Chapter 1: Youth Does Not End (Part 1)

In March, when the grass grows and the orioles fly, the weather has become increasingly warm. At a key university in City A, the campus paths and the sports field are filled with people, and more are continuously pouring in from the school gate.

Many people are wearing uniforms customized for the occasion. Today is the 110th anniversary of the university's founding, and at this moment, the small loudspeakers hidden throughout the campus are broadcasting the history of the school's establishment.

On a big day like the school anniversary, many alumni who graduated from this school have arrived one after another from all over the world to witness this milestone moment...

At this time, on a grandstand at the sports field, Zhou Xiaoru is listlessly swinging the key ring in her hand. Bathed in such warm sunlight, wave after wave of sleepiness washes over her. Her large, clear eyes are squinting again and again, and her whole person looks lazy, very much like a little white rabbit basking in the sun during winter.

On the sports field not far away, her roommates are posing in various ways to take pictures, but she has no interest in such things.

However, people nowadays seem to be quite fond of this activity; no matter what they are doing, they take pictures, never tiring of it.

As for the other seats on the grandstand, scattered couples are sitting in all directions; some are snuggled together reading books, some are sweetly feeding each other, and others are even doing intimate things from time to time.

For example...

Kissing...

Conversely, the person surrounded by all this remains indifferent, treating it all as if it were air.

Falling in love? Who hasn't done that, but Zhou Xiaoru feels that the romance she had...

It's better not to mention it.

Suddenly, she feels a bit sentimental. It really is fast; in the blink of an eye, she is already a senior, and in another two or three months, she will have to say goodbye to this place.

At this moment, Jiang Bufan, who had been taking pictures on the sports field for a while, walks over and sits down in the seat next to her. Jiang Bufan is not only Zhou Xiaoru's roommate but also a very close friend.

The sunlight is just right at this moment, shining on their vibrant faces. Youth is truly wonderful, and being young is truly wonderful...

After sitting for a while, Jiang Bufan turns her head to look at the person beside her and asks.

"Are you going to the school anniversary ceremony tonight?"

At this, the key ring that had been spinning on her fingertip stops. Zhou Xiaoru lets out a long sigh, her long eyelashes fluttering on her flushed, oval-shaped face.

"I'm not going. Tengyuan Company called me; I have an interview tomorrow, so I need to prepare well." Recently, everyone has been busy looking for internship companies. She had already submitted her resume to Tengyuan Company several times, and today she finally received a reply.

Jiang Bufan, however, looks at her with disbelief, thinking to herself that this person is definitely not preparing for tomorrow's interview, but is instead running away.

"You aren't trying to avoid that person, are you?"

Zhou Xiaoru is stunned for a moment, then plays dumb, "What 'that person' or 'this person'? I really don't know what you're talking about."

Jiang Bufan opens her beautiful almond-shaped eyes, stares at the person who is looking everywhere but at her, and continues, "Stop playing dumb. It's been almost two years; are you still holding onto it?"

Hearing this, Zhou Xiaoru stands up, feeling somewhat irritated. She does not want to continue this topic.

She pretends to straighten her clothes and replies, "Alright, I'm heading back to the dormitory. Please tell Xiao Lan and the others for me; I'm leaving now."

Jiang Bufan pouts as she watches the person leave, thinking that she really is a stubborn duck. Who in the whole school doesn't know that tonight at the anniversary ceremony, that person will be going on stage to give a speech as the representative of the graduates?

And that person just happens to be Zhou Xiaoru's ex-boyfriend, and her first love, Gu Liyan!

Speaking of Gu Liyan, the love-hate entanglement between him and Zhou Xiaoru is like the scriptures Tang Seng went to the Western Heaven to retrieve; it wouldn't be finished even if told for ten days and ten nights.

At every stage of student life, some prominent figures appear on campus. They are not only excellent in character and learning, outstanding in every way, but more importantly...

They all possess a physical appearance that even the heavens would be jealous of...

Gu Liyan is just such a prominent figure.

Yet, such a prominent figure somehow crossed paths with the obscure and slightly ordinary Zhou Xiaoru.

Many people find it incredible; even Zhou Xiaoru herself feels it's the same probability as tripping and falling exactly into dog feces.

Walking on the way back to the dormitory, she kicks small stones on the road in irritation, pats her own "wooden fish" head with her hand, and mutters to herself.

"Don't think about it anymore!"

In these two years, she has tried her best not to think about that person anymore, but after so many years of unrequited love, how could she forget just because that person graduated and left?

That summer when she was 16, Zhou Xiaoru first met Gu Liyan, who had come to visit relatives in the small county town where she lived.

That was the first time Zhou Xiaoru had seen someone as good-looking as a movie star.

At that time, she was about to enter the third year of middle school, while he was already a freshman at a prestigious university.

Someone so handsome and with excellent grades in every subject is not only liked by teachers at school but is also the Prince Charming in the hearts of all young girls during their budding youth.

This includes Zhou Xiaoru...

The seed of secret love was planted at that time, but later, all sorts of things...

Later, all sorts of things...

Thinking of this, Zhou Xiaoru cannot help but let out another long sigh. In her view now, the so-called "later" can be described literarily as "the past is like smoke," or colloquially as...

The past is like smoke, and smoke is like a fart; it's all just a fart, why care so much!

Originally intending to return to the dormitory, she suddenly changes direction, deciding to go to the supermarket under the canteen to buy something to eat.

Perhaps only eating can keep her from letting her mind wander for a while...

The small supermarket is also crowded with people today, and the line of people waiting to pay has already reached outside the supermarket.

This small supermarket is not large, but it has the oden that Zhou Xiaoru loves to eat. Fortunately, the oden stall is an independent payment booth, so there is no need to go to the front checkout counter to pay.

At the same time, three tall and handsome men appear outside the supermarket, causing the passing schoolgirls to exclaim incessantly, "Wow! So handsome!"

Especially the tall man wearing a black trench coat; his eyes seem to be able to speak, dark and deep, unfathomable, his thin lips are a healthy red, and the corners of his mouth are slightly upturned, giving him a gentle appearance.

Seeing such a handsome man appear, some bold girls even take the initiative to step forward, wanting to add their WeChat, a scene that has the tendency of a celebrity fan meeting...

Inside the supermarket, Zhou Xiaoru holds the oden she has already paid for, impatiently picking up a skewer of meatballs and stuffing it into her mouth. She is in no mood to pay attention to the commotion outside.

What handsome men? In her eyes right now, they are all inferior to the meatballs in her hand.

She thinks to herself that she has already seen enough handsome men, and one is less reliable than the other...

This supermarket has two doors for entry and exit. When Zhou Xiaoru wants to leave through the less crowded front door, she happens to see those few tall people who have already entered the supermarket.

Her eyes immediately widen like light bulbs, and the pores all over her body are gradually opening!

When she sees the person in the black trench coat who followed them in, she is so shocked that her mouth hangs slightly open, and she even forgets to eat the meatball she was holding to her mouth.

Subconsciously, she quickly turns around, pretending she saw nothing, and intends to leave through the other door.

There are so many people in the supermarket, and everyone is fawning over them right now; she has a common face, so those people definitely haven't seen her.

Clutching the disposable bowl of oden to her chest, Zhou Xiaoru squeezed into the crowd, anxiously wanting to leave this place, looking as if a tiger were chasing her from behind.

She muttered to herself, wondering how it could be such a coincidence to run into them here.

Aside from Gu Liyan, who was wearing a black trench coat, the other two were Gu Liyan's former roommates and classmates from university, Zhou Ding and Yu Li; she knew them both.

It looked like they had all returned to attend the school anniversary today.

While Zhou Xiaoru was lost in thought, she had almost squeezed to the entrance, not noticing that the few people who had appeared at the front entrance earlier had already vanished...

Seeing that she had finally made it out, she was just about to let out a sigh of relief, but the person waiting outside forced her to swallow that breath right back down.

Wearing a gray casual outfit, the sunny and handsome Zhou Ding was the first to greet her with a grin.

"Hi, Xiaoru," he said, looking triumphantly at the other two beside him, "I told you, I wasn't wrong; in this whole school, only Zhou Xiaoru could pull off this neither-blue-nor-green colored clothing and make it her own style."

Zhou Xiaoru gave a huff, first looking at the woolen coat she was wearing, then glancing sideways at the speaker; she hadn't seen him in two years, and he was still just as glib.

She retorted with a bit of sarcasm, "It seems those six months of sushi didn't go to waste; you can still recognize me, your feeder."

As soon as these words were out, the expressions of all three men faltered, especially the one in the black trench coat, whose face, which always made people feel like they were bathed in a spring breeze, now turned somewhat stern.

The so-called sushi was from back when Zhou Xiaoru and Gu Liyan had just started dating; she had found out from Zhou Ding that sushi was what Gu Liyan liked to eat.

Afterward, she would often make sushi for Gu Liyan, making it in all sorts of varieties.

But it wasn't until the two of them broke up that she learned all the sushi she had made back then had ended up in Zhou Ding's stomach.

And the person who supposedly liked eating sushi was someone else entirely...

Every time she thought of this, Zhou Xiaoru felt her anger could burn all the way to the other side of the Atlantic.

Seeing that the atmosphere was off, Zhou Ding quickly took over the conversation again.

"Xiaoru, you shouldn't have anything going on today, right? It's rare for us to run into each other; how about we take you out for a meal? You can pick the place."

While Zhou Ding was trying his best to ease the atmosphere, Zhou Xiaoru had no intention of giving him any face; at this moment, the strange looks from the people around them made her feel increasingly annoyed and restless.

"No need for a meal; someone like me, a commoner, is only fit to eat oden that costs ten yuan for five skewers." After saying this, she didn't intend to continue talking to them at all, and she left without even bothering to say goodbye.

Zhou Ding scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit awkward, "How has Zhou Xiaoru become like this after not seeing her for two years?"

In his memory, Zhou Xiaoru had always been a well-behaved and somewhat shy girl, completely different from the person full of thorns before him now.

Yu Li, also wearing a brown trench coat, unscrewed the mineral water he had just bought, took a sip, and said, "If you had gone through the things she experienced, you would have become just like her, perhaps even worse, who knows."

After he finished speaking, the face of the man in black, who hadn't said a word from beginning to end, turned even uglier.

Yu Li had spoken without thinking, but in the current situation, it undoubtedly provoked him.

Seeing that the departing cyan figure was about to disappear, Gu Liyan stepped forward to chase after her...

The departing Zhou Xiaoru was currently tidying her loose long hair in a flustered manner; she had actually been terrified inside just now and hadn't dared to look that person in the eye.

She cursed herself internally for being spineless, acting as if she were the one who had done something wrong.

Looking at the oden she was holding, she curled her lip; why did she have to choose this moment to buy food? She should have checked her horoscope this morning; today was definitely Mercury retrograde!

While her mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts, the person who had caught up from behind blocked her path.

"Zhou Xiaoru, let's talk."

Zhou Xiaoru's heartbeat, which hadn't calmed down yet, began to race even faster, and she replied coldly.

"We have nothing to talk about!" After saying this, she walked straight past him.

She hadn't taken more than a few steps when the person behind her grabbed her arm and pulled her forward, which gave Zhou Xiaoru a fright, "Gu Liyan, what are you doing!"

"You can shout louder if you want, provided you aren't afraid of being watched by the crowd."

At this moment, the people along the path shifted their gazes toward the two of them; Zhou Xiaoru had no choice but to agree.

"Let go first, I'll agree to talk to you, okay?" As the words fell, the hand on her arm loosened.

The two of them went together to a quiet path behind the cafeteria...