In the bedroom.
Jiang Muyun’s fingers slid across her phone screen, her eyes scanning the names one by one.
‘Who?’
‘Who can be of use to me now?’
‘I have to take action. I have to do something to make that Yan Yu pay!!’
This thought filled her heart, and the speed at which she scrolled the screen grew faster and faster.
Classmates. Teachers. Friends from clubs. Gallery contacts she had worked with before. Some names she couldn’t even remember who they corresponded to.
Until—
Her finger stopped.
The name on the screen was: Li Duo.
This girl was the Vice President of the Student Council.
Her abilities were decent, but not outstanding.
She was going to run for Student Council President next year—with her current strength and reputation, her chances weren’t too high, but they weren’t impossible either.
Jiang Muyun and Li Duo had crossed paths before. They had met a few times at preparation meetings for school events and exchanged a few words.
Though they weren’t close, they did know each other.
She stared at the name, her mind racing.
Now, the people over at the Student Council were in charge of the list for the city’s painting exhibition selection.
‘If I help Li Duo campaign for president in exchange for her becoming my inside contact in the Student Council, and manage to get Yan Yu’s participation spot replaced… then I’ll still have a chance.’
Jiang Muyun thought to this point, and the irritation in her heart finally subsided a little, replaced by a cold calm.
‘That’s right.’
‘As long as I use this method to push Yan Yu out of that position, then I’ll still have a chance.’
She narrowed her eyes and tapped her thumb lightly on the screen, entering Li Duo’s chat interface.
Yan Yu, on the other hand, didn’t put much thought into the painting exhibition.
To her, it was just an ordinary selection of her work, helpful for extra points on the scholarship, but not that significant.
What really concerned her was something else.
‘The exam.’
Tomorrow was the midterm exam.
On the night before the exam, Yan Yu finished her bath and returned to her room wearing light-colored loungewear.
Her hair wasn’t completely dry yet. It lay half-wet on her shoulders, carrying the subtle fragrance of body wash.
She had already reviewed everything she needed to.
Recently, her mental state had improved considerably. She had made clear progress in studying various professional theories, and her review efficiency had increased significantly compared to before.
Content that used to take three reads to memorize, she could now understand about seventy or eighty percent in one read.
This change, though not earth-shattering, was something she could clearly feel herself.
The room was very quiet, only the warm yellow light from the desk lamp and the occasional chirping of insects from outside the window.
Yan Yu sat at her desk, focusing on the open textbook. Her fingers pinched the edge of the page, her eyes scanning the dense text line by line.
She had been reading for nearly an hour. Her eyes were a bit sore, but her mind was still operating efficiently, understanding and absorbing each paragraph quickly.
She turned another page, paused slightly, and reached out to pick up the glass of milk on the table.
The milk had been heated for her by Ruo Xiaozhen before bed. The temperature was just right, neither hot nor cold, with a layer of fine condensation on the glass.
She brought the glass to her lips, just about to take a sip—
Click. The lights went out.
The room suddenly plunged into darkness. Only the moonlight from outside cast a silver-white glow on the floor.
The light of the desk lamp disappeared. The words on the textbook were no longer visible. The whole world seemed to have been abruptly paused by something.
Yan Yu was slightly startled. Her fingers trembled involuntarily, the glass shook in her hand, and warm milk splashed from the rim, landing on the back of her hand and trickling down between her fingers.
“Ah—sorry, sorry! The hair dryer I just bought has too much power. This old house tripped the breaker!”
Ruo Xiaozhen’s voice came from outside, tinged with panic and apology.
Then came the sound of pattering footsteps, probably running to the electrical panel.
A few seconds later, the lights came back on.
The desk lamp’s light once again spread across the desk, warm yellow, quiet and still.
Yan Yu looked down. A fair amount of milk had spilled from the glass, staining the back of her hand and between her fingers with milky white liquid.
She put the glass back on the table, turned her palm over, and looked at the milk stain that extended from the base of her thumb to her index finger.
She didn’t think much about it.
She just lowered her head, stuck out her tongue, and gently licked off the bit of milk stain on the back of her hand.
The movement was very natural. Her tongue lightly swept across her skin, rolling that bit of milky white into her mouth, and she pressed her lips together.
Then, she pulled out a few wet tissues, dried the back of her hand, threw the crumpled tissues into the trash can by her feet, and picked up her pen again.
Everything on the back of her hand was back to normal. She resumed her review.
But what she didn’t know was…
Just behind her, not far away, at the doorway, someone was standing there.
Ruo Xiaozhen had originally rushed over to check on Yan Yu. At the moment the power went out, the first person she thought of was Yan Yu—Yan Yu’s body was already weak. What if she got scared? What if she bumped into something in the dark?
After flipping the breaker back, she hadn’t even had time to put her slippers on properly. She ran over barefoot.
But when she arrived at the doorway, she suddenly lost the courage to go in.
She stood at the door, using the light of the newly lit desk lamp to see Yan Yu’s side profile.
That side profile was exquisite. The warm light gilded the silhouette, making the already soft lines appear even more gentle.
Yan Yu slightly lowered her head. Her eyelashes cast a small fan-shaped shadow under her eyes, and her lips were slightly parted.
Then she saw Yan Yu extend a half-inch of pink tongue and gently lick the back of her own hand.
That movement… indescribably… beautiful.
Ruo Xiaozhen suddenly felt her heart rate become abnormal. She even forgot to speak, forgot to walk in and talk to Yan Yu.
She stood there at the door, as if hit by a paralysis spell, staring motionlessly at that scene.
That scene was actually fleeting. Yan Yu wiped her hand clean and resumed her review.
But Ruo Xiaozhen felt that scene had been carved into her brain and couldn’t be forgotten.
She quietly retreated half a step, her back pressing against the corridor wall. Her mind was in chaos, like a swarm of bees buzzing inside.
She remembered Yan Yu’s side profile, that face that looked especially soft under the warm yellow light.
She remembered Yan Yu’s lips, those slightly parted lips that revealed a small tip of her tongue.
She even remembered the color of that tongue—pink, moist, shimmering faintly under the light.
She suddenly wanted to touch that small mouth.
‘Use my fingertips… or my… lips?’
‘No no no no no! Wrong wrong wrong!’
Ruo Xiaozhen shook her head violently, covering her burning cheeks with both hands.
‘What was I thinking?!’
The more she thought, the redder she felt. The heat spread from her cheeks to her earlobes, then to her neck. Her whole face was as red as a boiled shrimp.
‘Strange.’
‘What is this feeling?’
She leaned against the corridor wall, both hands covering her chest, feeling her heart pounding loudly in her ribcage.
Every time Yan Yu got close, she would have this strange feeling.
When Yan Yu smiled at her, she felt warm inside, as if something was melting.
When Yan Yu said “Good night” to her, she felt that voice echoed in her ears for a long time, unable to be shaken off.
When Yan Yu was seriously reading, she would unconsciously stare at that side profile in a daze, sometimes for several minutes.
She knew she really liked Yan Yu. She wanted to become Yan Yu’s best friend, wanted to eat, chat, and share everything with her every day.
But… were these intense, heart-racing feelings that led to those “random associations” really the kind of feelings between best friends, between close girlfriends?
Ruo Xiaozhen couldn’t think of an answer.
She only felt her face burning, her heart racing, and her mind full of Yan Yu’s shadow.
She turned around quietly, her back to Yan Yu’s door, and walked back to her own room step by step.
Her footsteps were very light, as if afraid of being heard.
The moment she closed the door, she leaned against the door panel, slowly slid down to sit, wrapped her arms around her knees, and buried her burning face in her arms.
Right at that moment, she thought of that towel from before.
That time when Yan Yu fell in the bathroom, she had used that towel to dry her body.
The soft white cotton cloth, inch by inch, wiped across Yan Yu’s shoulders, back, arms, and waist.
Later, she carefully put it away. Folded neatly, hidden in the deepest part of the wardrobe, like hiding a secret that no one could know.
At this moment, as if possessed, Ruo Xiaozhen stood up.
She first turned her head to look outside the door. The corridor was quiet, Yan Yu’s door was shut tight, a small sliver of warm light showing from under the crack. No movement.
Only then did she quietly slip into her own room, closing the door behind her without a sound.
The wardrobe door was pulled open, emitting a soft creak. Her fingers rummaged through a row of neatly folded clothes, pushing aside the top sweatshirt, pushing aside that scarf, pushing aside that canvas bag she didn’t usually use.
Then, she saw that towel.
Pure white, folded square, lying quietly at the very bottom of the wardrobe.
The light shone down from above, covering the towel’s surface with a soft luster.
Ruo Xiaozhen reached out her hand, gently touching the towel’s surface with her fingertip. A soft texture.
The moment her fingertip touched the cotton cloth, countless images suddenly emerged in her mind.
Yan Yu lowering her head slightly, the light falling on her side profile, her extending a half-inch of pink tongue, slowly licking off the milk stain on the back of her hand.
That exquisite face, slightly parted lips, moist tongue, shimmering faintly under the light…
All the images interwove, as if something was breaking through the soil.
She couldn’t hold back anymore.