Chapter 24: I Found You

Even heaven itself could not suppress Wei Qingxuan’s madness.

Yet Wen Qi’s life over the past two months had been eerily calm, so calm it was as if Wei Qingxuan had never appeared in her world at all, as if he had never stirred up any storm.

The dormitory, however, remained noisy.

Li Haoyi and Zhang Jing were like two people born to clash yet forced to share a roof, forever at odds, trading barbs over the smallest things.

Qian Jinghao, true to her name, had a genuinely gentle temperament and loved making friends. Whenever the two argued, she would step in to mediate, but after realizing it was futile, she gradually gave up.

With only four people in the dorm, Qian Jinghao’s attention eventually shifted to Wen Qi.

Aside from sleeping at night, Wen Qi was almost always outside. Even for classes and meals, those typical bonding moments, she went alone.

In Qian Jinghao’s eyes, that gave her a faint air of mystery.

One day, after a fierce argument with her boyfriend over something trivial, Qian Jinghao walked toward the lake, clutching a tissue crumpled and damp with tears.

The wind carried moisture that slipped down her collar. She sniffed, about to release the sob lodged in her throat, when her gaze suddenly fixed on a bench not far away.

It was Wen Qi.

She stood with her back to her, on the phone, her profile appearing and disappearing behind swaying leaves.

Coincidentally, that day was the first time Wei Qingxuan had called Wen Qi’s new number.

It was practically a reckless move, alerting the snake in the grass, but he had to hear her voice. Otherwise, the endless nights felt like a bottomless black pool that would drag him under.

Seeing the familiar Zhian City area code on the screen, Wen Qi quickly guessed who it was.

She still answered.

Neither of them spoke first.

Then, faintly, the crisp click of a lighter sounded from the other end.

“Smoking?” Wen Qi asked with a smile.

An odd coincidence.

She lowered her head, glancing at the slender cigarette between her own fingers.

“Thinking about you.”

He stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, his back against the cool wall, not fully leaning into it, his spine still holding a sharp curve. A cigarette rested between his fingers, ember quietly glowing and fading.

“That’s unfortunate,” Wen Qi replied lightly. “I don’t really want to see you.”

Silence lingered.

Then she heard wind, he had opened the window.

He extinguished the cigarette and leaned back into the sofa. “Is university life exciting?”

“Mm. So exciting it’s overwhelming.” She rubbed her brow casually.

Another silence.

The lighter clicked again.

“Have you found a new dog?” he asked.

She didn’t answer.

Unable to hold back, he pressed, “Found one that listens and plays along?”

“…Tsk.”

She had intended to skip the topic, but he stirred her irritation.

“Yes. I found one.”

‘So quickly?’

He shouldn’t have let her go. The day he dragged her back, there might be a whole pack trailing behind her.

He forced his breathing steady.

“So you don’t want the old one anymore, right?”

Wen Qi lowered her eyes. The cigarette had burned halfway. She pinched the ember off and let it scatter across the stone pavement.

“Yes. Too fierce. Too crazy. Not needed.”

She remembered what Xiang Weishi had said and added casually, “Even rabbits don’t eat the grass by their own burrow. If I did, I’d probably get punished for it.”

His breathing on the other end turned rough.

Her words gripped his throat.

“Wen Qi.”

“What?”

“You’re awful. A bad girl.”

Even in anger, he couldn’t say anything truly harsh to her.

“Why? Because I once thought about eating the grass by my burrow?”

Eating the grass by her burrow?

Was he the grass?

Suddenly, the rush of blood in his body calmed.

The corner of his mouth twitched. “Are you confessing? To me?”

“…”

Which part of what she said counted as a confession?

“No. I’m warning you,” she frowned. “Do you know where I am?”

Her tone lifted slightly at the end.

He smiled silently. “No.”

“Didn’t your tracker tell you?” she mocked.

“If the person doesn’t want to see me, a tracker is useless.”

He closed his eyes briefly and exhaled.

“Dump him.”

His voice was steady, yet heavy beneath the surface. It was an order, but not cold—afraid of frightening her if too forceful, afraid of being ignored if too soft.

Wen Qi arched a brow. “And then be with you?”

His intentions were obvious.

If only she’d open a door for him.

He let out a low laugh, not loud but deep in his chest, carrying a damp heat. His voice dropped, almost brushing her ear.

“Mm-hm. I promise I’ll work very hard.”

He truly did.

Hardworking, and eager to learn.

He would clearly see how dazed and unsteady she already was, yet still pretend ignorance, leaning close to whisper again and again,

“Is it here?”

“Get lost,” she’d bite her lip. “Get lost.”

“Why are you crying? Does it feel good?”

His tone was seductive; his words shameless.

“You can’t even answer properly. Then I’ll slow down and help you remember, okay?”

Wen Qi had long resolved not to fall for him again.

“Then what?” she demanded suddenly.

He paused, unsure what her “then” referred to.

‘Marriage, perhaps? Be together, then marry.’

“Then you’d lock me up. Keep me caged. Wei Qingxuan, you lunatic. Do you think I’m stupid?”

Her chest rose and fell rapidly.

“The distance right now is the best distance. We shouldn’t meet again,” she said. “Otherwise, I really might bite you to death.”

“Fine. Qiqi, you-”

Before he could finish, she hung up.

The screen went dark.

Wen Qi let out a long breath.

As long as he agreed not to come looking for her, that was enough. Whatever he had meant to say afterward didn’t matter.

She turned, and met Qian Jinghao’s gaze behind a tree.

There was awkwardness on the girl’s face.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to overhear.”

Wen Qi didn’t care to investigate whether she had. She nodded and moved to leave.

“Wen Qi? You… you argued with your boyfriend too?” Qian Jinghao asked.

“Too?”

Qian Jinghao’s eyes were red, tear stains still visible.

“Yes, I- oh!” She suddenly remembered. “I left my bag in the classroom!”

She hurried off.

Wen Qi blinked.

That night, she returned to the dorm as usual, about half an hour before lights-out, when everyone was already in bed and things were relatively quiet.

On the balcony, she could wash her face slowly.

But that night, faint sobbing drifted through the air.

Whenever she tried to pinpoint it, the sound vanished.

Eventually, she realized it came from inside Qian Jinghao’s bed curtains.

She remembered the lake conversation and guessed the reason.

The next day, Saturday, Qian Jinghao woke at noon.

On her desk sat a delicate red velvet cake.

She smiled and texted her boyfriend,

– Fine. Since you sent me cake, I won’t be mad anymore.

– What cake? And it was your fault. You were unreasonable. I wasn’t even mad.

Moments later,

– Who gave you cake? Qian Jinghao, it’s barely the start of university and you’ve already got someone chasing you?

The sarcasm made her furious.

She glared at her phone, venting via voice message, until Li Haoyi walked in.

She quickly stopped.

“Haoyi,” she forced a smile. “Did you get this for me?”

“No. Wen Qi left it on your desk before going out.”

“She… bought it for me?”

She hadn’t expected that.

“Where is she?”

“Probably at her part-time job.”

After her parents’ divorce, child support had stopped once she turned eighteen. Both sides quietly withdrew financial support.

Fortunately, she found a cashier job at a nearby convenience store. Combined with voice acting work Qiao Mi introduced, it covered her expenses.

Sitting behind the register that weekend, Wen Qi sighed.

No matter where she went, she couldn’t escape a cashier counter.

A surveillance camera loomed overhead.

She waited until off work to message Chen Yuyi.

– How’ve you been? Does the little cat miss me?

– It does. Sometimes I wonder if it’s your cat or mine. It won’t eat unless it hears your voice.

– Looks like animals like me.

– By the way, which university did you go to? You vanished from the billiards hall.

She hesitated.

Then another message came.

– You’re replying so slow. Are you with Wei Qingxuan? We all thought he’d go to Chengyu University.

– Turns out he went to Huaining University. Their computer science is comparable, but still… that’s Chengyu.

Wen Qi froze.

– Didn’t he apply to Chengyu? He always said he would.

– Yeah. We were confused too. Wait—you didn’t know? I thought you two were together.

– I’ll ask Uncle Lin later.

– You still haven’t told me where you are. I’ll mail you some Zhian snacks.

Where was she?

She was in Huaining.

Huaining Academy of Fine Arts, majoring in fashion design.

Just a wall away from Huaining University.

“!!!”

She had never told Wei Qingxuan she was coming here.

The only time she mentioned Huaining was to say her parents had met and married here.

Why was he here?

Her heart leapt into her throat.

She turned around abruptly.

No.

He couldn’t know.

Even if he came to Huaining for her, he had failed before.

He couldn’t confirm she was here.

Calm down.

He probably came by coincidence.

If he knew, would he have let her live peacefully for two months?

He didn’t know.

Her rented apartment was far from campus.

She hailed a taxi and called Xiang Weishi.

“Did he ever trace my address that day?”

“No. I hired someone expensive. He gave up on the third day.”

Gave up?

That didn’t sit right.

But she couldn’t think clearly.

She hung up.

At “Star River Bay,” far from Huaining University, her heartbeat finally slowed.

As long as she returned straight home after class, she wouldn’t run into him.

She pressed the elevator button.

A message from Qian Jinghao popped up,

– Qiqi, thanks for the cake! Stay safe, okay?

– I’m not going back to the dorm tonight.

– Staying at your rental?

– Yeah. I probably won’t stay in the dorm anymore.

The elevator reached the seventeenth floor.

She entered the code.

Another message,

– I heard your complex has great security. You’re lucky to rent it so cheap.

Cheap.

Third day.

Gave up.

Rental.

The day he “gave up” was the day she signed the lease.

Her fingers flipped the light switch.

Warm yellow light flooded the living room.

Her breath caught in her throat.

Someone was sitting inside.

Her phone slipped from her hand.

The man on the sofa lifted his head at the sound.

His fringe glowed softly under the light.

He leaned back lazily.

“Qiqi,” he said slowly.

“Come here.”