Chapter 306 Weekend

On weekends, 409 is as empty as an old house that has been emptied of its furniture.

Cheng Yue left on Friday afternoon. His high school classmate was studying at a university in a neighboring city, and they had arranged to get together this weekend. When he left, he was carrying a backpack, with half a loaf of bread in his mouth, and mumbled, "Brothers, I'll be back Sunday night," before the door slammed shut.

Fang Yuzhou left early Saturday morning. He was participating in an off-campus programming competition and was going to the main campus to discuss the solution with his teammates.

He left home just as dawn was breaking, moving as quietly as a cat. Zhou Heng vaguely heard the sound of the door lock, turned over, and went back to sleep.

Saturday sunlight peeked through the gaps in the curtains, drawing a thin, long, bright line on the dormitory floor.

When Zhou Heng woke up, he glanced at his phone: 7:20. It was an hour later than usual; his biological clock had finally compromised on a morning with no classes and no other plans.

On the opposite bed, the blankets were bulging, and Xiao Jue was still asleep.

His breathing was long and even, and occasionally he would turn over, the sound of the blanket being pulled was muffled, like a fish turning over underwater.

Zhou Heng moved even more gently than usual. He minimized the rustling sound of the fabric when folding the blankets, made sure each step was firm and steady when going down the ladder, and closed the bathroom door while brushing his teeth, turning the water flow to the lowest setting.

After he finished tidying up and sat down at his desk to pick up the book "One Hundred Years of Solitude" that he hadn't finished reading yet, the only sounds in the room were the low hum of the air conditioner and the slight creaking of the bed when Xiao Jue occasionally turned over.

This quietness is not unpleasant.

Xiao Jue woke up after nine o'clock.

He first stretched out a hand from under the covers, felt around next to the pillow, found his phone, squinted at the time, and then slowly sat up in bed like a piece of sawn-down wood, his hair sticking up in a mess, staring blankly for a while with sleepy eyes.

"Where are the two of them?" Xiao Jue's voice, hoarse from just waking up, came from above.

"I'm leaving," Zhou Heng said, turning a page of his book without looking up.

Xiao Jue sat for a while longer before climbing down from the upper bunk. He stepped barefoot onto the cold floor tiles, slipped on his slippers, and went to wash up.

When he came out again, he was all clean and tidy. He had changed into a dark blue hoodie, his hair had been rinsed with water and was no longer sticking up like a bird's nest, and there were still traces of water droplets on his face.

He opened the refrigerator door—the small refrigerator was one he had moved from home in the second week of the semester, Cheng Yue had asked him if he was here to study or on vacation—took out a carton of milk, poured two glasses, placed one on his own desk, and took the other to Zhou Heng's desk corner.

"Want some or not?"

Zhou Heng glanced at the glass of milk, said "thank you," picked it up, and took a sip.

Xiao Jue sat down in his chair, crossed his legs, held his milk glass, and scrolled through his phone for a while.

The room was quiet for a while.

Xiao Jue put down his phone, glanced at Zhou Heng, and then looked out the window.

The sun was shining brightly; the late autumn sun was neither harsh nor scorching, gently spreading across the ginkgo trees outside the window, making the already yellowing leaves almost transparent, like layers of thin gold foil trembling softly in the wind.

"What are you doing today?" Xiao Jue asked.

Zhou Heng thought for a moment, "Nothing."

"Reading?"

"Um."

"Want to watch for a whole day?"

Zhou Heng didn't answer. He really didn't have any plans; the weekend wasn't much different for him from any other day—reading, eating, running, sleeping. The day passed by just like that, uneventful, but not particularly difficult.

Xiao Jue placed the milk glass on the table with a soft sound.

"Then let's go for a walk," he said. "The weather's so nice, it's such a waste to stay cooped up in the dorm. You haven't been to that shopping district next to the school yet, have you? There's a new mall there, and I heard there's a pretty good bubble tea shop on the basement level."

Zhou Heng's finger hovered over the edge of the page, without turning it.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Xiao Jue added, "Just browsing around, it won't take up much of your time. You can come back anytime you want."

He spoke very softly, as if afraid of disturbing something.

Zhou Heng raised his head and met Xiao Jue's gaze.

"Okay," Zhou Heng said.

Xiao Jue smiled, stood up, and went to change his shoes.

Zhou Heng clipped the bookmark to the box, closed the book, and stood up. He finished the glass of milk on the table, washed the glass, put it away, then picked up his coat, zipped it up, and neatly turned up the collar.

Xiao Jue had already changed his shoes and was standing at the door waiting for him, scrolling through his phone. He looked up when he heard him approaching.

The two of them went out one after the other. The corridor was quiet; most people were still sleeping in. The late autumn wind blew in from the window at the end of the corridor, carrying a cool and clean scent.

There were only the two of them in the elevator. Their silhouettes were reflected on the metal wall, one tall and one short, but not by much difference.

As soon as I stepped out of the dormitory building, the sunlight hit me, bathing my entire silhouette in a warm glow.

The ginkgo leaves rustled overhead, and when the wind blew, a few leaves twirled and fell, like a flock of butterflies returning late.

Go out of the school's west gate, cross a tree-lined avenue with plane trees, and then cross another traffic light to reach the commercial district.

The mall is a modern gray-white building with glass curtain walls that reflect bright but not glaring light in the sunlight.

There are shrubs of unknown name growing in the flower bed by the entrance. Their leaves are a deep green and they are trimmed neatly and rounded.

Because it was the weekend, there were more people in the mall than usual.

Most of the people were nearby residents and school students, strolling around in twos and threes. There were young parents pushing strollers, couples holding hands, and a group of chattering girls pouring out of a jewelry store, their laughter as crisp as glass beads scattered on the ground.

Zhou Heng walked to Xiao Jue's right, his gaze quietly sweeping over the surrounding shops and pedestrians.