The boy turned around.
It was a handsome, sunny face, with slightly tanned skin and distinct facial features, giving off a youthful, healthy vibe.
Xu Zhaodi was slightly disappointed. Although the boy was handsome, he lacked the refined demeanor she had imagined. According to the plan, she should have asked Fang Yuan to take his place, given his handsome appearance. But the moment he turned away, she changed her mind and decided to meet him herself.
After the introductions, Xu Zhaodi sat across from him. Meeting a pen pal for the first time, and one so handsome, Xu Zhaodi felt a bit nervous, her words stuttering slightly. The boy, on the other hand, was open, calm, and confident, smiling at her the entire time.
The boy's smile made Xu Zhaodi even more nervous. Her heart pounded, her face flushed as if she were wearing heavy makeup, and she hid her hands under the table, rubbing them together, feeling lost. She had so much to say to the boy, but now she couldn't utter a single word.
The boy, clearly much more experienced than she, told her to sit there and calm down while he went upstairs and ordered a huge meal: hamburgers, cola, taro, chicken legs, filling the table.
The two of them ate and talked, and their conversation was quite enjoyable. It was mainly because the boy was talkative, able to guide Xu Zhaodi along with his train of thought. If the conversation had continued like this, it would have been a wonderful date. However, things didn't go as planned. Fang Yuan, sitting alone at a nearby table, winked at Xu Zhaodi, and the boy noticed. He noticed their relationship and invited Fang Yuan to join him. Fang Yuan couldn't refuse, so the three of them sat together, and things became more complicated.
The boy was no longer calm and confident. Instead, he seemed overly excited, deliberately changing the subject of his relationship with Xu Zhaodi. He showed considerable interest in Fang Yuan's clothing and sexual interests, which embarrassed Fang Yuan, who kept stealing glances at her.
The date, of course, ended on bad terms. Xu Zhaodi, exclaiming something at school, hurried Fang Yuan away.
Back in the dorm, she slipped into bed without a word and fell asleep.
Fang Yuan couldn't persuade her otherwise.
In truth, Xu Zhaodi should have been prepared for this outcome. But she always clung to a glimmer of hope, imagining her pen pal would be different, someone who wouldn't judge a woman by her appearance. Little did she know, for boys, a woman's beauty was more important than anything else, and her pen pal was no exception.
Everyone has many sides. Her pen pal was one facet when writing to her, yet another in real life. Just like people online, their online personalities are often drastically different from their real-life ones. By the time Xu Zhaodi understood this, the beautiful dream she'd indulged for years was shattered by reality. Reality is always so cruel, it only reveals the truth after you've been bruised and bloodied.
Fang Yuan could only leave silently.
At times like this, Xu Zhaodi needed peace and quiet.
She needed quiet time to think and rest.
Fang Yuan wandered around Nanjiang Medical College alone, having nowhere else to go.
She was left alone.
This date inevitably created a rift in her friendship with Xu Zhaodi. A rift was a rift, and no matter how subtle it was, or how it was mended, the two of them would never be as close as before.
Besides Xu Zhaodi, Su Ya also lived in the girls' dormitory 441. But Su Ya had never considered the girls in the dormitory her close friends. She simply viewed the dormitory as a hostel she had to stay in, and the girls as travelers she had no choice but to share a home with.
Fang Yuan naturally didn't dare to hope to become her best friend.
At this point in the medical school, Fang Yuan couldn't find a single friend to confide in. She felt as if she were back in the days before medical school, living alone in her old house, with nothing but loneliness to keep her company.
She hated loneliness, the feeling of being cut off from the world and without anyone to confide in. This feeling had once gripped her like a nightmare, and she had only just managed to escape it.
Fang Yuan decided to go to the library to read—it was her most direct and effective way to escape loneliness. Now, only those books, gleaming with wisdom, could temporarily help her forget the pain and emptiness the world had brought her.
Arriving at the library, Fang Yuan remembered that Xiao Jing had given her a key before his death—the key to his room. He had given Fang Yuan his entire collection of books.
In fact, he didn't need to be so anxious to give her the key. He was undergoing surgery at the provincial hospital, and he needed several days of rest and observation before the surgery. He should have had plenty of time.
Could it be that he had anticipated his impending death?
Moreover, why did he choose the provincial hospital over the one affiliated with Nanjiang Medical College? Was it simply because his old classmate, Sun Changbin, was there?
Also, how could his illness have happened just as Fang Yuan, Qin Yue, and He Jianhui were arriving?
Fang Yuan had wanted to ask Xiao Jing why he was near Tao Bing'er's villa, but she never got the chance.
Because Xiao Jing had fallen ill when she arrived, and her condition worsened after she was hospitalized, and she died. Everything happened so suddenly.
And why did that mysterious black cat appear there again?
Fang Yuan suddenly wanted to go into Xiao Jing's little room and search.
In truth, she didn't know what she was looking for. She just had a vague feeling that Xiao Jing knew something but hadn't had time to tell her.
She believed Xiao Jing wasn't a bad person, but he must be hiding something from her.
Thinking of this, Fang Yuan quickened her pace, opened the iron gate, and entered the library. The other librarian glanced at her suspiciously, but didn't try to stop her. So, she hurried to Xiao Jing's small room and unlocked the door with her key.
Xiao Jing's room was covered in dust, its furnishings in disarray; it was obvious he rarely cleaned. The cleanest spot in the room was his desk, which was where he used it most frequently.
Fang Yuan searched his room for a while but found nothing of note. Xiao Jing lived a simple life, possessing almost no consumer goods beyond a few daily necessities. He had no television, computer, radio, or other electrical devices that could communicate with the outside world. Instead, his room was densely packed with books. It seemed he cared little for what was happening outside, only for these books.
Most of these books were medical and psychology, with the occasional classic foreign novel. Fang Yuan flipped through them one by one. After two hours, she was exhausted, having found no valuable clues.
What did Xiao Jing mean by giving her the key?
Fang Yuan sat dejectedly on his desk, her chin resting on her hand, gazing at the pile of books, lost in thought.
Fang Yuan pondered for a long time, still unable to come to a conclusion. However, her right hand stumbled upon a fountain pen.
It was a very old Hero brand fountain pen, the inscription on the cap worn almost to the point of being illegible. It seemed Xiao Jing had used it for a long time. What had he written with it?
Fang Yuan's mind moved, and she began to rummage through the drawers. Finally, she found Xiao Jing's notebook, tucked away at the bottom.
It turned out that Xiao Jing had a habit of writing notes. Some of these notes contained his reading notes, while others were records of his thoughts. In his final years, he meticulously and meticulously recorded his reflections and explorations on death and humanity itself.
Fang Yuan was absorbed in reading, and was quickly captivated by the contents of Xiao Jing's notes. Death, life, psychology—they all interested her.
The notes contained this passage: "Humanity has never fully understood itself. Everything in the universe is in motion, and humans can sense the movement of some particles." The eyes can sense the fluctuations of light particles, which we call vision; the ears can sense the vibrations of gases, which we call hearing; the nose can sense the vibrations of odor particles, which we call smell; the tongue can sense the vibrations of flavor particles, which we call taste; and the body can sense the vibrations of objects it touches, which we call touch. Science has proven that human thoughts are actually brain waves, which are also the vibrations of tiny particles. Why can't we sense them? Do humans lack the organs to sense these tiny particle vibrations, or have these organs degenerated?
Seeing this, Fang Yuan suddenly remembered Xiao Jing's blue eyes. His eyes had a magical power, as if they could see through her thoughts. Could it be that Xiao Jing had been researching this uncanny ability to see through others' minds? Was this what was called "telepathy"? Using one's own mind to sense another's is common among twins both in China and abroad. However, cases of telepathy between unrelated people are extremely rare and are often dismissed as witchcraft or superstition.
As the sky darkened, the light in the room grew dimmer. The room was practically sealed. With the windows and door closed, it resembled a large iron box. Fang Yuan closed her notes and prepared to leave.
Just then, she heard soft footsteps. If it weren't for the silence, she wouldn't have noticed them outside the room.
The sound was gentle, gradually approaching the room, and unexpectedly stopped just outside the door.
Then, there was the crisp sound of a key being inserted into the lock and gently twisted. Fang Yuan's heart tightened, her whole body stiffening, and she sat there unable to move.
Why would someone come to Xiao Jing's room so late? And who was he, anyway, with the key?