TGSS - Chapter 18
Chapter 18: Five Years Ago
Five years ago, in S City.
After the Start of Autumn, the weather in September was still sweltering, hardly different from high summer. The arrival of the freshmen shattered the silence that had hung over the campus all summer vacation and set it boiling with noise, reigniting its passion.
Their college's girls' dormitory was at the far north end. The buildings had white walls and red tiles, surrounded by shade trees. On the way there you passed a winding stream and a small stone bridge, giving it something of the beauty of a Jiangnan water town.
Room 206.
"It's the last day. Didn't Liang Zhouyi in bed number three come to register a few days ago? She should be back today, right?"
"Yeah, I came just one day later than her and I still haven't seen her. It's eleven o'clock, should we go eat first?"
"You two go ahead. I'll tidy up a bit more and wait for her..."
The sound of a key turning in the lock cut off their conversation. The three very different girls all showed the same expectant look.
What came into view was a pair of jet black Martin boots. Above slender, fair calves were black athletic shorts. A gray sun protection jacket was zipped all the way up, revealing only a delicate, pointed chin. A baseball cap covered most of her face, black hair of medium length fell loose, and her thin lips were pressed together, giving off a cool, unapproachable air.
"Ha... hello, I'm Xu Junying." Xu Junying had not expected her new roommate to be such a cool girl. She stammered nervously, her hand unconsciously tightening on Wen Xiaoying's arm.
"Liang Zhouyi." Liang Zhouyi's voice was clear. With her hands in her pockets, she walked toward her own bed at a leisurely pace, her whole bearing exuding a careless, relaxed ease.
Wen Xiaoying stared at her, a faint light flickering in her eyes. She suddenly smiled at Xu Junying beside her and said, "Junying, you and Xiao Ruo go to the dining hall. I have something to do, so I won't go."
"Huh?" Xu Junying was puzzled, but after all she had only known Wen Xiaoying for a few days and was not that close to her, so she nodded and prepared to leave with An Ruo to wander the campus and get something to eat.
The two chattered for a few more sentences before they left, and the dormitory fell quiet at once. Liang Zhouyi methodically hung up the few clothes she had in her suitcase. She had come in a hurry two days earlier and her bedding was still a bit messy. She took off her shoes, stepped up the bed ladder, wiped the iron frame with a damp towel, smoothed out every wrinkle in the sheets, and only then sat back against her chair, breathing lightly.
She closed her eyes wearily, her lips slightly parted, and felt a hand waving before her eyes. She opened them and saw an arm wearing a delicate bracelet. The hand, whose knuckles were faintly pink, held a bottle of water. Liang Zhouyi lifted her gaze and saw a lovely face with features like a painting, skin strikingly fair. She was holding the water out to Liang Zhouyi in a very friendly way.
"Thanks, no need." Liang Zhouyi looked away and casually took off her baseball cap, fully revealing her delicate face. Regardless of her looks, the cool, composed confidence she carried made Wen Xiaoying curious enough to draw closer.
"We're going to be roommates from now on, you don't need to be polite with me." Wen Xiaoying smiled with her eyes curved, her elegant face showing excitement. She asked tentatively, "Can I call you Zhou Yi?"
Liang Zhouyi looked at this familiar roommate with a half smile. To be fair, her fragile, willowy air like a little white flower was actually quite endearing, and Liang Zhouyi could not bring herself to dislike her, so she gave a soft laugh and replied, "As you like."
"My name is Wen Xiaoying, just call me Xiaoying." Hearing her say that, the smile on Wen Xiaoying's face blossomed at once, even her brows tinged with joy. She clutched the hem of her white dress and eagerly introduced herself.
After speaking, she dragged her chair over next to Liang Zhouyi's, wanting to get closer, but Liang Zhouyi dodged slightly. Wen Xiaoying was not annoyed and kept a perfectly measured attitude as she chatted with Liang Zhouyi.
Liang Zhouyi played lazily on her phone, responding perfunctorily, until Wen Xiaoying said she was also from H City, and only then did she lift her eyes to glance at her.
"Zhou Yi, the math on our province's college entrance exam this year was really too hard; it was hell-level difficulty. Sigh, I could have done even better, who knew... By the way, how many points did you get in math?" Wen Xiaoying rambled on until the conversation turned to exam scores.
"Math." Liang Zhouyi's lips straightened, a chill coming over her face. "Zero. I missed the exam."
Thrown by her indifferent attitude, Wen Xiaoying collected herself before showing a very regretful look. "Ah, that's such a pity. But you didn't even take math and you still got in with us." Calculating it that way, Liang Zhouyi's original grades must not have been bad at all, which made her suddenly want to ask why Liang Zhouyi had not repeated a year, but her intuition told her Liang Zhouyi probably would not answer that question, and even if she did, it would very likely be perfunctory.
"For finding a job in our major, they probably don't care that much about academic credentials." A confident curve hooked at the corner of Liang Zhouyi's lips.
That was true, Wen Xiaoying nodded inwardly, though she herself was not very interested in photography. It was just that this major was more advantageous for her future career development.
Liang Zhouyi's steady temperament and the unruly artistic air about her were very strong. Wen Xiaoying trusted her intuition a great deal. Since she was little her intuition had always been accurate, and at first glance she felt Liang Zhouyi must be a very talented woman.
Liang Zhouyi had noticed her deliberate attempts to get close and did not take them to heart. As long as it did not cross her bottom line, she had always been very tolerant toward girls, especially pretty ones like Wen Xiaoying.
It was just that these past few days Liang Zhouyi had been somewhat exhausted from showing her mother, stepfather, and unlucky younger brother around, and her attitude was inevitably a bit weary. Wen Xiaoying perhaps saw her coolness and, very considerately, after adding her on WeChat, took the initiative to pull her into the various class and major group chats and said she would remind her of anything important.
At first, Liang Zhouyi was somewhat disdainful of Wen Xiaoying's goodwill. She always felt that pretty girls like that were very nice to everyone, as if it were a hypocritical mask to gain more benefits. Such people were simply good at doing that sort of thing; it did not mean they were sincere. In other words, it was just her way of dealing with people.
But she soon discovered that Wen Xiaoying seemed to cling to her in particular. Of the four people in the dorm, Wen Xiaoying practically hung on her every waking moment, clinging to her so tightly that there was hardly any space between them except when she was using the bathroom or sleeping.
One day Liang Zhouyi could not help laughing and said, "Xiaoying, if you're really that free, I suggest you find a boyfriend."
Wen Xiaoying's flawless fair face flushed for an instant and she said coyly, "I don't want to! I just want to follow you. Besides, I already have someone I like."
Liang Zhouyi's arm moved, and her eyes darkened for a moment. Her indifferent face took on a hint of interest as she teased, "Oh? Who do you like?"
Because her skin was so fair, Wen Xiaoying's face turned beet red in an instant at her teasing words. Her eyes darted away shyly and she said without much confidence, "I'm not telling you."
"Heh." Liang Zhouyi raised an eyebrow with a smile and watched Wen Xiaoying make a face at her and run off. The autumn at the end of October was slightly cool. Xiaoying's long white dress was lifted by the breeze, like an airy white butterfly landing on a pile of golden fallen leaves, so light it seemed it might float into the air at any moment.
Liang Zhouyi thought the scene was beautiful and instinctively took out her phone to record her running away. As she filmed, Wen Xiaoying ran a few steps and then looked back and smiled at Liang Zhouyi. Seeing her crouched halfway down, filming with great focus, her smile grew even brighter.
Perhaps most stories in this world begin beautifully, and it was the same for Liang Zhouyi and Wen Xiaoying. It was precisely because the first meeting was so beautiful that it set the darkness to come in even starker relief.
At least for the better part of the year that followed, Liang Zhouyi sincerely admired and recorded all of this girl's beauty, even teaching herself editing for her, helping her run her account, and staying up late to learn the so-called internet sensibility and so-called trending memes that she had once disdained.
Yet although Wen Xiaoying looked fragile and beautiful, she was no innocent little white flower. She had a tenacity to her. Coming from an ordinary family background, she wanted to work hard to climb upward. Five years ago the short video industry was just getting started, and she became one of the first wave of bloggers in that torrent to reap the dividends.
Liang Zhouyi was not unaware of her little schemes, but she indulged her blindly, feeling she had already seen through this friend and could control the whole situation. But young and hot-blooded, she was too sharp and too showy. She never imagined that when all the lies were punctured and the truth was laid bare and bloody before her eyes, she would still be unable to cope.
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