~~~
Su Jinglan’s voice softened a little, but the students nearby still overheard. They all wore knowing expressions. The student who had wanted to chat up Ning Jiuwei turned red all the way to the roots of her neck. As a psychology major, she hadn’t realized the two were a couple—how utterly embarrassing.
Ning Jiuwei’s heart raced at her words. In their meeting gazes, she seemed to hear Su Jinglan’s innermost thoughts.
The class bell rang right on time. Having achieved her goal, Su Jinglan released the hand she had been gripping so tightly and sat up straight. A smile lingered at the corners of her eyes and brows as she turned an arrogant gaze toward the teacher on the podium.
Even seated below as a mere student listening to the lecture, Su Jinglan was still the president of Hengsu Group. The aura she had cultivated from years in a position of power carried an oppressive pressure, even in silence.
Shi Wanxu switched on the microphone, turned her gaze to take in the students throughout the classroom, and continued the lesson.
“Our brains process the memories we take in. Some people simply trim away the minor details, preserving only the essentials. Others, however, overhaul their memories entirely—even deliberately blurring them to the point of forgetting.”
As she lectured, the teacher’s gaze wandered without settling anywhere in particular. Shi Wanxu’s eyes seemed to casually glance at Ning Jiuwei, lingering not even half a second before shifting to another student.
She observed her students without making direct eye contact, creating the illusion that she saw everyone equally.
Only that one glance at Ning Jiuwei truly met her eyes.
Ning Jiuwei kept her expression composed, but inside, emotions churned like massive waves crashing in during a storm, sweeping away the air around her.
The suffocating sensation struck again. Vines barbed with thorns lashed at her heart, ripping open the seal on her memories and dragging the buried ones into the light.
The teacher’s gentle voice from the podium faded to a distant murmur in her ears. Ning Jiuwei’s senses—sight and hearing—were wholly fixed on Su Jinglan. She turned her gaze to her.
Su Jinglan, staring straight ahead, felt the warmth blooming on her face. Her lips curved into a smile as she met the eyes of the woman beside her.
No gentle smile graced Ning Jiuwei’s face. Her eyes, vast as a starry sea, brimmed with emotions too complex to name, setting Su Jinglan’s heart pounding.
With class in session, talking was inconvenient. The two simply gazed at each other, oblivious to those around them for a moment. Then Ning Jiuwei pulled out her phone, typed a message in her notes app, and passed it over.
Can I see President Su’s alumni card?
She had deliberately avoided sending a WeChat message. Clutching her phone, she watched closely for Su Jinglan’s reaction as she read the note.
Su Jinglan paused to think, then pulled out the alumni card.
The front bore an aerial photo of the school taken from the angle of the South Gate. The back listed the department, major, student number, and name.
Ning Jiuwei held the alumni card for several minutes, motionless otherwise, her eyes glued to the photo.
Uncertain what thoughts occupied Ning Jiuwei, Su Jinglan typed into her own phone’s notes app and showed it to her: I have this photo at home. If Designer Ning wants it, I can give it to you when we get back.
Su Jinglan handed over her phone. Ning Jiuwei glanced at it but neither nodded nor shook her head. Her gaze returned to the alumni card.
She wasn’t looking only at the photo, Su Jinglan realized.
The card was pristine, untouched since graduation. Su Jinglan had never returned to campus after leaving, so it had sat at home all this time. Only when she learned Ning Jiuwei would be visiting Jiangji University had she asked Assistant Lin to retrieve it from home. This was its first use.
With the alumni card, one could enter the library and exhibition hall, even eat at the school cafeteria.
Back then, upon learning Ning Jiuwei planned to apply to Jiangji University, Su Jinglan had done the same. She never imagined Ning Jiuwei’s Gaokao choice would be Jianglin University—a single character apart, yet worlds away in location.
The online records had shown pre-admission status. Once the admission letter arrived, it was all set in stone.
Seizing the chance today, Su Jinglan intended to show Ning Jiuwei every corner of her alma mater.
Her heart hammered against her ribs. The flood of memories could no longer be held back. Ning Jiuwei pulled herself from the recollections and handed the alumni card back to Su Jinglan.
“My first-choice school for Gaokao was originally Jiangji University,” she typed into the notes app. “On the very last day of applications, I changed it to Jianglin University.”
That final day, with only half an hour until the deadline, she had learned from her teacher that Su Jinglan’s top choice was Jiangji University. She had immediately switched her own to Jianglin University.
Their Gaokao scores were shielded from public view, guaranteeing admission to any university they selected nationwide—no risk of missing out.
Thank goodness she had changed; otherwise, four years at university would have pitted her against Su Jinglan as rivals.
Su Jinglan’s undergraduate major had been artificial intelligence, too.
Su Jinglan stared blankly at the words on the memo. When her gaze lifted and met Ning Jiuwei’s eyes, she took Ning Jiuwei’s phone and wrote beneath that passage: I once wanted to go to Jianglin University.
The class bell rang just as Shi Wanxu finished covering everything she had planned for the day.
There was a twenty-minute break between the major classes. Shi Wanxu took a sip of water and packed up her things.
The entire Teaching Building buzzed with voices and the constant sound of footsteps. The classroom was especially rowdy now that the students no longer had to keep their voices down.
Ning Jiuwei put away her documents and waited for the students crowding around Doctor Shi at the lectern to finish asking their questions. Then she approached Shi Wanxu and spoke with her as they walked out together.
“How do you feel after teaching two classes?” Shi Wanxu asked, slinging her bag over her shoulder with elegant steps. She looked at Ning Jiuwei as she spoke. “Are you interested in coming to listen in from now on?”
“That sounds great,” Ning Jiuwei replied. It was exactly what she had hoped for—Psychology Professor Shi Wanxu from Jiangji University was extending a personal invitation, and it would be rude to refuse. “Teacher Shi, when are your other two classes scheduled?”
“Monday mornings, first and second periods, starting at eight,” Shi Wanxu said. Students passed them by in the corridor, and the two women drew closer, their arms nearly brushing. “Today’s content will be the same as Monday’s, just with different students. Come whichever day you have time. Oh, and let’s add each other on WeChat—it’ll be easier to stay in touch.”
In the past, their relationship had prohibited private contact—not just WeChat, but even personal phone numbers. If Ning Jiuwei wanted to reach her, she had to go to the hospital or call the landline in her hospital office.
The Ethical Guidelines stipulated that psychologists could not form multiple relationships with patients within three years. Strictly speaking, she and Shi Wanxu couldn’t even be friends back then. But now that three years had long passed, they could be.
Ning Jiuwei pulled up her WeChat QR code and stopped to let Shi Wanxu scan it.
Su Jinglan, who had been following behind, narrowed her eyes slightly at the sight.
“I’m free next. Want me to show you around the campus?” A ding sounded as Shi Wanxu added a note with her own name and sent the friend request.
Ning Jiuwei glanced discreetly at Su Jinglan and refused politely. “There will be plenty of chances later. Next time.”
“Alright, next time. You go ahead and take care of your business,” Shi Wanxu said. The two women added each other as friends and parted ways at the Administrative Office Building.
Su Jinglan, who had been walking silently beside her the whole time, finally spoke. “Just wander around?”
“Mm.”
They exited the Administrative Office Building through another door and strolled along the path. Some students hurried by on the campus, while others walked slowly, chatting and laughing with classmates. Ning Jiuwei and Su Jinglan were a third type: silent and aimless.
“These are all Teaching Buildings,” Su Jinglan said after they had walked a ways. As a former student of Jiangji University, she relied on her exceptional memory to point things out for Ning Jiuwei. “That’s the Student Activity Center over there. And that one’s the Gymnasium.”
The two skirted the central flower bed and took the pedestrian path along the edge, avoiding the vibrant young students in the middle of the road.
It was class time, so the students on campus were thinning out. Su Jinglan pointed distantly at a tall building. “That’s the Library. When I didn’t have classes, I’d usually go there.”
Ning Jiuwei looked in the direction she indicated. The Library was always a landmark building on any campus—even on a first visit, anyone could spot it at a glance.
Ning Jiuwei stopped in her tracks.
Her face was expressionless, the usual gentle smile nowhere to be seen. Su Jinglan sensed she had something on her mind and gave her a soft, warm smile.
“If you hadn’t changed your Gaokao preferences back then, we could have ended up at the same university,” Su Jinglan said with a smile toward the Library. “We were both students at Jiangji No.1 Middle School. We weren’t in the same class in high school, but if we’d gone to university together, we definitely would have gotten close.”
“So President Su was also from Jiangji No.1 Middle School,” Ning Jiuwei said, feigning complete unfamiliarity with her, a surprised glint of amusement in her eyes as she headed toward the Library.
Su Jinglan paused for a moment, then caught up a couple of steps behind. She parted her lips but found the words stuck in her throat, unable to respond right away.
A few of the Teaching Buildings were divided into north and south wings connected by a middle corridor. Ning Jiuwei and Su Jinglan passed through the central doorway, descending the steps one by one as they approached the Library.
Dozens of steps led up to the Library, and up close, its height was even more imposing. Ning Jiuwei glanced up and began climbing.
She kept an eye on the person beside her. Su Jinglan stayed close, walking shoulder to shoulder.
Inside the Library entrance stood the turnstiles, accessible only to current students and alumni. The security system hadn’t been upgraded to AI facial recognition yet; entry was by card swipe.
Su Jinglan held her Alumni Card. Borrowing one from a junior sister or brother would be easy.
“Want to go in?” Su Jinglan asked.
“We only have one card. How are the two of us supposed to get through?”
Su Jinglan handed her alumni card to Ning Jiuwei and borrowed one from a classmate who had just emerged.
The enthusiastic junior sister had noticed the two of them right away. Tall and stunningly beautiful, they were obviously alumni back on campus. Without a moment’s hesitation, she swiped her card to open the turnstile for Su Jinglan.
Su Jinglan reined in her imposing presence and offered the junior sister a gentle smile. “Thank you, Junior Sister.”
“No need to thank me, Senior Sister.” The junior sister beamed with delight, her voice dripping with sweetness as she called her “Senior Sister” over and over. “Senior Sister, shall we add each other on WeChat? Next time you forget your alumni card, I can swipe you through again.”
Having just accepted the girl’s help, Su Jinglan found it awkward to refuse. She hesitated for a moment, but then Ning Jiuwei glanced back and called out, “Su Jinglan.”
Su Jinglan hurried through the turnstile. With the gate sliding shut between them, she called to the junior sister, “Next time.”
Even if they were both on campus, they might never cross paths again—not when one was a current student and the other an alumnus who had graduated years earlier.
A floor directory was posted on the wall outside the elevators. They were in the Second Floor Lobby. Ning Jiuwei scanned the layout and asked Su Jinglan, “Which floor of the library has the fewest people?”
The school library was packed everywhere. If there was anywhere less crowded, it would have to be down to specific bookshelves. Su Jinglan pressed the button for the 10th Floor and led Ning Jiuwei into the elevator.
The library reading rooms were kept quiet. Su Jinglan took Ning Jiuwei’s hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She hadn’t asked in the elevator, but now, here in the hushed space, she leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Why pick the floor with the fewest people?”
Ning Jiuwei’s lips curved into a smile. “It’s convenient for doing a few things to President Su.”
~~~
