Be Passionately In Love

The night haze enveloped the entire city, with neon lights outlining the sharp geometric contours of the buildings, blurring the city's silhouette.

As Lian Hui turned the car into the underground garage, she caught a glimpse in the rearview mirror of a tall, aloof figure leaning against the white magnolia lamppost at the entrance of the residential area. The biting wind clawed at his face, tousling his soft hair, yet it only accentuated the clean, sharp lines of his features, making them appear even more icy. His knee-length black down jacket nearly merged with the darkness, save for the sliver of white from the high-collared sportswear zipped up to his neck.

It was that flash of white that caught Lian Hui's attention. Her temple throbbed inexplicably, and she immediately hit the brakes, pulling over to park on the side of the road.

Lian Hui walked over, her high heels clicking elegantly and unhurriedly on the empty street. Only when she was close did she ask, "How did you find me here?"

Chen Luzhou didn’t answer. He kept his head down, seemingly absentmindedly scuffing the ground with the tip of his shoe. After a long pause, he finally looked up and got straight to the point, his tone devoid of emotion. "It’s Fu Yuqing, isn’t it?"

Lian Hui’s mind buzzed at that moment, and she stared at him in stunned silence.

Meanwhile, Xu Guangji had finished cooking. Carrying the last dish—stir-fried mushrooms with greens—out of the kitchen, he slid the door shut behind him and placed the plate in front of Xu Zhi. With a smile, he casually remarked, "Did Chen Luzhou ask you to bring this up?"

Xu Zhi’s chopsticks froze mid-air. Suddenly, she realized that Old Xu might not be as clueless as he seemed—perhaps he was wise in his simplicity.

"You knew all along?"

Xu Guangji chuckled as he pulled out a chair and sat down. Unhurriedly, he took his glasses off and wiped them with a cloth from his pocket. "I know every little trick up your sleeve. You used to hate the outfits I picked for you but didn’t want to hurt my feelings, so you’d change into the clothes you hid in your backpack as soon as you left the house, then switch back before coming home. Did you really think I didn’t notice?"

"I honestly didn’t think you’d figure it out. I thought I was being sneaky," Xu Zhi sighed, setting down her chopsticks. "So, is Chen Luzhou’s father Uncle Fu?"

Xu Guangji sighed as well, his heart heavy with nostalgia. "It’s been a long time since all that happened. Your mother actually knew more about it—she was very close with Uncle Fu back then. I only got to know him through her. At first, I didn’t like him much. He was incredibly handsome when he was young, loved racing cars, and had a revolving door of girlfriends."

"How did Uncle Fu and Mom meet?"

"Uncle Fu’s family background was... complicated, to say the least. There were some shady dealings involved, though I never got the full picture. When I first met him while dating your mom, his family was already involved in some questionable businesses. Your mom was a college student back then, and as you know, your grandmother’s health was never great—congenital spinal issues, among other ailments. Your mom worked part-time to pay for her own tuition and sometimes even sent money back to your grandmother."

The room was quiet, filled only with the sighs and murmurs of the father and daughter.Xu Guangji continued, "Your grandmother may have a sharp tongue but a soft heart. To be honest, I genuinely admire that old lady. Times were different back then—nowadays universities are everywhere, but in our era, people struggled to get enough food and clothing. Even if someone got into university, their family often didn’t care. After your mother got accepted, the villagers mocked your grandmother, spouting nonsense about how education was useless. No matter what anyone said, your grandmother stubbornly pushed your mother to go to university."

Xu Zhi had always known her grandmother was blunt and emotionally direct.

Xu Guangji went on, "While your mother was in school, she worked part-time at a music store. Your Uncle Fu was a regular there—back then, he was either a director at a film dubbing studio or some big shot, I’m not sure. He said your mother had a good voice and asked if she’d be interested in voice acting, which paid better. She agreed, and that’s how she met Uncle Fu’s girlfriend from the media university—Chen Luzhou’s mother."

"Our voices were similar, and later we trained under the same dubbing instructor. Gradually, even our speech patterns and breathing became almost identical. But our personalities clashed. She studied architecture and was straightforward—when sleazy businessmen harassed the girls at the dubbing studio, most stayed silent, but she’d throw water in their faces. That got Fu Yuqing into trouble more than once. I admired her, but I also resented her."

The two stood like wooden posts, motionless in the biting wind, their hair whipping wildly under the streetlights, their expressions identically numb.

Chen Luzhou’s phone had been buzzing incessantly in his pocket. He pulled it out—Zhu Yangqi was calling. He muted it with a tap and shoved it back.

Lian Hui recounted calmly, "But Fu Yuqing adored her. I once suspected they had something going on behind the scenes. We broke up and got back together many times. Then Qiudie started dating—Dr. Xu. The four of us were close back then. Fu Yuqing didn’t have many real friends, just hangers-on. Lin Qiudie was his only true friend. Eventually, Qiudie distanced herself from him, probably tired of my constant drama, until Fu Yuqing and I split for good."

"The reason? Did he cheat?"

Lian Hui replied, "I wanted to get married. He said he had no plans to."

"What’s the point of having a girlfriend if you don’t want to marry? Who knew Uncle Fu used to be such a scoundrel! These days he seems so ascetic—I almost thought he wasn’t into women," Xu Zhi set down her chopsticks, her mind reeling as she blurted out, "I honestly believed he was an unpolished gem in this materialistic world."

Xu Guangji chuckled, took a sip of wine to wet his throat, and said, "The words ‘unpolished gem’ have never applied to your Uncle Fu."

"What happened next?" Xu Zhi asked eagerly.Xu Guangji scratched his head in frustration and said, "After that, I’m not entirely sure what happened. Your mother and I broke up after graduating from university, and by the time we got married, over a year had passed. Lian Hui had already disappeared for a long time, and not long after, your Uncle Fu got into trouble. He had made many enemies at the dubbing studio, and during a car race, he was involved in an accident. While he was in the hospital, his father was arrested. At that time, your mother wasn’t in touch with him much because of the issues with Lian Hui. Back then, we didn’t even know Lian Hui had given birth to a child."

Hearing this, Xu Zhi realized that Chen Luzhou was Lian Hui’s biological son. In fact, ever since Lian Hui had spoken to her during the summer vacation, she had vaguely sensed something unusual about Lian Hui’s feelings toward Chen Luzhou. At the time, she hadn’t dwelled on it—even if it was just the bond of a foster mother over a decade, it wouldn’t be strange. But upon reflection later, the suppressed expectations and the unspoken "motherly love" Lian Hui had for Chen Luzhou seemed to hide some untold secret.

As an outsider, such a secret might sound heartbreaking.

Xu Zhi, someone not particularly empathetic, couldn’t help but feel a chill upon hearing this secret. And yet, the person at the center of it was Chen Jiaojiao—someone with an extraordinary capacity for empathy, who could cry for days after watching a movie and couldn’t be comforted.

Xu Guangji took a sip of wine to steady himself and continued, "Your Uncle Fu’s child had been brought home for less than a month before the accident happened. His mother wasn’t in a stable mental state, so she sent the child to an orphanage. By the time your Uncle Fu woke up in the hospital and went looking, the child’s appearance had changed so much he couldn’t even recognize him. He went to find Lian Hui, but she slapped him several times in anger, saying she never wanted to see him again. After that, I don’t know the details. From then on, your Uncle Fu’s personality changed completely."

Xu Zhi thought carefully and suddenly felt something wasn’t right. "Dad, Chen Luzhou’s birthday is November 11th, and mine is July 8th. Logically, I should be a few months older than him. If Ms. Lian Hui disappeared after giving birth, wouldn’t he have been born before you and Mom got married? Shouldn’t he be older than me?"

"You’d have to ask Aunt Lian Hui about that. I don’t know."

"Wait, so Uncle Fu never looked for his son all these years? He just lost him and didn’t care?"

"He’d have been glad to! I’ll never forget the look on his face when he found out I was pregnant. He couldn’t even remember your birthday," Lian Hui said, her voice trembling with anger even after all these years. The cold wind howled, freezing her face stiff, but it couldn’t extinguish the fury burning inside her. "The date on your ID card is your real birthday. The orphanage records were just filled in randomly by the director. When his mother sent you there, she couldn’t even speak clearly, let alone provide your exact birth details."

Back then, Lian Hui had lied to him, saying she changed the date to March so he could start school earlier. In those years, policies weren’t as strict, and many parents adjusted their children’s birthdates to the first half of the year to enroll them sooner.

The road was quiet, with only the occasional car passing by. Their faces flickered in and out of the headlights, expressions unreadable. The streetlamp above them seemed to be at the end of its life, flickering weakly like a dying ember."So," Chen Luzhou leaned against the lamppost, arms crossed, suddenly letting out a numb, indifferent laugh. His eyes were like stagnant water, utterly devoid of emotion as he looked at her, "he wants to acknowledge me now, is that it?"

"No, I was the one who reached out to him."

Lian Hui felt somewhat unbalanced. During the summer break, Chen Luzhou had secretly worked multiple jobs behind her back to earn money for tuition and living expenses. This decision had weighed on her for a long time. It wasn’t until New Year’s Eve, when Chen Luzhou called to wish her a happy new year, that the lonely silence on the other end of the line made her resolve sharpen like the fangs of a venomous snake, gnawing at her already bleeding life, scraping her raw.

Could things get any worse?

"So he never looked for me. Not once."

"Can you just stop this?"

A young man in his early twenties, an age when he should have been brimming with sharp edges, instead had exhaustion and resignation etched unmistakably in his eyes. It was as if life had worn down all his edges. Lian Hui felt as though a gaping hole had been torn through her heart. She knew her son carried the same wound in his—perhaps his would never heal, never be filled.

And at last, she understood why he liked that girl so much.

Xu Zhi was a lot like Lin Qiudie—sometimes so straightforward it was overwhelming. Even during their first meeting, when Lian Hui had tactfully suggested they were too young, that it was just a fleeting infatuation, Xu Zhi had responded bluntly:

"Aunt Lian, this isn’t just some impulse. I really do like Chen Luzhou."

At that moment, Lian Hui’s heart had ached violently. She realized then that love declared so boldly made unspoken affection seem cowardly and insignificant.

"Chen Luzhou—"

Xu Zhi pushed the door open and looked around. The lights were on, the window open, but no one was inside. He must have left in a hurry.

She sat on the sofa and called him. No answer. She tried again—still nothing.

"Zhu Yangqi, do you know where Chen Luzhou is?"

"No idea. I just tried calling him too—no answer."

"Li Ke, is Chen Luzhou with you?"

There was a noticeable pause on the other end before Li Ke replied, panicked, "Come on, I’m not even close with Chen Luzhou. Why are you asking me where your boyfriend is?"

Xu Zhi, rarely this frantic, snapped, "Stop joking around. I’m serious. He’s not at home, and I don’t know where he went."

Only then did Li Ke sober up. "Oh. Then no, he’s really not here. I’m back in my hometown."

Xu Zhi then got Jiang Cheng’s number from Zhu Yangqi.

"Jiang Cheng, is Chen Luzhou with you?"

Jiang Cheng hesitated for a second before replying firmly, "Yeah, he’s here."

Xu Zhi’s heart leaped, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "Then put him on the phone. I need to talk to him."

After she spoke, she heard the muffled sound of the receiver being moved away, followed by Jiang Cheng’s poorly acted shout into the distance, "Chen Luzhou! Chen Luzhou! Uh—he’s in the bathroom."

Xu Zhi: "..."

Expressionless, she tossed her phone onto the coffee table. After this incident, Xu Zhi concluded that Jiang Cheng was the most "loyal" of them all—his cover-up skills were practically second nature.Xu Zhi initially waited on the sofa while watching a movie, but with such a monumental matter weighing on her heart, the wait felt torturous. For once, she couldn’t focus on the film at all and soon grew too restless to stay put, moving to wait by the door instead. Every time she heard the elevator hum or footsteps in the stairwell, her heart would inexplicably race, her ears pricking up as she held her breath and stared intently—only to be disappointed each time.

By the end, she was leaning drowsily against the wall when the elevator dinged. Without much hope, she instinctively glanced up and suddenly caught sight of that familiar, tall figure. Instantly wide awake, she wanted to scold him before he could even speak—her patience long worn thin by the agonizing wait. But the fiery words died in her throat when she saw him standing there, unsteady as scattered ashes after a grand fireworks display, bright and hopeful yet now ignored and forgotten. She knew then—he must have gone to see his mother.

Her heart ached as she walked over and wrapped her arms around him. The question, Where’s your phone? , stuck bitterly in her throat, dissolving into a long, weary sigh against his chest.

Chen Luzhou pulled her tightly into his embrace, his heart already drowned by a tidal wave of emotion, powerless to resist. If this were another abyss, he might have perished in it.

...

The lights were on inside, the curtains left open. The air conditioner’s fan blades whirred noisily outside, while the TV host’s crisp, measured voice delivered the evening news—

"Affordable housing will see significant improvements—further implementing the new-era strategy for strengthening military talent—"

They practically stormed into the bedroom, their lips locked in a feverish, desperate clash, clothes discarded recklessly along the way. Chen Luzhou cradled her face with one hand, his long, slender fingers tangled in her dark hair, while the other gripped her waist, guiding her backward with deep, consuming kisses, his tongue sweeping possessively through her mouth.

Pressed against the door, they kissed until the room’s temperature soared, breaths ragged and hearts pounding like war drums. Finally, they tumbled onto the bed together. The TV’s voice, muffled by the thick wall, was no longer clear—only the host’s detached, monotonous tone faintly buzzing in the background, blending with the frantic rhythm of her heartbeat. Chen Luzhou trailed kisses along her ear, pausing at her collarbone, his breathing heavier than ever as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, forehead pressed against her. His fingers deftly worked at the button of her jeans, a low, teasing hum vibrating against her ear— "Hmm?"

Xu Zhi held up one finger.

And just like that, the wall crumbled, the air thick with swirling dust, hazy and indistinct.

Xu Zhi remembered a time when she had nearly drowned while visiting the beach. Qingyi was a coastal city, and during holidays, people often went to watch the tides. These days, few played in the water, but back in her childhood, the shore would be packed every weekend with crowds observing the ebb and flow. Someone, caught up in the frenzy, had recklessly slapped the water’s surface, stirring up waves that crashed into her one after another. Yet that person refused to save her, refused to let her go—the sound alone was enough to make her panic.

"Chen Luzhou, when exactly is your birthday?" "She said the one on the ID card, March 17th," he said intently.

The two were still chatting idly.

"Wait, isn't your birthday coming up again?" Xu Zhi exclaimed in shock.

He burst out laughing, his eyes brimming with mischief as he looked up at her arrogantly, breathing heavily. "Yeah, why don't you make me another villa with a garden? This time, I also want a parking lot."

"Get lost," Xu Zhi snapped, unable to take it anymore. She tried to kick him but missed, then shoved his sweaty head instead.