Chapter 39 "Who told you I don't have a boyfriend?"...

Compared to Song Ke's reserved and subtle expression, Sheng Yu's words were much simpler and more direct, leaving no room for beating around the bush, instantly igniting the entire audience.

Tang Ci ignored the commotion and jeers of her classmates. Her mind went blank, and after a long while, she finally turned her stiff neck and shook her head.

Sheng Yu narrowed his eyes, like a stern judge, continuing to interrogate her, a criminal with a criminal record.

"You still can't lie."

Tang Ci swallowed hard, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the card he had placed on the table, which only had the previous question on it.

“There’s no problem with the card,” Tang Ci said softly. “You fouled.”

The boy next to Sheng Yu nudged his shoulder: "Brother Yu, you have no sportsmanship. You're just bullying Tang Ci because she's honest."

The other boys also joined in the teasing, and Song Ke cast a hesitant glance at them.

Sheng Yu smiled, showing no remorse even after being exposed. He propped himself up on his long legs and stared at Tang Ci with an air of nonchalance.

Tang Ci slowly pursed her lips, puffed out her cheeks, and glared at him.

Sheng Yu quickly raised his hands in surrender, saying, "I was wrong."

This apology, tinged with a frivolous tone, once again elicited laughter from the boys.

The lights hanging from the red plastic canopy of the barbecue stall swayed, clearly illuminating his arrogant and unruly expression, revealing his malicious intentions to the fullest extent.

Even so, Tang Ci couldn't feel the slightest bit annoyed with him, and couldn't even take her eyes off his wickedly smiling face.

Beauty can be a trap, Tang Ci murmured to herself, only turning her head when Jiang Chan called out to her.

Jiang Chan pointed to the sign across the street: "Want some milk tea? That shop has a buy-one-get-one-free offer."

Before the boys' teasing had even stopped, Tang Ci was the first to jump up from her stool: "Drink!"

Standing under the sign of the milk tea shop, Tang Ci suddenly remembered that the doctor had specifically told her during her last check-up that she was not allowed to drink any beverages.

Jiang Chan had already made her choice and whispered in her ear, "Your drink is free, remember to choose an expensive one."

"The doctor said I can't drink beverages," Tang Ci said apologetically. "I just forgot."

Upon hearing her words, Lin Jing, the girl who came with her, casually said, "Then you should buy it for Sheng Yu."

Before Tang Ci could respond, Jiang Chan pouted, "Why not buy it for Song Ke?"

Lin Jing took the milk tea from the waiter and smiled ambiguously: "Let Tang Ci say who she wants to buy it for."

"...I didn't intend to buy it for anyone."

Tang Ci's weak rebuttal was drowned out by Jiang Chan and Lin Jing's heated betting. When she came to her senses, Tang Ci already had a steaming cup of milk tea in her hand.

Unable to reach a conclusion, Jiang Chan and Lin Jing suggested, "Why insist on having Xiao Ci deliver it? Wouldn't it be better to let the two of them argue about it?"

"You're right!" Lin Jing winked slyly. "Just wait and see!"

Tang Ci was completely bewildered as they led her back to the barbecue stall. Before she could even sit down, Lin Jing took the milk tea from her hand.

Lin Jing patted the table, and when everyone looked at her, she raised the milk tea and asked loudly, "Tang Ci bought an extra cup of milk tea, does anyone want some?"

After the earlier commotion during the game, the unrelated classmates wisely kept quiet, mischievously switching their gazes back and forth between Song Ke and Sheng Yu.

Song Kewen looked at Tang Ci and said, "Can I have some? I'll transfer the money to you."

Tang Ci moved her lips, about to say yes, when she saw Sheng Yu raise his arm and take the cup of milk tea from Lin Jing's hand.

He glanced down at the price tag on the milk tea cup, then looked up and smiled: "You still remember I like to drink this."

Tang Ci stared at the cup of full-sugar brown sugar bubble tea and fell silent. She clearly remembered that Sheng Yu didn't like sweet drinks.

Lin Jing raised an eyebrow at Jiang Chan and rubbed her fingers together to indicate that she had lost the bet.

Jiang Chan slapped Song Ke's arm in exasperation: "Squad leader! Why are you being so tactful at a crucial moment?!"

Song Ke took a sip of water awkwardly and comforted Jiang Chan, who had lost money, with a wry smile.

Tang Ci didn't want to participate in this boring and childish game anymore, so she went to another table to play cards with a few girls. Sheng Yu called her twice during the game, but she pretended not to hear him.

Since it was a day off tomorrow, many boys drank some beer. Sheng Yu also had a few drinks. Unlike the other boys who would stagger and ramble on after a few drinks, he sat still and remained very quiet.

When the event ended, Tang Ci went back to her seat to get her schoolbag.

Sheng Yu drank the last sip of wine in her glass, picked up the shoulder strap of her backpack, and stood up.

Perhaps he had drunk a bit too much, because when he stood up, he held onto the edge of the table and his upper body swayed slightly.

Looking at the table full of beer cans, Tang Ci couldn't help but ask anxiously, "Did you drink all of this?"

Sheng Yu remained noncommittal, but took advantage of the moment when everyone left to lean down and whisper in her ear, "I've called you so many times but you never listen to me, which made me drink so much."

Tang Ci paused, her ears burning from his warm breath, and covered them, saying, "Sorry, I didn't hear you."

“If you really want to apologize, then take concrete action,” Sheng Yu said, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and tilting her head. “Take me back to the hotel.”

“…Alright then.” Tang Ci walked to his side and asked, “Do you want to take a taxi?”

"Let's go for a bit."

"oh."

On a chilly spring night, there weren't many people on the street, and only the occasional car drove by.

The two walked side by side on the sidewalk, chatting casually, and before they knew it, they had arrived at the gate of Tang Ci's residential area.

Sheng Yu handed her the schoolbag: "Go back now."

Tang Ci took the backpack and asked blankly, "Didn't you say you'd take me back to the hotel?"

"Just kidding, I didn't drink too much." Sheng Yu suddenly chuckled, "Your milk tea was really too sweet for me."

Tang Ci couldn't help but curl her lips into a smile: "Who told you to insist on drinking it?"

Sheng Yu, hands in his pockets, looked calmly into her eyes and asked, "Why do you think I have to drink this?"

Tang Ci felt uneasy under his gaze, her eyes darting nervously to the night sky. She abruptly changed the subject: "Tomorrow should be a sunny day..."

"Maybe," Sheng Yu glanced at the night sky and stopped pressuring her, "Go home."

Tang Ci slung her backpack over her shoulder, took two steps back before turning around and entering the residential area, walking very slowly.

"Tang Ci." Sheng Yu suddenly called her from behind again.

Tang Ci immediately turned around: "Hmm?"

"Your birthday is coming up soon, what do you want to wish for?"

Tang Ci clenched her hands, momentarily speechless. Since her mother's passing, her birthday had become just an ordinary date, and any wishes she had made were utterly absurd.

Sheng Yu seemed to have just mentioned it casually, asking her with a calm expression.

Tang Cikong swallowed hard, and through the hazy night, she mustered her courage to ask, "Can I have any wish?"

A gentle night breeze revealed a slight tremor in her voice.

Tang Ci felt an invisible force tightening in her chest, and she hoped that Sheng Yu hadn't noticed.

But he still sensed it keenly, and his dark eyes looked at her calmly, as if it were a matter of course, and he said in a low voice, "Of course."

/

The front door was wide open, and the interior was brightly lit.

Several large woven bags were piled up in the entryway, so full that they bulged out of the door frame.

Tang Ci lowered her gaze slightly and quickened her pace upstairs. The moment she stepped into the entrance hall, she saw an unfamiliar middle-aged woman squatting on the ground tidying up her clothes.

The woman also saw her and shouted something towards the balcony in the dialect of the surrounding towns.

Soon a short, middle-aged man entered the living room and asked in a rough, hoarse voice in broken Mandarin, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Tang Ci took a half-step back warily: "This is my home, who are you?"

Seeing that she was carrying a backpack, the man softened his tone: "We bought this house two months ago and agreed to move in today. If you were this family, how could you not know?"

Tang Ci's face drained of color: "Tang Jianwei sold it to you?"

Upon hearing Tang Jianwei's name, the man nodded, took out the property certificate and contract from the woven bag, and placed them on the shoe cabinet: "Take a look for yourself."

The name on the property certificate had indeed been changed, and the date on the purchase contract was exactly two months ago.

In other words, Tang Jianwei and Qin Ling had already sold the house when they set off for Jiangcheng.

Tang Ci closed her eyes, pressing her hand against the edge of the cabinet with such force that the veins stood out. She suddenly understood the meaning behind the hesitant expressions on Tang Jianwei and Qin Ling's faces at that time.

They treated her like an unimportant burden and simply threw her away.

Seeing her pale face and standing alone, the man felt sorry for her and asked his wife to pull her inside: "It's cold outside, come in and tell me what's wrong."

"Thank you." Tang Ci looked around the living room, which now contained many unfamiliar things, took the water the woman handed her, and thanked her like a true guest.

She took only a small sip of hot water before taking out her phone to call Tang Jianwei. The first two calls went unanswered, and the third call rang for more than ten seconds before being answered.

"Hello! Hello! What is it?!" Tang Jianwei's voice was loud and noisy on the other end, so he raised his voice, as if he were shouting.

Tang Ci couldn't bring herself to call him "Dad," and instead asked directly, "You sold the house?"

"Huh?...Um...well," Tang Jianwei cleared his throat, "that family moved in today, right?"

Tang Ci didn't say anything.

"I've discussed this with your Aunt Qin for a long time, but I forgot to tell you after we came to Jiangcheng and got so busy."

Sensing the tense atmosphere, the middle-aged couple sat on the opposite sofa, looking at her with concern.

Tang Ci's throat tightened, and she swallowed her last bit of pride, asking softly, "Then where will I stay?"

Before Tang Jianwei could answer, Qin Ling shouted from the other end: "Old Tang, the nurse just said the baby is crying, you need to go and check on him right away."

"They're here, they're here."

A series of hurried footsteps came through the receiver first, and when Tang Jianwei spoke again, his voice was more anxious: "Your maternal grandmother has so many relatives, don't you know to contact them yourself?!"

"Dad really had no other choice. Your aunt just gave birth, and there are expenses everywhere. If we don't sell the house, what will your brother eat and drink?!"

Realizing his tone had been too harsh, Tang Jianwei added in a gentler voice, "If you really don't want to stay with your relatives, then rent a place. Anyway, you're going to university soon, so you won't be renting for more than a few months..."

A nurse urged him to pay the bill, and Tang Jianwei cursed under his breath before abruptly hanging up the phone.

Tang Ci had long anticipated the outcome of this phone call, but when she actually heard Tang Jianwei's heartless words, her heart still clenched tightly.

After exchanging a glance with his wife, the man said to her, "Girl, it's too late today and you haven't packed your things. Why don't you stay here for now and we'll figure something out tomorrow?"

The night outside the window was dark, and Tang Ci had no other choice but to say with her sore eyes, "Thank you for your help."

The woman led her into the second bedroom, where an open woven bag lay on the floor. Two girls who looked like elementary school students were sitting on the bed looking at a picture book. When they heard the sound, they looked up timidly.

Looking at the girls' innocent and timid expressions, Tang Ci felt a sense of guilt for intruding into their world.

The woman approached the two girls and told them to get out of bed. She whispered a few words in her local dialect to them, essentially saying that she had nowhere to go and that they should sleep with her that night.

The two girls nodded obediently and followed their mother out of the bedroom, one after the other.

As the older children passed by Tang Ci, they slipped a small wad of something into her hand.

The door closed, and Tang Ci opened her hand, seeing a piece of milk candy lying in her palm. The wrapper was crumpled and shrunken from being clutched by the girl for a long time.

Tang Ci felt a lump in her throat.

/

Tang Ci slept fitfully all night, with bizarre dreams playing out one after another in her mind.

The scene shifts to the kitchen, where the mother is steaming pastries with her back to the living room. She turns to her daughter, who is playing with building blocks in the living room, and smiles, saying, "Remember to drink your milk."

A moment later, she transformed into a teacher, her desk piled high with completed exercise books. Old Xu carried the papers into the classroom and loudly praised her, saying she had a bright future ahead of her.

Finally, the bedroom turned completely dark. The phone screen under the pillow lit up, and Sheng Yu sent her a text message.

Tang Ci blinked her dry eyes and stared at the colorful screen for a while before realizing that she had woken up from the dream.

She got out of bed and checked the message Sheng Yu had sent.

It's a picture.

On the gray bed sheet, the boy's clean fingertips held a thermometer.

The scale shows 37.7.

He has a fever.

Tang Ci sat up, forgetting to turn on the light, and fumbled for her slippers. Her eyes caught sight of a woven bag on the floor, and she suddenly stopped.

With her shoulders slightly slumped, she remained seated and sent Sheng Yu a message detailing the medication to take for the fever and other precautions.

After sitting for a while with her phone in her hand, the screen, which had gone dark, didn't light up again. Tang Ci then fumbled to put on her slippers and drew back the curtains.

At seven o'clock, the sky was still dark, with thin clouds hanging in the air and not a ray of sunshine in sight.

It was a gloomy, lifeless day.

Tang Ci paused, looked away from the window, and began packing her luggage in the dim light of day.

She didn't have much stuff; clothes barely filled her suitcase, and then she packed her mother's memorial tablet and a few books before pulling the suitcase up.

The living room curtains were open, and the old furniture sat silently among them, bathed in a faint light.

Tang Ci didn't linger; she slung her backpack over her shoulder, picked up her suitcase, and left the room.

The early spring morning still carried a chilly air, the wind biting at my face.

Tang Ci seemed oblivious, carrying her luggage as she walked to the breakfast shop outside the residential area.

She ordered half a basket of steamed dumplings and a bowl of soy milk. While waiting, she took out her phone to organize the rental information she had saved the night before.

Back then, rental apps hadn't yet become popular, and finding a place to rent relied entirely on online landlords and real estate agents in the same city. You could filter out obviously fake listings online, and the rest you had to visit each place in person.

Tang Ci looked at all the available rooms in the vicinity all morning, but was unable to book a room.

Although the houses in the area near my home are old, the location is excellent, close to schools and subway stations. A small single room can easily cost three or four thousand a month.

After grabbing a quick bite at a convenience store at noon, Tang Ci decided to expand her rental location to a village in the city not far from here.

As housing prices in urban villages decrease, information becomes increasingly mixed and unreliable.

Tang Ci went to see three apartments with the real estate agent. Two of them were not as shown in the photos as they appeared in person, and one required her to share an apartment with three middle-aged men. After careful consideration, she rejected both.

The real estate agent who showed her the apartment was an older woman. She saw that she was a young girl with a refined and gentle appearance. When she said she didn't want to rent, she wasn't angry. She gave her a phone number: "This is a relative of mine. She has several single-room apartments in the southern suburbs. The location is a bit remote, but the good thing is that they are cheap."

The aunt gently patted her arm: "Girl, do you want to go take a look?"

The houses in the urban village are scattered at different heights, and the narrow sky is filled with tangled wires. Tang Ci peeked through the gaps into the gloomy sky. The dark clouds were about to press down on the rooftops, and a heavy rain was inevitable today.

She nodded her thanks to her aunt and saved the phone number.

/

Four o'clock in the afternoon.

The curtains in the hotel suite were drawn, and a tall figure could be vaguely seen under the covers on the large bed.

The phone, which had been carelessly tossed aside on the pillow, vibrated for a while before Sheng Yu reached out to touch it, lifted his eyelids, and pressed the answer button.

"Hello."

Hearing his low, husky voice, Zhou Yiyang asked unsurprisedly, "Did you have insomnia again last night?"

He propped himself up on the mattress with his elbows, casually brushing his stray hairs to the top of his head, revealing the bulging veins on his forehead. He grunted in response to the splitting headache.

Zhou Yiyang paused for a moment: "Want to come to the southern suburbs for dinner tonight? I'd like to meet a friend."

Sheng Yu scoffed, "New girlfriend?"

Zhou Yiyang grinned and hummed in agreement: "Want me the address?"

"Okay." Sheng Yu didn't waste any more words with him, hung up the phone, and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

After a hot shower, the headache subsided considerably. As I dried my hair and returned to the bedside, the waving towel knocked over an open medicine box on the bedside table, scattering white pills all over the floor.

He bent down, gathered the pills into his palm, and threw the empty pillbox into the trash can. Then he opened the cabinet and took out a new one from the densely packed pillboxes.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a row of calming oral liquids at the bottom of the cabinet. He narrowed his eyes, pulled one out, inserted a straw, and put it in his mouth.

As he drank, he turned on his phone, opened his chat with Tang Ci, and clicked his tongue at the sick precautions the girl had sent him that morning.

/

The southern suburbs are home to studios from all walks of life, and the commercial streets are more mixed than those in the city. Various buildings stand side by side, and all kinds of lights illuminate the dim night. Young people dressed in flamboyant clothes can be seen gathering together to smoke and talk on the street.

Sheng Yu was dressed in a black tracksuit, with very short black hair, sharp and clean features, and a half-smoked cigarette between his thin lips. As he walked down the street, he attracted the attention of men and women on the roadside.

He was already used to the stares of others. With one hand in his pocket and the other, he opened the door of the Hunan restaurant and walked in.

Zhou Yiyang stood in the second-floor corridor and called out to him, "Come up."

Sheng Yu nodded and stubbed out his cigarette before going upstairs.

Upon entering the private room, Sheng Yu raised an eyebrow at Zhou Yiyang upon seeing the two girls sitting on the sofa.

Zhou Yiyang raised his hand to the girl sitting next to him: "This is my girlfriend, Zhou Ying, and next to her is her classmate, Ye Jiao."

After saying that, he patted Sheng Yu on the shoulder again: "This is my childhood friend, Sheng Yu."

After exchanging greetings, Zhou Yiyang briefly introduced their identities during the break between serving the dishes.

Zhou Ying and Ye Jiao are both second-year students at the Academy of Fine Arts. They opened a pottery studio together in the southern suburbs. Zhou Yiyang's mother ordered a vase from their studio and asked Zhou Yiyang to handle the negotiations, while Zhou Ying was in charge of receiving the customer. Before long, the two of them sparked a romance.

Sheng Yu listened to his introduction with a detached expression, polite yet distant.

Ye Jiao rested her chin on her hand, seemingly listening attentively to her friend, but her gaze seemed to be lingering on Sheng Yu.

There's no shortage of handsome guys at the art academy, and she has quite a few suitors, but top-tier handsome guys like her are indeed rare, not to mention the aloofness that keeps strangers at bay, which really piques people's interest.

Ye Jiao racked her brains to try and strike up a conversation several times, but Sheng Yu abruptly ended the conversation each time.

She was a little discouraged, but when she saw Sheng Yu go out to smoke, she made an excuse to follow him.

The windows of the second-floor corridor were wide open, and the night breeze blew into the corridor. The boy's back was straight, and he raised his pale, slender fingertips to cup the flame. The sparks from the lighter illuminated his high nose bridge, and his thin, pale lips held a cigarette.

The scene was both abstinent and unrestrained, and Ye Jiao felt a tickle in her heart. She walked over to him and asked casually, "Isn't it boring to go on a date with a friend?"

Sheng Yu turned his head and glanced at the woman standing beside him, then scoffed, "You seem quite interesting."

Ye Jiao tidied her stray hairs, stopped beating around the bush, and took out her phone to explain her purpose: "That depends on who you're talking to. Would you mind adding me as a contact?"

Even the hint of mockery in Sheng Yu's eyes vanished: "It's inconvenient."

Ye Jiao choked up. She had never been rejected so directly before, and she felt somewhat resentful: "Handsome, don't be so blunt in rejecting people. Since neither of us has a partner, why not give each other a chance?"

Sheng Yu took off her cigarette: "Who told you I don't have a boyfriend?"

Ye Jiao was taken aback for a moment, then laughed: "Your phone didn't light up even once during the long meal. If you really have a boyfriend, the relationship probably isn't very good."

Whether it was a misperception or not, after Ye Jiao finished speaking, she seemed to see a slight softening in Sheng Yu's cold expression.

Before she could investigate further, the arguing downstairs caught her attention, and Ye Jiao looked down.

In the alley, a man with dyed red hair snatched a suitcase from a girl. The girl was slender and fell to the ground as the red-haired man pulled her.

She scrambled to her feet almost immediately, limped after Red Hair, gripped the suitcase handles tightly with both hands, and whispered something to him.

Ye Jiao saw the girl's face; it was narrow and pale, with a refined and reserved air, which seemed out of place in the murky environment of the southern suburbs.

She was hesitating whether to ask what was going on when she heard Sheng Yu beside her let out a low curse.

Ye Jiao looked up in surprise, only to see Sheng Yu's taut jawline flash by. His face was ashen as he leaned against the windowsill and jumped directly from the second floor.

Along with Ye Jiao, Red Hair screamed. Before he could realize what was happening, Sheng Yu, who had fallen from the sky, kicked him to the ground, and he began to groan while clutching his stomach.

Ye Jiao clung tightly to the windowsill and looked down. By the dim light of the streetlights in the back alley, she saw Sheng Yu squat down in front of the stunned girl, lift up her trouser leg, and check her knee that she had just fallen on.

"Does it hurt?" Ye Jiao heard Sheng Yu ask in a deep voice, "Tang Ci, speak!"

The girl was stunned by everything that happened suddenly. After a second, she whispered, "It doesn't hurt."

Sheng Yu ignored her, hooked her legs and lifted her up in his arms, then looked up at the frozen Ye Jiao and said, "Call Zhou Yiyang down."