The books she hadn’t finished reading during the day were still spread across her desk.
The curtains were half-drawn.
The city lights outside the window filtered through the glass, casting faint halos on the ceiling.
Yan Yu let out a long breath.
It was only at this moment that she truly felt herself relax.
Fortunately, her period hadn’t brought her too much pain.
There was only a slight heaviness in her lower abdomen.
A faint, barely noticeable sensation.
Compared to past experiences where she’d curled up in bed, drenched in cold sweat from the pain, today was relatively comfortable.
But she was still tired.
Really tired.
Yan Yu lowered her head, looking at her hands resting on her knees.
Slender, pale fingers, with the outline of bones faintly visible.
A girl’s body really was delicate.
She went into the bathroom, braced herself against the edge of the sink, steadied herself, and looked up.
The person in the mirror was staring back at her.
It was still the same face, the same features.
But somehow, the self in the mirror now looked different from a few hours ago.
Her complexion was better than before.
Her lips were no longer a lifeless grayish white but faintly tinged with a soft pink.
‘I hope I’ll recover soon.’
After a simple wash, she supported herself against the wall and slowly moved back to her wheelchair.
She sat back down.
The wheelchair let out a faint creak, as if sighing.
Just as she was about to turn off the light and rest, her phone rang.
Dingdong.
A crisp notification sound.
Yan Yu didn’t pick it up right away.
She didn’t even need to look; she had a vague premonition—at this hour, who could it be?
She reached over to the phone on the bedside table and unlocked the screen.
Just as she expected, it was a message from Dai Feng.
Dai Feng: Yan Yu, are you asleep?
As Yan Yu looked at this message, the scene from today in the lecture hall surfaced in her mind.
When she pushed her wheelchair in, she had immediately spotted Dai Feng sitting in the back row.
To be honest, she was a bit surprised.
Theoretical courses in the Art Department were already niche among niches.
That Dai Feng would actually be interested in this…
But Yan Yu didn’t dwell on it.
There were too many coincidences in the world; not every one needed to be examined.
Yan Yu: Not yet. What is it?
The reply came quickly, as if the other person had been waiting with phone in hand.
Dai Feng: Today I accompanied a friend to audit an Art Department class. Learned quite a few useful things.
Dai Feng: To be honest, after attending that one class, I feel like I’ve fallen in love with art. Art truly is a very interesting subject.
Dai Feng: But as an outsider, I still can’t quite figure out a lot of the twists and turns in it.
Dai Feng: In the future, if I run into something I don’t understand, can I ask you for advice?
Then another message followed immediately.
Dai Feng: Teacher Yan?
Yan Yu was slightly taken aback when she saw the words “Teacher Yan.”
She and Dai Feng weren’t particularly close.
They rarely had any interaction. After the birthday banquet, they could barely be considered “acquaintances,” but that was it.
Still, this form of address struck her as a bit amusing.
Teacher.
She was a student in a wheelchair. How could she deserve the title “Teacher”?
The corner of Yan Yu’s mouth curved slightly.
She typed a line on the keyboard.
Yan Yu: No problem.
Very concise, very formulaic.
The reply came instantly again.
Dai Feng: Then get some rest early. Take care of yourself. Good night.
A perfectly appropriate concern, nothing out of line.
Yan Yu glanced at the time.
It was almost 9:30 PM.
Yan Yu: Thank you. You get some rest too. Good night.
She closed the chat interface and was about to exit the app when her gaze inadvertently swept over the “Discover” button at the bottom.
Above it was a small red number.
Someone had liked her Moments post.
Yan Yu casually tapped in and found it was Dai Feng.
She had liked a post Yan Yu had made earlier.
After that post went up, quite a few people had liked it.
Classmates, friends from before, and a few colleagues she’d added at some point—almost everyone she knew well had liked it.
She had noted the list.
Except for Su Qinghan and Jiang Muyun, everyone else had liked it.
Su Qinghan hadn’t liked it. That wasn’t surprising. That woman never left any trace on anything Yan Yu posted, as if deliberately keeping her distance.
Jiang Muyun hadn’t liked it either. That wasn’t surprising either, since her social media posts were probably just something Jiang Muyun “didn’t want to see.”
As for Dai Feng…
Yan Yu looked at the name next to the avatar.
She simply treated it as a normal interaction between friends. They had chatted a bit today, and it was only natural to give a like. Nothing more.
She didn’t think much of it.
She closed the app, put her phone on the bedside table, and turned off the light.
In the darkness, the halos on the ceiling gradually faded.
Yan Yu turned over, pulled the blanket up to her shoulders, and closed her eyes.
She was very tired.
Time to sleep.
…
At the other end of the city.
Su Family Villa, second-floor study.
The light was still on.
Su Qinghan sat at her desk, a document spread out in front of her.
Her fountain pen was set aside and hadn’t been touched for a long time.
She wore a black silk shirt in a casual style.
The sleeves were rolled up to her forearms, revealing a sharply defined wrist.
Her hair, instead of being neatly pinned up like during the day, hung loosely over her shoulders, with a few stray strands falling beside her face.
The study’s lighting cast a soft glow over the entire space.
But her expression was anything but soft.
Her phone sat beside the document, the screen lit, displaying someone’s Moments page.
Su Qinghan’s gaze fixated on the red like icon.
Her brows were tightly knit, forming a shallow crease between them.
Dai Feng.
Ever since she saw Dai Feng interacting with Yan Yu at Jiang Muyun’s birthday banquet, Su Qinghan had begun paying extra attention to the relationship between these two.
Had those two already added each other as friends and started contacting each other frequently?
No, no.
Yan Yu clearly didn’t like interacting with strangers. How could she have become so familiar with Dai Feng in such a short time?
Besides, Yan Yu had always said she liked her before.
If she was contacting Dai Feng now, could it be that she was trying to get closer to Su Qinghan through Dai Feng’s connections?
If that was the reason, Su Qinghan could accept it emotionally.
But what she was more worried about was if there was another reason.
What if there really was something between those two?
Sigh.
She let out a long sigh.
Forget it. There was no point worrying about this now.
For some reason, Jiang Muyun was angry, and her attitude hadn’t changed yet.
And the heavy burden her father had handed her couldn’t be cast aside.
All sorts of things were piled up in a mess, clogging Su Qinghan’s chest.
It made her feel that life was especially hard to get through.
If only there was someone understanding who could be considerate of her right now.
For once, she, who usually pretended to be strong, had such a thought.