Zhou Jingze ran a fever, his condition fluctuating between better and worse for a day and night. All the things he hadn’t dared remember over the years became one long dream.

In the dream, just when he was about to break down completely, Yan Ning rushed back home. In front of his wife, Zhou Zhengyan played the role of an elegant, gentle good husband. As soon as he saw her return, he immediately went forward to take the large and small packages from her hands.

Yan Ning sat down and drank a couple sips of tea, then pointed to the gift on the soft sofa, saying gently: “Zhengyan, when I was shopping in France, I saw a beautiful Windsor knot with a very special style, so I bought it for you.”

“Thank you, darling.” Zhou Zhengyan smiled as he peeled a grape and fed it to Yan Ning.

“The blue bag next to it is for Jingze – that pen he wanted,” Yan Ning said, biting the grape and pointing at the nearby bag. “Hey, where is he? Have him come see if he likes it.”

Zhou Zhengyan’s expression showed a moment of panic, his tone evasive: “He went to class.”

“Alright, then I’ll go rest and adjust to the time difference.” Yan Ning set down her cup.

Zhou Zhengyan also stood up, putting his arm around Yan Ning’s waist and kissing her cheek, his tone doting: “Darling, I’m going to the company. When you wake up, if there’s anything you want to eat, you can call me and I’ll buy it and bring it back after work.”

“Okay.” Yan Ning stretched lazily.

After Zhou Zhengyan left, she stepped onto the stairs. She hadn’t taken two steps when a sharp pain hit her heart. Yan Ning stopped to rest for a moment, always feeling something bad had happened, then slowly went upstairs holding the banister.

After returning to her room, Yan Ning removed her makeup and combed her hair in front of the mirror. For some reason, her eyelid kept twitching and her heart felt terribly uneasy.

Perhaps due to the mother-son connection, Yan Ning sensed something was wrong and instinctively worried about her son. Suddenly, she glanced down inadvertently and saw a broken string of prayer beads lying on the floor.

Yan Ning’s eyes sharpened. She picked it up and immediately called Zhou Zhengyan, cutting straight to the point: “Where is my son?”

“Darling, didn’t I say he went to school?” Zhou Zhengyan laughed apologetically on the other end of the phone.

“You’re lying! The prayer beads he carries with him are left at home,” Yan Ning tried desperately to calm her emotions but ultimately couldn’t hold back, shouting sternly: “Zhou Zhengyan! If anything happens to my son, don’t expect to have it easy either!”

After saying this, Yan Ning smashed her phone to pieces. Aunt Tao had taken leave to return to her hometown, so she called the nanny in. Coming from a prestigious family with people backing her up, Yan Ning’s presence was commanding. After asking less than three questions, the nanny trembled uncontrollably:

“The… basement. The master locked him there.”

Before she finished speaking, Yan Ning rushed downstairs. When she found Zhou Jingze, she cried inconsolably, wiping her tears while carrying him out.

In his confusion, he heard his mother constantly apologizing to him, then heard ambulance sirens, a group of people surrounding him. The doctor said if Yan Ning had been one step later in bringing him in, his ears would have been damaged by the high fever.

Later, after Zhou Jingze recovered from his illness, for a long time he was afraid of darkness and couldn’t be alone, and couldn’t speak. His grandfather took him back home, teaching him chess and playing with airplane models every day. Only after a long time did he gradually improve.

Fortunately, his grandfather taught him very well.

As for Yan Ning, because she was too soft-hearted and still had feelings for Zhou Zhengyan, after he knelt and desperately begged for forgiveness, she reluctantly forgave him.

Zhou Jingze lived at his grandfather’s house. Yan Ning often came to persuade him to return home, until the third year when his grandmother became seriously ill and his grandfather had no energy to care for him. It was Zhou Jingze who voluntarily suggested he could return to that home.

He was no longer afraid of Zhou Zhengyan. During those three years, Zhou Jingze learned taekwondo and practiced fencing.

The wild grass finally grew savagely into a big tree – unbreakable in strong winds, unscattered in sandstorms, living tenaciously, sharply, and arrogantly.

…

During the period when Zhou Jingze had a fever, with his temperature rising and falling, Xu Sui took two days off and stayed by his bedside caring for him, feeding him medicine and repeatedly helping to lower his temperature.

Around five or six in the afternoon, at dusk during the most beautiful time of day, Xu Sui touched Zhou Jingze’s forehead. Seeing his temperature had mostly subsided, she got up and went to the kitchen, planning to make some porridge for him.

Opening the refrigerator door, Xu Sui was stunned. The three refrigerated shelves contained no ingredients – the top shelf had the Family Mart white peach milk she often drank, the second shelf had the carbonated drinks he often drank, and the third shelf had ice water.

The freezer compartment was even more barren – cleaner than that young master’s face.

Xu Sui closed the refrigerator door, took out her phone, and ordered some ingredients and seasonings online. Half an hour later, the delivery person brought them to the door.

Xu Sui bit on a milk straw while carrying a large bag of ingredients into Zhou Jingze’s kitchen with her other hand. She glanced around roughly and discovered that except for the electric kettle, all the other household appliances were new, with their labels still attached.

Xu Sui tilted her head and turned on the gas stove. Blue flames leaped up, then she washed the millet and put it in the pot. Soon the steamer made gurgling bubbling sounds.

Xu Sui washed her hands clean, pulled out a hair tie from her pocket, and tied up the hair draped behind her. Her originally shoulder-length hair had grown to her waist from not being cut for too long, so it took some time to tie up.

When the porridge reached the right consistency, Xu Sui added the washed ingredients – chunked pork ribs, diced carrots, ginger, and Chinese yam – all into the pot.

Xu Sui drank her milk while watching the porridge in the pot, her profile quiet and beautiful. Fine strands of hair fell forward from behind her ear, brushing against her cheek with a slight itch. Just as she was about to reach up to hook it behind her ear, a tall shadow fell, and a hand beat her to it, tucking the loose hair behind her ear.

“You’re awake?” Xu Sui’s eyes showed delight.

“Is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable?”

Zhou Jingze had casually thrown on a gray sweatshirt with a loose collar revealing his collarbones. His messy hair draped over his forehead, his lips slightly pale, smiling lazily:

“A bit thirsty.”

“Ah,” Xu Sui released the straw she was biting, paused for a moment, “then I’ll go pour you some water.”

Indoors, Xu Sui wore a white little elephant sweatshirt, holding a milk carton in her right hand. Her moist, crimson lips had a bit of milk on them, and her thick, long eyelashes drooped down, making her look impossibly well-behaved.

Zhou Jingze’s eyes darkened, suppressing the surging emotions. When Xu Sui passed by him wanting to get water, he reached out and wrapped his arm around her waist.

Xu Sui was forced against his chest. Looking up, their noses almost touching, Zhou Jingze gripped her chin and leaned down to kiss her, licking away the milk at the corner of her lips bit by bit. His warm breath brushed against her neck, his voice hoarse:

“Isn’t there some ready-made right here?”

The sunset sank low, the last ray of warm light was divided into small squares by the kitchen window, falling on both of them. Their shadows intertwined. Xu Sui only felt heat, her waist bumping against the counter, but blocked by a large palm. The milk between her lips and teeth was completely sucked away, with a drop unconsciously dripping onto her collarbone.

Zhou Jingze bit down there. Xu Sui immediately felt pain, her thick black eyelashes trembling once, a tingling sensation coming from her collarbone.

Until the porridge in the pot made urgent sounds of the lid being pushed up, Xu Sui pushed him away, turned her face aside, her voice intermittent but inexplicably carrying a kind of coquettish reproach:

“Zhou Jingze! The porridge… porridge, hiss.”

After she called out several times, Zhou Jingze finally let her go. Xu Sui straightened her clothes, hurriedly turned off the heat, served a bowl of porridge, and also made a winter melon and lily soup.

At the dining table, Xu Sui sat beside him, moving the porridge and soup closer, saying: “Try it.”

Just then, Xu Sui’s phone beside her made a “ding dong” sound. She looked at it – it was a message from Guan Xiangfeng asking about Zhou Jingze’s later reactions and symptoms.

Xu Sui replied seriously, naturally forgetting about the person beside her.

Zhou Jingze pulled out his chair, and from sitting down to picking up the spoon, he noticed this girl’s gaze hadn’t been on him for even one second. The young master stirred the porridge with his spoon, speaking without much emotion:

“Xu Sui.”

“Hmm?” Xu Sui shifted her eyes from her phone.

“This porridge seems to lack salt.” Zhou Jingze raised an eyebrow, his voice still somewhat hoarse.

“Really? Let me see.” Xu Sui immediately put down her phone, took the spoon from his hand and tasted the porridge, puzzled: “I feel like it has flavor.”

“Really?” Zhou Jingze replied without changing expression, then took back the spoon and continued drinking the porridge.

Zhou Jingze was very well-mannered when eating, slow and methodical, his cheeks moving rhythmically as if savoring some delicacy. He gave Xu Sui face, drinking most of the porridge.

Xu Sui looked up from her phone: “How do you feel now?”

“Like I had a very long dream, and after it ended, I woke up no longer afraid.” Zhou Jingze said slowly.

“You can now get used to enclosed and dark spaces. If you sleep, you’ll need to coordinate with medication therapy later.” Xu Sui said.

The nightmare over, Zhou Jingze returned to his previous casual, lazy manner. He curved his lips, his tone serious but showing an honest mischievous streak:

“Alright then, you sleep with me.”

Xu Sui’s cheeks quickly heated up. She pretended to check the time on the wall, her tone momentarily flustered: “It seems quite late. If you’re okay, I’ll head back to school first.”

Xu Sui frantically packed her bag, throwing books, notebooks, hand cream and such into it haphazardly, putting on a white down jacket and heading for the door.

“Xu Sui.” Zhou Jingze called out to her.

“Hmm.” Xu Sui turned back holding her bag.

Zhou Jingze sat there, his deep dark eyes pinning her in place, his voice light:

“You will be willing.”

In the end, Xu Sui fled in panic. When she walked out of Zhou Jingze’s front door, a blast of bitter cold wind hit her. Her heartbeat was still accelerating, and the phone screen in her hand lit up:

ZJZ: [Called you a car at the alley entrance. Message me when you arrive.]

After returning to school, Xu Sui threw herself into the ocean of knowledge, desperately catching up on the notes she’d missed these two days, spending her days going between classrooms and the library.

As for Zhou Jingze, he finally returned to school after disappearing for a whole week. He explained his situation to his homeroom teacher. Although the teacher valued Zhou Jingze, he still followed the rules, marking all of Zhou Jingze’s psychological tests as zero and giving him corresponding disciplinary action.

The teacher gave him a winter break to adjust properly.

“You must adjust well, otherwise even if you pass our hurdle here, you’ll still face difficulties in pilot recruitment after graduation.”

Zhou Jingze calmly accepted the school’s punishment without any dissatisfaction. He nodded: “Thank you.”

Xu Sui felt that she and Zhou Jingze had changed in their relationship. If the ski resort incident was mutual testing with intense affection, this time she seemed to feel that Zhou Jingze really was starting to like her.

When they first got together, Zhou Jingze was permissive with her – even when he cared, it was in a casual manner. Now, Zhou Jingze called and texted her much more frequently, and was quietly controlling her schedule.

Friday, after Xu Sui spent the afternoon studying in the library, as students around her left one by one and some discussed the library’s braised pork ribs with their meal cards, she realized it was already evening.

Xu Sui checked the time and found it was six o’clock. She had arranged to meet Zhou Jingze, who said he’d take her to try a newly opened restaurant today. She hurriedly packed her books and rushed downstairs.

Unexpectedly, she ran into Shi Yuejie downstairs. Xu Sui looked surprised – she hadn’t seen Shi Yuejie for two months. She heard he’d already secured graduate school admission and had recently gone to Xi’an with a teacher for a project.

“What a coincidence, Senior.” Xu Sui greeted him friendly.

Shi Yuejie shook his head: “No, I came specifically to find you.”

“Find me?” Xu Sui’s tone was surprised.

“Yes,” Shi Yuejie glanced at the students coming and going, his voice gentle, “can we go somewhere else? I have something to tell you.”

Xu Sui checked the time, her tone apologetic: “I’m afraid not, I’m meeting my boyfriend for dinner.”

Hearing the words “boyfriend,” Shi Yuejie’s expression froze slightly. Xu Sui thought Shi Yuejie had something important to say and pointed to a nearby tree: “How about we go over there?”

The two walked to the tree one after the other. This time Shi Yuejie didn’t beat around the bush like before, cutting straight to the point: “I heard you and Jingze are together.”

“Yes.” Xu Sui was momentarily stunned, not expecting this was what he wanted to discuss.

“To be honest, telling you this is somewhat presumptuous, but I’m sincere. Jingze isn’t as good as he appears on the surface. He… actually has an unknown side, and also, his agreement to be with you might just be on a whim, playing around, because—”

Getting to this point, Shi Yuejie seemed unable to speak, then changed direction: “I suggest you—”

Honestly, Xu Sui considered herself someone with a decent temper who never actively confronted anyone, but this time, she interrupted Shi Yuejie’s speech:

“Thank you for your concern, Senior. I can sense for myself what kind of person he is, and we’re doing fine now.” Xu Sui’s tone wasn’t good, and she smiled: “I’ve always preferred listening to myself and don’t like others giving me advice.”

Xu Sui turned and walked away holding her books. She seemed to remember something, stopped and turned back: “Also, I don’t want to hear anyone speak badly of him anymore. If they were really his friends, they wouldn’t talk about him like that behind his back.”

Xu Sui walked out of campus, took out her phone and saw Zhou Jingze had messaged saying he’d arrived. The sky was somewhat dark and gloomy. Although she had just firmly defended Zhou Jingze in front of Shi Yuejie, his words kept appearing in her mind during the walk.

What was Zhou Jingze’s other side? Was he really with her on a whim, with a casual attitude about dating someone?

After all, he never lacked people to love him.

After walking for about ten minutes, Xu Sui pushed open the door to the restaurant they’d agreed on. Upon entering, she saw Zhou Jingze from afar with his back to her, wearing a black sweater with white cuffs, his jacket draped over the chair back, elbows propped on the table studying the menu in a casual, unrestrained manner.

With Zhou Jingze’s face there, he was naturally trouble. Soon, a girl from a neighboring table came over asking for his phone number – lively and cute personality, striking up conversation in a generous, unaffected way.

Xu Sui gripped the door handle tighter, not knowing why she stopped. That strange self-respect emerged again, and she stood behind wanting to see if Zhou Jingze would refuse.

The girl stood excitedly in front of him explaining her intention. Zhou Jingze’s face emerged halfway from the menu, glancing at her.

Zhou Jingze usually gave out his number based on mood, or simply ignored such requests.

Zhou Jingze picked up his nearby phone and looked at it, then surprisingly raised his hand indicating he had something to tell the girl. The girl leaned down, her expression going from happy to dejected, then finally laughing heartily, saying something to him before leaving.

After hearing this, Zhou Jingze’s eyes relaxed and he actually smiled very lightly.

Standing not far away, Xu Sui only felt stuffy in her chest, the kind where she couldn’t catch her breath. Shi Yuejie was right – maybe Zhou Jingze really was with her for some other reason, on a whim, whether for novelty, curiosity, or whatever else, it definitely wasn’t serious.

As she stood there in a daze, a busy passing waiter accidentally bumped into Xu Sui, splashing a few drops of warm water on her hair.

The waiter handed over tissues with repeated apologies. Xu Sui took them and wiped casually, shaking her head: “It’s okay.”

Zhou Jingze heard the commotion and turned to look, getting up to come over. Xu Sui quickly walked over, sat across from Zhou Jingze, put down her bag, and said: “Sorry, I’m late.”

“Didn’t we agree last time that you have the right to be late,” Zhou Jingze poured her a cup of buckwheat tea, his tone unhurried.

Xu Sui took it and drank without speaking, forcing a slight upturn of her lips.

Xu Sui liked eating hot pot in the dead of winter, loving spicy food, while Zhou Jingze preferred mild flavors, so she ordered a mandarin duck pot.

The dining atmosphere was good, and Zhou Jingze was very attentive to her. Throughout the meal he barely used his chopsticks, constantly cooking things and quietly placing them in her bowl.

“What are you thinking about, hmm?” Zhou Jingze’s voice was low.

Xu Sui was staring blankly at the meatballs constantly bubbling up in the spicy oil pot. Hearing this, she came back to herself, lowered her head to bite a bamboo shoot, and smiled to cover: “Thinking about the problems the teacher assigned this morning, they’re quite difficult.”

“Very difficult?”

“Yes, too difficult, can’t solve them.”

After dinner at eight o’clock, the two walked back together. Zhou Jingze accompanied her all the way to the girls’ dormitory building. Xu Sui said “goodbye” to him and turned to go in.

The winter wind came fiercely without reason. Zhou Jingze stood in place and lit a cigarette in the cold wind, smoke exhaling from his thin lips. He squinted watching her retreating figure and suddenly spoke:

“Xu Sui.”

Xu Sui stopped, thinking he had something important to say, and walked back to him, looking up: “What is it?”

Zhou Jingze’s fingertips extinguished the red glow, his tone casual: “You haven’t said good night to me yet.”

“Ah? Then… good night.”

“Good night.”

The next day, after class, Xu Sui went to the cafeteria with Hu Qianxi and Liang Shuang. After getting their food, the three sat at the same table. Halfway through the meal, Hu Qianxi sensed something was off and said puzzled:

“Eh, our cafeteria goddess didn’t get asked for her number today, that’s a bit strange.”

Just as Hu Qianxi finished saying this, two guys with food trays behind them were talking quietly, with the slightly chubby one pushing his glasses-wearing friend:

“Stop looking, she still has a boyfriend no matter how much you stare.”

“Besides, could you win against Zhou Jingze?”

Hu Qianxi lowered her head and whispered to her friend: “Baby, what’s the situation? When did you two become so high-profile?”

“I don’t know.” Xu Sui picked up a green bean and put it in her mouth.

She and Zhou Jingze had always been quite low-key together, and Zhou Jingze wasn’t the type to love sharing – lazy, seemingly indifferent to everything, not caring about anything.

Zhou Jingze had never posted about her on social media, so when did even strangers start knowing they were together?

“Hey, let me, someone who’s constantly diving in Beihang’s various gossip forums, search for answers for everyone.” Liang Shuang excitedly took out her phone.

Liang Shuang focused intently on browsing web pages on her phone. As she read, she suddenly went quiet. After a while, she showed her phone to Hu Qianxi.

Hu Qianxi glanced at the phone and dropped the small piece of broccoli she was biting. The atmosphere became strangely eerie. Hu Qianxi looked at Xu Sui and spoke:

“Suisui, Zhou Jingze is serious.”

“What?” Xu Sui felt confused.

Hu Qianxi handed her the phone. Xu Sui took it, her thumb scrolling down the screen, the dense information somewhat overwhelming her.

On Beihang’s forum, there was a thread about Zhou Jingze containing various girls’ confession posts and discussion posts about him. Scrolling down randomly would show:

Strawberry-flavored me: Ran into Zhou Jingze at the flight academy playground today, his handsome profile is so deadly.

Want to travel everywhere: Sigh, I’ve been pretending to run into him outside the training base for days, but haven’t seen him once.

Zhou Jingze is my husband: Saw him playing basketball at the playground in front of the Politics Building, his jacket looked so good. Want to wear the same style, looked it up – limited edition, the kind you can’t buy.

…

This thread had existed since Zhou Jingze’s first day at school, and after a year and a half, it had already reached over two thousand floors.

Zhou Jingze never looked at it and didn’t care. He always had a get-by, waste-life attitude. In comparison, he cared more about what to eat the next day.

It was this kind of person who suddenly registered an account and replied briefly but powerfully to that two thousand-plus floor thread:

[Taken, Xu Sui.]

This reply caused a huge uproar. Girls from their school and neighboring schools who liked Zhou Jingze couldn’t accept this response.

Such a blatant public announcement, declaring his preference to the whole world, really wasn’t his style.

Someone replied below: [Fake right? Unless you use your real name.]

Others said: [I just fucking wanted to sleep with him once, seems like that’s not possible now either?]

Most people chimed in: [I don’t really believe it. Doesn’t he not have a steady girlfriend? Didn’t they say his girlfriends’ expiration date never exceeds three months? Now one appears out of nowhere.]

Xu Sui kept scrolling through the thread, her index finger joints aching from scrolling, until she stopped at one reply among the questioning voices:

A can of 7UP: Though I don’t want to believe it, I have to tell the sisters, it’s true. Yesterday my roommate and I were eating at a newly opened hot pot restaurant. I thought he was alone, so I bounced over to ask for his WeChat. But he spoke up, his tone quite serious, with a certain strength: Sorry, can’t. The girl standing behind you, at seven o’clock direction—

Xu Sui’s heart jumped heavily at the second half of the sentence, her heart feeling like overturned bubble water was poured in – slightly sour, then sweet from all directions:

“That’s this old man’s wife.”