Bei Yao wished upon the stars and moon, all hoping for spring and April to arrive.

She did a lot of preparatory work on what things could be brought for “visitation.” Neither Bei Yao nor Fang Mingjun knew exactly what kind of existence “Seventh Prison” was. She was truly prepared to wait eight years for Pei Chuan.

Even if he came out with nothing, wasn’t she already working?

She firmly believed that life was something two people made better and better together.

When spring arrived, Bei Yao had been confessed to by several people. Among them was a great talent from the law school who, according to rumors, was stunned by Bei Yao’s heavenly beauty when he saw her last year.

When Wang Qiankun mentioned this, she laughed so hard she doubled over, because the great talent was a bit dull. He spoke in a rigid manner—those who knew understood he was confessing, but those who didn’t thought he was interrogating a criminal.

Wang Qiankun’s imitation was vivid and lifelike. Bei Yao was also amused.

As for Bei Yao saying she had a boyfriend whose boyfriend was in prison, Qin Dongni had told the roommates, but not one person believed it.

Wang Qiankun said: “Yao Yao, great beauty, when are you going to date someone? Just looking at you makes me feel sweet. Hahaha, in the future your boyfriend will definitely spoil you to the heavens.”

Bei Yao said: “I have a boyfriend.”

Qin Dongni teased: “The one in prison?”

Bei Yao nodded. The roommates burst into laughter. Wang Qiankun said: “Yao Yao, enough already. You’ve been joking about this for so long—time to calm down a bit. We’re already sophomores, next semester we’ll almost be juniors. If you don’t date now, you’ll only be able to date underclassmen. Do you like younger little men? As for me, I have no hope. I think I’m especially manly. But so many people are chasing you and you won’t consider any of them. What are you thinking?”

Why didn’t anyone believe the truth? Bei Yao made her face serious: “I really have a boyfriend.”

She said it again in an emphatic tone. The other three people in the dorm looked at each other. Qin Dongni laughed awkwardly: “Really in prison?”

Bei Yao nodded. There was no shame or embarrassment on her face, as if she were just talking about something normal.

Wang Qiankun covered her face and wailed.

Qin Dongni asked: “How much longer until he gets out?”

Bei Yao answered softly: “Eight years.”

“…” All the girls in the dorm fell silent.

The next day, everyone began educating Bei Yao: “Look, we don’t mean to belittle him, but Yao Yao, eight years—two thousand nine hundred and twenty days—a woman’s best years, you’re using them all to wait for him. That’s prison! Not a vacation! Do you think everyone is like Dr. Yu Xueqin, able to become a medical master after coming out of prison?”

Bei Yao asked: “Who is Dr. Yu Xueqin?”

“You haven’t even heard of the big shot in our field? He must be over fifty this year. He used to be a surgeon with incredibly steady hands. Even in prison, he performed many meritorious deeds and saved many people. Later when he got out, countless wealthy people sought him out for surgery. Now he’s incredibly rich.”

Bei Yao nodded.

Everyone discovered the topic had veered off course. Not everyone was someone like Dr. Yu Xueqin. When people who had been in prison got out, most were unemployed older youth, right? Either they became local thugs and hooligans, or gamblers and scoundrels.

Qin Dongni and the others were truly worried Bei Yao was being deceived.

Even Shan Xiaomai couldn’t help but say: “My mom says people who’ve been in prison are especially fierce. Yao Yao, you should really reconsider.”

Bei Yao just smiled and shook her head: “Thank you all. I know you’re thinking of me. But my boyfriend is very good. I won’t break up.”

Seeing her roommates’ reactions, Bei Yao also understood Pei Chuan’s earlier thoughts. People truly did have prejudices against those who had been in prison. Even though they didn’t know him and didn’t know what kind of mistakes he had made before.

When spring began in April, the weather had completely warmed up.

Bei Yao went shopping with her roommates. While the girls were enthusiastically buying spring clothes, Bei Yao went to the men’s clothing section to look at clothes.

The clothes in the mall weren’t cheap.

Bei Yao hadn’t sold that valuable diamond. Zhao Zhilan and Bei Licai had to support little Bei Jun. Bei Yao’s living expenses came from scholarships, financial aid, plus part-time work.

She was beautiful but rarely bought herself new clothes.

She used almost all her savings to buy clothes for Pei Chuan. She picked out a gray shirt for him and a black thin sweater.

Wang Qiankun and the others watched her buy clothes. After a long while, Qin Dongni said quietly: “Why does Yao Yao need to do this?”

Yes, why indeed.

The second place in the school’s campus beauty selection was the news department’s beauty. She was now happily together with a rich second-generation heir. Not only had the young master sent her various beautiful clothes, last month he had also given her a car.

In terms of beauty, Bei Yao was definitely superior. Even if she casually picked a decent man, she wouldn’t have to work this hard.

Waiting eight years for a man with no future—Wang Qiankun and the others couldn’t say anything for the first time.

When he got out of prison, what could he give Yao Yao? By then Yao Yao would be twenty-six. He most likely would have no house, no car, and no job, with only the past of being a “criminal” on him.

Just thinking about it was a bitter life.

Bei Yao didn’t know what they were thinking. She carefully packed away the clothes. After thinking about it, she found a way to contact Jin Ziyang.

These two years, Young Master Jin had striven to improve himself and was reportedly doing quite well. To this day, they hadn’t given up looking for Pei Chuan. Bei Yao thought of Pei Haobin and frowned slightly. Also, Pei Chuan probably still didn’t know he had a half-brother.

In the end, Bei Yao still didn’t notify Pei Haobin.

On April 10th, Bei Yao still rented a bicycle and headed toward the suburbs.

Not long after leaving the school gate, she was stopped by a car.

The car window rolled down, revealing Chu Xun’s face.

During freshman year, Chu Xun had pursued Bei Yao vigorously. Later, when he was rejected, everyone knew about it. Chu Xun smiled without warmth: “Where are you going? Riding a bike isn’t cool. Let me give you a ride.”

Looking at Bei Yao’s captivating face, Chu Xun ground his teeth in hatred. It was only after seeing her that he wanted the best, but the result was not only that he couldn’t have her—when looking at others, they were all extremely boring.

Bei Yao found him a bit annoying. She frowned and tried to go around him.

It was very difficult for her to see Pei Chuan once. She really didn’t want to waste time here with Chu Xun.

Chu Xun was frustrated inside. He opened the car door and got out, blocking Bei Yao: “Am I not good to you? Huh? You don’t even have a boyfriend. What’s wrong with being with me? What do you want? A house? Or a car?”

Chu Xun’s voice wasn’t small—he practically wanted to announce it to the world. Bei Yao laughed in anger: “I don’t want anything. If you’re so good to me, then go to prison for me.”

Chu Xun was stunned for a moment: “Wh-what?”

Bei Yao pressed her lips together and tried to walk around him. Chu Xun was relentless, trying to pull her to explain clearly. A hand came over and slapped Chu Xun’s hand away.

When Chu Xun saw the man, he cursed directly: “Fuck your mother, which nobody is minding other people’s business?”

The man frowned slightly. He wore a suit, his voice clear and bright: “This student, at your school gate, harassing female students like this isn’t good, is it?”

Chu Xun sneered: “Get lost.” He wanted to make a move, but the man blocked him and flung Chu Xun’s hand away.

The man seemed to smile, handing a business card to Chu Xun: “Young Master Chu, use your brain more.”

Chu Xun looked down. On the business card were two large characters: “Huo Xu.”

“Huo Xu!”

Hearing Chu Xun shout out this name, Bei Yao turned around and happened to see the man’s clear, gentle features. He stood at the school gate, beside tall roadside trees.

Huo Xu met her clear, clean almond eyes and revealed a smile.

The next moment, Bei Yao got on her bicycle and rode away without looking back.

Both men left standing there were somewhat silent.

In this heroic rescue scene, why did the beauty neither acknowledge the bully young master nor the hero?

~

Although Bei Yao didn’t have memories after senior year, she had looked at the characters in that notebook for so many years that she had carefully pondered the meaning of every word.

She was all too familiar with the name “Huo Xu”—someone who had harbored ill will and harmed her.

She pressed her lips together, not bothering to think about what Huo Xu wanted to do.

She had a good memory. As soon as she saw this person, she remembered the young man she had saved at the kindergarten gate when Bei Jun was there at age sixteen.

Seeing him again several years later, to be fair, this person had quite a lot of capital. However, she couldn’t erase the aversion and repulsion she felt upon seeing him.

Bei Yao rode all the way toward the suburbs. Her not-so-good mood was largely dispersed by the spring breeze.

Outside “Seventh Prison,” several cars were already parked there.

When Bei Yao arrived, Zheng Hang was rarely somewhat dazed.

She had grown up. Compared to her former greenness, she had more of a magnificent beauty. Bei Yao was somewhat surprised to see them. She had clearly only notified Jin Ziyang, who had been inquiring everywhere for news these years.

But both Zheng Hang and Ji Wei had come.

Ji Wei was still carrying his backpack, holding his “Five-Year College Entrance Exam, Three-Year Simulation.”

She felt somewhat warm inside, and somewhat grateful that they had never forgotten Pei Chuan. After all, along this journey, Pei Chuan had too few friends. The boy who had been withdrawn since childhood—no one in the neighborhood was willing to play with him.

Several people walked inside together. It happened to be open visitation time.

Zheng Hang looked at the environment here and felt something wasn’t right. He raised an eyebrow. This… this didn’t look like a simple prison.

On ordinary prison “visitation days,” everyone was allowed in together, then met uniformly in a spacious meeting room. But “Seventh Prison” gave each person a separate small room.

However, when going through procedures and explaining the situation, the prison guard frowned: “Pei Chuan… got into a fight last night. Today he’s in solitary confinement.”

All the men’s faces showed complete shock.

Bei Yao was also stunned.

Everyone knew that during imprisonment, one couldn’t use force, otherwise the consequences would be extremely severe. Had Pei Chuan gone crazy?

It happened that senior Cheng Zhenghai also had someone come to visit. Passing by, he saw the young people outside the door and said with a smile: “That Old Chen, be accommodating. Start the confinement tomorrow, okay? Confining that kid for half a month is no problem.”

Cheng Zhenghai used to be extremely prestigious. His family was also wealthy. It was just that later, when his daughter was defiled and humiliated, Old Cheng was furious and used biochemical weapons to kill someone, which landed him in this place. A few years ago, everyone had to respectfully call him Old Cheng.

Later, Pei Chuan was ultimately pushed over.

The young man’s pitch-black pupils were very indifferent, but seeing Jin Ziyang and the others, there was still a moment of astonishment in his eyes. He thought… three years of friends met halfway, they had long since gone their separate ways and would never meet again in this lifetime.

Jin Ziyang was very excited. These two years he had indeed been using all connections to find people. Now he could barely speak clearly: “Brother Chuan, finally I see you.”

This was their first time seeing Pei Chuan in a wheelchair. Reformation wasn’t a vacation—it was bound to be disheveled. Yet the coolness and indifference on Pei Chuan’s face didn’t make them retreat.

Jin Ziyang even touched the wheelchair: “Brother Chuan, this thing is kind of cool.”

“…”

Pei Chuan’s gaze swept over them in a circle, finally landing on the girl innermost. She softly called: “Pei Chuan.”

He softened his features, as if afraid of scaring her, responding in a low voice: “Mm.”