OS - 14

Zhou Yu smiled faintly but didn’t respond.

Cheng Yuzhou placed the basket of tomatoes aside and sat down on the bench under the tree. He appeared to be even taller than Cheng Yanqing.

“How much older are you than Wanyue?”

“Two months,” he replied. “My parents fell in love young, but their families disapproved. They secretly registered their marriage not long before I was born.”

Cheng Wanyue chimed in, “My second uncle is super handsome!”

A drop of tomato juice landed on her clothes, and she immediately jumped up to wash it off at the sink. Cheng Yuzhou turned to Zhou Yu. “Can I borrow your final exam papers from last semester? Wanyue doesn’t have anything like that, and Yanqing is even less reliable.”

These two siblings were both useless—academically, they were one disaster after another.

“You’re only here for summer vacation, right?”

“I’m back for summer vacation and to prepare for the Gaokao,” Cheng Yuzhou said with a smile as he looked at her. “In half a month, we’ll officially be classmates.”

Zhou Yu had assumed things would be the same as before—he’d only stay for a month or two. Even when Cheng Wanyue jokingly mentioned introducing him to the prettiest girl in the art class earlier, she hadn’t thought much of it.

But now he said he’d be attending senior year in the county.

The county only had one high school, which meant she’d see him every day for the next year.

“I’ll help you find the exam papers. Do you need anything else?”

Cheng Yuzhou just wanted to check the difficulty of the questions. “Homework from the summer break works too. Just lend me what you’ve finished.”

“Alright.”

Zhou Yu stood up and went into her room. Since it was a girl’s room, Cheng Yuzhou didn’t go in, waiting outside instead. By chance, he noticed a Jay Chou poster on the wall.

Grandma was watching TV in the living room. Her hair was half-white, and her smiling eyes held a kind warmth as she gazed affectionately at Cheng Yuzhou.

He had greeted her when he arrived, but the elderly woman must have forgotten.

“Hello, Grandma.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m a friend of Zhou Yu.”

“Zhou Yu? She’s my granddaughter!” The old woman took his hand and examined him carefully. “Oh, I remember now. You’re Yan Ci, right?”

Cheng Yuzhou thought to himself: Yan Ci must be familiar enough that even a grandmother with dementia could recall his name.

“No,” he patiently corrected her. “I’m Cheng Yuzhou.”

The elderly woman shook her head, confused. “I don’t recognize you.”

Zhou Yu emerged from the room, neatly organizing the test papers into a folder. Cheng Yuzhou accepted them. The sunset in the courtyard was beautiful, with dreamlike streaks of purple in the evening clouds.

She selected two chilled tomatoes from the sink, cut them into pieces, and arranged them on a plate, sprinkling popping candy on top.

Cheng Wanyue pulled out a tube of lip gloss from her small bag and called Zhou Yu over.

“Ah Yu, try this.”

“…No, thanks.”

“Come on, give it a try. Sit down—I’ll apply it for you.” Cheng Wanyue pulled her to sit in front of her, unscrewed the lip gloss, and carefully applied it to her lips. “In two days, it’ll be Qixi Festival. Come over to my place—we’ll watch a movie.”

To Zhou Yu, holidays weren’t particularly special—they were just like any other day. “Didn’t you say we’d wait until after the Gaokao to watch?”

“Oh, not that kind of movie!” Cheng Wanyue quickly covered her mouth, afraid Cheng Yuzhou might hear. “As soon as I mention a movie, you think of that . Are you curious too?”

Zhou Yu averted her gaze. “Not really.”

“Really? Really?” Cheng Wanyue didn’t believe her. Wanting to see if Zhou Yu was blushing, she leaned closer and closer.

Girls who were close often got physical when teasing each other. Suddenly, Cheng Wanyue froze, her gaze slowly moving from Zhou Yu’s fair face downward.

“Ah Yu, I just touched your chest.”

“So soft~”

As Zhou Yu tried to retaliate, Cheng Wanyue screamed and hid behind Cheng Yuzhou. In the chaos, Zhou Yu stumbled forward, crashing into his chest. Instinctively, he reached out to steady her. Through the thin fabric of her summer shirt, he felt how slender her waist was—it seemed like he could encircle it with one hand.

He now understood what Cheng Wanyue had been referring to when she said something was soft.

The popping candy wasn’t just jumping on her tongue—it seemed to leap through her bloodstream and straight into her heart.

After Zhou Yu regained her balance, Cheng Yuzhou quickly snapped back to reality.

The warmth of his hand lingered on her waist for perhaps two or three seconds. A faint pink lipstick print now marked the front of his white T-shirt.

Meanwhile, the troublemaker Cheng Wanyue had already run off, taking selfies with the sunset as her backdrop. Zhou Yu stared at the lipstick stain, wiping her lips with the back of her hand. A faint pink smudge remained on her skin.

Why did she always end up doing something foolish in front of him?

“Or… you could take it off, and I’ll wash it for you?”

“No need—I’ll wash it when I get home. Here…” Cheng Yuzhou pointed to the corner of her mouth. “…you still have some here.”

Zhou Yu felt flustered.

The fiery hues of the sunset reflected on her face, bringing a faint blush to her cheeks. Cheng Yuzhou pulled out his phone, opened the camera app, and held it up at a height where she could use it as a mirror. He subtly tilted his head away.

Cheng Wanyue’s phone was filled with selfies—she could take dozens of photos in the same spot.

On the way back, she posted a nine-grid collage on her social media, forcing Cheng Yuzhou to like it. One photo in the background featured Cheng Yuzhou and Zhou Yu, though they were so blurry that their faces were unrecognizable. Reluctantly, he gave it a thumbs-up.

Cheng Wanyue wasn’t staying overnight at Grandma’s house; she went back to her own home.

After finishing his evening routine, Cheng Yuzhou lay in bed. A former classmate messaged him to play a game, but he wasn’t in the mood.

————Let me ask you something.

————Shoot.

————What do you think about being the third party in a relationship?

————Whether male or female, beat them senseless with sticks.

Cheng Yuzhou stared at the message, then blocked the sender a minute later.

Madam Qian wrote down the recipe for the jam, knocked on Cheng Yuzhou’s door, and handed it to him. After receiving it, he edited it into a text message and sent it to Zhou Yu. While waiting for her reply, he remembered the Jay Chou poster in her room—she must be a fan.

Cheng Yuzhou had attended two of Jay Chou’s concerts before, both with front-row tickets.

He had recorded a few videos and thought about sending them along with the message. However, when he opened his photo album, he realized he had accidentally recorded a video while holding her phone up for her to use as a mirror earlier that evening.

In the video, she slowly wiped the lip gloss off her lips, revealing their natural color. Her hands were still damp, and some of the gloss had smudged onto the surrounding skin. A gentle breeze lifted strands of hair near her ears, a few brushing against her lips.

By the time Cheng Yuzhou had watched the clip for the sixth time, he received her reply.

It was brief: “Received, thank you.”

After saving the contact information, Zhou Yu copied the recipe into her notebook. Soon after, she received several concert video clips, each around 30 seconds long.

She tapped to play.

The audience waved glow sticks, standing close to the stage. Jay Chou sang Secret , seemingly glancing at the camera for a moment.

She had been born and raised here, leaving only once in all these years—to retrieve her father’s body.

After listening to the song multiple times, Zhou Yu sent Cheng Yuzhou a message: “It’s different from watching it on TV.”

Before going to bed, she saw his reply: “The taste of your tomatoes is also different from the ones sold in supermarkets.”