Chapter 8

There was a deep red cardboard box on the flower bed beside him. From the pattern and "cherries" label, it should be cherries bought for Shi Zhi.
Choosing Shen Jia as a boyfriend had been after careful consideration. She'd been very satisfied with all aspects of Shen Jia before.
Encountering this situation, Shi Zhi actually hadn't figured out what to do.
In Shi Zhi's growth process, she'd changed addresses several times, living in different relatives' homes.
The relatives didn't have great wisdom, didn't have clear and definite ways to make money, just did small businesses to make a living.
Including environments like mahjong parlors, barbershops, restaurants—Shi Zhi had lived in them for more than short periods.
She'd come into contact with all kinds of temperaments and wasn't an innocent little white flower.
Whether Shen Jia's explanations had elements of avoiding the important and dwelling on the trivial, she actually knew.
The doubts weren't eliminated, but should she really break up with him immediately because of these suspicions?
Or, observe a bit more?
Shi Zhi was silent for two seconds, giving her boyfriend a way out: "What to eat?"
Shen Jia suddenly became very happy and quickly said: "Whatever you want to eat. I drove here today, can go to any restaurant no matter how far."
"Aren't you going to the lab?"
"At least let you not be angry with me first. Otherwise I'll be distracted at the lab, inefficient."
They went to have breakfast together.
Shi Zhi didn't complain or throw a tantrum. She was fundamentally a very straightforward person. Once she made a decision about anything, she'd never nag about it.
On the way, Shen Jia kept finding topics to chat with her, looking like he really wanted to lighten the atmosphere: "That tabby cat downstairs at your dormitory, I've fed it many times, and it's still not familiar with me. Just now while waiting for you, I wanted to pet it, but it was so fierce, turned around and hissed at me..."
Shi Zhi said: "Tabby cats are smart. It knows you're a bad person who doesn't reply to your girlfriend's messages, doesn't want to pay attention to you."
While stopped at a red light, Shen Jia grabbed Shi Zhi's hand, said "I was wrong" twice, and said: "Next time something happens, I promise to report to my girlfriend in advance, won't let you worry."
Actually, after taking the call yesterday, Shi Zhi had thought about asking Shen Jia—someone as thoughtful as him, doing things almost perfectly, studying under what was said to be the strictest and harshest advisor, and never being picked on for mistakes.
What reason made him panic and lose composure once or twice without realizing it?
But she still gave Shen Jia face, smiled and said: "I'm already punishing you. Originally wanted to eat the school cafeteria's pan-fried buns, but chose a far restaurant to punish you."
They ate breakfast off campus. Shen Jia rushed to go to the lab, ran out several steps, then turned and ran back: "Wait for me to have dinner together tonight. I booked a Western restaurant. You go first, I'll find you after finishing with my advisor."
Shi Zhi went according to the location Shen Jia sent, sat in the Western restaurant on the fourth floor of the mall, waited half an hour, but didn't see Shen Jia.
She called him, but Shen Jia didn't answer.
They'd agreed to have dinner at six. Shi Zhi sat in the Western restaurant until after eight, but Shen Jia still didn't appear.
When the server came to ask Shi Zhi for the third time if she wanted to order, Shi Zhi took the menu, ordered a steak set, and slowly finished it alone.
At nine-thirty, Shi Zhi left the mall. She only received Shen Jia's call when she got back to the dormitory: "Sorry Shi Zhi, I don't know if my childhood friend has been abroad too long, but she's not adapting well to being back, has a high fever. I'm at the hospital now..."
Shi Zhi responded flatly: "Then you're busy. I've already eaten."
After that, Shen Jia called once more, but Shi Zhi didn't answer.
The next morning, Shen Jia blocked her in the aisle near the pan-fried bun stall in the cafeteria: "I went to look for you downstairs at the dormitory, ran into your roommate. She said you'd come to eat, so I..."
Shi Zhi looked at Shen Jia and suddenly interrupted: "That childhood friend of yours who came back from abroad—is it a girl?"
Shen Jia paused.
"Is it a girl?"
"...Yes."
Shen Jia grabbed Shi Zhi's hand: "But I..."
So this was the crux of the matter.
Shi Zhi had always thought that in her relationship with Shen Jia, she held the dominant position.
She thought she was mostly rational, could always know when to say what and do what was most correct, and could never lose composure.
But at this moment, she felt very wronged and very sad.
Shi Zhi's eyes reddened. Pride made her suppress the bitterness in her heart, barely keeping her voice low: "Shen Jia, you know what you're doing to our relationship, right?"
She struggled and shook off Shen Jia's hand. The white Hetian jade bracelet on her wrist flew off.
Early in the morning, Fu Xiling appearing at B University campus surprised Zhou Lang too.
Zhou Lang had been busy in the lab until after one last night. Taking the coffee Fu Xiling brought, yawning, he asked: "You've been running over here quite often lately. What's going on?"
"Fu Xifeng came back. Don't want to run into him."
"Oh..."
Zhou Lang looked like he was about to die from overwork, gulped down two mouthfuls of coffee: "Then I'll take you to the cafeteria for pan-fried buns. They're good, high popularity, comparable to that crayfish from the other day."
"Let's go."
Fu Xiling didn't mention another reason.
He wanted to see if he could run into a certain someone, and incidentally come to collect the bet.
Just entering the cafeteria, Zhou Lang elbowed him: "Hey, isn't that Shen Jia and his girlfriend? The atmosphere doesn't seem right..."
Maybe the pan-fried buns were really good. There were quite a few people near the stall.
Most people were busy with their own things, eating while reading or eating while looking at phones, but some had already put down their chopsticks to watch the show.
Fu Xiling thought about it and also walked that way.
Just a few steps, a string of white beads came flying toward him, and he caught it with a backhand.