As Zhou Anran exited the dormitory building, she saw Chen Luobai standing by the flower bed outside their dorm.
The young man was dressed all in black today – black sweatpants paired with a black hoodie. The hood hung loosely on his head, and his posture was casual. One leg stood straight while the other was slightly bent, resting against the edge of the flower bed. Yet his spine remained perfectly upright.
His figure and appearance were exceptionally striking. Passersby kept glancing at him, but he simply looked down at his phone, held in one hand, completely indifferent to the gazes around him – just like back in high school.
Not far from him, two girls hesitated, seemingly wanting to approach.
Zhou Anran’s steps faltered for a moment.
At that instant, Chen Luobai happened to look up.
Her gaze immediately collided with his dark eyes across the space between them, causing her heart to skip a beat.
Chen Luobai tucked his phone into his pocket, maintaining a casual stance with one hand in his pocket. Still ignoring everyone else around, he strode directly to her: “You came down so quickly?”
Zhou Anran nodded her heart racing, and handed him the bag she was carrying.
Chen Luobai took it with a familiar nonchalant tone: “Thanks.”
Standing in front of him, Zhou Anran felt inexplicably nervous. After mumbling “You’re welcome,” she didn’t know what else to say. Not daring to maintain eye contact for too long, she lowered her head slightly, wondering if she should say goodbye now that she had delivered the item. Just then, she heard the young man call her name again.
“Zhou Anran.”
Zhou Anran lifted her head, still finding it surreal to hear him say her name.
Chen Luobai’s hood was no longer on his head, having fallen off at some point. His hair wasn’t long, still a pure black, with a few short strands falling across his forehead.
“Not in a hurry to go back up?” he asked.
Zhou Anran didn’t quite understand his meaning but shook her head honestly.
Chen Luobai waved the paper bag at her: “Let me treat you to a late-night snack to show my appreciation?”
From the moment he added her on WeChat yesterday until now, Zhou Anran felt like she had been in a long dream. But even in her dreams, she had never imagined him inviting her to eat alone.
Zhou Anran froze, staring at him blankly, momentarily forgetting to respond.
The young man in front of her suddenly smiled.
Since their reunion, it was the first time Zhou Anran had seen him smile. With that smile, his youthful aura fully emerged.
Her heart raced again.
“Shall we go?” Chen Luobai asked her once more, glancing at his watch. “It’s getting late though, so I can only treat you to the cafeteria.”
Zhou Anran came to her senses, suppressing the bubbling excitement in her heart, and nodded.
As they walked together towards the cafeteria, Zhou Anran also received many curious glances.
She had always known he was popular, but this was the first time she experienced it from this perspective. Before, she could only watch him from afar like everyone else, and even then, she wasn’t as bold as others – she would only secretly peek at him from within the crowd.
Now, every gaze that fell on him was partially directed at her as well.
Zhou Anran felt slightly uncomfortable.
But mostly, she felt happy and elated.
Not because of the attention – she didn’t particularly like being noticed.
The happiness came solely from him.
Because he was walking beside her.
However, after just a few steps, her phone rang.
It was a WeChat message notification.
Zhou Anran unlocked her screen and saw that the message was from Xie Jingyi.
Xie Jingyi: [!!!]
Xie Jingyi: [What’s going on!!!!]
When Zhou Anran first opened the chat, there were only these two messages. But immediately, her phone kept buzzing as new messages rapidly appeared one after another.
Xie Jingyi: [Chen Luobai came to find you?]
Xie Jingyi: [And you left with him???]
Xie Jingyi: [Are you coming back tonight?????]
Even through the screen, Xie Jingyi’s surprise and excitement were palpable.
Perhaps disturbed by the continuous notifications, Zhou Anran noticed from the corner of her eye that the young man beside her suddenly turned his head to look at her.
Afraid he might see Xie Jingyi’s last message, she quickly pressed the lock screen button without thinking.
Chen Luobai glanced at her darkened phone screen: “Something wrong?”
Even though she knew their relationship would likely remain just friends at best, Zhou Anran instinctively didn’t want him to misunderstand. She shook her head hurriedly: “No, it’s just my roommate. She saw some celebrity gossip and got a bit excited.”
After saying this, Zhou Anran felt oddly guilty.
But this wasn’t lying to him, right?
She just slightly exaggerated the truth, adding the word “celebrity” to it.
Xie Jingyi’s messages still hadn’t stopped. Zhou Anran didn’t dare open them, fearing she might send even more outrageous things.
Fortunately, after several more notifications, her phone finally quieted down.
When they reached the cafeteria, Chen Luobai led her to an ordering area on the second floor. This area was relatively more expensive than the first floor, but the environment was also much better.
Chen Luobai stopped at the ordering counter: “What would you like to eat?”
Zhou Anran looked up at the menu above.
She wasn’t hungry at all and didn’t want to eat anything. Remembering what Senior Yu had said yesterday about him being picky, she shook her head: “I’m not picky about food. You choose.”
Chen Luobai: “Are you sure you want me to choose?”
Zhou Anran nodded again.
The young man suddenly smiled again for some reason. He gestured towards a nearby booth: “Alright, then go sit in the booth and wait for me.”
Zhou Anran agreed. As she turned to go to the booth, she still found it somewhat miraculous.
She never imagined that the senior she met on registration day would turn out to be his cousin. Looking at it this way, it seemed they weren’t entirely without a connection.
After ordering, Chen Luobai turned around, leaning back against the counter. He saw the girl obediently sitting in the booth, looking at her phone.
Compared to high school, she had changed quite a bit. She had grown taller and become even prettier. Her shoulder-length black hair fell beside her snow-white cheeks, with slightly curled ends. Her face was bare of makeup, making her appear even more gentle and serene.
Several male students in the cafeteria kept glancing in her direction.
“Student, your soup and shrimp dumplings are ready,” the cafeteria auntie tapped on the counter behind him. “The barbecue items that need to be freshly made will take a bit longer.”
Chen Luobai turned and took the tray: “Alright, thank you. I’ll come back for the rest later.”
Zhou Anran was struggling with how to reply to Xie Jingyi. Seeing him come in, she put her phone down, deciding to face the storm when she got back to the dorm.
She looked down and saw his tray piled high with food: “Why did you order so much?”
“Is it a lot?” Chen Luobai set down the tray, his tone casual. “There are still a few dishes that aren’t ready yet.”
Zhou Anran didn’t know if he was hungry or not, so she didn’t feel right suggesting he cancel some items. She just reminded him: “I can’t eat very much.”
“If we can’t finish, I’ll pack it up and take it back to the dorm,” Chen Luobai said as he sat down across from her.
Zhou Anran felt slightly relieved.
As long as it wasn’t wasted.
She wasn’t hungry at all and managed to eat only one shrimp dumpling, one skewer, and a small bowl of beef ball soup before stopping.
Seeing her put down her chopsticks, Chen Luobai looked up: “Done eating?”
Zhou Anran shook her head and noticed he had also set his chopsticks down: “Are you finished too?”
Chen Luobai made an affirmative sound.
The atmosphere grew silent.
Unlike earlier when they were focused on eating, now sitting in silence felt a bit awkward.
Zhou Anran wanted to find a topic to chat with him about but didn’t know what would be appropriate. She still couldn’t figure out why he had added her on WeChat in the first place.
But ending things here meant not knowing when she’d see him again.
As she hesitated, she suddenly heard the young man across from her call her name again.
“Zhou Anran.”
Zhou Anran looked up, startled.
In over a year of being classmates in high school, she had never heard her name from his lips. Their conversations had been few and far between. But in just these two days, she had almost lost count of how many times he had called her name.
Chen Luobai’s phone rested on the table as he idly spun it around, his tone seemingly casual: “Are you free this Saturday?”
The question caught her off guard.
Even though she knew he probably just had something he needed, Zhou Anran’s heart still immediately lost its rhythm, leaving her unable to react: “Huh?”
“You remember Zhu Ran, right?” Chen Luobai asked her.
Zhou Anran didn’t understand why he suddenly mentioned Zhu Ran, but she nodded honestly.
How could she forget his best friend?
“He’s coming to A University on Saturday. Heard you’re here too—” Chen Luobai continued spinning his phone, his expression appearing somewhat indifferent, “Wanted to invite you to have a meal together.”
Zhou Anran’s heart skipped a beat.
She had just been wondering when she might have a chance to see him again, not expecting the opportunity to come so quickly.
But…
“I have a classmate gathering on Saturday,” she said, trying hard to suppress the disappointment in her voice.
Chen Luobai stopped spinning his phone and looked up at her: “A classmate gathering?”
Zhou Anran still didn’t dare to maintain eye contact for more than a second. She lowered her head and softly affirmed: “Yes, with Yan Xingqian, Zhang Shuxian, Sheng Xiaowen, and also Dong Chen and He Mingyu.”
“He Mingyu.” Chen Luobai repeated the last name, his tone still casual, as if asking offhandedly, “Have you been in touch with him all along?”
Zhou Anran didn’t understand why he would ask this question. She didn’t dare to think too much of it, but for some inexplicable reason, she also didn’t want him to misunderstand anything: “Not really. We only got in touch after graduation. Qianqian and Dong Chen are quite close—”
These two had always argued whenever they met in high school, but somehow the more they argued, the closer they seemed to become.
“He Mingyu is good friends with Dong Chen, and he also got into A University, in the Physics Department.”
However, she and He Mingyu rarely talked. Even after adding each other on WeChat, they had barely exchanged a few messages in total.
The small booth fell silent for a second or two.
Zhou Anran couldn’t help but slightly raise her head. She saw the young man across from her had started spinning his phone again, his expression neutral, showing no particular emotion.
She felt that her lengthy explanation was somewhat unnecessary.
How could he possibly care about her connections with other guys?
Chen Luobai’s voice broke the silence at that moment.
“Would your classmate gathering mind having two more people?”
It took Zhou Anran a second to react: “You want to join too?”
Chen Luobai made an affirmative sound: “Isn’t it a classmate gathering? Zhu Ran and I count as your classmates too, right?”
Zhou Anran nodded: “Of course you do.”
“Then why don’t you ask them?” Chen Luobai tapped his phone lightly on the table.
“Okay.”
After agreeing, Zhou Anran took out her phone and opened the small group chat that Yan Xingqian had created a few days ago for the gathering.
She had muted the notifications for this group because Yan Xingqian and Dong Chen had been arguing in it constantly over the past few days.
At the moment, these two were still debating about what activity to do on Saturday afternoon.
Dong Chen: [I still vote for the escape room]
Yan Xingqian: [I insist on karaoke]
Dong Chen: [Going to karaoke just turns into your solo concert. It’s nothing but listening to you sing your idol’s songs from their first album to the last. What’s interesting about that?]
Yan Xingqian: [And what’s so interesting about an escape room? It’s nothing but you showing off your not-so-high IQ. Can’t you learn to be a bit more low-key like He Mingyu?]
Zhou Anran’s finger hovered over the virtual keyboard, then suddenly stopped.
How should she tell them?
Say that Chen Luobai also wants to join our classmate gathering.
The moment “Chen Luobai” appears, the group chat will probably explode.
Perhaps noticing her hesitation, Chen Luobai suddenly asked: “What’s wrong?”
Zhou Anran’s heart jumped, and she quickly shook her head: “Nothing.”
“How about—” her mind was a bit muddled, “I add you to the group, and you can tell them yourself?”
“You have a group?” Chen Luobai stopped spinning his phone.
Zhou Anran nodded again and first sent a message to the group: [I’m going to add someone to the group, okay?]
Yan Xingqian: [Sure, but who are you adding?]
Zhou Anran: “…”
Her suddenly mentioning Chen Luobai in the group versus suddenly adding Chen Luobai to the group – the effect would probably be about the same, right?
But she had already said it, so there was no turning back now.
Zhou Anran hastily replied: [Just another classmate from our school]
Then, steeling herself, she quickly completed the steps to add him to the group.
A system notification appeared: “C has joined the group chat.”
Yan Xingqian: [Who’s C?]
Zhang Shuxian, who was also in the group, chimed in: [From your school? A University?]
Zhang Shuxian seemed to take a moment to process: [From our Second High, isn’t it just Anran and He Mingyu at A University? Who else is there?]
Sheng Xiaowen: [There is one more]
Sheng Xiaowen: [And I’ve seen this avatar and name on the class monitor’s phone, it should be him]
Yan Xingqian, slow on the uptake: [Him? Who?]
Dong Chen: [Chen Luobai]
As soon as this name appeared, the previously lively small group suddenly fell into dead silence.
Zhou Anran held her phone: “…”
She couldn’t help but sneak another glance across the table.
Chen Luobai happened to look back at her: “They don’t seem very welcoming towards me?”
Hearing a hint of amusement in his tone, Zhou Anran didn’t think he was angry or bothered, but she still felt compelled to explain: “It’s not that. They’re probably just a bit surprised.”
As soon as she finished speaking, her phone suddenly started buzzing frantically.
It was even more intense than when Xie Jingyi had been sending her messages one after another earlier. It seemed like several messages were flooding in at once, with one notification barely finishing before another started, as if several people were messaging her simultaneously.
And the notifications didn’t stop.
Chen Luobai raised an eyebrow slightly: “So surprised that they’re all messaging you privately?”
Zhou Anran: “…”
She didn’t need to look to know it was Yan Xingqian and the others.
He had always been smart; there was no way to hide it from him.
Zhou Anran nodded honestly, just about to explain further when she heard his voice again.
“Need my help?”
Zhou Anran didn’t understand immediately: “What?”
But Chen Luobai didn’t answer her directly.
The young man lowered his head to type on his phone. His fingers were long and well-defined, particularly attractive. The small mole on his wrist bone was especially clear under the light.
A few seconds later.
Two new messages popped up in the group chat on Zhou Anran’s phone.
C: [Stop messaging her]
C: [If you want to know something, ask me directly]