During the five working days of the week, Fu Xizhi and Rong Xue were in a cold war. One slept in the master bedroom, the other in the guest room, leaving each other alone.
Fu Xizhi was doing it on purpose, testing whether Rong Xue would take the initiative to bow her head and admit her mistake, even though she had no expectations of Rong Xue would know what she’d done wrong.
She only needed an ambiguous “I’m sorry.”
Rong Xue should have taken the initiative to shoulder all the blame for the conflict, whether she was right or wrong.
But Rong Xue didn’t put any effort into it at all. Fu Xizhi felt that Rong Xue’s stubbornness was so strong that even a pair of iron pliers couldn’t pry it open.
There were no opportunities to run into each other at school. At most, the two would meet face-to-face when they returned home at night. Then Rong Xue would consciously do the housework, wash Fu Xizhi’s underwear, and keep a cold face.
Fu Xizhi upheld the good mental state of “Why should I be the one to lower myself when you’re ignoring me?” and got through the long five days.
Another weekend arrived, and the National Day holiday was approaching. The photography club Fu Xizhi belonged to was recruiting new members. They had set up a booth the day before in the square with the highest foot traffic, along with other clubs.
The vertical foam board posters and the wall of photography works were indeed eye-catching. Fu Xizhi arrived late, showing up at ten in the morning dressed all in black, with a pair of sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose.
She walked under the blazing sun, feeling very hot and dizzy.
Bai Xiao stared at the beads of sweat on Fu Xizhi’s forehead, stunned. She quickly rose from her seat at the booth, pulled Fu Xizhi under the tent’s shade, and started a small handheld fan to cool her down.
“Black absorbs the most heat! Are you crazy? A little black dress, sunglasses, and a black ribbon tied around your neck? What are you cosplaying, a horror movie witch?”
Fu Xizhi took a bottle of ice water and took a sip to clear her throat. “Cosplay is too much effort. I’ll consider it for Halloween.”
“Halloween is still a month away,” Bai Xiao retorted. “Take off the sunglasses. You’re acting all mysterious.”
“Fine, I can’t hide it anyway.” Fu Xizhi pushed her sunglasses up and leaned in closer to Bai Xiao.
Bai Xiao took one look and exclaimed, “Your dark circles are terrible! Did you go clubbing all night?”
“Pretty much,” Fu Xizhi sighed. “My heart’s been pounding like crazy for five days straight. Right now, I feel like black is the only color that can truly express my sorrow and grief.”
“…If your heart stops pounding, you’ll be dead,” Bai Xiao said. “What kind of grief are we talking about?”
“Sigh, it’s a melancholic kind of heartache.”
Bai Xiao scoffed. “Now you’re getting all melancholic. Wait, don’t tell me it’s Rong Xue again. What did she do to you? No, wait, what did you do to her?”
Fu Xizhi knew that explaining this to anyone else would be a mess, but she felt so wronged she wanted to proclaim it to the whole world: Come look! Rong Xue betrayed me! She scammed me out of my money and my body!
But the reality was, Fu Xizhi thought for a moment before saying, “Okay, so I have a friend. She told someone she liked that they were being cold, and the person just replied with a question mark and then completely ignored her. My friend tried to start a conversation, but then she found out the person had blocked and deleted her. She was furious.”
Classic “I have a friend” opening, Bai Xiao thought.
She asked directly, “Isn’t Rong Xue always ignoring you?”
“…I added her on WeChat a long time ago,” Fu Xizhi said, only to realize she’d been tricked into admitting it. It was too late to take it back. She lowered her voice. “Don’t tell anyone, okay? I’m only telling you, bestie.”
Three giant question marks practically materialized on Bai Xiao’s forehead. She took a few seconds to process the information, still completely bewildered. “You’ve got guts. When did you manage to get her contact info?”
Just then, a few freshmen approached, looking eager to join the Photography Club. They asked the usual questions about membership requirements, cameras, and club activities.
Bai Xiao, still reeling from the gossip, had no time to properly welcome the newcomers. Luckily, their club president, Xu Xuan, walked over. Bai Xiao asked her to handle the freshmen.
Then she went right back to grilling Fu Xizhi for more details.
Fu Xizhi, being the clever one, only shared the key points. “I ran into her at a party last week, so I treated her to barbecue. It was the perfect opportunity to add her as a friend. See? I’m really putting in the effort.”
“Yeah, yeah, but the Goddess’s temper is so hard to read…”
Being blocked was a tough nut to crack. Suddenly, Bai Xiao had an idea. She told Fu Xizhi to try a desperate measure: beg Rong Xue on her hands and knees to unblock her on WeChat.
After draining her water bottle, Fu Xizhi crushed the plastic bottle in her hand. “In your dreams. I’m not kneeling for her. I’d kneel to the heavens, the earth, and my own mother before that. She’s just taking advantage of my genuine feelings for her to act however she pleases.”
This scathing, one-sided rant about Rong Xue was a complete distortion of the truth, and utterly unfair. But after hearing it, Bai Xiao remained steadfast in her support. “Right, we’ll never kneel.”
Fu Xizhi shook her head, her face etched with exhaustion. Even after venting, her chest still felt tight. She didn’t want to talk about Rong Xue anymore; any more of this and she’d lose her mind.
She changed the subject, asking Bai Xiao how the new student recruitment was going.
Nearby, Xu Xuan had just finished guiding the new students away. She’d overheard them mention Rong Xue and came over to join the conversation. “I just came from the Publicity Department. Rong Xue is filming short videos on the other field. A ton of people are trying to hit on her.”
A real bee and butterfly magnet, Fu Xizhi thought with a bitter smile. She slumped onto the table, miserable and defeated, staring blankly at the sky.
Bai Xiao let out a soft “Hey” and nudged her arm. “How can you even sleep in this heat? Let’s go.”
Fu Xizhi groaned, half-dead with boredom. “Go where? Go up to the sky? It’s cooler up there.”
Xu Xuan flipped through the registration form, tidying up as she spoke. “You’re just lying. You always get all wilted the moment she’s mentioned. Just go see her; it’s not like you’ll lose a limb.”
Everyone in their club knew Fu Xizhi was chasing Rong Xue.
Ninety-nine percent of the Photography Club members were small-time amateurs. When it came to equipment and field shoots, anything involving money, their motto was “best value for the buck.”
Fu Xizhi was the exception. She had top-tier skills and a professional-grade gear setup.
With her full-frame DSLR, audio recorders, lighting, and accessories, Fu Xizhi was like a wealthy patron who’d brought her own funding to the group.
The Publicity Department’s equipment wasn’t even as high-end as Fu Xizhi’s personal kit. But Fu Xizhi always insisted that all this fancy gear was just old, outdated stuff passed down from her relatives, “just old machines, feel free to use them, I don’t mind if they get a little beat up.”
Whether she was telling the truth or not was anyone’s guess, but most people preferred to trust their eyes. The club members tacitly agreed that Fu Xizhi’s background was probably way more impressive than she let on.
At the mention of Rong Xue’s name, Fu Xizhi pursed her lips. “If you guys want to see her so badly, go ahead. Don’t drag me into it. I need to give her the cold shoulder for a while. Being too eager just lowers my value.”
She quickly added, “I mean, I might not have a massive family fortune or anything, but there’s a limit to how much I’m willing to trample on my own dignity.”
“Haha, exactly. Self-respect and self-love,” Bai Xiao said, clapping Fu Xizhi on the shoulder. The sunglasses on Fu Xizhi’s forehead slipped down to the bridge of her elegant nose.
Fu Xizhi pushed the sunglasses back up and gave a heavy nod. “I’m practicing self-love by giving her the cold shoulder.”
Bai Xiao thought she was right, but how could Fu Xizhi not care about Rong Xue’s every move? She was the living embodiment of saying one thing and meaning another.
“So, President Xu,” she asked on Fu Xizhi’s behalf, “how many people is Rong Xue adding on WeChat? I mean, she only has two hands and two eyes. How can she keep up with all the chatting and scrolling?”
As she spoke, she winked at Xu Xuan. Xu Xuan caught on immediately and played along. “She’s still got a mouth, doesn’t she? She can send voice messages. A voice-fetishist’s dream.”
Bai Xiao sighed. “Must be nice to be born with everything. God really gave her the world on a silver platter.”
Hearing this, Fu Xizhi let out a gloomy huff. “Her cheat codes have nothing to do with me. She can add whoever she wants. I’m not even close to her!”
Once I get home tonight, I’ll sneak into Rong Xue’s room, take her phone, and delete everyone before she knows what hit her. Oh wait, no need for a ‘preemptive strike’, just a clean, thorough purge!
As Fu Xizhi plotted her revenge, the corners of her mouth curled up ever so slightly.
Bai Xiao smiled, her expression full of amusement. “If our Zhizhi doesn’t want to go, then forget it. Old Xu, my butt hurts from sitting so long. I’m going to take a lap around the sports field.”
“What am I supposed to do if you go?” Fu Xizhi asked.
“You’re in charge of greeting the guests, of course.”
“Pass. I’m going to sleep.”
Fu Xizhi had the final say in this matter; she was paying, so she could be exempt from the hard labor. Bai Xiao gave Xu Xuan a knowing look, and Xu Xuan nodded, sitting down beside Fu Xizhi.
“Sleeping is great,” Bai Xiao said, her foot already mid-step. “Being able to fall asleep is a blessing.” But before she could take another step, she found she couldn’t move.
Fu Xizhi had grabbed the hem of her shirt. “I’m not sleeping anymore. It’s too hot. If I fall asleep and get baked into a mummy, that’s no blessing at all. I’d rather go somewhere open and catch a breeze.”
The sports field was the ultimate dating spot for couples, a place where hormones surged, and tall, strong women played soccer and basketball.
Fu Xizhi was just a weak little hen, but she still wanted to go and take a peek.
Bai Xiao and Xu Xuan exchanged a glance, smiles hidden in their eyes.
A gust of scorching wind swept past. The two of them walked side by side along the pedestrian path. Towering camphor and plane trees formed a dense green canopy, and the temperature beneath their shade was noticeably two or three degrees cooler.
Bai Xiao complimented her, “I’m telling you, those big sunglasses make you look cooler the more I look at you.”
“Cool her face,” Fu Xizhi retorted.
“…” Bai Xiao was speechless. Every third sentence Fu Xizhi uttered seemed to revolve around Rong Xue.
After about ten minutes, Fu Xizhi spotted the booths set up under the plastic running track of the sports field. Rong Xue stood there, her graceful figure turned sideways to her.
The students from the Publicity Department were running all over the place, snapping photos here and directing poses there. Even Qiao Ye wasn’t idle, working diligently on his tasks.
Meanwhile, Rong Xue sat under a tent with her hair tied in a low ponytail. She barely had to move, yet a small group of students naturally gathered around her, chatting and fanning her.
Is Rong Xue the booth’s mascot or the Emperor? Is she inspecting the recruits?
And why the hell can’t she just smile at me?
Fu Xizhi rolled her eyes, her words betraying her true feelings. “So delicate.”
Bai Xiao detected a hint of jealousy. “Are you envious of the people around her?”
Beyond that, on the basketball court and the green field under the blazing sun, tanned, athletic students occasionally shot Rong Xue straightforward, flirtatious glances.
Fu Xizhi crossed her arms, feeling her biceps bulge only the size of a small white bun. She said in a forced, casual tone, “Envious of being Rong Xue’s lapdog? Super envious. I wouldn’t trade places for a thousand gold coins.”
“I have a friend,” Bai Xiao said, “whenever she throws a tantrum, you have to interpret her words backward to understand what she really means.”
“Who? I don’t know her. Which friend?”
The reverse psychology failed.
Seeing Fu Xizhi stand her ground, seven or eight meters away from Goddess Rong, too far to tell if her eyes were stealing glances at her, Bai Xiao decided to push things further. She moved behind Fu Xizhi and gave her a hard shove.
“What are you doing?” Fu Xizhi stumbled forward several steps, turning her head to ask.
Bai Xiao pointed behind her. “Creating an opportunity. She’s looking at you.”
“…You’re a really loyal friend.” Fu Xizhi forced a reluctant smile, straightened her back, and turned around. Rong Xue was staring straight at her.
Fu Xizhi couldn’t read Rong Xue’s expression. Was it indifference, confusion, or worse, annoyance?
Fu Xizhi kept her arms crossed. What was there to be guilty about? She stepped closer and said, “Hi.”
Everyone was used to it by now. Wherever Rong Xue was, Fu Xizhi was bound to be nearby. It was a common sight.
Someone approached her with a smirk. “Empty-handed today?”
Fu Xizhi didn’t recognize the person at all. She didn’t say a word, just curled her lips into a faint smile. With her sunglasses still on and her pretty face set in a stern expression, the atmosphere instantly turned awkward.
The woman, meeting a wall of silence from Fu Xizhi, felt her face burning in front of their classmates and friends. She snapped, “How rude. Dressed all in black, who are you trying to impress?”
Fu Xizhi swept a glance over the provocateur before turning her gaze back to Rong Xue.
It’s all Rong Xue’s fault for giving me the cold shoulder, she thought. My social skills have plummeted.
Otherwise, with her acting skills and basic sense of decency, she would have passed as a polite person, rather than hovering on the edge of a low-pressure zone.
“What’s it to you?” Bai Xiao, acting as the loyal sidekick, shot back. “It’s too hot to talk. You want to act tough? You can’t even pull it off. Do you even have a friend with my bestie’s looks? Go ahead and be jealous.”
Bai Xiao’s words were pure gunpowder. The woman she attacked flew into a rage, her anger visibly mounting as her face turned beet red.
Even animals love a good spectacle, and humans are no different. They all consciously took a step back, wishing they had an ice-cold cola in hand while they watched.
Fu Xizhi had absolutely no desire to argue. She and Rong Xue had been locked in a gaze for nearly a minute now; if they were at home, they would have been all over each other, completely entangled.
Bai Xiao showed no sign of backing down, standing beside Fu Xizhi and glaring.
The tension was palpable, as if the two were about to settle this with a real fight.
Rong Xue stepped in to smooth things over, asking curiously, “Are you cosplaying as an American horror witch?”
Her voice was clear and crisp, like ice cubes clinking in a cold cola. It seemed to extinguish any lingering anger, leaving everyone wanting to lean in and listen closely.
“…” Fu Xizhi found the whole situation absurd. Everyone’s focus is so weird, she thought. She gave a dry laugh. “Yeah, getting a head start on Halloween. Not bad, right?”
Rong Xue smiled faintly. “It looks good.”
The real focus, however, was the ribbon tied around Fu Xizhi’s neck over her small round collar, the kind used to strap on a qingqiu erotic corset.
Rong Xue pondered for a long moment. She had tossed the dress aside somewhere and forgotten where, yet Fu Xizhi had actually scoured every inch of the house to find it.
Fu Xizhi beamed. “If you like looking at it, look all you want.”
“Alright.” Rong Xue didn’t hold back and continued to stare intently at Fu Xizhi.
The two of them acted as if no one else were in the room. Anyone else glancing over would have found the scene utterly bizarre, especially with Rong Xue in her white half-skirt and spaghetti strap top.
The black-and-white contrast of their outfits made them look like a couple.
The stark difference in color seemed to frame a black-and-white film around them, spreading a silent understanding between them.
The atmosphere had gone completely dead.
Bai Xiao had no choice but to break the silence. “Minister Rong, it’s almost noon. Would you do us the honor of joining us for a meal?”
Rong Xue looked at her and smiled. “I’ll go tell Qiao Ye.”
After speaking, Rong Xue rose. Fu Xizhi glanced at her, perhaps not expecting her to agree so decisively and without a moment’s hesitation, a faint sense of anticipation stirring within her.