“2018.09.14 Heavy Rain Turning Cloudy”
I fell into a beautiful dream.
—Excerpted from Tao Shuran’s Diary
Tao Shuran’s emotions collapsed in an instant. Tears flowed silently as she received the IV drip.
It took Liang Yuanjing a while to notice that she was crying.
He had little experience being alone with girls. Just as he wondered whether to wait until dawn and call Fang Qingyi over to keep her company, he heard faint sounds of nose-blowing.
He turned his head and saw Tao Shuran silently wiping her tears.
She was truly forbearing; even her crying made no sound.
When she saw his gaze turn toward her, Tao Shuran looked at him with reddened eyes and said softly, “Sorry.”
Suddenly, Liang Yuanjing felt no anger left in his heart.
He thought, what was wrong with liking someone? The ones he should blame were those unfaithful to love.
She was simply too pure in her feelings. What was wrong with that?
At this thought, Liang Yuanjing felt a bit embarrassed himself.
He sighed helplessly, half-squatted down to meet her eyes at eye level.
He coaxed her in a low voice: “Don’t cry, okay?”
“You know I’m no good at coaxing girls.”
“Sorry.” Tao Shuran apologized softly again, looking at him pitifully. “But I can’t help it.”
Liang Yuanjing lifted his gaze, tugged at his lips, and sighed in a tone that was impossible to resist:
“Fine, this first time is yours.”
“What do you see on the wall?”
Tao Shuran followed his gaze. On the white wall was the shadow of Liang Yuanjing’s fingers.
She said softly: “Looks like a little dog.”
“Yeah, someone turned into a little dog for saying the wrong thing. Now the little dog knows its mistake.” Liang Yuanjing’s fingers moved nimbly. With a rise and leap on the wall, a vivid little dog truly appeared.
His voice was very low, his tone gentle, his gaze focused entirely on her.
“Will you forgive the little dog?”
Tao Shuran’s gaze fell on the shadow on the wall. Actually, she was looking at Liang Yuanjing’s profile shadow on the same wall.
Her gaze greedily lingered on all his attention at this moment. She let out a soft “mm” and said understandingly, “You’re right.”
From a friend’s perspective, she had indeed been wrong.
“I’m not angry, and I don’t blame you. I just… feel a bit sad.” Tao Shuran’s voice was soft. “An inexplicable sadness.”
Liang Yuanjing stood up and looked deeply at her:
“Unrequited love is bitter. I hope you end up happy.”
“Even if not, when you look back, everyone will still be here.”
Tao Shuran nodded vigorously. At this moment, the gaze she directed at him was infinitely satisfied.
Because she had fallen for someone good enough, as long as she kept looking at him, she was happy.
Dusk fell. The teaching building had closed, and the hot water equipment had been powered off.
Fu Changpei took a water cup downstairs to the dorm auntie and had her boil a pot of hot water. When he poured it into the thermos, he worried it might be too hot for Tao Shuran to drink, so he placed it in the breeze to cool.
The dorm auntie teased with a smile: “Such a thoughtful young man. Hot water for your girlfriend?”
Fu Changpei smiled somewhat embarrassedly and shook his head.
The auntie pressed on: “Then it must be for someone you like?”
“What kind of person is she?”
At the mention of the person he liked, Fu Changpei pursed his lips. After a moment, he spoke with a smile, “In my eyes, she’s a girl who shines brightly, treating people gently like spring rain, moistening things silently.”
“I think we’re very alike, so she often understands my subtle emotions and comprehends all my choices.”
As he spoke, the dorm door was flung open with a bang.
The dorm auntie let out a cry of surprise, forgetting the budding romance. She grabbed her flashlight and rushed out, shouting, “Hey, student! What are you doing? No girls in the boys’ dorm, don’t you know?”
“Sorry, auntie, I’m here to find someone.”
Fang Qingyi apologized repeatedly. When she spotted Fu Changpei, her eyes lit up. The little girl barreled in with brute force and hugged him straight on.
“Fu Changpei, where did you disappear to over the summer? Do you know I asked around everywhere for news of you!”
“How could you just leave without a word? I called you so many times, and you didn’t pick up a single one.”
Fu Changpei’s arms hung open, the whole person stunned in place.
After a moment, he reacted, pushed her away, and his gaze dropped unnaturally.
“After Grandpa passed, I stayed in my hometown with Grandma for two months. My phone shattered during the rescue that day, and later my mood was a mess, so I never got it fixed.”
“No problem, I knew we’d meet again for sure.”
Fang Qingyi lifted her face, bright and cheerful. “As long as you report to Qing University, no matter where you are, I’ll find you.”
Along the way, Fu Changpei was exceptionally silent.
When he returned to the athletic field, the training formations had dispersed, leaving only a few scattered classmates chatting idly on the field.
Fu Changpei found one of Tao Shuran’s classmates and asked, “Classmate, excuse me, where’s Tao Shuran from your class?”
“Tao Shuran? She wasn’t feeling well and took leave for the evening.”
Fu Changpei lowered his head, looked at the thermos in his hand, and suddenly felt a pang in his heart.
He always seemed to arrive one step too late.
In the hospital room, he had missed Grandpa’s last moments by one step.
On the day of official volunteer submission, he had argued with Mom and missed the final edit time, choosing his current major.
On the first day reporting to Qing University, he had lingered countless times at the school gate and seemed to miss her again.
Until today, they had finally reunited.
And yet, he seemed to have fallen one step behind again.
A feeling of vague loss lingered in his heart, while Fang Qingyi beside him chattered like an endlessly energetic little bird about everything happening around her.
Fu Changpei suddenly stopped in his tracks.
He hesitated to speak, his lowered lashes trembling faintly.
Fang Qingyi understood all his subtle emotions.
At this moment, under the perfect moonlight, she stood before him, craning her neck with some effort, her voice loud and clear.
“Yes, you’re thinking right.”
“I like you, Fu Changpei.”
…
The military training sparked quite a few romances. Just in Liang Yuanjing’s class alone, three couples got together.
That day, their class gathered as usual, and the topic somehow turned to this.
Naturally, someone asked about Xu Yanyang’s progress.
At the mention, Xu Yanyang looked impatient. “She’s still chasing, but I reckon it’ll happen soon.”
Someone nearby egged him on: “Why not confess to her again tonight? Girls are shy. If we all encourage her, she’ll definitely say yes.”
Xu Yanyang felt a bit itchy inside.
He had dealt with plenty of such obedient girls. As long as he put in effort, freshmen girls were the purest and easiest to win over.
He coughed: “Alright, then I’ll send a voice message.”
“Tao Shuran, you asleep?”
“I like you. Consider dating me.”
Liang Yuanjing, sitting nearby, lifted his eyelids slightly, a bit absent-minded.
He thought, Tao Shuran, this time you can have your wish.
But the next second, Xu Yanyang suddenly cursed, jumping up from his seat.
“Fuck fuck, you guys, quick, look at this. Is this Tao Shuran?”
Five minutes earlier, a bombshell post appeared on the school forum, its title pointing straight at Tao Shuran.
【Exposing the True Face of Qing University’s Freshman School Beauty, with HD Bareface Photos from High School Before Plastic Surgery.】
A string of photos followed below. The girl in them was chubby, with lingering baby fat on her cheeks. She could only barely be called delicately featured.
At first, everyone thought it was a prank, but upon closer look, the facial features did resemble Tao Shuran somewhat.
Then someone from Xianyao Middle School came forward with more dirt, saying Tao Shuran had been fat in her first year of high school and had somehow transformed completely by second year.
“This girl’s face is fake too, yet she acts so high and mighty.”
Xu Yanyang cursed, looking like the victim. He quickly grabbed his phone and called Tao Shuran on the spot.
The moment the call connected, he unleashed a barrage of accusations, leaving no room for Tao Shuran to respond.
Finally, he said: “Tao Shuran, the past couple days I was just joking with you. Don’t overthink it.”
“Someone like you doesn’t deserve me anyway.”
After saying that, Xu Yanyang blocked and deleted in one go. He smirked smugly, as if not catching her was still a win.
His friends around him chuckled knowingly.
“You’re pretty low.”
A harsh scraping sound rang out. Liang Yuanjing stood up. The cup of water by his hand untouched, he gripped it with one hand and dumped it straight over Xu Yanyang’s face.
His dark pupils pressed with menace, his voice chillingly cold.
“Doesn’t deserve her either.”
Drenched in ice water, Xu Yanyang shot to his feet, shaking his head embarrassedly. Curses were on his lips, but seeing it was Liang Yuanjing, he swallowed them back.
He just said unconvinced: “Would you want someone like that?”
Liang Yuanjing didn’t hesitate:
“I wish for it.”
“Yeah? Then man up and chase her.” Xu Yanyang shrugged, sneering repeatedly. “I can’t handle her, so she’s yours.”
Liang Yuanjing, jacket in hand, had already reached the door. Hearing this, he slowly turned back. He wasn’t one to meddle, but this time his anger was obvious.
Xu Yanyang hit the ground from one punch.
With the advantage of years of training, Liang Yuanjing stepped on his ribs—not hard, just looking down disdainfully.
The air around seemed to freeze. Everyone held their breath, the tense atmosphere filling every corner.
“Xu Yanyang, I worked my ass off in senior year to push her to rank one—not so you could use her to boost your status here.”
Liang Yuanjing pocketed one hand, enunciating clearly, his innate arrogance flowing naturally.
“What are you? You don’t deserve her at all.”
A flood of photos poured in, making Tao Shuran the center of attention once more.
She left the class dinner early, not daring to recall the varied expressions on her classmates’ faces at the table.
On the way back, the forum’s top-liked comment replayed endlessly in her mind.
【Who would like her looking like that anyway?】
Those humiliating memories resurfaced. During her sensitive, fragile teenage years at fourteen or fifteen, Tao Shuran had always trudged forward amid such nauseating insults.
She thought, this time she really couldn’t move forward anymore.
Even after transforming completely, even after coming to Linchuan Affiliated Middle School, even after stepping through Qing University’s gates, it seemed nothing had changed.
The distance to the person she liked was like the Milky Way; he was a moon she could never reach.
In the silence, Tao Shuran squatted down and cried quietly.
The wind swallowed all her sobs, just like every isolated moment in the past. She digested the negativity alone, then gritted her teeth and pulled out that photo of Liang Yuanjing at the competition.
It was fine. Others didn’t matter; she still had Liang Yuanjing.
But this time, even her last ray of light went out.
What would Liang Yuanjing think when he saw those photos?
All along, she had deceived everyone. Amid every sincere compliment from classmates, she always bit her lip in embarrassment.
This hidden past was also a knife carving at her heart.
She didn’t know how long she cried before her head began to throb faintly. She lowered her eyes, sat alone blowing in the wind, her expression numb.
After a while, the door opened, and light leaked from the narrow gap in the corridor.
Tao Shuran looked up. Her dry eyes squinted slightly, and she instinctively shielded them with her hand.
In the hazy glow, she saw Liang Yuanjing push the door open. His breathing was still unsteady, but it eased the instant he saw her.
Tao Shuran thought she was dreaming.
But this beautiful dream would never come true. She smiled bitterly and turned her head away, her gaze drifting to the floating dust.
Liang Yuanjing’s voice sounded lazily in her ear: “Tao Shuran.”
Tao Shuran blinked, confirming she wasn’t dreaming.
But soon she doubted again.
Because Liang Yuanjing pocketed one hand, leaned against the railing. Under the interplay of starlight and moonlight, he stood before her, his voice resounding firmly.
“Stop with the secret crush.”
“Date me.”