Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Cao Cao’s call came through. The two exchanged a wordless glance. Xu Zhi looked at her phone and whispered to him, “It’s my dad.”
Chen Luzhou silently stood up and went to sit on the sofa. For some reason, he felt a bit uncomfortable, after all, he had just been up to some mischief with the man’s daughter.
Xu Zhi leaned against the headboard, watching him sit silently on the sofa playing with his phone while she absent-mindedly talked to Old Xu.
“Why are you still up so late?” Old Xu asked.
“Mm, I’m rushing to finish an assignment,” she replied.
Hearing this, the person on the sofa looked up, his gaze meaningful in the dim, intimate room. She lied without blushing or batting an eye.
Xu Guangji made a sound of acknowledgment. “You haven’t called me much lately. Has it snowed in Beijing? I saw on the weather forecast that it might snow in Beijing today.”
Xu Zhi’s heart skipped a beat. Old Xu must miss her; they had never been apart for so long since she was little. She glanced out the window at the heavy snowfall that almost buried the eaves, a window full of white. “Mm, it has. We can build snowmen tomorrow.”
Xu Guangji didn’t have anything important to say. He just reminded her that it was her first winter in the North and to wear more clothes before hanging up.
Xu Zhi hung up the phone with a sigh. She lifted the covers and got out of bed. Chen Luzhou, as if on cue, locked his phone and tossed it aside, spreading his legs. Xu Zhi naturally sat between them, her arms draped over his shoulders. They kissed silently for a while, the muffled, intimate sounds gradually rising. Their tongues intertwined unhurriedly, savoring each other without any hint of teasing as if they were simply passing time with kisses. Occasionally, Xu Zhi opened her eyes to look at him, only to find him gazing at her as well, his eyes clean and affectionate, yet also casual. They both found it amusing and parted.
Xu Zhi asked, “What are you looking at?”
He smiled back, “What are you looking at?”
Xu Zhi realized that while she might not be very sensitive to other people’s matters, she was quite attuned to Chen Luzhou’s. He had been distracted earlier, thinking about something else while they were kissing.
“What were you thinking about just now? Was it about the mathematical modeling competition?” Xu Zhi asked.
“No,” he replied.
He had no mind for that now. His focus for the entire evening had been completely derailed, that bit of academic conscientiousness thoroughly led him astray.
He interlocked his hands behind his head, leaning comfortably against the sofa with an open posture, watching the silent, fluttering snowflakes outside the window. Half-jokingly, half-seriously, he said, “I was just thinking, given how easily you lie without blinking, if you ever found a mistress in the future, you little rascal, I’d probably be kept in the dark.”
“That’s impossible. If I ever found a mistress—” Xu Zhi said with a laugh, “I wouldn’t keep you in the dark. I’d bury you in the ground directly.”
Chen Luzhou shifted his foot, pulling her closer and pressing her into his embrace. His hand slipped under her clothes, pinching her waist fiercely and gritting his teeth, “You’re asking for it, aren’t you? Who else are you thinking of finding? Should I go inquire about that guy from the Academy of Fine Arts? I’ll accompany you on odd days, and he can take the even days for a change of pace. How’s that? Am I good enough?”
Xu Zhi was tickled to death, literally her weak spot. She collapsed laughing in his arms, thoroughly amused. “Chen Luzhou, you’re such a jealous freak.”
He laughed too, no longer teasing, just quietly looking at her.
They didn’t speak for a while. In the quiet room, large snowflakes fell silently outside the window. Xu Zhi heard him start humming again, his low, faint, cool voice carrying a hint of teasing.
“No matter what I say, I feel it’s hypocritical. You say being with me for so long is suffering. From then till now, who am I to you, you fickle butterfly…”
Xu Zhi: “…”
He leaned back, smiling at her, and then switched to another song. Though he looked quite pleased with himself, the heartbreak songs he was singing were all over the place.
“Let me not escape the cruel ending… I’m not anyone, I just want a title. Who am I waiting for, I can only comfort myself. Must the desert turn into seawater, waves receding, to exchange for your tears…”
Xu Zhi: “…”
“I’m willing to bet, I won’t give up. Loving you is my only wager. Blame me for being too naive, reality too cruel, exhausting all efforts but finding no home…”
His voice was too clear and pure, sounding like an unabashed romantic.
Xu Zhi had just opened her phone to record, but he stopped singing.
“Don’t stop, I want to record this and post it on social media. Let all the senior sisters see how the pinnacle of abstinence usually woos girls.”
He laughed, snatching her phone and tossing it aside, feeling inexplicably satisfied. “…Such a bully at home.”
It was close to midnight, but neither of them was asleep. Chen Luzhou was leaning against the headboard wearing pants and a jacket with the zipper pulled up, nothing underneath. Xu Zhi leaned beside him, talking to him while absent-mindedly playing with the zipper on his chest. She accidentally pulled it down, revealing his bare chest underneath. His clean, beautiful pectoral muscles disappeared into his clothes, lean and powerful. Xu Zhi thoughtlessly imagined that even a slightly smaller shirt would probably have its buttons popping off. Her mind wandered, her hand not stopping, continuing to pull down the zipper as her imagination ran wild.
Chen Luzhou didn’t stop her. He looked down at her, allowing her free rein, but his words were teasing and cocky: “Hey, girl, what are you up to? Molesting your boyfriend?”
Xu Zhi felt that he was quite knowledgeable in various aspects. Earlier in the bathroom, his movements had been so skillful, clearly not his first time.
Xu Zhi had many things she wanted to say to him, but having not slept the night before, she was struggling to stay awake now. With her eyes closed in a daze, she called out to him, “Chen Jiaojiao.”
“Hmm?”
“I know that even if Li Ke hadn’t asked you to participate in the mathematical modeling competition, you probably weren’t planning to go back for the New Year,” she said. “After you come back from the competition during the winter break, if you have nowhere to go in Qingyi, let’s build our own home.”
She didn’t say “Come to my home.”
This was the point that stunned Chen Luzhou the most. No matter who said to him, “Come to my home,” he would always feel like he was being taken in, being kicked around like a ball. It didn’t feel good.
It felt terrible.
So she said, let’s build our own home.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “How many times are you trying to make me cry tonight?”
Xu Zhi laughed, “You crybaby.”
She lazily added, “You know what? Our design teacher said I have a problem with aesthetics. She said the things I like are too perfect. She said true artistic works all have flaws, and that there’s no such thing as a perfect work in this world. Perfect things seem fake. Many designers add things to their works that seem incomprehensible but memorable. Because people like things with imperfections, imperfect things can be remembered. Like footprints in the snow, black on a white dog, roses in a manhole cover, and even ambiguous love. She said what I give is too straightforward, the work is just the work, but it’s not chewy enough. Do you understand?”
Chen Luzhou, with his artistic talent maxed out, of course, understood. He made a sound of agreement, “Mm, I understand.”
“Then let’s sleep,” Xu Zhi said, falling back onto the pillow, her face against it.
— The meaning was, that she understood all those strategies. She was a designer full of spiritual energy, living off this sense. But despite this, she still wanted to give him clear love. Love doesn’t need this kind of chewiness; some things change flavor as you chew them.
After saying this, she raised her head again, not giving up and feeling incredulous, complaining to Chen Luzhou once more, “But it’s so frustrating, she said I don’t have the spiritual energy of a design work.”
Xu Zhi still hadn’t understood. She wasn’t good at it. She also wasn’t a designer full of spiritual energy.
This was probably the most adorable thing about her. She still didn’t know that she had no talent in this area, still confidently thinking, “I am a designer full of spiritual energy, it’s not that I can’t do it, it’s that I disdain to.”
On the contrary, Chen Luzhou, after her long explanation, had thoroughly seen through her. Her so-called straightforward, clear love was simply because she didn’t know how to fish. She had always been a straightforward player, so the things she gave, including promises, were very direct. She said whatever she thought, including earlier when she said, “Let’s not tie our futures to each other, let’s make the best decisions for ourselves first,” and now, “Let’s build our own home.”
Chen Luzhou leaned against the headboard, laughing uncontrollably but silently, just curling his lips, because this Xu Zhi was too cute. Looking down at her still proud expression, his shoulders couldn’t help but shake a couple of times. But he couldn’t bear to disappoint her.
Xu Zhi felt it and opened her eyes to look at him. By now, she might have realized it too, not quite sure: “Am I not good at it?”
“Do you want the truth?” He looked down, his gaze helpless but indulgent. “I used to think you were quite good at it, but thinking about it now, many times it might have been me overthinking. You aren’t good at it. The first time I met you, Zhu Yangqi even said you were a female player. He said if you weren’t a female player, he’d change his name to Trendy Zhu.”
Xu Zhi couldn’t even be bothered to lift her eyelids. “… Really? My teacher said I don’t have this kind of spiritual energy, and she also said your boyfriend looks very spiritually energetic. Was she praising you for being good at fishing?”
“How does your teacher know me?”
“We’ve bumped into each other on the road a few times. She asked me which department you’re in, thinking you were from the Academy of Fine Arts.”
“I’m a bit better than you. You’re quite easy to guess. Like when we were watching a movie at my place, I knew you would kiss me, but I still let you do it. Understand? That’s fishing. You know what the other person is going to do, you just give them a hook,” Chen Luzhou straightened up from the headboard, casually taking off his jacket and tossing it aside. He slipped into the bed bare-chested, lying on his side with his head on the pillow, looking at her and saying, “I told you before, if you want to play with me, you can’t beat me. I just don’t have the heart to play with you.”
Xu Zhi: “…”
Chen Luzhou looked down at her silently for a while, finally unable to resist asking, “By the way, why did you choose architecture? You weren’t telling the truth before, were you?”
“Do you remember, you once told me that you liked the landmark in Qingyi City? You said it always felt very warm. That was designed by my mom. But I dislike that landmark. My mom didn’t spend my birthdays with me for several years while she was involved in that landmark project design. Every winter and summer vacation, I was sent to my grandmother’s house. My grandmother has congenital spondylitis and can barely take care of herself, let alone me. Once, I took the wrong medicine at my grandmother’s house and almost lost my life. The doctor said if I had come half an hour later, I might not have made it. My mom didn’t come that time either. I know she was busy. We used to argue a lot back then. Even before my mom died, we had a big fight. My mom said I didn’t understand her, I said she never tried to understand me either. She said if one day I did her job, I would understand her. I thought, isn’t it just being an architect? I can do that, can’t I?” After she finished, she opened her eyes and suddenly had an idea, “Why don’t you start fishing for me tomorrow, and I’ll try to find some inspiration?”
Chen Luzhou was initially drawn into her emotions, but her last sentence made him laugh. He thought for a moment and said, looking at her, “Mm, then should I go have breakfast with that girl from the Foreign Languages Department tomorrow?”
“I asked you to fish, not to cheat,” Xu Zhi woke up halfway.
Chen Luzhou couldn’t stop laughing, half of his face buried in the pillow. He was also very tired, his voice hoarse: “Fishing means this, making the other person think you’re looking for greener pastures, understand? The hook is with me, everyone thinks you’ll give it to them. It’s like the works you design, if everyone who sees them feels a connection, that’s what your teacher considers spiritual energy.”
Author’s note:
The BGM for this chapter includes three songs:
“No matter what I say…” from “The Kiss Was Too Real”
“Let me not escape the cruel ending…” from “Title”
“I’m willing to bet, I won’t give up…” from “The Record of Floating Life”
Actually, according to my original outline, this novel would have already ended. But as I was writing, I felt that the daily life of these two young people could also be written about. The following parts are all about ordinary daily life, and it’s impossible to suddenly fast-forward to marriage. There definitely won’t be any major plot developments.
It’s just some small daily occurrences.