On new student orientation day, Zhou Shiyu spotted Sheng Sui at first glance in the flowing crowd.

Compared to the numerous new students carrying large and small bags with parents behind them, Sheng Sui dragged a single suitcase, moving slowly alone through the crowd, occasionally looking left and right.

The changes brought by age and experience had completely transformed college students’ aesthetics. Without the burden of sack-like school uniforms, the girl’s tall, slender figure and clear, delicate features made her particularly eye-catching in the crowd.

During the time Zhou Shiyu watched her from afar, several male students had already jogged up to her with big smiles, trying to help her with her luggage with familiar ease.

Sheng Sui didn’t agree. Uncomfortable with their sudden enthusiasm, she gripped the handle of her suitcase even tighter, politely shaking her head no matter what they said.

“Really, there’s no need. I can find the registration area myself.”

“Hey, junior, no need to be polite. We’ll all be classmates from now on, seeing each other around campus all the time—”

“I’ll take it.”

Zhou Shiyu stepped forward to interrupt the male student’s further advances. Under the other’s awkward expression, he walked to Sheng Sui’s side, noticing from the corner of his eye that her grip on the handle had relaxed somewhat.

They hadn’t met again during the entire summer vacation. So Zhou Shiyu stood in the direction of the blazing sun to block the light for her, smiling faintly at Sheng Sui:

“Long time no see.”

Sheng Sui hadn’t tied her hair today. Her black hair cascaded over both shoulders like a waterfall, the smooth ends swaying gently in the wind, as captivating as her bright, smiling round eyes.

Seeing it was him, the girl’s eyebrows curved, her shy smile carrying some surprised joy: “Long time no see.”

Seeing that the two already knew each other, the male student who had been trying to chat her up immediately retreated. Instead, other student council officers responsible for new student registration all showed surprised expressions at Zhou Shiyu actively approaching to talk to a girl.

Dragging a wheeled suitcase on flat ground wasn’t difficult. Zhou Shiyu didn’t insist on taking over this physical task for Sheng Sui. After helping her complete all the registration procedures, he proposed taking her around the school.

Perhaps due to various rumors from high school, Sheng Sui had no guard against Zhou Shiyu and was completely unaware of his plan to deliberately include the girls’ dormitory as part of their route.

“Up ahead on the left is the girls’ dormitory area.”

Magic City S University had excellent environmental landscaping. After passing through a garden full of jasmine trees, Zhou Shiyu slowed his pace, casually suggesting:

“It’s inconvenient carrying a suitcase. Do you want to continue walking like this, or go back to the dorm to put away your suitcase first?”

He didn’t give Sheng Sui the option of them parting ways here.

Considering the inconvenience of girls moving luggage, on new student orientation day each year, the girls’ dormitory allowed outside personnel to enter. The accompanying males were mostly fathers, older or younger brothers, and boyfriends.

Rarely would there be male students helping girls they’d just met carry luggage upstairs for no reason. Even if there were, most had ulterior motives.

Zhou Shiyu’s identity thus became ambiguous.

He was happy to see the expected result: Sheng Sui was now standing in front of the bustling dormitory building entrance, hesitating.

“This is the old campus, and the dorms don’t have elevators,” Zhou Shiyu methodically explained the current situation. “Your room is on the fourth floor. It would be very difficult for one person to carry the suitcase up.”

Pausing slightly, remembering the girl’s difficulty in refusing others, he gently suggested: “If you don’t mind, I can help.”

“I don’t mind at all,” probably having learned from last time, Sheng Sui was smarter this time, explaining first, “I should be thanking you. How could I mind?”

Seeing the girl take the bait, Zhou Shiyu’s eyes showed a hint of amusement as he took the suitcase from her hands: “Mm, it’s good that you don’t mind.”

After speaking, before the slightly stunned Sheng Sui could react, he turned and headed toward the girls’ dormitory first.

“Oh my god, is that Zhou Shiyu at the stairway entrance? Why would he come to the girls’ dorm? And he’s carrying someone’s suitcase?”

“He’s helping that new student behind him. The girl is quite pretty too—girlfriend?”

“……”

Orientation day had the highest concentration of students, plus many outside personnel crowding the stairs and dormitory corridors. During the climb up four floors, whispered conversations constantly reached their ears.

Zhou Shiyu carried the suitcase in front. When passing the second-floor corner, he suddenly heard Sheng Sui, who was obediently following behind him, say softly:

“Just like at Second Middle School, senior seems very famous at S University too.”

Zhou Shiyu turned back to look at her, seeing no trace of displeasure in those pure black eyes, and smiled: “Probably many people dislike me.”

Sheng Sui’s eyes widened slightly: “How could that be? You must be very popular.”

Zhou Shiyu enjoyed watching the girl’s unconscious little expressions, raising an eyebrow noncommittally: “If it’s not displeasure, why do they casually discuss my private affairs?”

Sheng Sui didn’t know how to respond, pursing her lips with hesitation, her cheeks puffing slightly, clearly trying hard to think of words to refute him.

Five minutes later, Zhou Shiyu stopped in front of Sheng Sui’s dormitory room, handing her the suitcase handle and saying concisely: “I’ll wait for you outside.”

Sheng Sui hesitated, then nodded: “…Alright, I’ll come out right away.”

“No rush.”

As they spoke, the previously closed dormitory door suddenly opened, and two girls came out arm in arm, both startled to see Sheng Sui and Zhou Shiyu.

Compared to the quiet, long-haired girl with glasses, the girl with short, capable hair on the right was obviously bolder. Her gossipy gaze shifted between the two, realizing that Sheng Sui would be the second girl in their dorm.

“Looks like our dorm is welcoming a second beauty,” the short-haired girl greeted cheerfully, nodding toward Zhou Shiyu’s direction and scratching her nose tip with her finger,

“So, um, is that guy next to you… your boyfriend?”

Faced with the two girls’ curious gossip, Zhou Shiyu looked down at Sheng Sui, gentlemanly asking for her opinion: “How should I answer?”

“…?”

Not expecting Zhou Shiyu to ask her back, Sheng Sui’s round eyes widened slightly as she stammered: “…What do you mean, how should you answer?”

“Your roommate just asked if I’m your boyfriend,” under the sparkling gazes of the two across from them, Zhou Shiyu leaned slightly forward, patiently whispering in Sheng Sui’s ear,

“How would you like me to respond?”

At a visibly rapid speed, Sheng Sui’s ear tips took on another suspicious layer of pale red.

In the end, Sheng Sui hastily and carelessly settled her luggage. Zhou Shiyu politely declined the two girls’ earnest attempts to make him stay longer, and he and Sheng Sui left the dormitory building one after the other.

Seeing the girl’s flustered escape, Zhou Shiyu couldn’t help but smile, his secret laughter happening to catch the girl’s peripheral vision.

Sheng Sui had promised to treat Zhou Shiyu to a meal. On the stone path leading to the cafeteria, the girl slowed her pace, wringing the hem of her clothes behind her back as she turned around.

The autumn breeze was cool, and under the bright sun, the girl bathed in sunlight blinked slowly, seeming somewhat incredulous:

“Zhou Shiyu, were you… secretly laughing just now?”

Zhou Shiyu hadn’t yet suppressed the amusement in his eyes. When their gazes met, seeing his reflection in the girl’s crystal-clear round eyes, he felt even the gentle breeze on his face become tender.

In the past two years, he had never imagined there could be a day like today when he could stand side by side with Sheng Sui under the same blue sky and white clouds.

“Mm, I was secretly laughing,” he candidly nodded in admission, asking back, “So, will you be angry? Because I didn’t answer the question about ‘whether I’m your boyfriend’ properly.”

“……”

Probably realizing she couldn’t out-argue him, Sheng Sui didn’t continue this topic, pursing her lips in silence for several seconds before suddenly asking a completely unrelated question:

“May I know why it’s me?”

“…I mean, I’m not the only underclassman from Second Middle School coming to S University. Why are you specifically looking after me?”

The girl’s beautiful, clean black eyes looked directly at him. Her fair skin exposed the pale pink on her neck and ear tips. Curiosity outweighed shy feelings, giving her courage to ask what was on her mind.

“To express gratitude.”

Words that had been stored in his heart for a long time suddenly became urgent to speak. Zhou Shiyu slowed his speech, his rapidly working brain carefully selecting which scene from their past should serve as their first meeting.

“During the school celebration stage play in sophomore year, I was your audience.”

This was his final answer.

“…But I was just background that day,” Sheng Sui looked puzzled, then suddenly her eyes widened as if remembering something, saying incredulously,

“You said there was one person who was my audience, so the male student that day wasn’t the original person, but—”

Zhou Shiyu completed the second half of her sentence, going with the flow: “Thank you for the cooling patch that day.”

“……”

Perhaps rashly confessing his concealment from that year wasn’t the optimal solution for bringing them closer. Zhou Shiyu keenly noticed Sheng Sui’s expression changing several times in moments.

But after a long few seconds of silence, Sheng Sui asked another completely unrelated question: “Last time in front of the grocery store was also heat stroke—you just helped me move so much luggage, should we find a place to rest?”

So she was worried about him.

“My silence just now wasn’t because you scared me,” this time the girl even learned to answer preemptively, lowering her head to stare at her toes, speaking softly as if talking to herself:

“Because I actually knew very early on that the person inside the costume during that performance was someone else.”

This time, it was finally Zhou Shiyu’s turn to feel surprised.

He thought he had disguised it well.

“I have a rather dull personality and don’t speak well,” with students coming and going around them, some occasionally stopping curiously to observe, the attention making Sheng Sui speak even more softly, “I joined the student council wanting to improve myself, but went a long time without making friends.”

Zhou Shiyu patiently waited for her to continue, his gaze involuntarily falling on the girl’s slender neck and ear tips that always flushed with pale red.

“You said you were my audience, that you had seriously watched my performances many times, that I had always done well.”

To Zhou Shiyu’s great surprise, Sheng Sui repeated word for word what he had said two years ago, only without looking up to meet Zhou Shiyu’s eyes again, speaking each word slowly but clearly:

“Your words made me understand that I wasn’t actually ignored, that someone could see my efforts.”

The girl took a deep breath, her thin shoulders moving with the action.

Then, as if gathering courage again, she exhaled and looked up at Zhou Shiyu, telling him with utmost seriousness:

“Those words were very important to me at that time, at least.”

Zhou Shiyu gazed for a long time at the girl who was more than half a head shorter than him. Compared to his every calculated move, Sheng Sui’s honest treatment was so pure and clean.

“…Actually, after the stage play performance that day, I went looking for you.”

The slightly shy female voice interrupted his chaotic thoughts. Zhou Shiyu looked down to see Sheng Sui smile with curved eyebrows, covering up by raising her hand to touch her nose tip:

“Unfortunately, the director told me that since he had called someone randomly, he didn’t remember who he had asked to fill in temporarily.”

Zhou Shiyu noticed that the word the girl used was “unfortunately.”

They had been standing by the campus green lawn for quite a while. Zhou Shiyu’s long silence was even more inscrutable. Sheng Sui glanced at him quickly, her gathered courage and boldness deflating like a balloon pricked by a sharp needle.

Clearly Zhou Shiyu had started this conversation, but now she was the one chattering alone.

Zhou Shiyu heard some grievance in the girl’s voice: “Why did you suddenly stop talking—what are you thinking about?”

He was thinking—if only he could have been a little braver back then, how wonderful that would have been.

After a long while, Zhou Shiyu called out: “…Sheng Sui.”

“Mm?”

“After today, will we still have chances to meet again?”

In his memory, this was the first time Zhou Shiyu had shown no calculation in front of the girl, honestly laying bare all his thoughts:

“—There’s no special reason. I just want to see you.”

“Is that okay?”

He wasn’t sure how inexplicable the expression of feelings he’d suppressed for two years seemed to Sheng Sui. After he finished speaking, the two fell into long silence once again.

“But I don’t have a phone yet, so it’s not very convenient to stay in touch.”

Sheng Sui’s thought process was always completely different from his. Her delicate brows furrowed lightly, and this time even her cheeks were slightly tinged with pale pink: “Do you know where to buy phones nearby?”

“I do. Go straight out the east gate, past one street and you’ll reach the electronics district. I can take you there—girls going alone are easily cheated.”

“Mm, that sounds good.”

After nodding to accept his kind offer, Sheng Sui seemed afraid Zhou Shiyu might not understand, looking up to glance at him quickly again, adding softly: “I mean both things you mentioned.”

“……”

From Sheng Sui’s high school graduation, to their chance meeting and acquaintance on that long street, to today when he got Sheng Sui’s phone number—everything had gone unexpectedly smoothly.

Everything was so beautifully unreal, like a dream.

That night after new student orientation, Zhou Shiyu lay alone in the spacious, quiet bedroom’s large bed, reviewing everything that had happened during the day.

He had just taken his antidepressant medication, which included alprazolam tablets to relieve insomnia. Now the effects were gradually taking hold, his eyelids heavy as lead, constantly fighting to stay open.

—Even the newly entered phone number on his phone screen was becoming blurry.

The bedroom was dark without lights, blackout curtains blocking all moonlight from outside. Perhaps the completely lightless, pitch-black environment made people feel more insecure—even Zhou Shiyu felt vaguely uneasy.

Never mind.

There was no need to worry now about what would happen in the future—at least up to this point, everything he had experienced was beyond what he had dared to imagine before.

What arrived earlier than his self-persuasion was the forced sleep effect of the medication.

“……”

This long dream that seemed to have no end had finally ended.

When he realized this, it was due to the familiar, sharp stabbing pain from his heart, synchronized with frightening precision to his heartbeat.

The curtains were tightly closed. Opening his eyes to pitch darkness around him, Zhou Shiyu sat up with confused consciousness, only feeling that the empty, uninhabited room was frighteningly quiet.

Only his own rapid breathing remained in his ears, deafeningly loud.

So he was still alone after all.

So those things he had just dreamed about—the long street nightmare he thought he could escape, those beautiful but unreal scenes of meeting—it was all fake.

Zhou Shiyu looked around blankly at the pitch-black surroundings, once again unable to distinguish between reality and dreams.

When his right hand reached under the pillow for his phone, it unexpectedly touched the inside of his left wrist—dozens of scars that he knew without looking were ugly and hideous.

In the end, he was still alone after all.

But just now it clearly wasn’t like this. Just now he clearly wasn’t by himself—

The sudden sound of a turning door handle disrupted all chaotic thoughts. The bedroom door opened from outside, and bright light poured in from the outer room, jumping fragments of gold like hope scattered to earth, generously illuminating every corner of this bedroom.

“……”

Zhou Shiyu slowly raised his head, his body like a machine in disrepair for years—even the slightest movement produced harsh sounds.

He stared quietly at the woman by the bedroom door, his chest feeling very full, but the suffocating feeling completely disappeared.

His nose suddenly tingled with emotion, his heart full of gratitude.

So in the end, he wasn’t alone.

So he could have a good ending too.

“…You’re awake? I saw you didn’t get home until after midnight yesterday, so I wanted to let you rest more and specially drew all the curtains…”

The person he had been thinking about was no longer as young as in his dreams. Compared to eighteen-year-old vitality and fantasy, the person before him had more of the quiet gentleness of everyday life.

“Today happens to be the beginning of spring, and it’s the weekend. Should we take Yiyi out for a spring outing later?”

The bed surface beside him dipped slightly. Under Zhou Shiyu’s unwavering, fixed gaze, Sheng Sui sat down beside him: “We just had her sleep in her own room these past couple days, and she cries for a while every day. Taking her out might cheer her up—”

The woman’s words were cut off mid-sentence by Zhou Shiyu’s sudden embrace.

Even after being married for so long, he still occasionally had such dreams.

“……”

Zhou Shiyu used some force in his arms. The woman in his embrace sensed something unusual, resting her head on his shoulder and patting his back gently while embracing him in return, asking softly: “What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”

“…No.”

Not wanting to worry his beloved, Zhou Shiyu denied it in a low voice, burying his face in the soft curve of Sheng Sui’s neck, the light daisy fragrance soothing his troubled emotions.

“Suisui,” he called his beloved’s name in a low voice, allowing himself a moment of vulnerability,

“I’m so happy.”

“Mm? Why?”

“Nothing,” Zhou Shiyu shook his head without explaining further, only holding his beloved tighter in his arms,

“I just feel very lucky, so I feel very happy.”

—Among life’s greatest joys, nothing surpasses opening your eyes upon waking from dreams to find you still beside me.