“The important thing isn’t your outfit or sending flowers and sweet-talking,” Zhao Yangcheng said sincerely, getting to the heart of the matter. “What’s important is sincerity. Rely on sincerity.”
Xie Lisheng suddenly fell silent.
He stopped in his tracks, phone raised to his ear, his wandering gaze gradually focusing on a single point not far away.
Beneath a tall sycamore tree with deep green leaves stood a pair of graduate students in matching deep blue master’s gowns.
The young man stood in front of the girl, clutching a small bouquet of roses. His hand fidgeted as he spoke, and even from a distance, it was clear he was nervous and shy.
A gentle breeze stirred, lifting the girl’s jet-black shoulder-length hair, the fragrance almost visible in the sunlight.
Her slender profile gleamed stark white in the light.
“Hey? Why’d you go quiet? What are you doing?” Zhao Yangcheng’s voice buzzed from the phone.
Xie Lisheng held the phone to his ear, the corner of his eye twitching as he replied indifferently, “Watching my future wife get confessed to.”
~~~
Today was the last day of the leave she’d requested to get away.
No matter how effective her escape had been, it would end tonight. Jiang Zao had been anxious about it all morning, so anxious she even considered just quitting her job.
No—better yet, vanishing from the face of the earth.
But her birth mother was despicable in exactly this way: even if she died or disappeared today, Pan Yu would show up at Xie Lisheng’s door tomorrow, using her as an excuse to make a scene and demand money.
Once Pan Yu latched onto someone close to her, Jiang Zao herself became irrelevant.
She could never shake free of Pan Yu, and soon she’d drag Xie Lisheng into the mess.
That was why, when her counselor contacted her that afternoon and asked if she’d be willing to attend this year’s graduation ceremony as one of the outstanding master’s graduates to give a speech, she’d agreed without hesitation and taken leave to flee Qinnan.
But the more she ran, the more she realized nothing was getting better. Pan Yu’s deadline was closing in relentlessly.
“I heard you got a job transfer to Qinnan… Actually, I got an offer from another company there too. If you’re willing to date me, we could rent a place together, work hard side by side…”
The young man’s slightly trembling voice grew clearer. Jiang Zao blinked back to reality, realizing she hadn’t been paying proper attention.
“…What do you say?” Finally, he gazed at her with eyes full of hope.
He was from her class; they’d collaborated on two group projects. But she’d never noticed his feelings for her over the entire three years.
She must be a bit oblivious when it came to this stuff. Or maybe it was because she was always so busy, lost in her own world.
With her mind already preoccupied, Jiang Zao struggled for a moment to find the right words for a polite rejection that would let them both save face.
Maybe she should just be direct? They probably wouldn’t see each other again after graduation anyway.
“Um, it’s like this, I…” As Jiang Zao started to speak, she glanced casually to the side—and spotted a familiar man standing not far away.
?!
Xie…?!
The young man followed her wide-eyed stare. By then, Xie Lisheng had already descended the grassy slope and was walking toward them step by step.
This tall man, clearly from a different age group and social stratum, approached steadily, his gaze fixed on Jiang Zao. The young man ventured, “You… know him?”
Jiang Zao’s brain short-circuited. She didn’t respond.
It had only been two and a half days since they’d last seen each other, but it felt like at least half a year.
Most of their encounters had been during work hours, so she rarely saw Xie Lisheng dressed so casually. The wild, unrestrained air usually suppressed by suits was fully on display now, holding an irresistible allure that made it impossible to look away.
No matter how refined the outfit, it all became mere backdrop for that face of his.
Xie Lisheng subtly compared the size and appeal of his bouquet to the young man’s, the smirk on his lips deepening.
Under their gazes, he drew near and stopped at a distance that made it obvious he was intimately close to Jiang Zao.
She was still in a state of stunned disbelief.
Xie Lisheng held his flowers and glanced sidelong at the young man. “Not going to introduce us?”
She turned her wide eyes slowly toward the young man.
Though the answer seemed obvious, the young man wasn’t ready to give up. Facing this man who outclassed him in every way, he asked Jiang Zao, “Jiang Zao, this guy is…?”
Her mind was a chaotic storm of static like an old TV with snow on the screen. Fighting the urge to smack her forehead, Jiang Zao forced a dry laugh and looked at the man standing too close beside her.
Xie Lisheng gazed down at her calmly, a strangely tender smile curving his lips. “Suitor or marriage partner—whatever you want to call it, I’m fine with your choice.”
Jiang Zao: ?? You’re basically spilling everything, damn it!
The male classmate had been shy to begin with. After hearing that line, he was convinced he didn’t stand a chance. Stammering an excuse, he backed off first. “M-maybe… we can talk later. I-I’ll head out now.”
He even forgot to hand over the roses, clutching his academic cap as he bolted.
Jiang Zao was left speechless. “…”
Xie Lisheng felt a touch of exasperation too, inwardly mocking himself for having thought, even briefly, that he needed to compete with a total pushover like that.
Under the tree, only the two of them remained. A breeze stirred again, blending the scents clinging to their clothes into one.
Only now did Xie Lisheng get a proper look at her.
Dressed in her master’s academic gown, Jiang Zao was a world away from her usual disheveled, dead-eyed slog to work. The air of scholarship clung to her more strongly now, along with that unyielding drive to push upward no matter the obstacles in her path.
The deep blue suited her perfectly—pale skin, jet-black hair. She was just too thin.
Had anyone ever told her how nicely her double eyelids framed her eyes?
Jiang Zao’s features weren’t the sort that stunned at first glance, but they were the enduring kind—the type that grew more appealing the longer you looked.
The thought that she was truly beautiful had just crossed his mind when she opened her mouth in shocked protest. “Why are you here!?”
Xie Lisheng’s eyes drooped. “…”
Tch. One sentence, and her whole vibe shifted.
His foxlike eyes curved slyly as he nodded toward the bouquet cradled in his arms, answering her accusation with airy lightness. “Came to celebrate your graduation.”
“Congratulations. Bright future ahead.”
Jiang Zao’s emotions seesawed wildly. She mumbled, “That’s it? You drove all the way from Qinnan just to say that?”
Xie Lisheng paused thoughtfully before adding, “What about marriage, then?”
Jiang Zao pressed a hand to her forehead, brow furrowed, her head throbbing with exasperation. “You…”
“Even flooring it to the speed limit takes at least three hours.” He thrust the bouquet into her arms, his tone gentling considerably. “For rushing here bright and early, at least give me a smile.”
“You finally graduated. You should be happy.”
She glanced down at the radiant golden flowers nestled against her. Her anxieties came rushing back, thickening the knot of guilt and confusion in her chest.
Lifting her gaze, Jiang Zao met those dangerously alluring eyes of his. The words came out haltingly. “I can’t marry you.”
“I’m sorry. I should have been upfront sooner.”
Xie Lisheng’s expression didn’t shift. His eyes turned pensive for a beat, but he stayed silent.
“There has to be someone better suited than me.” She said it with conviction, though her arms tightened inexplicably around the bouquet. “Keep looking. Don’t hold up your real plans.”
Pan Yu had been right—that fifty thousand she was short was probably pocket change to Xie Lisheng. Even if she went straight to him to borrow it, he might not turn her down.
But that wasn’t the point.
His wealth was no excuse for Pan Yu to hound him, and it sure as hell wasn’t a reason for someone like her to drag him into her mess.
She was just about to warn him to watch out for Pan Yu when he beat her to it.
“It’s not that you can’t marry—it’s that you don’t want to, right?”
She froze. Her gaze flicked back to his face and locked there, trapped.
It was just like that night at the police station, when she’d picked up his call and he’d asked, “Is it inconvenient, or did something happen?”
Xie Lisheng always saw right through her polite little lies in an instant, spotting the real trouble lurking underneath.
Jiang Zao knew any more evasion would just make her look foolish. Distress plain on her face, she admitted, “I can’t figure out if marriage would be good or bad for me in the end.”
“And… I don’t want to be a burden to you.”
“How can you be so sure it’s a burden for me?” Xie Lisheng took a step closer. His calm gaze was like that of a hound locked onto its prey—once it had a bite, no amount of pulling would make it let go.
Jiang Zao felt dazed.
He glanced off into the distance, crossing his arms with a dramatic air. “What am I supposed to do now? You dumped me so heartlessly.”
“I don’t even know if I should tell you the cure for your mom’s illness.”
Jiang Zao’s stunned expression sparked to life. “What did you say?”
In her excitement, she grabbed his arm.
Her grip was firm. Only then did Xie Lisheng leisurely draw his gaze back to her.
“You know what a real burden looks like for me?”
Jiang Zao’s lips parted. “…What?”
Xie Lisheng reached up to smooth the academic cap’s tassel, which the wind had blown askew. A lazy ease softened his features as he held her anxious gaze and said—
“You told me to chase you…”
“It’s you who hid without saying a word.”
“It’s you who’s much harder to chase than I imagined.”
~~~