Xia Xia honestly resigned from her internship and picked up her textbooks. Although she was preparing for graduate school entrance exams under Xie Huai’s semi-coercion, she wasn’t unwilling.

The internship work had been exhausting – besides commuting, she only had the energy to sleep and rest. Xia Xia interned at a large company with strict attendance policies and frequent overtime. As a new intern, she not only had to serve tea, deliver water, and pick up takeout but also had to take on unfinished work from her seniors while constantly watching their moods. She had wanted to quit for a long time.

With four months left until the graduate entrance exam, it would be considered late for others to start reviewing now. However, Xia Xia had always been solid in her major courses and English. As long as she went through the books once, studied some politics, and systematically memorized everything a few times at the end, it shouldn’t be too problematic.

After recovering for a week in Xie Huai’s rented apartment, Zhu Ziyu was well enough to get out of bed, walk around, and take care of herself. When school started in late August, she moved back to campus, leaving two thousand yuan by the bedside as payment for her lodging and meals during her stay.

Since her freshman year, Zhu Ziyu hadn’t asked her family for money except for tuition fees. She occasionally worked as a Taobao model and event hostess to earn living expenses. She spent a lot on clothes and makeup, so her earnings were just enough to get by, sometimes not even sufficient – she would have to borrow money from Xia Xia at the end of the month.

Zhu Ziyu hadn’t told her mother about recent events. Her surgery was a huge expense, and after paying out so much money at once, she certainly didn’t have much left.

When Xia Xia saw the money she left behind, she immediately packed her things and returned to school to stay with her.

When she entered the dorm, Zhu Ziyu was crouching in front of the wardrobe organizing clothes, while Cai Yun leaned against the desk with folded arms, watching her. Zhu Ziyu wore a white modal nightgown that reached her ankles. She had lost a lot of weight recently and looked frail, her long hair falling loosely to her waist as she quietly folded clothes and put them in the closet, tossing dirty ones into the laundry basket.

Seeing Xia Xia return, Cai Yun smacked her lips and pulled out her phone, turning the volume to maximum before playing a noisy video.

“You think you’re so pure, seducing my husband and making him steal my bankbook to buy you a house?”

“You dirty whore, how many times did you provide sexual services to Zheng Zhiming to make him willingly spend so much money on you?”

“You’re in cahoots with this mistress, you’re both shameless sluts who seduce men everywhere.”

…

“Hey, Xia Xia,” Cai Yun said dramatically, “Come look, the person in this video looks familiar. The one in the camisole is you, right?”

“I couldn’t see clearly who the person behind was,” she asked deliberately. “Do you know who it is?”

Cai Yun was looking to cause trouble. Xia Xia was still holding her clothes and the meal she’d brought for Zhu Ziyu. Upon hearing this, she threw down the thermal container and walked straight toward Cai Yun.

Throughout three years of university, Cai Yun had always been intimidated by Zhu Ziyu, who was cold and beautiful on the outside but had an explosive temper and looked difficult to mess with.

During the year Xia Xia was on exchange at Hai University, Cai Yun had once gotten into a fight with Zhu Ziyu. With her height and long legs, Zhu Ziyu had completely overwhelmed her. Although the conflict was later mediated by the dorm supervisor and they both apologized, Cai Yun didn’t dare provoke Zhu Ziyu after that because she couldn’t win in a fight.

But Xia Xia was different.

Xia Xia had entered school as a poor student, and Cai Yun’s first impression of her as someone weak and easily bullied was hard to change. Even though she suffered a few setbacks from Xia Xia later, they were minor incidents that remained at the level of mind games and verbal confrontations between girls. She had never seen Xia Xia fight, and given her quiet and fragile appearance, Cai Yun never took her seriously.

Seeing Xia Xia rush over, Cai Yun remained unfazed. She tilted her chin up: “What do you want to do? I just saw a video online, can’t I even ask about it?”

Zhu Ziyu often called Zheng Zhiming in the dorm and frequently mentioned him to Xia Xia and Zhao Shanqi. With his name appearing in the video, even if Cai Yun couldn’t see clearly that it was Zhu Ziyu, she couldn’t have failed to guess.

She wanted to mock Zhu Ziyu and used Xia Xia as an entry point.

Cai Yun’s sarcastic attitude ignited Xia Xia’s anger. She wanted to slap Cai Yun or fight her, but before she could act, Zhu Ziyu held her back.

After experiencing these events, Zhu Ziyu became much more composed. She pulled Xia Xia behind her and said coolly, “It’s not worth it.”

Her calm eyes glanced at Cai Yun: “Didn’t the last beating teach you a lesson? If you want another one, come directly to me. Don’t harass Xia Xia. Next time you make me unhappy, it won’t be just a beating. We’re about to graduate anyway, and I don’t care about getting a disciplinary warning. Feel free to try.”

Cai Yun smiled insincerely: “Why would I look for you? I just saw Xia Xia in this video and was curious to ask her.”

Finding no entertainment in the situation, she looked at them boredly, feeling the dorm was too toxic with them around, and took her bag and laptop to chat with Yi Meixian in the office.

At the doorway, she turned back to look at Xia Xia, her eyes mocking: “Oh right, you probably don’t know yet – I got into Hai University for graduate school, it was decided at the beginning of the month. What good did it do you to steal my exchange spot? I can still go there now. I heard you’re preparing for graduate school entrance exams recently – isn’t it a bit late to start studying for Hai University now?”

She smiled slightly: “Don’t fail the exam.”

After Cai Yun left, Xia Xia frowned: “She has the video on her phone, and we just let her leave like that?”

Given how much Cai Yun disliked Zhu Ziyu and Xia Xia if she didn’t spread this video everywhere, she wouldn’t be Cai Yun. Xia Xia didn’t care about herself, but she worried about how Zhu Ziyu would face the rumors around the school.

But Zhu Ziyu didn’t care: “Whatever, those who were going to see it have already seen it. Cai Yun isn’t the first one to know.”

In the evening, Zhao Shanqi returned to the dorm with a stack of newly distributed internship forms.

Nan University’s graduation internships were arranged uniformly by the school for two months, with different locations for different majors. Zhao Shanqi gave the forms to Xia Xia and Zhu Ziyu to sign and confirm. Xia Xia saw that this year’s sociology major internships were at street offices and community committees under Changping District.

After scanning the list, Xia Xia pointed at Zhu Ziyu’s assigned community and asked, “Is the work easy there?”

Zhao Shanqi thought for a moment: “That’s the most tiring community.”

Xia Xia said, “I’ll switch with her.”

“Better not,” Zhao Shanqi said. “Although your community isn’t the most tiring, it’s not easy either. Other communities have two people interning together, but you’re alone.”

Xia Xia was stunned and asked, “Why?”

Zhao Shanqi said, “The assignment list was determined by Professor Yi, and Cai Yun was in her office at the time.”

With this explanation, Xia Xia understood. Looking at Xie Huai’s assigned community, sure enough, it was far from hers.

She couldn’t help but admire Cai Yun – hatred made people clever. She had considered everything, big and small, racking her brains to make life difficult for them.

Zhao Shanqi’s internship location was at the street office, one level above the community, so she didn’t have to work directly at the grassroots level – it was a good position.

Xia Xia knew Zhao Shanqi got such a good position partly because her uncle was the vice dean, so she didn’t say much, only politely asked, “Shanqi, could you ask your uncle to change Ziyu’s internship location? She just had hemorrhoid surgery last week, working in the community would be too tiring and not good for her wound recovery.”

After her abortion, Zhu Ziyu’s lower region had been constantly painful, making her walk oddly. When others asked, Xia Xia consistently said she had hemorrhoid surgery.

“I’ll ask for you,” Zhao Shanqi said, “but in these cases, you usually need a hospital certificate.”

Zhu Ziyu said, “No need to change, let’s leave it as is.”

Xia Xia suspected that Cai Yun had scouted all the communities in Changping District in advance just to torment her, allowing her to pick such a unique internship location among many options.

Her community was called Guzikou, four kilometers from school. Outside the front door of the office was a vegetable market, and outside the back door was a garbage station – there was a terrible stench no matter which exit you used. Sometimes sitting in the office, any random breeze would bring in a mixture of chicken manure and swill odors.

On her first day of internship, before Xia Xia could even get comfortable in her seat at the office, she was sent by the community officer to post documents on nearby residential area bulletin boards.

Nancheng was trying to become a National Sanitary City, and the government was determined to win this title this year. They required streets to be completely orderly, no cigarette butts on the roads, residential areas to be spotless, and no items could be placed in corridors or passageways that would affect the city’s appearance.

When there weren’t enough street cleaners, they pulled staff from basic-level offices. Community members took turns cleaning the streets, and Xia Xia was free labor not to be wasted – she had to go every day.

After half a month, Xia Xia was nearly going crazy.

Xie Huai was also assigned to street cleaning. When the supervising officer wasn’t paying attention, he snuck over to find Xia Xia.

Xia Xia was wiping dust off a fire hydrant in the residential area, while the officer in charge of her sat under a nearby camphor tree chatting with residents, leisurely eating watermelon seeds.

She occasionally looked back at Xia Xia and gratefully said, “Little Xia, thank you for your hard work.”

Xia Xia was choked by the flying dust and stood in the corner coughing violently.

Xie Huai had just arrived when he saw this scene, and quickly patted her back to help her breathe, joking, “What’s wrong, Sister Xia? Are you this excited to see me?”

Xia Xia’s coughing fit brought tears and a runny nose. She took the tissue Xie Huai offered and wiped them away, her nose tip reddened. “There’s too much dust here.”

“Who made you do this?” Xie Huai asked.

Since the internship started, his time with Xia Xia had become precious little.

Xia Xia had moved back to the dorm worried that Zhu Ziyu couldn’t manage alone, and Xie Huai had also moved back to the dorm to be with her.

During the internship period, Xia Xia would return to school after work, quickly eat something, and then head to the library with her books to study.

Xie Huai usually didn’t attend classes properly, but since the internship affected graduation eligibility, he didn’t dare skip. He stayed dutifully at his post during the day and met clients in the evening. On the rare occasions, he had free time to spend with Xia Xia, he would find his girlfriend absorbed in translating English practice questions.

At such times, Xie Huai regretted pushing Xia Xia to take the graduate entrance exam – they were both so busy now they barely had time together.

Xia Xia glanced at the woman in the corner and whispered, “She’s the officer supervising my internship. I need her to give me a passing grade, and if the assessment is below eighty points, I’ll have to redo the internship next semester.”

Xie Huai noticed the small rash on her neck and frowned, “Why is this red?”

Xia Xia rubbed her itchy nose: “Yesterday the street secretary came to inspect and said the wall deterioration in the residential building wasn’t even. The supervisor took me to scrape wall plaster all afternoon. I think I’m allergic to dust.”

Xie Huai knew her community was the most difficult and poorest in conditions, and he knew Cai Yun had pulled strings behind the scenes to get her assigned there. He asked, “Where is Cai Yun interning?”

Xia Xia hurriedly said, “Don’t go after her. Even with all her influence, Cai Yun couldn’t decide something like this on her own. This must have been approved by Professor Yi. What use is there in confronting Cai Yun?”

“Of course there’s use,” Xie Huai said. “She hasn’t received any verbal threats from Brother Huai lately – she must have forgotten her place. Giving you such heavy tasks and removing your partner, who does she think she is? Does she think I won’t get angry?”

Xia Xia said, “She doesn’t know we’re back together.”

Cai Yun feared Xie Huai more than Zhu Ziyu. During the semester when Xia Xia and Xie Huai had broken up, Xia Xia felt Cai Yun’s attitude toward her become more hostile. If Cai Yun knew she and Xie Huai were back together, she certainly wouldn’t dare scheme against her behind the scenes.

“You didn’t tell her?”

Xia Xia: “No.”

Xie Huai suddenly became angry: “Why not? Do you think our reconciliation isn’t worth mentioning to others? Or do you think Brother Huai isn’t worthy of being mentioned by you, not even worth saying ‘I’m back together with Xie Huai’? Why didn’t you tell her?”

Xia Xia: “…I don’t have a good relationship with her, there’s no need to tell her such things.”

Xie Huai grabbed the cloth from her hands to help wipe the fire hydrant, his expression displeased: “Move aside.”

What a puppy, as childish as a kindergartener, Xia Xia cursed in her mind, wondering how she had fallen for him in the first place.

But right after cursing him, she had a split personality moment – the next second she found his childish temper quite adorable like a little puppy begging his sister to introduce him to her friends.

She thought for a moment, then leaned in to give Xie Huai’s cheek a light kiss, smiling coaxingly: “No, I want to stay by your side.”

Xie Huai was very receptive to such clingy intimacy. His stern expression softened, eyebrows lifting as he asked: “What gives you the right to stay by my side?”

Xia Xia smiled sweetly: “Boyfriend, you’re my boyfriend. I’ll tell them when I get back.”

The supervisor in charge noticed something happening on Xia Xia’s side and walked over. Seeing Xie Huai helping with the work, she asked, “Xia Xia, are you finished with your tasks?”

“This is my boyfriend,” Xia Xia hurriedly introduced Xie Huai. “He came to see me.”

The supervisor: “Oh, since your boyfriend is helping you with this, why don’t you go help me sweep the residential building stairs? My back isn’t good, so climbing stairs is difficult. Thank you, Xia Xia.”

“Teacher.”

Before Xia Xia could speak, Xie Huai tossed the cloth onto the fire hydrant and turned to smile at her: “I’m not here to work for your community. I’m only here to help my girlfriend. She’s allergic to dust and can’t handle these tasks. I can help her with this, but after I finish, please don’t assign her additional work.”

His smile wasn’t particularly sincere, and though he used respectful language, his tone wasn’t very polite: “Although the school arranged for us to intern here, we don’t get paid a cent and even cover our commuting expenses – we’re essentially paying to work for you. Other communities don’t dare assign heavy work, they just go through the motions.”

“Moreover, the graduate entrance exam is at the end of December. It wouldn’t be good to interfere with studying for that.”

The supervisor had grown accustomed to ordering Xia Xia around for the past half month and was happy to have someone helping so she wouldn’t have to work herself, pushing all tasks to Xia Xia. Hearing Xie Huai’s words made her somewhat embarrassed. She laughed awkwardly: “You should have said so earlier. Little Xia never mentioned she was preparing for graduate school.”

Finding herself in an awkward position, the supervisor took her broom and went upstairs.

Xia Xia said: “You confronted her like that – what if she’s unhappy and gives me a low score?”

Xie Huai replied carelessly, full of rebellious spirit: “If she dares give you a low score, I’ll make sure she changes it back. People like her are thick-skinned – if you don’t speak up, they’ll pretend not to notice and make you do everything. You don’t owe her anything, there’s no need to follow all her orders.”

Xia Xia responded with a simple “Oh.”

Xie Huai asked: “Did you bring your backpack?”

Xia Xia nodded, and Xie Huai said: “Go study over there. I’ll call you when I finish cleaning.”

Xia Xia asked: “Don’t you have work in your community?”

Xie Huai said casually: “Yes, but I left.”

“The supervisor will deduct points for skipping work.”

“Let them deduct. What use are internship points when my wife is having an allergic reaction?”

“You can’t graduate if you fail the internship!”

“Then I won’t graduate,” Xie Huai said dismissively.

Xia Xia was speechless.

Xie Huai was truly childish, she thought, yet she was hopelessly infatuated with this childishness. He was unruly and arrogant, taking nothing seriously. Once he decided to do something, he didn’t care about the consequences – even though in Xia Xia’s eyes, her minor allergy wasn’t worth him risking graduation over.

Xia Xia pinched his face: “You push me to pursue graduate school, yet you might not even get your bachelor’s degree – aren’t you embarrassed?”

“Let’s do this together,” she said, bouncing around him with a broom. “We’ll clean this area, then go have lunch together.”

“Not studying anymore?”

“I’ll study tonight.”

“If you study at night, who will keep me company?”

Xia Xia thought for a moment and said: “Then I’ll keep you company and skip studying today.”

Xie Huai smiled: “If you don’t study, what if you don’t get into graduate school?”

Xia Xia imitated his manner of speaking, putting on a serious face: “Then I won’t go. My husband is upset – what use is graduate school then?”

She felt that she and Xie Huai were equally dramatic, just like the stories of emperors neglecting state affairs, like a foolish ruler who would disregard everything for the sake of one person’s favor.

Xie Huai’s expression softened with emotion as he asked: “What did you call me?”

Xia Xia started, then blushed, her voice turning soft and low: “I called you husband.”

She stood on tiptoe near his ear and quietly called out again: “Husband, Xia Xia will keep you company tonight.”