The decision to go corner Lin Zhinian had been made rather suddenly.

It was just after Lu Rangchen finished his call with Lin Zhi the previous night when he tracked down Xu Linda.

Xu Linda was a peculiar person.

She’d been calling him “big brother” and “big brother” before — but lately, out of nowhere, she had gone into some kind of a mood. Lu Rangchen couldn’t even see her social media posts anymore.

The two of them hadn’t been in contact over WeChat for a while.

Lu Rangchen had assumed she’d deleted him — but when he tried a WeChat call, it turned out that wasn’t it at all.

It was the middle of the morning in England — six or seven o’clock — and Xu Linda was still in bed, hadn’t woken up yet. The moment she heard Lu Rangchen’s voice, she was completely dazed and thought she was dreaming.

Lu Rangchen teased her: “Even if you’re going to dream about someone, it’s not going to be me.”

That one line stabbed straight into Xu Linda’s lungs and jolted her fully awake.

Not even caring what Lu Rangchen had called for, she launched straight into telling him off, her voice fierce, saying all men were cut from the same cloth.

Lu Rangchen felt a headache coming on.

He rubbed his temples and let her vent for a while, then said, “Who told you Deng Zhe is seeing someone?”

Xu Linda — her mouth was tough as diamond.

But her heart was soft as tofu.

Anyone could see the way she felt about Deng Zhe — even after going abroad, even without being in contact, there was no way that was going to settle down quietly.

Sure enough, hearing those words, Xu Linda went quiet.

What was unexpected was that she didn’t probe any further.

Whether out of genuine disinterest or from putting on a front, she let it go. When she spoke again, the irritable morning energy was gone. She asked Lu Rangchen what he’d called for.

Lu Rangchen paused a moment, then opened his mouth and brought up Zhu Yunque.

Xu Linda was genuinely caught off guard. She said, “Don’t you have a girlfriend? Why are you still thinking about my Yunque?”

Her attitude was thoroughly righteous and indignant — with a thread of wariness in it.

Lu Rangchen fought down an exasperated laugh. “Could you spare me a little grief? When did I get a girlfriend?”

He added, “And even if I did, it would only be Zhu Yunque.”

The tone was free and easy, and absolutely certain. It left Xu Linda momentarily speechless.

As the person who had been kept entirely in the dark this whole time, Xu Linda’s immediate feeling was — damn it all, Zhu Yunque had betrayed her.

The two of them had been carrying on in secret this whole time, and Lu Rangchen was already this deep into pursuing her — yet Zhu Yunque hadn’t let slip a single word of information.

That was Xu Linda’s personality — genuinely furious, going on about how Zhu Yunque hadn’t treated her like a real friend.

But Lu Rangchen had already started being protective.

He gave an odd little laugh and said, “That’s just how she is — you think she’s like you?”

Xu Linda wore everything on her face; the slightest thing showed. But Zhu Yunque was different.

No matter the circumstances, she always carried herself with the same calm, unreadable expression. Whatever it was, she kept it locked inside — impossible to see through.

If there was one time Lu Rangchen had personally witnessed her emotions slip, it was the time she’d had an argument with her family and stormed out — wearing silver-framed glasses, red-eyed but stubborn, walking through the crowd, tears falling one by one as she went.

When other people cried, it was water.

When she cried, it was pearls.

Xu Linda, both pleased and displeased, said, “Alright then, Lu Rangchen — are you still counting on me to help you or not?”

Lu Rangchen, always with that same air of effortless calm, was already thinking through what she’d want in return — he’d buy it, whatever it cost.

But Xu Linda didn’t take the bait.

Even though she was a little upset with Zhu Yunque, she still said, “I don’t want anything you’re offering. What I want to know is — are you genuinely serious about Yunque?”

A true friend through and through.

The exact same attitude.

Lu Rangchen was genuinely at a loss now. He said, “What about me makes you think I’m not serious about her?”

What the two of them were like at Beijing University, Xu Linda didn’t know.

But back at Nancheng No. 3 High School, the charged, ambiguous tension between these two was something she had a thorough understanding of.

The person Xu Linda was most fed up with was Lin Zhinian.

Without even waiting for Lu Rangchen to ask, she poured it all out like a bag of beans being turned inside-out — every one of Lin Zhinian’s gossipy, loose-tongued incidents.

She told him Lu Rangchen had been playing favorites — going back to Beijing without telling this group of friends, yet telling Lin Zhinian.

She told him he’d given Zhu Yunque and Lin Zhinian matching necklaces.

And that he’d supposedly had a fiancée.

These few things weren’t huge, but they weren’t small either.

As Lu Rangchen listened, he began to understand why, when Zhu Yunque had found out he was leaving, her reaction had been so strange.

Calm — calm to the point of being almost indifferent.

Xu Linda wrapped up her account like someone filing a formal complaint, then thought to ask: “Wait, that’s not right — when did you start liking Yunque? Because before, weren’t you——”

“Weren’t I what.”

“……”

Xu Linda found she couldn’t finish the sentence, because she realized she had no way of proving that Lu Rangchen hadn’t always liked Zhu Yunque.

If she was being honest, Lu Rangchen had always treated Zhu Yunque in a rather special way. If it had been any other girl, she’d have started floating on air by now — but Zhu Yunque just wasn’t that type. She’d never thought about it in those terms.

Either way, the two of them had already gotten this far. Xu Linda had nothing useful left to say — and saying more would just be superfluous.

With Zhu Yunque’s temperament, she definitely wouldn’t want a friend leaking her private feelings.

And so in the end, Xu Linda clamped her mouth firmly shut and said nothing more. She only told Lu Rangchen to explain things properly to Zhu Yunque, and to let her know once the two of them were officially together.

Lu Rangchen listened and then laughed, saying of course he would.

The call ended.

Lu Rangchen smoked two cigarettes, then called Deng Zhe.

After that, he went to Jinshi to corner Lin Zhinian and make her lay all of that old, messy business out plainly.

At the start, Lin Zhinian had genuinely not been willing — who wants to admit they’ve been talking behind someone’s back?

But Lu Rangchen was not someone to trifle with.

And with Deng Zhe added to the mix, the two of them were resourceful enough in their own way. It didn’t take long before they had her cornered — and in the end, with no other option left, she relented and sent her apology over WeChat.

What Lu Rangchen had wanted, in truth, was just those few lines.

He hadn’t even bothered with the effort of seeing her in person.

As it turned out, those few lines were genuinely quite useful.

The moment Zhu Yunque finished listening, her expression visibly softened.

The sharp edge that had been there before quietly dropped. Her lips moved, and after a long pause, she said, “Why didn’t you just tell me directly?”

Lu Rangchen gave a low laugh. “If I’d told you directly, would you have believed me?”

He leaned closer, his eyes darkening, his tone indulgent. “You, with that personality of yours.”

“……”

Zhu Yunque felt the low, magnetic, slightly hoarse voice burn right through the tip of her heart.

Suddenly she felt like she was floating.

The feeling made everything seem unreal.

Her lashes trembled. She pressed her lips together and said, in deliberate provocation: “Lu Rangchen, you’d better not like me too much.”

Having said that, her cheeks felt strangely warm.

But Lu Rangchen only gave a quiet laugh and, unfazed, added: “Too late. Already in too deep.”

A perfectly nonchalant tone, yet it got beneath the skin in every way.

Zhu Yunque watched helplessly as he leaned in, and pressed his lips to hers — brief, undemanding, light as a feather.

Soft and warm — both real and dreamlike.

Lu Rangchen lowered his gaze, eyes fixed steadily on hers, his voice rolling with heat and sincerity: “You said you’d be the wind.”

“……”

“I’ll be your kite.”

That night’s rain fell without pause the whole way through.

Lu Rangchen held Zhu Yunque’s hand the entire time, until he brought her back to his place.

The second bedroom hadn’t been tidied, so only the master bedroom was usable.

Lu Rangchen gave her the bed, and made do with the sofa.

By the time Zhu Yunque came out from the shower, it was already quite late. She was wearing Lu Rangchen’s button-down shirt, the hem hanging down like a short dress — which, if she was being honest, left quite a lot to the imagination.

Especially when Lu Rangchen’s gaze came to rest on her.

This young woman’s legs were straight and elegant — fair and slender, the kind of beautiful that could rival even the most celebrated pair of legs in the entertainment industry.

Lu Rangchen had been sprawled lazily on the sofa, half-watching some mindless variety show, when his gaze fell on her and he suddenly pulled the corner of his mouth upward.

His eyes, half-present and half-absent, rested on her — effortlessly charged with an intimacy that made her cheeks warm without quite knowing why.

Or perhaps it was the atmosphere, too fraught with quiet tension.

Zhu Yunque turned and went straight into the master bedroom he had prepared for her, shutting the door firmly behind her.

The room was clearly a man’s space — the decor had a certain contemporary, editorial quality to it. With every breath, it was filled with the clean, appealing scent that was distinctly Lu Rangchen’s — enough to make her heartbeat subtly quicken.

This was the first time Zhu Yunque had ever spent the night at the home of someone of the opposite sex.

And that person was Lu Rangchen.

It was very hard not to let her imagination wander.

She also worried that some spark, once lit, might be impossible to contain.

Perhaps what was rooted deep in her bones was ultimately a sense of propriety and restraint — so Zhu Yunque didn’t have the nerve to go out there and speak with Lu Rangchen while dressed like this.

She also, in some small part, regretted having left in such a hurry without bringing any spare change of clothes from the dorm.

It was fortunate that Lu Rangchen had disposable paper underwear in his place.

……Though she feared her own undergarments weren’t going to be dry by tomorrow morning.

She was lying in bed and letting her mind wander when the phone on the desk gave two sounds as it charged. Zhu Yunque picked it up — and found two missed calls, and several WeChat messages.

Liang Tian: 【You’re not coming back tonight, are you?】

Xu Linda: 【How did it go, how did it go?? Did you two end up together??】

Zhu Yunque replied to Liang Tian first.

She told Liang Tian she wasn’t coming back that night and would return tomorrow.

Liang Tian replied instantly: 【You two are moving so fast! Make sure you take precautions, Zhu Yunque, dear~】

Zhu Yunque pressed her lips together lightly.

She replied: 【The precaution is that I’ve isolated him on the other side of the door.】

Liang Tian: 【！！！】

Liang Tian: 【Hahahahaha you’re ruthless.】

Liang Tian: 【Anyway, just be happy and sweet together! I’ll leave you two to it!】

Zhu Yunque couldn’t help smiling, and made sure Liang Tian was spending the night with some other girls before feeling reassured.

After she wrapped up with her, Zhu Yunque went to find Xu Linda.

The two of them hadn’t had much communication these past few days — both quite busy.

Worried Xu Linda might be upset, Zhu Yunque typed out a long message explaining to her why she hadn’t told her about the way things between her and Lu Rangchen had developed.

It wasn’t that she’d wanted to hide it.

She’d been afraid she was again imagining things on her own — that saying too much would just be embarrassing.

What she hadn’t expected was that Xu Linda had already let it go long ago.

Xu Linda: 【Well, what can I do — you and I are the greatest friends in all the world, so I’ll let it slide. Fine, you’re forgiven.】

Xu Linda: 【But what’s actually going on between you two right now? Are you officially together or not?? I’ve been going crazy wondering!】

A sweetness rose in her eyes. Zhu Yunque’s lips curved upward of their own accord.

She said: 【We’re together.】

The moment that message went through, the next second Xu Linda sent a long string of “ahhhhhh”s, making the phone buzz nonstop.

Xu Linda: 【This genuinely feels like watching my daughter get married — boo hoo hoo, who could have imagined — our little Yunque, who used to secretly be pining away, finally got what she wished for!】

Xu Linda: 【I knew it!! Brother Lu likes you!! You just wouldn’t believe it!!】

Xu Linda: 【Hmph!! I have an eye for these things, argue with me if you dare!!】

Emotions are contagious.

Xu Linda’s excitement was so intense that Zhu Yunque’s own mood imperceptibly lifted.

Xu Linda then said: 【Don’t worry though, I didn’t tell him anything.】

Xu Linda: 【He doesn’t know you had a secret crush on him back in high school.】

Zhu Yunque’s fingertips paused, and she drifted into a brief moment of thought.

In the car earlier, she hadn’t thought much about it — or perhaps her subconscious had assumed that Lu Rangchen already knew what was in her heart.

It turned out Xu Linda had been this careful with her words.

Zhu Yunque asked her: 【Why didn’t you say anything?】

Xu Linda: 【Why should I?】

Xu Linda: 【You’re with him now — the last thing I’m going to do is tell him how badly you used to pine for him.】

Xu Linda: 【I didn’t say anything, and you can’t say anything either.】

Xu Linda: 【With someone like Brother Lu, if you want this to last, you absolutely have to keep him under your thumb. It’s called playing hard to get. Got it?!】

Zhu Yunque: 【……】

She couldn’t help but laugh at that.

Immature as it was.

But it wasn’t entirely without logic.

And besides, she was already playing hard to get with Lu Rangchen, wasn’t she?

That whole business about kites and wind — it sounded so affected just thinking about it now.

Looking back, she had no idea how she’d managed to say those things with a straight face.

The more she thought about it, the more embarrassed she felt. Zhu Yunque buried her face in the pillow and let out a long breath, and when she breathed in again, all she could smell was Lu Rangchen’s scent.

It was as if her whole body had sunk into his arms.

At this thought, Zhu Yunque couldn’t help glancing at the door. Both inside the room and out, everything was quiet — she had no idea what that person was up to.

Perhaps it was just the way things worked between two people who cared for each other.

At that moment, her phone chimed once, and Zhu Yunque picked it up —

Lu Rangchen: 【Why are you hiding from me?】

Something drummed inside her chest.

Zhu Yunque pressed her lips together and typed: 【Was chatting with Xu Linda. Getting ready to sleep now.】

Lu Rangchen: 【Mm.】

A few seconds passed.

Lu Rangchen: 【Thought I might get to hold you one more time.】

“……”

This was pretty much an outright, brazen tease.

Zhu Yunque really hadn’t expected this from Lu Rangchen in a relationship — clingy and overbearing.

The tips of her ears went hot.

She held herself in check and rejected him without mercy: 【No.】

The message had barely gone through when she heard a faint, low laugh from outside the door — insufferable, exasperating, and completely irresistible.

Zhu Yunque bit the inside of her lip and typed: 【Go to sleep.】

Lu Rangchen: 【Alright.】

Lu Rangchen: 【I’ll wake you up with a kiss in the morning.】

Zhu Yunque: 【……】

She didn’t want to engage with him anymore.

She shoved the phone aside, drew in a deep breath, pulled the blanket up and switched off the light — but sleep refused to come.

She lay awake the whole night, not quite at peace.

The new environment made her uneasy, and on top of that, Lu Rangchen’s scent surrounded her from every direction — keeping her nerves involuntarily alert.

She didn’t know how much time passed before she finally drifted off. When she woke up the next day, it was already past ten o’clock.

The room was perfectly still.

A humidifier had been set up at some point, running quietly in the bedroom, giving off a faint, pleasant fragrance.

On the nightstand sat her phone, a square black jewelry box, and a sticky note.

Zhu Yunque rubbed the back of her neck, brow lightly furrowed, and picked it up. She found Lu Rangchen’s handwriting there — bold, sweeping, free.

“Breakfast is in the living room. Warm it up if it’s gone cold.

“What’s in the box is for you.

“Something came up at home — I’ve headed back for a bit. Be good while you’re here. I’ll come find you as soon as I can.”

Having written those lines, he seemed to have thought of something else, and added one more below:

“Got that kiss.”

Reading those three characters.

Zhu Yunque’s heart gave an inexplicable leap.

Her fingertip traced over those three characters lightly, and she found herself involuntarily thinking of that hazy, languorous dream from somewhere between sleep and waking — in the dream, Lu Rangchen had leaned down and kissed her, his soft lips pressing gently against hers. She had lifted her hand and hooked it around his neck.

The color rose in her face before she could stop it.

Zhu Yunque raised her hand and touched her own lips. And she genuinely felt — that there still lingered the pressure of his touch there, and the warmth of his breath.