Font Size:
Chapter 3 — Eight Months Ago (1)
Eight months ago—
When Xu Zhiyi stepped out of the laboratory building, she finally noticed it was raining.
All around her was a hazy white blur; nothing could be clearly seen. Only the sharp scent of rain-soaked grass and churned-up soil lingered distinctly in the air. She frowned, rummaged through her bag for an umbrella, opened it, and plunged into the rain, heading toward the cafeteria.
She walked briskly, her dark gray boots splashing water with every step, soon soaked through — yet she seemed unfazed. Her gaze was unfocused, as if she were haunted by some ominous premonition.
It was lunchtime, and the university cafeteria bustled with people, as noisy as a countryside market. The warm air amplified the thick aroma of greasy food, mingled with the overpowering scent of adolescent boys’ sweat, making the air almost suffocating.
A tall man sat hunched in a corner, loosening the scarf that covered half his face as he carefully studied the passing female students.
This feeling of peeking out secretly from under his hat brim made him feel like a lecherous creep.
— Bang! A thunderous crash echoed from the cafeteria entrance, sparking a chorus of gasps.
The man turned toward the sound—
A young woman lay sprawled dramatically on the floor, her umbrella, still open, flying far away in an elegant arc. A slick wet trail extended straight from the entrance to where she had fallen.
The floor was dotted with patches of greasy water. Earlier, when the man had entered, he had also shaken the water off his umbrella violently, splattering droplets everywhere. Almost everyone carefully avoided those patches — just how careless was this poor girl?
She had fallen hard. Onlookers couldn’t help but wince in sympathy, though many smothered their laughter with schadenfreude.
He too wanted to laugh but covered his mouth quickly to avoid drawing attention. Suddenly, his gaze sharpened.
Xu Zhiyi climbed up from the floor, annoyed to find her hand smeared with grease. Frowning slightly, she casually pulled a tissue from her coat pocket and wiped her hand. Squinting, she limped a few steps forward, retrieved her umbrella, folded it up, and hobbled back to the entrance to ask the cafeteria manager for a plastic bag to wrap the dripping umbrella. Only then did she slowly move to a window, choose her food, swipe her card, and sit at the nearest table.
She pulled out a small bottle of disinfectant spray, methodically sprayed her hands, let them air dry, and finally began to eat.
Only now did the pain radiating from her tailbone to her nerves ease slightly. Xu Zhiyi exhaled, spooned some pine nuts and corn into her mouth, and forced back the tears that had almost welled up from the pain.
She had barely taken two bites when a shadow fell over her table.
A strong, invasive scent of men’s cologne swept over her, overpowering even the cafeteria’s characteristic sour mop smell.
Without lifting her head, Xu Zhiyi kept eating.
“Professor Xu, hello—” the man across from her greeted her as he sat down.
Xu Zhiyi sighed, resigned, and finally looked up. Her gaze flitted over his face briefly, then she gave a polite but distant nod before resuming her silent battle with her food.
She ate very quietly, making no sound at all, though her routine was rather elaborate.
With chopsticks in her right hand, she picked the stir-fried corn kernels one by one, lining them neatly on her plate. Then, holding a spoon in her left hand, she tilted it slightly and pushed the row of corn into the spoon, delivering it into her mouth in one bite.
She repeated this same process over and over, tirelessly.
Seeing her so intently focused on eating, the man shamelessly scanned her face in detail.
She looked much younger than she did in photos, at most like a senior college student. The eyes that had appeared cold even in pictures were now half-lidded, shadowed by her drooping lashes, making it hard to discern their size. Her chin had a slight softness to it, tilting outward with a hint of haughtiness. Except for her nose, which the creator had seemingly chiseled a bit too sharply, her entire facial structure resembled a light sketch in watercolor pencil — soft, yet with a trace of sharpness.
Her skin was pale, but with an unhealthy, sun-starved hue.
The man’s gaze drifted to the slight crease between her brows, evidently a spot often furrowed in impatience — just as it was now.
Thinking about how he had crouched here like a stalker in this greasy cafeteria just to strike up a conversation with her, only for her to frown impatiently, annoyed him a little. Any other woman would have screamed with joy and fainted from happiness by now. His tone carried a hint of dissatisfaction: “You don’t recognize me?”
Having her meal interrupted again after only a couple bites, Xu Zhiyi was also a little irritated. But still patient, she lifted one finger from the hand holding her chopsticks and pointed to her eyes. “Sorry, classmate, today — I don’t recognize anyone.”
The man was left speechless, his carefully prepared lines all useless now.
To avoid awkward silence, he hurriedly found something to say, his voice laced with insincere concern: “Just now—you took quite a hard fall. Are you okay…?”
Xu Zhiyi found the comment baffling and finally looked at him directly. Her dark, unfocused eyes appeared eerily large. “You’re curious? Why don’t you try it yourself and see?”
The man was completely stumped. Reflexively, he pushed up the brim of his hat, revealing finely sculpted features.
Amber-colored eyes — rare among Asians — shimmered even under the cafeteria’s dim lights, captivating and intense. Yet Xu Zhiyi remained unmoved, casting only a brief glance before lowering her head to continue eating.
Almost simultaneously—
“Shen Si—” a girl called out hesitantly.
Crap! The man stiffened.
He quickly yanked the brim of his hat down hard. He hadn’t worn sunglasses, fearing they’d draw too much attention indoors, so the cap was his only disguise.
“Is that Shen Si? No way? Shen Si’s at our school?” another girl shrieked excitedly from a corner of the cafeteria.
The once bustling, noisy cafeteria suddenly fell into stunned silence — but only for a moment before erupting into chaos. Almost everyone whipped out their phones; the sound of camera shutters filled the air.
“Ah Si—”
“Si Si—”
“Wow, it’s really Ah Si—”
Xu Zhiyi looked up, confused, glancing around blankly.
“Professor Xu, today’s not a good time. I’ll come find you another day—” the man hurriedly tossed out the words, jumped to his feet, and bolted away as if his hair was on fire.
In just a few seconds, the entire cafeteria had exploded. The previously normal students had all gone crazy, screaming “Shen Si,” “Ah Si,” “Nick—,” swarming toward him, some even weeping with joy…
The man seemed used to such chaos. Without even bothering to grab his umbrella, he sprinted toward the door—
Crash!
Ah…
A loud thud accompanied by gasps.
In his frantic escape, the man had stepped on the very same slick patch where Xu Zhiyi had fallen earlier — and, in almost exactly the same posture, he fell flat on his back.
Agonizing pain shot through his tailbone, his mind going completely blank.
Camera shutters clicked furiously, practically drowning him out.
With the fastest reaction of his life, he scrambled up and dashed out the door into the rain…
Behind him, the frenzied crowd pursued relentlessly.
By the time Xu Zhiyi processed what had happened, the cafeteria was empty.
She had no idea how this chaos had started. When she’d heard that loud crash earlier, she’d paused in surprise — He actually tried it?
The virus lab was perpetually dry, and when she left it earlier, her eyes had felt irritated. Rubbing them absentmindedly, she had lost both her contact lenses. Forced to navigate with 800-degree myopia, she’d headed to the cafeteria by instinct — only to step straight into a hazard zone.
And that boring man who had sat across from her — she had never once clearly seen his face. Now, she seemed to have figured it out — who that man was.
And found it utterly unbelievable.
A superstar of that magnitude — how could he possibly have come specifically to chat her up?