Chapter 21

Lin Sheng did not spend the night drinking alone. Only minutes after Xu Xieyi had gone upstairs, a phone call from Chu Yuefei summoned him to the new home he shared with his girlfriend, where a group of friends was throwing a house party.

Their circle of young people, busy with work and living at a fast pace, came from well-off families with plenty of disposable income; they knew how to play hard whenever the holidays arrived. The four-bedroom, two-living-room high-rise apartment had been transformed into a full-blown rave. The noise persisted until midnight, when the DJ finally cut the music and the group switched to playing cards. The living room was a mess of scattered clothes and handbags, the clatter of tiles and the haze of cigarette smoke creating a suffocating, decadent atmosphere—it was as if they had been transported back to their aimless high school days.

Back then, Lin Sheng was the one who would sit quietly on the sidelines, watching them make a scene, either smoking or occasionally reading and solving problems. He never lacked friends—one could even say he was always surrounded by people—but it was unclear if anyone had truly managed to break through that invisible, low-pressure barrier surrounding his inner world. Even Chu Yuefei wasn't certain if he counted as someone close to him. If a friend was in trouble, Lin Sheng would help, but when he faced his own problems, he handled them alone. He was intelligent and aloof, often leaving those around him feeling exhausted from trying to keep up. It was only as he grew older that he became slightly more outgoing, talkative, and approachable, making him far more likable.

Tonight, however, he had returned to his "do not disturb" persona, sitting in the corner of the sofa smoking. Fu Xiaoyin had tried to approach him several times but lacked the courage.

Chen Xia and Chu Yuefei, busy with a game of mahjong, glanced toward the sofa just as Lin Sheng stood up to take a call on the balcony.

"Apparently, the old man forced Sheng-ge to go on a blind date with the eldest Miss Guan and her whole family tonight," Xiao Yufeng remarked.

"Her whole family?"

"Of course the whole family. I heard from my dad that the 'Guan family' had always looked favorably on Sheng-ge, even back when we lived in the compound. They seized the opportunity to show up in full force just to see what the young master of the Lin family—whom we grew up with—was like. And it seems they were quite satisfied after meeting him."

Chen Xia discarded a two-bamboo tile, his expression blank as he gestured a "666" with his hand. "Aside from being a bit cold-blooded, he’s definitely a catch."

The others nodded in agreement. Chu Yuefei caught their gaze and offered a faint, noncommittal smile. He remembered many years ago, probably their senior year of high school, when Lin Sheng had been spinning a beer bottle in the dim light of a pool hall and told him: whoever he liked, he would only be dragging them into a cage. He hadn't understood it then, but he later learned that Uncle Lin had already been estranged from the Lin family for over two years. He had sacrificed even his own son for the sake of freedom. What could one say? Every family had its own troubles to bear.

***

After finishing the holiday greeting call from a friend, Lin Sheng idly scrolled through his call logs and stopped at the name Lin Xiangyang. The last time they had spoken was months ago, when he had just returned to the country. He let out a soft, mocking laugh.

After standing there for a while, he remembered he had many unread holiday messages on WeChat and began to check them. A profile picture of an anime girl stood out among the list. It had been sent an hour ago:

[Brother Lin, I forgot to tell you, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! ~(≧▽≦)/~]

Lin Sheng’s brows arched. He stared at Xu Xieyi’s message for a few moments, feeling both puzzled and amused. *A little rabbit with quite the imagination.*

[Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.]

He hit send, hesitated for a second, then added a [smile] emoji.

A few seconds later, a reply from Xu Xieyi arrived: [Are you out having fun with your friends, Brother Lin?]

Slightly surprised, Lin Sheng typed: [Yes] [How did you know?]

Xu Xieyi: [I didn't hear you come upstairs ^^]

*So that was it.*

Lin Sheng smiled. She knew when he wasn't there, and she knew when he was drinking before bed. Was she really just a child, to be so observant?

The screen showed that she was typing. He wondered what words the young girl was deliberating over for so long. He didn't dwell on it. A moment later, her message pinged with a crisp sound. He glanced down, and his nonchalant eyes sparked with a glimmer of light.

[Then... please don't drink too much, Brother Lin. You've already had quite a lot today.]

She followed it with a charming smiley face: [（⊙v⊙）]

***

Back in the living room, Lin Sheng checked in on his friends, but when they invited him to join the card game, he declined. He sat on the sofa, scrolling through his phone with a languid, casual air. Twenty minutes later, Chu Yuefei and the others noticed something was off and leaned over the table to whisper.

"Who is Sheng-ge chatting with?"
"No idea."
"Haven't heard of any woman lately."
"He keeps looking at his phone and smiling. It's not right!"

Chu Yuefei, a standard playboy who had recently found a girlfriend and claimed he was ready to settle down, smiled with mysterious depth, piqueing the interest of everyone at the table. He whispered, "I smell the sour stench of desire."

The men erupted in shouts of "Holy crap," while the women hit Chu Yuefei with playful curses.

On the sofa, while waiting for a reply, Lin Sheng opened the girl's social media feed. The latest post was from a few hours ago: a photo of a half-empty KFC plastic cup of orange juice with a straw. The caption read: *Waiting for someone, seriously (>_<)*

Lin Sheng couldn't help but laugh. *So well-behaved...*

After reading her new message, he sent two final replies:

[Alright, go to sleep now.]
[Be good.]

She replied almost instantly:

[Yes yes yes]
[ (happy) ]
[Goodnight, Brother Lin (:3[▓▓])]

The bedroom was lit only by a small bedside lamp, casting a dim, soft glow. Xu Xieyi clicked off her phone and collapsed onto her quilt, clutching the device to her chest as she grinned at the ceiling.

*Wow, wow, wow!*

She could hardly believe Brother Lin had chatted with her for so long. No, no, that wasn't the point. The point was that he had agreed to tutor her every day during the holiday to help her prepare for the monthly exams!

*Ha.*

Did this mean she was about to get all sorts of exclusive, genius-level problem-solving tips? Just thinking about it was thrilling. The last time he had tutored her, her math score had jumped twenty points on the in-class quiz!

She held her phone up to her eyes, reread his brief but clear messages to be sure, and then turned it off and set it on the nightstand. *Time to sleep.*

The sound of mahjong tiles clattered on, and the young men and women continued to squander the night away. Lin Sheng picked up his jacket from the sofa.

Chu Yuefei poked his head out: "Leaving already, Sheng-ge?"
"Yeah."
Xiao Yufeng added, "It's a holiday tomorrow, no rush. Why not stay and play a bit longer?"

"No thanks." Lin Sheng draped his jacket over his forearm and turned back, his expression much more relaxed than before. "Just picked up a job."

After he left, Chen Xia turned to Chu Yuefei with a deadpan face. "I completely agree with what you said earlier."

Chu Yuefei and the others, confused by his sudden remark, asked, "What did I say?"

Chen Xia discarded a sparrow tile and said, "I, too, smell the sour stench of desire."

***

Seven in the morning.

Because she usually kept a regular schedule and had never stayed up past midnight like she did last night, Xu Xieyi felt groggy. She walked to the bathroom in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes and moving in a daze, until the sight of the man wiping his hair in front of the mirror hit her like a hammer, snapping her awake. "..."

Lin Sheng lowered his hand, the soft white towel moving away from his damp, short hair, and looked toward the door.

"Brother Lin... good morning." He hadn't been home for days; she had completely forgotten about that!

"Morning."

The gravelly texture of his voice was even deeper in the morning. Since there were few people in the house, the other bathrooms on the second floor hadn't been prepared for use. This was the only one.

Xu Xieyi nervously traced the seams of her pants. "Did you just go for a run?"

"Yeah."

Lin Sheng’s fingers, washed clean, were as pale and bloodless as jade. As he folded his towel, he glanced casually at the girl in the doorway, then frowned slightly and averted his gaze.

Remembering their tutoring agreement from last night, Xu Xieyi felt quite happy—perhaps Lin Sheng wasn't as arrogant as he seemed; he was actually quite approachable. "Brother Lin, I'm sorry to trouble you with my tutoring these next few days."

"It's fine."

"I mainly need help with math and physics. I really need to push hard these next two days." She thought it would be wonderful if Lin Sheng could get some key practice problems from her homeroom teacher.

"Okay."

"Are you busy these next few days, Brother Lin? Will I be a bother?"

"No."

He was strangely cold, his words clipped, and he wouldn't even look at her. Xu Xieyi didn't quite understand and stood at the door, observing his expression. Lin Sheng sensed her curious scrutiny and lowered his eyes, clearing his throat.

He bent over to turn on the faucet, the sound of rushing water filling the room. As he washed his hands, he said with a cold, calm detachment, "I'll be a while. You... go back to your room and change your clothes first."

Back in her room, Xu Xieyi still didn't understand what had prompted his sudden cold shoulder. *Was it because he was disturbed while washing his hair?*

She didn't get it—until she sat down at her vanity and saw the faint outline of her chest through her light-colored, thin pajama top.

"Ah—!"

Xu Xieyi hugged her arms tightly, dove into her bed, and buried her face in her pillow.

"Wuuuuuu!"

*Oh my god... I might as well just die!*

Lin Sheng finished shaving and stepped out of the bathroom, faintly hearing the sound of someone hitting a bed and muffled whimpering. It was very soft, but in the quiet of the morning, every sound was amplified. He shook his damp hair, a few droplets sliding from the nape of his neck into the expanse of his back.

As he walked toward his room, he couldn't help but let out a small, faint laugh.

*She even... cried.*