Daydreaming about Me

Chapter 40

That night, Lin Yujing had a dream.

In the pitch-black midnight, a blood-red full moon hung in the sky. A crow flew through the chaotic shadows of trees, landing on a dry branch.

Half of Shen Juan’s face was bathed in icy blue flames, his dark, narrow vertical pupils staring straight at her. His voice was long and low, like a devil tempting her: “I want you.”

His sharp fangs pressed against his lower lip, leaning slightly to the side. He approached her ear, his fingertips sliding down from behind her ear, across her neck, artery, and collarbone, stopping at her chest: “Will you give me your body and soul, entirely?”

As he breathed, his warm, moist breath enveloped the tip of her ear, spreading down along her nerves, both gentle and ambiguous.

Lin Yujing stood frozen, unable to speak.

The next second, the scene was forcibly interrupted. The young man grabbed someone’s collar, slamming them against the wall with a bang, his expression cold and violent, like ice: “Who told you to come here?”

His eyes lowered, the corners of his eyes faintly red. The veins on the back of his hand, gripping the boy’s collar, stood out starkly, showing white: “Didn’t I tell you never to let me see you again?”

Lin Yujing suddenly opened her eyes.

After two seconds of silence, she realized she had been holding her breath, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

She came to her senses, exhaling a long breath. Supporting herself on the bed, she sat up, leaning against the headboard in a daze for a while.

Lin Yujing felt frightened.

Instinctively, she touched her ear, then her neck. From her throat to her collarbone, her cool fingertips left a warm trail on her skin, giving her the illusion that what happened in the dream was real.

Her fingers rested on her neck again, and she could even feel the thin skin over her throbbing artery.

Lin Yujing quickly withdrew her hand, tucking it under the blanket, pressing it under her thigh, her eyes wide open in silence.

So what kind of dream was this?

Why would she have such a chaotic, indescribable, somewhat strange dream?

After about five or six minutes, Lin Yujing came back to her senses, realizing that her left hand was pressing on something fluffy.

She turned her head and saw the large teddy bear in a green sweater. She had placed it by the bed before going to sleep last night.

The bedroom was dim, the heavy, luxurious blackout curtains blocking out the light completely. The teddy bear’s fluffy outline was very faint in the darkness.

Lin Yujing suddenly remembered Shen Juan standing by the roadside, wearing little red devil horns, playing with balloons.

It was kind of cute.

But then she recalled the way he looked while grabbing that boy by the neck, and it sent chills down her spine.

She remembered what Li Lin said at the beginning of the school year: “Shen Juan got into trouble in his second year of high school. He nearly beat his deskmate to death. The person was carried out covered in blood. Many students saw it. They said his expression and presence were terrifying.”

Lin Yujing shook her head, not wanting to think about it anymore. She reached for her phone on the bedside table, checking the time. It was 4:30 AM.

She had only slept for four hours.

Rubbing her tired eyes, she set a 7:30 AM alarm and lay back down, planning to get some more sleep.

She never slept in on weekends when she returned to the Fu house, though she wasn’t sure if this house was more of the Fu’s or the Guan’s.

Lin Yujing tended to think it was the Fu’s, since Fu Mingxiu had the surname Fu, presumably sharing it with his father. Unlike her, Meng Weiguo had taken the Lin family name when he married into it, so she followed Lin Zhi, carrying the Lin surname, and used to call her maternal grandparents grandpa and grandma.

The room was tightly sealed, the air conditioning always on at a low temperature. The remote control was on the vanity by the door. Lin Yujing didn’t want to get it, so she pulled the blanket up, covering half of her head, and fell into a deep sleep.

She was woken by the alarm again, at 7:15 AM. Feeling the dry cold of the bedroom, she shivered, walked to the door to turn up the air conditioning, and then went into the bathroom for a quick fifteen-minute shower.

Opening her bedroom door, she saw Fu Mingxiu, who had also just come out.

From her observations, Fu Mingxiu usually slept in when he had no classes, waking up around ten to have breakfast, then quietly going upstairs. Even if he saw her, he acted as if she were invisible.

However, recently, their relationship had started to thaw. Last week, Fu Mingxiu had even given her an orange.

An orange!

What a huge improvement! …Well.

“Right, where’s her orange?”

Lin Yujing tried hard to recall that night. Fu Mingxiu had tossed her an orange, which she took upstairs. She had an unpleasant dinner with Guan Xiangmei, got scolded by Meng Weiguo, then went to Shen Juan’s studio.

She didn’t come back that night, sneaked back the next morning to grab her backpack, and went to school, forgetting about the orange.

Lin Yujing and Fu Mingxiu were standing at the doorway of their bedroom on the second-floor hallway. She looked at him, suddenly feeling guilty.

She cleared her throat, “Morning, brother…”

Fu Mingxiu turned his head and suddenly asked, “When did you get back?”

“Last night,” Lin Yujing answered.

Fu Mingxiu nodded, walked to the stairs, and then turned back to look at her. “When I got back the day before yesterday, Auntie was cleaning your room.”

Lin Yujing didn’t respond, unsure of what he meant. There was nothing much in her room except a few clothes and basic necessities, all provided by Guan Xiangmei. She hadn’t touched any of the random little items there.

Oh, and now she had a bear among her belongings. She needed to name it.

Without speaking, Fu Mingxiu continued, “Guess what she found while cleaning?”

“What?” Lin Yujing, still thinking about naming the bear, asked instinctively.

“A rotten orange,” Fu Mingxiu said.

Lin Yujing was speechless.

“If you don’t want it, you don’t have to keep it. You don’t need to use silent methods to oppose me,” Fu Mingxiu said understandingly.

As they walked downstairs, Lin Yujing felt a bit hopeless. The small spark of friendliness between her and Fu Mingxiu seemed extinguished by the rotten orange. She quietly apologized, “I really didn’t do it on purpose. I’m sorry. I meant to take it to school to eat, but I forgot. Really.”

Fu Mingxiu’s face was dark, clearly still holding in his anger.

“I even wanted to show it off to my classmates,” Lin Yujing said sincerely, “A naturally sweet orange from Xinjiang that my brother specially brought for me to supplement my vitamin C.”

Fu Mingxiu paused, looking at her with a complicated expression.

The girl had just showered, her hair not fully dried, looking harmless and gentle.

Despite reminding himself countless times over the past two months not to be fooled by her gentle facade, Fu Mingxiu had to admit she hadn’t really done anything wrong.

After a brief pause, he continued downstairs. “Did you have a sports meet last week?”

“Oh, yeah, it just ended,” Lin Yujing said, a bit surprised. In the dining room, Guan Xiangmei and Meng Weiguo were already there. Guan Xiangmei turned around, visibly surprised to see the two talking and walking over together. She quickly adjusted her expression and smiled, “You’re up, come over.”

She turned to Meng Weiguo, “Look at the two of them, getting along so well.” Meng Weiguo smiled, “Mingxiu has a good personality, easy to get along with.”

Lin Yujing lowered her head, holding back an eye-roll. When she looked up, she saw Fu Mingxiu sitting opposite, rolling his eyes openly.

She raised her eyebrows.

Fu Mingxiu looked at her and raised his eyebrows as well.

Meng Weiguo turned to Fu Mingxiu, maintaining his authoritative demeanor. With his sharp features, today wearing gold-rimmed glasses, he looked quite dignified and mature. “Xiaoyu doesn’t have a very good personality and doesn’t have many friends. If she’s being willful, just tell her.”

Lin Yujing tapped the cold fork on the white porcelain plate, finally unable to hold back an eye-roll.

Guan Xiangmei seemed to have a preference for Western-style breakfasts, which were delicate and greasy, making Lin Yujing lose her appetite.

She began to envy Shen Juan, missing the hot soy milk, sticky rice rolls, and freshly fried dough sticks in the small alley near his home, with steaming soup dumplings that burst with flavor.

But he probably wasn’t up yet, let alone having breakfast. After all, he was someone who needed to sleep through the first two periods in the morning.

The King of Sleep.

Early Monday morning, Lin Yujing returned to school. She hadn’t brought any clothes back and wasn’t wearing her school uniform, so she needed to go to the dorm to change. Before leaving, she hesitated and decided to take her big bear with her.

As she went downstairs, Fu Mingxiu called her, handed her a bag, and she had no idea what was inside.

She took it, and without any warning, her arm was suddenly pulled down by the heavy weight. She opened the bag and saw six or seven oranges inside.

Lin Yujing looked up and said, “I see you really hold grudges.”

Fu Mingxiu seemed to be in a good mood, letting out the first genuine laugh since they met, “There’s still half a box in the kitchen. Remember to eat them next weekend to replenish your vitamin C.”

Lin Yujing was speechless.

The oranges Fu Mingxiu gave her were all very heavy, indicating they were full of juice and likely tasted good. The weight of them was a bit much for her hand, so she put them in her backpack, which made it much easier to carry.

She walked toward the subway station with her backpack full of oranges, deciding not to have Lao Li drive her because she wanted to have breakfast at the place near Shen Juan’s house. At the alley entrance, Lin Yujing turned towards Shen Juan’s studio and went to the nearby shop to buy a rice roll, adding an extra salted egg yolk.

While waiting, she glanced inside, knowing that at this time, Shen Juan probably hadn’t left the house yet.

The shop was very clean, and the middle-aged lady running it, wearing a brown apron, was friendly, “Little girl, do you like salted egg yolks?”

Lin Yujing smiled, “Yes.”

“I remember you coming here for breakfast before. You’re a pretty girl,” the lady smiled, handing her the wrapped rice roll, “Is that bear a gift from your boyfriend?”

Lin Yujing was stunned for a moment and quickly waved her hand, “Oh no, it’s not. This is—”

Won by my deskmate.

He threw twenty balloons in a row at the park’s game stall.

A low-key sharpshooter, wearing a calm “normal operation” face while showing off in the night market park, was extremely arrogant.

Lin Yujing felt a bit numb, realizing she might have been infected by Shen Juan’s attitude. This kind of childish act even made her feel a bit proud.

When Lin Yujing arrived at school, it was half an hour earlier than usual, giving her enough time to change into her school uniform and unload the heavy bag of oranges Fu Mingxiu had given her.

Probably because the air conditioning was too cold last night, Lin Yujing felt a bit dizzy. She lay on the bed in her dorm room for a while before walking to the classroom, seeing Shen Juan at the school gate.

November was coming, and the morning wind was cool. Shen Juan was wearing a black baseball jacket over his school uniform, carrying his backpack. He looked up and saw her.

He stopped and waited for her, hands in his pockets, yawning.

Lin Yujing found it intriguing that since the first time she saw him in class, Shen Juan always yawned whenever he saw her in the morning.

She quickened her pace to catch up, and they walked into the school building together. Lin Yujing turned her head, “You’re here pretty early today. I should have waited for you.”

Shen Juan, looking a bit confused and mumbling with a nasal tone, replied, “Hmm?”

Lin Yujing sniffed, “I went to the rice roll shop near your house for breakfast this morning. I didn’t call you because I thought you wouldn’t come this early.”

“Ah, their rice rolls are delicious. I like the tiger skin eggs,” Shen Juan said lazily, still not fully awake, “Next time, remember to call me.”

Lin Yujing glanced at him, “I didn’t know you liked tiger skin eggs.”

Shen Juan looked down, “Yeah, why?”

“Don’t you add salted egg yolks?” Lin Yujing asked.

Her backpack was almost empty, so she carried it by hand from the dormitory. The strap dragged on the ground as she went up the stairs.

“I don’t,” Shen Juan bent down, took her backpack, and lifted it, “It’s dragging on the ground.”

Lin Yujing, still in shock that someone wouldn’t eat salted egg yolks, said, “Do you add salted egg yolks when eating zongzi? I’ve had the meat and egg yolk ones from your area, and they’re delicious. I only want to eat the salted egg yolks inside.”

Shen Juan said, “I eat meat zongzi, but not with salted egg yolks.”

Lin Yujing nodded, “Then let’s make a deal: when you eat zongzi, I’ll eat the salted egg yolks,” she sighed wistfully, “When will they put three salted egg yolks in a meat zongzi?”

Shen Juan turned his head, “Do you want that?”

Lin Yujing, “Hmm?”

Shen Juan said, “A meat zongzi with three salted egg yolks.”

“Ah,” Lin Yujing thought for a moment, “It doesn’t have to have meat, can it be all salted egg yolks?”

“Sure,” Shen Juan chuckled, “You can have whatever you want.”

They climbed to the fourth floor and walked toward their classroom. As they turned the corner, they saw Li Lin in the hallway. He had just finished his weekend homework and was leaning into the classroom window to chat.

Seeing them, Li Lin waved, “Why didn’t you come on the last day of the sports meet?”

“My leg was hurting,” Lin Yujing casually said as she entered the classroom, put down her backpack, and sat down.

Li Lin nodded, “Oh,” not daring to ask Shen Juan, just patted the desk corner, “You missed a lot.”

Lin Yujing cooperatively asked, “What happened?”

Li Lin picked up his chrysanthemum tea. The weather was cold, so his thermos had upgraded, looking sturdier and promising excellent insulation.

He took a slow sip and began, “Well, on that day—Friday, the last day of the sports meet, it was partly cloudy with a northwest wind of 3-4 levels, air quality at 75…”

Shen Juan yawned again, leaned against the wall, and started playing with his phone. Lin Yujing rolled her eyes, not wanting to pay attention, and turned away.

Li Lin quickly grabbed her chair, “Hey, hey, I’ll tell you. Class 7 declared war on our class.”

Lin Yujing turned back around.

“During the 4×100 relay after the sports meet, we drew lots and Class 7 was next to our lane. They were originally first, but they dropped the baton, so we became first,” Li Lin paused, continuing, “Then their class monitor said someone from our class hit their hand, causing the drop. The teachers all came over, but it was no use. It almost turned into a fight.”

Lin Yujing raised an eyebrow, “Did you lose?”

Li Lin, exasperated, “Lin, why are you so violent?”

“Oh,” Lin Yujing touched her nose, “So how was it resolved?”

Li Lin said, “Their class monitor said we’ll settle it with a basketball game after this month’s exams. If we lose, we’ll give them the first-place relay certificate.”

Lin Yujing thought, how youthful. Such a mature wager!

She patted Li Lin’s shoulder in comfort, “Don’t worry, our class may not be good at studying, but we have a lot of good basketball players! We’ll win.”

She sincerely praised him, “You guys are good at these activities, otherwise our grades wouldn’t be this bad.”

Li Lin was speechless.