Kong Jian was led to a beef noodle shop.
Ning Yan naturally tore open a pair of disposable chopsticks and set them in front of her before grabbing her own.
“If I hadn’t come down, were you just going to stand there like a fool until your break ended?”
She replied, “I never dwell on ‘what ifs.’ It’s better to brainstorm other solutions and turn those awful possibilities into happy realities.”
Kong Jian didn’t quite get her words and didn’t waste any brainpower puzzling them out.
She sized up the girl across from her and couldn’t help asking, “Why aren’t you wearing a skirt?”
Ning Yan looked mildly surprised, then smiled as she answered, “You wear a skirt to dazzle the one you love at first sight that day. She’s already gotten that today, so it doesn’t matter as much what I wear afterward.”
Kong Jian: “…” She couldn’t make heads or tails of it. There really was a generation gap between them!
“I get off at six tonight. What does Senior Sister feel like eating? Hotpot again?”
The beef noodles arrived, steam wafting up and clouding Kong Jian’s view. “Aren’t you tired at all?”
The earnest light in Ning Yan’s eyes shone clearly through the hazy veil of white mist.
She said, “The thought of seeing Senior Sister once it’s over wipes away any fatigue. You’re my spiritual pillar, after all.”
Kong Jian opted to stay quiet.
~~~
Xi Yunyun wasn’t the patient type.
After just one day on the job, she’d fabricated an airtight excuse to dump the logistics duties.
She spent the weekend lounging like a salted fish in the dorm, having her boyfriend drop off meals downstairs and coquettishly begging Kong Jian to run and fetch them.
Kong Jian had just finished lunch with Ning Yan and firmly shot down her wild midday idea of digesting it with a stroll around the sports field. Now she stood with her back against the dorm wall.
“This boyfriend of yours treats you pretty well, doesn’t he? And his looks hit right in your sweet spot. You might actually make this one last longer.”
Xi Yunyun was a total looks chaser, quick to crush on the new and tire of the old. Her romantic history was a starry sky of flings—numerous but fleeting as shooting stars.
Her longest had been her first love, a full six months, which Kong Jian had never witnessed. Every one after hadn’t broken the one-month mark.
As she spoke, Xi Yunyun was slurping noodles while glued to a comedy variety show. She paused the TV and mumbled back through a full mouth, “I’ve got a hunch this one’ll go past a month. Oh yeah, I still owe you that dinner. He’s swamped with freshman boot camp logistics right now, no time. Once things settle, I’ll treat you—pick whatever you want.”
Kong Jian had no intention of standing on ceremony. She was already plotting to bleed her dry come mealtime.
But as the saying goes, plans rarely survive reality.
That night at ten-thirty, her roommate Xi Yunyun fired off a WeChat message.
【Yunyun: Boo hoo, I broke up. You’re a jinxing wizard, Jian.】
???
Their wordless rapport had built up naturally over years of rooming together.
Kong Jian had barely clambered down from her bed and slid open the balcony door when Xi Yunyun trailed right after her.
“What happened?”
The night was pitch black all around. A few dark clouds smothered the bright moon, letting only the faintest light trickle through.
Xi Yunyun’s face was lost in shadow, too indistinct to read.
“The world’s too damn small! Yesterday he said his cousin—who’d been abroad for years—was coming back for dinner today, so he couldn’t grab food for me. Back then, I had this vague bad feeling, and wouldn’t you know it—the truth was straight out of a soap opera!”
Kong Jian was relieved her hands were empty; otherwise, something might’ve gone sailing over the railing.
Shocked, she said, “No way. He didn’t seem like that kind of guy. ‘Melodramatic’ doesn’t even cover it.”
Over the past couple days fetching Xi Yunyun’s meals, she’d exchanged a few words with the guy herself. His voice was crisp and soothing, easy on the ears. More than that, Kong Jian pegged him as emotionally intelligent.
With their friendship, her running downstairs for food was no big deal, yet he’d always toss in a little extra something for her. Nothing fancy, but thoughtful enough to charm.
Xi Yunyun blinked, dazed. “Huh?”
“You caught him in some shady thing with his cousin? Being gay and faking straight to toy with feelings is bad enough, but that’d be straight-up incest, wouldn’t it?”
Kong Jian had zero clue how to console her friend. She’d never dealt with anything like this and couldn’t picture it.
Xi Yunyun usually parted with partners on good terms; Kong Jian wasn’t sure if comforting words were even needed this time.
Her friend froze for several seconds before half-laughing, half-fuming as she snapped, “Kong Jian, you total space cadet! When the hell did I say he was banging his cousin? Where do you even pull these twisted plotlines from?”
Kong Jian said innocently, “Otherwise, for no good reason, why drag my cousin into this? He’s not his parents. Even if someone really wanted to break up the loving couple, his cousin shouldn’t be the one swinging the stick, right?”
“You idiot! I’m seriously going to laugh myself to death because of you! I was scrolling through his WeChat Moments that he just posted and saw the group photo of him and his cousin’s families. That’s when I realized his cousin—who went abroad years ago—is my damn first love!”
“…”
“Isn’t it super melodramatic?”
“Yes.”
The two of them stood there for a while longer until Xi Yunyun let out a sob.
“Jian, I just got dumped, wuu wuu wuu, I’m so sad.”
Kong Jian saw right through her. “You could fake-cry even harder if you tried. Spill it—what do you want me to do?”
Xi Yunyun cozied up to her coquettishly, nuzzling against her. “I’m hungry. Can you go to the water room and fetch me some hot water? I’ll share half my instant noodles with you!”
“…”
A breakup was a perfect excuse to put Kong Jian to work.
Xi Yunyun rolled over, pulling the blanket up over her head and leaving only a pair of dewy, doe-like eyes peeking out.
“Jian, I want some little wonton dumplings. I’m in a bad mood from the breakup—can you go buy some for me?”
Kong Jian paused. Three seconds later, she decided to come clean. “I already started eating breakfast.”
Xi Yunyun froze, then sprang upright on the bed in a single carp flip, her earlier feigned frailty vanishing in an instant. “Give me ten minutes—I’ll just do my makeup simply today!”
“My junior sister said she’d bring breakfast downstairs. I can just go pick it up.”
As Kong Jian said this, she inexplicably felt a pang of guilt.
Xi Yunyun shot her a look of utter devastation, her eyes brimming with sorrow as deep as the ocean. “Why does my head suddenly feel so tight? Oh, right—it’s the green hat my dear Kong Jian specially brought me.”
“…”
“You heartless cad, ditching friends for a pretty face, you detestable ghost! I nagged you forever not to eat breakfast, but that junior sister’s only known you a few days, and now you’re eagerly off to share breakfast with her? You old perv—what you’re really craving isn’t the food, it’s her body! Wuu wuu, I just broke up last night, and now I’m heartbroken all over again. My life is so bitter! Ah~ what’s this white stuff fluttering around? Oh~ it’s snow in June~”
Kong Jian couldn’t help cutting off her drama-queen friend. “They’re both still sleeping—keep it down.”
This only made Xi Yunyun look even more aggrieved. Her already delicate, pretty face scrunched up in a way that was utterly pitiable.
“So even Big Sis’s care goes to other people too? Then little sis doesn’t want this kind of affection—hmph!”
Feeling in the wrong, Kong Jian thought for a moment and asked, “Can I stay with you for two days during National Day?”
Xi Yunyun huffed arrogantly, her expression all pouty. “This time, I won’t come pick you up at the bus stop. You come find me yourself—that’s your punishment!”
“Okay, okay, okay—so you forgive me now?”
Her doe eyes flicked sideways. “Remember to bring me a bowl of wonton dumplings. Have that sweet junior of yours pick them up for me on the way. This’ll be the first test from your future mother-in-law on whether she’s worthy to join our family!”
Kong Jian ignored her nonsense, shut the door behind her, took two steps out, then pulled out her phone anyway and sent Ning Yan a WeChat message.
She had a hunch that if she headed to the cafeteria again where that girl could see her, she’d definitely tag along.
