Hurting Each Other

After breakfast, Chen Xu took his laptop into Luo Xiyun's room. He sat in her chair for a while, but it felt awkward, so he brought his own computer chair over instead.

"What are you doing?" Luo Xiyun asked irritably when she returned from hanging up the laundry and saw this.

"Moving a chair," Chen Xu said.

"Who said you could move it?"

Chen Xu asked in surprise, "I can't?"

"At the very least, you should get my permission. This is my room."

Chen Xu suddenly understood. "So you do know that you need someone else's permission before touching their things."

Luo Xiyun was left speechless, her face flushing slightly. Secretly messing with Chen Xu's computer was a real sore spot for her.

Chen Xu smiled like a victor and pushed the chair into the room.

"Wait." Luo Xiyun stomped her foot and stopped him. "Clean it first." As she spoke, she took out a bottle of cleaning spray and a rag, then meticulously cleaned Chen Xu's chair inside and out.

Chen Xu sat in her chair and watched from the side. Unable to resist, he said, "With the way you are, can your boyfriend put up with you?"

Luo Xiyun ignored him and focused on wiping down the chair's armrests.

Chen Xu shook his head and continued on his own, "If it were me, I definitely couldn't stand it. Never mind whether it's a hassle—the main thing is, you act like I'm filthy. Honestly, it makes people pretty uncomfortable..."

Luo Xiyun's hands suddenly stopped. She turned her head and said coldly, "First, we are not friends. Second, we do not even count as acquaintances. We are just two grasshoppers tied to the same rope. When we have free time, we can sit together, chat, and talk about what's on our minds. But please don't point fingers at my affairs. That is the most basic respect between us."

Chen Xu was choked speechless. What went around really did come around fast. He had said those exact words to her the day before yesterday, and now she was throwing them right back at him. He truly had nothing to say.

He silently turned around, put on his headphones, and watched a TV drama.

Chen Xu stayed in the villa all day and did not go out again. He sat on the sofa in the Living Room reading, while Luo Xiyun bustled in and out, clearing up the storage room.

The day passed quickly. In the evening, Luo Xiyun stopped working and went to cook.

Dinner was simple: just noodles.

When Luo Xiyun saw that Chen Xu's eyes never left the book in his hands even while he ate, her anger nearly exploded. She thought about how she had spent the entire day cleaning up a room for him, while he had not helped at all and had simply sat there reading all day.

She sneered. "I never would've guessed you read science fiction."

Without taking his eyes off the book, Chen Xu casually said, "I've wanted to read The Three-Body Problem for a long time, but I never had the time. I saw it on your bookshelf, so I picked it up. It's really quite good."

Seeing that he had completely missed the sarcasm in her words, Luo Xiyun felt even more stifled. Gritting her teeth, she said, "Can you even understand it?"

Chen Xu glanced at her and said, "Reading novels is supposed to be entertainment. Whatever the author wants to express, I'm willing to keep reading because I get enjoyment out of it. What does that have to do with understanding or not understanding? What, can reading a novel somehow give you a sense of superiority?"

"After saying all that, aren't you just afraid of exposing your ignorance?" Luo Xiyun said disdainfully. "There's nothing embarrassing about admitting you don't understand it."

Chen Xu knew she was in a bad mood, so he did not provoke her further and continued reading his novel.

After dinner, Chen Xu finally finished the book and stretched hard. He checked the time—it was nearly eight. He went downstairs, turned off one generator, then filled the other one with fuel.

He took the book back into the room. Luo Xiyun was taking clothes from the wardrobe. When she saw him, her face darkened. "Get out."

"Why?" Chen Xu asked without looking back as he shoved the book onto the shelf.

"I'm going to take a shower."

Chen Xu found that strange. "You take your shower. I'll read in the room. How am I bothering you?"

Luo Xiyun said angrily, "Get out."

Chen Xu spread his hands. "The heat outside has already been turned off. Can you really bear to make me freeze out there?"

Luo Xiyun glared at him furiously. "Freezing to death would be best." Though she said that, she still took her clothes and went into the bathroom.

"Too fussy."

Chen Xu shook his head, pulled out the third volume of The Three-Body Problem from the shelf, sat in his chair, and opened to the first page.

Soon, the sound of running water came from the bathroom.

He had not thought much of it at first, but after what she had just said, he began to feel strangely unsettled. The scene inside the bathroom uncontrollably surfaced in his mind.

This was the master bedroom. The bathroom and the room were separated by an enormous glass wall. Of course, it was not transparent, so nothing could be seen.

Splash, splash...

Chen Xu felt as though an invisible hand were teasing at his heart. His throat tightened slightly, and he picked up the glass of water on the table and took a sip, warning himself not to let his imagination run wild.

He shifted his attention elsewhere and found the lighting a little too bright. Over the past few months, he had developed the habit of saving energy, so he wanted to turn off the main light and leave only a few smaller ones on.

The owner of the house must have been someone with quite a sense of atmosphere. The room had all sorts of lights installed, capable of creating various effects.

He walked over to the switches and saw seven or eight of them. Not knowing which controlled what, he casually pressed one, and several spotlights along the side lit up.

Still too bright. He turned them off and flipped another switch.

He tried several, but none satisfied him.

When he reached the fifth switch and turned it on, no light came on. Just as he was wondering why, his gaze swept across the bathroom's glass wall. It was as if he had been hit by a freezing spell, and his entire body went rigid.

It felt as though a long time had passed, yet also as though only an instant had gone by. Luo Xiyun turned off the faucet in the bathroom, dried herself with a towel, stepped out from behind the partition, and began getting dressed.

Throughout the entire process, she never turned around. Chen Xu didn't know whether to feel regretful or relieved.

When she opened the bathroom door, Chen Xu reflexively switched off that magical switch.

Luo Xiyun walked out and asked curiously, "Why did you turn off the main light?" Then she saw Chen Xu standing by the switch. As if she had suddenly remembered something, her expression changed drastically. Her voice trembled slightly. "Y-you... which... switch... did you press?"

Chen Xu felt guilty after all, and his expression was extremely unnatural.