Qingqing stopped eating halfway through her meal.
Eating too much at dinner was bad for the waistline and harder on the stomach — so she’d long since settled into eating fixed portions at night.
Xu Ye glanced at her tray, puzzled. “Why’d you stop?”
“I’m full.”
Without really thinking about it, he reached over with his chopsticks and lifted a piece of meat off her tray, delivering a solemn lecture as he did. “Such a waste.”
Qingqing started to object, but the piece was already in his mouth.
“Why are you eating from my bowl?” she asked, face going pink.
“You’re not eating it.” He had the nerve to sound completely reasonable about this. “Better than throwing it out. Besides, I don’t mind the indirect contact.”
He said it calmly and reached over for another piece.
Qingqing, recognizing that this particular man’s skin was too thick to pierce, decided to look elsewhere.
Once he’d cleaned both trays, Xu Ye sat back with the deep satisfaction of someone who had eaten very well. He stood and asked, “Do you have any tissues?”
She fished a packet from her pocket and handed him one. He wiped his mouth, dropped both trays at the return station, and they walked out of the cafeteria side by side.
The sky was darkening.
They took a tree-lined path through campus. Qingqing asked, unprompted, “You came all the way here — what happens to the fruit shop?”
“All handled. Besides my roommates, I hired a part-time employee.”
“Male or female?”
Xu Ye found the question interesting. He smiled. “Female. A senior. Don’t worry — nowhere near as good-looking as you.”
Qingqing heard that, saw the smile on his face, and knew immediately what he thought she was implying. She rushed to head it off. “I am not jealous! You’re reading too much into it. I was just asking.”
Xu Ye said, pleasantly, “I didn’t say you were jealous.”
“You—!”
“Xu Ye, you are a shameless, disreputable, low-down scoundrel.” [TL: the original is a compound of insults — “无耻流氓乌龟王八蛋” — each element adding another layer: shameless, hooligan, turtle, bastard; the whole thing being a fairly standard Chinese venting expression that lands more as exasperated affection than genuine insult]
“Why are you walking so fast? Wait up.”
She ignored him and kept walking.
Darkness settled in.
The streetlights came on.
The evening breeze was faintly cool against their skin.
After two laps around the track, Qingqing checked the time and finally gave in to the question she’d been holding back. “Are you heading back to school tonight?”
“No.”
“Where are you staying?”
Xu Ye smiled. “I’ll find a hotel nearby.”
“You, who counts every yuan — willing to spend money on a hotel?”
“I count my own money. Have I ever been cheap with you? Do you know what those strawberries cost? I wouldn’t even buy them for myself.”
Qingqing didn’t respond, just quietly took out her phone and sent him a WeChat red packet of five hundred yuan.
His phone chimed. He looked at it, surprised. “What’s this for?”
“Get somewhere decent.”
“Will do.”
He opened it, saw the amount, and felt a private laugh rise up: mother and daughter, same amount to the yuan. Truly cut from the same cloth.
He settled into the bench beside her, shameless as ever. “Could you throw in another twenty?”
“Why?”
“Round it up to 520.” [TL: 520 sounds like “我爱你” (wǒ ài nǐ — “I love you”) in Chinese, making it one of the most popular romantic monetary amounts to send, alongside 1314 (一生一世, “forever”)]
Qingqing turned her head away and refused to look at him.
The moon had come out — full and bright.
She looked up at the moon.
He turned to look at her.
Both views were extraordinary.
…
Eight o’clock.
Xu Ye walked Qingqing back to her building, then headed out on his own and found a hotel near the Conservatory.
That night he called his mom, Zhang Hong, and they talked for half an hour. He’d barely finished showering when Wang Yuxin — somehow having gotten herself a WeChat account now — popped up with a friend request.
He’d barely accepted it when a video call came through.
“Xu Ye gege!”
“You’re too close to the camera. The whole screen is just your face.”
“Mom, Xu Ye gege is being mean to me again.”
Zhang Lan’s voice drifted in from off-screen. “He’s just teasing you, Yuxin.”
Xu Ye heard her voice and called out a quick “Hi, Auntie.”
After a couple of minutes of catching-up, Wang Yuxin retreated to her own room with the phone and dropped her voice. “Xu Ye gege, how are things with Qingqing jiejie?”
“We had dinner together tonight.”
“Yeah?” Her eyes lit up with the gossip-hunger of someone years ahead of her age. “Are you two actually dating now?”
“More or less. Don’t tell your mom — she and my mom are both the same. Whatever they find out, the whole world knows within the hour.”
“I know,” she said solemnly. “I can keep a secret.”
“You’re in middle school now. Study hard, get into a good university.”
“I will, I will.”
“And if any boys bother you, tell me immediately.”
“Aiyo, you’re as bad as Mom with the nagging. I’m going to go chat with Qingqing jiejie now.”
Click.
…
Xu Ye slept well in unfamiliar places.
If anything, the hotel was better than the dorm — no narrow upper bunk, no Yang Fei murmuring incomprehensible things in his sleep at two in the morning. Big soft mattress, quiet walls.
He was up early. He only had two days, and he’d come a long way — he wasn’t going to spend it sleeping in.
After the complimentary breakfast, he headed straight for the women’s dorm. Saturday morning, most of the campus was still in bed. He sent Qingqing a message and waited at the foot of the stairs.
Qingqing had just woken up and was still getting ready.
Zhang Ruowei leaned out onto the balcony, took one look down, and said, “Are you planning to leave him standing there indefinitely?”
“What else am I supposed to do?”
“Just have him come up.”
Before Qingqing could respond, Shen Xinyi said, “Will the floor attendant allow that?”
“Her eyesight’s terrible,” Zhang Ruowei said with confidence. “Jiang Yu, come downstairs with me. We’ll bring him up.”
“Let me get dressed first.”
“Come on!”
Qingqing was too embarrassed to go down herself — if someone saw, the awkwardness would be unbearable. But she didn’t stop Zhang Ruowei and the others either. She didn’t have anything to hide, and Xu Ye had already been up here on move-in day — her roommates had all seen him then, hadn’t objected. So she had no objection either.
Zhang Ruowei headed for the door with Jiang Yu and Shen Xinyi in tow.
“Handsome~”
“Why are you three down here?”
Zhang Ruowei smiled. “Didn’t Qingqing tell you? All three of us are coming out with you two today… Hey! Why the look — are you saying you don’t want us tagging along?!”
“I didn’t say anything~”
Never make enemies of your girlfriend’s roommates. You have no idea what they’ll say about you otherwise. Xu Ye smiled. “This many beautiful women coming out with me? That’s an honor. Why would I mind?”
“Stop standing around then — come up with us. It’ll take us at least half an hour to wash up and do our makeup.”
Xu Ye scratched his head. “Is this really all right?”
Zhang Ruowei gave a dismissive snort. “Since when are you the shy one? You came up on move-in day.”
“That was different — what about your floor attendant?”
“Her vision is terrible. You just stand between us, and we all walk up fast together.”
Xu Ye shrugged. “If you’re all fine with it, I’m in.”
“Then let’s go.”
He actually went. Flanked by the three of them, he walked into the women’s dorm and ran up the stairs as fast as they could move, and mercifully the corridor on the second floor was quiet. He slipped back into Room 205 without incident.
“Have a seat, handsome. Give us half an hour. We’ll be fast.”
“Sure.”
All four of them disappeared into the morning routine — washing up, and then the mirror claimed them one by one as they started on their makeup.
The whole scene was frankly chaotic in the most picturesque way possible.
Xu Ye, determined not to make a fool of himself at eight in the morning, immediately grabbed his phone and found something to look at.
Qin Zhiwei had just sent a message.
Qin Zhiwei: You up?
Xu Ye: Yeah.
Qin Zhiwei: Where are you?
Xu Ye: You probably won’t believe me. I’m in the women’s dorm right now.
Qin Zhiwei: You got a problem or what? Don’t talk big first thing in the morning. You’re in the women’s dorm. Sure. And I’m floating in space right now.
(End of Chapter)