An Unexpected Act of Kindness

After their meal, it was nearly time for class to begin. Liu Yinuo checked her phone for the time, then rose from the table.

“It’s time for school. I’m leaving now.”

The class president’s sudden departure made Ye Xingmian, who was still eating, momentarily flustered.

“Wait… wait… I need to go too…”

Liu Yinuo suddenly turned back to look at her.

“No need. You should stay here and recuperate. I’ll ask your homeroom teacher for leave this afternoon.”

“This… how can this be…” The girl appeared somewhat startled.

“Why not? Have you recovered from your cold? Or do the injuries from being hit no longer hurt?”

Hearing this, the girl lowered her head, unable to utter a word in protest.

Watching her pitiful expression, Liu Yinuo smiled helplessly. Though their heights were similar, and in some aspects the girl even held a slight advantage, Liu Yinuo invariably found herself in the more dominant position within their relationship.

Her right hand instinctively reached out, stroking the girl’s soft hair. Gazing at Ye Xingmian, she seemed a little lost in thought.

“Don’t worry. Rest well, and I’ll help you catch up on any missed lessons tomorrow.”

“Alright…”

Faced with the gentle class president, it was difficult to refuse either her considerate words or her tender touch. The girl remained silent for a long moment before finally nodding in agreement.

“Do you have a QQ account?”

Realizing she had no way to contact the girl outside of school, Liu Yinuo picked up her phone, intending to add her contact information.

The girl simply stared blankly for a moment, then gently shook her head.

“You don’t? What about WeChat?”

Frowning, Liu Yinuo considered that students generally didn’t use WeChat much. Having to switch between apps to contact her would be a bit troublesome.

Yet, the girl shook her head again, her gaze falling, clearly disheartened.

“Oh? Do you have a phone number then?”

“No… I’m sorry… I don’t have a phone…”

The atmosphere seemed to freeze instantly. Liu Yinuo’s brows furrowed tightly, and under her gaze, Ye Xingmian felt both nervous and disheartened.

“They didn’t even buy you a phone? How could that be…”

In truth, the girl herself felt a profound sense of injustice. Without a phone, she was oblivious to many topics her peers discussed, such as games, interesting news, or trendy memes. She couldn’t integrate into their social circles and only felt her self-worth diminish due to her insecurity.

Moreover, the absence of a phone meant she couldn’t even contact her own mother. Despite a nascent flicker of doubt towards her mother, she still yearned for communication, if only there was a glimmer of hope. Had she been given such opportunities from a young age, perhaps her personality wouldn’t have developed into what it was now.

“Tsk…” Liu Yinuo bit her lip, gaining a fresh, negative insight into Ye Xingmian’s family situation. Ye Xingmian, however, simply held her forehead, a helpless expression on her face.

She then held out her own phone.

“While I’m not home, you can use my phone to pass the time. I haven’t set a password. This button here turns it on, and these two adjust the volume. You know that, right?”

The girl nodded blankly, carefully taking the phone.

She recalled that such devices often cost thousands, and if she accidentally broke it, even selling herself wouldn’t cover the damages.

“I’m heading out now. My parents usually come home quite late, so don’t worry about that. Take care of yourself and get some good rest.”

With a final farewell, Liu Yinuo opened the door and departed.

As the crisp click of the closing door echoed, Ye Xingmian was left alone in the vast house. Through the walls, she could faintly discern Liu Yinuo’s retreating footsteps and the faint whir of the heating vent above.

Clutching the phone, the girl appeared visibly nervous, unsure of what to do next.

Liu Yinuo hadn’t specified which rooms were permissible and which were not before leaving. To avoid causing any displeasure, the girl confined her activities to the vicinity of the living room sofa. Sitting there, she simply stared blankly at the small phone in her hand.

Pressing the power button, the phone screen illuminated, revealing a charming anime-style girl as the wallpaper, adorned with numerous colorful icons. She spent some time familiarizing herself with the applications, and while many of them offered no clue to their function from their names alone, she managed to grasp the purpose of a few.

Her finger subconsciously pressed the green dial button.

Only upon seeing the numeric keypad and the unfamiliar names in the contact list did she realize, with a pang of confusion, that she didn’t know her mother’s phone number. She reluctantly gave up, fumbling for a moment before returning to the home screen.

‘WeChat… QQ… are these social apps? Since they’re rather private, perhaps I shouldn’t look at them…’

Ultimately, her gaze settled on a pink app named ‘Bili’.

‘What is this…?’

Curiosity compelled her finger to tap the app. As icons of two girls, one white and one blue, flashed past, a vertical video screen appeared before her. The video was paused, and its content…? The girl found herself at a loss for words, instinctively sensing something profoundly strange.

It depicted a creature with a head resembling a gray-haired girl, yet its body was rotund, covered in vibrant shades of crimson and purple, shaped much like a penguin…

‘Huh? A human head on a penguin?’

Frowning in bewilderment, the girl gently pressed the screen. Suddenly, the image flickered to life. The penguin-girl in the distance let out a guttural “Ugh!” and scurried forward, speaking in a raspy, eerie voice.

“Don’t you think Chinese New Year is really bizarre? Every time it’s almost New Year, a strange middle-aged man in red clothes suddenly appears, ‘Yee-yee-yee-hoo-oh-oh-oh-oh,’ and every household is covered in ‘Fu’ characters. Don’t you think it’s inappropriate for children? Some places even have families gathering around a stove on New Year’s Eve! Don’t you think that’s unethical?”

At the end, the penguin-girl suddenly began to twist her entire body, as the video played a song.

“Wishing you prosperity, wishing you splendor—”

Snap!

The girl’s expression was utterly peculiar. She slammed the phone onto the soft sofa, pressing the power button. However, the audio didn’t cease; instead, the video began to play again.

“Don’t you think…”

The girl picked up the phone again, deliberately pressing pause before finally setting it down.

‘What… what was that?’

It felt as though she had witnessed something utterly bizarre and profound. The girl was deeply shaken, yet she couldn’t comprehend what had just transpired. A single short video seemed to contain more phenomena than her entire life combined.

Consequently, the girl decided to ignore the phone for the time being.

It was too unsettling, completely incomprehensible. She felt as though continuing to watch would somehow ‘contaminate’ her. After much deliberation, the girl decided to find something else to do.

Her first thought was to turn off the heating; she remembered it conserved electricity. At her foster parents’ home, her aunt and uncle would certainly never have allowed her to run the heating while alone. Next, she searched for cleaning tools. The dust brought in that afternoon had been bothering her, and after Liu Yinuo left, she resolved to clean the house herself. After all, it was all she could really do.

She busied herself thus, until late afternoon. As school dismissal approached, footsteps suddenly echoed from outside the usually quiet door.