Lin Yingzhou’s fingertips moved across the buttons on the armrest, his speech slow. “This is the power button. You have to press and hold it for three seconds. This is the accelerator. This is the brake.”
Shen Yusi’s gaze, however, was completely captivated by his hands. The pale blue veins would shift and slide subtly with the movement of his fingers. Fascinating.
“Understood?”
Shen Yusi snapped out of it, but she hadn’t really been paying attention.
Before she could answer, a phone rang in his pocket.
Lin Yingzhou answered it as he quickly walked towards the elevator. “Okay. I’ll be right there.”
As he hung up, he tore open a wet wipe packet and meticulously wiped every inch of his hands.
His back disappeared from view as he got into the elevator. Shen Yusi’s heart was still racing.
She took a deep breath, trying to suppress the inappropriate flutter in her chest.
…But this guy was too perfect for her taste.
Xia Xifan rushed back from the nurse’s station, brushing past Lin Yingzhou.
He scanned the area, didn’t see Shen Yusi, and asked someone where she had gone. He was told she had somehow ended up near the psychology department.
“How did you get all the way over here?” Xia Xifan jogged over, slightly out of breath.
Shen Yusi didn’t want to bring up the embarrassing incident. “Did you get the form?”
“Yeah.” Xia Xifan turned the wheelchair. “Oh, right. A nurse ahead said the buttons and joystick on this wheelchair are broken. You can only use it as a manual one now.”
“…!” Shen Yusi’s head whipped around. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“I was in a hurry to pay and forgot to mention it… You didn’t touch it just now, did you?” Seeing her frozen expression, Xia Xifan understood what the passers-by had meant when they talked about her “sprint.”
“…No.”
Xia Xifan nodded knowingly, not pressing the issue. “They just got a disinfected electric one back at the nurse’s station. Want to switch?”
Shen Yusi said nothing. He took it as a yes.
After switching wheelchairs, Xia Xifan gave an awkward laugh. “So… should I take you back to your dorm later?”
Shen Yusi glanced at the clock at the nurse’s station. It was nearly dinner time. The area outside the dorms would be swarming with people.
There was no way she was going to be paraded back in a wheelchair by this 185cm jock for everyone to see.
“Take me to the Yijiang Hotel.”
It was a five-star chain hotel owned by Shen Yusi’s cousin. The top-floor suite was always kept for her. She hadn’t bothered to look for an apartment, so she’d been staying there since arriving in Yunchang.
She wasn’t going to the afternoon class meeting either. She took a photo of her medical report and sent it to her advisor to ask for leave.
First day of school and already taking leave. Her advisor was sure to remember her.
On the way back, Xia Xifan said, “I’ll buy you a new phone and bag later. And I’ll hire a nurse to take care of you.”
“Forget the nurse. It’s not that serious.”
The doctor had said earlier it was nothing more than some bruises and scrapes. She just needed to rest a week and wait for everything to heal.
“Okay. Well, if you need anything, just call me. I’ll take responsibility for you.” Xia Xifan pulled out his phone. “Can I get your number?”
Take responsibility for her?
That sounds so weird.
Shen Yusi held back a retort and typed her number into his phone.
Back at the hotel, Shen Yusi collapsed onto the bed, exhausted. The day had been too surreal. The moment her eyes closed, she was asleep.
Meanwhile, several videos of her yelling at Xia Xifan on the main campus road, and of him sprinting towards the hospital with her in his arms, were spreading like wildfire through freshman groups, campus forums, and social media.
Since Shen Yusi hadn’t joined the freshman chat or added any classmates on WeChat, she was blissfully unaware of this. She slept straight through until morning.
When she woke up, her phone was flooded with notifications.
Half-asleep, she weeded through the barrage of pop-ups until she found Xie Sheng’s messages.
Sheng: 【How are you? Is your foot okay?】
Sheng: 【How can Xia Xifan drive like that?! Freaking meathead!】
Sheng: 【Gotta hand it to you, Little Island. First day of school and you’re already famous】
Sheng: 【That hair of yours is way too recognizable. Even though they didn’t catch your face, I knew it was you】
Sheng: 【Message me when you wake up. Let me know how you’re doing】
Shen Yusi yawned and forced herself to reply: 【What are you talking about?】
Sheng: 【Sleeping beauty finally wakes up】
Sheng: 【The video of you and Xia Xifan got posted online】
Sheng: 【PE department heartthrob vs red-haired beauty. The shares are off the charts. It’s made its way to me】
Shen Yusi’s sleepiness vanished instantly.
She clicked the link Xie Sheng sent. In the video, her back was to the camera, but her voice was clear. “The brakes failed, and your brain failed too, right?”
Hearing her own voice so early in the morning gave her chills. She quickly backed out and clicked on another video.
The wobbly camera footage showed Xia Xifan carrying her through the shade of the plane trees.
The muscles in his arms were taut with strength. The camera zoomed in. Her red hair fell, her denim-clad legs were long and straight, gleaming pale under the movement.
The person who recorded it knew exactly what people wanted. They slowed it down and paired it with some ambiguous BGM, turning a traffic accident into a romantic scene of a hero saving a damsel in distress.
Shen Yusi snorted. If they had caught the murderous look in her eyes, the atmosphere would be very different.
She scrolled through a few comments. Everyone had completely missed the point, lost in the pink bubble of the fantasy.
Shen Yusi exited and replied to Xie Sheng: 【Are students at your Yun University this gossipy?】
Sheng: 【”Your” university? It’s “ours.” Even the smartest people need entertainment after studying】
Island: 【The victim just thinks it’s annoying】
It was just a traffic accident. Because they were both good-looking, it got spun into something romantic. No one cared about the victim’s injuries. They just praised how handsome the perpetrator was.
How messed up was that?
Sheng: 【How are you feeling?】
Island: 【Much better. Perfect excuse to skip military training】
Sheng: 【Every cloud has a silver lining then. Yun University’s military training is notorious boot camp】
Shen Yusi’s eyelids were drooping: 【My foot hurts. Can’t train at all】
Sheng: 【Rest up. I’ll come see you tomorrow】
Seeing that Xie Sheng had stopped messaging, Shen Yusi tossed her phone aside and planned to sleep in.
First, the accident wasn’t her fault. Second, her face wasn’t clearly in any of the videos. Third, she wasn’t going to school anytime soon. No matter how much noise it made, it wouldn’t affect her.
So, sleep was the priority.
As sleep was about to take her, the phone on her pillow rang shrilly. Shen Yusi took a deep breath, feeling the anger rise, but seeing the caller ID, she suppressed it. “Hello? Aunt.”
“Why didn’t you answer my call yesterday? And this morning? Are you that busy?” Shen Pei heard the half-asleep tone in her voice and snorted coldly. “Don’t tell me you slept through your first day of school.”
“I was too tired yesterday. I passed out as soon as I got to the dorm. There wasn’t much to do today, so I caught up on sleep,” Shen Yusi lied, her eyes closed. If she told Shen Pei she’d been hit by a car, she’d be on a plane from Canaan to Yunchang by the afternoon.
Shen Pei’s tone softened slightly. “Alright. How has it been? Getting along with your roommates?”
“It’s been great. It’s a top school after all.” Shen Yusi mumbled vaguely. She hadn’t even seen the faces of her roommates.
Shen Pei didn’t suspect a thing. “I have a concert in Yunchang at the end of next month. I’ll come see you then.”
“Okay.” Shen Yusi was struggling against sleep. “I’m going back to sleep then.”
“You and your sleeping. If anything comes up, go to Yu Shushu. Don’t be shy about it.”
“I know.”
Two days later, Xie Sheng finally found the time. She arrived at the hotel carrying a box in her left hand and a basket in her right.
Shen Yusi, lounging on the sofa, barely lifted her eyes to look at her and the things she brought—
High-calcium milk, apples, and nutritional supplements.
Shen Yusi felt like she was looking at some middle-aged relative. “What are you doing here? Visiting some sick great-aunt?”
Xie Sheng glared at her, set the things down, and sat beside her. “Didn’t you say it wasn’t serious? Then why can’t you move?”
“Because I’m lazy.”
“So, bored these two days? I specially came to keep you company.”
Shen Yusi, holed up in a corner of the sofa with her phone, answered vaguely while biting into an ice cream. “It’s been okay. I play on my phone, sketch. The day goes by. At least I have AC and ice cream, much better than those suckers doing military training.”
Yun University had just finished its military training mobilization meeting that morning. Shen Yusi had already seen the highlight reels from previous years. It looked brutal.
Xie Sheng joked, “So, Xia Xifan is actually a blessing in disguise.”
Mentioning him made Shen Yusi want to laugh. She replied sarcastically, “Yep. Thank him for his heroic rescue, giving me an excuse to skip military training. Where else am I going to find such a kind-hearted and handsome jock?”
Xie Sheng quickly changed the subject. “You got a new phone?”
“The campus heartthrob bought it for me.” Shen Yusi tilted her chin towards an elegant black-and-white box not far away. “And the bag too.”
Her old one had been scratched up when she fell. Xia Xifan had wasted no time buying a new one and sending it over.
She was already annoyed by the exaggerated online commentary. But with Xia Xifan’s attitude of admitting fault and making amends being so good, Shen Yusi had nowhere to vent her anger. It was all bottled up inside her.
Seeing the topic had circled back again, Xie Sheng brought up something else.
“Hey, how are things with you and Qi Yue?”
“We talk a lot.”
“Oh? Sounds promising?” Xie Sheng raised an eyebrow.
Shen Yusi gave a dismissive laugh. “Not at all.”
“What do you mean?” Xie Sheng didn’t understand. A while back at the bar, their eyes were practically locked, and they were active on each other’s social media. Seemed like a done deal.
Shen Yusi shook her head. “I don’t like people who are too much like me.”
In a sense, she and Qi Yue were the same kind of person. They were even on the exact same frequency. They were both used to setting up the perfect opening, waiting for the other to fill the space. That way, the conversation never got awkward.
It was a dangerous kind of pleasure, like admiring the moon while walking on thin ice. One wrong step and you’d drown, becoming the submissive one in the relationship.
“So what kind do you like now?”
“Like…” Shen Yusi smiled. “A guy who’s unbelievably handsome and doesn’t like me? Preferably one of those untouchable, cold types.”
Of course, if he had a bit of a yandere side, that would be even better. The thought was exciting.
Xie Sheng clicked her tongue. “You’re a total masochist. You like untouchable types, huh? Alright, we’ve got one in the Medical Department. The absolute untouchable. The absolute coldest.”
Shen Yusi asked offhandedly. “Why didn’t you bring him last time?”
Xie Sheng scoffed. “I told you, he’s an untouchable type. When have you ever seen one of those hang out with the likes of us?”
“…Can’t you just infiltrate their circle?”
“I’m not that amazing.”
“Useless.”
“Fuck off.”
They chatted idly for a bit, then leaned back-to-back and played on their phones.
Shen Yusi turned her frustration into a shopping spree, opening the SA’s social media and starting to browse. Just as she was getting into it, a notification popped up in the calligraphy group, announcing the test details.
There were three tests: Regular script, Running script, and Cursive script.
It was an elimination system. Those who failed the Regular script test would be placed in classes E or F. Only those who passed could take the Running script test.
Those who failed the Running script test went to classes D or C. The remaining students took the Cursive script test. From that, the top ten or so would get into class A. The rest went to class B.
The best class, A, would receive personal instruction from the Chinese Calligraphy Association Chairman, who was also the Dean of the Fine Arts School.
With that kind of incentive, all the calligraphy freshmen had signed up.
Shen Yusi nudged Xie Sheng with her elbow. “Do you know about the Free Calligraphy Class?”
Xie Sheng leaned in. “Yeah. It’s your Art School’s thing, right? It was in the news last year. They’re making a bigger deal out of it this year.”
Yun University held various interest classes every year, and the instructors were always top-notch. Some classes were impossible to get into.
The calligraphy class was more humane in comparison. Its aim was to promote traditional culture on campus, so as long as you signed up, you could attend the classes. They just tested to see your level and assign you a teacher accordingly.
The qualifications for teachers were a minimum requirement of being a member of the Chinese Calligraphy Association. And it went without saying how impressive the teaching staff for classes A, B, and C were.
A free calligraphy class at a top-tier domestic university was more valuable than hundreds or thousands of dollars of classes outside.
Shen Yusi wasn’t interested in that. She asked, “Did you go last year’s?”
“No. I’m not into that.” Xie Sheng earnestly suggested. “You could give it a try. It’s a good opportunity.”
“Do you know anyone who went last year? I want to ask about something.”
Xie Sheng replied, “Yeah, Su Ze went. He got into class C, I think. What do you want to know?”
“I want to ask who the person was, the one sitting at the calligraphy booth on registration day, writing for publicity.” As she spoke, Shen Yusi pulled up a photo taken by a volunteer from the school’s public account. She zoomed in on a figure in the corner. “Here, this guy.”
Xie Sheng glanced at the phone screen. Even though the photo was a pixelated mess of colors, she recognized him instantly. “Lin Yingzhou.”