Zhou Jingze obviously didn’t remember her. A wave of disappointment surged in Xu Sui’s heart. Then she mustered up courage to greet him.

Zhou Jingze was generous with his spending, directly taking them to the small restaurant on the second floor of the dining hall for a special meal. Throughout the entire meal, it was mainly Hu Qianxi and Sheng Nanzhou bantering back and forth, with Zhou Jingze occasionally responding nonchalantly.

Hu Qianxi didn’t like eating celery. Sheng Nanzhou insisted on making her eat it, even transferring all the celery from his bowl to hers, asking: “Do you know why your family’s husky looks so ugly?”

With educational intentions, Sheng Nanzhou waited for Hu Qianxi to ask why, but she ignored him, so he directly lectured that it was because the dog was picky about food. Hu Qianxi picked out all the celery and said seriously: “Because it looks like you.”

“You—” Sheng Nanzhou was too angry to speak.

“Uncle, don’t you think so?” Hu Qianxi sought Zhou Jingze’s judgment.

Zhou Jingze turned his head, glanced at Sheng Nanzhou, suppressing mischief: “You know what, it really does look quite similar.”

“…” Sheng Nanzhou.

Xu Sui laughed softly along with them. Sheng Nanzhou was too lazy to deal with them and turned to Xu Sui instead: “Sister Xu, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Sheng Nanzhou. Xixi’s friend is my friend too. If you need anything in the future, you can come find me.”

“Psh, why would she look for you when she could find Zhou Jingze for protection?” Hu Qianxi mercilessly undermined him, smiling as she looked at the other person. “Uncle, don’t you think so?”

Although it was just a joke, Xu Sui’s heart tightened. She pretended to casually lower her head to eat, actually waiting for Zhou Jingze’s answer. Just as Zhou Jingze was about to speak, his phone on the table vibrated – the caller ID showed Bai Yuyue.

Zhou Jingze picked up the phone and held it to his ear. Xu Sui sat across from him, watching his smooth throat line. His left hand rested on the table edge, occasionally flicking the pull tab of his carbonated soda, ice mist clinging to his slender fingertips.

Brief words like “mm” and “something wrong” resonated in her ears. Not knowing what was said on the other end, Zhou Jingze let out a very light chuckle.

Xu Sui sat on pins and needles, just feeling tormented.

“Hanging up,” Zhou Jingze said.

After hanging up, Sheng Nanzhou teased: “Tsk tsk, Master Zhou is amazing. His girlfriend actively calls him ten times a day, but I’ve never seen him call back once.”

“Speaking of which, your girlfriend is actually in the same dorm as me, but she doesn’t seem to know about my relationship with you. You didn’t tell her?” Hu Qianxi said.

“Lazy,” Zhou Jingze threw out one word.

While they were eating in the dining hall, a classmate of Zhou Jingze’s called Da Liu came over. Seeing the well-behaved and proper Xu Sui, he teased: “Changing girlfriends so fast? Changing tastes?”

Xu Sui felt somewhat awkward being teased, and this scene happened to fall into Zhou Jingze’s eyes.

Da Liu sat nearby. Zhou Jingze pressed his tongue against his left cheek and smiled, reaching forward and gesturing for him to come over.

Zhou Jingze’s slender fingers rested on the pull tab. Da Liu leaned down with an expression ready to hear gossip, his other hand resting on Zhou Jingze’s neck. With a “pop,” the tab was pulled open, and white bubbles gushed out, covering Da Liu’s face.

Da Liu immediately struggled. Zhou Jingze leaned back against his chair, easily holding him down with his other hand. Da Liu was made a complete mess, bubbles covering him so much he couldn’t even open his eyes. Only after Da Liu repeatedly begged for mercy saying “I was wrong” did Zhou Jingze let him go.

The bubbles quickly evaporated into water, flowing wetly down his face – he couldn’t have looked more pathetic.

“Guess,” Zhou Jingze smiled roguishly, looking completely like a dandy.

“Hahahahahaha.” The people around laughed until they were doubled over.

This was Zhou Jingze’s way – when talking to you nicely, he’d use little tricks to make you understand that this wasn’t appropriate, that you should respect others.

Da Liu understood from his expression.

“You’re something else,” Da Liu knew he’d gone too far with his joke. Just as he was about to apologize, Xu Sui handed him a tissue to wipe his face.

Da Liu felt even more embarrassed: “Sister, I’m sorry, I was just joking with this guy.”

“It’s okay,” Xu Sui’s soft voice revealed her good temper.

“Alright, get lost,” Zhou Jingze said with a laughing curse.

After the group finished eating, Xu Sui accompanied Hu Qianxi back to Zhou Jingze’s dorm to get something. When passing Beihang’s playground, a group of muscular male students in green training uniforms were spinning on fixed rollers to train their resistance to turbulence, or to enhance their physical fitness while running and shouting: “Soar through the skies, defend our territory!”

The evening sunset was blazing. Sweat dripped down their faces as powerful, resonant slogans echoed across the playground.

Hu Qianxi stared straight at them. Sheng Nanzhou snapped his fingers in front of her: “Still looking? Your drool is about to flow out.”

“Two ready-made handsome crew cuts right in front of you, but you insist on craning your neck to look back there,” Sheng Nanzhou said.

“Pah.” Hu Qianxi brushed away his hand.

Zhou Jingze walked ahead with one hand in his pocket. Suddenly, he encountered an acquaintance and nodded: “Senior.”

“How are you adjusting after being here for over a month?” The senior familiarly patted his shoulder – they seemed to have known each other for a long time.

Zhou Jingze nodded. The senior smiled: “You really made a splash as the student representative at the school opening ceremony. Even students from our year are discussing you. That was an excellent speech.”

“Just talking nonsense,” Zhou Jingze nonchalantly curved his lips.

After the senior left, Zhou Jingze led the two girls into the male dormitory but didn’t let them go upstairs, having them wait downstairs.

Just as Zhou Jingze was about to go upstairs, male students chatting by the second-floor railing saw two beauties standing downstairs, especially Xu Sui who looked fair and soft, seemingly easy to tease, and started whistling at her.

Zhou Jingze, hands in his pockets, looked up at them from below. His gaze was calm but conveyed the meaning of “that’s enough.”

Seeing it was Zhou Jingze, the male students on the second floor all looked sheepish and didn’t dare whistle anymore. Only then did he go upstairs.

Ten minutes later, Zhou Jingze threw a gift box into Hu Qianxi’s arms and jerked his chin toward both of them: “Let’s go.”

On the fifth-floor balcony, Zhou Jingze had a cigarette between his lips, his jet-black eyes fixed on the figures of the two people below, especially focusing on the girl in the white dress.

Sheng Nanzhou flicked open his lighter case to light Zhou Jingze’s cigarette. Seeing his thoughtful expression, he teased: “Already taken with her?”

Zhou Jingze bit the cigarette and turned his head toward that cluster of orange flame. He took a drag, held the cigarette in his hand, and asked back: “Do you think I’d like someone like that?”

He never touched such good students.

Zhou Jingze just felt she looked familiar.

On the way back, Xu Sui couldn’t help asking: “Xixi, how is Zhou Jingze your uncle?”

“Our families have some family connections. He’s actually my little uncle, and we all grew up together,” Hu Qianxi explained.

After returning to school, Hu Qianxi went to pick up a package while Xu Sui returned to the dorm alone. Just as she was about to enter the dorm building, suddenly an orange cat darted out from the bushes, meowing at Xu Sui.

The kitten came up to Xu Sui on its round little paws, its amber eyes fixed on her, even trying to rub against her pants. Xu Sui’s heart melted. She crouched down and discovered it had wounds on its face with blood still on them.

It looked like it had run around and gotten scratched by weeds or thorns.

Xu Sui got up, went to the dorm convenience store to buy a bottle of mineral water and a sausage, then returned to the kitten. She carefully cleaned its wounds with the mineral water and tore open the sausage package. The kitten bit into it from her palm.

After feeding it, Xu Sui patted its head: “I’m leaving now. I can’t keep you.”

That evening, when none of her roommates had returned yet, Xu Sui opened her laptop and searched online for this year’s Beihang freshman representative speech. The webpage quickly provided an answer.

Xu Sui sat in front of the computer, quietly watching Zhou Jingze in the video.

Zhou Jingze stood on stage. There was some commotion below, so he reached out with his long arm and suddenly raised the microphone in front of him by a large margin, the mockery on his face obvious. The students below burst into laughter.

The 1.6-meter-tall director who had just finished speaking was somewhat troubled: This year’s students are hard to manage.

After adjusting the microphone, Zhou Jingze stood before everyone and began speaking leisurely: “Fellow students, I’ll keep this short, though you can consider what I’m about to say as nonsense.”

“Wow.” Someone below made a teasing sound.

“I believe many people have gained an initial understanding of Beihang after military training ended. I don’t care whether you still harbor dreams or have thoughts of retreating because of the alarm that rings promptly at six every morning,” Zhou Jingze’s jet-black eyes swept across the audience below, three parts roguish mixed with seven parts nonchalant. “The future might be even harder – elimination rates, disasters faced by pilots, being grounded, and other issues.”

“I don’t want to worry about these things. I once read a sentence in a book that I want to share with everyone who chose to become pilots—”

The audience suddenly quieted down, all waiting to hear what Zhou Jingze would say. Zhou Jingze stood on stage, his gaze looking down on the people below with arrogant pride in his voice.

“God says nothing, everything is decided by me.”

The students below quieted down again, silence spreading to every corner. Zhou Jingze smiled lightly and folded his speech into a paper airplane, throwing it toward the audience.

The white paper airplane fluttered through the air in a circle, then flew toward the sea of thousands below. The student crowd suddenly erupted in applause and cheers.

All the students seemed infected by these words, jumping up competitively, trying to catch that paper airplane. It was their carnival, shouting:

“I’m going to become the best pilot!”

“I’ll definitely take pictures of the blue sky to show my mom.”

Wind blew, lifting a corner of Zhou Jingze’s black T-shirt. He stood on stage, watching his classmates in chaos, slowly smiling.

The boy in black, full of sharp intensity, just like before, smiling with wild arrogance.

Xu Sui watched Zhou Jingze on the screen, her heart beating uncontrollably fast, her emotions surging along with it. There were many comments under the video, and she clicked through them one by one.

Someone asked: [Who is this person? Why is he so arrogant?]

An enthusiastic alumnus answered: [That’s shallow thinking. After his college entrance exam, he went skydiving at the Grand Canyon in Colorado and casually got his private helicopter license.]

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening came from outside. Xu Sui frantically closed the webpage with her mouse.

Liang Shuang burst through the door carelessly and immediately put her arm around Xu Sui’s shoulder: “Sui Sui, didn’t you tell me before that you wanted to find a part-time job? I happen to know a senior who’s looking for a tutor. I sent you her contact card.”

Xu Sui nodded: “Okay, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” Liang Shuang pinched her face again – the texture was really too good.

After adding the senior, Xu Sui proactively introduced herself. The senior was very enthusiastic: [Hello, Liang Shuang told me about you. You’re that junior from clinical medicine who’s skilled and bold with dissections, right? She always praises you as a top student. My aunt is looking for a tutor to teach a sixth-grader math and English, once a week but for two hours. Can you manage the time arrangement?]

Xu Sui asked: [Where is the location approximately?]

The senior replied: [Amber Lane in Xinhe District. Since there’s no direct subway, you’d need to transfer between several buses – about an hour and a half total.]

An hour and a half – that was quite far. It would be nice if there was a direct subway line. Plus, Xu Sui got a bit carsick. She was hesitating whether to go when the senior sent another message: [Many people have declined because of the distance… anyway, tutors are hard to find. Could you do me a favor and go for an interview this weekend? You might really like the family’s child. If it’s not suitable, you can refuse then.]

With words like that, refusing would be inappropriate. Xu Sui agreed to go for the interview.

No one expected that the following days in the dorm would be turbulent. One day Bai Yuyue came back and suddenly cried loudly in the dorm. After crying, she made phone calls, but after several attempts, none went through. In anger, she smashed her phone to pieces.

Hu Qianxi comforted her: “Don’t cry. What happened?”

Xu Sui silently crouched down to collect the fragments scattered on the floor. Bai Yuyue wiped tears from the corner of her eyes, her voice cold: “Nothing much, just fought with my boyfriend.”

Within two days, people in class started spreading rumors that Bai Yuyue had been dumped by her boyfriend, saying she waited downstairs at his dorm all night but still failed to reconcile. Various stories circulated.

Liang Shuang and others didn’t believe it – young couples fighting was normal.

Thursday afternoon, Hu Qianxi received a text in the dorm and sat up from bed, winking at Xu Sui: “Zhou Jingze came to our school to handle some business. He happens to be free right now. Come on, I’ll take you to mooch a meal.”

Hu Qianxi brought Xu Sui to the East Dining Hall. Sheng Nanzhou was there too, and they even asked Xu Sui to recommend dishes. Xu Sui had just ordered a casserole rice noodle soup and said with puffed cheeks: “You might not like what I ordered.”

Sheng Nanzhou raised an eyebrow: “That’s a bit insulting. What wouldn’t I dare to eat, sister?”

Just then, the dining hall auntie pushed out a casserole rice noodle soup from the window. Sheng Nanzhou looked – it was abnormally spicy with deep, bottomless red oil floating on top.

Sheng Nanzhou clasped his hands together: “I’ll pass.”

“Didn’t expect you to be a spicy little pepper.”

“Just eat your food, so much talk,” Zhou Jingze kicked him from behind. “If you’re not eating, don’t block the way.”

At the dining table, gossipy student Hu hadn’t even unwrapped her chopsticks before starting to chat: “Uncle, what’s going on with you and Bai Yuyue? She keeps crying in the dorm. Everyone’s saying you two broke up, but Bai Yuyue says you’re just fighting.”

“We broke up,” Zhou Jingze said casually.

Xu Sui was lowering her head to slurp noodles, the soup sizzling in the pot. Hearing Zhou Jingze’s words, she was so startled that she choked. The spicy heat shot up her throat – painful and burning. She coughed until her eyes welled up with moisture.

Suddenly, a hand with distinct knuckles pushed a glass of water over. Xu Sui met Zhou Jingze’s gaze and immediately felt panicked. His eyes were like rocks at the bottom of a river – when the water receded, like black stones, silent yet gleaming.

Zhou Jingze was staring at her.