Xu Zhi came out after her shower and saw her phone screen lit up on her desk.
Wiping her hair, she deliberately avoided looking at it, instead finding the hairdryer to dry her hair. Then she washed the dinner dishes and put them in the sterilization cabinet before finally returning to her bedroom.
Xu Zhi picked up her phone, only to find the message wasn’t from Qi Yaoyao, but her boss—a salary transfer.
Boss: [¥120.00 Salary [WeChat Transfer]]
Boss: [¥1370.00 Commission [WeChat Transfer]]
Boss: [Awesome, Little Xu!! [Heart][Heart]]
Xu Zhi pursed her lips, accepted both transfers, and replied with a system fist-and-palm salute emoji. Then she exited the chat.
Her finger hovered briefly, then she refreshed WeChat.
There were no new red messages in Qi Yaoyao’s chat window.
Xu Zhi put her phone down on the desk, took out her exercise books and test papers from her bag, and started working on questions.
After finishing two math exams and switching to the English test, Xu Zhi couldn’t help but pick up her phone again. It was still silent. She hesitated for a moment, then sent a message to Qi Yaoyao.
Xu Zhi: [How are your eyes? Are they okay?]
The message was sent but received no reply for quite a while.
Xu Zhi suddenly regretted it. She long-pressed the message, wanting to recall it, but there was no recall option.
It had clearly been more than two minutes.
Xu Zhi pressed her lips together, simply deleting the message so she wouldn’t have to look at it.
She placed her phone face down and continued her studies.
Once immersed in studying, time passed quickly.
Xu Zhi encountered an obscure word while doing a cloze test. She picked up her heavy English dictionary, quickly flipped to the ‘M’ section, and swiftly found the corresponding page to check the word’s definition.
Xu Zhi was marking the Chinese meaning above the word on the test paper when her phone vibrated and lit up.
It wasn’t a message, but a video call.
Xu Zhi was slightly startled. She picked it up and saw it was Qi Yaoyao calling.
The phone kept vibrating in her hand.
The other party seemed very patient and didn’t hang up.
Xu Zhi hesitated for a moment, rejected the video call, and then sent a message.
Xu Zhi: [?]
This time, the reply was fast.
YaoYao: [Zhizhi, didn’t you want to check on my eyes? I’m video calling you to show you. I tried to take pictures earlier, but they didn’t work.]
Xu Zhi: [Are you alright?]
YaoYao: [No!! They’re all red!! Lots of bloodshot veins!!! They might get infected.]
Xu Zhi: [How could it be that serious? Did I use the wrong method when I helped you take them out tonight?]
YaoYao: [I don’t know either…]
Just as Xu Zhi registered the message, Qi Yaoyao’s video call came in again. This time, Xu Zhi didn’t reject it; she accepted the call.
“Zhizhi, Zhizhi, you’re not asleep yet?” Qi Yaoyao’s voice was crisp.
In the video, she had half-dry long hair, a fair face with a slight blush, and was wearing a white silk slip dress.
The nightgown was smooth and soft, perfectly hugging her graceful body curves.
Xu Zhi could see the full, perky silhouette. She felt an inexplicable embarrassment that demanded she look away and instinctively averted her gaze. She responded, “Mm, doing homework.”
“Wow, so diligent!” Qi Yaoyao said.
Xu Zhi suddenly had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, the next moment Qi Yaoyao sighed faintly: “Students from No. 1 High School really are bookworms… ah, no, they’re too competitive. Still doing test papers at ten o’clock.”
Xu Zhi said, “Ten o’clock isn’t late.”
“Then what time do you usually study until?”
“Usually eleven.”
“Eleven every night?!”
“Mm.”
“Wow!! Then you are too, too, too diligent!! Is the study pressure really high at No. 1 High School? With good students all around, you must find it very difficult, right??”
Seeing her concern, Xu Zhi said, “Not too bad…”
“Oh, come on! Don’t be stubborn just to save face. If it wasn’t difficult, why would you still be doing test papers at eleven?” Qi Yaoyao said, looking like she knew everything. “You said you got into No. 1 High School purely by luck. So the other students around you are either naturally gifted geniuses or academically solid students, which must make you feel like you can never catch up, no matter how hard you try. But it’s okay! You can ask me any questions you have. My grades are pretty good~”
Xu Zhi was about to say thank you, but no need for now.
However, the humble Qi Yaoyao couldn’t resist showing off the next second. She said, “It’s just the ‘pretty good’ kind where I rank first in the whole school every year, you know~”
Xu Zhi was genuinely surprised. She looked back at the beautiful girl in the video and slightly raised an eyebrow. “That amazing?”
She definitely doesn’t look like it.
I hope she’s not just talking nonsense.
“Of course!!” Hearing Xu Zhi’s praise, Qi Yaoyao would have had her tail wagging furiously if she had one. She couldn’t suppress the smile on her lips. “That’s just casually performing, I wasn’t even trying hard. If I tried hard, the other students in our school wouldn’t stand a chance! By the way, are the test papers at your No. 1 High School a bit harder?”
Xu Zhi didn’t think so. She said, “It’s alright, not too difficult.”
Qi Yaoyao immediately said, “See! You’re showing off again.”
Qi Yaoyao: “But it’s not easy to teach over a video call. I’ll teach you later~ Studying shouldn’t be too rigid. There are many tips and tricks that make it very simple once you remember them~”
Xu Zhi: “Mm.”
Qi Yaoyao was about to say something else.
Xu Zhi, however, said, “Can I see your eyes?”
“Oh, right.” Qi Yaoyao almost forgot. She brought the phone closer.
She was about to use her finger to lift her eyelid to show Xu Zhi the bloodshot veins, but then thought: That would look hideous.
So, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
In the end, Qi Yaoyao just looked closely at the camera and blinked at Xu Zhi, asking aloud, “Zhizhi, can you see them like this?”
Xu Zhi: “…”
All she saw was an enlarged, beautiful face.
And one second later, the sensory stimulation from their intimate posture in the changing room that evening resurfaced. Xu Zhi had finally forgotten it, but now it felt like it was coming back with a vengeance. Her neck felt prickly, and she was uncomfortable all over.
It felt as if Qi Yaoyao, as she leaned into the camera, also brought with her a faint, clean fragrance of post-bath freshness.
This was absurd.
Because Xu Zhi had never smelled what the young lady smelled like right after a shower.
An inexplicable heat swelled in her heart.
Xu Zhi tried to speak, but her voice was blocked. She clearly cleared her throat before looking at those dark, captivating round eyes. She said, “I can’t really tell.”
“Ah…” Qi Yaoyao frowned, looking distressed. “You can’t see it even over video? Lots of bloodshot veins, and my eyes feel gritty. I’ve used eyedrops several times, and I feel like they might get infected.”
Xu Zhi frowned and said, “Then don’t wear cosmetic contact lenses carelessly again.”
“It’s not the contact lenses. I’ve worn this brand before, and I’ve never had a problem.”
Xu Zhi asked, “Then what caused it?”
“Ugh!” Qi Yaoyao sighed again, then stole quick glances at Xu Zhi. She pouted dramatically and said, “It’s all because after I rang the bell, you suddenly ignored me, which made me very angry and sad. I was silently upset outside for a long time, and then my eyes got infected.”
Xu Zhi: …
That was completely unreasonable. She was the one who went back on her word and broke her promise.
Xu Zhi: “Then I’ll pay for your medical expenses?”
Xu Zhi said, “My boss paid my commission tonight, and it was a lot. If it’s serious, I can take you to the hospital right now.”
Qi Yaoyao’s eyes brightened slightly. “Zhizhi, you’ll come find me now?”
Xu Zhi was about to speak when her mother’s voice came from outside: “Zhizhi—”
In that moment, before Xu Zhi could even react, she had already hung up the video call, turned the volume to zero, and immediately got up, walking to her bedroom door to open it.
Zhou Weixiang stood in the entrance hall, one hand holding her bag, the other cradling a stack of assignment books.
Seeing her daughter, she was somewhat surprised. “Zhizhi, why did you come out?”
Xu Zhi quickly went up to help her take the assignments. “Mom, why are you off work so late again?”
“I can’t help it; the tutoring center is busy.” Zhou Weixiang said, her beautiful and moving face showing fatigue, and her voice was hoarse. “The middle schools are all preparing for the midterms. Whether the grades improve depends on this time, so the parents are all very anxious.”
Xu Zhi said, “Mom, I think if grades don’t improve in school, spending money on tutoring is useless. You don’t need to teach so seriously.”
“What are you saying, Zhizhi?” Zhou Weixiang smiled wryly, gently poking her daughter’s forehead with her index finger. “Do you think everyone is as smart as you? Most people in this world are ordinary and can only compensate for their lack of talent through diligence.”
Xu Zhi, poked, swayed slightly like a tumbler and pouted. “Oh.”
Zhou Weixiang changed her shoes and closed the door. “By the way, Zhizhi, were you on the phone just now? Mom thought she heard someone else’s voice.”
Xu Zhi paused slightly, then casually lied: “A classmate. Calling to ask a question.”
“Mm.” Zhou Weixiang didn’t dwell on it. She reached out to take the assignments from her daughter. “Are you hungry? Mom will cook you some supper.”
“I’m not hungry.” Xu Zhi pulled the assignments back. “I finished my test papers. I’ll help you grade the homework.”
Zhou Weixiang quickly said, “No, no, Mom can finish grading them in half an hour. You go to bed early after finishing your papers.”
“I’m fast.” Xu Zhi was insistent. “Mom, you go take a shower quickly. I’ll be done by the time you finish.” After saying that, she quickly returned to her bedroom with the stack of assignments.
Zhou Weixiang watched Xu Zhi’s retreating back, feeling touched and relieved. Her daughter was too sensible…
Xu Zhi was indeed very fast at grading homework. After mentally calculating the answers, she scanned ten lines at a time and didn’t make a single grading error.
When she went to drop off the graded assignments, she could still hear the sound of water in the bathroom.
“Mom, the homework is graded. I put it on the desk for you.”
The sound of trickling water softened, and Zhou Weixiang’s voice came through—”That fast? Okay, Mom will warm up some milk for you later.”
“No need, I already warmed up my own milk. Mom, you should go to bed early after you finish showering. You work hard.”
“Mom isn’t tired. Then you go to sleep early too, Zhizhi.”
“Mm.”
Xu Zhi placed the assignment books on her mother’s bedroom desk and suddenly noticed that the date 3.29 was circled many times in red pen on the desktop calendar.
Five days from now.
Is that the day for a student exam?
Xu Zhi didn’t think much of it. She put down the assignments and left.
Returning to her own bedroom, Xu Zhi closed the door, sat down at her desk, and picked up her phone again.
She was surprised to find that Qi Yaoyao, who had been abruptly hung up on during the video call, hadn’t sent any messages at all.
She had expected her screen to be flooded.
Xu Zhi sent an explanation.
Xu Zhi: [My mom came home.]
Qi Yaoyao was awake and replied quickly—
YaoYao: [Oh~]
YaoYao sent an 8-second voice message.
Xu Zhi turned up the volume and clicked to listen.
Qi Yaoyao’s娇气 (spoiled/delicate) and bright voice was contained in the little box, soft yet with two points of displeasure: “You could have told me before hanging up! It was like I was someone who shouldn’t be seen, like we were having a secret affair!”
Xu Zhi: […………]
What on earth.
YaoYao: [So, it looks like you can’t come find me tonight and take me to the hospital, huh?]
Xu Zhi wanted to ask if it was really that serious.
But Qi Yaoyao sent another 4-second voice message.
Xu Zhi was afraid she would say something scandalous again and didn’t dare click to listen. She converted it to text.
YaoYao: [I can go to the hospital myself, but Zhizhi, you have to compensate me!]
Xu Zhi typed to ask: [How should I compensate you?]
YaoYao: [Treat me to dinner, or a movie? You choose~]
Xu Zhi pursed her lips. Treating the young lady to dinner would definitely cost more than movie tickets and popcorn.
But since her eyes were infected and uncomfortable, a movie was clearly unsuitable.
Xu Zhi: [Dinner it is. What do you like to eat?]
YaoYao: [Anything is fine, as long as I’m eating it with Sister Zhizhi~~]
YaoYao: [Hello, I’m online, just waiting for you [Rose] cat face.jpg]
Xu Zhi: [Okay, it has to be early then. Before six.]
YaoYao: [Should you come to my school to find me, or should I come to your school to find you?]
Xu Zhi: [Where is your school?]
YaoYao: [Lihai International School]
Xu Zhi: [Send me the location tomorrow. I’ll find you?]
YaoYao: [Got it~!]
YaoYao: [Then I’m going to sleep now. Sister Zhizhi, you should also rest early for tomorrow. Good night~ [Kiss]]
Xu Zhi: [Good night]
After replying to the message, Xu Zhi turned off the ceiling light in her bedroom, turned on the small desk lamp, and finished the remaining half of her English test paper.