48 Chapter 48

Are you coming on Friday?

The next morning, right after morning classes, Xie Wanzhi came to nag Zhan Xinyue again: "Xinyue, what's wrong with you that you can't even come to my birthday? You're really going too far, don't you know that..."

She was prepared for a long tug-of-war with Zhan Xinyue over this issue, but before she could say two words, Zhan Xinyue suddenly looked up and said, "It is indeed quite excessive, so I think I should go."

Xie Wanzhi was taken aback for a moment, then immediately became happy: "That's more like it! It's settled then, no backing out! But I haven't decided where we should go yet. Is there anything you'd like to do?"

"I'm fine with anything, it's up to you."

"Let me think about it." Xie Wanzhi thought for a moment, then casually slapped the two people in front of her on the back. "You two, it's my birthday this weekend, come out and have some fun."

Xin Wenhua turned around and said, "This is so sudden! You should have told me it was your birthday earlier. I didn't have time to prepare a gift for you. I feel so bad."

Xie Wanzhi immediately rolled her eyes: "Stop pretending with me. How can it be too late? Go to the boutique on the second floor and choose for yourself."

Xin Wenhua chuckled: "I just thought Xiao Chao's stuff was too low-class and not good enough for you."

Xie Wanzhi: "Don't give me that nonsense. I can only tell you that if you dare to come empty-handed, you're dead."

Xin Wenhua: "But I haven't even said I was coming yet!"

Xie Wanzhi was silent for two seconds: "If you hadn't come, you would have been dead anyway."

"Alright, then I'll do it." Xin Wenhua stroked his chin. "I didn't realize that your father held such an important place in your heart. You can't do without me."

Once the two started bickering, it never stopped. Lu Meng finally found a gap and interjected, "So, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Xie Wanzhi said matter-of-factly. "That's why I'm here to solicit your opinions."

Lu Meng said, "If you ask me, all I can tell you is that I chose the four-person internet cafe seat, but you won't take my advice, so please don't ask me."

Xie Wanzhi: "Indeed, you should just shut up."

Xin Wenhua said, "I don't even know how many people you invited in total. Please confirm the number first. Is it just the four of us?"

Xie Wanzhi glanced at Zhan Xinyue and hesitated a bit: "Isn't this too few people? It doesn't feel lively enough. Should we invite more people from the class?"

"Go ahead and call out, what should you call?"

“Let’s call everyone in our dorm, and then the people we’re close to in class…” Xie Wanzhi read out the names one by one, then suddenly exclaimed, “Oh dear, I don’t think that’s a good idea. If we call some people and not others, it’ll be so embarrassing if other classmates find out. What if they say we’re forming a clique?”

“It’s a bit inconvenient,” Lu Meng said. “Then don’t call anyone. The four of us can just hang out, sing a song, have some barbecue or something. There’s not much else to do.”

“Singing is fine, but it’s too boring with just the four of us,” Xie Wanzhi said, not entirely satisfied.

"What's the big deal? Why do you need so many people to sing? There's not enough room to fight over the microphones," Xin Wenhua said.

Xie Wanzhi: "You go to karaoke just to sing? When there are more people, you can also play games or something."

Xin Wenhua looked puzzled: "What's there to play? They won't even sell us alcohol when we're all underage. Are we supposed to play dice games and drink juice?"

"But you can play other games, like Truth or Dare, or board games... I really think it's not fun with fewer people, what do you guys think?"

Zhan Xinyue almost laughed when she heard this, and looked up to reply, "Then you should call everyone."

"Is that what you think? I think it's better that way too." Xie Wanzhi became happy. "I think we should invite everyone in the class, and everyone who can come should come."

"Everyone's calling out? Boss, that's generous of you!" Lu Meng gave a thumbs-up and leaned closer. "Thank you, Boss. Let me confirm with you, is this birthday celebration going to be split the bill or are you treating?"

Xie Wanzhi: "Do you think I'm as stingy as Xin Wenhua? If I invite you guys out, I'll definitely treat you."

This time, Xin Wenhua didn't bother to refute, but instead sincerely praised Lu Meng, saying, "Rich woman! I'll follow you from now on."

Xie Wanzhi laughed and cursed, "Get lost!" Then she said, "Even if I call them all, I doubt many people will come. But it doesn't matter. I'll just call them anyway. Whether they come or not is their business. I'll take whatever comes."

“By the way, if you’re going to call them all—” Xin Wenhua remembered an important question, and drew out the word, gesturing towards the side of Zhan Xinyue, “Where is that young master?” He emphasized the word “young master”.

Lu Meng also often used "young master" to refer to Shi Ziqian, but it didn't sound as uncomfortable as Xin Wenhua's.

Zhan Xinyue glanced at the empty seat next to her. Shi Ziqian had left as soon as get out of class ended, and she didn't know what he was doing.

Xie Wanzhi was also looking at her side, and pursed her lips slightly, "Everyone has called out, it wouldn't be right to leave him out, so let's call out to him too."

"Damn," Xin Wenhua said. "I advise you not to humiliate yourself. I bet five cents he won't even acknowledge you. By the way, have you even spoken to him?"

"How could I not have spoken to them!" Xie Wanzhi said angrily. "We're in the same class, how could we not have spoken at all?"

"You don't mean when someone tells you 'move aside,' do you?"

"Get out of here. We've already talked about this—" She suddenly stopped mid-sentence, glancing at them and raising her chin, "Why should I tell you?"

Xin Wenhua and Lu Meng laughed together. Xin Wenhua said, "Alright, I said I would. Remember to invite them later. I'll be watching closely from the front. I look forward to your performance."

Hearing this, Xie Wanzhi hesitated again: "It feels a bit strange. Should I talk to everyone else in the class first, and then talk to him? That would be less obvious. Or should I pretend to come over and invite you guys out this week, and then casually mention that he should come too? ... Ugh, it all feels so awkward."

As she spoke, she began to doubt herself: "Oh well, never mind, I can't do it, I'm a little nervous... It all feels so abrupt."

Zhan Xinyue raised her head at the opportune moment and considerately said, "Then how about I tell him for you?"

"Oh, is that okay?" Xie Wanzhi thought for a moment. "Right, since you're deskmates, could you tell him for me that it's my birthday this week and I'd like to invite everyone to come and have fun?"

Zhan Xinyue hesitated for a moment, then said with difficulty, "But it doesn't feel right for me to invite you to your birthday party."

"Oh, it's not really an invitation. Just ask him if he wants to come to Xie Wanzhi's birthday party next week. It's really, really casual." Xie Wanzhi quickly said.

“Okay,” Zhan Xinyue said, “I’ll give it a try.”

After Xie Wanzhi left, Zhan Xinyue stared at the book on the table, gradually becoming lost in thought.

Xie Wanzhi's thoughts were so obvious yet contradictory; she hadn't been able to see through them before. She had just probed a couple more times, which confirmed her suspicions, but now she felt even more confused.

After her rebirth, she endured the pain of not falling out with Xie Wanzhi, just to find out when the seeds of a relationship between her and Xu Shen were sown.

But how could she possibly like Shi Ziqian?

Zhan Xinyue was still thinking about this question when she went to school the next morning.

She was almost certain that her guess was absolutely correct. Xie Wanzhi had been hinting that she should stay away from Shi Ziqian, but yesterday her words implied that she wanted to invite Shi Ziqian, which was extremely contradictory.

She had also seen a saying that if a girl frequently mentions a boy's name, there must be something wrong with it.

Looking back now, Xie Wanzhi mentioned Shi Ziqian far too many times, but because most of the time she was repeatedly advising her that Shi Ziqian was unapproachable and not to get entangled with him, she failed to notice that something was wrong in time.

Zhan Xinyue walked upstairs with her head down, lost in thought.

Xu Shen's voice came from above in the hallway again. He was studying in the hallway without fail at this time. Compared to her irritability, he was in an unusually good mood today, and was singing a familiar song at the top of his lungs in the hallway.

"The Little Fairy Comes to Earth"

Helping others all day long keeps me busy

"The Little Fairy is not afraid of danger"

...

It's really annoying that she's so irritable while Xu Shen is so carefree.

She took a deep breath and, as usual, prepared to go around to the other side, but the singing on the halfway point of the stairs suddenly stopped.

Zhan Xinyue subconsciously looked up and saw Xu Shen, who always sat on the upper steps, actually wandering back and forth in the stairwell with a textbook in his hand, staring at her in shock.

"Why are you here so early?" Xu Shen spoke first, looking a little embarrassed. "Didn't you hear anything just now?"

"No," Zhan Xinyue said. "I only heard you singing 'Little Fairy.'"

Xu Shen: "...Just pretend you didn't hear that, okay? I didn't expect there to be anyone in the building at this hour, I got a little carried away."

"Okay, I didn't hear you sing 'Balala the Fairies'," Zhan Xinyue added maliciously. "It sounded like you were still using a female voice."

Xu Shen blushed, hastily said "I think I have something to do," and then disappeared as if fleeing.

Zhan Xinyue looked up at his disappearing figure a few times, and seeing that he was embarrassed, she felt a little better.

But seeing him now, the question from before kept popping into my head again, uncontrollably.

If Xie Wanzhi liked Shi Ziqian, why did she later get involved with Xu Shen? As things stand, she really can't find anything wrong between the two of them.

While he was still in a daze, another person came out from the steps downstairs; it was Shi Ziqian.

At the same time she saw him, Shi Ziqian also saw her and greeted her, "Good morning, Zhan Xinyue. Why are you standing here alone?"

Just as Zhan Xinyue was about to speak, Xu Shen suddenly returned from upstairs. He didn't appear, but his voice came through clearly: "Xinyue, remember to keep what just happened a secret for me!"

Shi Ziqian's unfinished words turned into a long silence. Their eyes met in response to his voice, and after a moment, he asked, "Is it Xu Shen?"

Zhan Xinyue nodded and said, "We just ran into each other."

Shi Ziqian said nothing.

The two walked side by side to the classroom. Shi Ziqian didn't say a word until they were back in their seats. He suddenly turned to her and asked, "Why have you been coming so early lately?"

He seemed to have asked this question before, and Zhan Xinyue replied, unaware of the reason, "I'm here to learn."

Shi Ziqian hummed in agreement, then fell silent.

Zhan Xinyue didn't pay much attention and lowered her head to take out her study materials, but then she remembered her promise to Xie Wanzhi. Although she had offered to invite Shi Ziqian to see her reaction, she still had to do it since she had already said it.

She turned to look at Shi Ziqian and saw that he was looking down, seemingly lost in thought, with wisps of hair falling down his forehead, partially obscuring his expression.

She coughed lightly, and Shi Ziqian seemed to snap out of his daze and went to flip through his exam paper.

"Um—" Zhan Xinyue cleared her throat slightly and began to speak.

"Hmm." Shi Ziqian's beautiful eyes looked over.

"It's Xie Wanzhi's birthday this weekend, and everyone's planning to get together. Do you want to come?"

Shi Ziqian didn't expect her to say this. He looked at her in silence for a long time, his eyes flickered, and his emotions were a bit complicated.

He neither said he would go nor he wouldn't go. Zhan Xinyue gradually began to feel uncomfortable under his strange gaze.

Shi Ziqian was of course not going. She already knew the outcome and was just waiting for him to refuse, but she didn't understand what his silence meant at this moment.

After a few seconds of confusion, just as she was about to look away, Shi Ziqian suddenly spoke.

She heard his very low voice.

"good."

Zhan Xinyue was taken aback.

Shi Ziqian keenly noticed the subtle change in her expression, and after a long while, he said, "I thought you wanted me to go."

Zhan Xinyue was speechless. She really didn't expect Shi Ziqian to agree to come, so she couldn't control her expression for a moment and quickly explained, "No, no, of course I hope you go. It's more lively with more people."

How could this be? She clearly remembered that Shi Ziqian was not at Xie Wanzhi's birthday banquet in her previous life.