As Shen Xingruo approached, Lu Xingyan felt half of his body go numb. His hand holding the towel remained motionless on his head, with water still dripping from the ends of his hair.
Unfortunately, Shen Xingruo was so natural about it. After sniffing, she stepped back and said, “What brand of shower gel do you use? I like this scent.”
Lu Xingyan didn’t know why, but he hesitated for a moment before answering along with her words.
Shen Xingruo responded, “Seems like it’s a French brand. Forget it, it’s a bit expensive.”
A girl from a poor neighborhood shouldn’t be picky about shower gel.
“…”
“Hurry up, the food is on the table.”
She glanced at Lu Xingyan, completing her task-like assessment, then urged him once more before turning and heading downstairs.
Leaning against the door, Lu Xingyan stared at Shen Xingruo’s retreating figure for a long time without snapping out of it.
His heart rate was still as fast as it was after playing basketball, or even faster. Damn it, could the bathroom be leaking gas? It felt like carbon dioxide poisoning.
He dried his hair. No, it’s carbon monoxide.
After a while, he remembered that the water heater at home wasn’t gas-powered.
In the evening, Lu Xingyan was unusually quiet at home. After playing video games for a while, he emerged from his room and went downstairs to find something to eat.
Zhou Yi happened to be at the fridge, replacing the not-so-fresh fruits. Lu Xingyan greeted her and found a bag of bread in the fridge, along with a carton of milk.
Seeing him grab a slice of toast and pour some cold milk, Zhou Yi started nagging, “How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t eat cold food at night. Toast it in the toaster before eating it, and the milk too, bring it here, and I’ll heat it for you!”
“I’ve told you, you kids these days, don’t eat properly during dinner, and when it gets late, you start rummaging around for things…”
“No need to bother, Zhou Yi, I’ll just eat something quickly.”
He spoke with a mouthful of toast, his words somewhat muffled.
But as soon as he filled a cup, Zhou Yi grabbed it and rushed to the kitchen, swiftly grabbing a small saucepan and frying pan to make him some eggs.
Lu Xingyan: “…”
He was resigned to it. She filled the cup to the brim, and took it straight to the kitchen without spilling a drop, as if she were a master of martial arts who could walk on water just like the characters in martial arts novels.
He walked to the kitchen door.
As if she had eyes on the back of her head, Zhou Yi didn’t even turn around as she said to him, “I’ll fry two eggs, you take one up to Xiao Ruo.”
Liu Xingyan made a noncommittal grunt before remembering something. He casually asked, “Hey Zhou Yi, do we still have that shower gel in my room?”
“I just replaced it for you last month. Did you already use it up?” Without waiting for Liu Xingyan’s response, she continued, “We have some left at home. I’ll get it for you tomorrow.”
“No need, I’ll take it up myself.”
Ten minutes later, Liu Xingyan stood outside Shen Xingruo’s door, holding a plate of fried eggs and the shower gel. With no extra hands to knock, he called out, “Hey, Shen Xingruo, open up.”
“Just a moment, coming,” her voice sounded muffled through the door.
Shen Xingruo must have just taken a shower; her hair was partially dried, still slightly damp at the ends. He extended the plate of fried eggs. “Zhou Yi asked me to give this to you.”
Shen Xingruo had already rinsed her mouth, but she accepted it nonetheless, appreciating Zhou Yi’s kindness.
Liu Xingyan then gestured with the shower gel. “And this.”
Shen Xingruo glanced at it. “This isn’t the one from your room, is it?”
Though her face remained expressionless, Liu Xingyan somehow sensed a hint of disdain.
—Turns out, despite her fall into poverty, she still retained the stubbornness of a young lady.
“What are you thinking? It’s a new one,” Liu Xingyan chuckled lightly.
Shen Xingruo took it, giving him a sidelong glance in the process.
Both were skilled at reading between the lines, and from his emotionless gaze, Shen Xingruo detected a hint of disdain, as if he thought, “Do you even deserve to use my shower gel?”
After a brief silence, with Shen Xingruo about to bid him farewell and close the door, Liu Xingyan glanced at the desk behind her. “Working on homework?”
“I finished my homework long ago. I’m summarizing my study experiences.”
Unbeknownst to them, the midterm exams were fast approaching. Wang Youfu had instructed the top ten students from the previous monthly exams to write a summary of their study experiences to be shared during next week’s class meeting.
Traditionally, it was the top three students along with the top scorers in each subject who shared their experiences. However, this time, it was a bit awkward because Shen Xingruo had nearly monopolized the top spots in every subject.
Liu Xingyan remained silent. Shen Xingruo thought he might be asking for her homework to copy, but he was too proud to ask.
Remembering his generous offer to lend her half of his living expenses, Shen Xingruo, with a kind heart, asked, “Are you here to borrow homework? Then come in and get it yourself.”
Liu Xingyan hadn’t even thought about doing his homework himself. He paused for a moment, then, as if on a whim, followed Shen Xingruo into the room.
Standing in front of the desk, Shen Xingruo gestured towards the stack of exercise books and notebooks. “Take these, and also look through my backpack for the history test paper.”
She set down the fried eggs and went to the bathroom to place the shower gel.
Liu Xingyan glanced around the room, and his gaze inadvertently fell upon a half-hidden white strap in the corner of her bedsheet. The strap was thin, resembling a phone data cable at first glance.
He happened to have forgotten his charger at home. Walking towards the bed, he called out in the direction of the bathroom, “Shen Xingruo, I’m borrowing your charger.”
“Sure,” Shen Xingruo replied casually, grabbing a hair tie from the bathroom countertop.
Liu Xingyan stood at the foot of the bed, pulling out the “data cable.” At first, he thought the texture didn’t feel right, then he was stunned.
Damn it.
Was that… underwear?
Just a plain white piece, with no patterns or lace, a simple design typical of young girls, with only a small bow design at the back clasp.
Hearing Shen Xingruo’s footsteps, Liu Xingyan, feeling electrified for some reason, swiftly stuffed it back under the sheet, covering his mouth with his hand, coughing twice, and then walked back to the desk.
His hand felt as if he had just grabbed a handful of chili, a fiery sensation spreading. As Shen Xingruo tied up her hair and walked out, he suddenly felt choked, coughing uncontrollably—
Earlier, when Shen Xingruo’s hair was loose, he hadn’t seen it, but now that it was tied up, he noticed that she was wearing a spaghetti-strap nightgown, the neckline not too revealing, covering down to her collarbone.
But thinking about that thin-strapped bra, he felt incredibly awkward.
It took a while for Liu Xingyan to stop coughing. Shen Xingruo glanced at him, then asked, “Why do you look so guilty, like you’ve stolen something from me? Did you steal something?”
Liu Xingyan felt like coughing again.
He forcibly suppressed it, waited a few seconds, then said, “What nonsense are you talking about? Take a look at yourself, is there anything worth stealing?”
“…”
Seemed like there wasn’t.
Shen Xingruo didn’t dwell on it, just gave him a look that said, “Finish borrowing the homework and get out.”
Already feeling guilty, Liu Xingyan became even more uneasy under Shen Xingruo’s continued scrutiny.
He grabbed a few random assignments from the desk, muttered a farewell, and quickly left.
Shen Xingruo found his behavior odd and couldn’t quite understand it. After finishing her study experience summary, she packed her backpack and suddenly realized her history test paper and charger were quietly lying inside.
She sat there, contemplating. Her intuition told her that Liu Xingyan must have done something unspeakable in her room. But after a thorough inspection, there didn’t seem to be anything amiss. Oh well, it’s probably best not to let him know. Otherwise, he’s dead.
“No, not like that… Hmm… Too fast… Be gentler… Boom boom boom!”
Shen Xingruo patiently emptied her patience, her knocking becoming heavier. “Liu Xingyan, it’s lunchtime!”
In the final moment of sprinting towards the person in his arms, Liu Xingyan suddenly woke up. Just, in the very last moment. He stared at the ceiling blankly for a while, his consciousness not fully returning. The phone on the bedside table kept ringing, and Liu Xingyan, still half-drowsy and half-awake, finally picked it up and looked at it, suddenly feeling much more awake.
“Liu Xingyan, did you sleep until the cows came home?” Shen Xingruo’s voice was calm, echoing both from the phone and outside the door. Just by listening, one could tell that this was the prelude to a lesson on being a decent human being.
Liu Xingyan gave a perfunctory response. “Okay, I’ll be right there.”
Shen Xingruo couldn’t be bothered to deal with him further and hung up, heading downstairs.
She had never seen someone so useless in studying yet capable of sleeping more than her. Every time he only scored a few points, how could he sleep soundly for twelve hours without a care in the world? If it were her, she wouldn’t dare to close her eyes.
As the call ended, Liu Xingyan remained in the position of answering the phone, unmoving, sitting at the head of the bed.
This was fucking unreal.
All because of a piece of underwear.
He had just dreamed an indescribable and very specific dream about Shen Xingruo because of a piece of underwear.
Fuck.
He wiped his face and checked the time on his phone. It was already noon. How long had he been dreaming? He remembered the dream being quite long and having a sustainable development, from the bed to the bathroom, and waking up near the window.
He was carefully recalling when suddenly his WeChat vibrated.
In a WeChat group named “Unity, Mutual Assistance, Building a Better Society,” Li Chengfan shared a video titled “Scientific Development Concept.mp4.”
The group quickly became lively.
Xu Chengzhou: Brother, impressive!
Zhao Langming: Not afraid of getting your driver’s license revoked even in broad daylight? Brother Fan is bold!
Li Chengfan: [The red scarf in front is even brighter.jpg]
Damn it, these social cancerous guys always send these things from time to time, poisoning him, a well-bred and upright young man!
The group chat was heating up. Liu Xingyan looked expressionless for a while, ready to close it, when suddenly he was mentioned.
Xu Chengzhou: Young Master Liu, still not up yet??? Were you having wet dreams last night?
How come he didn’t seem this accurate on multiple-choice exams?
Liu Xingyan: …
Liu Xingyan: You jerk, you’ll get caught by the anti-pornography task force sooner or later.
After sending the message, his mind involuntarily recalled that dream again.
Xu Chengzhou: Holy crap, what’s with this annoyed tone? Hahaha!
Liu Xingyan started typing but stopped halfway.
No, he couldn’t.
He immediately threw his phone aside, got out of bed, and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.
After showering, he took off the dirty bedsheets and threw them into the bamboo basket. To prevent Aunt Zhou from coming in and collecting them, he hid the basket in the wardrobe.
After doing all this, he went downstairs. They were already having lunch.
He intentionally avoided looking at Shen Xingruo.
Sitting across from Shen Xingruo, he just stared at the table and ate his meal silently.
Shen Xingruo glanced at him, her chopsticks paused for a moment.
Liu Xingyan was a strange person. He had claimed not to have OCD when they went to the fly restaurant, but now it seemed like he was a severe sufferer of it.
What’s the big deal about taking out the trash? He had spent such a long time showering last night and now he was washing up again. If he put the same dedication and persistence into studying, why couldn’t he score 400 points?