Public Confession
The sun shone brightly on registration day.
When Zhou Anran arrived at the school gate, she received another WeChat message from Cen Yu.
Cen Yu had also done well in her exams and was attending another 985 universities in Nancheng. She was also registering today.
Zhou Anran unlocked her phone under the sun.
Cen Yu: [Have you arrived?]
Cen Yu: [My cousin and his friend are already waiting for you at the gate!]
Cen Yu: [I sent him your photo. When you arrive, just wait at the gate for a bit. He should be able to find you.]
A few days ago, Cen Yu had told her that she had a cousin at University A, a junior this year, who would help her with registration.
Zhou Anran was the type who hated troubling others, but she couldn’t resist Cen Yu’s enthusiasm and ended up agreeing in a daze.
She lowered her head to reply: [I’m here]
Just as she sent it, Zhou Anran felt a shadow fall over her, and an unfamiliar male voice spoke.
“Are you Zhou, the junior? Xiao Yu’s friend?”
Zhou Anran looked up to see a bespectacled young man standing in front of her. He was slightly chubby with a friendly face, matching the photo Cen Yu had sent her.
It must be Cen Yu’s cousin, Xu Hongliang.
She nodded, “Hello, senior.”
Xu Hongliang warmly greeted Zhou Xianhong, who had come to drop her off: “Hello, uncle and auntie. I’m Zhou’s friend’s cousin, Xu Hongliang.”
He reached out to take the luggage from Zhou Xianhong’s hand, then suddenly turned his head back: “Qin-jie, she’s here.”
Qin-jie?
Cen Yu had mentioned earlier that her cousin and a friend would come to pick her up.
Zhou Anran looked in that direction.
Not far from the school gate, under a large tree, a tall, slim girl walked out from the shade. She was dressed all in black, her hair tied in a neat ponytail. In the sunlight, you could faintly see a hint of purple at the tips of her hair. Like the photo on First High School’s bulletin board, her features weren’t perfect – in person, her monolids were even more noticeable – but combined, they created a unique kind of beauty.
The girl stopped in front of her, her face expressionless, her voice cool as she uttered three words: “Yu Bingqin.”
Zhou Anran hadn’t expected Cen Yu’s cousin’s friend to be the famous former science top scorer from First High. She was stunned for two seconds before remembering to greet her: “Hello, Yu-senior.”
Yu Bingqin nodded at her, then greeted her parents with the same cool expression.
Another boy suddenly appeared beside her, enthusiastically greeting them while taking the luggage from He Jiayi’s hand.
Zhou Anran was still a bit confused when she saw Yu Bingqin jerk her chin towards the gate: “Let’s go. I’ll take you to register.”
After entering the school, Xu Hongliang and the other senior led Zhou Xianhong and He Jiayi to the parents’ waiting area to rest, while Yu Bingqin took Zhou Anran alone to handle the paperwork.
Yu Bingqin didn’t talk much. On the way, she only said one thing to her: “I’m also in the School of Life Sciences.”
Zhou Anran had never seen such a cool girl before. She held back the whole way but couldn’t resist sneaking a glance at her when they were almost at the registration area.
But she was caught red-handed by Yu Bingqin.
“Is there something on my face?” Her tone was still flat, but her voice was pleasant – low with a certain metallic quality, distinctively beautiful.
Zhou Anran quickly averted her gaze, the tips of her ears turning slightly red. She wanted to compliment the senior on her looks but didn’t dare, so she just shook her head randomly.
Then she heard Yu Bingqin laugh very softly.
Zhou Anran hadn’t seen Yu Bingqin show any expression the whole way, let alone laugh. She quickly turned to look again, asking quietly, “What is it?”
“Nothing,” Yu Bingqin’s smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared, her face returning to its expressionless state. “Let’s go in.”
*
After registration, Zhou Anran was surprised to find she was the first to arrive at her dorm room.
Her dorm was on the third floor, but with Xu Hongliang and the other senior’s help, all her luggage was moved up in one trip.
After putting everything down, Xu Hongliang said he had something to attend to and politely declined Zhou Xianhong’s offer to treat them to a meal as thanks. He left the dorm with the other senior, and Yu Bingqin followed them out.
Zhou Anran wanted to get to know this cool senior a bit better but didn’t dare to stop her.
However, moments later, while she was still tidying up the bed and cleaning with her parents, Yu Bingqin returned.
The girl had a bag in her hand. She took out two bottles of drinks and handed them to Zhou Xianhong and He Jiayi, then tossed a can of cola into Zhou Anran’s arms, her tone still flat.
“Want to take down my phone number?”
Zhou Anran was stunned again, then quickly nodded, her lips unconsciously curling up, the small dimple at the corner of her mouth faintly visible.
She hurriedly took out her phone and recorded the number Yu Bingqin recited.
“My WeChat is the same number. Remember to add a note when you add me,” Yu Bingqin said concisely. “I live on the fifth floor. Call if you need anything. I’m off.”
The girl’s figure quickly disappeared outside the door.
He Jiayi smiled and remarked, “This girl looks cold, but who knew she had such a warm heart? Is she also Xiao Yu’s friend?”
Zhou Anran shook her head. She hadn’t found a chance to explain earlier: “I think she’s Xiao Yu’s cousin’s friend. She’s also a senior from our First High, the provincial top scorer in science from two years ago at First High.”
He Jiayi was surprised: “So impressive!”
Zhou Xianhong was much calmer, smiling as he interjected: “Well, look at where we are.”
Not long after, Zhou Anran’s three other roommates arrived one after another.
True to Zhou Xianhong’s words about “look at where we are,” none of Zhou Anran’s three roommates were ordinary.
One was this year’s third-place science student in C Province, another was admitted through the biology competition, and the last one delighted Zhou Anran the most – it was Wucheng’s top scorer this year, the petite girl Yu Xingyue who had consistently ranked first at First High.
Zhou Anran knew Yu Xingyue had also entered University A’s School of Life Sciences, but she hadn’t expected to be fortunate enough to be assigned to the same dorm room.
Zhou Xianhong and He Jiayi were both busy with work and had only taken leave together to send her here because they were worried about her. After seeing that she had first met a helpful senior and then become roommates with a schoolmate, they both felt a bit more at ease. They didn’t have time to stay long and flew back to Nancheng that same day.
During high school, whether at Second High or First High, Zhou Anran had often heard about conflicts among boarding students in dorms.
It was her first time living in a dorm, and she had been a bit anxious before coming.
But perhaps her luck was good this time too. The roommates she was assigned were all easy to get along with.
Yu Xingyue, needless to say, was already an acquaintance from First High, and she was solely focused on studying. On the second day after arriving, she spent the whole day in the library, only returning at night. They hardly saw her, let alone had any conflicts.
The third-place winner from C Province was named Bai Lingyun, with a personality similar to Cen Yu’s – very outgoing and generous.
The girl who came through the biology competition was called Xie Jingyi. She wore glasses and looked bookish, but her gossip level exceeded even Zhang Shuxian’s.
Zhou Anran first experienced Xie Jingyi’s gossip prowess on the first day of military training.
On the first night of military training, Zhou Anran didn’t sleep well, waking up several times throughout the night.
The new students’ military training was all gathered together, with different departments not too far apart. This meant she would probably see Chen Luobai.
Zhou Anran wanted to see him, yet was afraid to see him.
But perhaps they had no fate. The next day, when she arrived at the training ground, Zhou Anran discovered that the Law School was the farthest from their department.
She didn’t dare get close, but when the opportunity arose, she couldn’t help but look in that direction.
However, she ultimately couldn’t find him in the sea of camouflage green.
She didn’t know if it was because the distance was too far, or if after two years, the young man’s figure had changed, no longer the familiar shape in her memory.
It wasn’t until after dinner that evening that Zhou Anran learned both her guesses were incorrect.
At the time, she and her dormmates were sitting together resting when Xie Jingyi returned from buying water. She sat down next to them with a disappointed face: “That top science scorer from your Nan Province didn’t come to military training. I don’t know what happened. I wanted to see how handsome he is.”
Zhou Anran’s hand tightened around her water bottle.
Without special reasons, new students generally wouldn’t miss military training.
Did something… happen to him?
“By the way,” Xie Jingyi asked, “Have you seen him?”
Yu Xingyue shook her head, looking uninterested: “Anran and I are from Wucheng First High. We’re not even in the same city as him.”
Xie Jingyi pressed her mineral water bottle against her face: “I met some people from Nancheng Second High when I went to a competition. They all talked about him so exaggeratedly. They said Chen Luobai was a league above other campus heartthrobs. Before he came to First High, so-called campus heartthrobs were either self-proclaimed or only recognized in small circles. More often than not, it was just mediocre guys competing against each other. But after he arrived, basically everyone, boys and girls alike, acknowledged his status as the campus heartthrob. When he appeared, no one else could compare.”
“Is it really that exaggerated?” Bai Lingyun was skeptical.
“I’m doubting it too, that’s why I wanted to see what he looks like,” Xie Jingyi said, then noticed Zhou Anran had been looking down the whole time. “Anran, what’s wrong?”
Zhou Anran snapped back to reality: “It’s nothing, just a bit tired.”
“It is tiring. With such intense exercise, I hope the ten pounds I gained over summer vacation will drop off again,” Bai Lingyun said dejectedly, then pinched Zhou Anran’s arm. “Anran, you’re so thin. Do you have any weight loss tips?”
Zhou Anran’s mind was in chaos, but she managed to think for a moment: “Maybe it’s because I don’t like sweets at all?”
Bai Lingyun: “…”
“Forget it, I’ll never be able to give up sweets in this lifetime. Pretend I didn’t ask.”
The group then started chatting about weight loss.
Zhou Anran gripped her water cup tightly.
Forget it.
Whatever was happening with him, she couldn’t find out anyway.
Even if she did find out, there was nothing she could do to help him.
Staying far away from him and not bothering him anymore was the only thing she could do now.
The next time she heard news about Chen Luobai was when classes officially started.
That day was their first day of classes. After finishing the afternoon courses, Xie Jingyi went to eat with her high school classmates from other departments, while Zhou Anran went to the cafeteria with her other two roommates.
After dinner, Yu Xingyue went to the library as usual.
Zhou Anran had two pairs of shoes she wanted to wash, so she returned to the dorm with Bai Lingyun.
After washing the shoes and hanging them to dry on the balcony, Zhou Anran entered the dorm to see Xie Jingyi coming in from outside, her face full of excitement.
“Damn,” her eyes were bright as she grabbed Zhou Anran’s hand as soon as she came in. She must have encountered something exciting because even a swear word slipped out, “I saw that science top scorer from your Nan Province. He’s Freaking handsome. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone look so handsome even while limping.”
Zhou Anran’s heart first skipped a beat when she heard Xie Jingyi mention him, then tightened suddenly at her last sentence: “Limping? He’s injured?”
Xie Jingyi nodded: “Yeah, apparently that’s why he didn’t come to military training. He injured his leg.”
Zhou Anran’s mind went blank: “Is it serious?”
“It doesn’t look too serious,” Xie Jingyi said. “If it were really serious, he’d probably still be on leave and wouldn’t be able to come to class, right?”
Zhou Anran relaxed a bit, only then realizing she had asked a silly question.
Fortunately, Xie Jingyi was still immersed in her excitement and didn’t notice anything amiss. She continued talking about Chen Luobai: “He’s super handsome. Those Nancheng Second High people weren’t exaggerating at all.”
Bai Lingyun had been sitting at her desk listening to an audio lesson and only just took off her headphones, catching only the last half of the sentence: “What wasn’t exaggerated?”
“Chen Luobai, you know, that science top scorer from their Nan Province,” Xie Jingyi let go of Zhou Anran’s hand and ran over to Bai Lingyun. “I saw him this afternoon. He’s Freaking handsome.”
“What kind of handsome is ‘Freaking handsome’?” Bai Lingyun asked.
Xie Jingyi thought for a moment: “How do I describe it to you… You know those candid photos of celebrities with ordinary people, right? It’s that kind of feeling. I saw him near the basketball court this afternoon. There was a big crowd around, but I spotted him instantly, and I could only see him. You know what I mean?”
Bai Lingyun: “Is it really that exaggerated? You’re making me want to see him too.”
“What do you want to see him for?” Xie Jingyi winked at her. “Are you giving up on your Xie senior?”
A few days ago, Bai Lingyun had bumped into a senior from their department in the cafeteria. They had exchanged WeChat contacts over the apology, and things had quickly developed a hint of ambiguity.
Bai Lingyun rolled her eyes at her: “If he’s really as you say, I’m not at that level anyway. I just want to take a look.”
In the following short period, Zhou Anran found herself exceptionally busy.
As the new semester officially began, the student union and various clubs started their recruitment activities.
Zhou Anran initially had no interest, but remembering Mrs. He’s constant advice to be less introverted and learn to be more outgoing like her friends, she eventually decided to accompany her roommates to the club recruitment fair.
Yu Xinyue, with her resolute attitude towards focusing solely on studies, didn’t join them.
At the recruitment venue, Zhou Anran, Xie Jingyi, and Bai Lingyun had barely taken a few steps inside when a boy wearing a red basketball jersey blocked their path.
“First-year juniors, right? Interested in joining our basketball club?”
Upon hearing “basketball club,” Zhou Anran froze for a moment, her mind flashing to another tall figure in a red jersey.
“If you’re interested, just fill out this form.”
Xie Jingyi and Bai Lingyun exchanged glances.
Although the boy seemed to be addressing all three of them, his gaze remained fixed on Zhou Anran from start to finish, and he held the form out directly to her.
It was clear his intentions lay elsewhere.
Zhou Anran was beautiful, with a pure and gentle kind of beauty.
During military training, she had received numerous requests for her WeChat contact, but despite her approachable demeanor, she hadn’t agreed to any.
This was the first time Xie Jingyi had seen her stare at a boy in a daze. Just as she was about to speak, Zhou Anran suddenly seemed to snap back to reality, shook her head, and said, “I’m sorry.”
The boy stared at her for two seconds, didn’t push further, and walked away.
Xie Jingyi finally let out a sigh of relief and whispered to her, “That should be Du Yizhou, the basketball club president. He’s decent-looking, but quite a player. They say he changes girlfriends like flipping pages in a book. When I saw you staring at him in a daze, I thought you might have been captivated by his face too.”
Zhou Anran blinked.
She hadn’t even seen what the guy looked like.
“I wasn’t staring at him.”
Bai Lingyun asked, puzzled, “Then what were you daydreaming about?”
Zhou Anran: “…”
She didn’t know how to explain, so she finally made up an excuse: “I just suddenly couldn’t remember if we had locked our door or not.”
“We did, didn’t we?” Xie Jingyi suddenly felt uncertain too.
Bai Lingyun gave them both an “I can’t believe you two” look: “We did.”
After this small incident, Bai Lingyun and Xie Jingyi continued looking at the diverse recruitment posters.
Zhou Anran, preoccupied with her thoughts, accidentally got separated from her two roommates.
Standing alone in the bustling recruitment fair, she suddenly felt hesitant.
She had attended interest classes as a child, but for some reason, she never persisted with any of them. As her gaze swept across the fair, she couldn’t think of anything she was particularly interested in. She was also a bit afraid of interacting alone with those enthusiastic senior students. The thought of having to introduce herself in front of a group of people made her scalp tingle. She began to regret not going to the library with Yu Xinyue.
Just as she was about to turn back, a pleasant female voice suddenly sounded beside her.
“Want to join a club?”
Zhou Anran recognized the voice immediately. They weren’t particularly close, but the speaker’s voice was so distinctive that it was hard to forget after hearing it once. She turned around, pleasantly surprised: “Senior Yu.”
After that day of registration, Zhou Anran hadn’t seen her again.
Although Yu Bingqin had given her her number, saying she could contact her if needed, Zhou Anran didn’t feel comfortable troubling her proactively.
Yu Bingqin’s face remained expressionless: “Come to our club?”
Zhou Anran: “…Eh?”
*
At mealtime, Zhou Anran finally met up with her two roommates in the cafeteria.
Bai Lingyun and Xie Jingyi had each joined two clubs. After getting their food, Bai Lingyun casually asked her, “Anran, you left so early, did you not join any clubs?”
Zhou Anran shook her head: “No, I joined the guitar club.”
“Is it the Big Guitar Club?” Xie Jingyi asked.
Zhou Anran looked at her in confusion: “What Big Guitar Club?”
Is there a Small Guitar Club too?
Xie Jingyi explained to her: “Our school has two guitar clubs. One is the long-established Big Guitar Club, which is our school’s official guitar club. The other is a small one run by Senior Yu and her band from our department. It has very few members and rarely recruits, but it’s said that those who can join are quite talented. That’s why I asked if you joined the Big Guitar Club.”
Zhou Anran was even more confused.
Senior Yu has a band?
“I don’t think so.”
Xie Jingyi: “?”
Bai Lingyun: “!”
Both raised their heads, looking at her with a hint of reverence in their eyes.
Xie Jingyi: “We had no idea, Anran. Why didn’t you tell us you were a guitar prodigy?”
“I’m not,” Zhou Anran forgot to pick up food with her chopsticks. “I don’t know how to play the guitar at all.”
Xie Jingyi remembered the basketball club president from the afternoon whose intentions were elsewhere, and looked at her docile roommate: “Anran, were you tricked? Was it some guy who recruited you?”
“No,” Zhou Anran shook her head again, “Senior Yu recruited me.”
Xie Jingyi: “…?”
“That’s impossible. Did someone give me the wrong information?”
Zhou Anran wasn’t sure if Xie Jingyi’s information was right or wrong.
Yu Bingqin had said that day that she would notify her of club activities, but Zhou Anran hadn’t received any messages from her since.
Bai Lingyun and Xie Jingyi had also joined the student union, and they were incredibly busy during that period.
Zhou Anran had joined a club, but it was as if she hadn’t. However, she wasn’t idle.
As a newcomer to the university, she was still unfamiliar with the new learning system. Surrounded by various talented individuals, she felt some pressure and didn’t dare to slack off. After classes, she would go to the library with Yu Xinyue.
Once she got busy, she didn’t have time to think about Chen Luobai.
But Zhou Anran herself couldn’t distinguish whether she didn’t have time to think about him because she was busy, or if she deliberately kept herself busy because she was afraid to think about him.
Perhaps it was both.
Even so, she still often heard news about him from Xie Jingyi.
Who knows how Xie Jingyi had so many sources of information?
From the start of formal classes to the week before the National Day holiday, Zhou Anran had heard at least four or five times from Xie Jingyi about girls asking for his WeChat or confessing to him.
And if Xie Jingyi’s information was correct, among them was a sophomore who didn’t give up immediately after being rejected. She had been persistently trying to deliver meals to him, rain or shine, during this period.
Zhou Anran thought that after two years, she would be more composed when hearing news about him.
But it seemed she still felt that sensation of invisible, fine threads wrapping around her heart, making it difficult to breathe.
Yet despite hearing so much news about him, Zhou Anran hadn’t encountered him even once.
She didn’t even know if he had changed since high school.
A University was certainly big, several times larger than No. 2 High School. Students from different departments had classes and rested in different buildings, so it was perfectly normal not to run into each other.
But in a way, it was also small, after all, they were still in the same school. Even Xie Jingyi had encountered him.
In the end, it was probably just a lack of fate.
So Zhou Anran sometimes felt grateful that she could still learn bits and pieces about his whereabouts and news from Xie Jingyi, at least knowing that he was doing well.
Soon, it was time for the National Day holiday.
Zhou Anran had never been away from home for so long or so far before. She missed home a bit and wanted to see her friends, so instead of staying at school or going on a trip, she arranged to go home with Yan Xingqian and the others.
Coincidentally, Zhou Xianrong and He Jiayi didn’t have to work overtime this time, so after several years, Zhou Anran finally returned to Nancheng for a few days.
She met twice with Zhang Shuxian, who had stayed in Nancheng, rested at home, and read some books, and the few days of holiday passed in a blink.
On the day of returning to school, Zhou Anran specially brought back some local specialties and tiger skin chicken feet made by He Jiayi.
Hearing that Zhou Anran had brought food, her roommates who hadn’t gone home all returned to the dormitory before 8:30 PM, even Yu Xinyue, who usually stayed in the library until closing time, came back early.
The group sat at Xie Jingyi’s spot, eating and watching a movie.
Though they were supposedly watching a movie, two of them were never really focused.
Bai Lingyun was probably chatting with that senior surnamed Xie, occasionally revealing a sweet smile.
Xie Jingyi was even busier, seemingly chatting with people in several groups. She held a chicken foot in one hand, gnawing on it, while her other hand typed rapidly using the nine-key input method.
As they were about to finish eating, Zhou Anran was just about to take off her gloves and clean up the table when Xie Jingyi suddenly exclaimed “Whoa!” upon receiving some message.
She seemed both surprised and excited, the chicken foot forgotten halfway to her mouth: “That sophomore girl went to Chen Luobai’s dormitory building and publicly confessed. How brave!”