When speaking with her, Duan Jiaxu always habitually lowered his head, leaning slightly forward to meet her at eye level.
The distance between them was almost nonexistent.
Sang Zhi could almost feel the warmth of his breath, carrying the faint scent of tobacco that always lingered around him. His eyes were cast downward, shimmering with fragmented light and a hint of temptation.
Sang Zhi’s eyelashes fluttered, and she took an uneasy step back, saying with a hint of awkwardness, “How can you say something like that without feeling ashamed?”
Duan Jiaxu slowly straightened up, calm and composed, as he replied, “Isn’t this just me trying to be a polite rogue?”
“…”
“If you don’t like hearing it,” Duan Jiaxu curved his lips into a smile, bending down again and leaning closer to her, “then I’ll just—”
Sang Zhi’s face tightened, and she nervously gripped the hem of her clothes. “Just what?”
With only a few centimeters left between them, Duan Jiaxu suddenly halted his movement, his gaze lifting to meet hers.
The girl’s eyes were large and round, clear and bright, filled entirely with his reflection. Perhaps because she had never experienced something like this before, her expression was somewhat stiff, as if she had even forgotten to breathe.
Yet she still pretended to remain unaffected.
Duan Jiaxu straightened up and let out a soft chuckle. “Never mind.”
Sang Zhi instantly breathed a sigh of relief, though she couldn’t help feeling a faint, inexplicable sense of disappointment.
“Better to be polite,” Duan Jiaxu raised his hand and gently brushed the corner of her eye, his voice low and husky, carrying an intimate and lingering tone. “I’m afraid you might start crying.”
It was already past ten o’clock. Because of the communal living arrangement, Sang Zhi didn’t want to disrupt her roommate’s schedule and planned to return early to wash up.
Duan Jiaxu walked her to the entrance of her dormitory.
Sang Zhi turned around, about to bid him goodbye, when she suddenly noticed his gaze fixed elsewhere for a few seconds. Following his line of sight, she saw a couple locked in a reluctant embrace, sharing a kiss.
“…”
At this hour, the area outside the girls’ dormitory was filled with couples who had just returned from dates.
The dim lighting of the night made it difficult to see their faces clearly, so most of them acted intimately as if no one else was around.
Sang Zhi had seen this many times before and was long accustomed to it.
But with Duan Jiaxu standing beside her, thoughtfully observing the scene, she felt an unprecedented wave of embarrassment.
“I’ll head back now,” Sang Zhi cleared her throat awkwardly, trying to pull his attention back. “Brother Jia Xu, it’s late, so drive carefully.”
Duan Jiaxu withdrew his gaze and suddenly asked, “I’ve been pursuing you for three days now. Can’t we even hold hands?”
“…” Sang Zhi looked at him expressionlessly and couldn’t help but say, “How does that count as pursuing?”
“Hmm?” Duan Jiaxu lifted his eyes. “It doesn’t?”
“I’m just reminding you—with your approach, you usually won’t succeed in winning someone over.”
Duan Jiaxu let out an “ah” and asked, “Then what should I do?”
“Why are you asking me?” Sang Zhi didn’t spare his feelings, frowning as she said, “Are you expecting me to teach you step by step how to pursue me?”
Duan Jiaxu paused for a moment, shamelessly replying, “Isn’t that allowed?”
“…”
“The advice I just gave you was already a special favor. Don’t push your luck,” Sang Zhi said seriously. “You can look it up online or ask someone else.”
Duan Jiaxu chuckled. “What exactly am I doing wrong?”
“These past three days, it’s just been a few messages on WeChat and an occasional phone call,” Sang Zhi hinted. “In my book, a pursuer who hasn’t shown up in person for three days is basically out of the running.”
Duan Jiaxu replied, “Weren’t you busy?”Sang Zhi: "Then how are you any different from an online acquaintance?"
"..."
Sang Zhi continued her verbal jab: "You're already this old, and you still want to imitate others by having an online romance?"
Hearing this, Duan Jiaxu's brow twitched slightly as he recalled her past antics. He looked at her with a faint, teasing smile: "Who exactly am I imitating, according to you?"
"..."
Sang Zhi also remembered the fictional "online romance" she had once fabricated. Instantly feeling guilty, she immediately waved her hands at him and retreated toward the dormitory building: "Anyway, I've said all I needed to say. Whether you take it to heart or not is up to you."
Duan Jiaxu returned to his car but didn't start driving right away. Mulling over Sang Zhi's words, he picked up his phone and sent her a WeChat message: 【Free tomorrow?】
Zhizhi: 【No.】
It was always those same two curt words.
Duan Jiaxu chuckled softly and added: 【I'm starting to suspect you're lying to me.】
Duan Jiaxu: 【Show me your class schedule.】
A picture came through instantly from the other end, densely packed with courses. As if dissatisfied with his accusation, Sang Zhi added a text message: 【I really am fully booked with classes.】
Duan Jiaxu glanced at it: 【You really are fully booked.】
Sang Zhi didn't reply.
Duan Jiaxu smiled: 【My apologies for wrongfully accusing our Zhizhi.】
Sang Zhi still didn't respond.
He tossed his phone aside and started the car.
The night was quiet with few people and even fewer cars on the road. Duan Jiaxu rolled down the window halfway, thinking of Sang Zhi sulking in her dormitory, and the curve of his lips lifted a little higher.
Duan Jiaxu's thoughts gradually emptied, then circled back to Jiang Ying, whom he had seen tonight.
Occasionally, he even wondered if he was losing his mind. Perhaps Jiang Ying was just a hallucination brought on by occasional exhaustion.
Otherwise, how could one person persistently harass another like this,
day in and day out for ten years without relenting.
She would appear before him from time to time, spouting similar yet extremely biased words. Her emotions hadn't faded with time but had instead intensified.
Venting all the hatred he didn't deserve onto him.
After Jiang Ying pushed him down the stairs, a few classmates came to comfort him, advising him to avoid her as much as possible. Soon after, the incident, along with the homeroom teacher's comments, reached the school administration.
Later, the homeroom teacher was disciplined.
Considering the relationship between Jiang Ying and Duan Jiaxu, the school transferred him to another class.
After that, many people actually told Duan Jiaxu not to mind the homeroom teacher's words or Jiang Ying's actions too much.
But in truth, what felt more humiliating to Duan Jiaxu than the teacher's remarks was that classmate's offhand comment.
—"How does he have the nerve to make Jiang Ying apologize to him..."
That was the first time Duan Jiaxu felt his dignity trampled into the mud.
Even when Jiang Ying repeatedly mocked and attacked him with words in front of their classmates, he never cared, letting it go as soon as he heard it.
Because Duan Jiaxu believed that everyone else probably shared his perspective.
That this matter actually had nothing to do with him.
But Jiang Ying had just lost her father and was in pain, so her words were extreme and reckless, taking her anger out on him. Therefore, he could only try his best to understand and accommodate.
However, after that classmate's remark,
Duan Jiaxu finally realized that wasn't the case at all.
That behind the scenes...Some people believed that the sins committed by his father should also be repaid by him.
Whether they were the majority or the minority.
But those words had indeed left a profound impact on Duan Jiaxu. For a period afterward, he endured all of Jiang Ying’s provocations without resistance.
He wanted to make himself indifferent to it all.
He didn’t want others to disrupt his life.
Duan Jiaxu forced himself to understand that seeing him was like reopening a wound for Jiang Ying. So he did his best to stay out of her sight.
But Jiang Ying’s perspective was entirely different from his.
She believed that if she was suffering, he should not live in peace either.
After the class reassignment, Duan Jiaxu’s new class was on the fifth floor. His original class had been on the third floor, quite a distance away, yet Jiang Ying still came from time to time to pick fights with him.
It was already close to the high school entrance exam. When Xu Ruoshu heard about this, she asked for his opinion and then applied to the school for him to study independently at home.
Later, Duan Jiaxu was admitted to Yihe No. 1 High School.
Jiang Ying’s grades were not good enough, so she couldn’t get into the same school as him. Only then did his life gradually begin to feel like he could breathe again.
…
Unconsciously, the car pulled into the residential complex.
Duan Jiaxu turned off the engine and picked up his phone, noticing that Sang Zhi had replied just two minutes ago: 【I’m going to sleep, bye.】
He replied: 【I’m home.】
An immediate response came: 【Oh.】
Duan Jiaxu chuckled inexplicably. Then, he took the candy she had just given him out of his pocket and popped one into his mouth.
Sang Zhi felt that her hints to Duan Jiaxu were like stones sinking into the ocean—utterly without response. In the following days, he remained exactly the same as before.
Only on weekends would they go out together for a meal or to watch a movie.
Then things would revert to how they were.
She thought that if they were to start dating, it would probably feel like a long-distance relationship.
Logically speaking, even if Sang Zhi said she was busy, she still had to eat. Couldn’t he take the opportunity during mealtime to ask her out for dinner?
When others pursued someone, they deliberately created chances to meet.
But him? Aloof and reserved even when chasing someone.
Maybe he had silently answered her last remark in his heart:
—“Anyway, I’ve said all I’m going to say. Whether you listen or not is up to you.”
And his silent reply was: “I won’t listen.”
The more Sang Zhi thought about it, the angrier she became.
She spat out the toothpaste foam, washed her face with cleanser, and left the bathroom. Seeing that Yu Xin was still in bed, Sang Zhi tapped on her bed and asked, “Aren’t you going to class?”
After a few seconds, Yu Xin mumbled drowsily, “I stayed up late reading a novel last night. I’m exhausted. Can you cover for me? I’m not going.”
Sang Zhi nodded. She was also tired and felt too lazy to put on makeup, but in the end, she pushed through her lethargy to fill in her eyebrows and apply a layer of lipstick. After getting ready, she quickly headed out.
This class was a large public lecture, held in a big classroom.
Sang Zhi arrived early, and most of the seats were still empty. She routinely found a spot by the window in the fourth row and sat down.
Checking her phone, Sang Zhi yawned and was about to rest her head for a quick nap when she noticed someone sitting down beside her out of the corner of her eye. She instinctively looked up, her gaze instantly freezing, her expression dazed and foolish.The person before her wore a simple white shirt and black trousers, exuding a clean and refreshing aura. He tilted his head to look at her, lifting his eyelids, the corners of his lips curling as usual: "What a coincidence."
"..."
"You're taking this class too?"
"..." Sang Zhi hadn't quite processed it yet, her breathing slowing slightly. "Don't you have to work?"
"Took a day off."
Sang Zhi scratched her head: "Then how did you know I was in this class?"
Duan Jiaxu smiled: "Didn't I ask for your class schedule?"
"Oh." Sang Zhi averted her gaze and said softly, "Are you going to attend class with me?"
Duan Jiaxu replied succinctly: "Just a chance encounter."
"..."
Never mind that you didn't even go to university in Yihe, and you've been graduated for almost four years—where do you get the nerve to say something like that?
There were still ten minutes until class started.
Sang Zhi muttered under her breath: "And you're dressed like a college student."
Duan Jiaxu raised an eyebrow: "Young?"
Sang Zhi: "Not bad."
Duan Jiaxu: "Alright, then I'll dress like this from now on."
"..."
Sang Zhi was still struggling to maintain her composure because of his sudden appearance.
She took out her book, laid her head on the desk, and decided to stick to her original plan before he arrived, hoping to calm her emotions: "I'm so sleepy, I'm going to nap for ten minutes. Otherwise, if I fall asleep during class, this teacher will call on me to answer questions."
Duan Jiaxu stared at her for a couple of seconds, then let out an exasperated laugh: "You get sleepy as soon as I show up?"
Sang Zhi defended herself: "I was already tired."
Duan Jiaxu: "Fine, go ahead and sleep."
Sang Zhi closed her eyes, but because of his overwhelming presence, any drowsiness had long since vanished. Maybe it was her imagination, but she felt like Duan Jiaxu was staring at her right now.
After a while, she hesitated about whether to turn and face the other way.
But she was afraid it would seem too deliberate.
Sang Zhi suddenly remembered she hadn't put on much makeup today.
Sigh.
He could've at least given her a heads-up.
Then she wouldn't have been so lazy.
Duan Jiaxu propped his cheek on his hand, staring intently at the side of her face that was visible. Her features were delicate, her skin smooth and flawless, her lips hidden in the crook of her arm.
A few seconds later, her eyelashes fluttered slightly.
Duan Jiaxu paused for a moment, his peach blossom eyes crinkling.
Little faker, pretending to sleep.
A hint of amusement flickered in Duan Jiaxu's eyes as he suddenly straightened up and leaned in closer to her. Then, he brushed his thumb against her cheek while simultaneously pressing his lips to the back of his own hand.
A soft sound followed.
The next moment, he saw Sang Zhi open her eyes and lift her head.
Staring at his still-close face, her lips moved slightly as she looked at him in disbelief. Sang Zhi froze for a few seconds, as if replaying what had just happened in her mind.
Duan Jiaxu teased: "Why are you awake?"
Sang Zhi snapped back to reality, her cheeks and even the tips of her ears burning, her mind filled with the words "stole a kiss." She shouted in flustered anger: "Duan Jiaxu!"
Hearing her call him that for the first time, Duan Jiaxu was taken aback, then burst out laughing. He asked incredulously: "What did you call me?"
"..."
Duan Jiaxu reminded her seriously: "Sang Zhi, mind your manners."
"..."
"Given our relationship now, calling me like that," Duan Jiaxu said leisurely, "isn't really appropriate, is it?"
Author's note: Duan Jiaxu: Let me tattle first, then I'll get on my knees later (?)
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