The White-Haired, Blue-Eyed Mixed-Race Hottie

The phone chimed. Xie Qizhi looked down and saw that Zhan Xinjiai had added him to a group chat.
*Students in a City with a World-Class University (4)*

Zhan Xinjiai: 【Thanks】【Thanks】【Blows a kiss】

Xie Qizhi replied to her: *You're welcome.*

Then, he found You Ran in the group member list and added him as a friend. His gaze lingered for a few seconds on the orange cat profile picture of the fourth person, and he asked You Ran: "Who is the other person?"

You Ran leaned over to look and said: "His name is Li Yi, a friend of Zhan Xinjiai. I've never met him either."

"Is he her classmate?"

"No, he doesn't go to our school." You Ran said, "He's her gaming friend; he used to boost her account for a while. He's from Songcheng and they just met in person a few days ago."

Xie Qizhi asked: "Then why is he in the group?"

"I heard his family had some trouble, and he dropped out in high school. Zhan Xinjiai always wants to convince him to go back and take the college entrance exam, but—" You Ran hesitated, suddenly realizing this was someone else's private matter, so he didn't continue, casually adding, "Adding him is probably to let him feel the school atmosphere and change his mind. He basically doesn't talk; if you don't know him, just act like he's not there."

Xie Qizhi gave an "Oh," not paying much attention, and soon forgot about this person.

The red light turned green. Xie Qizhi put away his phone, pulled You Ran's hand, and the two crossed the street together.

Xie Qizhi and You Ran were heading to a shopping mall near Ximing University because today a collaboration product that Zhan Xinjiai really wanted was going on sale. She had sprained her ankle; hopping around the sports field was fine, but walking around a mall was a bit difficult, so she had to ask Xie Qizhi and You Ran for help.

However, the trip was in vain. The salesperson said to them with an apologetic smile: "I'm so sorry, it's all sold out."

Leaving the store, You Ran scratched his head and said: "It's normal for it to be sold out. This area is a university city, so there are many students. Coming out in the afternoon is already considered late."

Xie Qizhi asked: "So what now?"

"Let's look elsewhere." You Ran opened the navigation on his phone, scrolled through, and said, "There's another Wanda mall near the Provincial Museum. The nearest subway takes over half an hour. Let's go there and see."

Xie Qizhi nodded: "Okay."

Taking the elevator down, You Ran tilted his head to look at Xie Qizhi. After leaving school, he had put on a mask, covering most of his small face, only revealing his grey-blue eyes. His thin lashes blinked gently, his gaze aimlessly looking at the display windows above and below.

You Ran suddenly asked: "You're the youngest in your family, right?"

Xie Qizhi replied: "I have two brothers, why?"

You Ran shook his head and said with a smile: "Nothing."

For the first eighteen years of his life, Xie Qizhi had never taken the subway, and he rarely even used public transport. Before leaving home, both his brother and the helper always avoided letting him go to crowded places. Today was the first time, and he followed You Ran closely the entire way. Whatever You Ran did, he did.

You Ran seemed to have noticed this but didn't ask much. It wasn't until he heard a few faint coughs from behind that he turned his head: "Are you okay?"

Xie Qizhi lowered his hand and said: "I'm fine."

You Ran grabbed Xie Qizhi's wrist, moved him to a different spot, and then returned to the previous topic: "I feel like you're very used to listening to others. Is there someone older who is suppressing you?"

Xie Qizhi frowned, his face looking a bit unhappy: "My brother isn't suppressing me."

"I didn't mean it that way." You Ran laughed at his overly serious gaze. As an only child, he couldn't understand Xie Qizhi's feeling of protecting his brother; he just found it quite interesting, so he changed his wording, "I mean controlling, interfering in your life."

Xie Qizhi looked at him and said nothing.

You Ran said again: "I just feel like you've grown accustomed to that way of living together. Just now when I said let's go to another mall, I thought you wouldn't agree—after all, it's quite far, taking over an hour round trip, and we might not even be able to buy it. But the result is you had no opinion at all; I said go and we went, just like having another little brother."

Xie Qizhi felt that perhaps the reason was that since birth he had been someone's little brother, so he had a lot of experience being a little brother.

He thought for a moment and said: "Maybe because you're a bit like my brother?"

"Like him in what way?" You Ran was a bit surprised, raising an eyebrow, "I thought your brother was a white-haired, blue-eyed mixed-race hottie."

Xie Qizhi's eyes curved into a smile at him, not telling him whether he was or not.

Fortunately, this time they didn't go back empty-handed. According to the list Zhan Xinjiai had written, Xie Qizhi got the whole set for her: a Stitch print shirt, a plush Stitch crossbody bag, Stitch slippers, a Stitch ceramic cup, and even a Stitch curtain clip.

You Ran walked over holding an 80cm Stitch doll and said: "Can her dorm room even hold all this?"

Xie Qizhi turned his head, looking at the two heads, one large and one small in blue, and couldn't help but laugh: "You two look so much alike."

You Ran looked at the Stitch in his hand with a confused face, then found a mirror to admire himself for a while: "I don't see how it's cute. It looks so silly, not at all like Brother Ran here, handsome and elegant."

Xie Qizhi ignored him, seeing another 45cm doll on the shelf, so he leaned over to pick it up and take it to the checkout with the rest.

You Ran asked: "You're buying one too?"

"Yeah." Xie Qizhi patted Stitch's large head, "It's cute, buying it to give to my brother."

Fine, You Ran thought, the brother again.

Leaving the mall, Xie Qizhi was bumped into by a child running around. The ice cream in the boy's hand fell, dirtying a paper bag. Xie Qizhi had to throw the paper bag away, stuffing the crossbody bag into another bag. The Stitch curtain clip had no more room, so he casually wore it on his wrist. You Ran joked that it looked like a girl's hair tie and was promptly hit by Xie Qizhi before he shut up.

It was now 6:39 PM. You Ran checked the map on his phone and found the subway station was over a thousand meters away, passing by Songcheng University.

"Did you notice our group chat name? If Zhan Xinjiai had gotten into Songcheng University, we wouldn't need the four words—in a city with." He stood opposite Songcheng University, his eyes unable to hide his admiration, and asked Xie Qizhi, "Want to go in and have a look?"

Xie Qizhi replied: "We can't get in without an appointment, right? And we're carrying so much stuff."

"Not necessarily, let's just pretend to be students. Carrying a lot of stuff is better; it looks natural." You Ran looked excited, holding the giant Stitch doll in one arm and pulling Xie Qizhi along.

As expected, they were stopped by the guard at the gate: "You two, show your student IDs. Tourists please make an appointment, show the QR code to scan and enter."

The situation was extremely awkward.

Being stopped was normal, Xie Qizhi thought. The two of them, with two Stitches, were more conspicuous than lightbulbs; who else would they stop but them. He pulled You Ran's sleeve, signaling that they could come back another time, and apologized to the guard: "Sorry, we didn't know—"

"What's going on?" someone asked.

Xie Qizhi froze, turning his head toward the voice. He saw Ying Huai walking out from the majestic gates of Songcheng University, his figure handsome and tall. The sunset enveloped him, creating a golden halo as fine as down.

Until this moment, Xie Qizhi finally knew that Ying Huai was a student of Songcheng University.

This was definitely not his fault. It was all because Ying Huai was usually lazy, leaving late and returning late, and never said where he had gone, giving Xie Qizhi the illusion that this person could only be a rich young master who, after graduating from university, would become a professional freeloader.

He walked over and asked Xie Qizhi: "What are you doing here?"

"We wanted to come in for a look." Xie Qizhi was a bit shy, his voice growing softer, "But we can't get in without an appointment."

Ying Huai looked down at Xie Qizhi. He looked like he had had a lot of fun all afternoon. A few strands of bangs were damp, and his eyes were sparkling. It seemed he had quite a harvest, holding a small Stitch doll, carrying a paper bag from the collab collection, with the Stitch hair tie on his wrist, the blue plush crowded together, highlighting his thin wrist as white as snow.

And the person standing behind him...

Ying Huai's gaze swept past Xie Qizhi, landing on the green-haired boy standing not far away and the oversized Stitch he was holding. He slightly lowered his lashes, unknown what he was thinking.

Xie Qizhi was unaware, looking up to say to him: "If we can't get in, then we'll head back to school first—"

Before he could finish, Ying Huai had already turned around: "Follow me."

He took out his student ID and handed it to the guard: "Keep this card. I'll come get it when they leave."

The guard was initially unwilling, but upon flipping the card over and looking at it, for some reason he changed his mind, waving his hand to signal that the two of them could enter.

Xie Qizhi was a bit surprised, looking up to ask Ying Huai: "Then what about you?"

"I'm going to eat." Ying Huai reached out, pressed lightly on his head, and left.

You Ran first ran to the guard to peek at Ying Huai's student ID, then returned with doubled curiosity: "Xie Qizhi, who is he?"

Xie Qizhi answered: "My brother."

You Ran was shocked: "Your brother is highly educated and a great beauty too."

Xie Qizhi hadn't gone to look, so he didn't know how high "highly educated" was, but calculating by the years, he was probably a graduate student; he vaguely gave an "Um."

You Ran vaguely felt something was wrong. If he was his brother, why did Xie Qizhi have such a tense face when meeting him, like a little white rabbit whose tail had been stepped on by a big grey wolf.

Wait... Big grey wolf and little white rabbit were clearly two different species; they didn't look alike at all. And where was the white-haired, blue-eyed mixed-race hottie?

He suddenly paused, touching Xie Qizhi's shoulder: "Which brother did you say I was like? Is it this one?"

Before Xie Qizhi could deny it, You Ran hugged the Stitch and gave a radiant smile: "Do you really think that highly of me? I'm so embarrassed."