The night was deep and dark. Most of the lights in the teaching buildings had already gone out, with only a few graduate-exam study rooms still illuminated.
The shadows of the parasol trees stretched long across the ground, swaying gently in the breeze. Every now and then, one or two plump cats would leap out from behind the trees, then dart away with their tails held high.
The distance between their shadows was obvious. Lu Huainan looked at Ji Zhaoxi beside him, whose expression was difficult to make out in the darkness, and felt his throat tighten.
“I’m really sorry. I accidentally came across that video of you singing yesterday. I didn’t expect my phone to suddenly start playing music in the lab.”
He lowered his eyes and apologized in a quiet voice. “I… You can hit me if you want…”
Ji Zhaoxi stepped on the tree shadows without saying a word.
That wasn’t it at all. Lu Huainan had done it on purpose.
Only afterward had she realized that her fans probably didn’t like listening to her sing, because they never posted clips of her singing.
Whenever a fan did upload one, the comments would be full of people telling them to delete it…
They must have been putting up with her for a long time, but had been too embarrassed to tell her.
Lu Huainan knew she sounded awful. He had deliberately made her embarrass herself!
When Lu Huainan saw that Ji Zhaoxi wasn’t responding, his face grew paler and paler. “I’ll send you a Carnival gift, all right…”
“No! You did it on purpose. Don’t talk to me ever again.” Ji Zhaoxi was furious and began walking faster.
The more she thought about how Lu Huainan might be making fun of how terrible her singing was behind her back, the angrier she became.
Lu Huainan followed helplessly beside her, explaining in a panic, “I… I didn’t do it on purpose. I saved that clip of you singing yesterday. I listened to it a lot of times, and then my phone…”
“Why did you save a clip of me singing?” Ji Zhaoxi stared at him in disbelief.
Lu Huainan stopped in front of her. His eyes were filled with panic as he stammered, “Because it sounded good, so I saved it.”
“You said at the time that it could be used as a lullaby… so I listened to it and fell asleep…”
Ji Zhaoxi felt her ears burning. After a long silence, she said stiffly, “I was saying that to my fans, not to you.”
“Oh.” Lu Huainan responded in disappointment.
But he was her anti-fan.
The two of them continued toward the dormitories. The breeze gently blew over them, cooling the heat in their faces.
“Delete those clips of me singing.” Ji Zhaoxi watched the students jogging laps around the field and spoke in a small voice.
If this had been before, Lu Huainan would have agreed immediately. But now, he no longer wanted to be the same as he had been before.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because they sound terrible. How can you even fall asleep listening to me sing?” Ji Zhaoxi said dejectedly.
“I can.” Lu Huainan’s voice was slightly hoarse. He added, “I can fall asleep.”
Ji Zhaoxi lowered her head and kicked at the leaves on the ground. She suddenly felt that Lu Huainan had rather unusual tastes.
Seeing that she had fallen silent, Lu Huainan awkwardly looked away. “In high school… I saw you rehearsing with your classmates on the field. You sounded really good.”
The moment he brought that up, Ji Zhaoxi felt even more depressed. She hadn’t even passed the preliminary round of her high school’s singing competition.
She raised her head and looked at Lu Huainan beside her, puzzled. “Didn’t you say that you didn’t know me in high school?”
Lu Huainan choked. He avoided her gaze and said nothing.
Ji Zhaoxi couldn’t help laughing. “I knew I was famous back in high school. But I don’t think I ever saw you.”
Lu Huainan looked at her curved, smiling eyes and lowered his own. There had always been too many people around her.
As they drew closer to the women’s dormitory, Ji Zhaoxi’s mood improved considerably. “Actually, my parents don’t like listening to me sing either. Maybe I really should stop singing.”
Especially her father. Every time she sang, he would start sighing, looking as though he had something stuck in his throat.
She had thought he was just being absurd. Turns out, he genuinely didn’t like listening to her.
Lu Huainan’s body grew incredibly stiff. This was the first time he had ever spoken to Ji Zhaoxi so peacefully. His hands were clenched tightly, and even breathing felt difficult.
They soon arrived at the women’s dormitory. Ji Zhaoxi stopped at the entrance and glanced at him. “I’ll head up first.”
Lu Huainan’s face was tense, and he was blushing furiously.
Did he really have to say something so corny? It would definitely sound strange coming from him.
But she clearly needed some comfort right now…
Ji Zhaoxi looked at him in confusion. “Lu Huainan?”
Why was his face so red?
The moment Lu Huainan met her gaze, his mind went completely blank. He spoke without thinking, his voice trembling slightly. “I once heard someone say that you might be the sweetest peach in the world, but some people simply don’t like peaches.”
He said it very quickly. His fingers wouldn’t stop trembling. His lashes quivered as he looked into Ji Zhaoxi’s eyes.
“But there are people who do like them.”
He was talking about her singing.
Ji Zhaoxi stared at Lu Huainan as though he were an alien. She hadn’t expected him to say something like that.
Hearing those words from him was truly bizarre.
Lu Huainan naturally understood what her expression meant. He knew he looked ridiculous right now, but he had to say it.
Otherwise, he would end up like he had in high school—brushing past her again and again until, in the end, she couldn’t even remember what he looked like.
After a moment of silence, he said, “I’m leaving.”
Ji Zhaoxi responded instinctively, “Oh, okay.”
Lu Huainan walked away without looking back, appearing particularly cool and aloof.
Watching his retreating figure, Ji Zhaoxi still thought she preferred Lu Huainan like this.
The Lu Huainan from just now had been a little too kind…
Because an unedited photo of Ji Zhaoxi with a swollen face from her wisdom tooth had been exposed, many one-day store manager events had recently begun approaching her.
Her company strongly recommended that she accept one. In their words:
“You don’t collaborate with Puppy, you don’t do couple-pairing content, and you don’t participate in big livestream battles. You have to take part in some events to maintain your popularity!”
Ji Zhaoxi thought that made sense, so she chose a one-day store manager event at a milk-tea shop from the options her company gave her.
Once the brand had reached an agreement with Ji Zhaoxi, it immediately announced the news.
[Who said Ji Zhaoxi didn’t dare attend offline events?]
[Is her face better now? She isn’t going to show up all swollen, is she?]
[Could you act a little aloof this time, babe? Begging for aloof Xixi.]
[? Why are you begging? Xixi can do whatever she wants. And what’s wrong with asking whether her face is still swollen?!]
[Can you two stop fighting? You’re always arguing…]
[The person above should shut up. I’ve seen you several times now. First you ship Xixi with Puppy, then you ship her with Sanzi. You’re clearly the one who loves shipping couples the most!]
Ji Zhaoxi was already used to seeing arguments in the comments. Her fans really loved fighting. They were an incredibly energetic bunch.
L also reposted the Weibo post about the event, and Ji Zhaoxi’s fans immediately started cursing him in the comments.
Lu Huainan had long since grown used to being insulted. Since the event’s organizers had created the group chat, he directly snuck in using his alternate account.
If Ji Zhaoxi’s fans had created the group themselves, he definitely wouldn’t have been able to get in.
