Lin Zhexia had initially felt herself floating due to the alcohol, then came back down after saying the wrong things.

But now, because of Chi Yao’s words, she was floating again.

Chi Yao told her that she hadn’t misunderstood.

She hadn’t misunderstood; he was pursuing her.

She was struck by these words, almost thinking she was dreaming. To confirm, she foolishly asked another question: “Why pursue me?”

When Lin Zhexia recalled this part after sobering up the next day, she was still so embarrassed that she completely hid under her blanket, only emerging after a long while.

Last night, there seemed to be stars in the night sky.

Chi Yao, who always liked to say the opposite of what he meant, for once set aside everything else and seriously told her: “Because I like you.”

“Lin Zhexia, I like you.”

“…”

Then both of them fell into a long silence after this unexpected confession.

It was too sudden.

For either of them, the current situation was too sudden.

Lin Zhexia didn’t know how to face it at the moment. In this situation, now that he said he wanted to pursue her, it didn’t seem right for her to immediately respond with “Actually, I’ve liked you for many years too.”

Besides… she was looking forward to it.

Looking forward to being pursued by the person she liked.

Chi Yao also didn’t know how to continue.

He appeared calm on the surface, but the back of his ears had quietly turned red.

In his plan, saying “like” to Lin Zhexia should have been in a more formal setting.

After the stifling atmosphere, he sighed and prepared to hold her hand again, to lead her back to the dormitory: “…It’s late, let me take you back first.”

Lin Zhexia restrained herself with her last bit of rationality, avoiding his hand.

“Only boyfriends and girlfriends can hold hands,” she said. “We’re not that yet.”

She looked away: “Just… keep pursuing me.”

When Lin Zhexia woke up the next day, her head still ached a bit.

She opened her eyes, and the first message she saw was Chi Yao’s “Morning.”

Lin Zhexia vaguely processed what had happened last night, then scrolled through her Moments feed and discovered that Chi Yao had, unusually, updated his Moments.

Cat Head: [I have someone I like]

“…”

Chi Yao’s Moments were almost empty, and he was constantly criticized for his poor personality, never having any rumors about his love life.

Now he was publicly acknowledging his feelings in Moments.

Lin Zhexia’s heart skipped a beat. She scrolled down to see a series of familiar names in the comments.

Xu Ting: [Lost a dare?]

Xu Ting: [No, you don’t seem like someone who would participate in dares.]

He Yang: […]

Lan Xiaoxue: [Wow, progress is faster than I imagined.]

…

Among them was even No. 2 High School’s discipline director, Old Liu. Old Liu’s elderly internet surfing comment: [Going to university is different, huh? I support, fully support.]

She remembered what she heard while drunk last night:

—If it’s not obvious enough.

—Tomorrow I’ll try to make it more obvious.

It was indeed more obvious.

Very, very obvious.

And this moment’s post brought down all the unreal floating sensations from last night.

Last night wasn’t a dream. What happened between her and Chi Yao, the words they said, all truly existed.

That one-in-ten-thousand possibility she hadn’t dared to hope for had become a reality.

She backed out with a red face.

Lan Xiaoxue had just sent a new message: I told you, your brother likes you—

Remember to make him pursue you for a while—

Girls can’t be caught too easily—

After two days into the new semester, everyone had preliminarily become familiar with their classes and courses. Afterward, the freshmen underwent military training lasting half a month.

Nothing particularly special happened during the half-month of military training.

She and Chi Yao were in different majors, quite far apart.

But every morning, they would still go to the cafeteria together for breakfast as usual, and after military training ended in the evening, Chi Yao would wait for her for dinner.

The two returned to their inseparable state from high school.

Except Chi Yao would still say ambiguous things and do slightly ambiguous things to her that he wouldn’t have done in high school.

The only small incident during military training was that because Chi Yao was still too famous in university, his military training photos suddenly spread online.

She didn’t know about Chi Yao’s situation, but through Lan Xiaoxue, she learned that university girls’ pursuit tactics were much more aggressive than in high school.

For instance, a girl from Chi Yao’s major brought him chocolate every day, though he never accepted it once.

For instance, some people would brazenly attend his major’s classes uninvited.

…

After learning more about these things, during military training, one day, when Lin Zhexia was having dinner with Chi Yao, she inexplicably couldn’t hold back: “Have there been… many people looking for you lately?”

Chi Yao didn’t immediately understand, as he was picking out green onions for her: “How many people?”

“Chocolate,” Lin Zhexia couldn’t help clarifying. “I heard someone in your class gives you some every day.”

Chi Yao made an “oh” sound: “There is.”

Lin Zhexia quietly waited for him to continue.

Finding that Chi Yao was just looking at her with no intention of elaborating, she prompted: “And then?”

Chi Yao: “Can I interpret this as you being jealous?”

“…”

“No,” Lin Zhexia flatly denied. “I’m just asking casually.”

Chi Yao, wearing his military training uniform, retorted like he used to. With his chin slightly raised, he said in a non-negotiable tone: “Since you’re just asking casually, I won’t bother giving a specific answer.”

“…”

Fine, don’t answer then.

Lin Zhexia poked at the rice in her bowl, thinking that she didn’t have the standing to ask.

Although Chi Yao was pursuing her, they hadn’t confirmed their relationship.

Just as she was about to say “forget it, you don’t have to tell me,” before they cleared their trays and left the cafeteria, Chi Yao answered her earlier question with neither warmth nor coldness: “I told them I’m currently pursuing someone, and accepting gifts might prevent me from getting a girlfriend.”

All of Lin Zhexia’s thoughts broke off the moment she heard this.

Then, the densely packed, tiny sensations in her heart felt like secret fireworks being set off.

She didn’t know what to say, and finally just made an “oh” sound.

That evening, the two of them went to find He Yang at Lian Yun Normal University. He Yang’s mother had somehow heard about his dyed hair and forcibly demanded that he dye it back. She asked them to go over and record a video as supervision, to prevent He Yang from being duplicitous.

He Yang sat in the hair salon, quite distressed: “My handsomeness, tonight, it will be discounted.”

He was reluctant to part with his red hair: “Is there any possibility you could just spray me with some temporary hair color spray?”

“…”

Lin Zhexia and Chi Yao each sat in a chair opposite him, both shaking their heads at him in unison.

After finally dealing with He Yang’s head, it was already very late by the time they returned to the Lian Yun campus.

Back, Lin Zhexia harbored something on her mind.

The conversation from dinner earlier still lingered.

Although Lan Xiaoxue said girls should enjoy the pursuit phase and let Chi Yao chase her for some time, she didn’t want Chi Yao to keep pursuing her indefinitely.

Or rather, Chi Yao only needed to pursue her a little bit.

Because this person was also the one she had liked for so many years.

She wanted to be with him. And didn’t want to make him chase for too long.

Besides, there were so many people in the university—today it was chocolate, tomorrow who knows what.

Although she knew Chi Yao was always caustic toward others, she still worried that if a very enthusiastic girl appeared, and this girl happened to be Chi Yao’s type…

…

Lin Zhexia thought about many things, causing her to be absent-minded when Chi Yao was talking to her, not hearing what he was saying.

“Tomorrow morning, my department has something, so I won’t come to find you.”

“Mm.”

“Remember to eat breakfast, don’t oversleep.”

“Mm.”

“Lin Zhexia.”

“Mm.”

“Be my girlfriend.”

“Mm… huh?”

Chi Yao knew she was distracted and was just teasing her: “Just kidding.”

“…”

Lin Zhexia thought to herself, he could be serious.

She had been mentally preparing herself all the way, and by now they had reached the vicinity of the teaching building. There was a section of road ahead without lights.

Probably some issue with the electrical circuit; otherwise, this section was usually brightly lit.

After entering this darkness, the courage in Lin Zhexia’s heart inexplicably emerged.

Because at this moment, she couldn’t see Chi Yao’s face, only vaguely make out the tall, slender silhouette of the young man, and hear the voice coming from him.

Lin Zhexia walked beside him, and halfway through, her fingers moved slightly to touch the back of Chi Yao’s hand.

After touching it, she carefully yet extraordinarily firmly held his hand.

She felt Chi Yao’s entire body freeze the moment she held his hand.

There were very few people on this road, and it was pitch black. Even the cicada sounds seemed fainter.

She was actually very nervous too, and after grabbing Chi Yao’s hand, she didn’t know what to do next.

Should she say something?

Or perhaps, do something?

In the end, it was the owner of that hand who broke the silence, asking her: “What are you doing?”

Lin Zhexia’s voice was dry: “…I’m holding your hand.”

Chi Yao’s voice came down from above: “If I remember correctly, someone once said that only boyfriends and girlfriends can hold hands.”

Silence fell between them again.

As if waiting for some kind of verdict.

Lin Zhexia finally closed her eyes and said, “Since you already know, do you have to ask again?”

Chi Yao’s stiff fingers finally moved in her palm after a long time. The young man’s knuckles curved slightly, then reversed roles, his fingers forcefully sliding between hers, changing to a more intimate interlocking of fingers.

“So,” he said, “we’re now in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.”

Lin Zhexia made a very soft “mm” sound.

It was good that this road was so dark; otherwise, she wouldn’t have dared to make that sound at all.

It was Chi Yao who became hesitant instead. Liking someone could make an ordinarily arrogant and willful person uncertain.

Chi Yao: “Scaredy-cat, do you like me?”

Lin Zhexia was too embarrassed to say, “I’ve liked you for a long time.” In the end, she only said: “You look decent enough, and you’re very good to me. Besides, you’ve been pursuing me for so long, it’s normal that I would develop some feelings for you as someone of the opposite sex.”

“You’d better be sure.”

He said while holding her hand, “Once we pass through this road, if you want to let go, it won’t be so easy.”

His response was Lin Zhexia gripping his hand even tighter.

Chi Yao didn’t lead her through the entire road; halfway through, he suddenly stopped.

Lin Zhexia asked: “Why did you stop walking?”

“A bit impatient,” he asked, “…want to hug you.”

“…”

As soon as he finished speaking.

Lin Zhexia fell into his embrace. Chi Yao’s other hand gently pressed on the back of her neck, pulling her entire person into his arms.

It was still pitch black before her eyes, but other senses were amplified, like how Chi Yao’s hand holding the back of her head gradually moved to her waist. After military training today, Lin Zhexia had changed out of her uniform and was only wearing a short-sleeved top. Because she was meeting Chi Yao, she had paired it with a skirt.

Now her top had shifted up a bit with the movement, and the young man’s warm fingertips were almost touching her wind-chilled lower back.

Lin Zhexia could also hear a faint heartbeat coming from him.

This hug lasted for a long time.

Before Chi Yao released her, she felt his hand subtly move upward, pressing on her head, his fingers moving a few times to remove the black hair tie from her ponytail.

Lin Zhexia’s hair suddenly fell completely loose.

“I’m taking this,” Chi Yao said after releasing her. Facing the light at the end of the road, he raised his wrist, where the just-removed black hair tie was now worn on his prominent wrist bone. He waved it at her saying, “…after all, we just confirmed our relationship, need to be marked by my girlfriend.”

Lin Zhexia stared at his wrist, stunned for a long time.

The reason for her shock, besides his sudden action, was more because she remembered—

Among the many fragments of her interactions with Chi Yao, there was one where she had just washed her hair and asked him to hold her hair tie for a moment.

She had been in a hurry then, rushing to go out. Her hair wasn’t even dry.

Time seemed to cycle back in this moment.

That black hair tie, which had once briefly encircled Chi Yao’s wrist, was now legitimately worn with the title of “boyfriend.”

This coincidence, connecting across time and space at this moment, seemed so perfect as if it had been planned all along.

As if, from that moment on.

He had wanted to do this.