Lu Huaizheng formally began pursuing Yu Hao around the middle of the first semester of sophomore year. It was November, during the Eighteenth High School Arts Week, and the weather was quite cold.

Hu Siqi and her group of girlfriends were rehearsing their Korean dance performance for Arts Week every day in the music classroom. They wore little spaghetti strap tops and short skirts, showing off their fair, well-proportioned long legs. Each one was delicate as tender branches, graceful and charming—at sixteen or seventeen, their dancing was truly captivating.

At that time, a group of boys would lean against the sky bridge outside the music classroom during lunch, chatting idly while watching the girls dance through the windows.

Lu Huaizheng was among them.

However, he wasn’t watching those girls. Most of the time, he was looking in another direction, at a window that was tightly closed with curtains drawn shut, but from which melodious piano sounds always emerged—completely different from the upbeat songs and dances on the other side.

The piano notes were soft and mellow, sometimes flowing like mountain streams, like rushing rivers, gently flowing into one’s heart. More often, they were deep and reserved, yet clear and bright as they lingered in the ear, stirring one’s emotions and making the blood boil.

Later, when the two of them were smoking on the rooftop, Lu Huaizheng glanced at her sideways and casually remarked, “You must have gotten beaten a lot as a child, right?”

Yu Hao was caught off guard and froze. “What do you mean?”

“For piano.”

Yu Hao rarely smiled, but she did then, her hand resting on the railing. “It was fine. I quite enjoyed it. When I was little, I wasn’t interested in doing anything else, so I just practiced piano.”

He turned around, cigarette between his lips. “Besides practicing piano, you had no other hobbies? Like the Nintendo, didn’t you play that?”

“What’s Nintendo?”

“…” After a moment of silence, he changed his posture, looking down at her as if she were some strange creature, and asked again: “What about cartoons? You didn’t watch those either?”

She looked completely bewildered. “What cartoons?”

“Saint Seiya, Flying Steel, Slam Dunk, or at the very least Tom and Jerry—surely you’ve watched that?”

Yu Hao shook her head at each one.

“Damn, you had no childhood.” He stubbed out his cigarette.

Yu Hao looked at him with bright, clear eyes. “Did you like all those things when you were little?”

He leaned casually against the railing. “Of course I did. All boys do. I loved playing games, Nintendo, Super Mario, Tetris…” As he spoke, he suddenly bent down, moving closer to her, staring directly into her eyes. The young man’s eyes were filled with curiosity. “Your parents were too harsh on you. Such a childhood-less upbringing, no wonder you’re not cute.”

Yu Hao glared at him. “Are the girls like Hu Siqi in your class what you call cute?”

The young man laughed at her, revealing bright white teeth at the corner of his mouth. “Are you jealous?”

Yu Hao kicked him, knocking him over.

The young man laughed again, more radiant than the sunshine behind him, and shamelessly said, “Yu Hao, do you like me?”

“No.”

“If you don’t like me, why did you walk away the other day when you saw me talking to Hu Siqi? You wouldn’t even respond when I called out to you.”

“I remembered I’d forgotten to bring my homework, so I went back to get it. Besides, just because you call me, I have to listen?” The young girl rolled her eyes dramatically.

The young man scoffed, “Come on, don’t act like you’re something you’re not.”

“…”

Yu Hao didn’t respond, and Lu Huaizheng felt awkward. “Fine, forget it if you don’t like me.”

After that day, they didn’t see each other for a long time. Lu Huaizheng was busy with basketball team preparations, while Yu Hao was occupied with Arts Week performance matters.

On the day of the Arts Week performance, Lu Huaizheng had a match at another school and didn’t make it back in time.

By the time he returned, the performances had already ended. Jia Mian said to him, “You finally made it back.”

He handed the ball to another team member and went to the entrance to smoke a cigarette. Jia Mian began reporting the evening’s events in his ear.

“Hu Siqi’s ex-boyfriend, do you remember him? The one from our middle school, that small tyrant from Zhaohui. He’s the one who forced himself on Hu Siqi…”

Lu Huaizheng squinted, thinking carefully. Yes, there was such a matter. Hu Siqi had posted about it on the school forum, and it became known throughout the school. The administration couldn’t withstand the pressure and called in the small tyrant’s parents, offering Hu Siqi compensation for mental distress. Hu Siqi refused to accept it, insisting that the small tyrant go to jail.

Despite how playful Hu Siqi was, she had a fierce temperament. If someone tried to force her to do something she didn’t want to do, she could turn the world upside down. She never cared about saving face.

“What about it? Who’s he targeting now?” Lu Huaizheng asked leisurely as he leaned against the wall smoking.

Jia Mian lowered his voice, “Yu Hao.”

Lu Huaizheng froze, cigarette at his lips, looking sideways. “Who did you say?”

“Yu Hao,” Jia Mian repeated.

Lu Huaizheng lowered his head and smiled. “Let him try to touch even a strand of Yu Hao’s hair.”

He extinguished his cigarette and straightened up. “He’s just looking for something new. He knows about my relationship with Yu Hao.”

The reassuring thing about Yu Hao was that she was generally indifferent to boys. You needed enough patience to get close to her, and the small tyrant didn’t have that patience. After pursuing Yu Hao for two days without a response, he would probably give up.

But surprisingly, the small tyrant turned out to be quite persistent. He pursued Yu Hao for nearly half a year, showing endless creativity. Sometimes Lu Huaizheng could see the small tyrant circling Yu Hao like a fly, even when he was playing basketball on the court.

He lost his patience, tossed the ball aside, and said, “I’m done playing.”

His teammates understood and just shrugged, continuing to play without him.

Lu Huaizheng leaned against the blue frame, watching the pair across the way without blinking.

The small tyrant reached out to brush Yu Hao’s hair. Yu Hao frowned in disgust and was about to get up and leave when someone spoke up.

“Hey, you,” in an extremely lazy tone. “Take your hand away.”

Both of them looked over. The young man was wearing a shirt, leaning against the basketball hoop. Lu Huaizheng saw Yu Hao’s mouth twitch slightly as she turned her head back, and he knew this girl had deliberately led the guy here.

She wanted to provoke him.

He sauntered over and sat down beside the small tyrant, hooked his arm around the other’s neck, and pulled him forcefully into his embrace. Years of basketball training had made his hands quite different from the small tyrant’s. The small tyrant was nearly choked to death, his eyes rolling back as he coughed violently.

Lu Huaizheng whispered something in the small tyrant’s ear, and the small tyrant stood up angrily and ran off.

Yu Hao asked him, “What did you say?”

The young man leaned back comfortably, elbows propped on the ground, looking up at her with a smile. “Just guy talk.”

Yu Hao turned away without answering.

Lu Huaizheng smiled and looked away, watching his teammates on the court with narrowed eyes. “I’ve discovered you’re quite naughty. You knew I was here and led him here. What was that about?”

Yu Hao laid her homework on her knees and began writing. “It was stuffy in the classroom, so I came out to get some sun. What’s wrong with that? Does this basketball court belong to you? Are others not allowed in?”

“Not really,” Lu Huaizheng suddenly moved closer to her and lowered his voice near her ear with a smile. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. I’m willing to be used by you.”

The sun was blazing that day.

Lu Huaizheng thought she wouldn’t speak to him again after hearing those words.

Unexpectedly, Yu Hao continued writing, her pen quickly completing several exercises. After a long pause, she suddenly reached out and ruffled his fluffy hair.

“Good boy.”

“You look really good in a shirt.”

…

Lu Huaizheng received Yu Hao’s text message on Thursday afternoon.

The content was quite formulaic.

“I’m free Saturday evening, but I have a lecture until six o’clock in the afternoon. You might need to wait for me a while. Yu Hao.”

He had just finished combat training and hadn’t changed out of his combat uniform when Li Hongwen called him away for a meeting. After the meeting, he got his phone back from Li Hongwen.

Li Hongwen looked at him suspiciously. “Who would be looking for a loner like you?”

“Need to confirm a message,” Lu Huaizheng said.

“What message?”

Lu Huaizheng spoke with a straight face and unwavering heart: “I bought some funds that should be credited today. Want to check if the money arrived.”

Li Hongwen threw the phone at him. “Nonsense! What funds can you buy with your pitiful salary? Don’t blow your marriage fund!”

Lu Huaizheng didn’t respond, just smiled and looked down at his phone. There was a text message sitting quietly in it, which he opened immediately.

Li Hongwen continued: “Professor Han’s student, do you have any thoughts about her?”

Lu Huaizheng looked at the message, which was indeed in her style. He quickly typed a reply while absently answering Li Hongwen.

“Hmm, she’s pretty.”

Hearing this, Li Hongwen picked up the ashtray from the table, ready to throw it at him.

“Don’t be so flippant! I’m asking you a serious question—do you have any thoughts about her or not!”

Lu Huaizheng finally put the phone back in his pocket, straightened up from his slouched posture, stood at attention with his hands behind his back, and answered seriously and honestly: “Yes!”

“I knew you had something going on,” Li Hongwen smiled. “If Professor Han hadn’t mentioned it that day, I was already planning to ask around for you. Guess how I knew?”

Lu Huaizheng: “I won’t guess.”

It surely wasn’t anything good.

Li Hongwen grabbed a piece of paper, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it at him. “You’ve been with me for so many years—I can tell what filling is in your fart just by the sound. In all these years, I’ve never seen you look at a woman with that kind of gaze! Don’t think you’re hiding it well. Anyone can see you don’t take things seriously with other women, but when you looked at that girl, even an idiot could tell you’re interested in her!”

Lu Huaizheng scratched the bridge of his nose. “Was it that obvious?”

Li Hongwen rested both hands on the desk and looked at him sideways with a snort. “Did you two know each other before?”

“Yes.”

Li Hongwen became interested, poured a pot of tea, and pointed to the chair in front of him. “Come, sit down and tell me about it.”

“There’s nothing to tell. It’s all in the past,” Lu Huaizheng said.

Since he was unwilling to talk about it, Li Hongwen didn’t force him. He waved his hand and said: “You know Li Taiping from the Political Department, right? Director Li has a precious daughter who was studying in the UK until she returned a couple of years ago. Now she works at one of the Big Four law firms as a lawyer. She’s also beautiful. You two probably met as children. I took you to dinner before, and she was there—that tall, slim girl. She quite likes you. Old Li asked the Political Commissar to set you two up, but then you went to Venezuela for training and never had time. Just now, the Political Commissar sent me a message saying Director Li has arranged dinner for Saturday. I figured you had no interest in her anyway—don’t glare at me, I just found out about this too. Since you like Professor Han’s student, take this opportunity to make things clear with Director Li’s daughter. Don’t let her wait with false hope… I’ve already accepted the dinner invitation for Saturday. Think about how to phrase it without making Old Li lose face.”

Lu Huaizheng felt bewildered. He didn’t even know who this person was, yet she was supposedly waiting with hope. What had he done to deserve this? “No, I have plans on Saturday.”

Li Hongwen became displeased. “I can turn down the Political Commissar, but I don’t dare refuse Old Li. Don’t be so obtuse—cancel whatever plans you have.”

Lu Huaizheng said bluntly: “I can’t. I have a date with Yu Hao.”

“What?” Li Hongwen was dumbfounded.

“If I reject her this time, it might be over for good. I won’t attend the dinner on Saturday. Please convey my regrets and say I have something important to attend to.”

Li Hongwen’s face darkened. “Absolutely not! Director Li’s dinner cannot be canceled. If you don’t go to the dinner with me, your leave is canceled, and you won’t be seeing Yu Hao either.”

“Why didn’t you ask if I was available before accepting?” His eyebrows shot up.

“Director Li invites you to dinner, and I need to check your schedule first. Tell me, what’s your rank, and what’s his rank? Does your brain stop working once you’re in love or what?!”

“We’re not even dating yet!” he exclaimed in frustration.

Li Hongwen tried to reason with him: “Just tell Yu Hao that I changed your leave schedule at the last minute. Apologize to her and make it up to her next time. Besides, let me tell you, if word gets out that you skipped Old Li’s invitation to meet that girl on Saturday, and if Li’s daughter finds out, you’d be causing trouble for Yu Hao!”

Lu Huaizheng placed both hands on his waist, lowered his head, and exhaled heavily. After a while, he raised his head, pursed his lips, turned his face aside, licked the corner of his mouth, and nodded. “Fine, just this once.”

…

Yu Hao received two text messages as she was getting off work.

The first one: “Okay.”

The second one was sent ten minutes ago: “Sorry, leave canceled for Saturday.”

Yu Hao sat in her car, the evening glow gathered at the horizon, reflecting on her flushed face.

“It’s fine,” she texted back.

In this floating world of dust, where humans and ghosts walk together, why be so persistent?

She thought.