A fleeting dream
Out of curiosity, Nie Jiayuan peeked at the message, which was simply asking when Bai Yixia would be returning.
She was greatly disappointed. "I was so excited. I thought you were in a relationship too. It turns out it's Zhou Qingchi."
Qiu Ting, who was standing next to her, paused for a moment, but neither Bai Yixia nor Nie Jiayuan noticed.
Bai Yixia replied to the message, begging for mercy: "Help me, I'm not dating early!" Then she teased her, "You better watch out, if Uncle Nie and the others find out, you're finished."
Nie Jiayuan flicked her ponytail. "Let them go home when they have some free time. I haven't seen them much during the holidays."
“Besides,” Nie Jiayuan patted her backpack, “I haven’t done anything bad, so there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Looking at the two of them, Bai Yixia felt that there was no adolescent excitement, only the shrewdness of the "King of Curry".
She sighed and waved her hand, "A learning machine? That's fine too. But I won't be with you guys this afternoon, I'm too tired."
Nie Jiayuan looked at her suspiciously, then reached out and pulled out her homework. "I noticed you didn't do much this morning—wait, Bai Yixia! How come you've already finished half of this!"
Bai Yixia was reminded of the unbearable feelings she had back then by her words, and her heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly took back the exercise book and stuffed it into her bag, explaining in a stammering voice, "Well, I just couldn't sleep last night."
Nie Jiayuan gasped, "Shouldn't you be scrolling through your phone if you can't sleep at night? You're doing practice problems?! Who's the real test-taking king here?!"
Bai Yixia was afraid that if she asked her any more questions, she would reveal all her feelings for Zhou Qingchi. It would be fine if only Nie Jiayuan was there, but there was also Qiu Ting, who had a good relationship with Zhou Qingchi, beside them.
She hurriedly packed her things, chuckled, and ran out of the restaurant, saying, "I'm going home now! Bye-bye!"
Behind her, it sounded like Nie Jiayuan was complaining to Qiu Ting about something, but Bai Yixia couldn't hear clearly.
The sun was quite strong after we left the restaurant; the heavy rain last night had resulted in a cloudless sky.
Despite the sweltering heat, Bai Yixia felt incredibly happy and couldn't help but skip around as she walked.
No matter how hot the weather is, seeing someone you like makes you feel incredibly happy.
However, while she thought about it, when she actually stood at Zhou Qingchi's door, Bai Yixia was not as at ease as usual. She stood there for a long time without knocking, just like she had in the morning.
She was still holding three ice cream bars in her hand, which would probably melt into water if she didn't knock on the door soon. Bai Yixia raised her hand, then pursed her lips and put it down.
It's like there's a little cat in my head, stirring up my emotions into a tangled ball of yarn.
Fortunately, people came to the rescue soon. Zhou Qingyan, carrying a basketball, walked out of the elevator and asked, "Sister Xiaxia, why aren't you going in?"
Bai Yixia breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't answer his question. Looking at his flushed cheeks, she smiled and said, "Why did you go play ball in such hot weather?"
Zhou Qingyan chuckled sheepishly, "It wasn't this hot when I left. That's why I'm slinking back here."
He unlocked the door, looked inside, and shouted, "Brother! You're here. Why didn't you open the door for Sister Xiaxia?"
Zhou Qingyan acted too quickly; Bai Yixia hadn't even had time to react before he sold her out. She had no choice but to go inside as well, and upon seeing Zhou Qingchi, she chuckled, "Little Zhou."
Bai Yixia handed Zhou Qingyan an ice cream and walked over to Zhou Qingchi. "I was looking for you this morning, but Aunt Jiang said you weren't here."
Zhou Qingchi was panting heavily, his forehead covered in sweat, unaware of what he had been doing. When Bai Yixia looked over, a drop of sweat slid down his cheek, eerily similar to what she had seen in her dream.
Bai Yixia's breath hitched, and she lowered her gaze in a panic, only to hear the person in front of her chuckle softly, "Went out for a morning run this morning, did you need something?"
Her heart was still pounding, but Bai Yixia couldn't help but look up at him again and snorted, "Can't I come to see you if there's nothing wrong?"
She handed Zhou Qingchi a watermelon-flavored ice cream, saying, "Eat it quickly, it's about to melt."
Zhou Qingchi took it and gestured for her to sit down.
The two sat down on the sofa. Zhou Qingchi turned on the TV, and Bai Yixia observed him while munching on an ice cream. She then noticed that he had dark circles under his eyes and looked tired, probably because he hadn't slept well last night.
The ice cream in her mouth suddenly became excessively sweet, and Bai Yixia buried her head to hide her flushed cheeks.
She could guess why Zhou Qingchi hadn't slept well, but she kept thinking about her ambiguous dream from last night.
The scene in her dream was only twenty steps away from where she was now, except that the rosebuds had already faded and their green leaves trembled in the wind.
At this time yesterday, she and Zhou Qingchi were indeed sitting on the balcony outside.
However, Zhou Qingchi did not show such a vulnerable expression, nor did he ask her for a hug.
He simply sat silently beside Bai Yixia, gazing into the distance for a long time.
Thinking of this, Bai Yixia looked up at Zhou Qingchi, who was slowly chewing on a piece of colored ice, pressing a button on the remote control. Noticing Bai Yixia's gaze, he turned his head to look at her.
He asked somewhat vaguely, "What's wrong?"
Bai Yixia couldn't quite tell how he was feeling. Asking rashly might touch on something unpleasant, but if she kept quiet, she wouldn't be able to find out Zhou Qingchi's feelings.
He could only frown and shake his head hesitantly.
But Zhou Qingchi had known him for sixteen years, how could he not see through her thoughts?
While Bai Yixia was pondering how to cheer Zhou Qingchi up, he spoke first, "It rained heavily last night, Xia, did you hear it?"
Bai Yixia suddenly raised her head, her eyes wide open. She knew he was talking about himself, yet the beautiful dream was still swirling before her eyes.
"Not only did I hear it, I saw it too. Little Zhou, didn't you sleep well last night either?"
"Also?" Zhou Qingchi paused for a moment. "You don't have any either?"
Bai Yixia finished the last bite in a few bites. "Hmm, couldn't sleep. I did three hours of homework like crazy, letting my body know who the real master is."
Zhou Qingchi paused for a few seconds, then smiled with his eyes crinkling, "Then you're better than me. I lay there all night and still couldn't become the master."
Bai Yixia pursed her lips, moved a little closer to him, and asked, "Why didn't you sleep well? Was it because of what happened during the day..."
To be honest, Zhou Qingchi is already considered to be an extremely emotionally stable person, even though he has a sharp tongue and often spouts venomous remarks.
In just over a decade, as far as Bai Yixia could remember, she had never seen Zhou Qingchi get angry. He would laugh off trivial matters and deal with annoying things with a serious face.
But Zhou Qingchi really lost his temper yesterday. If Bai Yixia hadn't stopped him, he probably would have hit her.
The culprit who angered Zhou Qingchi was his own father, Zhou Sheng.
Bai Yixia is the type who only remembers happy things and forgets all the things that make her unhappy. As a result, she only cared about playing when she was young and couldn't think about anything else.
She didn't have much of an impression of this Uncle Zhou. At most, she remembered him as a serious man who didn't like to talk or smile.
He's undeniably good-looking, but his character is utterly despicable. Jiang Yinghua worked tirelessly for the family, and even when he impulsively quit his job, she didn't say anything. Yet, this scumbag cheated on her during that time.
He was discreet and always presented a reliable image, so he went undetected for three or four years.
By the time Jiang Yinghua realized her husband was having an affair again, Zhou Qingyan was already almost a year old.
The divorce was unpleasant, but Jiang Yinghua was not one to be trifled with. With the help of Bai Yixia and Nie Jiayuan's parents, she managed to keep custody of the children entirely in her own hands.
Of course, Zhou Sheng didn't seem to want custody at that time either.
"I don't know how he still has the nerve to show his face in front of my mother." Zhou Qingchi said in a low, hoarse voice, clutching an ice cream stick.
"All he ever talks about is asking my mom to pull some strings for him, to get his son into Zhou Qingyan's school." Zhou Qingchi sneered. "How old is his son? He's a few months older than Xiaoyan."
Bai Yixia felt uncomfortable listening to this, so she knelt on the sofa and moved a little closer to Zhou Qingchi, then reached out and patted him lightly on the back.
Zhou Qingchi stiffened, seemingly a little uncomfortable, but Bai Yixia couldn't care less about that at the moment. She carefully chose her words, "He's shameless! He treated Aunt Jiang so badly. He ignored you and Xiao Yan for over ten years, and now he wants to come back and reap the benefits."
“Back then, my mother gave him another house and said that she didn’t need him to pay child support to me and Zhou Qingyan,” Zhou Qingchi said slowly. “The condition was that he never, ever appear in front of us again.”
Even before she realized her own feelings, Bai Yixia felt incredibly sorry for Zhou Qingchi.
After Zhou Qingchi finished speaking, he seemed much more relaxed. When he turned his head, he saw that Bai Yixia's eyes were full of tears.
He panicked for a moment and hurriedly turned to comfort her, "What's wrong?"
Bai Yixia comes from a happy family; her parents are loving and dote on her. When she was young, she never wondered why Zhou Qingchi's family only had three people. As she grew up and became more sensible, she stopped talking about other people's sad stories.
Now that Zhou Qingchi himself has said these words, Bai Yixia feels heartbroken and wishes she could rush over and punch Zhou Sheng a few times.
But she understood that Zhou Qingchi didn't need it, nor did Jiang Yinghua; they were capable and clear-headed enough to handle things on their own.
Seeing Zhou Qingchi's flustered expression, Bai Yixia felt both happy and sad. She was happy that he cared about her, but she was also annoyed that she was trying to comfort him, but the situation had turned around.
Bai Yixia steeled her resolve and raised her hand to hug Zhou Qingchi tightly.
They say that what you think about during the day, you dream about at night. Yesterday, Zhou Qingchi didn't say he wanted a hug during the day, but he did in his dream.
Bai Yixia thought about it and realized that she had probably had these thoughts for a while, but she just hadn't come to terms with them. She wanted to hug him and comfort him, hoping that he wouldn't put on a brave face in front of her, that he would take on the responsibility of being a good older brother, and that he should cry if he wanted to, so that he could vent his feelings.
Bai Yixia leaned over and hugged Zhou Qingchi, gently patting his back as she whispered, "If you're ever sad, just hug me."
Then, realizing it wasn't right, she quickly changed her mind, saying, "Don't be sad anymore."
She felt that Zhou Qingchi's body, which had been tense, was slowly relaxing and he raised his hand to hug her.
I don't know what movie was playing on TV, but the music was soothing and gentle, as if time itself had stopped.
Zhou Qingchi suddenly raised his hand and pushed her away slightly. Bai Yixia stared at him blankly, her hands on either side of her neck.
Zhou Qingchi stared intently at her, his gaze deep, and murmured as he moved closer, "Xia..."
Bai Yixia tried to back away helplessly, but the hand that was behind her had somehow moved to the back of her head, pressing against the back of her head and preventing her from retreating.
As the face drew closer, Bai Yixia's heart pounded, and she slowly closed her eyes.
jingle.
Bai Yixia's phone, which wasn't set to Do Not Disturb, rang at an inopportune moment, and she abruptly opened her eyes.
The weather was chilly at the end of November, and my exposed arms felt a bit cold.
There haven't been any workbooks piled up on my desk for over two years, and the clock is flashing the three o'clock mark.
Bai Yixia blinked blankly.
It was a dream.
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