Around three o'clock, Cen Jin felt a flicker of regret. She shouldn't have spoken up, shouldn't have let their relationship rupture so quickly under these circumstances.
Her annual physicals always came back with flying colors, making her confident in her physical fitness. But she truly couldn't withstand Li Wu's vigorous energy and relentless advances. She even suspected he was using this method to retaliate for her hurtful words earlier that evening.
Again and again, she'd lost count of how many times she'd been thoroughly invaded and overwhelmed. All she could do was lose herself in the repeated peaks, contracting and trembling until she soared over the edge.
The bed was already a mess, too indecent to look at.
Cen Jin could only pretend not to see, burying her face in the young man's chest to calm herself.
Li Wu held her tightly in his arms, his lips pressed against her soft hair.
This was their first true skin-to-skin contact. Both were sweaty and sticky, and Cen Jin didn't even have the strength to clean herself up.
In such matters, Li Wu was also serious and focused, as if solving a difficult problem.
At first he might have been unfamiliar with the territory, making slow progress. But soon, he could judge his next move based on her reactions, proceeding with effortless fluency and unstoppable momentum.
After finishing the "exam," he needed a score. Holding back for a moment, he still asked in a low voice, "How was it?"
"I think you're trying to kill me," she said with closed eyes, using her remaining strength to lightly slap his arm.
Li Wu's lips curved upward. He adored these little displays of her mingled anger and resentment, making him feel cared for. He kissed her eyelids again, his mind exhilarated.
After the exhilaration came worry: "Is it really okay that it expired?"
"What?" she pretended not to know, teasing him for amusement.
"..." Li Wu struggled to say it: "The one you taught me to use at first."
Cen Jin snorted lightly: "We'll make do for now. I'll go to the pharmacy tomorrow. Even the newest ones can't withstand your... grinding."
Li Wu's face heated: "I'll go."
"Would you dare?" "Why wouldn't I dare?"
"What would you say when you go in?"
The young man hesitated, speaking seriously: "Birth control products?"
Cen Jin burst out laughing: "Fine, I'll leave this opportunity to you. Remember to record the whole process with your phone - I want to enjoy it as daily comedy material."
"..."
Unable to win the argument, he resorted to action as punishment. This night, he had made rapid progress, becoming thoroughly familiar with every part of her body.
"Ah—mm... stop it."
Cen Jin protested and begged for mercy, hitting and kicking. Li Wu simply pinned her against his chest. The more she struggled, the more forcefully he advanced, until after some tussling, they ended up clinging to each other again, too exhausted to move.
Cen Jin quietly breathed in the scent of his skin: "Li Wu."
Li Wu: "Hmm?"
Cen Jin said: "Get my phone for me."
Li Wu made an affirmative sound, propped himself up on his elbows, and reached his long arm over her to retrieve the phone from the bedside table.
Just from that small movement, Cen Jin was pressed against him again. She curled her knees and pushed against him resentfully, gritting her teeth: "What are you made of?"
"Hmm?" Li Wu didn't understand, lying back down and pulling her into his embrace again.
Cen Jin took the phone, squinted as she turned it on, found a chat record from earlier in the day, and handed it to Li Wu: "Here."
Li Wu frowned as he looked at it.Cen Jin rested her forehead against his collarbone, nestling into a more comfortable position. "This person is a teacher in your university's journalism department, same graduating class as me. I ended up on the school forum thanks to a certain department heartthrob, and he saw it. Came to ask about our relationship. Did you see me deny it?"
"..."
"And what's more," she took her phone back, scrolling slowly and deliberately, "I could call Chun Chang right now and ask if she knows about our relationship. Then ask if I admitted to my old classmates at my ex-husband's wedding that I'm dating a student?"
She continued, "Of course, I could also call my ex-husband and see if I ever told him I'm already dating that brat named Li Wu?"
Li Wu didn't want to hear another word about that person. He snatched her phone away and tossed it aside. "Why won't you let me visit your company?"
Cen Jin lifted her head to look at him, her eyes shimmering. "Because I just don't want to. Why should I explain every detail to people I don't even care about? My colleagues don't shove their husbands or boyfriends in my face either."
Li Wu said, "But they don't know you have a boyfriend either."
She raised her head, placing a hand on his cheek and gently stroking it. "Because they've seen you before. You worked part-time at Meet, and you're so good-looking. They won't have completely forgotten you. I don't want them thinking I'm running some secret plot."
Li Wu said, "Just tell them I pursued you."
"I could say that. But once you start lying, you need another cover story to maintain it. Lies snowball," Cen Jin traced one of his thick, sword-like eyebrows. "My ex-husband knows about our past relationship. What if he deliberately retaliates? Then I'd become a complete liar. Better not to mention anything at all. Maybe I'm different from you—you think flaunting a relationship is politically correct, but I believe silence can also sustain it. Sometimes relationships don't need to be public knowledge to be stable or genuine. I don't want trivial matters polluting our relationship so early on. Why create unnecessary trouble and set up avoidable tests for ourselves? If someone does find out, I've never avoided or denied it."
Li Wu remained still, his arm hooked around her lower back, his tone faint. "I accept your reasons, but can you please stop talking about breaking up?"
"My fault. I've been too busy and tired lately, and today you made me feel so overwhelmed," Cen Jin pressed closer, hoping her comforting warmth would reassure him. "Li Wu, you know, you've always been outside my life plans—an unexpected presence. I like you, but I don't know how to coexist with you just right. After the divorce, I imagined a thousand possibilities for my next relationship, but I never thought it would be you. Even now, I'm still somewhat confused. By this time next year, I should be able to leave Aoxing. Then I'll be truly independent and free, no longer worried about these complicated interpersonal relationships."
Li Wu caught her hand and intertwined their fingers. "You're changing jobs again?"
Cen Jin shook her head. "I want to start my own company."
Li Wu was slightly stunned. "When did you decide this?" "Over a month ago."
"See," Li Wu pointed out. "I still didn't know.""I don't even have a rough idea yet. And I don't want to bring these work-related emotions to you. What do you want to hear? Me complaining about clients? Media? Or colleagues?"
Li Wu said, "I'm willing to listen."
"What about after a long time? Are you willing to keep being an emotional trash can?"
"I'm willing to do that too."
"Then I'm going to talk."
"Mm." He listened attentively.
Cen Jin pinched his ear and said softly, "I made my boyfriend angry today and hurt his feelings. Do you think he'll forgive me and not hold a grudge?"
Li Wu was amused and curled his lips: "Probably."
"Pro-ba-bly?" she repeated word by word, not very satisfied.
Li Wu looked sincere: "Mm."
Cen Jin scoffed: "But I really don't want to gossip with you, it makes me seem so low. Shouldn't these things be discussed with close friends? I just want to be affectionate with you, do things that relax and make both of us happy." She leaned in intimately and kissed his chin: "Like this."
Li Wu also lowered his head and kissed her nose. A shiver ran down Cen Jin's back, and she wrapped herself around him, already craving more.
Their lips met again, kissing with increasing passion.
...
―
Cen Jin experienced the most wonderful night she'd had in recent years.
Although she slept less than five hours, she still felt energetic when getting up, as if filled with new anticipation and vitality.
While applying eyebrow makeup in front of the mirror, she even began reflecting on what kind of life she had been living for the past thirty years, and why she hadn't discovered and experienced such goodness earlier.
During her commute to work, whenever her gaze occasionally fell on that pinned name, she would reveal a secret, joyful smile.
Li Wu felt the same.
For almost the entire day, whenever he had free time, he would reminisce about those moments when dreams became reality, and think about how to improve next time.
His eagerness to improve stemmed from his latest discovery - Cen Jin's voice and demeanor in certain situations were completely different from usual. Her immersion in him made him feel immensely accomplished, seemingly allowing him to take a leading role instead of being as passive as before.
He could make this his main research topic, thoroughly studying the art of being with Cen Jin.
Li Wu suddenly saw the light, and the frequency of his mysterious smiles increased several times compared to usual, persisting throughout every moment.
During lunch, while calmly picking up food, he would inexplicably curl the corners of his mouth.
Xu Shuo couldn't stand it anymore. Originally sitting across from him, he eventually moved to sit beside him, parallel and side-by-side, avoiding direct eye contact with this lovesick fool.
And this lovesick fool, having just returned from two professional courses in the afternoon, received the acceptance email from "PHYSICAL REVIEW A."
This paper was a small research project Professor Zhang assigned to Li Wu.
When Xu Shuo learned the news, he seemed even more thrilled than Li Wu, the first author. He immediately performed a sliding kneel in the dormitory, then went to the lab group chat to boast loudly, almost dragging Li Wu into singing and dancing.
Li Wu briefly confirmed the email content, then sank back into his previous mood, occasionally taking out his phone to check WeChat.
He couldn't understand why Cen Jin, who had practically glued herself to him all night, would pay even less attention to him than before.You couldn't really blame Cen Jin for this. She was equally conflicted—she didn't want to appear overly enthusiastic or seem like she was expecting or demanding the college student to travel dozens of kilometers by subway just to come home. She was afraid of accidentally making Li Wu overthink things again, worrying he might assume she was just using him as a casual pastime.
So Cen Jin decided to hold her ground and wait for his reaction before making her next move.
Later, as work piled up, Cen Jin pushed the matter to the back of her mind and focused entirely on haggling with clients over WeChat.
She had indeed run into a tricky situation. A video their company had released the day before faced copyright issues—a two-second clip of a starry sky wasn't original but was taken from a science influencer's footage during a trip to the mountains. The blogger didn't make a big fuss, merely reposting it with a playful comment: "Not bad filming."
Fans, however, were furious and launched a collective attack on the product's official Weibo. The comments section turned into a toxic mess, severely undermining the promotional efforts.
After investigating, Cen Jin discovered that the clip had been provided by the client—her company was just taking the fall.
But take the fall they must. After weighing her options, Cen Jin decided to reach out to the influencer personally, hoping to get in touch and negotiate a private settlement: the company would purchase the footage, and he would delete the Weibo post.
However, once she saw his profile and follower count, she knew the plan was practically unworkable.
Over two million followers was one thing, but his verification badge listed him as a "Guokr Network Influencer" and a "Member of the Science Squirrel Club," which added an extra layer of distance.
Scrolling through his Weibo feed, she found it refreshingly clean—not a single promotional post in sight. It was mostly photos of plants along with related explanations and Q&As. A cascade of green filled the screen as she scrolled, suggesting he was a heavyweight in botany—the type who wouldn't bend for mere material gain.
Cen Jin noted his Weibo ID: Sui'an.
She then mass-messaged all the media contacts she knew, hoping to get lucky and obtain his personal contact information.
Anxiously waiting until nearly the end of the workday, Cen Jin finally received good news. One local media contact directly forwarded "Sui'an's" WeChat business card, along with additional information: his real name was Zhou Suian, an associate professor in the School of Life Sciences at F University.
After careful consideration, Cen Jin drafted a formal verification message and sent it.
Just as she switched back to her chat list, two messages popped up from her pinned contact.
Opening them, Cen Jin couldn't help but laugh.
There was a screenshot of a foreign journal acceptance email, followed by a line: "Can this be my ticket home today?"
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