Be Passionately In Love

Xu Zhi was just about to open her laptop to continue working on the structural diagrams when Xu Gongzhu abruptly shouted at an inopportune moment, "No, I can't draw this. Anyone want to go to the library with me? I feel like I need some inspiration from the top students."

Liu Yisi wasn't in the dorm, and Du Qilan was busy writing the student council's weekly summary, waving her hand dismissively. "I'm not going."

Xu Gongzhu turned her pitiful gaze toward Xu Zhi, who thought for a moment, sighed, and closed her laptop. "Let's go."

Library.

At Chen Luzhou's table, which had about eight seats, only the two spots next to him were empty. The girl from the foreign language department had a clear target—she walked in without a second of hesitation and headed straight for him, as if she already knew he was there. Probably someone had posted a photo of him on social media again.

Li Ke was about to say, "Aren't there empty seats over there? Do you really have to sit next to him?"

But Chen Luzhou remained unfazed, leaning back in his chair without even lifting his eyelids. He was effortlessly deriving calculus formulas on a draft notebook with a pen and coldly muttered, "No one's sitting here."

Li Ke was genuinely surprised, deeply shocked. What happened to staying pure and self-restrained? He suddenly felt like calling Xu Zhi—come quick, this bastard is flirting again.

Li Ke whispered into his ear, so quietly that almost no one else could hear. Their communication was half lip-reading at this point. "Damn, you just want to see if Xu Zhi will get jealous, don't you?"

Chen Luzhou ignored him and tossed the draft notebook over. "If you've got time for that, hurry up and send me your professor's calculus slides. I’ve only got two chapters left to review. Is this the answer to the inequality? Check it for me."

Li Ke continued whispering, his voice barely audible. "Damn, I gotta say, you’ve really gotten rusty. You need me to check the answer? Didn’t you used to know if you were right without even looking? You were never like this before."

"Only in senior year of high school. The material was limited—we finished it all by junior year and spent the next year just reviewing. After solving the same problems hundreds of times, of course I had them memorized. I told you I’m the hardworking type, but you refused to believe me."

Li Ke wanted to punch him. Just as he was about to speak—

The girl from the foreign language department suddenly called out softly, "Chen Luzhou."

Chen Luzhou turned his head lazily. "Yeah?"

"My club’s senior wants to know if you’re interested in joining the photography club. Your roommate mentioned you brought a drone, so they were wondering if they could borrow it. They’re short one for the basketball games these days."

Chen Luzhou didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled the draft notebook back from Li Ke and asked indifferently, "Anything else? Just say what you want directly."

The girl, Lin Jingwei, stared at him blankly, her expression hesitant. She couldn’t quite grasp his meaning, but her heart was racing with anticipation. Chen Luzhou wasn’t the aloof, unapproachable type—whenever she went to his class, he’d still chat with the girls in their department.The girls in their department had this to say: Chen Luzhou wasn’t easy to fool. If you tried to get close to him under the guise of friendship, it wouldn’t work. He could usually tell at a glance which girls were interested in him, so he wouldn’t initiate conversations with those who had feelings for him. If you were genuinely focused on academics, he might chat with you a bit more. Right now, he was catching up on missed coursework, so it was best not to disturb him.

But she didn’t listen. Just now, when her roommate came back and mentioned seeing Chen Luzhou in the library, she couldn’t resist going over. “Shall we talk outside?”

Chen Luzhou gave a cold “Mm” and stood up first. It wouldn’t have been so noticeable, but the moment the two of them stood up, all eyes were on them. Xu Gongzhu and Xu Zhi had just entered through the door when they heard the sound of chairs scraping and instinctively turned toward the noise. Xu Gongzhu’s eyes instantly lit up, and she nudged Xu Zhi beside her. “Hey, it’s your hometown heartthrob.” But there was also a beauty standing next to him.

Xu Zhi didn’t overthink it at the time. After all, in such a big school, it was impossible for Chen Luzhou not to talk to other girls. She always felt, based on all their previous kisses, that Chen Luzhou wasn’t someone who only sought physical pleasure. If he had been satisfied with just that, they would’ve slept together long ago.

But he pursued more than that. Of course, it wasn’t that she thought the other girl lacked depth in her inner world—it was just that this kind of spiritual connection couldn’t be built overnight. In such a short time, unless Chen Luzhou was desperate enough to use some kind of brainwave device to link their neurons together, it wouldn’t happen.

This wasn’t even a sense of crisis—it wasn’t jealousy either. It was more like how he never took Jiang Yu seriously, calmly focusing on catching up with his studies because they both knew neither of them was a fool.

Xu Gongzhu was still staring intently in their direction as the two of them started walking toward the library entrance. “Hey, isn’t that the department beauty from the Foreign Languages Department? Figures that pretty girls and handsome guys get acquainted fast.”

Xu Zhi shot her a glance and lazily hugged her laptop. “Want me to give you his WeChat?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, the two approached from the opposite side. Only then did Xu Zhi get a clear look at the face of the Foreign Languages Department’s beauty. She was indeed tall—standing next to Chen Luzhou, she didn’t seem much shorter. But her face wasn’t as pretty as Gu Yan’s, though she had great poise and a dimple when she smiled.

Xu Zhi and Lin Jingwei were both in the photography club, so they were somewhat acquainted. When they crossed paths like this, Lin Jingwei nodded first in greeting. But Chen Luzhou didn’t see her nod—he only heard Xu Zhi reply, “What a coincidence.”

Chen Luzhou: “…”

How petty can you be?

The two walked to the tree where Chen Luzhou had taken the call earlier. Before Lin Jingwei could speak, Chen Luzhou cut straight to the chase. “You like me, don’t you?”

Chen Luzhou knew her name and that she was from the Foreign Languages Department. She had come to the basketball court yesterday, bringing water for every guy in his class who was playing—except him. She hadn’t said a word to him either, only talking to the others. With tactics like this, even if you saw through her intentions, she wouldn’t give you the chance to reject her outright.

Lin Jingwei’s heart pounded like thunder, racing uncontrollably. Finally, she couldn’t hold back anymore and asked, “Do you have a girlfriend?”Chen Luzhou stood with his hands in his pockets, looking down at her from his height. His strikingly dark eyes were too sharp and direct, making it somewhat hard to meet his gaze. "No, but I'm pursuing my ex-girlfriend."

……

Lin Jingwei returned to the dorm and tossed her bag and books onto the table in frustration. Her roommate, who had just finished doing laundry, came out and asked what was wrong—didn’t she go to see Chen Luzhou?

"He was already dating in high school," Lin Jingwei said, sitting on a chair and grabbing a bag of chips to munch on.

Her roommate was shocked. "No way. I thought he was the untouchable, aloof type—the girls all say he’s the epitome of restraint. And now you’re telling me he was dating in high school? There’s a good chance he’s not even a virgin anymore."

Lin Jingwei crunched on the chips loudly. "So what if he isn’t? There aren’t many hot guys left in our school who are."

"Did he say who it was?"

"No, and I doubt she’s from our school," Lin Jingwei groaned, covering her face with the chip bag. "Zhaozhao, I’m totally into him—I think he’s so cool. No wonder the kids from Qingyi High School all call him a bastard. I can totally imagine what he was like back then."

**

Chen Luzhou returned to his seat and glanced around. Xu Zhi was sitting at the next table over, absorbed in drawing on her laptop.

Li Ke nudged his arm and whispered, "Run into her?"

Chen Luzhou sighed. "Yeah, bumped into her right at the door."

Li Ke: "What did she say?"

Chen Luzhou spun a pen in one hand while keeping the other in his pocket, looking at Li Ke with a smug expression. "Pretty funny, huh? You think she’s a little jealous?"

Li Ke: "Aren’t you going to go comfort her?"

"Let her stew a little longer. I’ll comfort her later," he said with a grin before turning back to finish the last two calculus problems.

Soon, he wasn’t smiling anymore. Because Xu Zhi remained completely focused on her drawing the entire time. At one point, she seemed to sense Chen Luzhou and Li Ke staring at her and turned to glance at them, looking utterly confused—why are you staring at me?

Li Ke couldn’t detect any hint of jealousy and sighed, patting his shoulder. "Just do your homework. She’s not jealous."

Chen Luzhou: "...She’s faking it."

By around five or six, the library had mostly emptied. The golden sun dipped westward, casting long crimson shadows across the campus. Xu Zhi packed up her laptop and walked over to ask Chen Luzhou, "Want to grab dinner together?"

Chen Luzhou glanced at Li Ke, who stifled a laugh and said to Xu Zhi, "He thought you wouldn’t take the initiative to invite him."

Xu Zhi still looked puzzled. "Why?"

Chen Luzhou coughed, flicked his pen back into place, closed his book, and stood up leisurely. "Let’s go."

And so, the four of them walked one after another along the sunset-drenched campus path, golden leaves crunching underfoot, the wind tugging at their clothes—each lost in their own thoughts.

Xu Zhi and Xu Gongzhu walked ahead, their shadows stretching diagonally behind them, framing the tall, slender figures of the two boys. Xu Gongzhu glanced at the particularly striking silhouettes and couldn’t help but ask Xu Zhi, "Are you sure asking him for help is a good idea?"

"I don’t know, but I’m completely stuck on this drawing."

Xu Gongzhu sighed too. "I’m about to lose my mind over this structural diagram."Behind them, the two were chatting idly. Chen Luzhou had a book hooked in one hand, hanging by his side, while the other was tucked in his pocket. He said to Li Ke with shameless confidence, "The calm before the storm."

Li Ke couldn't stop laughing. "Come on, don't push your luck. She wasn’t even jealous. Have you never seen a girl get jealous before? Let me tell you, even though I haven’t had many serious relationships, I do have some experience. My gut tells me jealousy doesn’t look like that."

Chen Luzhou still wasn’t convinced. When they reached the cafeteria, the familiar clatter of trays echoed around them. Li Ke and Xu Gongzhu headed straight for the food line, while Xu Zhi and Chen Luzhou looked for seats. As soon as Chen Luzhou set his book down, Xu Zhi pulled out her meal card with a smile and said to him, "What do you want to eat? My treat today."

Chen Luzhou gave her a sidelong glance and nudged her toward the food counter. "Stop pretending. If you're upset, just say so. What’s the point of this?"

Xu Zhi blinked. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Xu Gongzhu had already returned with a tray. "They have braised pork ribs, Xu Zhi. Hurry up."

Xu Zhi responded with an "Oh," then picked up a tray and glanced at Chen Luzhou. "Do you want the braised ribs?"

Chen Luzhou wasn’t very hungry. Lately, his meal schedule had been irregular due to his intense studying. Apart from breakfast at 5 a.m., which he had with her at the school convenience store—just a few bites of oden—he ate whenever he remembered, often skipping meals to focus on problems. He’d had a bowl of noodles before leaving the dorm at 3 p.m., so he wasn’t particularly hungry now.

He only got a bowl of porridge and sat across from them. Li Ke knew he’d been obsessively studying lately, but Xu Gongzhu assumed the handsome guy just ate lightly. Xu Zhi placed a chicken drumstick in his bowl. "Eat some meat. You’ve lost a lot of weight recently."

Chen Luzhou and Li Ke exchanged glances. Shouldn’t the normal reaction be to take away his plain porridge and say, "Don’t eat with me, go eat with someone else"?

Li Ke smirked.

It was only then that Xu Gongzhu realized their relationship wasn’t as simple as just friends. Her eyes darted between them repeatedly, her mind racing. Her chopsticks trembled slightly as she turned to Li Ke, excitement bubbling inside her. Did I just uncover a huge secret? Am I going to be silenced?

Li Ke gave her a calm look, as if saying, Relax, girl. It’s even more intense than you think.

The cafeteria curtains fluttered occasionally as the draft blew in, but it did nothing to dispel the strange atmosphere. The four of them ate in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Xu Gongzhu was too distracted to eat, her chopsticks frozen in her mouth as she kept stealing glances at Chen Luzhou and Xu Zhi. Xu Zhi was focused on her ribs, completely oblivious, until Chen Luzhou chuckled and said, "Your roommate’s started chewing on her chopsticks."

Xu Zhi turned to look. Xu Gongzhu snapped out of it, hurriedly pulling the chopsticks from her mouth. "No, no, it’s nothing. I just have sharp eyes—I tend to notice little details."

Xu Zhi grinned. "What details between me and him?"

"I think you weren’t lying to us that day. Lu Cao definitely likes you a little," Xu Gongzhu blurted out.

Chen Luzhou laughed. "What do you mean, 'a little'?"Xu Gongzhu recounted the cafeteria conversation from that day again. When mentioning Xu Zhi, she habitually blurted out the title "class secretary," as it had become second nature. Chen Luzhou tilted his head slightly, listening to her vivid retelling, but his gaze rested meaningfully on Xu Zhi. By the end, as he meticulously picked the scallions from his bowl and tapped them off the rim with deliberate calm, his eyelids lowered coolly while he dropped a loaded remark: "Your class secretary isn't being honest."

Xu Gongzhu immediately sensed this handsome guy had a way with words—such a layered statement kept her pondering for ages, completely derailing her original purpose. It was Xu Zhi who eventually steered the conversation back, saying to Chen Luzhou, "Hey, I need your help with something."

Chen Luzhou set down his chopsticks, unhurriedly finishing the last of his congee. "Go on."

"Can we borrow your drone this weekend?" Xu Zhi asked. "We’ve got a tricky structural assignment."

Xu Gongzhu added, "Our structures professor is seriously sadistic. Our class is already losing it, and hearing she’ll teach us structural design again next year, some are already planning to switch majors."

Chen Luzhou: "What do you need the drone for?"

Xu Zhi explained, "She said my forms lack cohesion, no foundational structural sense. Told me to go photograph some buildings for inspiration."

"Didn’t you have a department dinner this weekend?"

Xu Zhi met his eyes. "Jiang Yu had family stuff. It’s canceled."

"Fine."

Noticing his exhaustion—his sharp brows still striking but his whole demeanor weary—Xu Zhi couldn’t help saying, "Don’t push too hard. Your scores don’t define you. Even if you can’t switch majors, literature suits you. No need for this much pressure."

Li Ke finally chimed in, "Actually, it’s the exams coming up. Everyone’s slipping back into gaokao mode—kind of a silent competition. Since difficulty varies by region, everyone thinks their hometown’s papers were tougher. There’s this unspoken rivalry. Flunking would feel like letting the school down, and with our uni’s national rep, all eyes are on us. Don’t let our dorm’s Werewolf games fool you—we’re all studying till 2 or 3 AM."

Xu Gongzhu and Xu Zhi exchanged a glance, silently agreeing: The world of top scorers is beyond us.

So that first weekend, they went about their separate tasks. Chen Luzhou handed her the drone. Xu Zhi, having recently joined the photography club, had picked up basics from hauling gear for seniors—enough to operate it clumsily. With Chen Luzhou swamped lately, she didn’t want to bother him.

It was mid-to-late October, midterms looming the following week. As the first exams neared, campus tension thickened, with scattered figures milling about by 5 or 6 AM.

They stuck to their routines—classes for some, library for others—meeting punctually at 5 AM downstairs for convenience store breakfasts. Chen Luzhou had slipped back into high-school habits, barely grooming himself, cycling through the same few outfits (to the point where one might suspect he hadn’t done laundry), descending with perpetually tousled hair.He was the type who always looked decent enough, so when he was presentable, he'd just head downstairs. On days when he wasn't feeling it, he'd wear a mask before going down. As he opened the fridge door to grab a yogurt, he happened to see Xu Zhi walk in, wearing a hoodie with the hood up—coincidentally in the same gray color scheme as his own. He smiled knowingly, casually picked up the fresh milk she usually drank, and grabbed a triangular rice ball from the nearby shelf before heading to checkout.

Xu Zhi was unusually drowsy today, yawning as she entered and making a beeline for their usual table before closing her eyes and leaning back in the chair to wake herself up.

After paying, Chen Luzhou walked over, inserted a straw into the milk, and held it to her lips. "Haven't finished your assignment yet?"

Her hands still in her pockets, Xu Zhi kept her eyes closed and bit onto the straw, taking a couple of sips before mumbling, "Due tomorrow. If they say my composition's too loose again this time, I'm out of ideas."

Chen Luzhou set the milk on the table and, without eating himself, started unwrapping the rice ball for her. Leaning back in his chair, he slowly pulled at the plastic seal, joking, "Then it's her vision that's loose. Suggest she get glasses—might have 300 degrees of astigmatism."

Xu Zhi opened her eyes thoughtfully. "That actually makes sense," she said, suddenly noticing his baggy gray hoodie. "Why are you still wearing this? It's been a week, hasn't it?"

Chen Luzhou laughed and shoved the rice ball into her mouth. "Just eat. I only wear it when coming downstairs in the morning—it's convenient. I'll change when we go back."

"Oh," Xu Zhi mumbled around the rice ball. "Finished your extra classes? Exams are next week."

Crumpling the rice ball wrapper in his hand with nowhere to throw it, he waited until she was fed before opening his own breakfast. "Yeah, pretty much. I've finished learning calculus."

Xu Zhi paused mid-chew. "...Already done?"

"Mm," Chen Luzhou nodded. "Pretty much. Should be easier from here on out."

But it wasn’t exactly easygoing either. After all, the atmosphere at this school was just like that—everyone was grinding, especially the top scorers from each province.

Friday was Xu Gongzhu’s birthday. Originally, the roommates and a few girls from their department had planned to go out for dinner. But Du Qilan had something come up with the student council and left abruptly. Xu Gongzhu had reserved a private room near the school, and with one seat suddenly empty, she asked Xu Zhi to invite Chen Luzhou.

Chen Luzhou had a bit more free time recently and was playing basketball on the court when he got Xu Zhi’s call. He agreed, saying, “I’ll go back to the dorm to change. Send me the address.”

There were about six or seven people in the private room. Aside from Liu Yisi and Xu Zhi, the rest were girls from the architecture department who got along well with them—no outsiders. When they heard Chen Luzhou was coming, they all got excited, eyes practically glowing red, sneaking glances at the door now and then.

“Is the hot guy really coming?”

“Luzhou? I just saw him playing basketball on the court.”

Xu Zhi was puzzled. “Do all of you know him?”

“If you ask Class Monitor Xuemei, she definitely wouldn’t—her daily planner doesn’t include men. But I think most people know him. You’d naturally pay attention to the campus heartthrob.”

Still, these girls were good-natured and could take a joke. The moment they heard Xu Zhi was the one who invited him, their looks said it all—they knew .

Xu Zhi claimed they were hometown friends, but no one bought it except the sweetly oblivious Xu Gongzhu. The other girls, all sharp as tacks, grinned and said, “No need to explain. We get it. He’s chasing you, right?”

So when Chen Luzhou walked in, he was met with a roomful of knowing, almost motherly smiles—like he was being sized up by in-laws.

They were having hot pot, the room thick with steam and the boiling red oil bubbling fiercely. The table was covered with fresh greens and vegetables, but under the eager gazes of everyone present, Xu Zhi felt like she and Chen Luzhou were slices of meat about to be dunked into the broth and devoured.

After a few rounds of drinks, someone suggested playing a game—Ghost. Whoever drew the ghost card could assign two people to do something, like, If I’m the ghost now, I order Old K and Little J to swap jackets , Xu Gongzhu declared loudly.

Xu Zhi and Chen Luzhou had been staying out of it, neither participating nor commenting. The others naturally excluded them too—after all, if Chen Luzhou got picked, no one would dare make demands, and it would kill the fun. Xu Zhi wasn’t counted in either. At first, everyone thought the game was childish, but once they got into it, they couldn’t stop—the dares got wilder and wilder, culminating in two girls kissing each other. Chen Luzhou remarked, “Your department’s girls are really something.”

……

After the rowdy dinner, the group straggled back to campus, Xu Zhi and Chen Luzhou lagging behind. Xu Gongzhu, a little drunk, stumbled along singing “Happy Birthday” to herself. Liu Yisi, worried she’d fall, hovered protectively behind her. “Be careful.”

A few other girls from the department, also tipsy, swayed as they walked, staring up at the dark, oppressive sky and thinking about the structural assignment they’d just turned in. Full of grievances, one of them howled, “I must’ve slaughtered pigs in my past life to end up studying architecture! I regret it! I’m switching majors!”

A deafening clap of thunder roared across the horizon, and suddenly, raindrops the size of beans began to fall.

“Shit, it’s raining.”"Shit, I forgot to bring in my blanket! Hurry, hurry!"

The group quickened their pace, jogging hastily back to the dorm. No one noticed that two people had fallen behind.

Passing by the pitch-black teaching building, Xu Zhi and Chen Luzhou exchanged a glance just as a few raindrops suddenly fell from the sky. At first, Xu Zhi thought it was air conditioner condensation and reached out to catch it. When she looked up, the open sky above confirmed it was rain. Before they could react, plump raindrops began pouring down densely, instantly drenching both their heads.

The teaching building was completely dark. If one didn't look carefully, they wouldn't notice two figures pressed against the wall.

Chen Luzhou silently pinned her against the stairwell wall and kissed her, their breaths mingling hotly between them. Though their hair was wet, their wildly pounding hearts burned away the chill from their bodies. With one hand cradling the back of her head and the other resting casually against the wall in a seemingly detached manner, Chen Luzhou had Xu Zhi trapped against the stairwell wall. She clung to his waist, eyes closed, head tilted back, kissing him with intense passion.