In that surveillance footage, it just so happened that a white-haired girl passed by. That naturally white hair. Shi Lezhi locked onto her instantly.
Of course, this didn’t prove anything. Su Xiaoyun often showed up near the teaching buildings, so being caught on camera was normal. However, the location of this particular camera was far from ordinary.
5B, the boys’ dormitory.
Because of this, Shi Lezhi had gone to the trouble of adjusting the surveillance clips before and after that time. After two hours of sped-up reviewing, he discovered something odd.
Su Xiaoyun seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. There was no footage of her entering, only one clip of her leaving. And after that, she never came back.
“—No, something’s off!”
Finally, close to eleven o'clock that night, Shi Lezhi spotted a clue.
Although no white-haired girl returned to the dorms, on the very same day Su Xiaoyun left the boys’ dormitory, a boy wearing the exact same coat as hers came back. He even wore a hat, and he entered that very same dorm room. Afterward, this hat-wearing person started coming and going from the dorm every single day.
Shi Lezhi had to put in a lot of effort to notice this.
And he even knew which dorm room it was. He could go and ask for more details if needed.
Soon, a sense of familiarity crept in.
“Oh, it’s that guy surnamed Zhang,” Shi Lezhi said with a dismissive tone.
It was the same guy he had sent someone to beat up last time. That guy lived there too. But that didn’t matter—after all, it wasn’t like he’d done the beating himself.
He would go ask about it tomorrow. Who knew? Maybe he’d dig up even more useful information.
After all, just imagine if people found out that the girl the boys on campus called “Snow White”—so pure and innocent in appearance—was actually sneaking into the boys’ dormitory every day. She even stayed overnight.
Just imagine... what were they doing at night?
Who could possibly accept that kind of contrast?
If this kind of news got out, Su Xiaoyun would be completely disgraced, her reputation in ruins.
And conveniently enough, Shi Lezhi really disliked this Su Xiaoyun, who kept interfering with his progress in winning over girls.
“I’ll ask about it tomorrow. Heh.” A wicked grin spread across Shi Lezhi’s face.
Even if he was being watched and couldn’t beat people up... no one ever said he couldn’t spread some rumors.
——
“Sister Xiaoyun, ten seconds left!”
Inside the cramped space of the car, Qin Xue was so excited that she shook the girl beside her by the shoulders. She nearly shook Su Yun into a daze.
“10...”
“9...”
“8...”
Qin Xue hooked one arm through Su Yun’s and held her phone in the other, eyes fixed intently on the time.
“3!”
“2!”
“1!”
“Sister Xiaoyun, Happy New Year!”
Qin Xue set down her phone and joyfully threw her arms around the petite girl beside her. Her expression, overflowing with happiness, couldn't have been more radiant.
“Happy New Year... nya~” Su Yun’s face was squished so tightly she could barely get the words out.
Seriously, was New Year’s really something to get this excited about? It’s not like there were any red envelopes.
“I’m the first person to wish Sister Xiaoyun a Happy New Year this year! That’s amazing.” Qin Xue peeked her head out from over the girl’s shoulder, leaning in so their faces were almost touching.
“Don’t dodge, Sister Xiaoyun.”
“……”
“Then I must be the first one to say Happy New Year to you too, Sister Xue.” Su Yun replied blankly.
“Mhm~ that’s right.” Looking at Qin Xue’s beaming smile,
Su Yun couldn’t help but feel that her words had sounded oddly intimate.
The first one, huh...
“Sister Xiaoyun, turn this way. Let me hug you properly. Stop looking at your phone—it can wait, there’s no rush.”
“Okay.”
Su Yun didn’t resist. She put down her phone and let Qin Xue pull her into her lap, just like a plush pillow.
If it had been before, she would’ve at least put up a verbal struggle before getting dragged in.
But now, because of that ¥100,000 debt, she couldn’t even muster the strength to get up.
Who knew what other demands Sister Xue might make of me later?
Sigh... better pay it off slowly, after all.
“Sister Xiaoyun’s first hug of the year is mine!”
Qin Xue hugged Su Yun excitedly.
The once-quiet car now bubbled with her energy. Wang Haiyan watched the sweet scene between the two from the side, her heart was equally warmed by it.
Later, both Su Yun and Qin Xue received red envelopes from their parents.
The amount wasn’t large. ¥300 each, totaling ¥600, all in cash.
To Qin Xue, ¥600 tucked into her digital wallet didn’t even put a dent in her balance. But to her, that ¥600 held a different kind of meaning.
She treated it like a treasure, carefully slipping the red envelope into Su Yun’s backpack, intending to store it away properly later.
Once the chatting died down and Su Yun was finally free, she finally got a chance to check her phone and start replying to messages.
In previous years, she would’ve spent this time studying. (Last year, she was still in high school.)
Very few people ever sent her New Year’s wishes. Some might’ve done it just because they had her added and saw her online, sending a quick message out of convenience.
Su Yun didn’t have many friends.
Even those who did send New Year greetings never followed up afterward. And red envelopes? Definitely not a thing.
But today, the moment she checked, she saw a sea of red notifications lighting up both QQ and WeChat.
On QQ, Zhang Deyi and Liu Fei had messaged her “Happy New Year.”
And on WeChat, there were greetings from the older girls in her club, and even Xia Rou.
What surprised her even more was that all of them had sent her red envelopes.
Zhang Deyi and Liu Fei, she could still understand.
But why would the girls from her club send her money too?
Some of them she didn’t even know very well.
(Zhou Yiyi: Sister Xiaoyun, Happy New Year! Here’s a red envelope. When you’re back, let me know. I’ll take you out to play!)
Su Yun was stingy, once she received a red envelope, she didn’t send one back, but even so, she still thanked each person one by one.
(Thank you, sister)
Among them, the biggest one came from Zhou Yiyi. ¥250.
Even though the message felt like she was calling her dumb, the amount was undeniably generous.
“Hmph~”
Having received so many red envelopes, Su Yun was absolutely delighted.
She hummed a little tune, grinning like a child.
“……”
However, the girl next to her—Qin Xue—didn’t look so pleased.
She had quite a few notifications on her own phone, but she didn’t bother checking them.
Instead, she kept glancing at Su Yun... and then glaring at Zhou Yiyi.
Qin Xue clenched her teeth. At this rate, she was ready to kick that traitor out of the club.
That girl was a total sister-complex case. Ever since she’d lost her own little sister, she’d been trying to cling to other people’s.
Good thing Zhou Yiyi didn’t carry candy around, or Qin Yuanyuan might’ve been lured away by her long ago.
After realizing what a pervert Zhou Yiyi was, Qin Xue stopped bringing Qin Yuanyuan to the club entirely.
Now, after all this time, was she planning to make a move on Sister Xiaoyun?
Wait a second…
Could that so-called "Wife releted to D" that Sister Xiaoyun mentioned be this woman?
How dare she do something like that behind her back?
The more Qin Xue thought about it, the angrier she got.
She tried to distract herself by looking at her phone.
Soon, she found that Zhou Yiyi had also sent her a message.
(Zhou Yiyi: Sister Xue, Happy New Year!)
(Zhou Yiyi: Big Sis~ can you give me a little red envelope?)
(Zhou Yiyi: (pitiful puppy eyes.jpg))
The moment she read it, Qin Xue felt a metaphorical “#” pop up on her forehead.
Oh, nice move—don’t give out red envelopes and then turn around asking for one?
Acting all pitiful while sending ¥250 to Sister Xiaoyun?
Heh. Nice try.
(Happy New Year. You're welcome.)
With a dramatic flick of her hand, Qin Xue sent over a big, big red envelope.
(Zhou Yiyi: Thank you, dearest sister! Love you!)
(Red envelope has been claimed.)
Zhou Yiyi accepted it instantly and even replied with gratitude.
Given Qin Xue’s family background, and considering how hard Zhou Yiyi usually worked on her dancing, sending a slightly bigger one shouldn’t have been a problem, right?
And yet... the red envelope turned out to have three digits.
Only, those three digits included a decimal point.
¥0.01
After that, Zhou Yiyi went completely silent.
She didn’t message Qin Xue again.
Once the “big red envelope” incident was over,
Qin Xue then sent a real big red envelope to Sister Xiaoyun, and she did it in the club group chat.
¥520, followed by ¥1314.
Altogether ¥1834, not a coin more, not a coin less.
Both amounts were specifically transferred to Sister Xiaoyun.
In that instant, the club chat exploded.
5201314—even in plain text, the romantic implication was way too obvious.
This was, in a way, Qin Xue publicly declaring her sovereignty over a certain someone in front of everyone in the club.
“Ah... Sister Xue, what are you doing...?”
Soon enough, Su Yun noticed the new red envelopes too.
She tapped on the red envelope out of instinct, only then realizing that the amount seemed... a bit much.
And that number, wasn’t it kind of strange?
“It’s your red envelope, dummy.”
At that moment, the club group chat had already exploded, and Zhou Yiyi was the most vocal of them all.
(Sister Xue, this is so unfair! I want a big red envelope too!)
(@Sister Xiaoyun: Sister Xiaoyun, be careful! Stay away from Sister Xue! The red envelope she gave you—you can’t accept it, absolutely not! If you do, you’ll be lured away!)
Qin Xue glanced at that girl’s frantic screaming and fury.
She let out a soft laugh, then quietly reached out and pulled the small figure beside her into her arms.
“Mm…”
Hearing that sweet little sound from the girl, Qin Xue couldn’t help herself—she picked up her phone and took a photo.
Then she sent the picture to Zhou Yiyi in a private message.
In the photo, the white-haired girl’s cheeks were flushed red.
She leaned obediently on Qin Xue’s shoulder, looking just like a soft little wife.
What Qin Xue wanted to express with this picture was simple:
Sister Xiaoyun belonged to her.
And sure enough, the photo sent Zhou Yiyi into a meltdown.
She started frantically flooding Qin Xue’s messages.
But Qin Xue only replied once, saying she was going to sleep with Sister Xiaoyun, and then didn’t respond again.
“It's getting late. Sister Xiaoyun, let’s sleep.”
She gently pulled on Su Yun, who was still holding her phone and hesitating to reply to others.
“…Okay.”
Su Yun blinked, but still nodded in agreement.
Just like that, a few minutes passed. After adjusting their positions, the two of them curled up together on the seats, getting ready to sleep.
Only—
Tonight, someone was definitely not going to be able to sleep.
(End of Chapter)
5201314 – symbolic romantic number in Chinese (520 = “I love you”, 1314 = “forever”)