Be Passionately In Love

There was an unspoken "love that dares not speak its name" between them. Xu Guangji didn't bring it up because he wasn't sure how far their relationship had progressed, while Chen Luzhou remained silent because he thought he was just an ordinary friend of the opposite sex—if he initiated a greeting, she might think he was being presumptuous or having ulterior motives.

So, up until he finished his sperm test, neither of them mentioned Xu Zhi.

After reviewing his report, Xu Guangji couldn't help but sigh inwardly—youth really was something. This kid's physical condition was truly impressive.

He slapped the report onto the table and told him to come back for regular check-ups before he could scram.

Chen Luzhou let out a confused "Huh?" not quite understanding Xu Guangji's meaning. "Why do I need regular check-ups?"

Xu Guangji shot him a glance. "Have you been abstaining for a long time?"

Chen Luzhou wore an expression that said, This old man really doesn’t get it , leaning back in his chair with a click of his tongue. He had just said he was still—

"What’s with the attitude when talking to your elders?" Experience always won out in the end. Xu Guangji said expressionlessly, "When I say abstaining, I mean including doing it yourself."

Chen Luzhou: "..."

Xu Guangji tapped the report with his finger and leisurely added, "How should I put it? Your motility is indeed high, but your sperm deformity rate is also high. There are two possibilities—either you’ve been abstaining for too long, or there’s a genetic predisposition in your family. That’s why I asked if you’ve been abstaining for a while."

No matter how composed Chen Luzhou usually was, he couldn’t keep up the act now. Still reclining in his chair, he coughed awkwardly, his gaze shifting away uncomfortably. After a drawn-out "Ah…" he reluctantly muttered, "...Yeah, it’s been a while."

Xu Guangji asked, "More than seven days?"

"Yeah."

"Mm, abstaining for over a week before testing can indeed cause this issue. Next time you come for a check-up, try to keep it between three to five days. Too little isn’t good either—insufficient sample volume." Xu Guangji pushed the medical record and report toward him. "Alright, go home. Come back next month for a follow-up."

Chen Luzhou: "..."

However, on his way back, Chen Luzhou’s mood was complicated. He wasn’t sure if Xu Guangji had been trying to scare him—but why would he? He wasn’t Xu Zhi’s boyfriend, and he wasn’t trying to steal his daughter. So, most likely, the issue was actually serious.

It wasn’t his fault for overthinking. There had to be some reason his birth parents had abandoned him.

Because of genetic deformities?

Compared to other kids in the orphanage, Chen Luzhou didn’t have many memories of being abandoned. For as long as he could remember, he had already been in the orphanage—meaning he might have been sent there right after birth. He didn’t have any other physical defects, so thinking about it now, what Xu Zhi’s father said wasn’t entirely impossible.

But so what? He could just not have kids. He was already lucky compared to that kid.

That kid was a friend from the orphanage, though by now, Chen Luzhou could barely remember his face or name. He only vaguely recalled that the kid would stand by the orphanage gate every day. Curious, Chen Luzhou once asked what he was waiting for.

The kid said he was waiting for his dad.

Chen Luzhou found it ridiculous and said bluntly, "Your dad abandoned you."

But the kid insisted, "No, he didn’t. Dad said he just went to buy me a cake. He’ll be back soon."Holding onto such a belief for about five or six years, he finally accepted the fact that his father had abandoned him. He became increasingly withdrawn, irritable, and anxious, ultimately never escaping the shadow of his father’s abandonment. Cakes became a lifelong taboo for him—seeing or hearing anything similar would send him into a hysterical fit of smashing things. It was said that later, he ended up in juvenile detention for accidental injury.

In some ways, a clean and decisive separation is easier to accept than a messy, drawn-out lie. That’s why Chen Luzhou has always been this way—straightforward in his words, able to accept even the most absurd things. After all, when he was little, the orphanage staff had jokingly told him he was a lotus root spirit, claiming that the headmistress had dug him out of a lotus root, and he actually believed it. Every time lotus root was served at the table, he’d feel utterly devastated inside, yet find it so delicious that he’d eat it while crying.

—"I’m sorry, sniff it’s so good, Headmistress, can I have another bowl?"

He was probably three or four years old at the time.

As he grew older and learned the truth about his origins, he became much harder to fool—nothing anyone said could sway him. Occasionally, he’d still long to find his parents. It was during this time, when he craved paternal and maternal love the most, that Old Chen and Ms. Lian Hui came to take him away. They gave him enough care and protection, which is why Chen Luzhou grew up the way he is now.

That evening, he went to the gymnasium with Zhu Yangqi to play basketball. The rain in Qingyi City had been falling intermittently over the past couple of days, like the unpredictable tears of a child in May or June—sometimes stopping, sometimes starting again, with the weather shifting between sunny and overcast.

The outdoor courts were muddy and unusable, so Zhu Yangqi had arranged for someone to secure a spot in the gymnasium in advance. However, they soon discovered that the aunties had beaten them to it, neatly occupying half the court, bouncing left and right in unison. The rhythmic and piercing sounds of Phoenix Legend blared from the speakers, echoing through the empty gymnasium.

They played a three-on-three pickup game, half-court style, with stakes—the losers would treat everyone to a Japanese barbecue dinner costing 800 yuan per person. It was a newly opened restaurant in the city, and Zhu Yangqi and Jiang Cheng had made a bet: whoever lost would foot the bill. Chen Luzhou, Zhu Yangqi, and Feng Jin formed one team, while Jiang Cheng, his girlfriend, and another classmate from Zhu Yangqi’s art class, named Dajun, made up the opposing trio.

"Jiang Cheng, are you serious about this? Why don’t you swap your girlfriend with me and let Chen Luzhou team up with her? Otherwise, how is this even fair?" Zhu Yangqi said, unable to bear the imbalance.

Jiang Cheng and his girlfriend each wore a single earring, both tall and striking—a handsome couple indeed. He scoffed, "My girlfriend’s from the provincial team. She could take on all three of you without breaking a sweat."

This fired up Zhu Yangqi’s competitive spirit, his expression practically screaming, Release the hounds. "Alright then, Chen Luzhou, go at him—beat him so hard he can’t find his way home."

Zhu Yangqi had never played against them before, but Chen Luzhou had faced Jiang Cheng’s team several times. While the "provincial team" claim was an exaggeration, their skills were no joke. Zhu Yangqi, on the other hand, was all talk and no game. Chen Luzhou couldn’t be bothered to humor him. "Even beating a dog requires a stick. You think I’ll fight for you just because you bark a few times?"

Undeterred, Zhu Yangqi leaned in and whispered daringly, "If not for me, then who? Xu Zhi? You’ve been in such a bad mood lately—has she not contacted you for days again?"

Standing under the basketball hoop, Chen Luzhou glared at him before vengefully slamming the ball into his chest and twisting it for good measure. "Looking for trouble, huh? Fine. Today, it’s four against two."

In a four-on-two scenario, Zhu Yangqi stood no chance—he was utterly dominated, with Chen Luzhou refusing to let him even touch the ball.Seeing that he was about to be stuck paying for this Japanese meal, Zhu Yangqi finally succumbed to his domineering pressure. During the halftime break, he gritted his teeth and whispered in his ear, "Play properly, will you? If you play well, I’ll tell you where Xu Zhi is hanging out today."

"...Like I care."

The next second, as soon as the words left his mouth.

Swish—three-pointer.

......

Jiang Cheng noticed the shift in the game and immediately called out affectionately to Chen Luzhou, "Damn, wasn’t it supposed to be four against two?"

Maybe there was some genuine frustration in the cursing, but Jiang Cheng had always called him by the single character "Damn" anyway.

This was getting interesting. Zhu Yangqi’s trigeminal nerve tingled with excitement as he rubbed his hands together and reminded Feng Jin, "Old Feng, heads up—the real game starts now!"

Feng Jin was probably the only one left confused. "Huh? I thought it was almost over."

Jiang Cheng refused to believe Chen Luzhou had switched sides again so quickly. Grabbing the rebound, he still couldn’t let it go. Dribbling the ball with exaggerated flair, he tried to win Chen Luzhou back. "Damn, man, you can’t be this fickle."

After sinking the three-pointer, Chen Luzhou stood outside the arc with an utterly shameless expression, lazily twisting his wrist as if annoyed at his own hand’s betrayal. He sighed and said, "Lately, Zhu Yangqi’s got... something on me. Give it some time. Once I’m over this phase, I’ll help you crush him."

**

Near the Qingyi City Stadium, a new night market street had recently opened. It was liveliest around nine or ten at night, the entire street brightly lit, stalls packed tightly together with an overwhelming variety of goods—everything you could imagine.

As Chen Luzhou walked along, he skimmed over each stall. Clothing, food, daily necessities, toys and wheelchairs for the elderly and children, motorcycles, arcade games, blind box claw machines, ring tosses, shooting games. Some even set up booths for fortune-telling, matchmaking, bank financial consultations, coffins, and custom burial garments. He summed it up: aside from human trafficking, you could probably do anything here. There was even an old man in boxer shorts lying half-dead on the roadside, offering dry-cleaning services.

Nearby, a pretentiously artsy jerk was trying to sweet-talk a woman—

"Have you ever heard this saying?"

This was likely an unpleasant blind date. From the moment they met, the guy had insisted on living with his mother after marriage, demanded she handle all household chores, and even required a monthly allowance for his dear old mom. The disagreements piled up, and the woman, having reached her limit of patience, took a deep breath—probably just to see how much more nonsense he could spew. "Go on."

The artsy youth paused at a nail art stall, where a few packets of flower seeds happened to be displayed. He casually picked one up and pontificated, "Just like these flower seeds, life is the same sometimes. No one says you have to grow into a rose. Sunflowers have their own pride too, right? As long as we share the same goals, we can build a beautiful family together."

The woman replied, "That may be true—"

Chen Luzhou suddenly realized there was a reason their generation struggled to find girlfriends. Some guys really were... something else. Especially the one in front of him."But these are rose seeds," a voice cut in bluntly and sharply, like a bucket of cold water poured down—clear and bright, carrying that unique impatience and dismissiveness of hers. "What else would they grow into if not roses? At least have some logic when feeding people empty promises."

"..."

Xu Zhi had finally had enough. This guy changed his blind date every single day, parading up and down this street. Each time he passed by, he’d fiddle with her rose seeds, then spout his nonsensical, artsy theories to convince women to abandon their own thoughts and dreams to serve him. Just now, he’d even tried to talk someone into quitting their job to become his full-time housewife.

Xu Zhi usually avoided meddling in others' affairs, mainly because she didn’t want to cause trouble for Old Xu. Back when Ms. Lin Qiudie was around, someone always had her back. She used to be a gutsy little girl, the type who’d step in to break up dog fights without hesitation, ready to take a bullet for anyone. But she didn’t do that anymore. Mostly because Old Xu was too timid, shouldering every blame himself. The sight of him, a severe social anxiety sufferer, trembling as he forced himself to apologize to people was something she couldn’t bear to watch.

So she tried her best to appear like a dove of peace—never picking fights, never standing out.

But honestly, she could tolerate most of his nonsense. But convincing someone to quit their job and stop earning money? That was unforgivable. That deserved a lightning strike.

Luckily, it had been raining all day, so the night market wasn’t crowded, and not many girls were getting their nails done. Otherwise, they’d all have been scared off by now. Xu Zhi was just idly sticking nail decals on Cai Yingying for fun when she looked up and saw Chen Luzhou leaning lazily against a lamppost across the street, appearing out of nowhere as usual.

He was dressed in all black again today, his silhouette sharp and clean. Without a cap, his features looked even more striking and handsome. Probably fresh from playing basketball with Zhu Yangqi, he had a black headband around his forehead, making his skin appear pale and flawless. His hair was a mess, damp with sweat and sticking out in all directions, his forehead glistening. Yet he looked vibrant, his arms crossed in front of his chest, veins prominent, like a vigorous, youthful poplar tree.

There was always an air of detached sensuality about him. The faint, elusive aura of hormones and his effortless confidence had the neighboring stall owners stealing glances at him. It was hard to believe he was just a high school graduate.

Murmurs and restless stirrings floated around, like a spring breeze teasing the branches, mingling with the occasional meow of a cat. Blood seemed to simmer, heartbeats quickening.

The moment Xu Zhi’s eyes met his, her chest tightened slightly.

It had been a few days since they’d last seen each other.

The artsy guy, probably feeling humiliated, noticed it was just her and Cai Yingying—two young girls—and his expression darkened as he flexed his tattooed arms. Cai Yingying, intimidated by his bulging muscles, stiffened but put on a brave face, stammering loudly, "W-w-what, you wanna hit us? We’re just two girls, you know."

Xu Zhi was about to say, Dude, you’ve got some anger issues. Not very artsy of you.

But then she saw the figure across the street finally push off the lamppost and amble toward them.

Before the artsy guy could say another word, Chen Luzhou closed the distance in a few strides, stopping right behind him. "Mind moving aside?"The artsy guy turned to look at him. "What? You need something?"

"I'm here to do business with them."

"This is a nail art stall, handsome," the artsy guy said with a laugh.

"What, can't a guy have unique hobbies?" Chen Luzhou didn't even glance at him, appearing completely unbothered, though his eyes betrayed a sense of enduring humiliation. He maintained a cool expression as he said to her, "Just paint whatever. Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, the Hulk—I'm not picky."

"Oh, but not the Hulk," he added firmly, sticking to his principles.

Xu Zhi: "..."

Author's Note: Went to the hospital today because of a cough, so this is a bit late, sorry!

Giving out 500 red envelopes for this chapter~ Sorry~ Wuwu.