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Psst! We're moving!
How... comfort.
……
Lin Zhe Xia sat on the chair by the window, her mind momentarily blank upon hearing this sentence.
After a long while, she finally found her voice: “Can’t you sleep on your own? Are you saying you’ve grown up and still don’t know how to sleep?”
“What should I do.”
Chi Yao said, “I can’t sleep tonight, so I’m not very good at it.”
Lin Zhe Xia felt the atmosphere was even stranger than before.
The summer in the north should be cooler, but now she felt a bit warm.
“How about you lie down and try harder.”
She paused for a moment and added, “Or, I’ll play some soothing background music for you. You lie on the bed, close your eyes, and with noble accompaniment in the room, it should help you.”
“...”
Chi Yao chuckled at her two terrible ideas.
The young man barely showed a hint of a smile as he slightly tugged the corner of his lips: “Is that how you comfort someone?”
Lin Zhe Xia fell silent for a moment: “Then, shall I count ducks for you?”
Chi Yao didn’t comment on her suggestion anymore. He rarely showed such obedience. He reached out and pressed the switch next to the bedside table. The lights in the room went out, leaving only faint light filtering in from outside.
Then Lin Zhe Xia heard some rustling sounds.
It was Chi Yao getting into bed and pulling the covers over himself.
The darkness concealed their emotions well.
Just as Lin Zhe Xia cleared her throat, preparing to say “one duck,” the person on the bed spoke: “I don’t want to hear about ducks. Count something else.”
“What do you want to hear then?”
Lin Zhe Xia thought for a moment, “Count sheep? Count…”
Before she could continue listing examples, she was interrupted: “Count rabbits.”
“...”
“Why count rabbits? Isn’t counting sheep fine?” Lin Zhe Xia struggled.
But the response from the other side was decisive: “What do you think?”
“What’s wrong with counting sheep?”
This time, the other side made a “tsk” sound: “Is this your attitude towards comforting me to sleep?”
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to count; it was just that whenever she thought of rabbits, she remembered Little Bunny Xia Xia.
And the day they played the claw machine together, catching the lucky plush toy.
The word “rabbit” had become special because of these shared experiences between them.
So special that saying it made her heartbeat skip a beat unconsciously: “Alright, let’s count rabbits. One rabbit.”
“Two rabbits.”
“Three rabbits.”
The girl deliberately lowered her voice, afraid of disturbing his sleep, softly continuing.
“Nineteen rabbits.”
“Twenty rabbits...”
Chi Yao lay on his side, half of his face buried in the cotton-like pillow, his hair messily spread out.
Through the faint light, only a glimpse of his sharp jawline could be seen, followed by the smooth lines of his neck.
He listened to this voice, and drowsiness gradually came over him.
Though he wasn’t asleep yet, it felt like he had fallen into a dream.
He seemed to hear another voice, very similar to the present one, suddenly echoing in his ears across a long span of time.
——”If I don’t have a dream temporarily, does protecting someone else’s dream count as having a dream?”
At that time, Lin Zhe Xia’s voice was still very childish.
She was troubled by her essay, leaning on the desk, drawing a bunch of oddly shaped people on the draft paper and numbering them.
At that time, he was about to sneer, “What kind of dream is this?”
But before he could say it, the person leaning over suddenly sat up and turned to look at him: “Then my dream will be to protect your dream.”
The afternoon sun was dazzling.
It also lit up her eyes: “Since I don’t have a dream right now, I hope you can achieve your dream. That’s my dream.”
……
Lin Zhe Xia counted for about ten minutes, hearing Chi Yao’s breathing slow down, guessing he might have fallen asleep. She stopped and tentatively called his name: “Chi Yao?”
After calling, she waited for a while and then spoke again: “Chi Yao is a dog.”
“No, Chi Yao is worse than a dog.”
……
After these two sentences, the breathing remained steady.
“Really asleep, huh,” Lin Zhe Xia whispered softly. “Clearly so tired, yet still refusing to sleep.”
She tapped the phone screen and saw the time displayed was already 12:30.
After confirming Chi Yao was asleep, she tiptoed from the chair, walked to the door, and slowly turned the knob, trying to minimize any noise. Standing at the doorway, she softly added: “I hope your competition goes smoothly tomorrow.”
Lin Zhe Xia had paid attention to the article Mr. Xu reposted, which included the competition schedule.
Before sleeping, she checked the entry time for the competition and set a reliable alarm by working backward.
She was worried that if Chi Yao couldn’t get up tomorrow, she’d need to go early to wake him.
Chi Yao slept deeply.
He only woke up when Lin Zhe Xia called for the third time.
“Wake-up service,” Lin Zhe Xia shouted into the phone around eight in the morning. “You should get up.”
The sound from Chi Yao’s side was chaotic.
She heard some soft rustling sounds, seemingly like the boy didn’t want to get up and buried his face deeper into the pillow.
Sure enough, the next second, Chi Yao’s voice was hoarse and muffled: “What time is it?”
“Eight fifteen.”
“Hang up. Call me again at eight twenty.”
“...”
Lin Zhe Xia found it amusing: “Why are you being so lazy in bed?”
“Then sleep for five more minutes,” she finally said. “I’ll knock on your door in five minutes.”
Five minutes later, Chi Yao opened the door with messy hair, looking sleepy and sluggish. Lin Zhe Xia often saw him like this on weekends when she visited his house, but now being alone in a strange place, she felt unusually constrained.
She averted her gaze: “Do you usually eat breakfast at the hotel or order takeout?”
Chi Yao looked like someone with morning grumpiness, but he still answered her question dutifully, opening the bathroom door and saying, “Takeout.”
Lin Zhe Xia responded with an “Oh”: “Then I’ll check the food delivery app.”
After browsing for a while, she placed an order directly.
Just as Chi Yao knew her preferences, she didn’t need to ask what he liked or disliked.
Even though this person was quite picky about food.
After placing the order, the sound of water from the bathroom stopped.
Chi Yao finished washing up, pulled open the door, his hair dampened by water. He squatted down to rummage through his suitcase and then said two words to her: “Go out.”
“?”
“I just placed the order, and you’re kicking me out,” Lin Zhe Xia complained. “How ungrateful can you be?”
Chi Yao held his school uniform in his hand and said indifferently: “I need to change clothes.”
After a while, he added: “If you insist on watching, that’s fine too.”
……
Who would want to watch?
Lin Zhe Xia stood up from the chair: “I’m leaving.”
After Lin Zhe Xia left, she returned to her room and waited for the takeout to arrive before bringing it over. However, this time when she pushed open the door, she heard what seemed to be an extra person inside. That person immediately said, “What the—”
Xu Ting looked at her in surprise: “Lin Shao?”
“...”
Lin Zhe Xia put down the takeout: “Surprised to see me?”
Xu Ting: “Very surprised. What are you doing here?”
In front of anyone other than Chi Yao, Lin Zhe Xia could mostly stay calm: “Oh, I’ve been under too much academic pressure recently. I came to Haicheng City to prepare to jump into the sea.”
Xu Ting: “...???”
Lin Zhe Xia: “But at the last moment, the desire to live overcame the urge to jump. I realized life is still beautiful, and I should continue to live on bravely.”
The impact of these words was too great. Xu Ting cautiously said: “I never realized you... were under so much pressure.”
Lin Zhe Xia glanced at him: “You believed that? With your IQ, are you really okay to participate in today’s competition?”
Xu Ting: “..........”
This Lin Shao.
Sometimes, how infuriatingly similar she was to Chi Yao?
Xu Ting changed the subject: “Have you guys ordered takeout already? I want to eat too.”
Chi Yao also glanced at him, almost the same way Lin Zhe Xia had glanced at him: “Don’t you have a phone?”
“...”
“I’m leaving,” Xu Ting stood up. “Goodbye. You two really are childhood friends; your combined attack power doubles when united against outsiders. I can’t stay in this room a moment longer.”
After eating, they waited for the assembly time. The competition team needed to gather in the lobby downstairs.
The participating teams had to leave for the competition venue an hour in advance.
From buying the train ticket until now, Lin Zhe Xia felt this day was surreal.
She returned to the room, putting the ID card left on the table into her shoulder bag, and felt something she had forgotten.
Red string, lucky charm pouch.
Lin Zhe Xia was stunned for a moment before remembering she had forgotten to give him the lucky charm she had prayed for.
She glanced at the time; there were less than two minutes left until assembly. She clutched the charm pouch in her palm and ran out without thinking.
Through the hotel’s long corridor.
Through groups of passersby in the corridor.
She didn’t know if she could make it, but at this moment, she had no other thoughts. Her mind was full of: find him before the assembly.
She didn’t have time to wait for the elevator and directly pushed open the safety exit door, running down from the eighth floor.
Running all the way to the first floor, standing at the safety exit, she just happened to see the Cheng’an competition team stepping out of the elevator.
Teacher Liu led the group, walking ahead while reminding those behind him: “Don’t be nervous later. Just perform normally—our main competitor this time is still Lianyun No. 1 Middle School.”
A team of six people, all wearing Cheng’an uniforms.
Chi Yao walked at the end.
The young man had a jacket over his uniform, the hem of the black windbreaker reaching his wrists. His hair was still slightly messy, possibly from sleeping last night. Xu Ting walked in front of him, occasionally talking to him, but he lazily responded with a few words if he felt like it.
Lin Zhe Xia’s current position was closer to the lobby. The competition team needed to pass through the safety exit where she was hiding as they crossed the corridor. She pressed her back against the wall, hiding herself, not wanting to openly stop Chi Yao in front of so many people.
The footsteps and Teacher Liu’s voice grew closer—
“But as long as we’re well-prepared, Lianyun No. 1 Middle School isn’t something to fear.”
People passed one by one.
Lin Zhe Xia hid behind the door. When the figure in the black windbreaker appeared, she decisively reached out and grabbed Chi Yao’s wrist.
Chi Yao felt a force pulling him. He paused his steps, tilted his head slightly, and saw the slender, pale hand extending from behind the safety exit door.
Knowing who it was, he didn’t resist and almost compliantly let her pull him in.
Teacher Liu was still passionately speaking, and no one noticed that a person was missing from the end of the line: “I believe in you all. You must believe in yourselves!”
Behind the door, in the hidden and narrow corner.
Lin Zhe Xia and Chi Yao locked eyes.
She then realized how close they were.
“That thing, I forgot to give it to you,” Lin Zhe Xia wanted to step back but her back was already against the wall. So she could only raise her hand and hold up the charm pouch, using it to create some distance between them. “I got this for you when I went out with Chen Lin and the others the other day. They say it’s very effective and brings good luck.”
Lin Zhe Xia knew Chi Yao’s personality might mock her for being superstitious, so she quickly added: “Although with your abilities, you probably don’t need it, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Why don’t you give it a try and see if it works?”
However, Chi Yao didn’t say anything and took the charm pouch from her hands.
The bright red charm pouch looked even smaller in his hands.
“Got it.”
When he took it, he said, “I’ll humor you and reluctantly try it.”
Lin Zhe Xia was speechless: “Thank you.”
Chi Yao still used that annoying tone: “You’re welcome.”
After speaking, the atmosphere quieted again.
The sense of unease caused by the proximity and the cramped space overwhelmed her once more.
Soon, she realized this uneasiness might also stem from the person in front of her.
This person was too tall, and his surrounding presence seemed to envelop her. Looking down at her with his eyes cast low created an invisible pressure—
Even though she was the one who pulled him over, she now felt like she had been pulled in.
Before Lin Zhe Xia could escape due to the overwhelming sensation, Chi Yao raised his hand and patted her head.
“Thanks to a certain coward, I had a good sleep last night,” he said as his hand gently rested on top of her head. “Getting first place today shouldn’t be a problem.”
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