Xie Huai made it into the supermarket one minute before closing, buying a pack of frozen wontons and two bottles of mineral water. When he returned, the dormitory gate was already locked. He went around to the back of the building, took off his jacket to cover the security camera on the wall, and then climbed over the iron gate into the girls’ dormitory garden.

Xia Xia sat waiting for him on a bench in the courtyard, swatting mosquitoes near her legs with a thin exercise book. She was still dressed exactly as when they had parted earlier and hadn’t even put down her bag. Xie Huai asked no questions. He plugged the rice cooker into the outlet by the courtyard wall that the dorm manager used for charging electric bikes, poured in the mineral water, and covered it to heat.

Earlier that evening when Xia Xia had returned to her dorm, she found the door locked from the inside. She knocked but Cai Yun wouldn’t open it. Usually, she wouldn’t get dejected over something like this, but lately, she’d been exhausted from her internship and staying up late studying. With her energy scattered, being maliciously locked out left her feeling indescribably wronged.

When she told Xie Huai she wanted wontons, she was just being coy. All the shops were closed by now, and she hadn’t really expected him to conjure up a bowl of wontons – yet somehow he did exactly that.

Xie Huai crouched beside the cooking pot, alternating between checking the water and glancing at Xia Xia. The moonlight cast upon her delicate cheeks gave her skin a cool, pale glow. Looking at her after all these years, he still felt she hadn’t changed from when he first saw her – still that clean, pretty little girl who captured everyone’s heart.

Xie Huai handed her the frozen wontons. Xia Xia opened the bag and carefully dropped it into the boiling water.

Xie Huai deliberately asked, “Aren’t you worried about disturbing your roommates if you go back so late?”

“You know very well why,” Xia Xia pressed her lips together.

“Sister Xia’s temper has improved over the years,” Xie Huai said. “In the past, would Cai Yun have been able to sleep so peacefully tonight?”

“But I prefer you being softer,” he smiled. “Only when Sister Xia is vulnerable can Little Huai play the hero, and only when Little Huai plays the hero will Sister Xia be devoted.”

The frozen wontons had just come from the freezer, with ice crystals still scattered in the bag.

Xie Huai picked up a piece of ice and pressed it against the back of Xia Xia’s neck. She yelped and turned to glare at him.

“Why didn’t you tell me first thing?” Xie Huai held a grudge. “Who did you call during those twenty minutes when the line was busy?”

Xia Xia said, “I didn’t call anyone…”

Xie Huai held her down and stuffed ice down her shirt. Xia Xia squealed and finally confessed: “I called Zhao Shanqi.”

After Cai Yun didn’t answer her calls, Xia Xia called Zhao Shanqi to ask her to message Cai Yun. Zhao Shanqi asked if Cai Yun was asleep, and Cai Yun replied instantly saying she wasn’t. That’s when Xia Xia confirmed she was being deliberately locked out, rather than Cai Yun being asleep and not hearing her.

Xie Huai was still bothered that Xia Xia had called someone else instead of him when she had a problem.

The ice in Xia Xia’s clothes had melted from her body heat, leaving her chilled to the bone. She said plaintively, “This is between women, you don’t need to get involved.”

“Don’t need to?”

“No need.” Xia Xia declared dramatically, “Once I’m fed and happy, I’ll go upstairs and finish off Cai Yun.”

The wontons bobbed to the surface of the water. Xie Huai tasted the broth and found it bland.

While the dorm manager was upstairs doing room checks, he snuck into the empty duty room and stole a spoonful of the manager’s Lao Gan Ma chili sauce to add to the soup.

Sharing one pot and one spoon, they hid in a densely wooded corner of the garden, finishing the wontons between them bite by bite.

The evening breeze was refreshing, with chirping insects rustling in the grass. Above them, the soft branches of the pomegranate tree cast graceful shadows on the concrete ground. The night was quiet and gentle.

Having eaten the midnight snack that Xie Huai had gone to such trouble to prepare, the gloom in Xia Xia’s heart completely dissipated.

Full of energy, she stood up and stretched, her expression proud and bold: “I’m going to settle accounts with Cai Yun now.”

Xie Huai laughed, “Sister Xia’s personality is back? You are bipolar.”

He wiped the red oil from the corner of her mouth and said softly, “If you can’t handle it, don’t force yourself. Remember to call me.”

Xia Xia scoffed, “It’s just Cai Yun…”

She walked to the glass door and looked back. Xie Huai was crouching on the ground cleaning up the pot and spoon. As if sensing something, he looked up and their eyes met.

“Xie Huai.” Xia Xia tilted her head, showing a troubled schoolgirl expression. “Tomorrow is the graduate school application deadline. I changed my target school today. I’m not going to Hai University anymore.”

Xia Xia wasn’t asking for his opinion, just informing him after long consideration.

“You can say I lack ambition, or that I’m not striving for progress, just don’t scold me.”

“I don’t want to leave you alone working hard in Nan City, and I don’t want to be alone in Hai City missing you. Though I don’t understand your business, at least by your side, I can do something for you.”

She blinked pitifully: “Will you scold me?”

Xie Huai poured the water from the pot down the drain. Before he could speak, Xia Xia rushed over like a little whirlwind and hugged him, pressing his firm jaw to kiss his cheek. The girl’s eyes curved like crescents: “Since you’re not scolding me, I’ll give you a kiss.”

Before Xie Huai could hug her back, she had run off like the wind again.

Xie Huai hadn’t said a word throughout, just touched his cheek where she had kissed him.

Much later, when Xia Xia brought up that night again, she curiously asked Xie Huai: “I gave up Hai University just like that, why didn’t you scold me then?”

Xie Huai smiled: “Hai City is three thousand kilometers from Nan City, four hours by plane, and two days by train. We’re both busy and in a long-distance relationship, we might only see each other once every few months. Of course, I didn’t want you to go either.”

Xia Xia asked: “Then why didn’t you stop me when I first decided to apply to Hai University?”

Xie Huai smiled again: “Why should I stop you from doing what you want? If you went, at worst I’d fly to see you every week.”

“What if you got tired of that?”

“Then you’d come to see me.”

“What if we both got tired?” Xia Xia had as many questions as a book of trivia.

“Then we wouldn’t meet.” Xie Huai got annoyed with her questions and pressed her down onto the bed. “It’s only three years apart, I don’t believe you could forget me.”

Xia Xia found the patrolling dorm manager on the second floor and explained what had happened. The manager took her key and went upstairs to knock on the door.

Cai Yun couldn’t pretend to be asleep anymore and had to get up to open the door. She wore a white silk nightgown with her hair loosely falling behind her neck, looking both fragile and pitiful at first glance.

She appeared drowsy and confused, asking innocently, “What’s wrong, teacher?”

The manager asked: “Why did you lock your roommate outside?”

Cai Yun said innocently: “I don’t know, maybe I locked it automatically after coming back from washing up, I didn’t do it on purpose. Xia Xia, you could have just knocked if you were locked out. I’m a heavy sleeper – if I don’t answer one knock, just knock a few more times. It’s so late now and you had to trouble the teacher to come up.”

Having spent long in the student union, Cai Yun was skilled at handling people. The dorm manager couldn’t tell which girl was lying and couldn’t resolve the situation, so she just advised them to go to bed early and go back downstairs.

After twelve, the dormitory automatically cut power. Xia Xia sat at her desk and turned on her rechargeable desk lamp.

She quietly tidied up the clutter on her desk and pulled her bed curtains closed. Cai Yun watched her coldly, her eyes gleaming faintly in the darkness.

The two had been at odds since freshman year and never reconciled. Usually, they were accustomed to trading a few sarcastic remarks, but perhaps because senior year had arrived and graduation was approaching, some long-hidden, poisonous conflicts and hatred could no longer be concealed. They all burst forth at once, growing instantly into towering trees, with no holds barred in their expression.

For four years, whenever Xia Xia competed for scholarships, first place was always beyond her reach. Xia Xia had taken her exchange opportunity, her research quota, her preferred advisor, and her chosen thesis proposal.

Whenever Cai Yun thought of freshman year when Xia Xia went up to the podium to run for class monitor, only to give it to her with a patronizing attitude, it ignited a black flame in her heart that wouldn’t extinguish.

When Cai Yun confirmed her graduate school recommendation, her first emotion wasn’t joy but schadenfreude. She got recommended while Xia Xia didn’t – finally releasing the frustration of being suppressed for four years.

Cai Yun mocked: “What use is being first in grades? Your brain is stuck on studying and can’t do anything else. Besides studying, what else can you do?”

Looking at grades alone she wasn’t as good as Xia Xia, but her practical experience and activity scores were the highest in the department. She was recommended for graduate school because of her high comprehensive evaluation, giving her a natural sense of superiority.

Xia Xia couldn’t attend school activities because she was working part-time to earn money, but Cai Yun didn’t care. To Cai Yun, who never worried about food or clothing, working part-time was completely wasting one’s life.

Different living environments and experiences meant some things could never be truly understood between them.

Xia Xia let her rant. Getting no response, Cai Yun became increasingly vicious in her criticism.

Xia Xia’s silence appeared jarring to Cai Yun, making her seem increasingly like the villain. Losing her temper, she swept Xia Xia’s backpack and textbooks to the floor, viciously grinding her shoe against the beige bag surface. The less Xia Xia responded, the more vigorously she stomped.

Xia Xia left with two plastic buckets. Though Cai Yun was the aggressor, she ended up trembling with rage – like punching a cotton ball, she felt she had used all her strength yet hadn’t caused Xia Xia the slightest harm.

She took a moment to calm down, removed her shoes, and lay on her bed staring at the ceiling board above.

Five minutes later, Xia Xia returned with the water buckets.

Her gaze swept the room, settling on Cai Yun’s bed. She walked over, lifted Cai Yun’s curtain, and directly dumped a bucket of water over her.

Cai Yun let out a miserable shriek, shivering from the cold autumn tap water. Her black hair clung wetly to her ears, looking as wretched as a drowned dog as she stared at Xia Xia in terror.

Xia Xia upended the bucket onto her desk, soaking all her books, then carelessly tossed the bucket aside and bent to pick up the second one.

“Xia Xia, what are you doing? You dare—” Cai Yun shouted.

Xia Xia gave a cold laugh and dumped the bucket into her wardrobe full of clothes.

When finished, she yanked Cai Yun up from the bed by her cold arm.

Cai Yun bit her lip hard, glaring hatefully.

In the darkness, Xia Xia’s face was expressionless.

“My temper isn’t good. The only reason I’ve tolerated you this long is because things hadn’t reached a breaking point. But don’t make me angry,” she spoke methodically, yet couldn’t hide the bone-chilling coldness in her voice. “I’ve seen all kinds of people. Your petty, childish tricks don’t even rank.”

Cai Yun’s arm hurt as she tried to pull away, but discovered she couldn’t break free from the seemingly delicate girl’s grip no matter how hard she tried. She had never known Xia Xia was this strong, had never seen this side of her before, and felt her scalp tingle with fear.

Xia Xia released her. Knowing she couldn’t win in a physical fight, Cai Yun gritted her teeth and said, “I’m telling Professor Yi about this, Xia Xia. Just you wait!”

She pulled out her phone to call Yi Meixian, but Xia Xia grabbed the vintage alarm clock Cai Yun kept on her desk as decoration. The clock had two protruding metal springs on the back. Xia Xia showed no mercy to herself just as she had shown none to Cai Yun. Without hesitation, she struck her temple with the clock, and when once wasn’t enough, she struck again until there was some blood on the springs. Only then was she satisfied and put it down.

These were old tricks left over from dealing with Xia Jun before, but they worked perfectly against Cai Yun now.

Her injury wasn’t serious – just a swollen bump with a small scrape that bled slightly, but that blood was now on Cai Yun’s alarm clock, making it impossible for Cai Yun to explain away.

Xia Xia held her clock, showing complete disdain: “Let’s see which is more serious – me splashing water on my roommate, or you hitting your roommate’s head with a hard object.”

“Go ahead, call now. If you don’t dare, I’ll help you.”

Cai Yun was nearly hysterical, looking at Xia Xia with humiliation but not daring to make a sound.

Xia Xia raised an eyebrow at her, then turned and went to bed.

Cai Yun didn’t sleep at all that night. Her bedding was soaked, her clothes were soaked, and with the power cut at night, there was no hot water for a shower. Afraid that if she escalated things Xia Xia would turn it around and claim she had struck first, she didn’t dare tell the teachers. She sat alone in a chair wrapped in the down jacket from her suitcase that had escaped the water.

The autumn night was cold, and she shivered, her face full of hatred, but she didn’t dare provoke Xia Xia again.

Xia Xia slept soundly, dreamless until dawn.

At breakfast the next morning, Xie Huai noticed the bandage on Xia Xia’s forehead and asked what happened.

Xia Xia was about to say she’d done it herself but worried Xie Huai would be angry. Her eyes darted around as she put on an indignant face: “It was because of Cai Yun, we got into a fight last night…”

She finished speaking and leaned her face toward Xie Huai, acting coy: “Brother Huai, can you blow on it to make it better?”

“Cai Yun hit you?” Xie Huai peeled back the bandage to look at the wound.

Xia Xia gave an ambiguous answer: “No, I accidentally hit the wall during the fight.”

Xie Huai didn’t say anything.

After having breakfast together that day, Xia Xia didn’t see Xie Huai for a whole week, and her messages to him sank like stones into the sea with no response. Xia Xia knew he was busy and didn’t think much of it, just sent him messages morning and night reminding him to drink less and eat properly.

At lunch in the street office cafeteria, Zhu Ziyu told her: “The student union is investigating Cai Yun.”

Xia Xia didn’t pay much attention to student organizations, not even knowing what the External Relations Department did.

“The funding for college sports meets, basketball tournaments, freshman welcome parties, and various activities all comes from the External Relations Department finding business sponsorships. They’re the department with the most money flowing through it in the whole student union, which is why Cai Yun was desperate to get in,” Zhu Ziyu explained. “While she was department head, their accounts were always rather murky.”

“Why is the student union suddenly investigating her?” Xia Xia asked.

Zhu Ziyu looked at her in confusion: “You don’t know?”

“Why would I know?”

“Because Xie Huai reported it to the dean’s office. He didn’t tell you?”

Xia Xia was stunned. Zhu Ziyu continued: “Xin Pu told me that Senior Jiang Jingzhou discovered Cai Yun’s activities first, but the External Relations Department has always been like that – every department head skims some money. Jingzhou had already stepped down as chairman and didn’t want to cause trouble. If Xie Huai hadn’t wanted to target Cai Yun, her actions probably wouldn’t have come to light before graduation.”

“You just said Xie Huai told Xin Pu about this – has Xie Huai been back at school?”

“Hasn’t Xie Huai been at school the whole time? I saw him eating alone in the cafeteria yesterday. I wondered why you weren’t with him.” Zhu Ziyu asked, “Did you two fight?”

Xia Xia said: “No.”

It was normal that she hadn’t seen Xie Huai while spending all her time in the library, but for him to have time to eat at school yet not reply to her messages was more serious.

Though Xia Xia spoke casually to Zhu Ziyu, she couldn’t eat anymore. She couldn’t focus at work that afternoon or on studying in the library that evening. She reread all the messages she’d sent Xie Huai and belatedly realized he must be angry with her, but why?

After thinking it over, Xia Xia decided Xie Huai must be upset that she unilaterally gave up applying to Hai University. She had run off without letting him speak at the time, so it made sense if he was angry after going home.

Xia Xia couldn’t sit still anymore. She packed up her things, planning to go comfort her boyfriend.

There was a small path from the library to the dormitory, dimly lit with overgrown vegetation, rarely used. In her hurry, Xia Xia took this shortcut. Halfway there she heard footsteps behind her. Just as she was about to turn around, hands reached from behind to cover her mouth, a burning hot body pressing against her back.

Xia Xia was about to scream when she suddenly caught that familiar scent. She relaxed her body, letting Xie Huai pin her against the tree trunk in front of them.

Xie Huai never removed the hand covering her mouth. Like a wolf, he buried his nose in the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent.

Xia Xia made a few muffled sounds, but he ignored them.

Only when she gently licked his palm with the tip of her tongue did he release her.

“Brother Huai,” Xia Xia pleaded, “if you’re going to pin me against a wall, can you at least let me face you?”

Her current position was far from elegant – while others got pinned face-to-face, she was facing the tree, sandwiched between Xie Huai’s chest and the trunk, her face nearly making intimate contact with the bark. It was too awkward and embarrassing.

“No,” Xie Huai said coldly.

He gripped her nape: “I’ve ignored you for a week. Do you know what you did wrong?”

“I do,” Xia Xia hurried to say. “I shouldn’t have changed schools without discussing it with you. But it’s not just because I’m lovesick – I thought it through. Since we’ll both stay in Nan City anyway, there’s no point wasting graduate school networking opportunities in another city… Ah!”

Only halfway through her explanation, she was cut off by Xie Huai’s hand striking her bottom, her cry of pain echoing through the treetops.

After a long moment, Xia Xia slowly squeezed out through gritted teeth: “That hurt…”

“I’ll ask one more time – do you know what you did wrong?”

Though Xia Xia had been hit many times growing up, being spanked in this position was a first. She felt both ashamed and angry, yet Xie Huai remained firm, delivering several more slaps. He used full force with each strike, hitting her most sensitive spots until her bottom went numb.

Xia Xia was stubborn by nature, and being hit so undignifiedly several times made her temper flare too. Though her eyes grew wet with anger, she still refused to yield to him, shouting: “I did nothing wrong! You made the mistake and still have the nerve to hit me!”

“You awful man, ignoring me was bad enough, but hitting me so hard – have you stopped loving me?”

Xie Huai’s fingers brushed aside the loose hair at her forehead, touching the scabbed wound where the bandage had been removed.

He looked at the bloody mark, his face dark: “Who hit you?”

Xia Xia instinctively shrank back, finally understanding why Xie Huai was angry.

Just as she was about to speak, Xie Huai released her and walked away. Xia Xia forgot about her grievances and turned to chase after him: “Xie Huai—”

This was a habit Xia Xia developed from childhood fights.

The village adults looked down on Wu Li, gossiping behind her back. Their children overheard and when they met Xia Xia on the road, couldn’t hide their malice – at best using cruel words, at worst surrounding her to throw rocks and beat her.

Xia Xia would fight back when bullied. Sometimes she lost and was pinned down by several children. Sometimes she won but winning scared her more.

The other children’s parents would come demanding justice. Xia Jun didn’t care who started it – when they asked for medical expenses, he’d turn around and slap Xia Xia. After that, whenever she won a fight, Xia Xia would deliberately leave some wounds on herself. Then if anyone came complaining, she’d sit tearfully on a small stool and roll up her pants to show her bruised legs.

Xia Jun was a scoundrel. Seeing Xia Xia injured made him grin – he’d turn to the complaining parents and demand medical expenses, then take the money for gambling and drinking.

Due to her childhood experiences, Xia Xia saw nothing wrong with this behavior, instead viewing it as a way to protect herself – no matter how badly she acted, as long as she was also injured, others couldn’t hold her accountable.

Xia Xia caught up to Xie Huai, wanting to apologize but not knowing how since she didn’t feel she’d done anything wrong.

She could only change the subject: “The thing with Cai Yun seems serious. Will the school punish her?”

“Brother Huai, are you hungry? Let’s get some late-night dessert. I heard there’s a new sweet soup shop outside the west gate.”

“How did you know I’d take the small path today? Were you following me?”

…

Xie Huai kept walking without looking back. Xia Xia deliberately threw herself to the ground with a yelp.

Xie Huai stopped and turned to see the girl who had supposedly tripped on the curb, falling flat on her face.

He hadn’t planned to acknowledge her, but seeing her fall so pitifully, his heart softened. He turned back and just as he crouched beside her, the supposedly fallen girl suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck. As Xie Huai straightened up, she was lifted with him, legs hooked around his waist.

“Brother Huai,” she grinned.

Xie Huai’s hands hung at his sides. Xia Xia took them and placed them under her to keep them from falling.

Xie Huai said: “Not enough punishment earlier?”

Xia Xia said: “Go ahead, hit me until you feel better. I promise I won’t cry out.”

She smiled ingratiatingly: “Just give me a rub afterward.”

Like a life-sized teddy bear, she clung tightly to Xie Huai, determined not to let go until his anger dissipated.

But Xie Huai’s anger wasn’t so easily dispelled.

That morning when Xia Xia said her injury was from bumping during a fight, her eyes had been shifty. Though Xie Huai didn’t say anything, he didn’t believe her. He thought she was afraid to tell the truth in case he impulsively went after Cai Yun, so he privately confronted Cai Yun – but she insisted Xia Xia had injured herself.

Xie Huai remembered how Xia Xia had once hit herself with a brick to frame Xia Jun, knowing she was capable of such things. This was the first issue.

He had ignored her for a week hoping she would reflect and come apologize, but Xia Xia hadn’t even realized he was angry, still sending him messages every day. In the end, he was the one who couldn’t hold back and came to confront her. This was the second issue.

Xia Xia was going to be the death of him, but with her hanging onto him like this, feeling her soft form against his hands, the raging fire in his heart dimmed somewhat.

Xie Huai said coldly: “Is this how you always handle things?”

“I’ve always handled things this way,” Xia Xia said matter-of-factly. “I wanted to hit her, to scratch up her face, but if I hurt her, her family would come after me. Isn’t this better? Cai Yun won’t dare act up again, and she won’t dare tell the counselor I dumped water on her… But you.”

She gently tugged his ear: “Did Brother Huai report Cai Yun to get revenge for me?”

Xie Huai said casually: “Cai Yun’s still a student, the school can’t do much except make her return the money. But it’s on her record now – Hai University might not take her after all.”

Xia Xia was stunned for a moment: “That’s harsh, Brother Huai, you’re so harsh.”

Xie Huai: “She needs to face the consequences of her actions. You’re just too passive. Graduate school recommendations are highly competitive – in other majors, people would have reported what Cai Yun did ten thousand times over.”

Xia Xia giggled and kissed him: “Brother Huai is the best to me.”

But he wasn’t swayed by one kiss, saying coldly: “Get down.”

“No.” Xia Xia immediately held on tighter when she heard this. “I won’t get down until you’re not angry anymore.”

“Get down,” Xie Huai repeated.

“No, I won’t,” Xia Xia whined, clinging to him sweetly. “Brother Huai, don’t make me get down.”

Having no choice, Xie Huai carried her back to the dormitory in this position. Showing affection so openly on campus drew many stares, but Xia Xia felt no shame, contentedly resting her chin on Xie Huai’s shoulder. When they passed Zhu Ziyu buying drinks at the supermarket, she even waved hello with a smile.

By the time they reached the dormitory, most of Xie Huai’s anger had dissipated.

He set Xia Xia down and brushed aside the hair at her temple: “Let me see.”

Seeing his eyes still dark, Xia Xia couldn’t help asking: “Are you still going to punish me?”

Xie Huai asked in return: “Should I not?”

Xia Xia said pitifully: “There are too many people here. Let’s wait until we’re home, then you can do whatever you want.”

Seeing him silent, she tugged his sleeve: “Okay?”

Xie Huai looked at her quietly for a moment before speaking: “The past is the past, now is now.”

“Now you have a boyfriend who can protect you. When something happens, you don’t need to tough it out alone, much less hurt yourself to handle it. That night when you confidently told me you could handle Cai Yun – were you handling her or yourself?”

Xie Huai continued: “Think about me too. I thought Cai Yun had hit you and went to confront her, but you had hurt yourself like this instead. Do you know how that made me feel?”

After a moment of silence, Xia Xia apologized: “I’m sorry.”

Out of habit, her first instinct when facing problems was still to handle them alone rather than trouble others. But as Xie Huai said, now wasn’t like before – she had a boyfriend who could protect her and didn’t need to shoulder everything alone. Though she understood this, it would take time to change the habit.

Xia Xia thought for a moment and asked: “So in the future, I can tell you whenever someone bullies me?”

Xie Huai: “What do you think?”

Xia Xia tilted her head, looking at him mischievously: “If someone hits me, will you hit them back?”

Xie Huai asked: “Who?”

Xia Xia counted on her fingers: “Just now someone hit me seven times, really hard each time. Can you teach them a lesson?”

Xie Huai: “…”

“It seems you can’t hit yourself, but that’s okay,” Xia Xia smiled slyly, pointing at the lamppost in front of them. “If you love me, you can bend over there and I’ll help teach him a lesson. Though my hands are small, so I might need to hit more times.”

Xie Huai ignored her nonsense, simply saying mildly: “That wasn’t hitting.”

He looked at Xia Xia, lips curving slightly: “That was affection.”