Chapter 22

The vibration sound of new message notifications no longer brought the same excitement to Bai Zining as it did during the summer vacation. Now, every time he received one, he had to mentally prepare himself for several minutes before opening the chat window with Zhu Shizhou.

Xie Cheng wouldn’t deceive him, if he promised to remind Zhu Shizhou, he definitely would. But Zhu Shizhou hadn’t changed at all; in fact, he had gone to even greater lengths, sending Bai Zining more and more messages.

The third attempt to break up had also failed. Bai Zining was utterly in despair. After thinking about it for an entire night, he finally decided that if Zhu Shizhou still hadn’t mentioned breaking up within a week, he would be the one to bring it up.

He couldn’t go on like this; continuing this way was pure self-torture.

“Trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to bait it” perfectly described his current situation.

In ancient times, even death row prisoners would have a full meal before execution to avoid becoming hungry ghosts. Since Bai Zining was going to break up with Zhu Shizhou, he couldn’t let the other party walk away empty-handed.

So, he decided to package and send some previously taken photos of his legs to Zhu Shizhou, as a keepsake.

In his wardrobe, there was now only the original white dress he had purchased. All the others had been secretly taken back home during the summer. While his parents were away on a trip, Bai Zining washed them, let them dry, and then donated them to the clothing recycling bin downstairs in their apartment complex.

The dormitory was empty. Bai Zining was listening to an English song through his earphones, a track Zhu Shizhou had recommended to him during the summer, 《Chateau》. He leaned lazily against his seat, fully absorbed in adding filters to the photos.

When the song ended, Bai Zining had finished editing three photos. Just as he was admiring his handiwork with satisfaction, a soft laugh suddenly came from behind him.

Bai Zining’s hairs stood on end instantly. He instinctively pressed the power button on his phone, shutting off the screen, before turning his head. Zhu Shizhou was standing right behind him.

“Are you a ghost? Standing behind—behind someone without making a sound!” Bai Zining removed his earphones and questioned him, stuttering from sheer nervousness.

Zhu Shizhou, however, looked completely innocent. “I just came in from the balcony. I was just passing by.”

Bai Zining wasn’t sure if Zhu Shizhou had seen the contents on his screen, and his heart was pounding with guilt. Still, he forced himself to ask, “Uh, you didn’t see what was on my phone just now, right?”

What bad luck, he should’ve bought a privacy screen protector.

“What?” Zhu Shizhou looked a bit confused.

Judging from his reaction, it didn’t seem like he had seen what was on the screen earlier. If he had, there was no way he would act so nonchalant.

“Nothing, nothing,” Bai Zining sighed in relief, slowly adjusting his breathing to calm his startled heart.

Zhu Shizhou didn’t leave; instead, he seemed intrigued. “What’s this? Do you have secrets on your phone?”

“Of course. Who doesn’t have secrets on their phone?” Bai Zining muttered, rolling his eyes discreetly.

“Me,” Zhu Shizhou replied. “Want to take a look?” As he spoke, he unlocked his phone and placed it directly on Bai Zining’s desk.

Bai Zining glanced at it briefly. The top of the screen displayed the time, below it were four categorized app modules, and as for the wallpaper—Bai Zining was dumbfounded. It was the birthday illustration he had drawn of himself and Zhu Shizhou.

Why would Zhu Shizhou use that as his background? He really, really must like Cai Ning.

This realization made Bai Zining even more anxious. He had already been troubled by this matter lately, and now, faced with Zhu Shizhou’s clear and direct affection, it felt overwhelming that he could hardly breathe.

In that instant, he recalled a post discussing whether couples checking each other’s phones was normal. The situation now, it felt way too much like that.

He shook his head, trying to dispel the ambiguous thoughts from his mind. Shifting his gaze away from the phone, he said, “Who wants to look at your phone anyway? Take it back! I’m not the type to snoop on other people’s privacy.”

“Not going to look? Well, fine then.” Zhu Shizhou gave him a playful smile, his eyes lingering on Bai Zining’s suddenly flushed face. Leaning in slightly, he reached out and took the phone from Bai Zining’s desk.

On Thursday, after a full day of professional courses, Bai Zining and Cai Yu attended a club activity together. Both of them were part of the English Speaking Club, but this time, he ran into a little hiccup.

A normally quiet and reserved female classmate unexpectedly approached Bai Zining before the activity started, asking for his WeChat and even bringing him milk tea, just for him. It was the flavor he usually drank.

To avoid any awkwardness, Bai Zining added her on WeChat and accepted the milk tea with a polite thank-you. However, the other club members noticed and started teasing him excitedly, creating a commotion that lasted quite a while before the topic finally changed.

That evening, after returning to the dormitory, Cai Yu brought it up again. “That girl likes you. How can you not see that?”

Bai Zining sighed in frustration. “I’m not even familiar with her.”

“So what? Feelings can be cultivated over time. Every relationship starts from strangers becoming familiar with each other, doesn’t it?” Zuo Xingwei chimed in. “If you’re even slightly interested, why not give it a try?”

“But I already have a—” Bai Zining shook his head, cutting himself off mid-sentence as he realized something was off. Wait, what was that? He had almost blurted out, “I already have a partner.”

Zhu Shizhou wasn’t his partner, not even a friend in real life. This had to be the result of his online fantasies invading his real-world thoughts. The internet was truly terrifying.

“What do you have?” Zuo Xingwei, having not heard clearly, pressed him for an answer.

Before Bai Zining could respond, a loud creak interrupted the conversation. The grating sound came from Zhu Shizhou’s direction. He appeared to have leaned back too hard in his chair, causing it to scrape noisily against the floor.

Zhu Shizhou ignored everyone’s reactions and stood up, walking away without a word.

Zuo Xingwei, who was sitting closest to him, saw it all clearly. “What’s up with Brother Zhou? His expression just now was terrifying. Did we say something that upset him?”

Only then did Bai Zining remember that he’d been busy all day and hadn’t gotten around to replying to Zhu Shizhou’s messages. Zhu Shizhou was probably in a bad mood because of that.

He instantly lost interest in continuing the conversation. After saying a quick goodbye, he climbed into bed, opened the pinned chat on his alternate account, and stared at the column of unanswered messages on the left. In the end, he chose not to reply.

The next day, Zhu Shizhou seemed to completely ignore the lack of responses from the day before and continued messaging Bai Zining.

Ferry: 【Baby.】

If he didn’t reply now, it would truly be rude. Bai Zining sent back a single 【Mm.】

Ferry: 【I really want to see you in a skirt.】

Was he trying to get some kind of psychological comfort?

Hawthorn Porridge: 【I haven’t bought any new skirts recently.】

Ferry: 【That’s okay, the previous ones are fine too. That white one, it’s beautiful and suits you perfectly.】

Bai Zining hesitated for a long time before finally deciding to grant Zhu Shizhou’s request one last time. After all, Zhu Shizhou had seemed genuinely upset both last night and today.

Hawthorn Porridge: 【Alright, wait a moment.】

It was Friday afternoon, and no one else was around. After putting down his phone, Bai Zining started searching for the skirt.

That white skirt had become an exception last semester because it was hidden in the deepest part of his wardrobe, escaping being taken home and donated. After being stored for so long, the cotton fabric had become wrinkled. Bai Zining borrowed a handheld steamer from Cai Yu to smooth it out.

Five minutes later, the skirt regained its soft and smooth appearance.

After changing into it, Bai Zining stood in front of the mirror, and a touch of melancholy washing over him. This was the first skirt he bought to deceive Zhu Shizhou. It marked the beginning and is about to become the end.

Just as the sound of the door opening echoed, Bai Zining was startled to see Zhu Shizhou’s face in the mirror as he walked into the room.