The surroundings were quiet, and the monotonous light of the private room was spread out in Xu Shiyue's line of sight.
Lu Shizhen's voice was muffled, tinged with a faint smell of alcohol, and her words were somewhat melancholic and world-weary.
Xu Shiyue didn't quite understand why Lu Shizhen would suddenly say such a thing; in her opinion, the day had gone very smoothly.
Not understanding doesn't mean ignoring it. Xu Shiyue supported half of Lu Shizhen's weight on one shoulder, as if she could feel her sadness.
Xu Shiyue stared at the blurry figure in Yu Guangli's eyes and asked in a low voice, "Why do you hate it?"
Lu Shizhen's body has an extremely low tolerance for alcohol. Just a few drops of two different kinds of alcohol mixed together made her lose her fighting ability and even her mind became unclear. She would answer any question from people she trusted: "Because the people in this world are too nice."
"Is it good or not?" Xu Shiyue asked, puzzled.
“Not good.” Lu Shizhen shook her head.
Her thick, long hair brushed against Xu Shiyue's shoulders and neck in clumps, making her feel a little itchy.
Xu Shiyue's doubts deepened, and she pressed for an answer: "Why?"
“Because that way I will always remember you.” Lu Shizhen slightly raised her head, which was resting on Xu Shiyue’s shoulder, her gaze somewhat sincere. “No one can forget the first time.”
As if a series of questions were swirling in Xu Shiyue's mind, she asked again, "What first time?"
Lu Shizhen was asked many questions, completely unaware that Xu Shiyue had asked a lot. She simply started counting on her fingers, childishly yet earnestly reciting, "For the first time, I felt the warmth of family; for the first time, someone cared about me; for the first time, a group of people were willing to protect me..."
As she said this, Lu Shizhen paused for a moment.
She looked up at Xu Shiyue sitting next to her, then casually took Xu Shiyue's hand and said, "And this is the first time I've acted as someone's guide cane."
The girl chuckled twice, then wagged her tail like a dog seeking praise and asked, "Xu Shiyue, am I doing a good job as a guide cane?"
Xu Shiyue never thought that a young lady like Lu Shizhen would willingly describe herself as a "guide cane," but Lu Shizhen's hand was holding hers so warmly, reminding her that what she had just said was true.
The warm hand looked like it was applying some pressure, but the force was actually very gentle, just like before.
After a pause, Xu Shiyue nodded: "Yes, you did a very good job."
Lu Shizhen was very satisfied to hear Xu Shiyue's positive evaluation, and her smile became even wider.
She chuckled again, her unsteady body leaning back against Xu Shiyue's shoulder.
His breath, tinged with the scent of alcohol, brushed against the girl's stray hairs, the crisp syllables vibrating in her ears.
If we're talking about "the first time," then this was also the first time Xu Shiyue truly and genuinely experienced another person's joy.
This happiness clearly doesn't belong to her, yet it seems to belong to her nonetheless.
The corners of her mouth also turned up involuntarily.
“You know, I used to be taken care of by others. They thought I couldn’t do anything and wouldn’t let me do anything.” Having received recognition, Lu Shizhen seemed to open up, leaning on Xu Shiyue’s shoulder and telling her stories. “But see, I’m still capable, right? Very reliable, isn’t I?”
Xu Shiyue was puzzled by Lu Shizhen's earlier words, but then she remembered the two large suitcases of luggage that Aunt Sun had packed for them.
She couldn't deny the reliability that Lu Shizhen had given her over the years, and nodded: "Yes."
Xu Shiyue thought that her nod would make Lu Shizhen happier, but she found that Lu Shizhen's expression suddenly changed afterward.
The weight on her shoulders disappeared once again, and the light painted Xu Shiyue's vision with a bright layer, which was then covered by a shadow.
The scent of roses brushed past Xu Shiyue's nose like a breeze, and unexpectedly, the distance between her and Lu Shizhen suddenly closed very close.
Xu Shiyue's usually calm eyes suddenly widened, her dark pupils reflecting Lu Shizhen's face as she suddenly crashed into her.
Their noses almost collided.
Or perhaps they have already collided.
Thump, thump...
The lukewarm air was heated even more by the air conditioning, and Xu Shiyue's indistinct outline became clear due to the single magnification.
The person in front of her was still the same as she remembered, with a pair of sharp eyes beneath thick eyelashes, but at this moment he also looked somewhat pitiful and out of place.
Lu Shizhen swayed unsteadily, trying her best to meet Xu Shiyue's gaze.
She sounded a little aggrieved and asked vaguely, "Then why don't you give me extra points... why do you always deduct points from my score..."
"Additional points?" Xu Shiyue's mind was still reeling from the sudden closeness, so she didn't understand what Lu Shizhen meant. She thought Lu Shizhen was upset about the physics problems she had corrected for her. "You didn't do it perfectly, how can I give you additional points?"
Hearing this explanation, Lu Shizhen became even more upset, and the distress she had been hiding in her heart was revealed on her face: "What do I have to do to be perfect? What do I have to do to make you really like me?"
Thump.
Thump.
The scent of roses filled the monotonous space, overpowering the aroma of leftover food on the table.
Whether it was the girl's eyes that were too sincere, or the close proximity that made every word seem tinged with intense ambiguity, Xu Shiyue's heart skipped a beat.
She suddenly realized that Lu Shizhen's "bonus points" and "minus points" didn't seem to be simple numbers that existed in reality.
It's not physics.
The score was earned through her efforts to please herself.
"Why do you want these points so much?" Xu Shiyue asked, as if possessed.
"Because only with enough points can I find a place like this again in the future," Lu Shizhen said.
Then she circled back to the beginning: "I don't like this world, this world is so awful..."
Lu Shizhen's words came up very quickly; if you didn't listen carefully, no one would pay any attention to her vague first sentence.
Unfortunately, the person beside her was Xu Shiyue.
From hearing Lu Shizhen's words about "the first time," to hearing her talk of "adding points" and "subtracting points," and the drunken conversation on her birthday not long ago, Xu Shiyue's originally calm eyes narrowed slightly.
It was as if something that had been painstakingly built up in her mind was overturned, and then something else was quickly constructed and rose from the ground.
She lost something, but she also gained something.
However, the weight of the gains and losses didn't seem to be so even, causing her heart, which had been pounding just moments before, to suddenly skip a beat.
Xu Shiyue's thoughts suddenly became complicated, but her expression was calmer than ever before. She asked Lu Shizhen again, "So you've been to other places too?"
Her eyes couldn't reveal any emotion, and few could discern her true intentions from her calm exterior, let alone the drunken Lu Shizhen.
Lu Shizhen shook her head earnestly, her eyes, slightly flushed with the smell of alcohol, fixed on the person in front of her, and said, word by word, "The world with you is my first world."
As if they had touched on a topic she really liked, Lu Shizhen's smile widened.
She turned slightly, looked earnestly at the person she admired so much outside the book, and said as if confessing her feelings, "Meeting you is the happiest thing in my life."
"Xu Shiyue".
The girl's voice was not clear and sounded somewhat breathy.
Like a whisper in her ear, the warmth enveloped them, and Xu Shiyue suddenly heard a soft call of her own name.
In an instant, it was as if a warm breeze swept across Xu Shiyue's desolate heart, shaking the tender bud called jealousy into disarray.
She felt like she was on a rollercoaster, going up and down, as if she were heading towards the distant clouds.
I was a little dazed.
That's why Xu Shiyue couldn't control the swaying Lu Shizhen.
She leaned against his shoulder, the chiffon fabric unable to support the girl's face, and slowly, slowly, she slipped down and fell directly onto his lap.
Compared to the somewhat hard shoulder she had been leaning against earlier, Lu Shizhen preferred this soft "pillow" that allowed her to lie down.
Perhaps driven by her own obsession, Lu Shizhen's vacant gaze gradually focused on those dangling legs, and her sleepy eyes were once again filled with admiration as if she had found a treasure: "Xu Shiyue, your legs are so beautiful, so soft..."
The girl's breath fell on Xu Shiyue's jeans as she spoke, its lukewarm scent seeping through the fabric and landing on her legs.
As she muttered to herself, she began to rub and knead her soft little face on it; it was more than just an offense.
Xu Shiyue narrowed her eyes slightly, her brows furrowing slightly.
She really doesn't like having any close contact with people, and she especially dislikes words that sound somewhat frivolous.
If it were the past, she would definitely have spread her legs and thrown Lu Shizhen, who was coveting her, directly to the ground.
But now...
She is Lu Shizhen.
Questions and sudden realization intertwined, like a vine that suddenly grew and instantly filled Xu Shiyue's eyes.
She opened her mouth, wanting to ask Lu Shizhen more questions, but suddenly felt a pulling sensation.
The feeling was somewhat unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar, carrying an irresistible force.
Then Xu Shiyue felt a breeze blowing in from the doorway, and the noisy sounds rushed in as well.
The door to the private room was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and a somewhat unfamiliar figure stood in the doorway, looking puzzled and surprised: "Miss Xu?"
It was Shen Yanxing.
Xu Shiyue didn't know how she suddenly sensed the identity of the person standing at the door, even though they had only had a brief encounter yesterday.
But she still called out, "Shen Yanxing?"
“It’s me.” Shen Yanxing nodded.
Her eyes seemed a little confused as she looked at the empty private room and the leftover food on the table, and she explained awkwardly, "I... I think I got the wrong room."
"That's how it is," Xu Shiyue said calmly, with an almost imperceptible sense of distance.
After a few words, the atmosphere between the two cooled down, just like sometimes readers might feel in a book.
Shen Yanxing pursed his lips slightly, and without knowing where the idea came from, he said to Xu Shiyue as if to strike up a conversation, "I watched your performance this afternoon, it was really good, and it's great that the cello wasn't damaged."
Xu Shiyue remained indifferent: "Thank you for helping with the check-up yesterday."
Shen Yanxing waved his hand: "No need."
Despite discussing other things, there was still no progress between the two, and the atmosphere remained as cold as that between ordinary strangers.
Whether it was because the temperature in the private room had actually dropped after the door was opened, or because the atmosphere between the two was too cold, Lu Shizhen lay on Xu Shiyue's lap, half-asleep, shrinking her neck and murmuring, "October, cold..."
Xu Shiyue's eyes suddenly paused.
She didn't know if Lu Shizhen's voice was too muffled and she had misheard, or if she simply hadn't called her by her surname.
That feeling of her heart skipping a beat, inexplicably yet strangely natural, touched her heart, making a sudden thud.
Shen Yanxing also heard the murmured words and immediately noticed Lu Shizhen lying flat on top of Xu Shiyue behind the dining table. His foot, which he was about to lift, inexplicably fell back down: "Um, what's wrong with Lu Shizhen..."
“She’s sleepy,” Xu Shiyue replied. She didn’t want a third person to know that Lu Shizhen was drunk.
Especially Shen Yanxing.
"Do you need my help? I just hailed a taxi; I can take you home," Shen Yanxing offered.
"No--"
Before she could even finish speaking, the syllables that were originally connected were broken off by Xu Shiyue's vocal cords.
She suddenly felt a force controlling her, making her accept Shen Yanxing's invitation and abandon Lu Shizhen in this place.
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