Xu Zhi recalled the note she had left for him.
“I hope that in the days without me, your world will still shine brightly, with endless flowers and applause. As long as Qingyi’s rain keeps falling and puppies keep wagging their tails, there will always be someone who loves you.”
He translated it to—
“racatsanddogs,shesaidshewouldalwayslove” There’s rain, and there’s a dog.
Xu Zhi: [How should I understand this?]
After a while, a reply came from the other side. CR: [I found a wet puppy in the heavy rain, and it said it loves me?]
Xu Zhi: [Shouldn’t it be ‘adogthera’?]
CR: [Are you dense? Is it funny for your boyfriend to save you as a ‘dog’ in his contacts?]
CR: [It’s just a slang phrase. I thought it fit when I saw your note. Didn’t think too much about it.]
At that time, Xu Zhi was listening to the song “Salt” that Chen Luzhou had hummed before on a loop, so she changed his contact name to—”Salt”
Xu Zhi: [Chen Luzhou.]
Salt: [?]
Xu Zhi: [Is anyone around you?]
Salt: [No, but I’m about to go to Li Ke’s dorm. What’s up?]
Xu Zhi: […I just noticed my chest was a bit red while taking a shower.]
Salt: [?? Did you get a rash? Want me to take you to the hospital tomorrow?]
Chen Luzhou was about to leave the dorm with his laptop when he sent that message. He stopped, leaning against the corridor window, using his phone to search for nearby hospitals.
Xu Zhi: [You grabbed it.]
Salt: [??? I didn’t even use force.]
Xu Zhi: […But it’s still red.]
After a while, he replied.
Salt: […Should we, uh, make an appointment with the breast clinic?]
Xu Zhi: [Chen Luzhou!!!]
He laughed as he entered Li Ke’s dorm. Two of the roommates had gone home for the week, leaving one who was preparing for an all-night gaming session. The three were moving their base of operations for tonight. When Chen Luzhou entered, Li Ke wasn’t there, but Wang Yue was already present, standing behind Li Ke’s roommate’s chair, intently watching him play games.
Chen Luzhou put his laptop on the table, grabbed a chair with one hand, and sat down, a long handmade milk stick biscuit between his teeth. They had just returned from watching a movie, and seeing him cry so much, Xu Zhi had bought a bunch of snacks for him at the convenience store. She was treating him like a child.
Li Ke returned from his shower to find the lights in the dorm already off, with only a few computers casting a dim, heavy glow. His sharp eyes immediately spotted the biscuits on the table, though Chen Luzhou hadn’t intended to hide them—they were meant for everyone to snack on. Li Ke took one and asked, “Why did you buy these? Aren’t these for kids?”
Chen Luzhou leaned back in his chair, its front legs off the ground, swaying lazily as he watched his computer’s startup screen. His gaze was somewhat absent, lost in thought. He slowly nibbled on the biscuit and said distractedly, “Xu Zhi bought them.”
“She’s good to you, huh,” Li Ke remarked sincerely, softened by the food.
Chen Luzhou made a sound of agreement and picked up his phone from the table to reply to Xu Zhi.
CR: [In Li Ke’s dorm. Let’s stop chatting. Get some sleep? I’ll be gentler next time.]
She quickly replied: [Okay, good night.]
Chen Luzhou lowered his head, typing on his phone.
‘Good night,’ he typed, but his speed gradually slowed down. He frowned, deep in thought, but couldn’t bring himself to type ‘baby.’ He managed to type it out with great effort, his face tense, but couldn’t send it. He deleted it and tried again several times. Finally, feeling awkward and a bit irritated, he rubbed the back of his neck and let out a long sigh.
CR: [Good night.]
Li Ke didn’t rush to turn on his computer. On a whim, he casually chatted with Chen Luzhou: “Do you remember Zhang Yu? The girl who left our class in tenth grade.”
Chen Luzhou put down his phone and glanced at him.
Li Ke continued, “She asked me out for dinner today, and said she wanted to catch up. She asked if you were free, and I told her you were watching a movie with your girlfriend.”
“Mm, she asked me before. I was busy then,” Chen Luzhou said, locking his phone and tossing it aside. He entered his password and booted up his computer.
“Weren’t you two on good terms before? We used to discuss privately what kind of girl you might like. I could sort of tell she probably had a bit of a crush on you.”
Chen Luzhou let out a soft sigh.
Li Ke: “What does that mean? Do you regret it?”
Chen Luzhou leaned back in his chair, biting the milk stick and swaying it up and down. He looked at Li Ke silently for a while, then started laughing, his shoulders shaking slightly. Finally, he said, “You’re crazy. I sat next to her in tenth grade, so of course I interacted with her more than others. I never felt like she liked me. Have you considered that she might have liked you?”
“Don’t make things up. You two interacted more back then.”
“Why do I feel like someone’s jealous of me? You didn’t think she liked me, did you? Ke Ke, your brain might only have room for studying now. Why don’t you use your head and think—why did you always find breakfast on your desk during final exams?”
“Didn’t Zhang Yu say you bought them?”
“Why the hell would I buy them? I barely had time to eat myself. She bought them,” Chen Luzhou said, putting his chair back down.
Li Ke was shocked for a moment, then suddenly realized, “Damn, why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
Chen Luzhou: “You were as stubborn as a mule back then, only focused on studying. You’d get annoyed even if I asked you to play ball for a bit. She was afraid that if she told you, you wouldn’t even want to be friends. Later, after she left the class, didn’t you get close to that other person? What could I say?”
“…”
Li Ke was speechless as he stared at Chen Luzhou. This was even more thrilling than getting the Seer’s kill card in Werewolf. “You better not be messing with me.”
“Believe it or not. Besides, you’re a top student, and you look decent. Why are you so lacking in confidence? What’s strange about someone like you?” Chen Luzhou was tired of this conversation. He turned his head and called out to Wang Yue’s back, “Brother, let’s get started. Let’s try to finish early. I cried a lot today and can’t hold out for too long.”
Wang Yue: “…”
Li Ke: “…”
Do you have the nerve to say that? Talking about being delicate, you’re practically panting.
But thinking about it, it’s understandable that Li Ke hadn’t realized. Back in high school, Chen Luzhou was too dazzling. Who would have thought that his deskmate liked Li Ke when such a handsome guy was his friend?
Wang Yue had just sat down and shared the information package that their supervising professor had sent yesterday to the group chat. “I’ve put Professor Bai’s contact information in the group. If you have any questions, you can ask him directly. I think we can register for the Mathematical Contest in Modeling soon. The registration fee needs to be paid with an overseas Visa card. Do you guys have one? If not, Professor Bai said we can register through the modeling team.”
“I have one. I’ll handle the registration. Isn’t the internal competition starting soon too?” Chen Luzhou asked.
Wang Yue replied, “Yes, in just half a month. We’ll probably be quite busy after that. Professor Bai doesn’t have many teams under him, just three or four, so we’ll have relatively more time with him.”
Hearing this, Li Ke finally snapped out of his thoughts about Zhang Yu and looked at Wang Yue seriously, “Only three or four teams? Is he not very capable? Also, isn’t Bai Jiang over fifty and still just a lecturer?”
Wang Yue’s eyes flickered slightly, and he instinctively glanced at Chen Luzhou. Seeing no reaction from him, Wang Yue stammered quietly, “I… I told you before that he doesn’t have many teams. You said it was fine.”
Li Ke became agitated: “Come on, even if it’s not many, it shouldn’t be just three or four teams. That shows he cannot guide students. Are you playing word games with me? What’s your relationship with Bai Jiang? Why are you insisting we join his team?”
Wang Yue hurriedly explained: “Most of the time, it’s the teachers who choose students. How can we, as freshmen, have the right to choose teachers? Famous professors don’t know our abilities, and even if we join their teams, they won’t take us seriously. To be honest, most professors just lend their names but don’t have time to guide us. They either let experienced senior students help with the guidance.”
This situation has indeed existed in universities in recent years. Schools prioritize scientific research over education, and professors are busy publishing papers and working on projects. In the classroom, they adopt a “you’re good, I’m good, everyone’s good” attitude and don’t challenge each other, just joking around and chatting through the class. Of course, A University is relatively better, but it still has these issues to some extent. There are even some celebrity professors whose work focuses are outside the school, running businesses, while repeatedly teaching the same content for three years in the school.
Wang Yue’s starting point was simple: even if a teacher lacks ability, they’re still stronger than inexperienced students. Wang Yue had confidence in himself, Li Ke, and Chen Luzhou. They just needed a teacher who was serious and responsible.
“You fooled me,” Li Ke said angrily.
“I was also fooled by you initially. You said you’d take me to start a business, but it turned out to be writing programs for you?” Wang Yue retorted.
“I’m still applying for the entrepreneurship fund, aren’t I? How can they approve it if I don’t have some achievements in hand?”
The two continued their verbal sparring. Chen Luzhou felt a headache coming on and rubbed his temples. After a moment of silence, he picked up his phone to check the time, then calmly and directly asked Wang Yue: “Alright, stop arguing. Wang Yue, do you have any other reasons? Just tell us everything at once. Don’t let us find out later, it’ll make everyone uncomfortable.”
The reason Li Ke always respected Chen Luzhou was that he always spoke his mind and didn’t hide things. He would say the harsh truths upfront, and if things went wrong later, he would accept it without blaming anyone.
Wang Yue glanced at Li Ke, who was staring at him with bulging eyes like a frog. After hesitating for a moment, he said, “There’s no special reason. The first one is what I just said, he can guide us. The other reason is—”
Wang Yue held back for a long time.
“Just spit it out,” Li Ke said impatiently.
“He… is my girlfriend’s father.”
Li Ke: “…”
Chen Luzhou: “…”
Wang Yue hurriedly explained, “He’s a teacher who loves teaching, but in recent years, he’s been marginalized by problems within the education system, so he’s quite disheartened and plans to apply for early retirement next year. Two teams from our department also found him, hoping he would stay and teach for a few more years. I’m not saying other teachers aren’t good, it’s just that he’s been teaching diligently for over thirty years, and now he’s a bit disheartened about the career he loves. Even if he retires, we hope he leaves happily. Whether the school likes him or not, we like him—”
Li Ke and Chen Luzhou exchanged a glance. Li Ke muttered, “You should have said that earlier. Alright, we get it. Let’s get to work.”
“But Professor Bai doesn’t know I’m his daughter’s boyfriend. Don’t tell him, I’m afraid he might have some thoughts about it,” Wang Yue added, his face flushed.
Chen Luzhou was leaning back, one foot bent at the knee and resting on the edge of the table, his laptop on his leg. He opened the information package in the group chat and scrolled through it on the touchscreen, casually responding, “Got it. So when we drink at your wedding, does that mean Li Ke and I don’t need to give red envelopes?”
“I think you and your girlfriend will probably get married first. You two look like you could get married tomorrow,” Wang Yue shared his honest impression.
Chen Luzhou laughed, holding his laptop. “Are we that lovey-dovey?”
“You’re just realizing this now?” Li Ke rolled his eyes.
He reached for a milk stick, laughing uncontrollably, his tone both casual and smug: “We’re in the honeymoon phase, bear with us a bit longer.”
This “bearing with it” lasted through the fall semester of their freshman year. During that time, they were both busy preparing for competitions. Xu Zhi passed the initial round of the math competition and was gearing up for the finals in March of the next year. Chen Luzhou was busy translating and revising papers for the mathematical modeling competition. The two spent most of their time in the library, occasionally glancing at each other, sharing a smile, or squeezing hands before burying themselves back in their books.
As the winter break approached, students gradually left the campus, leaving it empty. The leaves had all fallen, leaving the branches bare. Xu Zhi found it quite desolate. They had just left the library, and a biting north wind crept into her collar. Xu Zhi couldn’t help but shiver, and Chen Luzhou immediately unzipped his down jacket and wrapped her in his arms as they walked. “Have you booked your ticket?” he asked.
Xu Zhi’s entire head was covered by him, shielding her from the wind. Her nose was filled with his familiar, crisp scent. She couldn’t help but nuzzle against him. “Yes, I’m leaving the day after tomorrow. My dad keeps urging me. The department was supposed to go on a sketching trip, but they said there might be heavy snow this year, so it was canceled. Otherwise, I could have stayed for a few more days. Are you guys staying at school for the New Year?”
“Zhu Yangqi isn’t going back this year either. He rented a place outside, and Li Ke and I will move there in a few days.”
“Why isn’t he going back either?” Xu Zhi felt more and more envious. Zhu Yangqi was probably staying because Chen Luzhou was here. That little tagalong.
Chen Luzhou looked down at her and said with a smile, “Did I never tell you what his family does? His parents are in the handicraft business, with most of their business in the United States. They’re in the US during the New Year holidays. He used to spend almost every New Year at my place. This year, if he went back, it would just be him and his housekeeper.”
Xu Zhi let out a sigh, “Chen Luzhou, I’m not just saying this, I miss you already. I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling. There might be heavy snow in Beijing, please be careful.”
Chen Luzhou lowered his head and flicked her forehead. “Are you cursing me?”
Xu Zhi said worriedly, “If there is heavy snow, don’t come back. It’s dangerous on the road. I’ll go buy you a few boxes of instant noodles later. If the snow is heavy, don’t go out.”
They reached the dormitory building. Chen Luzhou was still wrapping her in his down jacket, her face barely visible as her head was buried in his chest. Her hands were gripping both sides of the jacket opening. He looked down at the person in his arms and asked, “Are you really that worried about me?”
“Just give me a daily safety report, okay?”
“Alright, anything else?”
Nearby, the bare tree branches were clean and forked, with snow not yet melted, stuck in clumps here and there in the tree crevices, like a coquettish old lady clinging to the last glimmers of life.
Xu Zhi hugged his slim waist, thinking seriously for a moment. Burying her face in his embrace, she couldn’t help but chuckle, and then she laughed uncontrollably, her laughter growing more joyful. Once she had laughed enough, she looked up at him and said, “Make sure to update me about everything—eating, drinking, and even bathroom breaks. I’m worried you might suddenly get blown up while you’re in there. I’ve heard of someone overseas who died that way.”
Chen Luzhou felt both amused and exasperated, but he truly loved her. He could feel it.
The next day, after sending her off at the airport, Xu Zhi turned back three times, reluctant to leave. Chen Luzhou didn’t dare say much; he could only coax her onto the plane. Once she had disappeared into the terminal, he sat down in a chair at the security checkpoint, feeling a deep sense of loss. A month apart felt agonizing, and he worried that the more he said, the more Xu Zhi might impulsively decide to stay. So, he kept quiet.
However, when Xu Zhi arrived at Qingyi Airport, tightly wrapping her coat against the dense crowd to retrieve her luggage, she was surrounded by the familiar, fragmented sounds of the Qingyi dialect. Especially outside the terminal, when she spotted her father, tears streaming down his face and his cheeks trembling with emotion as he waved his arms energetically through the crowd, it struck her that returning home felt so right.
So, she got into the car and sent Chen Luzhou a message.
Xu Zhi: “Chen Jiao Jiao, I realized I love you so much in Beijing.”
Salt: “Missing me? Hang on, I’m just changing something for Teacher Bai.”
Xu Zhi: “Not too bad. Now that I’m back in Qingyi, I don’t miss you as much. Focus on your competition in Beijing and good luck! Hahaha! I’m on winter break now!!!!!!!!!!!”
Salt: “?”
Salt: “?”
Salt: “?????? Xu Zhi??????”