Chapter 127

Shen Li dragged her suitcase and didn't arrive in Wuchuan until 3:30 in the afternoon. Among the most conspicuous crowd at the exit, she saw Xie Qin waiting there.

There was only this one exit at the Wuchuan high-speed rail station. He was leaning lazily against the door, playing with his phone in a nonchalant manner. Xie Qin saw her very quickly, and the moment their eyes met.

He walked over, took the suitcase Shen Li was carrying, and put it into the trunk of the car parked not far away. Xie Qin helped her open the passenger door, and after she sat in the car.

Shen Li hadn't had time to buckle her seatbelt before she was forcibly hugged by him: "Let me hold you for a while. I missed you to death."

Shen Li tilted her head and leaned on his shoulder, letting him hold her quietly.

Even though they hadn't seen each other for more than two days, she hadn't cut off contact with Xie Qin while in Su Shi. During the day, she would send him messages while keeping her grandmother company, and at night when her grandmother rested, they would talk on the phone, and Xie Qin would even spot-check her on her vocabulary memorization.

It could be said that they were almost stuck together.

But every moment spent with Xie Qin.

She felt it was very good.

She didn't dislike it; she liked it very much.

He would accommodate her.

Sometimes he might be a bit fierce, but in many matters, Xie Qin listened to her.

He would listen to her speak seriously.

He would also remember everything she said.

She had never met such a good person.

Without realizing it, Shen Li would often think of him alone. His existence had, at some point, quietly appeared in her world.

Shen Li: "Xie Qin, I can't breathe."

After the car had driven for a distance, Shen Li touched her lips, which were feeling a bit numb and stinging, and looked at the person beside her, her face starting to feel hot.

Xie Qin glanced at her, curled his lips into a smile, and said: "It's not the first time we've kissed, are you still shy?"

Shen Li avoided his gaze and looked out the car window: "You kissed too hard, it hurts a little."

He kept his eyes on the road ahead and said with a smile: "Oh, I'll be gentler next time."

Arriving at school, Shen Li dragged her suitcase back to the dormitory first. She had arrived quite early, and not many people had returned to this floor yet.

At the doorway, she suddenly heard the sound of an argument coming from inside.

"Zhao Zhouyuan, aren't you disgusting? I've been wondering for so long why you were always targeting Shen Li. It turns out you were uncomfortable because Shen Li is with Xie Qin, so you deliberately didn't talk to her."

"..."

"Does Xie Qin know that the 'white moonlight' everyone is talking about is actually you?"

"..."

"I'm truly impressed; you are so off-putting. Putting on a 'rich and beautiful' persona, talking about studying abroad—that was all a ruse you made up, right? You even opened a secondary account to approach Xie Qin, hiding it for so many years... Zhao Zhouyuan, what exactly are you trying to do?"

"..."

"Do you have to be so low-class? You really can come up with any trick."

Zhang Zixin's words pierced her heart with every syllable. The lie she had carefully hidden for so many years was exposed at this moment, and a sense of overwhelming, unbearable shame washed over her, leaving her unable to lift her head.

Zhao Zhouyuan clenched her fingertips, her knuckles turning white: "Yes, I am low-class. Not only am I low-class, I am also a rat in the gutter, unable to see the light, unworthy of him... Go ahead and expose me in front of him! Go ahead!"

Tears fell.

Her voice was trembling and choked with sobs.

"I just like him, what did I do wrong!"

"I have liked him for so many years. I knew him earlier than any of you, four years... I have liked him for four years."

"For his sake, I came here."

"I just wanted to be closer to him, wanted him to see me."

"Wanted to talk to him."

"I know my grades aren't good enough, and I'm not as pretty as Shen Li..."

"But what can I do? I can't control myself either."

"If you want to tell him, then go."

"At worst, I'll just be scolded and mocked."

"Aren't you going to go? Go right now!" Zhao Zhouyuan's emotions surged with intense grief and indignation, pointing at the door, looking at her with red, sorrowful eyes.

Zhang Zixin crossed her arms over her chest, looking at her with a slight frown, her lips tightly pursed. She didn't say a word, and her expression wasn't very good either. There wasn't much mockery on her face, just a complex look.

This intense argument had broken out just ten or twenty minutes ago.

Over the weekend, Zhao Zhouyuan was still attending mathematics competition training. Originally, she was the only one in the dormitory, but then Zhang Zixin unexpectedly returned and accidentally saw the game interface and WeChat secondary account chat interface that Zhao Zhouyuan hadn't closed on her computer screen, and she also inadvertently saw those conversations.

Seeing that the remark was Xie Qin, she wondered when Xie Qin and Zhao Zhouyuan had started chatting.

Zhang Zixin felt something was strange, and as if possessed, she scrolled up. The more she read, the heavier her heart became, and the more shocked she was.

She hadn't expected that Xie Qin was actually in contact with Zhao Zhouyuan, and that game account ID looked very familiar. She then realized, wasn't this the account of the online girlfriend Xie Qin had in the game?

Everything was connected.

Zhang Zixin could never have imagined that the so-called "white moonlight" would turn out to be Zhao Zhouyuan.

Her worldview was shattered.

Shen Li had heard everything, every single word. Yet, even so, she didn't seem to have much emotion in her heart, and her face was expressionless.

It wasn't until a phone call rang, breaking the oppressive atmosphere.

Shen Li looked at the incoming call and put it to her ear to answer.

Xie Qin's voice came through: "What are you doing? Why aren't you coming down yet?"

Shen Li looked up and saw the dormitory door opened by Zhang Zixin. Their eyes met, and she said in a calm tone: "Wait a moment, I'll be down soon."

"Mm."

After hanging up, Shen Li dragged her suitcase into the dormitory.

Zhao Zhouyuan had her back turned, wiping away tears.

Zhang Zixin didn't hide anything and stated it directly: "You heard it all?"

Shen Li placed her suitcase next to the cabinet, turned to face them, and nodded. Her gaze swept past Zhang Zixin and then landed on Zhao Zhouyuan.

Zhang Zixin: "I won't get involved in this matter. What do you want to do?"

She wasn't angry about this either; she just felt it was off-putting for Xie Qin's sake. Using a secondary account to build such a persona for herself, she just felt it was quite beneath her and disgusting.

Shen Li's thin lips were pressed into a faint arc, and she said calmly: "I don't mind that you like Xie Qin..."

As soon as these words were out, Zhang Zixin looked at her in surprise.

Zhao Zhouyuan: "..."

A sense of seriousness and firmness grew in Shen Li's eyes: "No matter what kind of way you like him, you... cannot take him away from me."

"You are very good..."

"And thank you for liking him so much."

Shen Li left with Zhang Zixin, leaving only Zhao Zhouyuan alone in the dormitory.

Today, Zhang Zixin was exceptionally pretty, as if she had dressed up carefully—black leggings, a leather skirt, and a coat, with long wavy hair draped over her shoulders, and she even had a new bag.

The two of them walked downstairs together.

Zhang Zixin: "Aren't you going to tell Xie Qin about this?"