Xing Wu felt like his hand was no longer his own an hour later. He had written more tonight than in his two years of high school combined.
He cracked open the window slightly and lit a cigarette, looking down at his messy handwriting. He wondered if Qing Ye would even be able to read it, then smirked slightly – she should be grateful he was copying for her at all.
He turned his head to look at the person lying on the bed. She was curled up in a ball, hadn’t changed position for ages, wrapped up like a little silkworm cocoon, somehow looking a bit silly.
Xing Wu took a cigarette break before continuing to copy. He had barely finished two problems when Quan Ya called, asking what he was doing.
While rapidly writing with one hand and holding his phone with the other, Xing Wu replied, “Doing homework.”
“…” There was a pause on the other end before Xing Wu heard an eruption of wild laughter.
“Wu-zi, next time you want to tell a tall tale, draft it first.”
Xing Wu hung up directly and took a photo of the mountain of study materials and problems, sending it over. Quan Ya immediately called back in disbelief, asking, “What kind of shock did you receive?”
“…”
The person behind him turned over, and Xing Wu looked back, lowering his voice to say, “Alright, I’m busy, stop calling.”
Just as he hung up, he heard Qing Ye weakly call out, “Xing Wu, I’m cold.”
Xing Wu got up and closed the window tightly, then went downstairs to boil water and fill a hot water bottle before bringing it up. He nudged Qing Ye, “Here, take this.”
Qing Ye mumbled something with her eyes closed, not moving at all. Xing Wu simply lifted the corner of her blanket and placed the hot water bottle inside. His hand accidentally touched hers – it was still ice cold, like touching a block of ice.
Suddenly feeling something warm, Qing Ye finally murmured, “What’s that?”
“Hot water bottle. Put it on your stomach.”
“Mmm…”
She moved to hug the hot water bottle, but before Xing Wu could withdraw his hand, he accidentally touched her… chest.
Qing Ye’s eyes flew open instantly, staring at him. Xing Wu had already pulled his hand back and was looking at her. Neither spoke, the atmosphere suddenly becoming mysteriously awkward.
Finally, Xing Wu stood up, cleared his throat, and walked back to the desk as if nothing had happened.
Qing Ye didn’t know if Xing Wu got any sleep that night. She had only meant for him to copy down a few valuable problems from several test papers, planning to review them herself during the day. She never expected him to copy all the important problems from eight workbooks – it made a thick volume that left her dumbfounded.
The truth was, whenever Xing Wu’s hand stopped writing, he kept feeling that soft sensation. Though he had always thought Qing Ye had a nice figure, actually touching it was a strange feeling, and it was intoxicating and impossible to forget.
This directly led to Xing Wu being gone the next morning when Qing Ye woke up, leaving only the copied notebook on the desk.
However, because of Qing Ye’s perfect impromptu translation performance in front of the entire school that day, her reputation at Anshan Middle School suddenly soared.
If before, students from other classes and grades had only heard that she was good at studying, had strong comprehensive abilities, and was good-looking, after this public display, everyone truly acknowledged her from the bottom of their hearts as Anshan’s current top academic star. Recently, more and more people have been asking Qing Ye for study advice, which troubled her somewhat.
But while this incident brought some troubles, it also brought something worth celebrating.
Zhazhating No. 38, Xuandao Hair Salon – the address that Qing Ye still felt was disastrously unfortunate and almost insulting – suddenly became popular. Who could have imagined that in just a few days, No. 38 would become well-known and gradually overflow with customers?
Originally, Liu Nian and Du Qiyan barely had any business after 5 PM, but recently, for some unknown reason, especially on weekends and after school, waves of students came to get perms.
Anshan Middle School was similar to Qing Ye’s former international school in one way – the teachers weren’t very strict about hairstyles. Generally, as long as it wasn’t too outrageous, teachers would turn a blind eye. This led to Qing Ye’s fashionable wool curls suddenly becoming a trend at Anshan. She was like a walking advertisement everywhere she went on campus, and recently even students from Anshan Vocational School and Jin Middle School came seeking their services.
So the previously struggling Xuandao suddenly became bustling with business. At first, Liu Nian and Du Qiyan didn’t think anyone would want to prepay for membership cards since people here generally weren’t keen on advance consumption, but surprisingly, quite a few people signed up for cards these past few days. Li Lanfang even stopped playing mahjong, her hands cramping from collecting money, and she even bought an extra two jin of ribs to make soup for Qing Ye at dinner.
Xing Wu couldn’t figure out how these three unlikely people suddenly managed to make the business successful – it was quite puzzling.
When they first got overwhelmed with business, Li Lanfang kept complaining to Xing Wu about being tired and in pain, so he had Quan Ya and the others come help for a few days.
Until Qing Ye came up with a solution – using numbers, limiting how many perms they could do per day, and having people queue up. This prevented the shop from being crowded and chaotic all day.
After optimizing the process, the busy situation improved. On Quan Ya and Hua Bi’s last day helping out, Xing Wu treated them to a meal. Being brothers, they weren’t too formal about it – they just had hotpot at home.
When Qing Ye came back in the evening, she learned from Du Qiyan that Xing Wu had invited them for dinner.
She first went upstairs to put away her things and wash her hands. When she came down to the backyard, the table was already full of people – even Shu Han and Da Hei had come. It was quite lively indeed.
Du Qiyan had saved a seat for Qing Ye beside her, so she went to sit between Du Qiyan and Liu Nian. Xing Wu sat across from her, with Quan Ya on his left and Shu Han on his other side.
Shu Han was dressed quite sexily today, wearing a black bodycon dress with bright red lipstick, adding a touch of coldness to her allure. Like Xing Wu and the others, she was drinking beer and seemed able to hold her liquor well. Because Qing Ye still needed to study later, she only drank soft drinks and didn’t say much, just keeping her head down while eating.
When she looked up, she met Shu Han’s observant gaze. After they made eye contact for two seconds, Shu Han suddenly raised her glass towards her: “We haven’t properly met yet. I’m Shu Han.”
Qing Ye raised her drink: “Qing Ye.”
Shu Han slightly furrowed her brow and smiled, “Orange juice, huh?”
Xing Wu said flatly, “She needs to study later, so she’s not drinking.”
Shu Han gave Xing Wu a meaningful look but said nothing, finishing her drink while Qing Ye took a sip of her juice and continued eating.
Shu Han cooked some lamb slices and passed them to Xing Wu. He was smoking and talking with Quan Ya when Hua Bi glanced over and suddenly interjected: “Sister Shu, Brother Wu, why don’t you two just get together? What’s the point of dragging it out like this?”
Xing Wu’s smile suddenly disappeared as he tapped his cigarette ash. Shu Han showed no expression as she took out a slim cigarette from the nearby pack and lit it. Liu Nian and Du Qiyan looked bewildered, glancing between Shu Han and Xing Wu. Quan Ya watched his sister with interest while Da Hei had an expression that suggested he was enjoying the drama.
At the table, only Qing Ye seemed completely detached, continuing to eat without stopping.
Hua Bi had probably been holding this in for a while, and since he’d brought it up, he decided to lay it all out: “We’re all family here, don’t blame me for being direct. It just makes sense – Brother Wu, your mom was just joking about accepting Sister Shu as a daughter-in-law. Why can’t you be more proactive? Wouldn’t that solve everything?”
Xing Wu raised his eyes and saw Qing Ye still calmly putting food in her mouth, showing no emotion whatsoever.
He suddenly put out his cigarette and glared at Hua Bi: “Isn’t all this food enough to keep your mouth shut?”
Shu Han lowered her head and smiled, her lips curving with a hint of coldness.
Quan Ya tried to smooth things over: “The monk isn’t as anxious as the eunuch. I haven’t even said anything – Ma Bin, did you take the wrong medicine today?”
“Boss Jiang wants Sister Shu.”
Hua Bi’s words made everyone at the table freeze, even Qing Ye stopped her chopsticks and looked up at them.
Quan Ya suddenly shouted: “Shut the fuck up!”
Hua Bi stared at Xing Wu with bloodshot eyes: “I’m going to say it today. Are you all afraid of making things difficult for Brother Wu? Well, I’m not afraid to be the bad guy. We all grew up together, wore the same pants, and ate from the same bowl. When we needed money, Sister Shu always helped us find ways. Everyone knows how Sister Shu feels about Brother Wu. Brother Wu has helped Boss Jiang before – if you just agree, Boss Jiang would consider that Sister Shu is your woman and wouldn’t touch her.”
With a loud “bang,” Shu Han suddenly slammed her cigarette on the table, shot Hua Bi a fierce glare, turned, and walked towards the kitchen, slamming the door shut.
Liu Nian and Du Qiyan looked terrified, Quan Ya glared at Hua Bi, and Xing Wu lowered his head with furrowed brows.
Even Da Hei was stunned and asked, “Is Sister Shu okay?”
Xing Wu drained his glass of alcohol, stood up, and walked toward the kitchen.
Qing Ye raised her eyes, following his figure as he entered the kitchen, opened the door, and then closed it.
Qing Ye quietly lowered her gaze and gradually put down her chopsticks, very calmly saying, “I’m going upstairs to study.”
Then she just left. No one paid attention to her, except Da Hei who muttered, “Brother Wu’s relative still has the mind to study at a time like this?”
Back in her room, Qing Ye closed the door and leaned against it, spacing out for a while. Then she mechanically walked to the window, sat down, opened a workbook, tore out a test paper, and began solving problems.
Qing Ye had always believed she had a special ability – no matter how agitated her emotions were, once she settled down to do problems, she could quickly block out everything and everyone around her.
But today, after two problems, she still couldn’t calm down. She even felt a kind of burning impulse, inexplicably wanting to get angry for some reason.
Halfway through the third problem, she suddenly crumpled up the test paper and threw it on the desk, standing up. She suddenly had a strange urge – she wanted ice cream, now, right this instant!
So without another word, she put on her jacket, grabbed her phone and money, and went downstairs. The backyard was still noisy, Quan Ya and Hua Bi seemed to be arguing, Da Hei was trying to mediate, the voices were loud, but she completely ignored all this commotion and went straight out through the front door of Xuandao.
After dark, Zhazhating lost some of its mundane atmosphere and instead resembled an abandoned small town from the 1980s, desolate and lonely. When she came here several months ago, she never would have imagined that such a small, broken-down place would have so many complicated matters happening every day.
She thought she was just coming here to study for a year, and her cheap aunt’s home was just a place to board. She wouldn’t have much contact with them, nor would she be affected by them in any way.
But tonight, she was disturbed by just one dinner, making Qing Ye find it laughable. Right now, she needed to swallow a big mouthful of ice cream to clear her head.
Qing Ye remembered seeing a dessert shop on the way to Electronics Street while riding the three-wheeler last time. She wasn’t entirely sure if they sold ice cream there, but she wanted to go look.
After Xing Wu and Shu Han talked for a while, when they came out of the kitchen, they both appeared very calm. Meanwhile, the group outside had been arguing for half the time. Xing Wu scanned the area and asked, “Where’s Qing Ye?”
Liu Nian said, “She went upstairs to study.”
Xing Wu said nothing. Seeing them come out and noting Xing Wu’s poor expression, the others stopped arguing, not wanting to push the issue further. Hua Bi’s intention was just to at least let Brother Wu know about this matter – as for how they decided to handle it, he certainly couldn’t control that.
Xing Wu sat for twenty minutes, then got up and went inside to pour a cup of hot water. Seeing Qing Ye’s cup still on the counter, he poured one for her too. However, when he went upstairs to deliver it, Xing Wu froze – Qing Ye wasn’t in the room. On the desk was only a crumpled test paper. His heart suddenly sank, and he rushed downstairs.
Da Hei had just walked in and asked what was wrong. He shouted, “Didn’t you say Qing Ye was upstairs? Where is she?”
Quan Ya also ran in asking, “What’s wrong? Qing Ye isn’t upstairs?”
Xing Wu pulled out his phone and rushed out of Xuandao…