Chapter 20

“Am I dreaming?”

Liang Zhixia rubbed his eyes, which made his light tea-colored irises open even wider and brighter. Yet the like count on his phone screen showed no sign of going down.

He remembered that before bed last night, the post had fewer than five hundred likes. Now it had tens of thousands, along with several hundred new followers.

Why?

Was there a glitch in the app?

It took him a while to figure it out: someone had tipped him a whopping two thousand yuan.

He stared at the screen in disbelief, refreshing it several times.

Why would a total stranger tip him like that?

He’d read news stories about minors blowing their parents’ money and getting busted. What if this person was underage?

The moment he tapped into the private messages, he saw a note from the early hours of the morning.

Full of confusion, he read it again: the sender wanted to be friends?

The words sounded shady no matter how he parsed them.

He tapped out a reply.

【Hello, are you an underage kid?】

【Thanks for liking my work ^-^】

No response. They were probably sleeping in.

He switched over to WeChat and found that L had sent several messages after he’d dozed off.

Liang Zhixia couldn’t quite read L’s intentions anymore.

Without that debt hanging over him, he might have had the bandwidth to keep entertaining L. But right now, he could barely keep himself afloat. There was no way he could keep footing the bill.

He hoped L would find someone better off.

It was the weekend, so he had to work a full shift at the coffee shop. Come Monday, classes would start for real.

He slung his bag over his shoulder, munched on a piece of bread, and headed out.

As he walked, he kept pulling out his phone to check for a reply.

The sender’s avatar was a ragdoll cat—adorable and well-behaved. On impulse, he poked it. A little line popped up below: 【You poked Q】.

His pale fingertips curled back. Luckily, the other person was offline. Mortified, he pocketed his phone and hurried to the coffee shop.

“Little Xia, you’re here!” The boss was dressed in a tank top, baggy shorts, and flip-flops, his eyes narrowed in a squint. “It’ll be busy this weekend. Sorry in advance—milk tea’s on me tonight.”

Liang Zhixia gave a polite greeting and rushed to the break room to change into the standard uniform.

He’d barely taken his position when the first customer walked in.

After that, they came in a steady stream.

He only got a half-hour break all morning. The rest of the time, he was either taking orders or scrubbing dishes.

At the lunch shift change, he slumped into a chair in the employee lounge. A boxed lunch sat on the small table in front of him.

He wolfed it down, then pulled out his phone and opened the video app.

There was a little red notification dot in his private messages.

Q had replied.

【Q: I’m not a minor. I earned the money myself.】

【Q: I just thought that qipao you wore was gorgeous. Got a link? I want to buy one for the person I like.】

“…”

So that’s what it was—a gift for someone special.

【Muxia: Sorry, someone gave it to me.】

A full minute passed before the reply came.

【Q: Oh. From your boyfriend?】

Something about the tone puzzled him. He typed back one-handed.

【Muxia: No, I don’t have a boyfriend. It was from a friend.】

【Q: Got it ^-^】

Staring at the message, Liang Zhixia felt a strange twinge.

Why did it seem like Q had perked up? Was it his imagination?

He was about to lock his phone for a quick nap when it buzzed.

【Q: Got any other pretty dresses over there? I want to get one for the person I like.】

Liang Zhixia blinked in confusion. He was a guy—why would he have pretty dresses?

He started typing a refusal, but then he noticed another thousand yuan in tips.

From Q.

He fired off a message.

【Muxia: Why’d you tip again? I haven’t posted anything new.】

【Q: Truth is, I want you to teach me how to sweet-talk the person I like.】

【Muxia: ?】

【Q: I accidentally pissed her off, and now she’s deleted me (looking all pitiful).】

That explained it. Seeing the money in his account eased his mind a bit. Otherwise, taking someone’s cash for nothing would have felt wrong.

Drawing on his limited wisdom from TV dramas, he typed back.

【Muxia: You could get her something she likes.】

【Q: We’re not that close yet. What do you like? For reference.】

Liang Zhixia frowned. What did he like?

The other person was clearly waiting, so he answered honestly.

【Muxia: I like cute plushies—the softer the better. They’re super comfy to hug!】

【Q: Got it ^-^】

That weird feeling again.

【Muxia: Girls usually can’t resist cute stuff.】

【Q: If it works, I’ll send you a fat red envelope.】

He rushed to decline. They’d only chatted a couple times—he still had standards.

To head off more questions, he took the initiative.

【Muxia: Gotta get back to work. Bye~】

Liang Zhixia tossed his empty lunchbox in the trash, smoothed the wrinkles from his uniform, and pushed through the door.

The weekend crowd was even bigger than usual. The afternoon was somehow busier than the morning; he didn’t even have time for a sip of water.

It wasn’t until nine-thirty at night that the coffee shop finally quieted down, with hardly any new customers trickling in.

He rolled his aching shoulders, sipped the milk tea the boss had bought, changed out of his uniform, and grabbed his bag.

“I’m heading out. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Xia Xia.”

The boss had covered lunch and dinner, saving him a chunk of change.

The weather had cooled since the start of term. As he pushed open the coffee shop door, a cool breeze swept in.

The wind was picking up.

He thought back to this time last year, when Grandma was still alive. He and she would lie out on the bamboo mat in the evenings, listening as she sang him a lullaby.

Those days were gone forever.

The wind grew stronger outside. He quickened his pace back to the dorm.

The forecast called for rain tonight. He’d probably be alone—Lu Quan was likely still at the hospital.

He rode down in the elevator with some grad student seniors, then lagged behind as they walked.

At the dorm door, he swiped his student card. Beep—the lock clicked open.

To his surprise, Lu Quan was there.

Water ran with a steady rush from the bathroom. Liang Zhixia slipped on his shower shoes and stepped inside, but his gaze locked onto Lu Quan’s bed.

Unlike its usual neatness, a medium-sized panda plushie sat smack in the middle—the limited-edition collab with S City Zoo.

He knew this one! Crazy expensive, but totally worth it.

Word was, it had sold out and gone out of print.

He’d watched unboxing videos online. The texture was amazing, and it even had sleep-aid aromatics inside. Hugging it to bed was pure bliss.

Lu Quan secretly liked cute plushies like this?

It didn’t show at all.

What a cute contrast.

Lost in thought as he stared at the panda, he missed the click of the bathroom door.

“What are you doing just standing there?”

A low, damp voice sounded right by his ear. He jolted in fright and whipped around to face Lu Quan.

“Why’d you sneak up like that? You scared me!”

He scowled fiercely at Lu Quan, his light tea-colored eyes shimmering with moisture, his expression all aggrieved.

His heart hammered in his chest like it might burst free.

Lu Quan regarded the boy before him with cool indifference. Getting spooked that easily—was he a hamster or something?

The young man’s skin was so pale, the redness around his eyes stood out starkly. He looked fragile, like one of those antique porcelain pieces in Lu Quan’s room—something to be cradled carefully, shielded from the slightest harm.

“Sorry.”

He spoke flatly.

Liang Zhixia’s eyes flew wide. Had he heard that right?

Lu Quan had apologized to him!

His goal was achieved!

He hadn’t expected it to be this easy.

The lingering fright vanished in an instant, replaced by pure excitement.

He fought down his rising smile, lifted his chin with feigned dignity, and declared, “Fine. I forgive you.”

It felt great.

Maybe Lu Quan wasn’t so scary after all.

Emboldened, he asked, “Did you buy that panda plushie?”

Lu Quan: “Mm.”

He let out a soft gasp of admiration. “You’ve got good taste, then.”

Lu Quan: “…It’s a gift.”

“!!!” Liang Zhixia felt a pang of envy for the recipient. He wanted a present like that too.

Lu Quan was unusually chatty tonight.

He licked his lips, his inner gossip fiend roaring to life.

“Is it for someone you like?”

Lu Quan arched a brow, glancing at the suddenly gutsy young man. His voice came out lazy. “Yeah. For the person I like.”

Liang Zhixia was genuinely jealous.

“Wow! That person’s so lucky!”

The corner of Lu Quan’s mouth twitched up. In a deep voice, he countered, “No. I’m the lucky one, for meeting her.”

Liang Zhixia blinked in surprise at Lu Quan’s words. His roommate must be in an exceptionally good mood tonight.

He shook his head, suddenly aware of his body’s complaints—sore waist and back. No more gossip; he just wanted to hit the sack.

His light tea-colored eyes curved in a smile as he said brightly, “Then I wish you two a hundred years of happiness and a house full of kids.”

Lu Quan’s expression softened. “Thanks.”

A hot shower washed away the day’s exhaustion.

The moment Liang Zhixia flopped onto his bed, he saw a message from Xu Cheng.

Curious, he opened it.

His pupils dilated in shock as Xu Cheng transferred two thousand yuan straight to him.

Puzzled, Liang Zhixia fired off a message to ask what was up.

Xu Cheng explained that Lu Quan had told him to send it—the dorm fee mentioned back in those Dorm Regulations.

So this transfer meant Lu Quan was pretty satisfied with him as a roommate and had decided to cover his housing costs.

Was it because of that blessing he’d tossed out earlier?

Who would’ve thought the high-IQ genius from the School of Finance was such a hopeless romantic.

Liang Zhixia delightedly pocketed the two thousand yuan. Another deposit in the bank— one step closer to his twenty-thousand-yuan goal.

His slender fingers parted the bed curtain. Seeing the other guy with Bluetooth earbuds in, he didn’t thank him out loud and instead asked Xu Cheng to pass along his thanks.

Meanwhile, Xu Cheng was utterly baffled. Had things gotten so bad between Lu Quan and their junior that they wouldn’t even talk to each other in the same dorm anymore?

He let out a sigh and shook his head.

Liang Zhixia had no idea what wild conclusions Xu Cheng was jumping to. The video he’d posted last night had already racked up a hundred thousand likes and gained him a thousand new followers.

The withdrawable balance in his backend had popped up too.

He wasn’t in a rush to cash out, though. He could only do it once a month, so he planned to wait until the last working day.

Suddenly, his phone screen lit up with a new message.

It was from L.

【L】: Zhizhi, can I get your address?

【L】: Got a gift for you.

Liang Zhixia got it—this was just some marketing ploy from the seller, especially since he’d shelled out for a three-month subscription.

He typed out his address and hit send.

【Zhizhi】: Ship it here.