Chapter 3

Regarding Shen Jia's brief loss of composure, Shi Zhi didn't question him.
Of course, she also had suspicions, but Shen Jia chose to continue the lie after returning.
A DJ that regular customers were very excited about must have appeared in the bar, suddenly erupting in cheers, deafening. Shen Jia very naturally grabbed Shi Zhi's wrist that was holding a fork: "Wait."
He knew Shi Zhi liked cherries, so he put the two cherries from his piece of cake onto the cake plate she was holding.
Shen Jia said: "I'll take the rest of the cake back later. My girlfriend's cake is so delicious, can't waste it. I'll let my parents try it too. They asked me on the phone just now if I had eaten the cake."
Shi Zhi swallowed the chocolate cream and turned to look into Shen Jia's eyes.
The cool-toned light falling in his eyes also appeared soft. She thought, it turns out it wasn't just her—even Shen Jia's gentle eyes could hide thoughts when determined to deceive someone.
Shi Zhi understood Shen Jia's attitude very clearly.
No matter what that Weibo comment was about, he wasn't planning to mention it to her.
For no particular reason, Shi Zhi intuitively felt that Shen Jia's loss of composure was related to a girl.
But after that day, Shen Jia didn't show any other suspicious behavior.
He was still the same as before, occasionally appearing downstairs at the dormitory to bring Shi Zhi breakfast.
When not busy, he would also invite Shi Zhi to dinner, then walk her back to the dormitory building: "Go up quickly, I'm leaving too. I'll video call you when I get home."
Shen Jia was a local, didn't live on campus much, and would go home when he had time.
She heard his parents had bought him property in the same community, but Shen Jia didn't go to his own place much, saying he wanted to spend more time with his parents.
Shi Zhi had seen Shen Jia's room in video calls. Someone excellent from childhood, his bookshelf had many awards and trophies.
She had noticed that recently when Shen Jia said he was going home, he wasn't lying, and his habit of video calling her before bed hadn't changed.
Just as Shi Zhi was almost letting down her guard, Shen Jia showed some clues again.
That was a Friday evening more than half a month later. Shi Zhi and Shen Jia were eating at a food street not far from school.
Also eating with them were two of Shen Jia's friends. During the meal, Shen Jia would pick up his phone and look at it from time to time, putting it down with the screen facing the table.
Shi Zhi noticed this, seemingly unintentionally glanced at Shen Jia twice, then pretended nothing had happened and continued listening to the other two's conversation.
Shen Jia's friend mentioned a concert at Workers' Stadium and asked if Shi Zhi and the others were interested in going together.
Shi Zhi shook her head: "You guys go ahead. I'm going back to my uncle's house to visit relatives this weekend."
The concert was by an older singer who wasn't very popular anymore, but many nostalgic golden songs were his. Shen Jia seemed quite interested, put down his phone, and asked when it was.
"I'll send you the concert promotion website. Look at these two show times. Tickets are hard to get, so we need to decide early and wait in line."
When the friend spoke, Shen Jia happened to take off his disposable gloves covered in spicy oil, raised his hand to call the server to add dishes, and didn't hear clearly.
The friend repeated it and urged Shen Jia to check the website link he had received on his phone.
Shi Zhi wore transparent disposable gloves, pinching the middle section of a crayfish and pulling off the head.
Shen Jia was very busy during school, close with teachers, and helped his advisor handle many things, so his phone was never set to ring or silent mode.
The former was too loud, the latter easy to miss important calls. For Shen Jia, vibration mode was most convenient.
But just now when Shen Jia received the website link from his friend, his phone had no notification.
What reason made him frequently check his phone yet still use silent mode?
Like before, Shi Zhi kept this question in her heart.
She wasn't planning to break up with Shen Jia, so she wouldn't do anything impulsive. She just silently noted these suspicious points, planning to wait and see.
Shen Jia turned around at this moment: "Really not going to the concert? I'm free for the later show."
"Need to accompany my uncle and aunt."
In front of Shen Jia, Shi Zhi always appeared very quiet.
She only sat on the front half of the plastic chair, back straight, slowly peeling crayfish.
The crayfish restaurant was very popular. Customers were almost all students from nearby universities and nearby residents.
Customers these days weren't stupid and didn't really buy into the restaurant industry's advertising and marketing anymore. Hype alone couldn't keep people.
Like this restaurant, the sign and light box didn't look expensive, dim lights, and the decoration wasn't particularly high-end, but all thirty-plus tables were occupied, and new customers kept pouring in, pulling staff aside to ask how long the wait would be.
Someone squeezed past from behind. Shi Zhi moved her chair forward to make room for others.
Shen Jia was discussing concert times with friends when he heard the commotion, turned around, and saw the sparse pile of crayfish shells in front of Shi Zhi.
He smiled, picked up two crayfish onto the plate, and put his gloves back on: "Shi Zhi, let me help you peel them."
When Fu Xiling arrived at the agreed location, Zhou Lang had only just arrived a few minutes earlier and was standing by a messy table, waiting for the server to clean it up.
"Xiling, over here."
Fu Xiling dodged through the crowd and came over, standing next to Zhou Lang, scanning the surroundings: "No other empty tables?"
"This restaurant is popular, packed all day. Not having to wait in line is already good luck for us two. Where would other empty tables come from?"