The birthday cake Qian Chuan had ordered arrived right before lunch, and the family celebrated their mother’s birthday together, warm and happy. In the afternoon, Qian Wei and Qian Chuan accompanied their parents to a newly opened mall nearby. Qian Wei had earned a decent amount from her part-time job recently, so this time she splurged, buying quite a few gifts for both of her parents. After shopping, the family watched a comedy together — a busy but fulfilling day.

That evening after returning home, Qian Wei got another call from Liu Shiyun. Now that she and Tang Lü were officially dating, the weekends naturally became time for them to be inseparable.

“He took me to that piano recital, right, and honestly the moment I heard the music I got sleepy — I had to force myself to stay awake in the end. To avoid giving myself away, I even crammed on piano and classical music knowledge before the recital, stayed up until two in the morning last night.” Liu Shiyun sighed. “If I’d had this kind of drive for the college entrance exam, I’d probably be at Tsinghua or Peking University by now.” She sounded a bit bashful. “But then again, Tang Lü is worth it — he’s just so perfect, it makes me feel like I don’t deserve him if I don’t put in the effort to build up some of this refined knowledge!”

“Oh, right!” Having finished talking about Tang Lü, Liu Shiyun seemed to suddenly remember something. “After the recital today I ran into Mo Zixin. Turns out she likes piano too, and actually knows quite a bit about it. Since Qian Chuan went home for his mom’s birthday, she came alone, so afterward I invited her to dinner with me. It was good having her there — whenever my knowledge fell short and I wasn’t sure how to keep up the conversation, she was there to keep it from going awkward.”

“By the way, Qian Wei, do you remember what we used to say?”

“Hm? What?”

“That once we both had boyfriends, we’d get a table of four together for mahjong!” Liu Shiyun said, sounding a bit regretful. “Or at least a double date or something — going out shopping and having fun together is so much livelier with more people! But now I’m off the market, and where’s your other half? Not even a shadow! I thought Mo Tao seemed promising, and it turned out to be a total dud!”

“Are you sure Tang Lü even knows how to play mahjong? With how bad your table manners are, even if he does know how, after one round with you, I bet he’d want to break up with you out of sheer rage!”

The two of them chatted about a bunch of random things before Qian Wei finally hung up.

Checking the time, it was getting late. Qian Wei suddenly realized that today, once again, Lu Xun hadn’t called.

He’d specifically called her before she went home, saying he wanted to take her to dinner, sounding like there was something he wanted to discuss. Qian Wei held her phone, hesitating, but in the end she still didn’t call Lu Xun — after all, if she called him first, it would feel like she was reminding him about the dinner invitation, which seemed inappropriate.

Yet even after talking herself into this, Qian Wei still found herself glancing at the wall clock from time to time, and after checking the clock, subconsciously picking up her phone to see if there were any missed calls. Unfortunately, the phone number she was inwardly waiting for never lit up her screen.

Qian Wei repeated this behavior often enough that even Qian Chuan noticed something was off.

“Qian Wei, are you seeing someone lately too?”

“Huh?”

Qian Chuan tilted his chin toward her. “You checked your phone six times in the last ten minutes. You know that’s exactly how someone acts in the first flush of a new relationship, right? When I first started dating, I was exactly like that — checking my phone constantly every ten minutes, and if there was no message from her, I’d feel down, like I’d been abandoned, like the whole world had gone gray, everything I did would feel irritable and listless. But if I got a message from her, even just one emoji, my heart would leap with joy, like the world had lit up again. That’s just how it is at the start of a new relationship — you’re desperate to stick together, and even a brief separation feels unbearable.” Qian Chuan gave Qian Wei a shrewd look. “I heard about that whole thing with Mo Tao — you’re not really his girlfriend, so, who are you waiting for a call from right now? I’d love to see who has the power to make someone as steel-hearted as you this distracted.”

Qian Wei instinctively masked her feelings and retorted, “Don’t talk nonsense, I’m just waiting for an important call. Go away, go away.”

But Qian Chuan, being infuriatingly persistent, didn’t leave. He studied Qian Wei for a moment, then suddenly looked at her with something like pity. “You’re done for, Qian Wei.”

Qian Wei: “Huh?”

Qian Chuan patted her shoulder. “Now I get it. You’re definitely not in a new relationship. Given how you’re acting, this looks like unrequited love, or a secret crush.”

Qian Wei felt an inexplicable flare of irritation and unease. “What are you even talking about!”

“You’ve obviously fallen for someone without even realizing it yourself — you haven’t even noticed that you’re crushing on somebody.” Qian Chuan put on his best relationship-expert face. “You’re done for, you’re so done for. Whoever falls for the other person first is always at a disadvantage, Qian Wei.”

Qian Wei protested, “Keep talking nonsense and I’ll hit you!” She muttered, “It’s, it’s just a friend — we’ve been in touch every day recently because of something, and these past couple of days without contact just feels a bit unusual, that’s all.”

Qian Chuan didn’t argue with her any further, because just then Mo Zixin’s call came in, and he happily scurried off to gab on the phone with her.

But his words had left Qian Wei feeling a bit uneasy…

“…once you notice more and more of her strengths, get her used to having you around, and once she realizes she’s already come to depend on you, that’s when you pull back — like making up an excuse to disappear for a couple of days. Don’t reach out during those two days, and she’ll realize, oh, I really can’t do without you, I feel restless when you’re not around…”

As if possessed, Qian Wei suddenly recalled her own “earnest teachings” to Lu Xun before. She thought — this situation is developing kind of strangely… the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like the tricks she’d once taught Lu Xun matched up exactly with what was happening now…

Qian Chuan’s words had jolted her awake, too. Uneasily, she thought — could it be that she actually had feelings for Lu Xun…

Qian Wei looked in the mirror and patted her own face. “Qian Wei, oh Qian Wei, your thinking right now is way too irrational, way too dangerous…”

But that night, though Lu Xun’s call never came, Li Chongwen’s did.

“Qian Wei, are you free Sunday evening?” Li Chongwen’s voice carried an unmistakable joy and a rare sense of ease. “I want to take you to dinner. You’ve always been the one treating me before, and this time I just got my part-time job wages, so I insist on treating you as a way to pay you back.” Li Chongwen paused, then gave a soft laugh. “Things have really been going well lately, honestly worth celebrating.”

“What good things?”

“I’ll tell you together when you get here.”

Qian Wei laughed too. “Alright then!”

The two of them agreed on a time and place. Qian Wei specifically picked a home-style restaurant near campus with good value and reasonable prices.

On Sunday evening, Qian Wei rushed to catch the bus back to school. Despite carefully timing everything, traffic made her late, and by the time she reached the restaurant, she was already five minutes past the time she’d arranged with Li Chongwen.

Li Chongwen had chosen a table by the window. As Qian Wei approached, he was looking down at the menu, but when he saw her, he looked up and gave her a bright smile.

“I already ordered a rough selection of dishes — take a look and see if there’s anything you want to add or swap out.”

Qian Wei picked up the order slip and was surprised. “You ordered way too much! There’s no way the two of us can eat all this.”

Before Li Chongwen could even respond, a familiar voice cut in.

“Not just the two of you — me too.”

Qian Wei instinctively turned toward the voice, even more surprised. “Lu Xun? Why are you here too?”

Whether it was her imagination or not, under the restaurant’s dim, ambiguous lighting, Lu Xun’s expression looked terrible. Though he still looked the same as always, and his phrasing had been perfectly normal, Qian Wei couldn’t shake the feeling that his tone was dripping with resentment.

Faced with Qian Wei’s instinctive question, Lu Xun’s expression darkened even further. “Oh, so it seems I’m interrupting you two.”

But despite the sarcastic “interrupting” comment, Lu Xun made no move to actually leave — quite the opposite, in fact. He smoothly sat down in the seat right between Qian Wei and Li Chongwen.

Li Chongwen smiled at Qian Wei. “Lu Xun happened to be visiting our dorm when I called you, and when he heard we were coming to this restaurant, he got pretty excited and wanted to come along. He’s apparently wanted to try this place for a while, but hadn’t found anyone who shared his interest.”

Qian Wei eyed Lu Xun suspiciously. Surely not? As far as she understood Lu Xun, this guy should look down his nose at some little home-style restaurant like this at any time of his life — could it be that even back in his younger days, he was really this down-to-earth???

Under scrutiny, Lu Xun said nothing, just kept drinking chrysanthemum tea, one cup after another, refills coming again and again even before they’d ordered. Today, Lu Xun looked like some kind of massive water buffalo.

Qian Wei looked concerned. “Why are you so thirsty?”

Lu Xun glanced at her and Li Chongwen. “I’ve got excess internal heat, so I can only drink chrysanthemum tea to cool it down.”

“Oh…” Qian Wei blinked. “But even with water, you shouldn’t drink too much at once — it puts a lot of strain on your kidneys, and if you’re unlucky, you could even end up with water intoxication.”

Somehow that comment set Lu Xun off again, and he darkened his face. “My kidneys are perfectly fine, no need to trouble yourself.” Having said that, he picked up his teacup again and gulped down another huge mouthful of chrysanthemum tea.

Qian Wei found this all rather baffling. What was going on with Lu Xun today? Had he swallowed gunpowder or something? This “excess heat” thing was clearly quite severe!

In the end, Qian Wei decided to just ignore Lu Xun for now and turned to face Li Chongwen instead. “By the way, didn’t you say on the phone you had good news to share with me? What is it?”

Li Chongwen smiled brightly. “My younger sister did really well on her school’s college entrance exam mock test this time. And that high school science competition I encouraged her to enter earlier — she actually won first prize. Not only did she get prize money, but come winter break, she’ll get to represent the school at a science winter camp in Australia. At this rate, she might actually be able to get into our university as an alumna after her exams too.” He took a sip of his tea. “And the student I’ve been tutoring at home — his grades went up by about a hundred places too, I’m pretty happy about that. And my mom’s health has been improving a bit lately too. It really feels like things are going better and better these days.” Li Chongwen glanced at Qian Wei. “Honestly, I always feel like you’re some kind of lucky star for me — it seems like ever since I met you, my luck has just gotten better and better.”

Since he’d no longer been eating irregularly, Li Chongwen now looked healthy, his complexion glowing, his eyes bright. Watching him step further onto a good path in life, Qian Wei felt genuinely happy for him. “Maybe I really am a lucky star, so I’ll just split my luck with you, then.”

This home-style restaurant served food quickly, and before long all the dishes had arrived. Qian Wei and Li Chongwen finished catching up and moved on to other topics, while Lu Xun stayed silent the whole time, just eating with his head down, not even glancing at either of them. Watching him, Qian Wei found herself somewhat believing that he really had come purely to try the food at this restaurant.

Li Chongwen had only just started eating when his phone rang. He smiled apologetically. “You two go ahead and eat, I’ll go take this call.”

The moment Li Chongwen was gone, Lu Xun — who had been silently eating this whole time — finally spoke up.

“Lucky star, my foot.” He gave a cold snort. “How can a college student these days still believe in feudal superstition like that. Fate is in your own hands, not in some intangible thing called luck.”

“…”

“And splitting your luck with him — why don’t you split some with me?”

Qian Wei glanced at Lu Xun. “Weren’t you just the one lecturing me about not believing in this luck nonsense, don’t you remember that law students are supposed to be logical? If you don’t believe in luck, why would you want a share of it…”

Lu Xun furrowed his brow and pressed his lips together, shooting Qian Wei an irritated look, but said nothing — he just picked up his large cup of chrysanthemum tea and gulped it down again.

After finishing that whole cup, his mood seemed to settle a bit, and he glanced at Qian Wei again. “Don’t you have anything you want to say to me?”

“Me?” Qian Wei pointed at herself. “No, I don’t have anything to say.”

That comment, for whatever reason, seemed to touch some nerve in Lu Xun again — the emotions he’d only just managed to calm with that big cup of chrysanthemum tea flared right back up. Qian Wei felt that if she had to draw a picture of Lu Xun right now, he’d probably look like a puffed-up blowfish.