The ship of puppy love had been drifting along all the way to the end-of-semester exams. The two brief, packed days of testing slipped by in a flash, and the nearly month-long winter break arrived without warning.

In past years, no matter how busy they were, Lin Yongcheng and Fang Yisong would carve out seven days of annual leave to take Lin Tao traveling through the mountains and rivers.

They had originally planned a trip for this year as well, but in the end, for various reasons, the family didn’t go anywhere and simply stayed in Xicheng to ring in the New Year.

The day before New Year’s Eve, Lin Tao was playing games with Hu Hanghang, Xu Yichuan, and a few others. When the conversation drifted to holiday plans, Hu Hanghang accidentally let something slip — he revealed that Jiang Yan had spent the last several New Years alone outside, never going home.

“Why? Isn’t his family in Xicheng?”

When it came to Jiang Yan’s home life, Lin Tao had only a very vague picture in her mind —

A gentle, accommodating mother. A father who liked to make things difficult. A second uncle who seemed mentally unhinged. And Jiang Yan’s constant, never-ending desire to flee from that house.

These people and situations sounded strange, yet they were all part of his family life.

On the other end of the line, Hu Hanghang hemmed and hawed but didn’t go into specifics. “Anyway, his home situation is really complicated. We know about it, but we don’t really understand it, and it’s not our place to say much.”

Xu Yichuan also jumped in to steer the topic elsewhere. “But our Brother Yan is genuinely a good person. You two being together — he would never let you down.”

The fact that Lin Tao and Jiang Yan were in a relationship was no secret. Friends around them all knew.

At school, they’d received no shortage of eye-rolls and teasing from their single friends. To hear something this sincere from those same people now was genuinely rare.

Lin Tao smiled and said, from the bottom of her heart, “I know.”

They played three or four more rounds of the game. When dinnertime came around, the group quickly wrapped up, promising to hang out again after the New Year.

After logging out of the game, Lin Tao held her phone and mulled things over for a bit, then opened WeChat and sent a message to the pinned contact, “Classmate Jiang”:

Classmate Jiang, interested in a date?

To be honest, since getting together with Jiang Yan, they hadn’t gone on a single proper date. One reason was that it had been close to finals season and the academic workload was too heavy to find the time — though that only applied to Lin Tao.

The other reason was that Jiang Yan didn’t like going out. His most common weekend activity was summoning Lin Tao to the internet café, where the two of them would hole up in the small room on the third floor — him working through practice exam papers while simultaneously keeping an eye on her revision.

Come evening, he’d take her outside to try new food, and after dinner, walk her home. And just like that, the weekend would be over.

In the beginning, Lin Tao had protested this Platonic style of dating a few times. Each protest was dismissed without effect — but under his tutoring, she had climbed back into the top three of her class for this semester’s finals.

Old Yu was thrilled about it for a long time afterward, simultaneously relieved that the girl had come to her senses before going too far down the road of puppy love, and proud that Jiang Yan had taken first place in the grade again.

Little did he know that the two young students he was so proud of had already been conducting a covert operation, sailing down the road of puppy love with no intention of turning back.

Thinking about it, Lin Tao was worried he’d call her to the internet café again and launch them into another “study hard, improve every day” date mode, so she quickly sent a follow-up:

Not the internet café. A proper date.

He replied quickly this time:

The previous ones weren’t proper?

……

We only held hands.

……

Now that she thought about it, Lin Tao didn’t really know if other couples were the same as them — together for over a month and still only at the hand-holding stage.

On online dating forums, Lin Tao had read plenty of posts about campus romances that blossomed into lasting relationships. Though the beginnings were all different, without exception, everyone had moved from first base to second base not long after getting together.

“……”

What on earth was she thinking? Lin Tao muttered to herself, rubbed her face, and was just about to reply when another message came through from him:

See you in half an hour.

Lin Tao smiled, stood up, and went to change clothes.

True to his word, he arrived in exactly half an hour — not a minute more, not a minute less. The moment Lin Tao received his message saying he’d arrived, she had just finished getting ready. She went to the entryway, changed into her shoes, and headed straight downstairs.

Lin Tao had previously given Jiang Yan the access code to her residential compound. Every time he came by, he waited down below by the flower bed. This time was no different.

He was wearing a black down jacket, paired with jeans in the same dark shade. His back was turned to the tall building behind him, his hands tucked into his pockets, head bowed, gaze resting on the ground. His posture was straight and lean.

From Lin Tao’s angle, she could only make out the clean silhouette of his short black hair and one ear half-exposed to the air. Perhaps because of the temperature, his ear was slightly red.

The security door on the first floor made a faint sound when it closed.

Hearing it, Jiang Yan turned his head to look.

The midday winter sun was clean and sharp. A thin haze of light settled over everything, making the young man’s outline all the more clear and bright. He turned to see her, his expression as cool as ever — yet a smile had entered his eyes.

Lin Tao half-ran, half-walked, and in just a few steps she was standing right in front of him, falling into his open arms. She slipped her hands inside his jacket and wrapped them around his lean waist, tilting her face up to look at him with a bright smile. “You actually listened.”

Anyone else might not have understood those words out of nowhere, but Jiang Yan understood perfectly.

When the two of them studied together at the internet café and finished early enough in the evening, they’d go out to explore nearby restaurants.

Lin Tao hadn’t thought much of it at first, but after going out a few times, she noticed that every single time he only layered a thin jacket or a bomber over a light cashmere coat.

In Xicheng, winter meant bone-chilling cold — temperatures frequently settled below zero. For someone like Lin Tao, who was perpetually freezing, a down jacket stuffed with heat patches was the bare minimum for survival.

In her eyes, his outfit was roughly equivalent to going out practically undressed. Whether or not he truly didn’t feel the cold, she didn’t care — she had one and only one requirement for weather this cold: go out wearing a down jacket.

Jiang Yan let out a low laugh, grabbed her arm and lifted her out of his embrace, then laced his fingers through hers. “Let’s go. Where do you want to go?”

“Have you eaten?” Lin Tao touched her stomach. “I haven’t eaten yet. I’m a little hungry.”

“Then let’s eat first.”

“Okay, let’s go have Korean barbecue!”

“Whatever you’d like.”

……

The two of them went to a Korean barbecue restaurant in the city center.

Lin Tao had found it on a popular review app — it ranked very high in the barbecue and grill category for Xicheng. They arrived right at the lunch rush, and had to wait in line outside for half an hour before getting a table.

During that time, Lin Tao went to the restroom. When she came back, she saw two girls dressed in very cute, kawaii outfits standing in front of Jiang Yan.

She strolled over casually and caught the girl’s voice mid-sentence: “Hey, big brother, it’s the twenty-first century — using ‘I don’t have WeChat’ as an excuse is so outdated.”

The girl was quite tall and was blocking Jiang Yan from view, so Lin Tao couldn’t see his face — but she could hear his cool, indifferent voice. “What business is it of yours what excuse I use?”

“……”

The two girls weren’t the thick-skinned type. On hearing that, they murmured a complaint under their breath and walked away: “What’s with the attitude. It’s just a face.”

“But that face is absolutely stunning though!”

“Stunning my foot.”

“……”

Once the two girls left, Jiang Yan raised a hand and rubbed his brow bone in irritation. Then he spotted Lin Tao standing behind him and his expression instantly relaxed. He crooked a finger at her. “Come here.”

Lin Tao walked over and pinched one of his fingers. She put on a deliberate frown. “Your bad luck with unwanted attention is getting a bit out of hand.”

He laughed and used the momentum of her grip to pull her over. “Who says? The only blossoms that open for me bloom one at a time — and that single bloom lasts a lifetime.”

Lin Tao was nowhere near Jiang Yan’s level when it came to smooth talk. A few lines and he’d embarrassed her into speechlessness. She went red in the face and refused to look at him.

At the start of the New Year, the shopping mall was full of festive atmosphere. After eating their fill, the two of them wandered around the mall for a while, then looped up to the cinema on the fourth floor and bought two movie tickets.

During the holiday season, every corner of the mall was packed with people, and the cinema was especially busy. The standard showtimes for the two films Lin Tao wanted to see were already sold out, so in the end they spent more money and bought tickets for a VIP large-format screening.

This particular theater was smaller, set up with sofa booth seating, and was fairly full — mostly with couples.

The lights inside the theater were off, the only illumination coming from the flickering glow of the screen.

When they’d bought the tickets, only the front row remained. Jiang Yan had bought the seats tucked against the wall — in normal circumstances, very few people would choose those spots, because they were close to the screen, which made the sound louder, and after a long period, the neck would start to ache.

Not long after they sat down, the adjacent booth filled up too.

The booth design in this theater was excellent. The sofa cushions were soft, and there were solid partitions on both sides, above, and behind. Unless someone was standing on the floor and looking up, no one could see into the booths. Privacy was exceptional.

It wasn’t until Lin Tao heard the couple in the neighboring booth talking that she sensed something was off.

All around her sat couples, and the sweet murmurs and intimate sounds were all tucked within their booths. The atmosphere was suggestive and intoxicating, made more so by the near-total darkness of the theater, where no one could make out anyone else’s face.

This place was basically a feng shui treasure ground.

“……”

Thinking that, she couldn’t help glancing at the person sitting beside her.

He was turned slightly sideways, his profile clean and sharp — high nose bridge, gaze fixed ahead. The shifting light from the screen painted his face in ever-changing patterns, yet his expression remained as unhurried as always, as though the sounds around him had no effect on him whatsoever.

Perhaps sensing her gaze, Jiang Yan turned his head to look at her. His lips moved slightly. “What?”

Lin Tao stiffened, quickly averted her eyes. The darkness of the theater hid her flushed and burning ears. “Nothing.”

He gave a soft laugh and deliberately leaned his body toward her, his breath warm against the side of her neck and ear. “What are you thinking about? Your ears are red.”

“……” Lin Tao had a strong internal reaction but kept her composure. Her face flushed, and she pushed him away. In her most serious tone she said: “We agreed before we left — this is a proper date.”

Jiang Yan was pushed back, and he lazily leaned against the seat. His fingers hooked around hers, his tone carrying an indiscernible meaning. “Right. A proper date.”

“……”

The theater’s heating was generous. Lin Tao had taken off her outer jacket not long after sitting down. By the time a third of the film had passed, she’d taken off her shoes as well, sitting cross-legged with her whole body sunk into the plush sofa booth.

The film was a domestic production — a New Year holiday release — blending suspense and comedy. It wasn’t particularly taxing to watch. At first, when a funny moment hit, Lin Tao could still hear a range of laughter from people around her. But gradually, the laughter was replaced by another sort of sound altogether — an intimate, hushed one.

“……”

In the darkness, a woman’s low, breathy sounds drifted in and out of clarity. Lin Tao was made profoundly uncomfortable by it. She sat ramrod straight, eyes glued to the screen, not daring to move a muscle.

The film moved into its climax. The initial comedic atmosphere faded away as the story shifted into suspenseful territory — the protagonist and the deranged killer were chasing each other down a mountain road.

The protagonist’s foot slipped and she tumbled to the ground. The killer raised an axe, ready to bring it down. The tension was ratcheted up to a peak.

Lin Tao held her breath. She watched as the axe was about to fall, couldn’t bear to look, and went to raise her hand to cover her eyes — but found her hand hooked inside someone else’s.

That small movement pulled two people’s attention together. Their gazes met in the air. On one side, the screen pulsed with shifting light and shadow; on the other, a sound lingered that made ears burn and hearts race.

Neither of them moved.

On screen, the killer’s axe came down. Cries of shock rang through the theater — and if you listened carefully, tangled in those cries were certain intimate, low sounds.

The young man’s gaze grew more luminous in the dark. The lighting suddenly dimmed. Lin Tao could no longer read his expression clearly, but she couldn’t help moving their hooked fingers ever so slightly.

Jiang Yan released her hand — yet didn’t pull back. He gripped her wrist and drew her toward him, his nose brushing against hers, their breath intertwined.

Lin Tao met his gaze. Her breath caught, her heart drumming like a hammer.

The next instant, he reached out. His fingertips caught her chin. His tone was faintly helpless. “It seems like today there’s no way to keep things proper.”

The words fell. His hand lifted slightly, and he leaned down to cover her lips with his.

In truth, Jiang Yan hadn’t planned for things to move this quickly. Before buying tickets, he had specifically checked whether this VIP theater was different from a couples’ theater.

The ticketing system had stated clearly: this VIP theater is not a couples’ theater.

But once they got inside, Jiang Yan found that every single patron was a couple. At first he’d held onto a slim hope that people would at least exercise some restraint — until the quiet sounds gradually began emanating from the surrounding booths, and he finally realized he had underestimated the fighting spirit of couples everywhere.

The film continued on. The lighting shifted quickly, the screen fragmenting into flashes. In the corner against the wall, two silhouettes overlapped.

The moment their lips met, Lin Tao felt as if she’d been frozen in place, her mind gone completely blank.

Jiang Yan released her chin, his hand moving to cup the back of her head instead. His other hand hooked around her waist, holding her in place against him. He caught her lower lip and kissed her with gentle inexperience — careful, unhurried, drawing softly. His teeth would occasionally graze against her.

Lin Tao felt as though an electric current had passed through her entire body, leaving a soft, tingling warmth. When she turned her arm and braced it against his chest, the position grew increasingly awkward — and then she was lifted up, settled into his lap. Her arms fell to his sides, her fingers curling inward.

The young man cradled her head, his fingertips pressed against the ridge of her spine, slowly deepening the kiss — yet remaining within the boundary of lips alone. Perfectly proper. Going no further.

……

When it was over, Lin Tao had been kissed into a state of complete weakness. Her whole body leaned against him, her cheek resting in the curve of his neck, her breathing still unsteady, scattered into the air around them.

The young man turned his head slightly to the side. The jade-like skin of his neck carried a flush of warmth. His fingertips, still heated, caught her earlobe and gave it a gentle pinch. His voice was low and husky. “Turn your head away.”

Lin Tao didn’t understand why, and before she had a chance to act, she saw him lean close again — his lips resting against the top of her head, his voice a muffled vibration.

“Otherwise today really is going to stop being proper.”

Author’s Note: Brother Yan: a giant in words, a dwarf in action.

Heads up! Tomorrow’s update will be delayed! No later than 10 PM at the absolute latest! Currently in the middle of moving! Please bear with me!