Chen Qingqing had nearly forgotten about it entirely.

She hadn’t expected Xu Ye to find out ahead of time. She stared at him for a long moment before stammering, “I… I…”

“There’s no one else here.”

Only then did Chen Qingqing say, “You already know, so why are you asking me!”

Xu Ye held out his hand. “Let me see it.”

There was no one familiar around now, and she’d meant to give him the scarf when it was just the two of them anyway, so she reached into her bag, took it out, and handed it over.

Xu Ye took it. The scarf had a lovely texture — not the least bit scratchy, soft and plush, clearly made from high-quality yarn.

He looked it over, then placed the scarf back in Chen Qingqing’s hands, bent down, and lowered his head. “Then put it on me now.”

Chen Qingqing warily glanced both ways down the road, and seeing no one paying attention, carefully wrapped the scarf around Xu Ye’s neck. Then it occurred to her — Xu Ye could obviously put the scarf on himself, so why did he need her help? She scrunched her mouth, and before he could lift his head, gave the top of it a light pat with her small hand.

“So? Handsome?” Xu Ye made a goofy face and said, thoroughly pleased with himself.

“Not handsome. Hideous.” Chen Qingqing walked ahead, fighting back a smile.

Xu Ye laughed. “If my mom asks me later where this scarf came from, can I tell her you gave it to me?”

Chen Qingqing paused mid-step, then quickened her pace. “I don’t know, don’t ask me.”

“Actually, my mom already knows I got a girlfriend in university. She even told me to find time to bring you home.”

Chen Qingqing hurriedly covered her ears. “I don’t want to hear it, stop talking.”

Xu Ye was deliberately teasing her. He knew Chen Qingqing wouldn’t dare go home to meet the family at this point, and bringing her home so abruptly would seem too forced anyway. They were only in their first year — there’d be plenty of time ahead, and there’d surely be a chance to engineer a meeting between Chen Qingqing and his mom. Once the two had met beforehand, going home together later wouldn’t feel so awkward.

The two of them walked to a noodle shop, each ordering a bowl of beef noodles with no scallions. When the owner’s wife brought the noodles to the table, Chen Qingqing deliberately left her hair tie sitting on the table, picked up her chopsticks, lifted the noodles, blew on them twice, and started eating with her hair falling loose.

Seeing this, Xu Ye asked, right on cue, “Why don’t you tie your hair up?”

Chen Qingqing turned her head, her mind clearly elsewhere. “Tie it for me.”

Xu Ye quickly stood, picked up the black elastic from the table, and gathered Chen Qingqing’s head of glossy black hair into a braid.

Chen Qingqing kept her head down and went on eating, the piping-hot noodles steaming — only this time, she didn’t blush.

On the other side of things.

Qin Zhiwei huffed and puffed his way to the fast-food place, first packing up three of the most premium rice bowls for Zhang Ruowei, Jiang Yu, and himself, then immediately dashing to a porridge shop five hundred meters away, staring at the menu for a long while before ordering a “millet-and-pumpkin porridge,” plus an order of thin-skin spring rolls as a snack.

Taking the still-warm millet-and-pumpkin porridge from the owner, Qin Zhiwei raced nonstop toward the hotel, touching the takeout container several times along the way, terrified the porridge would go cold.

Back at the hotel, Qin Zhiwei took the elevator up, knocked first, and gave the two rice bowls to Zhang Ruowei and Jiang Yu, who shared a room. Once Jiang Yu had taken the food inside, Qin Zhiwei walked over to the door next door, and several times readied himself to knock but didn’t dare bring his hand down.

His heart pounded, the words he was going to say replaying over and over in his mind. He stood at the door for a good while before finally knocking twice.

But after a few seconds’ wait, no footsteps came from inside. Qin Zhiwei frowned, puzzled: Is she not in the room?

Just as he was wondering whether to have Xu Ye ask Chen Qingqing—

Clack.

The door suddenly opened.

Shen Xinyi stood inside in her pajamas, toweling her hair, apologizing. “Sorry about that, I was just showering.”

Qin Zhiwei was instantly transfixed, eyes wide, unable to say a word for a long moment.

Fresh from her shower, Shen Xinyi’s face had a bit of color to it, and standing there now in her pajamas drying her hair — to a steel-plated straight man like Qin Zhiwei, the visual impact was lethal.

Qin Zhiwei felt like his heart was about to leap out of him, his breathing quickening despite himself.

Seeing Qin Zhiwei say nothing for so long, just staring at her, Shen Xinyi assumed her clothes weren’t on right. She looked down to check, found nothing wrong, then waved a hand in front of him. “What… what’s the matter?”

Like a heavy hammer coming down on his head, Qin Zhiwei snapped to and hurriedly held out the remaining rice bowl and porridge. The lines he’d rehearsed at the door a dozen times over now came out halting and broken: “So, uh… I… I bought three rice bowls and one porridge. I saw you… you ate really light at lunch, so — do you want a rice bowl, or this millet-and-pumpkin porridge?”

“I…”

“The porridge is still hot, I ran the whole way over just now.”

Shen Xinyi reached out and took the porridge, smiling. “I’ll just have the porridge, thank you.”

“No… no problem.”

Shen Xinyi went to close the door, since with Chen Qingqing gone off with Xu Ye she was the only one in the room — but Qin Zhiwei still hadn’t left after a good while, and she asked, a little puzzled, “Was there something else?”

Qin Zhiwei’s face flushed crimson. He shook his head quickly, pulled out his keycard, and went into the room across the hall.

Shen Xinyi blinked, then suddenly laughed, muttering to herself, “That Qin Zhiwei, what a goofball.”

In the room across the hall.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” Qin Zhiwei leaned against the door gulping down air, one hand pressed to his chest, the other holding the rice bowl. Only once his heartbeat had slowed did he walk over and sit down on the couch.

He took the rice bowl out of the bag, held it in his hands, and — thinking about what had just happened — ate and laughed, ate and laughed, ate and laughed, for all the world like a complete fool…

Coming out of the noodle shop, Xu Ye and Chen Qingqing walked back toward the hotel together, but both at a very slow pace, more like strolling.

In winter, the sky went dark by five. The moon had already appeared overhead by now.

They walked beneath one streetlight after another, quiet for a long while, before Chen Qingqing finally called out to Xu Ye.

Xu Ye turned. “What is it?”

Chen Qingqing lingered where she was, unmoving, and said, sounding a little sulky, “There’s no one around now — why aren’t you holding my hand anymore?”

Xu Ye quickly stepped forward and took her hand like it was something precious, leading her across to the other side of the road.

“Aren’t we going back to the hotel? Where are you taking me?”

“If we go back to the hotel, there’s still Shen Xinyi in your room, so it’d be awkward for me to come by. It’s still early — let’s find somewhere quiet and talk about life.”

(End of Chapter 148)