Be Passionately In Love

Chen Luzhou still had one hand propped lazily against the wall, while the other moved to pinch her chin, tilting it up slightly before he lowered his head to capture her lips. He nibbled tentatively, as if teasing, or perhaps still searching for the right rhythm. It was the same psychology as playing with candles as a child—watching the flickering flame, reluctant to blow it out, yet unable to resist the rebellious urge to extinguish it. So, he’d tease it with a light puff, watching the fire dance and sway in the darkness, gauging the right force before suddenly, catching it off guard, delivering a firm, decisive blow— poof —snuffing it out.

Xu Zhi felt like that candle, the flame inside her flickering on the edge of extinction, restless and itching unbearably. Chen Luzhou sucked lightly on her lips before shifting to kiss her eyelids, the tip of her nose, the corners of her mouth—yet that decisive, heavy pressure never came.

Instead, his teasing had her heart pounding fiercely, thudding against her ribs. Her arms around his waist tightened slowly, her ears filled with his low, uneven breaths, mingling with the thunder roaring around them. Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her throat.

"Did you miss me?" Chen Luzhou suddenly stopped, one hand still braced against the wall, the other gripping her chin as he pinched it twice, hard, as if in retaliation.

Xu Zhi’s lips were squished into a little beak shape. The look in her eyes, perhaps dampened by the rain, felt both cold and scorching at once. She instantly understood he was referring to the past few months. "Mm."

The teaching building was eerily dark. Some classroom window must have been left ajar—wind and rain rushed in, knocking something over with a loud bang . Chen Luzhou instinctively glanced in that direction, confirming no one was there before turning back. His hands still framed her face, though his grip loosened slightly, his thumb brushing lightly, almost imperceptibly, over her skin. His gaze was cool as he studied her. "Then why didn’t you call me even once?"

"I’ll tell you later. You’ve got things you haven’t told me too. One secret for another—"

Before she could finish, her lips were seized in a fierce bite, his tongue pushing in without hesitation, prying hers apart. The force was unlike anything before—brutal, unrelenting.

In an instant, the downpour intensified, the steady drumming of rain occasionally punctuated by heart-stopping rumbles of thunder, amplifying the heated, tangled sounds of their kiss in the dim, unlit stairwell.

Eventually, the rain eased, the dense curtain of droplets thinning into sporadic patters. Yet, after moments like these, their eyes always held a lingering spark, a restless heat. As they gradually cooled, an awkward tension settled between them, the silence stretching uncomfortably.

They sat on the last two steps of the staircase, right in the blind spot of the surveillance camera. When they’d first entered, Chen Luzhou had glanced at the corner camera before boldly leading her through a winding path to that cramped little nook barely big enough for two. But now, they were directly facing the lens.

Xu Zhi reached out to Chen Luzhou. "Give me my phone. I want to check if the coffee I ordered arrived."

Earlier, during the kiss, the phone she’d been holding had been snatched from her and stuffed into his pocket.Chen Luzhou was wearing a baseball jacket with the middle buttons undone. As requested, he casually reached into his pocket and handed her the item. "Is your structural engineering professor really that terrifying? Do you have to pull all-nighters every day?"

Xu Zhi shot him a glance. "Campus Idol Chen, let's not point fingers at each other. You've been staying up even later than me. What, has the competition among provincial top scorers ended?"

"Not yet," he chuckled. "Li Ke just called me twice, probably wanting me to join a game of Werewolf. He always drags me into games. These days, he follows me to the library and asks where I am after class—afraid I'm secretly grinding alone."

"You two competed in high school, and now you're still at it in university?"

"Not exactly. It's mainly the out-of-province students who are really intense. It's not about proving who's better—since the college entrance exams weren't standardized, everyone just wants to see where they stand under a unified benchmark."

Xu Zhi mused, "I see. So unless there's a clear winner in this competition, you're not planning to date anyone?"

Only then did Chen Luzhou glance at her. With a half-smile, he retorted, "Wasn't it you who said dating is boring, kissing is boring, dating and kissing is boring, so not dating but kissing would be exciting?"

Xu Zhi let out an "oh" and rested her head on his shoulder, her hair brushing against his neck. Deadpan, she proposed a new idea: "Not dating but kissing is boring too. Not dating but sleeping together might be more exciting."

Chen Luzhou sat there, looking down at her head on his shoulder. Annoyed, he deliberately shrugged to jostle her. His gaze fixed on the dark hallway ahead as he warned coolly, "Don't push your luck."

"Chen Luzhou, you're so damn boring," Xu Zhi cursed bluntly, still leaning against him while checking her phone for a package update.

The rain had come and gone quickly—the downpour outside was nearly silent now. Someone walked past with an umbrella. The two had been sitting on the stairs for almost half an hour, and it was so dark that no one even glanced their way. Occasionally, the faint chirping of autumn cicadas could be heard across campus, though their numbers were a mere fraction of those in Qingyi.

Chen Luzhou glanced down and saw her replying to a WeChat message—from Jiang Yu. The blatancy of it irked him. He shrugged again, trying to dislodge her, his tone indifferent. "Leaning on my shoulder while texting another guy? You've got some nerve."

Xu Zhi kept typing as she replied, "Oh please. Weren't you the one who didn’t take him seriously before? Chen Luzhou, you’re such a pickled cabbage."

Chen Luzhou leaned back, bracing his hands on the steps behind him, causing Xu Zhi’s head to shift against his chest. He looked down at her, gave a self-deprecating laugh, then averted his gaze. His eyes lazily swept the surroundings before he sighed and said with thinly veiled sarcasm—

"Yeah, he’s pretty lame. He’s boring too. All he wants is a serious relationship, but he knows the other person craves excitement. He’s afraid that if they actually date, she’ll find him dull and dump him in no time. He agonizes over every word—too many and she might get sick of him, too few and she might think he’s cold. His whole world revolves around her, and she still thinks he’s boring. Tell me, doesn’t Chen Luzhou have it rough?"Xu Zhi couldn't stop laughing as she lifted her head from his shoulder. "You really think that way?"

He glanced down at her coldly. "Yeah."

Xu Zhi raised an eyebrow, grinning. "Then maybe we should just stay like this forever. Doesn't sound too bad."

"Wishful thinking."

"I notice you overthink a lot. Even if one day we really break up after getting together like you said, just think—you'd be Xu Zhi's first love and ex-boyfriend. How impressive is that title?"

Chen Luzhou stood up, one hand in his pocket as he pulled her up with the other. He chuckled, "Sounds slightly more impressive than being class president or campus heartthrob. After all, we're talking about the famously beautiful Xu Zhi."

Standing on the steps looking at him, Xu Zhi said, "Chen Luzhou, the day you learn to speak without choking people to death is the day you'll get a girlfriend."

"I'll change right now."

"Too late. You'll just have to wait for your summons."

When Chen Luzhou returned to his dorm, he took off his jacket and hung it on the back of his chair. Dressed in just a white hoodie and gray sweatpants, he leaned back casually, legs spread wide as he balanced on the front two legs of the chair, rocking idly. His phone spun carelessly in his palm. After some thought, he finally unlocked it and called Lian Hui.

The call connected quickly, but both remained silent. After about thirty seconds, Lian Hui spoke first, her voice as gentle as ever:

"Are you busy over there?"

Chen Luzhou gave a noncommittal hum, head bowed as he leaned back in the chair, his expression unreadable. His roommate, wearing headphones while gaming, glanced curiously at him—this was the first time in over a month since school started that they'd seen him call home.

"You don't need to send me money anymore. I'll get a scholarship," Chen Luzhou said.

Lian Hui's voice remained calm. "Whether you get a scholarship or not has nothing to do with me. Besides, your school's top scholarship is only 15,000 yuan—how much would you have left after tuition? The court awarded custody to me, so it's my obligation to support you. I'll send the money; whether you use it is up to you."

But the bank card she'd given him had been left behind in his room's drawer. "Please stop calling Li Ke in the future. If I need anything, I'll call you myself. That's all."

"Alright," Lian Hui added, "I know you didn't take that card with you. I'll transfer money to your WeChat every six months. You can accept it—whether you use it is your choice."

Only after hanging up did Chen Luzhou notice the pending WeChat transfer. Lian Hui was generous—nearly 100,000 yuan per semester for living expenses, more than the overdraft limit on the supplementary card he'd had back in Qingyi.

He hadn't even opened a local bank account yet, getting by with mobile payments. But he knew if he didn't accept the money, she'd keep sending it until he did.

"Going for the scholarship?" his roommate asked casually between gaming sounds.

Chen Luzhou hummed in confirmation, still leaning back in his chair. His broad shoulders pressed against it as he held the phone between his spread legs, finally tapping to accept the transfer with his head bowed.The roommate, eyes fixed on the game screen, spoke without turning his head: "No wonder you've been working so hard lately. The scholarships at our school are pretty tough to get—you need at least a 4.0 GPA, and you can't slack off in any subject. Plus, not every major gets slots. Our major is probably even harder, being in the humanities department and all—not exactly this school's priority. Take your friend Li Ke's major, for example—top three in their program might get recommended, but for us, it's probably gotta be first place."

Just as they were talking, a message suddenly popped up on his phone.

Zhu Yangqi: "You bastard, you came to Beijing???????"

Zhu Yangqi: "You better wait for me. I'm already hailing a cab. Just wait—I'm coming over to beat your ass!!!"

Meanwhile, a message also appeared on Xu Zhi's phone.

Tan Xu: "I'm in Beijing. Can we meet?"

Author's Note: 200 red envelopes.

This is the one person Zhou Zhou would genuinely get jealous over—probably the last little climax of the story. After this, it's all sweetness from here on out.