Love in the Illusion

8

"Forget about the dog in heat for now, bro. What happened after you walked Sister Xu back to school last time?" Sheng Nanzhou winked at him suggestively.

"It's okay."

Zhou Jingze replied leisurely, "What happened was I asked her which of the Sheng brothers—Sheng Yanjia or Sheng Nanzhou—looked more punchable."

The voice was unexpectedly calm and light. Shi Yuejie looked up and caught a glimpse of a fair-skinned face with rosy lips. Xu Sui hurriedly said a few words with her books before leaving.

Sheng Nanzhou nudged Zhou Jingze with his shoulder and said, "I'm serious, man. I kinda get the feeling Sister Xu has a thing for you."

The commotion just now was quite noticeable. A male student nearby asked, "Senior, are you alright?"

A flustered face flashed through Zhou Jingze's mind as he continued, "I'm serious too. She seems kinda scared of me."

Shi Yuejie shook his head and smiled. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, if it were me, I wouldn’t like a scumbag like you either." Sheng Nanzhou shook his shoulders, mimicking a Korean drama heroine, "Si lei gi!"

A light rain began to fall on the road. Xu Sui held a book over her head as she jogged along, but halfway there, a boy approached her with a long-handled umbrella and asked, "You're Xu Sui, right?"

Zhou Jingze scoffed, too lazy to argue.

Xu Sui nodded, and without another word, the boy shoved a red umbrella into her hands and walked away. Moments later, her phone rang—Hu Qianxi calling: "Did you get the umbrella?"

The next morning brought another heavy rain. Zhou Jingze waited until it had mostly stopped before heading out to the medical university to take care of some business. After finishing, he sent a message to Hu Xixi as usual: "Come out for dinner tonight, got something to discuss. You can bring Xu Sui along for a free meal."

"Got it. Was that your friend who delivered it?" Xu Sui laughed.

"Sure, but Suisui won’t come out. She’s been in a bad mood these past few days," Hu Xixi replied.

"Of course not! That was someone I paid to bring you the umbrella," Hu Qianxi said, lying on her bed and kicking her legs up. "This queen wouldn't let her beloved consort get a single drop of rain on her."

Zhou Jingze: 【?】

"Thank you, King Hu!"

Hu Qianxi recounted the entire incident of Xu Sui being falsely accused of cheating and sighed: 【I don’t think she’ll go out anytime soon—she’s in no mood, and there are always gossipy people talking about her. Though Suisui hasn’t said a word, she seems really down.】

The rain grew heavier, pouring down with a pitter-patter, splashing into puddles of varying depths and blooming like tiny flowers. By the time Xu Sui neared the dormitory, her pant legs were already soaked.

The rain was light, almost nonexistent. Zhou Jingze replied with a “Got it” before slipping his phone into his pocket. Wearing a black baseball cap, he looked up and spotted two figures not far away.

Just as Xu Sui was about to walk forward with her umbrella, suddenly, the familiar orange cat darted out from the bushes. It meowed at her twice and, as if they were old friends, slipped under her umbrella.

The very person Hu Qianxi described as “in no mood” and “down” was now standing at the school gate with a boy, each holding a cup of milk tea.

The girl and the cat walked together into the first-floor dormitory hallway. Xu Sui closed her umbrella, crouched down, and rummaged through her bag for a piece of bread from breakfast that she hadn't eaten yet to feed it.

Zhou Jingze instinctively narrowed his eyes to look over. The girl was slender and well-behaved, while the boy wore a white jacket and was quite tall. Whatever he said to her, Xu Sui's fair face was lit with a smile that seemed about to melt into the fresh cream before her.

The kitten approached her palm and began eating the bread, eventually l*****g every last crumb from Xu Sui's hand. She stroked its fur and was about to leave when the kitten bit onto her pant leg, refusing to let her go.

Xu Sui pried it off, but wherever she went, the kitten followed. With its clear, innocent eyes, it meowed at her persistently until she finally realized, "I really can't keep you. The dorm doesn't allow cats, and if the dorm auntie finds out, I'll be in big trouble."

Yet the kitten continued to gaze at her with an innocent expression.

Xu Sui glanced at the torrential rain outside the corridor, showing no signs of stopping, while the kitten was soaked to the bone, its whiskers dirty and bedraggled.

Xu Sui had been feeding this stray cat for a while and noticed it was getting thinner, clearly not having regular meals.

In the end, Xu Sui's heart softened. She crouched down and picked it up in her arms.

Xu Sui took out her phone and asked for the dorm girls' opinions in the group chat: "There's a stray cat downstairs that's quite pitiful. Can I bring it back to raise for a couple of days? I'll send it away later."

Hu Qianxi: "Sure, go ahead."

Bai Yuyue simply replied with two words: ["Whatever."]

Anyway, she wasn't often in the dorm.

Xu Sui took this as her tacit approval. When the cat was brought back, Hu Qianxi sat bolt upright on her bed: "What an adorable kitten! Are you really going to keep it?"

"Yeah, for now. I plan to find it a permanent owner—I probably can't keep it long-term," Xu Sui explained.

The kitten was too dirty, so Xu Sui personally gave it a bath and even took out her own small blanket to make a nest for it. Seeing Xu Sui bustling about, sweat beading on her forehead, Liang Shuang sighed, "Sui, you're like a goddess of mercy."

Xu Sui opened a box of goat milk, crouched down, and poured it into a small dish to feed the kitten, smiling as she said, "Not at all, I just think it's a bit pitiful."

"Besides, small animals know gratitude better than people do," Xu Sui murmured to herself.

Everyone in the dorm was very kind and had no objections to Xu Sui keeping a cat.

Bai Yuyue had previously tacitly agreed in the group chat that Xu Sui could keep the cat for a couple of days. But upon returning, perhaps after some unpleasant encounter with her ex-boyfriend, her face was visibly sour. Seeing an extra cat in the dorm, she slammed her book on the table and started venting:

"You actually brought this filthy thing back? Doesn’t it have any diseases or something?" Bai Yuyue sneered, purely looking for a reason to pick on Xu Sui now.

"I had it checked by a classmate from the veterinary department before bringing it back. It’s disease-free, and it won’t be staying here long," Xu Sui replied calmly, her lashes lifting slightly as she spoke. "Besides, it’s a matter of perspective."

She left the latter part unspoken, but Bai Yuyue should have understood what she meant.

"You—" Bai Yuyue twisted her beautiful brows, unable to utter a single word.

Hu Qianxi burst into laughter. Everyone said Xu Sui was obedient and easygoing, but it seemed that wasn't entirely the case—at least she had her own boundaries.

The skills exam competition arrived swiftly. Xu Sui arrived at the examination hall early, and coincidentally, Bai Yuyue was in the same hall. Bai Yuyue was seated at the last position of the first row, while Xu Sui was third from the end in the second row.

The invigilators this time were a teacher paired with a student leader. While distributing the exam papers, Shi Yuejie immediately recognized Xu Sui, who was wearing a thin fleece jacket and had her face buried in the collar.

In the middle of the exam, Xu Sui was concentrating on answering the questions when suddenly, a paper ball was thrown from behind, bounced off the edge of the desk, and landed at her feet. Before she could open it, the invigilator walked over, picked it up, unfolded it, and with a stern expression asked, "What is this?"

"I didn't even get a chance to open it," Xu Sui said calmly.

The teacher was provoked by her indifferent attitude and grew angry. "This is cheating. What do you take the teacher for? How could you even think of cheating in a competition?"

"I didn't," Xu Sui replied without backing down. She put down her pen. "If you're going to accuse me of cheating based on some random note, then I can forfeit this exam."

"You—"

Shi Yuejie walked over and politely asked the teacher to step outside into the hallway. Whatever Shi Yuejie said to the teacher, he came back in and told Xu Sui, "Focus on your exam for now. We didn't handle the situation well earlier. I'll give you an answer after the exam is over."

Xu Sui nodded and picked up her pen to continue the exam.

After the exam, it started raining again outside. Xu Sui stood in the corridor, staring blankly at the curtain of rain. The crowd behind her jostled and bustled, the noise mingling with the sound of the downpour.

A few murmurs reached Xu Sui's ears, faint yet piercing. "Even the good students cheat."

"Who would've thought? I used her anatomy work as a reference before. Turns out she's just vain," someone chimed in.

As the rain tapered off, Xu Sui straightened her back and walked out under her umbrella. The news of her being caught cheating spread quickly, with varying accounts fueling the growing scandal. Yet she seemed utterly unaffected—either feeding stray cats or burying herself in studies—leaving Hu Xixi with no opening to offer comfort.

When Bai Yueyue returned to the dorm, only Xu Sui was there, freshly showered and drying her hair with a towel. Water droplets shook onto the orange cat's back, prompting it to lazily roll onto its belly and give a vigorous shake. Watching this, she couldn't help but smile.

Bai Yuyue walked to her desk where books were placed. The orange cat padded over, rubbing against her feet and sniffing. Startled, Bai Yuyue let out a scream, thinking it was something else. Upon realizing it was just a cat, she kicked it away and cursed, "Get lost."

The orange cat was kicked aside, squinting its eyes and letting out a yowl before immediately pouncing to bite her. Bai Yuyue turned pale with fright, tears welling up in her eyes.

Xu Sui's voice was icy: "1017, come back!"

Hearing Xu Sui's command, 1017 actually released its grip. It circled Bai Yuyue twice, hissed at her menacingly, then padded back to Xu Sui on its soft paws.

Bai Yuyue's face turned pale as she slumped against the edge of the chair.

"Sorry, it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't kicked it next time."

Just as Xu Sui was about to say something, a text message arrived on her phone. After glancing at it, she grabbed an umbrella and headed out.

Zhou Jingze and the others were halfway through their physical training on the sports field when a heavy rain started, forcing them to disband. A group of boys made their way back to the dormitory in a boisterous crowd.

Liu kicked open the dorm door and cursed, "Damn, this rain's so heavy it feels like hailstones are pelting my head."

Zhou Jingze walked in with his hands in his pockets. After taking off his jacket, thoroughly drenched and uncomfortable, he crossed his arms, grabbed his blue training uniform, and pulled it over his head, revealing two rows of tight, lean abs with impeccably defined muscle lines.

Sheng Nanzhou sucked in a breath, "f**k, who could resist that?"

Zhou Jingze pressed his tongue against his left cheek and dropped a dirty line, "Then why don't you try resisting tonight and find out?"

Sheng Nanzhou flung a white towel at him with force, his voice trembling: "You damn pervert."

After showering, the boys went about their business—some reading, others watching movies. Zhou Jingze sat on a chair, his brows furrowing after listening to Aunt Sheng's voice message.

Sheng Nanzhou handed him a can of cola and asked, "What's up with my mom?"

"Nothing much. She said that while walking Da Ren these past few days, she noticed it's been restless, often tearing up the house out of dissatisfaction." Zhou Jingze popped open the tab, bubbles fizzing against the aluminum.

"What's the dissatisfaction about?"

Zhou Jingze had a bit of a headache and couldn't help but laugh himself, "What else could it be? 'Hey' is upset because it's lost."

"Is it in heat? 'Hey' is a female cat, after all," Sheng Nanzhou found it quite peculiar.

"Probably so," Zhou Jingze took a sip of his cola, leaning back in his chair, "I'll get it a companion one of these days."

"Wei" was an orange tabby cat that Zhou Jingze picked up as a stray two months ago while walking his dog, Man Da Ren. Too lazy to come up with a proper name, Zhou simply called it "Wei" after his habit of constantly calling it over with "Hey, feed you this" or "Hey, feed you that."

At first, the German Shepherd and the orange tabby fought every day, and Zhou Jingze had to separate them each time. But before long, the two started curling up together to play with toys, growing closer by the day.

However, after Zhou Jingze had kept the cat for a little over a month, it ran away from home and never returned. During that time, the German Shepherd moped around for days, and Zhou even made several trips outside specifically to search for it.

But in the vast sea of humanity, how easy could it be to find a single lost cat?