Chapter 31: Xyl, Speak (The Real World)

So, all three of us in this dorm are colleagues, Xu Yiliu remarked to herself.

Huo Zhiye’s cursing was, in truth, quite harsh, but Xu Yiliu found it tolerable. The reason was simple: Huo Zhiye had a naturally soft, melodic way of speaking—what the current slang might call "cloying." No matter how vicious her words were, they sounded like she was pouting, which cut their offensive power in half.

Wearing her headphones, she browsed for course textbooks for the upcoming semester. The counselor had organized a group purchase for new copies, but from what she knew, they were far less cost-effective than buying them secondhand.

After a while, Xu Yiliu yawned, debating whether to take a nap. Just as she pulled off her headphones, she heard a muffled, wailing sob. It definitely wasn't Ji Xianxing. Xu Yiliu glanced at the duvet, which looked far too delicate for machine washing; it was heaving and bunched up, and the girl was still crying inside.

She watched for a moment, and suddenly, an idea sparked. She wanted to see just how wealthy Huo Zhiye really was. If she could toss around tens of thousands without blinking, maybe she could take on some extra work from the girl’s assignments.

She asked the System: "Can random tasks be done in groups?"
System: "Tasks are randomized. Even if cleaners are standing inches apart, there is no guarantee they will be assigned the same mission."

Xu Yiliu understood. She wouldn't bring it up yet. She would wait until this "young miss" was actually matched to the same task as her, and then she would name her price. She could even hike it up then.

With that settled, Xu Yiliu put her headphones back on, feeling perfectly at ease, without the slightest intention of comforting Huo Zhiye. Even if she stopped taking on other part-time jobs, she had plenty to do—such as her social media account, which she had been running for a long time. It required her to post sentimental, melancholy content at regular intervals and occasionally take on advertisements. The account had accumulated five thousand followers; in good months, she could earn over a thousand yuan, but most of the time, she only brought in three or four hundred. Sometimes, it was as little as one or two hundred.

Recently, her follower count had been climbing rapidly. She was just wondering if someone had bought her fake traffic when she noticed someone had left over a dozen comments in a row.

"xyl, speak."
"xyl, speak."
"xyl, speak, it's SM." ...

Xu Yiliu was annoyed. Which idiot had leaked her name into the niche circle?!

She glared at the comments and clicked on the profile nicknamed "momo" to see who this nuisance was, intending to memorize the ID, block him, and then switch to a burner account to tear into him. Fortunately, before she could do that, she saw the post this "momo" had shared. There was only one post on his homepage, featuring a single handsome selfie with a two-word caption: "It's me, SM."

Xu Yiliu: "..."
So, it was Sheng Mo...

Suppressing her exasperation, she sent him a private message: "Are you sick?"
Sheng Mo replied instantly: "I’m perfectly healthy. You’re the one who’s sick."

She typed back with a sneer: "I’ve already deleted what you posted. Take a look at the trash you put up yourself."
[Image.jpg]

Sitting in the passenger seat, Sheng Mo let out a hum and muttered, "Ungrateful wretch. If it weren't for you closing your DMs..."
The person driving asked curiously, "What are you mumbling about?"
Receiving no response, the driver turned to look at him, stunned. "Why are you blushing?"
Sheng Mo slammed his phone shut and stared out the window, fuming. Right now, he was angry not only at Xu Yiliu but also at his parents.

Xu Yiliu, on the other end, had no patience for small talk. She asked directly: "How did you find my account?"
Sheng Mo didn't reply instantly this time. After a while, he answered: "It popped up in my feed."
"It popped up, and you still recognized it was me?"
Just as she thought this, Sheng Mo sent a screenshot: "[Image.jpg] This photo was taken by you, right? There’s your messenger bag on the flower bed in the bottom right corner."

Xu Yiliu was shocked. She had bought that bag on a discount app for forty or fifty yuan—it was a generic, ubiquitous style. Was that really enough for Sheng Mo to recognize her?
Sheng Mo sent another message: "There’s a patch on the bag."

Xu Yiliu understood instantly. Yes, she was the type who wouldn't throw a bag away even if it tore; she would just sew a patch on it and keep using it. Although she had decent taste, so it didn't look like a patch—it looked like a deliberate design choice.

Xu Yiliu asked: "Do you need something?"
He had once mentioned wanting to build a forum for cleaners, but the System forbade the leakage of cleaner information, so that probably wasn't going to happen.

Sheng Mo gritted his teeth and typed: "To thank you. Let me treat you to a meal."
Even if he didn't want to admit it, without Xu Yiliu, he didn't have the brains to clear the level. He hated owing favors.
Xu Yiliu replied: "A young master’s life is only worth one meal?"
Sheng Mo: "..."

Such a familiar tone, as if she were standing right in front of him.
The driver had already pulled into the garage. With his hands on the steering wheel, he glanced sideways at Sheng Mo, who was hugging his phone and grimacing—one moment blushing with rage, the next grinning like an idiot. After a moment, the driver said quietly, "You’ve actually developed a 'simp brain'."

Sheng Mo froze, then exploded as if his tail had been stepped on: "What kind of nonsense are you spouting!"
"Sigh." The man didn't respond, clearly not listening to his excuses, letting him shout.

Back in the dormitory at Hai Cheng University, Xu Yiliu saw that Sheng Mo hadn't replied, so she put her phone down. It was almost time to go to the lecture hall for the class meeting. She rose gracefully and went through the motions of calling out to Huo Zhiye. The young miss ignored her, so she left on her own.

The classroom was more than enough to seat thirty people. Xu Yiliu sat at a desk by herself, listening listlessly to the counselor. It was nothing more than the usual school reminders—the same old talk. She was the only one from her dorm who had shown up, so sitting alone made her feel a bit like an outsider.

Xu Yiliu waited for the meeting to end, finally hearing the counselor say: "That’s all for today..."
She was ready to leave, but there was an unexpected turn.
"Student Xu Yiliu, please stay behind."
Xu Yiliu: "..."
She wanted to go back to the dorm.

The counselor, Yang Feng, a woman in her forties, scanned the classroom: "Which one is Xu Yiliu?"
Xu Yiliu stood up calmly. Yang Feng nodded: "You stay for a moment."
Once everyone else had left, Xu Yiliu walked to the podium: "Teacher, is something the matter?"

Yang Feng looked her over and said: "Go to the administrative building, office 809. Someone is looking for you."
Administrative building, 809? Xu Yiliu was a bit confused, but after acknowledging the instruction, she left. School hadn't even started yet; why would a teacher be looking for her? A teacher...

A guess formed in her mind, and after knocking on the door of office 809, she realized she hadn't been wrong. Inside the office, the woman at the back was chatting with a colleague while holding a teacup. When she saw Xu Yiliu enter, she beckoned her over: "Come here."

Xu Yiliu got a headache the moment she saw her. It really was Fang Xiaoyi.
Fang Xiaoyi pulled up a chair for her: "You’re actually a freshman? You just registered yesterday, right?"
Xu Yiliu hummed, deciding to get straight to the point: "Teacher Fang, is there something you need me for?"

Contrary to her expectations, Fang Xiaoyi didn't start lecturing her. Instead, she said apologetically:
"I’d like to ask you for a favor."