As soon as his words fell, the atmosphere plunged into dead silence.

Xu Sui quietly tugged at Zhou Jingze’s sleeve, only to be caught by his grip, unable to break free no matter what. Sheng Yanjia’s sharp eyes noticed their small movements and became even more agitated, throwing his head back in a long wail: “I don’t accept this!”

“Brother, you’re stealing my girl!”

Zhou Jingze took a sip of water, raised an eyebrow, his tone domineering and arrogant: “She was always mine, what’s this about stealing?”

Little Sheng Yanjia’s eyes reddened as he covered his ears: “I’m not listening!”

“You have a sister-in-law now, you should be happy,” Zhou Jingze hit him right where it hurt.

Sheng Yanjia collapsed with an “Ah!” and immediately fell face-down on the table. Aunt Sheng didn’t care about her younger son’s dramatic cries, looking at the two with surprise and asking: “You two are dating?”

Xu Sui finally broke free from Zhou Jingze’s grip, her voice gentle: “Yes.”

“Holy shit, doesn’t that mean this little brat got lucky?” Aunt Sheng excitedly let out a curse word.

Sheng Nanzhou helplessly rubbed his forehead: “Mom, watch your image. Your younger son is still a minor.”

Even so, Aunt Sheng was quite happy about the two being together and drank several glasses of wine in succession. Finally, when the two were about to leave, Aunt Sheng quietly pulled Xu Sui aside to talk while Zhou Jingze waited for her outside in the courtyard.

Aunt Sheng patted Xu Sui’s hand: “Aunt Sheng doesn’t treat you as an outsider. I’ve watched that boy grow up since he was small. Though his temper is a bit bad, he’s very steady and is a kind child. Please be patient with him.”

“Okay,” Xu Sui nodded.

On the way back to school, the two sat together in the back seat of a taxi, the scenery outside the window retreating rapidly like film footage. In winter, Xu Sui’s hands and feet were always cold. Zhou Jingze held her hand, gradually transferring the warmth from his palm to hers.

Zhou Jingze pinched her fingertip and asked: “What did Aunt Sheng say to you just now?”

“She said—” Xu Sui buried her whole face in her sweater collar, her eyes turning: “She said you’re too much of a playboy, unreliable.”

Zhou Jingze didn’t get angry hearing this, just smiled: “Alright, I’ll try to be more reliable in the future.”

This winter passed quickly. With final exams approaching, students began a new round of cramming battles. Whether students were seriously reviewing or cramming at the last minute, you could always see them actively studying everywhere – on school benches, in teaching building corridors.

“I don’t want to fail any courses,” Hu Qianxi said painfully, hugging thick textbooks.

Xu Sui was doing well with her studying, but she also noticed that after starting to date, her focus on coursework had decreased somewhat. After final exams ended, Xu Sui should have gone home immediately, but she wanted to stay with Zhou Jingze for two more days first.

Moreover, she was also worried about Zhou Jingze’s condition.

After finishing exams, Xu Sui told her mother a lie. When she called her mother, her heartbeat shot straight to 120. After the call connected, her mother asked: “Hello, Yiyi, did you buy your ticket home?”

“Hello, Mom, I bought the ticket already,” Xu Sui’s voice was soft. She nervously swallowed: “But the teacher wants me to join a medical project, so I might be a week late.”

“Oh, I see. Then tell me when you’re coming back and I’ll pick you up,” her mother said. Hearing it was school-related, she had no suspicion at all.

“Okay.”

After hanging up, Xu Sui breathed a sigh of relief, while also feeling that lying really wasn’t easy.

After Zhou Jingze learned she had arranged things, he sent a message. Even through the screen, you could feel his roguishness and impropriety.

Zjz: [Sleep with me?]

Xu Sui typed and sent: [No way.]

When the school locked its gates, Zhou Jingze drove into campus to pick her up. He put her luggage in the trunk. Xu Sui opened the passenger door and turned her head to see a German Shepherd and a fat orange cat sitting properly in the back seat.

Xu Sui’s eyes showed delight. She got in and waved at them. Lord Kui raised his paw and kept scratching at the seat, wanting to jump into her arms. 1017 meowed excitedly at her twice before sitting coldly and properly in his seat.

With a “bang,” the car door closed. Zhou Jingze stretched his long legs and sat sideways. He glanced at the excited German Shepherd running around and whistled.

The German Shepherd immediately withdrew his legs and sat obediently in his seat.

Zhou Jingze took Xu Sui to his home. Just as he was about to take the girl for a meal, he received a call from his grandfather. After hanging up, he grabbed the lighter and cigarettes from the table and was about to leave.

Zhou Jingze’s gaze paused on Xu Sui, his voice hesitant: “I need to go to Grandfather’s house tonight, you—”

“I’m fine, you go ahead,” Xu Sui said.

Zhou Jingze nodded: “Alright, call me if anything happens.”

After speaking, Zhou Jingze turned and left. Xu Sui suddenly remembered something and chased after him, saying urgently: “Wait, tonight I—”

Unfortunately, Zhou Jingze left in such a hurry that he didn’t hear what she said clearly. The sound of an engine roaring came from outside the courtyard, and the sentence “I have a party tonight and might come back late” got stuck in Xu Sui’s throat.

After each semester’s finals, the department always had a party. Xu Sui rarely participated. This time, having delayed going home, she was immediately caught by Liang Shuang.

Liang Shuang begged Xu Sui for ages, saying her crush would also be there and asking her to definitely accompany her to this gathering. Xu Sui had no choice but to agree.

At seven in the evening, Xu Sui simply tidied up, applied some blush to brighten her complexion, and went out. When she met up with Liang Shuang, her eyebrows showed surprise: “Shuang Shuang, first time seeing you dress up so carefully.”

Liang Shuang usually went for a neutral, cool style. Today she had done her hair and nails, wearing an apricot coat with a black velvet skirt – both elegant and eye-catching.

Liang Shuang linked arms with her: “Well, that crush has quite a lot of influence.”

The two came together to the TGKTV the department had mentioned. Pushing open the private room door, a group of people were playing games with glasses, relaxed and lively. On campus and in laboratories, they were rigorous, knowledge-seeking medical students. Without their white coats, they were still a group of energetic young people who loved joking around.

“Liang Shuang, is… is this really you? I haven’t gone cross-eyed from studying, have I?” A male student pushed his glasses.

Liang Shuang pulled Xu Sui to sit down, put her bag aside, and laughed heartily: “It’s your sister here.”

The lights flickered bright and dim. Someone recognized Xu Sui sitting next to Liang Shuang and whistled: “Xu Sui from Clinical (Class 2), seeing is believing!”

Xu Sui’s contrasting point was that she easily became nervous and shy around people she liked, but was very calm and composed around strangers.

Xu Sui smiled: “Is it that exaggerated? I just want to get home early for the holidays.”

“Yes! Do you know why everyone calls you the cafeteria goddess? Because apart from study places, the cafeteria is where everyone sees you most often. Plus, you’re never seen participating in any clubs or social activities,” someone interjected.

Xu Sui paused. Now that others mentioned it, it really seemed to be true. She took a sip of her drink and joked: “Maybe I’m just too boring.”

They played games for a while, then the private room door was pushed open again. Two male students entered one after another, both quite tall. The first wore a navy blue coat, had handsome features, and carried a blue umbrella. The second was shorter, wearing a red sweater, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, very fair skin, and a sunny, innocent face.

“That’s him!” Liang Shuang immediately became reserved, saying quietly.

“Which one?” Xu Sui asked.

“The first one, wearing the navy blue coat.”

Xu Sui looked up. The two entered one after another. Someone seeing they had umbrellas asked: “Is it raining outside?”

“Rain mixed with snow, roads are hard to walk on,” the boy in the blue coat answered.

The boy in the red sweater came in shivering, saw an empty seat next to Xu Sui, and sat down naturally: “Really extremely hard to walk.”

“Damn, good thing winter’s almost over,” someone continued.

The boy in the red sweater leaned over to grab tissues from the table, brushing water droplets off himself. Casually looking up, when he glimpsed Xu Sui, his voice was delighted: “Hey, I’ve seen you before! You’re Xu Sui, right? I saw you at Senior Guan’s psychological counseling clinic that day.”

“Ah, hello,” Xu Sui politely responded.

She had come and gone in such a hurry that day that she didn’t have much impression of this boy.

The boy in the red sweater was very enthusiastic though. He introduced himself proactively: “Hello, I’m Wei Yu, first-year clinical medicine. We’re from the same program, so can I call you senior?”

“Sure,” Xu Sui nodded.

For the rest of the time, most people played games while chatting, accompanied by the howling of several male college students singing. Wei Yu was particularly attentive to Xu Sui, either bringing her snacks or teaching her games.

Xu Sui’s performance remained lukewarm throughout, maintaining appropriate boundaries.

At one point, someone mentioned that after this New Year, they’d be in second semester of sophomore year, and junior year would be here in the blink of an eye. Someone started a topic: “Hey, do you know? I heard from senior students that every year the school has several spots for juniors to exchange at Hong Kong B University for a year. Our department seems to have two spots. Don’t know if it’s true.”

“It’s true. Our professor let it slip early. B University is amazing, so prestigious. Isn’t there a saying – with the same grades, you might be able to get into the top three domestic universities, but you might not get into B University’s medical school,” someone said.

“Don’t know who can grab this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” the glasses-wearing boy said enviously, suddenly looking at Xu Sui: “Xu Sui, I think you could do it.”

“Right, there’s a top student in our department sitting right here!” someone agreed.

“Me?” Xu Sui was stunned for a moment, taking a small bite of fruit: “Haven’t thought about it.”

Besides, Hong Kong was quite far away.

The group didn’t chat about this for long before moving to another topic. Xu Sui found it boring and went to request a song. Just as she sat on the high stool preparing to sing, Wei Yu walked over with her phone, the red and green lights intersecting. As the surroundings darkened, his expression showed something strange and dark: “Senior, your phone call.”

Xu Sui took it and saw it was Zhou Jingze calling. She jumped down from the stool, not noticing Wei Yu’s expression, and hurriedly walked out with her phone.

Xu Sui came to the corridor, finally isolating herself from the noise in the private room. She stood by the window to answer the call, hearing a “snap” of a lighter being lit on the other end.

“Did you eat?” Zhou Jingze’s voice was a bit hoarse.

“I did,” Xu Sui replied.

Outside was pitch black, with clouds pressing down, wind and snow intersecting, creating a desolate and austere feeling. Wind rushed in, hitting her face with a chill. She stood on tiptoes to close the window.

Even standing in the corridor, the sounds of men and women cheering and rolling dice still floated out from the cracks of the private room. Through the receiver, Zhou Jingze raised an eyebrow and extinguished his lighter:

“Where are you?”

“KTV,” Xu Sui answered. Hearing silence on the other end, she explained: “I wanted to tell you this afternoon, but you left too quickly. It’s just a simple department gathering.”

Afraid Zhou Jingze would overthink, she quickly started another topic: “Are you still at Grandfather’s house?”

“Grandfather?”

Zhou Jingze took a drag of his cigarette, deliberately emphasizing these two words, his tone light with laughter, transmitted through the unstable current that almost made Xu Sui’s ears tingle.

She realized what she had said, nervously licking her lips: “No, I spoke too fast. Your grandfather.”

Zhou Jingze exhaled white smoke, about to speak when a cheerful male voice faintly came through. Wei Yu, just back from the bathroom, saw Xu Sui still on the phone. Whether intentional or not, he spoke quite loudly: “Sister, Senior Liang Shuang is looking for you.”

Xu Sui turned back and responded: “Okay, I’ll go in soon.”

“It’s cold outside, sister, you should come in early too, don’t catch cold,” Wei Yu said with concern.

“Okay, thank you.”

Seeing Wei Yu go in, Xu Sui chatted with Zhou Jingze for two more sentences, shivering from the cold, her voice thin: “I’ll go in first, it’s a bit cold. Bye-bye.”

“Mm.” Zhou Jingze’s voice was low, seemingly colder than usual by a degree.

After Xu Sui hung up, she walked into the private room. As soon as she entered, Liang Shuang grabbed her hand, her face red as an apple: “Just now we both reached for the same drink at the same time, and our hands accidentally touched. What kind of fateful coincidence is this!”

“Woo woo woo, I’m so excited.”

Xu Sui smiled: “Stay calm, he seems to be walking over here.”

“Ahhhhh—”

Throughout the entire evening, Wei Yu basically hovered around Xu Sui, his obvious intentions clear to all. Someone teased: “You don’t like Senior Xu Sui, do you?”

Just as Wei Yu was about to respond, Liang Shuang put her arm around Xu Sui’s shoulder: “Hey, my Suisui has a boyfriend, junior, this plan of yours won’t work.”

“Zhou Jingze from Beihang Flight Academy, right?” a male student asked.

Xu Sui took a sip of water and replied: “Yes.”

Wei Yu shrugged at this, looking nonchalant, and continued talking to Xu Sui, calling her “sister” with every sentence. Xu Sui imperceptibly increased the distance between them, her smile fading: “You can call me senior, or Xu Sui.”

Wei Yu was stunned for a moment, then nodded: “Okay.”

After that, Xu Sui intentionally kept her distance from Wei Yu. Most of the time she turned her head to chat with Liang Shuang or played games with the group.

As the gathering was nearing its end, people were either calling taxis or carpooling. Someone asked: “Xu Sui, how are you getting back? Is your boyfriend picking you up?”

Xu Sui shook her head: “He has something and can’t come.”

Liang Shuang was enjoying the dice game. Xu Sui didn’t know how to play, so she folded paper by herself – simple paper cranes. Seeing this, Wei Yu poured a drink for her and was about to hand it to Xu Sui when a cold voice came from the doorway: “She can’t drink alcohol.”

An oppressive figure loomed over them. Wei Yu looked up to see Zhou Jingze wearing a black drawstring hoodie, his shoulders covered with snow particles. In the interplay of light and shadow, his eyes were sharp as he looked down at him with a cigarette dangling from his lips.

Wei Yu guiltily looked away.

Xu Sui was too focused on folding paper to notice Zhou Jingze had entered. Hearing his voice, she looked up with delight: “You came!”

Zhou Jingze placed his black long-handled umbrella in the corner, casually stubbed out his cigarette, and boldly sat between Wei Yu and Xu Sui.

As soon as he sat down, he pulled a carton of milk from his pocket and lifted his chin toward her: “Here.”

It was her favorite Family Mart white peach flavored milk, still warm. When Xu Sui took the milk, she noticed his clothes and shoulders were wet, obviously having rushed through wind and rain to get here.

“Let me wipe that for you.”

Xu Sui leaned over to grab tissues from the table, seriously brushing off the snow particles on his shoulder and wiping the water droplets from his hands clean. As she wiped, their hands naturally came together and interlocked their fingers.

Wei Yu watched the two’s intimate behavior as if no one else existed, his face showing a slight distortion.

Ever since Zhou Jingze entered, he had completely dominated the scene, and the atmosphere became somewhat tense. They enthusiastically greeted Zhou Jingze, who nodded casually in response.

He didn’t care about these things, lazily settling back into his seat, occasionally twirling Xu Sui’s long black hair around his finger.

Zhou Jingze stayed with her for a while. Just as the gathering was ending, he took Xu Sui’s hand and walked out of the lobby, suddenly remembering something: “I left my lighter upstairs, wait for me.”

Zhou Jingze went back up to the 10th floor, pushed open the private room door, and looking around, saw the silver lighter engraved with his name lying on the table, while Wei Yu was still there looking at his phone and drinking his last drink.

He walked over leisurely, picked up the lighter from the table, then straightened up and walked toward the corridor. Zhou Jingze chewed mint gum absent-mindedly. When passing Wei Yu, his shoulder tilted and he “accidentally” bumped into him.

All the alcohol Wei Yu was holding spilled onto his thigh, the bubbles still making sizzling sounds on top, making him look wretched and miserable.

Zhou Jingze showed his white teeth, smiling roguishly:

“Sorry, hand slipped.”

Wei Yu held back his curses. Zhou Jingze hadn’t taken two steps when he seemed to remember something and stopped, turning back. A pair of sharp black eyes pinned him down:

“Stop fucking thinking about my woman.”

Zhou Jingze called a taxi back. Inside the car was warm, while cold wind howled outside, raindrops sliding down the glass window like broken pearls.

Xu Sui sat in the back seat with her phone, discovering that Wei Yu had added her through a group chat, with the additional message: Sorry for bothering you, senior. I have some academic questions to ask you.

She hesitated for a moment, then clicked agree. After agreeing, Wei Yu really did send a string of questions. Just then they got out at the alley entrance and still had to walk some distance home, so Xu Sui replied to his messages along the way.

Opening the car door, diagonal rain hit them. Zhou Jingze opened his long-handled umbrella, walking forward with one arm around her. The alley’s stone slabs had water flowing through the cracks. The sound of wind whistled in their ears, and the lit lamps in the vast, silent night seemed particularly warm.

Because Xu Sui was walking on the cold road and couldn’t type, she held her phone with one hand and sent voice messages to Wei Yu: [Regarding the memorization problem you just mentioned, my method is usually to first silently draw a human tissue diagram, then memorize. This makes it easier to form visual memory.]

Wei Yu immediately sent another voice message, his clear, youthful voice particularly distinct in the rainy night: “Senior, I encountered another difficult problem. In surgical incisions and infections, which gender group is more susceptible to infection in the male-female ratio?”

Xu Sui thought for a moment and said: “Female, related to the thickness of subcutaneous fat in the abdominal wall. I’ve seen case study materials before, I’ll look for them and send them to you later.”

Perhaps because Xu Sui was really patiently and seriously answering, Wei Yu didn’t send any more messages. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned off her phone. After walking for a while, when they reached the front door together, she noticed something seemed off about Zhou Jingze beside her.

Along the way, to keep her from getting rained on, Zhou Jingze had tilted the umbrella toward her side, getting his shoulder wet again. But this time it was more serious – his hair and jacket were dripping water, making him look somewhat disheveled.

Just as Xu Sui was about to say “Let me see—”, Zhou Jingze silently closed the black long-handled umbrella, turned on the lights, put his keys in the entrance, and walked in.

After entering, Zhou Jingze leaned back against the sofa. 1017 jumped into his arms while Lord Kui lay at his feet. Zhou Jingze’s shoulders slightly lowered as he looked down at his phone, his eyelids showing lazy indifference, not caring about his soaked clothes.

Xu Sui took a clean towel from the bathroom, pointed at his hair, and lifted her eyelashes: “Want me to dry it for you?”

Zhou Jingze instinctively wanted to refuse, but after a moment understood and said in a somewhat hoarse voice: “Come here.”

Xu Sui walked over with the towel to dry his hair. She stood beside him while Zhou Jingze sat on the sofa. When he turned, he was at the perfect height to wrap his arms around her waist.

They were very close. Her faint body wash scent mixed with a milky fragrance gradually penetrated his senses, making him itch. Zhou Jingze’s Adam’s apple swallowed with difficulty.

Zhou Jingze seemed normal in every way, but Xu Sui felt something was still off, always sensing the atmospheric pressure around him was a bit low.

Xu Sui took the initiative to speak: “Do you want some water?”

“No need.”

“Did you eat?”

“Yes.”

Xu Sui dried his hair while tilting her head thoughtfully, then tried again: “Then you—”

Suddenly, Zhou Jingze grabbed her slender white wrist. Xu Sui was forced to lean down, looking down into a pair of deep, dark eyes. Their breaths mingled, and after staring for more than a second, her thoughts began to scatter.

“Xu Sui,” Zhou Jingze called her seriously, raising his brow bone slowly: “I’m jealous. Can’t you tell?”

Xu Sui’s brain went blank for three seconds before she explained: “No, he just asked me professional questions, and I couldn’t be rude.”

“Oh,” Zhou Jingze nodded expressionlessly, his brow furrowing as he pulled her wrist downward: “But I’m still jealous. What do you think we should do about it?”

The world spun as Xu Sui found herself sitting on his thigh, their foreheads touching.

He looked like a complete unreasonable person waiting to be coaxed.

Xu Sui lowered her dark eyelashes, thinking seriously, her tone hesitant: “Then—”

“Hmm?”

Zhou Jingze looked up from his phone screen. Very quickly, Xu Sui put her arms around his neck, leaned down and took the initiative to kiss his lips once. The air grew quiet, making a soft “smooch” sound.

A brief touch, like jelly, soft and sweet.

Lord Kui at their feet let out an “awoo.”

1017, nestled in Zhou Jingze’s arms, stared at the two culprits: “It’s bad enough torturing dogs, but why torture cats too?”

“I’ll go take a shower first.” After her sneak kiss, Xu Sui’s voice remained quite calm as she immediately turned her back and walked toward the bathroom.

Zhou Jingze squinted, watching her slender retreating figure, the fair skin behind her ears completely red.