Quick Transmigration: Let Me Tell You, I'm a Social Anxiety Person

On the way home, Wen Ying was already drowsy.

Xia Yin was diligently studying the driving test guide in the front row, while Chen Ge played games the whole way. Wen Ying opened her eyes again at the sound of crystal shattering. She didn't have time to grasp the fleeting dream in her mind, nor could she tell whether Chen Ge had won or lost this game. She hugged her schoolbag to her chest and got off the car alone.

The old residential area had no streetlights, and the quiet night spread outwards.

Wen Ying followed her memory and went to the wrong door, then went back again before finally finding her own home.

She was so sleepy she wanted to just lie down on the ground and sleep without caring about anything else. She took a shower, relying on the last vestiges of her obsessive-compulsive disorder. When she came out, she was completely awake.

Wen Ying tossed and turned in bed from one end to the other, still unable to fall asleep. She thought it was because her body wasn't tired enough, so she got out of bed and started tidying up the room in the middle of the night.

Actually, there's not much to clean. Wen Ying is a very orderly person, and her room is always tidy and well-maintained. The only thing that can be done right now is to rearrange the things in the room.

Overall, there's no visible change; the changes are always subtle, better than nothing, allowing us to compare the differences between yesterday and today. Like the undulations and ripples on the water's surface, they represent the water's flow, its living nature.

Wen Ying was also involved in the event; she is a clear-headed person.

After fiddling around in the bedroom for a while, Wen Ying washed the wet clothes. The forecast showed it was going to be a sunny day, with a strong sun at 35 degrees Celsius. There was no need to wring them out; the clothes would dry naturally.

She hung up the coat she had changed out of earlier, took out her jacket from her schoolbag, and underneath it was a towel. The light blue towel was stained with something that looked like moss or the color of grass juice. She used soap and laundry detergent and scrubbed it several times, but she couldn't get it clean.

Those marks seem to have grown on it; they're very stubborn.

Wen Ying wrung it dry, squeezed it into a ball, and held her hand above the trash can.

In the silence, the sound of a lock being opened came from somewhere. With two creaks, the door opened and closed. "Bang!" Someone rudely pressed the light switch, and a couple started arguing. The woman's angry curses and the man's incoherent rebuttals came through the poorly soundproofed walls, and Wen Ying's hand stopped.

She straightened the towel, shook off the wrinkles, and hung it on the clothes rack next to her.

-

Wen Ying was woken up by the noise.

She pulled her phone out from under her pillow. It wasn't even nine o'clock yet. She calculated the time and realized she had only slept for three or four hours.

The screen was filled with message notifications, a group chat of the band's four members. She didn't click to read them, but put her hand on her forehead, closed her eyes, and calmed herself down for a while. As her clear consciousness returned, the sounds outside the door became clearer.

There were several people talking loudly, as if they were blocking her doorway.

Wen Ying didn't know what they had to say so early in the morning, just as she didn't know what they were arguing about in the middle of the night. She frowned, sat up, put on her slippers, and prepared to walk to the door. Remembering that she should pay attention to her image, she went to the bathroom to wash her face.

I went out wearing my coat, but there was no sound at the door.

The outside quieted down, making it seem like a belated attempt to cause trouble. She hesitated for a few seconds between opening and closing the door, then made up her mind, peeking through the crack in the door before placing her hand on the doorknob.

The door opened outwards, and she pushed it very gently, but the rusty hinges creaked and trembled, as if making a triumphant announcement. The door to the opposite room was wide open, and the people standing inside all turned to look at her.

Wen Ying: "..."

The sight of her staring made his scalp tingle, and without thinking, he pulled the door back shut.

With her view blocked by the door, Wen Ying, still gripping the metal handle, couldn't help but reflect on herself. Something was wrong. She was the one who was woken up; she should have confronted the commotion aggressively. Why was she instead awkwardly gripping the ground with her toes, trying to avoid it?

Perhaps it's because Liang Muxi was also in those gazes.

Losing her temper in front of her classmates might be embarrassing, which is why she decided to quit.

Wen Ying sighed in the group chat: "Sigh."

Xia Yin: "What's wrong, high school student? Is something bothering you?"

Wen Ying: "I'd like to reflect on some principles of life. Difficulties are like springs; the weaker you are, the stronger they become."

Xia Yin: "??? What trouble have you encountered? Tell me, and I'll come to your rescue."

Wen Ying: "Actually, it's nothing."

Xia Yin: "What's all this nonsense? Why are you acting crazy so early in the morning?"

Wen Ying: "No one can live without going crazy at some point."

After replying, she leaned against the door and scrolled down through the messages.

Xia Yin and Wang Ziming were talking in the group chat. They had been chatting since around 5 a.m. Xia Yin said that he had found a like-minded coach who had mastered excellent techniques for training students, and that getting certified in 40 days would be no problem. Wang Ziming said, "Is that what the coach promised you? At 4:13 a.m.? That wording is probably a bit inappropriate."

Xia Yin told him to get lost, and then posted a screenshot of news about an upcoming band competition.

Xia Yin said, "So, have you got any ideas? The competition is in another province. I'll get my driver's license, buy a car, and take you guys there."

Wang Ziming said, "That's good, but do you think our half-baked group can even get into the auditions?"

Xia Yin scolded him for being unmotivated and lacking confidence: "You're already fantasizing about a crushing defeat before you've even started. You've been toughened up by life to a certain extent."

Wang Ziming: "M-attribute explodes! McDonald's, activate!"

This was followed by a screenshot of a McDonald's breakfast order.

Wen Ying was amused and felt a little better. Holding her phone, she prepared to go back to the bedside to change her clothes when there was a knock on the door behind her.

She paused, swiped the screen back on, and the chat page lay in her palm, as if doing so would make her friends pop out of her phone and stay by her side, before opening the door.

There was a somewhat familiar-looking person standing outside.

Their eyes met, and Liang Muxi was also taken aback, seemingly not expecting that the person she met would be Wen Ying.

Wen Ying was also a little stunned. The door across the hall was still open, and the edge of the table leg could be seen. There was a fruit basket by the door, but it was empty, and Liang Muxi was holding two pieces of fruit in her hand.

One is a peach, and the other is an apple.

"So it was you living across the street," Wen Ying said, turning her gaze away.

"Hmm." Liang Muqi also looked away. That wasn't quite accurate, though, because his gaze was still on her face, only less intense than it had been for the past few seconds, as if he had suppressed some of his emotions.

Perhaps out of surprise, Wen Ying thought.

Quite by coincidence, ever since she moved here, the residents across the street have never appeared. If it weren't for the fact that utility bills and small advertisements were always promptly removed, she would almost have thought that the building across the street was empty and uninhabited.

Actually, the room didn't seem very lively right now. Wen Ying lowered her head and thought, Liang Muqi hadn't even changed out of her pajamas or put on slippers.

The fruit was handed to her, and she looked up at Liang Muqi, then at the fruit, and asked, "For me?"

"I'm sorry for disturbing you."

Wen Ying shook her head and took the peach from his hand.

Liang Muqi said, "They're all for you."

Wen Ying said, "But I don't like eating apples." Her phone screen had already turned off without her noticing, and she stuffed it into her pocket. After a pause, she explained, "Although apples are very nutritious, they taste bland, and I always feel that they are associated with hospitals. Things related to health can make people feel stressed."

Wait, stop! What is she saying? It sounds like she's rambling on again, but this time it's not in Xia Yin's group chat, but in front of a classmate she's only met once or twice and isn't very familiar with.

Wen Ying felt she might not be fully awake yet. She squeezed the peach in her hand and found it was still hard. She couldn't help but continue, "Hmm, how did you know I like crisp peaches?"

What was that that blurted out? How does he know what kind of peaches you like...? Countless thoughts flashed through Wen Ying's mind and she quickly looked up, only to find that Liang Muqi seemed to smile, whether she had misread it or not.

However, the smile was very faint, very subtle, a slight upturn of the corners of the lips with an almost imperceptible arc, fleeting like an illusion.

"Your guests have left?" Wen Ying looked away from his lips and met his eyes. "It's only nine o'clock."

Liang Muxi said, "He's not a guest, he's a real estate agent. This house is going to be sold, and he brought the buyer here to visit."

"Ah...did it sell?"

"Not so fast."

"Is the price not right?"

"Ah."

An old man came up from the bottom of the steps, carrying a birdcage. The chirping of the little birds came through the dark green silk cloth. Wen Yingchao stepped back into the room, and Liang Muqi also stepped aside to make way for him.

The old man glanced at Wen Ying, whose back was pressed against the door frame. Wen Ying turned her head away, pretending to look at the spider web in the corner. The old man then looked at Liang Muqi, grinned, and said with his almost toothless mouth, "Don't be in such a hurry to sell your house."

Liang Muxi remained silent.

The old man added, "This area is going to be demolished soon, in just a few years."

Liang Muqi nodded to him, the birds in the cage chirped, and he gave the apple to the old man.

"It won't be long, it won't be long." The old man slowly climbed the stairs. "I won't be able to wait that long..."

The hunched figure disappeared around the corner. Wen Ying finished counting the spider webs and looked at Liang Muxi again: "That old man just came into your house for a visit, didn't he? I recognized his voice."

Liang Muqi hummed in agreement and then apologized, "I disturbed you."

"Ah, it's nothing really." He seemed quite apologetic, while Wen Ying felt a little embarrassed. Her morning grumpiness from being disturbed seemed to have vanished, and she smiled and said, "There are advantages to waking up early, at least I reaped a peach."

Liang Muxi twitched the corner of his lips again, still a very slight movement, but this time Wen Ying saw it clearly.

“Oh right, the towel you lent me yesterday…” Wen Ying suddenly remembered the towel hanging on the clothes rack. It was definitely unusable now that it was stained. So she brought up the topic she hadn’t finished talking about last night. “I have some change now. I’ll go inside and get it for you. Just stand here and wait for me for a second, don’t go.”

After saying that, he hurriedly returned to his room, opened the drawer of his desk, and took out the change from his wallet.

How much is a towel worth? Ten yuan? Twenty yuan? Her gaze fell on the peach in her hand, its bright red skin glistening with juice. Wen Ying placed the peach on the table, took out a ten-yuan note, a twenty-yuan note, and the fifty-yuan note from yesterday from her wallet.

But when they returned to the door, it was tightly shut, with no gaps.

Was it the wind that blew it open, or did Liang Muqi close it? Wen Ying opened the door, and the sound of creaking bearings filled the air. The hallway was empty, and the door opposite was also closed.

She knocked on the door, but no one answered; Liang Muxi had already left.