Chapter 19.3| Unknown stories

Xing Xiuze was about to launch into a lengthy discourse on the unreliable behaviour of Xu Zhiyi when Lin Xipei's call came in during their late-night conversation. 

Without knowing what Xipei said, Zhiyi's expression stiffened and then tensed up again. Before Xiuze could inquire about Zhiyi's state, Xu Zhiyi took off his coat, saying as he walked, "Meng Yin and Lin Xipei are at the entrance of the community." 

Xiuze shrugged and hurried to catch up, but before he could ask "So what?", Xu Zhiyi said, "Meng Yin had too much to drink." 

"Meng Yin is really a—" Xiuzhe paused, raising his thumb, "a remarkable individual."

Xu Zhiyi and Xing Xiuze jogged to the entrance and waited for over ten minutes until a taxi stopped a dozen steps away from them. 

Yin got out of the car, resting her hand on the doorframe for a while, her eyes slightly hazy until they focused, then she mustered the strength to close the door, her cheeks showing a faint redness that made the bloodshot eyes look even more dishevelled in comparison.

Upon seeing Xu Zhiyi, Yin attempted to walk towards him with steady steps, but her head was spinning, struggling to maintain balance, inevitably stumbling. In the end, Xu Zhiyi took a few steps forward to support her. She had a hint of alcohol on her, not overpowering, with a subtle fragrance. 

Yin looked up, gazing directly at Zhiyi with a dim, unreserved sense of loss and overwhelming sadness, like a fish in the sea unable to find its way home.

Her emotions were transparent to Xu Zhiyi, who suddenly felt startled, tense, and anxious. "What happened?"

"Xu Zhiyi," Yin called out his name, her tone soft but carrying the same misty-eyed sorrow as her gaze, shrouded in inexplicable distress. She said, "I've been drinking." 

It was an incomplete statement, left hanging in the air without a follow-up.

Xing Xiuze nudged his elbow and Lin Xipei ran towards him. 

"What's going on?" Lin Xipei, with a hint of alcohol on him, looked no different from usual. "Where have you been? Why are you drinking?" 

"We didn't go anywhere, just at my house, had some rice wine," Lin Xipei thought of her foolish act, reluctant to admit it but still whispered to Xiuze, "I thought rice wine was the same as Jiuniang."

This afternoon, Yin went to Xipei's home. Lin Xipei's family housekeeper took leave for the weekend, father was on a business trip, mother and sisters went for a spa treatment, leaving her alone at home. 

The two girls at home had nothing special to do, just doing homework, reviewing knowledge points, chatting, eating snacks, and having some typical girl mischief. 

Around three or four o'clock, Xipei searched the kitchen for some food, the aunt made Basque, chocolate muffins, and black Tescans yesterday, and two bowls of Jiuniang that Xipei's aunt brought a few days ago. 

Her aunt liked to brew some wine when she was free and was good at it. Some time ago, she brewed new rice wine and Jiuniang and gave a lot to Xipei's family. 

Seeing the Jiuniang that lacked "soup", Lin Xipei thought her aunt separated the dry lees and rice wine, scooped a few spoonfuls of wine lees into the bowl, and poured some rice wine on top. Although the scent of alcohol seemed stronger than before, after pouring the rice wine, the Jiuniang had the appearance they should have.

The room was filled with Xipei's usual video recording equipment and lighting, with the air conditioning on, making it warm and cozy, even the pure alcohol scent of rice wine became sweet. 

The ice-cold Jiuniang was quickly finished by Yin without paying attention. 

After a short while, Yin's eyes began to turn slightly red, leaning her head on Xipei's shoulder, her voice sounding a bit playful and coquettish. 

Initially, Xipei didn't notice, enthusiastically talking about some past trivial matters from middle school, as Yin's head slipped down to rest on her lap. Suddenly, in a muffled voice, she asked, "Lin Xipei, do you all know the story behind Xu Zhiyi's keychain..."

Hearing this, the fans of the couple felt a pang of heartache and confusion. 

She lowered her head to look at Yin, who had pursed lips and vacant eyes filled with unnamed sorrow. 

Xipei licked her lower lip; she had only learned about the story of Xu Zhiyi's keychain from Hai not long ago. Upon reflection, Yin probably fabricated an inappropriate story when he inquired about the keychain in the group chat that day. 

"What was Xu Zhiyi tell you?" Xipei asked cautiously, following the trail of redness from Yin's eyes to her flushed cheeks, noticing the phone held tightly in her hand. 

The phone screen, still lit up, displayed a post from a while back in the school forum — "By the way, has anyone noticed that Xu Zhiyi's keychain is missing?" 

Lin Xipei almost bit down on her back molar in disbelief.

The content of the post is quite straightforward. 

Xuzhiyi has been a target of various secret photos on campus. The post follows a timeline and reveals Xuzhiyi's candid shots from each semester of high school, all featuring his wallet, with the only difference being that the keychain he always carried was missing from the shots after the third year. 

The keychain, once captured in a clear photo, was also collected by the original poster and included in the thread. Xuzhiyi has a cherished keychain, not a secret at FHS, but the secret about the keychain is only known by a few members of the group. 

Therefore, once the post was published, everyone couldn't help but satisfy their curiosity—where did Xuzhiyi's keychain go?

Yin did not respond to Xipei. She curled her legs up to her chest, closed her eyes, and the emotions she had been hiding burst forth, tears streaming uncontrollably. Like an injured and abandoned bird, she felt extremely wronged.

It feels really painful...

Yin couldn't remember why she opened the forum, as if suddenly gaining courage after drinking fermented rice.

After reading through all the comments on this post, the fragmented stories composed by the comments all revolved around Xu Zhiyi's keychain.

Through the internet, Yin saw Zhiyi's keychain for the first time.

Suddenly, it became clear and she strongly realized that it wasn't Xu Zhiyi who had probably deceived her about the keychain, but rather she seemed to have missed out on him in various ways.

She was not unaware of the kindness Xu Zhiyi had towards her, and at the same time, she kept testing him, trying to see if he had the same thoughts as her, waiting for Xu Zhiyi to speak first.

This testing was a silent tug-of-war, she hesitated and hovered, wanting to stand side by side with him, but also afraid that after confessing, they wouldn't even be friends anymore.

In a daze, Yin thought, did this silent and lonely miss begin from her unwillingness to share their school lives with Xu Zhiyi?

Although Xipei had also consumed a fair amount of "alcohol residue," she hadn't reached her limit. Having followed her father to drink some alcohol over the years, her mind was now clear. 

Yin's flushed face resembled that of her father, with an average alcohol tolerance but unable to resist the love for drinking. Inadvertently getting tipsy, Xipei logically called her aunt to clarify that the "rice wine" and "Jiuniang" sent by her aunt a couple of days ago were not the same. Then, she followed her mother's way of prying Yin's mouth after her father had too much to drink, coaxing Yin to seek confirmation from Xu Zhiyi on the sudden disappearance of the keychain and to verify the identity of the person who had given it to him. This was not the kind of importance between friends, but the kind of importance when one likes someone. Because hearing something firsthand is much more genuine and significant than speculating on one's own.