Xu Zhi had only read halfway through the problem statement, planning to finish the current question before checking WeChat, but her phone kept vibrating incessantly.
Calculating the answer in her head, Xu Zhi wrote it down and then picked up her phone.
No wonder it wouldn’t stop vibrating; Qi Yaoyao was spamming her again.
YaoYao: [[Wuwu.jpg]] YaoYao: [[A little wronged, I can endure it.jpg]] YaoYao: [[Here, it hurts.jpg]] YaoYao: [[First time seeing this kind of thing in my pig life.jpg]] YaoYao: [[Kitty in disbelief.jpg]] YaoYao: [[Crying baby dragon.jpg]] YaoYao: [[You won’t survive tonight, I’m calling someone to beat you up immediately.jpg]] YaoYao: [[Smash][Smash][Smash]]
Xu Zhi: [?]
She had no idea where this young lady got so many weird and wonderful emojis.
YaoYao: [Zhizhi] YaoYao: [Ah ah ah ah ah!!!] YaoYao: [Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!]
Xu Zhi: [Calm down]
Xu Zhi thought for a moment and typed again.
Xu Zhi: [Did your mother beat you up after receiving your “gift”?]
YaoYao: […………….] YaoYao: [No] YaoYao: [I’m shattered [Crying]]
Xu Zhi: [How are you shattered?]
YaoYao: […Ugh! I don’t want to talk about it. Wuwuwu, I’m just so miserable, my mood right now… is so complicated, so confused, so broken!! I want to go clubbing until dawn!!!]
Xu Zhi: [A little calm]
YaoYao: [I can’t be calm at all qaq]
…
The moment Xu Zhi finished reading that message, the young lady’s video call came through, and simultaneously, a knock sounded on the door.
Xu Zhi instinctively rejected the call, put her phone in her pocket, and turned to see her mother opening the door to bring in hot milk.
Xu Zhi accepted the milk. “Thank you, Mom. You should go to bed early.”
“Mmm, you too, sleep early.” Zhou Weixiang gently stroked her daughter’s hair, not disturbing her revision, and quickly left.
After her mother left, Xu Zhi took out her phone again. She had rejected the video call, but Qi Yaoyao hadn’t exploded; the chat interface was quiet.
Xu Zhi put on her Bluetooth headphones and called her back via voice.
Qi Yaoyao answered quickly and immediately asked, “Zhizhi, did your mom come back?”
“How did you know?”
“With that reaction, like you’re having an affair with me, last time it was because your mom came home, wasn’t it?”
Xu Zhi: “?”
Xu Zhi immediately became alert!
Affair? Is Qi Yaoyao giving her a psychological hint again?
Before Xu Zhi could think too much, Qi Yaoyao sighed gloomily on the other end.
“Why use a voice call? We haven’t seen each other in so long, Zhizhi, I want to see you.”
Xu Zhi felt instantly threatened!
See what? What is there to see between two girls?
Although Qi Yaoyao was beautiful, Xu Zhi absolutely did not want to see the image of her bathing naked again.
Her sleep quality had just returned to normal.
She was fine and had no desire to cause herself more trouble.
Xu Zhi had decided to confront Qi Yaoyao the next time they met, but doing it over the phone was inconvenient. It would be better to wait until Qi Yaoyao came to the bar tomorrow to discuss it face-to-face.
So, Xu Zhi pretended not to hear the suggestive—no, the explicit words—and returned to the main topic. “You said you’re shattered. How are you shattered?”
“…Sigh!!”
The memory gave Qi Yaoyao a headache. She sighed heavily, letting out a long, choked groan.
Seeing that she hadn’t started, Xu Zhi simply continued doing her test paper.
Qi Yaoyao indulged in self-pity and sighed a few more times before finally saying, “Zhizhi, you know that for the past few days, I’ve been meticulously preparing my gift. I finally selected eight male university students after careful choices.”
Xu Zhi’s pen froze halfway through writing an answer. “How many??”
“Eight,” Qi Yaoyao replied, sounding extremely unwilling and disgruntled. “I went through layers of screening based on appearance, family background, character, and personality, and finally signed eight of them! Because I was looking for virgins, I even had friends get several gigabytes of ‘study materials’ for them to learn from!”
Xu Zhi: “…”
At this point, Qi Yaoyao couldn’t help but feel grief-stricken. “I never expected…”
Xu Zhi: “…Your mother didn’t appreciate the gesture?”
No, that was entirely predictable.
“No,” Qi Yaoyao was interrupted by Xu Zhi and hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back, and finally sighed again. “None of them could be delivered. I wasted my time, energy, and enthusiasm for nothing.”
Xu Zhi could completely anticipate that result. She comforted her. “Well, at least you didn’t get beaten up.”
Hearing Xu Zhi’s words, Qi Yaoyao paused, then deeply agreed—Oh, right!
Mom likes women, but she chose a few men to send to her bed…
If she had sent them.
Two legs wouldn’t be enough for her to break!
Qi Yaoyao felt fearful and relieved. “Zhizhi, you’re right…”
Xu Zhi had reached the last major problem on the math paper. She drew auxiliary lines based on the given conditions, drawing while saying, “Are you okay now? Then I’ll go back to my test paper.”
“…Sigh! I’m still not okay.”
“Tell me.”
Tell her? Qi Yaoyao just didn’t know how to explain it!
She was consumed by anxiety. When she realized how calm and composed Xu Zhi’s tone was, she suddenly felt unbalanced.
Qi Yaoyao complained indignantly, “Xu Zhizhi, I’m so sad and so broken tonight. Can’t you comfort me properly? What’s so great about a lousy test paper? Besides, can you even do it? You’re trying to multitask!”
Xu Zhi: “…”
Why can’t I do it?
Xu Zhi stopped writing and asked, “Didn’t you yourself think it was a good thing that the ‘gift’ wasn’t delivered? Why are you still sad and broken?”
Qi Yaoyao was silent for a long while on the other end, then suddenly said angrily, “Aiya! You won’t understand!!!”
Xu Zhi: “…”
You haven’t even told me.
Qi Yaoyao was angry and conflicted, conflicted and upset. “Zhizhi, you tell me…”
Xu Zhi: “Hmm?”
“…Forget it!! I’m going to sleep. You do your test paper!” Qi Yaoyao hung up the voice call right after she finished speaking.
Xu Zhi felt utterly confused. She took off her Bluetooth headphones.
Glancing at the call duration on the chat interface, she suddenly recalled that Qi Yaoyao’s behavior last night did seem genuinely troubled and sad.
It was just that her voice was pleasing to the ear, and her complaining tone was chattery and soft, making people focus more on the cooing rather than the genuine emotion.
However, this young lady was naturally temperamental. Fine one moment, angry the next, or suddenly fine again after being angry.
As long as she hadn’t been beaten up, nothing major had happened.
Despite thinking this, Xu Zhi was inexplicably distracted. She couldn’t focus on her test paper either. She finished the last major question, drank the milk, got up, and briefly washed Qi Yaoyao’s skirt set before hanging it on the balcony to dry.
It had only been worn twice; it wasn’t dirty.
…
The next day, Xu Zhi rode her old bicycle to school.
After school in the afternoon, Xu Zhi detoured home to change into casual clothes and took down Qi Yaoyao’s skirt set.
It was then she noticed something was wrong.
The camisole top was fine, but the skirt had shrunk and warped after washing. The lining of the skirt was clearly visible.
Xu Zhi’s heart skipped a beat. She immediately checked the tag.
Dry clean only.
She had a bad feeling. She used her phone to search for the same brand skirt on a shopping app. A single genuine little skirt cost over ten thousand yuan.
Xu Zhi: “…”
Headache.
How could she have forgotten to check the tag last night? She had been so careful before.
Xu Zhi folded the skirt and put it in a paper bag, then rode the new bicycle Qi Yaoyao had given her to the bar.
No matter what, she had to clarify things tonight.
She would return the bicycle, and as for the skirt, she would pay for the damage.
The most important thing was to send away that pampered deity and let her own life return to normalcy and peace.
She arrived at the bar at 5:36 PM.
She was slightly late; everyone was almost done with the shift change.
Xu Zhi, wearing the bartender uniform, walked straight to the bar and began preparation work.
She glanced casually out of the corner of her eye and noticed someone in a slightly familiar uniform not far away, holding a phone, waiting for a call to connect.
The person seemed to notice her gaze, looked over, and then, looking pleased, immediately hung up the phone and hurried over. “Miss Xu, you’re here!”
Xu Zhi recognized him; it was the person who had delivered dinner a few days ago.
Previously, Xu Zhi always arrived early at the bar, and the dinner delivery would arrive promptly a few minutes later at 5:30 PM.
Since she was late today, this person was probably calling Qi Yaoyao.
Wait.
Calling Qi Yaoyao?
Xu Zhi accepted the dinner and noticed it was indeed a meal for one person. She asked the delivery person, “Just one person? Not a double portion?”
Hadn’t Qi Yaoyao said that after she was done being busy after March 29th, she would come eat with her?
Xu Zhi clearly remembered Qi Yaoyao using the word “we.”
The delivery person was stunned and asked in return, “Didn’t it change? It’s been changed back to a single portion these past few days.”
It changed.
Which meant it had indeed been a double portion before.
“Okay,” Xu Zhi said. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome~” The restaurant delivery person smiled. “I wish you a pleasant meal, Miss Xu!”
Jim rushed over, smelling the food, and leaned on the bar: “Yo yo yo, Sister Know’s big meal is here again~ What is it tonight?”
Xu Zhi glanced at him and opened the lid.
Seafood rice bowl.
And a box of fresh fruit salad for dessert.
“Wow! The luxury seafood rice bowl from Ruyu’s shop!!” Jim said enviously. “Judging by the ingredients, your bowl must cost several hundred.”
“How many hundreds?” Zhao Chuchu had finished her shift change. It wasn’t opening time yet, so she came over to join the fun. “Two hundred is ‘several hundred,’ and nine hundred is too.”
Jim drooled while genuinely examining the rice bowl. “Judging by the size of this abalone, it can’t be cheap. And is that blue lobster? Sea cucumber, and…”
Xu Zhi wasn’t particularly fond of seafood. In fact, she didn’t have much appetite for anything in particular.
Even the terrible, undercooked noodles last night, she had managed to finish.
She didn’t know how expensive these were in the past, so she just ate them. But ever since Jim’s “education,” she always felt a little indigestion after eating.
A country bumpkin can’t appreciate fine fare?
But if she left it uneaten, it would spoil easily in this weather, and she couldn’t return it.
After all, when Qi Yaoyao first brought this up, Xu Zhi, unable to refuse, had just said “whatever.” If she brought it up again, with that young lady’s temper, she would probably say something willful like, “If you don’t eat it, just throw it away.”
She had managed to eat it despite the indigestion before, but tonight, Xu Zhi mysteriously lost her appetite.
Xu Zhi took the rice bowl back to the staff lounge, opened the cupboard, and immediately saw the paper bag containing the skirt set.
Xu Zhi moved it aside and took out her own phone from her bag.
No messages.
She hadn’t received any all day, and still didn’t have any now.
Her chat interface with Qi Yaoyao remained frozen at a system green bar, [Call Duration 07:29], the time from the voice call she made to Qi Yaoyao last night.
“Sister Know, Sister Know?”
Xu Zhi immediately put away her phone and looked up, seeing Zhao Chuchu standing outside.
Xu Zhi asked, “What is it?”
Zhao Chuchu clasped her hands behind her back, fidgeting with her fingers. She looked at the seafood rice bowl sitting untouched on the table and asked, “Do you… not really like seafood?”
Xu Zhi replied, “It’s fine.”
“I see you eating these every night, and you don’t seem to have much appetite,” Zhao Chuchu said, ignoring the “it’s fine.” Clenching her fingers, she bravely looked into Xu Zhi’s eyes and said, “I’m a good cook, and my food is quite tasty. If Sister Know doesn’t mind…”
Xu Zhi politely declined. “No need to trouble yourself.”
Xu Zhi explained, “She’s just making trouble for no reason, buying me dinner every day. I usually eat after I get off work and go home.”
“You eat dinner only after you get off work?”
“Mmm.”
“That won’t do!” Zhao Chuchu was a little shocked and anxious upon hearing this. “Aren’t you hungry eating so late? It’s easy to get stomach problems!”
“It’s fine,” Xu Zhi said. “I need to eat now, or it will be too late.”
Zhao Chuchu wanted to try harder, but seeing Xu Zhi’s demeanor, she could only nod knowingly and leave the lounge door.
As she left, a female server in the lounge said, “Are you two that close? She’s bringing you food?”
Xu Zhi glanced at the server. This person seemed to sit here at this time every day, but they had never spoken.
Xu Zhi didn’t reply. She held the rice bowl and ate against the wall.
The several-hundred-yuan seafood rice should have been delicious, but Xu Zhi tasted nothing.
The girl, seeing Xu Zhi didn’t respond, didn’t mind. She looked down at her phone, typing away.
…
The bar remained lively, punctual as ever.
It never became cold or dull because someone was missing.
Xu Zhi mixed drinks according to her routine.
Some customers liked to sit at the bar counter to drink, chatting and drinking in groups of three to five, away from the booth area and the dance floor, immersed in their conversation.
It had been like this these past few days.
But today, Xu Zhi inexplicably felt it was loud.
She also felt that the customers had been sitting there for too long.
Qi Yaoyao always came over when there were few customers at the bar, as if that way she wouldn’t interfere with her work and could justifiably occupy her time.
“Your ‘Blue Romance’ is ready.” Xu Zhi pushed the finished cocktail to the customer who ordered it, then took the two finished glasses to the sink to wash them and place them in the sterilizer.
After finishing this, Xu Zhi returned to the bar counter.
No one was ordering for the moment.
Xu Zhi glanced at her watch: 7:30 PM.
“Know, checking the time again.” A regular customer started talking to her. “Do you have plans later? Or are you waiting for someone?”
Xu Zhi looked at her and replied politely, “Just checking the time.”
The regular customer smiled knowingly. “Is that so? You’ve checked five or six times tonight. I’ve never seen you like this before, at least not these past few days.”
Xu Zhi didn’t say anything more.
“You look like you’re in a bad mood,” the regular customer leaned her cheek on her hand and started a conversation. “Trouble at work? Or trouble in a relationship?”
Xu Zhi lowered her eyes, wiping the countertop with a clean cloth, still insisting that nothing was wrong.
Qi Yaoyao didn’t appear all evening.
At 8:30 PM, Xu Zhi finished her handover with her colleague. She looked towards the bar’s entrance and exit.
The light was dim, the moving heads lights flashed, and figures flickered under the dynamic DJ music. Although it was hard to see clearly, if Qi Yaoyao had arrived, she should be able to spot her immediately.
Xu Zhi even thought: Maybe there’s traffic, and she’s running late.
Or perhaps…
Forget it.
Xu Zhi averted her gaze and went back to the staff lounge to change clothes. She took out the paper bag and her own bag. She checked her phone—no messages.
Xu Zhi put her phone in her pocket and rode her bicycle home through the back alley.
…
At 9:00 PM, her mother arrived home punctually.
Xu Zhi came out to see her. Her mother had brought back a box of pork floss bread. One had been eaten, and two were left inside.
“I brought this back for your late-night snack. A student’s parent gave it to me,” Zhou Weixiang said, putting the apples and grapes she bought from the fruit store into the refrigerator.
Xu Zhi called out, “Mom.”
“Hmm?”
“If… I mean, if I gave you a gift that wasn’t quite appropriate for your birthday, how would you react?”
“What is it?” Zhou Weixiang smiled. “There’s no such thing as an inappropriate gift, Mom will love anything you give me.”
“What if I gave you a step-dad?”
“…?” Zhou Weixiang stared at her daughter with a look of shock. “What did you say?”
Xu Zhi took a large bite of the bread from the box, her expression blank. She never thought she would actually ask that.
She looked at her mother again. “I didn’t say anything. Mom, I want an apple.”
Zhou Weixiang took one out of the bag and handed it to her, then pressed her. “Zhizhi, what did you say just now about a step-dad?”
“I was just talking nonsense.” Xu Zhi, chewing the bread, vaguely replied as she took the apple to wash.
Zhou Weixiang saw this and said, “Peel it. Pesticides, ripening agents, preservatives, it’s all chemical residue.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Xu Zhi mumbled her agreement while chewing the bread, took the peeler, peeled the apple, and then walked out of the kitchen.
As her daughter left the kitchen, Zhou Weixiang hesitated and called out to stop her. “Zhizhi. Do you… really want a father?”
Xu Zhi took the bread out of her mouth, realizing her nonsensical question must have frightened her mother. She looked back at her mother and said earnestly, “To be honest, I did want a father when I was little, when Mom was struggling and crying secretly by herself. But after growing up, I don’t anymore. It’s quite good just the two of us. Whether you want to find someone or not is up to you. I won’t use any of my needs to manipulate you.”
Zhou Weixiang was surprised. “When did I ever cry?”
“I don’t remember, definitely when I was very little, kindergarten probably?”
Zhou Weixiang tried to recall.
After speaking, Xu Zhi explained, “I asked that because my friend gave her mother a gift that wasn’t quite appropriate, and it seemed like she failed to deliver it, but she had prepared for a long time and seemed quite sad. So I wanted to ask how you would react if I gave you an inappropriate gift.”
Hearing this, Zhou Weixiang genuinely relaxed. She walked to her daughter, stroked her hair, and smiled very gently. “How could any mother truly be angry at her daughter? You’re too precious to me.”
“What if I gave you a man?”
Zhou Weixiang tilted her head to think, then looked at her daughter, her eyes smiling. “Thank you. And then politely decline?”
Xu Zhi couldn’t help but laugh.
Zhou Weixiang also laughed. “Don’t overthink it. Console your friend and tell her that an attempt, even a failed one, doesn’t change the courageous nature of the action.”
Xu Zhi nodded. “Okay!”
…
Xu Zhi returned to her bedroom and picked up her phone.
—”Xu Zhizhi, I’m so sad and so broken tonight. Can’t you comfort me properly? What’s so great about a lousy test paper? Besides, can you even do it? You’re trying to multitask!”
Qi Yaoyao’s words from last night echoed clearly.
Xu Zhi clicked on the input box.
Just as she was about to type, a video call request suddenly popped up on her phone.
Xu Zhi froze for a moment, pursed her lips, and turned to look towards the bedroom door, but the next moment she clicked Accept.
After a slight lag, Xu Zhi saw Qi Yaoyao in the camera.
The lighting wasn’t bright.
But she could see a slightly familiar camphor tree behind her.
“Xu Scumbag!”
Xu Zhi snapped out of her daze.
Qi Yaoyao: “Didn’t you promise me you’d cheer me up if I was angry?! But you didn’t look for me all day!!”
“I’m sorry,” Xu Zhi instinctively apologized first. Then, looking at her, she looked at the camphor tree behind her again, frowning. “Where are you…”
“At your complex gate!”
“!” Xu Zhi was shocked, realizing the camphor tree was indeed right at her complex gate. She immediately stood up. “Why are you here so late?”
Qi Yaoyao was sullen and very angry. “I came to find a jerk who doesn’t keep her word!”
“…I’m coming down.” Xu Zhi said, walking to the bedroom door. She then remembered something, turned back to grab the paper bag from the bed, but thinking that the other person was in a very bad mood and bringing up these topics might make it worse, she put it down. She only strode out the door.
However, as she left, she took the pork floss bread from the table with her.
This bread is quite tasty.
Xu Zhi jogged all the way. At the complex gate, she saw Qi Yaoyao. A miniature hatchback was parked nearby, and Qi Yaoyao was squatting by the gate, staring down an orange cat not too far away.
“Yaoyao.”
Qi Yaoyao immediately turned to look at her, raising a hand to signal, “Shh…”
Xu Zhi looked at the orange cat and waved her hand. “Pomelo, come here.”
The orange cat, which had been watching Qi Yaoyao warily, saw Xu Zhi, lowered its proudly raised tail, and ran to Xu Zhi’s feet, purring affectionately.
Qi Yaoyao was displeased by this and stood up. “A flirt, attracting attention!”
Xu Zhi: “…”
Xu Zhi ignored the orange cat at her feet and walked up to Qi Yaoyao. “Why did you come without saying anything? Are you hungry? Do you want some bread?”
Qi Yaoyao looked at the bread in her hand, thought about it, reached out to take it, and then asked, “Xu Zhizhi, have you admitted your mistake?”
Xu Zhi led her into the complex to walk. “I admit my mistake. I should have reached out to you proactively.”
“Exactly!” Qi Yaoyao broke off a small piece of bread and put it in her mouth, tasting cheap pork floss…
“This isn’t good.” Qi Yaoyao frowned, shoved the rest back into Xu Zhi’s hand, and then walked ahead with big strides, waving her hand dismissively.
Xu Zhi looked at the bread in her hand, then at Qi Yaoyao’s back, and suddenly couldn’t hold back, saying, “Qi Yaoyao. What are you trying to do?”
Qi Yaoyao turned back, confused. “Hmm?”
Xu Zhi said, “Threatening me with my part-time job at the bar, yet giving me a bicycle and ordering such expensive takeout every day.”
Qi Yaoyao said, “I want to be friends with you!”
Xu Zhi felt she was being rational and clear-headed. The more she listened, the more she felt Qi Yaoyao was feigning innocence and being evasive.
Xu Zhi: “What kind of ‘friend’ do you mean…?”
In the past, Qi Yaoyao would have simply said, “A friend is just a friend!”
But right now, Qi Yaoyao had been brainwashed all day and night by the revelation that “Mom likes women,” making her extremely sensitive to related topics.
Her heart fluttered. Her graceful eyebrows immediately arched, and her bright, beautiful eyes stared straight at Xu Zhi.
Waiting for her to finish her question.