He knew the place too well. Back when Lin Tingzhou worked here early on, he’d spent half his time here.
When Lin Tingzhou was too busy, she’d have the driver drop him at the Aviation Research Institute.
Memories felt vivid as if right before his eyes.
Standing now before the newly renovated hall, Liang Yuanjing suddenly realized his life had always revolved around two anchors: flying and cultural relics.
Perhaps falling for Tao Shuran was fated.
Grandpa led him to his dream; Grandma to his love.
At the thought, he couldn’t help a soft chuckle. He stepped into the newly renovated exhibition hall.
This was a small calligraphy and painting exhibition room, mainly featuring various works from the Song Dynasty onward, most of which had been restored by Lin Tingzhou’s team.
The new museum had just opened not long ago, and it was early morning, so there were not many visitors yet.
Photos of restoration records hung on the walls of the hall for educational purposes. Liang Yuanjing lifted his head and scanned the photos one by one, hoping to find something related to Tao Shuran.
He did not find any photos of her, but his gaze stopped on a felt board in the center.
It was a wish wall, probably set up for an opening event, with a stack of sticky notes nearby for visitors to write on by hand and pin to the board with tacks.
Liang Yuanjing paused because he recognized Tao Shuran’s handwriting.
On a yellow sticky note toward the corner, she had written a line in deep blue ink with elegant strokes.
“May the person I love be happy and ultimately fulfilled.”
Seeing this line, Liang Yuanjing felt deeply touched.
All these years, she had always been like this—every wish she made was for his well-being.
But what about her own happiness?
Someone passing by had kindly added a sentence to the yellow sticky note—“If you love them, they are already fulfilled.”
When Tao Shuran returned and saw this, she paused for a moment, then added another line.
She wrote: “Not necessarily. He might not like me.”
Through this sentence, Liang Yuanjing could almost glimpse the bitterness and helplessness Tao Shuran had felt as she wrote it.
Over these five years, what kind of mindset had she clung to, step by step, to reach this day?
In all those stolen glances toward him, how many had ended in heartbreak and disappointment?
“Hello, do you have a pen?”
Liang Yuanjing asked the nearby administrator for a pen. He took down the sticky note again and carefully wrote two sentences on it, stroke by stroke.
“It is already fulfilled.”
“Because the person I love is you.”
…
“Do you have a pen?”
Lin Tingzhou took the pen and drew a box around a section on the printed paper, saying seriously, “There is a problem with the framework here. You need to take it back and revise it.”
“And this sentence is not rigorous enough. How about changing it to this?”
Tao Shuran nodded. “Okay, Teacher. I will revise it.”
“By the way, have you visited the new museum?” Lin Tingzhou chatted with her briefly in between. “One of your works is included there. You are the youngest among them over all these years.”
Tao Shuran was flattered. “Really? I will go take a look later.”
She had returned to Fuqing City and immediately plunged into writing her thesis and completing her graduation project, with no time to even rest on weekends.
This time, since she was already at the museum, Tao Shuran thought for a moment and decided to stop by the new calligraphy and painting exhibition on the way.
More than her work, she missed that one sticky note left there.
It had originally been written amid the boisterous encouragement from her fellow disciples on opening day. She thought it would not stay up long before drifting away.
Unexpectedly, after a whole year, hers was still firmly pinned there.
She remembered Gu Songnian grumbling indignantly back then: “Why did the one I wrote about getting rich quick disappear so fast? How come Junior Sister’s is still there?”
“How is Heaven so biased toward romance-obsessed fools?”
Jin Boyu reached out and flicked his forehead. “Don’t slap labels on people.”
“This is the highest realm of liking someone, got it?”
Gu Songnian and Tao Shuran both blurted out at the same time: “What is the highest realm of liking someone?”
Jin Boyu raised an eyebrow and said slowly:
“Willing to forgo one’s own happiness, just hoping that he is happy.”
…
The scene from back then seemed to play out right before her eyes. Tao Shuran tilted her head back, and a tear unconsciously fell from the corner of her eye.
She wiped it away. In truth, from the moment she wrote that sticky note, all her chaotic emotions had become clear.
She had never forgotten Liang Yuanjing.
In her lifetime, she had only ever liked this one person.
The wind rustled the pages, and the bright yellow sticky note stood out glaringly. As always, Tao Shuran stood fixed in front of it, lost in memories of her youthful moments.
As her gaze gradually drifted, she suddenly noticed an additional line on the sticky note.
The handwriting was ingrained in her DNA. It was said that a person’s script reflected their character, and Tao Shuran had lost count of how many times she had secretly practiced copying his.
No one knew him as intimately as she did, except Liang Yuanjing himself.
After reading the full sentences, Tao Shuran could not help but redden her eyes.
She held back her tears and slowly removed the sticky note from the felt board.
An old man from the adjacent office rushed out, about to remind her, but relaxed when he saw it was her.
“Little Tao, why are you taking it down?”
Tao Shuran broke into a smile through her tears. “Because it is already fulfilled.”
As she walked out, Liang Yuanjing was standing at the entrance. Under a camphor tree in the courtyard, his tall and upright figure remained unchanged. The wind lifted his hair, revealing a pair of bright, dazzling eyes.
In many moments, Tao Shuran felt that Liang Yuanjing had never changed.
She was still frozen in the memory of his most youthful days.
“Why do you look so listless?”
Liang Yuanjing took her backpack and slung it loosely over one shoulder, then naturally held her hand as they walked on the inner side of the road.
He turned his head to examine her expression and saw her eyes slightly red, as if she had cried. His face immediately turned stern.
“Did someone bully you?”
Tao Shuran shook her head and turned away to avoid his gaze.
Her free hand quickly rose, and she rubbed her eyes hard, pretending to complain, “My thesis needs major revisions. God, graduation is so painful.”
Liang Yuanjing chuckled softly.
Before he could say any comforting words, he saw the girl striding forward energetically.
He followed behind and called out, “Where are you going?”
Tao Shuran let out a long sigh, not even turning her head.
“Back to revise my thesis.”
And that was it?
Liang Yuanjing quickened his pace to catch up and gripped her wrist again. He huffed a laugh. “No.”
“Your evening belongs to me.”
“Evening?”
Tao Shuran nearly bit her tongue. Her gaze flickered as she stared at him, then shifted away after a moment, stammering.
“W-what do you mean?”
“What are you thinking?”
Liang Yuanjing slowly leaned down, his curved finger gently tapping her forehead, his voice laced with amusement. “I just want to take you somewhere.”
He crossed his arms and leisurely sized her up.
“Student Tao Shuran, why do I feel like after all these years apart, your thoughts have matured quite a bit?”
She could hear the teasing in his words, and Tao Shuran’s face flushed completely red. She could not utter a single word.
Precisely because Liang Yuanjing was teasing her, she became utterly quiet for the rest of the way.
Until they arrived at Fuqing Affiliated High School. She could no longer maintain her composure.
Tao Shuran paused, then looked up at him. “Why did you bring me here?”
Liang Yuanjing thought for a moment. His face still held that casual expression, but as he spoke, he lowered his head to watch her reaction with utmost seriousness.
He said slowly: “Because I want to walk your path and see what it feels like to steal glances at your back.”
“This time, you walk ahead of me.”
Tao Shuran opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but no words came out.
For some reason, the Liang Yuanjing before her began to merge with the boy in the blue-and-white school uniform at eighteen.
He wanted to fulfill the dream she had at seventeen.
At this thought, Tao Shuran’s eyes grew slightly wet, her vision blurring.
She said nothing, simply walking silently and quietly along the road to the sports field. Even with her eyes closed, she knew that at exactly six-fifteen in the afternoon, as the sun dipped low, Liang Yuanjing would be playing basketball at the southwest corner.
Every time he leaped high to shoot, cheers erupted around him. She would gaze up at him in admiration, feeling as if he had the entire brilliant sunset under his feet.
This time, she was no longer just an admirer. She arrived at this basketball court as the protagonist of the story.
Led there personally by Liang Yuanjing.
It was also then that Tao Shuran realized there was a two-story viewing stand here.
At this moment, she sat on the viewing stand while Liang Yuanjing leaned against the railing on his elbows. The wind lifted his blue shirt, and from Tao Shuran’s perspective, his superior side profile formed a flawless painting.
Liang Yuanjing tilted his head up, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he pointed to the distance for her to look.
Tao Shuran followed his gaze and saw, under the brilliant sunset, the white building exclusive to the senior year students.
The view from this spot was perfect, just right to catch a glimpse of the scenery at the end of the corridor in that building.
Tao Shuran’s pupils contracted slightly, as if suddenly realizing a certain fact in that instant.
She instinctively looked toward Liang Yuanjing.
Coincidentally, he was looking at her too.
“I told you before, right? Actually, I noticed you very early on.”
“Every morning, as the first rays of light sprinkled over the world, the sound of you reciting your texts would mix with the English listening practice in my earphones. I sat here, and in the moments I happened to look up, I would see you holding your book, walking and reciting at the same time. The dust in the air danced, and so did your footsteps.”
“You told me you had to get into Qing University, and that stubbornness felt familiar. Later, somehow, I was drawn in. My gaze kept drifting to you uncontrollably. I started paying attention to you, occasionally discussing you with Fu Changpei on purpose, and gradually, I felt secretly delighted that we both aimed for Qing University.”
Liang Yuanjing took a deep breath, his excited heart pounding as if it would leap from his chest.
His eyes shone with agitation, but he tried to calm himself, focusing entirely on her.
“Tao Shuran.”
Liang Yuanjing said to her solemnly and earnestly: “Actually, I have liked you a little since high school.”