Originally, before the trip, Zhou Wan had enthusiastically prepared a detailed travel itinerary, specifying everything from wake-up times to subway routes and travel durations. Yet almost every morning ended up being spent in the hotel bed.
By the halfway point of their trip, Zhou Wan was nearly driven to irritation by Lu Xixiao's antics.
Even with her gentle temperament, she couldn't withstand his relentless pestering.
At noon, Lu Xixiao emerged after washing his hair. Zhou Wan lay face down on the bed, propping her eyelids open with drowsy effort to check her phone. Ever since starting work at the newspaper, her first daily ritual had been catching up on the news.
Lu Xixiao walked over and patted her through the comforter. "Help me blow-dry my hair."
Zhou Wan turned her head, studied him for a moment, then set her phone aside and flopped back down, slowly closing her eyes.
"..."
Lu Xixiao froze briefly before chuckling in disbelief. "Seriously, what kind of attitude is that?"
"I'm tired."
"Zhou Wan, look at yourself right now. Aren't you acting like a complete jerk?"
Jerk or not, she didn't care.
Zhou Wan still fumed when she thought about last night and had no intention of humoring him. She directly yanked the comforter over her head, fully conveying her refusal to listen.
"..."
Lu Xixiao wasn't one to be easily brushed off. He simply pulled her out from under the covers.
After he'd carried Zhou Wan to bathe last night, he'd casually dressed her in one of his T-shirts. The neckline was somewhat loose, revealing scattered red marks trailing downward from her collarbone.
His eyes darkened, and he leaned in to kiss her collarbone again, his tongue flicking out to taste her skin before he couldn't resist gently nibbling with his teeth.
"Lu Xixiao!"
"Hmm?" His voice was husky.
"Aren't you annoying?"
Lu Xixiao chuckled softly, his hand slipping under the comforter to press against her inner thigh. "Still sore?"
Too embarrassed to answer, Zhou Wan turned her head away, evading him, and complained, "Your hair is dripping water."
Lu Xixiao pinched her cheek, gripping it firmly. "Zhou Wan."
"What?"
"Your nerve is growing by the day."
"..."
Zhou Wan felt compelled to remind him, "Your hair is dripping on me."
"Which is why I asked you to blow-dry it for me."
He was unrelenting and utterly unapologetic.
Zhou Wan knew she was no match for him in a war of words, so she sighed and sat up—though the sigh was particularly heavy, laden with exaggerated despair.
Lu Xixiao glanced at her and raised an eyebrow.
Just as he was about to speak, Zhou Wan noticed his gaze and proactively smoothed his ruffled feathers. "What should we do later?"
"You decide." Lu Xixiao drawled lazily, dragging out his words. "I wouldn't dare suggest anything."
"..."
Zhou Wan knew full well he dared to say absolutely anything.
After all that fuss, it was already quite late by the time they left their room. They randomly picked a seaside restaurant for some seafood.
Lu Xixiao was the type to grow bolder with the slightest encouragement—a classic case of "presuming on favor to act spoiled." Give him an inch, and he'd take a mile, becoming increasingly outrageous.
The sun hung halfway over the ocean, neither fully set nor fully present.
The beach was still lively with people playing and laughing.
The breeze was perfectly comfortable, so they chose a spot on the sand outdoors—plastic tables and chairs beneath a dim yellow bulb suspended from a frame.
It somewhat resembled the atmosphere of that old, shabby noodle shop from their past.
Lu Xixiao had a plate of lobster in front of him, meticulously extracting the meat and placing it all in Zhou Wan's bowl.
As they ate, a voice suddenly came from beside them.
"Lu Xixiao, what a coincidence."A tall woman approached, dressed in form-fitting clothes that accentuated her enviable figure. "I just saw you and couldn’t believe it was really you."
Lu Xixiao looked up, but the face before him didn’t ring any bells.
He raised an eyebrow, silently tossing the question back at her.
The woman then glanced at Zhou Wan, paused, and greeted her with a smile. "It’s you."
Zhou Wan returned the smile.
Lu Xixiao turned to her. "You know her?"
Zhou Wan: "..."
The woman seemed to have anticipated his reaction and let out a cold laugh.
That laugh spoke volumes—no one else would dare treat Lu Xixiao with such an attitude these days.
Seeing that he genuinely didn’t remember, Zhou Wan leaned in to explain, "Xu Yixuan. Your ex-girlfriend."
Lu Xixiao: ?
Xu Yixuan took in his expression and snorted again. "Even if you tell him the name, he won’t remember. He’s had way too many ex-girlfriends to count."
Just then, another girl who had come with her approached, carrying a tray. "Xuan, let’s sit here."
"Sure."
"Who’s that? Your friend? Let’s eat together." Her friend was the sociable type.
"Ex-boyfriend. Not really appropriate."
"..."
The restaurant was crowded at this hour, and the only available seats were next to them.
Zhou Wan could overhear their conversation. Her friend complimented how handsome her ex was, and Xu Yixuan proceeded to list all the ways Lu Xixiao had been a jerk back in the day.
In the end, her friend shot Zhou Wan a sympathetic look.
Zhou Wan: "..."
She glanced at Lu Xixiao across the table. He was still focused on peeling shells for her, seemingly unaffected by the interruption.
"I’m full." Zhou Wan fed him the shrimp from her bowl, then leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Do you really not remember?"
Lu Xixiao paused, then chuckled. "Do I have any choice but to say I don’t?"
"Huh?"
He looked at her, wiping a drop of sauce from the corner of her mouth. "Just worried you might get jealous."
"If I got jealous over something like this, with all your ex-girlfriends, I’d never be able to keep up."
"..."
Lu Xixiao pinched her cheek and said casually, "It’s not that I don’t remember at all. I have some impression."
"Your memory," Zhou Wan blinked slowly, "is actually pretty good."
"Zhou Wan," Lu Xixiao laughed lightly, "you’re setting me up."
"..."
After dinner, Lu Xixiao got up to pay the bill. Xu Yixuan had also finished eating and walked over to Zhou Wan, holding a can of Coke. "I never expected you two to still be together."
Zhou Wan was taken aback, not having anticipated that Xu Yixuan would approach her to talk.
"Right after he dumped me, I was really upset. But when I heard from others at school that you two were together, honestly, I felt a bit of schadenfreude."
Xu Yixuan smiled. "I thought, with your excellent grades and intelligence, even you could be fooled by his looks. I figured it wouldn’t be long before you ended up like me."
"But later, when I saw how he treated you, I suddenly realized how stupid I was for holding onto him—he never liked me at all."
"..."
Zhou Wan wasn’t sure how to handle such a situation or whether she should offer comfort. After a moment’s hesitation, she replied, "Ah... back then, he really was... quite awful."Xu Yixuan laughed: "You don't need to comfort me, it's all in the past. I stopped liking him long ago. How could anyone still like the same person after all these years?"
All these years.
How could anyone still like the same person.
Zhou Wan sometimes felt she was quite fortunate.
At least the person she had liked all these years had also liked her all along.
This in itself was rare enough, romantic enough.
"When I saw you two standing together back then, sometimes not even talking, I could still feel you belonged to the same world. But when I was with him, I spent every day wondering what was on his mind. He wouldn't say, and I couldn't get it out of him. Not a single day did I truly enter his heart."
Xu Yixuan tugged at the corner of her mouth and patted Zhou Wan's shoulder: "Actually, I don't think you're particularly lucky to be liked by Lu Xixiao. The truly fortunate one is him. Without you, with his terrible temper of never wanting to say anything, he'd never find someone he likes in this lifetime."
"..."
Her friend called out to her from not far away. Xu Yixuan raised her hand: "Coming."
She turned her head and casually bid farewell to Zhou Wan: "I'm off."
"Xu Yixuan." Zhou Wan suddenly called out to her.
"Hmm?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For what you said earlier." Zhou Wan said seriously, "I hope you find someone you like too."
She laughed: "I've already found someone." She tilted her head and said casually, "I'll introduce you when I get the chance. He's a hundred times better than that jerk."
...
Lu Xixiao returned after paying: "What were you just talking about?"
"Lu Xixiao."
"What?"
"Why were you willing to tell me about your past back then?"
Those broken memories buried deep in his heart—Lu Xixiao had never laid them out for anyone before.
Zhou Wan still remembered that day. A junior at school had become desperate and wanted to jump off a building. They rushed to the rooftop together to stop her. During the persuasion, Zhou Wan suddenly realized why Lu Xixiao was afraid of heights, thus stumbling upon his secret.
That same day, they had dinner out together. On their way back, passing by a convenience store, Lu Xixiao went in to buy a bottle of water.
After coming out, he sat on the swing outside the convenience store and said quietly: "Why aren't you asking me."
The dim streetlights overlapped, shadows and light intertwining, slowly shifting with the drifting clouds in the sky, gradually merging, blurring the edges of their shadows until it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began.
He held a cigarette between his fingers, a glowing ember, smoke curling up.
Then calmly, he laid out everything about his past to Zhou Wan.
This really didn't seem like something Lu Xixiao would do.
Lu Xixiao paused, his thoughts returning to that time, and said quietly: "Because I wanted you to stay with me."
Because with you here, I can see this world again.
The National Day holiday ended, and they returned to City B.
On her first day back at work, Zhou Wan was called over by her editor-in-chief. There was a hosting competition that various platforms would send people to participate in, and the newspaper wanted to recommend Zhou Wan.
"But I didn't study this professionally. I'm afraid I won't perform well in many aspects," Zhou Wan said.
"It's fine, just go and try it out. Consider it experience. Whether you win an award or not doesn't matter."
The editor-in-chief had always valued her highly, so Zhou Wan couldn't refuse further. After a pause, she asked: "Is there prize money for this competition?""Yes, the top ten all receive prize money. The first place gets 100,000, and even the last five get 10,000 each."
Zhou Wan thought for a moment. "Alright."
The editor-in-chief chuckled. "Are you hinting that I should give you a raise?"
"Ah?" Zhou Wan quickly waved her hands. "No, no, I just thought it would be nice if I got lucky and won some prize money."
"I'm just teasing you," the editor-in-chief said. "But if you're in urgent need of money, you can tell me. I can lend you a hundred thousand or so."
After saying this, the editor-in-chief remembered Zhou Wan's boyfriend's impressive background and immediately felt like he had said something pointless.
Zhou Wan smiled and thanked him. "It's not exactly urgent. I just thought if I had some extra money, I could find time to buy a ring and propose to my boyfriend."
The editor-in-chief was stunned. "You're going to propose to your boyfriend?"
"Yes."
"Isn't proposing usually the man's job?"
Zhou Wan smiled. "Because he's already done so much for me. In countless choices, he's always firmly chosen me, so I want to actively choose him this time, especially for something like this."
...
The "Golden Microphone" competition Zhou Wan was participating in was organized by a highly authoritative institution, held significant prestige, and attracted considerable attention. Not only working journalists participated, but also many top-ranking students from prestigious broadcasting and hosting programs. This competition served as an important stepping stone to the next level.
In the following period, she watched many hosting competitions held on various platforms, taking them extremely seriously and even jotting down key points in notes.
She had always been clever, adept at drawing inferences and applying knowledge flexibly.
The preliminary rounds took place in mid-to-late October, eventually narrowing down to thirty contestants. Zhou Wan passed and successfully advanced to the top thirty.
The editor-in-chief had originally just wanted to fill a spot and let Zhou Wan gain some experience, never expecting her to advance through the ranks and make it to the top thirty.
In November came the round of thirty advancing to fifteen.
At this stage, there was a live broadcast segment that would air on many streaming platforms.
The further she advanced, the tougher the competition became.
Zhou Wan performed normally across three rounds of tests, ranking sixth overall and smoothly advancing.
Since today's test scenario involved hosting a grand gala, Zhou Wan wore an evening gown—a black V-neck top with a voluminous princess skirt, cinched at the waist with a ribbon that accentuated her slender, well-proportioned figure.
She wore extremely refined makeup, with deep-set eyes, red lips, a straight nose, and delicate black gemstone earrings paired with a tiara.
When she walked into the lounge, Lu Xixiao was waiting for her.
Zhou Wan had never worn such heavy makeup before, and Lu Xixiao was momentarily stunned when he saw her, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly.
"You're here," Zhou Wan said with a smile. "How long have you been waiting?"
Lu Xixiao looked at her, momentarily distracted, before replying after a pause, "Just got here."
Changing out of such an evening gown wasn't very convenient, so Zhou Wan planned to change at home. She gathered her belongings from the lounge and reached for Lu Xixiao's hand. "Let's go."
"Mm." Lu Xixiao took the bag from her hand. "How did the competition go?"
"I passed. Sixth place."
Lu Xixiao chuckled softly. "Our Wanwan is so impressive."
They took a car home and rode the elevator up to their apartment.
As soon as they entered, before the lights were even turned on, Lu Xixiao pulled her by the shoulders, his tall frame enveloping her in darkness, and then his lips met hers in a kiss.His voice was slightly hoarse as he murmured against Zhou Wan's lips, "Why are you dressed like this?"
Zhou Wan, breathless from the kiss, replied softly, "It's required for the competition."
"Wanwan." His kisses trailed downward, hooking the collar of her dress to pull it down. His eyes were dark and clouded with desire as he whispered like a dream, "I like you so much..."
"W-Wait." Zhou Wan's face flushed crimson as she tried to stop his movements. "Let me change out of this first."
The vibrant lipstick she'd worn today was now smeared—half faded, half transferred to Lu Xixiao's lips, standing out starkly against his cool, pale skin in an alluring way.
He couldn't help himself, letting himself sink deeper as he tugged at her skirt...
Zhou Wan whimpered, suppressing her soft, restless sounds. "This dress was expensive."
"I'll pay for it."
...
Having been thoroughly worn out multiple times, Zhou Wan slept especially deeply that night.
The next day was Saturday. Her body clock woke her at seven, but she dozed off again and didn't fully wake until ten in the morning.
She had no idea what had happened online overnight.
Several clips from yesterday's competition livestream had been cut and shared online, sparking widespread discussion. The segment featuring Zhou Wan had gained particular attention.
[This girl is so gorgeous! This look is literally princess-level!!!]
[I've seen her interview videos before—she's really impressive. You can tell she prepares thoroughly before interviews. I heard she's even a top graduate from Huaqing University.]
[Once again proving that true elegance comes from within, unlike me who just says "holy crap" all the time.]
...
Zhou Wan stared at these comments in a daze.
Deep down, Zhou Wan still carried some insecurity. The personality shaped by her upbringing wasn't something that could be easily changed.
She had never received such widespread praise before, leaving her feeling... caught off guard and flustered.
Lu Xixiao wrapped his arms around her from behind, his forearm resting over the blanket at her waist.
"What are you looking at?" His voice was raspy.
"Comments," Zhou Wan said absently. "Yesterday's competition was posted online."
Lu Xixiao glanced at the screen, smirked slightly, then hugged her again, mumbling hoarsely, "So annoying."
"What's annoying?"
"You're mine." Lu Xixiao's tone carried a stubborn displeasure. "I wish I were the only one allowed to like you."
Zhou Wan froze for a moment.
Lu Xixiao sighed, burying his face in the crook of her neck. "Forget it. As long as you only like me."
She never felt she had anything particularly worthy of being liked.
Yet here was someone who knew all her shadows and still treasured her like a precious gem.
After a moment, Lu Xixiao added smugly, "After all, you've liked me since high school."
He sounded rather proud of himself. Zhou Wan couldn't help but laugh softly and gave him a light push. "Sounds like you're pretty proud of that."
"Very proud." He rested his hand on Zhou Wan's stomach and said quietly, "When there's a little Zhou here, I'll have to brag about it to them too."
Zhou Wan froze for a second before understanding dawned. Her face burned, and she pushed Lu Xixiao away before darting into the bathroom to wash up.
Lu Xixiao heard the door slam shut, followed by the sound of running water from the bathroom, and couldn't suppress a soft chuckle.
By the time Zhou Wan finished washing her face and came out, Lu Xixiao was already up.
She picked up her phone from the bedside table. She had set it to silent yesterday and missed a call—five minutes ago, from an unlisted number.Zhou Wan vaguely felt that the string of numbers looked familiar, but couldn't immediately recall whose they were.
At that moment, another call came through—still from the same number.
Zhou Wan answered, "Hello?"
"Wanwan," a woman's voice came from the other end. "It's me."
That voice, though no longer familiar, was deeply etched in the deepest layers of her memory. The moment it spoke, a flood of unpleasant memories surged into Zhou Wan's mind.
Her fingers curled uncontrollably, and her spine stiffened with tension.
That voice was like a nightmare, instantly breaking her out in a cold sweat.
Zhou Wan's voice turned cold and hard. "What do you want from me?"
"I've been looking for you all these years," Guo Xiangling said.
"You're not my mother."
Zhou Wan spoke calmly. "From the very beginning, you told me not to call you 'Mom' anymore. Have you forgotten?"
Without waiting for a response, Zhou Wan continued, "We've had nothing to do with each other for a long time. Don't bother me again."
It had been a long time since Zhou Wan had spoken so harshly to anyone.
The words felt like a heavy stone weighing on her heart, sinking deeper and deeper.
After saying this, Zhou Wan hung up directly and blocked the number.
Once she finished, she felt completely drained, collapsing onto the bed as if all her strength had left her.
Just then, Lu Xixiao walked in and saw her distraught state. She had been fine just moments before. Frowning, he approached and asked, "What's wrong?"
Zhou Wan slowly lifted her eyes to look at him.
She stared for a long time, until the image of Lu Xixiao before her became clear and real, standing right there in front of her. Only then did she feel pulled back to reality, her heart settling slightly.
Instinctively, she shook her head. "It's nothing."
Her expression clearly said it wasn't "nothing."
Lu Xixiao understood Zhou Wan. Since their school days, she had always been like this—accustomed to keeping everything to herself, never relying on others willingly.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have ended up where they did back then.
Old habits die hard.
Though Lu Xixiao didn't like this about her, he was willing to give her time—to slowly change, to gradually get used to it, to learn to depend on him.
"Hmm."
Lu Xixiao's Adam's apple bobbed as he gently stroked Zhou Wan's head.
Before he could say, "As long as you're okay," Zhou Wan suddenly reached out and tightly grabbed his wrist.
Lu Xixiao froze.
Zhou Wan's eyes slowly reddened.
She felt too ashamed to speak, overwhelmed by a complex mix of self-blame, guilt, and humiliation. But she forced herself to open her mouth, her voice choked, each word struggling out with difficulty.
"Just now... Guo Xiangling called me."
Her brows furrowed slightly, clearly frightened. Her voice trembled, and her eyes grew increasingly red. "Why is she suddenly trying to find me again, Lu Xixiao... I'm scared..."
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