Chapter 26 Part 3

The school was quiet at six in the evening. Some third-year students were in their evening self-study sessions.

Zhou Wan walked with her head down, out of the school gate. After a few more steps, a pair of shoes appeared in her peripheral vision.

Her steps faltered, and she looked up.

Lu Xixiao was leaning lazily against a tree trunk, a cigarette dangling from his lips. Hearing the sound, he glanced up, his eyelids forming a sharp, narrow crease.

Seeing Zhou Wan, he straightened up a little, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and asked faintly, "What do you want to eat?"

Zhou Wan walked up to him. "Anything is fine."

"Barbecue?"

Zhou Wan nodded. "Okay."

*

A new Korean barbecue restaurant had just opened next to the school.

Lu Xixiao couldn't be bothered to order, so he just got the set meal for two and added two signature dishes. The food came quickly, filling the cart next to them.

The waitress asked if they needed help with the grilling. Zhou Wan didn't want to bother others, so she politely declined and grilled the meat herself.

She rarely ate barbecue, but when she went with her classmates, she was always the one in charge of grilling, so she was reasonably skilled.

Lu Xixiao sat opposite her, watching her grill and occasionally taking a sip of ice water.

The girl's face was flushed from the heat, her eyelashes lowered. He then noticed that Zhou Wan's eyelashes were very long, casting a thick shadow under the overhead light.

After a while, Lu Xixiao spoke: "That's enough, eat first."

"You eat first." Zhou Wan used the tongs to put some meat in his bowl. "I'll finish grilling this."

Lu Xixiao tutted and took the tongs from her hand.

"Do you know how?" Zhou Wan asked.

"Yeah." He put all the grilled meat from the plate into Zhou Wan's bowl.

For the rest of the meal, Lu Xixiao mostly did the grilling while Zhou Wan ate. After a short while, she said she was full.

Lu Xixiao looked up. "Really full?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go then."

There were still a lot of uncooked meat slices left, and it would be a waste to throw them away. While Lu Xixiao went to pay, Zhou Wan got a takeaway box.

Walking out of the barbecue restaurant, Zhou Wan handed him the box. "You can put this in the fridge. It's getting cold, so you can make hot pot with it, but you should eat it soon."

Lu Xixiao didn't take it. He glanced at her from the side and chuckled lightly. "Don't have a pot."

"You have one in your kitchen. You can use the induction cooker." Zhou Wan had seen it before.

Lu Xixiao raised an eyebrow but still didn't reach out. The corner of his mouth lifted, but without a smile, more like self-deprecation.

Zhou Wan paused, then said, "When the weekend comes, I can go to your place and we can eat it together."

"Oh." Lu Xixiao took the box, then gestured with his chin towards the convenience store opposite them. "Going to buy a bottle of water."

He walked into the convenience store and skillfully grabbed two bottles of mineral water from the shelf and paid.

Zhou Wan didn't go in, waiting for him at the entrance. When he came out, Zhou Wan was sitting on a small swing set nearby, rocking gently.

Her head was slightly tilted back, both hands gripping the swing's ropes, her toes off the ground. Her profile was fair and soft.

Lu Xixiao watched her from the side for a moment, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly.

"Zhou Wan."

She got up and returned to his side. "Are we leaving?"

Lu Xixiao twisted open one of the water bottles and handed it to her. Zhou Wan thanked him and took a sip. Water droplets clung to her pink lips, like a gouache painting blurred by water.

Lu Xixiao averted his gaze, frowned, then looked at her again.

After a moment, he said faintly, "Why don't you ask me?"

"Ask what?"

"About today."

Not expecting him to bring it up, Zhou Wan paused, looking into his eyes. "About your fear of heights?"

Lu Xixiao looked down at her, his expression impassive, making it impossible to read his emotions.

Zhou Wan just looked up at him quietly, her gaze calm and steady.

After a long moment, Lu Xixiao suddenly turned his head and laughed.

His laughter was low, hoarse, and magnetic, muffled and nasal, as if it vibrated from his chest.

"People who know too much can get silenced," he said with a laugh.

Zhou Wan was indeed different from everyone else.

She wasn't talkative. When they were together, it was mostly in silence, each doing their own thing. Their communication couldn't be called frequent, but Zhou Wan was the one who understood him best. Most of the time, he didn't have to say anything for her to understand.

At noon, she had told Xue Xi that if she jumped, her boyfriend would be left with a shadow that he could never erase for the rest of his life.

After saying that, she had turned back to look at Lu Xixiao, her expression slightly dazed, with a hint of disbelief and sudden understanding.

In that moment, Lu Xixiao knew that she understood why he had a fear of heights.

The feeling was strange.

He didn't like people prying open his wounds, but Zhou Wan wouldn't do that. She had merely seen the scar.

The dim streetlights overlapped, shadows and light interweaving. They moved slowly with the drifting clouds in the sky, gradually merging, blurring the edges of their two shadows until they were indistinguishable from each other.

Lu Xixiao took out a cigarette, lowered his head, shielded the flame with one hand, and lit it.

His cheeks hollowed slightly as he took a deep drag and then exhaled. He said faintly, "I only became afraid of heights after my mom committed suicide by jumping off a building."