OS - 59

Zhou Yu and Cheng Yuzhou didn’t meet very often.

Cheng Wanyue’s condition was sometimes good, sometimes bad. The entire family dared not relax for a moment. In March, she underwent a bone marrow transplant. After the surgery, there was no rejection or infection, and the bone marrow biopsy report was also very good. Once she passed the danger period, her medication dosage could be slowly reduced.

Grandma’s passing wasn’t too painful; it was like she had just fallen asleep. Zhou Yu returned to school from Baicheng. One night, she dreamt of Grandma, still looking as she did before she passed, wearing a set of gray clothes, sitting under a tree in the nursing home. The caregiver told her, ‘Your granddaughter is here to take you home again,’ and she smiled, her eyes narrowed into slits.

Cheng Yuzhou sent a package. It was a very large box, but not particularly heavy. Chen Huan said it might be clothes. Zhou Yu took the box back to the dorm and, after opening it, squatted on the floor and looked at it for a long time. When Chen Huan came out of the bathroom, she was still in the same posture.

Chen Huan, curious, also squatted beside her. After seeing what was inside the box, she let out a cry of surprise.

It was a wedding dress and a ring, with a sticky note attached that had Cheng Yuzhou’s phone password, bank card password, and mobile payment password written on it.

“Quite direct, isn’t he?” Chen Huan marveled at how appearances could be deceiving. When she first met Cheng Yuzhou, she thought he shouldn’t be a dedicated person, after all, he was so flamboyant, and it was a long-distance relationship. “If the age is right, will he just pull you to get your marriage certificate? Actually, it’s not unheard of for people to get married in college. There’s a couple at our school who even had a child by graduation. Zhou Yu, how many months younger are you than him?”

Zhou Yu was still a bit dazed, speaking slowly, “Five months younger.”

The box was padded with a lot of raffia, and the wedding dress was neatly folded, but the ring box had fallen out when Zhou Yu opened the package.

“Then we’ll have to wait a bit longer,” Chen Huan looked enviously at the diamond ring. “It seems this brand only allows one custom ring per person in a lifetime.”

Zhou Yu thought it was just an ordinary gift. He wouldn’t send anything too expensive, but small gifts almost never stopped coming. He would order flowers every week, not a huge bouquet, about ten stems, just right for her handmade vase from the flea market. She had sent him gifts too. Last month for his birthday, she secretly took leave and went to Nanjing, waiting for him at his school after his classes.

Chen Huan checked online and said that rings needed to be ordered ten days to half a month in advance, so it must have been around his birthday.

“Are we still going to watch Yan Ci’s game?” Chen Huan checked the time; if they didn’t leave now, they’d be late. “I absolutely have to cheer for his opponent. If he’s too handsome, I might rekindle my old feelings and like him even more than before, and that won’t do.”

Yan Ci had a basketball game this afternoon. He wasn’t originally participating. He hadn’t joined any group activities in the first semester of his freshman year and was very unsociable, only playing with a few roommates. This semester, he only barely seemed like a person. A guy on the team broke his bone and asked him to substitute, and he actually agreed.

It was considered a friendly match before the summer break.

Zhou Yu said, “You go first; I’ll wait a bit.”

Chen Huan didn’t want to be a third wheel. “Then I’ll save you a seat. Come early!”

Chen Huan changed her clothes and rushed out. Zhou Yu moved the box onto the table and called Cheng Yuzhou.

He answered quickly, “Did you receive it?”

“Mm, just brought it back to the dorm,” Zhou Yu remembered their last trip to Nanjing, walking after dinner, and he was playing with her hand with a thin string. At the time, she didn’t pay attention and didn’t think about it that way. “When did you buy it?”

Cheng Yuzhou coughed twice, “Not telling you.”

Zhou Yu understood his signal and asked with a smile, “Is Wanyue next to you?”

“She is, and Cheng Yanqing too. I just told them the school cafeteria only accepts meal cards. Come save them quickly.”

“...You came to my school!”

“So happy,” Cheng Yuzhou deliberately sighed loudly, “Shouldn’t have brought them two.”

Zhou Yu grabbed her keys and ran out, jogging downstairs from the dorm. The distance from the dorm to the cafeteria wasn’t short. She ran eagerly, and Cheng Yuzhou could hear her panting over the phone.

Cheng Wanyue wanted an ice cream bar, but Cheng Yanqing wouldn’t let her have it. When Zhou Yu arrived, the two were still arguing by the fridge. Cheng Yuzhou watched from a distance, claiming not to know them.

Zhou Yu swiped her card. Cheng Wanyue was satisfied with just one bite. Cheng Yanqing ate her leftovers.

Cheng Wanyue was still wearing a hat, and she was thin, but her complexion was much better. With her there, Cheng Yuzhou could only sit with Cheng Yanqing.

Zhou Yu saw that Cheng Yuzhou still had medicine in his bag. “Can you be discharged? What did the doctor say? Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I would have picked you up.”

“I behaved well, so the doctor agreed to let me go home for my birthday. I still have to go back to the hospital after my birthday. Grandma and Mom and Dad went home first. I wanted to see your and Yan Ci’s school, so Cheng Yuzhou secretly drove me here!” Cheng Wanyue was in high spirits, everything seemed new to her. “Telling you in advance would not only disrupt your exams but also ruin the surprise. How boring would that be?”

“I still have two more subjects to test next week.”

Chen Huan sent a message. Fewer people were watching the game than usual for finals week, and there were many empty seats. Just as Cheng Wanyue mentioned Yan Ci, Zhou Yu asked her, “Yan Ci has a game at the stadium. Do you want to go watch?”

Of course, Cheng Wanyue wanted to go. She hooked her arm through Zhou Yu’s, deliberately provoking Cheng Yuzhou, “Someone isn’t going to get jealous again, are they?”

Cheng Yuzhou had even given her a ring and a wedding dress; there was no need to be jealous about this.

“It’s okay, you have me,” Cheng Yanqing imitated Cheng Wanyue, coyly leaning on Cheng Yuzhou’s shoulder. Just as he was about to say something, Cheng Yuzhou twisted his arm and pinned him to the ground.

Zhou Yu went to get a bicycle. She rode in front with Cheng Wanyue, while the two boys got up, brushed the dust off their clothes, and followed them to the stadium.

The game had already started. Yan Ci’s jersey was soaked with sweat on his back. He didn’t look at the audience. Only during halftime did he notice the few people sitting in the back row. Cheng Wanyue stood up and waved at him, so excited that her hat fell off. She didn’t care about others’ curious stares and shouted, “Yan Ci is so handsome!”

Although it was a friendly match, the scores were tight. Yan Ci was being tightly guarded, and when he fell or ran, his lower back tattoo would inevitably show. Zhou Yu had said that the letter Y could be someone else, or it could be himself.

Cheng Wanyue sat on the chair only after getting tired from shouting. Her water was in Cheng Yuzhou’s bag, and the cap was screwed on very tightly by him.

“Zhouzhou Ge-ge is also very handsome when he plays basketball, A-Yu. Next time you go watch his game, he even has abs!” she said. Sure enough, Cheng Yuzhou unscrewed the cap and handed it to her.

Coincidentally, Yan Ci was tripped and fell to the ground, his jersey lifting above his waist.

Zhou Yu only heard a burst of enthusiastic cheers in her ears. Before she could even look at the court, a hand blocked her view. She turned her head and met Cheng Yuzhou’s gaze.

Cheng Yanqing stood up and cursed the person who used a dirty trick. If there hadn’t been a railing, he would have jumped from the stands.

Zhou Yu quietly moved away from him. Cheng Yuzhou suddenly leaned close and whispered in her ear, “I’ve been working out quite a lot recently too. Want to see?”

Chen Huan was still sitting nearby. Zhou Yu only appeared calm on the surface. “So many people... isn’t that inappropriate?”

Cheng Yuzhou picked up Cheng Wanyue’s sun protective clothing to shield them, covering Zhou Yu inside. He hooked her T-shirt with his finger and lifted it up a little.

“Take a peek.”