Chapter Seventeen: Pervert

For the next week, Lin Yu never saw Chen Guang in the study room again. The burden that had always been with her finally disappeared completely from her study life.

Exam week arrived as scheduled, and the exam rooms for general courses were randomly assigned. As expected, the two were assigned to different exam rooms.

Lin Yu has a strong sense of time and habitually arrives half an hour early to sit in the corridor and review key points for the exam. Chen Guang, on the other hand, is a chronic procrastinator; it's rare for him not to arrive just as the preparatory bell rings. One is always too early, and the other is always too late, so naturally they never have the chance to meet outside the exam hall.

It wasn't until the last exam was over, and Lin Yu packed up his pencil case, slung his bag over his shoulder, and walked out of the teaching building with the crowd, that he saw that familiar figure once again in the bustling square.

Chen Guangzheng and Zheng Qi walked arm in arm toward the basketball court, surrounded by a large crowd. They talked loudly about the exam questions they had just finished and the upcoming summer vacation, their laughter ringing out. Even at the edge of the crowd, they shone brightly, as if specially favored by the sun.

Lin Yu watched their retreating figures, her grip on her backpack strap tightening unconsciously. She suddenly realized that this encounter Yao Fangfang had orchestrated for her might have been nothing but a dream. Between them and her, there was always an insurmountable chasm.

Those brief intersections were nothing more than the illusion of two parallel worlds accidentally misaligned. Now, the bell signaling the end of the exam is like a switch, bringing everything back to its original track.

......

After the exams of the second semester of sophomore year, students from other places began to return to their hometowns one after another to start their two-month summer vacation.

With less than a week left before the actual dormitory lockdown, Lin Yu booked a return ticket for the last day under Lin Min's repeated urging, subconsciously feeling somewhat resistant to going home.

After Zhang Yimeng finished her last exam, she was picked up by her family's driver. Qian Zan also left the dormitory the next day with large bags and small packages. Now their beds are empty, and the once cramped dormitory space suddenly seems much larger.

Only Lin Yu and Yao Fangfang remained in the dormitory. Lin Yu didn't go home because Lin Min had recently started dating a new boyfriend, who was the head of logistics at the same school as her. Every time he called Lin Yu, he would subtly probe her attitude, which annoyed Lin Yu to no end.

She passively resisted the matter, naturally trying to delay going home as long as possible, but Lin Yu knew that she had nowhere else to go and that she would eventually have to go home and face the situation.

In comparison, Yao Fangfang's family situation is more unique. She is a local of Linjiang, from a single-parent family. Her father is a security guard in the community, and her mother was diagnosed with mid-stage cancer when she was in junior high school.

Her condition could have been controlled with chemotherapy, but she resolutely gave up the opportunity for treatment, leaving all her savings to her daughter. Before Yao Fangfang graduated from junior high school, she passed away due to the delay in treatment.

Yao Fangfang's father remarried quickly less than a year after being widowed. Her stepmother moved in with her son, who was five years older than her. This high school dropout spent his days hanging out in internet cafes and bars, idling away his time and wasting his life.

When the mother and son learned that Yao Fangfang had the savings left by her mother, they began to constantly encourage the father and instill in him the outdated idea that his daughter was ultimately an outsider.

The accumulated instigation and discord gradually eroded the already thin father-daughter relationship. Now, Yao Fangfang and her father's family only maintain a superficial peace and basic politeness.

"Aren't you going home for a few days during your vacation?" Lin Yu slung his backpack over his shoulder, intending to borrow two novels from the library to read on the way. Turning around, he saw Yao Fangfang still covered by a blanket, lying on the bed with her head buried in the covers.

"When Qu Lei comes back from his business trip, he'll come pick me up, and I'll stay at his place. If I go home, I'll only be able to sleep on the sofa bed."

Qu Lei is Yao Fangfang's boyfriend, five years older than them, and has already entered the workforce.

Lin Yu had never inquired about his specific profession, and always seemed to maintain a deliberate distance from the things around him. He had only vaguely heard that his family was wealthy and his background was complicated, but all of this felt unfamiliar and distant to Lin Yu.

Qu Lei's family owns a vacant villa in the suburbs, and they often take Yao Fangfang there for weekends. Although Lin Yu had never seen a real detached mansion, this indirect contact was indeed the closest she, a country girl from a small town, had ever come to a nouveau riche.

"Remember to bring lunch back." Yao Fangfang poked her fluffy head out from under the covers, her delicate face as fresh and juicy as a freshly picked peach. Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, casting a hazy glow on her face.

......

Lin Yu's university has three campuses, and the old campus where she studies shows signs of age everywhere. The exterior walls of the teaching buildings are mottled, and the facilities are outdated.

In recent years, new school buildings have been planned and constructed on the open spaces on campus, but the main library is still an old three-story building. The borrowing areas on the first and second basement floors are even more airtight and never see sunlight.

The musty smell, mixed with the scent of ink from the paper, stubbornly burrowed into the nostrils of every visitor, like some tangible tendrils of knowledge. This eerie atmosphere naturally made it a breeding ground for campus ghost stories.

With the holiday approaching, the book section was unusually quiet. Lin Yu wandered around the novel section several times before finally choosing two books of youth-oriented, melancholic literature.

After completing the borrowing procedures, she planned to go to the restroom first, then rush to the cafeteria for food. If she got back late, Yao Fangfang would probably be starving. The two of them were surprisingly similar in their laziness; they were both the type who wouldn't even turn around to eat a pancake hanging around their necks.

But unlike Lin Yu, Yao Fangfang could be so slovenly that she wouldn't even wash her face before leaving for morning class, a carefree attitude that Lin Yu secretly envied. Looking at herself in the mirror, she couldn't help but sigh, "This is probably the privilege bestowed upon me by natural beauty."

The toilets on the basement floor are located at both ends of the corridor. The incandescent light bulbs on the women's toilet side are old and the light flickers like the breathing of a dying person, accompanied by electrical noise, much like the gasping of an emphysema patient before death.

Lin Yu walked into the empty restroom and instinctively chose the innermost stall. He used two fingers to pry open the dilapidated wooden door and then fastened the rusty latch, more like a ritualistic act of psychological comfort.

After using the restroom, just as she finished tidying her clothes and was about to get up and leave, a shadow suddenly swept through the crack in the door.

Lin Yu's hand froze on the half-open lock, her pupils shrinking. She saw a pair of gleaming men's leather shoes that had stopped outside the cubicle door at some point, the toes pointing directly in her direction, gleaming eerily in the dim, flickering light.

Lin Yu's breath caught in his throat, as if an invisible hand was gripping it. If he hadn't just gone to the toilet, he probably would have wet himself in fear.

Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, each beat feeling like it was about to break free of its cage and leap out of her mouth. She trembled as she pressed her lips together, saliva flowing uncontrollably, but she could only swallow mechanically, as if that would allow her to push the wildly beating heart back into her stomach.

His thoughts were shattered by fear, and Lin Yu's brain began to spin futilely. What to do? What to do? The library was almost deserted on the eve of the holiday. Shouting for help might backfire, and calling Yao Fangfang would be a waste of time.

A deathly silence fell between the stall and the restroom. For a moment, she even hoped it was all a misunderstanding, perhaps just a cleaning man who had wandered into the women's restroom by mistake. She thought that if she went out now, she might give him a fright and unexpectedly receive an apology.

But this absurd idea was quickly shattered by reality. No cleaner would wear shiny pointed leather shoes, much less press themselves against the door like a predator, deliberately concealing even their breathing.

She felt a gaze piercing through the wooden door, glued to her, as if pale fingers would reach through the crack and grab her ankle at any moment.

Cold sweat trickled down her spine, soaking the fabric of her clothes. In this cramped space, she was like a stranded fish, trembling in vain as she awaited her unknown fate.

At the critical moment, a familiar laugh suddenly came from the corridor.

"Is this your school, Chen Guang? Can't you even tell which side the men's restroom is?"

"I have reason to suspect you've never been to the library before. You managed to find it just now, did you secretly use GPS?"

"Get lost. If you keep nagging, go buy those two sets of regulations yourself."

"You still have such a fiery temper, you really should find a girlfriend to tame your temper."

"You're right, it would be so exciting to find someone like your ex-girlfriend who's two-timing you."

You really know how to bring up the most sensitive topics.

Hearing the noise, the leather shoes outside hesitated for a moment, then took two steps back and ran towards the door, the clattering sound fading into the distance.

His tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and a belated sense of fear transformed into a shiver that swept through his body. Tears welled up uncontrollably, and regardless of whether the person outside the door would return, Lin Yu excitedly pressed his face against the door and shouted Chen Guang's name.

At this moment, the name Chen Guang seemed to have become a synonym for safety, the only lifeline she could grasp in her despair.

Chen Guang and Zhang Yunzhou had already turned to walk in another direction when a man in black clothes and a mask rushed out from behind and shoved them aside. Then they heard a familiar voice calling their names, and the two froze on the spot, unsure of how to react.

"Huh? Isn't this the women's restroom? Where was that guy from just now?" Chen Guang scratched his head, puzzled.

I think I heard someone call your name.

"Yes, it seems to be Lin Yu."

"Who is Lin Yu?" Zhang Yunzhou asked curiously.

The bathroom door suddenly swung open, and Lin Yu burst out like an arrow, crashing into Chen Guang's chest. Her arms clung tightly to his waist like iron hoops, her trembling body pressed against him, tears soaking the fabric of his shirt. Two youth novels slipped from her arms and fell to the floor with a thud.

Startled by the sudden attack, Chen Guang's eyes widened, and his hands instinctively rose to his ears in a gesture of surrender. Upon seeing the person in his arms, his expression shifted from astonishment to confusion, finally settling on an awkward tenderness.

He hesitated before lowering his arm, awkwardly and carefully patting Lin Yu's back. Zhang Yunzhou, who was standing nearby, witnessed this scene, raised an eyebrow at Chen Guang, and a mischievous smile appeared on his lips.

Chen Guang glanced at the copies of "Liang Sheng" and "An Angel Will Love You in My Place" that Lin Yu had flung to the ground, and his lips twitched uncontrollably. He winked at Zhang Yunzhou, giving him a silent reply.

"Yes, that's right, she is Lin Yu."

Zhang Yunzhou nodded meaningfully, and the two exchanged fluent words across the air.