Not receiving a response for a long time.

Shi Sui felt the palm around her waist tighten.

As if being petulant, Yan Tingli bit her earlobe.

Emphasizing: “I said I can change.”

Shi Sui quickly rubbed her eyes against the pillow, wiping away the tears.

With slightly red-rimmed eyes, she turned back to glare at him: “You simply won’t.”

Just waiting this little while.

He couldn’t help but bite her again. How was this like someone who could change?

He was just a bad person.

A bad person with a terrible track record.

Yan Tingli’s eyelids drooped, his whole being shrouded in a gloomy, silent emotion.

He had always been arrogant, terrible, and unrestrained.

As if there was nothing in the world he couldn’t accomplish or obtain.

This was the first time Shi Sui had seen such an expression on his face.

“I don’t want to be like this.” He suddenly said.

“But I can’t feel it.” He paused again.

Shi Sui looked at him.

Being stared at so motionlessly by her, Yan Tingli pressed his lips together, pushing her head down so she couldn’t look.

When he spoke, his voice trembled slightly: “I can’t feel you love me.”

Shi Sui was suddenly stunned.

“Make it a little more obvious.”

His Adam’s apple moved slowly, each word like sliding over sandpaper, rough and slow, “I might be very easy to coax.”

Another long silence.

She didn’t speak for several seconds.

Yan Tingli got angry, burying his head without a word, about to bite her ear again.

But this time he paused, didn’t bite down.

Letting out a slow breath from his chest, he got up from the bed.

Shi Sui’s nose stung: “Where are you going?”

“To calm down.” He said coldly, “Otherwise I’ll have an episode.”

In the past, when he didn’t get responses, Yan Tingli would force her, bully her.

Over and over again.

Twisted beyond measure.

Shi Sui said with a hoarse voice: “How else can I be more obvious?”

“If I didn’t like you,” she said sadly, “would I stay by your side for so long?”

Yan Tingli kept his head down.

But he wasn’t appeased, instead slowly raising his lashes to look at her: “Then when you said you wanted to break up, you didn’t like me anymore.”

“Right?”

People with severe paranoia are always too stubbornly searching for moments of not being loved.

Shi Sui’s nose stung wave after wave.

She suddenly thought of a phrase.

No one gets sick for no reason.

She had never given him any concrete sense of security either.

Shi Sui finally slowly moved forward on her knees, extending her arms to embrace Yan Tingli from behind.

Saying softly, “As long as you change.”

“I’ll always like you.”

Shi Sui closed her eyes, her breathing trembling.

——Use these last few months to seriously like Yan Tingli.

The next moment.

Shi Sui’s fingers were gripped tightly.

Yan Tingli’s body temperature was always cool, but at this moment, it was burning hot, enough to warm her hands.

He turned around without a word, burying his head in her neck.

His emotions surging, his chest also rising and falling.

Shi Sui’s fingers touched his soft hair.

But she didn’t dodge like before.

Instead, she slowly lowered her head, pressing her face against his.

Gently nuzzling.

This weekend, they watched cartoons in the hotel for a long time.

After finishing the domestic ones, they watched European, American, and Japanese ones.

Yan Tingli had very low standards for cartoons.

So low that Shi Sui didn’t know how he could watch “Peppa Pig.”

When selecting the language, Shi Sui’s fingertip paused, but she still chose the English original version.

This drew a glance from Yan Tingli.

His look—Shi Sui didn’t need translation to know it was mocking.

Yes.

Shi Sui’s English wasn’t very good.

Other art students worried about science subjects; she worried about English. Fortunately, during the college entrance exam year, she had explosive luck, encountering the simplest English paper in ten years, and even luckily scored over 130.

In her freshman year, relying on her high school foundation, she barely passed Level 4, then took Level 6 twice.

The first time she scored over 300.

The second time, she only barely passed the line after Yan Tingli tutored her for over a month.

After the exam, Shi Sui threw away all test prep materials, declaring in the dorm that she was cutting ties with foreign languages forever, making her roommates burst into laughter.

As the cartoon’s music began.

Shi Sui’s face showed a faint pallor.

That feeling of confusion and fear about the future swept over her again.

Going to California alone.

She wasn’t even good at English.

How would she live?

“I want to learn English.” Shi Sui tugged at Yan Tingli’s sleeve.

She heard Yan Tingli ask her: “Why do you suddenly want to learn? You don’t like it.”

Shi Sui buried her head in his chest: “I want to work for a foreign company.”

She was getting better and better at lying, she thought.

So skilled that even Yan Tingli had no suspicions.

Or perhaps.

Shi Sui glanced at Yan Tingli.

The corners of his lips curved slightly, his eyes also made warm and gentle by the cartoon’s warm lighting.

His finger bones cupped her face, stroking: “I’ll teach you.”

——Love blinds the sense of smell.

Even for someone like Yan Tingli.

She lowered her eyes, hiding the sourness in her heart, nodding lightly: “Mm.”

In terms of learning, Yan Tingli was always the best teacher, whether in execution or instruction.

When Shi Sui said she wanted to learn English, he began teaching.

He never made her memorize by rote, but found many English original films and stage plays to watch together.

When they encountered allusions and slang, he would explain them to her.

In daily life, he would also communicate with her in simple English.

When Shi Sui discovered she could understand most of the dialogue in simple American TV shows, spring had passed, and summer had come.

In mid-May, there was already faint cicada singing in the school trees.

The warm light of the desk lamp illuminated Shi Sui’s profile.

Her finger paused on the final confirmation button on the computer screen.

Last month’s competition results came out. Shi Sui won gold in the animation competition, with scores only slightly below Su Han’s. Both gold awards were swept by their school.

It was also this highly valuable award that allowed her to win in the evaluation and get one of the two free exchange spots.

Xue Jing and Lin Anran sadly leaned against her back.

Xue Jing held her hand: “Are you going abroad? Britain is so far away, and you’re going alone.”

“Right,” Lin Anran sniffled, “and you applied for joint cultivation, you don’t even need to come back. Are you planning to graduate there?”

The two became sadder as they talked, even wiping away tears.

Seeing she didn’t respond, Xue Jing asked again: “Suisui, you’re not planning to stay abroad and not come back, are you?”

Shi Sui immediately said: “Of course not.” She looked up and held their hands: “I’ll definitely come back.”

“Then why do you want to go abroad?” Xue Jing said, “I thought you were going to America, since initially all your pre-applications were for America.”

Lin Anran: “Right, right, and Britain is always raining.”

Looking at her roommates’ concerned expressions, Shi Sui felt an indescribable guilt and reluctance in her heart.

Gripping their hands tighter, she stood up and silently embraced both of them: “I want to see the outside world.”

“My dad has already found people to help you make contacts,” the next day at lunch, Su Han sat beside her, whispering in her ear, “What’s recorded in the system will be information about you going to Britain.”

Shi Sui nodded, gently holding Su Han’s hand, saying earnestly: “Thank you.”

“This is all small stuff,” Su Han rested her chin on her hand, leaning closer, sighing: “It’s just that before my dad helped, he kept asking me why I was helping a friend do this kind of thing. He wouldn’t help unless I told him.”

Shi Sui’s eyelashes flickered. Toward Su Han and Professor Su, she had always harbored unspoken guilt, asking softly: “Then what did you tell Professor Su?”

Su Han stuck out her tongue: “When my dad asked, I could only tell the truth.”

Seeing Shi Sui lower her eyes guiltily, Su Han patted her shoulder, giggling: “Don’t be sorry! Guess what? After I told my dad everything, not only wasn’t he angry, he practically wanted to give you a plane ticket and send you away immediately.”

Shi Sui: “…Huh?”

“My dad has mixed feelings about Yan Tingli—loves and hates him. He’s too smart, with high talent. He grasps everything immediately, and my dad especially appreciates him.” Su Han said quietly, “But Yan Tingli is very disobedient and doesn’t submit to authority.”

“My dad has been grinding him down for a month, classes during the day, and finding him all sorts of menial tasks in the lab at night.”

“But it’s useless,” Su Han clicked her tongue, “he does what he wants, leaves when he’s done, doesn’t even admit mistakes, making my dad so angry.”

“When they talked, he even asked back why he should admit mistakes when he wasn’t wrong.”

“My dad told him to get lost, that he wouldn’t cooperate with his family anymore.”

“Guess what he did?”

Shi Sui slowly shook her head.

Su Han rolled her eyes: “He bowed to my dad, thanking him for not choosing him. He even recommended other competitor companies, promising to bankrupt his family within ten years.”

Shi Sui: “…”

“My dad’s blood pressure shot up. Now hearing that you could cure that demon king and make Yan Tingli suffer heartbreak, he was delighted and immediately contacted his friends in Silicon Valley. They have the most advanced technology and can let you disappear into the crowd, where that brat Yan Tingli can never find you again.”

Never find her again.

That evening, when meeting Yan Tingli, Shi Sui looked at him, these words still circling in her mind.

This past month, she hadn’t gone to the apartment with him again.

They kept meeting at hotels, and Yan Tingli simply rented a suite.

The TV was playing a movie Shi Sui liked, “Jane Eyre.”

She deliberately didn’t look at the Chinese subtitles, trying to understand all the English dialogue.

Until Yan Tingli came out after showering, embracing her from behind, taking a light breath: “I’ve already fixed Little Snail.”

“Without my command, no one can enter again.”

Shi Sui didn’t speak.

Even now, she was unwilling to recall that day.

When Song Jie suddenly visited, she was at a complete loss, like a mouse that couldn’t see light, hiding in the corner.

Song Jie’s phrase “can’t be brought to the table” still often echoed in Shi Sui’s mind.

It also made her feel—

She really was.

Quite unable to be brought to the table.

If it were Su Han or Zhou Xuyan, any of them.

They would only have generously gone out to greet the person.

Shi Sui was silent for a moment: “I prefer hotels.”

School would start in September, these last few months.

She didn’t want to go back anymore.

Yan Tingli held her hand, tightening his grip.

Shi Sui could feel that he had been restraining his temper recently—when she disagreed with him.

But.

He would use other methods to achieve his goals, just not so directly, more circuitously.

Like now.

Yan Tingli held her hand and wouldn’t let go, saying: “I want to go home with you.”

Shi Sui couldn’t firmly refuse such a version of him, feeling irritated.

She turned around, facing away from him.

Using silence instead of refusal.

Yan Tingli leaned down to kiss her.

His hair brushed against her neck, his caressing movements also gentle.

When he wanted to make her comfortable, it came naturally to him.

His finger joints were long and distinct, his tongue especially flexible.

Easily lifting her to the clouds, Shi Sui gripped his hair tightly.

Tears welled in her eyes.

Her blurred vision swept across the movie screen.

It was Thornfield Hall, Rochester’s estate, where Jane Eyre worked as a governess.

Blue sky and green fields, very beautiful.

Her heart suddenly stirred.

“Didn’t you say last time that if I went to the countryside, you’d get a small courtyard and grow vegetables and cook for me?”

Yan Tingli paused slightly, looking up at her, his eyelashes raven-black and slender, reminding Shi Sui of her grandmother’s puppy when she was very young: “…Mm.”

When Yan Tingli no longer radiated cold dominance, his refined and handsome appearance could easily charm and captivate people.

Shi Sui’s fingertip lightly stroked the corner of his eye.

“This summer vacation, let’s go to a southern town and find a villa for vacation.”

In previous winter and summer vacations.

Shi Sui always tried every way to fly back to Hangzhou early, but was always cut short by Yan Tingli.

He used every method to make her find excuses to delay with her parents, and even the longest holidays often only allowed her to return for one to two weeks.

She had never voluntarily given any of her time to him.

This was the first time Shi Sui saw such prolonged stunned silence on Yan Tingli’s face.

He answered with actions, placing kisses on her knees.

Devout and gentle.

“Today, I want to go without protection,” Yan Tingli nibbled at her ear.

Using the gentlest voice to slowly express his not-so-clean desires, “Is that okay?”

Shi Sui stiffened: “…Why?”

“I just want to.” He said.

Shi Sui’s gaze fixed on his features, trying hard to appear innocent.

But that terrible, invasive desire to completely stain and devour her could no longer be hidden.

He pressed her hand to his chest.

There was a rapidly beating heart, burning and powerful, making Shi Sui’s fingertips also hot and curled.

“I’m very happy right now,” Yan Tingli paused, seeming not to know what words to use to describe it.

He furrowed his brow, pressing her hand harder, “It’s very full here.”

“Makes me want to fill you up too.”

Shi Sui yanked her hand back, looking away in annoyance.

Previously, his dirty talk in bed was deliberate, used as punishment to see her confusion and shame.

Now it was a genuine expression of feelings.

But his vocabulary was impoverished.

Yan Tingli didn’t know how to describe emotions—Shi Sui concluded.

He didn’t understand love, nor had he been loved.

Shi Sui’s heart ached endlessly.

After a long silence, she finally closed her eyes and gently embraced him.

Without speaking.

But her body language already consented.

“Suisui.”

At the moment of joining with her, his voice trembled as he called her name.

Shi Sui’s eyelashes fluttered lightly, looking at him in the dim light.

But he didn’t continue, his dark pupils very bright.

“I felt it.” Yan Tingli said.

Felt what?

“Your love.”

His voice was light as a feather, “A little more obvious than before.”

Just this little bit was already obvious?

The sourness intensified, almost making Shi Sui’s eyes red.

Fortunately, it couldn’t be seen in the darkness.

“Actually.”

Yan Tingli was quiet for a long time.

His lips parted, hesitating and hesitating again.

“I also…”

Shi Sui cupped his face and kissed him.

Blocking his following words.

He couldn’t say more.

She felt the high walls in her heart collapsing, using all her rationality to control herself.

She really.

Couldn’t soften her heart anymore.

In July, Beijing entered midsummer.

After finishing her last exam, Shi Sui packed all her luggage and sent it back to Hangzhou.

Seeing her empty the dorm room.

Xue Jing and the others’ eyes reddened.

Xue Jing rubbed her face: “After going back this time, when will we see each other again?”

“When you go to Britain, call us on video often.” Lin Anran hugged her.

Shi Sui closed her eyes, hugging them back, her lips opening and closing, but still didn’t respond.

“We’ll see each other again.” She said softly.

The day after the exams, Shi Sui and Yan Tingli boarded a plane to the south.

Their destination was in her grandmother’s town.

Her father, Shi Yue, was born in a small town in southern Anhui and was the only college student from that town to be admitted to a prestigious university in Beijing.

But both grandparents had passed away, and after their deaths, the ancestral home had been vacant.

Her father was nostalgic and would still find people to clean and maintain it periodically.

So while the ancestral home was old, it was clean.

Shi Sui hadn’t been there for a long time, not since elementary school, before her grandparents passed away.

Before vacation, she told her parents she wanted to bring a classmate to the town to escape the summer heat, so they sent her the keys.

They were busy with work and trusted her.

Naturally, they didn’t know this “classmate” was the ethereal young master from the Yan family.

The courtyard gate was made of bamboo.

Pushing it made creaking sounds.

The house was still an old-style bungalow, low and squat, with white walls and black tiles.

All the way, they took planes, high-speed trains, buses, and because Yan Tingli really couldn’t accept the seats on old-style buses, he changed course and silently dragged her to take an expensive taxi.

Then, seeing this house that looked like it could collapse any moment.

Yan Tingli seemed to suddenly lose strength, falling into long silence.

Shi Sui pushed open the door, motioning to him: “Why aren’t you coming in?”

“This is what you called,” he squinted, forcing out four words, “vacation villa?”

Shi Sui glanced at the house: “Yes, and it’s a standalone.”

Yan Tingli didn’t move, smirking: “Stop painting and go into pyramid schemes.”

Shi Sui blinked innocently, spreading her hands: “Well, since we’re here, if you don’t want to stay, go back by yourself.”

Seeing her turn and go in, leaving him alone.

Yan Tingli’s fingers on the suitcase tightened and loosened, finally coldly spitting out one word: “Stay.”

The small town was surrounded by a small stream.

Every morning, it gathered women washing clothes and chatting, also serving as the town’s gossip hub.

“Did you see? The Shi family girl came back and brought a boyfriend. Oh my, handsome beyond belief.”

“Oh my, how handsome!”

“Here they come, right over there—”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to Yan Tingli on the shore.

The young man in simple t-shirt and long pants, holding a bucket of clothes, frowning as he looked toward them.

Beside him, Shi Sui pointed to the riverside: “Look, this is where we wash clothes.”

“…”

“What are they saying?”

Yan Tingli’s face didn’t look good. He felt the various glances examining him.

They were all speaking in dialect.

Shi Sui couldn’t speak it but understood. She smiled: “They’re praising your looks.”

Yan Tingli’s expression softened somewhat.

He turned to walk back.

“You’re not washing anymore?” Shi Sui followed.

Yan Tingli said coldly, “I’m going to buy a washing machine.”

Shi Sui covered her face, holding back laughter.

Fine, a washing machine it was.

She really couldn’t imagine Yan Tingli squatting by the river washing her clothes.

Within three days of Yan Tingli moving in, he had equipped the old house with air conditioning, a washing machine, and a refrigerator.

He also had obsessive cleanliness and endless energy.

Shi Sui said people usually came to clean, but he didn’t believe it and still cleaned inside and out thoroughly.

Before the air conditioning arrived, he was so hot his pale face turned red, his brain seeming to hallucinate: “Little Snail, air conditioning to 20 degrees.”

Shi Sui, beside him, mimicked Little Snail’s mechanical voice, sarcastically taking revenge: “Incorrect command.”

Yan Tingli: “…”

On the fifth day, the air conditioning was finally slowly installed by the technician.

Yan Tingli finally briefly came back to life.

That night, he had the energy to pin her down for “revenge.”

Probably having done too much evil, heaven was also collecting debts. The day after revenge, Yan Tingli had a fever.

Because the air conditioning was too low, and with the repeated high and low temperatures, he caught cold.

Shi Sui went to the clinic to buy him medicine.

Coming back to see Yan Tingli, who had been tossing around for a week and was now listless.

She finally felt somewhat guilty.

Everything here was too far from Yan Tingli’s childhood living environment, magical to the point of seeming not in the same world at all.

Shi Sui reached out to poke him: “This place isn’t very suitable for you. Should we go back?”

Yan Tingli closed his eyes.

Holding her hand.

His body temperature was very hot.

Because of the fever, his lips were also somewhat cracked.

“I don’t want to go back.”

Shi Sui was slightly stunned: “Why?”

“I feel happy.”

Yan Tingli opened his eyes, with a kind of stubborn persistence inside, his hand pulling hers, slowly tightening, pressing it to his chest.

“It’s full here, too.”