Cen Sui sent a “Thank you for the compliment” in the group chat, then put down her phone and went back to listening to the lecture.
After listening for a while, she quietly picked up her phone again, unlocked it, opened the shopping app, and followed the list of review books Senior Lu Wenbo had sent her, adding them one by one into the shopping cart.
A few rows ahead, on the seats in front, Chen Yu, Wang Jie, and the others each had different expressions on their faces, but all of them were held rigidly tense.
Wang Jie, Zhao Zicheng, and Zhou Yimiao exchanged glances with each other, all pretending to listen to the lecture earnestly, not daring to say a word in the group chat anymore.
They were not stupid. They could certainly see how terrible Chen Yu’s expression looked.
He had already been furious last night, probably not sleeping well the entire night. He had not expected that when he arrived in the classroom today, before he could regain even a shred of the face he had lost in the past two days, he was once again utterly humiliated by Cen Sui.
In front of so many people, she had met him with a cold face and hard words, leaving him not even a shred of dignity.
After a moment, Wang Jie and the others began exchanging glances again, communicating silently with their eyes.
[First she celebrates, then deletes him and blocks him, and now she even acts like this. Is she really going all the way this time]
[She got addicted to acting and still has not come down from it]
[Besides, even if she is serious, so what? Would our Brother Yu ever lack women]
[That is true, by the time she regrets it, it will already be too late]
[She is definitely going to regret this]
[A woman who ends up in Brother Yu’s hands]
*
However, after two days passed, Cen Sui still showed not even the slightest sign of regret.
She never once looked for Chen Yu, never showed any sadness, and when she ran into him at school she treated him as if he were nothing but air.
On a spring afternoon, sunlight broke through the clouds and spilled onto the balcony, laying down a faint layer of warmth.
Chen Yu was lying on the rocking chair on the balcony, his long legs crossed and propped on a small footstool. Both arms were folded under his head as he stared blankly at the clouds in midair.
Wang Jie, holding a carton of Want Want milk with the straw in his mouth, walked over and said to Chen Yu, “Brother Yu, stop spacing out here. I already pulled a few people together. Let’s go out and have some fun. I heard from Wen Ting that she recently met a pretty junior. She’s exactly your type. She looks purer than the Want Want milk in my hand!”
As he spoke, Wang Jie had already taken out his phone, swiftly unlocked it, opened the photo album, enlarged a picture, and held it in front of Chen Yu. Holding his little carton of Want Want milk, he continued, “Her name is Lin Yuxi. They met at the campus singing competition. We didn’t go that day. Do you think she looks very pure and very pretty?”
Chen Yu glanced at the photo. In it was a simple and pretty girl.
She seemed to be wearing no makeup. At least her lips were softly pink, and her eyes were clear and pure. She looked obedient and gentle.
Originally, this really was the type he liked. Her looks and temperament fit his aesthetic perfectly.
But now, the moment he saw this photo, he subconsciously thought of how Cen Sui used to dress in the past. She had looked exactly like this. His chest tightened with a stifling breath, and his voice carried no warmth. “Not interested.”
Wang Jie: “…”
After a moment, he tentatively asked, “Brother Yu, you wouldn’t be… thinking about Cen Sui, right?”
Hearing the name “Cen Sui” grated on Chen Yu’s ears, and he shot a look at Wang Jie.
Wang Jie, bold as ever, spoke again in a softer voice. “If you miss her… then just go to her and admit you were wrong. Apologize a bit. Girls are all easy to coax, especially since she liked you for so many years.”
Ask him to apologize and coax someone?
Chen Yu’s eyes turned even colder, his voice deep and hard like struck stone. “Get lost.”
Wang Jie immediately twisted his body and rolled away like he was told. “Alright.”
But he had barely taken a few steps when Chen Yu called him back again.
Chen Yu looked at him and asked, “What has she been doing these past two days?” He paused, then added, “Has she come looking for me?”
Wang Jie slowly shook his head. “No.”
They were all very surprised. It felt like this time Cen Sui was really serious and not playing any tricks at all.
Chen Yu swallowed a breath, not looking particularly worried. “Wait a little longer.”
Wang Jie had no idea what he was waiting for. Before he could even ask, Zhao Zicheng suddenly spoke. “Brother Yu, check your phone.”
Chen Yu picked up his phone with a casual motion, his expression relaxed.
But the moment he tapped open the image Zhao Zicheng had sent, his face instantly went tense and he sat upright on the rocking chair.
The photo showed two people. The girl was Cen Sui, and the boy was someone they did not know.
The two were sitting face to face, drinking coffee, both smiling. They looked unusually harmonious and, to Chen Yu’s eyes, unbearably glaring.
Zhao Zicheng looked at him and only after a long while managed to say, “It looks like they’re on a date…”
Chen Yu instinctively tightened his grip around his phone, dark clouds gathering across his face at once.
*
For the past two days, Cen Sui had been busy buying review materials. The deliveries were fast and all arrived before Wednesday afternoon.
She went to pick up several packages one after another. After gathering everything, she packed all the books into her bag and went to a café near the University of Geosciences.
She arrived at the shop first and ordered a latte.
After sending her location to Senior Lu Wenbo, she settled into her seat and began looking through the contents of the books.
The postgraduate entrance exam required not only professional subjects but also English and political studies.
Back when all of Cen Sui’s thoughts were focused on Chen Yu, she had barely studied at all. Every semester she had only scraped by without failing.
Now, flipping through these books again, she could not help sighing at the terror of being love-brained.
It was truly as if, aside from romance, nothing else had existed in her life.
Her only wish in life before had been to marry Chen Yu, become his full-time wife, and take good care of him.
If that was not a case of having her brain clouded by lard and glued together with starch, then what was it?
She shook her head in exasperation and casually flipped through the books.
About half an hour passed like this before Lu Wenbo arrived at the café with a backpack slung over his shoulder.
He was a tall, slender boy with a gentle and refined appearance. He wore glasses, a blue-gray shirt, and black casual trousers. His skin was fair, and when he spoke, his tone carried that soft and mild quality unique to people from the south.
He walked over to Cen Sui and asked rather reservedly, “You are…”
They had both already seen each other’s photos, so Cen Sui was more at ease. She smiled lightly. “Cen Sui.”
Lu Wenbo smiled even more politely. “Hello, junior. I am Lu Wenbo.”
He sat down and set his backpack aside. A waiter came over and asked what he would like to drink.
He said simply to the waiter, “One Americano, thank you.”
Before the coffee was served, Lu Wenbo sat chatting with Cen Sui for a while so they could warm up to each other.
Although they had been talking on WeChat for a few days, this was, after all, their first time meeting in person.
Lu Wenbo asked Cen Sui, “What made you want to switch fields and apply for this major?”
Cen Sui smiled. “My family runs a shop. My parents have always worked very hard. I have to pull my weight.”
Hearing the way she put it, Lu Wenbo could not help laughing.
With just a few lines of conversation, the atmosphere between the two relaxed.
Lu Wenbo asked her, “What plans do you have after completing graduate school? Will you go abroad?”
Cen Sui thought for a moment. “I haven’t thought that far yet. I’ll figure it out when the time comes. First I need to switch majors. I don’t like the one I’m studying now. I didn’t use my brain when I chose it.”
Then she asked Lu Wenbo, “What about you? Are you planning to go abroad?”
Lu Wenbo nodded. “I will. I specialize in design, so I need to see more, learn more, and understand more.”
Cen Sui nodded as well. “Design overseas might indeed be better.”
After saying that, her tone shifted and her eyes curved in a smile. “Come back after mastering your skills, and we might have a chance to collaborate someday.”
As though playing house, Lu Wenbo actually responded seriously and nodded. “Sure.”
Cen Sui laughed happily. “I was joking. Once you really come back with your skills, of course you should join a big company where you can fully showcase your abilities.”
Lu Wenbo said, “That’s not necessarily the case. Big companies have the advantages of big companies, and small companies have the strengths of small companies.”
Cen Sui deliberately straightened her back. “If you put it that way, when I become a boss in the future, I really will come find you.”
The two of them somehow started “competing,” each trying to speak more boldly than the other. As they talked, they both began to laugh, acting like a pair of children.
Cen Sui had thought Lu Wenbo was a quiet and refined type, but she had not expected him to be so talkative and interesting. He could chat with her about anything. She actually enjoyed the conversation quite a bit.
After the waiter brought over his coffee, the two continued drinking and chatting casually for a while.
When the atmosphere between them had completely shifted into that of good friends, Lu Wenbo took out the review materials he had organized from his backpack and placed them all in front of her. “I’ve already sorted everything out. These should be useful for you.”
Cen Sui took them and flipped through. The important points were clearly marked.
Using the materials he brought and the books Cen Sui had with her, Lu Wenbo patiently explained how she should review, helping her enter the right mindset more quickly and avoid unnecessary detours.
Originally, the two were sitting on opposite sides of the table, but after realizing it was inconvenient, they moved to sit on the same side.
Because they needed to look at books and notes together, their heads would sometimes lean slightly toward each other, which made them appear a bit close.
Although Cen Sui was indeed very beautiful, Lu Wenbo did not have any other thoughts about her at first.
He was a rather serious person. When he agreed to help, it was not because he had some improper interest just because the junior girl was pretty.
But now, after sitting beside her for a while and helping her go through the exam outline, he kept catching the faint scent of her perfume. Whenever he lifted his eyes, he could see the fine, distinct lashes framing her eyes and the delicate whiteness of her ears and neck. There were several moments when his mind drifted.
By the time they finished sorting through everything, his voice had turned slightly dry and hoarse.
He stood up from beside Cen Sui and politely said, “I’m going to the restroom for a moment.”
When he returned, Lu Wenbo sat directly across from her instead.
Everything that needed to be explained had already been covered, so there was no need for them to sit side by side anymore.
Cen Sui kept her head lowered, writing and making notes. She said to Lu Wenbo, “Thank you so much, Senior. Before this, I really had no idea how to start reviewing. I didn’t know where to begin at all. Now I finally have a direction and a sense of what to do.”
Lu Wenbo smiled. “It’s good as long as it helps you.”
After speaking, his gaze drifted toward a corner of the café.
He looked for a moment, then hesitated before asking her, “Do you know those people over there?”
Cen Sui had been fully absorbed in her notes and had not been paying attention to her surroundings.
When Lu Wenbo asked her that, she raised her head in confusion.
He cleared his throat lightly and said, “They’ve been here quite a while and have been staring at us the whole time.”
Cen Sui turned her head with puzzlement. The moment her eyes swept toward the corner he indicated, she saw Chen Yu and a few of his buddies sitting there. Chen Yu’s gaze was fixed on her, cold with a trace of anger, as if he were about to devour someone.
Cen Sui: “…”
What in the world?
After holding Chen Yu’s stare for a moment, Cen Sui did not feel guilty at all.
A second later, she calmly withdrew her gaze and said to Lu Wenbo, “I don’t know them. Maybe it’s because I’m too pretty. No matter where I go, someone stares. It’s quite a nuisance.”
Hearing that, Lu Wenbo lowered his head with a laugh and lightly touched the tip of his nose.
Following her words, he said, “Makes sense.”
Cen Sui had no intention of paying any attention to Chen Yu and treated him as if he were nothing but air.
She put down the pen in her hand, closed the books and review materials on the table, organized them, and placed them into her bag. She lifted her wrist to check the time and realized it was almost seven o’clock. Only then did she notice she had been studying seriously for that long.
She glanced out the window and saw the sky was already completely dark. Cen Sui had no choice but to tell Lu Wenbo, “I’ve troubled you for so long. Let me treat you to dinner.”
Lu Wenbo did not stand on ceremony and accepted directly. “Then I won’t be polite. Anything simple is fine.”
After settling that, the two of them stood up one after the other and left the café without giving Chen Yu even a single glance.
Chen Yu, however, remained seated, his gaze following them all the way until they reached the café entrance. It stayed there for a long time without moving.
Wang Jie and the others looked at him, not daring to speak. In fact, ever since they had entered the shop, they had barely said a word.
From the moment Chen Yu saw the photo, his expression had already turned ugly. Now it was so dark that no one dared look at him directly.
Wang Jie and the others had never expected Chen Yu to actually lose his composure. After seeing the photo, he had come straight to this café.
The group of them had been together for so many years, yet this was the first time they had seen Chen Yu nervous and unsettled because of a woman.
But it was indeed strange. Cen Sui, who had always liked Chen Yu to the point of losing herself, had actually done all of this.
It had only been a few days since she told Chen Yu she wanted to break up. Forget looking sad. Forget trying to get back together with him. She had actually gone and immediately arranged to meet another man.
The moment they entered the café earlier that afternoon, they saw Cen Sui and the boy from the photo sitting shoulder to shoulder.
Sitting next to each other was one thing, but they kept leaning their heads together from time to time. It was impossible to tell whether they were chatting or reviewing material.
And from beginning to end, Cen Sui never even noticed Chen Yu.
No one had ever seen this side of her before. She had never shown even the slightest trace of such a carefree spirit.
With this sudden change, it was as if she had become a completely different person.
Although Chen Yu had lost his cool enough to come to the café and although the rage and icy coldness in his eyes alternated like fire and frost, he did not actually do anything irrational.
For the better part of an afternoon, he simply sat there, watching Cen Sui and another man interact in ways that looked intimate. His face turned green again and again.
Not long after Cen Sui and that man left, Chen Yu finally reacted and stood up.
Wang Jie stood up after him and, trying to ease his mood, deliberately asked in a light tone, “Where to now? Want to call a few girls to hang out?”
Chen Yu’s expression stayed cold as he shot Wang Jie a glare.
Wang Jie was instantly silenced by that look, clamping his lips shut in an exaggerated way.
What? He could not even mention girls now?
None of them knew what Chen Yu intended to do, but a few minutes later they found out. He followed Cen Sui to a barbecue restaurant near the University of Geosciences, ordered a whole table full of dishes, and then started staring fixedly at Cen Sui and that guy all over again.
Wang Jie, Zhao Zicheng, and Zhou Yimiao: “…”