Be Passionately In Love

The road down from Fu Yu Mountain Villa was full of winding mountain paths, with one side against the mountain. Outside the car window were steep, rugged cliffs and crooked pine forests clinging to the precipices. Chen Luzhou remained silent the entire way, driving quietly without a word. Xu Zhi tried several times to strike up a conversation or open a topic, but his indifferent expression deterred her each time.

Piece of Cake: How do you still have time to play Landlord with me? Did you get the handsome guy’s WeChat?

Gardenia Won’t Bloom: He’s driving and ignoring me.

Piece of Cake: Then start a conversation! What are you thinking? Sitting next to a top-tier guy like Chen Luzhou, and you still have the mood to bomb me with four twos!!!

Gardenia Won’t Bloom: Then tell me, how can I get him to introduce me to his mom?

Piece of Cake: Meeting the parents? Become his girlfriend, and of course he’ll take you to meet his mom.

Gardenia Won’t Bloom: What if he already has a girlfriend?

Piece of Cake: Then become his dad’s girlfriend. His mom will definitely come looking for you.

Gardenia Won’t Bloom: …That’s… not exactly a bad idea.

The car jolted along the way, making Chen Luzhou suspect that Boss Fu had hidden himself up here because he’d offended too many people. The entire stretch was desolate—no shops, not even a single person in sight, just overgrown weeds everywhere.

“Boss Fu used to—”

“Do you have a girlfriend—”

They spoke almost simultaneously, then both fell silent. Their eyes instinctively sought each other out, like the north and south poles of a magnet snapping together. For a moment, the car was filled with an eerie silence. Until the car jolted slightly, as if running over some piled stones by the roadside, Chen Luzhou finally looked away. His fingers tightened slightly on the steering wheel as he absentmindedly turned a corner along the mountain road. “No.”

Xu Zhi let out an “Oh,” then fell silent again, her gaze lazily drifting forward. It was unclear what she was thinking.

Chen Luzhou found this habit of hers incredibly annoying. Why did she always stop halfway? Was she genuinely bad at conversation, or was she deliberately stringing him along?

He felt an urge to push her to the edge—either make her say it outright, or provoke her into something worse, something more ambiguous. This half-hearted back-and-forth was unbearable.

Under Xu Zhi’s silent guidance, the car smoothly navigated two forks in the road and passed the bumpiest, most rugged stretches of the mountain path before finally reaching the long-awaited asphalt road, where it stabilized. After more than ten minutes of silence, Chen Luzhou shot her a cold glance. “Run out of things to say again?”

Xu Zhi had been leaning back in the passenger seat with her eyes closed, deep in thought, when his sudden interruption broke her concentration. Irritated and unyielding, she snapped, “I’m thinking! Stop distracting me and let me focus.”

She really was thinking—about whether she should just tell Chen Luzhou the truth or continue this back-and-forth game with him. Though the matter was complicated to explain, Chen Luzhou didn’t seem like the unreasonable type. But if he was too reasonable, would he think she was crazy? After all, this wasn’t something that could easily be explained with logic.

Meanwhile, Chen Luzhou: …Who are you yelling at?

Finally, the car emerged from the winding mountain roads. At the foot of Mingling Mountain stretched a vast expanse of blue sea, with snow-white clouds like a layer of light whipped cream floating over the distant horizon. The view outside the window instantly widened, and with it, their moods lifted."Chen Luzhou." Xu Zhi called out to him in such a mood.

"Hmm." He responded instinctively, then froze himself—it seemed like his reaction was a bit too quick.

Xu Zhi was also taken aback. It felt so natural and familiar, as if they had been friends for a long time, yet they had only met three times.

Xu Zhi: "Do you believe in feng shui?"

"Depends on what kind. I don’t believe in feudal superstitions," Chen Luzhou said, putting on an attentive expression while picking up his phone from the center console, which had buzzed several times with WeChat notifications. He didn’t check the messages, as if to retaliate for her earlier sharpness, and unceremoniously tossed it at her. "Help me set up the GPS. I need to go back to the city to grab something, or you can pick a nearby mall."

His phone was scalding hot—whether from just being charged in the car or from the barrage of messages—and it didn’t even have a case. The heat jolted Xu Zhi, who barely managed to hold onto it. "It’s so hot. Why don’t you use a case?"

Chen Luzhou: "..."

Could you, like, think before you speak?

Xu Zhi remained oblivious. "Password."

Chen Luzhou: "Four ones."

Xu Zhi thought it was too simple. As she entered the password, she asked, "Don’t you have a birthday?"

Chen Luzhou, driving, shot her a deadpan sidelong glance. "...That is my birthday."

Xu Zhi: "..."

Sorry, didn’t expect that.

There were several WeChat messages on his phone. He must have previously been on the chat interface with this girl, because as soon as Xu Zhi unlocked it, the messages flooded out in a rush.

GuGu: [Last time, my brain kind of short-circuited. Because I’ve always liked you so much, the moment I saw you, I forgot what I wanted to say and ended up rambling. I didn’t mean anything else by it. I know you don’t want a girlfriend right now, but I still want to stay by your side, no matter in what capacity.]

GuGu: [I just fought with my parents again and had some alcohol, so I might be more direct now. I just want to ask—you don’t have to be my boyfriend. Even just sleeping together is fine. Actually, I asked you before at your place. You were watching a game then and said it depended on your mood. I want to ask if your mood is any better now? Can I come see you?]

GuGu: [I’ve liked you since freshman year. I went to every one of your basketball games. Every second break, when the others went out to buy snacks, I never went because I knew you might come looking for Zhu Yangqi.]

GuGu: [Chen Luzhou, I know a lot of girls at our school like you, but you’ll never find someone who likes you more or is better for you than me. I’m really going crazy.]

...

However, the second message was quickly retracted.

Xu Zhi hurriedly exited WeChat and pulled up the GPS. Feeling a bit guilty—though unintentional, she had still glimpsed his chat history—she calmly changed the subject. "Your WeChat interface looks really cool."

Chen Luzhou glanced over leisurely. "Yeah, it was taken during a game."Xu Zhi took a closer look and realized it was his own photo. It was an incredibly artistic shot, probably taken while he was playing basketball—so blurry that only his tall, lean figure was barely discernible. But because the outfit he was wearing in the photo was almost identical to what he had on now, it finally dawned on her.

“Oh.”

Xu Zhi was dumbfounded again. How did she always manage to compliment him so effortlessly?

Chen Luzhou noticed she had trailed off again.

This teasing, back-and-forth routine—she was way too good at it. As he flicked the turn signal, the reckless thought in his mind grew stronger. He hadn’t actually considered defining their relationship or pushing it to any particular level. Even if Xu Zhi broke up with Tan Xu, nothing would come of it between them. He was about to go abroad, and his father, afraid he might compete with Chen Xingqi for the family fortune, might just leave him overseas indefinitely. Was he really going to date someone for just two months and then call it quits?

Chen Luzhou, just stick to your basketball and drones. Stop fucking around.

By the time they finished shopping, it was already midnight. Xu Zhi asked Chen Luzhou if he was hungry and if he wanted to grab dinner before heading back. There was a newly opened dry pot bullfrog place nearby—did he want to try it?

Sure. One last time. He nodded.

As expected, the bullfrog restaurant had a long line. After getting their number, Xu Zhi returned to find Chen Luzhou leaning against a stone pillar in the middle of the mall, half-heartedly dealing with his younger brother’s video call. Chen Xingqi was clearly impatient, throwing a tantrum over the phone: I don’t care, I don’t care, you have to bring me back some dry pot bullfrog! Chen Luzhou, one hand tucked in his pocket, lazily replied, “That’s not part of the 800-yuan deal. That’s an 8,000-yuan job.”

Chen Xingqi started whining:

“I don’t care, I don’t care! Who are you even out with? You’ve been gone forever.”

“That girl from the other day.”

“‘The one testing legal boundaries’?”

“Yeah. Watch your mouth—she’s right next to me.”

Xu Zhi thought, Am I some kind of wild beast or tiger?

Chen Luzhou had no idea why he’d been careless enough to put the call on speaker. He should’ve known Chen Xingqi wouldn’t behave. Sure enough, the next second, Chen Xingqi mischievously shouted at Xu Zhi through the screen: Pretty sister!!! Do you wanna be my sister-in-law??? If you do, bring me back a pot of bullfrog—

Chen Luzhou hung up immediately.

The restaurant’s entrance was crowded, bustling with people and the mall’s blaring music. Xu Zhi hadn’t caught much of the conversation, only vaguely hearing the tail end. She asked Chen Luzhou, “Did your brother just ask me to bring him some bullfrog?”

Chen Luzhou stuffed his phone back into his pocket, momentarily distracted by a small entrepreneurial ad in the mall. Staring at it, he absentmindedly replied, “Ignore him. He’s just spoiled.”

Xu Zhi felt it was time to salvage her image. “It’s fine. Let’s order two pots—one to take away. If your brother wants it, why not get it for him?”

Chen Luzhou, meanwhile, was deep in thought. No matter what, he needed to start making money. Otherwise, he’d be too passive during college. Even if he went abroad, he couldn’t let anyone control his finances. Imagine wanting to take a girl out but not having enough for a hotel—how embarrassing would that be? So he studied those entrepreneurial banners with interest, weighing whether to start his own business or first build a solid foundation by working menial jobs, like waiting tables.However, seeing Xu Zhi agree so readily, it was clear she had something in mind. He glanced down at her, deciding to just lay it out: "Let's cut to the chase—are you trying to chase—"

"Xu Zhi."

A flat baritone voice came from behind, dry as if its owner hadn't had water in the desert for ages.

Xu Zhi and Chen Luzhou turned around almost simultaneously. While Xu Zhi was still trying to locate the source of the voice in the crowd, Chen Luzhou had already recognized the lean figure—Tan Xu.

Chen Luzhou tilted his chin toward Tan Xu's direction. "Your boyfriend."

Xu Zhi finally spotted him and turned toward the voice.

"If you need an explanation, I can go over. It's fine, don't worry about me. Xu Zhi."

His voice was as cool, sharp, and annoyingly nonchalant as ever, but unusually serious this time. For some reason, Xu Zhi felt a pang in her chest—why did it suddenly seem like he was the one being wronged?