Hidden Love

"He wasn't coming back with me either," Sang Zhi explained dryly, her palms sweating. "Brother Ji Xu happened to be coming to Nanwu too, so we just came together. And since my brother had been drinking while he hadn't, he helped bring me home."

Li Ping asked casually, "Did you drink too?"

Sang Zhi gestured with her fingers, "Just a little."

"Don't drink anymore from now on," Li Ping said with a frown. "I'll let it slide this time since your brother was there, but when you're out by yourself, avoid drinking if possible. You need to be careful."

Sang Zhi nodded obediently.

The two entered the elevator.

After the elevator doors closed, Li Ping brought up another topic, "Zhizhi, remember when I called you before and you mentioned Duan Jiaxu was sick and had surgery?"

Sang Zhi let out a blank "ah" before quickly remembering, "Yeah, what about it? That was last year."

"Nothing," Li Ping's voice was soft. "Mom was just asking."

Li Ping's reaction made Sang Zhi somewhat uneasy. Not knowing what else to say, she could only nod again, pretending to be calm, "Oh."

The atmosphere in the cramped elevator felt somewhat heavy.

Li Ping continued chatting with her normally, her tone showing nothing unusual, "Do you two meet often in Yihe?"

"Just occasionally," Sang Zhi's tone was equally casual. "We sometimes go out for meals and things like that."

"How come we never saw him come to Nanwu before?" Li Ping said. "Why did he suddenly come this time?"

Not being good at lying, Sang Zhi just wanted to brush it off, "I don't know, I didn't ask."

"You too - if your brother drank and couldn't take you home, why didn't you call your dad or me?" Li Ping's words were gentle but chastising. "You had to trouble someone else to bring you back, when they rarely get to gather with friends."

Just then, the elevator arrived.

Sang Zhi followed Li Ping out, saying as they walked, "His hotel is nearby, so it was on the way."

Li Ping: "Hmm."

For some reason, Sang Zhi felt there was something strange about her mother. This odd atmosphere somehow felt like pressure, making Sang Zhi even feel the urge to confess. Her heart pounded nervously as she carefully asked, "Mom, is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Li Ping smiled, taking out her keys to open the door. "Go take a shower quickly, you smell like alcohol."

After entering home, Li Ping went to the kitchen to continue tidying up.

Sang Rong was showering in the master bedroom's bathroom.

Sang Zhi wanted to help Li Ping, but the moment she entered the kitchen, she was shooed out and told to quickly shower and get some sleep. Feeling she wouldn't be much help anyway, she returned to her room to get clothes and entered the bathroom.

Thinking about her conversation with Li Ping, Sang Zhi felt restless. She kept feeling like her mother had discovered something, yet it didn't seem that way - plus her reaction was somewhat different from what Sang Zhi had imagined.

Was it because she was hiding something?

Sang Zhi let out a sigh, feeling like a stone was pressing on her chest, making it hard to breathe. She hesitated about whether to subtly bring up this matter with Li Ping over the next couple of days.

It didn't seem like it would be that difficult to mention.

Preoccupied with her thoughts, Sang Zhi didn't know how long she'd been showering. By the time she finished, the living room lights were already off, with only the light outside the bathroom still on.

Using this light, Sang Zhi went to the living room to get a glass of water. Passing by the master bedroom, she could hear Li Ping and Sang Rong seemingly discussing something, but couldn't make out the words through the closed door.

Sang Zhi returned to her room.She sat on the carpet by the bed and picked up her phone from the table. Seeing a message from Duan Jiaxu, Sang Zhi opened it, glanced at it, and replied: [Got home, just took a shower.]

After thinking for a moment, Sang Zhi hesitantly typed: [I think my mom might have found out we're dating.]

Before she could send it, there was a knock at the door.

Sang Zhi pressed the power button to turn off the screen, then looked up and moved to sit on the bed: "What is it? You can come in."

The next moment, the door opened from the outside.

It was Li Ping.

She walked in and sat on the edge of the bed, seeming to have considered her words carefully, her expression serious: "Zhizhi, Mom wants to ask you something."

Sang Zhi set her phone aside: "Hmm?"

Li Ping asked: "Tell me the truth—are you dating Duan Jiaxu?"

Sang Zhi licked her lips, her expression blank.

They stared at each other for a moment in a stalemate before Sang Zhi reacted as if making a last-ditch effort: "Huh?"

"What do you mean, 'huh'?" Li Ping said. "Do you think Mom doesn't know what you're thinking? Suddenly taking out those things you stored away years ago, smiling at your phone all day, and inexplicably wanting to go out for barbecue with your brother."

"..."

Li Ping asked: "How long have you been dating?"

Sang Zhi unconsciously sat up straighter and said softly: "Not long."

"So that's why you didn't come home during the summer break?"

"No," Sang Zhi said, steeling herself, "I just wanted to find an internship after hearing my roommate talk about it, to keep myself busy. If I went home, I'd just stay indoors all day and do nothing."

The smile gradually faded from Li Ping's face as she asked again: "During the summer break, did you stay at his place or in the dorm?"

"..." Sang Zhi felt nervous and stammered, "The dorm! Brother knows about it too... I didn't stay at his place. When Brother came to Yihe last time, he saw it for himself."

"Mom isn't trying to interfere with you," Li Ping sighed. "I just hope you can protect yourself. After all, in matters like this, girls are more likely to get hurt, and you're so much younger than him."

Sang Zhi's voice was faint: "I know."

"How far have the two of you gone?"

"Nothing like that," Sang Zhi said awkwardly, struggling to get the words out. "We haven't done anything like that..."

Li Ping looked up and stared at her, seeming to hold back words.

"Mom, you've met Brother Ji Xu many times too, right?" Sang Zhi spoke up in Duan Jiaxu's defense. "You know he's not a bad person. He treats me really well, so don't worry."

"Zhizhi," Li Ping reached out and stroked her hair, speaking earnestly, "I just mentioned this to your dad. To be honest, neither of us really approves of you two being together."

This was completely unexpected for Sang Zhi. She looked up, somewhat at a loss: "Why?"

Li Ping asked: "Has he told you about his family situation?"

Sang Zhi nodded: "What about it?"

"I mentioned this to you before—back when your brother was a freshman, he borrowed thirty thousand from him. Your brother didn't have that kind of money, so he had to ask your dad. But that's not a small amount, so we asked about the reason."

"...""So I've roughly come to understand his family situation," Li Ping said. "Mom doesn't mean to focus too much on family background—I've met that child and know he's a good kid. Because of that thirty thousand yuan matter, he's always been very good to our family. That time he came to tutor you, the money I gave him, he left it on the coffee table on his last day."

Sang Zhi was stunned, momentarily at a loss for words.

"When you were little, he took good care of you too—I know all about that. Whether your brother gets along well with him or you see him as an older brother, I have no objections." Li Ping sighed again, speaking slowly. "But if he's to become your life partner, Mom really..."

Sang Zhi grew anxious and interrupted her: "Mom, you can't think like that."

"I'm not too clear about his current situation. But I heard before that his father is now in a vegetative state, right?" Li Ping said. "Also, the victim's relatives keep coming to cause trouble?"

Sang Zhi answered honestly: "Not often."

"Have you encountered them?"

Sang Zhi remained silent for a few seconds: "No."

Her reaction made Li Ping understand instantly. She took a deep breath and said calmly, "Zhizhi, Mom knows what happened in his family has nothing to do with him, and he really is pitiable. Maybe what I'm saying is somewhat selfish, but I truly don't want my daughter to accompany him through such a life."

"..." Sang Zhi's throat tightened, and she said very seriously, "I don't find it hard at all. He's always been very good to me, and I'm very happy when I'm with him."

"You're still young, and you haven't been together for long," Li Ping said. "Besides, you're still in university while he's been working for several years already. The people and things you interact with are different, and you usually don't have much common topics to discuss—it's easy to have disagreements."

"But..."

"Zhizhi, Mom doesn't want to say these things to make you unhappy."

"..."

Li Ping stood up and added, "Mom just doesn't approve, but I won't stop you. You need to think it through carefully. Maybe talking about these things now seems quite distant to you, since you're just dating for now."

Sang Zhi said softly, "I have been thinking about it."

"I'm not asking you to find someone wealthy," Li Ping said. "I just hope you can find someone who treats you well, someone you like, and someone who's suitable for you."

Sang Zhi truly hadn't expected that Sang Rong and Li Ping would disapprove.

They had always doted on her—no matter what request she made, as long as it wasn't too excessive, they basically never had any objections. This included going to Yihe for university and not returning home during summer vacation.

Moreover, they knew Duan Jiaxu.

They were aware of his family situation and knew what kind of person he was.

Sang Zhi didn't quite understand Li Ping's concerns. Was it really just because of his family circumstances and current financial situation?

But she genuinely didn't think these were major issues.

It wasn't like they couldn't live without owning a house.

Sang Zhi felt somewhat irritated. She got up and turned off the light, then burrowed back under the covers. Picking up her phone that she had neglected for quite a while, she noticed Duan Jiaxu had sent her several messages.

Duan Jiaxu: 【Free to go out tomorrow?】

A few minutes later, another one: 【Asleep already?】

A few more minutes later: 【Kids really can sleep. [/sad]】Seeing the tacky emoji he sent, Sang Zhi's foul mood inexplicably dissipated. She deleted the line of text in the input box, thought for a moment, then burrowed completely under the covers, put on her earphones, and called him.

Duan Jiaxu answered immediately: "Not asleep yet?"

Sang Zhi hummed in response, wrestling with whether to tell him about what just happened.

Duan Jiaxu chuckled softly: "What were you doing earlier? You weren't responding."

"Talking with my mom for a bit," Sang Zhi's voice was quiet, as if sharing a secret with him. "Didn't check my phone."

"Then are you about to go to sleep?" Duan Jiaxu said. "I feel like most young people these days stay up quite late. How come you live like a little old man?"

Sang Zhi frowned: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy."

Duan Jiaxu obediently agreed: "Mm, got it."

Recalling Li Ping's words from earlier, Sang Zhi felt unsettled. She didn't really register what he said afterward, absentmindedly agreeing with him.

Noticing her unusual behavior, Duan Jiaxu quickly asked: "Are you sleepy?"

Sang Zhi snapped back to attention: "Huh?"

"If you're sleepy, let's hang up," Duan Jiaxu said gently. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Sang Zhi's biological clock was indeed making her drowsy, and she instinctively followed his lead: "Brother, I want to ask you something."

Duan Jiaxu paused for a moment, then laughed: "Mm?"

"When I was little," having been under the covers for too long, Sang Zhi felt suffocated and poked her head out, "back when we first met, you were always really good to me. Why was that?"

Duan Jiaxu seemed to struggle to remember: "Was I good to you back then?"

"You were really good," Sang Zhi thought seriously, muttering to herself. "Even if you combined Qian Fei and Junwen, oh, plus my own brother, none of them treated me as well as you did."

"Then maybe it's because you were good to me too when you were little?" His voice carried an extra magnetic quality through the phone, half-joking. "Or maybe I'm just naturally a good person."

Thinking about how he hadn't taken the tutoring fee, Sang Zhi fell silent for a few seconds before humming in agreement.

"And also," Duan Jiaxu paused before continuing, "I don't think I ever told you this, but back when my mother was sick, your family lent me thirty thousand yuan."

"..."

"Thought your parents were good people," Duan Jiaxu didn't seem to find it difficult to say, his words carrying laughter. "So I had to be good to you too."

In the end, Sang Zhi still couldn't bring herself to say it.

She couldn't tell Duan Jiaxu that her parents didn't really approve of them being together.

But after thinking about it all night, Sang Zhi actually felt this wasn't a big problem. As long as she said more good things about Duan Jiaxu in front of Li Ping and acted a bit more spoiled in front of Sang Rong, the matter would probably blow over.

The next morning, Sang Rong said a few more things to Sang Zhi, but didn't bring it up again afterward. Li Ping indeed didn't put up much resistance either. When Sang Zhi said she was going out, although she didn't explicitly say she was meeting Duan Jiaxu, Li Ping didn't stop her, just reminded her to come home early as usual.

Sang Zhi never brought up the matter in front of Duan Jiaxu either.

Duan Jiaxu once suggested paying a visit to Sang Rong and Li Ping to show his respect. But since Li Ping had just said those things, Sang Zhi felt it wasn't the right time yet. Worried he might feel upset if he knew, she still refused.

The holiday passed just like that.Finding it too troublesome to go back and forth, and since Sang Zhi didn't have much luggage, she didn't ask Sang Yan to see her off. At noon on the seventh, the two of them took the airport shuttle bus nearby, which went directly to the airport.

After passing through security, they waited in the departure lounge.

Sang Zhi hadn't taken a nap and was feeling a bit sleepy. Bored, she opened the escape room game she had downloaded earlier. She wasn't very good at games and could sometimes get stuck on a single point for half a day.

Duan Jiaxu watched her play, occasionally offering a few reminders.

For one level, it took several reminders from him before Sang Zhi could pass it. After playing a few levels, she suddenly put down her phone and inexplicably lost her temper: "I'm not playing anymore."

Duan Jiaxu found it amusing: "What's wrong?"

"Have you played this before?" Sang Zhi tossed her phone onto his lap, displeased. "This is just too weird. I haven't even clicked on the next scene, and you already know where the clues are."

Duan Jiaxu picked up her phone and said nonchalantly, "My company developed this game."

"..."

Sang Zhi hadn't looked into such things, but she felt a bit guilty for not even knowing what games he had worked on. She glanced at him and quietly took her phone back: "Then don't say anything."

Duan Jiaxu raised an eyebrow and didn't say anything more.

A few minutes later, Duan Jiaxu spoke again, but this time, it wasn't about the game. He said casually, "By the way, your brother called me yesterday."

Sang Zhi looked up: "What did he do now?"

"He only said eight words." Duan Jiaxu rested his hand on the back of Sang Zhi's seat, enunciating each word clearly: "'I've ruined my sister's life.'"

"..."

"Then he hung up."

Sang Zhi was baffled: "Just ignore him."

Duan Jiaxu chuckled softly, lowered his head, and continued watching her game progress: "Did you play games before?"

"Not really," Sang Zhi answered honestly. "I'm not very interested."

"Then how did you meet that online friend of yours before?" Duan Jiaxu asked thoughtfully.

"..."

"At your age back then, it was probably all," at this point, Duan Jiaxu turned to look at her, a teasing smile on his face, "marriage partners in games, right?"

Sang Zhi couldn't think of any other way to meet people either, so she vaguely agreed: "Yeah."

Duan Jiaxu: "Which game?"

"..."

When would he ever change this habit of being persistent and digging to the bottom of everything?

Sang Zhi reluctantly named a game she had played: "MapleStory."

Duan Jiaxu said lazily, "Oh."

Silence fell.

Sang Zhi continued playing her game, and before long, she heard the boarding announcement.

At the same time, Duan Jiaxu beside her uttered two more words: "Someday—"

Sang Zhi stood up and looked at him: "Huh?"

Duan Jiaxu lifted his long eyelashes, his pair of peach blossom eyes meeting hers. The corners of his lips curved upward, and in a tone that was different from his usual casual demeanor, he finished his sentence: "Go online and get a divorce."

"..."