It wasn’t until her hair was blown dry and she had finished the ginger soup that Aunt Zhang couldn’t help but instruct her once more, “Miss Zhu, if Miss Gu experiences any discomfort tonight, you must call me immediately.”
“Your clothes are still wet, aren’t you going to change?” Gu Ruoling reminded her.
Zhu Qingjia touched her soaking wet tank top, stood up, and went to her own room. Twenty minutes later, she returned in her pajamas. Her hair was only half-dry, water still dripping from the ends, with a towel pressed against it to absorb the moisture.
Kneeling on one leg on the bed, she couldn’t help but touch Gu Ruoling’s forehead with the back of her hand. No fever. “If you feel unwell, you must tell me.”
“Why are you so nervous? Afraid I’ll die?”
“You won’t die.” After saying that, Zhu Qingjia felt a bit guilty. Leading her through a rainstorm they shouldn’t have been caught in was an unpredictable variable that shouldn’t have happened.
Gu Ruoling leaned against the headboard with her hair draped over her shoulders. She felt exhausted, and her eyelids were growing heavy, but her body temperature wasn’t high, and her hands and feet were icy cold.
“I’m sleepy, let’s sleep.”
The lights in the room went out. Zhu Qingjia lay on her side facing her. Before long, an icy fish squeezed its way against her calf, followed by a second one.
She didn’t say anything, just compliantly let the coldness draw close to her own body heat.
Then she shifted her body and hugged Gu Ruoling. “Don’t curl up. Stretch your body out. Your blood needs to circulate to get warm.”
That night, Gu Ruoling slept very deeply, but Zhu Qingjia woke up from time to time. Not until the morning sun rose and the person in her arms shifted did she close her eyes and instinctively reach out to touch her forehead. Only after confirming her temperature was normal did she withdraw her hand.
“I’m completely fine.” This time, Gu Ruoling took the initiative to hold her hand.
Zhu Qingjia opened her sleepy eyes, and after confirming that her complexion looked normal, she rolled over to lie flat.
Having just woken up, her voice was a bit raspy and carried a hint of fatigue. “Last night, where you were resting, just a few more steps would have sheltered you from the rain. Why did you leave?”
No one knew what Zhu Qingjia was thinking at that moment, she had been anxious and terrified, utterly terrified that something would happen to her.
Gu Ruoling lay flat too, blinking as she stared at the ceiling. There had indeed been an overhang that could block the rain. However, there were people underneath passionately kissing. She had even stolen a few glances, but then felt it was a bit impolite and left. Within a few steps, it started raining.
Only then was she swept forward by the crowd.
She turned her head to look at Zhu Qingjia. Her breathing was steady, and her complexion looked normal. Last night, only she had drunk the ginger soup. Zhu Qingjia hadn’t drunk a single drop, yet she was completely fine.
This was the first time Gu Ruoling wished she could be healthier, so she could enjoy the rain to her heart’s content without worrying about getting sick.
“Someone was kissing,” she said, repeating exactly what she had said before.
On a campus brimming with hormones, such passionate scenes played out every day. The dark night and the woods would provide cover for them, the stimulation of the senses would rush to the brain, and novel experiences were often addictive.
Gu Ruoling turned on her side and saw the smooth line of her waist. This time, she was only wearing pajamas without a blanket covering her. The pajamas on her body were quite neat, except for the very bottom button which wasn’t fastened, revealing a slit.
She placed her hand on her lower abdomen, separated by a layer of fabric.
The moment her hand was placed there, Zhu Qingjia opened her eyes. Her head moved slightly, and she looked down at the hand on her waist and abdomen.
“I see a line on your waist.” Gu Ruoling blinked, feigning innocence as she looked at her.
“What line? Abs?” Zhu Qingjia gripped her wrist and leaned in closer to her. “Has anyone ever told you that you are very bold in the way you do things?”
“Yes, I just do what I want to do.” Gu Ruoling lifted her chin, taking the initiative to shorten the distance between them. They were just a fraction away, their noses almost touching, utterly unreasonable. “Anyway, I don’t have many days left to live. You piqued my interest, so you should take responsibility.”
Zhu Qingjia looked at her sly eyes and the scratching motion of her fingertips. “You can touch, but it requires an equal exchange.”
The elegant Ragdoll cat, after careful consideration, finally took the initiative to expose its soft belly.
A warm palm pressed against her soft, fair lower abdomen. Gu Ruoling flinched slightly, clearly unaccustomed to such touch. Aside from injections and IV drips, she rarely let anyone touch her body, not even Aunt Zhang.
Usually, she showered and changed clothes by herself because she felt that relying on others would turn her into a true invalid, which she couldn’t accept.
“There’s barely any meat, but it’s very soft.” Zhu Qingjia quickly withdrew her hand.
It was the young mistress’s first time having her waist touched, and she actually wasn’t satisfied.
“Let me see your ‘barely any meat’.” Saying that, her slender, delicate fingers slipped into the fabric. The skin beneath her fingertips was warm and elastic, firm and full of vitality. Compared to her own, it was indeed much healthier, and it felt great to the touch.
The young mistress nitpicked, “Yours is soft too, not much better than mine. I thought it would be hard.”
“Then don’t touch it anymore. Take your hand out.”
The young mistress refused. Even with her wrist held, she still used her fingers to pinch a couple of times.
A long delayed curiosity ignited a flame today.
“Let’s get up. Get up and eat breakfast.” Zhu Qingjia pulled down the hem of her clothes and sat up from the bed.
The young mistress, however, rolled over, turned her back to her, and said lazily, “I’m still so sleepy. I did some exercise yesterday, and my body is tired.”
Zhu Qingjia took off her pajamas to change into her clothes. She had indeed run a few steps yesterday and swung the racket a few times, but the total number could be counted on both hands.
The effective amount of exercise was close to zero.
“Then I’m leaving,” Zhu Qingjia said, about to open the door.
“Wait a moment, why are you so fast?” In the time it took the young mistress to roll over, she had already changed her clothes.
After washing up, the two went downstairs to have breakfast. Zhu Qingjia picked up her phone to check her messages. There were many red notification dots. She scanned through them generally and clicked into the WeChat message Yinzi had sent her last night.
[Image] [Jia, remember to return to the dorm when you see this.]
She clicked on the image. It was a bouquet of roses along with a letter, sealed with a heart shaped sticker, placed right on her desk.
Gu Ruoling also received a WeChat message from Xiao Tong, saying her birthday was coming up and asking if she wanted to come out and play together.
Gu Ruoling didn’t agree immediately. She only asked: [Is she going?]
The other side understood implicitly and replied quickly: [Hard to say.]
They were in the same dorm, yet whether a roommate would attend a birthday was “hard to say.” But looking at them dining together last time, their relationship seemed pretty good.
Gu Ruoling: [Why? Does she have something going on?]
Xiao Tong: [An underclassman wants to confess to Jiajia. The roses have already been delivered to the dorm.]
Gu Ruoling turned off her phone. Zhu Qingjia was drinking her porridge with a perfectly composed expression, and she even peeled an egg for her.
“I don’t eat egg yolks.” The young mistress poked the tender white egg.
Zhu Qingjia split the egg, ate the yolk, and even gave her own egg white.
After breakfast, Zhu Qingjia looked at the time. “I have an evening class today, so I’ll be back a bit late.”
Gu Ruoling never used to ask before, but today she broke her pattern and asked, “Really?”
She packed her laptop into her bag and turned back to look at her. “Really. If you don’t believe me, I’ll send you a copy of my schedule in a moment.”
“Oh,” the young mistress responded cryptically.
Seeing her standing the whole time and remembering how she looked like she couldn’t survive without her wheelchair when they first met, Zhu Qingjia couldn’t help but remind her, “Isn’t it tiring to keep standing? If you need the wheelchair, you can tell me.”
“I am not a cripple,” the young mistress said testily.
Zhu Qingjia couldn’t resist pinching her cheek. “So cute.”
The puffed-up balloon was pricked with a tiny hole by the word “cute” and quickly deflated.
Not long after Zhu Qingjia left, Gu Ruoling received the class schedule she sent. It included not only the semester curriculum plan but also this week’s course arrangement.
What classes she had each week was arranged very clearly, how many weeks they would last and which classroom they were in were all explicitly stated.
Gu Ruoling looked over it once. There was indeed a class in the evening, and judging by the name, it looked very dry.
Returning to campus, Zhu Qingjia went back to the dorm at noon. Because of a lack of water, the roses on the desk already had a withered feel to them. She picked up the letter and looked at it for a few moments.
Yinzi tossed her backpack onto the desk and slumped into her chair. “Hurry up and solve this. She comes every single night. We tell her you’re not here, but she won’t believe it.”
Zhu Qingjia didn’t say anything. She hadn’t found any contact information in the confession letter.
“By the way, are you really doing a part time job lately? Running off campus as soon as class ends, don’t push yourself too hard.”
“Oh, right, Xiao Tong’s birthday is coming up, and she invited Little Sister Gu. Are you going? Asking in advance because I’m afraid you’ll be too busy with your part time job.”
“Ruoling is going?” Zhu Qingjia was finally activated by the keyword.
“Yeah, Xiao Tong said she agreed.”
Then this matter needed to be resolved quickly.
That evening, Zhu Qingjia broke her routine and returned to the dorm. Not long after she sat down, the underclassman who sent the flowers arrived. Seeing Zhu Qingjia, she was both excited and surprised, calling out shyly, “Senior.”
Zhu Qingjia politely led her to a less crowded path on the east side.
Ten minutes later, she returned to the dorm, slung her backpack over her shoulder, looking ready to leave.
“Leaving again? Stay safe,” Jingjing, who was already lying on the upper bunk, called out upon seeing this.
Zhu Qingjia stopped her movement of opening the door. “I’ll go to Xiao Tong’s birthday. Send me the location when the time comes.”
“OK, no problem.” Jingjing gestured to her. Five minutes later, she suddenly sat up from the bed and cried out, “It’s not OK at all!”
“What’s wrong, what’s wrong?” Yinzi, who had finished gathering the clothes on the balcony, shouted.
“The forum is about to explode! When did Zhu Qingjia get a girlfriend? As her roommate, I knew absolutely nothing about it!” Jingjing scrolled through the post. The poster was precisely that underclassman who had managed to become a familiar face.
Jingjing held up her phone and read aloud. “Just now, Senior rejected me very gently and encouraged me to study hard. She really is so gentle. I just don’t know who her girlfriend is. To be lucky enough to have her, crying out loud.”
Scrolling further down, the original poster replied. Senior said with her own mouth that she has a girlfriend. I only regret that the timing of our meeting was too late.
“She’s for real.” Yinzi also logged into the forum to take a few looks. “So, the reason she lives off-campus every day is that she’s in a relationship.”
The dorm group chat began its denunciation.
People kept @ing Jia.
Is Gold Bound to be Spent: [Image] Forum screenshot.
Silver Yuanbao: [Please give us a reasonable explanation.]
Jia: [Oh.]
Oh? What did that mean? So cold.
Jia: [It’s true. I’ll bring her to meet you guys next time.]
Gold and Yuanbao nodded in satisfaction.
Centella Asiatica, who was frantically rushing a DDL (deadline) in the library. [?]