Chapter 51 Part 2

“She’s looking for you. Are you going to go with her?”

Ji Yan kept her eyes downcast, asking as if nonchalantly.

Xu Yinian knew the elective course was still in session and she should have returned long ago. She had never skipped a class before, and besides, Shen Ruoshuang and Jiang Ke were both waiting for her.

But… Xu Yinian looked at Ji Yan’s wound with a conflicted expression. Ji Yan was already dizzy from blood loss, and now the wound had been torn open once more because of her.

If she ignored Ji Yan and simply left like this, the consequences would be unthinkable. Ji Yan was unwilling to go to the hospital and even refused to let anyone else see her wounds or her wretched state. Besides, Xu Yinian naturally had a “Saint Mother” personality, prone to sympathizing with and helping others.

Now that another injury had been added because of her, she absolutely had to step in.

At that thought, Xu Yinian steeled herself. She looked up with shimmering, apricot-shaped eyes that were filled with shyness and a fear of rejection, and stammered softly:

“If you don’t want to go to the hospital… I can treat the wound for you. That is… if you don’t mind me touching you…”

Ji Yan’s intention in asking that question was indeed to get Xu Yinian to stay, but she hadn’t expected to receive even more privileges than she had imagined.

Was this what Xu Yinian was like when driven by guilt and pity?

No wonder everyone loved to play the victim in front of her to win her sympathy.

“Suit yourself.”

Ji Yan masked the darkness in her eyes, seemingly indifferent.

The more indifferent she appeared, the more Xu Yinian would let down her guard.

Xu Yinian sent the same excuse to Shen Ruoshuang and Jiang Ke via WeChat: she had been called away unexpectedly by the counselor for some department business.

Jiang Ke happened to be able to help Xu Yinian turn in her handicraft class assignment.

If Xu Yinian hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she probably wouldn’t have known that Shen Ruoshuang had gone out specifically to look for her.

Because the other party didn’t say anything else, only replying with:

[Stay safe tonight. I can come pick you up if you need.]

The light from the chat window flickered across Xu Yinian’s face.

One could clearly see a flash of evasive shyness in those eyes; the young girl’s conflicted feelings were fully revealed at this moment.

“I’m going back to the apartment. Since you’re thinking about her so much, it’s still not too late to go find Shen Ruoshuang.”

Ji Yan’s voice suddenly interrupted Xu Yinian’s train of thought. The ripples stirred in her eyes by Shen Ruoshuang had not yet subsided when she looked up blankly.

She failed to notice the jealous provocation hidden within Ji Yan’s cold words.

“I… I only happened to take the same elective course as her, that’s all.”

Normally, hearing that she was going to Ji Yan’s home would have definitely caused her to hesitate and feel flustered for a moment.

Xu Yinian had already been wanting to escape because of what Shen Ruoshuang said, and now, facing Ji Yan, she put on an even braver front, wanting only to quickly distance herself.

She completely overlooked what an ambiguous and dangerous forbidden zone that would be.

“I already said I’d help you; I won’t go back on my word.”

The young girl sighed as she made her earnest promise. However, when she inadvertently looked up, she discovered that Ji Yan, who had always been cold and indifferent toward her, was watching her. They were the same damp, cold, ink-stained eyes, yet they were different from her usual arrogant and dismissive gaze; for some reason, Xu Yinian found them strangely familiar. Within those pitch-black depths, her own reflection was clearly mirrored, captured with an unprecedented level of focus and sincerity.

It just seemed like she had seen it somewhere before…

.

Ji Yan lived in a high-rise apartment near the school’s CBD. Xu Yinian also knew from the original novel that Shen Ruoshuang’s family seemed to have a place here as well—the classic neighbors-to-lovers trope.

Xu Yinian figured that Shen Ruoshuang must have visited long ago.

Little did she know, given Ji Yan’s germaphobia and aloofness, she was actually the very first person Ji Yan had ever brought to this apartment.

The apartment wasn’t large, consisting of only one bedroom and a living room, but every visible surface was spotless.

The renovation seemed to be a uniform high-end finish, but the various furniture and decorations were all in shades of black, white, and gray, fully exuding a sense of minimalism and oppression.

It was hard to imagine that someone like Ji Yan, who so freely manipulated vibrant colors on a canvas, would exclusively favor such rigid and serious tones in her daily life.

However, the easel in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and the professional, high-end graphics tablet on the desk still revealed Ji Yan’s identity as an art student at a single glance.

Ji Yan didn’t live in the dorms. Aside from her germaphobia, it was likely also because it was inconvenient for her painting.

Xu Yinian didn’t dare to pry into Ji Yan’s private space, yet she also hesitated to step through the door. The interior was so immaculately tidy that she felt as if there was nowhere to even set her feet, and she couldn’t help but feel that entering would be an intrusion.

Even though Ji Yan had her back turned while rummaging through the entryway cabinet, she seemed to perceive Xu Yinian’s every move:

“Are you so afraid of what I might do to you? You don’t even dare to come in.”

Xu Yinian choked up. “N-no, it’s not that…”

Before she could finish, a pair of cotton slippers was placed in front of her, similar to the gray ones Ji Yan was wearing.

An extra pair of slippers in a home where one lived alone always gave off the feeling that they were being reserved for someone.

This inevitably caused Xu Yinian’s imagination to run wild.

Qin Jiashu? Shen Ruoshuang?

“Everyone who’s been here before must have worn them…”

“What are you thinking about?”

Ji Yan looked at Xu Yinian’s face, which was an open book, and understood immediately.

Seeing that she had already successfully tricked Xu Yinian into coming home, her teasing tone resurfaced, a far cry from the cold indifference she had been feigning for so long:

“Don’t worry, no other woman has worn these.”

“Even though I fall for every girl I see—”

“But aside from the exception, I’ve never invited anyone else.”

“Falling for everyone you see”—Xu Yinian was all too familiar with that phrase. It was the rebellious remark she had blurted out in a fit of anger and grievance back in the infirmary.

At the time, Ji Yan clearly hadn’t held it against her, yet she had remembered it until now.

And that “exception” brought back the chaotic thoughts she hadn’t finished processing just now.