Chapter 176: Wherever I Look, It Is All You

Song Chenyi kissed her forehead and carried her back to the bed.

"Go wash up quickly."

"No, carry me." Luo Yixia wrapped her arms around his waist, refusing to let go.

Song Chenyi sighed with helplessness, "Alright."

Luo Yixia ate her breakfast very slowly, savoring every single bite, yet it tasted like chewing wax.

Song Chenyi did not rush her either, simply accompanying her as she ate slowly.

He knew that even though she did not cry or make a fuss, it did not mean she was not hurting. She had always been so sensible.

Luo Yixia put down her bowl first.

"You're going to be late. I'll walk you to the school."

"Okay."

Song Chenyi drove them on the way, having switched back to the ordinary SUV he usually drove at home.

Luo Yixia merely leaned against the window, gazing straight ahead.

First, they had to gather at the school in the morning, and only then head to the hospital.

Luo Yixia remained completely calm, though there was no telling what she was thinking.

The car moved along the road, the surrounding scenery constantly receding in the distance.

Song Chenyi did not drive the car into the school grounds, stopping just outside instead.

"Are you coming in with me?" he asked, unbuckling his seatbelt.

Luo Yixia shook her head gently. "You go ahead. I'll wait for you here."

"Alright, don't wander off."

Luo Yixia watched his retreating figure and smiled inexplicably.

Wasn't she already content enough as it was?

People trickled in and out of the school gates sporadically.

She wondered if one day, she too would be like this, rushing off to an assigned place for her internship?

Song Chenyi had gone into the school to collect his certification, but he brought someone out with him when he returned.

Luo Yixia remembered her; her name was Xiang Xingluo, the person who had rehearsed the sketch with Song Chenyi back then.

"Senior Sister Xiang," Luo Yixia opened the car door and greeted her first.

"Hello," Xiang Xingluo smiled politely.

"Xiang Xingluo is going to the same hospital as me. We ran into each other in the professor's office, and she happens to be heading to the hospital to report for duty as well," Song Chenyi explained briefly.

Luo Yixia looked at the suitcase Xiang Xingluo was pulling and nodded. She understood what Song Chenyi meant—they were in the same class.

"Senior Sister, let me help you put your luggage in the car," Luo Yixia said, stepping forward to grab the suitcase.

"No need, I can manage," Xiang Xingluo saw that she was just a young girl and didn't want to trouble her.

Yet Luo Yixia insisted on helping lift it into the trunk, even though it was a struggle for her.

In truth, she had her own selfish motives. If she didn't do it herself, Song Chenyi might offer to help instead, but she couldn't bear the thought of Song Chenyi being nice to anyone else—neither guys nor girls. Song Chenyi belonged to her alone.

"Should I drop you home first?" Song Chenyi asked as he sat in the car.

"Just drop me off at the intersection up ahead. I'll take public transport back," Luo Yixia shook her head. She was here to see him off, not to add to his burdens.

"Mom and Dad should be back tonight, you—" Song Chenyi wanted to say something more, but he didn't know how to start. Anything he said now was pointless.

Since he was leaving anyway, what use was saying so much?

In the end, he settled for a mere parting phrase: "Take care of yourself."

Sitting in the backseat, Xiang Xingluo quietly watched the two of them talking in the front, silently pulling out her earphones, plugging them into her ears, and listening to music.

She liked Song Chenyi, from the very first moment she saw him.

There were no girls around him, and he rarely even interacted with female students in general. Countless people in the class, the department, and the school liked him, but he seemed indifferent to all of them, maintaining a cold distance from everyone.

She had thought she was different to him—that they occasionally exchanged words and discussed academic matters meant this was the entirety of his gentleness.

That was until she met Luo Yixia.

He would smile at her, speak to her in a soft voice, and for the first time, she realized he could talk this much.

It turned out he wasn't a man of few words; he simply wanted to speak to the person he loved. It turned out this was his entire capacity for gentleness, and he had given all of it to this young girl.

She had thought that if she became outstanding enough, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him, and matched his level, he would like her. Yet the person he loved—though pretty—was, as Xiang Xingluo had found out, completely unremarkable, even ordinary, with average or even poor grades. And yet, he loved her.

She had lost, without a single shred of margin, and in a way that made no sense at all. Xiang Xingluo could never have imagined she would lose to such a little girl.

The car slowly came to a halt at an intersection.

Luo Yixia took a deep breath and opened the car door.

"Senior Sister Xiang, goodbye," Luo Yixia leaned down, smiling as she waved.

"Goodbye," Xiang Xingluo smiled and nodded back.

"Send me a message or give me a call when you get home," Song Chenyi said.

"Okay, you guys be careful on the road," Luo Yixia waved.

She watched the car start up in front of her and drive away.

It finally vanished at the edge of the road.

Luo Yixia withdrew her gaze and walked slowly forward.

The winter wind swept across her face, cold and stinging.

She walked for a stretch without managing to hail a taxi, but fortunately, the subway station was not far away. It wasn't long before Luo Yixia boarded the train.

Normally the subway was packed to the brim, but today, remarkably, there were very few people.

Luo Yixia found a seat and sat down.

Right in front of her sat a young couple, heads lowered as they murmured to each other, laughing in low voices.

Luo Yixia looked away, lowering her gaze to stare at the toes of her shoes.

There was actually mud caked onto her shoes, probably picked up the other day when she was digging up the orchids.

Oh right, she still had to pot those orchid plants when she got home. She needed to go buy some ceramic flower pots first—though there should be some in the courtyard at home.

The house hadn't been lived in for over half a month, accumulating quite a bit of dust. The housekeeper hadn't returned from leave yet, and her parents were coming back tonight, so she needed to clean the place up first.

Well, and the house next door too, otherwise her mom and dad would start getting jealous again.

She had been running around wildly lately, and there was still a lot of homework left unwritten.

Thinking like that, she suddenly felt busy again.

How could she possibly have any time to miss him?

Hadn't she lived this way before, too? She would get used to it in just a few days.

Once she kept herself busy, she would get used to it and forget everything else.

Over the next few days, Luo Yixia kept herself constantly busy, even pulling a few books down from Song Chenyi's bookshelf to read in her spare time.

Though she couldn't understand most of them, she still read them from cover to cover.

In the dead of night, lying in bed, thoughts of him would surface—reminding her that just a few days ago, the two of them had been lying right here together; just a few days ago, Song Chenyi had still been acting spoiled with her.

Luo Yixia didn't call him, but they kept in touch through text messages.

Luo Yixia wouldn't text him during the day, knowing he was busy.

At night, they would exchange just a few words before she urged him to go get some rest.

During this period, Song Chenyi also made several phone calls to Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun told him that Xiaxia had been studying diligently these past few days, very seriously. She had checked on her several times, and the girl was either doing homework or reading books.

However, she also frequently dragged her out to get some fresh air, occasionally going shopping together.

Around the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, school started successively, and Yu Wenjing and Luo Hongtao returned early as well.

Luo Yixia's dorm mates had also arrived at school a day early.

To celebrate, they all went out for a meal together.

That was also when they heard that Song Chenyi had gone away for his internship, and the two of them had separated.

"So are you going to move back into the dorm?" Gan Yanyan asked with a smile.

"I'm staying at the apartment."

Actually, Song Chenyi had mentioned that she should stay in the dorms, but she hadn't agreed.

"Why? Song Chenyi isn't even around, why would you want to guard an empty room by yourself?" Lin Ya blurted out bluntly.

"You guys are too noisy; it affects my studying."

...

"Bah," Lin Ya gave her zero face.

"Since school starts tomorrow, why don't you take the chance this afternoon to go visit Senior Song?" Xu Jiayu suggested from the side.

Then all three of them stared at her.

"Right! Why didn't I think of that? Xiaxia, haven't you two been apart for ten days already? Go visit him! It's not that far. Do a surprise inspection—there are bound to be plenty of flirts around Senior Song. You should go tell them you're the real deal."

Luo Yixia shook her head. "In a bit."

"Why?"

"No reason." Luo Yixia took a sip of her milk tea. Because she could still bear it, it was still within her tolerance range, and she didn't miss him *that* badly yet—it hadn't reached the point where she absolutely had to go.

"Sometimes I really don't understand you," Lin Ya said, looking at her meaningfully.

Luo Yixia smiled.

They hung out until dusk before Luo Yixia finally headed home; she had to pack her things for school, too.

The next morning, Luo Yixia got up early to report to school.

Dragging her suitcase with one hand and resting her other hand on the doorknob, she took one final look at the bedroom before leaving.

It felt as though Song Chenyi was still in the room.

By the window desk, leaning back in his chair and flipping through pages of a book; stepping out of the bathroom just after a shower, wiping his hair with a dry towel; leaning against the sofa, head lowered as he tapped away at his laptop...

Every scene, wherever her eyes fell, was filled with him.

Luo Yixia gently pulled the door shut.

"Are you leaving so early, Xiaxia?" Zhou Yun asked, looking quite surprised.

"If I'm late, there'll be traffic," Luo Yixia replied with a smile.

"I'll drive you." Zhou Yun immediately prepared to grab her suitcase.

"Mom, it's fine, I'll take a cab myself."

"You know how hard it is to catch a cab around here, you might end up late. It's fine, Mom will drive you. My two boys stopped letting me drive them to school after the fifth grade, and I haven't even been to Chenyi's school yet."

Since Zhou Yun put it that way, Luo Yixia had no reason to refuse further.

Luo Yixia had gotten her driver's license right after high school graduation, but all these years, she never dared to drive due to a psychological barrier—she was somewhat terrified of it, and letting her drive alone made her hands shake.

Zhou Yun drove very steadily, just a bit slowly, and it took nearly an hour of crawling along before they reached the apartment.

After dropping off the luggage, they hurried over to the school.

In the car, Zhou Yun had tried to persuade Luo Yixia to move into the student dormitory instead, as nobody felt entirely at ease with her living alone in an apartment.

Yet Luo Yixia refused to budge, insisting repeatedly that she could manage.

Sure enough, the area around the school was packed with parents coming to drop off their children. Zhou Yun parked the car in an outer parking space and walked into the school with Luo Yixia.

"My teaching building is over this way, and this is Song Chenyi's. My dorm is opposite, and his is over there," Luo Yixia explained, gesturing around.

Zhou Yun had indeed never been to this campus, though she had visited the old one before.