Chapter 9: She seemed to be crying

Qin Yingxia’s eyelashes fluttered. She squeezed her fingertips hard, finally daring to say, “Can… can I ask the president if I have any questions?”

Joining the media club was the first step in her “gradual plan.”

Next, she would learn from the TV dramas and create more and more opportunities to meet him…

Jin Zhuo didn’t answer her immediately, but instead spoke slowly, “I’m quite busy…”

He wouldn’t be in the media club often.

As soon as Qin Yingxia heard this, she immediately gave up.

He turned his head, his gaze falling lightly on her. He noticed the tears that the evening wind had blown into her eyes, shimmering under the lights.

“Well, even if I’m busy, it won’t be a few minutes…”

Jin Zhuo stood up and accurately threw the empty bottle into the trash can, “Come find me if you need anything.”

The breeze blew up the boy’s clothes, revealing a small section of his lean waist and abdomen, which was inexplicably seductive.

Qin Yingxia bit her lip, slightly shifting her eyes away. The temperature on her face only increased. “Thank you, President.”

Thankfully, the lights were dim now, so she couldn’t see how red her face was.

•  

When she returned to the dormitory, Yang Dai stuffed a few cash bills into Qin Yingxia’s hand.

“This is for the medicine you bought this afternoon. I’m returning it to you.”

Her short hair was still dripping water, and she didn’t have time to wipe it before she saw Qin Yingxia come back. She didn’t want to owe her anything, so she quickly returned the money.

Qin Yingxia was still a little confused and looked at Yu Zhizhi, who was beside her.

Yu Zhizhi shrugged and mouthed, “Take it.”

“Okay.”

After she took the money, the dormitory became quiet again.

Xu Siwan hadn’t returned yet, and the atmosphere among the three was a little awkward.

The only sound was Yang Dai pulling the curtains and tapping on the keyboard.

Yu Zhizhi started a conversation, “We haven’t had a dorm gathering since the start of school. Senior Yang, are you free tomorrow night?”

The sound of typing stopped abruptly.

They waited for a long time, but Yang Dai didn’t answer.

Just when they thought she wasn’t going to respond, she spoke, “I’m free. We can have a gathering tomorrow night.”

“Yay!” Yu Zhizhi smiled. The awkwardness that had been there just now dissipated immediately. “Let me see what I should wear tomorrow night!”

Qin Yingxia also felt a lot more relaxed. She leaned back lazily on the soft chair, comfortably squinting her eyes.

A harmonious dorm atmosphere was crucial for their upcoming college life.

She leaned back in her chair, carefully recalling the details of her interaction with Jin Zhuo tonight, a sweet smile spreading across her lips.

It wasn’t until a series of message notifications popped up that Qin Yingxia finally snapped out of her thoughts.

The girl sat up straight when she saw the messages. The sender was none other than her biological father, Qin Shan.

On the day she registered, Qin Shan had sent her a few WeChat messages. When he didn’t get a reply, he called her on video chat.

He didn’t call again after seeing that Qin Yingxia had declined.

He started sending her messages again tonight, and the content was the same as always, about her younger brother, Qin Yang.

[Dad: Yingying, are you asleep?]

[Dad: Are you free now?]

Qin Yingxia glanced at it and subconsciously turned off the screen.

She didn’t want to hear anything about her family.

Unexpectedly, Qin Shan’s messages kept coming. The screen that had just been turned off lit up again.

[Dad: This is the thing, Yangyang knew you left home, and he got a fever that night. He finally got over the fever, but this afternoon when he went to your room, he fell down the stairs and is now running a fever again…]

Qin Yang was her half-brother, only three years old.

He was the apple of everyone’s eye in the family. They treated him like a precious treasure, afraid he would melt in their mouths or fall from their hands.

Little Qin Yang wouldn’t cling to anyone, except for Qin Yingxia.

[Dad: Yangyang is crying and wants to see you. Your Aunt Huang and I can’t do anything…]

Huang Li was Qin Shan’s new wife. They met and fell in love abroad and had their wedding there.

After Qin Yingxia finished her junior high school entrance exam, Qin Shan brought Huang Li back to the Qin family, claiming that it wouldn’t affect her studies.

Grandma Qin liked Huang Li very much, and she liked the little boy she was carrying even more.

Tears unknowingly fell onto the bright phone screen. Qin Yingxia came to her senses and slumped on the table, gently sniffing.

Qin Shan’s messages kept coming, but she didn’t want to pay any attention to them.

[Dad: If you’re not busy, can you make a video call so your brother can see you?]

[Dad: You’re a sister…]

She had heard the phrase “You’re a sister” countless times over the past three years.

Did she ask for the identity of a sister?

It was her father who forced it upon her.

Qin Yingxia closed her phone, suppressing her irritation, got up and went to the wardrobe to get her pajamas, then went into the bathroom…

•  

Jin Zhuo came back from his night run. The three girls in the dormitory were in three rows, the sound of keyboards clicking and the sounds of gunshots and explosions from the game mixed together.

“Here, this is the kumquat lemon tea you wanted, iced.”

He casually placed the fruit tea on Xie Chi’s desk, then lazily pulled out a chair and sat down.

After the game ended, Xie Chi threw a disgusting flying kiss at Jin Zhuo, “Thank you, geigei~”

Jin Zhuo was close by, so he hooked his long legs around his chair and pulled him closer, pinching Xie Chi’s pouting lips, “I was kind enough to bring you something to drink, and you’re going to disgust me like this? Are you ungrateful and repaying kindness with evil? Hmm?”

“C-c-c-wrong, wrong!” Xie Chi begged for mercy.

Jiang Yinghui stretched his stiff neck and stood up. He noticed the fluorescent wristband on Jin Zhuo’s wrist and suddenly remembered the “fluorescent night run” event, “Damn! I haven’t run my three kilometers yet!”

He turned to look at Pei Lanhe next to him, “He’er, did you run?”

Pei Lanhe slowly took off his earphones, his tone indifferent, “No, so what?”

“Are you going to run six kilometers tomorrow?”

Pei Lanhe nodded, “Six kilometers, so what?”

Jiang Yinghui: …

Xie Chi was gloating on the side. Because there were a lot of things to do for the new student registration, he, as the student union president, was exempted from the night runs for the next few times, “Hey, I told you, being the student union president is good!”

“Get lost!” Jiang Yinghui looked at the time. It wasn’t too late, so he grabbed his sportswear and changed while asking, “I can still make it, He’er, are you coming?”

Pei Lanhe had made up his mind to run six kilometers and shook his head resolutely. He poked at the fruit tea and took two sips before speaking, “No.”

After Jiang Yinghui went out, Xie Chi smirked, “Quickly add some milk tea powder to his cup, let him run for nothing tonight~”

Jin Zhuo chuckled, his gaze shifting from the phone screen, “It’s your good fortune that you have Ahui.”

“That’s right!” Xie Chi leaned over and saw that he was browsing Qin Yingxia’s account video, the latest one with the caption “Happy start to school.”

“This video was only posted a few minutes ago, and the traffic is already so good. To be honest, our little Qin Xuemei’s face is no joke…”

Jin Zhuo raised an eyebrow, pulling away from him, “You’re quite familiar with her. I remember she’s a new recruit in my media club?”

Xie Chi: “Okay, okay, you’re being so strict about boundaries now?”

Jin Zhuo pushed him aside, “I’m going to take a shower, go cool off somewhere.”

When Jin Zhuo came out after showering and blow-drying his hair, Jiang Yinghui came back panting, “Guess who I saw on the track?”

He picked up the water glass on the table and drank it down in one gulp, “Qin Yingxia, she seemed to be crying…”