Time passed quickly after that.

Lin Zhexia learned that Bai Qin had been discharged from the hospital, and later, Chi Hanshan found an old friend to help, selling the previously poorly operating new production line at a low price to another manufacturer. Although they lost a lot, basically losing all the money they had earned over these years, at least they weren’t completely ruined.

The couple decided to start over.

Only this time, their plan wasn’t just about work anymore.

They planned to slow down and reclaim the life they had previously sacrificed.

Strangely enough, after experiencing a “loss,” they actually “gained” a lot.

After Chi Yao no longer needed to worry about his family’s affairs, the school entered the closed campus training period before the college entrance exam. Schools in Jing City even had a special signal-blocking device to prevent students from bringing phones.

Thus, their chat history stopped two months before the exam.

It stopped at Lin Zhexia’s reply of “I see, good luck on the exam” after Chi Yao told her about these things.

The college entrance exam was in June.

Before the exam, Lin Zhexia’s grades remained stable without further improvement.

She understood clearly that it was indeed very difficult to improve further. She couldn’t possibly enter the school’s top ten in just over a year.

Those in the top ten had already pulled far ahead of the others since their first year.

Xu Ting was a typical example.

Smart, learned quickly.

Of course, previously, there had been someone even these people looked up to—that Chi Yao, who didn’t go to No. 1 High School but came to No. 2 High School to strike at their confidence.

Lin He noticed her low spirits and said during dinner, “It’s alright, Xiaxia. This score is already very good. Mom never dreamed you could even choose a good university to attend. To be honest, from your first day at school, Mom was mentally prepared for the possibility that you might fail the college entrance exam.”

Lin Zhexia: “…”

Failing, that wouldn’t happen.

“But I want to go to Jing University,” Lin Zhexia poked at the rice in her bowl, thinking to herself that the best school for physics was in Jing City, “With my current score, I’m more than ten points below Jing University’s minimum line.”

Wei Ping, who had recently been to school for a parent-teacher meeting on her behalf, said: “Lianyun University is also good. That day, when I went to the parent-teacher meeting, your teacher talked to me and suggested you apply to Lianyun University. The school is quite good, and with your current score, applying to Lianyun University is more stable. Applying to Jing University is just too risky and could easily affect your performance in the college entrance exam.”

Because if she didn’t perform exceptionally well in the exam, the probability of her not getting in would be one hundred percent.

This kind of psychological pressure no one could bear.

“Lianyun University also has famous programs, some even better than Jing University,” Wei Ping comforted her. “Besides, we’d be more at ease with you in Lianyun. Jing City is so far away, and if you go there alone, you might not adapt well.”

Lin Zhexia: “But…”

After saying “but,” the rest of her words got stuck in her throat.

But Chi Yao was in Jing City, and the school he would apply to was also there.

At that moment, she felt powerless.

She had tried so hard this year, but there was still an unbridgeable gap between her and Jing University.

The distance between her and Jing University was like the distance between her and Chi Yao.

She couldn’t catch up anymore—

Before filling out her application preferences, Chi Yao made a video call to her.

Lin Zhexia, for some reason, clicked decline.

Perhaps it had been too long since they’d seen each other, and compared to that longing, seeing the other person through video might make her feel even more at a loss.

After hanging up, she typed: I’m outside now, not convenient to take a video call.

Then she made a voice call to him.

“Is your school on break?” Lin Zhexia held her phone, cleared her throat, and said into the receiver, “Don’t they usually confiscate phones?”

Chi Yao’s voice came clearly through the receiver: “No break.”

Lin Zhexia: “…Then how did you call me? Did you steal a phone from the director’s office?”

The person on the other end went along with her: “Mm, I picked the lock at midnight.”

Lin Zhexia: “…”

After a moment, Chi Yao said, “Got leave.”

Lin Zhexia: “Oh.”

After a brief silence, Chi Yao asked: “When will you fill out your application preferences?”

Lin Zhexia: “Next week.”

“Which school are you planning to apply to?”

“…”

Lin Zhexia didn’t answer immediately.

On the phone, the thought that had been unanimously stopped by Lin He and Wei Ping at the dinner table emerged again. She tentatively caught that crazy, unrealistic idea once more, her hand tightening on the phone: “What do you think… about me applying to Jing University?”

Afraid that Chi Yao might read too much into it, she added, “I’m just tired of staying in Lianyun and want to escape from Lin He’s clutches. Besides, Tang Shuxuan and the others are also planning to apply to schools in Jing City.”

After saying this, she stopped.

Anxiously waiting for Chi Yao’s answer.

It was as if with just one word from him, she could go ahead and do that most risky thing that no one else would allow.

However, after a brief silence, the young man’s cold, weary voice sounded: “Apply to Lianyun University.”

Lin Zhexia’s heart sank straight down.

“With your score, applying to Lianyun University is better.”

Even Chi Yao said so.

She knew it herself.

She could only apply to Lianyun University.

All her expectations vanished, and at the moment of hanging up the phone, she completely acknowledged a cruel reality: she and Chi Yao were about to embark on lives completely separate from each other.

There would be no more intersections in the future.

They would each go to their respective universities, and these few years of university would pull them even further apart, so far that they might each form a new “self” in this new stage of growth, and years later, the connection between this new “self” and the other person would become less and less.

Once two straight lines cross and move outward from a point, they will only get further apart, never finding another focal point—

On the day of filling out application preferences, each class was arranged to go to the computer room to complete the process.

Lin Zhexia sat in front of the computer, the mouse in her hand feeling very heavy.

For half a second, she dragged the mouse and hovered over “Jing University” for a moment.

After filling out her preferences, when she came out of the computer room, she didn’t return to her classroom.

Chen Lin and Tang Shuxuan noticed she wasn’t there and came out to look for her.

When they found her, they discovered she was curled up alone at the staircase corner.

“What’s wrong?” Chen Lin and Tang Shuxuan walked over and crouched down in front of her. At first, they didn’t know what was happening, but after crouching down, they found that Lin Zhexia’s shoulders were trembling. If they didn’t listen carefully, they wouldn’t have heard the very light sobbing sounds she was making.

Lin Zhexia buried her face in her knees, her voice broken: “I… I’m just a bit sad.”

Chi Yao had been gone for more than a year.

In this year and more, she had never cried.

She smiled every day, continued to live well, and studied hard, as if Chi Yao’s departure wasn’t something she couldn’t bear.

More than a year.

This was the first time she couldn’t hold it together.

“I can’t get into Jing University.” Lin Zhexia’s whole body was trembling. “I’m still more than ten points short.”

“Everyone is telling me to apply to Lianyun University.”

“But… but…”

At this point, she choked up and couldn’t continue.

But Lianyun University is too far from him.

Chen Lin and Tang Shuxuan understood the words she didn’t finish.

Chen Lin asked: “Is Chi Yao going to apply to Jing University?”

Lin Zhexia kept her head down, not speaking.

Chen Lin helplessly comforted: “It’s okay… You can still…”

Chen Lin stopped here, unable to continue her comforting words.

Because she realized, Chi Yao had already been gone for a year, and that phrase “can still meet” seemed particularly pale at this moment.

And they were also facing separation. If she, Lin Zhexia, and Tang Shuxuan got into different schools, she couldn’t guarantee whether they “could still meet often” either—

After crying, Lin Zhexia acted as if nothing had happened.

It was as if she had expressed all her emotions through that one time.

In the end, she applied to Lianyun University.

After the college entrance exam, Lin Zhexia came out of the examination hall. That day, the sun was blazing, the cicadas had returned, and it was once again a passionate summer.

Everyone was busy celebrating their liberation from the sea of suffering, and some, amid their joy, felt sentimental about parting with their classmates.

Lin Zhexia thought that, so after turning eighteen, one can no longer dream freely.

She needed to consider more when doing things. She needed to consider Lin He and Wei Ping; if she applied to Jing University, they would worry. If she applied to Jing University, she would almost certainly have to repeat a year, and if she repeated, Lin He would have to worry about her for another year.

She also began to accept the world after eighteen without Chi Yao’s existence.

She came out of the examination hall and reported to Chi Yao: I feel I did quite well, shouldn’t have any problems. How did you do?

Chi Yao replied to her in the evening.

Chi: Not bad

Chi: Should be able to rank in the top few citywide without much problem

Lin Zhexia replied: Let me remind you once more, showing off will get you struck by lightning.

On graduation day, all the teachers took turns giving speeches: “Congratulations—you’ve graduated, and congratulations on your good results. Our college entrance exam results this time are very good. In the future, you’ll enter other schools to continue your studies. I hope you won’t forget these three years of studying in Cheng’an. Carry the memories of Cheng’an, and continue to journey to the next station.”

Lin Zhexia glanced at the position of Class 1.

Xu Ting was sitting with a bespectacled boy.

As she looked away, she thought of a day long ago, the day of enrollment in the first year, when she had pulled Chi Yao into the crowd to check the class assignment list.

After the graduation ceremony, the Class 7 monitor organized a class dinner.

Lin Zhexia took a photo of the dinner table and sent it to Chi Yao.

Chi Yao also sent a dinner photo back.

Lin Zhexia didn’t like sharing these things with Chi Yao, because she didn’t know anyone in the school and the class where Chi Yao was now.

The teachers and students who accidentally appeared in the photo were all unfamiliar faces.

This gave her more of a feeling that they were not living in the same world.

After the dinner, Lin Zhexia was about to go home when she was stopped in the restaurant hallway.

It was that boy from before.

The boy from the back row nervously said, “I’m going to Haidu City for university.”

Lin Zhexia nodded: “Congratulations.”

The boy from the back row: “…Although I’ve told you before, today I still want to tell you once more. I like you.”

Lin Zhexia said “thank you” again.

Now they had finished the exams, the constraints of high school puppy love were broken, and there were no more excuses about needing to study hard.

Lin Zhexia had drunk a little at the dinner table and now felt a bit lightheaded. At this moment, something that had been buried deep in her heart for too long surfaced. On this day of graduating from high school, she said these words out loud for the first time: “I already have someone I like.”—

During this summer vacation after high school graduation, Lin Zhexia had originally thought she and Chi Yao could meet once.

But she wasn’t as eager for it as before.

After such a long separation, meeting had become something she wanted to do but didn’t dare to.

She was afraid that the countless silences on the phone would be brought into reality face to face.

She would find it hard to bear such silence.

Because the person in front of her was once her closest and best friend.

And also the person she had secretly liked all along.

Whether it was disappointment or relief, this summer vacation, Lin He took her abroad.

They had a relative overseas who was getting married and holding a wedding, inviting them over. Lin He thought Lin Zhexia needed to relax after the college entrance exam, so she extended their overseas visit and took her around to various places.

Lin Zhexia still kept in touch with Chi Yao during the vacation.

But she deliberately avoided the question of which school Chi Yao had applied to.

In her subconscious knowledge, with Chi Yao’s grades, he was definitely going to Jing University. And his uncle and aunt were also in Jing City, so they would certainly hope he would apply to Jing University.

It would be even harder to meet in the future. Lin Zhexia thought that, after a few more years, they would go from being strangers to being completely unrelated—

He Yang also stayed in Lianyun City, and by coincidence, became her “spiritual schoolmate” again.

This time, they were even closer than during high school, because several universities were in one area, forming a huge “university town.”

“Can you care about me a bit?” on the day of university freshman registration, He Yang went with her, “We’ve been friends for so many years, and you don’t even know which school I got into.”

Lin Zhexia glanced at him: “I thought after so many years, you would have gotten used to it.”

He Yang: “…”

Before entering university, Lin He helped her prepare many things.

She carried her suitcase to the freshman registration.

On registration day, the school was full of people, bustling. Everyone wore different clothes, no longer the strict appearance of high school.

Some people couldn’t wait for the vacation to dye their hair, which wasn’t allowed at school before. Some started wearing makeup, and some walked into the school gates hand in hand with their partners.

Everything looked new and full of hope.

Lin Zhexia paid her fees, took the map issued by the student union, and went to find her dormitory.

The girls’ dormitory and boys’ dormitory were separated by half the campus. When she arrived at the dormitory, two people were already there: a short-haired girl and a girl with green-dyed hair. The two were sitting together chatting, and when they saw someone come in, they enthusiastically said: “Hi, there are six people in our dormitory in total, you’re the third to arrive.”

Lin Zhexia was a bit awkward: “Hello.”

They exchanged names. The short-haired one was called Qin Lei, studying finance, and the green-haired girl was studying art, named Lan Xiaoxue.

Lin Zhexia had chosen a minor language, studying linguistics.

“Your hair is cool,” Lin Zhexia couldn’t help but compliment.

Soon, the other people in the dormitory also arrived. There were too many people, and Lin Zhexia wasn’t familiar with them yet, so she didn’t say much all day.

After she finished arranging her dormitory bed and setting up all her daily necessities, she finally had time to check her phone and saw a message from Chi Yao: Where are you now.

This message was sent more than two hours ago.

The content was somewhat intimate.

She and Chi Yao had been apart for more than a year, and they rarely had such conversations without a sense of distance.

“Where are you now?” as if… he was waiting for her.

Lin Zhexia shook off this impossible thought and replied: I just arrived at the dormitory.

At this moment, Lan Xiaoxue called out to them: “Let’s go find a place to have dinner together tonight. University, ah! I was so suffocated in high school, I couldn’t go anywhere. Now we’re college students after all, we should celebrate.”

As she spoke, she lowered her voice, “I heard there’s a street near our school with bars.”

Qin Lei said, “Going to a bar on the first day of school, you’re wild.”

Lan Xiaoxue asked for their opinions. Lin Zhexia, who normally didn’t drink much under Lin He’s restrictions and had never been to such places, was a bit curious and secretly voted in favor: “…Okay.”

“Unanimously approved, then we’ll go in the evening.”—

As a college student, Lin Zhexia felt an indescribable difference.

It was strange. Just two or three months ago, she was still buried in her textbooks in a high school classroom. In the blink of an eye, she had also left Nanxiang Street, and her life had entered a new journey.

The bar near the school had many regulations and did not allow things to get too rowdy, so compared to “bars” outside, this place looked more like a place to eat and chat.

Without such a heavy bar atmosphere, the decoration and setup were also very simple and clean.

The six of them found a table and ordered some snacks.

After seven o’clock, the sky outside darkened, and the lights in the shop lit up.

Someone was playing guitar on the stage.

Lin Zhexia wasn’t very accustomed to such an environment, quietly lowering her head to nibble on chicken wings as she listened to their conversation.

The phone placed at the edge of the table lit up.

Chi: What about now

Lin Zhexia wiped her hands and replied: What do you mean, what about now

Chi: Are you still in the dormitory now

Lin Zhexia: No

She raised her head, not sure whether to tell Chi Yao she was at a bar.

After thinking about it, she decided to be honest: I’m at a very mysterious place now.

Chi:?

Lin Zhexia: A small bar on the back street of the school

Lin Zhexia: How about that, cool, right?

After replying to Chi Yao’s message, she stopped looking at her phone and concentrated on eating chicken wings. After a while, Lan Xiaoxue started gossiping: “By the way, do you know, there’s a new student at our school.”

“Just enrolled, over half the girls in the whole grade are secretly trying to find out who he is.”

Qin Lei felt this wasn’t realistic: “…What kind of person would that be, over half? Don’t listen to these messy rumors, who knows, it might just be someone bored making things up.”

Lan Xiaoxue: “It’s not made up, my friend saw it with her own eyes. In her words, just one glance—just one glance in the crowd, and she was captivated. That handsome guy was looking at his name on the new student list, handsome enough to make humans and gods furious. She said that at that moment, she felt like the grave of her ancestors from past lives must be emitting green smoke for her to be able to come close to Lianyun University and be a classmate of such a person in the same year.”

Qin Lei: “…That’s exaggerated.”

Lan Xiaoxue: “Don’t disbelieve, I’ll bet with you, he will be on the school forum today.”

After saying this, Lan Xiaoxue turned to ask Lin Zhexia, urgently seeking acknowledgment: “You don’t believe me either?”

Lin Zhexia’s hand paused while eating chicken wings: “…Um.”

Lan Xiaoxue: “Forget it! None of you believe me!!!”

Although Lin Zhexia didn’t believe it.

But she couldn’t help thinking of a certain person.

A certain person who had once “dominated” Cheng’an in their first year of high school.

Lan Xiaoxue sat listening to songs for a while, felt that she hadn’t expressed herself well earlier, and urgently contacted her friend, quickly going on the school forum to search with keywords: “No, I still want to find it for you to see. I don’t think we need to wait until tomorrow, there might be something now. Let me search for ‘freshman,’ ‘new student,’ and ‘handsome guy’ and try.”

Qin Lei advised her: “Forget it, don’t bother.”

Lin Zhexia sat on the side watching the whole show.

After finishing her food, she sat quietly in her seat.

Midway, her phone lit up once, but she didn’t notice.

When Lan Xiaoxue shouted, “I think I found it,” Lin Zhexia stood up and said, “I’m going to the restroom.”

At this point, the lights in the bar were getting dimmer.

She passed through the dining table aisle, and further ahead were some single-person seats, with some people standing together listening to music. She couldn’t find her way for a moment and was about to stop someone to ask for directions when, unexpectedly, she saw someone push open the door and come in through the layers of people.

She first saw the hand of the person outside the door resting on the doorknob. Strangely, it was just a hand, and although this hand was a bit good-looking, her heartbeat still inexplicably skipped a beat, like in novels, not knowing why herself, she looked one more time.

Then, the door made a “creak” sound as it was pushed open.

That person walked into the dim, colorful lights.

Very tall, with excessively long legs.

At the height of summer, the young man wore a simple black T-shirt. The unique youthfulness of a young person had faded a bit on him, but he was still exceptionally thin.

He had a very striking face, his brows and eyes outlined more deeply by the light, the light reflecting in his light-colored pupils, cold and unrestrained.

The dim light of the bar fell on the silver earring in the young man’s right ear, and in the mixture of real and illusory light, Lin Zhexia almost thought she was dreaming.

After a moment of dizziness, she saw Chi Yao move past others, walking closer to her. Under the suddenly brightening lights, he lowered his eyes to look at her and called out to her once: “Coward.”

Lin Zhexia still couldn’t distinguish between reality and fantasy.

Because.

The word “coward,” the last time she heard it, was already long ago.

Author’s note:

Chi the dog is back!!!—

I don’t have a draft ready, and this Zhu Xia – Chapter is long again, so I’m late orz

PS: 1. Minors filling out college applications should do so under the guidance of teachers and parents. Regardless of how the protagonist chooses and considers, the novel’s behavior does not have any reference value.

2. All cities and schools in this novel are fictional. When Jing City first appeared, it was set very, very far away, taking two days to travel back and forth + very suitable for establishing factories. In my initial conception, it was a distant city, rich in resources for mining, a very industrial city, so it had nothing to do with Beijing. There’s no need to compare it with real schools.

3. In my setting, the two schools are not one being much stronger and the other much more ordinary. This Zhu Xia – Chapter also mentioned that Lianyun University has better majors than Jing University. The male protagonist did not give up his dream. In a sweet story, I don’t need to make him choose between dreams and love. It’s just that there are big differences in specialized majors and employment directions, and in this employment direction, Lianyun University would have more advantages. (This hasn’t been mentioned in the later text yet, only said to have majors better than Jing University.) It’s just that from the protagonist’s speculative perspective in this chapter, she doesn’t understand this. The reason I made her not understand is that, from a plot arrangement perspective, the female protagonist thinking that the two of them are about to start separate lives is an important node in my outline content. I wouldn’t make my character go read a worse major for no reason.

4. As a fictional work that doesn’t involve reality, readers who still can’t accept the above, it’s fine. Everyone has the right to different feelings. I can only say I’m sorry that I can’t accommodate everyone.