Chapter 101
Even though to outsiders this relationship had long since become "ex-boyfriend," the fact that even his "ex-boyfriend" was used to reject him and make this confession filled Chen Binglie's brothers with deep sympathy.
Chen Binglie was clearly aware of this as well; he hung his head, looking somewhat dejected.
A gentle evening breeze brought a touch of coolness to the area below the girls' dormitory.
Xu Qingzhou turned to leave, but Chen Binglie suddenly reached out to grab her wrist.
Xu Qingzhou reacted quickly and dodged lightly.
"Feel sorry."
Chen Binglie looked somewhat embarrassed: "I just wanted to say that I won't give up, and I will go to Lincheng with you."
Xu Qingzhou's brows furrowed slightly on his indifferent face.
She didn't say anything more, glanced at the boy in front of her, and simply uttered two words—
【what ever】
Fearing that Chen Binglie might be provoked by Xu Qingzhou's departure the next day and do something bad, Xu Qingzhou's roommates were all watching inside the dormitory building, just in case.
Seeing Xu Qingzhou return safely, the three of them surrounded him.
"Has this been explained clearly?"
"If you ask me, Chen Binglie is quite devoted. Qingzhou, you must have had at least a dozen or twenty guys confess to you during your three years of college, but none of them were as loyal as him."
Xu Qingqing rolled her eyes.
"Who expects him to be faithful to one person? It's just self-pity. From Qingzhou's perspective, this is all harassment."
"That's true..."
One of the roommates suddenly remembered something, looked at Xu Qingzhou, and hesitated before asking, "Qingzhou, I've always been a little curious, is it true that you had an ex-boyfriend, as mentioned online?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Qingqing nodded vigorously, her eyes filled with excitement and gossip.
It's only natural to be curious about this kind of thing. Besides, her roommates have always had a good relationship with her, so it must have been quite a struggle for them to keep asking until now.
Seeing Xu Qingzhou remain silent, his roommate quickly waved his hand:
"Um... if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine too. I was just asking casually."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Qingzhou stopped and wrote a line of words on the paper.
It's true, but it's not my ex-boyfriend, it's my current boyfriend.
The roommates were stunned for a moment, then immediately erupted in anger.
"Is that the handsome guy in the photos online? Holy crap, he's so handsome!"
"Yeah, yeah, I've seen her too! She's practically on par with male celebrities!"
"So Qingzhou, you're really dating? I didn't realize, my sweet girl~"
After a flurry of excited chatter, one of the roommates nudged Xu Qingzhou's shoulder and teased him:
"Qingzhou, you've been keeping this a secret for a long time. Why haven't you shown it to us sisters yet?"
"That's right. It would have been fine if we hadn't known, but now that we do, we have to put this on the agenda as soon as possible!"
Xu Qingzhou kept her lips pursed, quietly watching her roommates chatter away.
They only spoke when they were almost finished:
I'm afraid that won't work.
Roommates:
Xu Qingzhou: [He disappeared]
Roommates: ? ? ?
Xu Qingzhou's explanation was very sincere, but it seemed absurd to his unsuspecting roommates.
Excuse.
It must be an excuse.
But after three years of getting to know each other in college, Qingzhou has always been a very sincere girl. Even if she disagrees, there's no need to come up with such a ridiculous excuse, right?
Has it really disappeared?
Yeah, that's even more ridiculous.
Could it be that the young woman was so devastated by her breakup that... something went wrong here?
Impossible...
Qingzhou has always been quick-witted; otherwise, she wouldn't have been so popular with so many professors at the university.
My roommates looked at each other, completely bewildered.
Ultimately, they tacitly agreed that Xu Qingzhou was most likely deeply affected by a failed relationship, which made her brain somewhat confused about her past memories. As a result, the way they looked at Xu Qingzhou was even more heartbreaking.
That night, they said nothing more.
But how could someone as perceptive as Xu Qingzhou not sense it?
She simply didn't want to explain any further.
Tonight, in order to completely dissuade Chen Binglie, I brought up that long-buried memory again. Now, it's time to lock that memory box away once more.
After all, living with memories makes life really hard.
They had almost finished eating the hot pot, so Xu Qingzhou and her roommates cleaned up the mess, took showers, fetched water, and did a final check of their luggage before turning off the lights and going to sleep.
Everything proceeded smoothly and methodically, with the same focus and seriousness as always.
Chen Binglie, his "ex-boyfriend," or his "current boyfriend"—it's as if they never appeared tonight, nor were they ever mentioned.
However, these are merely appearances.
That night, Xu Qingzhou had a rare dream about Chi Jun.
In the past three years, Xu Qingzhou had only dreamed of Chi Jun a handful of times, and all of those dreams occurred in the first six months after Chi Jun left. The scenes in her dreams were also very similar: Chi Jun was covered in blood and dust, and without saying a word, he just stood not far away, quietly watching her and smiling.
This dream terrified Xu Qingzhou.
Fortunately, Chi Jun never appeared in her dreams again for the next two and a half years.
Xu Qingzhou comforted himself, telling himself that those were just dreams. But despite this comfort, the deep-seated worry and fear in his heart had not dissipated...
In her dream that night, Xu Qingzhou was sitting on a bed in a room when Chi Jun suddenly appeared at the door.
Upon meeting again, Xu Qingzhou was both happy and excited.
She threw herself into his arms, crying and laughing as she told him how much she missed him. Once she calmed down a bit, she pulled Chi Jun to the bedside, poured him some water, and then they sat side by side on the bed chatting.
They talked about many things, including friends, studies, work, and life...
Xu Qingzhou became more and more excited as she talked, until a gust of wind blew into the room. Feeling cold, Xu Qingzhou went to close the door. Turning around, she saw that Chi Jun's back was completely empty—
There was no skin or flesh, no spine, just a huge empty cavity with no organs, and it was completely black.
Xu Qingzhou was startled awake.
She sat up abruptly and found herself covered in cold sweat.
The dormitory was deathly silent, with only the faint sound of the air conditioner blowing out in the pitch-black room.
Xu Qingzhou stared at the mosquito net above for a long time, and finally, he buried his head in his hands and knelt down.
Where exactly are you?
—I don't expect you to come back now, but can you let me know if you're doing well?
—At least tell me you're still alive.
*
In the latter half of the night, Xu Qingzhou barely slept, just kept his eyes open, watching the dawn gradually break outside the balcony.
At seven o'clock in the morning, she got up, packed her things, and went to the cafeteria for breakfast.
One of her roommates was already starting her internship and had to clock in for work, so Xu Qingqing and another roommate took her to the high-speed rail station. The girls were reluctant to part, but they still had to hug and say goodbye when they went through the ticket check to enter the station.
It takes seven hours to drive from Beicheng to Lincheng.
After boarding the train, Xu Qingzhou put down his luggage and sat down in his seat to catch up on sleep.
However, with children talking and adults playing their phones on the high-speed train from time to time, Xu Qingzhou didn't sleep soundly. When she opened her eyes in the middle of the journey, she took the time to reply to Li Rui's message.
Rui Ge: [Have you had lunch yet?]
Xu Qingzhou glanced at the time; it was almost one o'clock.
She was about to say "not yet" when she remembered that Li Rui would nag her about not taking good care of herself, so she replied with "eaten" first, then scanned the QR code on her seat and ordered a plate of green pepper and shredded pork rice.
Rui Ge: [What are you eating?]
Xu Qingzhou: [Rice Bowl]
Rui-ge: [I'll pick you up this afternoon with your brother Wang Shuai]
Li Rui and Wang Shuai are inseparable best friends. They were the most outstanding students in their class when they went to junior college together, and they have stayed together ever since after graduation.
Starting last year, the two of them opened a bar together, and after a series of influencer marketing campaigns, the business has been quite successful.
Xu Qingzhou: [Don't worry about me, I can go back by myself.]
Rui: [That won't do! Our sister spent years in university and finally came back. Shouldn't we brothers throw her a welcome-back party?]
Xu Qingzhou couldn't dissuade him, so she had no choice but to go with him.
After sitting on the high-speed train for another five hours, Xu Qingzhou's buttocks were almost numb. Finally, she heard the announcement that they were about to arrive in Lincheng. She got up, stretched her back and legs, picked up her luggage, and walked to the high-speed train aisle.
As expected, Li Rui and Wang Shuai were already waiting outside the high-speed rail station, holding a large red banner.
Welcome back Xu Qingzhou, a top student from Tsinghua University!
Xu Qingzhou felt dizzy and tried to run away while covering his face, but Wang Shuai spotted him immediately.
"Hey! Little sister!!!"
Everyone around immediately turned to look, revealing meaningful expressions.
Oh~ this pretty girl is that top student from Tsinghua University!
Xu Qingzhou: "..."
She could only walk over with a blush on her face.
In addition to the banner, Li Rui and his friends brought Xu Qingzhou a bouquet of flowers with the same message on the greeting card: "Welcome back Xu Qingzhou, a top student from Tsinghua University, after completing his studies."
Xu Qingzhou was both amused and exasperated.
I haven't graduated yet.
Li Rui said nonchalantly, "Oh, that's just a matter of time."
Li Rui smiled and walked over to take Xu Qingzhou's suitcase.
"Come on, come on, your two older brothers will take you out for a meal to welcome you back."
We ate fish slice hot pot for dinner. When we came out, the sky was already covered with a huge expanse of brilliant red clouds.
The three drove towards the rental compound, and Li Rui said as he drove:
"Little sister, I've cleaned your room, and I've washed and dried the bedding and pillowcases for three whole days. It smells so warm and sunny now. How about that? Isn't your brother thoughtful?"
Xu Qingzhou nodded with a smile.
Wang Shuai, in the passenger seat, chimed in:
"How inconsiderate! They even argued with the old lady over such a tiny spot on the line for drying blankets."
He pointed to a red mark on Wang Shuai's cheek:
"Look, he even got a cut on his face from that fierce old lady."
Xu Qingzhou: "...!"
She quickly hugged the back of the driver's seat and craned her neck to look.
Sure enough, there was a red scratch mark from Li Rui's ear to his chin. Judging from the appearance, the wound must have bled a little at the time.
Xu Qingzhou felt a little guilty.
[Brother Li Rui, I'm so sorry, I caused you to get hurt.]
"Hey," Li Rui waved his hand dismissively, "What are you apologizing for? That old lady should be saying that. But I didn't give up easily, I called the police right away."
"After that, I carried a small stool and waited outside your little rented room for two whole days. Sigh, I hung the quilt up to air it at three in the morning, and that old lady got up at six in the morning but still couldn't get the line, hahaha..."
Xu Qingzhou: "..."
He's a ruthless person.
Half an hour later, we arrived at the rental compound.
The tenants inside have all changed. I only saw one familiar face when I went upstairs. It was the cleaning lady from the hospital across the street, still holding a mop in her hand.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Xu Qingzhou headed towards the small rented room.
Li Rui and Wang Shuai had already entered the house, the door wide open, letting in the evening breeze.
Xu Qingzhou stood at the door. A sense of familiarity, like a giant net, suddenly overwhelmed her and enveloped her tightly.
In fact, Xu Qingzhou would come back to stay for a few days during the winter and summer vacations of university.
Therefore, there was no damp, musty smell from being uninhabited for a long time, and all the items were neatly placed in their original positions. Li Rui must have wiped everything down beforehand; the dining table and cupboards were spotless, without a speck of dust.
Knowing that she must be tired after a long day, Li Rui asked Xu Qingzhou what she was going to do in the next few days, and said that he would pick her up the day after tomorrow to go see a house together. Then he took Wang Shuai and left first.
Just before leaving, he suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh, I forgot something."
He abandoned Wang Shuai and ran downstairs quickly, then soon returned carrying a cage.
Inside the cage was a plump, white rabbit.
Xu Qingzhou's eyes lit up when he saw the rabbit.
Before starting her freshman year of college, she entrusted her rabbit to Li Rui's care, only visiting it during winter and summer vacations.
Now, three years later, she has returned, and Li Rui is even willing to return the rabbit he raised for three years to her, which makes Xu Qingzhou feel grateful.
Thank you so much!
Li Rui scratched his head sheepishly.
"Oh, there's nothing to thank me for. I'm your rabbit anyway."
After he finished speaking, he realized that the word "you" was a bit inappropriate.
The atmosphere froze for a very brief moment before Li Rui quickly said, "Then we'll be going now, little sister, bye-bye."
Xu Qingzhou smiled and waved gently.
Li Rui and Wang Shuai left.
The two went down the stairs, turned onto the north road, and got into the car.
Wang Shuai sat in the driver's seat but didn't start the car. He turned his head and stared intently at Li Rui.
Li Rui felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze.
"Why are you looking at me? Do you have a crush on me?"
Wang Shuai chuckled.
"It's no use if you like someone, you already have someone else in your heart."
Li Rui knew that he had seen through her little scheme, and somewhat embarrassedly pushed his shoulder: "Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and drive your car."
Wang Shuai chuckled lightly and started the car at a leisurely pace.
As he turned onto the main road, he glanced at Li Rui again.
"But honestly, Xu Jun has been gone for so long, don't you really want to—"
Before he could finish speaking, Li Rui interrupted him.
"What are you thinking?" He turned to look out the window and chuckled. "She's my good brother's girlfriend, no matter how much I, Li Rui, like her, I wouldn't be so beastly."
After saying that, he lit a cigarette, took a puff, and said angrily:
"Why the hell isn't that damned bastard Xu Jun back yet!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
