Rhythm Master
There weren't many classes on Monday, so Bai Yixia didn't rush back to her dorm after class. She went to the library for a walk, but returned disappointed after finding that she couldn't find a single seat.
After a weekend, the atmosphere in their dorm room was slightly different.
The biggest change was that Lucy was no longer detached from their conversation; occasionally, even if she didn't understand what they were talking about, she would chime in. Bai Yixia didn't know what had happened to Lucy after she returned to her dorm on Saturday, but she was happy to see this change.
This way, there's no need to consider moving out! Bai Yixia thought to herself with delight.
Lucy was the first to notice her standing motionless in the doorway. She turned around and waved to her, "Xiaxia, why aren't you coming in? Isn't it hot outside?"
Bai Yi'an and Chen Wanyi, who were engrossed in recommending games and anime to Lu Xi, suddenly looked up, exchanged a surprised glance, and then turned to look at Bai Yixia, gesturing to Lu Xi with their eyes.
Taking advantage of Lucy turning her head away, Bai Yixia proudly shook her head at them and mouthed, "I'm the MVP!"
Bai Yi'an and Chen Wanyi closed their eyes and blew hard, raising their four hands above their heads to give her a thumbs up.
Lucy looked at them with confusion. "What are they doing?"
Bai Yi'an quipped, "Celebrating Xia Xia's fourteenth failed attempt to leave the library."
Lucy didn't understand what was there to celebrate, but seeing that Bai Yixia didn't seem angry, she smiled with relief. She checked the time and said, "It's hard to find a seat at the library at this time. If Xiaxia wants to go, I'll save you a seat next time."
Bai Yixia nodded, thanked her first, and then said, "It's nothing. I'm just going to try my luck. I'm not obsessed with the library. I'll just find any study room."
"By the way, aren't you going to your part-time job today? It's already this late."
Chen Wanyi was worried that her words would make Lu Xi uncomfortable, but she didn't care at all and just smiled shyly, "I won't go anymore. I found another tutoring job, only on Fridays and weekends."
Bai Yixia cheered, "That's great! I always thought you were so tired. Now you can finally enjoy a different kind of college life."
Lucy nodded, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Do you all have class tonight? I'd like to treat everyone to dinner, but it might not be too expensive—"
Before she could finish speaking, Bai Yi'an and Chen Wanyi went to change their clothes and comb their hair, respectively. In less than two minutes, they were all dressed and ready to go out, pushing Lu Xi along. They even said, "What do you mean by treating? College students don't treat each other. Let's split the bill."
"Let's go, let's go, we're starving."
Lucy was unusually at a loss. She turned to look at Bai Yixia, only to see her throw down her things, rub her hands together, and follow behind them, saying, "Great, finally we can have a good meal again."
As soon as she finished speaking, she received hostile looks from her other two roommates, who seemed to be condemning her for saying such a thing when she was a local who went home almost every week.
Bai Yixia didn't care at all. She took Lucy's arm from theirs and walked out affectionately.
As soon as she stepped out of the dormitory building, her phone rang. She gave Lucy an apologetic smile, took her phone, and walked to the side, hurriedly answering it before the video call automatically ended.
Before the person opposite could speak, she excitedly called out, "Brother Zhou!"
Zhou Qingchi hid half his head out of the camera's view today, wearing blue light blocking glasses. His usual gentleness was softened, making him appear somewhat aloof. But upon seeing Bai Yixia, he smiled and transformed back into the Zhou Qingchi she knew.
He turned and whispered something to the person next to him. Bai Yixia couldn't hear clearly, but she could hear a strange cry coming from the other end. She called out Zhou Qingchi's name again in confusion, "What's wrong with you?"
Zhou Qingchi snorted and got up to walk outside. "Who knows? It felt like walking into a zombie apocalypse." After saying that, he looked down at his phone screen and smiled at Bai Yixia, "Xia."
Even though it had only been a day since they last met, Bai Yixia already felt an overwhelming longing for them. She said, "Hmm? I'm here, what's up?"
Zhou Qingchi shook his head. Bai Yixia saw his shoulder twitch, and then a small bear holding a honey pot swayed on the screen. She exclaimed, "Isn't that...that...that...!"
A burst of laughter came through the earphones. Bai Yixia hesitated for a long time without saying the name, then shut her mouth in annoyance. But Zhou Qingchi never liked to make her angry, so he tugged at his clothes and showed Bai Yixia the embroidery on his chest.
"Yes, it's this little bear."
Bai Yixia was incredibly easy to coax. She asked, "Where did you come from?"
Zhou Qingchi said, "I saw it by chance when I went to the night market with my roommate after I came back yesterday." He examined the little doll and added, "Seeing it reminded me of you. I'll let you play with it when I come back for National Day."
Bai Yixia felt a surge of warmth in her heart, wishing she could reach through the screen and hug Zhou Qingchi, but she simply shook her head, "Don't give it to me."
Why? Don't you like it?
Bai Yixia lagged a few steps behind her roommate. She opened her mouth, feeling a little embarrassed, so she held up her phone to her lips and whispered, "Let it keep you company for me."
Zhou Qingchi heard it clearly, and his hand holding the phone unconsciously clenched slightly. He then heard Bai Yixia mutter to herself, "If I had known, I would have sewed a doll for you back then. I was only thinking that Jiajia would miss me while she was far away, but I forgot about you."
Zhou Qingchi's smile froze for a moment, and her voice suddenly lowered as she said, "Is that so?"
Bai Yixia couldn't see his sudden change in expression, and assumed he was just curious. She nodded, "Yes, if I had known you wouldn't mind bringing a little toy, I definitely would have given it to you."
He was easily appeased again, and Zhou Qingchi touched his chest and laughed again behind the screen.
Bai Yi'an urged Bai Yixia to hurry up, so she reluctantly waved goodbye to Zhou Qingchi, "I'm going to eat now, see you tonight, Brother Zhou."
The four of them found a small restaurant with a good reputation and ordered food like hungry wolves. The food arrived quickly, and all four of them, feeling quite hungry, picked up their chopsticks and started eating.
Halfway through the meal, Bai Yi'an, who was only half full, was looking at his phone while biting his chopsticks. Suddenly, he paused, looked up at Bai Yixia, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Xiaxia, there's someone here who wants to add you as a friend."
Chen Wanyi's eyes gleamed with gossip. She leaned closer to her and glanced at the screen, then looked away in disappointment.
Bai Yixia found her actions amusing. "Who is it? What's the matter?"
Bai Yi'an said, "Well... it's nothing serious. I joined the anime club, and the people there, well, we're friends. They heard you're good at taking photos, so they wanted to ask you to take some cosplay photos for them."
Bai Yixia isn't exactly a serious anime/manga enthusiast, nor does she have any experience taking photos of cosplayers. She hesitated, saying, "I haven't systematically studied photography; I'm just figuring it out for fun. I think I'll pass."
Bai Yi'an nodded and typed a few words, perhaps as a rejection, but after a while she frowned and said, "Hiss, this person said he's followed your account and thinks you're already very good, and he wants you to see the character he's going to cosplay."
"Oh dear, Xiaxia, you've been set up." Bai Yi'an clearly recognized the character as well. She flipped her phone over and handed it to Bai Yixia, teasingly saying, "Now you're out of options, aren't you?"
Bai Yixia glanced at it, and her eyes lit up. The image on the screen was of a character from a game on the market, with medium-length silver hair, golden eyes, and wearing a knight's outfit, which was exactly what she liked.
Bai Yixia gave a loose clench of her fist, a hint of hesitation in her eyes. Bai Yi'an said, "Just between you and me, this modeler is pretty top-notch."
"We don't criticize looks in the cosplay community." Although she wasn't in the community, Bai Yixia still managed to say it, and then she quickly made a decision, "Xiaobai, you can give him to me."
Bai Yi'an gave her a knowing look, "OK." Then she flew over with a cheeky grin, "You two seem to have similar interests, Xiaxia, how about you get to know each other? It's university, you can date now."
Bai Yixia sent a friend request to the other party on her phone. After hearing Bai Yi'an's words, she didn't argue much, but just smiled at her.
After dinner, Bai Yi'an and Chen Wanyi were heading back to their dorm, while Bai Yixia planned to go to the study room with Lu Qian for a while. As they walked, Bai Yixia noticed Lu Qian glancing at her several times, seemingly wanting to say something but hesitating. She put her arm around Lu Qian's shoulder and asked, "What's wrong, Qian? Is there something you want to ask me?"
Lucy, having received permission, eagerly asked, "Don't they know you have someone you like?"
Bai Yixia never felt there was anything to hide about this. She nodded and said, "They haven't asked me, so I haven't told them. Besides, Xiao Wan is such a gossip. If she finds out, she'll definitely give me some bad advice."
Bai Yixia said smugly, "I'm not in a hurry, I'll figure it out myself."
Lucy wanted to say that she herself didn't seem to have made a name for herself, but seeing how confident Lucy was, she decided not to get involved in other people's love lives.
The two stayed in the study room until 9:30 before going back, and only then did Bai Yixia have time to check her phone messages.
In their small group chat, Nie Jiayuan, seeking revenge for being shown off with a small cake earlier, called Zhou Qingchi several times while he was in class, only to be condemned by Zhou Qingchi by posting screenshots in the group chat.
Bai Yixia found it amusing, but didn't take sides, only replying with a long string of "hahaha," which was then overshadowed by the two's mutual insults.
She was focused on typing in the chat box and didn't notice the road in front of her. She stepped into a small pit, her body swayed, and she was about to fall when a hand suddenly reached out and caught her arm.
Bai Yixia was terribly afraid of the pain, and was still a little shaken. She dared not look at her phone while walking, and put her phone away, intending to thank the kind person.
The person who came looked to be about the same age as her, with dyed silver hair, upturned eyebrows, and light-colored eyes that looked surprisingly bright in the light of the street lamp.
Silver hair is a bit selective; Bai Yixia had seen several of her high school classmates dye their hair this color, and while they weren't exactly failures, they were still far from being fashionable. But the person in front of her was a real eye-opener.
"Are you alright?" the student asked.
Bai Yixia shook her head, "It's nothing, thank you, classmate."
The student chuckled softly, then touched the tip of her nose a little shyly. "Since there's nothing else, could I give the teacher a kiss so she can reply to my message?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
