The Premeditated Seductress Childhood Friend - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Watching the Prey

That night, Song Yixi had a dream that was as vivid as it was terrifying.

She dreamed of her birthday banquet. The blessings of her elders were a blur; Xu Qingyu sat in her wheelchair, elegant and dignified, maintaining the polite smile of the “prodigal child.” But the look in her eyes as she watched Song Yixi was full of aggression.

It felt as if… she wanted to tear her apart and swallow her whole.

Song Yixi woke up with a start in the early hours of the morning, momentarily unable to distinguish dream from reality. She had broken out in a sweat, and her skin felt sticky. Looking up, she saw that the air conditioner was off.

One of her roommates, Chen Jingyu, always snuck out of bed in the middle of the night to turn it off.

Letting out a helpless sigh, Song Yixi kicked off her thin blanket and got down from her bunk to turn it back on. The moment her feet hit the floor, she realized something was wrong. The temperature in the dorm was sweltering, like an oven.

Her discomfort growing, Song Yixi suppressed her irritability and took clean clothes to the bathroom to wash up. When she came out, the dorm felt like a steamer basket. She searched the room in the dark but couldn’t find the remote anywhere.

Anger flared in her chest. Song Yixi didn’t want to endure it anymore; she slapped Chen Jingyu’s bed frame.

“Get up!”

Yu Wei was startled awake. “What’s going on?” She sleepily pulled back her bed curtain and asked, “Did the AC get turned off again? No wonder it’s so hot.”

Song Yixi didn’t answer. Seeing that Chen Jingyu was pretending to be asleep, she flipped on the lights and started climbing up the girl’s ladder.

Chen Jingyu shrieked in terror. “Ah! Are you crazy?!”

“Who’s the crazy one?” Song Yixi spotted the remote by Chen Jingyu’s pillow and reached for it. “You sneakily turn off the AC every night after we fall asleep. It’s over 30°C out—do you ever think about anyone else?”

“Well, what if I’m cold? Besides, running it all night is a waste of money. Once you’re asleep, you won’t feel the heat anyway!”

Chen Jingyu refused to hand it over, and the two began to scuffle.

Seeing things getting out of hand, Yu Wei rushed over to pull them apart. “Song Yixi, don’t bother with her. You can control it with a phone; just download an app.”

Song Yixi was pulled back, panting and feeling a bit aggrieved. “My phone is an old model. It doesn’t have that feature.”

Yu Wei comforted her. “It’s okay, mine can do it.” Turning the AC on right in front of Chen Jingyu, Yu Wei said, “Turning it on and off constantly actually uses more electricity. You turn it off once, I’ll turn it on once. Let’s see who lasts longer.”

“You…” Finding herself at a disadvantage, Chen Jingyu began to play the victim. “Then you pay the electric bill! Your families are all rich, you have 2,000 or 3,000 yuan in monthly allowance. Why are you bullying a low-income student like me?”

It was the middle of the night, and Yu Wei didn’t feel like arguing. She was about to say she’d cover the bill herself when Song Yixi stopped her.

“On what grounds? Is being a low-income student some kind of medal? You act pathetic and I’m supposed to just give in? Do you not use the electricity in this room? Do you not enjoy the AC when it’s on? Do you think my parents’ money just blows in with the wind?”

“I’m telling you, if you sneakily turn it off again and I get sick from the heat, I’m sending you the medical bills.”

The sharp words left Chen Jingyu speechless. Her point made, Song Yixi huffily climbed back into bed. Yu Wei thought about it and realized Song Yixi was right; she didn’t back down either. She turned off the lights and went to sleep.

The temperature in the room slowly dropped, but Song Yixi couldn’t sleep. As if possessed, she opened the secret photo album on her phone. Inside were eighty-one photos.

She scrolled through them one by one. Just as her mood began to lift, she heard a sharp beep.

The AC had been turned off again.

“Dammit!”

Song Yixi threw her curtain open, only to hear Yu Wei say from the opposite bunk: “She flipped the main circuit breaker.”

In that moment, Song Yixi felt her strength leave her. She was done. She was exhausted.

…

The next day in Sports Anatomy class, Song Yixi—having not slept well—was texting her mother through heavy dark circles.

Do you have any idea how crazy my roommate is? She won’t let us use the AC in this heat. She even flipped the circuit breaker in the middle of the night! I don’t want to live in the dorms anymore. I want to rent an apartment with a friend. Mom, help me out with some funds?

Before she could send a cute “please” emoji, her phone froze. Song Yixi tapped the years-old device and let out a silent sigh.

Yu Wei noticed. “Did your parents not give you a reward for getting into Shenzhen University? Wait, you get 3,000 yuan a month for living expenses. If you save up, getting a new phone should be easy, right?”

Song Yixi tucked the phone away awkwardly. “They gave me 20,000 yuan after the college entrance exams. I couldn’t help myself and spent it all on stuff. I’m too embarrassed to ask for more.”

Yu Wei was shocked. “20,000? What did you buy?”

Song Yixi lowered her head and flipped through her textbook, whispering, “An Apple laptop.”

Yu Wei hissed. “Weren’t you scammed? That MacBook on your desk is a second-hand model. At most, it’s worth 2,000 yuan.”

“The one on my desk belongs to Xu Qingyu.” Song Yixi’s face flushed at the mention of the name. “She often comes over to my house for dinner. Once she left her laptop there. I happened to be checking my exam results and used it, but I accidentally broke it. I had to buy her a new one to replace it.”

She had been too embarrassed to tell Xu Qingyu. She bought the new laptop, synced the data, and sneaked into Xu Qingyu’s house while she wasn’t home to swap them.

Yu Wei felt something was off. “Didn’t you say last night that your parents’ money doesn’t grow on trees? If her laptop broke, you bought her a top-of-the-line replacement? That’s incredibly generous.”

“Also, if her laptop was broken, why do you still have it? Did you fix it?”

Song Yixi bit her finger. “I don’t know. The day after I bought the new one, this one just… fixed itself.”

Yu Wei laughed. “I feel like you just wanted an excuse to buy her a new computer.”

Song Yixi denied it immediately. “How is that possible? She’s the most annoying person I know.”

She just felt that since Xu Qingyu had always used the best of everything since they were kids, she couldn’t let her quality of life drop because of her.

Just then, her mother replied: I spoke with Qingyu. The neighborhood where she rents is quite nice. I’ll have her go with you to check it out. You’re inexperienced and easily scammed.

Song Yixi: No need! I have my friend with me.

She and Yu Wei had already agreed: they’d rather be scammed than have Xu Qingyu tag along.

Mom: That won’t do. If Qingyu isn’t with you, I won’t feel at ease.

Song Yixi was speechless. It had been like this since they were children—as if the moment Xu Qingyu was present, everything would be perfect.

Clearly, Xu Qingyu was the most dangerous person of all.

After class, Song Yixi followed Yu Wei to the cafeteria. “My mom says Xu Qingyu has to come with us.”

Yu Wei was actually happy to hear it. “That’s good. An upperclassman has more experience than us.”

Song Yixi gripped her backpack straps, every fiber of her being resisting. “Xu Qingyu is…”

Speak of the devil. Just as Song Yixi was about to talk trash, she spotted Xu Qingyu standing not far away at the noodle window. She shivered in fright and instinctively hid behind Yu Wei.

“Shenzhen University is so huge, why do I run into her every single day?”

As if sensing her, the quietly standing Xu Qingyu suddenly turned her gaze toward Song Yixi’s position.

Her eyes were exactly like the ones in Song Yixi’s dream—half-smiling, as if she were looking at her prey.