Seeing how Xue Lu seemed to be thinking of something, her face alternating between red and white, Sang Ru became more certain that she had witnessed her fooling around with Zhou Tingzhao.

She wasn’t really trying to force her to say it out loud. The girl looked like she was about to cry, so Sang Ru said: “You saw, and then what?”

This time, Xue Lu answered quickly: “You two… you’re only in high school! You shouldn’t be doing this!”

Sang Ru laughed: “Oh.”

Xue Lu was suddenly at a loss for words.

Sang Ru added with a straight face: “Got it.”

Xue Lu: …

It was hard to tell if she was being agreeable or just dismissive. All the courage Xue Lu had mustered seemed to hit nothing but cotton.

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell others?”

“I am afraid,” Sang Ru claimed to be scared, but her expression was indifferent. “But will you tell?”

Xue Lu lowered her head slightly, her expression unclear. After a while, she was heard saying softly: “I don’t know.”

She didn’t know if she would come to hate herself because of loving someone, or what feelings would surge when seeing the person she liked being intimate with another girl.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have acted so impulsively, directly confronting her so-called love rival like this.

“You won’t.”

While she hadn’t sorted out her thoughts, the other had already answered. Hearing Sang Ru suddenly speak, Xue Lu raised her head in surprise.

The person opposite her was slightly taller, always looking confident and beautiful. Then she heard Sang Ru continue: “You can’t even bring yourself to say what we did. How do you plan to describe it when telling others?”

Xue Lu: …

Sang Ru saw her embarrassment and felt like laughing, but maintained a serious expression and said: “Besides, you’re not that kind of person. I know.”

There was still a hint of amusement in her eyes, but her tone somehow made one instinctively believe her.

Xue Lu felt a slight tremor in her heart, suddenly beginning to understand a little why Zhou Tingzhao treated her differently.

Feeling another sneeze coming, Sang Ru had just opened her mouth when she saw Xue Lu hurriedly offering another tissue. She covered her mouth and sneezed while simultaneously hearing Xue Lu ask: “Then, what kind of relationship are you two in now?”

Sang Ru raised an eyebrow: “What do you think?”

“Are you two… dating as teenagers?” she asked after a long silence.

Sang Ru thought about it, realizing they hadn’t established any official title, so she said: “I suppose so.”

“Ah… what do you mean by ‘suppose’?”

“It means,” Sang Ru paused, then continued, “whether we are or not, you have no chance.”

With the latter aversion she felt toward the adult Xue Lu, her tone toward the current Xue Lu wasn’t particularly kind. She liked Zhou Tingzhao—Sang Ru knew this now. Though she knew it was nothing more than a normal teenage crush, she still couldn’t help wanting to discourage her.

Whether Zhou Tingzhao later had something with her, whether he had responded to her feelings—these questions remained mysteries in her heart.

It was hard not to mind.

Having dismissed her love rival with a few words, Xue Lu’s departing figure looked somewhat pitiful. Sang Ru suddenly felt like a villainous supporting character from a TV drama, and sighed. Just as she was about to leave, footsteps and a few light laughs came from behind her.

Sang Ru turned to look—who else could it be but the protagonist who had been absent from the conversation just now?

Having maintained a strong presence a moment ago, her face suddenly heated up. Sang Ru licked her lips, her tone a bit unnatural: “Did you hear everything?”

The corners of Zhou Tingzhao’s mouth remained raised: “Mm.”

“What are you smiling about?”

Zhou Tingzhao came closer: “Because I’m happy.”

“Happy watching the show?”

“No,” Zhou Tingzhao said, “Because no one else has a chance now.”

What is this…

His gaze felt somewhat scorching. Sang Ru somehow couldn’t continue the conversation, as if she had fallen into a disadvantageous position for once. She changed the subject, looking past Zhou Tingzhao’s shoulder to behind him: “Were you behind that tree just now?”

The other ginkgo tree, though not a century old, was still wide enough to require two or three people to encircle it. If he had been there, it would have been a visual blind spot.

“Mm.” Zhou Tingzhao responded.

“When did you come?”

“I was already here when you arrived.”

Sang Ru was startled: “Then you stayed quiet for so long!”

Zhou Tingzhao raised his hand to rub her head, saying, “I didn’t want to disturb you.”

Originally leaning quietly against the tree trunk by himself, she had suddenly appeared. Zhou Tingzhao hadn’t spoken up and wasn’t discovered. He had just idly listened to her laughing and playing with her friend, heard their nonsensical conversations, and inadvertently overheard her dealing with someone.

Every moment made him unwilling to interfere. Just watching her, listening to her, seemed to have already become instinct.

The feeling he got when she was talking with Xue Lu was especially familiar. In their days of meeting, the stubborn little princess would never verbally admit defeat. She would challenge him with a calm and gentle tone, and he would either steadily respond or be left speechless by her—this was almost the most familiar mode of communication between them.

For a moment, he seemed to see the adult version of her.

Moreover, there was that earlier conversation:

—Where would you like to time travel to?

—Right now.

If it wasn’t just from a desire to live in the present, his hypothesis would be further verified.