It wasn’t much, really—just a simple exchange of “I like you” from each of them, yet it felt as if it could make one fall in love.

The words of affection once conveyed through a third person still echoed in her ears. Sang Ru said, “Someone told me before that you wrote a love letter to me. I didn’t believe it at first.”

Zhou Tingzhao’s brows furrowed almost imperceptibly. In this timeline, the letter had just been written, and he had never mentioned it to anyone else. How could someone have discovered it?

“When was this?”

Sang Ru fell silent, recalling that class reunion, remembering Li Chenfei mysteriously sharing gossip about him with her, and then naturally thinking of the person she had glimpsed through the bright lights and wine. His face overlapped with the person in front of her, and Sang Ru felt somewhat dazed.

She tugged lightly at the corner of her mouth: “It seems like it was a long time ago.”

Her gaze was quiet and distant, as if she were looking through him at someone else.

That hypothesis still needed verification, Zhou Tingzhao thought.

Their afternoon physical education class was unexpectedly returned to them. Even the least athletic students in the class ran to the field as if celebrating.

The PE teacher was understanding about everyone having few opportunities to relax these days, so after making them run two laps, he let them engage in free activities.

Sang Ru and Li Chenfei went to the equipment room to get a volleyball. When they returned, they didn’t see Zhou Tingzhao anywhere. Without dwelling on it, seeing that there were other classes on the field as well, the two of them simply went to the small activity area behind the teaching building, where there were fewer people and it was quieter.

After starting work, opportunities for such outdoor activities became less frequent. The long-lost exhilaration was fully realized in the back-and-forth of hitting the ball.

After playing for quite a while, Sang Ru suddenly hit the ball too hard and in the wrong direction. The ball flew diagonally into the rear garden beside the field.

She reacted immediately, ducking into the low shrubs to retrieve the ball. She watched as it rolled to the foot of the ginkgo tree, where its path was blocked. She jogged over, picked up the ball and held it in her arms, but her gaze remained fixed on the strong trunk, unable to look away.

The rugged texture revealed its age. This century-old tree has grown across centuries. She looked up to see the abundant branches and leaves arriving on schedule in spring. Sang Ru became somewhat entranced, not even noticing when Li Chenfei followed her over.

“What’s wrong?” Li Chenfei patted her shoulder.

Sang Ru came back to herself: “Nothing.”

That night, it was this tree that had been the audience for her and Zhou Tingzhao.

She raised her hand to tidy the stray hairs disheveled by the wind, and smiled, saying: “I just remembered some things about this tree.”

“Do you know any legends about it, too?” Li Chenfei became excited. “A hundred-year-old ginkgo! It must have witnessed many things. I wonder what it was like when it was first planted?”

Sang Ru pondered briefly before slowly saying, “I heard that back when uprisings were frequent, our school was originally the site of a private academy. Once, before participating in a student march, a teacher brought students to plant it as a wish for their petition to succeed.”

“What happened after that?”

Sang Ru gently pushed away her friend’s head as it leaned in, saying, “Afterward, I suppose they failed. The marching students were captured, and no one knows what became of that teacher.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Sang Ru saw her listening with great interest and held back a smile as she said, “It’s a story told by old folks. Who knows if it’s true? I’m just telling it, and you’re just listening.”

Li Chenfei sighed with frustration: “If only time travel were possible. I’d like to go see.”

Sang Ru paused: “Time travel…”

“Yes,” Li Chenfei caught the volleyball and bounced it in place as she asked, “What about you? If you could time travel, when would you want to go?”

Sang Ru raised her hand to stroke the rough trunk, and after a while, softly said: “Right now.”

“You didn’t understand the question this time! Why would you need to time travel to now? You’re already here!”

Sang Ru remained silent for a long time, then suddenly smiled, her “Mm” quietly dispersing in the wind.

“Sang Ru.”

Someone called her from behind. Sang Ru turned around to find that it was Xue Lu.

“Do you need something?”

Xue Lu had a universally acknowledged good temperament. Her appearance wasn’t as striking as Sang Ru’s but was still prettily refined. She smiled gently at Li Chenfei and said: “I’d like to speak with Sang Ru privately. Would you mind if I borrow her?”

Li Chenfei looked at Sang Ru, who nodded and gave her a reassuring look, so she said: “Sure, I was just about to go to the store to buy some water anyway.”

The leaves overhead made a slight rustling sound. The cool early spring breeze passed through, and Sang Ru sneezed again.

Seeing this, Xue Lu took out a pack of tissues from her pocket and handed it to her. Sang Ru didn’t refuse, accepting them with a word of thanks.

After wiping her nose, Xue Lu still hadn’t spoken. Her seemingly gentle gaze somehow felt several degrees colder than the wind. Sang Ru said: “What is it?”

Xue Lu’s lips trembled slightly, several times seeming about to speak but then swallowing her words.

Sang Ru didn’t have the patience and said, “If there’s nothing, I’ll go first.”

“Wait!”

Sang Ru stopped and turned to look at her, only to see that her eyes were red, as if she had been bullied.

“You two… I saw everything.”

Xue Lu didn’t explain clearly, but Sang Ru knew—she knew what she was referring to.

Sure enough, Sang Ru’s brows initially furrowed in confusion. She seemed to think for a few seconds, then raised her eyebrows flippantly and asked with a smile: “Oh? What did you see?”

“You…”

Xue Lu couldn’t say it. Before this, she had never seen such a scene. Even in her fantasies about her crush, it was at most just kissing and hugging.

But today she had seen it. Although no secret flesh was exposed to her eyes, she knew they were doing something that couldn’t be openly discussed.

She didn’t want to recall that scene, but the fragments kept automatically jumping into her mind.

Taking the opportunity to pass by the office door on her way to the restroom, originally just intending to steal a glance at him, she unexpectedly stumbled upon their intimate affair.

Sang Ru was leaning on the desk, her body trembling slightly, while the edge of Zhou Tingzhao’s clothes showed from behind her—an ambiguous posture.

Xue Lu’s heart raced until she saw Zhou Tingzhao straighten up. Half of his face was visible, his lips moist and glistening.

She ran away almost immediately.

Zhou Tingzhao—how could she have thought he was pure and untainted?