Chapter 104

"What does that mean?" Chen Mian was more concerned than Xu Yanfeng himself, and before he could speak, she asked it for him.

Fang Huaiyuan coughed, gathered his thoughts, and reproduced word for word the conversation he had overheard between Xia Xi and her roommate while eating hot pot, then concluded: "I'm telling you this so you're mentally prepared—Xia Xi will confess to you on your birthday." He emphasized, "In public!"

Xu Yanfeng's brow twitched.

He didn't think Fang Huaiyuan was joking. A public confession was exactly the kind of thing Xia Xi would do. She always acted on impulse, doing whatever came to mind without weighing gains or losses, without caring about consequences.

Though some might call her thick-skinned, in certain aspects she shows great attentiveness.

Xu Yanfeng was already getting a headache; he couldn't focus on the words in his book, and to make matters worse, two troublemakers beside him kept pestering him with questions.

"Hey, Yanfeng, have you figured out how to deal with Junior Xia Xi? She said if you reject her, she'll buy a rope and hang herself at our dorm door—aren't you scared?" Chen Mian laughed while patting Xu Yanfeng's shoulder, embodying the phrase "schadenfreude" to the fullest.

Fang Huaiyuan wasn't as mischievous as Chen Mian; he suppressed a smile and asked, "You really plan to reject her?"

Xu Yanfeng wanted them to get lost, but Fang Huaiyuan didn't give him a chance to speak, immediately saying, "Not liking her now doesn't mean you won't later—feelings can be cultivated. Or why not just go out with her? Have you considered that if lots of people are around when she confesses and you turn her down, where will a young girl's face go? What will others think of her?"

Xu Yanfeng didn't agree with a word of that: "You think she cares about face?"

There are plenty of rumors about Xia Xi on campus, and many people mock her behind her back, yet she seems never to take it to heart, still eating and drinking, carefree and unrestrained, often running back and forth in front of him, using every trick to flirt, talking nonstop, showing no sign of being bothered by gossip.

Just like her WeChat nickname—Happy Little Crab.

As long as she's happy, she has a hard shell that wards off all gossip.

That's why he doesn't believe his rejection would affect her.

Fang Huaiyuan shook his head: "Before it was just petty squabbles, but this is different—a public confession sounds solemn; if you strike her down in this situation, she might be devastated."

Xu Yanfeng stood his ground: "If she's devastated, that's even better—then she won't pester me anymore."

Fang Huaiyuan was left speechless.

Chen Mian figured out the implication in Xu Yanfeng's words: "So… you're planning to reject Junior Xia Xi?"

After all, it's Xu Yanfeng's matter; no matter how anxious we are, we can't decide for him. Chen Mian came around, stopped urging him to accept, and just patted his shoulder again: "Just figure it out for yourself. I and Old Fang aren't just meddling for fun—we're worried you'll regret it later."

Xu Yanfeng frowned, puzzled, wondering why everyone thought he'd do something self-defeating. They were like that, and Fu Li was too.

"I won't regret it." Xu Yanfeng said to himself, also in response to Chen Mian.

Chen Mian shrugged indifferently: "Anyway, it's not my business; if you think you won't regret it, that's fine. Let's drop it, Old Fang—time to game."

Fang Huaiyuan pulled out his phone to team up with Chen Mian for a game, and Xu Yanfeng put his noise-canceling headphones back on.

The headphones weren't playing music; they were emitting white noise—the sound of rain pattering on leaves—which, after a while, blocks out everything around him, letting him focus on his reading without outside disturbance.

November 4th, Xu Yanfeng's birthday, happened to be a Tuesday, and damn it, he had a full schedule—no matter how big the affair, Xia Xi still had to finish her classes.

Entering November, the weather was no longer the October pattern of occasional hot and cold spikes; an occasional fierce 'autumn tiger' would flare up, forcing people to put their stored summer clothes back on, but instead it was a steady chill.

Nancheng is like that—scorching heat can kill you, freezing cold can kill you.

After school, the sky had grown so dark you couldn't find a glimmer of light, paired with a chilly north wind, winter arrived with a palpable presence.

Xia Xi's roommate was even more nervous than she was: "You really going to confess to Xu Yanfeng?"

"Mm." Xia Xi nodded firmly while eating steaming hot fish noodle soup in the cafeteria.

Since she'd made up her mind, as her roommate they naturally supported her decision and stood behind her.

Xia Xi took a sip of soup, her phone rang, she grabbed it, glanced at it, and typed out a few characters with one hand before sending it.

"Who are you messaging?" Zhao Lei glanced over; Xia Xi's phone screen showed a WeChat chat interface, but if she remembered correctly, Xia Xi didn't have Xu Yanfeng on WeChat.

"Xu Yanfeng is in the dorm; I asked someone to relay a message for him. I'll be waiting for him by the fountain at Nan Guangchang—see you there or not." Xia Xi put down her phone, sped up her eating, finished the bowl of noodles in a few bites, grabbed the bag on the nearby chair, and said, "I'm heading over first."

"Ah—"

They wanted to say they'd go together, but Xia Xi had already dashed out of sight.

Wang Qiuyu shook her head, lamenting how terrifying a woman in love can be—she'd been like that once too: "Let's head over later."

After they leisurely finished their meal and strolled over to Nan Guangchang as if taking a walk, they found the square no longer the bare expanse they remembered. The layout of Nan Guangchang is oval, with a fountain pool in the center that only opens during large school events; normally it's closed and rather unremarkable, but now it was open, spraying water droplets that burst outward like fireworks. Strings of star-shaped lights were draped around the concentric steps, as if a concert were underway.

Passing students turned their heads, stopped, craned their necks to gaze at the graceful figure standing by the fountain's edge, and chatted with their companions.

"Who can tell me what's going on?"

"What event is the school holding today? Even the fountain that hasn't opened in ages is on."

"How beautiful—those light strings make it feel like we're in the Milky Way."

"I don't think it's an event; it looks like someone is confessing."

"The person waiting there is a girl—is she confessing?"

"What's wrong with a girl confessing? Confession isn't exclusive to boys. If you like someone, just confess—why distinguish between male and female?"

"Wait, let me look again—doesn't that girl look exactly like the Architecture Department's Xia… Xia Xi?"

"Whoa, it really is Xia Xi!"

"That's Xia Xi, so the person she's confessing to is…"

"No need to say the name—everyone knows who it is."

Xia Xi's pursuit of Xu Yanfeng isn't just a day or two—it started at the beginning of this semester, and now two months have passed. Everyone on campus knows about it, and even students from nearby schools have heard rumors, occasionally running over to Nan Da to ask: "Has that Xia Xi from your school caught Xu Yanfeng yet?"

Today is Xu Yanfeng's birthday, which is no secret; Xia Xi chose today to confess, which shows some thought, though it's uncertain whether she'll succeed.

Everyone has a phone, and the news spread like wildfire across campus. Soon everyone knew that tonight Xia Xi would be waiting at Nan Guangchang to confess to Xu Yanfeng.

More and more people came to watch the spectacle upon hearing the news, forming crowds three layers deep inside and out, but the male lead had yet to appear.

"Whether to say it or not, tonight Xia Xi is stunning!" someone in the crowd exclaimed.

Beside her was the fountain pool; the water droplets shooting into the air sparkled with tiny points of light under the lamp's refraction. She wore a striking raspberry-red draped sweater, paired with an old-money style dark gray wool half-skirt, black ankle boots, her slightly curled long hair flowing behind her, specks of light falling on her, gilding the fur trim of her skirt with a hazy glow—she looked like a luminous, fluffy little fox.

A little fox with a divine aura.