Chapter 59
”It’s obviously you who…” Sang Zhi was a bit speechless and stood up as well. “I was just sitting here minding my own business. Why did you lean in so close?”
Duan Jiaxu lowered his eyes, held her hand, and smiled: “On purpose.”
His palm was warm, holding her with just the right amount of strength, occasionally giving her fingertips a gentle squeeze.
Sang Zhi looked at him.
Duan Jiaxu pulled her out of the café. “I wanted to take the opportunity to get a kiss from you.”
She pressed her lips together and let out a soft “Oh.”
”How long have you been waiting?” Duan Jiaxu lowered his head, glanced in her direction, and casually asked, “You even finished that big cup of coffee.”
”Not long, I was playing a game and didn’t notice the time,” she replied. “How did you know I was there?”
He pointed at the café’s glass window. “I saw you. If you come over again, just come straight up to the office to find me. Or you can call me down to pick you up.”
Sang Zhi nodded.
The two of them went into a nearby BBQ restaurant and found a seat.
Duan Jiaxu wiped his hands with a warm towel and then poured water into her cup. “You have one exam left, right? When is it?”
Sang Zhi: “Thursday.”
”In three more days?”
”Yeah,” Sang Zhi raised her hand to rub her eyes. “So, I plan to go back to the dorm and take a nap this afternoon. I’ve been staying up late, and I’m exhausted.”
Duan Jiaxu chuckled. “And you were still drinking coffee earlier?”
Sang Zhi replied seriously, “That’s exactly why I drank coffee—to make myself sleepy. Coffee makes me tired.”
”What kind of constitution is that?” Duan Jiaxu said with amusement. “Are you planning to stay up late again?”
”No,” she replied. “I have three days to review for this exam; that’s enough time.”
”How did the interview go earlier?”
”It went okay. I think I passed. That company seems pretty short-staffed.” Sang Zhi scratched her head and suddenly asked, “Jiaxu-ge, did my brother contact you?”
Duan Jiaxu glanced at his phone. “No, why?”
”…”
It seemed that this time the situation was pretty serious.
But thinking about how her brother had even gone so far as to block her, Sang Zhi had no intention of reconciling with him. She took a sip of water and said expressionlessly, “We had a fight.”
”What happened?”
”He didn’t agree with me not going home for the summer, and then he said…” Sang Zhi hesitated before finishing her sentence, “By the way, did you tell my brother about our relationship?”
”Not yet,” Duan Jiaxu said lightly. “I originally planned to visit you in Nanwu during your summer break, take some time off, and tell your brother about us in person.”
”And now?”
”Now, we’ll just have to wait until your National Day holiday, and we’ll go together. That’s sincere enough, right?” Duan Jiaxu smiled. “I’ll personally show up and let him beat me up.”
”…” Sang Zhi replied, a bit uncertainly, “I don’t think it will come to that.”
”It’s fine,” Duan Jiaxu didn’t seem to mind, his eyes slightly narrowing with a relaxed demeanor. “I’m more than willing to take a beating for this.”
After lunch, the two strolled around the area to help with digestion. Afterwards, Sang Zhi took the subway back to school. She arrived at the dormitory just after 2 PM.
Only Ning Wei was left in the dorm.
Sang Zhi glanced at the tidy, packed-up spots of Wang Ruolan and Yu Xin, and asked, “Have they left?”
”Yeah.” Ning Wei was also packing her things. “They finished their exams. They just came back to pack up and left. Yu Xin went home, and it seems Ruolan and her boyfriend are going on a trip for a few days.”
All the others in the dorm were done with their exams, leaving only Sang Zhi with one elective exam left.
Sang Zhi asked, “Where are you going?”
”My boyfriend rented a place outside,” Ning Wei said. “I plan to stay with him, so I won’t be living in the dorm this summer.”
Sang Zhi replied with a hum, feeling a bit reluctant. “I thought we could keep each other company.”
”You can go find your Duan-ge,” Ning Wei looked up at her with a smile. “By the way, how does it feel to be in a relationship? No, wait, how does it feel to be with someone you’ve had a crush on for so many years?”
”It’s okay, I guess,” Sang Zhi thought for a moment and hesitantly said, “I don’t feel much of a difference.”
”Huh?”
”It’s just like before our relationship, there doesn’t seem to be much difference… except on the day we got together.” Sang Zhi suddenly raised her left hand, brought the tips of her five fingers together, and lightly touched her lips. “We did this once, but otherwise, there’s really no difference.”
”Oh my gosh.” Ning Wei was shocked, extremely surprised. “You two have already kissed?”
”…”
”You kissed on the day you got together?” Ning Wei got excited. “It must have been your Duan-ge who made the first move, right? Wow, age really does make a difference.”
”But I think my reaction was a bit off,” Sang Zhi said softly. “Let me ask you, when you’re being affectionate with your boyfriend, do you get nervous?”
”A little bit at first, I guess,” Ning Wei replied. “But I think he was way more nervous than me. My boyfriend is super shy; we were together for a month before he even dared to hold my hand—I was dying of impatience.”
”…”
”Oh, thinking about it, I feel like I was only nervous because his nervousness rubbed off on me.” Ning Wei rolled her eyes. “But now he’s way more relaxed. He even blames me when he farts in front of me.”
Sang Zhi burst out laughing, “What the heck!”
Ning Wei brought the topic back, “So, you do get nervous?”
”Yeah.” Sang Zhi felt a bit frustrated. “And then it makes me look like I’m upset… I’m afraid he’ll misunderstand, so I even made a point to tell him that I really like him.”
”Huh? He probably wouldn’t misunderstand, right?”
”But I hadn’t told him before,” Sang Zhi said. “I felt like if I didn’t say it, he probably wouldn’t know.”
”Is that so?” Ning Wei blinked. “You should just interact with him naturally. There’s no need to be overly cautious and explain everything; it’ll get exhausting over time.”
”…”
”Maybe you’re just habitually nervous because you used to worry about him finding out you liked him? But now that you’re together, it should be completely normal to show that you like him,” Ning Wei said. “I’m saying this because I don’t think you’re the type to be shy.”
Sang Zhi couldn’t help but ask, “Are you complimenting me or making fun of me?”
”I’m just saying that you should enjoy being in a relationship, especially since it’s with someone you like so much. If it were me, I’d definitely be all over him every day—kissing, hugging, and being lifted up high.” Ning Wei closed her suitcase and wiped the sweat from her forehead. “When it comes to liking someone, just saying it isn’t enough. You can’t have him kiss you, and then act like you’re not happy about it, and later say, ‘Actually, I really like you.’ That’s like giving him a slap and then handing him a candy.”
Sang Zhi went silent for a few seconds and then nodded.
”Plus, didn’t he originally think of you as a little sister or something? And there’s such a big age gap between you two. You can try to put yourself in his shoes—he’s probably going out of his way to accommodate you in everything. If you feel things are moving too fast or that you don’t like something, he probably wouldn’t push you,” Ning Wei said. “This is genuinely how I feel. My boyfriend was so shy at the beginning that it made me want to tease him, but it also made me feel like I was being a bit of a bully.”
”…”
”Don’t overthink it. There’s always a period of adjustment.” Ning Wei walked over, patting her on the head. “Or, you could think of it this way—this person might just be the one who’s going to be with you for the rest of your life.”
Sang Zhi was momentarily stunned. “And then?”
”And then?” Ning Wei laughed. “Then just do whatever you want. If he can tolerate it, great. If he can’t, then he can leave. You can’t be overly cautious your whole life, right?”
After Ning Wei left, Sang Zhi changed into her pajamas and then went back to bed. In the small dorm room, the sound of the air conditioner was loud, standing out in the quiet.
She hugged her pillow, seriously thinking about what Ning Wei had said.
It seemed like she was right.
With Sang Yan’s influence, she’d never thought of herself as particularly shy, but when it came to Duan Jiaxu, it felt like her confidence could fall apart with the slightest touch.
This kind of thing really did require comparison.
She considered herself thicker-skinned than Sang Yan, but nowhere near as much as Duan Jiaxu.
Sang Yan’s shamelessness seemed to pale in comparison to Duan Jiaxu’s as well.
As she kept thinking, a funny thought popped into Sang Zhi’s mind—shameless ranking: Duan Jiaxu >> Sang Zhi > Sang Yan.
”…”
This couldn’t even be compared.
And really, there was nothing to feel uncomfortable about.
Today, when she accidentally kissed his cheek, she felt a bit flustered. But thinking about it now, it seemed like she could have just said, “Yeah, I kissed you, so what?”
That would have sounded so cool.
Alright.
That was how she’d handle it from now on.
It was just a relationship.
Just! A! Relationship!
What was there to be nervous about?
After all, she grew up fighting with boys, lost a tooth without shedding a tear, feared nothing, not even the heavens, and even Sang Yan had to give her some respect. She was known as ‘Little Bully Sang Zhi.’
It was just a relationship, just a kiss.
What was there to be afraid of?
The more Sang Zhi thought about it, the more energized she became, and all her sleepiness disappeared.
Peek-Aboo 
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