OS - 4

The grandmother sat in the courtyard listening to opera, waiting for the two children to return.

Cheng Wanyue gleefully showed the basket of apricots to her grandmother. The ones she brought back were all good quality—large and plump. With just a gentle squeeze of her fingers, the pit easily separated from the flesh. A single bite filled her mouth with sweetness.

“Grandma, Yan Ci went out to fool around again. I talked to him, but he acted like he didn’t hear me.”

The grandmother sighed. “He’s out again.”

Cheng Wanyue sprawled onto the cool chair and sighed as well. “Yeah, he doesn’t listen at all. Either he stays home for days without coming out, or he goes out every day to mess around. Who knows if he’ll even go back to school when the semester starts? He’s already delayed a year and been held back.”

“Ah, this child.”

After washing his face, Cheng Yuzhou patted the pockets of his pants. “Where’s my phone?”

Cheng Wanyue was the classic ungrateful younger sister. “You don’t even know where your own phone is, and you’re asking me? Did you leave it at Ah Yu’s place?”

He remembered Zhou Yu had placed his phone near the sink, and he forgot to take it when he left.

“It might be there.”

“I’m so hot. Go get it yourself. Don’t think about asking me to call Ah Yu to bring it—you know her mom doesn’t let her go out at night.”

Cheng Yuzhou sneered. “How old is she? She can’t go out at night?”

Cheng Wanyue didn’t want to argue further. “Why should you care?”

On the way back, she had been eating nonstop. Now lying down playing with her phone, she reached into the basket with one hand again.

“You’re still eating? If your stomach hurts tomorrow and you try to make me buy medicine for you, forget it.”

“Try me, then.”

Cheng Wanyue hid behind the grandmother and stuck her tongue out at Cheng Yuzhou. She had just grabbed an apricot, but before she could pull her hand back, Cheng Yuzhou slapped the back of her hand. She winced in pain, and her hand loosened, causing the apricot to fall back into the basket. Before leaving, Cheng Yuzhou lifted the basket and placed it out of her reach.

He retraced his steps, not bothering to take a taxi.

The streetlights were sparse, and the surroundings grew quieter as he approached Zhou Yu’s house. A crescent moon hung in the night sky, and stars were abundant—a sight rarely seen in the city, almost close enough to touch.

Before rounding the bend, Cheng Yuzhou heard coughing, followed by the roar of a motorcycle engine growing louder and closer.

The blinding headlights swept over, and Cheng Yuzhou squinted, stopping in his tracks. The person sitting on the motorcycle smoking was Yan Ci, whom he had encountered at the intersection an hour earlier.

Four or five motorcycles approached from the other side of the road, turning around to line up next to Yan Ci. A few yellow-haired troublemakers egged him on to race, but Yan Ci remained silent.

He kept coughing and eventually crushed his cigarette underfoot. Leaning forward slightly, he gripped the handlebars tightly. The others also bit their cigarettes and revved their throttles, the deafening engine noise prompting Zhou Yu’s neighbors across the street to close their windows and turn off the lights.

Zhou Yu emerged from the house and silently stood in the middle of the road, staring at Yan Ci.

“Hey, move aside!” A yellow-haired guy wearing slippers whistled and shouted, urging Yan Ci to go first to show off his speed.

Zhou Yu acted as if she hadn’t heard, standing motionless.

Yan Ci similarly ignored her presence, speeding off immediately. From a distance, Cheng Yuzhou watched as she didn’t budge, only closing her eyes when the motorcycle was about to hit her. Her tightly clenched hands at her sides betrayed her fear of death.

The ear-piercing screech of brakes echoed.

The motorcycle stopped two meters away from her.

In those brief seconds, her palms were drenched in cold sweat. Yan Ci had already braked, yet her eyelashes still trembled.

The others initially wanted to watch the spectacle but were urged by the yellow-haired guys to start racing. Several motorcycles bypassed them, riding off into the distance, leaving silence behind.

Annoyed, Yan Ci finally spoke. “Move.”

Zhou Yu stared at him. “Don’t play with these dangerous things.”

Yan Ci sneered. “Mind your own business.”

“Didn’t you come to my doorstep hoping I’d see you?” Zhou Yu walked over and pulled the motorcycle key out. “If you don’t want me to interfere, don’t let me see you. If I see it, I’ll definitely intervene.”

She raised her hand, intending to throw the key outside the road, but Yan Ci seized her wrist, causing her to release it due to the pain. The key fell to the ground.

“Pick it up.”

The next second, she kicked the key into the drain with her foot.

For the first time that night, Yan Ci’s gaze landed on Zhou Yu’s face, and she met it without flinching.

They stood in a tense standoff for a long while. Her hand, tightly gripped by Yan Ci, went numb from lack of blood flow. After he released her, her hand remained stiffly in that position.

Yan Ci abandoned the motorcycle and started walking forward. Zhou Yu blocked him, refusing to let him pass.

Her strength couldn’t match his. She fell, scraping her palms, but got up again. Wherever he went, she blocked him until Yan Ci lost patience and turned back, at which point she finally gave up.

The motorcycle remained in the middle of the road. Zhou Yu struggled to push it into the yard.

From start to finish, she never noticed Cheng Yuzhou at the corner and had no idea when he had left.

The phone on the edge of the pool shimmered with light—it had been on silent mode the whole time, so she only noticed it now and remembered its owner was Cheng Yuzhou.

Zhou Yu picked up the phone. She could see many unread WeChat messages but couldn’t read their content.

She called Cheng Wanyue, who didn’t answer. After ten minutes, Cheng Wanyue returned her call.

“Ah Yu, I was taking a shower earlier. What’s up?”

“Your brother left his phone at my place.”

Cheng Wanyue was puzzled. “Didn’t he go back to get it? Didn’t he pick it up?”

Zhou Yu paused. “…I didn’t see him.”

“Hold on. I’ll call him over to talk to you.” Cheng Wanyue was too lazy to change shoes and shouted from her room, “Cheng Yuzhou, if you hear me, come here!”

On her sixth shout, Cheng Yuzhou pushed the door open.

“Grandma’s asleep. Keep it down.”

“She’s not really sleeping,” Cheng Wanyue asked him, holding the phone. “Didn’t you go to my friend’s place to get your phone?”

Cheng Yuzhou didn’t respond.

She pressed again, “Then where did you go?”

Suddenly, Cheng Yuzhou looked toward the corner of the sofa. “There’s a rat.”

“AHHHHH! WHERE?!” Cheng Wanyue screamed, throwing her phone and jumping up.

Cheng Yuzhou caught the flying phone, closed the door, and held the doorknob with one hand while bringing the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

By the time Cheng Wanyue realized she had been tricked, she ran to the door, trying desperately to open it, but it wouldn’t budge.

Zhou Yu could faintly hear Cheng Wanyue’s furious shouts through the phone. She didn’t ask if Cheng Yuzhou had come earlier. “Your phone is with me.”

“Are you working at the supermarket again tomorrow?”

“…Yes.”

Cheng Wanyue inside the room was determined to get revenge. Cheng Yuzhou held the doorknob with one hand, the veins on his hand clearly visible.

“Bring it to the supermarket. I’ll come get it.”

“But I’m only going after five in the afternoon.”

“It’s fine—I’m not in a hurry to use it.”

“What if you need to make a call?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“…Alright.” Zhou Yu watched as new messages kept coming in. She walked to the bed and placed the phone face down on the table. “Nothing else. I’ll hang up now.”

“Mm.”

After hanging up, Cheng Yuzhou gently eased the pressure on the doorknob. The door opened, and he tossed the phone to Cheng Wanyue.

Cheng Wanyue eyed him suspiciously. “Where exactly did you go earlier?”

Cheng Yuzhou replied, “Just wandering around.”

“You didn’t get lost, did you?”

“Not at all.”

Cheng Wanyue crossed her arms. “Something’s odd about you, Cheng Yuzhou. You went to get your phone but came back empty-handed.”

“I went, but it wasn’t convenient,” Cheng Yuzhou explained. “I don’t know your friend very well.”

Cheng Wanyue laughed. “Oh, stop being shy. Ah Yu’s my best friend—you’ll meet her often. My friends are your friends, and your money…”

“Still belongs to me.” Cheng Yuzhou closed the door and returned to his room.

The grandmother was already asleep. The Cheng family lived in a standalone courtyard surrounded by residential buildings, making the night peaceful.

His computer was still in his suitcase, and without his phone, Cheng Yuzhou lay on the bed wide awake.

He wasn’t the type to struggle with unfamiliar beds—it was something else nagging at him.

Thinking back to the tension between Zhou Yu and Yan Ci, and recalling how she had passionately kissed someone in the alley just a couple of nights ago.

She had smiled so beautifully at him in the evening, but after he left, she was entangled with another boy…

Cheng Wanyue mentioned the boy’s name was Yan Ci, some kind of campus heartthrob.

Even though he treated her poorly, she still liked him.

Could Yan Ci have been the one she kissed passionately in the alley?

Whatever—it was none of his business.

Cheng Yuzhou tossed and turned, unable to sleep. At one moment, he suddenly realized that his mind had been consumed by her thoughts all night.