The seed planted at seventeen finally bloomed into a flower.
Tao Shuran’s pupils dilated slightly, and she found herself trapped in those words, unable to extricate herself.
After a long while, she gradually found her voice, trembling as she asked, “You mean…”
“Yes.”
Liang Yuanjing hurriedly interrupted her. “I liked you even earlier than you could have imagined.”
“It’s just that I was too obtuse when it came to emotions, so even as the footsteps of love came and went, I never realized they belonged to me.”
“I fake-dated you because I didn’t want you dating someone else. Actually, every time I heard rumors of you crushing on someone, I was insanely jealous. I chalked it up to the guys you liked being too awful, but really, it was my own jealousy.”
The camphor tree beyond the railing rustled, and Tao Shuran turned her head slightly. Tears fell straight down.
To this day, she felt the damp rainy season that had shrouded her entire adolescence finally stopped.
The moon that had always hung eternally out of reach.
Rushed toward her.
Tao Shuran choked out, “Liang Yuanjing, what are you trying to do by saying all this now?”
“Nothing, I just don’t want you to have any regrets.”
Liang Yuanjing shoved one hand in his pocket, his gaze looking distantly into the horizon.
In his vision, he seemed to see that girl again, the one who studied diligently day after day with a book in hand. The morning light fell on her serene profile. At first, he was just a bit curious, wondering if she’d come again the next day.
There were many hardworking people, but few who could persist day after day.
Later, he didn’t know from which day, but his eyes grew accustomed to taking in her figure. Every time after training, he always subconsciously looked up toward her.
“The cake you gave me, I ate it that night. Last year, when I passed by that shop you mentioned, I wanted to buy one just like it, but the owner told me it was a custom order, too complex—he’d spent a full week experimenting to make it.”
Liang Yuanjing said slowly, “I know all of your feelings.”
“What I didn’t notice before, I’ll slowly discover from now on.”
The past couldn’t be undone, but Liang Yuanjing thought he could make up for it with some day in the future.
At least, he had to ensure the girl before him had no regrets.
He raised his hand, pulled out the thick diary from his bag, smiled, and handed it to her.
“That night, you found this Captain’s Diary, right?”
Tao Shuran hurriedly explained in a slight panic, “I found it by accident under the pillow.”
“It was written for you in the first place.”
Liang Yuanjing handed it to her, solemn and devout.
“This is my reply to you, an echo meant solely for Tao Shuran.”
When he said her name, he enunciated it especially clearly.
Tao Shuran couldn’t help but redden her eyes. The diary in her hands felt heavy; no one knew its weight better than she did.
The diary she had once filled with countless emotions, that silent crush buried in her youthful years, finally received its echo.
“You didn’t have to do all this.” Tao Shuran bit her lower lip, trying hard not to let her sobs escape. “It was my choice to like you.”
Liang Yuanjing leaned down, gripped her shoulders with both hands, and met her gaze with infinite gentleness.
He looked at her and said softly, “No, I wanted to do this.”
Once again, he told her directly and frankly—
“I like Tao Shuran. I want the seventeen-year-old Tao Shuran to have no regrets.”
“Why are you crying again?”
Liang Yuanjing shrugged helplessly, wiped the tear from the corner of her eye with his fingertip, and said with obvious amusement, “Little crybaby.”
Tao Shuran mumbled in refutation, “I’m not.”
“You are.”
“Fine, fine, if you say so, then I am.”
Liang Yuanjing stood up. His tall figure cast a long shadow in the dusk as he leaned against the railing with arms crossed, his distant gaze amid the wind full of unchanging high spirits.
This time, however, he turned back to look at her and said—
“Tao Shuran, you don’t have to give me an answer. You can firmly reject me, push me away.”
Tao Shuran asked instinctively, “Why?”
Liang Yuanjing turned to face her, his brows lowering, shedding his usual careless laziness.
This time, he said especially earnestly, “Because I want to walk the road you took toward me. The difference this time is, I’ll be the one walking toward you.”
Tao Shuran cried and laughed.
She felt she must look ugly right now, nothing like the beautiful dreams she had at seventeen while lying in bed.
The shadows under the tree swayed. Tao Shuran lowered her eyes and saw the man’s tall figure completely cast down. Unlike the youthful years before, this time, she no longer chased his back.
Liang Yuanjing leaned in close, and his shadow completely enveloped her.
In this moment, the phoenix tree’s branches bloomed.
Her secret love also heard its echo.
The Captain’s Diary about Liang Yuanjing had always been the most mysterious thing at the flight base.
After a full day of grueling training, everyone basically collapsed into bed at night and slept soundly.
But they noticed Liang Yuanjing was different.
In every quiet night, he always kept a lamp on, holding a pen and writing meticulously under its light.
Later, gossip spread that these were a hundred love letters Liang Yuanjing wrote to the person he liked.
That night, Tao Shuran had glanced through hastily and thought calling them a hundred love letters wasn’t an exaggeration.
Today, she fully owned this Captain’s Diary.
Under the room’s dim yellow desk lamp, she slowly turned to the first page.
“2020.01.01 Rain with Snow”
Our story ended, but I think it certainly won’t end completely like this.
“2020.01.25 Overcast”
She didn’t come home for New Year. I lingered at the intersection many times but never saw her.
“2021.04.30 Cloudy”
I miss you so much, Tao Shuran.
…
“2021.07.13 Clear”
I’m starting to gradually understand what it feels like to like someone. If you’re happy after leaving me, then I wish you a lifetime without worries, long years of peace.
“2022.05.01 Clear”
Grandma said today she wants to introduce you to a boyfriend. I’m not happy about it. And that senior brother of yours, with his awkward name—doesn’t suit you at all.
“2022.06.22 Light Rain”
Happy birthday. Also, can you not like anyone else?
Oh, it’s your birthday. Making a wish like this seems impolite.
“2022.11.8 Cloudy”
This year’s birthday wish: Don’t like anyone else. And I hope you keep liking me.
“2023.01.01 Clear”
New Year’s first flight. The sunrise beyond the thin fog was brilliant and splendid. In this moment, I recalled that my old dream was to soar into the clouds, but my dream now is—you.
…
And so, Tao Shuran turned page by page. Even though she had skimmed through once before, reading it again still moved her deeply.
The diary contained many photos. There was one of Liang Yuanjing on his first solo flight, in his captain’s uniform in the cockpit, flashing a brilliant “V for victory” sign. At that moment, Tao Shuran felt all her sacrifices were worth it.
There were also scenery photos from every flight route he passed, as if he took them to share with her, as if she had never left.
When she turned to the last page, Tao Shuran’s fingertip paused.
The only page without a date, the ink still fresh, looked like it had been added just recently.
“You’ve made it to the last page—still not agreeing to date me?”
“Tao Shuran, liking you is a fact I’ve confirmed every single day for five years.”
The next day, Tao Shuran opened the door with her eyes red from crying.
When Fang Qingyi came in, she was applying egg to her eyes, her voice low and groggy, half-asleep.
“Ranran, do I look pretty in my new outfit today?”
Fang Qingyi bounced energetically in front of her, spinning around twice, her tone excitedly upbeat.
“Fu Changpei bought it for me.”
“And my hair today—Fu Changpei braided it.”
Tao Shuran looked up at Fang Qingyi’s hair braided on both sides like perfect little butterfly bows, accentuating her bright, grape-like eyes.
She chuckled and teased, “You’re so sweet, Fang Qingyi.”
“Have you two gotten together?”
Fang Qingyi feigned surprise, covering her mouth. “How did you know?”
“Stop pretending.” Tao Shuran said, “I saw you two hugging and kissing that night.”
Fang Qingyi raised her hand. “Declaration in advance: This time, Fu Changpei made the first move.”
“But Ranran, how do you know Fu Changpei doesn’t like you?”
Tao Shuran rolled her eyes at her. “If you really like someone, can you hold back for five or six years without acting?”
“Even a coward like me secretly edged toward Liang Yuanjing.”
“Makes sense.”
Fang Qingyi leaned on her shoulder. “Ranran, what do I do? I’m so happy I’m about to faint.”
“Then just faint already. Eat fewer grapes.”
Tao Shuran popped a grape into her mouth, grabbed the remote, and changed the channel.
Fang Qingyi sat up and complained loudly, “You don’t love me anymore, Tao Shuran. You won’t even thread grapes for me now!”
Compared to the gloomy, silent Fang Qingyi from before, this loud, occasionally princess-tempered version was clearly cuter.
A smile appeared on Tao Shuran’s face. She stood, grabbed her keys, and went to the entryway to change shoes.
Fang Qingyi leaned on the sofa and asked, “Where are you going?”
Tao Shuran smiled helplessly at her. “To buy grapes for you.”
“Oh, and by the way, check if your genius college god Fu is home. If he is, I’ll find an excuse to package you up and send you over.”
“You get me.”
Fang Qingyi kicked off her slippers, lounged on the sofa leisurely, and said, “Oh, and bring back two Cornetto cones for me, thanks, big beauty.”
It was already deep autumn, with leaves falling scattered.
Tao Shuran didn’t hold high hopes for the Cornetto cones Fang Qingyi wanted—street shops rarely stocked all flavors year-round.
She bought some fruit at the corner store and, on the way back, passed by Fu Changpei’s place.
He was still in his usual spot, quietly hugging a book as he read. Tao Shuran tilted her head and asked with a smile, “Got any Cornetto cones here?”
“For your Fang Qingyi.”
“Wait a sec.”
Fu Changpei turned around, handed her some, and said a bit helplessly, “Keep an eye on her. Weather’s cooling; she can’t eat too many.”
“You hand them to her yourself.”
Tao Shuran dumped the fruit in her hands on him and tossed him a set of her house keys.
She smiled and said, “I’m heading out for a stroll. You two make yourselves at home.”
Tao Shuran walked out aimlessly, but somehow, she ended up downstairs from Liang Yuanjing’s building.
This three-story Western-style house modeled after the Republican era looked especially serene at that moment.
The phoenix trees lining both sides of the street remained lush, their neatly trimmed branches seeming forever in that one form, no matter how many years passed.
She stopped, couldn’t resist raising her phone to snap a photo, and sent it to him.
Liang Yuanjing replied quickly: “Yo, finally remembered me?”
Tao Shuran smiled down at her phone and messaged back: “I’m downstairs from your place.”
Liang Yuanjing: “What, already wanting to meet the parents?”
“Too bad my mom’s not home tonight.”
Seeing that, Tao Shuran tsked, able to perfectly imagine his unserious tone.
Just as she was about to reply, a familiar voice immediately drew all her attention.
Not far away, in front of a white Bentley, a glamorous lady was on the phone. She was very beautiful, in a suit skirt just to her knees, sharp-toed fine heels, standing tall and striking.
Her hand pressed on the car door handle, pausing because of the endless call. In the end, the woman’s voice grew louder and louder on the empty street, even seeming a bit unhinged.
“Okay, I endured you not coming back for National Day. If you don’t come back for Spring Festival, Liang Yuanjing, don’t come home for the rest of your life.”
“I told you, I just don’t support you being some pilot. I don’t want the next news about my son to be a plane crash.”
…
The call ended as expected, unhappily.
Tao Shuran stood there for a moment and recognized the woman as the rumored Li Wan, Liang Yuanjing’s mother.
This elite woman, who had risen to the board of directors through her own efforts and remained the actual controller of the group even after parting ways with Liang Yuanjing’s father, made Tao Shuran understand the source of the dazzling edge on Liang Yuanjing the moment she saw her.
The intimidating presence on her made people wary.
Tao Shuran hesitated for a moment but still slowly walked forward.
She politely greeted her. “Auntie Li, hello. I’m Tao Shuran.”
Li Wan paused. Her anger hadn’t subsided yet. Upon suddenly seeing her, she glanced over and asked coldly, “And you are?”
Tao Shuran pursed her lips and said, “I’m Liang Yuanjing’s classmate.”
“You just said your name is Tao Shuran, right?”
Li Wan crossed her arms and lowered her gaze to size her up from head to toe. Suddenly, she let out an inexplicable chuckle and asked, “Do you need something from me?”
“Could I take up a little of your time?” Tao Shuran’s gaze was earnest. “Just a few minutes.”
Li Wan didn’t reply right away. Instead, she turned her head and called out to the passenger seat in the car.
“Little Dong, check for me how long the fastest route to the airport takes.”
After getting the exact time, Li Wan looked down at her watch and spoke bluntly.
“I’ll give you five minutes.”
Tao Shuran was stunned for a moment. She wasn’t used to this tone she used with her subordinates yet, but she quickly reacted. To not waste these five minutes, she spoke at breakneck speed.
By the end, Tao Shuran felt Li Wan’s gaze on her becoming harder and harder to ignore.
She braced herself and looked up, saying softly, “All these years, his training hasn’t been easy.”
“I know he would sneak out at night by himself to practice to overcome the dizziness from zero gravity. To make up for the lessons missed due to training, he would get up early every morning for self-study.”
“He’s worked harder than anyone, Auntie. Please have some compassion for him.”
It shouldn’t at least be suppression. Tao Shuran had experienced it herself and understood the feeling of having one’s dreams not cherished and supported by family.
The five minutes were up, but Li Wan didn’t hurry to leave.
After a while, she slowly spoke. “Classmate, what identity are you speaking to me in with this suggestion?”
Tao Shuran took a deep breath, slowly raised her head, and met her gaze directly.
With exceptional firmness, she said, “As Liang Yuanjing’s girlfriend.”