Fu Shitian felt flustered and subconsciously wanted to keep him: "Shi Yi!"
Shi Yi's footsteps seemed to pause slightly, but he did not really stop.
Fu Shitian looked at the empty staircase door, feeling lost. Shi Yi must be angry, she hated to gossip about others behind their backs, not to mention that she was the protagonist this time.
I obviously hate people who gossip the most, but unintentionally, I have become such a person.
"What did you call her for?" Zhang Lulu was still frightened. "Why did she react like that? Did she hear what we said?"
Fu Shitian walked up and said in a low voice, "Lulu, whether she heard it or not, don't spread such unfounded speculation next time."
"I didn't tell anyone. I was just asking you out of curiosity." Zhang Lulu didn't seem to take it too seriously. "Besides, it's okay. If she heard it, she heard it. We didn't say anything bad about her."
Fu Shitian stopped and turned to look at her, "I don't want to tell you either, just tell you and that's it."
"Let's not talk about whether Gao Yipei really did this or whether Shi Yi knew about it. What's amazing about Shi Yi and worth talking about is her excellence that everyone can feel when she gives a speech. This has nothing to do with whether Gao Yipei likes her or helps her canvass for votes. The conclusion you just drew is disrespectful to her."
She wasn't really stern, but the obvious displeasure on her face still frightened Zhang Lulu. She was stunned for a moment, then stopped smiling: "I know, I'm not a person without sense of propriety. We were just chatting privately, who knew someone would overhear us."
Feeling a little aggrieved, Zhang Lulu lowered her head as she climbed the stairs, muttering quietly, "Why are you suddenly exaggerating?"
Fu Shitian saw that Zhang Lulu was unhappy and realized that her tone might have been a bit harsh. She calmed down and apologized in a soft voice: "I'm sorry, I was a little anxious. I was also wrong, and I shouldn't have asked so much just now."
After all, it wasn't a big deal. Zhang Lulu got the chance to back down and said in a low voice, "Okay, forget it. Let's not talk about it. Hey, do you want to take a shower first?"
"I'm fine with either. If you want to go first, you can go first. If you don't want to, I'll go first." Fu Shitian never argued with her.
"Okay, then I'll queue behind you. I want to listen to my baby's songs first." Zhang Lulu shook the express in her hand. Thinking of her baby, she suddenly felt better.
But Zhang Lulu could get by, but Fu Shitian couldn't. She was distracted all night. Although Shi Yi's attitude made her sure that Gao Yipei was not that lucky, when she thought of Shi Yi's cold eyes just now, her chest felt stuffy as if being pressed by a huge rock.
She opened QQ and entered the chat box with Shi Yi, staring at it for a long time, and decided to explain to Shi Yi in person. She couldn't see Shi Yi's expression through the screen, and even if Shi Yi really sent her a message saying "It's okay, don't take it to heart", she might not be able to really feel at ease.
She changed out of the pajamas she had worn after taking a shower and put on neat clothes. She was so nervous that she even put on her shoes while she was hesitating.
It was past nine o'clock, and there was no time to delay any longer. Fu Shitian gritted his teeth, walked out of the dormitory under the strange looks of his roommates Song Chuyuan and Zhou Na, and came to the door of dormitory 1315.
She took a deep breath, raised her hand, and knocked on the door. She suspected that her heartbeat was so loud that everyone in the corridor could hear it.
In just a few seconds, the door opened from the inside.
A good-looking face popped out from the door, and it was Shi Yi who answered the door.
"Who are you looking for?" Shi Yi's face showed no expression.
Fu Shitian was at a loss, feeling that all the blood in her body was flowing back to her head, and her ears were burning. "Looking for you." She heard her own timid voice.
"Is there something?" Shi Yi put his hands on the door, with no intention of opening it wider, nor of inviting her in.
Although he was still as concise as usual, Fu Shitian could clearly sense Shi Yi's coldness this time compared to his attitude when he gave her mooncakes a few days ago.
"Shi Yi..." Fu Shitian became more and more nervous. She clutched the corner of her clothes and struggled to organize her words: "I'm sorry about what happened in the stairwell just now. I'm sorry, I should have stopped it the first time."
Shi Yi looked at her quietly.
Fu Shitian's ears were red and about to bleed, but he was still unwilling to escape. His nails pierced his clothes, leaving marks on his palms. "Whatever your relationship with Gao Yipei is, it has no impact on this election. I believe that everyone chose you just because of you."
After saying this, she couldn't stand Shi Yi's cold gaze anymore and lowered her head.
Shi Yi spoke after she was silent for two seconds: "Okay, I understand. Don't worry about it."
Fu Shitian looked up in surprise, but what he saw was Shi Yi's eyes which were still calm.
"Is there anything else?" Shi Yi asked.
Fu Shitian heard the urging. She lowered her head again in panic, and while replying "It's okay", she quickly turned around and walked back.
The door behind her was closed impatiently, and she had no time or courage to listen carefully.
It turns out that directly seeing Shi Yi's expression and judging whether she really doesn't care will not make me feel more at ease, but will only make me more sad. There is no warmth in her eyes. The words "don't care" are probably just the last courtesy to ordinary classmates who are not qualified as friends.
Fu Shitian's eyes were tearful. He did not stop when passing by the door of dormitory 1317. He continued to walk forward a few steps and turned into the stairwell.
The window in the stairwell was open, but not a single breath of cool air came in. It was so hot that she felt suffocated. She kept thinking back to Shi Yi's expression and tone when he spoke just now, like holding a blunt knife, torturing herself repeatedly.
I don’t know how long it took, but she finally let me go.
Forget it, it's just right. They were never friends in the first place, and they shouldn't have thought about being friends anymore. These few "close interactions" were just... her one-man show. She laughed, and as if nothing had happened, she returned to the dormitory, washed her feet, washed her face, changed her clothes, and went to bed.
No one noticed her abnormality, only the rabbit found that for two consecutive days, the fur on its face was mostly wet in the middle of the night.
In the following week, Fu Shitian had no direct contact with Shi Yi. Even when she found out during physical education class that Shi Yi had chosen volleyball like her, she tried to stand far away from Shi Yi during class and did not dare to disturb him.
Shi Yi didn't say hello to her either. She looked unapproachable, but she was still surrounded by people. From time to time, a girl would come over to ask her for advice on how to pass the ball. People came and went several times, but there was a girl who stayed by her side, playing with her and joking with her from time to time. Fu Shitian recognized her. She was the girl who got off the bus with Shi Yi in front of the dormitory building that day. She had seen her several times on the projection. She was Shi Yi's high school deskmate, Jian Luhe.
The thrown volleyball once again fell to the ground and rolled away, with its back to Shi Yi. Fu Shitian turned around and ran after the volleyball, half-squatting to pick up the ball for a long time before he picked up the ball, stood up, and walked further away.
In the dormitory, Cheng Jialuo hardly talked to her anymore, but he still made small moves against her. No matter how careful she was, Cheng Jialuo would always find fault with her in a sarcastic way. The dormitory was so small that everyone would see each other everywhere. Fu Shitian had no choice but to walk on thin ice.
Maybe there were too many unhappy things in school, so when I received Fu Jiantao's call before National Day, I felt a little soft in my heart when I heard the sound of the TV, Fu Siyu's faint mumbling, and Fu Jiantao's loving words, "Come back for the National Day to celebrate the holiday. Uncle has paid the project payment, and I will make you something delicious to replenish you."
She had no intention of going back, but in the end, she agreed: "Okay, then I'll see if I can still buy a ticket."
After hanging up the phone, she texted Chen Xizhu: "Xizhu, you said before that I don't need to go to the train station. There is a place outside the school where I can buy tickets. Where is the specific location?"
Chen Xizhu replied: "Why? Are you going back? Didn't you say you weren't going back when I asked you before?"
"Yeah, I suddenly miss home." After typing, she looked at the word "home" and deleted the string of words. After deleting, she paused, recalling her uncle's gentle voice, Fu Siyu and aunt's occasional concern in her mind, and then typed it again word by word and sent it out.
She felt better. She looked at the bridge over the sea in the distance, with dots of light reflected in her eyes.
Chen Xizhu replied: "Then what time are you free tomorrow? I'll wait for you at Namdaemun and take you there. I'll also change my ticket and go back with you."
"That's too much trouble. Just describe the approximate location to me and I can go there myself. And your ticket is just in time. You managed to get it with great difficulty. Don't waste it."
Chen Xizhu ignored her.
Several minutes passed, and Fu Shitian said helplessly: "Okay, thank you, I'm available at 9am or 3pm tomorrow."
"That's right. See you at 3 pm then." Chen Xizhu replied immediately.
Fu Shitian laughed.
At 3 pm the next day, she and Chen Xizhu went to the ticket office together. The tickets for the night before the holiday were so popular that they could only buy the train back to Ningcheng on the morning of National Day. At 9 am on the morning of National Day, they took the bus from school to the station together, and it was already noon when they returned to Ningcheng.
The sun was blazing, and it was extremely hot. The bus stopped at the intersection where they rode their way home from their part-time jobs during the summer vacation. Chen Xizhu's father drove a scooter to pick up his daughter, and when he saw Fu Shitian was alone, he enthusiastically invited her to get on the bus. Fu Shitian was embarrassed to let him take such a long detour in the hot sun, so she politely declined.
Fortunately, this time she only brought two sets of clothes and some souvenirs from Shanghai. Although it was hot, it was much easier than when school started. She looked at the familiar scenery on both sides of the road and her steps became lighter.
The souvenir was a famous pastry in Shanghai. She specially picked one from a time-honored store. She didn’t know whether her uncle, aunt and Xiaoyu would like it.
She turned into the residential area, went upstairs in one breath, opened the security door, and a burst of food aroma wafted out from the house, making people salivate. Fu Shitian's face was covered with dimples.
Wang Meifen heard the noise at the door and stuck her head out with the dishes in her hand. Seeing that it was Fu Shitian, she greeted him, "Ah, you're back. Just in time, we're about to have lunch. Did you eat on the way?"
Fu Shitian walked in and said softly, "I haven't eaten yet, aunt." She closed the door, bent down as usual, opened the shoe cabinet, and looked for her slippers on the bottom shelf.
"Aunt, where are my slippers?" she asked awkwardly.
Wang Meifen's voice came from the dining room: "Oh, I saw it was too worn out, so I threw it away thinking of giving you a new pair. I haven't bought a new pair yet, so you can just wear any pair in the closet first."
"Okay." Fu Shitian responded softly. She took off the plastic slippers provided for guests and put them on, looking down, stunned for a few seconds.