Chapter 34

Xu Qianqian left without even saying goodbye.

Jiang Nian couldn't say he was disappointed, just felt uneasy. They'd been commuting together all week; suddenly walking alone felt strange.

Classic, so classic—was she in a hurry?

She had her phone to message him, or could've borrowed a classmate's. Yet she vanished without a word. Hmm... annoying.

Filial daughter, loving father—bravo, bravo, bravo!

Thinking this, Jiang Nian stepped out of the classroom building.

Early October.

The evening air was still stifling; clothes clung uncomfortably to his skin. After evening self-study, students dispersed—boarding students headed toward the dormitory zone.

Jiang Nian followed the flow of day students toward the school gate, passing the administrative building, when Zhou Yuting walked right beside him and spotted him too.

Amid the noisy crowd, she gave Jiang Nian a cold glance and walked off quickly.

"Tch." Jiang Nian didn't bother smiling either.

Just seeing her felt like shortening his lifespan. If not for propriety, he'd have used Dust Escape. If she couldn't hear him, he'd carve it on her tombstone tomorrow.

But since they'd have no more contact, he didn't care anymore.

Hide your mom—I'll find her.

He returned home.

After washing up, Jiang Nian opened Xu Qianqian's WeChat interface. Her avatar showed a cat lounging on a wall, blue sky and white clouds behind it, green branches hanging down in the center.

He opened the chat window. Their last conversation had stalled at National Day.

He hesitated, then sent a question mark. The absurd question mark filled the entire bubble—said nothing, yet seemed to say everything.

Asleep?

Why didn't you wait for me after evening self-study?

Are you playing hard to get?

Next silver gathering, I won't invite you.

Woman (eyebrows like sword blades snapped in two), your name is greed—but you're pushing too far. Do you like CEOs? Hmm? I just came out of the tailor's shop.

Do you love me? Speak up!

Ten minutes passed with no reply. He checked the time: eleven o'clock.

Sleeping this early? You little Wang Ba, huh?

Hmph, woman, you're testing my limits (his cold eyebrows unconsciously twisted into steel cables), with three parts chill, three parts disdain, three parts indifference.

Jiang Nian lay on his bed and opened Xu Qianqian's profile card like an Emperor reviewing memorials. There was little info—only gender and nickname.

Flip-Dig Garden Girl, Zhuangzhuang's Mom.

Your mom, what a ridiculous name—when did you change it?

Her Moments were set to three-day visibility; in Jiang Nian's memory, Xu Qianqian never posted anything. Her QQ Space occasionally had posts—mostly forwarding lottery giveaways.

Comment one, get gold.

He gave up waiting and rolled over to sleep—but accidentally tapped her avatar. That was the downside of setting the screen to stay on for ten minutes.

Buzz buzz, 【You tapped Xu Qianqian's cyber wooden fish. Merit +1.】

Xu Qianqian: "?"

The real person finally appeared. Two question marks flanking a cyber wooden fish tap—like a direct midline duel, neither side willing to yield.

Jiang Nian typed a few keys, then suddenly lost the urge to ask.

"Nothing. Going to sleep."

Above Xu Qianqian's chat window, a line appeared: "The other party is typing…"

He glanced at the screen. Knowing her after all these years, he expected an "mm." Better not look—just sleep.

Buzz—Jiang Nian rolled over, ready to enter today's yellow dreamland.

Buzz! Jiang Nian opened his eyes, unimpressed.

Do you need to send the same lazy reply twice?

Buzz!!

Annoyed, Jiang Nian snatched his phone from beside his leg, unlocked it, and saw—Xu Qianqian hadn't sent "mm." Instead, she'd sent: "It feels like there's a mouse in my house."

Two minutes later: "?"

Five minutes later: "Are you asleep?"

Jiang Nian scrolled backward word by word, growing impatient. Even clay figures have a spark of temper. Why didn't you explain why you stood me up? Why didn't you reply earlier?

But out of basic courtesy and considering their relationship, he replied warmly anyway.

"I know your house has a mouse. Thanks, I'm not hungry right now."

Xu Qianqian: "????"

"Your wording is so obscure. What I mean is—do you have any constructive solutions?"

Jiang Nian: "I do. Listen closely. Kneel down and beg the Mouse Grandpa not to scare you, then hang yourself with a rope outside the mouse hole during the day."

Xu Qianqian: "(eye roll) What kind of pathetic post is that? Say something human."

He replied: "Kill it."

"I can't catch it. I don't know where it's hiding," Xu Qianqian typed quickly. "Should've gotten a cat. Could've helped catch mice."

He was about to say something bad about cats, but feared getting a dish thrown at his head.

"Lao Xu is so clean—he's got mild OCD, can't stand this stuff. And if you catch the mouse, he'll swallow it whole right in front of you…"

"Stop! Don't make me sick," Xu Qianqian sent a shudder emoji. "Think of something fast—I'm going crazy. Lao Xu isn't home."

Jiang Nian slowly read the last few words of her message, hesitating for a moment.

"Forget it, forget it, your dad's here."

Xu Qianqian: "(middle finger emoji)."

Jiang Nian rolled over and slipped out of bed, tiptoed out of the room, turned the front door handle and eased it shut. The front door was old and poorly maintained—as long as he moved slowly, it wouldn't creak.

Otherwise, in the middle of the night—ooh~ mm~

People would think someone was watching a video with the speakers cranked.

After closing his own door, Jiang Nian didn't knock on the opposite door right away. He pulled out his phone and sent Xu Qianqian a message. The hallway's motion-sensor light didn't come on; the corridor was pitch dark.

"Coming."

After a while, he saw a sliver of light leak from the crack of the door. A faint sound of slippers scuffing the floor drifted over, blocking out a thin line of light, and then everything went quiet.

Buzz! His phone lit up—a message flashed in, all nervous.

"You're really outside? Why didn't I hear anything?"

Jiang Nian was speechless. He typed out a reply.

"Want me to rap you a verse, blondie?"

Click—the sound of the door lock turning was crisp as anything in the night. At once, the door was pulled open bit by bit, and the living room's light spilled out desperately like threads of silk.

Xu Qianqian and Jiang Nian exchanged a glance; the relief on her face was plain to see. She didn't speak, just tilted her head slightly, telling him to hurry up and come in, stop dawdling.

Jiang Nian walked in, turned and saw her carefully closing the door behind him. Only when the crack was fully shut without making a sound did she turn around.

She was wearing a thin white nightgown dotted with pink peach blossoms. Her hair was loosely gathered into a bun, lips a dewy pink.

"What are you looking at?"

"No way—it's the middle of the night and you called me over to catch a mouse, and that's the attitude I get?" Jiang Nian walked over to the fridge, helped himself to a bottle of cola, and switched into self-service mode.

He was long used to Xu Qianqian's attitude, because he was the same kind of slacker himself—the two of them were birds of a feather.