Knock knock~

Xu Ye walked up to the bathroom door and knocked. “Your mom’s gone.”

At that, Chen Qingqing finally emerged. The flush on her cheeks hadn’t fully faded yet, and she didn’t dare even look up at him — the moment she stepped out of the bathroom, she made straight for the door, ready to head back to her own room next door.

“Hey, so…”

The instant Xu Ye opened his mouth, she stopped in her tracks.

“Goodnight,” he said.

Chen Qingqing felt like her heart was about to leap straight out of her chest. Saying goodnight over text was just a polite formality — but hearing the actual words spoken out loud, in person, felt unbearably… charged. Her whole body went hot, her palms damp with sweat.

She hurried to the door, and just before pulling it shut behind her, she got out a quick, quiet “Goodnight—” of her own.

Back in her own room, she leaned against the door, one hand pressed to her chest as it rose and fell, then slowly slid down to a crouch, breathing in small, shallow gulps.

What she hadn’t noticed: as she’d slipped out of Xu Ye’s room, the door to the room next to her own — Jiang Meilin’s — had never actually clicked all the way shut. Jiang Meilin, hearing that goodnight exchange followed by the sound of a door closing, finally let out a breath of relief and quietly locked her own door.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Xu Ye. She’d been young once too, and she knew exactly how easily kids that age could let one impulsive moment carry them somewhere they hadn’t planned to go.

But in the end, Xu Ye had passed the test.

Jiang Meilin left the hotel early the next morning, before the sky had even fully lightened. If she’d booked a hotel closer to the expo grounds, she wouldn’t have needed to get up so early — but seeing her daughter, even briefly, had been worth the early start. She didn’t feel the loss of sleep at all.

Xu Ye, on the rare occasion of sleeping in an actual king-size hotel bed and having gone to bed late the night before, was still out cold past nine thirty. Next door, Chen Qingqing had been up for hours — she’d sent him a message at eight, then followed up every ten minutes after that:

Chen Qingqing: “Are you up?”

Chen Qingqing: “It’s past eight.”

Chen Qingqing: “?”

Chen Qingqing: “Get up already!”

Chen Qingqing: “Dumb pig!”

Chen Qingqing: “If you don’t get up I’m going back to campus.”

Chen Qingqing: “Stupid AND lazy. I hate you so much.”

The moment Xu Ye woke up and saw the wall of messages, he bolted upright and immediately sent a voice memo back: “Hey, sorry — just woke up. Come wait in my room, I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

He went and unlocked the door, then dashed straight into the bathroom to wash up.

Reasoning that it was broad daylight now and wouldn’t be nearly as awkward as the night before, Chen Qingqing — who’d been itching to move for a while already — made her way over almost immediately. Finding the door unlocked, she let herself in.

“Dumb pig, where are you?”

Xu Ye poked his head out of the bathroom, grinning. “Give me five minutes to brush my teeth and wash up, I’ll be right out.”

Chen Qingqing settled onto the couch outside. Her long, waterfall hair was pulled up into a high ponytail today — same outfit as yesterday, but the change in hairstyle gave her a noticeably different look. When she sat, her skirt rode up slightly, baring her pale calves and ankles. She’d kept wearing a skirt anyway, despite knowing Xu Ye liked to sneak glances at her legs — she hadn’t bothered switching to pants over it.

Once Xu Ye finished up and stepped out, ready to head down for the hotel’s complimentary breakfast, Chen Qingqing cut him off with an outright order: “Go wash your hair!”

“Huh?”

“Your hair looks like a bird’s nest. It’s hideous.”

He laughed sheepishly and turned right back into the bathroom to wash it. Five minutes later he emerged, blow-dried it about eighty percent dry, and the two of them finally headed down to breakfast together.

By the time they left the hotel, it was already ten. Standing out front, Chen Qingqing spoke up first. “Where are we going today?”

Xu Ye shook his head. “Haven’t decided yet.”

She pulled out her phone. “Xinyi texted me this morning — said they’re thinking of going to the Shanghai Museum today.”

“You want to go with them?”

She neither nodded nor shook her head, just said, “I don’t know.”

“Well, if you haven’t decided, might as well go with them. We can do just-the-two-of-us tomorrow.”

Before he’d even finished the sentence, he felt murderous intent radiating off her. Chen Qingqing raised a foot to stomp his, and he scrambled back, immediately begging for mercy. “My bad, my bad.”

She shot him a withering look, then pulled out her phone to make a call as she walked toward the subway station.

It didn’t take long for the two groups to meet up at the station.

The moment she saw them, Zhang Ruowei said, loaded with implication, “Qingqing, didn’t come back to the dorm all night — what kind of naughty business were you up to last night?”

Chen Qingqing scrambled to explain. “My mom came into town yesterday, I stayed at a hotel with her.”

“Oh, did you now?” Zhang Ruowei shot Xu Ye a deliberately pointed look. “And here I thought somebody’d tricked you into getting a hotel room with him.”

Xu Ye, immune to embarrassment as ever, shot back, “Zhang Ruowei, you sound pretty experienced on the subject.”

“Of course — never eaten pork, but I’ve definitely seen a pig run.”

“Well in that case, want me to introduce you to some pigheads?”

Zhang Ruowei crossed her arms over her chest. “Sure, my standards are low. Just needs to be taller than you and better-looking than you.”

“Forget it then, looks like you’re single for life.”

The second he said it, Zhang Ruowei whipped around to Chen Qingqing. “Qingqing, can I hit him?”

Chen Qingqing nodded.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Xu Ye grabbed her hand, laughing. “Don’t go siding against your own boyfriend like that.”

Just then the train pulled into the station, and before Chen Qingqing had fully processed what he’d just said, he’d already tugged her aboard.

…

The museum wasn’t far, but with everyone getting such a late start, they didn’t arrive until noon. After lunch, they spent about an hour wandering the museum in the afternoon — Xu Ye had zero interest in any of the exhibits and spent the whole time just tagging along while the girls looked at things.

The weather had other plans, though. By the time they came out, a light rain had started — the clear morning sky now blanketed in dark clouds.

Of the five of them, only Shen Xinyi had thought to bring an umbrella.

Jiang Yu glanced up at the gloomy sky, worried. “What do we do now? Looks like it’s about to really come down.”

Xu Ye made the call instantly. “While it’s still light, you three get to the subway station, quick.”

“What about you two?”

“Don’t worry about us. Go on, you guys go first.”

“All right then.”

Zhang Ruowei, Jiang Yu, and Shen Xinyi huddled under the one umbrella and hurried off toward the station. Chen Qingqing watched the rain falling steadily and started to worry.

She’d just washed her hair the night before — now she’d have to wash it all over again once she got back. If she’d known it would rain today, she wouldn’t have come out at all. But then again, not coming out would’ve meant staying cooped up in the hotel with this dumb pig all day.

“There’s a traffic jam on Middle Huaihai Road,” Xu Ye said, breaking into her thoughts. “Why don’t we just take the subway too?”

“But it’s really pouring now.”

He pulled off his jacket and held it over his head. “Come on, the station’s only 800 meters. We’ll be there in no time.”

Seeing him do that, Chen Qingqing found herself thinking, unbidden, of those scenes in comics where the male and female leads share one coat walking through the rain.

A little self-consciously, she stepped forward. Xu Ye held the jacket up to shelter her head, his right arm coming around to half-hug her shoulders as they stepped out into the rain together.

He angled the jacket to cover as much of her as he could, trying to keep her from getting soaked, but every so often a gust of wind would send rain spattering against her arms and calves anyway. Strangely, she found she didn’t mind the cold little droplets against her skin at all — she actually kind of liked it.

“Watch your step, there might be puddles.”

“Guess it really is about to get cold. Take a hot shower when we get back, don’t catch a cold.”

“If the dorm’s not convenient, you can use the hotel — your mom paid for another night on that room.”

“…”

Chen Qingqing didn’t respond to that last one. Eventually they made it into the subway station. Xu Ye wrung out his jacket hard, water splashing onto the floor in a steady stream — it was only then Qingqing realized one whole side of him was completely soaked through, while she’d only gotten lightly spattered.

She dug a tissue out of her bag, and seeing his hair still dripping, rose up slightly on her toes to gently dab at his forehead with it.

But the moment he looked down at her, her hand froze mid-air.

Xu Ye gave her a wicked grin. “You know, if you’d already said yes to being my girlfriend, I’d be kissing you right now.”

Flustered, she yanked her hand back, shoved the entire tissue pack into his, and turned to hurry toward the platform, face burning red.

“Hey, wait for me!”

Xu Ye scrambled after her.

(End of Chapter 104)