Vol2 Chapter 35: Diary

Zero watched the crowd spill out of the internet café, their complaints revealing a sudden power outage. She stood on her tiptoes, peering through the throng, and soon spotted Bai Ci and Lu Mingfei emerging. She jogged over.

Expressionless, she handed them two candied hawthorn sticks.

“Really good.”

Bits of sugar coating clung to her lips.

“Thanks.”

Bai Ci bit into a hawthorn, the tart-sweet juice bursting on her tongue.

Lu Mingfei winced as a seed caught in his teeth, waving the red fruit stick. Zero, holding a big bag of snacks, looked at him, her hair tips glowing warm yellow under the streetlamp like a porcelain doll softened by sunset.

She pulled a water bottle from her canvas bag, unscrewed it, and handed it to him.

“Xia Mi invited us for dinner—dumplings,” Zero said, eyeing Lu Mingfei. “You’re invited too.”

Dumplings?

Lu Mingfei’s eyes lit up. Having a junior sister like this was amazing!

A charming little sprite inviting you to her place for dumplings—sure, he might just be a tag-along, but when someone invites you, you can’t just claim you’re Muslim, refuse pork dumplings, and toss the meat in the trash with a shrug.

Grinning, he followed them to Xia Mi’s place.

Chu Zihang opened the door. The sound of two cleavers rhythmically chopping dumpling filling echoed from the cutting board, reminding Lu Mingfei of childhood. Every New Year, his aunt would buy heaps of pork, wielding two cleavers like a Jedi to turn it into mince. His uncle would laugh, smoke, and play cards with neighbors, bragging now and then. Lu Mingfei and Lu Mingze would munch on tangerines by the coffee table. At mealtime, Lu Mingfei was happiest—his stingy aunt never skimped on dumplings. Big, meaty, chewy, dipped in vinegar and garlic—pure bliss.

Bai Ci and Zero offered to help, but Xia Mi elbowed them back, insisting that since she invited them, they shouldn’t lift a finger.

What a fairy-like junior sister!

Lu Mingfei plopped next to Chu Zihang on the sofa, grinning.

Chu Zihang stared at the ponytail-wearing figure chopping away with two cleavers, exuding a commanding aura, her ponytail swinging with each forceful chop. Xia Mi gave him a familiar yet vague feeling—odd, like he’d seen her somewhere but couldn’t place it. They hadn’t known each other long, yet it felt… strange.

He’d wanted to decline. Going to a girl’s house felt improper. But her expectant eyes made it impossible to say no.

He’d tried inviting Fingel, but Fingel, with a sly glance, said he was off to visit the Forbidden City.

So Chu Zihang went to Xia Mi’s, where she’d make dumplings. Her parents weren’t home.

The apartment was small, facing a large floor-to-ceiling window casting grid-like shadows from the rusty metal frame. It wasn’t the luxurious place he’d imagined but an old building slated for demolition. The stairwell’s ventilation window had turned from white to gray-black, plastered with random ads…

Hard to believe this was Xia Mi’s home. This sunny, vibrant girl, in Chu Zihang’s mind, should’ve been pampered by her parents, treated like a precious gem.

Her parents would brag to every relative: “Our daughter got into Cassell College in America—a noble school! And a $10,000 scholarship to boot!”

Chu Zihang glanced at Lu Mingfei, who was eating snacks with Bai Ci and Zero. He thought it unhealthy to snack before dinner but, considering their appetites, held his tongue.

Doing nothing felt stifling, so he got up, wandered to another room, and stopped at a desk, picking up a notebook and flipping through it.

After a page, he realized it was a diary. Reading someone’s diary was wrong, but for some reason, he kept going.

It was Xia Mi’s, its pages slightly yellowed, no longer crisp and white. Diaries were often someone’s dark history—didn’t a movie say no normal person keeps one? Yet he did too.

4.1
Watched him shoot hoops alone on the court. So boring.

4.8
He stood by the window for hours, watching the rain.

4.11
Saw him stay late alone, cleaning the classroom.

4.20
Watched him practice piano alone in the music room.

4.28
God, is something wrong with this guy? His life has zero gossip-worthy moments. So dull! If I were him, I’d be depressed to death. Can’t he stop being so lonely? Acting all cool—what’s that about? Can’t he just smile or act silly without dying?

5.4
Cheered for him as a cheerleader today.

5.16
Danced behind him while he tutored everyone, listening to the teacher.

5.20
Went to the aquarium with him—kinda a date? But he babbled on about facts the whole time. Seriously, in such a romantic setting, you’re giving me trivia? Is your brain full of mush?

Chu Zihang froze.

“Surprised?” Xia Mi’s voice came, grinning ear to ear. He didn’t turn, gauging her mood from her tone.

“A bit. Why’d you write this?”

“Senior Brother, sometimes I can’t tell if you’re really clueless or just pretending,” Xia Mi said. “Back then, I cared about you. You never talked to anyone, always eating alone in the cafeteria, slowly, deliberately. You’d stare at the rain for hours, always alone, like the world’s spinning had nothing to do with you. I thought you were so weird, living like a robot. Can’t you act more human? At first, I just noticed you by chance, but then I couldn’t look away. I felt bad for your silly, lonely life.”

She waved her little fist, playfully smacking his back with a mock-ferocious look.

“Enough of that—let’s eat, dummy Senior Brother.”

She turned to open the door.

The three others, caught off guard, stumbled and fell at her feet.

Xia Mi’s lips twitched.

“Senior Brothers and Sisters, what’s this…”

“Wishing you an early heir,” Lu Mingfei said with an awkward laugh.

“A hundred years of harmony,” Bai Ci added, equally awkward.

“Forever united,” Zero said, face still expressionless.