Chapter 35: Sneaking a Look

“Lu Zhixi is far too devious. You and Yu Siyan have only just gotten together, and your relationship hasn’t even had time to develop yet—it’s like a baby still in swaddling clothes. And then he pulls something like this? It’s no different from slapping that baby twice across the face, then maliciously sowing discord: ‘See? You’re so fragile. I can kill you without even trying.’”

The next morning, Jiang Ying briefly told Zhou Anning what had happened the day before.

After hearing her out, Zhou took a bite of a shrimp dumpling and remarked, “But I have to say, the breakfast he sent is delicious. Last night, I almost thought he’d succeeded in taking your boyfriend’s place and pushed Yu Siyan aside.”

The night before, after her research-group meeting, Zhou Anning had gone out to dinner with the members of her academic lineage. Halfway through the meal, she received a call from Lu Zhixi saying that Jiang Ying might have a fever. She had immediately hurried back to campus, picked up the medicine Lu Zhixi had left at the school gate, and rushed back to the dormitory to care for Jiang Ying.

Since Lu Zhixi had troubled Zhou Anning with the errand, the breakfast he sent today came in two portions, giving her ample consideration.

“I blocked his new number yesterday too. I didn’t expect him to contact you instead.” Jiang Ying sighed.

“Thank goodness he did. Otherwise, you, the future youngest and most beautiful professor in the field of psychology, would have turned into a little fool from a fever during your senior year.”

When Zhou Anning arrived at the dormitory, Jiang Ying was nearly delirious with fever. Whenever Zhou said a few words to her, Jiang Ying would whimper softly, tears spilling straight from the corners of her eyes.

It broke Zhou Anning’s heart. When Lu Zhixi called to ask how Jiang Ying was doing, she could not resist turning on the speakerphone, letting him hear those pitiful sobs before demanding to know what had happened and why Jiang Ying was so miserable—whether he had committed some fresh atrocity.

Lu Zhixi remained silent for a long time. In the end, he merely told Zhou Anning to remember to give Jiang Ying her medicine, then carefully explained how many times a day she was to take it.

“She won’t sleep soundly at a time like this. I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you to stay with her tonight.”

After taking the medicine, Jiang Ying’s fever finally broke in the middle of the night.

Afraid something might happen to her, Zhou Anning had not dared sleep. When Jiang Ying woke, Zhou immediately took the soup and rice downstairs to the dormitory’s microwave and heated them up so Jiang Ying could replenish her strength.

“I know you don’t want to eat anything your ex-boyfriend sends, but he’s always bullying you, so you don’t have to feel guilty about eating his food. And there’s my labor in this meal too. For my sake, you have to eat a little more!”

After Zhou coaxed her like a child, Jiang Ying finally ate a little during the night. By the next morning, the discomfort in her body had completely disappeared.

Zhou Anning had nearly finished her breakfast when she put down her chopsticks and reminded her, “Remember to take another dose of medicine later.”

Jiang Ying’s gaze fell on the several medicine boxes at the edge of the table, their packaging covered entirely in English.

She had seen identical boxes on the living-room table in Lu Zhixi’s apartment, though those had already been opened and used.

During the few days after his first appearance on campus and subsequent disappearance, Lu Zhixi must have come down with a fever.

Beijing had been so cold, and he had been wearing so little. That day, he had been so enraged that he had lost his temper and resorted to violence on campus. With the combined effects of everything, it was only natural that he had fallen ill. He had probably recovered enough yesterday to come looking for her—only to cause another scene.

A faint sigh rose in Jiang Ying’s heart.

Why bother?

“But you were sick. How come Yu Siyan didn’t show any reaction?” Zhou Anning suddenly remembered.

“I haven’t told him yet,” Jiang Ying said softly. “Yesterday’s incident was an undeserved disaster for him. I don’t want him to feel burdened.”

“Yesterday, were you afraid Yu Siyan would feel uncomfortable, so you didn’t tell him how terribly you hate the cold? Honestly, there was nothing wrong with taking Lu Zhixi’s car back to campus. He was the one who brought you there in the first place. And Yu Siyan didn’t consider your condition at all.”

Zhou Anning looked at her with exasperation.

“Most boys these days are thick-headed. How could they think things through so carefully? If you don’t say something, they often have no idea what they ought to do. Lu Zhixi may have resorted to tricks, but his mind really is finer than a strand of hair. Someone like him can take care of everything without you having to say a word… Now that I put it that way, he does have his merits. It’s just a pity that he managed to turn himself from the proper boyfriend into the other man…”

Jiang Ying listened to her chatter on and on, then smiled helplessly.

“Someone like Lu Zhixi may look perfect under ordinary circumstances, but in reality, he’s extremely domineering and likes controlling other people. Once you fall into his trap, it’s very easy to become bewitched. And if one day he pulls away, as happened before…”

She paused, then changed the subject.

“Actually, Siyan has already done very well. This is his first relationship, and the moment he got together with me, he had to face so many complications. I can already feel him trying hard to adjust.”

Zhou Anning naturally understood what she meant and said no more.

Long before Jiang Ying and Yu Siyan had started dating, Zhou Anning had heard her mention that Yu Siyan was gentle and steady by nature, and that Jiang Ying loved the sense of security he gave her.

Actually, that was exactly what Jiang Ying had said when she confessed her feelings to Lu Zhixi.

As Jiang Ying’s close friend and fiercely devoted solo supporter, Zhou Anning knew that Jiang Ying simply liked this type of man.

To be fair, Jiang Ying had clearly been far more infatuated with Lu Zhixi in the beginning. Otherwise, she would never have taken the initiative to confess. It was just unfortunate that Lu Zhixi had turned out to be a rotten-hearted bastard. Zhou Anning only hoped that Jiang Ying’s new boyfriend would not mistreat her. Minor details could be corrected gradually.

Jiang Ying did not notice Zhou Anning’s thoughtful expression. She lowered her head, took out her phone, and found Lu Zhixi’s number in her blocked list.

She typed a message thanking him for the food and medicine, saying that she was already feeling much better and that he need not send anything over again.

After reading it through once and making sure there was nothing inappropriate in the wording, she sent it, then blocked Lu Zhixi’s number again.

That afternoon, Yu Siyan still noticed that she had been sick.

Although Jiang Ying’s fever had broken, her throat remained hoarse. She had barely said two words during their call when he realized something was wrong.

A little over an hour later, she suddenly received another message from him.

He said he was waiting downstairs at her dormitory and had brought her a few things.

Jiang Ying hurried downstairs and saw Yu Siyan standing outside the dormitory’s glass doors, carrying bags both large and small.

The sun was out that day, but the wind was still strong. It tousled his soft black hair, revealing his smooth forehead and refined brows and eyes.

And across those brows and eyes lay unmistakable anxiety and remorse.

“I didn’t think things through yesterday. I shouldn’t have let you walk for so long in such cold weather.”

The moment Yu Siyan saw that her face was still somewhat pale, his voice filled with guilt.

He had bought two cups of hot drinks and several snacks Jiang Ying liked. He had brought fever medicine as well as a large paper bag.

“You once told me that you liked the toys from this shop. A few days ago, when they began preselling a series of mystery boxes, I thought they might be your sort of thing, so I immediately ordered a complete set. They happened to arrive today. You can take them back to the dormitory and open them at your leisure.”

Jiang Ying had not expected him to buy the entire set. She leaned closer and glanced into the bag. The unopened boxes bore pictures of rabbit toys in different colors, all soft and adorably plump. They were exactly the sort of thing she liked.

“I love them. Thank you!”

A radiant smile spread across her face, and her beautiful eyes glittered.

Because of Lu Zhixi’s sudden reappearance, Jiang Ying and Yu Siyan had continued getting along quite well during this period, but an almost imperceptible gloom had always hung over them. The previous day’s events had only made matters worse. Though both of them had remained restrained on the surface, they had been distracted and unsettled inside, each carrying their own thoughts as they sat in the car.

But now, when Yu Siyan saw Jiang Ying accept the gift and smile at him with such genuine sweetness, the emotions that had troubled him suddenly dissipated without reason.

And when Jiang Ying saw the relaxed smile finally return to his face, she too breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Life settled back into peace.

Jiang Ying guessed that Lu Zhixi had probably been confined by the elders in his family. For the entire following week, she received no message from him, and he wisely stopped sending things over.

She even deleted the social-media app from her phone, intending never to check her alternate account again or think about anything related to Lu Zhixi.

With the deadline for submitting the first draft of her thesis approaching, Jiang Ying once more devoted herself to her work. To keep her company, Yu Siyan came over from Tsinghua University every day to study with her in the college library.

The two of them arrived and left together. Since Yu Siyan would also be coming to Peking University for graduate school after graduating in his senior year, he was practically half a Peking University student already. Before long, the students and professors in the department all knew him, and they also learned that the two of them were dating.

Jiang Ying and Lu Zhixi had once been exceptionally sweet together, so when people heard that they had broken up, quite a few younger students who had followed their romance felt sorry about it.

This time, when many of them first learned that Jiang Ying had a new boyfriend, they instinctively said, “That’s wonderful, that’s wonderful. At least you’ll be able to look after each other when you go to America.”

Yet their eyes held complicated emotions, as though they were silently lamenting:

“After all, even the model couple has fallen apart…”

“It’s wonderful that you’re starting a new life.”

“May this relationship bring you happiness!”

Yu Siyan was not very familiar with the students in Peking University’s psychology department and failed to notice the countless unspoken thoughts in their eyes. Instead, after meeting so many of Jiang Ying’s classmates, he began looking for an opportunity to introduce her to his own friends.

“Did you have fun tonight?”

A little after ten that evening, Yu Siyan escorted Jiang Ying to the dormitory entrance.

There was hardly anyone around. She stood on the corridor outside the dormitory, while Yu Siyan stood two steps below her, bringing their faces to the same level so they could look directly at each other.

Jiang Ying nodded and smiled. “It’s been a long time since I went out and truly relaxed.”

It was the first day of the New Year holiday. They had given themselves the day off and gone to a nearby shopping mall to have dinner with Yu Siyan’s friends. Since there was still time afterward, they had decided on the spur of the moment to see a movie.

Yu Siyan reached out and touched her forehead, checking whether her temperature was abnormal.

After what had happened the last time she developed a fever, he had realized that Jiang Ying’s constitution was somewhat weak and that she was especially sensitive to the cold. He no longer dared let her return to campus alone, and every time, he escorted her all the way to the dormitory entrance.