Chapter 16

Yueqin Residential Area, Building C, Room 602. In the quiet of her bedroom on a summer afternoon, Yan Cici sat at her desk, lost in thought. She was wearing a pair of summer athletic shorts paired with a light blue shirt. The blue fabric was stretched taut by her chest, looking almost too tight. Her fair legs were pressed together, as smooth as if they had been soaked in milk, yet they looked perfectly natural. She wore no sandals; her right heel rested upon a sandal, while her left foot pressed against the right, the two intertwined, the crescent-like arches of her feet forming a perfect curve. Her toes, plump as grains of rice that had absorbed water, revealed a rosy tint beneath their porcelain skin. Yan Cici’s mind kept drifting back to yesterday. Ye Ge had rejected her invitation, choosing instead to go have dinner with two other girls. For Yan Cici, this was absolutely unacceptable. She felt a sense of turmoil, like a puppy that had always wagged its tail for her suddenly turning away to jump into someone else’s arms.