The news that Zhou Shiyu gave up guaranteed admission and chose Magic City S University caused an uproar throughout the school.

The principal called him to the office several times, earnestly advising: “Why joke around with your future? Your grades can clearly get you into Qinghua or Beijing University. What good does being rebellious at this time do for you?”

To this, Zhou Shiyu only ever responded coolly: “I have my own reasons.”

During the last stage play performance, he had overheard people from the publicity department chatting backstage about their first choice for college entrance exam applications.

That was when Sheng Sui said she wanted to apply to Magic City S University.

Unlike the strong reactions from school teachers and leaders, Grandfather Zhou was rather indifferent to Zhou Shiyu’s choice: after all, no matter where he graduated from, he would have to return to take over the family business.

Moreover, while Magic City S University might not compare to Qinghua or Beijing University, it consistently ranked in the top five among 985 universities, and its economics and management programs were among the best in the country—hardly a compromise.

With Grandfather Zhou’s tacit approval, Zhou Shiyu faced little obstruction and, as expected, was admitted to Magic City S University with the province’s top score.

On the graduation ceremony day after the college entrance exams, farewell songs rang out in the auditorium. Stern teachers and the usually serious academic director all had red-rimmed eyes like the students, embracing each other tightly.

Even Qiu Si, who had decided early to study abroad and barely attended during senior year, specially came to keep the appointment, not wanting to miss what would be the last meeting for most people.

Zhou Shiyu went alone to the small flower bed by the shade trees opposite the basketball court.

Sheng Sui didn’t appear at school today.

So would they still have a chance to meet again in the future?

Zhou Shiyu didn’t know the answer either—or perhaps, in the overly long wait, he had instinctively resisted accepting the obvious answer.

Things being as they were, he could only trust Sheng Sui, trust that she could get into her desired university and become his schoolmate once again.

With this thought, Zhou Shiyu spent his first year alone peacefully at Magic City S University.

Another college entrance exam season arrived. During this time, Zhou Shiyu used his connections in the student council to easily inquire about Sheng Sui’s grades and rankings in three mock exams, as well as her first choice in several mock applications.

Her grades were excellent and stable in the top twenty of her grade. At least from the report cards, there were no signs of weak subjects. As long as she performed normally during the college entrance exam, getting into Magic City S University was a sure thing.

During those three days of college entrance exams, Zhou Shiyu barely slept. When it was the early morning hours and he lay in the small apartment he’d bought off-campus with no sleep in sight, thinking that he hadn’t been this nervous during his own college entrance exams, he couldn’t help but smile and shake his head.

Waiting time was always particularly long. After suppressing tense emotions for too long, they rebounded. The night he learned that Sheng Sui had been admitted to Magic City S University, Zhou Shiyu again felt that familiar yet more dangerous euphoria.

He wanted to see her.

He couldn’t wait another moment.

Despite noticing his abnormal state, he decided to ignore it. Zhou Shiyu immediately bought a plane ticket back, not even thinking about how to meet her or what to say when they met.

Just like those two years in high school, he waited for Sheng Sui to appear from the end of the row of green trees, watching the girl wearing a light, snow-white dress with her long hair tied high, like an elf descended to earth.

Sheng Sui had come to collect her admission notice.

Zhou Shiyu didn’t follow Sheng Sui into the campus again, patiently waiting outside the school gate, imagining what she would look like with curved smiling eyes when talking to teachers.

After not seeing her for a year, the girl had obviously grown taller and more upright. Without the loose, oversized school uniform, nothing could hide the young woman’s graceful bearing.

Zhou Shiyu wasn’t unaware of his overly excited cerebral cortex, wasn’t oblivious to the danger, but if the bait on the fishing hook was Sheng Sui, willingly taking the bait would be the only outcome.

Half an hour later, Sheng Sui emerged from the teaching building with her admission notice and two or three classmates.

After parting with the others at the school gate, the girl tilted her small face up slightly, taking a deep breath in the sunlight. Even from behind, her bright mood was visible.

Zhou Shiyu followed Sheng Sui as she walked past that long row of thick, flourishing plane trees, stopping and starting due to their different stride lengths.

The girl within his sight was completely unaware of this, only seeing her high ponytail swaying lightly with her movements, like a carefree child.

The plane trees ended at a crossroads. Zhou Shiyu followed Sheng Sui as she turned left, and when he saw the endless long street stretching ahead, his steps suddenly halted abruptly.

Don’t go.

Don’t go any further.

At the end of that road lay irreversible doom.

Without warning, alarm bells rang loudly in his heart. His wildly pounding heart and eyelids both foretold the ominous outcome of this pursuit.

But Zhou Shiyu had never believed in such things.

After a brief moment of hesitation, he continued walking quickly toward Sheng Sui. When the blazing sun overhead baked the surrounding air to distortion, Zhou Shiyu’s eyes contained only the girl’s gently swaying hair ends, getting closer and closer to him.

—Don’t go any further.

—She’s right there in front of you.

—You’ve waited three years, why must it be today, right now?

—But she’s right there. Just one more step forward, just a little closer, and he wouldn’t have to watch only her back forever anymore.

Two voices argued endlessly in his mind, like someone hammering at his head with an iron mallet. Zhou Shiyu’s brows furrowed deeply. The splitting headache brought suffocating feelings that made his soaring emotions from just a second ago plummet like a roller coaster, giving Zhou Shiyu no chance to catch his breath.

Unable to make a sound from his throat, with sluggish and slow thoughts, Zhou Shiyu finally fixed his gaze on the fruit-selling grocery shop beside him, where a whole box of overripe, yellowing bananas was displayed at the front.

When he realized his condition was acting up, Zhou Shiyu vaguely remembered that the doctor who had changed his medication time and again had said that bananas could improve patients’ depressed moods.

It shouldn’t be like this. His “first meeting” that he had waited three years for shouldn’t be like this—

“…Excuse me, do you want to buy that box of strawberries?”

The gentle, sweet female voice fell unexpectedly beside his ear. Zhou Shiyu froze completely, all emotions stopping abruptly due to shock, his hand reaching for bananas suspended in mid-air.

He turned his head stiffly and met Sheng Sui’s inquiring gaze directly—the girl he had thought about day and night was now standing just half a step away from him.

So close that when the stuffy breeze blew, Zhou Shiyu could even smell the very light daisy fragrance on Sheng Sui.

Their eyes met, and Zhou Shiyu clearly saw astonishment in Sheng Sui’s eyes.

Was she afraid?

“……”

Zhou Shiyu was silent for too long, so much so that Sheng Sui carefully averted her gaze, her slender white finger pointing toward the last box of strawberries in the plastic crate across from them, asking softly: “Excuse me, do you still want that box of strawberries?”

After a long while, Zhou Shiyu shook his head. His thoughts were still chaotic under the low-pressure emotions, his voice terribly hoarse: “…No.”

“Thank you.”

Perhaps the perceptive girl noticed something amiss, or perhaps Zhou Shiyu’s behavior of standing motionless in place was too abnormal. After Sheng Sui picked up the strawberries and paid, she turned to leave but then returned.

“…May I ask,” compared to before, the girl moved closer, her round eyes full of undisguised concern,

“You don’t look well. Do you need help?”

“……”

The barbecue restaurant was still bustling with business during noon hours. In the stuffy environment with people coming and going, two fans overhead spun constantly, making harsh creaking sounds from lack of lubrication.

In his peripheral vision, Sheng Sui was carefully observing Zhou Shiyu.

“I saw you standing motionless in front of the fruit stand. You looked like you might have heat stroke.”

The girl accepted the cooling iced mung bean soup the proprietress brought over. When asked if she wanted another bowl, she obviously declined due to financial constraints, smiling with curved brows as she softly thanked her.

“Would you like to try some mung bean soup?” Zhou Shiyu quickly discovered that Sheng Sui had a habit of looking into the other person’s eyes when speaking, her gaze clear and pure. “I heard it’s very effective for cooling down. You should feel better after drinking it.”

The suffocating feeling of his heart being gripped was gradually receding. His vision was still slightly blurred, but Zhou Shiyu stared fixedly at the mung bean soup on the table before him as his stalled brain slowly started working again.

Sheng Sui thought he had heat stroke and felt unwell, so she brought him to this narrow barbecue restaurant to rest.

The icy sweet liquid flowed down his throat. The mung beans were stewed soft and tender. After half a bowl of mung bean soup, the sweet but not cloying taste lingered on his tongue.

“…No way, Aunt Tian. You’ve always taken such good care of me. How can I keep taking advantage of you?”

“It’s just a bowl of mung bean soup. What advantage is that! Consider it Aunt Tian treating you and your boyfriend!”

The hearty, loud female voice couldn’t be ignored. Zhou Shiyu put down the plastic bowl and turned back to see Sheng Sui, who was trying to pay, being teased by the female owner.

The thin-skinned girl blushed from the teasing. Seeing Zhou Shiyu look over, she waved her hands repeatedly: “No, he’s not my boyfriend…”

“Then maybe Aunt misunderstood,” the female owner clearly adored Sheng Sui and refused to take her money no matter what, but couldn’t resist continuing to tease, deliberately leaning close to Sheng Sui’s ear while not lowering her voice,

“Aunt saw that boy staring straight at you from the moment he came in, so I thought he was your boyfriend!”

After speaking, she deliberately nodded toward Zhou Shiyu’s direction.

“Aunt Tian, really, he’s not…”

Sheng Sui’s explanations only made things worse. Instead, Aunt Tian’s loud voice attracted more diners’ attention. The girl finally had no choice but to hurriedly return to her seat.

Zhou Shiyu keenly noticed that when Sheng Sui was shy, even her ear tips would blush with a thin layer of pale pink.

Under Aunt Tian’s well-meaning gossipy gaze, Sheng Sui sat down across from Zhou Shiyu, saying softly: “Sorry about that, I caused you to be misunderstood.”

“It’s fine,” his voice was no longer exaggeratedly hoarse. Zhou Shiyu’s gaze swept over the girl’s smooth, slender white arms, no longer finding any scars, his eyes softening somewhat,

“I don’t mind.”

His answer had ulterior motives, but Sheng Sui was completely unaware, only breathing a sigh of relief: “It’s good that you don’t mind.”

On the table was a menu that could be checked off and a pencil. Zhou Shiyu flexed his stiff fingers under the table, found they still had feeling, reached up to take the menu, and said calmly: “What about you?”

“Do you mind?”

Sheng Sui quickly waved her hands: “I don’t mind either. I just hope it won’t cause you trouble.”

Recalling the dishes that most commonly appeared in the girl’s lunch box during high school, Zhou Shiyu quickly checked off several dishes and pushed the menu toward Sheng Sui: “It won’t. Is there anything you’d like to eat?”

Sheng Sui quickly refused: “No need, no need. I’m not hungry right now. You don’t need to spend money.”

“Alright,” Zhou Shiyu nodded without much persuasion, silently crossing out the few dishes he had just ordered, looking down and saying quietly, “So, did my appearance just now frighten you?”

“…Huh?” After being stunned for several seconds, Sheng Sui finally belatedly realized what he meant and immediately explained, “No, no, you didn’t frighten me, and that’s not why I refused your offer!”

“I just don’t want you to spend money, especially since I didn’t do anything—”

The girl’s soft, anxious speech grew faster and faster, each word clear, like pearls dropping onto a porcelain plate.

Zhou Shiyu’s eyes showed unconscious shallow amusement. He looked up at Sheng Sui nonchalantly. When their eyes met, he saw the girl stare at him in a daze again, suddenly stammering:

“Actually, actually, I reacted unnaturally because I didn’t expect you to appear here.”

Zhou Shiyu leaned forward slightly, silently closing the distance: “So, do you know me?”

“…Any Third Middle School student would find it stranger not to know you,” seeing that he was no longer dwelling on the earlier issue, Sheng Sui breathed a sigh of relief,

“Before the college entrance exams, our whole class went to the school’s honor wall to bow to your photo.”

Zhou Shiyu didn’t know what scene the girl was recalling, only seeing her ear tips still red as she suddenly smiled, her eyes curving.

At this moment, the server brought two steaming, fragrant dishes to the table. Coming from the left side, there was still quite some distance, but Zhou Shiyu also naturally leaned his body slightly sideways.

Sheng Sui noticed and asked quietly: “Would you like to sit closer?”

“Alright, thank you.” With the girl’s faint daisy fragrance lingering around his nose, Zhou Shiyu still maintained a restrained safe distance of half an arm’s length, continuing the earlier topic in a gentle voice,

“So then, that ‘group activity’ you mentioned earlier—was it effective?”

“Yes,” Sheng Sui nodded obediently without hesitation, picking up the envelope containing S University’s admission notice, her tone unable to hide her excitement, “I’ve dreamed of going to S University since my first year of high school.”

Zhou Shiyu pretended to hear this for the first time, showing appropriate surprise, and sincerely congratulated her: “Then should I say ‘congratulations, junior’?”

After his words fell, whether it was his imagination or not, the thin red on the girl’s ear tips that had yet to fade seemed to suspiciously deepen another layer.

Sheng Sui had no guard against Zhou Shiyu at all. Using the girl’s dream university as a topic of conversation, chatting for an hour or two wouldn’t be difficult.

In that stuffy, humid summer noon, the happily chatting young man and woman in the corner seemed to form their own scenery, completely out of place with the hurried passersby.

Finally, it was the wall clock chiming on the hour that made the girl wake up as if from a dream, realizing that they had unknowingly been chatting for almost three hours.

“…I should go home. If my father comes home and can’t find me, he might worry.”

Outside the barbecue restaurant, Zhou Shiyu used his back to block the direct sunlight, looking down at the girl with bright round eyes showing reluctance, a trace of amusement crossing his eyes.

Even knowing that she was merely reminiscing about her dream school’s interesting stories, Zhou Shiyu was perfectly content.

“It’s fine,” he resisted the urge to reach up and gently ruffle the girl’s soft hair, politely inquiring, “Do you need me to walk you home?”

“I can manage by myself. You should go home and rest well.”

Sheng Sui shook her head to decline, the hand holding the admission notice document bag tightening slightly. She avoided eye contact, pursing her lips for several seconds before saying softly:

“Actually… you’re somewhat different from what I imagined.”

Zhou Shiyu pressed for details: “Different how?”

“I guess I never thought I could get to know someone like you,” Sheng Sui smiled and shook her head, indicating she couldn’t explain clearly. Before leaving, she expressed her final thanks,

“The barbecue was delicious. Thank you for spending money. If there’s a chance at S University, I’ll treat you to a meal too.”

“I don’t have any other plans on orientation day.”

Zhou Shiyu followed Sheng Sui’s words, directly proposing: “I could show you around the school afterward.”

Sheng Sui agreed with a smile, her shallow dimples at the corners of her lips like two bright crescents, her eyes purely free of any impurities.

Zhou Shiyu thought he had spoken clearly enough just now, but now he wasn’t sure whether the girl really hadn’t understood his meaning.

“Sheng Sui.”

Before their final parting, he softly spoke the girl’s name aloud for the first time. When Sheng Sui looked up upon hearing it, he smiled slightly:

“My being free that day isn’t just because I want that meal.”