Chapter 23: Peeking

"Zhixi... I love you."

The body heat was scorching, the sound of water thick and lingering. During the kiss, their breaths intertwined, heavy with desperate longing. Her soft, melodic gasps were enchanting, her wet eyes filled with deep affection and adoration.

He reached out, stroking her cheek, tracing a path downward, then pulled her waist close to embrace her—

Lu Zhixi bolted awake. The sight of the empty ceiling greeted him, and the heat that had once been burning suddenly turned cold.

Just at the moment he was about to hold her tight, the soft body that should have been in his arms vanished. The intense pleasure collapsed instantly, plummeting over a cliff into an abyss, turning into an unbearable, hollow weightlessness.

It was just a dream.

He was clutching something fuzzy in his hand. As he sat up in bed and brought it into view, he realized it was a teddy bear.

He got out of bed and pulled back the curtains. The day was bright, and the autumn sunlight streamed through the window into the bedroom. In the campus not far away, some idiot was practicing the trumpet right on the street. The sound was anything but beautiful, sharp enough to make his head ache as if it were splitting.

He went to the bathroom to splash his face, then left the bedroom to grab a bottle of ice water from the refrigerator. Only after the chill permeated his body did he calm down slightly.

"Mr. Alex, where should I put this box of women's clothing?"

The middle-aged maid, who had been cleaning the house with quiet movements, saw that he was awake and finally stepped forward to ask cautiously.

Lu Zhixi was silent for two seconds. "Put them in my closet."

"Breakfast is ready. For lunch, shall I proceed with the vanilla-seared salmon and black truffle pumpkin toast as previously scheduled?"

"That's fine."

The two maids, Nora and Helen, had long served the Williams family. Recently, the head steward had assigned them to the apartment newly purchased by the eldest son near his university to handle the cooking and cleaning.

Caring for the young masters' dietary preferences, laundry, and travel arrangements was usually a troublesome affair. Helen and Nora had previously served other young masters in the family who loved hosting parties, often bringing women home and leaving the place in a shambles.

Working in such a house, the maids had to maintain an extremely low profile to avoid ruining the master’s mood while keeping a sharp eye out to clear away all sorts of trash—especially used condoms. It wasn't as if no one had stolen such things before; if an accident happened, they would be the ones punished.

Initially, the two were worried they wouldn't have enough help, but upon arriving, they found their work to be overly leisurely.

The only young master in the apartment rarely spoke. Outside of his busy coursework, he mostly exercised. He was disciplined, rigid, and had no special requirements regarding the details of his life.

He owned very few things. Aside from his clothes and laptop, there was surprisingly little else: tennis rackets, a teddy bear... and a box of girls' clothes. This seemed a bit strange for a boy his age, but not discussing the employers' affairs was a basic professional standard for the maids.

He was also easy to please when it came to food. The ingredients were supplied by a designated company, and he rarely had opinions on what was prepared. Occasionally, the maids would receive odd requests—like being asked if they knew how to boil bone broth or make a specific spicy dipping sauce—but after making it to his specifications, he would say it wasn't right, and the request was never mentioned again.

As for parties, that was out of the question; the master of the house was as quiet as a ghost.

The maids went into the bedroom to clean, and Lu Zhixi finally felt some peace. He sat at the dining table and picked up his coffee cup.

The bitter liquid hit his throat, and the headache finally eased a little.

After suddenly vomiting at a recent social gathering, the doctor concluded that part of the reason was his intolerance to a new sleep aid. After switching to a different medication, his condition had improved significantly, but whether it was due to the effects of the medicine wearing off, he had begun to have frequent dreams at night.

The girl in those dreams had lost her temper with him a few days ago and then blocked him.

Not only did she block him, but her secondary social media account had also suddenly stopped updating.

Checking his phone and opening Weibo had almost become a reflexive action for Lu Zhixi every morning upon waking.

In truth, seeing those posts—which were nothing but white cats—didn't make Lu Zhixi happy, but not seeing them made him even more restless. He didn't even know when he had become addicted to this kind of poison.

Lu Zhixi stared at the phone screen on the table.

—Same as today, no new news.

So, what is she doing right now?

He covered his eyes, his head beginning to throb again.

When Nora walked out of the bedroom clutching the changed bedsheets, she found that Lu Zhixi had already left.

The black coffee on the table was finished, but the food remained untouched. She stood by the window and looked down. The young man, wearing a baseball cap, climbed onto his mountain bike and rode toward the campus.

A cool breeze caught the hem of his shirt. His silhouette grew smaller and smaller in the distance—solitary, lonely, and filled with a stark, cold emptiness.

*

After that phone call with Lu Zhixi, Jiang Ying had spent the next few days lying dormant in her dorm, barely touching her phone.

"He might be a much more complex person than I thought," she told Zhou Anning.

Zhou Anning had finished submitting her applications and was now quite idle, lying on her dorm bed with her legs crossed, watching a variety show. Upon hearing this, she put down her iPad and looked at Jiang Ying. "Do you know what I’m thinking?"

Jiang Ying nodded. "You want me to stop thinking about him."

"Exactly. Stop thinking about it. He’s as good as dead to you, let him rest in peace."

"You're right. No more thinking."

No sooner had she finished speaking than a phone started vibrating in the dorm. Neither of them knew whose it was, and they both sat up from their beds like zombies, scrambling to find it.

"It's mine."

Jiang Ying picked up her phone. Seeing a call starting with "010," her heart gave a sudden, inexplicable leap. She made a gesture for silence toward Zhou Anning.

She cleared her throat and tapped "Answer." "Hello, how can I help you?"

"Is this student Jiang Ying? Please remember to check the email sent to you by the department this morning. You have passed the interview for this year's Sino-US Joint Master-PhD Training Program. If you confirm your participation, you need to come to the academic office to sign a confirmation letter. This has a time limit; if you don't sign, there are other students waiting for the vacancy. Please come by this afternoon as soon as possible. Congratulations!"

The academic administrator hung up crisply. Jiang Ying listened to the dial tone, her mind still a blank.

Zhou Anning saw her dazed expression and immediately became nervous. "What is it?"

"I passed..." Jiang Ying's voice sounded like it was floating.

Zhou Anning processed this for three seconds, then widened her eyes and screamed on the spot.

"You passed!! This is a program where hundreds of candidates nationwide compete for only ten spots every year!! You are a born academic genius!! Dr. Jiang! Professor Jiang! God, calling you that feels so good! You are so awesome, Jiang Ying!!!"

What followed was an endless string of "Aaaaaah."

The future Dr. Jiang read the email five times over before she finally snapped out of it, excitedly joining Zhou Anning in her cheers, her cheeks flushed with excitement.

"I have a degree to pursue!! I have a scholarship to collect!!!"

In the Psychology Department at Hua University, students who passed the Sino-US joint Master-PhD program were always seen as the academic elite, and Jiang Ying was no exception.

Half an hour after receiving the call, the department's website posted the list, and Jiang Ying received congratulations from many classmates.

Amidst a flurry of compliments like "Big shot" and "New star in academia," a sense of shame rose in Jiang Ying's heart. She didn't feel she was among those with the greatest academic talent; she simply wasn't good at dealing with all sorts of different people and, after wandering around, realized that academia was the only path for her, so she had started preparing early.

At this moment, she received a message in the group chat "We All Have a Mentally Normal Future (3)."

Xu Chengming posted the list from the official website into the group, added a worshiping meme, and said: "Yingying has officially become a big shot. Once Anning finishes reaping her offers from prestigious US and UK schools, I'll be the weakest one in this group."

Zhou Anning: "Brother, as long as you don't jinx me, you'll always be my brother."

"Chengming" poked Peerless Beauty, Merit -1.

"Chengming" poked Bug's antennae were poisoned to death.

Xu Chengming: "?"

"Bug"/"Peerless Beauty" poked Chengming and said, "Look, do I still have a chance?"

Zhou Anning: "?"

Jiang Ying: "?"

Every group chat name has its own logic for existence.

The three mentally normal people chatted for a while and found that they were all free that evening and all miserable single dogs with no partners to accompany, so they decided to meet at the tavern by the school gate to eat skewers and drink to celebrate.

Good news is exhilarating. Jiang Ying and Zhou Anning finally ended their days of rotting in the dorm and went to the cafeteria for lunch together. In the afternoon, Zhou Anning had to go talk to her advisor about her thesis, so Jiang Ying went straight to the academic office to sign the confirmation letter.

She walked to the entrance of the department, her heart still thumping.

Psychological research is a very, very long road, and now she had boarded the best possible train; it was impossible not to be excited.

If she could, she would even want to jump up, put her hands on her hips, and laugh out loud three times!

It was past two in the afternoon, the time for midday classes. The students in the department were all in class, and the surroundings were very quiet, with only the faint sound of teachers lecturing drifting out.

The department building had red walls and green tiles, with green vines and purple flowers; it was like a sanctuary away from the world.

Perhaps because she had touched the door to a new life, Jiang Ying felt a sudden surge of emotion. Images of many days spent reading, thinking, and discussing with teachers and classmates here flashed through her mind. As she thought about it, her joyous mood suddenly stalled.

Some of those images inevitably included Lu Zhixi.

In the past, after group meetings, he would stand right here in front of the wisteria flowers at the entrance waiting for her, smiling gently at her, carrying her bag, holding her hand, and asking where she wanted to go or what she wanted to eat.

Times have changed, people have moved on, and this relationship had even ended in an unpleasant argument.

A faint sense of regret washed over Jiang Ying.

Then, she took a deep breath and exhaled.

Stop thinking about it!

Jiang Ying stepped into the department with a light pace and found the academic office, familiar with the route.

The Psychology Department building was an old structure of Hua University, and the interior decoration was also very rustic, with carved wooden doors and wooden floors. The academic office was on the second floor. Jiang Ying walked up, holding the dark wooden banister, feeling a bit like she had returned to the Republic of China era.

A half-open wooden door was marked "Academic Office." On the wooden shelf by the door, there were green plants and many promotional brochures for the Psychology Department. From inside the doorway, the faint sound of a teacher and a boy talking drifted out.