Chapter 79

After Xia Xi fell into a deep sleep, a lingering trace of consciousness told her she was in a warm, comforting embrace. This embrace gave her a full sense of security, she let down all her guard, relaxed her body, and had a long dream.

In the dream, she returned to eight years ago.

Qianlin's midsummer wasn't as scorching as Nancheng's; Xia Xi had just woken from her nap, still groggy, when her phone rang a few times. She felt for the remote and turned the air conditioner up two degrees.

24 degrees was almost freezing her to death.

Xia Xi pulled the summer blanket over herself, turned over intending to doze a bit more, but her phone kept ringing, as if opposing her tired brain.

She rubbed her sore eyelids, picked up her phone, and messages in the class group sped to fifty-three; everyone was discussing moving dorms, and her still‑foggy mind wondered.

Is the school reassigning dorms?

Xia Xi scrolled up through the history with her doubts, and realized the discussion's source wasn't moving dorms but the whole campus relocating.

Nancheng University's Architecture Department, along with a few other departments, has freshmen and sophomores in the old campus; it's said juniors will move to the new campus. The new campus is Nan Da's main base, its facilities compared to the old campus are like heaven versus earth.

Before, it was only rumored they'd move, with no definite word; now there's confirmed news.

Messages in the class group kept pouring out—

"Heaven knows how excited I am; Nan Da dad finally remembered us, cast out in the slums, and I'm moved to tears."

"I just checked the main base's cafeteria and dorm conditions—is this a school? It's heaven!"

"Getting ready to go back early to move stuff, comrades—anyone want to join? I'm from Ningcheng."

"I heard the new campus has so many handsome guys and beautiful girls you can't count them, hahaha."

Xia Xi exited the chat, opened the ticket‑buying app on her phone; the group's messages reminded her she needed to go ahead to move her dorm stuff, simply because she had too much to move on the first day of school.

Goodness, her wonderful vacation life was about to be declared over.

The ticket interface showed plenty of seats left; Xia Xi wasn't in a hurry and @'ed all members in the three‑person group.

Xia Xi: "We're moving to the new campus; I plan to go ahead—will you help me move my stuff? No refusing!"

Liang Yuan: "Nan Da's new campus isn't that far from our school, right? We can meet for meals often from now on!"

Xia Xi: "Yeah, hehe. (#^. ^#)"

Liang Yuan: "Moving stuff is such a hassle—you can't do it alone; we'll help you. Where did Zhou Du go? Where is he? @Zhou Du"

After a few seconds, Zhou Du tossed over a message, brief: "In the middle of a game, buy me a ticket."

Xia Xi had both of their ID details and quickly bought three high‑speed train tickets from Qianlin to Nancheng.

The next day, the three rushed off to Nancheng.

Xia Xi truly had a lot of stuff: two 28‑inch suitcases packed to the brim with no space left, plus five or six large storage boxes. Fortunately, Zhou Du had foresight and hired a large‑capacity van to help her move.

The dilapidated dorm building had no elevator; Zhou Du carried things up and down several times, and by the time he got on the van his back couldn't straighten, every inch of his clothing soaked with sweat.

From the old campus to the new, the drive is an hour and a half; with bad traffic, two hours is common.

Liang Yuan gazed out at the traffic and teased: "No wonder you always call the old campus a slum—the drive to downtown takes as long as a round trip to Qianlin."

Xia Xi spread her arms: "Congratulations to me—I've finally escaped the bitter sea and am welcoming a good life!"

Zhou Du was too exhausted to speak, not joining the two girls' chat; his long fingers tweaked the car vent to blow on himself, he tilted his head, leaned back, and closed his eyes to rest. Over the summer he'd deliberately grown his hair, tied it in a braid at the back, and wore a white sleeveless shirt with distressed vintage jeans—super cool.

Arriving at the new campus, another bout of busyness ensued; Zhou Du again served as essential muscle, moving Xia Xi's luggage up to the fifth floor.

The new campus was indeed different: the dormitory exterior walls were a pretty orange‑red, a row of camphor trees grew lush and tall—about three stories high—across the open space stood a bike shed and neat clothes‑drying racks, making airing blankets easy. Inside, needless to say, it was clean and tidy, the hallways scented with a light lemon freshener.

Entering the dorm, Xia Xi kept sighing, wondering what kind of miserable life she'd lived before.

The old campus dorms were all six‑person rooms with bunk beds that creaked at every turn, like an old train. There was no private bathroom, only a shared squat toilet used by two rooms.

The new dorms are four‑person rooms with wooden loft beds over desks, the ladder has steps, not the wobbly stainless‑steel pipe that looks ready to collapse, plus private bathrooms—no more queuing for the big shower hall.

The other three roommates hadn't arrived yet; Xia Xi tidied her own bed, left the rest for later, as it was getting late and time for lunch.

"I'm exhausted, don't want anything—just give me a bowl of cold noodles." Zhou Du sat sprawled in the chair, legs open, chin resting on the back, speaking weakly.

Xia Xi handed him a few tissues, already having a plan: "I'll take you to the cafeteria for lunch, and treat you to a big dinner tonight—how does that sound?" Zhou Du took the tissues, wiped the sweat streaming down his face, and gave an OK sign with his other hand, indicating agreement. Liang Yuan had no objection, nodded and said yes.

Thus, the three had lunch at Nan Da's new campus cafeteria; afterward, Liang Yuan and Zhou Du returned to the Nancheng Information Vocational Technical College, which sits two streets from Nan Da, agreeing to meet in the evening.

Xia Xi bought an ice cream at the small shop beside the cafeteria, unafraid of the sun, and ate it while strolling slowly from the cafeteria to the dorm.

Back in the dorm, she finished the ice cream just as voices came from inside—her roommates had arrived.

"I was just wondering who'd come so early, the beds are already made—turns out it's our great beauty Xia Xi. I haven't seen you all break, I miss you." Zhao Lei blinked, holding a bottle of cold mineral water; she took a sip, and the ice chips inside clinked against the bottle with a clatter.

Xia Xi smiled and asked, "Have you eaten lunch?"

Zhao Lei replied, "I have, but the two of them haven't."

Wu Qinglu and Wang Qiuyu were making the beds; hearing that, they looked down from the upper bunk—one said she had no appetite, the other said she'd bought bread.

They'd all lived in the same dorm before, so they were familiar, unlike the awkwardness of freshmen; Xia Xi nodded, grabbed her pajamas, went to the bathroom for a shower, then lay down on her bed for a nap.

She slept until 1:30, woke feeling a bit warm, idly picked up the magazine beside her pillow to fan herself, one hand holding her phone, and privately messaged Liang Yuan: "Want to go swimming? I checked—there's a huge pool near the school, not far from your college."

Xia Xi had learned to swim this summer, was in a period of high enthusiasm, and felt uncomfortable if she didn't swim a few laps each day.

Liang Yuan: "I didn't nap at noon, I'm exhausted now—I probably can't swim."

Xia Xi didn't press her: "Fine, I'll go alone."

Xia Xi is a person of action—she said she'd go and did. She tossed the magazine aside, pushed herself up using the bed frame, saw everyone else napping, slipped out of bed quietly, grabbed her sports bag, stuffed in swimsuit, goggles, cap, towel, etc., slipped on her sports shoes, and left.

She took a taxi to the Lan Jing Swimming Center, went to the front desk to get a card—she'd likely be a regular, so a card was convenient.

The desk asked her to wait, dialed an internal line, and called someone over to attend to her.

It was midday, a time of drowsiness; the person summoned looked weary, but upon seeing Xia Xi his eyes lit up, he became extremely enthusiastic, asking if she wanted to buy lessons or book a coach, offering to recommend the best trainer.

Xia Xi declined, saying she could swim herself and just wanted to use the pool.

After seeing off the attendant, Xia Xi went to the changing room, put on her swimsuit, pulled her long hair up, donned her cap and goggles, and headed to the pool. At the edge she did two sets of warm‑ups, thrust her hands forward together, dove in, and instantly became a mermaid, gliding back and forth twice in the blue water.

At that time the pool was empty besides her, a rare tranquility; greedily she swam another lap.

When she got out, Xia Xi touched her neck and found the necklace she'd been wearing gone—it had been a gift from her sister the previous week, which she loved. She didn't think much, dove back into the pool, sure it had fallen in; when changing she recalled the necklace was still there because it had caught on her hair.

Xia Xi searched the pool bottom for a long time, finally finding that glint of chain near the wall's corner; her face lit up, she glided over with her arms, crouched on the bottom, picked up the necklace, and clenched it tightly in her palm.

She was about to float up when her calf suddenly cramped, possibly because she had been soaking in the cold water for too long. Even though it was midsummer, her body couldn't take it.

Xia Xi felt the situation was dire, a little panicked inside; she struggled to stay calm, forcing herself upward despite the discomfort, but her legs had no strength, and the more she struggled, the faster her stamina drained. Finally she couldn't hold her breath, choked on two mouthfuls of water, and her lungs felt awful.

She wanted to call for help, but opened her mouth and couldn't make a sound.

In desperation, a "plop" sound suddenly came from nearby; someone jumped into the swimming pool and swam toward her.

Shortly after, strong, powerful arms lifted her body from behind; instinctively, she grabbed onto them like a lifeline, using all her strength to clasp the person's arms, her body flipped over, and she wrapped her limbs around them like an octopus.

She clearly felt that body stiffen for a moment, then the person used one arm to drag her, this dead weight, toward the shore.

After a while, Xia Xi gradually recovered, coughed a few times, opened her eyes blurred by water, and saw clearly who had rescued her.

Not like a coach, that person was very young, excessively handsome, his pale skin made clear and clean by the water droplets, wearing a black raglan-sleeve swimsuit, the swim trunks were double-layered: an inner tight layer and an outer layer styled like sports pants, not as embarrassing as ordinary men's swim trunks. He took off his swim cap, his short hair fluffy, making him look even younger.

Xia Xi stared, dazed.

"Um—" Xia Xi coughed again, her throat a little sore, her voice hoarse, "Thank you, what's your name, which school are you from, why don't you leave contact info, I'll treat you..."

Before the words "have a meal" could even come out, seeing she was fine, the person stood up and left, not swimming anymore.

Xia Xi touched her face, for the first time doubting her own appearance—was she really that unattractive? From today onward, the plot will go into reverse order.

The university-related content is very, very necessary; it must be written in detail, otherwise you'd hardly understand why Xu Er is so infatuated and obsessed with Xi Xi. She treated him like that, yet he still thinks of her...

Before starting the book, I had considered using an intercalary narration, intertwining flashbacks and present, or finding a suitable node to directly begin in reverse. After struggling, I still chose the latter. In the previous short story, namely 《Top Flow》, I used intercalary narration, telling past events through flashbacks, but that was a 200,000-word short piece, so this approach was suitable; this one is a long novel, and I felt that alternating between present and flashback would, over time, confuse readers about what is real and what is memory, making the reading experience unpleasant.

But writing in reverse, I worry that some readers are eager to know the current timeline and want to skip the flashback section; however, believe me, their university days were very interesting! (End of chapter)