Be Passionately In Love

Xu Zhi was snapped back to awareness by his words, her unfocused gaze gradually sharpening as she looked at him.

The boy was drenched in sweat, beads rolling down his clean-cut brows—all of it shed unsparingly for her. Gone was the youthful restraint between his eyebrows, replaced instead by a roguish arrogance and the stirrings of passion. He was neither as green as a first-timer nor as polished as a seasoned man—that perfect in-between, raw yet thrilling.

His back arched like a mountain peak, collapsing like a mudslide, the sheets beneath them soaked through. "Then don't mind me," she muttered.

"How could I not? If you're ruined after just once, what am I supposed to do later?"

Xu Zhi lifted a foot to kick him. "You're the one who'd be ruined."

"Don't move. Adjust to it first."

As Chen Luzhou spoke, he gently tucked the sweat-dampened strands at her temples behind her ears.

……

"Are you riding a bike, old man?"

She burst into laughter, and his grin grew even more smug. Propping himself up on the headboard with both hands, he conceded defeat. "Then what do you want me to do?"

Xu Zhi didn’t know how to respond. Her ears burned hotter, her heart growing restless, as if a blade were pressed to her throat, teasingly drawn back and forth—agonizingly slow.

She’d rather he just end it swiftly.

As if picking up on her signal, Chen Luzhou reached out and turned off the bedside lamp, plunging the room into darkness.

"Don’t turn it off—" Xu Zhi protested, but before she could finish, her head nearly knocked against the headboard.

Chen Luzhou caught her just in time, one hand bracing against the headboard as his movements continued. In the dimness, their outlines and locked gazes were still faintly visible. His eyes darkened further, piercing and deliberate, as if reeling her in.

Every now and then, Xu Zhi would murmur his name. Proud and teasing, he wouldn’t respond to "Chen Jiaojiao"—only when she called him "Chen Luzhou" did he hum in acknowledgment. Then, with a slight bow of his head, his eyes shut tight, his handsome brows furrowed in barely restrained tension, his breath trapped in his chest, threatening to boil over.

Who could have predicted that last summer’s chance encounter—that fleeting glimpse through a door crack—would lead them here?

They had kissed in the dead of night, the creaking of the wooden bed frame lingering longer than any cicada’s song in Qingyi’s summers.

……

After cleaning up, they lingered in bed, trading nonsensical banter.

"You really went all out."

"Honestly, I held back. If I hadn’t, you’d be crying your way home."

"Maybe you should quit basketball."

Chen Luzhou chuckled, leaning against the headboard as he played with her hair. "This has nothing to do with basketball. Maybe you should look at yourself first."

Xu Zhi paused, then looked at him with sudden realization.

"Get it now?" He lounged lazily, grabbing his phone from the nightstand and glancing at the time before tossing it to her. "If it’s uncomfortable, I’ll ease up. Charge this for me."

"No way," Xu Zhi caught his phone, then impulsively added, "Hey, can I look through your phone?"

"Want to snoop on your boyfriend?" He smirked. "Go ahead."

She tried his old password—four ones—then glanced at him. "Will I come out crying?"

"Probably not. No guarantees, though." He leaned back, eyes half-lidded, exhaustion creeping into his voice.

Password incorrect. "Changed it?"

"Yeah. Your birthday."Sigh, Chen Luzhou really was flawless. Xu Zhi placed her phone on the bedside table and plugged it in. "Whatever, a boyfriend who uses his girlfriend's birthday as his password probably doesn't have any secrets."

He chuckled with his eyes closed. "Xu Zhi, really, don’t worry. Feel free to check anything you want. All my passwords are your birthday." Then, as if remembering something, he added, "Oh, except for the bank card password."

"But I only care about the bank card password."

Chen Luzhou opened his eyes and gave her a light, amused glance before teasing, "Little money-grubber." Without even looking down, he sighed and reached over to pull open the bedside drawer, fishing out his wallet and tossing it to her.

"Just two bank cards. One’s a credit card my mom got for me—used it temporarily for the math competition. The other’s the one I just opened when I started school. All my money’s in there. I don’t usually use birthdays for bank cards."

"Then what do you use?"

"738733."

Xu Zhi opened his wallet. Sure enough, there were only two bank cards, along with an ID and his university student card. The photo on the ID didn’t look much like the Chen Luzhou of today, but the same cocky attitude was unmistakable. Back then, his features were fresher, like a newly sprouted poplar tree—full of youthful vigor, yet with a sharp, aloof edge.

"That’s so hard to remember," Xu Zhi muttered, absorbed in examining his wallet. Chen Luzhou just smiled without a word. It wasn’t until Xu Zhi suddenly realized— "Our college entrance exam scores?"

Including his competition bonus points, it added up to exactly 733.

"Yeah, those were the only two numbers in my head at the time, so I just went with it. Using birthdays isn’t safe anyway—" Chen Luzhou paused mid-sentence when he glanced down at his wallet and abruptly noticed something off. Instinctively, he reached to snatch it back. "Hey!"

But Xu Zhi had already seen it—a photo tucked into the side pocket. A girl, seemingly taken in the school auditorium. She was certain it wasn’t her because Chen Luzhou had never taken photos of her at school.

Come to think of it, he’d never mentioned whether he’d liked anyone before. Just because he hadn’t dated didn’t mean there wasn’t someone he’d secretly admired. Though the word "secretly" really didn’t suit him.

Her heart sank inexplicably, a sour feeling bubbling up inside her—strangely novel, as if someone had unblocked her meridians, sending waves of prickly heat coursing through her body.

She wanted to hit him, but couldn’t bring herself to.

Just as Chen Luzhou reached for the wallet, Xu Zhi flung it back at him, then threw off the covers and got out of bed, her face expressionless. "It’s late. I’m going back."

Chen Luzhou froze for a second before snapping out of it and quickly following her off the bed. "Xu Zhi!"

He’d never seen her move so fast. Xu Zhi didn’t even bother with slippers, stepping barefoot toward the door.

Chen Luzhou caught up at the doorway, grabbing her arm and blocking the handle with his hand to keep her from opening it. Holding the door firmly, he pulled her away, positioning himself between her and the exit. He knew if she got that door open, she’d vanish faster than a mouse. "What’s with the running? You just bolt when you’re mad? What about next time? Every time we argue, you’ll run off and make me lose my mind searching for you again?"Xu Zhi stood there like a block of wood, still savoring that strange, fresh emotion in her heart. It was as if a ravenous demon had caught the scent of fresh blood, savagely gnawing at her limbs. She gave up resisting, letting herself be consumed bit by bit, absentmindedly standing there while being lectured.

Chen Luzhou had rushed out in such a hurry that he hadn’t even put on slippers. At least he was still wearing socks, but Xu Zhi was barefoot on the cold tiles. He pulled a pair of slippers from the shoe rack and placed them in front of her.

"Put these on first."

Xu Zhi sighed and slowly slipped her feet into the slippers, admitting honestly, "I wasn’t running away. I don’t want to fight with you, and I don’t care who you’ve liked before. How about you just open the door and let me go back to sleep? By tomorrow, I’ll probably be fine."

She was used to letting time wear down her emotions. No matter how big the problem, as long as she slept on it, she could digest it.

Chen Luzhou leaned against the door with his hands in his pockets, amused. His gaze shifted from her slippered feet to her eyes, giving her a challenging look that said, Are you messing with me? "So after a night’s sleep, even if you see that photo again, it won’t matter? The problem will just disappear?"

"Well, you’re with me now anyway."

"Aren’t you afraid I might still be thinking about someone else?"

"Can you like two people at the same time?"

"No."

"Then as long as you like me now, that’s enough. Can you throw the photo away?" She even cautiously sought his opinion.

Sigh. She’d talked herself into it again.

Chen Luzhou didn’t respond, as if he was still reluctant. He leaned against the door, silently studying her, his brows furrowed in conflict. After a moment of contemplation, he put on a careless act and offered a more satisfying suggestion: "How about we just burn it and be done with it?"

Xu Zhi very kindly and swiftly pulled a lighter from her pocket. "Here, borrow mine."

Chen Luzhou was taken aback. "You smoke?"

"No," Xu Zhi wagged her index finger. "I really quit. I just used this to open a bottle of wine for Director Wei earlier, then absentmindedly stuck it in my pocket."

"Alright."

Chen Luzhou turned to fetch his wallet from his room, then theatrically grabbed a bowl from the kitchen. The two sat on the sofa, the bowl placed on the coffee table.

Xu Zhi remained unfazed, leaning back on the sofa, her eyes cold and indifferent.

Chen Luzhou mercilessly flicked the lighter open with a snap . The small flame leaped up, leaving a faint scent of lighter fluid in the air. Without even glancing at it, he held the flame to a corner of the photo, ready to set it ablaze—looking every bit the heartless scumbag.

Xu Zhi narrowed her eyes slightly.

Something felt off. The photo was blurry, and the girl on the auditorium stage was barely recognizable. But she had caught a glimpse of a partially captured red banner at the edge— Che High School Opening Ceremony .

Only half of the character "Che" was visible, but it was faintly recognizable. Che? Jun?

Suddenly, something clicked. "Is this Rui Jun?"

When the other person remained unmoved, Xu Zhi panicked and tried to snatch the photo. "Damn it, Chen Luzhou, is this from Rui Jun’s high school opening ceremony last summer?"

Back then, Old Qu had asked her to return and give a speech. After struggling with the draft all summer, Chen Luzhou had ended up rewriting it word by word. By the end, Xu Zhi had gotten so lazy that he was the one who finished the entire thing.

"Is it?" Now it was his turn to lean back on the sofa, one arm draped over the backrest behind her, playing hard to get. "Can’t remember."Xu Zhi immediately snatched the photo back. Since most of her body was hidden behind the podium at the time, she had been wearing the most ordinary white blouse—one she’d only worn once before stuffing it to the bottom of her closet, mainly because the buttons kept popping off and it was uncomfortable. So she rarely wore it.

“So it was me?”

“Obviously?” he said, exasperated.

“Weren’t you abroad with your mom then? I remember it was before the shooting incident?”

Back then, news of shootings frequently topped the trending searches.

“Came back for a bit.”

He said it casually, the words neither heavy nor light, brushing over it effortlessly. But what Xu Zhi didn’t know was that at the time, he hadn’t even had enough money for a plane ticket. Summer was peak season, with fares at their highest. He’d worked day and night at several odd jobs to scrape together the cash. Overseas regulations were strict, so most of his work was in Chinatown—occasionally doing translations. He’d been exhausted, like an ox plowing a field, too tired to even catch his breath. Yet the moment he boarded the plane, he was wide awake, anxious about delays, bad weather, or any unforeseen mishaps. He’d been paranoid about everything, treating the world around him as if it were out to get him.

That was when he knew he was done for.

But he didn’t want to tell her any of this. It felt embarrassing, and he didn’t think it was worth mentioning. So when he realized Xu Zhi had seen the photo earlier and might uncover these details, he’d tried to snatch it back.

Who’d have thought she’d actually assumed it was someone else?

“Your school’s security guard really doesn’t recognize faces. I told him Old Qu was my homeroom teacher, and he just let me in.”

Unaware of the backstory, Xu Zhi placed the photo back on the coffee table. Her earlier delicate emotions had already faded, replaced by a lighthearted, almost smug feeling. Leaning on the sofa, she turned to look at him with a teasing grin. “Chen Luzhou, you really are quite the romantic, huh?”

Her expression was practically floating with triumph.

“Happy now?”

“Mhm.”

Suddenly, he wasn’t so happy anymore. Leaning back on the sofa, he fell into a rare, thoughtful silence.

The next second, he reached for the photo and a lighter on the table, stirring up trouble with shameless mischief. “Nope, I’m burning this—”

Xu Zhi knew he was just messing with her. “Chen Luzhou, careful or I’ll dance on your grave someday.”

“Relax, we’ll be sharing one,” he shot back with a laugh.

Xu Zhi: “…”

Chen Luzhou stopped teasing her. Putting down the photo and lighter, he pulled her into his lap and pinched her cheek without mercy. “You dummy, whose photo did you think would be in my wallet?”