Zhou Yuwen found a blanket and draped it over the two of them, closing his eyes slightly.
Under the moonlight, Zheng Yanyan lay quietly in Zhou Yuwen's arms.
Watching him pretend to sleep, she realized she was falling more deeply in love with him. Just like sothing she’d read online once: *Liking is reckless; loving is restrained.* Zhou Yuwen truly cared about her.
Otherwise...
Under the blanket, the way his sapphire-blue sleep pants were... pressed quietly against her thigh…
Zheng Yanyan wasn’t naive; she understood that holding back like this was uncomfortable.
So she thought for a mont and asked, "Isn’t it uncomfortable?"
"A little."
"Then, why won’t you…?" Her voice held a bit of frustration.
Zhou Yuwen didn’t answer right away. As she grew slightly upset and was about to press him further, he finally spoke, saying, people couldn’t just act on impulse.
"To be honest, I’m not sure if I can make you happy in the future. I worry that I’ll ss up and upset you. I’m not like Chang Hao or others who know how to comfort a girl and keep her happy. Just like this ti—if we hadn’t run into each other outside of school, who knows how long we’d have stayed upset. I’m really scared that soday, because of my wooden personality, I might lose you.”
This heartfelt confession touched Zheng Yanyan deeply, stirring sothing soft within her.
She leaned in and kissed him, climbing onto him.
The blanket fell away.
The moonlight streaming in perfectly highlighted her beautiful figure.
Sitting astride him, her gaze was filled with emotion.
She spoke resolutely, “No matter if we stay together forever or not, I’ll never regret this.”
“At the very least, I know you love .”
With that, Zheng Yanyan slipped off the last piece of her nightgown...
A faint light rose on the distant horizon.
The rising sun spread a fiery glow across the field.
On the balcony of the student dormitory, there was an abandoned flower pot.
It was left behind by previous students, and whatever had once been planted in it had long since withered.
In just one night, though, it was now filled with Xuan He n cigarette butts.
Lu Yuhang’s daily routine was highly consistent: asleep by eleven, awake by seven in the morning.
The morning air was damp.
As Lu Yuhang climbed down from his bed, he noticed Chang Hao standing alone on the balcony, cigarette in hand.
Standing with his back to Lu Yuhang, Chang Hao’s figure appeared sowhat lonely.
“Brother Hao,” Lu Yuhang greeted him while grabbing his towel from the balcony.
Chang Hao turned around, and only then did Lu Yuhang notice the bloodshot eyes. Chang Hao opened his mouth slightly, his voice raspy, "Yuhang, you're up?"
"Yeah." Lu Yuhang nodded, wrinkling his nose slightly at the sll of his towel, which reeked of smoke. Glancing at the flower pot overflowing with cigarette butts, he knew Chang Hao was in pain. Despite sleeping heavily, Lu Yuhang had woken once or twice and heard Chang Hao playing video gas with Zhou Yuwen.
There was no one else but Zheng Yanyan who could make him feel this way.
He just didn’t get what was so great about Zheng Yanyan. Lu Yuhang didn’t care much about won; he found them troubleso and high-maintenance.
Not wanting to involve himself in Chang Hao’s feelings, he set his towel in hot water to soak.
“Ahhh…”
Shortly, Li Qiang woke up, stretching and yawning, clearly well-rested.
“D*mn, I think I’ve got a crick in my neck.”
When he saw Chang Hao’s worn-out expression, he was startled. “Whoa, Brother Hao, what happened? Did a ghost suck the life out of you?”
“Stop talking nonsense; I was up gaming till after two.” Chang Hao didn’t even look at him.
“Oh, I thought I was dreaming last night, hearing you playing gas with Old Zhou and him showing off with Zheng Yanyan.”
Chang Hao froze, glancing over at Li Qiang.
“That… wasn’t a dream?”
Li Qiang realized what was going on from Chang Hao’s expression.
Sotis, sounds from the environnt work their way into dreams. Like when Chang Hao was calling to Zhou Yuwen, “Go top lane!” and “Alright, one more ga!” it created a foggy scene in Li Qiang’s dream.
Li Qiang had honestly thought it was a dream. Seeing Chang Hao’s face now, though, he asked, “Wait, was all that stuff I heard real?”
“What?” Chang Hao’s expression turned icy.
Li Qiang ignored it and chuckled, “D*mn, Brother Hao, you’re amazing! Playing gas while the lovebirds are doing their thing. What do you get out of tagging along?”
Chang Hao ignored him, heading to the sink to wash up. He hadn’t been awake the whole night, but his sleep had been light. He’d only gotten a couple of hours before a dream woke him up.
He’d dreamt of Zhou Yuwen and Zheng Yanyan getting close. Zhou Yuwen slept with her, only to dump her afterward, leaving her crying and clinging to his leg, begging him not to leave.
Chang Hao had wanted to advise her, but she pointed at him and snapped, “Who do you think you are?”
And when he woke, his eyes were wet with tears.
As he stood on the balcony, quietly smoking, he was so young that even two hours’ sleep was enough to revive him.
“Hey, are you still thinking about Zheng Yanyan?” Li Qiang called out as Chang Hao walked back to the sink, but Chang Hao ignored him. Li Qiang went on, “Brother Hao, let
give it to you straight, okay? Don’t waste your ti. She’s already Old Zhou’s girl, and you even confird they stayed over together last night. What’s the point?”
Chang Hao, still holding his washbasin, didn’t respond.
Yawning, Li Qiang added, “Co on, you’re from Beijing! Don’t tell
you’re waiting around to pick up Old Zhou’s leftovers?”
“She’s already slept with him; no need to waste your ti.”
Crash!
The washbasin slamd to the ground, spilling hot water everywhere.
The sudden noise made everyone jump.
Chang Hao stood there, eyes bloodshot, glaring at Li Qiang, looking terrifying.
“What do you an, ‘leftovers’? And what do you an by saying she’s already slept with him? Shut your d*mn mouth! Who do you think you are? You’ve got a lot of nerve to lecture
when you treat a tramp like Lu Lin like a queen, you idiot!”
“F*ck you, what did you say!” Li Qiang exploded, using the railing for support as he jumped down to confront Chang Hao.
“Say that again! Who are you calling a tramp?”
“F*ck, Lu Lin’s trash, smoking, drinking, borrowing money—who knows how many guys she’s been with? Yet here you are treating her like a queen!”
“Screw you!”
Li Qiang lunged forward, ready to throw down. Chang Hao had been itching for a fight as well, and they were about to clash when Lu Yuhang jumped in to pull Li Qiang back.
“Brother Qiang, don’t fight, don’t fight!”
They were about to exchange blows when soone knocked on the door.
Luckily, the knock stopped them in their tracks, and they reluctantly backed down.
Lu Yuhang went to answer the door.
Standing outside was Jiang Chao and a group of their dorm mates. Jiang Chao’s heavily accented voice called out, “What’s with all the noise so early in the morning?”
Jiang Chao and his friends held their textbooks, clearly heading to class, and upon seeing the ss, with Li Qiang and Chang Hao glaring at each other and a toppled washbasin, they couldn’t help but approach.
With outsiders present, both simred down a bit.
Li Qiang was the first to break the tension with a grin, “Fight? Who could take on Brother Hao? I wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Jiang Chao glanced at Li Qiang, “True, but just be careful with Beijing folks; they might blow up your village.”
“Heh, not wrong!” Li Qiang chuckled.
“Well, are we going to class or not?”
It was already 8:20, so everyone freshened up quickly and rushed to class.
As they passed Chang Hao, Li Qiang added one last comnt, “Chang Hao, I’m telling you this for your own good. Forget about Zheng Yanyan.”
“Go to h*ll!” Chang Hao shot back.
Li Qiang fell silent, and they exchanged no further words.
Li Qiang joined so other dorm mates, laughing and chatting.
Lu Yuhang quietly followed Chang Hao, noticing that Chang Hao’s mood had soured. As he watched Li Qiang laughing with the others up ahead, Chang Hao felt like they were laughing at him.
Especially with how Li Qiang kept talking and making the group laugh, and with so of them looking back at him, it all felt like mockery.
In class, he found a seat.
The teacher adjusted his glasses and asked the class representative to take attendance.
When Chang Hao reached Zhou Yuwen’s na, he hesitated and skipped over it.
“Liu Yue?” he asked next.
“She’s on leave,” Gu Yaoyao responded.
After roll call, Chang Hao returned to his seat.
Jiang Ch
ao and Li Qiang sat together, with Jiang Chao asking, “Why doesn’t Zhou Yuwen ever co to class?”
“He spent last night out with his girlfriend,” Li Qiang replied with a grin.
“For real?” Jiang Chao’s interest piqued.
“Hey, Liu Yue didn’t co back to the dorm last night either,” Ma Tian and Li Jing, overhearing, turned back to gossip.
“No way! She’s dating that senior from the Photography Club, right?”
“Yep, that’s the one. Haven’t you heard?”
“I have. I’ve heard that senior’s not exactly the most upstanding guy,” Jiang Chao said.
“Why didn’t you say sothing earlier? Liu Yue’s been out with him.”
“Didn’t expect things to go that fast.”
“Supposedly, he invited her for a photoshoot. Hey, Li Qiang, doesn’t Zhou Yuwen usually live off-campus?” Ma Tian and Li Jing pried further.
“I wouldn’t know. I only heard from Chang Hao that she was at Old Zhou’s place last night for gaming,” Li Qiang answered.
“Oh my god, are they living together now?” Ma Tian and Li Jing’s eyes lit up with excitent.
“How would I know? Go ask Chang Hao.” Li Qiang said.
Sitting away from them, Chang Hao’s frustration grew as he listened to Li Qiang gossiping, his grip tightening around his textbook.
anwhile, Li Qiang seed equally interested in Liu Yue’s story. After all, her relationship with that senior was new, and the senior was notorious for asking girls to photoshoots.
The class, on landscape history, was tedious. The professor, a man in his sixties who’d studied in the Soviet Union, simply read from the book, ignoring whatever the students did.
So Li Qiang and a few others continued to buzz like flies with their constant chatter.
By the third class period…
“Excuse , sir.”
In a soft, embarrassed voice, Liu Yue stood in the doorway, her face slightly flushed, and an added allure in her bright expression.
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