Just friends? Good buddies? That’s exactly what irritated Xia Xiaolan!

It wasn’t that men and women couldn’t be friends, but even the closest friendships needed boundaries.

Being scrutinized by Guan Huie made sense – she was Zhou Cheng’s mother, naturally concerned about her son’s choice of partner. Xia Xiaolan could understand that completely.

But who was Jiang Yan to act this way? Xia Xiaolan refused to indulge such a person!

People say trust your partner, be magnanimous – but if she truly didn’t care at all, perhaps her feelings for Zhou Cheng hadn’t reached that level. Love is tolerance? Nonsense! Love is possessive, demanding, and exclusively focused!

Zhou Cheng watched her cheeks puff up in anger, his fingers itching to poke them.

His girlfriend had been tired lately – she’d gotten thinner and tanner.

Of course, she was still incredibly beautiful. No matter how long he looked at her, Zhou Cheng never tired of it. Looking at her face, he could eat plain rice without dishes, dumplings without vinegar, noodles without toppings… That kind of heartfelt joy was beyond his ability to describe.

Perhaps he hadn’t read enough books to find the precise words for this feeling.

“Anything else?”

Xia Xiaolan choked up – Zhou Cheng sounded like a comedy routine’s straight man, but was she performing comedy?

“Isn’t this enough? If there was more, would I even be seeing you?”

How hot was Jiang City in late July? His girlfriend’s temper was just as easily ignited. Zhou Cheng wasn’t looking to get scolded – but compared to the silent “cooling off” period, being scolded felt better.

He caught her hand – they’d been sitting at least half a meter apart, far too formal. If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain. What else could he do?

These two had kissed countless times, let alone held hands.

But perhaps because of their long separation, this time when Zhou Cheng held her hand, Xia Xiaolan felt strangely awkward.

“This is Jiang City University, don’t…”

She tried to pull away several times but couldn’t break free. Zhou Cheng’s palm wasn’t sweaty but dry and cool. Xia Xiaolan could feel his calluses rubbing against her delicate skin, making her hair stand on end!

She understood that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but did she have to be this sensitive?

Zhou Cheng noticed her stiffness.

“What about Jiang City University? Plenty of couples here. Who’s going to stop me from holding my own girlfriend’s hand?”

This wasn’t Huaqing University.

Jiang City University had no authority over Xiaolan.

At Huaqing University, Zhou Cheng would certainly consider others’ opinions – one moment of impulse might bring Xia Xiaolan unwanted attention.

“Be good, don’t move. Let me hold your hand at least until I finish talking?”

Xia Xiaolan glared at him – what did holding hands have to do with talking? He was just trying to cloud her judgment!

Zhou Cheng said seriously, “I’m afraid you’ll hit me before I finish talking, so I’m holding your hands first.”

Xia Xiaolan’s eyes widened further, “What exactly are they teaching you at the academy!”

When had she ever hit anyone? Zhou Cheng saying this so seriously – wasn’t he just flirting? Xia Xiaolan hadn’t felt this way in ages. It reminded her of when they weren’t together yet when Zhou Cheng suddenly hugged her at the train station.

They got together quickly after that, though they rarely met. When they did meet, they were always lovey-dovey.

Intimate yes, but without that subtle flirtation.

So, was the academy teaching him how to flirt?

Zhou Cheng chuckled softly, gently stroking Xia Xiaolan’s palm with his fingertips.

This was real – the touch he’d been dreaming of.

He wanted to tease her more, but if he didn’t get to the point, he might get hit.

“Let me talk about the Shi family first. They’ve moved to the Cigarette Factory dormitory now. Sister Wei transferred from the workshop to the office. She seems uncomfortable there, but that’s beyond my control – it was her choice. Xiaolan, I need to apologize. I wasn’t completely honest with you, and I didn’t understand – Shi Kai is Shi Kai, and his wife is his wife. Wei Juanhong wrote me several letters… I should have told you earlier.”

The letters weren’t romantic advances, of course.

Only after careful reflection did Zhou Cheng feel something was off.

His mother and Xiaolan were both in Beijing, and his mother was running around helping the Shi family. Why did Wei Juanhong need to write to him instead of speaking with his mother?

He could understand the first two letters.

Later, when Grandmother Shi threatened to return home, making Wei Juanhong agree to move to the factory dormitory, Wei Juanhong moved but wrote him another letter. Through Kang Wei’s updates, Zhou Cheng already knew why Wei Juanhong had agreed to move, but she didn’t mention the reason in her letter.

Without rose-tinted glasses, Zhou Cheng saw major problems in that letter.

Dishonest, unstable, full of resentment and discontent, yet pretending to be kind and understanding before him.

That’s what felt so wrong!

Zhou Cheng would have preferred Wei Juanhong to be direct – to say she resented him, that since Shi Kai died saving him, he should take care of the Shi family forever.

Such directness would have shown some integrity.

He ignored one letter.

Two more followed.

Each letter’s tone grew more desperate.

She complained about the inconvenience of living in the factory dormitory, about struggling with her new position, and about office colleagues ostracizing her. She beat around the bush, never stating her intentions directly, waiting for Zhou Cheng to understand and offer help.

Xia Xiaolan held out her hand:

“Where are the letters?”

Zhou Cheng sighed: “How could I carry them with me? Should I take them out to read on the road? Xiaolan, the key isn’t the letters – through all this, I’ve been thinking about the boundaries you mentioned.”

“And what did you conclude?”

“I think it’s about gender differences. I don’t look at things as carefully as you women do. I also overestimated my abilities, taking on too much responsibility for the Shi family from the start, which made Sister Wei act this way. It’s partly due to her personality, but also my poor handling of the situation.”

Comrade Zhou Cheng’s “self-criticism” was quite thorough.

Clearly, during Xia Xiaolan’s cold treatment, he had genuinely reflected.

Zhou Cheng attributed the core issue to “gender differences” – not entirely correct, but from his perspective, not wrong either. After all, how could Zhou Cheng know that Xia Xiaolan was viewing things from a 30-year-future perspective? Perfect alignment with Xia Xiaolan’s thinking was impossible… Even in 2017, society still had plenty of male chauvinists and toxic masculinity. There were many men with big attitudes but little ability.

“So in the future, if the Shi family has any issues…”

Zhou Cheng clearly had his answer ready: “They have their house and jobs now, their own lives to live. We’ll treat them like distant relatives – help in emergencies but not enable dependency. If they want to work hard and improve themselves, we can help, but their daily lives are their responsibility!”