Xing Wu leaned over to look at the phone – on Qingye’s screen was a photo of a girl leaning against a boy. While he didn’t recognize the girl in the photo, he had seen the boy before – he was the sender of this express delivery package.

Xing Wu watched Qingye’s dazed expression and suddenly clenched his jaw, saying, “You…”

Before he could finish, Qingye quickly locked her phone and grabbed a set of keys from beside her, using them to open the paper box. She took out several items and said to Xing Wu, “I’m going to study.”

Xing Wu remained silent, leaning against the doorframe while watching her. Qingye’s face showed no ripples of emotion as she placed the items she had taken out onto the desk by the window. She pulled out the chair and sat down quietly, then picked up her pen and lowered her head.

The room became so quiet that even the sound of wind outside seemed to disappear. Her silhouette looked somewhat thin and lonely as she sat alone by the window. Xing Wu watched her for quite a while before finally stepping back and closing the door.

Around midnight, Li Lanfang had already gone to bed. Xing Wu was dozing off on the sofa with the TV still on, showing late-night news. In his drowsy state, he thought he heard some noise downstairs. He slowly opened his eyes and glanced at the door, noticing that his room door was open, though he didn’t know when that had happened. Then he heard the sound of the refrigerator closing downstairs.

When he got up and went downstairs, he saw a small figure sitting on the threshold of the backyard door, holding a can of beer and looking up at the crescent moon. Her silhouette seemed sealed within that narrow doorframe, gazing at a starry sky that belonged to her alone – desolate and struggling.

That image became etched in Xing Wu’s mind, refusing to fade away. He suddenly remembered what Li Lanfang had told him the day Qingye first arrived.

“Her mother just died, and her father went to prison. She’s pitiful, and now she’s counting on us.”

At that time, Xing Wu had felt nothing about these words, as if hearing about something that happened to someone irrelevant. But now, looking at Qingye’s silhouette, he felt a suffocating heaviness.

Qingye raised the beer and took another sip when she suddenly heard the “click” of a lighter behind her. She turned around to see Xing Wu leaning against the doorframe behind her, the ember of his cigarette suddenly brightening as he took a drag. Looking down at her, he said, “I thought good students would know that drowning sorrows in alcohol only leads to more sorrow.”

Qingye laughed mockingly and held up the beer, offering it to him: “Drink with me.”

Xing Wu’s eyes flickered with uncertainty as he looked at the beer she held out to him. He stared at her somewhat hesitantly – after all, she had drunk from it, and their relationship didn’t seem close enough to share a can of beer.

Qingye pressed her eyes in annoyance: “Why is a grown man being so fussy?”

Xing Wu laughed and took the beer. Qingye moved aside to make room for him, and Xing Wu flicked away his cigarette before swinging his long legs over to sit beside her.

The threshold was narrow, forcing them to sit almost touching, their elbows occasionally brushing against each other. This made Xing Wu somewhat uncomfortable, but Qingye seemed completely unconcerned with such details at the moment. Her expression showed irritation, and perhaps mixed with some sadness – Xing Wu couldn’t quite figure out her exact emotions.

He brought the beer to his lips, thinking about how Qingye had just drunk from it, and felt something unusual. He unconsciously glanced at her lips – small and glossy. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he took a drink and passed the beer back to Qingye, casually asking, “Got dumped?”

Qingye took the beer disdainfully: “What nonsense about getting dumped?”

“That guy with surname Meng.”

Qingye looked sideways at Xing Wu, discovering he was quite well-informed to even remember the name, and couldn’t help but laugh. She raised her head to drink from the exact spot where Xing Wu had just drunk, handed it back to him, and said, “He’s not my boyfriend.”

Xing Wu had just taken the beer when he heard her next words: “To be precise, I only had an engagement with him.”

“…” Xing Wu’s hand froze as he turned to look at her. Engagement? How old were they anyway?

Qingye leaned back on her hands, looking up at the star-studded night sky as she let out a long breath: “I just can’t understand. He’s been following me around since elementary school, confessed his love to me in middle school, said he wanted to marry me, and he’s been good to me all these years. I never saw him look at anyone else. Although I never thought about committing to a relationship with him so early, if my father hadn’t gotten into trouble, I think we would have ended up together eventually. After all, no one else understands me like he does.

You know what? I’ve only been away from Beijing for a few months. How did he just start dating someone else so quickly, and with my best friend of all people?”

Before Xing Wu could drink, Qingye snatched the beer back and took a big gulp. She wiped her mouth with her hand and said angrily: “I don’t mind them being together. It’s just how they went about it – it’s not right. Look, Ruihang and I grew up together. What couldn’t he tell me? If they liked each other, I would only wish them happiness. Am I the type to be petty? Xing Wu, be honest, am I that type of person?”

Xing Wu nodded along with her words, but when Qingye’s eyes flashed, he quickly shook his head and took back the beer for a drink.

“Then when I messaged He Leling recently asking if she was dating someone, she wouldn’t say. Meanwhile, Ruihang contacted me saying he wanted to come visit me. Look at them acting like nothing’s wrong.

The whole school knew about Meng Ruihang pursuing me. Even if his feelings have changed now, they just needed to tell me – we’re all young, right?

I’m just angry that they kept it from me, making me look like a fool while the whole world knows.

If Jesse hadn’t sent me their photo, would I have had to wait until their wedding to find out?”

Xing Wu didn’t know who this Jesse was – Chinese or foreign? Qingye seemed to have no interest in telling him, just using him as a trash bin to pour out her grievances.

Xing Wu remained silent, just quietly listening to her.

Qingye grabbed the beer and tilted her head back for another drink only to find it empty. She angrily crushed the can and glared at Xing Wu: “How could you drink it all? We agreed to take turns!”

Xing Wu looked bewildered and said: “It just happened to run out when it was my turn.”

Qingye grew even angrier: “If it was running out, couldn’t you have left some for me?”

Xing Wu stared at her for a few seconds, then suddenly smiled: “Do you act this unreasonable with your old classmates too?”

Qingye lifted her chin proudly and said: “Of course not, I’m very easy to get along with.”

Xing Wu said playfully: “Then why are you so unreasonable with me?”

Qingye pouted and suddenly leaned closer to him, her slightly tipsy face flushed and adorable as she squinted at him: “Because you’re a jerk, all men are jerks, they’re all…”

Qingye’s legs had grown numb from sitting, and she stood up holding the doorframe. Xing Wu remained frozen in place, his nose still seeming to hold the lingering scent from when she had suddenly leaned close.

After standing up, Qingye stepped over the threshold towards the stairway, but in the darkness, her arm was suddenly pulled. Before she could react, her body was pressed against the wall by Xing Wu, who looked down at her and asked: “Who are you calling a jerk?”

Qingye’s wrists were pinned to the wall, unable to move. She twisted her body a few times and, emboldened by the alcohol, started ranting: “You’re all jerks! If my dad hadn’t found so many women outside, my mom’s condition wouldn’t have worsened from the anger. Even when my mom was lying in her hospital bed, women were showing off, waiting to take her place. I wanted to kill those women – what were they after? My dad’s money! How could he not understand? After he went to prison, where are those women now? Why aren’t they stepping forward?”

Xing Wu stared at her in shock. This was the first time Qingye had mentioned her family situation to him, revealing the unbearable scenes behind that glamorous facade, so hysterically.

Tears silently fell from her eyes as she looked up at Xing Wu defiantly: “I don’t have a home anymore, Xing Wu. I’m not like you – you still have your mother and grandmother, and at least your father can come back. What about me? I don’t even know where I can go when I walk out of your house’s door. Now even the friends I grew up with… I don’t want to use the word ‘betrayal,’ but this feeling fucking hurts.”

Xing Wu gradually released her wrists, and Qingye’s arms fell. Xing Wu lowered his gaze and raised his hand to gently wipe the tears from her cheeks. When his warm fingers touched her face, it was as if tiny electrical currents were flowing, causing both of them to shiver slightly. His gentleness made Qingye feel as if she were hallucinating, and she stared at him blankly, watching his spread eyelashes cast shadows, the cold curve of his lips thin and sensual, his eyes containing scattered light when he looked up, shattering Qingye’s proud defenses.

His voice carried a warm seduction in the darkness as he said to her: “Isn’t this your home? Are we treating you like an outsider? If we saw you as an outsider, I would have kicked you out long ago when you called me a jerk.”

Qingye lowered her head and sniffled, her voice muffled as she said: “You’ve been deliberately avoiding me.”

Xing Wu said with a half-smile: “Then what do you want me to do? Aren’t you afraid? Afraid of falling for me?”

Qingye rubbed her eyes, and when she looked up again, her eyes were bright and determined: “Xing Wu, no one can influence me. My mother spent her whole life depending on men and that’s how she ended up, but I won’t be like that. Don’t be too confident – I won’t fall for you.”

Xing Wu suddenly smiled, his narrow eyes containing some complex, incomprehensible light as he half-jokingly said: “You won’t, but have you thought about me? What if I fall for you?”

Qingye stared at him blankly, momentarily unable to answer this question she had never considered.

Xing Wu straightened up casually and said to her: “It’s one-thirty, aren’t you going to class tomorrow?”

Qingye turned and went upstairs, ending this bewildering conversation.

Although Qingye had barely fallen asleep before two the previous night, she was standing by the sofa before six the next morning, kicking Xing Wu’s leg. Xing Wu irritably pulled out his pillow to cover his face, but Qingye threw his pillow aside and said: “Get up, it’s time for school.”

“…” Xing Wu seriously suspected she was sleepwalking.

He half-opened his eyes to peek at the pitch-black window outside: “Are you having a seizure? It’s not even light out, what school?”

Qingye was already fully dressed, shouldering her bag as she walked towards the stairway, saying to him: “I’m giving you ten minutes, hurry up and come down.”

Xing Wu still lay there motionless, listening to the footsteps disappearing down the stairs before finally sitting up and rubbing his head.