Wen Ning was sitting there, talking to Zhang Siyu about the green snake dream.
He was only halfway through what he was saying
when a sudden knock came from the door.
The knocking was pretty urgent, too.
Wen Ning turned to look at the door and grumbled,
"Who's that, coming for a bath this early? Isn't the Squirrel Spirit coming in the afternoon?"
Zhang Siyu set down the bottle of shower gel in her hand, got up, and went to open the door.
When she opened it, she froze for a moment.
A young man she didn't recognize stood outside.
He was short, round-faced, and slightly chubby, dressed in plain casual clothes. A bulging suitcase sat at his feet, with a few faint lightning patterns embroidered on it.
His eyes were red, as if he had already cried on the way over, and a little unwiped snot still hung beneath his nose.
He looked utterly aggrieved, like a fat cat whose owner had thrown him out of the house.
Zhang Siyu looked him up and down.
Then she glanced behind him. There was no one else, just him.
She held on to the doorframe and asked with some puzzlement,
"Who are you looking for?"
Before the young man could answer, Wen Ning had already craned his head from his chair and spotted that ugly face at the door.
He nearly lost his grip on his cup.
He set the cup on the table, stood up, and hurried to the door, sounding genuinely shocked.
"Lu Ming? What are you doing here?"
The instant Lu Ming saw Wen Ning, the corners of his mouth turned down, and all the anguish he had held back along the way finally burst its banks.
He grabbed Wen Ning's sleeve.
**"Wen Ning, I've got it so