When Chen Luzhou returned, the room door was closed. Without a key card, he leaned silently against the corridor wall for a while. He then took out his phone and called Zhu Yangqi. At that moment, he felt somewhat lightheaded, with a sense of unreality. It wasn’t until he finished boasting smugly and heard the angry curses from the other end that his heart began to settle. He laughed and said, “Why don’t you curse a bit more?”
Zhu Yangqi let loose a string of exquisite profanities, “Damn it, you XXX! If it weren’t for me, how the hell could you have hooked up with Xu Zhi? Hurry up and reimburse me for the taxi fare. I’m still stuck gambling on the road. I thought you were such a catch, but you needed my help to chase someone. Useless!”
The voice from the phone was like a breaking dam, shattering like a boulder, making one’s ears buzz. Chen Luzhou instinctively pulled the phone away, tilting his head slightly, and chuckled, “Alright, send me the bill. Hanging up now.”
Just as he pocketed his phone, the room door made a soft “click.” Chen Luzhou turned his head reflexively, and Xu Zhi had just opened the door. Her hair was still wet, but she had changed back into her clothes. Standing in the dimly lit doorway, her silhouette appeared tall and slender. Her eyes, bright as if freshly bathed in water, looked at him clearly, “Is Zhu Yangqi extorting you again?”
Chen Luzhou entered the room, hooking the door closed with his foot. He leaned back against the door panel, one foot bent at the knee, resting lazily. He lowered his head to look at her, scrutinizing her imperceptibly in the faint light. His gaze held the essence of a lingering drizzle in Jiangnan, seemingly clear skies but with a few heavy clouds pressing at the corners, always leaving one with a sense of unease.
Strangely, though only half an hour had passed since earlier, what should have cooled had not. The way they looked at each other still carried a hint of unresolved moisture. Chen Luzhou thoughtfully rested the back of his head against the door, arms crossed over his chest, his gaze lowered on her, both casual and profoundly meaningful, “My mother didn’t give you money. Are you disappointed?”
Xu Zhi, still drying her hair with a towel, replied, “Not disappointed, just wondering why she didn’t follow the usual script. I had already thought about what to say.”
“What were you going to say?”
She deliberately counted on her fingers, saying, “I’m pregnant with Chen Luzhou’s child. I plan to keep it. The alimony plus various emotional damages… What you’ve offered is not enough. You should add a bit more. When the child grows up, if there’s any leftover, I’ll return it to you.”
Chen Luzhou knew she was joking. He lowered his head and laughed, naturally taking the towel from her hand. He pulled her over, and Xu Zhi obediently stood still, thinking he was going to help dry her hair. Instead, she saw him lean against the door frame, looking at her impassively, then silently twisting the towel into a rope. There was a hint of interrogation in his eyes.
Xu Zhi sensed something was amiss and turned to run, but Chen Luzhou swiftly pulled her back, not bothering with the towel. He held her in his arms from behind, one hand around her waist, the other cupping her face. His head was tilted next to her ear as he gritted his teeth, smiling without humor, “You just love playing with me, don’t you? You’re quite patient. Because of one word from my mother, you didn’t call me for three months. Did you miss me?”
Being held like this made her whole body burn, her heartbeat a bit out of control. Xu Zhi’s ears grew hot, and she couldn’t help but dodge a little, “Why do you keep pinching my face? Besides, if you missed me, you only called me once too.”
“You said I was useless. How could I dare to call?”
“Then what should I say? That I missed you too? Don’t go abroad, let’s be together regardless of everything. Forget about your parents, we’ll live together, I’ll give you a home. Would you find that credible? Not to mention whether I could support a big shot like you, but at our age, who would believe that such a short month could be so unforgettable? Your mother also said that at our age, it’s more about impulse and curiosity. She said your life can’t be that bad given your family’s foundation. But my life, even graduating from a top university, might still face obstacles in finding a job. I think she’s right. If we break up later due to various practical reasons, wouldn’t you regret falling out with your family because of me?”
Chen Luzhou rested his head on her shoulder, still pinching her face, turning her to look at him, “Then why didn’t you say this earlier? Why wait until now?”
Xu Zhi’s lips were pursed, pinched by him, her gaze lowered as she looked at that face, still as ascetic as ever. His brow was like a cold sword sheath, eyelids slightly raised, “If I had said it all then, you definitely wouldn’t have slept with me.”
Chen Luzhou: “You just had to seek excitement?”
Xu Zhi thought for a while, then sighed, “Because during the summer break, when I was bored, I searched for you online.”
“Hmm?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Remember our first meeting in the stairwell during the summer break? You were arguing with your mother, and you mentioned that girl – it was Gu Yan, right? Your mother thought she was your girlfriend. Later, when I met her at your place, because I knew you liked me quite a bit by then, and we were about to part ways, I didn’t want to be jealous of her. So I didn’t take her seriously. After we separated, I got curious and searched for you two online—”
Chen Luzhou remembered. Gu Yan’s alternate account – he thought Gu Yan had deleted everything and even issued an apology statement. He was too lazy to care and wasn’t particularly interested in searching for himself online. “Didn’t she clarify? She liked me, but I hadn’t spoken a word to her in three years of high school. If it weren’t for Zhu Yangqi being in her class, I wouldn’t even know who she was.”
Xu Zhi nodded understandingly, “You’re charming. Countless girls have secret crushes on you. Even now, in Gu Yan’s forum, there are still female fans praising how handsome you are. I heard you were a school genius at No. 1 High, captivating everyone. You probably don’t even know you have a forum. If you search your name on Baidu, there’s a forum with your name that has 34 fans.”
Chen Luzhou grew impatient, furrowing his brow, “…Get to the point.”
Xu Zhi: “You said Gu Yan had big breasts—”
He interrupted irritably: “I never said that.”
“Let me finish. You always seem so cold and indifferent, I felt I wasn’t attractive to you. Every time we kissed, I was the one initiating. That last night of summer break, when I asked you to touch me, you wouldn’t. You only touched my face. Later, I asked online, and people said either you had erectile dysfunction, or you didn’t like me that much, otherwise you would have reacted. I thought you did like me quite a bit, so it must be the former. You were even seeing my dad for treatment, so I thought, if you’re going to be my boyfriend, I should test if everything works, right?”
“Didn’t you see the medical report?!”
Seeing he was about to hit her, Xu Zhi finally couldn’t hold back her laughter, “Okay, I’m just kidding,” She lifted his chin from her shoulder, “It hurts, don’t press so hard. During the summer break, Tan Xu’s parents didn’t make a scene at school, but before I left for Beijing, they found my dad. They wanted us to cover Tan Xu’s rent for his second year of retaking the gaokao. I guess Tan Xu doesn’t know about this. My dad was completely confused and only then learned that Tan Xu had helped me study that year, which affected his mindset, causing him to do poorly in the gaokao. My dad didn’t agree because the rent for your third-year building was really expensive. He suggested Tan Xu stay in the school dormitory, but his parents refused. They called me ungrateful, saying I got into A University and then abandoned their son. My dad was furious.”
“There was no choice. My dad paid half the cost, but Tan Xu returned it to me. He didn’t want it, saying he wanted me to study well in Beijing. The more he acted like this, the more I felt I owed him something. Then yesterday, he came to Beijing to see me. He said he couldn’t focus on his studies and wanted to see A University to get some motivation for his revision. I asked Xu Gongzhu to show him around campus. Later, when Xu Gongzhu was seeing him off, he sent me a WeChat message. He said he hoped I wouldn’t date you for at least the year he’s retaking the gaokao. He said life at A University seemed quite appealing, and that you must be quite popular on campus. Then he felt my life was very carefree. He made it clear he doesn’t still like me, he’s just not resigned. Not resigned to why my life is better than his now. If you hadn’t come to find me tonight if you hadn’t made me choose, I probably wouldn’t have written this little essay, or if I had, I might not have sent it to you so quickly. I was planning to write an 8,000-word essay to thoroughly analyze my emotional journey over these past few months and give it to you all at once. Because I knew his emotions were unstable, I didn’t want to provoke him. I just wanted him to study seriously for a year, regardless of which university he gets into next year so that I could completely free myself from this relationship. But your attitude tonight made me worry you might not come looking for me again.”
By the time Xu Zhi finished speaking, they were sitting on the sofa. The room was still unlit, with only a bedside reading lamp casting a dim yellow glow, barely illuminating the bed that had been left in disarray from their earlier activities. A few unused items were scattered on the bedside table.
The curtains were parted slightly, the window left open. A breeze wafted in occasionally, and they could faintly hear someone singing in a KTV downstairs, sometimes sounding mournful and plaintive, other times howling like a ghost, making one’s heart skip a beat. The two exchanged a glance in the air, like duckweed floating on a lake, gently drifting, rippling, making it hard to part.
Chen Luzhou was still wearing that black hoodie and trimmed sweatpants. His legs were spread apart as he sighed, pulling her up and then seating her on his lap. He leaned back on the sofa, one arm draped over the back, the other gently and helplessly pinching her chin, “It’s really hard to be your boyfriend, huh.”
Xu Zhi’s hair was still wrapped in the towel, which was probably almost dry by now. She pulled it off, wrung it out a couple of times, and said, “But you still succeeded. I just told him that I’m dating you now.”
“What if he gets upset?” Chen Luzhou asked.
Xu Zhi’s hair fell in strands down her back as she hung her arms around his neck and asked leisurely, “What about you? Do you feel secure now?”
“Mm, it’s okay.”
“Tan Xu isn’t that foolish. I know his thoughts too well,” Xu Zhi said, sitting on his lap and continuing to dry her hair. “He’s the one who cares most about himself. Thinking about it later, I feel that the more carefree and happy I am, the harder he might study, aiming to get into A University to give me a beating.”
Chen Luzhou leaned back, looking at her with a teasing gaze, exuding a sense of having conquered the mountain. But his words were still provocative as he reached out to turn on the light, laughing, “Alright, I’ll help you report him to the police when the time comes. We’ll extort 5,000 yuan from him.”
Xu Zhi ignored him and suddenly remembered something. She glanced at the trash can beside them and said, “There’s something I forgot to tell you. I carefully examined it just now, boyfriend, and I found out that you seem to have put the condom on backward…”
Chen Luzhou was about to get up to fetch the hair dryer for her. Hearing this, his hand still on the light switch, he suddenly froze. Following her words, he instinctively looked at the trash can – the empty bin lined with a plastic bag, where a single used condom lay, indeed rolled up backward.
“…”
*Author’s Note: Yes, condoms can be put on backward. Don’t ask why, I’ve researched it on Baidu. And it doesn’t affect contraception. (I’ve also consulted a doctor about this.)
*The concept of “more points” is an interaction between the author and readers. If we can hit the same points, it means we share the same preferences. If you really can’t relate, don’t force it. Forcing it will make it uncomfortable.