On the C University campus, soft morning sunlight, the lake rippled by the wind, and romantic phoenix trees lined both sides of the path.

The scene shifts to the College of Literature, where a long-haired girl sits on the steps of the teaching building. Wearing a white spaghetti-strap dress with a long-sleeved outer layer, the sunlight falls on her, making her entire being appear gentle and peaceful.

Her tone rises slightly, her voice carrying a relaxed smile: “The College of Literature awaits you.”

“OK, OK, thank you, senior!”

The boy across from her puts away his equipment and bows to Lin Yiran: “The fairy who descended from heaven has worked hard!”

Lin Yiran stands up from the steps and says with a smile: “I’ve seen recruitment videos from other schools showing off various talents, but I don’t have other skills to showcase, so this is all I can do.”

“No need! Senior’s aura is invincible. We’re using minimal effort for maximum effect!” The boy admires the video he just recorded, very satisfied. “Besides, leave those fancy things to other departments. The Athletics Department is already going all out with their videos. Our Literature Department should stick to the unchanging amidst all the changes.”

The boy is from the Student Union’s Publicity Department. When they were freshmen, Lin Yiran had led their military training, so they spoke with familiarity. He had approached Lin Yiran several times, asking her to record a segment to be edited into the recruitment video. At first, Lin Yiran suggested he find an undergraduate student to record it, but the boy insisted there was no suitable candidate, so Lin Yiran finally agreed.

“I’ll send it to you once it’s edited,” the boy said with a grin.

“Alright, I’ll be going then. If the effect isn’t good, just find an undergraduate to record another one,” Lin Yiran said.

“It’s impossible for it not to be good,” the boy bowed dramatically to Lin Yiran again. “I’ll treat you to a meal another day, senior!”

Lin Yiran waved him off: “No need for a meal, I’m busy.”

“It’s so hard to treat you to a meal, sis!”

Lin Yiran had already walked away with her bag. Hearing this, she turned back and said with a smile: “That’s right, I’m tough to get a date with.”

“Yes, yes, yes, that’s how goddesses are!” the boy affirmed.

Today was the weekend. Lin Yiran had initially planned to rest, but she had come out of the dormitory to attend a lecture. The boy who wanted to shoot the video had messaged her in the morning, so Lin Yiran arranged to meet him and finished the shooting first.

The lecture was a book sharing by a professor from another university. This professor was greatly admired by Lin Yiran. She had already bought the book, though it hadn’t arrived yet.

Lin Yiran had always quite enjoyed attending lectures, listening to different scholars express their views from their perspectives, which could inspire a lot of thought.

In the late spring and early summer season, her roommates had all gone out together to play, thinking lectures were boring. Lin Yiran had always been the least playful one in the dorm. Her personality had never been particularly lively and active since childhood, and in university, she seemed overly quiet. Her roommates sometimes complained she was too reserved.

But she wasn’t reserved. She participated in all the activities she should have participated in and joined all the clubs she should have joined. It was just that compared to her peers, she didn’t enjoy the hustle and bustle as much. She preferred reading books and also liked writing.

At that time, among the playful and boisterous freshmen, Lin Yiran stood out with a somewhat different temperament, seeming more mature than her classmates, and always carrying a subtle sense of melancholy. Combined with her outstanding appearance and excellent grades, she had consistently been recognized as the goddess of the College of Literature. From freshman to senior year, and now as a second-year master’s student, when it came to recording a recruitment video, she was the first person that came to mind from the College of Literature.

The lecture was arranged in a medium-sized conference hall. The professor hadn’t arrived yet, but the hall with a capacity of several hundred was almost fully seated. Lin Yiran had planned to find an empty seat at the back, but she heard someone calling her from the front.

“Yiran, here.”

Lin Yiran looked over and saw Fang Tingzhao standing up and waving to her.

Fang Tingzhao was in the same year as Lin Yiran, the son of the deputy dean of the School of Economics. He was pursuing a master’s degree in the same major as Lin Yiran but under a different supervisor. Fang Tingzhao was also considered a prominent figure at the school. During his undergraduate years, he had appeared on a poetry television program where he performed exceptionally well, gaining quite a following at the time, with video clips circulating on the internet for quite a while. However, he hadn’t capitalized on his popularity by opening a Weibo or other social media accounts, perhaps due to a scholar’s inherent sense of pride that made him look down on such things. So now he was rarely mentioned online, but he remained a celebrity on campus.

Lin Yiran went over to greet him: “You’re here too?”

“I happened to be on campus today, so I came to listen.” he moved over to the side, making room for her, indicating Lin Yiran should sit. “There’s a seat here, sit down.”

Undergraduates around them who knew them smiled ambiguously, stirring things up.

This pair was quite a topic in the college. Setting aside their excellence and prominence, Fang Tingzhao had pursued Lin Yiran before, and this was no secret.

At the end-of-semester gathering for students under the same supervisor during his first semester as a master’s student, a senior student jokingly asked Fang Tingzhao if he had any girls he liked, and Fang Tingzhao immediately and frankly admitted his admiration for Lin Yiran.

He hadn’t completed his undergraduate studies at this university. The first time he saw Lin Yiran was in the college building after starting his master’s degree. At that time, Lin Yiran had her hair tied up and was wearing a long dress, smiling as she talked to others. Lin Yiran had been recommended to continue her studies at the same university, so she was familiar with many people. As she was speaking, her gaze swept over Fang Tingzhao, and she politely smiled at him and raised her hand in greeting.

Being in the same major, with increased contact, he became more deeply attracted. Although Fang Tingzhao had never directly confessed to Lin Yiran, people around them were trying to match them up.

“I had someone help save a seat, it’s no trouble,” Lin Yiran smiled and said to him, while also warmly greeting familiar junior students around.

Fang Tingzhao didn’t say more, and Lin Yiran waved to him and went to the back on her own.

Most of the attendees were students from the College of Literature. When her supervisor was not at school, Lin Yiran had substituted for classes, so many undergraduate students knew her.

As she walked to the back row, a girl who had been looking toward the front nudged her companion beside her and waved to Lin Yiran: “Senior, here!”

Lin Yiran met her gaze and smiled.

This girl was the class monitor of a class Lin Yiran had substituted for, now in her junior year. She also wanted to pursue a master’s degree under Lin Yiran’s supervision, so she had asked Lin Yiran many related questions, and they had even added each other on WeChat.

After sitting down, Lin Yiran quietly thanked her.

“No need for thanks, senior.” The young girl sitting beside her seemed somewhat nervous, her gaze involuntarily falling on Lin Yiran’s face.

Lin Yiran wasn’t a beautiful woman in the traditional sense of having thick eyebrows and big eyes. She had a rather delicate appearance, very fair skin, and a few small moles scattered on her face. When she lowered her gaze, her eyelashes would noticeably cast shadows, and when she raised her eyes again, it would create a small ripple in one’s heart.

“Senior, you’re really beautiful,” the girl beside her couldn’t help saying. After speaking, she smiled somewhat embarrassedly.

“You’re pretty too, with such big eyes, looking spirited even without makeup,” Lin Yiran smiled and said. She always spoke very calmly, not too quickly, her whole person sincere and gentle.

The lecture had a good atmosphere. The professor was used to giving lectures, and since this wasn’t an academic lecture, the overall tone was relaxed, with the audience occasionally erupting in laughter at his jokes.

Lin Yiran lowered her head occasionally to note down a few sentences, a faint smile always on her face. The girl beside her would quietly talk to her or ask for guidance, her gaze always landing on Lin Yiran’s face.

No wonder Sister Yiran never falls from her pedestal; who wouldn’t be moved by such a sight? The girl thought to herself.

As the lecture was about to end, Lin Yiran received a message on her phone. She opened it and looked at it for a while, then replied: Good, I know.

After the lecture, Lin Yiran smiled and said goodbye to her junior sisters, deliberately taking some time to pack up before leaving. By the time she left, there weren’t many people left in the conference hall.

Unexpectedly, Fang Tingzhao was still waiting for her at the door.

Lin Yiran was somewhat surprised, and Fang Tingzhao asked her: “Do you have plans for lunch? Want to eat together?”

Lin Yiran waved her phone at him and said: “I’m not eating. I have something to do.”

Fang Tingzhao asked again: “Are you going out?”

Lin Yiran nodded: “Yes.”

“Then let me drive you?” Fang Tingzhao said.

“No need, no need, I’ll just call a car,” Lin Yiran smiled. “You’re a busy person; I won’t trouble you.”

Fang Tingzhao didn’t insist and just walked with Lin Yiran for a short distance. At the intersection, Lin Yiran went back to the dormitory, and Fang Tingzhao went to the parking lot.

In all her years at the school, Lin Yiran seemed to have never had a meal alone with a boy. There were quite a few suitors, but none had ever succeeded in getting a date with her.

People said Lin Yiran was the unattainable flower of the College of Literature. In these years, she hadn’t even been rumored to have an ambiguous relationship with anyone. Though she was friendly and cordial to everyone, she was also quite difficult to get a date with.

However, two hours later—

In a medium-sized two-bedroom apartment, all the curtains were drawn, blocking most of the daylight from outside. Only a strip of light penetrated through the gaps between the curtains.

Lin Yiran was pressed against the door, her neck arched high, beautifully porcelain-white like a swan. There was a small mole about an inch below her right ear. Lin Yiran closed her eyes, the other person’s scorching breath falling on the side of her neck, and the hand gripping her chin was very dirty. Around them was the scent of her perfume and the man’s sweat, mixing, entangled in a mess.

“Qiu Xing—” Lin Yiran frowned and called out to him, saying, “It hurts a bit.”

The person in front of her raised his eyes to look at her, the intent of plunder obvious in his eyes.

Lin Yiran’s white dress was already stained with dirt; the man’s hands were covered in oil stains, and the pristine dress was smudged with filth where he had touched it.

Just like Lin Yiran before him.

The so-called goddess of the College of Literature, the rumored unattainable flower, who maintained such loftiness outside, had, a few years ago, already reached an ambiguous agreement with the man before her.

The curtains in the room remained drawn all afternoon. Lin Yiran’s neat, pristine appearance from the morning when she helped record the recruitment video was gone. Her hair was disheveled, and her dress was so wrinkled it was unsightly. Her light makeup had somewhat smudged, and her eyes were red.

The other person in the room was taking a shower, and the sound of water coming through the door. Lin Yiran was extremely tired and sleepy, but she couldn’t just go to sleep looking so unkempt.

The man came out of the shower wearing only a pair of home shorts, his upper body bare. The previous dirt and sweat had been washed away, and his short hair was still a bit damp, but the black stains on his hands seemed unwashable, leaving faint marks.

Lin Yiran walked in and took out makeup remover and cotton pads from the cabinet behind the mirror, moving with familiarity.

“Are you leaving tomorrow?” Lin Yiran asked.

The man took a can of soda from the refrigerator, opened it, tilted his head back for a sip, and said: “Yes.”

Lin Yiran looked at him, and neither of them spoke further. The curtains were still drawn, and the room maintained a gloomy, stuffy feeling, along with the stickiness of summer and the dampness from the recent shower.

Lin Yiran washed her face clean, tied her hair up, and bunched it into a ball on top of her head. Without makeup, her face, though less strikingly beautiful than usual, had a cleaner, fresher look. With her reddened eyes, she appeared more vulnerable.

“When will you come back next time?” Lin Yiran asked again.

“Don’t want me to come back?” Qiu Xing leaned against the door, replying to messages on his phone, lifting his head to glance at Lin Yiran, his face expressionless.

Lin Yiran didn’t look back at him, only saying: “I didn’t mean that.”

Qiu Xing’s gaze fell back on his phone. “I don’t know.”

Lin Yiran didn’t speak again, closing the door to take a shower.

Qiu Xing was always dirty, always sweaty. He always soiled Lin Yiran’s dresses, rough, not gentle at all, always making her say it hurt.

He had never attended university, having entered society right after high school graduation. Compared to those eloquent, refined men at the university, Qiu Xing was completely unrefined.

Lin Yiran and he seemed like people from two different worlds, who should never have crossed paths.

Lin Yiran came out after her shower, still wearing the dirty dress. She had clothes here, but they were in the bedroom closet, and she had forgotten to bring them earlier.

Qiu Xing still maintained his previous posture, leaning against the wall and sending voice messages to someone. After all these years, Lin Yiran still couldn’t understand his dialect.

Lin Yiran didn’t leave that day, staying overnight.

She had her pajamas in the closet and her toiletries in the bathroom. Qiu Xing went out to buy dinner, and Lin Yiran said she was full after just a few bites. Qiu Xing ate the rest and then spent a long time on the phone. He seemed to have some trouble, frowning throughout the conversation, which made him look fierce.

This reminded Lin Yiran of how he was at the beginning. Lin Yiran thought he was unhappy all the time back then. But at that time, Lin Yiran could only hold onto him tightly, not daring to let go for a moment.

The next day, Qiu Xing got up very early. Lin Yiran had been sleeping deeply due to exhaustion from the previous night, but she still woke up from Qiu Xing’s movements.

She sat up, the blanket sliding off her body. She was wearing one of Qiu Xing’s large t-shirts. The shirt was old, the collar already washed into a wavy shape. In summer, she sometimes just wore one of Qiu Xing’s old shirts to sleep, finding it more comfortable than pajamas once she got used to it.

Qiu Xing came in after washing up to find clothes to wear, casually pulling out a t-shirt from the closet and putting it on.

“I don’t know when I’ll be back, maybe not for two months.”

Qiu Xing took off his home shorts and changed into a pair of outdoor shorts, not avoiding Lin Yiran at all, while still talking to her: “If you don’t want to come here anymore, pack up your things before you leave.”

As he said this, he turned back to look at Lin Yiran. Lin Yiran, who had just woken up and was still a bit drowsy, was now completely awake, her eyes wide open, staring at Qiu Xing.

Qiu Xing turned back, squatting on the ground, looking for socks in the drawer.

Lin Yiran spoke somewhat slowly: “There are still a few months. I’m not in a hurry to pack up.”

“Afraid I’ll come back and look for you?” Qiu Xing said indifferently, “Even if I come back, I won’t ask you to come over anymore. Don’t worry, take all your things.”

Lin Yiran didn’t speak anymore, just watching Qiu Xing.

Before Qiu Xing left, all packed and ready, he came back in to check on her. Seeing Lin Yiran still sitting as before, he said: “I’m leaving. Let me know if anything comes up.”

Lin Yiran looked at his face, pressed her lips together, and said: “We agreed until September. If you come back before September, let me know. I don’t owe you.”

“It doesn’t matter about these few months, forget it.”

After saying this, Qiu Xing was about to leave but paused. He walked over and stood by the bed, placed his hand on Lin Yiran’s head, and not very gently ruffled her hair.

“You don’t owe me. These years count as me taking advantage of you,” Qiu Xing looked down at her. “Once you leave here this time, you’ll have no connection to your past life. Go and live a new life from now on.”

Lin Yiran’s mouth was tightly closed, not speaking.

“Our little boat captain has grown up,” Qiu Xing finally rubbed her hair hard twice, his eyes carrying a smile, unusually soft at this moment.

“I’m off,” Qiu Xing turned and walked out.

With the sound of the door closing, Lin Yiran’s tears fell at the same instant.

She had slept with Qiu Xing for six years.

From when she was nineteen until now at twenty-five, she was on one hand someone else’s unattainable flower, and on the other hand, disheveled and in disarray in Qiu Xing’s bed.

Just now, Qiu Xing had announced the agreement was over. Her six years had completely ended.

Lin Yiran lowered her head, tears falling drop by drop onto her hands.

These were six years she couldn’t bring to light, six years of messiness and confusion. From now on, she would no longer have to lie in someone’s bed, no longer have to live one way in public and another in private.

But these were also the only six years of her adult life, six years with Qiu Xing, the youngest and best six years of her life.