To Covet (GL) - Chapter 56

On the way to Xizhou, we planned to stop at a famous scenic spot, but upon arrival, before we even had time to drop off our luggage, the lead teacher and coach urged us to gather. We then followed the main group to Xizhou No. 1 High School—where we would have classes for the next few days—collected our materials, and listened to a lecture by the school principal. By the time everything was finished, it was almost dinner time.

There was absolutely no free time. The teacher leading our group carefully warned us not to go out casually, fearing we minors would cause trouble.

After the unexciting talk, she tried to appease us by asking if we wanted hotpot or barbecue.

I chewed on a slice of meat, taking a deep breath of the smoke-filled air. I only felt weary and sleepy, wanting to go back and lie down on the big hotel bed. I made an excuse, reporting that I wasn’t feeling well and needed to return early.

Unable to dissuade me from going back alone, she called a taxi for me and stressed that I must message her immediately upon arrival at the accommodation.

My WeChat, which I hadn’t checked all day, was piled high with messages. After talking to my grandmother and aunt on the phone, I had already taken the elevator and was standing at the room door.

All the messages accumulated throughout the day had been scrolled through several times in the car. Yu Zhouwan’s small chat window was pushed so far down that I needed to flip the page to see it. I set it to “pin to top,” but then thought the displayed time was too conspicuous, so I simply deleted it, choosing peace of mind over seeing it.

Lying down, I found myself wide awake. I closed my eyes for a while, then simply got up to preview the lessons I would be studying in the coming days.

As I studied, I actually got engrossed. After solving an entire complex geometry problem, I reached for the answer key and realized the buzzing vibration hadn’t stopped for a long time. I fumbled around, searching for my phone. Finally, as I pulled a book, it slid off the bottom shelf of the cabinet on my right and dropped to the floor, cracking the screen protector.

There were two missed voice calls.

I dialed back without hesitation. Hearing the continuously looping marimba music, a nameless irritation suddenly swept over me. It felt as if the root of my anxiety and fatigue was these unexpected missed calls, which arrived just after I had finally managed to put my phone down.

It felt as though losing contact with Yu Zhouwan for a day was some colossal emergency. Even when I allowed my thoughts to wander, I kept thinking of the discarded flowers and the person who had given them to her.

Although the flower choice showed poor taste, Yu Zhouwan had clearly been preoccupied with them. Perhaps the reason for her argument with Shi Yunya last night was also related to this person.

“I went to the art studio today and didn’t have time to check messages,” I finally came to. I realized the voice call had been silent for nearly half a minute. Yu Zhouwan was the first to speak to me. “My phone was in my bag the whole time. It’s covered in paint; it wasn’t convenient to take out.”

I replied with a flat “Oh,” making no effort to hide my disbelief.

“My studio teacher took on a project for a youth art exhibition that requires a wall mural, so I went to help.” Yu Zhouwan explained unhurriedly. “There’s going to be a big temperature drop in a few days. Art students are busy with joint exams and school-specific tests, and a lot of university students have gone home, so we’re short-handed. We’re rushing to finish it early.”

It was rare for Yu Zhouwan to speak so much in one breath. For a moment, I almost suspected she had prepared her defense in advance, which was why she proactively called me to explain.

“Did you just get home?” I picked up the red marker pen that had dropped to the floor. “Sister.”

It was a slightly unfamiliar address. I felt myself unconsciously clenching my jaw when I said those two words.

“…Mhm.” She paused for a moment before answering. “Was your day smooth?”

“It was alright. No classes today, just picking up materials,” I sat by the window and cracked it open slightly to relieve the stuffiness from the air conditioner. “Where is this art exhibition?”

“By the canal.”

“Did you go anywhere else?”

“No, no time,” Her voice sounded faint, like a saturated sponge being roughly wrung out. “I didn’t go anywhere else.”

“So you’re back at your accommodation now? Did you book a hotel or a homestay? Did you eat dinner?”

Yu Zhouwan rattled off a series of questions. I didn’t even have time to utter a complete sentence, only managing short responses of “mhm.”

“Keyi, get some rest early.”

I had the odd illusion that Yu Zhouwan was pronouncing my name very heavily, as if deliberately trying to make someone else hear.

“I’m still previewing the lessons…”

Before I could finish, she abruptly hung up the phone.

My fingertip was cool and a bit sticky. I looked down and saw that the ballpoint tip of the red pen I had just picked up was broken. Ink was leaking from the tip, blooming across the paper.

When Gao Rui returned, she brought me a bowl of chicken noodle soup and asked if I felt better and if I needed to see a doctor.

I replied that Xizhou was just too wet and cold, and I would adjust in a couple of days.

“Well, remember to eat the noodles while they’re hot, or they’ll get sticky when they cool down,” Qian Xinming glanced at my scratch paper. “Oh God, geometry… I’m terrible at geometry. I hate problems that require drawing… especially circles…”

“It’s not bad. The final question in the algebra section isn’t necessarily easy either. I can’t understand functions and calculus at all.” I stretched.

“By the way, Yu Keyi, do you have a power bank?” Gao Rui rummaged through her backpack and suddenly looked up to ask me. “I lent it to Teacher Li earlier and forgot to get it back.”

I woke up again, jolted awake by the heat. The blanket and clothes were tangled together, drenched in sweat.

Qian Xinming and Gao Rui were sound asleep. I carefully slipped out of bed, found the remote control that had fallen into the bed seam, and turned down the air conditioner.

I washed my face and leaned against the window, looking out for a while. Just as the sticky sweat on my body had mostly evaporated and I was preparing to lie back down to coax sleep back, the screen of the phone on the cabinet suddenly lit up, overly conspicuous in the dark room.

It was just past four in the morning.

I remembered plugging it in before bed, but at some point, I must have knocked the charging port loose while turning over. The battery was still under 30% after the whole night.

“I can’t sleep.”

That was three hours ago.

“If it rains tomorrow, I won’t have to go painting.”

“I still can’t sleep. My sleep has been bad for the past two days.”

Two hours ago.

“I watched a show for a while. There’s nothing I really want to watch.”

“When does your training end? A week? Ten days?”

“Are you coming back before the New Year?”

An hour ago.

The last message sent was retracted.

If a certain app hadn’t sent me a notification, I probably would have just fallen asleep and missed these messages.

I softly closed the bathroom door and sat on the vanity, letting my legs dangle to relieve the pressure of my body weight. The porcelain tiles of the vanity were cold. I bent over, resting my head on my thighs, curling up to retain body heat.

I typed and deleted things in the chat box. Finally, with nothing left to say, I frustratingly sent her a string of question marks.

“Not asleep?”

“Got up to pee…” I typed an ellipsis several times. A long string of black dots piled up on the narrow screen, creating a sense of irrational chaos. “I can’t sleep without you, Sister.”

Yu Zhouwan didn’t reply. I was about to go back to bed when the screen lit up again.

“Yu Keyi, are you still there?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Tonight, before going to sleep, I tried… masturbating, but I couldn’t feel anything when I touched myself.”

There was heavy breathing on the other end of the connected call.

I could almost visualize her curled up under the covers, her exhaled breath causing red and green dots to flash on the screen, and the expression on her face as she bit her lip while hesitantly sending that line of text.

I turned on the showerhead. The sound of running water masked my breathing and speech.

“Mhm…?” Yu Zhouwan didn’t understand why I had suddenly called her, but all she could hear was the sound of water. “Are you… showering right now?”

“Sister, don’t hang up,” I pressed the hot phone to my ear. “Right now, masturbate for me to listen to.”