As Jing Chi said, not long after the start of the new semester, Xu Chaoyang confessed his love to Chu Zhao.
Xu Chaoyang's confession was unique. He hung a beautiful gift box on the bookshelf along Chu Zhao's usual route back to her dorm, and scattered pink rose petals on the ground, making it seem like she had entered Alice's Wonderland as she walked along the path.
Dressed in a white shirt, Xu Chaoyang stood at the end of the road, gazing at her from afar.
Perhaps because she had been forewarned, Chu Zhao did not seem particularly excited. On the contrary, she was quite calm.
Even though her heart was beating faster, it was probably because of the onlooking and cheering crowd, and had little to do with the handsome boy in the white shirt across from her.
Chu Zhao walked steadily, taking a long time to traverse this short rose-petal path.
She even wondered if Jing Chi had been involved in setting up these romantic scenes.
Would he have helped his brother plan this?
Chu Zhao took a deep breath and came to stand in front of Xu Chaoyang.
Xu Chaoyang was just like his name, with a sunny warmth about him. His smiling face could make people feel especially cosy.
This kind of simple nice guy didn't easily drive girls crazy with obsession, but he had somehow attracted Chu Zhao's affection.
She liked the warm power he exuded.
If this had been a relationship founded on mutual liking from the very beginning, perhaps Chu Zhao would have felt extremely happy at this moment.
However, in the half minute of silence after Xu Chaoyang asked her "could you please be with me", the fragments that flashed through Chu Zhao's mind were all about another boy.
Everything that boy had done for her and the restrained yet ardent words he had spoken to her -
"As long as I'm not stealing my brother's girlfriend, whatever you ask, even if it's a knife mountain or flame sea, I'll do it for you."
"If you can't forget him, how could I have a chance?"
"Before you agree to him... consider me, okay? I'm really good to you."
"Xu Chaoyang doesn't cherish you, but I do."
...
She didn't know when it started, but every word and every heartbroken expression from that boy had already been deeply imprinted in her mind and fused with her flesh and blood.
"I already have someone I like."
Chu Zhao looked up into Xu Chaoyang's clear dark eyes.
In the past, she had never dared to look him in the eye. Whenever their eyes met, her blood pressure would rise and her heartbeat would race excitedly.
But now, she could finally gaze calmly into his eyes without any ripples in her heart.
"I'm sorry, Xu Chaoyang. I can't accept your confession."
Having said that, Chu Zhao immediately stepped aside and hurried away.
This dramatic one-sided crush had matured Chu Zhao greatly. She now understood that in this relationship where she had shed countless tears and suffered much bitterness, the only one who had been moved was herself.
From beginning to end, the one Xu Chaoyang liked had never been her. He had only thought that he should make her happy because he was too kind-hearted, that was all.
Chu Zhao did not regret having a crush on Xu Chaoyang, but now, there was someone more important in her heart.
Chu Zhao wanted to find Jing Chi and tell him of her belated feelings. But when she rushed breathlessly back to the dormitory, the room next door was empty.
She took out her phone to call him, but the cold automated message informed her that his phone was switched off.
Xu Chaoyang also came strolling back, still wearing that carefree smile on his face, as if nothing had happened at all.
"When Jing Chi is in a bad mood, he would go for a walk alone by the river behind the hill. You can go there to look for him."
Chu Zhao was taken aback for a moment, then said earnestly: "Thank you, Xu Chaoyang."
As Chu Zhao walked past Xu Chaoyang, he suddenly grabbed her wrist.
"I was too late."
Chu Zhao looked at him in surprise.
The smile on his face gradually disappeared, his eyes were downcast, and his expression was filled with regret: "I'm sorry, I was too late."
...
The lights along the lakeside trail were sparse, so it was relatively dim.
Chu Zhao saw a familiar figure by the lakeside jogging track.
She tiptoed over quietly, but Jing Chi did not notice. He was looking down, switching songs on his phone screen.
The faint light shone on his gentle eyebrows and eyelashes. His long lashes cast a row of shadows under his eyelids.
"So it wasn't because your phone ran out of battery, you deliberately switched on airplane mode."
Jing Chi was quite shocked when Chu Zhao suddenly spoke.
He took out his earpiece and turned around in surprise.
Chu Zhao stood just two to three meters away, smiling at him with her hands behind her back.
"It wasn't on purpose..."
Perhaps because he had not spoken for too long, his voice was a little hoarse. He gave a light cough but did not continue.
Chu Zhao walked a few more steps towards him and asked, "What song were you listening to?"
Jing Chi deftly hung the earpieces over her ears, then switched to a soothing tune. The two of them silently walked on the grass trail.
The night wind was slightly cool. Autumn would soon be here.
"Xu Chaoyang just confessed to me. It was very romantic, with lots of light pink rose petals scattered on the ground. Those are called Rapture roses."
Jing Chi slowly murmured "Oh", and explained: "Because the last time, Qu Xuanxuan said the roses Xu Chaoyang gave her when he confessed had wilted, which made her feel it was very cheap and she lost face."
"Girls care about face, me too." Chu Zhao looked down at the tips of her sports shoes, as if talking about something irrelevant to her. "He made the scene very dreamy, must have spent a lot."
"He's always been generous with investing in such things."
"Did you help him come up with ideas?"
"Would I be that stupid?" Jing Chi laughed. "Even if he's my own brother, I wouldn't help him pursue the girl I love."
When he so naturally uttered the words "the girl I love", Chu Zhao's heart quivered slightly.
"You're just a...fool."
He gazed into the night, at the distant mountains shrouded in deep mist: "If you say so, then so be it."
He'd rather be a fool in her eyes forever.
The light wind brushed past her ear and the strands of her hair. The hoarse voice from the earphones sang -
"All the pain is just a tingle. The two things I care about most are only you and my dreams."
Unknowingly, Jing Chi held Chu Zhao's hand.
His palm was not smooth. There were rough calluses, rubbing against the back of her hand. She found it very comfortable so she did not pull away.
The two walked silently on the plastic track, listening to the same song. Their steps were light, with only the wind disturbing them.
"Thank you."
He did not say much, just two simple words - thank you.
Thank you for choosing me, thank you for believing in me.
Young love is always full of variables, but Jing Chi spent a lifetime proving that the choice she made that dusk was not wrong.
**
Shen Pingchuan was universally acknowledged in school as a bookworm. Other than handling student council affairs, he spent most of his time in the library, reading through one difficult foreign economics textbook after another.
But he was always the first to know of any gossip on campus.
He joined an anonymous gossip group, where he could always get piping hot news - who was badmouthing him again, who had organised a rebel group against the student council... In his own words, keeping abreast of the masses' movements in real time helped him carry out his student council duties better.
That crisp autumn afternoon, Shen Pingchuan had just finished solving a set of questions when he took out his phone and immediately came across gossip that his brother-in-law was getting close with a freshman girl.
The group mentioned it in great detail - saying Bo Yan had given the girl his campus card to use, and even posted pictures of the two talking alone together that had spread widely in the school groups.
Shen Pingchuan enlarged the photo to take a careful look.
Viewing with a brother's bias, the girl in the photo looked decent, but definitely not as good as his own sister.
Shen Pingchuan immediately called Jin Xi: "Do you know what people are saying out there, that your man is cheating on you!"
It sounded like Jin Xi was eating potato chips, crunching away like a little hamster: "I...I know~ *burp*"
"Do you know? You know and you're not taking action? Other people are about to snatch your man away! And you're still in the mood to eat, stop eating!"
Jinxi said helplessly, "You're telling me not to believe Bo Yan, but to believe those boring people talking nonsense outside?"
"Sister, you didn't inherit my beauty either. What gave you such great confidence that he must be yours?"
"..."
Ugh, what beauty do you have!
"You're my brother, how can you damage me like this?"
Shen Pingchuan was of course her brother. When they were young, Shen Shishan brought back an authentic Barbie doll for Jinxi when he was away on a business trip. But in just two days, it was snatched away by a formidable female classmate. Jinxi was a softie, and didn't dare confront the girl directly. She could only run to Shen Pingchuan's class in tears, tugging at his sleeve and telling him about her grievance in fits and starts.
In the end, her brother still had to step in and teach those domineering girls a lesson one by one before snatching back his sister's foreign doll.
After hanging up the phone, Shen Pingchuan gazed at the clouds outside the floor-to-ceiling window, dyed red by the setting sun, and contemplated painstakingly...
Jinxi's blind optimism was also pampered out of her by him. With a brother protecting her like this, she was unaware of the harshness of the outside world and the sinister human heart.
A brother-in-law like Bo Yan was truly hard to come by even with a lantern. If those flirtatious cheap hussies snatched him away, it wouldn't be as simple as taking back a Barbie doll. He couldn't possibly tie up Bo Yan and forcibly shove him to his sister's side, could he?
Shen Pingchuan thought it over back and forth, but was stumped.
He was now the prestigious student council president. It wasn't proper for him to go cause trouble for those girls. It's said that flies don't land on seamless eggs. If Bo Yan was innocent, how could such rumors spread?
The more Shen Pingchuan thought about it, the angrier he felt, feeling indignant on behalf of his sister, as if he was the cuckolded one.
No, he absolutely could not swallow this insult! Bullying his, Shen Pingchuan's, sister, did they think he was dead as her brother?
That afternoon, Shen Pingchuan looked up Bo Yan's class schedule for general courses and went to wait outside his classroom, full of murderous aura.
When the bell rang to end class, Bo Yan had just walked out of the classroom when Shen Pingchuan pounced on him, grabbing his collar and slamming him fiercely against the wall.
Bo Yan was completely unprepared and his shoulder blades were rammed painfully.
"F*ck you, who the hell do you think you are, daring to cuckold me!"
The few military academy boys around were dumbfounded, not expecting that Bo Yan actually had such tastes.
Recognizing it was Shen Pingchuan, Bo Yan didn't resist at all, letting his hands drop to his sides. He smiled and said, "Who made my Shen brother angry?"
"You're still smiling, I'm going to beat you to death!"
Shen Pingchuan spoke and was about to swing a fist when the few boys around him who reacted swiftly stopped him and pulled him back, holding his hand in place.
"Shen Pingchuan, where did you get the guts to get violent at our military academy entrance?"
"The student council sure is arrogant, don't go too far!"
"Don't make me put you in bed for three days."
...
Bo Yan tidied his collar and smoothed out the wrinkles on his body. The smile lines at the corners of his eyes quirked up as he looked at Shen Pingchuan held captive. "Let's talk nicely. Why use force? Singles get hurt and there's no one who cares enough to console them. I'd have to be the one to dote on you."
Seeing Bo Yan's provocative, flirtatious manner, Shen Pingchuan exploded. He felt certain that he acted the same towards other girls.
"Scumbag! Bo Yan, you dead scumbag! I was blind! I treated you so well, didn't even check your dorm room during inspections, yet you dare cheat on me?"
The few straight military academy boys really couldn't stand listening anymore. One of them punched Shen Pingchuan in the face. "Shut your mouth! Disgusting!"
"Hey!" Bo Yan rebuked, "Don't hit my Shen brother! My wife will be upset if she finds out."
The boys immediately stopped and released Shen Pingchuan.
Shen Pingchuan spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva resentfully, glaring at him.
Bo Yan walked over and dragged Shen Pingchuan by the collar, half pulling, half tugging him to an empty corner of the building.
In front of Bo Yan, Shen Pingchuan's plump figure was no match at all, like a small bunny rabbit, helpless to his manhandling.
"How did I anger my Shen brother?"
Bo Yan gently tidied his shirt for him and affectionately smoothed his hair, murmuring casually, "So early in the morning yet such a big temper."
Shen Pingchuan pushed Bo Yan away forcefully, livid. "Are you cheating on us? Do you have someone else?"
"Who do I have?"
"A woman!"
Bo Yan gave a light laugh. "My woman isn't your sister? What, is it trendy this year to be jealous over your sister?"
"Don't mess with me. I'm asking you, what's going on between you and that freshman girl? Why does she say you're her boyfriend?"
Bo Yan just kept smiling. "What boyfriend? Who are you talking about?"
"Her! She even has your campus card!" Shen Pingchuan hurriedly took out the photos on his phone. "The evidence is clear. Let's hear your explanation!"
Bo Yan looked at the photo of Yang Xiaoyuan and breezily said, "She's an impoverished student my grandfather sponsors. I lent her my campus card because her own impoverished student card hadn't come down yet."
"You..."
Shen Pingchuan suppressed the urge to curse and reasoned with Bo Yan, "The campus cards for the Spring Bud Plan were issued last Monday. I personally handled it. What else do you have to say?"
Bo Yan was silent for a moment, calculating in his head how many days had passed since last Monday.
After a while, he asked Shen Pingchuan, "What are people saying outside now?"
"There's no smoke without fire. If you didn't have any problems yourself, how could this get spread all over?"
Shen Pingchuan still didn't trust him and threatened harshly, "I can't beat you, but if you dare cheat on my sister, I'll find a way to deal with you all the same!"
"Does Xi Xi know about this?"
"I've heard about it, how could she not know?"
Bo Yan's expression cooled and he left without another word.
