Chapter Twenty-Five

"I had better wait for the right moment to tell Zimo; telling her now would only worry her." Yu Xingyue stood up and returned to the internet cafe. The only difference was the strange gaze of Xia Qinyumei, who kept staring at him. He had called her by her real name, and while she had asked Liu Hailizi about it, Yu Xingyue didn't really care—if she knew, she knew.

He sat down next to Xia Qinyumei and began working as if nothing had happened. His calm demeanor didn't look like that of someone who had just narrowly escaped death at the hands of Honda Haoyun. Yu Xingyue felt a sense of relief; he was surprised that anyone in this world cared whether he lived or died. Here, he had no friends and no one to rely on but himself. Perhaps, he thought, his social circle was finally expanding a little.

Even while sitting beside him, Xia Qinyumei kept staring. It seemed to be the same as last time—the same time, the same place. To distract her, Yu Xingyue said, "Tell me, Yumei, why do you keep looking at me? Do you like me or something?" Since she already knew his real name, there was no need to hide behind a pseudonym.

"Who likes you? And you used my real name again! Be careful, or I’ll beat you up!" Xia Qinyumei restrained the length of her sentences. Every time she spoke, she was holding back; previously, due to uncontrollable circumstances, her speech had often exceeded twenty characters. Now, Xia Qinyumei was on guard against Yu Xingyue, determined to keep her word count under twenty.

"There you go. You keep staring at me, making me nervous. I feel like you're a landlady coming to collect rent." Yu Xingyue wasn't joking. Her expression really looked exactly like a landlady demanding payment, as if she were saying, "You’ll regret it if you don't pay the rent!" The thought lingered in his mind, and he couldn't help but find it funny.

Xia Qinyumei didn't know why Yu Xingyue was laughing. It wasn't a genuine smile, but a facade—the kind he used to ease an awkward situation. Honestly, he had always been like this; even if a joke wasn't funny, he would pretend it was. It was exhausting. Someone who smiles at you all day isn't necessarily happy; they are often deeply saddened.

"Just pretend you didn't hear what happened earlier. I won't mind." After saying this, Yu Xingyue went upstairs. Before Xia Qinyumei could say anything, she whispered to herself, "That smile just now... why did it feel so lonely?" She couldn't escape her own intuition, and she had guessed the truth.

Back in his room, Yu Xingyue sat on his chair and burst into tears. He was releasing the pressure that had been suffocating him. Only by crying could he let go of all the stress and unhappiness. He knew that crying might only make him feel more melancholic, but he didn't mind just this once.

He couldn't let anyone know he was crying; they would only see him as a crybaby, soft-hearted and fragile. He stifled his sobs, even though the room was soundproof. "Why am I crying? Why?" He realized he was crying but had already forgotten the reason why.

Afterward, the pressure lifted, and he felt much lighter. He wiped his eyes with a tissue and waited for the redness to fade before heading back down. As he descended, he felt a voice in his mind calling him: "Yu Xingyue, Yu Xingyue."

"Who are you?" he asked, but the voice vanished without a reply. He dug at his ear and looked out the window, but no one was there. What was that? Perhaps it was just auditory hallucination. He didn't dwell on it and returned to the main floor.

"Why did it take so long? Trying to slack off?" Xia Qinyumei asked. She was suspicious of his long absence. That was just like her—she believed work should be treated seriously. She was disappointed in his performance, though Yu Xingyue hadn't quite recovered yet.

"It’s not what you think. How could I slack off? Besides, if I were to slack off and leave everything in the cafe to you, I’d be delighted! You can finish the work, and I’ll be sure to thank you for your efforts. Hard work always pays off."

"There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Are you just daydreaming?" Xia Qinyumei teased. Just then, Liu Hailizi returned from her errands. Xia Qinyumei immediately grabbed her hand and asked, "Boss, can you tell me his real name? He called me by my real name while you were gone."

"He called you by your real name?" Liu Hailizi looked at Yu Xingyue with half-doubt. Yu Xingyue nodded helplessly from behind; it had been an unconscious slip of the tongue. Since he admitted it, Liu Hailizi had no choice but to explain. She posed a question to Xia Qinyumei: "Do you know the name of the only boy in our class?"

"Xingyue-kun... could it be..." Xia Qinyumei looked at him instinctively. Could this person be Yu Xingyue? Why did his fake name have to be 'Victor'? She thought about it—the last two characters of 'Victor' (Weikeduo) in Chinese, 'Hugo' (Yuguo), contained the 'Yu' (Rain) that represented Yu Xingyue. The person before her was indeed Yu Xingyue!

Xia Qinyumei couldn't believe it. "Teacher, are you lying to me? Is this Xingyue-kun? Don't play such jokes on me." She didn't know why she was so agitated. Perhaps it was the realization that the only boy in their class was working here with her, and the rumors that would surely follow.

When Yu Xingyue heard Xia Qinyumei call Liu Hailizi 'Teacher', he realized the cat was out of the bag. Liu Hailizi’s previous words had already exposed her identity. Xia Qinyumei was stunned; she had never imagined her boss was also her teacher. It completely shattered her perception of her—was this truly the gentle teacher who stood at the podium?

"Yumei, I know this is hard to accept, but this is what you see. Even if you want to run away, it won't change anything; it will only make you suffer more," Yu Xingyue advised. Seeing her silence, he tried to comfort her, though it sounded more like a lecture.

Liu Hailizi shrugged and said calmly, "Alright, now that we all know each other's identities, don't tell anyone else at school what I really do. It will only add to your burdens." She pulled Yu Xingyue and Xia Qinyumei to the second floor for a talk.

In Liu Hailizi's office, she looked at them both sternly. Yu Xingyue was just there as a bystander. Liu Hailizi needed to speak with Xia Qinyumei; to help this child, one had to address the root cause: her family situation.

Liu Hailizi cleared her throat. "Xia Qinyumei, do you know why I let you work here, and why I initially refused?" Her aura shifted back to that of a teacher in a classroom. It was the first time Yu Xingyue had felt such a powerful presence from her.

A few simple words left Xia Qinyumei stunned. Initially, Liu Hailizi had refused because a student shouldn't be working in such a place. But upon hearing that her family’s financial condition required her to work, she had relented.

In Liu Hailizi’s eyes, Xia Qinyumei was a quiet girl who never raised her hand in class. The only place she saw her effort was in her work. She put in much more effort than others just to keep up with the curriculum. Liu Hailizi had agreed to hire her so she could better understand her.

"I know... I understand why you refused me, but I really need this job to support my family. They need me." Xia Qinyumei began to cry. Yu Xingyue listened intently. Xia Qinyumei was working to support her family, and given her build, she wasn't suited for service work, yet she risked being harassed just to work here.

Even as a front-desk operator, she was often targeted by local youths who tried to drag her away. She had faced such an incident early on when Liu Hailizi wasn't there. A burly man had tried to drag her off, and if Liu Hailizi hadn't returned just in time, the man would have gone even further.