This wasn't the first time today that Xu Shiyue had found her own thoughts strange.
Unlike the inexplicable displeasure she felt that morning, this time she inexplicably became interested in teaching someone to read Braille. And the person was none other than Lu Shizhen, someone she had never wanted to have much contact with before.
Xu Shiyue narrowed her eyes slightly, a hint of unease hidden beneath her calm gaze. She realized that it wasn't just her control over Lu Shizhen that was slipping away, but also hers.
It seems that from that moment on, the world around her began to change.
The things she was familiar with and wary of gradually began to deviate, all veering off course at some point. And that point was Lu Shizhen.
If we're talking about her transformation in terms of acting, then she's been acting in this scene for far too long. This person is becoming more and more interesting.
Xu Shiyue looked at the girl sitting beside her, a smile playing in her slightly narrowed eyes.
The doubts slowly accumulated and lingered in her palm. She wasn't the kind of person who would go back on her word, and she didn't let go of Lu Shizhen's hand that she was holding.
"Just like writing, there are also standard postures for reading these characters," Xu Shiyue said, and then began her teaching.
Lu Shizhen was still preoccupied with the fact that Xu Shiyue was going to teach her to read Braille, so she nodded hesitantly.
But instead of seeing fingers land on the paper, the hand that had been resting on the back of her hand moved to her fingertips. Just as Xu Shiyue had said, she began to correct Lu Shizhen's basic reading posture.
Perhaps because Xu Shiyue was blind, her teaching of Lu Shizhen was like that of a child just starting school.
Those slender fingers gently lifted their half-hanging fingers, and the well-defined bones of the fingers traced the inside of the fingers in a soft, slow motion, captivating the heart.
"Don't use the whole finger to touch it, that will make your reading range too large." Xu Shiyue said, stopping her finger on Lu Shizhen's fingertip. "You can recognize text with just your fingertip."
Xu Shiyue explained things professionally and meticulously.
The neatly trimmed nails brushed past Lu Shizhen's fingertips, causing a fleeting, unreal itch to rise from her already sensitive nerve endings.
The entire reading room was quiet, the suppressed sounds and breaths falling on her itchy palm. It's said that the veins in the fingers are directly connected to the heart, and every touch can make the heart more sensitive. Lu Shizhen hadn't believed it before.
But now it has become an exception to verify this statement. The sound, the breath, the warmth left by fingers brushing across the back of the hand.
Lu Shizhen simply couldn't describe the feeling; she was distracted, like the worst student in the class, her attention completely focused on her own feelings.
Thump, thump, thump.
It felt like a thread was pulling at my heart, causing it to slam hard against my chest like a swing.
The sound of her heartbeat gradually became more pronounced and erratic. Suddenly, Qiuqiu flew out of Lu Shizhen's mind, anxiously warning, "Host, host, your heart is beating too fast! Don't let your mind wander like that, the main system will issue a warning!"
Lu Shizhen looked distressed. "I didn't want to either, it's just that Xu Shiyue's actions were too provocative..." But before she could finish her complaint, Qiuqiu interrupted her immediately: "Host!" It glanced around cautiously and reminded her, "Host, what you're about to say is a sensitive word in the system!" Lu Shizhen remembered the warning from last time and immediately shut her mouth, asking aggrievedly, "Then what do you suggest I do now?" "Calm down, calm down." Qiuqiu quickly activated its magic potion, "Host, think about your points, think about your legs, think about the consequences if you get another warning from the main system and can't handle the situation."
Upon hearing this, Lu Shizhen immediately calmed down, and Xu Shiyue's previously ethereal voice became more real: "...Braille characters have space, and the distance between dots is not too far. If the distance is too far, it means you have read the next line."
After Xu Shiyue finished explaining, Lu Shizhen pretended to suddenly understand and said, "No wonder all I read were dense little dots."
As she spoke, Lu Shizhen pretended to try, her acting skills evident as she pulled her hand away from Xu Shiyue's. Xu Shiyue, whose hand had been holding something, suddenly found it empty, and glanced at the girl beside her.
Her empty fingers rubbed together lightly, and then she continued her explanation as if nothing had happened: "The initial consonants of Braille are not easy to remember if you follow the order of the initial consonants. Actually, beginners can memorize them in alphabetical order first, which will make it easier. 'a' is the top left dot, 'b' is the two dots in the left column, and 'c' is the two dots in the first row..."
With her distracting thoughts cleared, Lu Shizhen was finally able to listen attentively.
Qiuqiu watched from the side and couldn't help but ask, "Host, do you think Xu Shiyue did it on purpose?" "What do you mean?" Lu Shizhen asked, puzzled.
"I just wanted to tease you a little..." Qiuqiu said, "Otherwise, why would she offer to teach you for no reason?" Lu Shizhen disagreed, even a little narcissistic: "Couldn't it be that she saw how eager I was for knowledge and was moved by me?" Qiuqiu remained silent, her face saying, "Do you think I believe that?"
Lu Shizhen pursed her lips, realizing that she didn't believe what she had just said either.
That's why she became even more confused. "Then why do you think she was teasing me?" she wondered, feeling rather bewildered.
Lu Shizhen looked at her with disdain, "What kind of logic is that?"
“Xu Shiyue wasn’t always this cold and aloof. Before what happened at her family’s house, she had a lively side, it just wasn’t obvious,” Qiu Qiu argued. “Perhaps bringing her out today, after she experienced the outside world, improved her mood and became less unapproachable.”
As someone who had read the original text, Lu Shizhen had a deep impression of Qiuqiu's description of Xu Shiyue's past.
It is precisely because the author of the dog story portrayed Xu Shiyue's life before her family was destroyed as too beautiful that they felt so much pity and heartache for everything Xu Shiyue went through later.
While Lu Shizhen couldn't be certain that Qiuqiu was right, she felt that Xu Shiyue must have been able to smile before. The only time she'd seen Xu Shiyue smile in recent days was this morning at the villa. Even if her smile wasn't entirely genuine, it was undeniably brighter and more vibrant than usual. It was as if sunlight had suddenly pierced through her, and her serene eyes held no trace of gloom. She was truly beautiful. She was meant to be this beautiful.
She's not a two-dimensional character from a book, nor a puppet created by a system. She can be cold, displeased, and also smile. She is a "person" who should have been wonderful.
"You said, even if we can't prevent Xu Shiyue from becoming that dark moonlight in the end, can't we try to leave a pure land in her heart?" Lu Shizhen once again tried to express her idea of changing the protagonist's fate to Qiuqiu.
She didn't know why she insisted on protecting Xu Shiyue from turning evil and going crazy like in the original story, but she wanted to try any chance she could get.
There's no harm in giving it a try.
This time, Qiuqiu didn't deny her as she had in the past, and relented, "...Hmm, that's something we can try." Before Lu Shizhen could even feel happy, she heard a soft voice calling her name, "Lu Shizhen." It was Xu Shiyue's voice.
Lu Shizhen's wandering thoughts were immediately pulled back.
She realized she'd been daydreaming again and gave a guilty "Ah." "I just explained the initials to you, how many did you remember?" Xu Shiyue asked calmly. "I..." Lu Shizhen looked at the blank pages in front of her and scratched her nose. "Didn't remember a single one?" Xu Shiyue asked. "Not really," Lu Shizhen struggled to answer.
Xu Shiyue didn't speak again, just staring at Lu Shizhen like a teacher in class. Lu Shizhen swallowed hard; she knew Xu Shiyue wanted her to memorize the initials she knew. "That 'b' is two dots on the left column." Lu Shizhen had her own way of memorizing; she recalled the initials table she'd seen when learning Braille that day: "'p' is the entire left column plus the top of the right column, 'm' is... two dots on the left column plus the top of the right column, 'f' is similar to 'p', but without the bottom dot on the left column..."
Lu Shizhen's recitation was halting and hesitant, and Xu Shiyue sat listening without interrupting her, her words betraying her inconsistencies. She certainly remembered that she had taught Lu Shizhen Braille consonants according to the English alphabet, not the Chinese alphabet. This person had indeed been daydreaming.
For some reason, Xu Shiyue wasn't angry about it. Instead, she nodded in agreement and said, "Your visual memory is very good, very fast."
Lu Shizhen rarely heard Xu Shiyue praise her, and she was a little embarrassed, saying, "It's nothing special."
When she's happy, she tends to forget her persona and becomes quite talkative: "After all, some things aren't seen very often, so of course I have to remember them quickly, otherwise what if I forget them?"
Xu Shiyue paused for a moment upon hearing this. "What is it?"
Xu Shiyue's voice was a little low, and Lu Shizhen instantly felt that she had said something wrong.
She thought her words had deviated somewhat from the original owner's character, so she quickly tried to explain: "It's just some pretty and beautiful things."
"Like the roses in my backyard, now withered and faded, they only exist in my mind."
The autumn sunlight streamed through the windowpane and fell on Xu Shiyue's face, bright and warm.
She kept her eyelashes slightly lowered, so that no light could penetrate her eyes.
Listening to Lu Shizhen's explanation, she felt that the thought that had just crossed her mind was somewhat ridiculous.
Even if Lu Shizhen was referring to the photos Lu Shize brought her today, she shouldn't care. But since she wasn't referring to a person, why did Lu Shizhen also panic? What was she hiding?
Xu Shiyue lowered her eyes in thought when she heard Lu Shizhen's voice ring out again: "Besides, many things don't necessarily need to be obtained. As long as you can draw them and remember them, that's enough, don't you think?"
As Lu Shizhen spoke, her eyes shone as she looked at Xu Shiyue.
In the small, square hospital room of the original world, she didn't have many forms of entertainment. Transferring her imagination onto paper seemed to be her only hobby.
"Indeed." Xu Shiyue nodded in agreement with Lu Shizhen's words. The Braille pen twirled between her fingers, making a clicking sound.
Then, as if she had remembered something, she looked up at Lu Shizhen and said, "However, I remember last semester, you got 30 points in oil painting, out of 100."
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