Xia Xiaolan realized she had developed feelings for Zhou Cheng.

Previously, she didn’t care whether Zhou Cheng was smuggling or trafficking drugs, where his home was, or what his family background was – none of it had anything to do with her. Even though Zhou Cheng and Kang Wei had saved her, Xia Xiaolan only felt indebted to them. A debt of gratitude wasn’t love – if she owed something, she could certainly repay it.

However, while Zhou Cheng claimed he just wanted to be friends, he kept pursuing her persistently, constantly tugging at her heartstrings.

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t made of clay – how could she not have any feelings when faced with such an eager young admirer?

It was precisely because she developed these feelings that Xia Xiaolan began investigating Zhou Cheng’s identity. He was from Beijing and his profession… Xia Xiaolan felt like she was slapping herself in the face, having promised not to consider personal relationships before achieving career success.

Xia Xiaolan felt frustrated – feelings weren’t like a faucet that could be turned on and off at will.

She believed she had been bewitched by Zhou Cheng’s good looks!

Zhou Cheng ignored everything else and focused on the fact that Xia Xiaolan had admitted having feelings for him. He suddenly lifted her and spun her around twice, causing her to cry out in surprise.

“Put me down, Zhou Cheng, Zhou Cheng!”

“No, you said you like me, let me hold you a little longer.”

Xia Xiaolan’s hair brushed against Zhou Cheng’s face, filling his nose with a fresh fragrance. Even under the cover of night, his behavior was too bold.

Fortunately, this was the open-minded city of Guangzhou.

Zhou Cheng took a deep breath of her fragrance before setting her down:

“Now that you’ve said you like me, you can’t go back on your word. I’ve never had a girlfriend before, you have to take responsibility for me.”

Xia Xiaolan nearly fainted from anger.

While feelings and likes could be considered equal for now, times had truly changed with gender equality – now she had to take responsibility for Zhou Cheng?!

She hadn’t taken advantage of him!

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t help but protest: “I never said I wanted to date you.”

Zhou Cheng treated this as mere stubbornness, completely ignoring her resistance.

“Then is it alright if I want to date you? Don’t worry, I won’t let you suffer!”

Who said marrying someone like him meant suffering? He was determined to bring Xia Xiaolan glory and honor. Someone as wonderful as she deserved to enjoy all the good things in life. Being with him wouldn’t mean hardship, but happiness!

Zhou Cheng was filled with confidence, and Xia Xiaolan couldn’t stop his self-assured declarations.

She had been honest about her feelings for Zhou Cheng because she wanted him to share information about himself – she needed to understand exactly what he was doing now.

Zhou Cheng didn’t hide anything; at this moment, he wouldn’t hesitate to give his heart to Xia Xiaolan:

“I joined the unit when I was 15. This summer, I participated in special training where I made a wrong command decision. The higher-ups decided to give me disciplinary action. I was also injured, so I took all my accumulated annual leave at once… I originally had one month of leave left, but before this trip, after an investigation, the disciplinary action against me was canceled. So when I return to Beijing, I’ll have to go back to my post and won’t be free like this anymore.”

Zhou Cheng was still dejected about it. If he had known about this turn of events, he wouldn’t have returned to Beijing.

Before the orders came down, he could have properly developed his relationship with Xia Xiaolan. She might have already agreed to be with him by now. As for how Kang Wei would drive the car back to Beijing, Zhou Cheng chose to selectively forget about that detail.

“Do you have a fiancée you’re already engaged to?”

“No.”

“Do you have any unrequited first love?”

“What’s a first love?”

“Someone you can’t forget, someone who makes everyone else pale in comparison.”

“Yes, I do – Xiaolan is my first love.”

The moonlight in Guangzhou was particularly beautiful tonight. Zhou Cheng thought the “first love” metaphor was quite fitting. Xiaolan spoke forthrightly but without any rural coarseness. The metaphor of first love tickled Zhou Cheng’s heart like a feather… Having started working at 15, Zhou Cheng never had the chance to attend university. Thinking about how Xia Xiaolan would be a university student next year, Zhou Cheng decided he could pursue some advanced studies at the academy.

No fiancée, no first love – Xia Xiaolan thought Zhou Cheng’s personal life was quite clean. Such detailed investigation was for choosing a husband; for dating someone you found attractive, they only needed to be single:

“Then I declare that you’re now in your probation period. Becoming my boyfriend isn’t that easy.”

Probation period?

Zhou Cheng wanted to skip past the dating phase entirely – it was only because Xia Xiaolan wasn’t of legal marriage age that he couldn’t immediately marry her.

If a probation period was necessary for dating, Zhou Cheng thought it wasn’t so bad.

His arms were strong; he could push the small cart full of goods with just one hand.

His other hand naturally took hold of Xia Xiaolan’s:

“We can hold hands during the probation period, right?”

If Xia Xiaolan said no, Zhou Cheng was prepared to immediately end the probation period and move their relationship to the next stage.

However, walking hand in hand with Zhou Cheng through the streets of Guangzhou, with the night market both lively and hazy, surrounded by countless intimate couples, she didn’t dislike this feeling.

“…Yes.”

They might as well hold hands – they’d done it before, and she hadn’t pulled away then, so why be coy now?

Xia Xiaolan thought straightforwardly, her heart beating irregularly.

Love should indeed be experienced with handsome boys. Those men she met through matchmaking, who talked about adding her name to property deeds at their first meeting – how could she possibly like them?

Xia Xiaolan thought happily that this was a mutually willing romance – if it didn’t work out, they could break up.

Just enjoy the present, why think so much?

One believed she was having a romantic relationship with a young admirer – dating didn’t equal marriage, just enjoying the present.

The other believed he had reached an understanding with his future wife – he would respect her, love her, marry her, and treat her well for life.

In this wonderfully misunderstood state of self-assumption, Zhou Cheng and Xia Xiaolan miraculously reached an agreement. Both felt tonight’s moonlight was incredibly beautiful and falling in love truly was surrounded by pink bubbles, making their hearts flutter comfortably.

From Shangdu to Guangzhou, Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng had maintained proper distance.

On the return journey, their relationship had changed, naturally including more young couple’s affection. Everyone could see they were a couple. While Xia Xiaolan studied, Zhou Cheng watched her attentively, worried about her being thirsty or hungry, and concerned about the compartment’s air quality affecting her – Xia Xiaolan had suddenly become a porcelain doll.

However, Xia Xiaolan was also straightforward. Having clarified their relationship with Zhou Cheng, she wouldn’t act like a princess waiting for him to please her.

Her attitude when speaking to Zhou Cheng had also changed, becoming more casual and natural. With her voice and appearance as they were, even slightly softening made her seem coquettish.

The men in the train compartment looked at Zhou Cheng with undisguised envy.

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t shy at all – Zhou Cheng’s affection for her wasn’t a crime. Since they were going to be together, she naturally wanted others to envy Zhou Cheng. Did she need to order her boyfriend around in public to save face?

Face was mutual – the joy of love was reciprocal, not about subduing someone.

Xia Xiaolan hoped to receive Zhou Cheng’s respect, and she would naturally respect him in return.

“When you return to Beijing, can I write to you?”

Zhou Cheng’s eyes sparkled, “Will you write every day?”

Writing letters wasn’t like doing exercise papers – why did it need a daily quota?

Xia Xiaolan nodded slowly, “I’ll come to Beijing to see you.”

The train from Shangdu to Guangzhou took over 30 hours, but the distance to Beijing was just over a third of that to Guangzhou. She figured the train journey would only take about ten hours. Xia Xiaolan thought that if she earned more money, she could even fly to Beijing. Expensive tickets weren’t a problem; she was just worried about needing identity papers to fly in 1983.

“After the college entrance exam, I’ll apply to universities in Beijing.”