As he worked through them one by one, the sky outside gradually turned dark. When he turned on the light in passing, the small clock on his desk already pointed at half-past six.
He stood up and walked to the kitchen. He opened a milk bottle, put in some fruit, oats, and imported nuts, and warmed it up.
He carried the bowl of milk and cereal and sat in front of the desk, slowly drinking it sip by sip.
This apartment was located on the twenty-sixth floor. Looking down from the building, one could see West Jinghu Lake not far away. The artificial bright lights circling the lake were now brightly lit, outlining a dark gentleness amidst the upcoming night.
This was a high-end neighborhood with vast space between buildings. But looking from this distance, liveliness and warmth could be seen from those brightly lit windows.
In a kitchen at the lower corner, a man and woman cooked side by side. Their age couldn’t be seen clearly, but their actions were very intimate. In another family’s living room that didn’t draw the curtains, children rolled around on the cushions on the floor.
The cereal and milk in his hand slowly cooled down. Without any sugar, it became even blander as it cooled.
He suddenly rushed out of the study and hastily rummaged through the school bag, taking out that bag of hawthorn pies.
When he bit into it with the cereal milk, there was finally a slightly different taste in his mouth.
When he opened his phone next, the class and grade group were buzzing with activity.
Class 2’s study representative, Li Jianquan, carefully sent him a message, asking him for the answer to the last question in the math competition test papers.
Fu Songhua shouted in the group, asking if anyone would return to school earlier tomorrow evening and play a round of basketball before night self-study.
In the grade group, some anonymous person said this batch of new juniors was too eager and the selection for the school grass and flowers from the junior year was already out. The famous Bai Xiaosheng retorted his bullshit, wondering what happened there?
He silently browsed for a long time. Looking at the several hundred messages sent in the front, there wasn’t any lazy speech sent by that person.
He took a picture of the last question in the chemistry papers and sent it to Li Jianquan.
He just sent the message and Fu Songhua’s message arrived. “Boss, boss, are you there? Do you want to play some ball tomorrow? Come back earlier, come back earlier, please, please!”
Students, who lived in the school, often returned to school on the weekend at two different points. The ones living closer would choose to hurry back on Monday morning. Meanwhile, those living farther were afraid of being late on Monday and would return to school on Sunday night.
“No. I’ll be at home and return on Monday,” he replied.
That empty dorm was even more unbearable than this ice-cold house right now.
Fu Songhua sent out a crying expression. “Boss, you’ve changed. You’re not the best partner on the basketball court anymore.”
When he had just put down his phone, an alert suddenly came from WeChat.
An unfamiliar profile picture popped out with a strange pink color.
Qin Yuan was stunned and when he saw the name clearly, his heart suddenly seemed to beat faster.
Ruan Qingmu’s profile picture wasn’t like this before but with a gloomy shattered heart. It made people feel extremely uncomfortable when looking at it. Did he finally change it suddenly?
Looking carefully, it was a branch of peach blossom drawn in watercolor, blooming brilliantly.
In the chatbox topped with pink petals, that person sent a mindless question. “When will you return to school?”
Qin Yuan looked at that sentence and didn’t reply for a long time.
In the small alley on the other side of the city, Ruan Qingmu uneasily glanced at his phone again.
There still wasn’t any reply. He must be working on homework questions right now. So boring. Why did he work so hard when his grades were already so good?
The main space in the house had been separated to make massage rooms. His private room was small and located in the innermost section of the house. It was probably about ten meters square, with a single bed, a desk, a small bookshelf, and a large wardrobe.
Although the area was small and simply decorated, it was clean and tidy. The diligent and capable Mu Wanli never let her son’s life be less than decent.
The phone screen finally lit up and the person who seemed to see the message accidentally replied: “???”
Ruan Qingmu’s spirits were lifted as he swiftly typed. “I will return tomorrow night. Do you want to hang out together…”
He paused and suddenly felt a bit anxious.
What are they going to do together? They didn’t live in the same dorm anymore. Were they going to read and do questions together?
They had different classes and homework. They couldn’t even discuss homework and compare their answers together.
He thought for a while, deleted the words “hang out together” and changed it into “Do you want to go upstairs to play cards?”
After he finished typing, he didn’t send it out.
He must’ve gone mad. He only joined the card game that one time and now he wanted to make Qin Yuan into his regular card partner? Ruan Qingmu spat at himself.
Qin Yuan sat beside the table and looked at the string of “the other party is typing…” on top of that chat. He involuntarily sat up straight.
However, that string of words disappeared and didn’t change after a long time. Qin Yuan held his breath. After waiting a long time, he became impatient and wanted to question him further, but the opposite finally replied.
“Can I take refuge in your place? The new dorm is too disgusting. It’s dirty and stinky.”
Immediately after that, he sent out: “Okay, you can come over at any time.”
After thinking for a while, he clenched his teeth and added again, “Actually, I will return in the afternoon on Sunday.”
“Okay, I will return immediately!” The reply hurriedly came.
Qin Yuan looked at the string of words and a smile faintly appeared on his mouth.
Ruan Qingmu leaned on his desk and the corners of his mouth slowly lifted.