Chapter 14

In the end, Zhong Yao followed Jin Chuan back to Beijing.

Because of their earlier argument, the two hardly spoke on the journey. Luckily, they arrived back in the capital late at night, so they simply went to their separate rooms without much interaction.

The next morning, Zhong Yao set her alarm extra early and went to the nearest bakery to buy breakfast for Jin Chuan.

She remembered—she still hadn’t apologized to him.

The house was quiet. Zhong Yao picked up a pen and began scribbling on a sticky note, over and over, but nothing seemed quite right.

No matter how she phrased it, an apology just felt awkward.

“Up so early?”

A sudden voice came from the staircase, startling her.

She didn’t know how to act around Jin Chuan now. Flustered, she quickly scrawled something on the note and bolted for the door.

“I’m off to school!” she called, and fled.

Jin Chuan came downstairs and found a piece of bread and a small red velvet strawberry cake on the table. Next to the cake, in messy handwriting, was a note from the girl:

“About yesterday—sorry!”

He glanced down and noticed several crumpled paper balls in the trash.

He stared at them for a moment, then decided against fishing them out.

Instead, he carefully kept the note she left, sat down, and took his first-ever bite of a girly little cake.

After a moment, his lips curled faintly.

It was… pretty sweet.

–

On her way to school, Zhong Yao was filled with unease.

It wasn’t just about giving Jin Chuan the cake to apologize—she had taken a full day off for her mother’s funeral yesterday, and she was worried the other students might stare or gossip.

But when she arrived, she realized she had worried for nothing.

Thanks to the Mid-Autumn Festival performance, Qi Yu had become the talk of the school.

As soon as Zhong Yao sat down, her deskmate He Lingli only asked if she was feeling okay before launching straight into the latest gossip.

“Zhong Yao, did you watch the Beijing TV Mid-Autumn Gala?” Her eyes sparkled. “After two months, Qi Yu finally performed again!”

“He was amazing! Even sang in Korean—and choreographed a brand-new dance to that old song! During the interview, he said it was called the ‘apology dance,’ haha.”

Hearing the words “apology dance,” Zhong Yao recalled the boy repeating “sorry, sorry” on stage, and couldn’t help but smile a little.

But not wanting to get too entangled with Qi Yu again, she changed the subject and said, “I went back to my hometown for Mid-Autumn.”

He Lingli assumed that meant she hadn’t seen the show, so she immediately pulled up the video online and shoved it in front of her.

“Then you have to see this! Watch Qi Yu’s performance!”

Leaning in close, she lowered her voice mysteriously,
“People on the school forum are saying Qi Yu sang that song for Shen Qingqing—because she looked super mad the day before break—but I don’t think so. I think it was for someone in our class!”

Zhong Yao’s heart skipped a beat. She glanced sideways and met He Lingli’s eager, gossipy eyes—eyes practically screaming: He sang it for you, didn’t he?

She turned her face away awkwardly, eyes landing on the video of Qi Yu singing and dancing.
“Why do you think that?” she asked.

“Because Qi Yu clearly doesn’t like Shen Qingqing. She’s always the one clinging to him,” He Lingli said confidently. “You can’t fake that—he never looks at her the way someone looks at someone they like!”

Whew. Looks like Shen Qingqing wasn’t completely sure either—just guessing.

Zhong Yao felt a little relieved—until He Lingli leaned in again with a whisper:
“And you know what? I saw Qi Yu hanging around outside our class multiple times yesterday. That guy never even left his classroom before, unless it was for the bathroom!”

Zhong Yao: …

She pressed her lips together, guilt creeping back in.

Just then, the morning reading bell rang, and she took it as a pardon from heaven. She quickly shoved the phone back to her deskmate and pulled out her English book.
“Class is starting. Let’s do morning reading first!”

No matter how much He Lingli tried to chat with her afterward, Zhong Yao wore a look of “I’m here to study—I only love studying” and refused to speak another word.

Eventually, the topic had no choice but to fizzle out.

But despite her best efforts, Zhong Yao still couldn’t avoid Qi Yu that day.

With the 70th anniversary of the founding of the country approaching, Taoli High had already announced before the Mid-Autumn holiday that the last two periods today would be a pep rally encouraging every grade to actively participate in the school’s celebration activities. For such events, schools usually require students to attend in uniform; those who fail to comply face anything from a stern warning to writing a formal reflection.

Unfortunately, Zhong Yao, who was supposed to pick up her uniform yesterday, missed it due to her leave of absence. And today, when she went to the Academic Affairs Office, she missed it again because the staff was in a meeting. To make matters worse, her homeroom teacher Mr. Jiang had something to do and left the neighboring class’s teacher in charge. All her explanations were dismissed as excuses. Not only was she criticized as a bad example, but she was also punished with cleaning duty after the pep rally.

Because she wasn’t in uniform and didn’t look presentable in photos, the teacher sent her to the back of the lineup—to be “hidden.”

And so—

When Zhong Yao arrived at the very end of the line, she discovered Qi Yu was also there—being scolded, and arguably worse than her.

He had dyed hair and wasn’t in uniform either, and was currently being lectured by the grade director himself:

“Qi Yu, don’t think that just because your whole family is famous, you can do whatever you want! Exactly because you’re a public figure, you should be more careful about your behavior. Look at that head of white hair—if I didn’t know better, I’d think you had albinism!”

The director tugged at his hair with evident disdain and warned,
“Get it dyed back immediately. If I see it again, I’ll cut it myself—don’t think I won’t. And I want a 1,000-word reflection. Stay after school and do cleaning duty with the others who didn’t wear their uniforms!”

Qi Yu gave a lazy nod, then turned slightly to glance at Zhong Yao.

That only made the director angrier:
“Qi Yu, are you listening to me? If you don’t dye that hair back, I’ll ask the principal to disable the face-scanning system tomorrow and let all your fans in. You want that?”

Qi Yu: …

Zhong Yao: …

The director, clearly fuming, looked like he’d stand there all day if the boy didn’t respond.

So Qi Yu had to bow his head and say, “Got it, sir. I’ll get my hair done tonight.”

Then he looked at Zhong Yao again and added,
“I’ll buy two uniforms this time. I’ll even post a selfie in it to advertise for the school.”

“You brat!” The director could tell he was being sarcastic and nearly resorted to physical punishment.

Thankfully, the rally was about to start, and the other teachers quickly dragged him up to the stage.

Now, at the very back of the student lineup, only the two punished students remained.

Zhong Yao knew full well that Qi Yu was only being scolded so harshly because he had given his uniform to her. She wanted to thank him—but doing so would mean bringing up that day.

Just thinking about it made her want to bury herself. If possible, she wished she and Qi Yu could never speak of that evening ever again.

Maybe Qi Yu also wanted to avoid the awkwardness. He glanced at her a few times, but said nothing.

The breeze stirred, and the weird tension between them thickened.

Zhong Yao told herself she should never interact with this boy again. Better to be seen as impolite than to risk saying anything at all.

Qi Yu, stealing quick side glances, kept wondering whether she had forgiven him.

“Hey,” he finally asked—he was the one in the wrong, after all, “did you watch my performance?”

Zhong Yao stood obediently, eyes fixed ahead, and replied,
“My name is Zhong Yao.”

Then she went silent again.

Qi Yu let out a short “Oh,” then tried again:
“Well, Zhong Yao, did you watch it?”

Only then did she nod and say evenly,
“I accept your apology. Let’s call it even. It was also wrong of me to push you into the lake—so I’m sorry for that too.”

“Oh,” Qi Yu replied again, then turned his head and stopped looking at her.

He had gotten the answer he wanted, but somehow, he didn’t feel right. Something was off—but he couldn’t say what.

Onstage, the school leaders gave impassioned speeches to celebrate the 70th birthday of the country, encouraging each class to prepare exciting and meaningful performances for the upcoming National Day celebration.

The rally ended to thunderous applause from the student body.

Everyone seemed pretty well-behaved, and with just a few stray notebook pages to clean up, there really wasn’t much trash left for Zhong Yao and Qi Yu to handle.

As they walked back to class, the hallways above were packed with people watching them, so the two deliberately and tacitly kept a polite distance from each other.

Now that the misunderstanding was cleared, it seemed they had officially become—just regular classmates who might exchange a smile or a greeting when they passed each other.

Once they made it back into the building and out of sight,
Zhong Yao suddenly turned to him with a smile and said,
“Big celebrity—thanks for the other day after school. But from now on, it’s better if we keep our distance. So… goodbye.”

With that, she turned and bounded up the stairs, light on her feet.

Qi Yu had seen her countless times before—but this was the first time he saw her smile. That smile made her whole demeanor seem more vivid and alive. And… she was pretty cute.

They had made peace. She had thanked him. By all accounts, the matter was perfectly resolved.

Yet he still felt strangely irritated.

“Yu-ge!”

From above, Tang Yiming tossed his schoolbag down:
“My mom said we’re having dinner with your parents tonight. We’re both going!”

Qi Yu caught the bag and slung it over one shoulder.
“I’m annoyed. Not going.”

“No way!” Tang Yiming ran down and threw an arm around his shoulder.
“My mom even told me to bring Song Shi along. She said she’s introducing us to someone new.”

Qi Yu narrowed his eyes:
“Is your mom trying to kill you? One Song Shi isn’t enough torture?”

Tang Yiming: …

“I’ve got enough friends. Don’t need more,” Qi Yu said, with zero pretense.

—

When Zhong Yao returned to the classroom to get her backpack, she received the very first message from Jin Chuan.

[Aunt She Rui will pick you up for dinner. I’ll introduce you to a few friends later.]
[Little radish head, let me know right away if anything comes up.]

She froze for a moment, slightly stunned.

Did Jin Chuan sense her thoughts and now wanted to introduce her to his friends?

She found it a bit hard to believe. She had always thought he didn’t want anyone to know about her at all.

Zhong Yao stared blankly at the message for quite a while. Unable to help herself, she curved her lips into a small smile and replied:

[Got it. I’m heading over now.]

Then, she packed her things at record speed and ran to the school gate.

This time, She Rui was already waiting outside. She didn’t make her walk an extra block like before, which made Zhong Yao feel lighter and more cheerful. She greeted both She Rui and the driver with a bright smile.

When they arrived, Zhong Yao realized the dinner location was actually near her home.

From the outside, it looked like a stylish villa, but once you passed through the corridor, it revealed itself to be a private restaurant, complete with a garden paved with golden ginkgo leaves.

As they approached the private room, she suddenly began to feel nervous.

“Aunt She Rui, can I use the restroom first?” She wanted a moment to calm down—and to tidy herself up a bit.

She Rui didn’t think much of it and pointed her in the right direction.

At the sink, as Zhong Yao was straightening her clothes, familiar voices drifted in from outside.

“Holy crap! Uncle Jin always seemed so proper, and he actually has a secret love child?!” Tang Yiming sounded genuinely shocked. “Yu-ge, how are you so calm about this? If this gets out, Weibo’s going to crash!”

Qi Yu, clearly dragged here against his will, replied in a cool, indifferent tone tinged with disdain:

“He dragged the both of us here. Maybe that love child of his is just dying to be exposed.”

…

As their voices faded into the distance, Zhong Yao clenched the hem of her clothes tightly.

For someone as perceptive as her, what was there left to guess? The people Jin Chuan had arranged for her to meet tonight were Qi Yu and Tang Yiming.

Being belittled like that by schoolmates made her want to turn around and run.

But just then, She Rui came looking for her, asking with concern, “Are you alright? Your dad noticed you hadn’t come out in a while, so he asked me to check on you.”

Zhong Yao’s grip loosened all at once.

It wasn’t like Jin Chuan had told Qi Yu and Tang Yiming to say those things. If she ran now, it would probably be really embarrassing for him.

“Thank you, Aunt She Rui. Let’s go.”

Since the secret was already out, Zhong Yao decided she might as well face it head-on.