Just as Lu Zhiye rushed down the rooftop stairs, he ran into Chen Che walking toward him head-on.
Chen Che was holding a stack of homework notebooks. He stood tall and straight, his brows and eyes gentle.
Seeing Lu Zhiye’s flustered expression and reddened ears, he paused slightly.
His gaze swept lightly toward the rooftop direction before returning to Lu Zhiye. His tone was calm, yet carried the steadiness of a class monitor: “Lu Zhiye.”
Lu Zhiye suppressed his earlier panic. With a cold expression, he nodded, the familiar air of hostility returning around him as he turned sideways, intending to bypass him.
“Wait.” Chen Che called him softly. His voice was not loud, but it carried unmistakable seriousness. “About yesterday, thank you for protecting Su Nuonuo.”
Lu Zhiye’s fingertips stiffened slightly. Without turning back, he gave a muffled response: “Mm.”
Chen Che observed the tight line of his jaw. His gaze flickered slightly, understanding that Lu Zhiye had a cold and stubborn personality, and did not say much more. Instead, he spoke slowly, “Su Nuonuo is very stubborn. Once she decides on something, she won’t turn back.”
These words sounded like a reminder, and also like advice.
He did not know how Su Nuonuo had suddenly become connected with Lu Zhiye, but as for Su Nuonuo saying she was pursuing Lu Zhiye, he believed it.
Lu Zhiye finally lifted his eyes, his dark gaze settling heavily on him as he replied in a firm tone, “I know.”
He knew she was pure and sincere. He knew he did not deserve her. And he knew even more clearly that he should stay far away.
Chen Che nodded lightly and did not say anything further. Instead, he softened his tone slightly, offering a gentle reminder: “Su Nuonuo looks soft and harmless, but she’s not someone who gives her whole heart to just anyone. If you have that intention as well, then don’t let her sincerity go to waste.”
These words fell into Lu Zhiye’s ears like a stone thrown into a calm lake, rippling outward in waves.
His throat rolled slightly. In the end, he tugged at the corner of his lips, forming a faint, self-deprecating smile.
He did not refute anything. Instead, he turned and walked away with large strides. His back remained rigid and cold, but compared to earlier, it lacked that sense of hurried panic, replaced instead by an indescribable heaviness.
He knew Chen Che’s words were well-intentioned, and they were all because of Su Nuonuo’s cousin, Su Xiaoyu.
Chen Che was not being nosy. It was because Su Nuonuo had helped facilitate things between him and Su Xiaoyu more than once—so he was now returning the favor.
They had been classmates for three years, yet had remained like two parallel lines with no intersection. Now, because of Su Nuonuo, this was the first unspoken exchange between them.
Lu Zhiye walked forward with his head lowered, eventually stopping by the horizontal bar at the corner of the playground. Irritated, he tugged at his collar.
The wind carried the rustling of plane tree leaves around the playground. Chen Che’s words continued to echo in his ears.
“Su Nuonuo is very stubborn. Once she decides on something, she won’t turn back.”
“If you have that intention as well, then don’t let her sincerity go to waste.”
He raised a hand to press against his burning forehead. The scene on the rooftop surged uncontrollably into his mind.
The little girl had lifted her fair face, her almond-shaped eyes shining as if filled with starlight, and said word by word, “I like you.” Her voice had been soft and gentle, yet it seemed to hook at his heart, scratching at it repeatedly.
Was he moved?
How could he not be moved!
From the moment she had pushed open the Academic Affairs Office door in a rush, her eyes red as she defended him;
From the moment she had clutched the hem of her clothes and firmly said, “I know what kind of person you are,”
his heart—silent for over a decade—had been completely thrown into chaos.
But what right did he have?
He was the so-called school bully who fought and skipped classes in others’ eyes, a poor boy who lived with his grandfather in an old alley, running a small breakfast stall.
And Su Nuonuo? She was a little princess cherished by her family, a top-performing student, as clean and untouched as a cloud untainted by dust.
He feared his hands would dirty her.
He feared rumors and gossip would ruin her.
And even more, he feared he could not give her a future, that in the end, he would not even have the right to protect her.
Chen Che’s words were like a key, unlocking the thoughts he had been desperately suppressing.
He wanted to respond to her sincerity, to shield her behind him, to watch her always smile carefree and unrestrained.
Yet reason was like a rope, tightening around his throat, forcing him to face reality.
He and she were never people of the same world.
His throat rolled heavily. He raised a hand and wiped his face forcefully. The emotions surging in his eyes were half burning warmth, half heavy helplessness.
On the other side, after Su Nuonuo stood on the rooftop and enjoyed the breeze for a while, she slowly made her way back to the classroom.
Just as she sat down, Su Xiaoyu leaned over, eyeing her with gossip-filled curiosity. “You ran off so quickly earlier—what did you go do with Lu Zhiye?”
Su Nuonuo puffed up her cheeks, grabbed the pen on the desk and poked at her exercise book. Her tone carried a hint of grievance, yet also a bit of gritted frustration: “He bullied me!”
“Huh?” Su Xiaoyu’s eyes widened. “He bullied you? Who would even believe that!”
“It’s true!” Su Nuonuo tossed the pen aside and leaned back in her chair, angrily complaining, “I kindly went to find him, and what did he do? He told me all coldly to ‘stop while I can,’ and even said it was impossible for him to like someone like me, a rich young lady!”
The more she spoke, the angrier she became, practically stabbing holes into her exercise book.
But thinking of Lu Zhiye’s fleeing back, she felt a mix of suffocating sweetness in her heart.
Yet her words remained sharp: “Who does he think he is! Just because he’s a little good-looking and can fight? What’s so great about him!”
Su Xiaoyu listened in a daze, then after a long pause finally squeezed out a sentence: “So… you confessed to him?”
Su Nuonuo’s cheeks flushed slightly. She lifted her chin stubbornly and huffed, “So what if I confessed? If you like someone, you should say it!”
And it wasn’t like she had only confessed once.
She paused, then suddenly her eyes lit up as if she had thought of a brilliant idea. Slapping the desk, she said loudly, “Let me tell you, this isn’t over! This weekend I’m going to find Grandpa Lu and complain about him, saying he was mean to me!”
“I’ll have Grandpa Lu properly discipline him. Let’s see if he dares to put on that cold face toward me again!”
Su Xiaoyu stared at her in shock, nearly laughing out loud. “Girl, you’re really brave! Aren’t you afraid Grandpa Lu will side with his grandson?”
Su Nuonuo raised her brows confidently. “No way! Grandpa Lu dotes on me the most… he’ll definitely help me!”
As she spoke, she secretly glanced out the window, but a thought couldn’t help forming in her mind: would Lu Zhiye, upon learning she was going to complain, secretly “tip off” Grandpa Lu in advance?
Just as she was thinking this, a familiar figure suddenly passed by outside the window.
Su Nuonuo’s gaze instinctively followed, and she happened to meet a pair of deep black eyes.
Lu Zhiye was leaning against the corridor railing, seemingly having stood there for some time.
Sunlight fell on his lowered eyelashes, casting a faint shadow beneath them.
The moment their eyes met, his ears flushed almost imperceptibly, yet he did not look away. Instead, he simply stared at her steadily.
At the moment their eyes locked, Su Nuonuo’s heart skipped a beat. The complaints she had just been about to voice suddenly got stuck in her throat.
She hurriedly turned her face away, pretending to flip through the textbook on her desk, though her ears were burning red.
And in the corridor, Lu Zhiye looked at her reddened ears, the corner of his lips lifting almost imperceptibly.
But he quickly suppressed it, turned around, and returned to his seat through the back door.
Su Xiaoyu followed her gaze toward the window and nudged her arm teasingly. “What are you looking at? Your face is completely red.”
Su Nuonuo snapped back to her senses, grabbing her pen and randomly scribbling in her exercise book as she stubbornly denied, “N-nothing!”
At that moment, the class bell rang. Su Xiaoyu quickly straightened up, but before doing so, she did not forget to wink at her: “It’s settled then. I’ll be waiting this weekend to see how you ‘punish’ the school bully!”
Su Nuonuo pressed her lips together, secretly smiling. Her gaze drifted toward the back of the classroom again, and that bit of grievance had long since turned into a sweet anticipation.