Because of what happened before bed, the slight drowsiness Yun Li had felt vanished in an instant. She managed to reply with "Accidentally pressed it, sorry," but received no further response.
She stared at the screen for a long time.
Weighed down by her thoughts, Yun Li slept fitfully, drifting in and out of sleep throughout the night as she waited.
By the time she woke up, it was already the next afternoon. Her first reflex upon opening her eyes was to grab her phone. Contrary to her expectations, the message hadn’t gone unanswered—she saw a reply from him. Sent at seven that morning.
Fu Shize: ["Mhm"]
Casual, as if he’d just seen it upon waking.
Not even a punctuation mark.
Who knew if he believed her or not.
Yun Li’s mood didn’t improve in the slightest. She dragged herself out of bed and into the living room. Deng Chuqi was sprawled on the sofa playing a game. Glancing at Yun Li out of the corner of her eye, she checked the time. "Did you turn into a burglar last night? What time did you sleep?"
"I didn’t really notice. Around three or four?" Sitting down beside her, Yun Li asked, "Did Xia Xia go out already?"
"She left early in the morning." Knowing Yun Li’s irregular sleep schedule, Deng Chuqi hadn’t bothered waking her. "Why are you sitting down? Go wash up and eat."
Yun Li didn’t move, looking half-dead.
Just as Deng Chuqi finished a round, she set her phone aside, puzzled. "What’s wrong with you?"
Yun Li let out a long sigh.
Deng Chuqi: "Not used to the bed?"
Yun Li shook her head.
Deng Chuqi: "Had a nightmare?"
Another shake.
Deng Chuqi: "Didn’t sleep well?"
Mid-shake, Yun Li paused, then nodded instead.
"So what’s the matter?" Deng Chuqi pressed a hand to her forehead. "Are you feeling sick somewhere?"
"No." Seeing her worried expression, Yun Li couldn’t hold it in any longer. "It’s just… I need to tell you something."
"Yeah?"
"Last night before bed, I accidentally sent Xia Xia’s uncle a sticker."
"Huh? What did you send?"
Yun Li handed her the phone.
Noting her unusually grave demeanor, Deng Chuqi didn’t take it lightly. She accepted it solemnly, scrutinizing the screen with equal seriousness. When she saw the content, her expression froze.
"……"
A few seconds later, she burst into laughter.
The tense atmosphere shattered instantly.
Yun Li frowned. "Stop laughing!"
Deng Chuqi tried to stifle her amusement, but after struggling for a while, she only laughed harder. "O-Okay, just give me a second."
"……Don’t you think this is serious?" Yun Li was utterly dejected. "Won’t he think I’m being weird?"
"Or that I’m some kind of pervert?"
"Or even that I’m downright indecent!"
"It’s not that bad," Deng Chuqi said. "You already explained it to him."
"But, but," Yun Li stammered, "doesn’t this count as disrespecting an elder?"
Deng Chuqi was amused again by the term and teased, "Then surely the elder will show more tolerance and understanding toward the younger. Plus, the elder has already expressed his comprehension."
Yun Li looked at her pitifully.
"Really, it’s nothing. Don’t be so down." Deng Chuqi suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah, when did you get his WeChat? With so many people around yesterday, I didn’t get a chance to ask."
"……"
"Why the silence?"
Cornered again, Yun Li’s brain went into overdrive. "Well, you know…"
Deng Chuqi drawled, "I know… what?""Just—" Yun Li's shoulders slumped as she met her gaze, no longer wanting to hide it. "Fine, I'll tell you. But don't say anything to Xia Xia."
"What?"
"The WeChat I asked for," Yun Li admitted softly, "was her uncle's."
"..."
Deng Chuqi was stunned.
After listening to Yun Li briefly explain what happened, Deng Chuqi was shocked at first, but then it made sense: "No wonder I thought you were acting weird that day. So there was this history between you two."
"This can hardly be called history," Yun Li said dejectedly. "At most, we exchanged a few words."
"Why are you so down? You got his WeChat in the end, didn't you?" Deng Chuqi patted her head. "And he doesn't have a girlfriend. Isn't this the perfect opportunity?"
Yun Li lacked the courage. "Forget it. He already rejected me."
"Rejecting a WeChat request is nothing. Think about it—if he gave his WeChat to anyone who asked, wouldn’t that make him seem too easy? He might just be the slow-to-warm-up type." Deng Chuqi said, "Let me tell you, based on my experience, someone like Xia Xia’s uncle—cold and hard to approach at first—but once you win him over, he’ll be devoted to you for life."
Yun Li sighed. She wanted to say, "How would I dare to pursue him?" but the words never left her lips.
Deng Chuqi scrutinized the chat log with its mere four messages. Raising an eyebrow, she suddenly covered the middle two lines and grinned. "Doesn’t it look much better this way?"
Following her lead, Yun Li glanced over.
With those lines hidden, the meaning changed entirely.
Yun Li: ["Be my wife."]
Fu Shize: ["Mm."]
"..."
Watching her face, Deng Chuqi teased, "Lili, you're blushing."
Yun Li snatched her phone back, flustered. "Blushing my foot! I'm going to wash up."
Based on Deng Chuqi’s understanding of Yun Li, asking for someone’s WeChat was already a stretch—let alone approaching a stranger for directions. And in all their years of friendship, this was the first time she’d heard Yun Li express interest in a man.
To give her friend’s love life a boost, Deng Chuqi spent the next few days occasionally urging Yun Li to message Fu Shize.
Yun Li remained unmoved, letting the words go in one ear and out the other.
Stubborn as a rock.
Since she had to report to school the next day, Yun Li ate a little something and headed home.
Back home, Yun Li spaced out for a while before getting up to pack. Yang Fang had sent her quite a few clothes recently, and she slowly stuffed them into her suitcase, folding them neatly only to unfold and inspect them again.
Before she knew it, she was picking out an outfit for the next day.
After wasting too much time on this, Yun Li snapped out of it and stopped fooling around.
An uncontrollable feeling crept in.
Similar to the anxiety she felt before social gatherings, but this time, there was something else beneath it—faint yet undeniable.
Like waiting forever for a blind box, finally within reach.
It sparked a sense of anticipation—dreading the outcome yet longing to know it.
...
She didn’t sleep well that night and woke up early the next morning to prepare.
With her luggage already packed, Yun Li spent most of her time on makeup. Once everything was ready, she grabbed a towel roll from the fridge to fill her stomach and packed the rest in a bag.
At the same time, she received a message from Fu Zhengchu saying they’d arrived at the neighborhood gate, but the guard wouldn’t let unregistered cars in. He asked which building she lived in so he could come help her move her things.They arrived earlier than the agreed time.
Yun Li's luggage consisted of one suitcase and two large bags—one filled with a quilt and pillows, the other with a mattress, both quite bulky. She had originally planned to make two trips to move everything but now there wasn’t enough time.
Not wanting to delay them, Yun Li didn’t refuse and replied: 【Building 11.】
Fu Zhengchu: 【ok.】
Yun Li turned off the windows, doors, and appliances before heading out, struggling to move her luggage into the elevator in multiple trips.
Fu Zhengchu was already downstairs and took her bags, greeting her warmly.
Just like their first meeting, the young man was talkative and enthusiastic, chattering nonstop about anything and everything during the short walk—from how spacious the neighborhood was to how lush the greenery looked.
As they left the residential area, Yun Li found herself back in the same car after what felt like ages.
Fu Zhengchu cheerfully announced, "Uncle, we’re here!"
Sitting in the right back seat, Yun Li felt she should greet him too.
But she hesitated over how to address him.
Calling him by his name seemed inappropriate, while a simple "hello" felt too distant. Remembering Xia Congsheng’s words from that day, she steeled herself and followed Fu Zhengchu’s lead: "Hello, Uncle…"
The moment the words left her mouth, Yun Li immediately sensed something was off.
But the other two didn’t seem to notice anything amiss.
Fu Shize turned his head slightly and nodded politely. "Hello."
"……"
Yun Li lowered her eyes, inexplicably feeling her face grow warm.
She took out a bottle of water from her bag and took a sip, feigning composure.
The drive to South Science and Technology University took only a few minutes.
At the school gate, Fu Shize found a parking spot. The three of them got out.
Fu Zhengchu began unloading the luggage from the trunk. His own belongings were light—just one suitcase. The rest belonged to Yun Li.
Fu Shize took one of the bags from Fu Zhengchu and placed it on top of a suitcase. "Anything else?"
Fu Zhengchu pulled out another bag. "That’s it."
Feeling guilty about making them do the heavy lifting, Yun Li softly thanked them and added, "Let me carry one."
"No worries," Fu Zhengchu said breezily. "It’s not heavy on the suitcase anyway."
In the end, Yun Li ended up as the idle one, only holding onto an insulated bag with cake inside.
Walking beside these two, she suddenly felt as if she had returned to her freshman year when she first enrolled. Back then, with Yun Yongchang and Yun Ye around, she hadn’t had to carry anything heavy either.
The current situation felt like a replay of that time.
Yun Li glanced sideways.
Hmm…
Still one elder and one younger brother.
This wasn’t Yun Li’s first time entering South Science and Technology University. She had visited twice before for her re-examination, and having stayed at Seven Mile Fragrant Capital recently, she occasionally passed by the campus. So the university wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to her.
The registration point was set up at the east gate.
Inside, tents lined both sides of the campus, each marked with different departments. Only then did Fu Zhengchu remember to ask, "Senior, which department are you in?"
Yun Li replied, "Automation."
Fu Zhengchu scanned the area before pointing. "Automation is over there."
With the lunch break approaching, there was no queue at the moment.
Yun Li went to complete the registration. As she was finishing up, the staff member casually mentioned that the volunteers had all gone to help carry luggage and asked her to wait there.
Hearing this, Fu Zhengchu, a seasoned junior, immediately said, "No need for that. I know the way. Senior, I’ll take you there."The campus of South Science and Technology University was vast, taking about twenty minutes to walk from this gate to the dormitory area. The three of them were still carrying luggage, so they decided to wait where they were for a while, intending to take the campus shuttle to the dorms.
A single shuttle could only carry about ten people and looked more like a sightseeing vehicle. Fu Zhengchu seemed to know the driver—after boarding, he sat near the driver’s seat and struck up a conversation.
Yun Li and Fu Shize sat side by side in the back row.
She wanted to talk to him but couldn’t think of anything to say. Words rose to the tip of her tongue, only to feel inappropriate each time. After several failed attempts, she finally gave up in frustration.
After a while, Yun Li noticed Fu Shize take out his phone, open WeChat, and scroll down. His contacts were almost all saved with full names—including Xu Qingsong, who was, in a way, one of his nephews.
Not daring to peek any further, Yun Li turned her head away, pretending to admire the campus scenery outside.
Groups of students bustled around, filling the air with noise and liveliness. Amidst the commotion, she heard Fu Shize speak, his tone lazy, like a cat basking in the sun: "What’s your name?"
Yun Li turned toward him, meeting his gaze.
Unsure if he was talking to her, she hesitated before asking, "What?"
Fu Shize repeated, "Your name."
Not knowing why he suddenly asked, Yun Li grew nervous. "Oh, I’m Yun Li—" She accidentally bit her tongue. "—Li."
Then she added, "The 'Li' in 'centimeter.'"
Fu Shize nodded and said nothing more.
Completely baffled, Yun Li’s brain short-circuited. The next moment, she saw him tap open their WeChat chat window, where that awkward conversation history reappeared before her eyes.
Yun Li felt a headache coming on, only to watch as Fu Shize’s fingers moved again, opening the edit-notes window.
Then she understood.
He was changing her contact name.
Their seats were close enough that she could see the distinct lashes framing his slightly raised eyes, his flawless skin smooth and unlined.
Setting aside the gloom in his expression, Fu Shize was the very picture of an ethereally handsome young man.
His face was utterly calm, as if he didn’t care at all about the messages she had sent.
Relieved yet faintly disappointed, Yun Li averted her gaze, trying to think of nothing as she looked out at the passing scenery.
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