CH 10.1

Gently patting Shi Yun’s back with his palm, Wei Congying felt a little guilty. He insisted on having her challenge her psychological trauma, but it may have grown even deeper after this.

He wasn’t too worried over the repair of the car, and patiently coaxed Shi Yun who was crying silently.

It was obvious she was crying, but her silent appearance somehow hit a soft spot in Wei Congying’s heart. From the beginning to end, he didn’t say a word of blame, and he took all the faults on himself, saying everything was his fault.

After a while, he heard Shi Yun say, “I’m sorry.”

Wei Congying looked down at her, raised his hand and gently wiped her sweaty forehead with the palm of his hand: “I’ll call someone to pick you up and take you back to school, okay? I still need to take a trip to the hospital with him.”

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He asked Shi Yun this in a discussing tone. Even when he was giving directions, he didn’t get angry because she missed an intersection and hit someone, and instead he blamed it all on himself.

At that time, Shi Yun thought, a prodigal son is a prodigal son. But he was able to portray the passion in passionate prodigal son so impressively, from beginning to end, putting great attention to every single thing. In that moment, she partly understood why there were so many ‘Scheherazades.’1 And why they would, one after another, want to bring such a man onto shore from the sea.

Wei Congying thought about where his friends lived, called Xiang Shaoyuan and asked him where he was.

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–

Rv vssj vld xkdwvlp qsa Dkydt Fbysuwyd vs yaakhl.

He drove the car to the side of the road, lowered the window, and let Shi Yun get into the car.

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When Shi Yun sat in the passenger seat, he stepped on the accelerator before Shi Yun put on her seat belt. Of course, the first words out of his mouth were to inquire after what happened. After figuring out what happened, Xiang Shaoyuan smiled and said, “It’s pretty good.”

Shi Yun turned to look at him after hearing this, and he added, “I don’t mean it was a good collision, I mean it was pretty good for you.”

The two of them didn’t talk much along the way.

Xiang Shaoyuan didn’t turn in to enter the school, and let Shi Yun off on the side of the road.

After Shi Yun thanked him, Xiang Shaoyuan only replied with a cold ‘hmm’, then stepped on the accelerator and left.

The dormitory where Shi Yun lived didn’t lock the door, so even though the auntie in the dormitory went to bed early, she could open the door by herself after swiping the downstairs access control with her campus card.

To start with, there were not many people in the dormitory building during the holidays, and every step she took to go up the stairs echoed in the stairwell.

The dormitory was still the same as when she left it in the day, Shi Yun sent a text message to Wei Congying, asking him how it was going.

There was no reply to the message, and Shi Yun finally failed to hold on and fell asleep.

When she woke up in the morning, Shi Yun picked up her phone and found that there was still no update. She threw the phone on the bed and put the back of her hand over her eyes. Her brain was still starting up.

She was torn between drowsiness and worry, and when her thoughts began wandering, the phone suddenly began to vibrate.

The default ringtone rang. Shi Yun sat up, picked up the phone, and after seeing the caller ID, she frowned.

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It was He Sui.

–

After Shi Yun finished washing, she changed out of her pajamas and went downstairs. There was no makeup on her face, and her hair was casually pulled back from her face with a clip. It was too late when she came back yesterday, so she didn’t wash her hair.

Thus, there was still a smell of smoke lingering in her hair

When she went downstairs in slippers and short sleeves, He Sui was holding a bag and standing under the shade of a tree waving to her.

Unlike Wei Congying who usually liked to wear black, He Sui liked to wear white and gray.

He probably had a haircut recently, and the sides were trimmed a little shorter.

Shi Yun raised her hand and used her mobile phone as a parasol to cover her eyes. Although it was only morning in July, the sun was already dazzling. The dew on the leaves had long since evaporated, and the chirping sparrows on the branches of the camphor tree were jumping around.

Under the tree, an orange cat was sleeping on the ground which protruded from the roots of the tree. Its sleep seemed to be undisturbed by sparrows.

The two of them had known each other since they were young. Boys and girls are more or less at odds with each other when they are young, and it was the same with Shi Yun and He Sui. Back then, Shi Yun took advantage of the fact that girls develop before boys, and had fought with He Sui since they were kids.

Later, He Sui overtook her in size during his growth spurt, but his elder brother broke the flag of “beating the other into oppression”. But fortunately, because they were getting older at that time, he and Shi Yun didn’t quarrel anymore. Shi Yun was smart, and after skipping two grades, she successfully became his senior sister.

The person standing under the shade looked up at her, and said in a complaining tone, “How important you are, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

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“You don’t have to wait.” Shi Yun walked up to him.

He Sui heard the displeasure in her tone, “How did I anger you?”

Shi Yun’s expression didn’t change: “I recalled the time when you took me on a battery car when I was in junior high school, and my leg was broken.”

“How many years has it been? What you’re doing here is considered bluffing .” He Sui passed her the bag in his hand, “No wonder I woke up aching all over this morning. You wouldn’t happen to have stuck a needle in my voodoo doll, would you?”

“You’re the bluffer.” Shi Yun took the bag, and felt its weight, “What is it?”

“You didn’t reply to me when summer vacation started, so I went back home. I happened to meet your grandma and she knew that I was coming to your school today, so she asked me to bring it to you on the way.”

There was a glass jar in the bag; it was a jar of grandmother food2.

In addition to this glass jar, there was also a red envelope.

The red envelope was recycled, and on it was a double ‘Happiness’ character in red which usually meant, may you live a long and happy life together.

Shi Yun took the bag, and He Sui continued: “Your grandma asked me to tell you something. She said that the phone at home was not shut down, and you can call her back when you are free.”

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Shi Yun was silent, she lowered her head and looked at the bag in her hands, ignoring He Sui’s words: “So what are you doing at our school?”

He Sui: “Academic exchange.”

The answer wasn’t too surprising. Shi Yun replied with an “Oh.”

He Sui saw that she was listless, and her voice sounded dispirited, so he raised his hand and flicked her forehead: “It doesn’t start until 9:30, so how about we go to your cafeteria for breakfast?”