At nine in the evening, in the hotel room.
After Lu Xingyan calmly told Pei Yue, “I won’t be coming back today, I’m staying at Li Chengfan’s place,” he turned off his phone. Then he carefully selected a channel playing an idol drama, leaned against the headboard, put on a serious expression, and waited for Shen Xingruo to come out of the bathroom.
Recalling the scene earlier that afternoon when Shen Xingruo ran out of the high-speed rail station, Lu Xingyan couldn’t help but feel a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
When Shen Xingruo said, “I don’t want to wait for you for another year to start dating again,” all Lu Xingyan could think of was, “It’s her,” “I want to marry her,” “I want to make her my wife!”
In the idle eighteen years of his life, it seemed that he had never been so certain.
The bathroom in this hotel faced the bed and was separated by semi-transparent frosted glass with blinds inside. Lu Xingyan couldn’t see inside, but Shen Xingruo could easily see all of Lu Xingyan’s little movements as he sat at the head of the bed.
He would glance at the bathroom now and then, then focus on the TV screen with a serious expression, and then he’d laugh again.
Seeing Lu Xingyan laugh, Shen Xingruo also felt like laughing, but when she saw her smile in the mirror, she forced herself to straighten her lips.
Shen Xingruo had always thought that her ideal relationship was with someone more mature than herself, someone with whom she didn’t need to argue over trivial matters or do stupid things that would only cause trouble.
But when Lu Xingyan suddenly matured to the point where he no longer tried to hold her back or acted unreasonably stubborn, she suddenly felt… very uncomfortable, and even a bit… sad.
Walking with Fang Jingran to the ticket checkpoint, she looked back several times, but Lu Xingyan never caught up.
Sitting in the waiting area, Shen Xingruo kept wondering what was wrong.
Just then, He Siyue sent her a WeChat message.
He Siyue didn’t say much, just forwarded her the schedule for a summer camp.
But when she saw the three words “He Siyue,” suddenly everything became clear to her.
If her ideal partner needed to be mature and sensible, why didn’t she just like He Siyue directly?
Turning back once wasn’t as difficult as she had imagined. At least when she turned back to Lu Xingyan, she got the result she wanted.
When Shen Xingruo came out of the bathroom, the TV was showing the male and female protagonists kissing.
Seeing her come out, Lu Xingyan actively sat up straight and waved the hairdryer in his hand, “Come here, I’ll blow-dry your hair for you.”
Shen Xingruo had good hair quality, but since she had it permed before, taking care of it would be a bit more troublesome.
Lu Xingyan blew her hair for a while, then rubbed some essential oil into it. Halfway through, Shen Xingruo felt like her sense of smell was about to fail her, the whole room was filled with the scent of jasmine essential oil.
“You put too much, don’t you have a sense of smell? Smell this fragrance.”
Lu Xingyan leaned in and sniffed earnestly. “Does it smell good? I think it’s alright, but not as good as you.”
Shen Xingruo paused. “You’re being weird.”
Lu Xingyan paused his actions, suddenly turned off the hairdryer, kissed her earlobe, then leaned his head on her shoulder affectionately, asking, “What’s weird about me?”
As he asked, he hugged Shen Xingruo and shifted her body backward.
Originally, Shen Xingruo was sitting at the edge of the bed, just barely touching the edge. Lu Xingyan was blowing her hair from behind, so there was still some distance between them. But with the sudden embrace, her back was against Lu Xingyan’s chest, and her tailbone suddenly touched something hot…
Normal.
He was just too normal.
Shen Xingruo pursed her lips, turned the hairdryer back on, and gestured for him to continue drying her hair.
They took the subway back to the city from the high-speed rail station and hadn’t eaten dinner yet.
The thing was, they weren’t in a hurry for anything. They weren’t experienced adults in a rush to get to bed—they hadn’t even eaten yet, but they took a shower first.
After showering, Shen Xingruo didn’t want to go out again, so they snuggled up in bed and ordered takeout.
Shen Xingruo leaned against Lu Xingyan’s chest and looked at the menu. “These are all barbecue options, do you want to add a fried rice with egg?”
“No,” Lu Xingyan shook his head, his hand sliding around Shen Xingruo’s waist, gliding over the screen of his phone. “There’s crayfish, don’t you like crayfish?”
“I just cut my nails, I don’t want to peel them.”
“I’ll peel them for you.”
He added the large crayfish to the cart.
Shen Xingruo turned to look at him and suddenly kissed him on the Adam’s apple.
A surprise gift from heaven made Lu Xingyan secretly pleased.
After ordering supper, Shen Xingruo started looking at milk tea options.
“I want a white peach oolong milk cap, but it’s the evening rush hour now, and they might not deliver it cold.”
Without hesitation, Lu Xingyan said, “I’ll chill it for you.”
As he spoke, he leaned forward, posing as if he was going to kiss her.
Shen Xingruo paused for a moment. “Do you think you’re a refrigerator?”
“…?”
Lu Xingyan thought for a moment, then shamelessly said, “I’m not, but I can call room service to bring some ice over. Anyway, if I say I’ll chill it for you, then I’ll chill it for you. But you have to kiss me first.”
Shen Xingruo sat up from his embrace and pushed his face away, but seeing him exaggerating a painful expression, she leaned forward and kissed him lightly.
They didn’t go out, spending the night in the hotel instead. They ate supper while watching a melodramatic idol drama, and then they started to critique every aspect of the show from the set design, costumes, and makeup to the logic of the lines.
Perhaps it was because the saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder” applied not only to new marriages but also to reconciliations after a breakup, both of them felt that this was the happiest night they had spent in many days.
Late at night, with the lights off and lying in bed, they held each other tightly. The desire to regain what was lost was even more intense than before. Lu Xingyan felt like he was being tortured, but after testing the waters a couple of times, it was evident that Shen Xingruo was not interested.
“If you lay a finger on me again, you’ll be sleeping on the floor,” she said in her usual cold tone.
Standard cold remarks from Shen Xingruo.
Unable to hold it in any longer in the middle of the night, Lu Xingyan went to the bathroom to relieve himself.
When he came back and found Shen Xingruo still awake, he hugged her again, acting pitiful. After milking his pitiful act, he couldn’t help but ask, “So, when can we… you know?”
Shen Xingruo thought for a moment. “Whenever you come to the US as an exchange student.”
Lu Xingyan “…”
He was quite skilled at digging his pit.
Shen Xingruo wasn’t set on returning to Huize, but she was determined to attend the summer camp at a university.
She had mentioned this to Lu Xingyan before they broke up. At that time, they planned to go on a graduation trip to Europe first and then prepare to go to the United States.
When they made their resolutions at the high-speed rail station, Lu Xingyan said he also wanted to attend a summer camp.
However, Xing University didn’t have a pre-enrollment summer camp activity, and Shen Xingruo felt that there was no need to rush things. After calculating the time, she accompanied him to register for a driving license exam instead.
Shen Xingruo stayed in Xing City until the eve of the summer camp, and she even went out for a meal with Lu Xingyan and some classmates. After that, they parted ways, experiencing a long-distance relationship ahead of time.
To say that a long-distance relationship was difficult wasn’t entirely true, especially when they were financially well-off. They talked on the phone across continents every day, and video calls were even better. Moreover, the summer camp only lasted for half a month. After Lu Xingyan passed his driving exam, he seized the tail end of the summer camp and flew to the US.
Shen Xingruo completed her summer camp, Lu Xingyan got his driver’s license, and the longest summer came to an end quietly in late summer and early autumn.
Lu Xingyan originally planned to accompany Shen Xingruo to the US for her enrollment and to declare his sovereignty, but he never expected that Da University and Xing University would start on the same day.
Shen Xingruo chose the same major as Lu Xingyan, Chinese Language and Literature, which was of superlative quality both nationally and globally.
Initially, Shen Xingruo considered majoring in Economics and Management, a prestigious program that produced many CEOs and founders dominating the business world today. However, Economics and Management required a strong background in science, which didn’t pique her interest. Perhaps it was because both her parents were artists by profession, and she inherently leaned more toward literature and art in her studies.
At the beginning of the semester, military training was mandatory. In the first few days, Shen Xingruo wasn’t very familiar with her roommates. After all, everyone admitted to the Department of Chinese Language and Literature was exceptional. In such a competitive environment, no one seemed willing to be the first to extend kindness. Additionally, Shen Xingruo’s personality and demeanor were as cold as her appearance, making her less inclined to warm up to others than to spend the night with Lu Xingyan.
It wasn’t until Shen Xingruo received the task of delivering a speech as a freshman representative at the opening ceremony of the College of Liberal Arts that her roommates began to take notice. Upon closer inquiry, they learned that she was this year’s top scorer in the Liberal Arts in Xing Province.
With a topic to discuss, the girls chatted through the night, and their relationships became closer. Regardless of their academic achievements, conversations about love and relationships were unavoidable.
The oldest in the dorm, Su Jiao, opened the topic, “Hey, have any of you ever been in a relationship? Yesterday, I saw some handsome guys from the Economics and Management department!”
“I haven’t. Our school has strict military management, and students caught dating would be expelled.”
“I dated in my first year, but we broke up quickly. We didn’t even kiss!”
“Then that doesn’t count!” Su Jiao laughed. “Xingruo, what about you? I’m sure you’ve never dated.”
“Who says? Just these past few days, I’ve seen He Siyue from the Law School eating together with Xingruo several times! Xingruo, is he your boyfriend?”
“No, he was the class monitor in my high school.”
As Shen Xingruo chatted with them, she also exchanged messages with Lu Xingyan.
“I told you, Xingruo seems hard to pursue. If I were a guy, I wouldn’t dare to chase her.”
As Su Jiao’s voice fell, Shen Xingruo suddenly sat up from the bed.
Curious, Su Jiao asked, “Xingruo, where are you going?”
Shen Xingruo replied as she put on her shoes, “My boyfriend called, I’m going to the bathroom to take the call.”
The dorm fell silent for three seconds, then erupted into screams of “Ahhhhh.”
Similarly, at the beginning of the semester, Lu Xingyan found it much easier to adapt to life at Xing University. Many of his old classmates had been admitted to Xing University, even Li Chengfan and Zhao Langming attended the International Department of 2+2. Additionally, the university environment was quite friendly to someone like Lu Xingyan, who was sociable and handsome. Several senior sisters from various departments in the College of Liberal Arts came to find Lu Xingyan, trying to persuade him to join the student union.
To give Shen Xingruo a sense of urgency, Lu Xingyan always made sure to report how popular he was whenever he called her after the semester began.
“Tonight, we went singing, and guess who was right beside us? The dance troupe from the dance academy. There was this girl from the academy who sang, ‘Hey handsome guy across the way, look over here,’ to me. And after we finished singing, she even came up asking for my WeChat. I politely told her I don’t use WeChat anymore since I have a girlfriend.”
“Shen Xingruo, let me tell you, you have no idea how popular your boyfriend is. You should be a bit more vigilant…”
“Hello? Hello? Shen Xingruo?”
Before Lu Xingyan could finish boasting, the call was suddenly cut off.
He was puzzled for three seconds, wondering if he had bragged too much again, when suddenly he received a picture from Shen Xingruo.
He opened it, at first mistaking it for a flower shop captured by Shen Xingruo.
Then he heard a voice message from Shen Xingruo, saying, “These are the flowers I’ve received since school started, and they were all sent to my dorm through my roommate. I didn’t accept any that were given to me in person. I wasn’t going to tell you to avoid pressuring you, but it seems like you’re not under any pressure at all. Oh, by the way, yesterday a guy cornered me downstairs in the dorm building. I told him I have a boyfriend, but he didn’t believe me and insisted on giving me a necklace.”
Lu Xingyan???
Could he bear this?!
Feeling deeply regretful, Lu Xingyan realized he hadn’t made Shen Xingruo feel any urgency, but now he was feeling quite urgent.
He kept messaging Shen Xingruo throughout the night, telling her not to mind these lunatics and to keep a record of them for when he gets back to deal with them.
Furthermore, he expressed his determination to Shen Xingruo, saying he had already changed his lock screen and wallpaper to a photo of them together. He also told his dorm buddies that he has a girlfriend, so they shouldn’t randomly introduce him to other girls. He pledged to remain faithful and not even glance at other girls.
Lu Xingyan belonged, body and soul, entirely to Shen Xingruo!
Before going to sleep, Lu Xingyan was still rambling, “I read online that if you tie a rubber band on your hand, it means the guy already has another ‘little ancestor.’ I’m going to buy one tomorrow, maybe one with a butterfly design.”
Shen Xingruo, lying in bed, suddenly curled her lips, thought for a moment, and replied, “Then I’ll buy a ring to wear on my middle finger tomorrow, indicating that I’m already someone else’s ‘little ancestor.'”
Shen Xingruo rarely spoke like this. After sending the message, she felt her face inexplicably warm, as if she were being coquettish. She wasn’t used to it and immediately pressed the recall button.
But Lu Xingyan immediately sent a screenshot, “No need to recall, I’ve already captured it! Just buy it tomorrow to be on the safe side. When I’m back, we’ll go together to buy matching couple rings!”