13
Sunday morning arrived with clear, bright skies.
The human capacity for sleep deprivation has its limits.
After dealing with the exhausting events of the previous day, Chen Linyao let her guard down significantly.
Besides, she was simply too tired.
The day before, she hadn’t slept at all.
Between venturing into the forest, falling off a cliff once by accident and being thrown off another time, making a trip to the police station to talk with Lu Yeqing, and finishing the evening with a heavy hotpot dinner, she had barely made it to the shower before collapsing into bed.
Not being taken advantage of by Xie Zhengjie last night left Chen Linyao in an unusually good mood.
Human beings are strange creatures—when their spirits are too high, it often leads to abnormal behavior.
Normally, on a Sunday like this, she would roll around in bed until at least 11 a.m.
before dragging herself up.
But today, in her uncharacteristically cheerful mood, she woke up at 7 a.m.
and got off the sofa.
What do people do when they’re in an exceptionally good mood?
Chen Linyao couldn’t speak for others, but as for herself, she wanted to share her happiness with someone else.
After stretching and yawning twice, Chen Linyao strolled over to the bedroom door with a grin and started pounding on it energetically.
The loud bang echoed in five steady beats, repeated several times, and she cheerfully yelled through the door,
“The weather’s great today. Hurry up and get up to enjoy it.”
Knocking and shouting gleefully, she anticipated that seeing the young man’s irritated face—just like yesterday—would boost her mood even further.
“The morning news is on. Don’t you love watching TV? Come out and see it.”
Her trolling didn’t stop there.
Imagining his grumpy expression, Chen Linyao reached for the door, ready to barge in for maximum effect.
But sometimes, expectations and reality don’t align.
With a loud whoosh, the door slid open at her touch, leaving the young woman momentarily stunned.
The lock that had held fast yesterday was mysteriously disengaged, and now the door moved with the lightest push.
Chen Linyao glanced inside the room but found no sign of anyone.
Before she could react, the sound of the bathroom door outside echoed.
Xie Zhengjie emerged, drying his hair with a towel, already dressed in casual clothes.
As the young man continued drying his hair, he looked at her standing there with her mouth hanging open, blinked a few times, then walked to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, and turned on the morning news.
“You’ve been up for a while?”
Realizing her plan to disrupt his morning had backfired, Chen Linyao felt a sudden philosophical revelation:
Happiness is fleeting.
“For a bit.”
“Why are you up earlier than yesterday?”
Xie Zhengjie raised an eyebrow, his lips moving as if uncertain whether he should answer.
After a moment’s hesitation, the young man chose instead to ask her a question.
“Are you sure you want to know?”
At first, the young woman had asked casually; waking up early hardly needed a deep explanation.
But the way he framed his reply, as if there were some hidden reason, piqued her curiosity.
“Yes. Why did you wake up so early today?”
Xie Zhengjie hesitated, his expression torn.
Finally, as if steeling himself, he gave a reluctant answer.
“You snored. Loudly.”
He tried to say it politely, his tone gentle, but Chen Linyao was stunned.
“You snored loudly.”
Xie Zhengjie repeated, this time raising his voice slightly, as though worried the young woman hadn’t heard him the first time.
“You.
Snored.
Loudly.”
“Enough!”
She finally snapped out of it.
“You must have been really tired yesterday.
You started snoring a little while after falling asleep, but by early morning, it got so loud I couldn’t keep sleeping.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“I originally intended to, but when I got up to do so, I saw your condition and changed my mind—I went to take a shower instead.”
“I must have looked really exhausted, huh?
That’s why you didn’t wake me,” Chen Linyao asked resignedly.
But then she noticed Xie Zhengjie faltering, his hesitation returning.
A sense of foreboding crept over her, but before she could stop him, he blurted out,
“I saw you drooling. When I noticed that sticky liquid on your face… I just felt like taking a shower.”
That’s too much!
You should treat a woman with more respect.
Even if you were disgusted enough to take a shower, you didn’t need to say it out loud!
Unable to listen anymore, Chen Linyao grabbed her phone, retreated to a corner of the room, and sat hugging her knees in silence.
On an online discussion forum:
A verified user posted a question: “My husband wants to leave me but refuses to tell me why.
I’ve never hurt him or spoken rudely.
What do you think could be the reason?”
An unverified user replied: “Honestly, he probably doesn’t want to hurt your feelings.
He’s a really kind person.
But I’m not—I’ll be blunt.
The real reason might be that you snore so loudly he couldn’t take it anymore.
Maybe it’s not just the snoring.
You might also drool in your sleep.”