Unpredictable thoughts

Bubbles burst in her heart, and Bai Yixia felt as if at least ten sheep were playing with her heart.

She stammered, "Yes, I guess so."

Zhou Qingchi, who was opposite him, paused for a moment upon hearing this, his hand twirling a willow leaf as if he was carefully considering his words.

Bai Yixia felt her words were about to burst out of her mouth, staring intently at Zhou Qingchi's lips, afraid of missing a single punctuation mark.

However, the words spoken by someone who is usually good at reading comprehension only received a zero from Bai Yixia.

"If you start dating, remember to bring her to meet me and Nie Jiayuan so we can give you our opinion."

The bubbles in her heart burst with a series of crackling sounds, and her heart plummeted to the bottom. Bai Yixia frowned in disbelief, asking as if she hadn't heard clearly, "W-what did you say?"

How can someone with a 37-degree mouth utter such vicious words?

Bai Yixia really wanted to turn back a minute and cover Zhou Qingchi's mouth tightly, wishing she had never heard that sentence.

But the person on the other end clearly had no idea what she was thinking.

Zhou Qingchi lowered his eyes and said upon hearing this, "You're so easily swayed by emotions, I'm really afraid you'll be deceived by someone."

After saying that, as if afraid that it wasn't enough to touch Bai Yixia's heart, she added, "You are the younger sister, so you need to be taken care of."

Bai Yixia was struck dumb, feeling as if her soul had left her body for a moment. She stared blankly at Zhou Qingchi for a few seconds, then turned her head to look at the river.

There was no wind at the moment, and the river was calm and still.

She has always had a good temper; even if she's angry with someone on the surface, she's always happy inside.

But now, staring at the river, his heart silently weeping, he thought bitterly: I might as well, I might as well kick it—

"Why not just kick him into the river?" Bai Yixia said nasally, a few pitiful tears clinging to her eyelashes.

Who knows why the weather suddenly changed? It started raining heavily after Bai Yixia came back, and dark, heavy clouds were pressing down outside.

It was pitch black inside the bed curtains, with only the light from her phone illuminating her face. Her lips were pursed, her eyes were red, and she kept sniffing.

Poor Nie Jiayuan on the other end couldn't see clearly at all. She frowned and asked, "So, did you kick it or not?"

Bai Yixia felt even more upset and aggrieved, and stammered, "I didn't... Waaah, the water feels so dirty, what if I get sick..."

Not only did she not show any displeasure, she also dared not reveal the slightest hint of unhappiness. Bai Yixia forced a smile and asked Zhou Qingchi, "Really? So that's what you think, Brother Zhou?"

Zhou Qingchi suddenly fell silent. After a long while, so long that Bai Yixia felt she could no longer laugh, she whispered, "Yes, that's what I think."

This was like a knife to Bai Yixia's heart. She dared not ask any more questions, for fear that this person would say something she didn't want to hear.

He replied reluctantly, "Oh, I see. By the way, Brother Zhou, I suddenly remembered that I have an assignment to hand in, so I might not have time to take you to the high-speed rail station."

He made up an excuse and was about to leave when he remembered to turn back and say goodbye to Zhou Qingchi after walking four or five steps.

Nie Jiayuan was amazed and applauded her through the screen, "What a capacity for forgiveness, Bai Yixia. If it were me, I would have told him everything and then called him a blind man."

Bai Yixia looked at her as if she were a ghost, puzzled, and asked, "Why would I scold him? Isn't it because I have a crush on him?"

She became sad again as she spoke, remembering Qi Wang's words, and her heart ached terribly.

"There's no future in having a crush on someone," Bai Yixia said with a worried expression.

Nie Jiayuan gasped, "Great, you've finally realized this problem?"

Bai Yixia broke down: "But what can I do! Where is he now? In City B. What if I confess directly and he can't accept it, and he stays in City B?"

From the time she was born until she went to university, eighteen years and more than six thousand five hundred and seventy days passed. Bai Yixia never imagined that one day Zhou Qingchi would become estranged from her.

When I was little, I was naive and thought of him as an older brother; we played, ate, and slept together. But as I grew up, I fell in love. He was no longer just an older brother; he was someone I loved, someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

Bai Yixia didn't understand. "Why do you think he suddenly brought this up?"

Nie Jiayuan and Zhou Qingchi weren't that close, so she didn't know why. She could only approach Bai Yixia, "What happened to upset him? Is Xiao Yan in a relationship?"

Bai Yixia shook her head, "Don't spread rumors about Xiao Yan."

Nie Jiayuan was having a terrible headache, and then she remembered a crucial question: "Why did he come back to you this time? Don't you find it suspicious?"

What's so suspicious about that? Bai Yixia hadn't thought about these questions in detail at all. She remembered that Zhou Qingchi went back to find his brother the next day, and she also thought about Xiao Yan's WeChat Moments.

Bai Yixia argued, "He didn't come back to find me; he came back to see Xiao Yan."

There was no sound from the other end. Bai Yixia thought the network was stuck, but when she got closer, she found Nie Jiayuan sitting there with a blank face and no light in his eyes.

"?"

Five minutes passed before Nie Jiayuan seemed to regain some of her senses and asked Bai Yixia with great difficulty and seriousness, "Xiaxia, were you so stimulated that your brain overloaded and malfunctioned?"

Is Zhou Qingchi someone who is so close to Zhou Qingyan that he has to come back once a week?

Leaving aside last year, not to mention weekends, even during the May Day holiday, Zhou Qingchi was still in City B busy with competition projects.

Zhou Qingyan lived next to Bai Yixia's house, so it was easy for Aunt Lin and Auntie Lin to take care of him.

Besides, Zhou Qingyan is almost seventeen, not a seven or eight-year-old child. He can take care of himself long ago, so there's no need for Zhou Qingchi to come back every week.

Bai Yixia seemed genuinely confused, staring at her phone for a long time without saying a word.

My mind is in a tangled mess, and I really can't find the loose end of the thread right now.

So he could only wave his hand at Nie Jiayuan, "Oh, never mind. I'll stop here for now, Jiajia, I've taken up your time."

Nie Jiayuan already felt sorry for her, and after hearing her say that, her resentment towards Zhou Qingchi deepened. She wished she could go through the internet cable and beat him up.

After Bai Yixia hung up the phone, she sat blankly on the bed, then leaned back and fell onto the pillow.

What exactly does Zhou Qingchi mean? Sister? So all that effort she put into video chatting with him for almost a year, showing up in front of him every day, only earned her the title of sister?

Good heavens, she's on the same level as Xiao Yan. Bai Yixia choked back a sob. Zhou Qingchi, you're ruthless.

A rustling sound came from the bed curtains beside her ear. Bai Yixia turned her head and saw a small bag of snacks being stuffed in through the gap.

Bai Yixia:?

She looked at the bags of snacks being stuffed in with a puzzled expression, then suddenly burst out laughing.

Bai Yixia pulled back the bed curtains with a whoosh and looked at her two roommates under the bed, who had a bunch of snacks wrapped up. She was so touched that her eyes welled up with tears.

"Xiaobai...Xiaowan..."

Bai Yixia spoke without trying to hide it from anyone, and both of them heard her.

One comforting word after another.

"Oh, there are so many wildflowers, why do you have to choose that one?"

"He must have poor eyesight; we shouldn't argue with a blind man."

In short, no matter what the mistake was, it was definitely not Bai Yixia's fault.

Bai Yixia wasn't particularly angry about the matter; she just couldn't understand Zhou Qingchi's attitude towards her.

Well, in his heart, Zhou Qingchi has always been a very gentle person.

It seems that this gentleness isn't unique.

Bai Yixia frowned. Could it be that all this time, she had been deluding herself? Did Zhou Qingchi really only see her as a younger sister?

Sister? Who cares about that title? Bai Yixia thought through gritted teeth.

The phone buzzed, and Bai Yixia glanced at it.

The person at the center of the conversation was even willing to send her messages.

The phone is locked, and the lock screen only displays a single, incomplete sentence.

- Please have some porridge: I'm getting on the bus, you get off at school—

Bai Yixia was frustrated, but she really couldn't bring herself to completely ignore him.

So I opened the message and read it carefully. It literally meant that she should report to the school when she arrived.

Bai Yixia: Not only have you arrived at school, but you also had a good cry. Are you satisfied? Speak up!

The reply came from the other hand:

- Kiss: Okay, be careful on the road, Little Zhou. I've arrived at school and am busy with my homework. Let's chat again when we have time.

The two people under the bed had previously seen that Bai Yixia had neither swollen eyelids nor a broken spirit, so they thought she was not really affected. They were now huddled together, munching on snacks.

Sensing something amiss behind him, Bai Yi'an turned around nervously.

Bai Yixia sat cross-legged on the bed, her phone resting on her lap. She stared at it with her eyes downcast, her expression unreadable, but her whole being exuded a low-pressure atmosphere.

For some reason, she suddenly had a brain fart and asked tremblingly, "Xia, your National Day plan...?"

Bai Yixia suddenly raised her head, her expression unusually solemn. After waiting for more than ten minutes, the other end actually sent a message: "Okay, take care and get some rest."

Bai Yixia was unsure whether to be angry or sad. She also started to wonder if Zhou Qingchi had realized that she liked him and was deliberately avoiding her.

But how did you figure that out?

Suddenly, the image of that stolen kiss flashed into Bai Yixia's mind, and her face paled. She quickly retorted.

That's impossible. If Zhou Qingchi really wasn't asleep back then, he probably wouldn't have come today. He might have been scared back to Peking University last night.

That's because I turned around and looked at Qi Wang when he called me over today.

Bai Yixia felt wronged. In the past, when she didn't need him to help her stop people, he was incredibly proactive, but today he was pretending to be dead.

Then at this moment, I heard Bai Yi'an talking about the National Day plan.

Bai Yixia felt a mix of emotions and said angrily, "What National Day or what plan? There's no such thing!"

She jumped out of bed, sat down at her desk, and held her phone, wanting to argue with Zhou Qingchi, but after typing a few lines, she felt she had no reason to argue.

What? Can't you see it? What? What does this mean? All of these are invalid statements.

What if Zhou Qingchi really is kind to everyone equally? Wouldn't he be making a huge fool of himself?

Bai Yixia lay sobbing on the table. She wasn't afraid of making a fool of herself, but she was afraid that Zhou Qingchi would never come back.