Chapter 47

Wen Ci brought the bouquet of eustoma back home.

It seemed like Zhou Wu had put some thought into buying the flowers. He didn’t get a big, extravagant bouquet, but a small, beautiful one that was just the right size to fit into Wen Ci’s white canvas bag.

It was almost September, and the weather was gradually cooling down.

The heavy rain came quickly and left just as fast. By the time Zhou Wu sent her back to the alley, the rain had already stopped and the sky had cleared.

After getting home and taking a shower, it was time for dinner.

While Wen Ci was eating, her mother’s hand was placed on her forehead.

After checking her temperature, her mother asked in confusion, “I thought you got sick after being caught in the rain this afternoon, but you don’t have a fever. Why is your face so red?”

Wen Ci stammered, the corners of her mouth lifting unconsciously. “Maybe I’m just a bit warm.”

Her smile was different from her usual polite expression. Seeing this, her mother couldn’t help but smile as well. “What happened today? Why are you so happy?”

“Nothing.” Wen Ci put down her chopsticks. “Mom, I’m full. I’ll go upstairs now.”

Not wanting to make it too obvious, Wen Ci took light and slow steps as she went upstairs. Once back in her room, she shut the door and threw herself onto the bed in one swift motion.

A pink ear tip poked out from her messy black hair. Wen Ci buried her face in the pillow, listening to her pounding heartbeat.

It was terrifying. How could this happen? Has it really been okay for her to be this excited for such a long time?

Wen Ci felt like she was on the verge of overheating from excitement.

Just before she suffocated from the pillow, the sound of a WeChat call saved her. She propped her phone up on the bedside table, poked her eyes and nose out from under the pillow, and answered the call.

On the other side, Dou Yiqing, with a headband on, was sitting with her feet propped up on a chair. Her face was pale, eyes sunken, and she already looked like she was in work mode.

“Why didn’t you reply to my WeChat this afternoon? This explosive gossip and no one to talk to about it. I had to go find Qin Yun, and he made me mad again…” she said, looking up and seeing Wen Ci’s flushed face and her obviously offbeat state. She asked the same question her mother had, “Did you catch a fever?”

“No,” Wen Ci’s voice came from under the pillow, muffled, “Sorry, I forgot to reply. I was doing something else.”

“What were you doing? Did you go to the library again?”

Wen Ci hadn’t told Dou Yiqing that her fling was with Zhou Wu, because she wasn’t sure how long it would last, and such things were private for Zhou Wu too. After all, it was just another brief, fleeting relationship. She didn’t mind keeping it to herself.

But now, Wen Ci felt like she couldn’t hold it in any longer. She was too eager to share it with Dou Yiqing.

“Mm,” Wen Ci blinked and brought her face close to the phone, as if the two were in the same bed. She whispered quickly, “Yiqing, Zhou Wu confessed to me.”

“What?” Dou Yiqing was stunned for a moment.

Wen Ci was about to repeat herself, but Dou Yiqing snapped her laptop shut with a loud “bang.” “What??!!”

—-

“So, how did you respond?”

Dou Yiqing shifted from her desk to the bed, sitting cross-legged with a pillow, listening to Wen Ci’s recount. Afterward, she asked, “When did you start liking Zhou Wu?”

Wen Ci quietly hummed, “I meant Zhou Wu.”

“???” Dou Yiqing was stunned, almost as if she were questioning herself. They’d been together every day in high school, and she had never noticed anything—Wen Ci was good at hiding it.

After a pause, Dou Yiqing asked, “What do you plan to do now?”

“I don’t know.” Wen Ci hugged her pillow tightly, seeking her friend’s advice. “What should I say? ‘Okay,’ ‘Sure,’ or ‘I’m willing’?”

Dou Yiqing: “…”

“Oh, ‘I’m willing’ is for proposals,” Dou Yiqing said, exasperated.

“Oh,” Wen Ci fluttered her eyelashes, “Oh, oh, oh…”

She looked like she was already falling in love.

Dou Yiqing sighed, saying seriously, “If you want my advice, I think you should wait before agreeing. Think it over, take your time.”

“Think about what?” Wen Ci, still a newbie at love, asked.

Dou Yiqing, with experience from two relationships in college, replied, “For example, family background, character… Although Zhou Wu seems like a nice guy, the time you’ve spent together is too short. You didn’t really know him in high school, so you can’t be sure. As for his family background, I only know that his family is rich. Are you dating with marriage in mind? If so, you need to understand his family situation. I feel that rich people often have complicated family dynamics. Besides, Zhou Wu is so rich and handsome; there must be many women around him. Not that I’m spreading rumors, but Qin Yun is like that. What if he just wants to play around and dumps you after two months?”

“Let’s say, for argument’s sake, he really did say he wants to pursue you. Just let him pursue you for a while and see. It’s nice to be pursued.”

While chatting, a new message from Zhou Wu popped up in Wen Ci’s phone.

He sent a picture of her chubby Samoyed, Yeye, who had been dragged out for a night run and was now sitting in front of the shop where Wen Ci had bought sausages for it, not moving. Zhou Wu’s leash was stretched tight.

【Zhou Wu: I think you’re responsible. Now, every time it passes by here, it stops for a few minutes.】

Wen Ci smiled slightly, feeling a little guilty: 【Sorry.】

【Zhou Wu: Are you going to the library tomorrow?】

【Wen Ci: Yeah, it’s noisy here due to renovations, so I’m going there to prepare lessons.】

【Zhou Wu: Got it.】

【Zhou Wu: Good night.】

Does “got it” mean he’ll come?

Seems like it.

Dou Yiqing was still talking on the video, but noticed Wen Ci smiling stupidly at her phone. She sensed something was off: “What are you doing? Are you listening to me?”

Wen Ci sat up straight, like a student caught daydreaming in class: “I’m listening.”

Dou Yiqing, in true teacher fashion, asked, “What did I just say?”

“You told me to take my time, think carefully, and not rush into agreeing.” Wen Ci saluted her, just like one of her students. “Got it, thank you for your important advice, Teacher Dou.”

“…”

Dou Yiqing hung up the phone, holding her phone and looking up at the sky, feeling a sense of wonder—how did Wen Ci become even more adorable recently?

After finishing her voice message, Wen Ci got up to wash up and, as usual, went to bed. But when she reached the bedside, she took a detour and headed to the desk instead.

The delicate and elegant eustoma was carefully placed in a vase.

Wen Ci occasionally bought flowers herself, and when her mother saw her bring them home, she didn’t ask many questions.

Wen Ci leaned down and smelled the faint, fresh fragrance of the flowers.

—

When Wen Ci arrived at the library, Zhou Wu was already sitting in the same spot as yesterday.

Wearing a fresh, clean white T-shirt, his posture as lazy as usual, beside him was a black backpack with books resting between his legs and the desk, looking like the most relaxed person in the area.

A girl was standing next to him, wearing a small skirt and a sheep-tail braid, bending slightly as if she was asking Zhou Wu for his contact details.

The library was one of the places with the highest chances of being approached. Wen Ci was often approached, especially when reading materials for the postgraduate entrance exam, and male students would ask if she was a “fellow soldier” and if they could add each other as friends to study together.

And then there was Zhou Wu, who had always attracted attention. Even now, sitting casually with his shoulders slouched, he was still easy to spot when walking in.

Zhou Wu raised his head, and after listening to the girl’s words, he lifted his phone.

Wen Ci thought he was about to exchange contact details, but the girl looked at his phone, smiled, and put the phone back in her pocket before saying goodbye to him.

Zhou Wu also raised his hand in acknowledgment, and as he turned his eyes, he happened to make eye contact with Wen Ci.

He slowly lowered his hand, pulled out a chair for her, and casually placed his backpack—used to save the seat—on the floor.

Wen Ci sat down and glanced down, “Why did you bring a backpack?”

He never used to carry one to school.

“To carry an umbrella and jacket,” Zhou Wu leaned back in his chair and asked, “Do you want to have dinner at home tonight?”

Wen Ci paused for a moment as she was reaching for her book. “I can skip going home.”

“Then let’s eat together?”

Wen Ci nodded.

Zhou Wu picked up his phone to reserve a restaurant, and Wen Ci casually glanced at it, only to be stunned.

Zhou Wu’s phone wallpaper had changed. It was no longer the picture of the dog sticking its tongue out, but instead, it was a warm orange color. Wen Ci was sitting in the orange light, her cheeks puffed with food, smiling with crescent-shaped eyes.

It was the photo taken in Binh City, when Zhou Wu snapped a picture of her eating.

As Zhou Wu unlocked his phone, his wrist was tightly held. Zhou Wu had always played sports like surfing, tennis, and basketball, and his skin was tan. Wen Ci, on the other hand, was very fair. Whenever they were close, the contrast in skin color was especially noticeable.

“What’s up with your screen…” Wen Ci asked, dazed.

Zhou Wu raised an eyebrow, succinctly replying, “Convenient.”

Whatever happened, just lifting his phone solved it, no words necessary.

“…”

The excitement, which had been suppressed after a nap, slowly crept back up. Her heartbeat drummed against her skin. Fearing it might be noticed, Wen Ci quickly let go of his hand.

“Then,” for the first time being treated as a phone screen by someone, and that someone being Zhou Wu, Wen Ci’s mind was a mess. “Can’t you change it to another picture?”

Zhou Wu opened his photo album, found the portrait category, and handed her the phone, saying amicably, “You choose.”

Wen Ci looked down and swiped a few times, only to find that in Zhou Wu’s portrait category, there were only photos of her.

Most of them were taken in Binh City. They weren’t particularly artistic, showing that Zhou Wu had just taken them on a whim. In the photos, she was by the sea, in a restaurant, in the yard of a villa. Some had unclear faces, even blurry double images. Zhou Wu hadn’t deleted any of them.

The most recent two were of her walking with the dog, Yeye, in the back, walking on a stone bridge, Yeye’s butt against her calf.

Zhou Wu rested his elbow on the table, half-turning his body, watching Wen Ci lower her head more and more as she flipped through the photos.

This pose seemed oddly familiar, Zhou Wu recalled.

After a while, he asked, “Have you chosen yet?”

Wen Ci was still slowly swiping through the photos, “Not yet, I… I’ll keep looking.”

Zhou Wu lazily hummed in acknowledgment, then suddenly asked, “Wen Ci, back in high school, did you ever hide my phone for me?”

Wen Ci froze and turned to look at him. “There was one time, when Teacher Yu suddenly came in to inspect the phones.”

Zhou Wu had been outside in the hallway, feeling too tired. When he saw Yu Binhong coming in with a black bag, looking stern, he immediately understood what was going on.

As a prime target for inspection, Zhou Wu was probably the first person to be searched. So, he turned around and went to the first row by the window to ask a classmate to hide his phone.

“Classmate, could you help me hide a phone?” he asked.

At that time, Wen Ci was startled, and she looked up at him in a daze. Seeing that she didn’t respond, and knowing that she looked very obedient, Zhou Wu realized he had asked the wrong person. He was about to wave his hand and say never mind, but she suddenly accepted the phone with both hands and nodded. “Okay.”

As a good student, Wen Ci naturally wouldn’t be searched, but feeling guilty, when Yu Binhong asked the students in the first row if they had a phone, Zhou Wu, sitting in the last row, glanced up. He saw Wen Ci holding a textbook with the phone inside and saying, “No, no, no, no.”

—-

Wen Ci carefully selected the photos and finally chose the one where she was feeding Yeye a sausage. She looked up to ask Zhou Wu for permission.

But she noticed Zhou Wu was fiddling with a pen, his head tilted lazily, and his ears were slightly red.

Wen Ci froze for a moment, and since there were other people around, she leaned over, holding her phone, and asked quietly, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking about you in high school.”

—

“I didn’t realize back then that you were this cute.”

—

Unaware of the situation, Wen Ci held her phone, confused, and her ears turned red as well.