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That day, Lu Yixin had a ten o’clock class. After eating breakfast together with Fang Yongnian and taking the subway to school, she found the entrance of the dormitory building unusually lively.
A lot of people were gathered, whispering among themselves. In the center of the crowd stood her roommate, Li Xiao’an.
“What are you looking at?” Li Xiao’an was much taller than the average girl, and her looks were striking. Standing amidst the crowd, she stood out particularly. “Don’t you all have anything better to do?”
The onlookers scattered all at once. Having just walked through the dormitory gate, Lu Yixin, whose coat was too long and oversized, ended up standing right in the middle and instantly became very noticeable.
Li Xiao’an glared fiercely at Lu Yixin, stomped upstairs without looking back.
Completely clueless as to what had happened, Lu Yixin frowned slightly.
“Why’d she leave?” The dorm supervisor auntie, wearing reading glasses, walked out of the duty room with a loud voice. “Li Xiao’an, you haven’t signed your name yet, what are you leaving for!”
Lu Yixin stood at the back, trying her best to shrink her presence.
“You take this form upstairs and have her sign it, then bring it back to me.” The dorm supervisor didn’t grant her wish; she grabbed Lu Yixin by the hood of her coat with a firm hand.
Lu Yixin turned back with a bitter expression.
“Also, help me ask her, if that person really isn’t her younger brother, the next time he comes again I’ll call the police.” The dorm supervisor’s face didn’t look very pleasant. “Making such a commotion early in the morning, this has a terrible influence.”
Lu Yixin nodded timidly, not knowing what to say.
Only after everyone dispersed did she notice that the dormitory entrance was a mess—food scattered all over the ground, along with shards of a lunch box.
“Just look at this Li Xiao’an, made this kind of mess and ran off herself.” The dorm supervisor’s voice grew even louder as she held a broom.
Lu Yixin thought that people upstairs definitely heard it.
Everyone passing by had expressions that hinted at gossip.
“I’ll… take it for her to sign.” Lu Yixin planned to slip away.
The same Li Xiao’an who had stomped upstairs earlier came rushing down again with a dustpan and broom from the dorm room, and the first thing she did was snatch the form from Lu Yixin’s hand.
“Mind your own business.” She glared at her.
The fur that Fang Yongnian had just smoothed down for Lu Yixin last night instantly stood on end again.
“Who wants to mind your business.” She retorted, walking past the spilled food on the floor and heading straight upstairs.
Wu Qi was poking her head out by the dorm door. Seeing Lu Yixin coming, she smiled a little, her expression hesitant.
Still carrying the irritation that Li Xiao’an had just sparked, Lu Yixin had no intention of greeting her. She squeezed past and entered the dorm, opening her cabinet to take out the books she needed for class that day.
Fang Yongnian was such a terrifying top student—her class was at ten, yet he had already gotten her to school by seven-thirty…
She didn’t want to stay in this dorm room for another two hours at all.
“Did you… see Li Xiao’an’s younger brother?” Wu Qi had been peeking out the door for a while, then turned back to ask Lu Yixin.
Lu Yixin ignored her, noisily flipping through her books in the cabinet.
“Li Xiao’an’s business is spreading really badly around the other dorms.” Wu Qi closed the door. Since Lu Yixin didn’t respond, her expression looked uneasy.
Lu Yixin turned around.
“I know you’re not the type to go around gossiping, but since we’re in the same dorm, if you really don’t know anything, people will misunderstand even more when they ask.” Wu Qi hesitated for a moment. “Also, I owe you an apology.”
Lu Yixin didn’t speak, but her hands stopped moving; the clattering sounds came to an end.
“When I first came here, I already knew there was a Li Xiao’an in our dorm. She and I come from the same place. She’s very well-known there.” Wu Qi spoke quickly, as if afraid that Li Xiao’an, who had gone downstairs to sweep, might suddenly rush back up. “I was really scared at the time, because many people back home said that Li Xiao’an’s father was in the underworld. She has a bad temper too. Back in high school, she once fought with someone and pushed them down the stairs.”
Lu Yixin was startled.
Thinking of the fight she had with Li Xiao’an during military training, she felt that it wasn’t impossible for Li Xiao’an to have done something like that.
“When I came to report, I saw the dorm roster. There were two people from your Atmospheric Sciences department, and only Li Xiao’an and I were from other departments, so I just…”
Territorial awareness.
That phrase suddenly popped into Lu Yixin’s head.
Her Fang Yongnian really was smart. Back then, she hadn’t said anything specific on WeChat—only that she didn’t get along with her roommate and he had already hit the nail on the head.
“My grades aren’t that good. I only barely got into this university. I just wanted to study peacefully for four years. It’s not like what you think, that I enjoy stirring up trouble or picking fights.”
She had just… found a relatively tougher wall to lean against, that was all.
Lu Yixin didn’t respond.
She didn’t like this kind of mindset from Wu Qi, but she felt that this time, Wu Qi wasn’t trying to play any kind of scheming game.
“I only realized in the past few days that those rumors about Li Xiao’an were actually all false.” After Wu Qi finished speaking, she glanced at the dorm door again, lowering her voice slightly.
“Li Xiao’an’s father wasn’t in the underworld. Her father passed away very early. After her mother remarried, she gave birth to a younger brother.”
“Her current father seems to have some mental problems—I’m not sure exactly what—but things got twisted as they spread. Li Xiao’an has a bad temper and isn’t easy to get along with. Every time someone brings these things up, she fights right away, and over time her reputation just kept getting worse.”
Wu Qi took a breath.
“And she really hates her younger brother. This morning, her brother came to bring her food, but she beat him up so badly that the whole dorm knows about it now.”
Wu Qi hesitated.
“Her brother looks only about a year younger than her… and some people say he was born when Li Xiao’an’s father was still alive, but her mother had him with someone else…”
Her voice dropped very, very low.
Right after she finished speaking, the dorm door was kicked open.
Li Xiao’an stood there holding a dustpan and broom, full of anger, her face blazing.
Wu Qi’s face flushed a dark red, and she stammered as she took a step back.
Lu Yixin was still processing all the information Wu Qi had just unloaded, her reaction a bit slow.
“Gossiping all day long, how come you haven’t swallowed your tongues yet.” Li Xiao’an was practically in a rage, ready to bite whoever she saw.
“What’s my family got to do with you two? You need to shut yourselves in here to talk about it?”
“So young, yet you gossip like a bunch of old ladies in the square.” She threw the dustpan onto the floor; there were still bits of food residue in it, releasing a greasy smell.
She had even spoken up on her behalf many times, because since Lu Yixin shared a dorm with them, she felt this kind of matter should at least be clarified—so it wouldn’t turn into the kind of wild, baseless rumors spreading through other dorms.
She had already been very careful.
When she first learned the truth, she had even thought Li Xiao’an was quite pitiful.
“My father works in Huating. Since I got into a university in Huating, my parents rented a place there,” Lu Yixin, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said. “I actually didn’t have to live here at all, but my mom said that now that I’m in university, I should experience collective life.”
“She said that when she looks back now, the most beautiful part of her college life was the time she spent in the dormitory.”
Her mother was gentle; when she talked about those memories, her eyes and brows were full of warmth.
So Lu Yixin listened obediently.
Even though Fang Yongnian lived right across from the rented apartment, she still dutifully carried her luggage over to experience dorm life.
She just hadn’t expected it to turn out like this.
Barely over a month since the semester began, and they’d already torn into each other two or three times.
“I really don’t like you two. One of you has too bad a temper, the other has too many thoughts.” Lu Yixin spoke bluntly. “But when I came back today, I still told myself to get along. This might be the only period of collective living I’ll ever have in my life, so I want to experience it well, cherish it well.”
Every moment of being alive is worth treasuring.
This was the most important life lesson she had learned from her mother. Living in the present, giving her best effort, and leaving no regrets.
“Wu Qi didn’t mean any harm by what she said.” Lu Yixin looked at Li Xiao’an.
“I don’t know what kind of gossip those people who like to talk behind others’ backs are spreading, but I know Wu Qi told me all that because she was afraid I might believe those rumors.”
“Maybe you hate this world.” With such a complicated background and being surrounded by malicious rumors, it was no wonder Li Xiao’an had developed this habit of baring her fangs at everyone.
“But I like this world.” Lu Yixin smiled at Li Xiao’an. “So I don’t want to stoop to your level.”
“We’ve fought, and we’ve quarreled several times—I think that’s a kind of fate, too.” Lu Yixin stood straight.
She didn’t even realize that when she said those words, her tone carried a trace of Fang Yongnian.
“If you hate the world, that’s your business. But if you don’t accept it, the one who suffers is you. It won’t affect me or Wu Qi in any way.”
She spoke very slowly. When she finished, she picked up the books in her arms and opened the dormitory door.
As she walked out, she didn’t look back at all.
She wasn’t angry anymore.
Just as Fang Yongnian had taught her, this was nothing more than territorial instinct. Whether it was the bad-tempered Li Xiao’an or the quietly scheming Wu Qi, their negativity only came from fear.
The reason she could handle it all so calmly was simply that she didn’t want anything from the dorm at all. Compared to them, she was more free of desire.
She had too many examples around her.
Even Fang Yongnian, who had lost a leg and his career in such an absurd way, remained gentle toward her.
Both her parents had their own new lives now. Living alone, Zheng Ranran still kept a small bed for her in her rented apartment. She said that no matter where she lived in the future, she would always keep a place for her to sleep—that they would be each other’s second home.
Zheng Ranran might have lost her first home, but unlike Li Xiao’an, she didn’t hold resentment toward the world.
Before class, Lu Yixin sent both Fang Yongnian and Zheng Ranran a little naked pig sticker holding its heart.
She was so lucky.
She loved them so much.
Even if Fang Yongnian only replied with a single period, and even if Zheng Ranran couldn’t even be bothered with that and only sent back a single dot.
Holding her phone and her books, Lu Yixin walked along the university’s tree-lined path, eyes red, lips pressed tightly together.
It was the first time she truly felt that she was a college student.
Without Fang Yongnian, without Zheng Ranran, she had solved the dorm problem that had troubled her for more than a month all by herself.
She wasn’t angry anymore.
Still full of lingering emotion, she called Fang Yongnian. The moment he picked up, she shouted into the phone, “I’m so happy!”
There was a brief silence on Fang Yongnian’s end.
“Your dad just left.” His face was actually a little twisted. Just one second later, and Lu Boyuan would have heard his own daughter shouting at him that she was happy.
“Uh…” Lu Yixin cleared her throat.
“No class today?” Fang Yongnian rubbed his temples.
She was happy, he knew that already. She had said it so many times that he was starting to feel it himself.
“On my way.” Lu Yixin beamed.
“No more fighting with your dormmates?” Fang Yongnian’s tone softened.
“Not mad anymore!” Lu Yixin said with boundless energy.
“I just… feel so happy.” She held her phone, eyes still wet.
“Mm.” Fang Yongnian gave a soft reply. “I’m glad.”
