The dorm environment was much better than expected.
Lin Tingzhou had said it was cleared from storage rooms, but upon opening the door, Tao Shuran saw that everything from bed to desk was fully furnished.
The room looked freshly cleaned too.
Jin Boyu inspected everything, from lightbulbs to door locks, leaving nothing out.
Tao Shuran leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, teasing idly, “Senior Brother, you’re so meticulous and family-oriented. Your future girlfriend is going to be so happy.”
“Teasing me? Looks like you’re too idle.”
Jin Boyu pinched her nose threateningly. “Maybe tomorrow I should tell Professor Lin to give you two extra reports.”
Tao Shuran immediately raised her hand in surrender. “My bad, Senior Brother.”
“See if there’s anything you need me to do. I’ll handle it.”
Jin Boyu opened the larger room next door, pretended to size it up, then pulled out his wallet from his pocket and tossed it to her.
“Go check if there’s a supermarket at the gate. Get me a coffee, and buy yourself some snacks with the change.”
Like coaxing a child, he added, “Then find somewhere to amuse yourself.”
Okay, so he found her in the way.
Tao Shuran took out two bills and, on her way, grabbed the trash by the wall to throw it out.
She wandered aimlessly around the training base, trying to recall the entrance position. She hadn’t paid attention earlier; wasn’t sure if there was something like a shop.
Unknowingly, she arrived at a wide training field.
Under thick shade, the plastic track stretched out. Shouts of young men rang through the sky—the base’s pilots doing basic training.
Tao Shuran only glanced with her peripheral vision, but she still spotted Liang Yuanjing in the crowd, recognizing him by his back alone.
He was doing push-ups, his rising and falling motions so fast they left afterimages.
This scene overlapped with a certain frame from her memories—
It was probably during their freshman year, less than a month after military training ended, that he had already become a campus sensation.
Luo Qiuya egged her on to go to the training field together to watch the Flight Class train. At that time, she still felt a flutter of excitement at the thought of seeing him, so she half-heartedly agreed.
Unexpectedly, one of his sharp-eyed teammates spotted them at a glance. Several guys gathered together and started jeering loudly.
“Liang Yuanjing, your girlfriend’s here, and you’re only doing fifty?”
“With your girlfriend here, of course you have to show off.”
The teammate standing nearby suddenly shouted, “Liang Yuanjing, how many are you doing now?”
“Arrive!”
Liang Yuanjing paused in his push-up motion, and then his voice rang out even louder, as if deliberately making sure she could hear.
“Ninety-nine!”
……
“Ninety-six!”
“Ninety-seven!”
“Ninety-eight!”
“Ninety-nine!!!”
Amid the cheering applause, Tao Shuran shyly lowered her head.
Finally, in the tidal wave of applause at the end, she inadvertently lifted her head and met a pair of bright, smiling eyes.
The irrepressible youthful vigor on him burst forth completely in that instant, and Tao Shuran felt the whole world grow quiet.
She could only hear her own pounding heartbeat.
Completely for him.
……
Time flew by, and now she was no longer his girlfriend at all.
Tao Shuran withdrew her gaze and quietly turned to leave.
Meanwhile, Liang Yuanjing slowly stood up and casually wiped the sweat from his face with a towel.
The teammate keeping score nearby teased with a smile, “Captain Liang, you sure stick to your principles—fifty is the rule, but you always do a hundred.”
Liang Yuanjing smiled faintly. “Habit.”
He subconsciously looked up, but the figure standing in the distance had long vanished.
A bitter feeling weighed on him. He slowly savored it, reflecting in regret on the ninety-nine steps Tao Shuran had taken toward him over these years.
Had every single one been so sour and hard to express?
He resolved to retrace all ninety-nine steps of heartache, and he swore that this time he would take the initiative to step toward her once.
That was the origin of the number one hundred.
“Captain Liang, the new dorm is sorted. Rooms are tight, so you’ll have to make do with a double for now.”
“Fine.”
“Wow, God Liang, looks like you’ll be bunking with me.”
Kang Bai slung an arm around his shoulders with a grin. “Bro Liang, you’re too nice. Base needed to free up a dorm, and you handed over your best room without hesitation.”
“What, got designs on the new girl?”
Liang Yuanjing lifted his eyes and said flatly, “Yeah.”
“You’ll help me chase her?”
Kang Bai stumbled in place, nearly face-planting.
He touched his head in disbelief, then leaned in with exaggerated tone. “For real? Our eternal ice mountain, unmoved for ages, fell at first sight?”
“Who is it? The girl moving in today?”
Liang Yuanjing ignored him and knocked on the table, telling him to take down the duty roster hanging on the opposite wall.
To ensure the safety of the new restoration team, their base sent two people out on perimeter patrols every day. Yesterday was the first day, and the roster hadn’t been set yet, so Liang Yuanjing had stepped up.
He asked casually, “Duty roster for this month set?”
“Nope.”
Liang Yuanjing lifted his chin decisively.
“I’ll cover the whole next month.”
After a simple cleanup, Tao Shuran and Jin Boyu returned to the site that afternoon.
Excavation work had just begun, and as supervisors, they stayed on site. Different artifacts required different excavation methods.
For the Calligraphy and Painting Group, with bundled bamboo tubes, they required lifting them all at once if possible. If not, they removed them in batches while ensuring integrity.
“Teacher Tao, take a look—this big chunk seems like several paintings stuck together.”
Hearing the call, Tao Shuran hurried over to check. She carefully avoided the digging area, trudging laboriously over the muddy path.
After examining it carefully several times, Tao Shuran decided on the spot. “Clear the surroundings and excavate the whole block to send back to the lab for further cleaning.”
Jin Boyu glanced at her admiringly. “Pretty decisive.”
“Isn’t that what Professor Lin taught? Restoration is a race against time.”
They stayed at the site the entire afternoon. By evening, with poor visibility, it wasn’t suitable for outdoor digging.
Tao Shuran wiped her hands, preparing to head back to the lab to sort and record the artifacts newly transported that day.
It was meticulous liberal arts work—accurately measuring and documenting data for each piece.
As she was about to leave, she remembered something. She grabbed Jin Boyu and pointed in a direction. “Senior Brother, there’s a big piece over there, badly damaged. Can you send it back to the lab for me first?”
“I’ll record it tonight, then hand it over to Old Man Yuan from the Clock Group tomorrow.”
But she grabbed at air—Jin Boyu, who had been right beside her, had vanished.
Tao Shuran looked around in confusion.
“I’ll do it.”
Liang Yuanjing had appeared behind her at some point. His sudden voice startled her badly, and she instinctively stepped back two paces—right into his scorching chest.
A lazy smile tugged at his lips as he slowly spread his arms, innocently raising a brow at her.
As if it was all her fault for “throwing herself into his arms.”
Tao Shuran pressed her lips together. “No need. I’ll wait for my senior brother.”
“Wasn’t it a race against time?”
Liang Yuanjing leaned down slowly, his teasing eyes fixed unblinkingly on her. “Not racing anymore?”
The words she had said earlier were now thrown back at her.
Tao Shuran looked at him. “What are you doing here?”
As if he had been waiting for her to ask.
Liang Yuanjing tucked one hand in his pocket and flashed the blue work badge hanging around his neck with the other.
“Came to assist with your work.”
With things said that plainly, she had no reason to stop him.
The transport vehicle arrived, and Tao Shuran stood beside him, instructing on precautions. When Liang Yuanjing reached to lift, she still couldn’t help steadying it.
Mud and sand scattered, getting in his eyes. Liang Yuanjing freed a hand to pull her behind him.
He draped his shed shirt jacket over her face, and his roguish voice followed.
“Stand back. I can handle it alone.”
“No tradition here of making our own girl do heavy labor.”
She thought she misheard the last part.
The site was too noisy, but the blue jacket carried a fresh lemon soap scent, briefly clearing her fatigued body after a long day.
Tao Shuran vaguely heard Liang Yuanjing ask, “What’s the deal with that senior brother of yours?”
She yanked off the jacket and looked up at him. “What, you interested in him?”
Liang Yuanjing scoffed lowly. “No interest.”
Arrogant and disdainful.
That posture reminded Tao Shuran of their first meeting at Qing University.
Back then, he had propped his arms on the desk too, saying in that same unruly tone that he had “no interest” in her.
A bitter smile spread on her lips. She hugged his jacket with both arms and stood quietly to the side, waiting.
The topic of conversation arrived right then.
Jin Boyu carried a camera, having just withdrawn from the site. Seeing the man beside her, he subconsciously sized him up.
Liang Yuanjing sized him up too.
Tall build, refined scholarly looks, deep brown shirt understated and low-key. When looking at him, he subtly adjusted his metal-framed glasses.
In one glance, Liang Yuanjing judged him a gentle, decent man—restrained enough that even his scrutiny went unnoticed.
Before meeting him, Liang Yuanjing had imagined Tao Shuran falling for him.
But upon actually seeing this senior brother, panic suddenly spread in his heart.
This was a man completely different from him.
If Tao Shuran fell for a man of this style, did he really still have a place in her heart?
Liang Yuanjing suddenly grew uncertain of the answer.
“Junior Sister?”
Jin Boyu smiled faintly and spoke first. “This is?”
His words perfectly eased the faint awkward distance between Tao Shuran and Liang Yuanjing.
Tao Shuran snapped back and hurried to Jin Boyu’s side to introduce.
“Liang Yuanjing, from the training base. Also a member of the Flight Rescue Team.”
Jin Boyu smiled. “Impressive. First time meeting such a young pilot. Pleased to meet you.”
Liang Yuanjing nodded politely. “Salute to those of you dedicating day and night to rescue and restoration.”
“Senior Brother, perfect timing—help me transport this.”
As Tao Shuran moved to go, Liang Yuanjing blocked her lazily, arms crossed.
He arched a brow slightly. “That’s it?”
Seemingly dissatisfied with her perfunctory introduction.
Tao Shuran steeled herself and looked at him. She knew this troublemaker wouldn’t budge without a satisfactory answer.
After thinking, she added,
“He’s also my…”
“An ordinary friend.”
Everything settled.
“Is that so?”
Liang Yuanjing slowly savored the four words, tongue pressing against his cheek. His dangerous gaze lingered on her face as he leaned down.
With a hint of smile, he asked—
“Do ordinary friends kiss?”