BSS - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Xu Wei and Qin Shu's dorm was one floor below Su Mian's mother's apartment. They all walked to the stairwell and stopped to say their goodbyes.

It was cold. Deng Chuan wore a black down coat over her school uniform. It was puffy, making her face look even fairer. She pressed her lips together, her gaze slightly lowered, looking very well-behaved.

Xu Wei watched her, an inexplicable impulse rising from the bottom of her heart to pinch her cheek. She had just started to raise her fingertips when she caught herself, clenching her hand and discreetly resisting the urge.

Qin Shu said with a beaming smile, "We'll get going then. Bye-bye, kids."

Su Mian, ever lively, responded quickly, "Bye, teachers!" Her tone was cheerful.

The kid in the black down coat also looked up. Her gaze was a little distant, and her tone was light as she said, "Bye. Bye, teachers."

The end of her words dissipated into the air, as if something else was about to vanish along with them. Xu Wei didn't know what it was, but her intuition told her to reach out and grab it. And so, amidst the peaceful goodbyes of the other three, they heard her suddenly speak up and ask, "…Do you two cook for yourselves?"

Deng Chuan looked at her steadily, as if suddenly snapping back to reality. The corners of her mouth curved into a very gentle smile. "No, they save dinner for us."

A ray of noontime sun shone in from the hallway, falling on Xu Wei's face, leaving it half in shadow and half in light. She looked into Deng Chuan's eyes and chuckled softly. "Eat more."

Deng Chuan said, "Okay."

The weather was fine, and the winter sun felt exceptionally warm on their skin. A potential change was gently suppressed, maintaining a surface calm.

The four of them parted ways.

As they walked toward their dorm, Qin Shu kept stealing glances at Xu Wei. Xu Wei noticed but ignored her, walking on her own. When they reached the door, Xu Wei stepped forward to open it. Qin Shu held it in for a moment before she finally couldn't resist asking, "Are you really close with that kid?"

"Which one?"

"The tall one."

Xu Wei didn't answer directly, only saying, "How could you tell?"

The door opened. Wary of the cold wind blowing in, Xu Wei waited for Qin Shu to enter before closing it. Then she heard Qin Shu say leisurely, "Because of the way you look at her. It's the exact same way you look at Zhou Liu."

Xu Wei was speechless. She kept her mouth shut and poured herself a glass of water.

Hearing the door open, Zhou Liu came running over and circled around Qin Shu, who promptly pinned him to the floor and gave his chin and belly a thorough rubbing. He was so pleased that he went limp, completely at her mercy as she played with him. Xu Wei walked over, casually squeezed his soft paw pads, and said nothing more.

Qin Shu never got an answer from Xu Wei, not even by the time they had both closed their doors for their afternoon nap.

The next day. Overcast. It was dry and cold outside, but the crowded classroom was stuffy and hot. Ever since returning from lunch, Deng Chuan's face had felt a little uncomfortable—dry and itchy. But it wasn't too bad, so she didn't pay it much mind and went on with her classes as usual.

In the afternoon, there was the familiar double period of math. Before class, Xu Wei came in and handed back the weekly quizzes she had graded the day before, group by group.

She walked to Deng Chuan's group, and after handing out the quizzes, she didn't move.

Deng Chuan hadn't noticed her come in. Sensing a gaze fixed on her, she looked up in confusion, only to see Xu Wei already standing in front of her.

Xu Wei frowned slightly, looked at her, and asked, "What's wrong with your face?"

Deng Chuan raised a hand, subconsciously wanting to touch it. Xu Wei, with quick eyes and fast hands, grabbed her wrist. "Don't touch it with your hand."

Seeing Deng Chuan obediently freeze, she let go and took a pack of wet wipes from her pocket, the kind she used to clean her hands after class. "Use this."

Deng Chuan took out a mirror and had a closer look. There was a red, slightly itchy patch on her right cheek, like an allergic reaction. It was probably caused by the drastic temperature difference between indoors and outdoors, combined with her skin being too dry.

She wasn't concerned. "It's probably just an allergy."

Xu Wei had no experience dealing with such things and kept frowning. "Is it serious?"

Deng Chuan reassured her, "It's fine. I'll just put some medicine on it when I get back."

After hearing this, Xu Wei looked half-convinced, carefully examining the red patch of skin. The bell for class rang. Seeing that Deng Chuan really didn't seem to be in discomfort, she gave her a worried reminder to remember to apply the medicine, then turned to start the lesson.

The first period ended. Deng Chuan was engrossed in correcting her mistakes, writing down the wrong questions and their solutions in her error logbook. She was so focused she didn't notice anyone until she heard a light tap on her desk and came back to her senses.

Xu Wei had brought her own anti-inflammatory cream. It was clearly used, with about half the cream left in the tube.

Deng Chuan quickly thanked her and took it, intending to apply it right away. But she didn't control the pressure well and squeezed out a little too much, hastily catching it on the back of her hand.

Xu Wei glanced at her. Seeing it was awkward for her to apply the cream with her left hand, she used her own fingertip to dab the cream from the back of Deng Chuan's hand, intending to help her. She added an explanation, "I've washed my hands."

Deng Chuan nodded hurriedly. Xu Wei gently held her chin still, her gaze very focused. "Don't move."

Deng Chuan instantly held her breath. The pressure from Xu Wei's fingertip was very light as it gently smoothed over the small patch of skin on her face, like a dragonfly skimming the water's surface. Like a caress.

It was as if the allergic reaction was only just starting to act up now—hot, burning, and itchy. The heat spread to the base of her ears.

Xu Wei applied one layer of the cream, then dabbed more from the back of Deng Chuan's hand and applied it a few more times. The cream was cool and soothing. After it was on, the heat in Deng Chuan's face subsided a bit. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.

After applying the cream, Xu Wei left the tube with her. She gave another worried reminder to apply it regularly over the next few days. Seeing Deng Chuan in a daze, she also pushed the wet wipes toward her, telling her to wipe her hands.

The second period proceeded as usual. After going over the quiz, Xu Wei, as was her custom, created similar practice problems based on the major question types at the end of the paper for them to work on.

Xu Wei stood at the lectern, taking in all the students' actions below. She rested her hands on the lectern and looked over the weekly quiz one more time, confirming that she had covered all the important and difficult points on it.

Once she was sure, she put the quiz down and looked up, just in time to see Deng Chuan set down her pen. In slow motion, Deng Chuan paused for a moment, then touched her chin with the back of her hand. She moved it to her nose, as if carefully sniffing it, and then froze, her hand still in place. At first glance, she looked a bit dazed. Xu Wei averted her eyes, pretending she hadn't seen.

After a while, seeing that the students were all bent over their work, Xu Wei scanned the entire class. She raised her own hand and sniffed the back of it.

There was no particular smell. Just the scent of hand cream.

She lowered her hand, realizing what she was doing. She sighed with a hint of resignation.

That night, Deng Chuan lay in bed, suffering from a rare bout of insomnia. She stared at the bottom of the bunk above her, her mind unusually clear, yet she wasn't thinking about anything in particular. It was quiet all around. Her roommate, who was pulling an all-nighter, had drawn her bed curtain, and a sliver of light leaked out at an angle, landing on the floor like a patch of white frost.

She hadn't been thinking about anything, but in the next second, a flood of thoughts came to her. Her current days, tiring yet fulfilling; the future, visible but untouchable; and so many things she wanted to say but couldn't. All mixed with a faint sense of worry and anxiety.

Indescribable and inexplicable, with no answers to be found and no solutions in sight. But perhaps not everyone caught in a vortex wants to get out. Deng Chuan turned over. Her nerves had been stretched taut for so long that in this moment of insomnia, as time seemed to stretch out, she felt a long-lost sense of relaxation.

Unable to sleep, she pulled out her phone and checked WeChat. Su Mian had gone home for the night and asked what she wanted for breakfast tomorrow, saying she'd bring it for her. Deng Chuan replied mischievously, "Tofu pudding. Wontons. Hot noodle soup."

She switched from her chat with Su Mian and suddenly noticed that Xu Wei had changed her profile picture. It was no longer the bright picture of a cat, but an image with a deep blue background. Deng Chuan tapped to enlarge it. Against a deep blue sky, the silhouette of a tree was reflected, and nestled within the silhouette was a sliver of a crescent moon. It was faintly filled with a wild sort of loneliness.

Deng Chuan immediately saved the picture.

She had already pinned Xu Wei's chat to the top. Although they didn't talk, she still derived a unilateral sense of satisfaction from this act. She tapped into the chat. Their conversation history was still stuck on that awkward time she had asked for leave. Gazing at the deep blue night of Xu Wei's profile picture, Deng Chuan suddenly felt a strong urge to say something to her.

Without much thought, she typed whatever came to mind and sent it: "Teacher Xu, are you asleep?"

Xu Wei replied quickly: "About to."

Another message came through, seemingly unconcerned about the fact that Deng Chuan had a phone: "Why are you still up?"

Deng Chuan answered honestly: "I'm tired, but I can't sleep."

Xu Wei replied: "Try drinking some milk before bed in the future. It helps with sleep."

Deng Chuan obediently replied, "Okay," and then asked, "Why are you still up too, Teacher?"

There was no response from Xu Wei for over ten minutes. Then she replied: "Just finished up." She added an explanation: "Zhou Liu just threw up. I was cleaning."

Zhou Liu was the cat she and Qin Shu were raising. Deng Chuan knew this. So she asked:

"Why did he throw up? Is he okay?"

"Hairball. He's fine."

"Oh."

Xu Wei didn't elaborate on that and asked her, "How's your face?"

"It's fine now. It doesn't hurt."

Xu Wei confirmed again: "Remember to apply the cream."

"Okay, I will."

She seemed to have completely finished her tasks now, as her messages came quickly. "Why can't you sleep all of a sudden?"

Deng Chuan didn't know how to answer and just said vaguely, "It's nothing. Just randomly got insomnia."

Xu Wei didn't press the issue and changed the subject, asking her:

"Your birthday last time, did you have a good time?"

"Yeah, we went for hot pot."

"Spicy broth?"

Her own group of friends couldn't live without spice, but people from Guangdong usually couldn't handle it. If she were to go out to eat with her— Deng Chuan's fingers moved faster than her brain, and she immediately replied: "A split pot."

Xu Wei understood. "Your group's taste is quite friendly to southerners, then."

"Absolutely friendly."

Deng Chuan thought for a moment, then sent:

"Next time you're free, can I treat you to hot pot, and can you teach me Cantonese?"

Xu Wei hesitated for a few dozen seconds before replying: "My Cantonese isn't very good."

Deng Chuan praised her: "You spoke it very well today."

The reply came: "I really can't speak Cantonese. I only know a phrase or two."

Deng Chuan bit her lip. She typed and deleted, wanting to ask her, if she couldn't speak Cantonese, then who taught her those one or two phrases, but she didn't know how to begin.

The chat stalled for a moment.

On Xu Wei's end, the status showed "typing…" For a long while, a message finally came through: "Don't overthink it. A college roommate taught me."

Deng Chuan replied blankly: "Oh."

Xu Wei asked again: "The candy on my desk, you put it there, right?"

Not knowing why she was bringing this up, Deng Chuan was puzzled, and replied: "Yes, it was me."

"Mm."

Then another message came: "That's good. If it wasn't from you, I wouldn't have accepted it."

Deng Chuan's heart skipped a beat. Her words gave her too much to think about. She turned her head and saw the light on the floor, faint and flickering.

The two chatted idly. Xu Wei's replies became slower and slower, and Deng Chuan could feel that she was about to fall asleep on the other side of the screen.

Finally, she said: "Are you sleepy? If you don't sleep soon, you'll have no energy tomorrow."

Guessing that Xu Wei was about to sleep, Deng Chuan knew when to stop:

"Okay, I'm going to sleep. You sleep too."

"Good night."

Xu Wei's status showed "typing…" Deng Chuan stared at it. After a few dozen seconds, Xu Wei's message came through, containing only two simple words.

"Good night."

Xu Wei had gone to bed. Deng Chuan read through their chat history one more time. Just as she exited, she saw Su Mian's reply to her: "Steamed buns and fried dough sticks. Take it or leave it."

She smiled secretly. The unstoppable smile sank into her pillow. After a while, the roommate who had been burning the midnight oil turned off her light. A few scattered sounds came from behind the bed curtain, followed by the rustle of a quilt. She had gone to sleep too, and the room became completely dark.

Deng Chuan covered her face with her hands. Peeking through her fingers, all she could see was darkness. If there was any light at all, it was only the moonlight shining in from outside.

As she smiled silently, she thought, if there is moonlight tonight, it must be deep blue.

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