Fu Shize lowered his eyes and remained silent.
Chen Jinping said, "You've become quite famous since you started dating. It's become a topic of conversation among all the faculty members during their breaks. When we met last time, they mentioned you should have told us earlier. Your dad was so happy he almost jumped for joy."
Fu Dongsheng chuckled and asked, "Son, where is the girl from?" Noticing the milk bag in Fu Shize's hand, he immediately realized, "The milk was bought by her, wasn't it?"
Fu Shize didn’t have the habit of drinking milk himself.
Fu Shize replied, "You've met her before and even gave her a gift."
Fu Dongsheng's eyes lit up, the fine wrinkles at the corners appearing spirited. "Did you get back together?"
Fu Shize neither confirmed nor denied it.
No matter how many times they asked, Fu Shize only gave brief replies. Fu Dongsheng promptly transferred him some money as a love allowance, but Fu Shize showed no particular joy, merely saying, "Thanks, Dad."
Fu Shize never acted spoiled or vulnerable in front of them, rarely sharing his true feelings—much like a rebellious teenager from another family. Yet, he would quietly slip them a piece of candy when they were feeling down.
Fu Dongsheng and Chen Jinping had spent too little time with him in his early years, burdened with guilt, so they didn’t make many demands of him.
However, both of them approached problems with a solution-oriented mindset.
Nearing retirement age and not particularly close to their son, they could only pin their hopes on his next generation.
Fu Dongsheng spoke earnestly, "Son, all these years, your mother and I have pursued our freedom, but there’s one thing we deeply regret."
He sighed. "We had you too late."
"..."
Fu Shize probably hadn’t expected to be pressured about having children so soon.
On the other end of the call, the two continued taking turns extolling the benefits of having children early. Staring at their faces on the video call, he said bluntly, "We’re still just dating."
Fu Dongsheng replied, "Isn’t the next step marriage then?"
"..."
Fu Dongsheng added, "Son, dating comes with responsibilities. If I remember correctly, Li Li is graduating this year, right? It’s time to settle down. Don’t wait until the girl has to bring it up."
"..."
"If you’re too busy, son, your mother and I have plenty of time and flexibility. Do you have Li Li’s parents' contact information? We could meet them for tea."
"..."
Fu Shize had heard enough. "The signal’s bad. I’m hanging up."
...
During dinner that evening, while Fu Shize went to get more condiments, Yun Li took the opportunity to ask Zhou Tiao for Jiang Yuan’s parents' contact details and address.
Zhou Tiao reminded her that Jiang Yuan’s parents still hadn’t come to terms with his death and held lingering resentment toward Fu Shize.
The elderly couple lived in Nanwu City. Yun Li made a call, and a gentle, kind voice answered. Hesitating for a moment, she took a deep breath and said, "Hello, is this Jiang Yuan’s home?"
Jiang's Mother replied softly, "I’m Jiang Yuan’s mother."
Yun Li said, "Hello, Auntie. I’m a junior from Jiang Yuan’s school. I only recently heard about what happened. He helped me during a competition before. I’ll be visiting Nanwu soon and was wondering if I could come see you both?"
She heard a steady male voice in the background asking who it was. Jiang's Mother answered, "A classmate of Yuan Yuan’s wants to visit us," before turning back to the phone. "Of course, come over. Auntie will cook for you."
After exchanging a few pleasantries, she hung up.
Lowering her gaze, Yun Li thought Jiang Yuan’s parents sounded like very kind people.
She still hadn’t figured out what to say to them.Lying in bed, she recalled the events of the evening.
Fu Shize was trying to move on from the past.
At the same time, she remembered how Fu Shize had pushed her skirt up past her waist, his usually cool hands burning hot as they repeatedly kneaded the skin at her waist.
The memory made her body heat up again.
They had almost crossed a line.
Unconsciously, she felt a twinge of regret. If only they hadn’t been in the dorm tonight.
As she washed up, Yun Li called Fu Shize. His side of the screen was lit, and he looked drowsy, as if the call had woken him.
He propped his phone against the wall, the camera capturing him still lying sideways in bed, fingers slightly curled. His eyes were closed, and the blanket covered up to his nose.
Like a well-behaved, sleeping cat.
Yun Li grinned. "Are you pretending to sleep?"
"Tired." Fu Shize didn’t open his eyes. He rolled onto his back, resting his forearm on his forehead. "Head hurts."
Yun Li: "You’re only allowed to drink this once."
Fu Shize stayed silent.
Yun Li pressed, her expression stern. "Why aren’t you answering?"
Fu Shize, recalling his conversation with his parents, suddenly asked, "Does your dad like drinking?"
"..."
Yun Li wasn’t sure why he’d suddenly bring up Yun Yongchang. She replied, "He does."
Fu Shize: "Then I should drink with him next time."
"Don’t." Yun Li huffed. "Don’t try to win him over. He was so harsh on you last time—I didn’t even want to talk to him. Wait until we’ve gotten our marriage certificate before going home for a meal with him."
When Fu Shize didn’t respond, Yun Li grew a little disheartened. "My dad’s pretty controlling and unreasonable. I hope you don’t mind. What happens between us only concerns us."
After explaining at length, she added solemnly, "I’ll handle things with my dad."
"Lili." Fu Shize called her name softly, opening his eyes. Propping his head up on one hand, he turned to face her and asked lazily, "You’re thinking about getting married?"
"..."
Yun Li froze, flustered as she scrambled to cover up. "I was just mentioning it as an example!!"
Fu Shize didn’t press further.
Seeing his listless state, Yun Li asked hesitantly, "Were you really uncomfortable tonight?"
Earlier, after she’d brought back milk, he had changed into loose sleep pants—only for his reaction to become even more obvious. Looking back, Yun Li realized he must have been struggling too.
"Back then, when I was on the bed, I could only sit on you, so maybe things got a little out of control..." Her voice trailed off. Fu Shize chuckled. "Are you describing the scene to make me feel worse?"
"..."
"It’s fine." Fu Shize said casually. "If you say no, I’ll stop. I respect your choice."
Then, deliberately, he added, "Though it was pretty hard."
"..."
The man before her spoke with little inflection, but his words and actions all reflected his upbringing and principles.
Fu Shize had always respected her.
Her heart softened, though she still pretended to be tough. "Then control yourself."
After all, it wasn’t just him who was struggling.
She was too. And she had held back.
After the call, she browsed online shops for a while. The shopping app seemed to have eavesdropped on their conversation, recommending some strange boxes.
She refused to acknowledge the restlessness in her chest, feeling too embarrassed to admit it.She could only repeatedly remind herself: buying this thing was just in case. She had to take responsibility for her own body and actions, and she had to have a clear understanding of the impulses and hormones a 24-year-old might experience.
This didn’t mean she actually wanted to do anything.
Right, she didn’t want to do anything.
She instinctively felt that if something really happened, someone like Fu Shize wouldn’t have the foresight to prepare this in advance.
……
Perhaps too much had happened in one night, as Yun Li struggled to sleep and woke up before 6:30 a.m.
Glancing at her phone, she noticed Fu Shize hadn’t sent his usual 6 a.m. message.
Yun Li got up, washed up, and while making breakfast, she recalled him mentioning a headache before hanging up last night, stirring a faint unease in her.
She turned off the stove, grabbed her keys, and headed straight out.
Not being a student at West Science and Technology University, Yun Li had to sneak in by tailing someone else. When she reached Fu Shize’s door, she knocked several times, but after waiting a while, it was his neighbor who opened the door instead.
Yun Li felt awkward. The neighbor looked familiar—narrow, sly eyes behind thin gold-rimmed glasses. The man lowered his voice and asked, “Are you Fu Shize’s girlfriend?”
She paused, then nodded.
The bespectacled man adjusted his glasses with an air of superiority. “Don’t be fooled by him. He’s been bringing women back to his dorm every day lately. Just last night, another one left.”
“……”
Yun Li wanted to tell him that last night, it had also been her.
“Last night, their bed was creaking nonstop.” To convince her, the man pulled out his phone. “I even recorded the sounds. Want to hear?”
His mocking tone finally jogged Yun Li’s memory, though he didn’t seem to recognize her.
They hadn’t even gotten to that point last night. Realizing Chen Lirong was slandering Fu Shize, Yun Li’s expression darkened as she knocked on the door again, harder this time.
Chen Lirong wore a strange smirk, but Yun Li didn’t hold back. “Last night was me too. If you keep spreading rumors like this, I’ll record you and send it to the university’s complaint box.”
The door opened, and Yun Li stepped inside.
She was fuming, but seeing Fu Shize looking listless, she decided to set aside the issue with Chen Lirong for now.
The moment she entered, Yun Li grabbed his pajamas to inspect him. Fu Shize’s hair was tousled from her fussing, and he mumbled nasally, “Overslept.”
Only then did he pick up his phone to check—it was around 7:30 a.m.
Yun Li had sent him several messages on WeChat, likely worried something had happened to him.
Realizing this, he tapped his phone twice.
Her pocket buzzed. She pulled out her phone to find a message from Fu Shize: [Good morning.]
Even though she was standing right in front of him.
Fu Shize: “Making it up to you.”
Sweetened by his gesture so early in the morning, she sat contentedly on the edge of the bed. Fu Shize murmured, “I’ll go wash up. Pick out some clothes for me.”
After he left, Yun Li walked to his wardrobe.
She loved seeing Fu Shize in white shirts and tailored casual pants—it gave him a youthful vibe. She picked out an outfit and laid it on the bed.
By the time Fu Shize returned, he looked much more awake, his face still damp and fresh. Leaning down, he kissed her gently and asked softly, “Sleepy?”
She wasn’t usually up this early.Yun Li curved her eyes into crescents: "Seeing you makes me not sleepy at all, I don’t even want to close my eyes." She was getting better at this, learning from him as she leaned close to his ear and whispered, "I just want to keep looking at you."
Fu Shize chuckled and immediately began unbuttoning his shirt.
Yun Li: "..."
She grabbed his hand. "What are you doing?"
"Changing clothes." Fu Shize glanced at her, and only then did Yun Li realize she had misunderstood. She let out an "oh" and completely forgot her earlier declaration about wanting to keep looking at him, turning around obediently.
She heard the rustling sounds of clothes being removed, and in her peripheral vision, she saw his shirt being casually tossed onto the bed, followed by his pants. The movements behind her paused, and Fu Shize said, "Not a full set."
Yun Li was momentarily confused.
Fu Shize handed her the clothes from behind. Yun Li looked down—it was indeed a shirt and pants. She said, "It’s complete."
Fu Shize: "No, it’s not."
"..."
Yun Li suddenly realized. "You mean the underwear is missing?"
"Mm."
"..."
Underwear!! That was a full set, damn it.
Fu Shize showed no intention of backing down either, standing motionless behind her.
Yun Li: "Are you... not wearing anything right now?"
Fu Shize lazily hummed in agreement.
Yun Li felt she was just one step away from calling him a pervert.
Grudgingly lowering her head, she covered her eyes and shuffled toward the wardrobe.
Fu Shize even helpfully reminded her it was in the bottom left drawer. Yun Li pulled it open to find neatly folded underwear inside.
Not daring to look too closely, she grabbed one at random.
Fu Shize had teased her enough. Two minutes later, he was mostly dressed. Yun Li suddenly remembered something he’d mentioned a long time ago: "Why are you wearing pajamas? Didn’t you say before that you liked sleeping naked?"
Fu Shize buttoned up his shirt without looking up and replied offhandedly, "Depends on who I’m sleeping with."
"..."
As they were about to leave, Yun Li brought up Chen Lirong.
"When I came over earlier, that guy next door was badmouthing you—the same Chen-what’s-his-name we ran into before." Just thinking about him made Yun Li uncomfortable. "He also said he recorded audio from your room. Oh... our conversation right now might already be recorded."
"..."
Hearing this, Fu Shize’s expression remained unchanged as he went straight to knock on Chen Lirong’s door. The latter seemed to have anticipated this and didn’t dare open it.
Fu Shize scoffed. "Want me to kick it down?"
Footsteps sounded from behind the door before Chen Lirong cracked it open slightly. Fu Shize’s expression was indifferent as he asked, "Where’s your phone?"
Chen Lirong’s face darkened, but he handed his phone over anyway. Fu Shize quickly navigated to his audio and video storage, deleting everything based on the timestamps when he was in the dorm.
Opening the photo gallery, he found numerous covert shots—not just of himself, but of others as well.
Chen Lirong’s life seemed to revolve entirely around others. In his early years, he had tried to validate himself through numerous romantic escapades, harassing any female he came across, only to be universally rejected. Because his own life was such a failure, he constantly wished for others to fare worse or actively slandered them to make himself feel better.
Fu Shize had no interest in scrolling further. He cleared the entire gallery, deleted all backups from the cloud, and tossed the phone back to him.
He didn’t even bother saying a single word to Chen Lirong.Yun Li added, "If I catch you doing this again, you can prepare for jail time."
Her tone carried a chilling edge.
"..."
As they started walking downstairs, Yun Li noticed Fu Shize's gaze and hesitated, feeling her earlier boldness might have been too much. "He used to send me a lot of photos of you and your childhood friends. I think this guy is kind of... creepy."
The thought of him secretly recording them from another room sent a shiver down her spine. Unsettled, she stopped and looked at Fu Shize.
Fu Shize, unfazed by such things, said calmly, "Don’t worry about it."
Yun Li: "Well, it’s not exactly worry. I want to protect you too. People like Chen Lirong aren’t rare—they resent and slander you just because you’re outstanding."
Helpless themselves, they envy others' brilliance and resort to malicious attacks, trying to bring them down in the worst ways possible.
Because of his excellence, Fu Shize had already suffered enough from jealousy.
Fortunately, he wasn’t that fragile.
At least, not after being with her.
She paused, then said, "I just think you’re the best person in the world. Someone like you deserves love from everyone."
"I don’t need the whole world to love me." Fu Shize lowered his gaze. They had reached the bottom of the stairs, and cotton-like seeds from the kapok tree drifted onto her face, tickling her skin. Through the sparse fluff, she saw him part his lips.
"Just as long as you’re among those who do."
"Then I promise you," Yun Li looked up at him, "I’ll always be there."
Only after saying it did she realize—this was what a truly healthy relationship felt like. This time, they were honest and trusting, supportive and accepting of each other.
She truly felt it—he was her armor, and she was his.
...
Two days later was Chen Jinping’s birthday. Fu Shize would be having lunch with them, and after carefully selecting a gift, Yun Li asked him to deliver it for her.
Taking the gift, Fu Shize said nothing more and returned to writing his thesis.
Unable to hold back, Yun Li finally spoke up.
"Aren’t you going to ask if I want to meet Auntie with you?"
Generally, once a relationship was stable, meeting parents was a natural step—especially since she had gone out of her way to prepare a birthday gift for Chen Jinping.
But Fu Shize had his own considerations. He glanced at her and said, "I’ll meet your parents first."
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