Chapter 5

Stepping out of the elevator and walking about five or six meters to the right, they reached their old haunt, dormitory 1301. Ye Chen pushed open the door. The lights inside were still on, and the five of them walked in, each looking utterly exhausted-fear, it seems, also has the power to age people.

“Sister, I’ll run a bath for you. Have something to eat first,” Zina said, her face beaming with joy as if she had found a long-lost playmate.

Hearing this, Ye Chen, Cai Erman, and Mingzi quickly took out some snacks from their bags and laid them on Ye Chen’s bed.

“Just eat something for now… or, how about we go to the night market for some food after you’ve had a bath?” Ye Chen suggested.

“What are you joking? What time do you think it is?” Mingzi blurted out.

“It’s fine, I’ll just eat some of this.”

As she spoke, the woman started shoving a pack of Yangzhou Rice Chips into her mouth, oblivious to the need to tear the packet open to reach its contents.

“Hey!… Let me help you.” Seeing her struggle, Ye Chen quickly snatched the snack from her hands, tore an opening, and poured some of the triangular pieces into his palm before popping them into his mouth, demonstrating to her: this is how you eat them.

Watching Ye Chen, the woman’s face turned bashfully red.

Ye Chen handed the Yangzhou Rice Chips back to her. She gingerly took them, mimicking Ye Chen by pouring them into her hand before putting them into her mouth. She kept her head down, stealing glances at Ye Chen, anxious about whether her way of eating pleased him.

“Sister! The bath is ready. Go take a soak, and I’ll bring you some clothes,” Zina called out, seemingly unaware of when exactly she had started treating the woman as older. She affectionately called her “elder sister” with such warmth.

The woman gently removed the four gold hairpins from her hair and placed them on Ye Chen’s round table, then headed towards the bathroom.

“Goodness! …Ouch, this is so hard, it must be made of gold! Is she a movie star or something? Why is she still wearing these things on her head?” Mingzi bit on a hairpin and said, looking helplessly at his clueless expression.

“That’s the gold hairpin! I’m going to get her some clothes! Don’t touch other people’s stuff!” Zina yelled, turning her head towards Mingzi.

Mingzi ignored Zina’s words. He sat on Ye Chen’s bed, leaning over the desk to examine the hairpins more closely. He looked at one with a Qilin at the head of the hairpin and another with a phoenix, but aside from the designs and engravings, he couldn’t make out any inscriptions. When he picked up the hairpin with a sycee at the head, he exclaimed in surprise, “This design is really unique!” He rotated the hairpin in front of his eyes and suddenly shouted, “Look! There are characters on this one!” Ye Chen and Cai Erman quickly gathered around.

“Yixuan,” the three of them read aloud together.

“What does that mean? Could her last name be Yi and her first name Xuan?” Mingzi asked, looking up into Ye Chen’s face with a smug expression.

“Idiot! Is there such a surname in the ‘Hundred Family Surnames’¹?” Cai Erman roared, raising his right hand and smacking Mingzi on the head. Unbeknownst to them, the surname “Yi” indeed exists in the ‘Hundred Family Surnames’-it seems both were not very scholarly!

Fifteen minutes later.

“Creak!”

“I’m back! Aren’t these clothes pretty?” Zina said, holding a pair of white pleated jeans in her left hand, with several pieces of underwear clamped tightly under her right arm, and a yellow top in her right hand.

“Nice, nice!” Ye Chen, Cai Erman, and Mingzi murmured.

“Go give them to her,” Ye Chen said.

“Okay, sure.” Zina turned and headed towards the bathroom, a look of pleasure on her face.

“Knock, knock!”

“Sister, are you done washing up?”

“Yes!”

“I’ve put your clothes here.” Zina opened the door, placed the clothes on a clean spot on the washbasin, and then closed the door and walked away.

It’s rare to see such an enthusiastic and polite girl these days, especially one as beautiful as her.

One can only wonder what the lady in the bathroom would look like in the clothes Zina brought.

“Did you forget to take a pair of shoes?” Cai Erman noticed Zina floating lightly from the direction of the bathroom.

“Smart! …But I wonder if her feet are the same size as mine. The clothes should fit, let’s just take them first!” Zina muttered as she walked out again, seeming to have shaken off the shadow of the eighteenth floor from her mind. Sometimes, Zina really acts like a child.

A few minutes later, the sound of slippers sucking up water came from the bathroom, “Shhh… Shhh…” Ye Chen, Mingzi, and Cai Erman held their breath, their eyes fixed on the corner where the bathroom met the room.

A foot appeared, bare and pale with a hint of pink from toe to heel, curved like a plush cotton pillow pressed by a head, looking utterly comfortable, tender, clean, and sexy. What kind of person would have such feet?

“Wow!…” Ye Chen, Cai Erman, and Mingzi simultaneously exclaimed as a breathtakingly beautiful woman emerged from around the corner of the bathroom and the room.

Her eyebrows, like wet white feathers, arched delicately; her eyes, already crystal clear, seemed even more stunning moistened by warm water. Her hair was styled into a classic high ponytail, with bangs parted to one side in a 6:4 ratio. The rest of her hair was secured slightly off-center with a hair tie, leaving some strands to casually fall behind her head. The natural freshness was truly invigorating! Her slightly longer temples curled inward at her neck, as white and soft as mutton fat jade, extremely sensual.

Below her neck, the edge of a strapless white top peeked out from under a thin yellow outer garment, soft like cheese melting in the mouth; the top button of the yellow garment was undone slightly lower, showcasing her prominent collarbone and fair skin, supporting a face so beautiful it was irresistible.

“I’m here! Wow…” When Zina saw the woman walking out from the bathroom, she involuntarily placed her index and middle fingers to her lips, exclaiming in surprise. The beauty that could astonish even such a gorgeous woman was truly remarkable!

This was like a fairy descending to earth, the stunningly beautiful woman indeed seemed like a celestial fairy! She was the daughter of the God of Wealth-Zhao Yixuan! It turns out there are similarities between heaven and earth; otherwise, how could Yixuan have such a modern hairstyle.

“Sister, you’re so beautiful!” Zina stood in awe for a moment and praised.

“My feet…”

“Oh, here, let me get you a pair of shoes to try on.” Just as Yixuan was about to say something, Zina guessed her intention.

“Haha, they fit you perfectly, Sister! We really are fated!” Zina said to Yixuan with a giggling smile.

Wow! These black high-heeled sandals looked substantial, with a slightly wider strap at the ankle, and the width of the toe and heel almost the same, visually enhancing the delicacy of the feet, an utterly charming sight!

Yixuan wore Zina’s outfit, boasting measurements of 82 bust, 65 waist, and 84 hips, accentuating her stunning figure perfectly!

Ye Chen, Mingzi, and Cai Erman, who had been fixated on her face, were now glancing up and down in awe. Yixuan had clearly captivated these three like no one before in Shengze.

“Hey! Look at you guys, so unsophisticated! Tonight, my sister will stay with me, so I’ll have company,” Zina said, followed by a melodious laugh.

“Thank you,” Yixuan replied shyly.

“You’re welcome. What’s your name, sister?” Zina asked.

“…I don’t know,” Yixuan hesitated, shaking her head.

A beauty like her wandering the streets without her senses could easily be led astray. However, Yixuan wasn’t lacking in awareness; she simply couldn’t remember her past, possibly due to an injury sustained when she fell from the celestial court².

“Oh, her name is Yixuan!” Mingzi shouted.

“Yixuan? How do you know?” Zina questioned, raising her eyebrows before focusing intently on Mingzi.

“It’s written here!” Mingzi said, extending a gold hairpin towards Zina.

Zina and Yixuan came over, while Ye Chen and Cai Erman sat on the bed, feeling guilty for their earlier behavior. Mingzi, unfazed by his previous fear, seemed to take a liking to Yixuan and leaned closer to her.

“Give it to me! Yixuan, sister, this is your hair ornament… from now on, we’ll call you Yixuan, okay?” Zina smiled, looking at Yixuan with delight.

Yixuan softly repeated her name, and after several times, Zina asked, “Don’t you like it, sister?”

“Oh, no, I like it very much. What’s your name?” Yixuan gently asked.

“Me? I’m Wei Zina. Just call me Zina. This is my brother, Wei Ziming, that’s Ye Chen, and that’s Cai Erman!” Zina introduced each of them, and Yixuan nodded to each, with Ye Chen, Mingzi, and Cai Erman nodding back.

Historically, in dormitory 1301, these individuals had never behaved as gentlemanly as they did today. The ceiling light bore witness to it all!

“You can all call me Yixuan from now on,” Yixuan said, noticing Ye Chen on the verge of speaking but holding back.

“Oh, Yixuan, quickly take your things. Here you go,” Ye Chen said, handing her the three gold hairpins from the table. Yixuan pressed her lips together and accepted them.

“…Sister, here!” Zina, noticing Ye Chen’s gaze on Yixuan before quickly shifting hers, handed over her gold hairpin as well. She continued to smile, yet no one noticed the slight strain in her laughter.

The wind had stopped, and the window no longer rattled. It was late into the night, and people should have been asleep by now. At midnight, Zone N dormitory building of Shengze Mainstream Language and Literature College was shrouded in darkness, except for one room on the thirteenth floor-Dorm 1301, which was brightly lit. If lights had been on this late in any other dorm, the punishment would have been akin to exile to Ningguta³ during the Qing Dynasty⁴, if not worse. But no such decree would be issued for Dorm 1301 in Zone N.

“Well, my sister and I are heading back. After all, tomorrow is May 2nd, and we still have one more day of vacation. I’ll take her shopping!” said Zina, linking her arm through Yixuan’s.

“The three of us aren’t so lucky. We have to work at Yutian Business KTV on Puhua Street tomorrow. If we don’t earn money, how can we live?” Cai Erman lamented, flopping onto Ye Chen’s bed.

“By the way, ‘Supergirl’ has reached the top five, right? Tomorrow they’ll decide the winners. I’d love to see it live!” Zina said excitedly, clearly interested in such entertainment shows.

“If you want to watch, just come find us on the fifth floor of Yutian Business KTV on Puhua Street,” Ye Chen said casually, as if Yutian Business KTV was no sacred ground in his eyes.

“Really? Can I bring Yixuan with me tomorrow?”

“No problem!” Mingzi chimed in before Ye Chen could respond further, while Zina’s eyes lingered on Ye Chen, waiting for an answer.

“Sure, just call us when you arrive.”

“Okay.” Zina nodded, giving Ye Chen a heartfelt glance before turning to leave with Yixuan. Yixuan looked back briefly, wondering who she was trying to see, unaware of the three pairs of eyes watching her as she departed.

The night sky, once swept by wind, gradually cleared. A few stars appeared quietly, and the Milky Way stretched across the heavens from north to south. It emitted a faint, ribbon-like glow, perhaps-just perhaps-a light formed by the tears of Niulang and Zhinu⁵ over thousands of years. Like intimately bonded couples whose hair could never reach one another, their tears flowed towards each other, until they merged and lay together…

Footnote:

1. Hundred Family Surnames(百家姓): It’s a classic Chinese text listing common surnames, used to teach children about Chinese family names and heritage.
2. Celestial Court(天庭):The celestial court is a mythical realm often depicted in folklore as the dwelling place of deities and immortals, symbolizing a place of divine power and origin.
3. Ningguta(宁古塔): A remote location in northeastern China, historically used as a place of exile during the Qing Dynasty. The harsh climate conditions of Ningguta, characterized by long, cold winters with temperatures often dropping below -20°C , made it a particularly arduous place for exiles. Its remoteness and severe environment added to its reputation as a place of hardship and punishment.
4. Qing Dynasty(清朝): The last imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912.
5. Niulang and Zhinu(牛郎和织女):Niulang and Zhinu are characters from a Chinese folktale known as ‘The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.’ According to the legend, they are lovers separated by the Milky Way, allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.