DCISBS chapter 25

Xie Quan didn’t speak for a few long seconds. When he turned back, he looked amused. “What did you say?”

“I said,” Lu Nanyang repeated patiently, “Do you want to move in with me?”

This time Xie Quan actually laughed out loud. He folded his arms and leaned against the wall, looking him up and down. “Lu Nanyang, don’t you think a bit too highly of yourself?”

“Huh?” Lu Nanyang asked, trying to keep calm.

“Move in with you—what am I to you?” Xie Quan sneered. “You’re not seriously thinking you’re my boyfriend, are you? Wake up.”

“I was just offering a practical solution as a friend.” Lu Nanyang raised his voice. “Do you really have to be so harsh about it?”

“Then maybe you’ve misunderstood the word ‘friend’,” Xie Quan said with a fake smile, stepping closer, his voice laced with venom. “Because I’ve never considered someone like you a friend.”

Alright then. Fair enough.

No matter what happened, it didn’t change the fact that Xie Quan was, at his core, a complete jerk.

“I just wanted to help,” Lu Nanyang said through gritted teeth, holding back the urge to punch him. “Don’t mistake kindness for weakness.”

“Did I ask for your help? Who are you pitying?” Xie Quan’s voice suddenly shot up. “If you hadn’t nearly died outside my front door, I wouldn’t even have bothered to come scrape up your corpse!”

Right after he said that, Xie Quan’s expression suddenly twisted. He bent over, coughing violently, and then his knees buckled as he fell to the ground dry-heaving.

“Are you okay?” Lu Nanyang jumped forward, reaching for his arm, only for Xie Quan to shove him away violently.

“Don’t fucking touch me!”

Lu Nanyang’s fingers froze mid-air, curled slightly, then slowly lowered.

Xie Quan remained on his knees, struggling to suppress the waves of nausea in his chest. After about ten seconds of dizziness, he finally regained control of his body. He spat out some saliva and forced himself to stand.

There were noisy voices in the distance, someone calling Xie Quan’s name. Luckily, they were standing in a shadowed corner, unnoticed by others.

“Lu Nanyang, don’t ever appear in front of me again,” Xie Quan said. “Don’t come looking for me. Don’t talk to me. Stay out of my life.”

Lu Nanyang looked at him with a conflicted expression.

The world was vast and busy. Everyone went about their own lives, too preoccupied to care. But for Xie Quan, time seemed to be paused—like he was sinking slowly into a dark abyss.

Many people had passed by—smiling, chatting, gossiping—but none had ever truly seen him.

He was like a dragonfly stalled at a crossroads, fragile wings broken in the chaos of the mortal world, just one gust of wind away from vanishing in silence.

“Do you even have a life anymore?” Lu Nanyang asked. “Look at yourself. Keep going like this, and you’re going to fall apart.”

“Worry about yourself! I don’t need your concern.” Xie Quan shot him a vicious glare and turned to walk away. His legs were still shaky—he nearly stumbled—but after a moment to gather himself, he headed toward the firefighters downstairs.

…..

It started raining early the next morning.

The sky was heavy, thick gray clouds hanging low over the city.

Xie Quan was woken by a cleaning lady doing the morning rounds. She was pushing a cart with a vacuum and other cleaning tools clattering around inside.

“Young man, hey, young man,” the cleaning lady said. “Don’t sleep here like this, you’ll catch a cold. If you want to sleep, go back to your dorm. Look at you all curled up…”

Xie Quan groggily opened his eyes and gave a nasal “mm” in response. He frowned and glanced at his phone screen.

5:35 a.m.

“It’s fine, Auntie,” Xie Quan’s voice was a bit hoarse. He cleared his throat and lifted his head from the desk. “I’m leaving now.”

He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep last night, but the pages of the book under his arm were crumpled. As he pushed himself up from the chair using the desk, every muscle in his body screamed with soreness.

Two hours later, the campus gradually came to life. The rain hadn’t stopped, and puddles were forming on the ground. Girls carrying umbrellas in various colors laughed and chatted as they made their way to the cafeteria, carefully avoiding the water.

Shu Ziyi had sharp eyes and immediately spotted Xie Quan among the colorful umbrellas. She waved and called out, “Dr. Xie!”

Xie Quan looked up, surprised. He forced a smile. “Ziyi? What are you doing here?”

“Oh no, why aren’t you using an umbrella?” Shu Ziyi hurried over to his side and raised her umbrella over him. “You’ll catch a cold like this.”

“I forgot to bring one when I left,” Xie Quan replied with a smile. “It’s fine, the rain’s not heavy.”

“That’s not okay,” Shu Ziyi teased. “If you get sick and can’t work, who knows how many hearts will be broken in this university.”

“Nothing like that, they’re all just regular patients…” Xie Quan said helplessly.

“You think I’m dumb?” Shu Ziyi stuck out her tongue. “Even though I don’t study here, I’ve got lots of friends. The way they talk about you—gosh, I can’t even bear to listen.”

Xie Quan managed an awkward smile.

Shu Ziyi leaned closer and studied his face. “Dr. Xie, you don’t look so good today. You’ve got serious dark circles under your eyes. Have you been working or studying too hard lately? You need to take care of yourself. If the doctor gets sick, who’ll take care of the patients…”

“Ziyi,” Xie Quan interrupted with a smile, “why are you here today?”

“Oh, I came with some friends. They’re computer science majors and have an exam here today.” Shu Ziyi pointed in a direction and waved at her friends. “Hey, Dr. Xie, since I’ve got nothing else to do, can I sit in on one of your open classes?”

Xie Quan’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly, but he quickly smiled. “Medical classes are pretty boring. You might not be interested.”

“No way,” Shu Ziyi smiled playfully. “I think anything would be fun as long as I’m with you.”

“…Alright.” Xie Quan smiled. “Let’s go, then.”

That morning, their department did have an open lecture held in a large tiered classroom.

Xie Quan habitually sat near the front center. Shu Ziyi sat beside him confidently, glancing around the room with curiosity from time to time.

“This classroom is way smaller than the one at our school,” she whispered in Xie Quan’s ear. “We have one that seats hundreds…”

Xie Quan felt a pulsing ache at his temples, like someone was hammering inside his skull. And with Shu Ziyi constantly leaning in to whisper, he could barely concentrate and just tried to look like he was paying attention. In reality, nothing was registering in his brain.

Just then, a voice came from the front row.

“This isn’t even the biggest classroom at our school. The biggest one is in Xuesi Building—it seats a thousand people.”

The moment he heard that voice, Xie Quan snapped back to awareness. He looked up and saw Lu Nanyang sitting right in front of him, turning around with a smile.

“What are you doing here?” Xie Quan blurted out.

“Came to listen to the open lecture from the med school—same as you guys.” Lu Nanyang replied nonchalantly.

Shu Ziyi glanced curiously between the two of them and nudged Xie Quan’s arm. “Is he your friend?”

Just as Xie Quan was about to speak, Lu Nanyang beat him to it.

“Yep, we’re friends,” Lu Nanyang said with a beaming smile. “We’re really close.”

Xie Quan: “……”

The girl perked up. “Really? I asked him before to introduce me to some friends, but he refused. Don’t know what he was being so weird about.”

Lu Nanyang turned to Shu Ziyi with interest. “Are you his girlfriend?”

Shu Ziyi’s face instantly turned red, and she hurried to clarify, “No, I’m not—uh… not yet.”

“Ah, I see.” Lu Nanyang still wore his smile, resting his chin on one hand. “Then you’d better step up your game. Dr. Xie’s super popular around here—he’s got fans of all genders.”

“Lu Nanyang!” Xie Quan lowered his voice in warning.

Lu Nanyang ignored him, still smiling at Shu Ziyi. “Of course, I’m talking about people who like him. Dr. Xie himself would never be that flirty, right? So don’t believe everything you see on the school forum.”

Shu Ziyi seemed a bit relieved and giggled, “I know, I know. I actually understand him pretty well.”

“Oh? Then do you know what he likes to eat?” Lu Nanyang scooted closer to her, lowering his voice conspiratorially.

Shu Ziyi also leaned forward and whispered, “I don’t know. No matter what we eat together, he always says it’s delicious. I can’t figure out what he actually likes.”

“Then let me tell you.” Lu Nanyang covered his mouth with the back of his hand, like he was sharing a big secret. “He’s crazy about spicy food. Can’t go without it. Last time we had skewers, he asked the owner to double the chili.”

“Seriously?” Shu Ziyi said, surprised. “He doesn’t look it at all! Totally clashes with his image.”

“Yup. And let me tell you, he also—”

Lu Nanyang was halfway through speaking when he suddenly lowered his head, his shoulders shaking as his whole body trembled.

Shu Ziyi blinked. “What’s wrong?”

“Ziyi, class is about to start,” Xie Quan retracted his foot from under the desk, his eyes curving with a smile. “Let’s chat after class.”