So, Chen Luzhou was lounging casually on the sofa, feeling a bit mischievous. He deliberately and rudely shifted the leg Xu Zhi was sitting on, causing her to jolt while drinking. Half the alcohol went down her throat, while a good amount spilled on his pants. She didn’t have time to say anything and instinctively grabbed a tissue from the coffee table to wipe it off. Chen Luzhou brushed her hand away without a word, nearly getting himself into trouble again. He coldly warned her, “Don’t you see where it is? You’re just going to reach out?”
Xu Zhi then slowly glanced down and let out an “Oh.”
Chen Luzhou: “…”
“Are you coming over again tomorrow?” he asked casually, grabbing a tissue and wiping his pants perfunctorily.
Xu Zhi thought for a moment, “Yes.”
Chen Luzhou grunted in acknowledgment, glancing at her as he carelessly tossed the tissue into a nearby trash can. The movie was nearing its end, and with the lights off, the room flickered between brightness and darkness. The ambiguous light danced across their faces, illuminating their youthful and naive expressions.
Their heartbeats still hadn’t calmed down, even though they had been apart for nearly half an hour. The turmoil in their hearts contrasted with their unchanged expressions as they stared motionlessly at the movie screen. Xu Zhi had returned to sitting on the sofa, while Chen Luzhou still sat with his legs sprawled out.
“Under the dual pressure from her stepmother and father, Juliana finally decides to honestly confess her forbidden love for her brother. The stepmother picks up a nearby baseball bat, ready to drive her out of the house. Meanwhile, her brother, who has found a new girlfriend at university, remains completely unaware of the situation…”
As Xu Zhi watched the movie, she suddenly remembered something. “Do you remember Wang Quan, that friend of Zhai Xiao’s from the other day?”
Chen Luzhou grunted in affirmation.
Xu Zhi said, “He added me on WeChat.”
Chen Luzhou turned to look at her, “Did you accept?”
Xu Zhi sighed, watching the hysterical stepmother on the TV screen, “I didn’t accept the first time, but he added me again. He asked if I wanted to be a tutor. Many parents in Qingyi are looking for tutors for high school seniors. Did you know? He said if I accept his referrals, he’d take a 20% commission from my salary.”
Chen Luzhou remembered Li Ke mentioning this to him before. Li Ke had wanted to set up a tutoring platform, thinking they could make a good amount in commissions from students and parents, given the abundance of top students at their school. Qingyi was unique in S Province, with intense educational competition. Many graduates from their high school were making money this way. Chen Luzhou wasn’t very interested, so he hadn’t agreed. “Don’t bother with Zhai Xiao’s side. If you want to tutor, go to Li Ke. He’s the provincial top scorer, so he should have more resources, right? Besides, Li Ke won’t charge you a commission.”
Xu Zhi boldly suggested, “What if I negotiate with Wang Quan to pay me the commission instead?”
Chen Luzhou glanced at her, the blue light from the movie screen reflecting in his eyes, making his expression particularly cold, “Of course that’s fine. He’d probably be more than willing to pay you himself.”
Xu Zhi, however, looked at him seriously and teased, “… Aren’t you going to raise the stakes? You should get Li Ke to pay me the commission, or offer yourself to me. Otherwise, I might go with Wang Quan.”
Chen Luzhou was shocked by her marketing mindset. “Impressive. Why become an architect? Teacher Xu, let’s go into public relations. There’s no deal you can’t negotiate.”
Xu Zhi felt a bit inadequate, “But I can’t handle scandals.” She looked at him, suddenly inspired, “Why don’t you become a celebrity? Then Zhu Yangqi and I could make money by selling your scandals. Sacrifice one person to benefit us all. Don’t worry, Zhu Yangqi and I will take care of you afterward.”
“… You and Zhu Yangqi taking care of me? Come on, you two would probably run away with the money faster than twenty years of technological development. Also,” he laughed, pausing slightly before saying, “How else do you want me to offer myself? Hm?”
Indeed, he was very devoted.
These days, Chen Luzhou would always leave halfway through basketball practice. After he left, Jiang Cheng would thoughtfully watch his quickly retreating figure, full of suspicion. Zhu Yangqi, however, remained oblivious. He casually threw the ball at Jiang Cheng, saying inexplicably, “Hey, what are you looking at? Finally realized he’s more handsome than you?”
Jiang Cheng had always felt that in terms of looks, he and Chen Luzhou were on par. This was the boys’ never-fading competitive spirit, though it was a futile comparison. Anyway, he would never admit it. But at this moment, watching Chen Luzhou’s tall, slender figure walking away with a spring in his step, attracting sideways glances from passersby, Jiang Cheng said to Zhu Yangqi, “Don’t you think he’s been unusually handsome lately?”
Zhu Yangqi didn’t think so. Chen Luzhou had always been attractive since childhood. Even just now as he passed by, the gazes on him hadn’t stopped. This was probably what they called the “head-turning rate.” Many boys walking down the street had a high head-turning rate among girls, but when other boys saw them, they’d just scoff, “What’s so special?” But with Chen Luzhou, often more boys than girls would look at him, especially at school. Frequently, outgoing guys would call out “Lu Cao” and start chatting with him, and he never turned anyone away.
Zhu Yangqi had been jealous of this since childhood, feeling that his friend had too many acquaintances. Chen Luzhou knew people from all six middle schools in the area. But later, Zhu Yangqi realized that no matter how many people Chen Luzhou met, there were only ever a few people constantly around him. This was the sense of security in friendship that Chen Luzhou gave him. So Zhu Yangqi, while bouncing the ball, casually said to Jiang Cheng, “Not really. You’ve known him for so many years, shouldn’t you be used to it by now? He’s always been a magnet for attention—”
“That’s not what I mean,” Jiang Cheng interrupted firmly. “Don’t you think he’s been dressing up too much lately? I remember he used to just grab whatever was in his closet to wear. Just now when we came out to play ball, I randomly grabbed a shirt for him, and he told me he had worn it the day before yesterday. Plus, these past few days when I text him at 7:30, he doesn’t reply until 10:30. And he leaves halfway through basketball practice. I remember even when he was busy with Olympic training, running around like a spinning top, he wasn’t this reclusive. Based on my years of experience, do you think he might have a girl?”
Zhu Yangqi burst out laughing, thinking Jiang Cheng was overthinking. He bounced the ball and said, “Come on, you know what kind of person Chen Luzhou is. How could he be dating at a time like this? Even if he was, he wouldn’t hide it from us. He must be busy with something else. I heard from his mom that they want him to go a month early, so he’s probably dealing with visa stuff.”
Meanwhile, Xu Zhi was checking her admission results, using Chen Luzhou’s computer—the same one that had searched “why can’t I get hard” before. So when she opened the browser, her mouse hesitated for a moment on the search bar, wanting to see his recent browsing history. But Chen Luzhou was not one to fall into the same trap twice; he had cleared his history completely, leaving no traces to follow.
Chen Luzhou noticed her mischievous intentions. He lounged casually in his chair, leafing through some materials from Liverpool, and seeing her sigh in disappointment, he calmly suggested, “Why don’t you just open my computer’s browsing history and see what I usually search for, if you’re so curious?”
Xu Zhi’s eyes lit up instantly, “Can I, Lu Cao?”
“Sure,” he replied with a polite smile.
But as soon as Xu Zhi opened it, she realized she had fallen into his trap. He had already deleted his browsing history clean, leaving nothing behind. It was emptier than a beggar’s bowl, with only one prescient, glaring search record—”Miss Xu Zhi, please maintain this vigorous thirst for knowledge, you’re about to figure out the Nobel Prize in Literature.”
Xu Zhi closed the interface, trying to maintain her composure, but couldn’t help cursing, “…Chen Luzhou, you’re such a dog.”
Chen Luzhou leaned back in his chair, laughing uncontrollably. He lazily flipped through the materials in his hand and said, “Well then, should I give this dog a bone?”
“Sure, let’s go out later. I’ll treat you to a big bone, Chen Doggy,” Xu Zhi said with a sweet smile, gritting her teeth.
Chen Luzhou finished looking through the materials and tossed them on the table. He gave her a cold glance and said sarcastically, “Yesterday when I invited you, you didn’t come. But when you invite me, I’m supposed to wait obediently at home for you? You are treating me like a dog, aren’t you?”
Surprised by how much this bothered him, Xu Zhi explained, “Old Qu asked me for help. He wanted me to give a speech to next year’s seniors. I was writing the script at home yesterday.”
Chen Luzhou didn’t bother arguing with her. She was just selfishly trying to claim him for herself. He nodded toward the computer, “Are you done checking?”
Xu Zhi sighed, suddenly feeling inexplicably timid. Chen Luzhou understood immediately. Well, looks like I’ll have to do it. So he pulled the computer over, angling it slightly to block her view. After he silently entered Xu Zhi’s exam registration number and ID information, Xu Zhi suddenly realized how incredible his memory was, remembering everything after hearing it just once.
After Chen Luzhou finished checking, he closed the laptop and looked at her calmly. Xu Zhi felt inexplicably nervous, but he suddenly said, “I want to keep you in suspense.”
Xu Zhi knew he wouldn’t let her off so easily, so she tried to open the laptop herself, but he blocked her effortlessly, holding it down firmly, not letting her touch it.
Xu Zhi remained calm, sitting in her chair, just quietly and casually looking at him.
“Not anxious at all?” he asked.
“I’ll know sooner or later anyway,” she replied.
Chen Luzhou found that he couldn’t outmaneuver Xu Zhi when it came to mind games. He initially wanted to ask her why she had Tan Xu apply to A University, but then felt that wasting time on such questions between them was meaningless. Just like how she never asked about his situation with Gu Yan, even though even Cai Yingying had asked Zhu Yangqi about it. Xu Zhi had never mentioned it to him once. So after looking at her for a while, he said flatly, “Buy your ticket then, 680 yuan.”
“School of Architecture,” he added.
Xu Zhi sighed, indicating that Beijing’s winters were really dry and she might get nosebleeds.
“Let’s go, I’ll treat you to some bone soup,” Chen Luzhou lightly tapped her forehead. “I’ll change my clothes.”
As he was about to go to the bathroom, Xu Zhi sighed again, thinking to herself, why so distant? We’ve already kissed, why are you still hiding? What’s there to hide? There are no winters in the South that can make people get nosebleeds anymore, and handsome guys who can make people get nosebleeds are rare too. This one is still so stingy.
“Hey, Chen Luzhou, let’s go swimming tomorrow,” Xu Zhi suggested lazily, leaning back in her chair and casually flipping through the books on his desk.
“Dream on,” came his cold voice from inside the bathroom, seeing through her true intentions in an instant.
Women are always fickle. By the time Chen Luzhou came out after changing, Xu Zhi no longer wanted to go out. The two ended up curling up on the sofa to watch a random movie. Halfway through the film, inspired by the plot, Xu Zhi unexpectedly threw out a question—
“Chen Luzhou, what do you think a successful forty-year-old looks like?”
Chen Luzhou had one arm draped over the back of the sofa, effectively encircling her in his embrace. He lazily looked down at her and said flippantly, “I guess one whose wife doesn’t cheat on him.”
Xu Zhi: “…”
Catching a glimpse of his smirking lips from the corner of her eye, Xu Zhi knew he was teasing her. He probably had other answers in mind, surely not limited to just that. Those eyes that could hide secrets and withstand storms held too much youthful ambition. He had higher aspirations.
Why didn’t he want to tell her? Probably because it had nothing to do with her. No matter how glorious his future might be, in the bustling sea of people he would encounter, her voice would not be among them.
That’s what Xu Zhi thought.
During that period, they rarely went out, mostly staying at home watching movies. Xu Zhi had a strong divergent thinking ability and would often throw out questions that were hard to answer based on the plot. Combined with her intense curiosity, sometimes Chen Luzhou was still pondering how to answer more logically, but her questions were often so random that when he couldn’t answer immediately, she would impatiently call him “Chen Luzhou” or “Chen Big Campus Heartthrob” non-stop, constantly urging him. Chen Luzhou realized she had no patience.
Chen Luzhou would lean his head back on the sofa, laughing helplessly and at a loss. One hand lazily resting on the back of the sofa, encircling her in his arms, he’d look down at her, slowly stroking her soft, smooth hair, and coax her in a low voice, “Can’t you let me think for a moment?”
She wouldn’t listen at all, putting on airs now that she felt she had someone to back her up, “Fine, the great poet Chen has run out of talent.”
Chen Luzhou couldn’t help but laugh. Every time she left him both amused and exasperated, he realized that Xu Zhi was quite childish. Her emotional stability most of the time was just due to her lack of sensitivity to the outside world, immersed in her world. No wonder others couldn’t influence her, no wonder her grades shot up like an arrow.
Their conversations covered a wide range of topics, from philosophy to biology to entomology… anything related to the world that Xu Zhi could think of, they discussed it all. Chen Luzhou was sometimes amazed by Xu Zhi’s wild imagination, but they never talked about feelings or the future. It was in this precarious, or perhaps fleeting, emotion that the most intense and unforgettable moments occurred. Such mutual understanding, such meeting of minds, even for the most inexperienced youth, at such a passionate age, it was impossible to remain clear-headed and rational.
Kissing became a natural occurrence, with the inexperienced pecking sounds often happening on those summer nights when no one else was around. It was a secret hidden beneath the tireless cicada songs of the entire Qingyi city. Later, whenever Xu Zhi heard cicadas singing, what she remembered was the scent of vetiver on Chen Luzhou.
Of course, Xu Zhi’s thirst for knowledge was equally vigorous and could occur at any time. During their third kiss, which was still embarrassingly clumsy, she lay on top of Chen Luzhou and politely whispered a request—
“Chen Luzhou, um, I want to see—”
Chen Luzhou: ???
Author’s Note: Xu Zhi (shrugging): Well, what else could it be?