Chapter 31: The Little Stray Cat

Upon hearing this, You Chong let out a chuckle. “I think you won’t have the time. The exhibition ends tomorrow.”

Xia Chengfeng elongated his tone in mock regret, “What a shame.” He paused briefly, then, as if recalling something, added with a faint smile, “Someone invited me to go see it today, but I turned them down.”

Zhou Xuan teased with a playful grin, “So, which department’s beauty is chasing you this time?”

Xia Chengfeng replied, “Fang Qingning from the main campus’s acting department. Do you know her?”

Someone immediately chimed in, “Isn’t she the one who got caught going into a hotel with Lin Hexi and then had a hot thread about it on the school forum for days?”

“That’s her,” Xia Chengfeng’s expression turned a bit colder. “She’s quite my type, but it’s a pity she’s mixed up with someone like Lin Hexi.”

Hearing Lin Hexi’s name, Zhou Xuan let out a sneer.

Xia Chengfeng looked up at him and then laughed, “What’s this? Do you have a grudge against Lin Hexi and his crowd?”

“Yeah, you could say that,” someone answered for Zhou Xuan before he could speak. “First, Lin Hexi deliberately fought with us over the use of the indoor basketball court, and then Ning Nan nearly stole my roommate’s girl.” Mentioning these two, he didn’t hide his disdain. “They’re all birds of a feather.”

You Chong, who had been leaning back against the sofa silently, suddenly raised his eyelids upon hearing this conversation.

With this reminder, You Chong recalled the situation as well.

The first time Lin Hexi had made an impression on him was during that confrontation in the basketball court with Ning Nan. 

At the time, You Chong didn’t know Lin Hexi and didn’t care much to delve into whether what Ning Nan said was true. 

Now, thinking back, it seemed flimsy to label Lin Hexi as the source of the conflict based solely on Ning Nan and his group’s words, especially since Lin Hexi wasn’t even present during the incident. 

Considering the misunderstanding that had occurred at the small basketball court behind the dormitory, You Chong realized that Ning Nan’s group and Lin Hexi were not on the same page at all.

Moreover, from what Zhou Xuan had mentioned about the cheating scandal during the CET-4 exam, it was clear that the idea of hiring a substitute to take the exam hadn’t been Lin Hexi’s own choice.

As Lin Hexi’s question before the call ended echoed once again in his mind, You Chong unconsciously furrowed his brows.

He suddenly realized that Lin Hexi’s current life and situation were nothing short of miserable.

His biological father had no affection for him, his stepmother wanted to keep him tightly under her control, and his half-brother didn’t like him either.

The few friends he had were only pretending to care, while secretly seeing him as a thorn in their side.

Even his biological mother had passed away.

You Chong’s gaze darkened slightly as these thoughts settled in.

Considering that no matter how lazy and frivolous Lin Hexi might seem on the surface, he would never joke about his biological mother’s death. Even if the story about being abandoned by his mother was a lie meant to mess with him, the death of his mother wasn’t something to be taken lightly—

You Chong’s thoughts suddenly came to a halt, and his expression turned to one of confusion.

If Lin Hexi had already decided to deceive him, why would he mix in a real event with the lies?

Blending truth with falsehood could certainly make the deception more convincing, but… You Chong suddenly entertained a possibility that seemed almost absurd.

His expression subtly darkened, and he interrupted the others, asking in a serious tone, “Is there a hospital on Linhexi Road?”

Everyone exchanged puzzled glances.

After a moment, someone finally responded, “No, I don’t think so.”

Another person chimed in, “I’ve been to that area. There’s not even a small clinic, let alone a hospital.”

You Chong’s gaze swept over the remaining people who hadn’t spoken.

One of them had already opened a map application and showed him the search results. “It’s not on the map, so there probably isn’t one.”

You Chong remained silent.

The others quickly moved on from the topic, starting to discuss other things.

Xia Chengfeng, who had been frowning in silence, suddenly laughed. “There is, actually, but we were too young at the time to know about it.” His brows relaxed slightly. “I just remembered now—last year, my grandfather mentioned that there used to be a small private hospital on Lin Hexi’s road, but it was torn down many years ago.”

After saying this, he looked puzzled. “Why are you asking about this?”

You Chong didn’t answer. A faint sense of regret began to form in his heart, and with a complicated expression, he stood up and stepped out of the sofa area. “You guys have fun. I need to head back to school for something.”

The truth was, Lin Hexi’s claim of having no friends was genuine, and so was the story of being abandoned in a hospital by his biological mother. What might be even worse than his mother’s death is the fact that even when she was alive, she didn’t care for his existence.

You Chong walked quickly towards the villa’s exit, his steps carrying an almost imperceptible urgency. Once in the front yard, he found his car, opened the door, and sat in the driver’s seat. He glanced down at the time on his phone.

By this time, it had been a full ten minutes since Lin Hexi had called You Chong for help.

After hanging up, Lin Hexi remembered that he could use a ride-hailing app. However, since it was already close to midnight, it took a long time for anyone to accept his request.

After canceling and retrying several times, someone finally accepted, though the driver was still quite far away and would take about five more minutes to arrive.

The two drunk girls sat quietly under the streetlamp, not making any noise.

Lin Hexi squatted down by the roadside as well, and took out his phone to play a game while waiting.

About three minutes later, a car emerged from the darkness and slowly came to a stop in front of him. With the faint light, he quickly scanned the vehicle, confirming that it was an all-black car. Lin Hexi stood up and went to the bright streetlight to help the two drunks.

Perhaps finding the task of dealing with drunk passengers too troublesome, the driver remained in his seat and didn’t get out to help.

The interior of the car was dark, and Lin Hexi, feeling his way, managed to get Fang Qingning and her friend into the back seat. As he bent down to step back out of the car and was about to close the door and walk around to the front passenger seat, something caught his eye.

He suddenly froze, holding onto the car door. The model of the car wasn’t the one he had ordered through the app, and it wasn’t likely that someone would bring an expensive luxury car just to pick up passengers.

Then it hit him—this car looked familiar.

He turned to check the license plate, and the number confirmed his suspicions; it was a sequence of digits he recognized all too well.

His heart stirred, and before he could fully process it, his body reacted on instinct. Lin Hexi quickly walked over to the driver’s side, bent down by the darkened window, and knocked on the tightly closed glass of the driver’s side window.

As the window lowered, You Chong’s handsome, deep-set face gradually came into view.

The moment Lin Hexi’s eyes met You Chong’s familiar gaze, his dark, clear eyes brightened slightly, and then his eyes curved as he broke into a smile.

Seeing the genuine joy in Lin Hexi’s expression, You Chong’s own gaze deepened.

Whether it was the darkness of the night, the thoughts of Lin Hexi’s troubled family background weighing on his mind, or simply the purity and delight in Lin Hexi’s smile, for a brief moment, You Chong found himself picturing something else entirely—an image of a small stray cat in an alley, clutching a morsel of food, looking up at someone with a mix of innocence and eager anticipation.