Chapter 12

The start of the new school term was fast approaching, and Qiu Ci had barely touched his winter homework.

Early Wednesday morning, Yu Shan arrived at the Qiu household, her persistent knocking waking Qiu Ci up.

After getting dressed, Qiu Ci opened the door and pushed the girl’s forehead with his hand. “Disturbing someone’s peace shortens your lifespan, you know.”

Yu Shan urged him, “Finish your homework first, then worry about my lifespan. Hurry up and wash your face and brush your teeth.”

“Such a nag.”

Though Qiu Ci grumbled, he obediently went to freshen up, then grabbed a few worksheets and headed to the study with Yu Shan.

The third-floor study was practically unused by Qiu Ci—he rarely went in there to read.

When he entered and saw someone inside, Qiu Ci paused, until the girl’s crisp voice rang out behind him, “What’s wrong? Looking for an excuse to slack off again?”

Mu Yu, who was reading inside, looked up at the sound. He saw Qiu Ci, urged on by Yu Shan, toss the worksheets onto the desk, pick up a pen, and start his homework with a deeply annoyed expression.

Yu Shan nodded at Mu Yu as a greeting.

Because there was someone else in the study, Yu Shan spoke quietly while explaining the problems. She wrote out the steps on a piece of scratch paper and asked, “Do you understand?”

There was no response. Yu Shan looked up to see Qiu Ci resting his head on one hand, half-asleep. Her eyebrows twitched, and she gritted her teeth. “Qiu Ci.”

Jolted awake, Qiu Ci saw Yu Shan’s frustrated expression. He yawned, “Well, who told you to come so early and wake me up? How can I pay attention when I haven’t had enough rest?”

“You—!”

Remembering that there was someone else in the study, Yu Shan held back.

Qiu Ci showed no sign of remorse. He propped his head on one hand and used the other to tap Yu Shan’s forehead, smiling as he said, “Girls shouldn’t get angry so often. It’s bad for your health and makes you age faster.”

The two of them then began bickering as if no one else was around, completely forgetting that there was another person in the study.

Since the moment they came in, Mu Yu hadn’t been able to focus on his reading. It wasn’t that their chatter was particularly loud, but he couldn’t help being drawn to Qiu Ci.

Their playful banter stirred feelings of both envy and frustration within him.

Yu Shan looked up and noticed that the boy, with whom she had only met three times, was staring blankly in their direction.

And it seemed like he was looking at…

Qiu Ci noticed that Yu Shan’s gaze had passed over him and was focused on something else, so he followed her line of sight.

“Snap!”

Qiu Ci loudly slammed the book shut on the desk, blocking Yu Shan from view, with a half-smile on his face. “Mu Yu, what are you looking at?”

Bold of him to be eyeing his crybaby Shan on his own turf.

Faced with Qiu Ci’s clearly displeased question, Mu Yu pursed his lips but didn’t respond. He had a guess as to why Qiu Ci was angry, but he couldn’t possibly reveal his true thoughts.

No one noticed the strange expression that suddenly appeared on Yu Shan’s face. She subtly observed Mu Yu, slightly furrowing her brows. Maybe she was overthinking it?

As more thoughts crossed her mind, Yu Shan’s gaze shifted to the back of Qiu Ci’s head, her eyes flickering with curiosity.

If it were A Ci, it wouldn’t be impossible.

After all, a certain someone, and another someone, both had feelings for A Ci, though A Ci was too oblivious to notice.

Yu Shan suddenly grew curious. If one day Qiu Ci really fell for someone, would it be a guy or a girl?

“What kind of ridiculous question is that?”

Only when Qiu Ci’s voice broke the silence did Yu Shan realize she had spoken her thoughts out loud. She asked Qiu Ci, “A Ci, do you like guys or girls?”

Caught off guard by the question, Qiu Ci thought he had misheard her. He rolled up a worksheet and swatted at Yu Shan.

“Do I look like the type who’d be into guys? Did someone show you something weird?” Qiu Ci was aware that a lot of girls these days enjoyed reading books and comics about boys’ love.

“I was just curious,” Yu Shan mumbled. In all the years she had known him, she had never seen A Ci show interest in anyone.

Everyone said A Ci liked her, but Yu Shan wasn’t foolish—she could sense that Qiu Ci didn’t like her in that way.

A Ci’s feelings for her weren’t of the romantic kind.

“Curious about what? Do I look like I’d be into guys?” If he found out who had sparked this curiosity in his crybaby Shan, he’d skin them alive.

Hearing Qiu Ci’s confident denial, Mu Yu lowered his gaze and quietly left the study.

In that moment, it felt as though something had struck his heart, leaving him breathless.

With only three days left until school started and faced with the mountain of untouched homework that was whiter than his face, Yu Shan had no choice but to compromise, offering her completed assignments for him to reference. Fortunately, their winter homework was the same across the entire grade.

Even when copying homework, Qiu Ci was hardly focused. Before long, he had already invited a few friends over to hang out at his place.

The fourth floor was the attic, with a large glass window covering most of one slanted side of the roof, making the space spacious and bright.

This was Qiu Ci’s personal domain, a place where he and his friends would gather to eat, drink, and have fun.

Especially at night, they would sit on the sofa under the starry sky, munching on snacks while watching movies.

For over a decade, this attic had never been short of activity, and the walls were still adorned with photos of them growing up together.

A few boys sat on the carpet, throwing cards onto the coffee table while chatting.

“Why isn’t Qi Meng here?”

“She’s got a lot on her plate now—no time to hang out.”

“My mom says Qi Meng is probably just a distraction for the Qi family. The real heir is probably still her brother. Does she really need to work this hard?”

“Why do you care so much? Instead of worrying about Qi Meng, you should be more concerned about when Ci-ge and Shan-jie will finally get together.”

“Shut up!” Yu Shan threw a pillow at him, but the boys just laughed it off and kept joking around.

“Where’s Qiu Ci?” Lu Ning, sitting next to Yu Shan, noticed that Qiu Ci hadn’t come up yet.

“Probably went to find Mu Yu,” Yu Shan said as she popped a piece of apple into her mouth.

Lu Ning thought for a moment before remembering that Mu Yu was the boy they had seen at the shooting range. Curious, she asked, “Shan Shan, what’s the deal between Mu Yu and Qiu Ci?”

That boy named Mu Yu seemed to be living at Qiu Ci’s place permanently.

Yu Shan didn’t know much either. “A Ci said Mu Yu is the child of Aunt Chu’s friend. He’ll be starting school with us.”

As night quickly fell, it was the perfect time for everyone to gather, drink something, and watch a movie. Qiu Ci had gone downstairs to ask Mu Yu if he wanted to join them.

This gesture didn’t mean that Qiu Ci had fully accepted Mu Yu as one of them—he was just trying to show some goodwill because he had promised Chu Qing he would.

By the time Qiu Ci brought Mu Yu up to the attic, someone had already picked out a movie.

Late at night, of course, they had to watch a horror film together.

As the eerie music played, Yu Shan closed her eyes, looking as if she wanted to watch but was too scared to do so. During the tensest moment, Qiu Ci blew air into her ear, startling her into a scream as she swung at him.

Qiu Ci laughed and dodged, inevitably leaning against the person beside him.

“Sorry.” Realizing who he had leaned on, Qiu Ci quickly sat up straight.

The next moment, Qiu Ci glanced again at Mu Yu, who was sitting beside him. He noticed that Mu Yu was staring downward, his lips pressed tightly together. Qiu Ci let out a soft, mischievous sound through his nose.

Could this kid be afraid of ghosts?

While Qiu Ci was hatching his mischievous plan, Yu Shan had already clung to Lu Ning, another girl, refusing to look at the ghostly face on the big screen.

When the horror movie ended, Yu Shan nudged Lu Ning. “Ning Ning, come with me to the bathroom.”

The attic didn’t have a bathroom, so they had to go down to the third floor.

The light strip on the stairs leading to the third floor was broken, making the hallway pitch dark, and Yu Shan was too scared to go down alone.

Lu Ning also needed to use the bathroom, so she nodded.

While they were gone, the boys started another horror movie, this one even more intense than the last.

Before Qiu Ci could decide how to play his prank, someone next to him let out a soft cough. “Qiu Ci, could you walk me back to my room?”

Mu Yu’s voice was quiet, almost timid, as he didn’t want the others to hear him.

Saying that almost took all of Mu Yu’s courage, fearing that Qiu Ci would refuse or mock him in the next moment.

Qiu Ci turned his head and saw Mu Yu’s eyes shining especially bright in the dim light. Combined with his slightly embarrassed expression, the sarcastic “In your dreams” that Qiu Ci was about to say softened into a faint “Sure.”

“You guys keep watching; I’m going downstairs for a bit,” Qiu Ci said, standing up and motioning for Mu Yu to follow.

After escorting Mu Yu to his bedroom door, the lights suddenly went out, and Qiu Ci heard a girl scream in surprise.

A power outage?

Qiu Ci quickly stepped into Mu Yu’s room and looked outside. It was pitch black, confirming that the entire neighborhood had lost power.

Thinking of how afraid Yu Shan was of the dark, Qiu Ci hurried outside, raising his voice, “Don’t be scared, Crybaby Shan. It’s just a power outage.”

When Yu Shan was little, she had been “forgotten” and locked in a basement by her stepmother, which left her particularly afraid of the dark. To this day, she needed a light on to sleep.

Not wanting to trigger her bad memories, Qiu Ci called out to comfort her while searching for her.

“A Ci?”

The girl’s trembling voice came from the corner. She was crouching there, using her phone’s flashlight function, with the light shining up at her face, giving her an eerie appearance. Qiu Ci was startled at first glance.

Once he calmed down, Qiu Ci took a closer look at Yu Shan. Seeing that she wasn’t crying from fear, he gradually relaxed. “Where’s Lu Ning?”

“I’m in the bathroom,” Lu Ning replied as she opened the bathroom door. She had just been washing her face and was about to look in the mirror when the power went out, giving her quite a scare.

“Are you scared?” Qiu Ci asked, crouching down to check on Yu Shan now that he saw they were both alright.

Yu Shan understood what he was worried about. She nodded, then shook her head. “A Ci, I’ve grown up.”

She was no longer the helpless little girl who used to be bullied, clinging to a stuffed toy while crying.

It was A Ci who had taught her how to be strong and brave.

“I’ll take you both back to the attic. Let Deng Hangyu tell you some jokes, and you won’t be scared anymore,” Qiu Ci said, rubbing her head. It was only after they reached the attic that he remembered he had forgotten someone.

When Qiu Ci used his phone’s light to find Mu Yu, he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his face buried in his knees.

If it weren’t for the fact that Mu Yu’s hands were tightly gripping his sleeves, Qiu Ci might have thought he was asleep.

Qiu Ci, who had initially planned to scare him, suddenly lost the desire to do so. He sat down beside Mu Yu.

“The power should be back soon.” Based on his experience, unless there was a major issue, the outage wouldn’t last more than ten minutes.

Mu Yu looked up at him, his face pale.

When the power went out, Mu Yu had felt a strong urge to grab onto Qiu Ci, but he held back, watching as Qiu Ci used his phone to go find Yu Shan, leaving him in total darkness.

While Qiu Ci was away, there wasn’t a single light in the room. The cold wind blowing in from the balcony made the atmosphere eerie, like a real-life horror movie, as if something could jump out at any moment.

Mu Yu could only hug himself tightly to keep from being so scared.

The room was too quiet, so Qiu Ci broke the silence. “You’re way too timid. You should work on that. Ghosts aren’t scary; they’re just fake.”

“Mm.”

Qiu Ci didn’t expect this bookworm to engage in a lively conversation with him. After a few moments of silence, he started humming a French song he’d recently learned. Because of his personal interest, he was quite fluent in French.

Qiu Ci’s voice was somewhere between youthful and mature, slightly raspy when he sang, making it especially captivating in the stillness of the room. Gradually, it helped Mu Yu forget his fear.

He gazed at the boy beside him, who was holding his phone and reading the lyrics, his eyes flickering as he gradually became entranced.

Mu Yu felt like the entire room, apart from Qiu Ci’s singing, was filled only with the sound of his own steady heartbeat.

As he became lost in the moment, the lights in the room suddenly came back on, and the singing gradually faded away.

Seeing Mu Yu in a daze, Qiu Ci snapped his fingers in front of his eyes. “Snap out of it. If you were a girl, I’d think you had a crush on me.”

He was just joking, but the comment made Mu Yu’s heart skip a beat, his mind quickly becoming a jumble of thoughts.

Realizing that Qiu Ci had likely said it offhandedly, Mu Yu felt both relieved and strangely empty inside.

Noticing that Mu Yu still looked a bit dazed, Qiu Ci raised an eyebrow.

Why does this kid seem dumber the more I look at him?

But at least, he didn’t seem as annoying as he had at first.

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