Stay… away from other guys.

Lin Zhexia froze in place.

Until other classmates came down the stairs behind her, making the corridor crowded, someone bumped her from behind, and only then did she regain her senses and continue downstairs.

Lin Zhexia knew she shouldn’t, but still couldn’t suppress the expectation in her heart, asking after walking down: “Why do you want me to stay away from other guys?”

Chi Yao had already turned around and continued walking forward. He used the coldest tone to say the most childish thing: “Because you’re stupid and can easily be taken away by bad people.”

Lin Zhexia followed behind him, saying softly: “You’re the stupid one.”

“What about you,” after a while, she asked again, “do you count as other guys?”

“Me?”

He slowed his pace. “Of course I don’t count.”

When Lin Zhexia caught up, he turned his head to look at her, clicked his tongue, and said: “Other guys means all males except for me—remember that.”

The Nanxiang Street Squad reunited at a Western restaurant near the university town.

When He Yang appeared, Lin Zhexia was sitting beside Chi Yao, looking at the menu. Seeing He Yang come in, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

He Yang had found time last night to go to a hair salon and dyed his hair, sporting a wild gradient of red as he burst into the restaurant entrance.

He sat down confidently: “Have you ordered? I want my steak medium-well.”

Lin Zhexia and Chi Yao, in perfect sync, both remained silent.

He Yang asked again: “What’s wrong, struck speechless by my handsomeness?”

Then, just like many times in their childhood, the two spoke simultaneously—

Lin Zhexia: “Um…”

Chi Yao: “Look in a mirror.”

He Yang: “Don’t you think I look cool like this? By the way, don’t tell my mom. I deliberately waited until after starting school to dye it. If she finds out, she might take a taxi overnight to Lian Yun Normal University to beat me up.”

Chi Yao couldn’t be bothered to comment further.

Lin Zhexia finally said, “Whatever makes you happy.”

He Yang and Chi Yao hadn’t seen each other for over a year, and during that time, his messages to Chi Yao rarely received replies. He thought that compared to Lin Zhexia, he might have an even stronger sense of reunion after a long separation.

Fortunately, the relationship between the three was solid enough, having experienced so much together since childhood, that there wasn’t any real sense of unfamiliarity.

Instead, there was more of a sense of novelty.

Because they were college students now.

During the meal, Lin Zhexia was slowly cutting her steak when Chi Yao’s hand reached over from the side, exchanging his already-cut plate with hers.

Noticing her daze, Chi Yao asked: “What is it?”

Lin Zhexia couldn’t help saying, “Why are you suddenly being so nice to me?”

Chi Yao casually replied: “Wasn’t I nice to you before?”

She couldn’t refute this statement.

Because thinking carefully, even though Chi Yao used to speak harshly, he had always been the person who treated her best in this world outside of her family.

But she could hardly say, Why aren’t you being venomous with your words anymore?

It would make it seem like she truly didn’t feel comfortable unless he scolded her daily. That would be weirdly perverted.

While these two were chatting across from him, the red-haired He Yang was cutting his steak alone.

Looking at the “ambiguous” situation before him, and connecting it to the inconclusive phone call Chi Yao had made to him last night, he roughly realized that this guy was planning to make a move.

He felt somewhat regretful.

True, this meal was expensive, but he really shouldn’t have come to eat it.

It felt like he couldn’t bear to watch.

…

After the gathering, everyone returned to their respective schools.

Lin Zhexia and Chi Yao walked side by side toward the Lian University campus.

On the way, she couldn’t help criticizing He Yang’s new hairstyle behind his back: “It’s really ugly, so ugly. Doesn’t he know that red makes your skin look darker? He even permed it a little… How can he be so confident with such a hairstyle?”

“Then don’t look at him, look at something good-looking.”

“What’s good-looking?”

“For example,” Chi Yao said coldly, “me.”

“…”

After Chi Yao said this, Lin Zhexia instinctively looked at him.

This person was undoubtedly handsome, so handsome that since middle school, many people had silently admired him. The young man before her seemed to have deliberately dressed up today—otherwise, in such hot weather, why would he specifically wear a jacket? This jacket looked like it was intentionally used to style himself.

She finally looked away uncomfortably and said, “Have you no shame?”

Chi Yao didn’t respond.

He had always been an extremely prideful person.

But at this moment, he couldn’t help thinking that if being shameless could win her over, perhaps he could forgo his pride.

Or rather, when he reunited with her and decided to pursue her, he had already cast these concerns aside.

Chi Yao escorted her back to the dormitory as usual.

On the way, he instructed: “Send me your class schedule when you get back.”

Lin Zhexia, just like in high school, exchanged her schedule with him: “Then you need to send me yours too.”

“Alright.”

“You should have classes this afternoon, right?” Lin Zhexia asked again. “We have the afternoon off. Classes are light at the beginning of the semester, and we’re preparing for military training in a couple of days.”

As they talked, they had already reached the dormitory building.

Last time Chi Yao escorted her back, it was night, so Lin Zhexia hadn’t noticed the many female students coming and going at the entrance, most of whom would glance at them as they passed by.

Lin Zhexia: “You should go now, I’ve arrived.”

She added, “You don’t need to escort me to the door in the future. I can walk by myself.”

Chi Yao didn’t directly respond to her statement.

Instead, before leaving, he seemed to deliberately say: “Wait, help me check my ear.”

Lin Zhexia: “What’s wrong with your ear?”

With that cold yet unrestrained face, he tugged at the corner of his mouth and lied without hesitation: “Nothing much, it just hurts a little.”

If it hurts.

It must be the side with the earring.

Lin Zhexia was still holding her books. She unconsciously held them tighter and then stepped forward, actively closing the distance between herself and Chi Yao: “Is… there a problem with your earring?”

Chi Yao silently acknowledged, and to make it easier for her to check, he bent down slightly.

This instantly brought them even closer.

“I can’t see any problem,” Lin Zhexia examined it carefully. “There’s no redness or swelling. Did it suddenly start hurting? Has it hurt before?”

Chi Yao: “Suddenly.”

Lin Zhexia: “But I really can’t see…”

Chi Yao interrupted her: “If you can’t see, maybe you need to touch it.”

“…”

Touch. It.

These three words were completely beyond the scope of Lin Zhexia’s dictionary.

She blinked, taking a long time to react.

The silver earring before her was more than familiar.

And Chi Yao’s wearing of an earring was entirely because of her; this earring was personally chosen by her.

The things she had done with Chi Yao during high school were still vivid in her mind.

She just hadn’t expected Chi Yao would continue wearing it until now.

Lin Zhexia hesitated for a moment, then nervously raised her hand and touched his earlobe as quickly as possible.

The silver earring felt cool, but his earlobe was burning hot.

…

Lin Zhexia’s fingertips felt as if they were on fire.

Then her cheeks burned along with them, making her speech stumble: “I-I didn’t feel anything wrong. You should check again later. Maybe there’s an issue with the earring; clean it when you get back. I’m going in now.”

After speaking, she ran into the dormitory without looking back.

This time her heartbeat was even more intense than before.

It took a long time to calm down.

She was completely flustered—

That night, after the dormitory lights went out.

Other roommates were discussing today’s classes. Unlike last night, now that everyone had become familiar with each other, the dormitory gradually became livelier.

Lin Zhexia lay in bed unable to sleep, tossing and turning for a while, then couldn’t help poking her head out from under the blanket and calling Lan Xiaoxue’s name.

Lan Xiaoxue was drawing: “What’s up?”

Lin Zhexia hesitated: “I… have something troubling me lately. If you have time, could I chat with you for a bit?”

Lan Xiaoxue put down her pen: “Sure, go ahead.”

“My childhood friend, the one you’ve all met, I think he’s been acting strange lately.”

After saying this sequence of words, Lin Zhexia instinctively felt it was familiar.

She remembered back in high school, when she didn’t realize she had started to like Chi Yao, she had asked Chen Lin, except back then, the person acting strange was herself.

Lan Xiaoxue: “Your brother? How is he being strange?”

“…He’s not… never mind.” Lin Zhexia skipped over this title. “I can’t quite put my finger on it, but recently he and I have become overly close. We were very familiar before, but that was completely the kind of familiarity between good friends. Lately, it feels a bit…”

A bit…

The end of this sentence was two words she couldn’t say aloud, uncertain and wavering, but increasingly clear in her own heart.

“Ambiguous, right?” Lan Xiaoxue hit the nail on the head.

“He’s very ambiguous with you,” Lan Xiaoxue didn’t think there was anything wrong with the word ‘ambiguous.’ “Did you just realize? I told you on the first day, don’t give me that ‘grew up together’ stuff. Good friends don’t act like this.”

“Like what?” Lin Zhexia asked.

“Allowing others to misunderstand their relationship.”

Lan Xiaoxue made it more explicit: “Which good friend would allow others to misunderstand that they’re involved? Is that what a good friend does? This is plotting something. Look, you consider him a good friend, aren’t you constantly denying it, telling others you’re friends with no other relationship? But he doesn’t do that at all.”

Lin Zhexia’s heartbeat increased again with Lan Xiaoxue’s words.

Lan Xiaoxue finally concluded: “I think he likes you.”

Despite her racing heart, Lin Zhexia blurted out: “Impossible.”

“Why do you think it’s impossible?”

“Because… we’re too familiar with each other. How could he possibly like me?”

From her words, Lan Xiaoxue detected a clue: “Do you like him?”

“You like him,” without waiting for Lin Zhexia’s response, Lan Xiaoxue directly acknowledged it for her, then said, “If you can like him, why couldn’t he possibly like you? The distance between you two is the kind where no one else can intervene. Once friends, but growing up to like each other, how is that impossible?”

At this point, someone called Lan Xiaoxue, so she didn’t continue.

The conversation was interrupted.

Lin Zhexia lay under her blanket, and that thought she had previously deemed completely impossible, uncontrollably emerged for the first time.

She began to seriously consider: was there a one-in-ten-thousand chance that Chi Yao might also like her?

This thing she hadn’t dared to think about during high school.

Unexpectedly surfaced from the deepest part of her heart at this moment.

Before sleeping, Lin Zhexia couldn’t help scrolling through her recent chat history with Chi Yao.

It seemed… every reply from Chi Yao was quite ambiguous.

After looking for a while, she sent him two messages—

Are you asleep yet?

Go to sleep early

Chi Yao replied with two messages—

Got it—

Good night

Lin Zhexia typed in the chat box: Aren’t we having a phone call tonight…

After typing, before sending it, she deleted this line.

As if she wanted to have a phone call with him while sleeping.

Lin Zhexia: Can you sleep well?

Chi: It’s okay

Lin Zhexia: Does your ear still hurt?

This time, Chi Yao’s reply was a bit slower.

She held her phone, waited for two minutes, and then felt it vibrate.

Chi: Much better after you touched it

…

Lin Zhexia’s drowsiness was pushed back by this line.

She nervously formulated her words: Don’t say things like this in the future, it’s easy for people to misunderstand.

But after editing it, she didn’t dare to send it.

What if she was overthinking?

If Chi Yao didn’t mean it that way at all, sending this message would make things awkward for both of them.

So she could only ask: What are you doing?

In the dorm—

Listening to them chat, might go to the back street for dinner tomorrow night—

Lin Zhexia fell asleep after this conversation with Chi Yao.

But coincidentally, her dormitory was also having dinner on the back street the next evening.

That night, the back street was decorated with lights, and many restaurants had set up tables and chairs on both sides of the road. Just as she was wondering if she might run into Chi Yao, sharp-eyed Lan Xiaoxue spotted someone across the street: “Your brother.”

Lin Zhexia had her back to the commercial street. Hearing this, she turned around.

Chi Yao was walking with three other male students from the other end. The back street was crowded, but no matter how many people there were, he was always the most outstanding one in the crowd.

The young man had been casually following behind the other three, hands in his pockets, seemingly annoyed by how noisy the street was. With his eyes slightly lowered, the aura of detachment around him was palpable even from five meters away.

After a while, he raised his eyes and glanced ahead.

Then, just like Lin Zhexia, he immediately spotted her in the crowd.

In the end, the two groups joined tables.

Lin Zhexia looked at the four people who suddenly appeared, dragged her chair to the side to make room for them.

When Chi Yao sat down beside her, she asked: “How did you see me?”

“Am I blind or something?”

“…”

Everyone briefly introduced themselves. When it was Lin Zhexia’s turn, she had just stated her name when the other boys from Chi Yao’s dormitory immediately said: “We know, we know, Chi Yao’s girlfriend. We understand, it’s an honor to meet you.”

“…???”

Lin Zhexia was bewildered and sat back down.

At the table, others started chatting.

Lin Zhexia gently nudged Chi Yao’s arm, awkwardly questioning: “Why did they say I’m your girlfriend?”

Chi Yao leaned back: “Not quite sure.”

How could you not be sure…

But before continuing to question him, Lin Zhexia remembered what Lan Xiaoxue had said last night: Which good friend would allow others to misunderstand that they’re involved?

Lin Zhexia didn’t dare to continue this topic. She wanted to know the answer, yet feared knowing it.

Under these complex emotions, she casually picked up a drink from the side and took a couple of sips.

It was tangy and sweet, quite tasty, except there was another indescribable flavor besides the sweet and sour.

Lin Zhexia didn’t think much of it and drank two glasses throughout the meal.

By the time she realized this “drink” might not be just a drink, her head had already started spinning, and she couldn’t control herself.

“Chi Yao,” she nudged his arm again, grabbing his sleeve. “Why has your head gotten bigger?”

Chi Yao glanced at her.

“Don’t move around, you’re swaying back and forth is making me dizzy.”

“I’m not moving,” he said. “What did you drink just now?”

Lin Zhexia: “A drink.”

Chi Yao looked at the cocktails on the table: “How many glasses?”

Lin Zhexia held up her hand, showing four fingers: “Two glasses.”

“…”

Before this day, Lin Zhexia had never imagined that her first experience of being drunk would be so embarrassing.

After the gathering dispersed, others returned to their dormitories first.

She crouched at the corner of the back street, supporting herself against the wall as she dry-heaved. Chi Yao stood beside her, handing her tissues.

She tried to take them in her foggy state, but couldn’t.

So in her blurred memory, she saw the young man, backlit by the dazzling lights of the back street, silently crouching down, one hand on the back of her head, the other using tissue to wipe for her.

Very gentle, thorough, and careful.

As if she were some precious, fragile object.

After wiping, she heard Chi Yao’s voice in her ear: “Can you stand up?”

She held onto the wall, still a bit wobbly.

Then the next second, a hand appeared in her vision.

With distinct knuckles and long fingers, even in her unclear state of mind, she could spare some rationality to admire its beauty.

This hand had done many, many things with her, had woven scarves with her, and had pressed piano strings.

…

Lin Zhexia wanted to grab Chi Yao’s sleeve like she did in high school, to walk holding onto his clothes.

However, the person reaching out didn’t give her this opportunity. Chi Yao’s hand moved upward, silently grasping her hand, forcibly locking her palm, and holding her hand as they walked toward the other end of the long street.

“Let’s go, scaredy-cat with no alcohol tolerance.”

Lin Zhexia’s brain, already out of control from alcohol, suddenly went haywire.

Crackling, like a power outage.

Or like countless fine circuits bursting with some kind of spark.

Because of her drunkenness, she felt the road beneath her feet was unreal, as if she were about to float away. The entire world seemed unreal, except for the hand of the young man intertwined with hers—that was real. His fingers firmly holding hers were real, and the body heat transmitted from his hand was also real.

…

Lin Zhexia was led by him all the way, but halfway through, she suddenly let go of his hand.

She felt herself on the edge of losing control, words deeply hidden in her heart that she didn’t dare say all flowing to her lips: “Why did you tell my roommates you were my brother?”

Due to the alcohol, the girl’s face was flushed red.

Her eyes were hazy yet still bright.

“Why did Fang Huai think you were my boyfriend, and why, even your roommates, the first time they met me, said I was your girlfriend?”

“Why… do you let them think this way?”

At this point, she felt a bit aggrieved.

She thought, if it were a joke, her concern now would make her look foolish.

Because he was the person she liked, the person she could only secretly like since high school.

“We aren’t.”

She said word by word, “You doing this makes it easy for others to misunderstand.”

After speaking, she surprisingly began to sober up.

Perhaps because she also knew these words shouldn’t be said, at least not so directly.

So she was somewhat awakened by herself.

She anxiously and regretfully waited for Chi Yao’s response, anticipating many types of answers, the most likely being an explanation from Chi Yao.

But there was none.

The person standing in front of her not only didn’t explain, but instead asked her: “What about you? Have you also started to misunderstand?”

Having sobered up somewhat, Lin Zhexia’s speech wasn’t as direct as before, but the conversation had already reached this point, and she couldn’t avoid it now. So she lowered her head, not looking at him, and stammered: “The way you act, of course, I would also misunderstand…”

Her voice grew increasingly softer.

Then, it was covered by Chi Yao’s voice:

“You haven’t misunderstood.”

Lin Zhexia froze. She suddenly raised her head, crashing into Chi Yao’s gaze.

Chi Yao’s eyes were deep as he looked at her. Standing under the street light, his throat moved slightly, the young man’s cold, lazy, casual voice becoming dry from nervousness: “I did it on purpose. Lin Zhexia, is it so hard to see that I’m pursuing you?”

“If it’s not obvious enough,” seeing she still hadn’t reacted, he added, “…tomorrow I’ll try to make it more obvious.”