Zhou Jingze took out his phone and scrolled through something. After the two walked out of the campus gate, there happened to be a car waiting for them that he had called. Sitting in the back seat, he took out his phone to book a hotel on an app, his thumb scrolling on the screen. The young master first filtered for the highest-rated, best-equipped star hotels.

Xu Sui leaned over to take a look, and the prices were jaw-droppingly expensive. She immediately grabbed his phone, saying urgently: “I’m just studying, we don’t need to book something so expensive.”

Zhou Jingze’s thumb suddenly paused. He looked up at her with a half-smile and handed over the phone: “Alright, my wife even knows to save me money.”

Xu Sui felt somewhat embarrassed by his teasing. She took the phone and browsed the app, booking a reasonably priced room that looked decent.

When the car reached its destination, they got out. Following the address on her phone, Xu Sui searched around and found it somewhat confusing. Finally, she discovered the hotel was in an alley, while the sign shown on the phone was placed in front of a shop. She had an ominous feeling.

It felt like false advertising.

Sure enough, after they found the destination, Xu Sui discovered it was just a run-down budget hotel. The lobby was tiny, the front desk staff yawned while making their key cards, and Zhou Jingze politely said “thank you.”

Hearing his voice, the front desk staff immediately looked up. After seeing Zhou Jingze’s face clearly, their eyes brightened and they perked up considerably: “Room 706, straight up the elevator then turn left.”

After reaching 706 and swiping the card to enter, some dust fell down. Zhou Jingze’s expression cracked. Once the lights came on, they saw a bed, a table, a 1970s purple lace sofa with an electric kettle without a plug and two cups on it.

The room reeked of mildew. Zhou Jingze touched the wall and water seeped out. Xu Sui compared it with the pictures online and realized they’d been badly deceived.

Knowing Zhou Jingze had a cleanliness obsession, she wrinkled her nose and said quietly: “Should we change to another place?”

Just as she turned to leave, Zhou Jingze grabbed her hand and let out a light snort: “Let’s just stay here. If we keep fussing around, you won’t have time to study.”

Xu Sui glanced at the time and immediately put down her bag, taking out books to review at the table. Zhou Jingze leisurely followed behind, holding a lighter, orange flames occasionally darting from between his fingers as he checked for hidden cameras.

This was just how Zhou Jingze was—seemingly lazy and casual on the surface, but actually reliable and thorough in his actions.

After checking around and finding nothing, Zhou Jingze pulled up a chair beside Xu Sui. Seeing her serious studying, his heart itched and he reached out to pinch her cheek, raising an eyebrow:

“Really that short on money?”

Xu Sui felt guilty after hearing this and licked her lips: “Yes.”

Zhou Jingze raised an eyebrow without speaking, took out his wallet from his pocket, pulled out a card, and placed it in front of Xu Sui:

“Your boyfriend has money.”

Xu Sui looked up from her book, met Zhou Jingze’s eyes, and realized he wasn’t joking. She shook her head: “I don’t want it. I want to win prize money by participating in the competition myself.”

“Besides—maybe you’ll need me to support you in the future.” Xu Sui said very quietly.

Zhou Jingze was stunned for a moment, then laughed out loud, his chest vibrating with pleasure: “Alright, then this husband will wait for you to support me.”

Xu Sui made a crossing gesture at him. Zhou Jingze stopped bothering her, played on his phone for a while, found the bed too dirty, and dozed off leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed.

Two hours later, Xu Sui finally finished reviewing everything. She shook Zhou Jingze’s arm, her eyes bright: “I’m done reviewing. Can you help quiz me?”

“Sure.” Zhou Jingze opened his eyes, his tone lazy.

Xu Sui sat on the edge of the bed while Zhou Jingze sat in the chair with his feet on the horizontal bar, leaning back as he flipped through her “Neurobiology” textbook, his tone casual: “Page 45, second paragraph.”

“In our country—” Xu Sui recalled and was about to continue reciting when Zhou Jingze flipped further back, his tone pausing as he asked, “Page 70, second-to-last paragraph, one type of nervous system disease, neurosis, like…”

“Page 72, third paragraph counting down, that case study, the sixth character at the beginning.”

Xu Sui recited while counting on her fingers, unconsciously saying: “Like.”

Zhou Jingze flipped around without finding the character he wanted, made a “tsk” sound, and asked: “What’s the second person pronoun?”

“You.”

“Connect these first characters together.” Zhou Jingze lowered his voice, his tone coaxing.

Xu Sui thought Zhou Jingze was playing a game with her and earnestly connected his previous questions, so the answer came out word by word from her mouth:

“I. Like. You.”

“Me too.”

A low, gentle voice fell from above her head. Xu Sui looked up dazedly and met a pair of deep black eyes, taking a moment to understand. For some reason, Xu Sui felt like crying.

Being with Zhou Jingze was both sweet and sad. She often felt time passed too quickly, and when she didn’t see him, time felt endless. Xu Sui felt her biggest delusion was being together with Zhou Jingze.

She had never dared hope Zhou Jingze would say he liked her.

This time, Xu Sui saw herself in his eyes.

“You’re cheating.” Xu Sui sniffled, her eyes reddening.

A tall figure loomed over her. Zhou Jingze’s lips pressed down, turning and grinding again and again. Zhou Jingze held her head with one hand, his lips moving lower as he freed his other hand to take off his clothes and place them under her.

Xu Sui’s waist hit the bed edge, causing sharp pain. She felt her blue jeans being pulled down to between her knees. His thumb roughly yet slowly caressed her skin, their foreheads touching.

The light in the hotel room was dim and warm-toned, like a peeled orange. Xu Sui wanted to turn off the lights, but Zhou Jingze wouldn’t let her. He moved slowly, appreciating every inch of her expressions.

The wall began seeping water again, slowly at first, then surging out in large waves. The tide invaded, and wallpaper peeled off. The old air conditioner’s fan blades made rhythmic “squeak—squeak” sounds.

The fan blade rhythm was slow at first, starting with a prelude of “squeak—squeak,” repeating slowly, then like accelerating electricity, two short and five long beats, fast and forceful.

Yet it still couldn’t dispel the heat.

Sometimes fast, sometimes slow, Xu Sui felt her vision blur, her limbs aching. She discovered Zhou Jingze liked pressing her ribs, making her frown in pain.

Sweat dripped from his jawline onto her collarbone. Xu Sui felt like wrung-out clothes, yet Zhou Jingze still wouldn’t spare her, pressing her ribs again and again.

As if to make her remember this moment’s pain, remember who the man before her was.

The next second, Zhou Jingze’s thumb traced from the hair at her forehead to behind her ear, his lashes slightly damp, voice hoarse: “Who am I?”

Xu Sui was tormented beyond endurance, feeling like floating and sinking in ocean waves, tears about to fall: “Zhou Jingze.”

With a “slap,” the “Neurobiology” textbook fell to the damp floor. The old-style standing air conditioner in the room blew somewhat stuffy air. The wind flipped through the book pages, finally stopping on a diagram of human nerves.

In human anatomy, there’s a theory that staring into someone’s eyes for a long time can supposedly reveal love—information transmitted through the optic nerve endings. What did you see?

I really like you.

Me too.

—

At midnight, Xu Sui lay sleeping beside him, her long hair like a waterfall, lashes tightly closed, as docile as a doll. Zhou Jingze’s fingertips ran through her hair. Wearing nothing on top and only black pants, he got up and lit a cigarette.

Halfway through the cigarette, Zhou Jingze placed it on the table edge and went to the bathroom. When he returned, the toilet was still making flushing sounds, and his phone screen on the table lit up.

Zhou Jingze held the cigarette in his mouth, grayish-white smoke occasionally puffing out. He lit up his phone and saw a notification showing a new message. Clicking it open, it was from Ye Saining:

[Zhou, I’m back in the country. This is the big surprise I told you about. Pretty thoughtful, right? Coming back personally to celebrate your birthday. I’m drinking with them at Zero Point now, want to come over?]

A section of ash fell on the phone screen. Zhou Jingze squinted and brushed away the ash with his thumb, typed in the dialog box and sent:

[You guys have fun. I’m with my wife.]