Chapter 17

10:00 AM (2)

In the stillness of the night, Xu Muzi could feel the ointment cooling against her inflamed wisdom tooth.

The coolness seeped into her heart, yet a flame surged within her, flickering and scorching her insides.

Where was this burning sensation coming from?

She had already removed her down jacket when she entered the room, and her knitted sweater was thin.

It was like an auditory hallucination, the air mingled with Schubert’s “Fantasia.”

As the ointment was applied around her wisdom tooth, Xu Muzi shivered, and Deng Yun withdrew his finger, asking her, “Does it hurt a lot?”

Actually, it wasn’t the pain that caused her to tremble. Xu Muzi didn’t know why she felt flustered, retreating awkwardly and shaking her head.

Deng Yun remained very calm.

He went to wash his hands again in the bathroom connected to his bedroom, and when he returned, he leaned against the table, tightened the cap of the ointment, and casually placed it into the pocket of Xu Muzi’s down jacket. “This only has anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effects; you should still go to the hospital when you have time.”

As he spoke, he turned on two more lights.

Xu Muzi focused on the ointment, afraid to close her teeth, nodded slightly, and hurriedly averted her gaze, pretending to be busy examining the bedroom.

Their bedrooms were oriented and laid out exactly the same, only the decoration styles were different.

Xu Muzi’s own bedroom was in cheese tones, leaning toward warm colors;

Deng Yun’s was dark-toned, with even the bedding being black. His black phone lay on the bed, almost blending in with the sheets.

Deng Yun told Xu Muzi to sit wherever she wanted, and as she walked toward the sofa, she felt increasingly strange.

The bedroom was so quiet that she could almost hear her own irregular heartbeat.

It was as quiet as her practice room.

A guess popped into her mind: “Did you soundproof your bedroom too?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? You don’t study piano…”

Deng Yun held a cup of water.

This person had a certain talent; the matte ceramic cup filled with warm water looked like a wine glass in his hand.

He lowered his head to take a few sips of warm water, placed the ceramic cup on the table behind him, and, extending his thumb, said, “Noise can affect focus in studying.”

Then he extended his index finger, “And I find their gatherings annoying.”

Deng Yun said she could choose to believe either of those two reasons.

The real reason was clearly the latter.

Moreover, Xu Muzi also knew that her mom must have heard about Deng Yun’s soundproofing before she did.

Perhaps Deng Yun’s parents were more willing to spend money on such things, and the costs were higher than those for her practice room, which made her mom feel embarrassed, so she kept quiet about it.

Their two families shared many identical or similar items, results of the elders’ comparisons.

For example, Xu Muzi’s dad had been obsessed with appearing sophisticated for a time, buying a record player for their home, which he rarely used and only showcased a few times when guests came over.

The same brand of record player was also present in Deng Yun’s house, now placed in his bedroom.

With her toothache having eased somewhat, Xu Muzi suppressed the strange feelings churning in her chest and asked Deng Yun, “Do you really listen to this often?”

“Occasionally.”

The vinyl records were in a cabinet, and Xu Muzi selected a pure black-packaged one and pulled it out.

She didn’t recognize the name, unsure if it was an album title or an artist’s name. She read it aloud: “Cigarettes after sex…”

The name was a bit…

Simple words turned awkward, and the more she said it, the quieter her voice became.

The room was filled with a faint fragrance of tomato vines, and she turned her head in a panic.

Deng Yun was sitting in his computer chair, quietly watching her, even smiling as he lowered his head. “It’s a band called Cigarettes after Sex; not bad. Want to listen?”

It took Xu Muzi a long time to understand that the feeling of her heart racing in Deng Yun’s bedroom that night was called infatuation.

It was also called “being seduced.”

That night, Xu Muzi stayed at Deng Yun’s house and didn’t do anything particularly thrilling; they just listened to records and chatted, not even drinking any alcohol.

Yet her heart raced more than it had the night before when she was drunk.

Deng Yun had even asked her, “Are you hot? Should I open a window?”

He got up from his computer chair, and Xu Muzi unexpectedly noticed the fridge magnet on the computer tower.

The transparent packaging was still there, tied with a light pink velvet bow.

“Hey? This…”

Deng Yun opened the window and turned back. “It’s a fridge magnet.”

Xu Muzi pointed, “I know, it’s a souvenir from Montgallus, right? I heard it’s for your girlfriend. Haven’t you given it to her yet?”

“Stop listening to gossip.”

Deng Yun took the fridge magnet from the computer tower and handed it to Xu Muzi. “Here, it’s yours now.”

Xu Muzi exclaimed innocently, “Did you get dumped? That’s why you can’t give it away?”

Deng Yun immediately pulled his hand back.

Xu Muzi quickly reached out to stop him.

She took the fridge magnet resting in his palm, her fingertip brushing against the injured area on his hand, the bandage’s surface dry…

What had they really talked about that night?

They talked about her regrets for not attending the concert and how her parents liked to call her a genius…

She couldn’t remember what time it was when Deng Yun suddenly pulled Xu Muzi up.

A bright, full moon hung in the night sky.

He gestured for her to look out the window. “There’s a moon here that has eavesdropped on your secrets.”

In her memory, it should have been a wet rainy day like today, always giving a sense of the damp air swirling around.

But in reality, it was just a dry, warm winter night.

Xu Muzi withdrew her hand from the bandage and was interrupted by a knock on the door.

She wasn’t ready to see Deng Yun yet, quickly putting on her slippers and fixing her hair.

Taking a deep breath before opening the door.

Luckily, standing outside was Xing Pengjie.

The local beer was indeed potent; Xing Pengjie looked worse than Xu Muzi, clearly having vomited and definitely dizzy, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Xu Muzi, I hope I’m not disturbing your sleep?”

“No, I just slept for a while and am already awake.”

Xing Pengjie said that shortly after Xu Muzi left, they didn’t continue drinking.

Everyone’s tolerance wasn’t particularly high, and most people had gone back to their rooms to sleep.

“It’s strange; I thought I could hold my liquor. Wow, my head was pounding just now. Luckily, Xiaxia had some hangover medicine, which saved my life.”

Mentioning the hangover medicine, Xing Pengjie noticed a change in Xu Muzi’s expression, mistakenly thinking she didn’t like him mentioning other girls. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Um… what I meant was, did you leave early because you weren’t feeling well? Do you want to have some hangover medicine too?”

Xu Muzi shook her head, saying she had already taken some.

After getting drunk, she always felt her mind wasn’t clear enough and was very thirsty, planning to go downstairs to find something to drink.

Xing Pengjie said, “Great, I’m going down too; let’s go together.”

They heard a door sound in the hallway, and Xu Muzi looked in that direction to see Deng Yun walking out.

She lingered on him for two seconds.

Deng Yun glanced at her without any intention of greeting; he just nodded slightly in their direction.

So, Xu Muzi didn’t say anything and walked alongside Xing Pengjie toward the elevator, entering it one after the other.

She thought Deng Yun was headed elsewhere, but unexpectedly, he also came toward the elevator.

Xing Pengjie, being an outgoing and friendly person, blocked the elevator door. “Hurry up!”

Deng Yun walked into the elevator. “Thanks.”

“Hey, why be polite?”

The three of them stood in the elevator, and the atmosphere felt awkward.

Xu Muzi rubbed her ear with her fingertip, feeling strangely itchy. Looking at the mirrored wall in the elevator, she noticed she had been bitten by mosquitoes.

Xu Muzi was slightly allergic to mosquito bites; while others might just feel itchy for a few days and the swelling would go down, her bitten areas would have subcutaneous bleeding, quickly developing into a purplish-red color, like a bruise or a hickey…

The color of her skin was starting to darken. She tilted her head to check, and in the mirror, her gaze collided with Deng Yun’s.

They locked eyes, neither of them speaking.

Many things seemed difficult to say with others present. The existence of another person could seal off all possible topics of conversation.

Xing Pengjie seemed to sense the subtlety and continued to chat with Xu Muzi as they exited the elevator.

“I just checked the laundry room; your clothes aren’t done drying yet. It’s taking quite a long time.”

Xu Muzi touched her ear. “Do you need to use the dryer urgently?”

Xing Pengjie said, “No, I was just checking for you, thinking of bringing it back.”

Xu Muzi said, “Thanks.”

That “thank you” seemed to echo her earlier words from just two or three minutes ago, with the same tone?

Xing Pengjie glanced back in confusion, where Deng Yun was talking to Xiaxia at the front desk.

“By the way, Xu Muzi, I heard you picked up a stray cat before and were planning to go to the berry orchard. The rain has lessened quite a bit now, and a few of us are thinking of going for a walk; do you want to come?”

Xu Muzi agreed.

The rain had indeed lessened, just a drizzle, and it was possible to go out without an umbrella.

The sky remained overcast, and the public areas were lit up.

A few familiar faces from the screening room were chatting while holding comic book guides, discussing plans to go out soon, and complaining about the local beer.

Someone said, “I checked the weather forecast; the rain will only lessen for a bit; it’s going to start up again.”

“Ugh, and I was hoping to see the stars.”

Xu Muzi sat with them.

As soon as Xing Pengjie heard about seeing the stars, he perked up and quickly took out his phone to show everyone pictures of the starry sky he had captured in the desert.

When sharing photos, they were too far away to see clearly.

Xu Muzi just went with the flow, leaning in next to the others to listen to Xing Pengjie talk about how they used a mobile app to predict stargazing conditions.

This discussion went on for quite a while until a guest of a similar age playfully interrupted, “Alright, old Xing, stop showing off. Since the rain’s lightened up, let’s head out quickly. When can’t you look at the stars on your phone?”

Xing Pengjie hurriedly put his phone away, looking flustered. “Cough, right, right, right, let’s go out first.”

Feeling uncomfortable with her ear, Xu Muzi discussed with everyone, “Sorry, I want to go back to my room for a bit. I’ll be down soon.”

Xing Pengjie waved his hand. “We’ll wait for you.”

Xu Muzi dashed towards the elevator, glancing at the front desk.

Only Xiaxia was there; Deng Yun was nowhere to be seen.

Before she had to think about Deng Yun’s whereabouts, she spotted him in the elevator, and the doors were slowly closing.

In a panic, Xu Muzi called out, “Deng Yun!”

Deng Yun glanced at her and pressed the delayed close button just before the metallic doors were about to seal shut.

The elevator doors reopened, and Xu Muzi walked in.

She continued to touch her ear, still avoiding the topic she found most difficult to broach. She threw out a casual remark, “My friends are waiting…”

Deng Yun chuckled, seeming amused. “Friends? Can’t you tell your friend wants to get with you?”

Xu Muzi paused for a moment. “I can tell.”

“So, you’re in a state where you can accept advances from the opposite sex now?”