Chapter 8 Numb.08 Touch Me

Fu Xi: I'll send you the electronic version of the script. Could you ask that guy if he's interested in playing the role? He's perfect for the part.

The two beeps of WeChat on her computer pulled Xu Wu back to reality. She glanced at the messages Fu Xi had sent, picked out the most important ones to reply to, and then downloaded and opened the Word document Fu Xi had sent her.

Fu Xi highlighted all of her lines in red. Xu Wu quickly scrolled through them from top to bottom with her mouse wheel and, finding nothing wrong, replied with "OK".

Fu Xi: If all else fails, give me his contact information and I'll talk to him myself.

Xu Wu paused for two seconds on the words "contact information," his hand on the keyboard hesitated for a moment before typing—

Five: I don't have his contact information.

Fu Xi quickly responded with a question mark, his words revealing utter disbelief.

Xu Wu unconsciously tapped the table twice with her hand, a little habit that naturally appeared when she was lost in thought.

She didn't know how to explain this to Fu Xi. If she had to say, she and Jie Ying knew each other, but they weren't close enough to exchange contact information, that was the truth.

The room she's currently renting isn't far from the school. She rented it from an old lady when she was in her first year of high school. Because it was small and old, the rent was cheap, and because she was a student, the rent was lowered a bit. Seven hundred a month was within her budget.

However, she didn't see the landlord again after her second year of high school until one day when a teenager came to collect the rent.

He was wearing a black tracksuit, the high collar completely covering his neck. When he lowered his head slightly, his chin and lips were hidden by the collar, and his bangs obscured his delicate features.

The hallway lights were under repair at the time, and they would often flicker on and off.

While Xu Wu was stunned, the boy happened to hear footsteps. Upon hearing this, his pupils shifted to meet her gaze. Even though his eyes were obscured by his long hair, his aloof indifference was clearly visible.

Xu Wu only noticed the mole near the other person's mouth the moment the hallway light flashed by.

The lights dimmed and disappeared; the lights came on and shone brightly.

She blinked and asked what the other person was doing there.

It was only then that they learned the original landlord was the boy's grandmother, who had passed away, and that he would be collecting the rent from now on.

Neither of them brought up exchanging contact information. Xu Wu continued to transfer money to the original landlord's WeChat account every month, and she knew that Jie Ying would check the account regularly.

The computer beeped twice more.

Fu Xi: I'll come find you during break tomorrow.

Xu Wu replied with an "okay," then exited the chat with Fu Xi, clicked on the contact page of the person labeled as Teacher Liu from the institution, confirmed the class time every Saturday with him, and then closed WeChat.

She now spends about ten hours a week tutoring others online, usually on her two days off each week, charging 200 yuan per hour.

The money in her account was enough for her to pay for a year of private acting lessons, and she wouldn't be too bad off before going to college.

Xu Wu pinched the bridge of her nose, picked up her phone from the side and glanced at the time; it was almost 10:30.

She was about to get up to wash up when several messages popped up in quick succession.

[+86 16xxxxxxxx9: [Photo]]

【+86 16xxxxxxxx9: Why are you standing so close to him? ^_^】

It's another unknown number. I don't even know how many times this has happened. Every time I block someone, a new one pops up, just like a new virus.

The photo shows Jieying squatting down to apply medicine to her and grabbing her ankle. Because it was taken with night vision, it has a hazy and blurry feel, like a spying shot placed in the bushes.

Xu Wu looked down at the large red marks on her ankle, which were caused by her vigorous rubbing during her shower and had not faded yet.

She felt disgusted by Jieying's touch, yet she couldn't help but think that someone who seemed so cold and devoid of warmth actually had warm hands.

【+86 16xxxxxxxx9: Did you touch him too? Can you please not touch him, just look at me, okay?】

[+86 16xxxxxxxx9: Okay, okay ...

That's a good size.

Xu Wu coldly clicked "block".

She had suspected that it might have been sent by Jie Ying, but she hadn't had a chance to verify it until Fu Xi mentioned the words "contact information".

Xu Wu took one last look at the candid photo and thought to herself, "It's still a terrible photo; it didn't even capture my profile."

Night falls, the sun rises.

During the second break, Fu Xi kept his promise and ran over from Class 2 to wait at the door, afraid that he would not be able to catch Xu Wu.

"Call him out, I think his eyes are a bit creepy." Fu Xi leaned against the railing, holding up the script to cover the lower half of his face as he spoke to Xu Wu, afraid that his lip movements would be read.

From the moment she called Xu Wu out, that ever-present gaze silently followed her. Although she only glanced at him twice, that look still made her feel inexplicably uncomfortable.

Disgusting... Startled by his own assessment, Fu Xi quickly stopped thinking.

Xu Wu leaned lazily against the railing, just like her, with a lemon-flavored candy in her mouth. She had almost finished eating it, and it tasted sweet and sour.

Hearing this, she narrowed her eyes, a sour taste rising in her mouth: "If you want to find him, just go in and call him yourself."

“He doesn’t seem like he’ll pay attention to me.” Fu Xi knew that Xu Wu didn’t like being touched, so he suppressed the urge to grab her arm and shake it and act coquettishly. Instead, he clasped his hands together and sincerely pleaded, “Please, Xu Xiao Wu, please, please, please, please, please.”

Xu Wu had almost finished the candy, with only a little bit left, so she simply bit it into pieces.

The sour taste stimulated the mouth to produce saliva, but it was quickly replaced by sweetness, leaving a faint coolness.

Xu Wu didn't speak, but glanced sideways towards the back door of the classroom.

She knew Jieying was watching.

Sure enough, the instant she looked over, a head popped out from behind the wall. The pupils, hidden by bangs, clearly reflected Xu Wu's face, and her lips were very red.

His eyelids were half-closed, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and he unconsciously pursed his lips.

Xu Wu crossed her arms and turned around, completely ignoring Jie Ying's obviously unhealthy thoughts. She raised her chin at Fu Xi, implying that the person she was looking for was right there.

The person came out, but Fu Xi's eyes darted back and forth between the two of them a few times, and a strange idea popped into his head.

He came out as soon as I called him—no, wait, he didn't even make a sound, but he knew I was calling him with just a glance? Even those obedient little dogs couldn't do that...?

Fu Xi suppressed his gossipy heart, took the script and went over to explain it briefly to Jie Ying, then pointed to Xu Wu, who had his back to them.

"How about it? This role doesn't have any lines, so it's relatively easy. Just consider it a guest appearance." Fu Xi looked at Jie Ying with anticipation.

Jie Ying came to her senses and nodded.

"It won't take up too much time. You can just come to the club every Wednesday evening for rehearsals this month," Fu Xi added.

Jie Ying nodded again.

"If you have any opinions about the script, you can also tell me."

Jie Ying nodded again.

"..." Fu Xi opened his mouth as if to say something, but then stopped himself and asked, "Are there any other questions?"

Jie Ying shook her head.

"......"

The moment Fu Xi numbly turned to face Xu Wu, he made a distorted mask of pain, which made Xu Wu unable to help but chuckle.

"This role is really tailor-made for him." Fu Xi walked over and muttered under his breath, "He really doesn't say a word, except for nodding or shaking his head."

"It's not too late to regret it," Xu Wu kindly replied.

“Who regrets it?” Fu Xi said, unconvinced. He then glanced at Jie Ying, who had already turned around and gone back to sit in the classroom. Although he knew Jie Ying couldn’t hear him, he still lowered his voice and said to Xu Wu, “Try to overcome that problem of yours in the next two months. What are you going to do if you’re so resistant to it? You know that physical contact in the second ball scene in the script is unavoidable.”

Xu Wu remained expressionless: "I know."

"You really know?" Fu Xi asked suspiciously. "You can?"

Xu Wu didn't answer the question because the class bell rang.

As Fu Xi hurriedly left, he repeatedly urged her to overcome the difficulties. Xu Wu found it quite amusing to watch her running away.

Before returning to the classroom, she glanced at Jie Ying again, seemingly casually, through the wall. She didn't know how much of their conversation Jie Ying had overheard.

After class in the afternoon, Xia Ni came over and asked Xu Wu if she wanted to go out for lunch together. Xu Wu thought about it for a moment and then politely declined with a smile. She didn't say what she was going to do, only that she had something to do.

Seeing this, Shani didn't press the matter and expressed her understanding.

Xu Wu deliberately slowed her pace as she left the classroom, maintaining a distance that was neither too close nor too far after making sure she could hear footsteps behind her. After going downstairs, she walked to the vending machine placed at the corner of the stairs.

She took out her phone to scan the QR code, but the power button didn't work after she pressed it a few times. She clicked her tongue, thought it over and then put her phone back in her pocket and started walking towards the club.

At this time, most people have gone to the cafeteria for lunch, and the clubhouse is empty.

Xu Wu walked to the center of the classroom, recalling the description of the ball in the second scene of the script—

Luxurious and magnificent, the noble and gentlemanly prince bends down and extends his hand to invite the beautiful princess to dance. Soothing music accompanies their dance steps, interspersed between their physical interactions.

This simple dance was nothing to Xu Wu. She took a deep breath and just as she tiptoed to take a step forward, her brain automatically filled in the blank of another man standing in front of her, reaching out to put his arm around her waist.

Xu Wu suddenly stopped.

She couldn't do it; just thinking about it made her nauseous.

After standing there calming down for a while, Xu Wu finally felt that her stiff legs could move. She slowly exhaled and noticed a bottle of mineral water placed neatly by the door.

"Jieying," she called out softly.

The shadow outside the door moved twice, but after hesitating for a long time, it still didn't come in.

"Bring the water and come here," Xu Wu said succinctly.

Without a second thought, the shadow darted out, bent down, picked up a bottle of mineral water, and walked in. The closer it got to Xu Wu, the slower it became, stopping when it was two or three steps away from her.

Jie Ying carefully observed the two people's reflections on the ground, then silently took a small step until the backs of the two shadows' hands touched.

"Touch me." Xu Wu's light, airy voice rang in his ear.

A note from the author:

Image Analysis: v