Work Text:
The day had started ordinary enough for Weiwei. She got up, did her laps around the track, ate breakfast and made her way to her Archaeology class. She was sitting in her regular seat and was reading over her notes when she heard someone ask if the seat was taken. Hearing that it was a male voice, Weiwei was about to nicely tell the male that the seat was occupied when she looked to see that it was the mysterious Senior Xiao Nai. She became completely tongue tied and could only nervously nod. As he started to sit down Weiwei realized that she had her stuff spread across the table so as quickly as she could she attempted to gather her belongings from in front of where Senior Xiao was about to sit. But before she was able to grab all of her belongings Xiao Nai picked up her pencil case and went to place it into her hands. Their fingers briefly grazed each other causing sparks shoot up both of their arms.
The moment it happened it was like time sped up in some sort of static filled haze. Both were seeing visions of the next few years at rapid succession. While to the outside world it was only a handful of seconds it was close to five years for the two. They saw their first official meeting, their first date, being separated for the first time, reunited with a kiss hidden behind an office door, every milestone and every tribulation they shared throughout the following years. Weiwei looked at the older classmate in shock before uttering 'Yixiao Naihe?' in a barely audible gasp.
Causing for a split second Xiao Nai's eyes to widen in surprise as he muttered a 'you saw it too?' before quickly returning to his calm smiling facade. Noticing that a plethora of random members of the student body entering the room en masse he whispered that they will talk after class as he turned his attention to the textbook he had brought with him. Weiwei barely nodded her head in understanding and reopened her textbook to give the appearance that nothing out of the ordinary was going on. Just when she thought that her heartbeat was under control she felt Xiao Nai's hand grasp her free hand under the table and laced his fingers between her own before giving a comforting squeeze. Trying to not draw the onlookers' attention she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye to see her online husband's eye dance with giddiness and pretty much challenging her to do something about it without drawing attention. It was obvious to Weiwei that the Great Master took all the information that they were gifted and already compartmentalized it before he decided his course of action to dive right into their relationship. Unlike Weiwei who was overwhelmed and whose mind was still trying to process everything. The hand holding wasn't doing her any favors. .
Weiwei took a discreet look around to see if anyone noticed what the two were doing but no one, not even the girl who was encroaching Weiwei's personal bubble to lovingly gaze at Xiao Nai noticed that the Great Master and the Belle of the Computer Science department were holding hands. The two sat next to each other appearing to the masses that they were both engrossed in their own studies while secretly basking in each others' touch. More like Xiao Nai was basking while Weiwei was close to having an anxiety attack. They sat like that until Professor Xiao called on Weiwei, shaking her out of her stupor to summarize what last week's lecture was about.
Luckily Weiwei had been going over her last week's notes before Xiao Nai came to sit by her and had her notes turned to Exactly what she needed. She nervously stood up and started to talk about the Mawangdui Tombs of the Western Han Dynasty and focused on the items that she did further research on. The silk texts and medical texts. She went on to explain that she believed that the ten volumes of medical books were one of their countries most prized historical relics. She cited the Prescriptions for fifty-two diseases and compared them to the Yellow Emperor's Internal Canon which was compiled earlier. She also stated that she did further research and that some of the treatments within have been validated by the medical school. She continued on how she felt that this was the essence of archaeology. Weiwei even laminated on how sad she felt that some of the texts were damaged and that the treatments are now lost to time.
Once Weiwei sat back down when Professor Xiao signaled her to, she made sure that her hands stayed visible on the desk to prevent the man sitting next to her from grasping it again to his amusement. While the feeling of the handsome man holding her hand was electrifying, her mind was still in overload mode with everything she saw when her hand first brushed Xiao Nai's. While the senior pretty much confirmed everything that she saw was true and that he had seen something too with the short sentence he whispered when she said his avatar's name. It just felt so unreal. She needed time to herself to process everything but was not about to leave Professor Xiao's class mid-lecter it would not look good for her if she did. Plus, she glanced to her right to the Xiao Nai fangirl and she was not about to let her out anytime soon and from what she saw it was unlikely she would pay attention to anyone but Xiao Nai for Weiwei to make an escape either.
She decided; just as soon as class ends she will make a strategic retreat back to the safety of her dorm room. Once she was away from him she would properly take the time to thoroughly go through everything that she saw then know what would be the proper course of action to take. Getting in a relationship with Xiao Nai was a no brainer after all that she saw but knowing how to start it was another thing altogether. In what she saw their relationship within the vision their relationship started slow and progressed over the years until they finally wed. Did Xiao Nai want to pick up right where they were at the end of the visions? She is nowhere near ready for that kind of intimacy. It was all so overwhelming just thinking about it. She mentally shook her head and decided that in the middle of his father's lecter was not the time to be stewing on this. So she cleared her mind to focus back on her copious note taking.
As class wrapped up, Weiwei efficiently packed her bag up as quickly as she could so she could escape. The fangirl was still not budging, not that Weiwei thought that she would; so she had no other choice than to clear her throat to get Xiao Nai's attention. Motioning that she wanted to leave the lecture hall the handsome man stood to allow her to stand but before she could make a mad dash down the steps Xiao Nai grabbed her hand and softly called her name. Causing the masses of students to bring out their phones again and start snapping pictures. Weiwei whispered to give her time to process everything and that she would talk with him tonight online before she gently pulled her hand free then rushed out of the lecture hall.
Weiwei did not slow down until she was behind the door of her dorm room. Sisi and Erxi looked at their pretty friend in question and asked if she was okay but Weiwei just waved them off by saying they wouldn't believe her if she told them; it was just too crazy. The two other girls looked at their friend in question but dropped the subject.for the most part. Weiwei just set her book bag on the table and went to pour herself a mug of water only to find out that the water dispenser was empty. Sighing in annoyance, Weiwei grabbed the bottle and announced that she was going to refill the jug. Erxi, still brimming in curiosity, followed Weiwei out the door and started to guess what happened to Weiwei today to put her in such a state. The beauty just ignored her friend and focused on her task at hand.
As she carried the jug of water back her mind circled on everything she saw with that brush of their hands. They were too vibrant to be flights of fancy and with Senior Xiao Nai confirming his identity without outright saying that he was her in-game husband gave credit to whatever happened. Not to mention his mutter of seeing it too her brain stressed. As fantastical as it seemed, what she experienced happened to both of them and the man behind the avatar that she was developing feelings for just so happened to be the most desired man on campus. The question was what were her next few steps. Unlike her husband she is much too cowardly to make such an overt move. Weiwei shook her head and glanced at her starring roommates; she would not get the peace for her to come to terms in the dorm. She could tell both Sisi and Erxi were just waiting to pounce on her to bombard her with questions. So Weiwei decided to just bite the bullet and go to the library and get the studying that she saw in the vision before going online and speaking to her online husband as she saw.
Xiao Nai on the other hand knew that his poor wife was overwhelmed. He saw it in her eyes the moment she uttered his game handle. He could feel her anxiousness radiate off of her as he held her hand which he knew he probably should not have grabbed her hand and held it under the table so soon after the bombardment of images but his emotions got the better of him in a moment of lapse in his self control. It was euphoric to know that down the road Weiwei would be his wife in every sense of the word. Those images of their intimacy would be the star many of his upcoming dreams for sometime to come until it became a reality. He briefly wondered what Weiwei saw; at bare minimum she saw their first official meeting. He sighed and closed his eyes. How did all of this get so complicated? The handsome man decided to wait for his brilliant wife to come to the library. He hoped that she would still follow her habit of going to the library when she needed peace to study from her roommates. Weiwei did not disappoint when he spotted her red sweater making a v-line right to the study tables at the back of the library. He watched her take her seat and pull out her little red journal that he learned from the visions that she kept everything that she thought important within.
He waited anxiously for her to give up the pretense of studying and get on her laptop. It didn't take long, only forty minutes but every second made his anticipation grow. Like he saw in the scenes she booted up her laptop and went directly to her messages to see the video for the couples contest waiting for her. He had told her the night before to check her inbox for it. He watched as the kaleidoscope of emotions passed across her face from behind a bookshelf and waited until she finally messaged him. The first thing she said was an apology for fleeing earlier before changing the subject to the video. Xiao Nai kept silent as she praised the video, an obvious attempt to deflect before bluntly asking what all did she see when their hands touched.
Weiwei blushed for a few moments before typing 'The next few years.' No wonder she ran off the way she did, Xiao Nai thought as he released the breath he didn't even realize he was holding. He replied to her in the private message if there was something disappointing from what she saw but Weiwei completely denied it and just said that it was all so overwhelming; like it was some sort of fever dream her mind made up. She just didn't know how to react to that information dump.
As Weiwei stared at her screen for a reply the scrapping of the chair next to her startled her and she saw the handsome senior sit his laptop down on the table in front of them and take a seat next to her. Sitting closer than what was necessarily proper. Causing Weiwei to gasp in shock and grasp her chest. She had no idea that Xiao Nai was in the library too. How did he know she was there? Xiao Nai gave a cocky smile but said nothing. Weiwei recognized the look from the images she saw today; it was a look that said that he had a secret but he wasn't going to tell. The beauty narrowed her eyes silently demanding an answer. Taking pity on his poor wife Xiao Nai leaned closer to her and whispered that he had looked up her schedule and her activity on her student card. His dear wife is a creature of habit. Weiwei frowned and asked if he initially planned to come across her this evening. Xiao Nai nodded but did not admit that in the vision he stayed hidden while they chatted the night away with her hidden behind the bookshelf until the library closed then followed her back to her dorms to make sure she got there safely.
Weiwei let out an amused huff then asked sarcastically if she should go ahead and post the video for the contest. Her online husband just gave her a what do you think look. The beauty just rolled her eyes and logged onto the game forum to post the video then turned back to the handsome man next to her to ask what should they do now. Xiao Nai just closed both of their laptops and told Weiwei to pack up. She looked at him in question then proceeded to pack up curious what the enigmatic senior had planned. Once both of them were packed up they left the library hand in hand not bothering to register the plethora of random students snapping photos of the couple and plastering the pictures all over the campus forum.
Those photos that were posted when seen by a certain language student stopped him from attempting to find who he believed was the beauty online. He didn't even bother trying to find her inside the game that she played. The photos even spread to the Campus Belle who was so upset her cousin started to worry about her morose mood and had her confined in him that the guy that she had a crush on is dating the runner up school beauty instead of her. Zhen Shaoxiang thought that Xiao Nai must have been a fool for not dating his cousin until the evening of the guild dinner when he saw the most beautiful woman on the arm of Xiao Nai. When Diemeng Weixing came up to the couple calling them, embracing the beauty calling her Weiwei and Xiao Nai Yixiao Naihe, Zhen Shaoxiang couldn't believe what he was hearing. He thought that nerdy girl who was interviewed for an internship for his father's company. For some reason never got the internship even though Zhen Shaoxiang personally selected her to be offered the internship. As he was trying to make sense of everything he heard Xiaoyu Qingqing call the couple liars and Weiwei offering to prove it by PK battling the Xiaoyu's four to two. Luwei Weiwei obliterated each one of the Xiaoyu's as her online husband just sat in the background playing his guqin. To add insult to injury Xiao Nai quietly picked up the tab for the meal before Zhen Shaoxiang could make a big display of things.
Little did the rest of the world know that Xiao Nai and Weiwei were working behind the scenes to make sure the next few years would be as drama-free as it could be until Weiwei graduated before they were to be married. There was no Cao Guang mistaking Erxi as Weiwei in the game. They also hacked into Zhen Yi Technologies HR department to remove Erxi's internship acceptance application so she would not be bullied by the Xiaoyu clan. After some debate Xiao Nai did not hire Ah Shuang while the man was a fantastic coder there was the misogynistic mindset and the fact that he was feeding Zhen Yi Technologies information on where they were at making the Chinese Ghost Story sequel. All in all, while the life that they had in the vision was pretty amazing, what happened in reality was so much better without the unneeded drama.
The End
