CHAPTER 19: CHAPTER 19: GET TREATMENT FOR NARCISSISM WHEN YOU HAVE TIME

Maybe CP affinity and passerby affinity are the same, just something very mysterious.

This year, netizens really like pairing "Elegant Sister" and "Cool Handsome Brother" together, or "Glamorous Red Rose" and "Cultured Delinquent," but they don’t plan to mix it up.

Of course, she wasn’t trying to start rumors with Xie Qingci, but after all, they did have a past. Couldn’t the netizens see a bit of their compatibility?

Let’s not talk about what would happen if Shu Ran were with Song Xi; back then, she and Xie Qingci were like a blazing fire. That kind of hormone collision in a kissing and hugging atmosphere should easily spark imagination.

Could it be...

Yu Xia lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling and contemplating—could it be that heaven is telling them there’s no chance to rekindle the past?

The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

It’s like something you really want in a shop window, but for some unclear reason, you can’t have it. That’s fate.

She’s quite resigned to her fate.

Yu Xia lay on the bed for a while, sighed, got up, and took a box from the high shelf of the bookcase.

It was a very beautiful silver-blue gift box. Inside, there was a pair of silver high heels, along with two cards.

The cards had two English sentences written in pen.

"Fascinated by you."

"You had me at HELLO."

Besides that, there was a small bag in the box containing a white t-shirt.

When passion was at its peak, this white t-shirt wrapped around two people, accommodating their waves of emotion and joy.

After laying everything out, she thought for a moment, then picked up her phone and searched her name again.

On Weibo, there were more updates; the top and most trending post read: [Yu Xia and Yuan Wang suspected to have argued and broken up, Yuan Wang bitterly begs as he watches Yu Xia’s back.]

Damn, is there someone in their neighborhood who has turned into a paparazzo, or did they attend a course on blindness?

Resigned to her fate, she realized that just a few words with Yuan Wang could be exaggerated into a grand drama of love and breakup, but with Xie Qingci, with whom she had actually been involved, there was nothing.

Yu Xia sighed, touching her cheek in the mirror across the room, wiping away nonexistent tears, caught in a sudden theatrical mood.

Forget it, burning these things could also be a funeral for their absurd affair.

Henceforth, she, Yu Xia, would be a hero enduring through massive waves, without getting wet in the slightest.

She performed a melodrama of sorrow, but the scene got stuck when she went looking for a lighter.

She didn’t smoke, so there was no lighter at home.

Could it be heaven trying to tell her... there’s more trouble to come?

She sat dazed on the sofa outside, peeling tangerines and popping them into her mouth.

By the time Mei knocked and came in, the table was already piled with tangerine peels.

"Sis, I brought you food and also some instructions from He."

Yu Xia assumed it was work-related, straightened her expression, and leaned against the table: "Go ahead."

Mei pushed the peels into the trash bin and when she looked up, she was so mesmerized by Yu Xia’s curves that she stared for two seconds.

Then she coughed, covering her mouth with her fingers, speaking in a muffled voice: "He said he followed your alt account’s browsing history and found out you were secretly checking gossip, and he wants you to... book an appointment at your convenience to get that narcissism checked out."

Yu Xia paused in her tangerine-eating.

"Is he too free? Why is he checking my alt account? Why doesn’t he become a paparazzo?!"

"Maybe he’s like you, searching for his ex-boyfriend on his alt account?"

Ex, ex-boyfriend...

"What ex-boyfriend! I’m searching for my younger brother! And I’m not narcissistic!"

Mei seemed to filter her words directly, sighed:

"It’s really just a coincidence about Xie Qingci’s debut and special performance. Sis, you’ve been in too many rumors, and suddenly you meet a real coincidence without a rumor, so you’re curious. You just have that gap in your heart."

Yu Xia couldn’t explain.

She could only pop the last piece of tangerine into her mouth and solemnly vowed after swallowing: "I understand now. From now on, I won’t pay much attention to him."

No lighter, but a fire in her heart is just as good.

Mei: "Actually, you can glance a few more times. He is really handsome. Did you see the pictures I sent you? He’s genuinely good-looking."

"No," she refused sternly, "you cannot send me any more pictures of him. I absolutely will not look at them; I won’t look at any pictures!"

Mei seemed puzzled, but still nodded: "Alright."

By evening.

Mei was in the living room watching the program group’s edited male group Dormitory Diary on a tablet.

With clenched fists, she howled dramatically, her eyes glued to the screen without blinking, so excited she almost wanted to dive into the screen and kiss someone.

Yu Xia sneered at her behavior.

Then she closed her room door, put on headphones, and started watching too.

The younger brothers truly are handsome.

In this Dormitory Diary, the camera doesn’t just focus on the popular ones; there are quite a few eloquent brothers, and everyone in every dorm gets a chance to show off.

Of course, dorms with more people have more camera time, and interesting dorms get more footage too.

For example, the 302 where Xie Qingci, Ning Yunchao, and Wei Yaoyao live, is really interesting.

Wei Yaoyao actually knows how to play the erhu, and Ning Yunchao does two-man comic dialogues. They get along well and even got people from other dorms to join in, playing the electric piano, singing ’Drunken Butterfly,’ and dancing square dance.

Xie Qingci wasn’t there.

Yu Xia watched with great interest, even wanting to twist a dance with Wei Yaoyao.

When the scene changed to another dorm segment and returned to 302, the square dance had stopped, and Xie Qingci and Song Xi were walking in side by side.

Both were covered in sweat, having just returned from the rehearsal room. Xie Qingci went about his business washing up, while Song Xi chatted with Ning Yunchao at the door.

"Xie Qingci’s stamina is amazing; he danced ten or twenty rounds without getting tired."

Ning Yunchao: "He can run in the morning and still play with dumbbells when he gets back in the evening. His arms are all muscle!"

"No wonder he has a challenging dance move where he falls to the ground and pushes himself up; he’s been doing it countless times without a peep."

Wei Yaoyao joined in too: "Their group is full of dance experts. After practice, he even teaches English song techniques for free. His English is really good and reminded me of the terrifying days of high school English listening tests."

Song Xi adjusted his glasses and chuckled: "Really? I must ask for some lessons from him."

They laughed and joked, then Xie Qingci came out of the shower, his black hair wet, wearing the t-shirt Yu Xia had given everyone.

The camera gave him a close-up.

The line on his chest, "No love in my heart, naturally handsome in song and dance," seemed to shine with holy light.

Wei Yaoyao burst into laughter.

"Bro, your expression of resolutely refusing to give in really matches that shirt, hahaha!"

Yu Xia in front of the screen covered her eyes and was silent for two seconds.

Was he out of clothes? Why wear that shirt?

Xie Qingci casually towel-dried his hair, glanced at the camera, and didn’t care, asking Wei Yaoyao:

"Can we go to the dining hall to eat now?"

"Yes, we can. Let’s go; I want to see if handsome people eat differently. The weight-loss meals provided by the program group are quite tasty."

The group walked out together, and even Xie Qingci’s back exuded a laid-back vibe, his voice crisp and lazy: "Diet meals? I’m still growing."