The first day of school arrived quietly.
Shen Yusi struggled out of bed. The weather was unbearably hot; she wilted like a frost-bitten eggplant the moment she got in the car.
Yu Shushu laughed. “Didn’t sleep well?”
“Mm…” Shen Yusi was yawning, her eyelids heavy. “So sleepy.”
“Take a nap in the car. Uncle Wu and I will handle the registration.”
Shen Yusi snapped awake. “No, no, no.”
The car drove onto a tree-lined avenue. The surroundings were bathed in the vibrant energy of youth. Shen Yusi pressed her face against the window.
Sunlight printed the veins of camphor leaves onto the asphalt. New students, accompanied by parents and dragging suitcases, formed a long dragon of a line that snaked to the edge of the shade.
The moment the door opened, a wave of heat assaulted her from all sides. Shen Yusi wilted, feeling weak all over.
The three of them walked towards the school’s sports complex. Yu Shushu suggested, “Uncle Wu and I will queue up and fill out the forms for you. You sit over there by the awning. Don’t get sunburned.”
Feeling the full impact of the temperature outside, Shen Yusi didn’t argue this time. “Okay.”
The two of them took her documents and split up.
The young lady was perfectly happy. She grabbed a plastic stool and sat under the canopy, eating an ice cream bar.
Her phone was so hot it could fry an egg, so she could only amuse herself by watching the new students pass by.
A commotion arose from behind her.
“Senior, I want to sign up! Give me a form!”
“Me too! I want to sign up!”
“And me!”
Shen Yusi turned her stool out of curiosity.
Across the way, under another canopy, there was a throng of people. A female student was holding up a stack of forms, shouting for order. “Line up to get them! Don’t fight! There’s enough for everyone!”
A few large characters hung from the tent’s frame: Free Calligraphy Class.
The chaotic crowd was shepherded by students wearing red armbands, eventually parting to reveal the person sitting calmly inside.
A young man sat with a back straight as bamboo, focused on his brushwork. The noise around him seemed blocked by an invisible barrier.
In nearly forty-degree heat, he had his shirt buttoned all the way up to the top.
Shen Yusi’s gaze was blatant and probing.
As if sensing her stare, the man’s wrist holding the brush paused. He lifted his eyelashes, his cool gaze locating her with precision.
Their eyes met.
Shen Yusi didn’t look away. Instead, she leaned in slightly, her gaze bolder, even wearing a playful smile.
The man had a clean, handsome face, delicate eyebrows, but a layer of unmeltable frost and snow perched upon them.
A face that had a built-in cooling effect. He definitely didn’t look like someone who feared the heat.
For a moment, the cicada’s song seemed to quiet. A faint, elusive scent of ink drifted on the wind. Shen Yusi felt the oppressive heat ease its grip on her.
What she didn’t see was that after he looked away, a cold sweat broke out on the back of the man’s neck. The force of his grip nearly snapped the brush in two. The fluid lines of his “Ode to the Luo River Goddess” became messy and chaotic towards the end.
“Yuanyuan, you need to be there in person for the campus card photo and fingerprint scan,” Yu Shushu’s voice broke her train of thought.
T/N: Yuanyuan means “round” or “perfect/complete”.
“Oh, okay.”
After getting her campus card, Shen Yusi was pulled aside by volunteers for photos and interviews. By the time she was done, it was more than half an hour later.
When she got back, the calligraphy booth across the way had mostly cleared out.
Yu Shushu was on the phone nearby, her voice tense. “…Alright, I’ll deal with it when I’m back… Yeah, there’s still some things here… Mm.”
A TV station editor-in-chief’s “holiday” was clearly not truly free.
Shen Yusi didn’t want to hold her up. As soon as she saw her hang up, she said, “Auntie Shu, if there’s an urgent matter at the station, you go ahead. I can handle the rest myself.”
Yu Shushu hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. Call me if you need anything.”
“I know!”
Watching her leave, Shen Yusi walked over to the calligraphy tent. “Senior, can I have a sign-up form?”
The person in charge handed her one. “Fill it out and put it over there. Scan this QR code to join the group. There will be a placement test later.”
“Tests?” Shen Yusi’s pen stopped. “We have to test?”
“Of course. We divide students by skill level.”
“Alright.” After filling out the form, Shen Yusi only wanted to get back to her dorm and turn on the AC.
She walked along the main campus road, opening the newly joined calligraphy group chat. She scanned the member list… would he be in there?
Just as she was lost in thought, a horn sounded behind her. The sound was approaching her at high speed.
“Move! Move!”
Shen Yusi turned. A scooter was heading straight for her. She jumped back hastily, twisting her ankle and falling ungracefully to the ground.
The driver, not even sparing a glance for his own toppled scooter, rushed over in a panic to help her. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”
A sharp pain exploded from her ankle, arm, and leg. Shen Yusi’s face contorted. She pressed her lips together tightly, closed her eyes, and tried to calm herself down.
Don’t get angry, don’t lose your temper. Getting angry is bad for your health and makes you ugly!
It’s nothing serious! No need to be angry!
Thinking this way, she finally slapped his outstretched hand away. “Which one of your eyes thinks I look okay?”
She looked like she was about to lie down right there.
The guy was full of apologies. “I’m really sorry. The brakes just failed. I’ll take you to the hospital.”
Shen Yusi took a deep breath, trying to ease her anger, but her words came out like knives. “The brakes failed, and your brain failed too, right? You couldn’t just steer around me? You had to hit me right here?”
They were on the main road. All new students were passing through here from the registration area heading to their dorms. The electric scooter had already been making a racket as it came through. Now that it had hit someone, even the dogs would stop to watch the show.
Even the luggage carts slowed down. On many of them, people were staring openly at them.
“It’s Xia Xifan!” someone recognized the driver.
Someone even pulled out their phone to record the scene.
Seeing this, Xia Xifan retreated, picked up Shen Yusi’s phone and bag that had fallen on the ground, and bowed deeply. “I’m sorry! Forgive my rudeness!”
The anger was trapped in Shen Yusi’s throat.
What the hell was he doing? Why was he bowing all of a sudden?
Before she could ask, she was hoisted into the air as he scooped her up. She gasped. “What are you doing?!”
Her struggling jostled her arm wound, and she sucked in a cold breath from the pain.
Xia Xifan explained, flustered, his ears turning red. “I hit you, of course I have to take you to the hospital.”
“Who told you to carry me?!” Shen Yusi glared at him.
“I’m sorry. If we don’t leave now, more people will gather, and then we won’t be able to move.” He continued, his tone sincere. “Your legs are hurt, I can’t make you walk to the hospital.”
He had a point. Staying there would only attract more onlookers. But Shen Yusi still felt this guy was weird.
Everything from the initial reckless charge to now, this rough carry to the hospital—all of it was bizarre!
Yun University was at least a top-tier domestic school. How could it have students like this?
Wait…
“Are you from the sports college?” she asked suspiciously.
Xia Xifan was clearly startled. “How did you know?”
Shen Yusi twitched the corner of her mouth. “Lucky guess.”
Resigned to her fate, she could only accept it.
The trip from the sports complex to the hospital still attracted a ton of stares. Shen Yusi silently raised her hand to cover her face.
She’d never been so embarrassed in her life…
Noticing her discomfort, Xia Xifan steadied her with one hand under her knees and handed her bag over with the other. “Use this to cover your face.”
He was wearing a sleeveless jersey, his arm muscles taut with the effort, showing a kind of wild strength. Strangely, his whole body seemed tinged with an unnatural flush.
Yun University had its own on-campus hospital. Afraid of aggravating her wound, Xia Xifan didn’t dare walk too fast.
After the doctor had performed some basic first aid, his uniform flapped.
Xia Xifan asked, “Dr. Fang, do you have a wheelchair?”
Dr. Fang didn’t look up. “Yes. Ask for one at the nurse’s station.”
“Okay.”
Soon, Xia Xifan returned pushing a wheelchair. It was Shen Yusi’s first time in one of these, and she found it quite novel.
As soon as they left the exam room, the wheelchair came to a stop. Xia Xifan felt around his pockets. “I left the form at the nurse’s station. Wait here for me, I’ll be right back.”
When he was gone, enduring the pain, Shen Yusi fished her phone out of her bag to text her advisor and ask for leave.
The moment she pulled it out, the movement tugged at her injuries. She hissed, and the phone slipped from her hand, landing on the floor with a clatter.
Sighing, she bent over to pick it up.
Beep—
Her elbow inadvertently pressed a small, inconspicuous button on the inside of the wheelchair armrest.
The wheelchair started moving forward at a steady pace without any warning.
Startled, Shen Yusi watched helplessly as her phone got further away. She fumbled along the control panel, found what looked like a power button, and pressed it.
The wheelchair lurched forward violently, its speed suddenly increasing.
Wait, why does the acceleration button look exactly like the power button?!
Her heart leaped into her throat. She definitely should have checked the almanac before leaving the house today…
Forcing herself to calm down, she scanned the dense array of buttons on the panel, trying to find the correct brake.
Ahead, at the corner of the hallway, a figure was walking towards her, head down, reading a document.
“Look out! Move!” Shen Yusi screamed at the top of her lungs.
The person looked up at the sound. He quickly folded the A4 paper in half and stuffed it into his white coat pocket, deftly stepping half a pace backward and to the side, just out of the wheelchair’s collision path.
As it brushed past him, he reached out, firmly grabbing the handles of the wheelchair, while his other hand went for the control panel.
Beep—
A soft sound, accompanied by the slight locking mechanism of the drive wheels. The runaway wheelchair came to a steady, perfect stop.
Inertia pitched Shen Yusi’s body forward slightly before the seatbelt pulled her back.
She gasped for air, her heart hammering wildly in her chest. A mix of post-crisis relief and gratitude washed over her, leaving her limbs weak.
That was close… if she had been just a little later…
“Feeling better?” a clear, calm voice fell down on her.
Shen Yusi looked up, still a bit shaken.
The cold white light from the ceiling poured down, outlining his sharp jawline.
His gaze was as unreadable as it had been hours earlier, as if he had just casually steadied a wobbling flower pot.
“Feeling… better.”
Lin Yingzhou’s eyes lingered on her pale face for a split second before moving to the wheelchair’s armrest. “Look down.”
Bewildered, Shen Yusi did as she was told.
His hand rested on the armrest. Knuckles distinct, long and powerful.
Beneath the thin skin, pale blue veins and the outlines of bone were visible, giving his hand a sculptural quality under the cold light.
An inappropriate thought suddenly popped into Shen Yusi’s head.
Those hands…
If he was willing to be a hand model for the sculpture department, how wonderful would that be? She would definitely be the first to sign up for the elective.