“Uh, did you come down to boil water too?” Ji Mingxia tried to look natural and said, “I have a big bucket of water here so it will take a while…… you might have to wait a little longer if you want to also boil some.”
Ji Mingxia was worried that Yu Ning would really stand there with him, waiting for the water. Then his plan would not be able to proceed for a while.
Ji Mingxia hurriedly added, “Why don’t you go to the dormitory and wait? I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
Although Yu Ning didn’t answer, Ji Mingxia had read the novel and based on his understanding of Yu Ning’s personality, the latter didn’t like spending time with people he wasn’t familiar with.
So Ji Mingxia frantically searched for words, trying to give Yu Ning some excuses to leave. “I don’t know what’s going on today. It’s raining so hard but it’s fine in the dormitory. The ground floor is really cold.”
“You came down in short sleeves too, huh? Don’t you think it’s not like summer but more like winter? haha.”
“If I wasn’t waiting for the water to boil, I would have gone back to the dorm already, look at my goosebumps from the cold…”
Yu Ning heard this sentence and suddenly moved, his gaze slowly moving down and landing on Ji Mingxia’s arm.
Ji Mingxia was a southerner. His height of 1.78 metres was relatively ordinary in the north. Although he could be considered as tall in the south, he was placed in the third to last position in the classroom.
When standing with Yu Ning, he looked slightly shorter.
As a boy who had just come of age, he still had the thinness of a teenager, and Ji Mingxia’s looks followed those of his mother, so he looked more refined and gentle. Although his skin was not as pale as Yu Ning’s, it was whiter and more delicate than an average boy’s, so the change on the surface of his skin was immediately apparent.
Ji Mingxia had originally made this up as he went along, but his hair really stood up and his hand went rigid when Yu Ning took a look at him like this.
He quickly retracted his hand unnaturally, just about to say something else to lighten the mood when footsteps suddenly came from not far away.
Immediately afterwards, a human figure rushed down.
“Mingxia, Brother Mingxia!” The visitor was Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning’s classmate, Zhu Ming.
Zhu Ming saw Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning standing together and had a moment of hesitation. However, he eventually ran to Ji Mingxia’s side.
He directly ignored Yu Ning’s presence and said to Ji Mingxia, “Brother Mingxia, I heard from Chen Zhen and the others that you’ve already taken a bath, can I borrow this bucket of hot water for tonight?”
“Huh?” Ji Mingxia looked at him blankly. He didn’t expect that the bucket of hot water would be robbed off halfway through the boiling.
“I came back late today so there is no hot water to take a shower. I want to take an early shower and go to bed. It’s so cold and I feel my nose getting stuffy. It’s almost time for the college entrance exams, so I’m afraid of catching a cold.” Zhu Ming pleaded, “Lend me this bucket, I’ll try to come back early tomorrow night to help you boil a bucket too, okay?”
“Uh, this ……”
“Zhao Zhou said you are boiling this bucket as a backup, do you want to bathe again?” Zhu Ming saw Ji Mingxia’s hesitation and asked.
“That’s not it.” Ji Mingxia said.
He wanted to secretly boil water for Yu Ning to use, like an anonymous living *Lei Feng.
*Someone who is seen as selfless, or anyone who goes out of their way to help others.
But at that moment, Yu Ning was close at hand, and in order to not add drama, he definitely could not tell the truth.
Seeing that Zhu Ming was still standing there waiting, Ji Mingxia had no choice but to say, “Then you can have it.”
“Thank you, Brother Mingxia!” Zhu Ming said happily, then immediately bent down to test the water temperature.
The bucket of water was not boiling hot, but because there was enough water, there was no need to add cold water. The temperature was warm enough for him to take a bath.
Zhu Ming was so cold that he sniffed and quickly unplugged the electric heating rod. He then picked up the bucket of water and went upstairs.
Zhu Ming suddenly remembered something after walking out a few steps. He turned back to look at Yu Ning, saying to him meaningfully, “Brother Mingxia, let’s go back together. Don’t hang around here at night, it’s bad luck.”
In Zhu Ming’s opinion, he was kindly reminding Ji Mingxia.
Anyway, the whole county had heard about Yu Ning being a disaster star and everyone treated him that way. Also, with the college entrance exams around the corner, no one was willing to come in contact with bad luck.
Zhu Ming had gotten a bucket of hot water from Ji Mingxia so it was his responsibility to help him out of his misery.
Perhaps it was his illusion, but Ji Mingxia felt that the temperature around him seemed a little colder after Zhu Ming spoke those words.
Ji Mingxia glanced at Yu Ning with some embarrassment, seeing that Yu Ning was still standing there. His expression was unchanged throughout, seemingly not caring about his and Zhu Ming’s presence.
He was slightly relieved, and in order to maintain his persona as a supporting role, he did not speak to Yu Ning again, and quickly followed Zhu Ming.
While walking, Zhu Ming whispered to Ji Mingxia to stay away from Yu Ning in the future, then along the way, he told Ji Mingxia various rumors about Yu Ning.
Ji Mingxia had read about all those in the novel before and although he knew that Zhu Mingxia was well-intentioned, he still didn’t really want to listen to them.
However, in order to maintain his persona, Ji Mingxia did not interrupt Zhu Ming’s words.
While echoing Zhu Mingxia’s words with “uh huh, I understand, I understand”, he tried to think of a solution while walking.
Yu Ning didn’t have a bucket, just a water basin. Even if he boiled all the water in the basin, he could only have a warm bath.
He had just come back from the rain and his hair was all wet. So to be on the safe side, it was better if he used hot water.
The bucket of water that Ji Mingxia had worked so hard to boil was now in Zhu Ming’s arms, so the only solution was to buy hot water using his campus card.
Zhu Ming’s dormitory was at the end of the corner on the ground floor, and the two soon went their separate ways.
While waiting for Zhu Ming to open the dormitory door, Ji Mingxia suddenly noticed light coming from the managing auntie’s kitchen window in the other direction.
One can reach the kitchen window by walking around the corridor. At the same time, that place was a dead end in the water boiling area. Yu Ning would not be able to see what he was doing.
Ji Mingxia had an idea in mind.
Yu Ning stood still, listening to Zhu Ming telling Ji Mingxia about his “past” as their footsteps faded away.
There was a delay for a few moments, then things soon returned to normal as the two returned to their respective dormitories.
Every second of senior year was precious, and it was already late so most people had fallen asleep.
With the departure of Ji Mingxia and Zhu Ming, the corridor returned to silence, leaving Yu Ning standing alone in the light of the lamp.
The knuckles on the rim of the water basin were unconsciously tightened, creating bruising marks, but Yu Ning soon restrained himself and let go of them, his face gradually returning to an indifferent expression.
Yu Ning didn’t turn around until it was confirmed that there was no one.
He had long been used to people rejecting him and had always kept to himself so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.
He never approached anyone, never took the initiative to speak and never looked directly at people.
That day was an exception.
Unfortunately, the result was as expected. Everything was not really different from usual.
At that moment, the auntie who had been washing dishes in the kitchen came out.
Seeing that the corridor was deserted and Yu Ning was the only one left, she said to him, “It’s late, don’t boil the water for a bath. I’m ready to go to bed but why didn’t this senior student go to bed?”
Yu Ning nodded and packed his things to leave.
Seeing this, the auntie said, “Wait, it’s so cold and taking a cold shower will kill you. Take this card and go to bed after taking a shower.”
With these words, the Auntie took a campus card and slipped it into Yu Ning’s hand without saying a word.
Yu Ning didn’t expect her to do this, so he looked at the card in front of him in a daze. “No, thank you, auntie.”
“Take it, go, go, I’m closing the door.” The auntie said, putting away the electric heater so that there would be no accidents late at night.
Yu Ning’s heart felt warm, but he stubbornly returned the card.
The managing auntie was about to close the door, but Yu Ning refused to take the card and they were at a standstill.
The corridor was silent, leaving Yu Ning and the auntie.
Although Yu Ning was good-looking, his appearance was too strange. The auntie was not young, and was very superstitious about those kinds of things. At that moment, she just wanted to close the door, completely isolating herself from Yu Ning.
She had no choice but to say, “It’s useless to give it back to me now. It’s not my card. I’ll be honest with you, it’s a loan from your classmate.”
“Classmate?” Yu Ning looked at the auntie with surprise.
It was okay when he kept his head down, but when he lifted his head, his strange pupils were clearly reflected in the light.
The auntie’s hair almost stood up. “Yes, yes, yes, you should go up and take a hot shower then return the card to him tomorrow.”
Then, thinking of Ji Mingxia’s well behaved and bright appearance, the managing auntie could not help but exhort, “Don’t bathe for too long. The student came down to boil hot water and tried to take care of you. Don’t bother anyone else at night, just bathe and go to bed, you have classes tomorrow.”
Then taking advantage of the moment Yu Ning was lost in thought, the managing auntie quickly closed the door.
Yu Ning was left standing alone, holding a campus card in his hand.
The two sides of the card were slightly worn, so it was clear that its owner had used it often. There were no special marks on the front or back sides, and no name was written.
Yu Ning returned to the dormitory with the card in his hand.
It was almost midnight and the dormitory lights had long since been turned off.
Yu Ning walked into the dormitory in the dark and took a quick cold shower.
By the time he came out, most of them were already deep asleep, Zhao Zhuo and the others were even snoring.
Yu Ning walked to his own bed glancing over to see that Ji Mingxia was also asleep.
If he hadn’t seen some of Ji Mingxia’s actions, Yu Ning would never have suspected Ji Mingxia at that point in time.
It was because Ji Mingxia was too calm.
He had gradually become immune to mysterious events since he was a child, but Ji Mingxia was different. According to his guess, he should have suddenly acquired the ability recently.
But whether it was last night or that evening, Ji Mingxia behaved almost as if nothing had happened.
He ate and slept as he should, without a moment’s delay.
With the campus card still in hand, Yu Ning became curious about Ji Mingxia.
The light from the street lamp outside the window came in, making it barely possible to see in the dimly lit dormitory.
Yu Ning could vaguely see Ji Mingxia lying on the bed. The corners of his pajamas were rolled up due to his sleeping position, revealing a section of skin around his waist and stomach.
The waist position looked darker than other places. It looked like a shadow at first glance, but when you looked carefully, a slight bruise could be seen.
Yu Ning thought of Ji Mingxia’s fall in the classroom that day.
The fall had been so severe that it had not only woken him up, but also scared away the ghost.
‘Had he been injured and bled?’
The temperature at night was lower than that of during the day. Yu Ning looked at Ji Mingxia’s exposed waist and stomach, hesitantly reaching out to cover him with the blanket.
When he was about to touch the quilt, Yu Ning thought of something and stopped in mid-air.
His hand tightened around the campus card for a moment, then he stretched out his hand again.
Just as he was about to touch Ji Mingxia’s blanket, a cool breeze suddenly blew in from the window.
Ji Mingxia, who was sleeping, felt the chill and suddenly turned over, hugging the quilt tightly, continuing to sleep.
Yu Ning quickly withdrew his hand and turned his back to Ji Mingxia.
The campus under the rainstorm is full of chills late at night. The sound of rain, the sound of falling leaves, the sound of his roommates’ snoring, all kinds of sounds were intertwined.
In Yu Ning’s ears, all of that disappeared for a moment, only the clear sound of his pounding heartbeat remained.
Ooohh~ 😏