Chapter 303 Quiet

Night deepened. The crowds on the second floor of the cafeteria gradually dispersed, leaving only a few tables still lit.

Cheng Yue ate to his heart's content, patted his stomach, and said he was going to take a walk on the playground to digest his food. Fang Yuzhou was dragged along by him.

The two walked ahead, and at the corner of the stairs, they could still hear Cheng Yue muttering, "This braised pork is really good today," as the sound faded into the distance and gradually became inaudible.

Zhou Heng didn't rush to leave. He ate his rice slowly, leaving only a small portion of rice in his bowl. The plate of steamed sea bass was almost empty, and at some point, Xiao Jue had placed the last piece of fish belly meat on the edge of his bowl, which he then ate quietly.

Xiao Jue leaned back in his chair, one hand resting on the edge of the table, his thumb unconsciously tapping lightly on the surface.

He didn't urge him or say anything, just sat there casually, watching Zhou Heng put the last few mouthfuls of rice into his mouth.

The cafeteria staff started tidying up the tables and chairs in the distance, turning the plastic chairs upside down on the tabletops with a series of dull thuds.

"Let's go." Zhou Heng put down his chopsticks.

The two people went downstairs one after the other. The steps at the entrance of the cafeteria were covered with the light of the streetlights, which was dim and soft, casting long and faint shadows.

To get from the cafeteria to Building 13, you have to walk along a path lined with sycamore trees. The leaves of late autumn haven't all fallen yet, rustling overhead. When the wind blows, they scatter a series of soft sounds, like someone turning the pages of a thick book in the distance.

They walked side by side, with a half-step between them. Xiao Jue took long strides, but he walked slowly, so Zhou Heng didn't need to adjust his pace to keep up.

There was a short queue at the dormitory gate, mostly students who had finished dinner and were heading back.

The sound of cards being swiped echoed throughout the room, occasionally interspersed with greetings and pleasantries to the dormitory supervisor.

Once inside the elevator, the space suddenly felt cramped, and the bright white lights illuminated the outline of Zhou Heng's profile on the elevator wall.

Xiao Jue stood half a step behind him, his gaze fixed on the floor display above the elevator buttons, the numbers jumping up and down.

The door to room 409 was ajar. Fang Yuzhou and Cheng Yue had not yet returned, and the room was quiet.

After entering the room, Zhou Heng first washed his hands, getting rid of the fishy smell and the smoky atmosphere of the cafeteria. Then he sat down at his desk and turned on the desk lamp.

He bought that desk lamp when school started. The lamp arm was silver-gray and could be bent at will. The lampshade was small, only the width of a palm, and the light source was very focused, just enough to illuminate a small area on the desk in front of him, without affecting the people next to him.

He pulled a professional book from the drawer, flipped through it, removed the bookmark and tucked it under his left palm, turned to that page, and started reading from a certain line in the middle.

When Xiao Jue came out of the bathroom, he had changed his clothes: dark gray lounge pants and a white short-sleeved shirt.

He took out his earphones from the drawer, hesitated for a moment, and didn't put them on. He picked up his phone, then put it down again.

Finally, he simply pulled out a chair and sat down, casually crossing his long legs under the table, his back sinking into the chair, his posture as relaxed as something softened by the sun.

"You do your thing, I'm going to play on my phone for a bit," he said.

Zhou Heng hummed in agreement, his gaze remaining fixed on the pages of the book.

The light from the table lamp fell on his profile, casting a thin layer of warm hue on the curve of his brow bone, the line of his nose, and the contour of his jaw.

The shadow of the eyelashes falls under the eyes, trembling slightly as the eyeballs move, like the fluttering of dragonfly wings in the air.

The page turned with a very soft sound, almost silent.

Time flowed quietly. The air conditioner hummed softly and continuously, like someone who refused to sleep humming the same melody in the distance. Occasionally, a laugh or two would pass by downstairs outside the window, quickly fading away like pebbles thrown into a lake, the ripples spreading out a few circles before returning to stillness.

Fang Yuzhou and Cheng Yue never returned. Cheng Yue sent a message in the group saying that they ran into their classmates on the playground and were playing shuttlecock.

Xiao Jue glanced at the message, didn't reply, dimmed the screen's brightness, and continued scrolling through his phone listlessly.

He had already scrolled through all the social media apps he used today. Some people were showing off the new desserts from the cafeteria on their WeChat Moments, some were complaining about how difficult the advanced math homework was, and some were forwarding recruitment posts from clubs.

Later, he opened a game, turned the volume down to the minimum, and the light from the screen reflected on his face, flickering on and off. But his operation was not as focused as usual, and his fingers moved lazily, as if he opened the game just to find a less boring way to pass the time during quiet moments.

He would occasionally look up, his gaze passing over the top edge of his phone screen and landing on the silhouette across from him, illuminated by a warm-colored table lamp.

Xiao Jue put down his phone and got up to pour himself a glass of water.

The water dispenser by the door made a few gurgling noises, which sounded somewhat out of place in the quiet room.

He subconsciously turned his head to glance at Zhou Heng.

"Want me to pour you a glass too?" Xiao Jue asked in a low voice, holding up the glass in his hand.

Zhou Heng raised his eyes and glanced at him through the light of the table lamp.

"it is good."

Xiao Jue took the water glass from his table and walked over.

He filled a glass with about half a glass of warm water and placed it on Zhou Heng's desk.

Xiao Jue sat back down in his chair, this time without touching his phone.

He folded his hands behind his head, looked up at the ceiling, and slowly moved his gaze away from the fluorescent light tube, along the thin crack in the corner of the wall, and finally landed on the small halo of light cast on the ceiling by the table lamp opposite.

It was probably past eleven o'clock.

Occasionally, there would be a few footsteps in the corridor, the sound of people returning home late talking and laughing in hushed tones. The sound of a key being inserted into a lock was crisp and short. Doors opened and closed, and all the sounds were separated into blurry and distant fragments by the doors.

Zhou Heng closed the book and placed it in the upper left corner of the table, stacked with several other books.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes slightly.

At 11:40, Fang Yuzhou returned home. He entered very quietly, but the sound of the door lock still rang out crisply in the quiet room.

He was visibly taken aback when he saw that Zhou Heng still had the desk lamp on, and when he saw that Xiao Jue was sitting in the chair not asleep, he paused for a moment.

He didn't speak, but Chong Xiaojue nodded slightly, then quietly took the toiletries from the cabinet and went to the bathroom.

Xiao Jue had turned his chair around at some point, so that it faced his desk.

His phone was standing on the table, the screen lit up, displaying the interface of a video app, but the video wasn't playing.

When Fang Yuzhou came out after washing up, the motion-activated lights in the corridor were startled by the sound of his footsteps. A small sliver of pale yellow light squeezed in from under the door and quickly went out again.