A Slight Smile is Very Charming (微微一笑很倾城) : Part 26

Part 26: We’re Family

It’s night time, and Wei Wei is twisting and turning on her small wooden bed.

Her roommates are already asleep after the Bedside Conference.  Only she is having trouble sleeping, but then again, maybe it’s normal for her to not be able to sleep after going through such a day.

She turns her body once more; unable to sleep.  Wei Wei sits up while holding her blanket.  She rests her chin on her knees and sighs.  She doesn’t feel worried or depressed, but she can only sigh to express all the different emotions bursting inside her.

The stuffiness in her heart seems to subside a bit after letting out a breath.

Oh, Xiao Nai.

His image floats into her head; whether he’s quiet or lively, or talking or smiling.  Therefore, the feeling returns despite she has just let out a sigh.

Wei Wei sits for a long time while hugging her blanket.  She finally feels tired and wants to sleep.  Just as she falls asleep lying down, she hears movement from the bed beside her.  She falls deep asleep and doesn’t know what happens.  Someone suddenly shakes her to wake up in the wee hours.  When she opens her eyes, she sees Er Xi standing beside her bed.  She says weakly, “Wei Wei, I’m having diarrhea.  I’ve already gone to the bathroom three times.  I don’t think I can endure it much longer.”

Wei Wei jumps up wide awake out of shock.  She quickly gets out of bed to find her some medicine.  The medicine doesn’t help; Er Xi goes to the bathroom twice in the next half an hour.  Her face is pale.  Xiao Ling and Si Si also wake up from the noise.  Feeling worried, the three of them quickly get dressed and sends Er Xi to a clinic to see a doctor.

Since the campus’ night clinic is known to be unreliable, Wei Wei and the rest don’t dare to take Er Xi there.  They exit from the West entrance, stop a cab, and go to a nearby hospital.  The doctor asks about the situation, takes a sample, and advises that Er Xi has acute gastroenteritis, and needs to receive an intravenous drip.

After Er Xi falls asleep while receiving the intravenous drip, the three of them finally feel relieved.  Since there’s no need for the three of them here, Wei Wei and Si Si decide to stay, while Xiao Ling goes back first.

Er Xi goes to the bathroom twice after receiving the intravenous drip, but feels a lot better afterwards.  Wei Wei and Si Si finally have time to take a nap, but uncomfortably.  Wei Wei wakes up shortly.  Er Xi also wakes up and seems to have recovered a lot.  Wei Wei lowers her head to look at her watch.  It’s already 7am.

Er Xi says without much strength, “Wei Wei, was it Great Master Xiao who bought the bag of snacks?”

“Yeah.”

“Sigh~~things from the Great Master (Godly) should really not be eaten.  It cannot be digested by humans like me.”

She’s already like this and yet she still has time to joke around.  Wei Wei doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.  She stands up and helps Er Xi tuck the blanket.  Wei Wei can’t help but be distracted when Er Xi mentions Xiao Nai.  It’s already 7am.  She should call the Great Master and tell him not to wait for her.  For some reason, she feels relieved learning that she will not be able to go to self-study with the Great Master.

Her mind has already left the hospital as she stares blankly into space.  Er Xi watches her while lying down.  Although Wei Wei has always been pretty, she has gotten used to it after spending so much time with her.  But now that Wei Wei is helping her tuck the blanket gently while being absent-minded with sparkling eyes, she looks prettier than ever.

The two of them continue to think in their own heads when something suddenly blocks the light in the room.  Wei Wei instinctively lifts her head and looks towards the door.

Xiao Nai stands at the door with his eyes looking at her profoundly.

 

They ride in Xiao Nai’s car on their way back to the school.  The car is of a common and low profile brand.  Wei Wei sits on the passenger side, and Er Xi, Si Si, and Xiao Ling sit in the back.

On the road, Wei Wei hears Er Xi ask Xiao Ling in a low voice, “How come Senior Xiao came?”

Xiao Ling explains quietly, “I called Da Zhong.  He’s a blabbermouth and told Senior Xiao, and then Senior Xiao said that it was convenient for him to drive.”

Er Xi says worriedly, “I still don’t think it’s right.”

Si Si says, “You don’t need to feel bad, Senior Xiao is family.”

 

Wei Wei’s face darkens as she listens to them.  Do they think that their voices are low enough?  They actually dare to say all these nonsense, saying that he’s family.  Aren’t they being overly friendly?!

Er Xi says with worry, “But, the Great Master’s car.  Us hu-……”

Wei Wei fears that she is going to say that humans will end up in a car accident sitting in the Great Master’s car, so she turns around and interrupts her, “Si Si is right.  He’s family, family!”

Everyone becomes silent in the car.  Wei Wei then realizes what she has just said out of panic; she doesn’t even have the courage to turn her body back anymore.

Xiao Nai glances with a smile at the person beside him who’s trying hard to be invisible.  He says, “Have you guys had breakfast yet?  Should we eat something before going back?”

Wei Wei cannot thank the Great Master enough at this moment.  The Great Master is actually helping her relieve the awkwardness; he’s too kind.

Xiao Ling takes a look at Wei Wei.  Seeing that Wei Wei has no intention to speak, she rejects him politely, “It’s okay, we’ve troubled Senior too much today.”

Xiao Nai smiles slightly, “We’re all family.  There’s no need to be so polite.”

Wei Wei, “……”

 

She knew it.  His kindness was only a cover……

They end up eating breakfast.  Although Er Xi doesn’t really have the appetite, her stomach is empty from diarrhea, so she ate some rice porridge nonetheless.  Xiao Nai generously gives them a ride back to the dorm.

Wei Wei walks back to the dorm room in weaker steps than Er Xi.  She immediately crawls into her bed once they arrive.

If only she could turn back time, she would definitely not have said anything.  Silence is gold!  Sigh~~It turns out that not having enough sleep really impacts one’s ability to react.

Wei Wei feels vexed while lying in bed.  She twists and turns furiously.  After rolling side to side, she falls asleep eventually.

 

She sleeps until 12pm; she was woken by the delicious smell of food.  Xiao Ling had told Da Zhong to order four lunch meals for them, but of course, Er Xi is still getting rice porridge.

Wei Wei crawls out of bed to eat, but is surprised to see Er Xi playing on the computer.  Er Xi looks way better than before, but Wei Wei is still a little worried, “You’re feeling okay now?”

Even cockroaches don’t recover so fast, do they?

“It doesn’t take a lot of effort to browse online,” Er Xi says happily, “ Wei Wei, there are a lot of threads on the school forum talking about you and Xiao Nai!  There are even photos of you two holding hands at the basketball game!”

Wei Wei, who just started eating her lunch, chokes on her food.  She leans over with her lunch box, and sees the photo of the Great Master holding her hand at the basketball game on the screen.  It seems to have been taken from far away; they look tiny, but you can still make out that it’s Bei Wei Wei and Xiao Nai.

The food seems to have become tasteless, so Wei Wei puts the lunch box on the side, and takes over Er Xi’s computer to read.

Er Xi says, “You shouldn’t read them.  There’s no content.  There just wasn’t many people believing, but when the photo got posted, it shocked everyone.  Everyone is gossiping about when the two of you started and stuff.  Haha, oh yeah, the thread about you two being the most incompatible couple also got bumped.”

Wei Wei flips through a few threads and it’s just what Er Xi says.  She gives Er Xi back her computer and continues eating, “People at our school are too nosy.”

“Oh, it’s because everyone’s having exams.  The closer we are to exams, the more we want to gossip.  This is the legendary stress relief!”

It seems to make sense, but she has become the topic of stress relief……

Wei Wei has no choice but to take a fierce bite out of her pork chop to release her anger!

 

As she’s just about done with eating, the dorm room phone rings.  Xiao Ling picks up, and shouts toward Wei Wei after a second, “Wei Wei, it’s your family’s phone call!”

Wei Wei picks up the phone in embarrassment.  After she says hi, a voice comes on.

“You woke up?”

The voice on the other end sounds deep; it seems to be different from when talking face to face.  Wei Wei suddenly realizes that this is the first time she and the Great Master are speaking on the phone.

“Mm, I’m awake.”

“Do you still want to go to self-study in the afternoon?”

“I do want to self-study, but there are probably no more spots if we go now.”

This is the key problem.  Xiao Nai hums lowly before saying, “There’s a place that’s very quiet.  I’ll take you there.”

 

*** *** ***

 

The dorm that Wei Wei resides in is newly built just a few years ago; replicating the republican style.  The building covered with red bricks looks neat and dignified.  Behind the patch of green trees, the surrounding is beautiful and captivating.  Beside the flowerbed in front of the dorm, herds and herds of pursuers often stand there with flowers or gifts all year round; it’s already a common sight.  But everything seems strange and different when it’s that person standing there.

Wei Wei sees Xiao Nai immediately the moment she steps out of the building.  Under the gazes of many, he stands quietly beside the flowerbed without a tint of uneasiness; a bike is parked beside him.

Wei Wei walks up to him with many eyes watching.  She pants a little from walking down the stairs too fast.  Her cheeks are red and her eyes are glossy.

“Where are we going?”

“I’ll take you there.”  Xiao Nai casually takes the backpack from her hands and hangs it on the bike.

 

It’s the second time Wei Wei is riding on Xiao Nai’s bike.  She feels much more natural this time round.  If she has a choice right now, she prefers to ride a bike.  She feels that she still needs more courage to walk side by side with the Great Master.  As for others looking at them while riding a bike……

Their photo has already made it online, so there’s no point in worrying.  She’ll just ignore them entirely.

Wei Wei is too unfocused to notice that they’re heading in a different direction.  When they leave the West entrance, she finally realizes, “Eh, aren’t we going to self-study?”

“The place is outside.”

 

When you leave the West entrance and make a turn, it is China’s famous computers and advanced technology valley.  Ten minutes later, Xiao Nai stops in front of a big building, and takes Wei Wei to the 6th floor.

Once they step out of the elevator, Wei Wei sees a sign that says, “Zhi Yi Technology (Devoted Technology),” in gold paint.  Something comes to her mind as she is stunned from seeing the sign.  Could this be……

“Your company?”

“Mm,” Xiao Nai opens the locked door, “come in.  It’s Sunday, so there’s no one here.”

 

Wei Wei carefully walks into the office like she’s on a pilgrimage.  She turns her head left and right slightly to look around.

Xiao Nai’s office isn’t very big.  It’s pretty much one floor.  But then again, a software company normally doesn’t need a big office anyway; it would be a waste.  There’s no one at the office right now, but it still gives off a sense of liveliness; probably due to the office set up or because of the decorations on the desks.

Xiao Nai leads her to the back.  He opens a door with the name tag, “Xiao Nai,” on it.

The Great Master’s office?

Wei Wei carefully walks in with curiosity.  She looks around at the intriguing space, and does not realize that she has been lured into a place with no one >_<

Xiao Nai turns on the air conditioning and places Wei Wei’s backpack onto the sofa.

“Is it okay to self-study here?”

Wei Wei nods and sits down on the sofa.  Xiao Nai leaves her alone and opens his computer to start working on his own stuff.

The air conditioner blows without a sound, sweeping the hot air from outside away.  In this clean and comfortable environment, Wei Wei holds a book in her hands, but can’t seem to concentrate.

Just like what the Great Master says.  This place is very quiet, but it’s so quiet that it’s scary, especially when Wei Wei finally realizes that they are the only ones here……

Not hearing a page flip, Xiao Nai glances at her, and sees that she is in a daze, so he says, “Wei Wei, come see something.”

Eh?

Wei Wei puts her book down, walks over to him, and looks on his computer screen.  On the screen, there are a few delicate and beautiful looking male and female ancient avatars.

“What is this?”

“The basic character designs for ‘Dream Voyage in Rivers and Lakes 2.’”