EAY Chapter 23

Roommates

Roommates

23

As Qi Ye was preparing to leave, Grandpa Qi reminded him with a smile, “Don’t forget to mend your friendship with your good friend.”

His tone was completely like he was talking to a child, and Qi Ye felt helpless.

Soon it was the first day of school, and Qi Ye refused his parents’ offer to drive him. After all, the school was in the same city, so it was too close.

His mother expressed her regret at not being able to visit her son’s school, but Qi Ye laughed and said that she could come see him anytime.

But Qi Ye couldn’t resist Qi Xue, who was bored at home with nothing to do and wanted to show off her newly acquired driver’s license. She insisted on driving their dad’s car to take him.

When Qi Ye got into the car, Qi Xue was still putting on makeup in the vanity mirror. “It would be nice if the whole family could take you, but you have to act cool.”

“I learned it from you.” Qi Ye sat in the passenger seat and fastened his seat belt.

“Hehe, that’s true. It’s good for young people to be cool. Let’s go!” Qi Xue put on her sunglasses, turned on some cheerful music, and drove towards her brother’s university.

Qi Ye looked out the window with some boredom. The excitement and joy of a freshman were nowhere to be seen on him, as if it were just another ordinary school day.

After registering and receiving his dorm key, Qi Ye walked ahead with his backpack and suitcase, while Qi Xue followed leisurely behind, swinging the key in her hand.

The men’s dormitory building was newly built, spacious and bright. Qi Ye’s dorm was on the sixth floor, and there was no elevator. He turned around and asked Qi Xue, “Are you going to wait for me here or go back first?”

Qi Xue smiled, “I’ll go up with you.”

Qi Ye: “Don’t complain that you’re tired.”

As a result, Qi Xue was very unhappy after only reaching the third floor: “What kind of crappy school doesn’t even install an elevator for you guys?”

But since they had already come up several floors, she wanted to take a look at her brother’s dorm environment before leaving.

The dorm was a four-person room. When Qi Ye entered, there was no one inside, only belongings on one of the beds. He didn’t bother to look at them, and after putting his suitcase aside, he looked for his name. The first one was it, right next to the bed with the belongings on it. Qi Ye threw his backpack on it.

Qi Xue walked around the room, feeling quite satisfied: “The space is quite large, and everything is new.”

She raised her chin at Qi Ye: “Let’s go, let’s go have dinner, sister’s treating.”

“I’ll take some things out first.” Because they lived close, his mother had bought him all the necessary towels and toiletries, and he brought them directly with him.

“I’m hungry, you can do that later!” Qi Xue pushed him, just as the phone in her pocket rang. Seeing who was calling, she smiled and went to the balcony to answer the phone.

Qi Ye was helpless. He looked at his bed, which was the common type with a desk underneath the bed. It was now empty and covered with a layer of dust. Qi Ye rummaged through his bag to find a tissue to wipe it down.

He was bending over wiping the shelves of the bookshelf when he heard a “thump,” something had fallen to the ground.

Qi Ye turned slightly to look, and with just one glance, his body couldn’t turn back.

Standing outside the door was a tall figure, his eyes wide with surprise, and a plastic shopping bag from the supermarket lay at his feet.

Qi Ye’s body also stiffened instantly. He felt like he was being played with. Whoever was in charge of their fate at this moment must be hiding somewhere laughing at him, laughing at his foolish look.

They looked at each other. Just as Shi Ran was about to say something, Qi Xue finished her phone call and came in, walking past Shi Ran. “Okay, let’s go.”

Qi Ye mechanically responded, “Oh, okay.” He clutched the blackened tissue in his hand.

“Oh, is this your roommate?” Qi Xue smiled at Shi Ran. “Hello.”

Shi Ran also smiled stiffly, “Hello.”

Qi Xue smiled and said, “I’m his sister. My brother is a very good person, but he’s a bit taciturn. Don’t mind him. Get along well in the future.”

“Okay, okay.” Shi Ran slowly picked up the plastic bag from the ground. Suddenly, he heard Qi Ye say, “We were high school classmates.”

Qi Xue’s face was full of surprise: “Oh, really? What a coincidence!”

Qi Ye deliberately ignored the turbulent emotions in his heart and said to Qi Xue, “Let’s go, aren’t you going to have dinner?”

Qi Xue frowned at Qi Ye, her expression clearly saying, “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”, then she smiled and asked Shi Ran, “Would you like to join us, classmate?”

“Ah, I—” Shi Ran hadn’t reacted yet, and turned to look at Qi Ye’s reaction.

Qi Ye’s heart was pounding. Afraid that Qi Xue would ask too many questions and cause trouble, he pretended to be calm and said, “We’ll go by ourselves, he still has to unpack.”

Saying that, he didn’t allow Qi Xue to refuse, and put his arm around her shoulder and went out the door.

It wasn’t until they were far away that Shi Ran slowly picked up the shopping bag from the ground. After putting it on his desk, he remembered something and went to look at the name tag next to the bed.

Qi Ye.

It really was him.

Shi Ran and Qi Ye both found their names right away and weren’t interested in looking at the others.

Shi Ran was the first to arrive at the dorm. As soon as he put his things down, he received a call from a high school classmate who was also at this school, inviting him to dinner. He ate very little and then went to the convenience store next door to buy a bag of snacks and drinking water. Just as he returned to the dorm, he saw the person he had lost contact with for the entire summer.

He was tanned and thinner, and much more handsome than he remembered.

Perhaps it was the sharpness in his eyes and eyebrows that suddenly made Shi Ran feel that he had become a stranger.

Qi Ye was even more surprised to meet Shi Ran in the same school and the same dorm. In his opinion, the odds of this happening were even slimmer than winning the lottery.

Qi Xue waved her hand in front of his face several times, “Did you hear what I said?”

“Huh?” Qi Ye’s chopsticks had been raised for half a day.

Qi Xue sighed: “I said the food in your cafeteria is delicious. I’m going to come here often for free meals in the future. You have to treat me, my dear brother.”

“Okay.” Qi Ye nodded.

“Also, that person just now, your high school classmate, is so cute.” Qi Xue said, “But you don’t seem very enthusiastic. It’s rare to have such a coincidence, you should take this opportunity to get along with him.”

Qi Ye responded with an absent-minded “uh-huh.”

Qi Xue asked again: “Could it be that you two didn’t get along well? Is he bad-tempered?”

“No.” Qi Ye’s answer was always brief.

At this moment, Qi Xue had not yet connected this person with Qi Ye’s mysterious friend from high school, and the person he worked so hard to help with their studies.

Qi Xue was simply happy for her brother, and also a little worried. He had been so cold to him just now, how would he get through the next four years of college.

Qi Xue said: “I’ll buy you some snacks later, you can share them with your roommates. First impressions are very important.”

Qi Ye said, “No need, who likes to eat snacks?”

“Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean others don’t.” Qi Xue said, “It’s settled then, listen to me.”

After wandering around the supermarket and sending Qi Xue away, Qi Ye carried two large bags of snacks and returned to the dorm with trepidation.

Still, only Shi Ran was there.

But belongings had already been placed on the other two beds, and there were two more suitcases in the room.

Shi Ran stood up and said to him, “The other two classmates have already arrived, they went out to eat.”

“I see.” Qi Ye didn’t really care about others. He put the two bags of snacks on Shi Ran’s desk. “Here, you can eat these. My sister bought them, I don’t really eat them.”

Shi Ran glanced at them: “So many?”

Qi Ye’s hands were in his pockets, then he took them out again, completely unsure of what to do with them. “Oh, just bought them casually.”

Shi Ran said: “Share some with the others, I can’t eat them all.”

Qi Ye: “Then you choose, give them whatever’s left after you choose.”

Shi Ran agreed, but didn’t start choosing. He held his phone in his hand without looking at it. Qi Ye sat down in the seat next to him with a jumbled mind. It was too empty, why wasn’t there anything to block his current helplessness and awkwardness.

The quiet atmosphere lasted for a while. Just when Qi Ye finally remembered that he still had cleaning work to do and stood up, he heard Shi Ran say quietly, “Are you still mad at me?”