Shi Yi had obtained Qianyi’s contact information a long time ago, but prior to that date, he had only sent basic, polite social messages and never dared to overstep. Eager to maintain his carefully cultivated image in Qianyi’s eyes, he kept their chat frequency extremely low.
Now, with those constraints gone, whenever a topic crossed his mind, he would message him immediately, resulting in a dynamic where Shi Yi sent ten texts and Qianyi replied with two or three based on his mood.
Consequently, his messages often sat unread or read without reply. Shi Yi figured that as long as he hadn’t been blocked, there was still a chance, and he desperately wanted to stay optimistic. Yet, given his understanding of Qianyi, it was far more likely that the other man simply didn’t care about these things at all.
Who he chatted with, and what they talked about, probably mattered very little to him. His social feed was completely empty, showing that he neither needed other people’s validation nor cared to interact with anyone.
Maybe if they kept chatting like this, they would eventually become friends? That might not be so bad either. Qianyi didn’t really seem to have many friends anyway.
Shi Yi didn’t want to just be his friend, though.
He tried asking around at University A for any information about Qianyi, but most of the responses were just lingering legends. People talked about past awards he had won, groundbreaking academic papers published while he was still an undergraduate, his genius status, and how he had been admitted directly without entrance exams, yielding nothing particularly fresh.
He couldn’t dig up anything about his romantic history either, leaving Shi Yi unsure whether to feel disappointed or relieved. Qianyi seemed to maintain a strict distance from everyone. If there was anyone he was even remotely close to, it was probably the campus belle from the previous graduating year, Cheng You.
Although the two of them had never publicly confirmed a relationship, outsiders viewed them as a well-matched pair in every aspect, and many speculated that their private relationship was likely unusual.
Hmph.
Still, Qianyi truly was shrouded in mystery.
Shi Yi racked his brains trying to figure out what kind of needs Qianyi could possibly have, but outside of his personality, his understanding of him was far too sparse. When Qianyi intentionally hid information from him, he could try asking others, but the reality was that no one was particularly close to him, leaving Shi Yi with no way to break through and forcing him to look for alternative paths.
For some reason, deep down, Shi Yi subconsciously resisted asking Cheng You about him, as if that option simply did not exist.
Sigh. Because of his overwhelming popularity and the constant attention he drew wherever he went, people would surround him everywhere he went, making it impossible to have any contact during the day. He had no choice but to wait until after classes ended.
Shi Yi leaned against the hallway railing, scrolling through his phone. Soon, a few female students stopped nearby, letting out high-pitched gasps and whispers. After a few rounds of nudging each other, one of the girls mustered the courage to run right up to him.
“Shi Yi, c-can I please add your WeChat?”
Shi Yi lowered his phone and smiled politely. “I am sorry, but my friend list reached its maximum limit a long time ago.”
The girl looked visibly disappointed, but she refused to give up just yet. “Then… may I ask what kind of person you like?” Her palms were sweating with nervousness. With looks and a family background like Shi Yi’s, he was an absolute ideal partner in the eyes of many, leaving everyone curious about his standards for a significant other.
Seemingly reminded of something, Shi Yi’s smile suddenly deepened, his eyes filling with a fierce, aggressive intensity, his expression turning captivatingly bold and wild.
“Someone interesting who meets my standards.”
The girl locking eyes with him was instantly struck dumbfounded, her face blushing bright red. That somewhat baffling answer left her in a daze, and by the time she snapped out of it and wanted to ask more, she realized Shi Yi had already brushed past her.
He never would have expected that there would come a day when the urge to see a specific person would feel this intense.
He wished night would fall faster.
Walking into the classroom for his next lecture, he listened to the professor drone on about economic theories that he had already mastered long ago. Slowly, a wave of heavy drowsiness washed over him, and he found himself yawning repeatedly, having to rely on daydreaming to pass the time, until his phone finally chimed with a message notification.
He quickly tapped open the chat window.
[Shi Yi]: Feel free to browse through the link. Is there anything here that catches your interest? {Link Address}
[Shi Yi]: How about I take you out this weekend? When are you free? Should I make a reservation in advance?
-17:45-
[Qianyi]: My schedule is not fixed. It has to adjust according to the progress of my project.
[Qianyi]: Why are you so persistently trying to ask me out?
Shi Yi couldn’t help but chuckle. He had roughly figured out Qianyi’s behavioral rules by now. Whenever a question was thrown his way, he felt compelled to address it seriously, not even bothering to lie. He was always obsessed with rationality, acting as though a proper justification was all it took to get him to agree to a date.
He could already picture the perplexed expression on Qianyi’s face as he typed out those words.
Shi Yi’s gaze drifted past the desks and chairs toward the sky outside the window. The evening glow pierced through the layers of clouds, painting a vibrant band of color that transitioned from a blazing orange-red into a grayish-blue twilight before finally fading into deep darkness.
Today’s sunset truly was breathtaking.