Pure White

Qi Yuze went silent when that question was asked. Right, he seemed to have said too much which wasn't like him. He never focused on a person like this before. And Rui was his best friend who obviously was most familiar with his habits, personality, character, and temperament. How could he not pick out this peculiar detail even if it seemed insignificant to others?

"I can only say, she is indeed a talent," said Qi Yuze. 

"And now you are even willing to acknowledge that... Interesting." Although Rui's intonation was light-hearted, it held quite some meaning to it. "You said she is strange. But after listening to you, I'll call her interesting and intriguing. I don't find her strange."

"You are not understanding my point."

"Then make it clear, Yuze."

"Rui, she gives me a strange feeling. It's the conflicting persona of hers that makes me wary of her. She met me three times this week and at three very different places. I don't know why she keeps appearing in front of me so inexplicably at the most unlikely places too. When I first met her, I saved her life. I was doing a good deed but I ended up inviting trouble for myself instead. After the hospital, I met her at the library and now, she is apparently my neighbor. Do you think there are so many coincidences in life?"

Rui listened to his best friend attentively and felt that he could understand why Qi Yuze was behaving so unusually. A person like Qi Yuze who grew up surrounded by schemes and trickery, how could he be calm about a stranger who suddenly jumped into his life with such excitement and enthusiasm?

He knew Qi Yuze very well. He was cynical, reticent, deep-minded, and ruthless at times to people and more so to himself. He had very strict requirements of himself and of others too. He was not only obstinate but at the end of the day, he was just a wounded soul who couldn't bring himself to trust others easily. 

No matter how normal Liu Xinyu appeared, just because his encounters with Liu Xinyu could not be explained with a proper reason, he was very wary of her. 

"Do you think someone changed the strategy to scheme against you?" asked Rui as he understood the gist of the matter. "You think those coincidences are all planned meetings? Someone is using her to get close to you and when you lower your guard, they'll attack you."

"You can't say that I'm overthinking," was Qi Yuze's answer as he didn't deny his best friend's conjectures. "It has happened before too. Yes, last time they tried to push in a man whom I could trust as my loyal aide but this time they changed it to a girl who could make me fall for her and accomplish her goal."

"Or maybe, she is just a random stranger who happened to stumble into your world," Rui sounded like he was teasing his friend but at the same time, he was serious. "You know, there is a plan made by man and there is a plan made by the higher power above all. It was your random decision to go to the library yesterday. You think the other person is a clairvoyant? You said you saved her life when you first met, you think someone would go so far as to put their life at stake just for a chance encounter with you? And if they are putting their life on stake for this stupid scheme, I think they are putting too much of an effort into it."

Qi Yuze pinched his brows as he bit his lower lip before saying, "You just want to tell me to be less suspicious about the people around me."

"Of course! I know you are deeply hurt but there is no reason to look at everyone with a suspicious eye," was Rui's remark. "This chance encounter could also be fate rather than just coincidence. You can't keep running from it. Because if it's fate, it's inevitable and there is no escape."

Qi Yuze was reminded of Liu Xinyu's words that they had an inevitable fate. Now, his best friend was saying the same too. He didn't know if he was really being overly suspicious again or not. 

"Rui, why don't we meet?" asked Qi Yuze. "She said some other things that I want to share with you. I think you'll be able to better analyze her whimsical words than I can."

"No!" came the response from Rui without missing a beat. He didn't even think for a second. "I have used my quota for the month. Now, I'd like to stay in my sanctuary and not step out into this impure world. I refuse to breathe in the foul smell of this world again for the second time in the same month. I refuse. I refuse. And again, I refuse!"

"You didn't even come to see me at the hospital, how did you use up your quota? Are there even other people you can go to meet apart from me?"

Rui answered in a small voice that sounded tinged with disappointment, "I had news regarding my Master but when I went there, he had already left."

Qi Yuze decided not to comment on this. He obviously couldn't question Rui's decision to look for his Master rather than come to see him because he knew what this Master meant to Rui. And he couldn't force Rui to step out of the house for the second time this month just for his sake too. Although he never understood properly why Rui insisted on staying within a specific boundary, he did understand his dislike for the outside world.

Besides, even he thought that a pure white canvas like Rui should not be tainted by the colors of outside. The world was no place for someone like his best friend who was too good for this world.

"Then I'll come and find you when I have some time," said Qi Yuze as he compromised on this.

"You better come before my birthday. Don't come on my birthday to take a share of my birthday meal."

Qi Yuze's lips curved up slightly, "Oh, I'm sorry but I am still invited to your birthday meal. You don't have a say in this."

"I'm the birthday boy!"

"But you are not the host of the dinner!" 

....

On the other hand, Liu Xinyu stood on the balcony with a dazed look for a minute after Qi Yuze had already entered his house. She seemed to be thinking of something as she looked at the magazine in her hand. Slowly, she lifted her head and said, "Do you have to eavesdrop?"

Yiyi didn't think she'd know that she was standing there even without looking behind. "I'm listening in a very forthright manner. You can't accuse me of evesdropping." Taking a pause, she added, "You have once again refreshed my understanding of you. You are not only indecorous but you also have a silver tongue. You can brilliantly right the wrongs and wrong the rights. I feel it's a shame that you weren't born in my era, the court was missing a talent like you."

Liu Xinyu picked up the glass that she drank the lemon water in from the railing and entered the living room as she closed the door to the balcony. She took out the lemon slices from the glass and put them into her mouth making Yiyi just stare at her abnormal actions. 

"One said I have the talent of being an actor and one says the court needed me. What should I say? I'm being missed everywhere. Indeed, being too talented is also a burden."

Yiyi wanted to smack her head for talking so narcissistically. 

"But I think there isn't much difference in being an actor or being a minister in the court. Both are just acting anyway," added Liu Xinyu nonchalantly as she sat down and opened the finance magazine to read. She didn't pay attention to anything, she skipped straight to page fifteen as Qi Yuze had pointed it out to her.

There she could see a small photo of a woman clad in a business suit. The photo was of her side profile only but it still managed to show what a charmer the woman was. Her fingers traced the side profile of Nan Xing slowly, lovingly, and very gently. Then she started reading the article titled, 'The Era of Women in Finance.'

Yiyi also went behind her to see what Liu Xinyu was reading but sadly for her, the magazine was in English so she could not understand a word of it. She could only watch Liu Xinyu reading the full article with all her attention. She even had a proud smile lingering on her lips the more she read from which Yiyi could only deduce that whatever it was that she was reading, it was a good thing.