Nie Qingzhou and Xia Yi sat by the bar, listening as Ji Ying recounted her entire youth filled with love and resentment toward Chen Yufang—or rather, her one-sided love and resentment. It felt like they had just watched a mini-youth idol drama.
Ji Ying finished the last potato chip and said lightly, "Chen Yufang has always been rather introverted and doesn't like to talk. I used to be able to guess what he was thinking, but now I really can't read his mind.”
She pointed at Xia Yi with a raised arm and said to Nie Qingzhou, "Xia Yi-jie is also quiet. How do you always know what she’s thinking?"
Nie Qingzhou and Xia Yi's eyes met. Xia Yi's pupils were dark and bright, looking at him intently.
He smiled and said, "Actually, I often don't know what Xia Yi is thinking, but I believe she'll tell me when she needs to. It's not about understanding, it's about trust."
Ji Ying looked at Xia Yi, then at Nie Qingzhou, clicked her tongue twice, licking the snack residue from her fingers. "I'm so miserable, telling my failed love story to a pair of lovebirds."
"We're not..."
"Okay, not if you say so. What about my consultation? Can Teacher Qingzhou help me analyze it?"
Nie Qingzhou thought for a moment, lacing his fingers behind his head. "You said that because he liked motorcycles, you joined the biker community. Because he said you only knew how to spend your family’s money, you moved out and became independent. He went into acting, so you became a model."
"That's right."
"Do you like motorcycles now? Do you like being a model?"
"I like them."
"Then you didn’t do these things for him—you did them because you genuinely liked them. You keep emphasizing 'for him' like self-hypnosis when you talk about your experiences. That sounds like self-suggestion, constantly assigning him great significance, making it seem like losing him would be a major loss for you."
"But in reality, even without Chen Yufang, some other twist of fate would have led you to love motorcycles, to enter the modeling industry, to enjoy everything you've been doing all these years."
Lowering his arms, Nie Qingzhou concluded, "I think he’s not as important to you as you believe. And you don’t like him as much as you think you do."
Ji Ying frowned and retorted, "I've spent most of my youth revolving around him. I've never liked anyone as much as I like him."
"Then imagine a future where you live together with him. Can you picture it?"
Ji Ying's eyes flickered, and she hesitated.
Nie Qingzhou spread his hands, understandingly. "It’s not a big deal. Letting go of him doesn’t mean all your efforts were in vain. Every experience has shaped who you are today."
Ji Ying rubbed the snack bag. Her gaze was a little unfocused. After a moment of silence, her eyes shifted and landed on Xia Yi. Xia Yi was drinking water from a cup. She sat elegantly, like a beautiful statue that had nothing to do with the matter.
"Xia Yi-jie, what do you think?"
Xia Yi put down her glass and looked at Ji Ying. Her dark eyes blinked and she said succinctly, "You're not that important to him. He's not worth it."
Ji Ying raised an eyebrow. "That’s it?"
"That's it." Xia Yi thought for a moment then added, "I think it's a waste of time to worry so much about someone who doesn't value you."
Ji Ying fell silent for a long while. She propped her chin on her hand and looked at Xia Yi, her phoenix eyes narrowing slightly.
"So cool. You must have been in a very happy relationship."
Xia Yi froze, her hand holding the glass pausing midair. Nie Qingzhou instinctively straightened his back, pricking up his ears for Xia Yi’s answer.
"No, I… I’ve never dated anyone." Xia Yi finally said, setting down her glass.
The corners of Nie Qingzhou’s mouth lifted slightly, but he quickly suppressed it, adjusting his glasses as if to cover his reaction.
Ji Ying, however, said, "Impossible!"
"I've been very busy since my debut."
"Come on, I'd believe it if someone else said they were busy, but you disappear except for releasing albums and concerts. You haven't even held many concerts. What are you busy with?"
"Besides work... there are many other things."
Ji Ying stared at Xia Yi for a moment, then shifted her gaze to Nie Qingzhou, and let out an ambiguous chuckle.
"Then your life must be really boring. Anyway, thank you both for listening to my complaints. I'm going back to sleep."
With that, she jumped off the barstool. When she reached the staircase, she leaned against the wall and called out to Nie Qingzhou, "Teacher Qingzhou, then besides Chen Yufang, who do you think I’d be a good match with here?"
Nie Qingzhou was silent for a moment, then said the name of someone who would be deeply entangled with her later in the show.
"...Zhou Wenwen?"
Ji Ying snapped her fingers. "Okay."
Nie Qingzhou thought, could the prelude to her stirring up the love quadrangle drama have started with this one sentence of his?
After Ji Ying left, the living room returned to silence. Xia Yi took a sip of water and said thoughtfully, "So some people fall in love this way."
Nie Qingzhou said softly to Xia Yi, "You should rest early. I still have to write for a while."
Xia Yi nodded. She left the bar and walked towards the stairs. In her vision, the stairs twisted into the unknown darkness, and her heartbeat quickened as something stirred restlessly inside her.
She stood at the foot of the stairs for a while. Only when Nie Qingzhou called her name in confusion did she snap out of it and turn back to him.
"Will it disturb you if I sleep on the sofa in the living room?" She asked softly.
Nie Qingzhou was stunned. He immediately realized something, and his expression became serious: "Did you have a nightmare?"
Xia Yi remained silent.
So he immediately stood up from his chair. He wanted to say something, but then he looked at the camera next to him. Finally he walked over to her and said, "I'll get you a blanket and pillow."
He walked in front of her, step by step into the darkness, and the night lights lit up accordingly. Xia Yi followed behind him, looking up at the faint light spreading along his broad back, and then reached out and grabbed the hood of his hoodie.
Nie Qingzhou paused. He seemed to chuckle, then reached out and adjusted his collar before continuing forward.
He brought Xia Yi's blanket and pillow down, hesitating a moment as he put them on the sofa. He said softly, "Is the sofa a little dirty? Let me see if there are any spare sheets in the closet."
Still so particular about cleanliness.
Xia Yi smiled faintly. "No need."
After a pause, she said, "Do you still use that same laundry detergent as before?"
"It's been upgraded several times over the years. I found a replacement with the same scent." Nie Qingzhou helped her make the bed, turned to look at her, and smiled. "I remember you like this smell."
Xia Yi thought that this minty scent was the smell she instantly recognized from the banquet hall filled with complex perfume scents when she saw him after eight years.
Now that she thought about it, the scent in her memory was clearly just the strong artificial fragrance of cheap laundry detergent. But because he washed clothes so diligently, it was especially obvious and emanated from him, becoming a part of his youth.
Xia Yi quietly looked up at him. Nie Qingzhou touched her head, bent down and said, "Sleep well. I'm here. Don't be afraid."
Xia Yi covered herself with the blanket and curled up on the sofa. This small space gave her a greater sense of security. She opened her eyes and looked at Nie Qingzhou behind the bar. He was typing in the dim light, the sound of the keyboard was much softer than at the beginning.
As she watched, she suddenly thought of a long hourglass—slowly, steadily trickling down, with a soft, rustling sound.
Her eyes blinked slower and slower, until finally, they closed.
Nie Qingzhou lifted his head from the computer and observed Xia Yi for a moment. Seeing that she was likely asleep, he closed his laptop—he wasn’t even sure what kind of gibberish he had been typing during this time.
He got out of the chair and glanced at the surrounding cameras, and then turned off the only small chandelier overhead. The surroundings were instantly plunged into darkness, leaving the camera’s view dark and blurry.
He tiptoed towards Xia Yi, squatted down in front of the sofa, folded his arms, and tilted his head, quietly listening to her steady breathing.
His eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness, and her face slowly became clear—her forehead, eyebrows, nose, eyes, jawline, and the strands of hair falling on the side of her face. In the faint moonlight, she looked like a hazy painting.
She frowned, as if she was dreaming of something bad. He hadn't seen her in so many years, and she seemed to frown more often than before.
Nie Qingzhou leaned in slowly, placing a hand on the sofa, causing slight creases in her blanket. He paused for a moment, feeling the small warmth of her breath, then gently pressed a kiss to the center of her furrowed brows.
Her skin was cool, carrying a faint scent of morning dew.
It was a light, feather-soft kiss, yet it lingered for a long time. By the time he left her, the arm supporting his weight had gone numb.
Seeing her brows finally relax, he smiled softly. "That's more like it."
My beloved, don't frown. You should smile more ah.
"Have a good dream." He whispered, like some sort of prayer.
Qiao Na and Ji Ying both thought he was magical, able to predict the future.
But he knew he had no such powers. Every attempt to defy fate over the years had ended in painful failure, leaving him numb and resigned, letting things take their course.
During these eight years, there had been times when he missed her terribly. He wanted to see her, hear her voice, touch her. That longing was like a needle hanging on his heart, pricking him every time it beat, but he couldn't stop it from beating.
He would toss and turn all night, watching Xia Yi's videos over and over again, listening to her songs, watching everyone confess their love to her, letting his own love merge into that vast ocean of love, as if that would dilute the intensity of feelings he could not bear.
At this time, the fate he hated became his only hope. When he woke up from his car accident, when he gave up the offer to study abroad—he could endure it all because he knew he would meet Xia Yi again.
And now, she was back. She was right here, sleeping beside him. That alone made him feel happy, enough that he could even look back on those years of endurance without bitterness.
Although he was still insignificant and had no magical powers, he hoped that he could share his happiness with her—at least enough for her to have a good dream.
In the morning, when Zhou Wenwen went downstairs for a morning jog, he was startled by Nie Qingzhou who was sitting on a bar chair. Zhou Wenwen looked at his phone and asked in surprise, "Teacher Qingzhou, you got up so early? Why didn't you turn on the light?"
The sun hadn’t fully risen yet so the living room was dimly lit. Nie Qingzhou’s hair was tied back, and he was still wearing the same hoodie from the night before. His computer was placed aside and there was a cup of coffee in front of him.
He raised his finger and said, "Shh, keep your voice down, Xia Yi is sleeping over there."
Zhou Wenwen looked over and asked in a low voice, "Huh, why is Xia Yi sleeping here?"
"I don't know, maybe it's her habit."
"Oh, no wonder you didn't turn on the lights. Then go back to sleep. What are you doing sitting here?"
Nie Qingzhou smiled slightly and said, "Thinking about my writing, looking for inspiration."
Zhou Wenwen just took it as some writer's quirk, so he waved to him and went out for his run.
Later, Bai Yixuan and Chen Yufang came downstairs and had similar conversations with Nie Qingzhou. Even when the sun had fully risen, the house remained quiet—no one disturbed Xia Yi’s sleep.
Finally, Xia Yi stirred slightly, letting out a soft sound as she shifted positions. Nie Qingzhou knew she was about to wake up.
Smiling, he checked the time, then quietly got up, took his coffee and laptop, and tiptoed upstairs.