put away, and it hurt a little.
When she got up, the other two students staying in the dorm had already left, either to eat at the cafeteria or study in the classroom.
Jiang Youyi had stayed at school on short notice, so there wasn’t much food in her cabinet. Too lazy to go to the cafeteria, she simply brushed her teeth, splashed some cold water on her face, rummaged through her small cabinet for a cup of instant noodles, and made do with a makeshift brunch.
Just then, someone knocked on the door. Jiang Youyi, holding a plastic fork in her mouth, went to open it and was momentarily dazzled by the youthful, vibrant figure standing outside.
Yan Wei wore a black-patterned baseball jacket over a light blue T-shirt, paired with low-rise skinny jeans. In her left hand, she carried two lunch boxes, and she flashed a bright smile at Jiang Youyi, whose hair was a complete mess.
Perhaps it was because she had a good sense of style, but even though Yan Wei wasn’t dressed up in any particularly deliberate way, whatever she wore seemed to fit her perfectly, as if she were a clothes hanger. Combined with her naturally pretty face—which could easily score an eight out of ten—and her perfectly timed smile, it was really unfair.
Jiang Youyi glanced down at her own wrinkled T-shirt. It was the same style and even the same size, but on the two of them, it looked like two completely different outfits.
Jiang Youyi felt a little frustrated and even a bit exasperated.
Why had she been so lazy this morning, just grabbing yesterday’s clothes from the bedside and putting them on? If she had changed into something else, even her school uniform would have been better than this.
“What are you here for?” Jiang Youyi asked, half-blocking the doorway with no intention of inviting her in.
Yan Wei raised the plastic bag in her hand. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m here to deliver food.”
Jiang Youyi pouted, took the instant noodle fork out of her mouth, and asked knowingly, “For who? There’s no one else in here besides me.”
“Who else do I know in your dorm besides you?” Yan Wei smiled, answering questions without minding Jiang Youyi’s attitude.
Jiang Youyi was about to stubbornly say she wasn’t hungry and didn’t need food delivered, but her stomach betrayed her with a loud growl.
Jiang Youyi: “…”
She didn’t know what dishes Yan Wei had brought, but they smelled pretty good.
Two minutes later, Jiang Youyi tidied up her messy, dog-nest-like bed. She stacked the dog-eared mystery novels and comic books by her pillow and threw them into the suitcase under the bed. Rolling up her blanket and placing it against the wall, she smoothed out the bedsheet and set up a small wooden portable table. She and Yan Wei sat facing each other across the table.
Yan Wei’s eyes darted around. The dining environment was a bit rough and cramped, but during student days, this was all too common.
Jiang Youyi abandoned her freshly opened instant noodles that she hadn’t had time to add hot water to. She lifted the lids of two white foam lunch boxes placed side by side on the table, and the aroma of warm rice and dishes wafted out.
Shredded pork with green peppers, sliced pork with lettuce and wood ear mushrooms, a cold cucumber salad, and stir-fried seasonal vegetables—it could be called quite a feast.
The cafeteria’s mass-produced food had a distinct institutional feel, but served separately like this, it actually looked decent.
One box contained the dishes, while the other held rice. It seemed like a single serving, but why were there two pairs of chopsticks placed beside the rice box?
Yan Wei snatched one pair before Jiang Youyi could, tore off the plastic wrapper, and picked up a bite of vegetables to stuff into her mouth.
Jiang Youyi: “Isn’t this meal for me?”
Yan Wei chewed the vegetables and replied vaguely, “Yeah.”
“Then you…” Jiang Youyi hesitated.
Yan Wei shot her a look. “Can you finish it all by yourself?”
Judging by the portion, she couldn’t, but still…
“I can’t finish it.”
“Then that’s that,” Yan Wei said, using her chopsticks to draw a dividing line down the middle of the rice box and pointing to the other side. “This is yours.”
Jiang Youyi: “…”
The two piles of rice on either side of the dividing line were the same size, seemingly fair, but something about it felt off.
Jiang Youyi clasped her chopsticks with both hands and mentally repeated to herself: She didn’t mean it, she’s not flirting with me, she’s straight! Straight! Straight!
Straight girls’ friendships are pure—don’t overthink it, don’t get the wrong idea.
She looked up and saw Yan Wei’s T-shirt again.
Oh, screw straight girls’ friendships.
It still felt infuriating. Who could stand this?
Jiang Youyi fell into inexplicable confusion about life. What exactly had she and Yan Wei talked about last night? Why had they made up?
Thinking back now, she suddenly felt like they hadn’t really addressed the core issues.
But what’s done is done…
“If you don’t eat soon, the food will get cold,” Yan Wei said, placing a large piece of meat on Jiang Youyi’s pile of rice. The oil glistened golden on the grains.
Jiang Youyi picked up the meat slice, wrapped a few grains of rice around it, and put it in her mouth. After chewing a couple of times, it tasted pretty good—better than what the cafeteria ladies usually made.
Ugh, this was cafeteria food anyway.
Whatever. It’s fine.
“Let’s play badminton this afternoon,” Jiang Youyi said, taking a couple of bites of rice and looking down at her phone, deliberately avoiding Yan Wei’s gaze. “I gave you the whole morning today. You should have finished your homework, right?”
Hah, making sleeping in sound so noble. If she hadn’t come by around ten and run into Jiang Youyi’s two roommates heading out, she might have actually believed Jiang Youyi’s nonsense.
“Finished.” Yan Wei had almost finished eating and put down her chopsticks. “But I’m not playing badminton this afternoon.”
Jiang Youyi was surprised and looked up. “Why?”
It didn’t seem to be raining outside, did it?
“Just now, when I passed by the convenience store, I saw that a new volume of Detective Conan had come out. I’m going to read manga in the dorm this afternoon,” Yan Wei said matter-of-factly.
Jiang Youyi: “??”
Wasn’t Yan Wei’s favorite thing studying? Since when did she start liking manga?