Chapter 37

Xue Ling left in such a hurry that she didn’t take anything from this small home with her.

The house shows signs of having been ransacked, though it isn’t in total disarray. The bedroom, at least, remains much the same as it was three years ago.

Xue Ling opened the closet and looked inside, then moved on to the drawers, glancing at exam materials and books on the desk, her water cup, some desktop trinkets from friends, and even a dead succulent plant.

After looking around, Xue Ling feels conflicted. She wants to take everything, yet nothing feels essential.

Pulling out the chair in front of the desk, she sits on the dusty seat. Dust floats through the air, and she sees the green trees outside and the school buildings in the distance through the window.

For countless days and nights, she would sit here, studying or simply daydreaming.

A knock at the door interrupts her thoughts.

She turns to see Wen Jiuze standing at the bedroom door, gesturing as he knocks. “I thought you were packing, but it seems you’re just slacking off. Isn’t there anything you want to bring?”

“No, they’re all unnecessary,” Xue Ling replies, drawing on the dusty desktop.

Let these things stay here.

Wen Jiuze reads her words, then walks to the closet, opens the top cabinet door, and with one hand effortlessly pulls down a suitcase. He opens the lower section of the closet and starts picking out clothes.

Xue Ling’s clothes are still there. Wearing her own things always feels more comfortable than using someone else’s.

Though she keeps visible surfaces clean, her closet is a different story. Summer clothes are crammed alongside winter wear, creating a jumble in the small wardrobe.

When Wen Jiuze first moved in, he had to share a corner of the wardrobe, making space even tighter.

The last time he was here was before they broke up. Back then, their clothes were mingled together in the closet.

Now, as he pushes some clothes aside, he finds a black package tucked in the corner. The fabric peeking out from the bag’s torn edge is unmistakably his clothing.

Xue Ling hadn’t packed her own clothes, yet she had packed his, showing a subtle care he couldn’t ignore.

He deliberately ignores the large X-shaped tape sealing the black package.

After selecting a few clothes for her, Wen Jiuze opens the suitcase and pauses.

This suitcase was the one they’d used for past trips, and many of its contents remained from those times.

Wen Jiuze pulls out a skirt. “Isn’t this the one you couldn’t find?”

Xue Ling stood up instantly: Oh! It is! Why is it here?

She had once turned her entire closet upside down trying to find this skirt, piling clothes high on the bed.

Wen Jiuze had sat there, folding his clothes casually, listening to her mutter, “Where could it be?” as she searched frantically, even sticking her head inside the closet.

It turned out to be in this suitcase.

“Oh, and here’s that nail clipper you thought I lost.” Wen Jiuze pulls out a multifunctional nail clipper from the inner pocket of the suitcase.

Inside, there are also train tickets, plane tickets, attraction passes, travel toiletries, face cream samples, and more.

Wen Jiuze clears the old items out and starts packing Xue Ling’s clothes into the suitcase.

Seeing him organize her clothes makes her suddenly feel like taking a lot more with her.

She shuffles in front of the closet, finds her favorite scarf, and tosses it into the open suitcase. After some deliberation, she picks her two most-used backpacks, one large and one small.

There was a gold bracelet in the drawer that her cousin had given her. She put it on.

She takes her ID as a memento.

She also grabs a new notebook and an unused box of pens.

The comb and clips she’s accustomed to? Those come along too.

…

The suitcase can’t hold all her knick-knacks, so they fill two additional large bags. Xue Ling also carries a sky-blue plaid blanket.

“Weren’t you the one who said you didn’t want to bring anything?” Wen Jiuze remarks with a light nudge at the assortment of bags at his feet, signaling the end of the move.

Xue Ling: “…”

You didn’t have to bring it up.

She clutches the blanket to her chest, feeling slightly guilty.

After carrying the things downstairs, Wen Jiuze “seizes the opportunity” to stuff all the things into the space in the car, and unexpectedly saw the black package containing his clothes.

Apparently, she slipped it in when he wasn’t looking.

As they get into the car, Xue Ling writes on her writing board, “Did you come all the way to Yu City just to help me move?”

Starting the car, Wen Jiuze changes the topic: “Want to take a walk around the school?”

They head to her school.

It’s holiday time, so the campus is fairly empty, and the zombies are sparse. Compared to the crowds of zombies that roam the busy streets, this place feels almost deserted.

The car drove past the teaching building, the cafeteria, and the artificial lake before turning and stopping on the street below the girls’ dormitory.

After Xue Ling went to college, she rented a house by herself, but sometimes it was too lonely to live outside by herself, and it was not very convenient to go to classes, so she still lived in the dormitory when she had many classes.

Originally, she planned to live in the dormitory throughout her sophomore year. But after someone publicly confessed to her outside the dorm, she decided to move out.

“Remember when someone confessed to you here?” Wen Jiuze recalled.

“And then, right here, you agreed to date me.”

Not only that—she agreed to date him here, but he also broke up with her on this street.

Remembering the incident, Xue Ling pursed her lips, opened the car door, and got out.

The street was lined with camphor and chinaberry trees, shedding leaves that had accumulated over the years. Stepping on them created a soft rustling sound.

At Yu City University, they planted trees that shed their leaves every autumn. When the wind blows, leaves fill the sky, which many students find romantic. They often pull out their phones to capture the scene.

But today, with a cold breeze blowing and a lone zombie approaching from afar, there was no trace of nostalgia or romance—just a somber atmosphere.

“It’s been more than three years…” Wen Jiuze leaned against the railing on the side of the road, asking, “Can we get back together now?”

After asking, he walked forward to deal with the approaching zombie, its howling breaking the silence. Once he handled it, he returned to her side, continuing, “You aren’t still mad about what happened, are you?”

Xue Ling: “…”

Using her foot, she drew the word “OK” on the fallen leaves. Just as Wen Jiuze smiled and moved in for a hug, she quickly scratched out the word “NO” in front of the “OK.”

Is this complicated?

—No.

Their relationship started on a whim. Wen Jiuze always felt she agreed because she didn’t want to refuse anyone. After all, she was the type who might reluctantly accept an invitation out of politeness, go along with others’ plans without complaint, and stay even if tired and hungry.

Their dating began in the same way: an impulsive decision, putting herself in a situation where she felt responsible, even though she wasn’t genuinely interested. She would take care of him, getting frustrated but too embarrassed to break things off.

Wen Jiuze never fully understood why she’d stayed with him for over a year. Was it because she had grown fond of him, or had she merely become accustomed to his presence?

After a year, she learned to say no more often, though she still struggled with him.

Oh, but now she could.

Wen Jiuze: “…”

When I say I hope you learn to say no, I don’t mean that I want you to say no to me right now.

Xue Ling scratched two words on the ground for him to see, extending her hand to ensure he noticed.

Wen Jiuze crossed out her “no” with his foot.

“Let’s try again,” he said. “That last one doesn’t count.”

As if that settled it!

Xue Ling defiantly rewrote “no” and stood in the middle of it, staring him down.

Wen Jiuze smirked, “Alright, soon enough, you’ll cross out that ‘no’ yourself.”

He added, “My question now is: is it okay to break up?”

Xue Ling: “…”

This guy was too crafty.

Just as she lunged forward to give him a frustrated headbutt, Wen Jiuze swooped her up, pulling her into a tight embrace.

“Why won’t you agree?” he teased. “You’re someone who doesn’t like changes once you’re used to something.”

Her habits were consistent: the same brands of shampoo and soap for years, returning to the same shop for breakfast each day, and buying identical shoes from the same online store when they wore out.

“You resist new things, so why not just go back to the old?” he urged.

Swaying in his arms, Xue Ling was tempted to poke holes in his reasoning.

It was as if he were the one who was dumped, and she was the one holding on.

After setting her down, Wen Jiuze asked thoughtfully, “Is it still about that woman I had dinner with? Did you misunderstand?”

Of course not! There was no misunderstanding—it wasn’t about her at all. The real issue had always been Wen Jiuze himself.

Even after three years, this jerk still didn’t understand why she was upset.

To Xue Ling, their breakup felt abrupt.

The night before, he had lain in her bed, casually flipping through her account book, chatting with her like always. But the next day, she saw him in a restaurant, eating with a beautiful woman.

They were finishing their meal, paying the bill, and heading into the sixth-floor mall to shop. Wen Jiuze trailed behind, carrying the bags.

At school, Wen Jiuze barely interacted with anyone, let alone followed them around like that. Until that moment, she had been the only one he ever treated that way.

At that time, Xue Ling’s friends all looked at her hesitantly, and the words that were not said were clearly revealed in their eyes.

——Your boyfriend is not cheating on you, is he?

Yet Xue Ling didn’t suspect anything at first. Though the sight was awkward, she never expected to encounter such a dramatic scenario.

She took a photo and used her connections to quickly identify this woman. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be his sister—Wen Jiuze’s half-sister, Wen Yi.

Wen Yi had appeared in Wen Xuan’s circle of friends. She was studying for a doctorate in the neighboring Andong City and was said to be a very powerful person.

That afternoon, she bought milk tea and went to meet Wen Jiuze at his school.

Wen Jiuze was absent-minded. She took the initiative to say, “Today, I saw you with a girl at the mall, eating and shopping…”

What she really wanted to ask was, Is something wrong?

But before she could finish, Wen Jiuze abruptly said, “Let’s break up.”