Enthusiasm is contagious.
Xie Qian felt his lips covered by a soft warmth, but before he could deepen the kiss, Wen Ying darted away like a startled hamster.
In the blink of an eye, she was sitting primly beside him again.
Driver Yang was still concentrating on the road ahead. Xie Qian touched his lips and suddenly felt like laughing.
“Stealing the bell while covering your own ears!”
Hmph, whatever that meant. She did not understand at all.
Wen Ying resolutely refused to admit anything.
Xie Qian glanced at Driver Yang, abandoned any thought of taking the initiative, and straightened up as well.
On the surface, the young couple sat properly, but their hands were far from idle. Out of the driver’s sight, Xie Qian kept firm hold of Wen Ying’s hand. His fingers carried a slight coolness, the tips brushing lightly back and forth across her palm, ticklish and teasing, leaving Wen Ying restless.
Xie Qian really knew how to flirt.
Wen Ying knew she was definitely his first girlfriend, so he must have been a natural.
Full of such wandering thoughts, Wen Ying returned to campus.
“I will walk you to the bottom of your dorm building.”
“Alright.”
Wen Ying lived on campus, Xie Qian did not. Whenever they returned late from an outing, Xie Qian always escorted her right to the dorm entrance.
The stretch from the campus gate to the dorm building was free of the driver, private time for the couple.
Street lamps lit the campus paths. On benches along the way sat scattered couples. Some leaned close talking, some girls rested their heads on their boyfriends’ shoulders. Couples deep in love could be oblivious to everyone around them. This open affection was exactly what Wen Ying and Xie Qian’s relationship lacked.
Being a public figure brought such inconveniences. Whatever they did, countless eyes watched.
Keep it discreet, and it stayed within campus forums.
Make it obvious, and photos of them kissing would probably spread across the entire internet.
Wen Ying did not like such a high-profile romance.
Neither did Xie Qian.
The stolen kiss in the back seat while Driver Yang drove had already been her limit. Truth be told, that kiss had been too quick. Both of them felt a little unsatisfied.
As they neared the building, they passed a stretch of path lined with drooping willows.
In May, the willows were already thick with leaves.
Xie Qian caught sight of them from the corner of his eye and decided they made excellent cover. He subtly shifted towards the edge of the path.
Wen Ying understood his intention perfectly.
This was the only route back to the dorm, with people passing at any moment, but hidden behind the willows… it would not be impossible.
When Xie Qian altered his direction, Wen Ying naturally followed.
Before they could slip behind the trees, they startled another couple.
“Who is it… Wen Ying?”
“Sun Mingfei?”
Wen Ying and her dorm mate Sun Mingfei stared at each other in wide-eyed shock.
Xie Qian remained composed. The boy who had been with Sun Mingfei in the grove was far less calm. Without a word, he abandoned Sun Mingfei and bolted.
What sort of dramatic turn was this?
Watching the boy sprint away, Wen Ying was stunned. “Sun Mingfei, are you forcibly abducting an innocent young man?”
Sun Mingfei’s face flushed with anger.
Run? They had not even done anything!
Xie Qian’s little plan had come to nothing, leaving him faintly regretful, but he would not abandon basic courtesy. “You two probably have things to discuss. I will head off first.”
Girls together could conjure endless conversation from nothing, let alone when Sun Mingfei clearly needed to vent.
Xie Qian considerately withdrew. Sun Mingfei grew even angrier.
Not at Xie Qian, but at the boy who had just fled. Once Xie Qian left, her eyes reddened. “I am never chasing anyone again!”
“That is him?”
The boy who had carried Sun Mingfei to the infirmary when she scalded her foot with a thermos.
He had often featured in dorm late-night chats. Apart from Wen Ying, the other two roommates were avidly invested in Sun Mingfei’s romantic progress.
Sun Mingfei’s mood swung between joy and worry. She was clearly smitten.
What the boy felt was unclear. Wen Ying only knew they had never made anything official.
They shared the same major. Wen Ying had seen him in large lectures.
Not particularly tall, pleasant features, decent enough.
Purely on looks, Wen Ying could only say “acceptable”. This was not because of comparison with Xie Qian, but relative to Sun Mingfei’s own striking appearance and height.
In Wen Ying’s view, if Sun Mingfei wanted to date on campus, she could find far better options.
Yet feelings were never merely about “matching”. Sun Mingfei had invested her heart and no longer cared about alternatives.
The problem was the boy never gave her clear status. Their relationship ebbed and flowed, leaving her heart hot one moment and cold the next.
Tonight, caught in the act by Wen Ying and Xie Qian, he had abandoned Sun Mingfei and fled. Her heart was thoroughly broken.
Seeing Sun Mingfei upset, Wen Ying did not rush back to the dorm. She sat with her on the flowerbed edge and listened as Sun Mingfei poured out many details.
Wen Ying racked her brains analysing the boy’s motives. “If he does not like you, why does he keep coming close, saving you seats, fetching water? If he does like you, you have been so obvious yet he still will not commit… Could his family circumstances be modest? Maybe he has an avoidant personality?”
Sun Mingfei was stumped.
“He never mentioned his family, and I never asked. Now you say it, I recall he is never extravagant with money, but not stingy either. He spends where he should. Do you mean he likes me emotionally, but feels he cannot afford dating me, so he keeps avoiding commitment?”
Moments ago Sun Mingfei had declared she would never chase again. Now her stance wavered as she imagined his struggles.
For an instant, Wen Ying wondered whether Sun Mingfei had somehow cheated to get into Zhendan. Her reasoning was astonishing.
“Lu Xun once said that pitying a man will bring misfortune for a lifetime!”
Sun Mingfei looked blank. “When did Lu Xun say that?”
“That is not important. What I am about to say is. Listen carefully!”
Wen Ying recounted her cousin Wen Kai and Gan Tao’s love story.
In that case too, Gan Tao had pursued.
Wen Kai had little money, Gan Tao had plenty. Similar to Sun Mingfei’s situation: to outsiders, the girl appeared superior.
Yet Wen Kai handled it far better than the boy from the neighbouring class.
At first, feeling mismatched, he gave Gan Tao no hope, preventing her from falling deeper.
Later, when Gan Tao chased him all the way to Rongcheng and moved him with sincere passion, Wen Kai realised his feelings, immediately sought her out, confirmed the relationship, and responded to her sincerity with his own.
“We are all young. If it works, it works. If not, it does not. Say it clearly early and you can still be classmates. Dragging it out ambiguously wastes both your time and his. Your youth is precious, and so is his!”
Sun Mingfei was silent for a long while.
Wen Ying simply sat quietly with her until lights-out approached.
That night’s dorm chat saw one roommate tease Sun Mingfei. She cut her off. “Forget it. No more talk of him. Feelings cannot be forced. I will focus on things I can control. Tomorrow when you go to the study room, remember to call me!”
