In those six or seven years, except when bathing, Lu Rangchen almost never took that bracelet off.

He wore it close against his skin, constant and unshifting, and over time the bracelet had come to feel like it had merged with the person himself — becoming a singular, unmistakable mark that was uniquely his.

Yet Zhu Yunque’s deepest memory of that bracelet was from the time they crossed paths at the Bus Route 65 stop.

Lu Rangchen had apparently brushed against her.

In the hazy instant when Zhu Yunque opened her eyes, she caught a fleeting glimpse of that black obsidian bracelet as it swept past.

After that, every time she saw him, she would spot that bracelet.

Once, while on duty cleaning, she overheard girls from the class next door chatting idly — one of them saying she wanted to buy a bracelet just like Lu Rangchen’s, but no matter how she looked, she couldn’t find the same style.

A lovestruck girl’s inner world, seen clean through.

Another girl laughed at her: “What, are you planning to wear a couples’ set with him or something?”

The first girl had thin skin and immediately flushed, giving her a shove. The second girl started teasing her in return, leaning close to whisper something in her ear.

No one knew what was said.

But the girl’s face grew redder and redder.

Zhu Yunque had been wringing out the mop at the sink, stone-faced. In the instant she shut off the tap, she vaguely heard the girl mutter: “Someone like him — with those looks and that background — he’s definitely had plenty of relationships.”

Her shoulder tensed instinctively.

Zhu Yunque glanced in the direction of the two girls, but they had already turned and gone back into their classroom.

Perhaps when you secretly love someone, your perception grows ever more delicate and fine.

From that point on, Zhu Yunque paid extra attention to that bracelet — looking at it through a particular kind of lens — and before long, her instinct was confirmed.

Lu Rangchen did indeed treasure that object very much — he had even asked her to keep it safe for a period of time. Yet even so, she had never mustered the courage to ask Lu Rangchen why it meant so much to him.

It was Lin Zhinian who told her, in the end — saying the bracelet was a token of affection, one he had given to a girl, the two of them each wearing one.

The expression of proud, condescending triumph on that girl’s face was seared into Zhu Yunque’s memory to this day. Along with it, the misunderstanding had buried itself deeper and deeper — and that was also why, the instant Zhu Yunque saw Lin Zhi, she had identified her from what was on her wrist.

To say something embarrassing: in that moment, it would not be an overstatement to say the world had gone to ashes.

Zhu Yunque was simply too good at concealing herself.

Even Lu Rangchen could not fathom the vast and turbulent depths of what lay at the bottom of her heart.

Of course, she had never imagined that Lin Zhi would come to talk with her face to face, or that the true meaning of that bracelet was nothing like the obvious thing Lin Zhinian had made it out to be.

She fell briefly into a few seconds of dazed silence.

Then Zhu Yunque heard herself say, almost despite herself, “I’m sorry.”

Her voice was quite light, her tone soft and unhurried as always — carrying that distinctive gentleness found only in girls from the south.

Lin Zhi burst out laughing at that. “What are you apologizing for? It has nothing to do with you. I just never thought Lu Rangchen had never mentioned any of this to you.”

“Maybe in his heart, it’s still a wound he hasn’t crossed.”

Zhu Yunque lowered her gaze. “I just feel that I’ve been very narrow-minded.”

And foolish.

So many things she had only wanted to keep buried inside herself — she’d never dared to open her mouth and ask. Someone would say two words and she’d take them as truth, going so far as to feel, just a moment ago, that Lin Zhi had come here to make trouble for her.

Lin Zhi had never had that many layered thoughts.

Her way of moving through the world was the straightforwardly unguarded style of a Beijing girl, utterly unconcerned, and she gave a cheerful sound in response: “You, my friend, just live life too complicated. Simplify it — want to do something, go do it; want to say something, go say it.”

She tossed Zhu Yunque a meaningful look. “You know what I mean? Don’t waste your best years. And especially not when my little brother’s heart is pinned right here with you.”

Those last words were said with a seriousness that was perfectly genuine — even with a hint of the gravity of someone entrusting a loved one to another person’s care.

“……”

Zhu Yunque suddenly felt a rush of startled, flustered warmth — the sensation of being unexpectedly cherished.

Her heartbeat quickened without her meaning it to, and she asked, “Did Lu Rangchen send you?”

Lin Zhi already had the air of someone who had finished her business and was ready to leave. She took out her cushion compact and touched up her makeup. “No — I came on my own. He didn’t stop me either. But I figured that if I explained it myself in person, you’d feel more at ease.”

She paused, then gave another playful wink. “We’re all women — I understand.”

Zhu Yunque: “……”

She couldn’t help the slight curve of her lips.

Lin Zhi still had an engagement to rush off to, so she didn’t linger further. Once she’d said what needed to be said, she headed straight for the school gate, where her family’s driver was waiting.

Zhu Yunque had meant to see her off, but the time she’d agreed on with Liang Tian was nearly up.

Lin Zhi was a decisive person, and she waved her off directly and told her to go.

Zhu Yunque couldn’t quite name her feelings, and when she met up with Liang Tian, her thoughts were still floating somewhere above the clouds.

The two of them found a restaurant inside a shopping mall for dinner.

The sky had turned suddenly from clear to overcast. In the mid-to-late afternoon, around three or four o’clock, the place was not very busy, and the food came out quickly.

Zhu Yunque ate in a somewhat distracted state, wanting to send Lu Rangchen a message, but she hadn’t yet figured out how to start — when his call came through first.

Those three familiar characters glowed on the screen.

Zhu Yunque’s heart gave a small lift, and she answered with lips pressed lightly upward.

The restaurant was quiet enough, but there was still background noise.

Lu Rangchen’s low, magnetic voice sounded a little distant over the call — still that unhurried Beijing accent — but a few shades more intimate than before.

He said, “What are you up to?”

Zhu Yunque pushed the potato shreds in oil around in her bowl and said, “Eating with Liang Tian.”

Then she asked, “What about you — have you eaten?”

Lu Rangchen seemed to laugh slightly.

Then she heard another familiar voice — too bright and cheerful — on the other end. “Hey, Zhu Yunque — can you tell who I am?”

“……”

Zhu Yunque’s first thought was that Deng Zhe somehow even had a hint of a Jinshi accent.

She couldn’t help laughing. “Deng Zhe — why is it you?”

Deng Zhe said, “Your boyfriend’s right here with me. Who else would be with him but me?”

“Your boyfriend” — bellowed out in his booming voice — was loud enough that even Liang Tian, sitting across the table, could hear it.

The girl’s eyes went wide in an instant. She mouthed silently: “Your boyfriend?!?!?!”

Zhu Yunque felt as if every nerve in her body had been numbed by these two.

Before she could get a word in, Lu Rangchen’s voice from the other end of the phone cursed and told him to get lost — a tone she’d heard before in high school, and yet somehow not the same.

Back then it had been the casual banter between friends, disclaiming any connection.

Now it was more like he was shielding someone — a lazily devoted slant to his voice, as if he wanted to be even more unmistakably soft about it.

Deng Zhe made a couple of exaggerated “ow” sounds and said, you actually know how to feel embarrassed then.

Lu Rangchen said something crude, and took the phone back directly.

No more teasing.

He genuinely worried Zhu Yunque would get angry.

After all, this was a small bird that had only just landed on his shoulder — he had to weigh and consider things even before flicking off cigarette ash.

Lu Rangchen’s tone was quite patient. “I’m in Jinshi — grabbed a bite with Deng Zhe.”

Zhu Yunque’s lips pressed together lightly. “What are you there for?”

Lu Rangchen flicked a half’s worth of ash from his cigarette, his voice lazy and deliberately evasive. “Went to corner someone — handle a bit of business.”

The moment those words landed, Deng Zhe laughed — badly.

It was unclear what was so funny.

The kind of thing that happened between guys sometimes — any little suggestive thing could set the imagination running. Zhu Yunque didn’t think much of it and just made a quiet sound of acknowledgment.

Lu Rangchen, however, gave a subtle laugh that suggested he wasn’t entirely satisfied. “You really have no interest in me whatsoever.”

He drawled unhurriedly, “Don’t you worry that I’ll learn bad habits over here and get led astray, never to return?”

Those two sentences drifted down lightly onto her heart.

There was an odd, unsettling, coaxing pull to them.

Zhu Yunque’s throat gave a small itch.

She suddenly had the strange impression that Lu Rangchen was acting spoiled with her.

The tips of her ears went faintly warm.

Zhu Yunque thought for a long time before she managed to squeeze out a single sentence: “You don’t need to learn anything — you’re already quite bad enough.”

Lu Rangchen seemed rather interested in her response. He let out a suppressed laugh. “Where am I bad? Elaborate.”

A deliberately clueless tone.

The longer the conversation went on, the more unsettled it became.

Zhu Yunque couldn’t take it anymore. She said, “Long-distance calls are expensive — I’m hanging up if there’s nothing else.”

Lu Rangchen didn’t seem upset by that.

His breath carried the sound of a smile. He made an affirmative sound, then said, “Wait for me to come find you tonight.”

A perfectly proper statement.

Yet the way he said it carried an unmistakably suggestive tension.

As if this were the same person who the previous day had loudly declared — “Let me take a few days to cool down and think carefully about whether we’re right for each other.”

Thinking it through? Fat chance……

He had no intention of thinking it through at all. Every thought in his head was aimed at pressing forward.

Zhu Yunque held her breath for a few seconds, but in the end couldn’t hold out, and softly said, “Dorms have lights-out early.”

Lu Rangchen said, “Then I’ll come back early.”

And just like that, Zhu Yunque half-reluctantly, half-willingly agreed.

Right up until she hung up, she still hadn’t figured out what exactly Lu Rangchen had gone to Jinshi for — and yet she couldn’t stop herself from searching: how long does it take to get from Jinshi to Beijing?

When she looked it up, she found the high-speed rail was only 33 minutes.

Even driving was just under two hours.

But no matter how short the distance, bad weather has no mercy.

No one knew what had gotten into the sky that day.

After Zhu Yunque and Liang Tian finished browsing the shops and came out of the mall, they were met by the first rain of early autumn.

The rain was not light — raindrops hammering the leaves until they scattered across the ground, sneaking down collars in thin, cool streams.

Even after getting into a car, the traffic crawled the whole way back.

By the time they got back to the dormitory, dusk had arrived — though a murky, grayish-white kind of dusk with no vitality to it, quickly turning to full dark.

Both of them had thick, full heads of long hair that had been drenched into limp, soft tangles. Liang Tian was sneezing repeatedly — probably coming down with a cold — so Zhu Yunque told her to wash up first. But when it was Zhu Yunque’s own turn, the dormitory suddenly lost power.

By then it was fully dark outside.

With the power out, the room went completely black.

Zhu Yunque had only gotten halfway through taking off her clothes when she heard Liang Tian cry out: “Why did the power go out?”

Zhu Yunque: “……”

Her first instinct was to pick up her phone.

It still had ten percent battery, and the screen showed six-thirty.

She pulled her clothes back on piece by piece, and went outside with her slightly damp hair. Liang Tian had just finished doing a sweep of the other rooms and came back wearing a miserable expression on her small round face. “Apparently there’s a fault in the electrical system — the whole campus is being inspected. No idea when it’ll be back. We’re not going to be without power all night, are we?”

Zhu Yunque plugged her phone into the power bank, her tone quite calm. “Could be.”

After all, it was National Holiday.

A large portion of students weren’t even on campus.

And it was already dark; in a few more hours it would be lights-out time anyway. The rain outside showed no sign of stopping. There was no telling how long it would take the maintenance crew to finish.

Liang Tian understood all of this too, but couldn’t resign herself to it. “Should we just go off-campus then?”

Zhu Yunque tilted her chin toward the window. “Listen to that rain.”

The sound of it was torrential.

Even with the windows shut tight, the noise came through that loudly.

Liang Tian groaned completely. “I was planning to read a web novel, and now with this atmosphere, there’s no way I’d dare.”

She was not the type to sit still.

Her bottom lifted clean off the chair as she announced she was going to check the other dorm rooms.

Liang Tian had friends in other rooms she was close to. Zhu Yunque figured she’d gone to look them up.

Fortunately there was a spare emergency light — it was enough to see by — but being alone in the dormitory, she still felt a certain loneliness.

She sat in her chair, at a loose end, for a while.

Then she picked up her phone.

Suddenly she wanted to call Lu Rangchen.

When she really thought about it, she realized that in all this time, she had never been the one to call him first.

She couldn’t quite remember who had said it — but someone had mentioned once that Lu Rangchen’s phone number and contact information were notoriously difficult to get. It had been that way in high school too, and things weren’t much better in university — even if you had his number, Lu Rangchen often didn’t answer.

And yet she — she didn’t know what stroke of luck had brought it about — but in university, she had added his WeChat, just like that, easily and without any obstacle.

And afterward…… Lu Rangchen had favored her again and again, had liked her.

Liked her, right?

There was no other explanation for why he would choose this university for her sake.

The school wasn’t really ideal for him, except for the tennis team.

Zhu Yunque didn’t fully understand how Lu Rangchen thought, but she felt that this person was more impulsive than she’d imagined.

And bolder.

She, on the other hand, was not bold in the slightest.

Only when love was unmistakably confirmed and delivered right to her lips would she be willing to lean in and taste it.

In other people’s eyes, that was clear-headedness and self-composure. But she knew: she was a coward.

She was afraid her whole-hearted devotion would go unanswered.

But — now it was different.

She suddenly no longer wanted to keep cowering, no longer wanted to hide her fondness, no longer wanted to conceal her sincerity.

That was dull and graceless.

That wasn’t her — she had simply never found the switch to flip, never let her true self free.

Just like Lin Zhi said: simplify things. Want to do something, go do it; want to say something, go say it.

It was as if she had made up her mind.

Zhu Yunque drew in a quiet breath, and with the lightest touch of her fingertip, the call went through.

It rang twice.

It connected.

She wasn’t sure where he was — the background had the sound of running water. Lu Rangchen’s voice came through clear and close, and she could tell he was smiling faintly as he said three words: “What’s wrong?”

Zhu Yunque’s heart gave a small lift. She said, “Where are you?”

As if he hadn’t expected her to say something like that, Lu Rangchen went still for a moment, then cut off the water sounds in the background. His voice was low and contained, with a note of concern in it. “What happened?”

Zhu Yunque pressed her lips together. “The campus lost power. It’s just me in the dorm.”

Lu Rangchen paused two seconds. “Scared?”

She couldn’t quite read his tone, and suddenly felt uncertain, and a little agitated.

She thought about it, then said, “If you can’t make it, never mind.”

Lu Rangchen cut her off, sounding somewhat amused. “Who said I can’t make it? Why did you suddenly get upset?”

Zhu Yunque said nothing.

Lu Rangchen’s tone was coaxing. “I just got back and got soaked through — I was in the middle of showering when you called.”

Zhu Yunque still didn’t speak.

Lu Rangchen said, “I’m coming to pick you up right now.”

Zhu Yunque then said, “What did you actually go there for today?”

There was no mistaking the hint of jealousy in her tone.

It was a way of speaking she had never used before.

Lu Rangchen seemed to be getting dressed — a faint, soft rustling in the background — and several seconds passed before she heard him laugh.

That sound pressed close to the ear, resonant enough to make your very soul tingle and go numb. In a meaningful tone, he said, “Zhu Yunque, something’s different about you.”

“……”

Her cheeks flared hot all at once.

She couldn’t identify which wire in her brain had short-circuited, but Zhu Yunque ended the call on the spot.

By the time Liang Tian came back, that flush of warmth had only barely started to fade.

Liang Tian excitedly told her that the rooftop of the third teaching building was lively — there were lots of people up there, everyone had lit candles and moved tables, chairs, and tents, and they were sitting together eating snacks and chatting. She wanted Zhu Yunque to come along.

Only then did Zhu Yunque remember — the third teaching building had a semi-open rooftop.

Nobody usually paid any attention to it there.

A lot of students liked to go.

Zhu Yunque said, “Isn’t it still raining?”

Liang Tian said, “Just about bearable, actually. We’ll dress warm, bring an umbrella — staying here in the dorms has no point anyway.”

Her energy was formidable; she’d already started putting on clothes even while talking.

Zhu Yunque’s head was buzzing, she had no idea when Lu Rangchen would arrive, and so she just went along with her.

It wasn’t far from the dormitory building to the third teaching building.

By then the downpour had softened to a fine drizzle.

The two of them packed a bag of snacks, opened their umbrellas, and headed over.

When they got there, Liang Tian hadn’t been wrong — there really were quite a few people. Boys and girls alike, and all of them were freshmen, vaguely familiar faces.

People were gathered in clusters of three to five, a candle at each spot. The night breeze made the flames flicker and dance, creating quite an atmosphere.

Zhu Yunque didn’t know anyone there except Liang Tian.

Liang Tian, however, knew several different groups.

In the end, she picked a good spot and led Zhu Yunque over to it.

A small round table — two guys and one girl already seated, and with the two of them added, five total.

The moment Zhu Yunque sat down, she reached for her phone.

Her phone had actually been vibrating in her pocket the whole walk over. She’d been holding herself back and not looking — she didn’t know quite what she was sulking about.

When she finally took it out, it didn’t disappoint her.

Three missed calls. Several WeChat messages.

Without exception, all from Lu Rangchen.

The tight, knotted feeling in her chest slowly, gradually loosened. Zhu Yunque opened WeChat.

Lu Rangchen: 【Coming to get you now, but traffic might be a bit bad.】

Lu Rangchen: 【Have you eaten dinner?】

Lu Rangchen: 【……What a foul temper.】

Lu Rangchen: 【I’ll come deal with you shortly.】

When she got to the last line, Zhu Yunque’s lips curved before she could stop them, and in the candlelight, her delicate face came alive with a kind of warmth.

She took a photo of the rooftop and sent it to Lu Rangchen.

Zhu Yunque: 【Too dark in the dorms, Liang Tian dragged me up to the rooftop of the third building.】

He was probably still driving.

Lu Rangchen took quite a while to reply: 【Got it.】

Something like a proper line of communication had been established.

The stone in Zhu Yunque’s chest settled a few degrees, and she naturally found herself in the mood to talk and chat with Liang Tian and the others.

The two guys were both easy talkers. One of them was a couple with the girl.

As for the remaining guy — in Liang Tian’s quiet words — he had a bit of a peacock-in-mating-season energy about him.

From the moment Zhu Yunque had sat down with her head bent over her phone, he’d been sneaking glances at her. Now that she’d joined the conversation, he got even more animated.

Worried the candle would burn her, he specifically moved it a little further away.

The topic kept gravitating toward the English department.

Zhu Yunque was honestly quite uncomfortable with this type of guy — too much talking, too eager, putting a lot of pressure on the person.

So after a short while, she stopped contributing to the conversation and just listened.

But this guy clearly couldn’t read the room.

Seeing her go quiet, he assumed she was in a bad mood, and specifically shifted his chair closer to strike up a separate conversation with her.

Things like — where are you from, what year were you born, what was your college entrance exam score — like he was conducting an interrogation of her personal details.

Zhu Yunque politely answered a couple of things at first.

After a while, she started to feel impatient.

The guy, however, had no sense of self-awareness whatsoever. He pulled out his phone with a grin and said, “Hey, let’s add each other on WeChat — I’m from the Nancheng area too, maybe we can buy train tickets together to go home for the New Year.”

Very tired old patter.

Since military training started, she’d had more than one guy use this exact line to ask for her WeChat.

They claimed to be from Nancheng, but their homes were way down in Guangdong.

Zhu Yunque was genuinely too tired to deal with it, and was about to say her phone was dead and it wasn’t convenient —

But before those words could leave her mouth, a rather displeased male voice dropped down from overhead — a bit hoarse, a bit sharp.

Lu Rangchen gave a snorted laugh: “Didn’t you say you were from Inner Mongolia last time? Now it’s Nancheng again?”

The deep, resonant voice fell without warning right at her ear.

Zhu Yunque felt her heartstrings give a startled strum.

She looked up — and there was Lu Rangchen, hands in pockets, standing right beside her. Black jacket, white T-shirt, jeans, his short hair slightly damp — he looked sharper like this, and more untamed than ever.

That guy was in the same school year as Lu Rangchen. A figure this prominent — he could identify him at a glance.

The words he’d been about to fire back died in his throat. He stared, wide-eyed: “Lu Rangchen?”

Hearing that name, the other three looked over as well.

Liang Tian in particular — her eyes went wide, and her hand under the table gave Zhu Yunque a continuous series of shoves.

Lu Rangchen’s gaze was dismissive — he didn’t even bother giving the guy a word — and turned his head to look at Zhu Yunque instead. “And you actually talked to someone like that for this long.”

Zhu Yunque: “……”

The guy’s face immediately went hot with indignation. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

The other guy beside him quickly put a hand on his arm to hold him back. The two girls had their eyes fixed on Lu Rangchen — even in the dim, uncertain light, his strikingly handsome face was impossible to conceal.

He was too good-looking.

So good-looking that the girls were too busy admiring him to think about anything else, and the guys could only feel the sting of envy.

Yet those pitch-dark, deep eyes showed no awareness of anyone else in the world — fixed only on Zhu Yunque.

Her heart rate sped up without a sound. Zhu Yunque picked up her jacket and told the group, “I’m heading out. You all can have the snacks.”

Those snacks had been bought by Lu Rangchen.

Pricey, and in abundance.

She hadn’t eaten much of them — left the whole pile on the table.

Lu Rangchen gave the table an indifferent glance, turned, and walked away, his long legs taking unhurried, wide strides. It was unclear where he was headed.

Zhu Yunque glanced at his retreating figure from the side. Liang Tian tugged at her sleeve and whispered, “He looks like he’s upset.”

Hearing that, the guy from earlier’s expression flickered with embarrassment.

He’d finally registered that Lu Rangchen and Zhu Yunque had a different kind of relationship.

Zhu Yunque curled her fingers slightly, her feelings impossible to name. She made a small sound of agreement. “I’ll go check on him.”

With that, she got up and followed after him.

She’d barely reached the fire exit door when she spotted a tall, lean silhouette slouched casually there — a cigarette between his lips, unlit.

No candles here, so the light was very dim.

Long, slender fingers played lazily at the lighter’s switch — click, snap — light one moment, dark the next.

Hearing her come over, Lu Rangchen narrowed his eyes. His gaze was murky and dangerous.

The two of them stood like that, eyes locked.

Zhu Yunque walked forward.

Lu Rangchen was very tall — even though he wasn’t standing straight at all, she still had to look up to see him.

The lighter’s glow reflected on Zhu Yunque’s face.

Abruptly, she said quietly, “Smoking isn’t allowed here.”

Lu Rangchen, as if he hadn’t heard a word, just hung his gaze on her — his expression unreadable in terms of intensity.

Zhu Yunque simply reached over and took the loosely held cigarette right from between his lips.

But in the very next second, she was pulled by Lu Rangchen — in one swift motion, flipped around and pressed against the wall.

He moved so fast she had no time to react. Her heartbeat went on a rollercoaster, becoming strangely rapid, rapid enough that she nearly couldn’t breathe.

And yet Lu Rangchen leaned in through the dim light and shadow.

His knee pressed open her legs, his hand gripping her waist — in the low, uncertain light, his gaze had her locked, utterly pinned. He grinned — roguish and unrestrained — and said, “Can’t smoke — so what should we do instead? Kiss?”

The air was laced with the scent of dampness, mingling with the dark sandalwood fragrance from his body, swirling together in the dark.

What should have been a deep and cool, clear scent turned, in this nighttime, into something strangely aggressive and intoxicating.

Zhu Yunque felt her breath go entirely out of order.

As if she’d been poisoned — her hands and feet going soft, she couldn’t even find the strength to push him away.

Lu Rangchen could tell she wasn’t going to move, and wouldn’t move, and so he leaned down closer.

In that moment, candle flames flickered and laughter rang out in the distance. Everyone was finding their way through this powerless, rainy evening. Only the two of them were hidden in this quiet, secluded corner — their proximity soft and winding.

Their foreheads touched. His fingertips traced lightly across her face.

Lu Rangchen’s throat moved. His voice was very low — like he was holding back, carrying a trace of trembling, a trace of want.

He said, “Zhu Yunque — do you want to try it with me?”

“……”

His voice, scorching and low, fell at her ear: “Kiss here, just once?”