The Little Bookworm Marked Her Ex-aunt - Chapter 12: Miss Shu, Don't Be So Nervous

Chapter 12: Miss Shu, Don’t Be So Nervous

“Little Yue, are you feeling better?”

Shu Yue just walked into the Ning University Ecological Environment Research Center with her backpack when her senior sister greeted her excitedly. She nodded in response.

“Thank heavens, you’re finally well,” her senior sister said with a look of seeing a savior. “I don’t know what’s wrong with the undergraduates these days; one is more useless than the next. While you were out sick with a fever this week, our advisor randomly picked an undergraduate to fill your spot, and it caused a ton of problems. I’ve spent this whole week cleaning up messes after messes. I’m going crazy.”

Shu Yue reminded her, “Senior Sister, I’m an undergraduate too.”

Her senior sister paused, then grinned, “You’re different; your skills are already next level.”

Shu Yue put her bag in the cabinet, put on her lab coat, and asked, “Is there anything I can do today?”

“This week’s remote sensing data and the high-throughput sequencing data from the reserve are on your workstation,” her senior sister said.

“Got it,” Shu Yue said as she sat at her desk.

Tap.

A bottle of VC-packed drink appeared on Shu Yue’s desk.

She looked up, puzzled.

Her senior sister smiled and said, “Little Yue, welcome back. Take care of yourself; you’re our backbone.”

Shu Yue glanced at the steam rising from the cup and nodded.

“Even though I just complained a bunch, if you’re still feeling unwell, let me know early and take a break at home. Your health comes first, got it?” her senior sister added.

Shu Yue held the cup, obedient like a quail.

Her senior sister couldn’t resist ruffling her hair.

“Dinner tonight? The advisor’s treating since he got some research funding. I was told to ask if you’re coming.”

Shu Yue shook her head, “Senior Sister, I have something tonight, so I won’t go.”

Her senior sister asked curiously, “What’s up?”

Shu Yue said with a blank face, “Work.”

Her senior sister, knowing a bit about her family situation, patted her shoulder encouragingly, “Don’t overwork yourself.”

Shu Yue thought her evening work shouldn’t be too tiring.

But…

It made her very nervous.

Since she passed out at the KTV, went home, caught a cold, and opened her eyes to see Ji Shiyi, eight days had passed.

During these eight days, Shu Yue stayed home recovering, constantly watched by her cat to take medicine. With nothing to do, it was like a spinning top suddenly stopped, collapsing straight onto the bed, eating and sleeping like a useless person.

She took leave from her tutoring job, her gig at the gray domain, and school.

Her condition wasn’t so severe that she couldn’t go out, but Shu Yue just didn’t want to. She felt the sickness in her heart was worse than her physical illness. Meng Zhiyu’s name was chewed over and over in her mind.

At first, it was like chocolate, with a bittersweet taste. Later, it hardened like stone, from limestone to granite, then to flint and corundum.

The questions and memories flashing in her mind were like a swamp—once stuck, escape was hard.

What was Meng Zhiyu thinking? Why did she do this? She liked her before, didn’t she? Even if it started with a bet, during the summer when her grandma fell ill, Meng Zhiyu stayed with her at the hospital every day. When her grandma passed away, Meng Zhiyu took her on a trip to clear her mind. It was the first time Shu Yue had traveled so far.

And those moments—at the funeral parlor, by the cremation table, Meng Zhiyu’s arm around her shoulder, saying nothing yet seeming to say everything.

They watched a person being pushed in, turning into a small pile of ashes. The staff swept the white ashes into a box with a small broom. The hard bone fragments—Shu Yue recognized her grandma’s skull and shinbone at a glance.

The staff asked if she wanted them ground up. She refused.

That day, holding her grandma’s urn, she sat in the garden for a long time. A huge ash tree stood before her, tall with dense branches. Shaded by buildings on both sides, its southern leaves were much greener, like a girl brushing her long hair to one side, leaning over.

While Shu Yue observed the tree, Meng Zhiyu suddenly held her cold hand.

Shu Yue realized humans were such warm creatures.

These moments, these exact moments.

They always had a green light in Shu Yue’s heart. Every breakup, fight, or rejection, Shu Yue chewed on these moments, smoothed herself out, and bowed to Meng Zhiyu again.

But now, the knife in her heart wouldn’t come out. Meng Zhiyu’s pink eyeshadow at the corner of her eyes burned Shu Yue’s heart.

Shu Yue felt like giving up.

Her heart wasn’t diamond; it couldn’t withstand corundum’s grinding. She broke her teeth, her mouth full of bl00d, but couldn’t grind out a result.

For that tiny bit of unclear, possibly fake affection, she placed her dignity at Meng Zhiyu’s feet like a stepping stone, and Meng Zhiyu didn’t even look at her differently.

Meng Zhiyu always said she wasn’t good at relationships, boring. Shu Yue reflected on this, not wanting to ruin the relationship, so she kept trying. But in reality, it all fell apart.

Maybe she just didn’t have the talent for it.

A fever was the body’s immune response, painful but protective. Shu Yue felt a daily battle in her body and nerves. Cytokines rioted in her hypothalamus, and unresolved feelings occupied her mind.

Back and forth, constant struggle.

When the fever broke, Shu Yue curled up on the sofa, watching Shiyi stand by the balcony’s floor-to-ceiling window. Shiyi stretched, bared her belly, and neatly placed herself in a small patch of sunlight framed by the windowpane, lying down smoothly, turning into a cat pancake. The shadow of a fiddle-leaf fig fell around her, like a cool summer blanket over a kitten bathed in gold.

It was time.

Shu Yue told herself.

Her entanglement with Meng Zhiyu needed to reach its fever-breaking point.

If it kept burning, she’d burn out.

She spent a day sorting out everything related to Meng Zhiyu at home. Meng Zhiyu’s clothes in the closet, her toothbrush in the bathroom, the mug they made in ceramics class. Oh, and the pile of pretty clothes, leather shoes, and heels bought because Meng Zhiyu disliked her plain style.

Shu Yue didn’t like them.

The clothes were beautiful, but she felt uncomfortable wearing them. She never told Meng Zhiyu, afraid of upsetting her.

Dragging a big bag, she took the elevator twice to throw things out. Shiyi followed, excitedly biting the bag’s edge and dragging it to the trash.

Then Shiyi jumped on the bag, clawing at the leather weave as if venting.

Shu Yue didn’t know if this would remove Meng Zhiyu from her heart, but it could at least remove her traces from the house.

For the first time in two years.

Shu Yue deleted all of Meng Zhiyu’s contact info and cleared everything from her devices.

After a thorough cleanup, Shu Yue stood on the balcony with a watering can.

She liked growing green plants, the non-flowering kind.

She had some talent for it, never killing a single plant. The only one she cared about was a small pot of jasmine. For two years, it had been wilting, but Shu Yue couldn’t bear to throw it out. Her grandma bought it for her.

After finishing, Shu Yue stood in the clean, bright room, hesitated, and texted Ji Shiyi.

After clearing her head, Shu Yue regretted asking Ji Shiyi that question. It wasn’t like her, too out of character. But she hadn’t forgotten Ji Shiyi’s reply.

“I need you,” Ji Shiyi had said frankly. “But you can reply after you’re better.”

An omega like Ji Shiyi, so open and upright, made Shu Yue, an alpha, seem petty and stingy with her pheromones.

Shu Yue believed that someone like Ji Shiyi, a top-tier omega with a spiritual body and middle-class elite demeanor, wouldn’t make such a request unless desperate.

She’d help out, partly to repay the 21,000 yuan Ji Shiyi paid for cat-sitting. After all, Shu Yue wasn’t great at caring for cats. Shiyi didn’t need much care, so the money didn’t feel fully earned. She had to do something.

Her fingers hovered over the screen, hesitating over the keyboard.

Sy: Miss Ji, I’m better.

He: Congrats.

Shu Yue stared at the reply, pondering her words, wondering how to tell Ji Shiyi she’d help.

After much editing, Ji Shiyi messaged first.

He: Want to meet?

He: Tomorrow.

He: [Address]

He: 8 p.m., meet here? Tell the front desk my name; someone will bring you up.

Shu Yue glanced at the address on her phone, then at the stylish, luxurious hotel entrance.

The people coming and going were high-class. She gripped her backpack strap and walked through the automatic doors.

“Hello,” she said at the front desk. “I have an appointment with Miss Ji Shiyi. Where’s her room?”

The receptionist, a young woman, had heard Ji Shiyi’s suite would have a visitor today and was curious about who could catch Ji Shiyi’s eye. She never expected a plain, awkward girl.

What was Ji Shiyi’s taste?

Not into Michelin-star French cuisine, now sipping plain porridge and eating steamed buns?

Was this a mistake?

The receptionist politely said, “Please register here.”

Shu Yue took the pen and wrote her name and number.

Her handwriting was neat, with heavy, steady strokes, just like her—cute and upright.

The receptionist made a call and said to Shu Yue, “Please wait a moment. You can sit in the waiting area; someone will come for you soon.”

Shu Yue said okay and sat on a nearby sofa. It was so soft, softer than her own. She couldn’t resist lifting her hips to press down again, feeling it. Hugging her backpack, bored, she unzipped it and pulled out a book.

The receptionist sneaked a glance, thinking Shu Yue looked like a schoolkid sitting there.

Was she Ji Shiyi’s relative?

Gossiping internally, the receptionist noticed a figure appear and sat up straight.

“Ji—”

Ji Shiyi raised a finger to her lips.

The receptionist quieted, watching Ji Shiyi walk to the waiting area and sit in front of the girl.

Shu Yue finished a section, felt her neck stiffen, and raised her hand to rub it. Lifting her head from the book, Ji Shiyi’s face came into view.

She froze.

“Miss Ji?”

Ji Shiyi casually put away her phone and looked at her, “Done reading?”

Shu Yue quickly closed the book, hugged her backpack, and nodded, “Done.”

Ji Shiyi asked, “Shall we go upstairs?”

Shu Yue nodded.

She followed Ji Shiyi closely, suddenly noticing many people looking over. She hadn’t gotten this attention earlier. Worried something was wrong with her appearance, maybe from sitting, she checked herself. Unexpectedly, Ji Shiyi stopped, and they bumped into each other.

Shu Yue: “…”

Ji Shiyi turned and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Shu Yue sought her opinion, “Miss Ji, do I look okay?”

Ji Shiyi looked her over seriously and said, “There’s a slight problem.”

Shu Yue’s heart tightened, “What problem?”

Ji Shiyi gave a half-smile, “Miss Shu, don’t be so nervous. I don’t bite.”