whisper
When choosing a nickname for herself on social media, Bai Yixia highly approved of the name "Bo Yixia" because it matched her real name perfectly.
She was known online for her puns, but she never imagined that someone would actually call her by that name in front of her. More than embarrassed, she found it amusing. However, remembering what the boy had said, Bai Yixia's mind went blank, and her gaze towards the young man instantly shifted from admiration to wariness.
The boy clearly realized the inappropriateness of his words, raised his hand to pull out a handful of hair, and hurriedly explained, "No, no, I didn't follow you! Um... it's like this, I saw Bai Yi'an when I went out to eat with my friends, so I guessed you were with her."
He paused abruptly after saying a couple of sentences, his eyes momentarily blank, as if asking himself what he was saying. After a couple of seconds of stunned silence, he covered his face with one hand, "Sorry, I'm a little confused."
The boy shook his head. Bai Yixia stared at his silver hair and for some reason began to imagine the Samoyed downstairs from her house. She coughed lightly, "It's okay, I know what you mean."
Bai Yixia was about to ask him about cosplay when her phone rang. She glanced down and saw it was Zhou Qingchi's name. Her hand answered the call faster than her brain.
"Xia Xia".
Both of them were stunned. Bai Yixia hurriedly touched her ear to make sure the earphone was still on. Then she looked at the screen. Zhou Qingchi looked down at her, his brows furrowed slightly, as if trying to make out something. "Where are you? Why is it so dark?"
Oh no, my headphones are dead.
Bai Yixia gave the boy an apologetic smile, then turned around and whispered to Zhou Qingchi, "I went to the study room and was just about to go back to my dorm. Brother Zhou, I have something to do right now, so I'll turn off my mic for a bit and talk to you when I get back."
Zhou Qingchi on the other end didn't reply for a moment. His lips moved slightly and then closed again. After a long while, he nodded.
Bai Yixia didn't have time to examine his strange behavior in detail. After turning off the microphone, she looked at the boy. He stood there with his hands behind his back, not doing anything else, just tilting his head to look at his shadow on the ground.
"that……"
“My name is Qi Wang, the ‘Wang’ in ‘hope’,” the boy said immediately.
He seemed to react too quickly when he turned his head, making his head spin a little. Bai Yixia saw him let out a soft, uncomfortable breath and couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, my name is Bai Yixia."
Qi Wang looked at her and nodded repeatedly, "I know, give me a kiss, old man—"
"Ah, just call me by my name." Bai Yixia still felt a little embarrassed after hearing it so many times, so she quickly interrupted him, checked the time, and said, "Qi Wang, I'm sorry. I have some things to do and have to go back first. Let's chat on WeChat."
Qi Wang was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, but still nodded, "Okay, okay."
The teaching building was some distance from the dormitory building, and Bai Yixia turned on her microphone after walking only a short distance. She held the phone up to her face, intending to fix her hair, but found that her small screen was completely black, and Zhou Qingchi couldn't see her at all.
Bai Yixia had no choice but to give up.
She looked at Zhou Qingchi again. Perhaps he was bored while waiting, because his eyes were no longer on the screen, but turned away from the screen and focused on something, occasionally raising his hand to tap a few times on the keyboard.
Perhaps because he needed to use electronic devices, he hadn't taken off his glasses yet. The lights in their dormitory were a bit dim, so Zhou Qingchi turned on a desk lamp, but half of the light was blocked by a book that had unexpectedly protruded. With half his face turned to the side, he was in the shadow, looking somewhat like a scheming villain from a romance novel.
Looking at him like this, countless heart-fluttering personas popped into Bai Yixia's mind.
As if programmed, Zhou Qingchi's mind remained on his own affairs, but his eyes slowly shifted to his phone, only to see a dark screen.
Perhaps thinking that Bai Yixia was not finished, he reached out and tapped the screen, a hint of resentment in his eyes.
Bai Yixia felt a pang of tenderness and, not wanting to tease him, quickly called out, "Brother Zhou!"
Zhou Qingchi was startled. He looked again, but still couldn't see Bai Yixia. He couldn't help but wonder, "Where are you? I could at least see your outline a little before, but now you're completely black."
“I’m on my way back to the dorm. There are no streetlights on this road, so it’s a bit dark. Can you wait for me a little longer?” Taking advantage of the fact that Zhou Qingchi couldn’t see her, Bai Yixia stared at him brazenly, her gaze sweeping from his hair to his chest, where the light lingered, with the most time spent on his face.
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard Zhou Qingchi sigh softly. He raised his hand and put the scattered books back in their proper positions. Now the light from the desk lamp shone directly down from above. The awkward position where he had placed his phone only illuminated him and a section of white wall beside him.
Perhaps feeling the lighting was a bit uncomfortable, Zhou Qingchi moved it to a different position, accidentally bringing his phone with him when he raised his hand.
Bai Yixia watched as the camera swayed a few times, and when it became clear again, it only showed the white wall with Zhou Qingchi's shadow on it.
The shadow moved and moved, and somehow it stirred Bai Yixia's heart. She murmured, "Zhou Qingchi, I like you."
But she was playing her phone on speakerphone, and the volume was so low that it quickly dissipated in the wind.
Bai Yixia knew he hadn't heard those words, but when he sat down again and asked himself what he had just said, he still felt a little flustered. "Nothing, I just felt a little bug fly into my eye."
Zhou Qingchi was silent for two seconds. "Little bugs like light. You should turn off your phone. Anyway, it's too dark to see anything."
Bai Yixia pouted: You can't see me, but I can see you.
She mumbled a couple of random "uh-huhs" and didn't move.
After walking a few more steps, the light became brighter. They were almost at the dormitory building. Bai Yixia said, "Brother Zhou, my earphones are out of battery. I can only chat with you for a while downstairs, but the lights downstairs aren't very bright, so you can't see me."
After she finished speaking, she saw Zhou Qingchi staring at the screen without saying a word. After a few seconds, he remained silent. Bai Yixia thought the network was slow, so she tentatively called out again, "Brother Zhou?"
Zhou Qingchi moved. He raised his hand, took off his glasses, and covered his face. His voice was somewhat muffled: "Forget it, there are a lot of mosquitoes outside, and it's very hot. You should go back quickly."
Bai Yixia was naturally reluctant, but not wanting Zhou Qingchi to think she was acting strangely, she hummed in agreement.
As they drew closer to the dormitory building, Bai Yixia asked, "You called me twice today, did you miss me?"
If you casually say this between two people of the opposite sex, it carries an inherent sense of ambiguity.
But even between the two of them, only those unfamiliar with their relationship would misunderstand. Bai Yixia thought dejectedly, if she started pursuing Zhou Qingchi, it would be a blatant confession!
As she expected, Zhou Qingchi on the other end didn't react at all, which made Bai Yixia even more frustrated. She muttered, "Brother Zhou? Are you still there?"
Zhou Qingchi snorted and replied slowly, "So, is our Xia going back to the dorm or the pond tonight?"
Bai Yixia was completely confused. "Huh?"
Zhou Qingchi looked up and gave her a look. "Otherwise, how could your memory be so bad? Like a fish." Seeing that she still looked confused, Zhou Qingchi stopped teasing her. "Didn't you tell me this afternoon that you'd see me tonight?"
Bai Yixia then remembered, and gave Zhou Qingchi a charming smile, "Hehe."
Zhou Qingchi on the other end of the camera was amused by her and shook her head helplessly, "I won't tease you anymore. I called you to tell you that I bought the jigsaw puzzle that you said you liked before, but I filled in my phone number, so I have to send you the pickup code."
Bai Yixia stopped in her tracks, and exclaimed in surprise, "That colorful jigsaw puzzle? The one with 1000 pieces?"
"right."
Bai Yixia was at a loss for words. She had only mentioned it briefly in the group chat, and then Nie Jiayuan sent her dozens of messages in an instant. She had almost forgotten about it herself.
But Zhou Qingchi remembers.
He seems to have been like this since he was a child. No matter what he said, he always remembers it clearly, and then later he will suddenly give her a surprise.
"How could I not like you?" Bai Yixia murmured to herself.
"Xia?"
Bai Yixia replied, "Yes." She felt that if she talked to Zhou Qingchi a few more times, she might actually be able to blurt out that she liked him.
She felt it was hasty, yet she also harbored a faint sense of anticipation.
However, Zhou Qingchi solved the problem for her directly. He knew nothing about it and smiled gently on the other side of the screen, "Take your time to piece it together. It's okay if you can't finish it. Take it home during the holidays and we'll piece it together."
I don't know when he turned off the desk lamp again. The soft light in the dormitory made him seem even more gentle. "Go back now."
-
When she got back to the dorm, her roommates were already in bed. Bai Yi'an and Chen Wanyi were playing games quietly. Lu Qian left a little later but got back to the dorm first and was studying at her desk.
Hearing the door open, Lucy looked up at her, puzzled, and asked, "Didn't you leave a little earlier than me? Why are you only coming back now?"
Bai Yixia walked to her desk, plugged in her earphones to charge, and replied, "I ran into a... friend? We chatted for a bit."
Seeing the two of them talking, Bai Yi'an took off her headphones and joined the conversation, chuckling, "I know, I know, is it Qi—wait a minute!" She picked up her phone and scrolled through her messages, asking doubtfully, "Xiaxia, haven't you added Qi Wang as a friend yet? He asked me to ask if you've come back, worried that something might have happened to you."
Bai Yixia chuckled, "What could possibly happen at school?" She glanced at the message and replied apologetically to Qi Wang, "I was chatting with a friend on the way and didn't check the message."
"Okay, I'll reply to his message first." Bai Yi'an quickly sent Qi Wang a few words of explanation, and then she peeked out from behind the bed curtains, "How is it, Xiaxia? Is he alright?"
Chen Wanyi chimed in, "Yeah, I saw someone trying to rescue him when I was painting the school wall before."
The two immediately changed the subject, starting to talk about the gossip on the school wall. Bai Yixia just smiled at what they were saying and didn't answer much, but Lu Xi glanced at her, and then the two of them smiled knowingly.
Thinking about the character Qi Wang was going to cosplay, Bai Yixia was also quite excited. She hadn't played that game for a while, so she found some videos online to watch. Her mind worked quickly, and she soon came up with some ideas. She grabbed her tablet and started doodling.
"bite".
The phone rang. Bai Yixia was still immersed in her writing and only glanced at it. But when she saw the familiar profile picture, she immediately dropped her pen.
-Please have some porridge: [Image]
- Please have some porridge: People who don't go to bed early will end up like this [smirking face].
The picture Zhou Qingchi sent was of corn whose silks had been almost completely pulled out, with a sad and bewildered expression photoshopped onto it, making it look both pitiful and funny.
Bai Yixia rested her chin on her hand and chuckled a few times, too lazy to pick up her phone, and just stretched out a finger to tap on the keyboard.
- Kiss: What are you doing?
- Kiss: This is a blatant threat!
Zhou Qingchi was probably waiting for her message, and he quickly replied.
-Please have some porridge: Yes, isn't that blatant?
Bai Yixia didn't understand what he was talking about at first, until her gaze involuntarily fell on the picture of corn while she was thinking, and then she realized that he was talking about the corn. So she couldn't help but laugh again, this time her voice was a little loud and attracted the attention of several roommates.
Bai Yixia quickly replied "Goodnight" to Zhou Qingchi. When faced with her roommate's questioning look, she paused and said, "I suddenly really want to eat corn."
The three were confused. Bai Yi'an lay back down and said, "It's no big deal. I'll bring it to you tomorrow morning."
She was the only one in room 325 who would go to eat breakfast without fail. Upon hearing this, Bai Yixia raised her hand and waved to her, "Woohoo! Thank you, Xiaobai."
When I looked down at the message again, the chat box contained a picture of a sleeping kitten that Zhou Qingchi had sent last.
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