Тhе реrson on thе оthеr еnd sеemed unablе tо believе he was still аwаkе.
Тhis timе, а replу came immediatelу.
Su Zаi Zai: ……
Su Zаi Zai: I wоkе uр in thе middle оf mу slеер.
Zhang Lu Rаng reachеd оut and turnеd off the desk lаmp in front оf him, leaning bасk аgаinst thе wаll.
Нis facе wаs illuminatеd bу thе glow оf his phоnе, shining brightly.
His liрs wеre рressed tightly tоgether, his entirе рrоfile tеnse.
Zhang Lu Rang соuldn’t suрprеss thе rising bubblеs оf sоurnеss in his heаrt.
Нe рaid nо mind to how сhildish his questiоn might sоund, оnly fосusеd оn voicing the dоubt in his mind.
That thing he couldn’t аcceрt.
—Do yоu not likе mе anуmore?
The reply from the other side was a bit slow.
Su Zai Zai: No.
Su Zai Zai: I like you very much.
To avoid disturbing his roommate’s rest, Zhang Lu Rang hadn’t even set his phone to vibrate.
He just watched quietly.
On the other end, calmly and slowly, those two sentences came through.
Zhang Lu Rang’s originally tense mood didn’t relax at all because of this.
He paused for a moment, then quickly sent a message.
—What’s wrong with you?
Su Zai Zai: Ah, I’m confessing to you.
Su Zai Zai: Lùràng, aren’t you happy?
He felt something was off, but couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Zhang Lu Rang just wanted the college entrance exam to be over soon.
Then, to hurry to her side.
He curved his lips slightly and replied: Mm.
Zhang Lu Rang: Go to sleep soon.
Zhang Lu Rang: Even if you wake up, don’t play with your phone.
Su Zai Zai: Got it, you should sleep early too.
Su Zai Zai: Goodnight.
Zhang Lu Rang didn’t know that the person on the other side of his phone.
After putting down the phone, picked up her pen again and continued solving problems.
Tears streaming down, breaking down and at a loss, she just kept solving problems.
Long-distance relationships, who could feel at ease?
No one could feel at ease.
The first mock exam in City Z happened to be the final exam of the first semester of senior year.
During the closing ceremony, the results were announced.
Su Zai Zai knew she hadn’t done well and had no desire to check the scores on the bulletin board.
Her other grades had mostly stayed at the same level.
Based on last year’s admission score for Z University, Su Zai Zai’s math score needed to be at least 110.
But her performance was unstable, her scores fluctuating between high and low.
Whenever she took a math exam, she would get nervous. If she encountered difficult multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank questions, her mindset would collapse.
Xiao Xiao went to the bulletin board to check the scores.
She quickly returned to her seat, turned to Su Zai Zai, and said, “Zai Zai, you ranked thirty-first in the class this time.”
Su Zai Zai fell silent for a moment before asking softly, “How much did I score in math?”
“Ah, I didn’t notice.” Xiao Xiao glanced toward the bulletin board and simply called out to someone over there, “Hey, Nan Shen, how much did Su Zai Zai score in math?”
Wang Nan walked over, hesitating slightly, “I think it was 92.”
Su Zai Zai lowered her eyelids, her voice barely audible, “Thank you.”
She didn’t have any grand ambitions.
If Su Zai Zai wanted to go to Z University for herself, she would put in the effort.
If she still couldn’t get in after trying, she wouldn’t be too upset.
If you can’t get something, then you just can’t get it.
Su Zai Zai never believed that forcing something would make it any better.
But if Zhang Lu Rang wanted to go there.
Then she had to go too.
For the first time, Su Zai Zai felt that life was so, so difficult.
She stayed up until two or three in the morning every day, solving problems day and night.
But her grades still wouldn’t improve.
She suddenly felt like a burden.
Su Zai Zai didn’t dare tell him that her grades weren’t improving.
She was afraid it would affect his mood.She was also afraid that he might choose to break up, just like Jiang Jia did.
Even more afraid that Zhang Lu Rang would say, "If you can't get into Z University, I'll go to whichever university you can get into."
She liked him, never to hold him back.
The pressure of studying and the uncertainty of the future nearly crushed her completely.
Su Zai Zai's eyes gradually reddened, filling with tears.
She bit her lip, unable to resist taking out her phone.
With every word she typed, tears fell.
—Zhang Lu Rang, I don't think I can get into Z University.
Su Zai Zai regretted it the moment she sent the message.
She wiped away her tears and quickly withdrew the message.
Changing it to another sentence: Lùràng, we're on holiday today~
Su Zai Zai: I typed the wrong thing just now.
After sending it, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The people around her began packing up to go home.
The winter break wasn't long, but Su Zai Zai still wanted to bring more books home to study.
Because of this, she asked Father Su to pick her up.
Before Su Zai Zai even started packing, her phone rang.
Since she was in the classroom, she tensed up for a moment.
But she quickly relaxed when she saw the caller ID.
—"Lùràng in My Heart"
She paused for a moment, then walked out of the classroom and to the end of the hallway.
Seeing that no one was around, she finally answered.
Su Zai Zai cleared her throat and called out, "Lùràng."
It was quiet on the other end.
A few seconds later, Zhang Lu Rang spoke up. "Were you crying?"
Su Zai Zai's throat tightened. "What are you talking about?"
She crouched down, covering her eyes with her hands.
"Did you not do well on the exams?" he asked softly.
Su Zai Zai held back her sobs and asked, "Did you see it?"
"—Yes."
"Jiang Jia said Guan Han's grades aren't good. She said if they can't get into the same university, she'll break up with him."
"I was afraid you'd do the same. I didn't dare tell you."
"...But my math scores just won't improve."
...
Su Zai Zai didn't even know what she was saying anymore, only that she had to let out all the words piled up in her heart.
After listening to her finish, Zhang Lu Rang finally spoke.
"Then don't take the exam."
Su Zai Zai's breath hitched.
Zhang Lu Rang's voice was slightly hoarse and low, as if affected by her sadness.
"Just get into whatever university you can. As long as you're happy."
"Will you..." break up with me?
Before she could finish, he interrupted her.
"Impossible."
Tears welled up in Su Zai Zai's eyes, making her look pitiful.
"Then you won't give up on Z University because of me, right?"
Zhang Lu Rang suddenly chuckled and said, "No."
After a brief silence, Su Zai Zai heard him say:
"I still have to take care of you."
Chapter 40
I don’t want to be anything less than perfect in front of her.
—Zhang Lu Rang
Zhang Lu Rang's holiday schedule was the same as Su Zai Zai's.
The next day at noon, Zhang Lu Rang returned to Z City.
Zhang Lu Rang walked into his house, set his backpack aside, and sat directly on the steps by the entrance.
Su Su, hearing the commotion, ran down from upstairs and excitedly burrowed into his arms.
His gaze softened as he rubbed its head.
With his other hand, he took out his phone from his pocket.
After telling Su Zai Zai that he had arrived in Z City, Zhang Lu Rang took a set of exam papers out of his backpack.
It was the 2015 I Province Liberal Arts Math College Entrance Exam Mock Papers, which he had just bought at a bookstore near Jinghua.
Zhang Lu Rang lowered his eyes, flipped to the first set of questions, and glanced through them.
Su Zai Zai replied to him quickly.
—I'm awake now.—Where are you? I'll come find you.
Zhang Lurang shifted Su Su, who was clinging to him, aside, put the test papers back into his backpack, and went out.
As he walked toward Su Zaizai's building, he typed a message.
—At the foot of your building.
He hadn’t reached there yet.
From a distance, Zhang Lurang saw Su Zaizai walk out of the building’s entrance.
Looking at Su Zaizai’s figure, he narrowed his eyes in disbelief.
He wanted to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.
Su Zaizai was wearing a dark purple pullover hoodie that ended just below her hips.
She probably had leggings on underneath, but her legs were bare.
She didn’t look like someone living in winter at all.
Zhang Lurang stopped in his tracks and sent a voice message.
—"Go back and put on pants before coming down."
Su Zaizai didn’t check her phone. Seeing him, she immediately jogged over.
She grinned, threw herself into his arms, and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Zhang Lurang frowned, pulled her hands away, and said coldly, "It’s thirteen degrees today."
"Really?" Su Zaizai blinked innocently. "The moment I saw you, my heart started boiling. I don’t feel cold at all."
He remained completely unmoved. "Go back. Put on something thicker before coming out."
"No!" Su Zaizai refused immediately. "I’m wearing thermal underwear and a wool sweater underneath! I really don’t feel cold. Let me tell you, if you wear thick clothes on the upper body, the lower body won’t feel cold either."
Zhang Lurang stared at her for a few seconds.
He quickly gave in and said, "Then let’s each go home."
"...Fine, I’ll go change."
By the time Su Zaizai came downstairs again, ten minutes had already passed.
Reluctantly, she had changed into a pair of black skinny jeans.
She walked over to him without saying a word.
Zhang Lurang took the initiative to hold her hand and coaxed her, "I’ll treat you to cake."
Su Zaizai held his hand back and didn’t stay upset for long.
Soon, she said excitedly, "Lurang, you’re acting like a domineering CEO right now."
"..."
She deliberately lowered her voice and exaggeratedly imitated, "Woman, you’re not allowed to wear clothes I don’t like."
Zhang Lurang remained silent, leading her toward the dessert shop outside.
Not getting a response from him, Su Zaizai was a bit puzzled.
"Why aren’t you telling me to act normal?"
Zhang Lurang hesitated for a moment but didn’t answer.
"You’re so aloof now," Su Zaizai began to criticize him.
"..."
"Does being a CEO make you all high and mighty?"
Zhang Lurang couldn’t take it anymore. "No, speak properly."
Su Zaizai paused, stunned. "You really became a CEO behind my back."
He suddenly found himself at a loss for words.
But inexplicably, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
"Silly."
The two walked into their usual dessert shop.
Zhang Lurang sat across from her, took the set of test papers out of his backpack, and handed one to her.
"Finish this set of questions. You have two and a half hours."
Su Zaizai was a bit confused.
...She thought they were going on a date.
Su Zaizai nodded, took the pen he handed her, and lowered her head to look at the questions.
A few seconds later, she asked, "What are you going to do?"
Zhang Lurang set a timer on his phone and said, "I’ll do questions too."
Su Zaizai didn’t say anything else and focused on writing her answers.
She didn’t notice Zhang Lurang glancing over at her from time to time.
Two and a half hours later, Zhang Lurang’s phone vibrated on the table.
Su Zaizai obediently put down her pen and handed the test paper to him.
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