Duuu Duuu Duuu...
The phone on the other end rang for a long time with no answer.
A minute later, Song Anan heard the prompt tone indicating the call could not be connected.
She stared blankly at the screen, her thoughts in turmoil.
In late September and early October in City B, the weather had started to turn cool. The days were still warm with sunshine, but at night the temperature quickly dropped.
A gust of cool wind blew by, instantly clearing Song Anan's messy thoughts.
She lowered her head, staring at her shoe tips. She had been too impulsive just now.
Even if she got through, what could she ask?
She had to admit, right now Song Anan was really grateful that Pei Kuang didn't answer the call.
After a brief moment of calm, she eventually decided not to go to the library.
Her mind was in disorder, she wouldn't be able to concentrate anyway, and she didn't like wasting effort.
But she didn't go back to her dorm either, instead she went straight out the school gate and took a taxi to Song Linchuan's place.
After getting out of the taxi at the apartment building entrance, Song Anan went to the convenience store at the entrance. A few minutes later, she came out with a bag of snacks.
After tapping her access card to enter the complex, she went straight to Song Linchuan's door and rang the doorbell even though she had the passcode.
"Auntie, why did you come today?" Song Linchuan opened the door limping, clearly surprised to see Song Anan.
With the seven-day National Day holiday, Song Anan had planned to spend the first few days holed up in the library before coming to stay with Song Linchuan for a few days.
At this point Song Linchuan also knew, so he was surprised to see Song Anan now.
Song Anan lightly hmm-ed and said, "Didn't feel like studying today, so I thought I'd come hang out here for a bit."
Song Linchuan didn't dwell on it too much. Apart from anything else, he was overjoyed that his auntie came over.
After coming in, Song Anan headed straight for the living room.
She put the snacks on the coffee table and looked at Song Linchuan, "Watching TV won't bother you, right?"
Song Linchuan shook his head, "No, I was just playing games anyway, nothing going on."
Song Anan nodded, then opened the snack bag, "I bought all our favorites, help yourself if you want any."
Song Linchuan was puzzled for a moment before shifting his attention to the snacks.
He scratched his head, looking at Song Anan in bewilderment.
Earlier she had him eat healthy and limited his snacks, so why was she suddenly letting him eat them again?
But Song Linchuan wasn't silly enough to actually ask about it.
Apart from anything else, the two of them grew up together, so they knew each other's tastes very well.
Nevermind for now, he should take advantage while his auntie hadn't changed her mind yet. Song Linchuan thought.
At the moment, Song Anan was completely oblivious to Song Linchuan's intentions. She grabbed the remote control and after flipping through channels, finally found the TV show she wanted to watch - a primetime melodramatic family drama.
Seeing this scene, Song Linchuan roughly understood what was going on.
His auntie must not be in a good mood today.
Ever since they were little, whenever Song Anan was under a lot of pressure or had something upsetting happen, this is what she would do.
Eat snacks while watching this TV show. It was her unique way of venting.
Song Linchuan didn't ask anything. He sat down directly next to Song Anan and watched along with her.
-
Pei Kuang had just finished shooting a scene when his assistant handed him his phone.
"Pei Kuang, you have a missed call."
Pei Kuang took the phone and glanced at it, involuntarily raising his brow when he saw the caller ID displayed.
It was Song Anan's call.
Worried she might have some urgent matter, he immediately called back right away.
No one picked up.
Pei Kuang frowned and opened WeChat, finding Song Anan's chat window.
"Director said we can wrap for today, go get your makeup removed in the dressing room." His assistant said.
Pei Kuang nodded lightly.
He turned towards the dressing room but his hands didn't stop moving.
From leaving the set to getting back to the hotel.
Pei Kuang glanced at WeChat again, no reply.
He thought for a moment before calling Song Linchuan's number.
Song Linchuan was engrossed in the TV when his phone suddenly buzzed.
He took a glance at Song Anan before walking away with the phone.
"Hello?" Song Linchuan answered the call.
Hearing the deliberately lowered voice on the other end, Pei Kuang asked puzzledly, "What are you doing?"
Song Linchuan replied, "Hanging out watching TV with my auntie."
When Pei Kuang heard this, his brow furrowed. "Your auntie's at your place?"
Song Linchuan: "Yup, what's up?"
Pei Kuang didn't think much of it and told him about Song Anan calling him.
"I can't get ahold of her, worried she might have something urgent." Pei Kuang said.
Song Linchuan was taken aback. What could his auntie possibly have to discuss with Pei Kuang?
"Hang on, let me pass the phone to my auntie."
Song Linchuan returned to the living room again, "Auntie, did you need Pei Kuang for something?"
Song Anan was startled, clearly not having emerged from the drama just yet.
Song Linchuan handed her the phone.
Seeing the call displayed on the screen, Song Anan finally snapped back to reality.
She hit pause on the TV, and took the phone.
"Oh, my phone was on silent, didn't notice. Nothing urgent, just that I came to Linchuan's and wanted to ask if it's convenient to video chat with Qi Qi."
This was the most logical, unsuspicious excuse that Song Anan had come up with on her way over.
Clearly Pei Kuang believed it too.
"Sure, I just got back to the hotel, give me a sec."
Song Anan lightly hmm-ed, and the call hung up shortly after.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before Pei Kuang video called over.
Song Anan eagerly doted on Qi Qi over the screen.
Since cat and human hadn't video chatted in a while, for the moment Song Anan forgot about those unspeakable thoughts, and started wholeheartedly playing with the cat.
Song Linchuan watching curiously on the side couldn't help but stick his head over to get in on the fun.
"Qi Qi, do you still remember me?"
On the other side, Qi Qi saw Song Linchuan and first froze for a moment.
The next second, it squirmed out of Pei Kuang's arms, then turned its butt to face the camera.
Song Linchuan: "......"
This damned cat sure held a grudge.
Song Anan and Pei Kuang laughed uncontrollably. It was unclear whether it was from their loud laughter or Qi Qi really didn't want to see Song Linchuan, but the cat actually ran off.
With Qi Qi gone, maybe it was the guilty conscience, but Song Anan didn't dare chat with Pei Kuang for long either, and directly handed the phone back to Song Linchuan.
Song Linchuan took the phone and casually started chatting with Pei Kuang: "My auntie likes Qi Qi so much, why don't you let me keep Qi Qi here?"
When Song Anan heard this, she blanked for a moment.
Her first reaction was that if Qi Qi stayed with Song Linchuan, then she seemed to have no more reason to keep in contact with Pei Kuang.
Thinking of this possibility, her heart involuntarily tightened.
"Forget it, Qi Qi was abandoned once already before, I'm afraid it can't handle that again." Pei Kuang said, "Plus I've had it for a few months now, we're already attached."
Song Linchuan realized that made sense too, and didn't insist further.
"How's filming for you? When will you wrap up?"
"It's going fine, if all stays on track we should be able to wrap end of November."
Song Anan's eyes and brow lowered as she stared at her shoe tips.
Wrapping end of November, so wasn't he coming back then?
To avoid disturbing Song Anan's TV watching, Song Linchuan took the phone back to his room with him.
As Song Linchuan's voice grew farther away, Song Anan hit play on the TV remote again.
The drama continued playing on screen.
But she was no longer watching.
-
After the National Day holiday, Song Anan's life once again returned to calm.
The heavy course load of a medical student forced her to temporarily stow away the obscure thoughts in her heart for now.
Moreover, she also decided to completely calm herself down for a period.
If after some more time it was still like this, then she would...
What exactly she would do, she actually had no idea deep down.
-
In early December, City B welcomed the first snowfall of the year.
That day, a senior student Song Anan knew was having a birthday. Following the address she was given, Song Anan arrived at a private club.
These kinds of high-end private clubs were membership only, regular people couldn't get in. She sent a message from her phone.
Not long after, a girl came running out from the club. "Anan, over here."
Song Anan walked over. "Shen Tang senior, happy birthday."
She handed over the birthday gift as she spoke.
Shen Tang smiled and accepted it. "Thanks Anan."
The two chatted briefly at the entrance before Song Anan followed Shen Tang into the private club.
Before going in, Song Anan took another look at the signboard outside.
She knew this club. The spending here was quite high-end. When she was in City S, her sister-in-law had brought her a few times before.
In Zhao Ya's words, places like this were gold-sucking pits.
Song Anan was actually a little surprised Shen Tang would celebrate here.
After all, B University students usually celebrated birthdays at the KTVs near school, the cost-effectiveness there was quite good.
The two entered a private room.
Inside, Song Anan saw many familiar faces, all student council people from before.
There were also some of Shen Tang's classmates, most seemed to be from B University.
Because Song Anan had gained some fame from being on the variety show, everyone was very enthusiastic when they saw her.
Some people in the room were singing, some playing games, but most were drinking alcohol.
Since Shen Tang had made clear upon entering that Song Anan was a minor and not to ply her with alcohol, a non-alcoholic beverage was placed in front of her.
It was really noisy here, and Song Anan still wasn't used to it. She planned to sit for a bit before finding an excuse to leave.
But before she could leave, the room door was pushed open again from outside.
Led by Shen Tang's boyfriend, whom Song Anan had met once before, he was followed by a few other men who appeared to be his friends.
Judging by those people's attire, they didn't seem like students.
But she had heard Shen Tang's boyfriend was two grades above her, so it was normal his friends weren't students if he had already graduated.
At first Song Anan didn't think much of it, after all she had no relationship whatsoever with those people.
It was just, she didn't know if it was her imagination, but from the moment that group entered the room, they kept looking over at her.
Moreover, it was that kind of scrutinizing gaze that made people very uncomfortable.
It wasn't long before one of them walked straight towards Song Anan: "Auntie, I've heard a lot about you. Meeting you must be fate, come, let's drink together."
Song Anan's eyebrows furrowed slightly, "Sorry, I'm not of age yet, I can't drink alcohol."
Who would have thought that the person would stubbornly try to force the drink onto Song Anan.
Seeing this, a senior female student from B University who was sitting nearby immediately shielded Song Anan behind her.
"What are you doing? She already said she's underage and can't drink alcohol, can't you understand?"
The private room instantly quieted down.
Noticing the commotion here, Shen Tang immediately went over to shield Song Anan behind her.
Then she turned her head to look at her boyfriend Liu He and questioned: "What's the meaning of this?"
Liu He was still pretending to be confused, "What do you mean? We're just getting to know each other."
Shen Tang sneered, "Getting to know requires forcing people to drink?"
Song Anan didn't want to make too big of a scene, after all today was Shen Tang's birthday, they should be happy.
She pulled on Shen Tang's arm, "Senior sister, something came up, I want to head back first."
Under these circumstances, Shen Tang naturally wouldn't force Song Anan to stay.
"Alright, I'll send you back."
Of course, Song Anan couldn't let the birthday girl leave a room full of people to send her back, so she told a little white lie.
"No need, someone is picking me up."
-
After Song Anan came out of the private room, she bumped into a familiar face in the hallway.
"Senior Jing Fan." She greeted him first.
Jing Fan looked at the bag in her hand, "Are you leaving?"
Song Anan nodded, "Yeah, something came up."
Jing Fan was stunned for a moment, "Alright, let me go in and tell Shen Tang, I'll come out and send you back."
Song Anan quickly waved her hands, "No need, you should go in and celebrate Shen Tang's birthday."
But Jing Fan was very insistent, "It's too late, and this place is far from school. We wouldn't feel assured with you going back alone."
After saying that, afraid that Song Anan would leave first, he suddenly shoved his phone into Song Anan's hands, then turned around and headed towards the private room.
Song Anan lowered her head to look at the phone that suddenly appeared in her hands, a little confused.
She was about to chase after Jing Fan when she raised her head and suddenly met eyes with the person walking towards her.
Song Anan couldn't help but be stunned.
It was Pei Kuang.
Why was he here?!
