Undeterred, Xu Zhiyao decided to stake out the girls’ dorms.
Luck smiled on her then.
She’d barely reached the base of one building when the face from her dreams materialized right before her eyes.
Weekend vibes: the girl cradled two books in her arms. Xu Zhiyao pegged her for a library run.
Xu Zhiyao froze in place. As the girl brushed past, she caught the stranger’s gaze and offered a soft, genuine smile before continuing on her way.
Xu Zhiyao had seen that smile in her dreams, but it had always looked forced, like a puppet on strings—lifeless and fake.
This one was real, warm, alive. Her heart, already hers, thundered in response, impossible to ignore.
Xu Zhiyao had zero experience in this department, but she’d been on the receiving end of pursuits aplenty. If some random confessed out of the blue? She’d feel nothing but disgust or irritation.
So she held back, playing it casual like she was just wandering the campus, shadowing her from afar.
Overhearing a phone call along the way, Xu Zhiyao caught her sweetly addressing the caller as “A-Pan.” Her voice stayed gentle the whole time.
Envy twisted in Xu Zhiyao’s gut. If only she’d call her that—it’d sound sweeter than any symphony.
The library was indeed the destination; Xu Zhiyao heard it straight from the girl’s mouth. She was meeting A-Pan there to study till dusk.
Armed with that intel, Xu Zhiyao took her first instinctive step forward.
She bolted to the nearest milk tea shop, grabbed three cups to go, and hustled back.
The girl was steps from the library doors when a guy intercepted her.
Xu Zhiyao stood just three paces off—a single glance back would have revealed her.
But the girl’s eyes locked on the boy ahead.
“Excuse me,” he said, “could I have the chance to get to know you today?”
She didn’t reply. She simply sidestepped him and slipped inside, her posture screaming panicked escape.
Xu Zhiyao’s mind raced. If she were truly unmoved, why the flustered rush?
The guy with the flowers slunk away.
The girl with the books vanished through the doors.
All that remained was Xu Zhiyao, rooted to the spot.
~~~
04 Blessings
Huddled in the bushes like a gang of thieves, the group whispered among themselves.
“She wouldn’t be crying, would she? Why’s she just standing there frozen?”
“Who’s that guy? I didn’t pack my invisibility cloak—couldn’t get a good look. Anyone know him?”
“Nope, but he’s uglier than Xu Zhiyao. Not the underclassman’s boyfriend, is he?”
“My Qingqing Baby is still single! Those losers aren’t fit to lick her shoes!!!”
“If he’s not the underclassman’s boyfriend, then why didn’t Xu Zhiyao just go in? Didn’t she buy that milk tea for her?”
“I bet that guy said something to her. Is this really Xu Zhiyao? Charge right up and take him on! Compete with him head-on! Aside from him being a guy, how does Xu Zhiyao fall short of him in any way? Buck up and have some confidence in yourself!!!”
“You’re right about all of it, but he’s a guy.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“I must’ve stayed up too many nights. Looking at my little sister’s back like this, she actually seems kinda pitiful.”
“Don’t say it’s just you—I’m feeling it too. Being soft-hearted really is the Achilles’ heel of us pretty girls. Sigh, it’s all my fault for being too beautiful, too tender-hearted.”
The four of them were so wrapped up in their chatter that by the time they realized something was wrong, the girl they’d been tailing was standing right in front of them.
Xu Zhiyao stared at them expressionlessly—the whole group squatting on the ground without a shred of dignity.
She said nothing, just tossed the milk tea from her hand into Jiang Shiyan’s arms before turning and walking away.
They all exchanged glances, reading the same thought in each other’s eyes: She wasn’t even mad. She must really be heartbroken.
Only Lu Mianmian got distracted. “Three cups of milk tea for four people—how are we supposed to split it?”
The other three rolled their eyes. “It’s all yours, all yours. Drink yourself to death!”
Xu Zhiyao, who had rushed over from B City full of excitement to find her, headed back with a heart in pieces.
Before she left, she messaged Jiang Shiyan to look into that guy’s character.
Jiang Shiyan hadn’t forgotten how pitiful she’d looked earlier. For once, she didn’t complain and agreed right away.
A few days later, she compiled all the public information she could find on him into a neat table and sent it over.
After reading the file, Xu Zhiyao never brought up Fu Xiangqing again.
She’d given up—but Jiang Shiyan wouldn’t let it go.
That very day, she bought a ticket on the high-speed train back to B City and showed up before dinner, finding Xu Zhiyao at home grinding through practice problems even on the weekend.
She skipped all the roundabout chit-chat and cut straight to the chase. “You’re really just giving up on that junior Xiangqing? It’s not because of Lu Zimin, is it?”
Xu Zhiyao didn’t look up.
Jiang Shiyan pressed on. “I read the info too. Sure, he’s solid on character and morals or whatever, but you’re just a little sharp-tempered. If we’re comparing, how do you not beat him in every way? This isn’t the Xu Zhiyao I know. Those two aren’t even together—what are you scared of? You finally fell for someone, and you’re just gonna drop it like that?”
Xu Zhiyao didn’t answer right away. She finished the multiple-choice questions on the page, flipped to the next one, and kept going.
Her black ballpoint pen scratched out answer after answer on the test sheet—every single one correct, A through D. Her voice blended in with them, carrying a strange, powerless contrast.
“Her clothes are really worn out—must’ve had them for years. She’s too skinny, looks malnourished.”
The words hit too bluntly to ignore.
Jiang Shiyan’s smile faded. She looked at her like she was a stranger.
“So that’s it? You’re giving up just because her family’s poor?”
There was nothing wrong with wanting someone from the right background. If a friend asked Jiang Shiyan whether she should pick someone way below her league, she’d give the sensible advice: Don’t.
But if it came down to her own choice, she’d throw sense out the window.
It wasn’t blind faith in love. Her family elders had set such a good example that she couldn’t help yearning for the real thing.
She’d always figured Xu Zhiyao—who’d lived freer and wilder than anyone since childhood—would care even less about that stuff. She never imagined she’d be the naive one.
The disappointment lasted all of two seconds before Xu Zhiyao’s eyes met hers.
They’d lost their usual spark, like hollow glass marbles—fragile, ready to shatter.
“This road’s a breeze for me. It’s not for her. That guy’s decent, and she’s got some feelings for him. Let them take the smooth path everyone expects. What’s wrong with that?”
She curved her lips into a smile, but there wasn’t a trace of joy in it. “Why should I wreck the quiet life she could have, just for my own selfish whims?”
Fu Xiangqing’s name became an unspoken taboo.
Jiang Shiyan and the others felt that love-hate toward Xu Zhiyao.
She was like a bad-tempered housecat: no petting allowed, no getting close—until she needed feeding. Then she’d deign to rub up against you with a bit of spoiled affection.
But the little rascal was too damn cute. Even knowing she had no heart, that soft nuzzle would melt you every time, and you’d shamelessly dish out the food.
So on the surface, they all tacitly agreed not to mention the name that had broken her heart. Privately, though, they kept tabs on things for her sake.
Fu Xiangqing herself wasn’t the focus—she was too well-behaved for that, her life dead simple: classes, meals, and holing up in the library with a book.
The real focus of everyone’s attention was Lu Zimin, the man pursuing her.
After all, once he was out of the picture, Xu Zhiyao could step right up.
Lu Mianmian had zero interest in all this romantic drama. She didn’t hold back with her snarky comment.
【Baa~: Don’t you all already know who that guy is? He’s a pretty decent person. Why do you have to assume the worst about him?】
【Bird Outfit: Can’t blame you. Go have your fun.】
【Baa~: ?】
【Bird Outfit: Sigh, kid, you’re too young to understand men. They’re either rotten or well on their way to rotting. In all my years, the only halfway decent one I ever met was this excellent guy from high school. Otherwise, I haven’t come across a single truly clean man.】
【Beethoven Without Fragrance: If that’s the case, why didn’t you date him?】
【Bird Outfit: Oh, he likes guys.】
【Everyone: ……】
The topic died there, and the gossip group didn’t light up again until after the New Year.
It was Chi Niao who broke the silence.
【Bird Outfit: You guys check Tongcheng? That guy pursuing Junior Fu— one of his friends got exposed by a gossip blogger there.】
Everyone popped up, demanding details.
A few minutes later, Chi Niao finally replied.
【Bird Outfit: I went looking for screenshots of the post just now, but looks like the guy himself spotted it. Probably threatened them, ’cause the blogger deleted it. Good thing I read it through before telling you all. Hang on, I’ll summarize what it said.】
Jiang Shiyan was sprawled on the sofa in Xu Zhiyao’s room, idly scrolling Xiaohongshu, when the group notifications caught her eye. She bolted upright.
She shot a quick glance at Xu Zhiyao, who was buried in her homework, then guiltily switched back to WeChat to read Chi Niao’s wall of text.
【Bird Outfit: The original poster said she and her boyfriend were college classmates. He fell for her at first sight when school started and patiently chased her for months before she finally agreed to date him.
A couple days ago, he wanted to introduce her to his friends at a game parlor.
He had a bunch of friends there—over a dozen, guys and girls mixed.
Besides them, there was another new couple who’d just started dating.
Everyone split into groups playing cards, mahjong, you name it. They went until after eleven, when someone suggested a few rounds of a fixed game before calling it a night.
She got the rules and realized it was like King’s Game—random punishments in turns.
The first few rounds were tame: drink shots, dance around, that sort of thing. Then somehow, the vibe turned weird.
When one girl got ordered to masturbate in front of everyone, she knew it was time to bail.
But the round before, she’d been forced to chug a whole bottle of beer. Now, trying to stand, her head suddenly spun.
She got up and her body pitched backward, out of her control.
She woke up the next day next to another girl—the one from the other couple. They were both naked, and it was obvious something had gone down in that room the night before.
She called the police right away.
The results were disheartening. The cops checked the surveillance footage, which showed her coming back with her boyfriend, acting totally normal the whole time—no sign of coercion. Plus, they found no semen in her body and no physical evidence of assault. The police chalked it up to her being drunk and hallucinating, gave her some perfunctory comfort, and that was that.
As the victim, she was dead certain she’d glimpsed different men’s faces in her half-conscious haze that night. She’d already left the city by then, but before going, she decided to submit the post. If any other girls knew this scumbag, she hoped they’d steer clear.
】
【Bird Outfit: (Group photo.jpg).】
【Bird Outfit: Saved this before the post got deleted. The OP posted it in the comments. She said she dug it up from her ex’s Moments— a group pic from high school with his classmates on a trip. If I’m not mistaken, second row, third from the left: Lu Zimin, right?】
【Jiang Sir: That’s him. Face looks a bit more babyish than now, but definitely him.】
【Bird Outfit: I DMed the OP too. She said Lu Zimin wasn’t there.】
【Beethoven Without Fragrance: Then why tell us all this?】
