Lady
The tutoring session ended as usual, and the dormant volcano had returned to her dormitory to wash up, but Yun Aonan still hadn't replied to her messages.
"--drop!"
The air conditioner stopped abruptly while she seemed to be fast asleep, and Ju Hui's dormitory electricity ran out. A thin layer of heat rose from under the bed, and after tossing and turning a few times, the cool blanket wrapped around her, like a large, burning hand holding her tightly.
Sheng Qijing rubbed his fingertips together and tightened the straps around her.
Ju Hui really wanted to stretch out her arm and touch his eyes, nose, and mouth, but she couldn't. She could only look. She took a deep breath and looked down, but all she could see below his neck was a patch of white; she couldn't see anything clearly, even more conservative than in anatomy class.
Ju Hui frowned.
He asked, "Are you alright?"
"No…"
The syllable he had just uttered was cut off, soft and curved, his breath sweeping over her like lava rolling down her spine, gurgling over every hill and pass...
I was startled awake by the urgent ringing of a telephone.
"Ah, Xiaohui, I just saw the message. You met Sheng Qijing at Loft..." Yun Aonan paused, "Why is your breathing so heavy?"
Ju Hui sat up: "It's nothing, the dorm's power's out. My senior's over there, should I move out?"
"No need, no need. It was Pei Yao who just told me that Senior Sheng Qijing would be staying at his house this summer to work on his graduation project. He forgot about it, so you'll have to share that studio."
Yun Aonan was also helpless. There was nothing they could do; they had already agreed: "Sorry, is that alright?"
Ju Hui was still pondering the difference between sharing and cohabitation when Yun Aonan changed his tone and teased her, "Didn't you say before that you wanted to touch him? Your portfolio's inspiration all comes from..."
“Yes, I can.” Ju Hui interrupted her, brushing her sweaty bangs back. “But will senior agree?”
"Of course, he agreed very quickly. But there's another thing, I'm in Shanghai, if he needs an assistant, could you lend a hand?" Yun Aonan chuckled, "You should take the initiative, I'm afraid he'll feel embarrassed."
Yun Aonan is Sheng Qijing's graduation thesis assistant.
There were quite a few people who wanted to be Sheng Qijing's assistant at the job fair, and Ju Hui didn't expect Yun Aonan to raise his hand for him as well.
In the early summer of graduation season, the dark red auditorium was filled with people. Ju Hui wore a pale yellow dress. She had no intention of being an assistant and sat quietly next to Yun Aonan, waiting for the meeting to end. She did not listen carefully to the presentations of the senior students from the following year.
She had to get to her Taobao model interview before Bian Jiaping showed up. Just as she was scrolling through her phone, looking down at her phone, the stage called out Yun Aonan's name.
The voice was like a drop of water plunging into a deep spring. Ju Hui was surprised by its unfamiliarity. She looked up at the stage and, sure enough, it wasn't her boyfriend, Pei Yao.
This man's name is Sheng Qijing.
Before this, Ju Hui was busy skipping classes and fighting with Bian Jiaping, and had never paid attention to Sheng Qijing.
The surrounding silence was broken.
Spotlights scattered throughout the hall shone on Yun Aonan as she calmly rose and walked backstage under the gazes of everyone.
As the lights gradually disappeared, Ju Hui's spirits remained undiminished.
Sheng Qijing was still looking over here.
"I will help him," Ju Hui said, covering her face in a muffled voice.
"I look forward to you touching Xiao Hui!" he said, then hung up.
A new message popped up on my phone: You have a new friend request. Nickname: Oona. The note read: Just registered a work account, contact me here if needed.
I pressed the "agree" button with my index finger, but then I remembered the phone call from my counselor yesterday. After some consideration, I decided to tell her about adding my name.
Yun Aonan: [Seeking advice on retirement for counselors...]
Yun Aonan: [Speechless. I didn't ask him for help. You don't need to add him, and you shouldn't go either. Go work on your portfolio first.]
After chatting, Ju Hui realized that she had left home much later than usual. Without time to pack, Ju Hui quickly left for 798.
Last night's dream, coupled with the sudden prospect of sharing a room with Sheng Qijing, made her lick her lips; she could no longer escape the desire for that body.
Standing at around 187cm tall, with broad shoulders and long legs, and clearly defined, muscular arms, his white T-shirt sleeves hung loosely. As he leaned over the table next to Ju Hui to sign a document backstage at the job fair, his back muscles were faintly visible. Ju Hui was dizzy when she heard a "ding"—Sheng Qijing's good figure had generously delivered a brand-new portfolio proposal to her.
Are you sure you want to be Pei Yao's assistant?
After Sheng Qijing finished filling out the registration form, he handed him a pen. Ju Hui's fingertips crossed with his, and she returned his smile.
"Um."
Ju Hui was going to be Pei Yao's assistant, and took the opportunity to get to know this handsome friend, inviting him to be her nude model and the main reference for her portfolio—the original plan couldn't keep up with the changes, but now it's even better, she can get to know Sheng Qijing directly!
When the bus arrived at the station, Ju Hui first went to the park to buy coffee, one cup of hers and one cup of Sheng Qijing's. She then walked into the loft with a heavy opening statement.
-
"Only you would do this..."
Ju Hui pushed open the door, and a girl's laughter came from the entrance hall, followed by a rustling male voice.
Ju Hui listened, then lowered her head and silently took out shoe covers from her bag.
The entryway blocked Ju Hui's view. She changed and went straight into the studio without waiting. The conversation inside stopped abruptly. Sheng Qijing and the girl turned around together, smiles still on their faces.
Ju Hui didn't look at them, and she kept her eyes to herself. She bent down and threw off her shoe covers, leaving two cups of coffee standing conspicuously on the table.
Hello, classmate.
"Hello."
Ju Hui turned around. The girl had a great figure, and her exposed belly was naturally fleshy. Ju Hui's gaze lingered for a moment before moving away.
The other person strode over, staring intently at Ju Hui, while Sheng Qijing, a beat behind, followed closely behind.
“My name is Pu Yin. Don’t get me wrong, I’m borrowing his electric kiln because my shop is running out of kilns.” Pu Yin pointed to the hair clip that Ju Hui was wearing on her bangs. “This one is the one I made for you. Was it a gift from him?”
Pu Yin's raised eyebrow carried a different meaning, which Ju Hui understood. She glanced at Sheng Qijing and quickly tried to put down what she was holding and take off the hair clip.
“No need, you can wear it.” Sheng Qijing said casually, then turned to Pu Yin and said, “This is for someone else, she’s my junior, her name is…”
"Ju Hui".
After he hesitated for a long time, Ju Hui decided to help him finish his sentence by placing the hair clip on the table with a soft click.
"Yes, Ju Hui. Pei Yao just mentioned your name yesterday, but I forgot. Sorry." Sheng Qijing smiled warmly.
The three fell silent.
Pu Yin turned to look at him in shock. It was the first time she had seen Sheng Qijing so lacking in emotional intelligence. There seemed to be an awkward, electric kiln-like smell in the air.
Fortunately, Ju Hui's phone rang, and she turned and left the studio to answer it.
“Ju Hui.” The counselor’s tone was unpleasant.
“Teacher,” Ju Hui said in a low voice.
"It's still social practice. I'll give you two more days..."
“Teacher, the school doesn’t require social practice to be completed during this summer vacation, right?” Ju Hui interrupted him.
The counselor choked, then got angry: "Two days. I don't care about Yun Aonan, you have to find a project to work on. It's not that the teacher is forcing you to do it, it's that the school is clearing out students staying on campus for safety reasons."
"..."
Ju Hui mumbled a few "hmm"s and hung up.
The counselor often called Ju Hui. Ju Hui was a freshman and didn't pay attention to the mental health survey form in front of her. She wrote down her true information on it without restraint.
Because of that form, Ju Hui was successfully classified as a "three-special" person—specially special, extremely impoverished, and required to receive psychological counseling at irregular intervals. Adding her name to her social practice report and getting it signed by the department office made Ju Hui sometimes feel like she was a student used by the counselor to abuse her authority.
"Is this Mr. Marvin?"
Sheng Qijing suddenly appeared behind him.
Ju Hui turned around, not reacting for a moment.
Sheng Qijing laughed and exaggeratedly breathed a sigh of relief: "Luckily, he's not our class advisor for 2011."
His expression seemed genuinely relieved. Ju Hui frowned, wondering what the point was of him coming out specifically to say such a sarcastic remark.
As her gaze shifted, she suddenly realized that Sheng Qijing wasn't so perfect after all. He had several ear piercings on his left and right ears, some on the auricle and some on the cartilage, with strange healing marks that looked like he had made them himself.
It's ugly.
Ju Hui brushed past him and returned to her studio.
Sheng Qijing remained where he was, his smile fading.
He wasn't afraid that Ju Hui would find him impolite; on the contrary, he deliberately disgusted her, forcing her to give up the idea of touching him.
Yesterday, Ju Hui's expression clearly indicated that she didn't know he was here. Sheng Qijing only found out after asking Pei Yao, who had his key, that Yun Aonan had let her in.
Sure enough, after some questioning, Yun Aonan let slip the secret.
The girl in front of me, the junior from school who's rumored to be dating a wealthy CEO several years her senior, wants to use his studio and even wants to touch him...
If it's not surprising that Ruomei is so eccentric, he's not interested in her love life either. Juhui can't find a studio, so sharing one isn't out of the question.
Unless, she has other impure motives.
"Has Pu Yin left?"
Ju Hui saw that only the electric kiln was lit in the studio.
"They're gone."
A calm voice greeted her from behind, carrying a thin layer of body heat. Sheng Qijing took the initiative, moving closer to her. He raised his arm, the warmth of his skin almost touching her ear, and pointed to the back, where a side door had appeared beside the roller shutter, one that hadn't been there yesterday.
Sheng Qijing lowered his head to make sure she wasn't dodging: "She left from there, and all the guests coming to the studio from now on will leave from there."
The implication was that she was not allowed to pass through the residential area at the main entrance.
This door was only installed today. It seems the owner contacted workers overnight to build it. Because of the rush, most of the wall around the door frame has peeled off and hasn't been repaired yet.
“Okay,” Ju Hui replied.
She didn't leave, and the distance between them became ambiguous at that moment, so Sheng Qijing had no choice but to step back. It was a pity that the hard-won data transmission had stopped just like that.
Ju Hui turned around, but Sheng Qijing had already turned his back and walked away. He was about to leave.
"Wait a minute, senior." Ju Hui picked up the coffee on the table. "I bought you an iced Americano, but the ice cubes have melted a bit."
Sheng Qijing stopped, took the brown paper bag, and accidentally touched Ju Hui's fingertips, then refused to let go.
"Do I need to pay?" Sheng Qijing asked, his face darkening.
"Didn't the senior just say that guests have to go through that door?" Ju Hui pointed behind her, "You forgot to go through the back door."
Sheng Qijing returned in the afternoon, together with Pu Yin, and they entered through the newly built back door.
Ju Hui lowered her head and continued with her muddy clods, while Sheng Qijing inexplicably basked in the sun for more than ten meters in his own yard.
After seeing Pu Yin and the small items in the kiln off, he walked to the wall and put on his work clothes.
No, it should be called Pei Yao's work clothes.
Now, in Ju Hui's eyes, all the tools and sewing supplies around her have nothing to do with Sheng Qijing; they all belong to her roommate, Pei Yao.
"Senior."
"Um."
Sheng Qijing responded lazily. Ju Hui bustled back and forth in the studio, mixing mud, twisting iron frames, and moving tools, greeting Sheng Qijing as she passed by.
"If you need a graduation project assistant, I can help."
Hearing this, Sheng Qijing stopped, turned around and asked her, "What are you busy with, helping Yun Aonan with his work?"
"No, it's that I want to do a device experiment project myself." As if she had been waiting for Sheng Qijing to say this, she looked at him and shook her head.
Sheng Qijing brought her inspiration in May, and today in July, it has sprouted a little. Ju Hui really wants to tell him about the concept.
What project?
"Simply put, it involves using three sets of devices of the same size but with different human body shapes to force viewers to judge the size of the devices by using the human body as a reference on the screen."
Sheng Qijing looked into her eyes and nodded from time to time.
"The aim is to expose societal biases regarding gender, age, and body shape, and to explore the idea that 'power establishes social norms through the body, and the body is actually a tool for measurement and control' (Discipline and Punish, by Foucault)..."
After speaking eloquently for three minutes, Ju Hui earnestly discussed her thesis topic with her supervisor.
"Does the senior think this project is feasible?"
She wanted to be clear about what she was saying. If he said it was feasible, she would invite him to be her model; if he said it wasn't, she would ask him to be her model so he could help her improve the model.
"What are your plans regarding the social practice that Teacher Ma mentioned this morning?" Sheng Qijing glanced at the clock on the wall; it was almost six. "If you're not doing it, where are you planning to stay?"
Ju Hui paused for a moment, then answered truthfully, "I'm going to try to persuade the teacher again. If I'm really kicked out, I can stay in... a hotel."
When the day comes that she is actually kicked out, she will immediately put aside her pride and go to Bian Jiaping, living in his house just like Gao San did.
"Staying in a hotel? Then your project shouldn't be short of budget."
Sheng Qijing hesitated to say whether it was feasible or not, and Ju Hui's eyes darkened, understanding what this silence meant—her project couldn't even be considered feasible.
“Hmm…I’m quite wealthy.” Ju Hui said absentmindedly, then pointed to the clock: “I should go.”
Sheng Qijing nodded, watching Ju Hui tidy up her things beside him. A corner of her bag peeked out, revealing clean clothes that were suitable for public use.
She's like Cinderella about to turn twelve, with unrealistic dreams and rigid adherence to rules, carrying her own shoe covers that no one cares about, and only eating lunch from the convenience store.
Respecting boundaries, never stepping into the room.
“Actually, I can’t evaluate your project, as I don’t know much about installation art,” Sheng Qijing said. “However, the Mo Cun Gallery in the 798D district mainly deals in installation art, and there’s a signed artist there that I know… I can take you there to consult with him.”
"Is it okay? When?" Ju Hui asked in surprise.
"Tomorrow night."
Sheng Qijing glanced at her bag, the zipper was closed, it was cheap, worn but functional: "Tomorrow night at seven, it'll probably end very late, are you free tomorrow?"
"I'm free, I'm free."
Ju Hui slung her bag over her shoulder, picked up the key he had given Pei Yao, and waved it with a jingle: "See you tomorrow, thanks, senior."
Sheng Qijing nodded, watched her leave, then went upstairs to his room to get a charger, glancing out the window as he did so.
There were no unlicensed taxis at the entrance of the compound, and Ju Hui was walking towards the bus stop.
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