Chapter 54: Little Cutie Snuggles – 3

Gu Xizhou realized it belatedly, raising a hand to scratch her head. “Ah… it is indeed the 22nd. It’s been so long since I’ve celebrated a birthday, I completely forgot.”

On the other end of the phone, Su Zhiyi paused for a moment. “Your parents don’t celebrate your birthday?”

Gu Xizhou didn’t know how to explain it to her, her tone hesitant. “No, it’s just… I don’t want to.”

Gu Xizhou’s words seemed to carry a hidden story. Normally, with Su Zhiyi’s upbringing, she wouldn’t pry into such matters.

But with Gu Xizhou, she found herself asking one more question for some reason. “Why?”

Gu Xizhou hadn’t expected her to ask. Her mind blanked for a moment before she finally answered, “My mom passed away on my twelfth birthday, so…”

Her tone faltered, as if the words were difficult to speak. Su Zhiyi immediately felt she had asked something she shouldn’t have, full of remorse. “Ah… I’m sorry…”

It seemed she’d touched on a painful subject.

Gu Xizhou quickly said, “It’s okay, it’s okay… it’s all in the past. It’s not something that can’t be asked about.”

Su Zhiyi understood. She held her phone, lowering her gaze to the little clay figure sitting before her. After thinking for a moment, she asked, “Even if you don’t celebrate birthdays… would you still accept a gift?”

“Hmm… if you give me one, of course I’ll accept it.” Gu Xizhou tried her best to make her voice sound cheerful, speaking quite merrily. “After all, receiving a gift is a happy thing, right?”

“That’s good, then.”

Su Zhiyi curved her eyes, softening her voice. “I’m glad you’re willing to accept it. Let’s leave it at that for now. You should go to sleep early.”

“Mm, good night, Su Zhiyi.”

“Good night, Gu Xizhou.”

They hung up. Gu Xizhou turned off the light in her room and lay flat on her bed, eyes open, gazing at the city lights filtering through the window. She was so happy she couldn’t quite fall asleep.

She and Su Zhiyi—were they very good friends now?

Having Yan Qing, having Su Zhiyi, it really was… wonderful. High school life was pretty good.

Her life was gradually beginning to look up.

Gu Xizhou couldn’t sleep and wanted to chat with 0820. “I think my life is pretty good now. When are you going to leave my body?”

0820 was distracted, fobbing her off. “What do you mean good? We’ll talk when you’re older.”

Was having friends something so great? Was being childhood sweethearts with the person you liked so amazing?!

A life like this…

She should have had it too.

0820 fell silent. She ignored Gu Xizhou, her mind constantly churning with old memories of the past.

It seemed to be the deep autumn of sophomore year in college. A night of cold, biting wind. She was walking Su Zhiyi back from the library to her dorm. When they reached the dormitory building, the other girl spoke. “Don’t go yet. Wait for me downstairs for a bit.”

The weather in Swallow City was already very cold by late October.

Wearing a navy duffle coat, Gu Xizhou stood before the iron gate of the Omega dormitory, a little bewildered. “Are you going somewhere else later?”

Su Zhiyi smiled. Her cheeks seemed flushed from the cold air. “Just wait a moment, okay? You’ll see.”

Gu Xizhou was still very obedient to her words back then. Seeing her say this, she honestly waited downstairs for quite a while.

Perhaps five minutes. Su Zhiyi came out from the dormitory building.

In the dim night, the girl wore a snow-white, thin down jacket and a fluffy hat of the same color. She looked just like a little snowball.

The snowball had a pair of very bright eyes. She was holding a large, tightly wrapped picture frame. She walked through the darkness to stand before Gu Xizhou and handed the thing in her arms over. “Here, Gu Xizhou.”

“Happy birthday to you.”

Gu Xizhou froze, a little at a loss. “Thank you…”

She took the carefully wrapped drawing board, her expression dazed. “But how did you know today is my birthday?”

Su Zhiyi smiled, her face pink. “During summer break, when we went to the countryside to volunteer as teachers together, didn’t I compile everyone’s ID information? I found out then.”

“It wouldn’t be right if you knew my birthday, but I didn’t know yours, would it?”

These words carried a hint of coy reproach and grievance, full of a young girl’s charm.

Gu Xizhou’s heart trembled slightly. Holding the drawing board, she didn’t know why she couldn’t speak.

Her lips quivered. Finally, she managed two words. “Thank you.”

That night, Gu Xizhou returned to the small apartment she rented off-campus. She unwrapped layer after layer of packaging and saw a portrait framed inside.

It seemed to be a very sunny day. A young girl in a white shirt was looking up at the sky outside a window, showing only the side of her face—elegant and handsome.

That was her.

It felt too beautiful, too good. That wasn’t her.

Gu Xizhou glanced faintly at the painting. She didn’t want to ponder what state of mind Su Zhiyi had been in to depict a person who wasn’t quite her, yet was undeniably her.

She turned the frame over and saw a line of elegant, free-flowing crane script on the back. “To my dear friend, Gu Xizhou. Happy Birthday. — 20XX.10.22.”

This was the second year they had known each other, and the first time Gu Xizhou received a birthday gift from Su Zhiyi.

At the start, it was “friend.” By the second year, “dearest friend.” By the third year…

It was “beloved.”

Every year on October 22nd, it was the birthday of Su Zhiyi’s beloved.

Gu Xizhou could never understand why, out of all things, it was at world number 1022 that her sleeping wife showed a reaction. Now, suddenly, she saw the light.

If…

If Su Zhiyi, in her subconscious, could also perceive everything happening in the virtual world, then after passing through “1022” worlds, would she choose her beloved’s birthday as the trigger—to end, or perhaps to begin again?

Just as every time she came to the virtual world, she called herself “0820.”

Because August 20th was the first day of high school. The day the devil Su Nanfeng began to ruin her life. At the same time, it was the birthday of the twins, Su Zhiyi and Su Nanfeng.

0820 was the day of Gu Xizhou’s suffering, yet it was also the birthday of her beloved.

It was hate, it was pain, it was despair, and it was love.

If that was the case, they were truly a pair of ill-fated lovers, a match made in tragedy. Forever trapped at the center of love and hate, life and death, unable to transcend, unable to let go.

A tremendous sorrow washed over 0820. Under the influence of her emotions, the younger Gu Xizhou, already deep in sleep, unconsciously shed two lines of tears from the corners of her eyes.

A night without good sleep. When Gu Xizhou woke the next morning, she felt like she’d had nightmares all night long, her eyes completely red.

She rubbed her eyes. While the sky was still ashen gray, she went downstairs for a run, brought back breakfast, changed her clothes, and sat at the dining table to eat.

Gu Jing shuffled out of her room, her hair a messy bird’s nest. Seeing Gu Xizhou eating breakfast, her eyes red like a rabbit’s, she paused.

Last night, after returning to her room, Gu Jing hadn’t fallen asleep quickly.

Their house was old, with poor soundproofing. Pressing her ear against the wall, Gu Jing had intermittently heard her daughter on the phone with a girl.

The kid’s tone was quite gentle, completely unlike her usual state. Shy and bashful—it felt like she was dating someone.

Gu Jing recalled how late she’d come home. She was probably out on a date with a girl, and even got the other party’s parents to send her home in the end.

Ah, her feelings were a bit complicated. Her own pig was learning to dig up cabbages. It wasn’t long ago that she was just a tiny little thing.

Gu Jing’s mood was very peculiar. She tossed and turned last night, thinking about her late wife, recalling Gu Xizhou’s childhood, and somehow couldn’t sleep.

Happy, and yet not entirely happy.

And then, good heavens, when she got up in the morning, her daughter’s eyes were swollen. Anyone could see she had been crying.

So what sad thing did she and her little sweetheart talk about last night, to cry like this?

Could it be that the other party’s parents found out and demanded they break up?

Gu Jing felt very unsettled. She pulled out a chair and sat in the main seat. Taking a bite of her red bean bun, she furrowed her brows and spoke. “Xizhou…”

Tapping away at her phone screen, replying to Su Zhiyi’s messages while holding a red bean bun in her other hand, Gu Xizhou didn’t look up. “Mm?”

Gu Jing spoke hesitantly. “Are you… heartbroken from a breakup?”

Gu Xizhou’s head shot up abruptly. She stared at Gu Jing, her expression shocked. “Huh?”

What kind of question was that? How had the topic of conversation between mother and daughter jumped to this?

Usually, it would be, “Are you dating at too young an age?”

Seeing her daughter’s look, Gu Jing knew she was overthinking. She coughed tactically and said, “It’s nothing. Just thinking that, as an alpha, you shouldn’t overthink things…”

“You’re still young. Falling out is normal, but don’t come home that late, and don’t cry like this…”

“Ah, I’m not saying dating is bad for you, but you should still prioritize your studies.”

Gu Xizhou connected the dots backward and forward, miraculously figuring out her mother’s train of thought.

Her whole face flushed red. “No such thing! My eyes are just irritated from eye drops this morning.”

“I’m not dating young! I already told you, coming home late yesterday was something else. It’s not what you think.”

Ah, her mother was so annoying!

Gu Xizhou’s loud protest instead confirmed Gu Jing’s suspicions.

She ate her red bean bun, her expression glum. “Fine, if you say there’s nothing, there’s nothing… Even if there were, Mom wouldn’t say much.”

“You’re an alpha anyway, you won’t be at a disadvantage. But you must be careful, okay? Don’t hurt anyone, understand?”

Gu Xizhou: …

Gu Xizhou had nothing to say. After that, Gu Jing nagged her endlessly—saying they were still young, to be more mindful, and that if something happened and the other family’s parents came calling to settle accounts, she would definitely tie Gu Xizhou up and drag her to admit her wrongs.

The conversation grew more and more absurd, full of the traditional yet strikingly progressive nagging of an alpha parent.

Gu Xizhou completely ignored it, gulped down her red bean bun in a few bites, and headed out the door.

Her face was red the entire journey, as if she had a high fever that never broke.

Entering the subway station during the morning rush, Gu Xizhou’s head was full of Gu Jing’s words, her mood all over the place.

Inside the crowded, surging subway station, she silently recited Su Zhiyi’s name in her heart. But with each recitation, her heart grew harder to calm.

So much so that when going through security, she muddleheadedly grabbed the wrong thing.

“That’s my bag.”

A clear, youthful girl’s voice suddenly came from behind. Gu Xizhou, bag in hand, snapped back to reality and met a pair of indifferent eyes.

A girl slightly shorter than her, wearing the uniform of the Affiliated High School of Normal University. Her long hair was cut into a sleek, black hime cut, looking utterly aloof.

The girl’s face was cold. With a flush on her face, she frowned and stressed, “That’s my bag.”

Gu Xizhou looked at her face, and her mind just jammed.

She stared blankly at the indifferent face that seemed vaguely familiar from a dream, her heart and spirit violently shaken.

0820 was equally surprised. “Xu Erya…”

Xu Erya—the daughter of Xu Yan, the person her mother Gu Jing remarried. Her sister in name.

She was that… the one she had an affair with who broke Su Zhiyi’s heart.

Gu Xizhou’s eyes widened. She quickly set the bag back down and said stiffly, “I’m sorry.”

She dared not have too much contact with this girl. Her mind sobered up instantly. She hurriedly grabbed her own backpack and ran off as fast as she could.