Ever since Wen Ci returned home, she had been regretting everything.
She should not have drunk so much the previous night and started spouting nonsense. Nor should she have confessed the moment Zhou Wu looked at her that morning. She had shown absolutely no self-control.
Still, she had only said she liked Samoyeds, not Zhou Wu. That should be fine, right?
Who said drunken words could not be half true and half false?
Wen Ci continued overthinking until that evening.
When she came out of the shower and saw Zhou Wu calling, her mind screamed, *Don’t answer! Pretend you’re asleep!*
Her finger honestly tapped the answer button.
She decided that if Zhou Wu brought up what had happened the night before, she would play dumb until the very end.
But Zhou Wu did not mention it.
He appeared to be smoking on the balcony. The lighting was dim, and wisps of smoke occasionally drifted past him.
“You don’t look ugly. Go ahead. Just leave the phone there.”
Wen Ci placed the phone down and was about to hurry away and return as quickly as possible when Zhou Wu stopped her again.
He seemed to laugh.
“Prop it up before you go. I don’t want to look at the ceiling.”
Wen Ci hurriedly positioned the phone upright.
“Sorry. Can you see me like this?”
“Mm.”
For the first time in her life, Wen Ci dried her hair so carelessly.
When she hurried back in front of the phone, Zhou Wu was already half reclining on the balcony lounger. Yeye was squeezed beside him, curiously revealing only his eyes and ears.
Wen Ci smiled.
“Yeye.”
Yeye immediately stuck out his tongue. He had only just barked when Zhou Wu pressed down on his head and moved him aside.
He was blocking the view.
“Finished drying it?” Zhou Wu asked. “What are you doing later?”
“Preparing lessons. School is starting soon.”
After Wen Ci answered, she suddenly felt something was off.
By saying that, was she implying they should end the call?
Part of her worried that if they continued talking, Zhou Wu would ask about what had happened the previous night. Yet another part of her did not want to end the video call.
Wen Ci realised that she was always contradictory whenever Zhou Wu was involved.
While she was wondering how to recover from what she had said, Zhou Wu asked,
“Can you prepare lessons while we stay on video? I won’t disturb you.”
Although Wen Ci had no idea why they needed to keep the video call running, she immediately agreed.
“I can.”
Despite claiming he would not disturb her, Zhou Wu slowly spoke not long after the call began.
“Which university did you attend after graduation?”
Wen Ci gave him the name. It was a highly regarded teachers’ university in the city.
Zhou Wu gave an acknowledging sound.
After a while, he suddenly asked, “How tall were you and how much did you weigh during our first year of high school?”
Wen Ci froze.
“Why?”
“Curious.”
“I weighed seventy-eight, and I was one… one metre sixty.”
“Don’t lie, Teacher Wen.”
Zhou Wu laughed.
“…One metre fifty-five.”
Wen Ci pressed the end of her pen against her nose.
“But I really am one metre sixty now.”
…
They continued like that, with Zhou Wu asking questions and Wen Ci answering.
Wen Ci had assumed that she would be unable to focus on preparing her lessons, but that did not happen.
Zhou Wu seemed to be paying attention to her progress and only spoke whenever she temporarily stopped writing.
She would look up at him, answer, then lower her head and continue working.
A long-lost sense of familiarity suddenly rose within her.
Wen Ci remembered how, whenever she grew tired from studying in high school, she would stretch and pretend to glance casually towards the back row at Zhou Wu, as though she were recharging herself.
Zhou Wu was usually bent over solving questions or sleeping, one elbow propped lazily against the desk. Otherwise, he would be surrounded by other boys talking.
He was handsome, athletic, approachable and had always been popular.
She had turned around to look at him for three years.
Not once had their eyes met.
Unlike tonight.
Every time she looked up, Zhou Wu was already watching her.
She did not know how much time passed.
Even the cicadas outside the window had gone silent.
Wen Ci put down her pen.
“Finished?” Zhou Wu asked.
“I finished what I planned to do tonight.”
“What are you doing tomorrow?”
“…Going to the library.”
For what felt like the hundredth time, Wen Ci felt embarrassed by how dull she was.
“Got it.”
Zhou Wu dragged the dog beside him closer and finally allowed him to appear on camera too. He rubbed Yeye’s face and lazily ordered,
“Say goodnight.”
Yeye, the tool dog, barked.
…
Wen Ci had drunk the previous night and awakened early, so she slept until after ten the next morning.
After getting ready, she carried her white canvas bag downstairs.
As usual, before leaving, she announced,
“I’m going to the library.”
“Eat lunch before you go,” Mother Wen said.
Wen Ci paused, not expecting a response today.
“All right.”
During lunch, Mother Wen placed food in her bowl several times. Before they finished, she reminded Wen Ci not to stay out too late and to return home for dinner on time.
Wen Ci understood.
Her mother was no longer angry.
Although the silent treatment at home did not affect Wen Ci much, she was still happy that they had reconciled.
So much so that while writing lesson plans in the library that afternoon, a faint curve remained at the corners of her lips.
“Hello. Is anyone sitting here?”
A voice interrupted her.
Wen Ci stopped writing and looked up.
It was a young man carrying several books. His expression held an unnatural shyness, and he looked like a university student.
Wen Ci remembered him.
He seemed to have been sitting two tables ahead and had been slightly noisy with his friends.
“No.”
The young man smiled and pulled out the chair, preparing to sit.
“Then I’ll—”
“But there are still many empty seats nearby.”
Wen Ci smiled at him and asked gently,
“Could you sit somewhere else? Also, when you return to your friends, could you please lower your voices a little? Thank you.”
The young man returned to his original seat.
His friends immediately rushed to mock him.
“Well? You got rejected, didn’t you?”
The young man leaned his head backwards.
“It felt like she gently and softly told me to get lost. Does anyone understand?”
“I told you. I’ve seen several people try to hit on her this month, and not one succeeded.”
“But she’s exactly my type…”
The young man muttered, “Am I not handsome enough?”
To be fair, he was good-looking. Combined with his youth, even his dejected expression seemed bright and sunny.
“You are handsome— Wait, look.”
His friend bumped his arm.
“Someone else is going over. Damn, he’s tall.”
Wen Ci had excellent concentration.
The small interruption had not disturbed her. She lowered her head and continued reading, her hair tucked behind one ear and revealing her fair, clean face.
“Hello.”
A lazy voice sounded, carrying an irreverent tone.
“Can I sit here?”
The tip of Wen Ci’s pen stopped against the paper.
She looked up and stared blankly at the man before her.
“…”
Across the room, the three university students personally watched Wen Ci nod.
The tall figure pulled out the chair and sat down.
After several seconds of silence, one of the friends sighed.
“As expected, love doesn’t care who arrived first.”
The university student who had tried to approach Wen Ci earlier was unconvinced and stood up.
“No. I need to see what that guy looks like. Why does he get to sit there?”
Pretending to fetch a book, he made a circuit around the shelves before returning.
His friend asked, “Well?”
The young man covered his face with the book.
He remembered the face he had just seen.
The man seemed to have seen through his intentions and had even glanced at him with a lazy, arrogant air.
After a while, he reluctantly admitted,
“Fine. I concede.”
…
Wen Ci knew nothing about this.
Still holding her pen, she stared blankly at the man sitting opposite her.
“Why are you here?”
Zhou Wu had arrived empty-handed.
“To read.”
Wen Ci froze.
“What do you want to read?”
“I don’t know.”
Zhou Wu tapped his fingers against the table and lazily negotiated with her.
“Give me one of yours.”
“…”
Wen Ci searched through her white canvas bag and eventually handed the man who had studied in America a yellow postgraduate English exam-preparation book.
It was Zhou Wu’s first time reading in a library.
The seat was slightly too small for him. His long legs stretched casually beneath the table, pressing without much courtesy against Wen Ci’s calves.
He was not picky.
He genuinely opened the book and read two pages, even looking quite serious.
The more Wen Ci watched, the stranger it seemed.
Assuming he simply did not know where the library’s different sections were and could not be bothered searching for a book, she leaned forward and quietly asked,
“What kind of books do you want to read? I can find one for you.”
“No need. I’ll read this.”
“You won’t find this… boring?”
“No.”
Zhou Wu said, “I’m looking at your handwriting.”
The book contained many of Wen Ci’s notes.
Her handwriting did not match her personality.
She appeared obedient and gentle, yet her writing was bold and unrestrained, every stroke casual and clean.
Wen Ci had assumed Zhou Wu had come to see her because he needed something.
Instead, he genuinely sat across from her for the entire afternoon.
After finishing the yellow exam book, he read the lesson plans she had written.
Wen Ci felt her handwriting was too messy and tried to persuade him to choose another book, only to be rejected.
“Teacher Wen, don’t whisper to people in the library.”
Wen Ci: “…”
They remained there until five in the afternoon before leaving together.
“Want to have dinner together?” Zhou Wu asked.
“I need to eat at home today.”
Wen Ci apologised.
Zhou Wu casually took her canvas bag.
“I’ll take you home.”
The car parks near the library were full, so Zhou Wu had been forced to park in the outdoor car park across the road. They needed to cross the pedestrian bridge.
Zhou Wu was dressed casually that day in a black T-shirt and trousers. He looked as though he could have been in the same university year as the student from earlier.
Still, no matter how casually he dressed, the plain white canvas bag on his back—with its smiling sun drawn on the front—looked slightly strange.
Zhou Wu had never carried a schoolbag in high school.
He had always carried his books in his hands.
Now, however, he was wearing one.
Wen Ci watched for a while.
The sight looked strange yet made her want to laugh.
She tugged on the bag but failed to pull it away.
“Zhou Wu, let me carry it. It isn’t very heavy.”
Zhou Wu refused and wore it naturally.
There was a dampness in the air.
He looked up at the dark sky.
“Teacher Wen, did you bring an umbrella?”
Wen Ci said, “Check whether there’s one inside the bag.”
Zhou Wu opened the top of the canvas bag towards her.
“Look.”
He was too tall.
Wen Ci rose onto her toes and leaned over to check.
She did not find an umbrella.
Instead, she saw the phone screen light up.
It was a new message from Dou Yiqing.
**Yiqing: OMG! Have you seen Moments? Duan Wei and Xiang Wenwen really got divorced. Duan Wei directly posted a photograph of their divorce certificates.**
…
Thunder roared.
A torrential downpour suddenly began.
Wen Ci was distracted.
A raindrop the size of a bean had only just struck her face when Zhou Wu lowered his head.
Their foreheads touched, and their hair tangled together.
“Is there one?”
The phone screen went dark just before Zhou Wu lowered his head.
Wen Ci still held the strap of the canvas bag.
She shamefully breathed a sigh of relief.
“No.”
Zhou Wu used his hand to shield her hair.
“Then we’ll have to run.”
They had already reached the middle of the pedestrian bridge.
They could not turn back, and there was nowhere nearby to shelter from the rain.
They could only run forwards.
Although Zhou Wu protected her, the rain was far too heavy and slipped in from every direction.
By the time Wen Ci sat inside the car, she was completely soaked. Water had gathered at the ends of her hair, dripping one drop at a time into her collar.
The rain poured down violently.
Raindrops struck the roof of the car so loudly that they made her head ache.
Zhou Wu did not immediately drive her home.
Instead, he turned into the nearest underground car park and got out.
Wen Ci had remained silent since entering the car.
Her thoughts had been in chaos.
Only when the passenger-side door opened did she return to her senses.
Zhou Wu held his jacket and lifted his chin towards her.
“Move closer to the edge.”
Wen Ci turned and sat sideways on the passenger seat, lowering her head.
Using the spare jacket he always kept in the car, Zhou Wu began drying her hair.
His movements were gentle, though rather careless.
After rubbing her hair roughly once, he said,
“Look up.”
Wen Ci obediently lifted her head.
Zhou Wu had no experience drying someone else’s hair.
After his chaotic attempt, Wen Ci’s hair no longer dripped, but it had become a tangled mess around her pale face.
She looked so silly.
Zhou Wu stared at her for several seconds before turning away and laughing.
Zhou Wu was soaked as well.
Finding it bothersome, he had pushed all his hair backwards.
His features were sharp, making his handsomeness especially striking.
Back in high school, the school had strict appearance rules. Many boys in their class had once been forcibly taken by Yu Binhong to get crew cuts.
All the other boys had been so horrified by their own ugliness that they wanted to die.
Only Zhou Wu, without excess hair obscuring his striking face, had caused the number of girls pretending to pass their classroom to increase.
Now there was a faint smile on that face, softening its sharp contours.
It was another kind of handsome.
Wen Ci gripped the car seat tightly with both hands.
Before the school anniversary, when she discovered that Duan Wei had been behaving ambiguously towards Zhou Wu, Wen Ci had forced herself not to contact him.
Reason told her that she could not seek Zhou Wu out for s*x under those circumstances.
Now Duan Wei had openly stated only a few days earlier that she still liked Zhou Wu and had already divorced.
It seemed even more inappropriate.
After all, their original agreement had been that their relationship would continue only until Duan Wei changed her mind.
Wen Ci thought calmly about many things.
Yet when she returned to her senses, she had already leaned towards Zhou Wu.
Their lips were about to touch—
Zhou Wu raised an eyebrow and turned his face aside, avoiding her.
“What’s wrong?”
Even as Wen Ci told herself she could not do this, she heard herself ask stiffly,
“I won’t go home for dinner. Can I go directly to your house?”
Before Zhou Wu could answer, his phone suddenly rang.
One hand still rested over Wen Ci’s hair through the jacket as he answered.
In the empty car park, Qin Yun’s voice was especially loud.
“Bro, Duan Wei couldn’t find you, so she came looking for me again. What’s going on? By the way, do you know she’s divorced?”
“I know,” Zhou Wu answered.
Wen Ci’s mind buzzed.
Boundless shame surged over her.
What had she just been doing?
She had actually intended to take advantage of the brief window before Zhou Wu learned the news, hoping to spend a little more time with him, kiss him once more and sleep with him one final time.
She could no longer hear whatever Zhou Wu said next.
After ending the call, he refused her.
“No.”
Zhou Wu was still helping dry her hair.
He said, “I’m not going to be your friends-with-benefits partner anymore, Teacher Wen.”
“…All right.”
Her heart sank to its lowest point.
Wen Ci’s face flushed deeply with shame, and she could barely breathe.
She had rarely entertained such despicable thoughts in her life.
The first time she did, she failed—and in front of the person she cared about most.
It was too pathetic.
Too humiliating.
She avoided his gaze and did not dare look into his eyes again.
“All right. I’m sorry.”
Wen Ci tried to appear calm and wanted to part from him with dignity.
“You can leave first if you have something to do. I can wait here until the rain stops and take a taxi home. I wish you and Duan Wei an early reconciliation.”
After saying that, Wen Ci hugged her canvas bag and tried to get out of the car.
Zhou Wu pressed her back down by the head through the jacket.
“You’re wishing the wrong thing, Teacher Wen.”
Zhou Wu stared straight at her.
His tone was lazy yet clear as he told her, one word at a time,
“Things between her and me ended the year we graduated.”
“I have never wanted to reconcile with her.”
“…”
The words seemed strangely difficult to understand.
Wen Ci held her canvas bag, countless questions appearing in her mind.
The one she finally asked aloud was,
“Then why don’t you want to be friends with benefits anymore? Was sleeping with me uncomfortable?”
“…”
This time, Zhou Wu was stunned by her question.
He raised an eyebrow and answered frankly,
“No. It was extremely comfortable.”
Wen Ci stared at him.
Then she fell silent again, incomprehension visible in her eyes.
Zhou Wu held her gaze for a long time before admitting defeat.
He sighed and laughed.
“Didn’t you smell anything when you got into the car?”
Wen Ci had been preoccupied, while the sound of the rain filled her ears.
She had only noticed the damp scent.
Now that Zhou Wu mentioned it, she faintly detected a light fragrance.
Zhou Wu opened the rear door and took out a bouquet.
A bouquet of white lisianthus.
“I originally planned to give these to you during dinner.”
“Then I thought that even if we couldn’t have dinner, I could still give them to you in the car.”
“Wen Ci, I don’t want to be friends with benefits anymore because I want to pursue you.”
“It isn’t because sleeping with you is extremely comfortable—though that was the reason in the beginning.”
At this point, Zhou Wu himself could not help laughing.
He was soaked through, and the tips of his ears were bright red.
He lowered his eyes towards her.
Light shimmered in his dark eyes.
Even his awkwardness appeared more openly confident than other people’s.
“Later, I realised that I also wanted to be with you when we weren’t sleeping together.”
“Watching films is fine. Walking along the beach is fine. Even sitting around doing nothing in the library is fine…”
“I’ve never pursued anyone before.”
“I thought about it all night and decided to begin with the basics—a confession and flowers.”
“I’ll think about what comes afterwards.”
One sat inside the car while the other stood outside.
It was impossible to tell whose face was redder.
The silent underground car park seemed filled with the sound of their heartbeats, louder than the rain that had struck the roof moments earlier.
Zhou Wu did not mention what he had discovered at all.
He held the flowers out to her, smiled and made his request in a low voice.
“Teacher Wen, give me a chance to pursue you.”
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