Psst! We're moving!
Shen Yihuan felt she needed to talk to Lu Zhou, of course, after her neck allergy cleared up.
She looked too ugly right now.
However, she hadn’t expected to run into Lu Zhou when she went to deliver the school anniversary photos to Teacher Xu.
She had printed out a set of anniversary photos, put them in a photo album bag for Teacher Xu, and then asked for her email to send her the digital file package.
“Indeed, the scenery through your camera looks even better than what the naked eye sees,” Teacher Xu said, flipping through the photos and praising continuously. “You’re truly a great photographer!”
“Not at all,” Shen Yihuan said, waving her hand with a smile. “It’s just that I used to skip classes and wander around school, so I know more beautiful spots than others.”
“Oh, right, our school is going to be rated as a star school, and the principal wants to set up a photography club. Are you interested in being a special consultant for the club?” Teacher Xu asked.
“No need to call me a consultant. If you need anything, just give me a call.”
Teacher Xu looked at Shen Yihuan and couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. She had indeed grown up. The Shen Yihuan of the past was a problem student who could infuriate people with just a few words.
“Teacher Xu.”
The office door behind them opened, and a familiar voice spoke.
Shen Yihuan turned her head.
Lu Zhou also paused for a moment when he saw her, but quickly returned to normal.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Teacher Xu said to Shen Yihuan. “You two are quite fated. Didn’t the freshman military training just start? We invited Lu Zhou, a soldier, to give a lecture so they can understand military discipline.”
It’s military training season again.
Shen Yihuan felt a little sentimental.
Teacher Xu glanced at her watch and stood up. “The lecture is at 6:30 tonight. Come on, let me treat you to a meal at the cafeteria.”
Shen Yihuan glanced sideways at Lu Zhou. He showed no reaction, his face cold and indifferent.
Tsk.
So fierce.
The “poke” she sent him on QQ a few days ago had also fallen into a black hole, with no response. She didn’t even know if he had seen it.
“Okay!” Shen Yihuan smiled sweetly. “It’s been so long since I’ve eaten cafeteria food.”
Lu Zhou’s temple throbbed.
________________________________________
By the time they reached the cafeteria, it was late, and most people had already finished dinner. Only a few boys, drenched in sweat, likely just finished playing basketball, remained.
Shen Yihuan’s memory of holding a stainless steel tray was very distant, but Lu Zhou was very familiar with it. Conditions in the military camp weren’t great, and they all had this setup.
Shen Yihuan followed him. The dishes he ordered were simple: one meat, one vegetable, and a full bowl of rice, so tightly packed it was bulging high.
She was a picky eater and didn’t like many things. After circling around, she also picked one meat and one vegetable, plus half a bowl of rice.
During the meal, Shen Yihuan and Teacher Xu chatted, with Lu Zhou sitting beside them, only answering a few words when directly addressed.
“Lu Zhou, for the military training mobilization lecture later, just be strict. Dampen their spirits. Students nowadays are all only children, pampered endlessly by their families, and getting harder and harder to manage!”
Lu Zhou hummed softly in response.
Shen Yihuan ate a little and then stopped touching her chopsticks; the school cafeteria food was genuinely unappetizing.
She poked her rice bowl with her chopsticks and, emboldened by Teacher Xu’s presence, complained, “Teacher, look at his cold face. Just sitting there, he could scare someone to death.”
Lu Zhou ignored her. His large bowl of rice was already empty.
He finished quickly, not a single grain of rice left. The dishes were all eaten too, leaving only remnants of sauce, as if devoured by a whirlwind.
Compared to Shen Yihuan’s plate, it looked untouched.
Teacher Xu praised him. “Good job. Truly from the military camp, not wasting any food.”
She then patted Shen Yihuan and jokingly scolded, “Look at you. Are you just picky about school food? I used to always see you secretly ordering takeout.”
Shen Yihuan had nothing to say and could only force a smile.
After clearing their trays, the lecture time was approaching.
Teacher Xu, now the homeroom teacher for the new first-year students, bid them farewell and rushed back to her classroom to maintain discipline.
“I sent you a message last time,” Shen Yihuan said, walking beside him.
“What?”
“On QQ...”
“I wasn’t logged in,” he said, his tone calm. “What did you send?”
Shen Yihuan: “...I poked you.”
Lu Zhou frowned, looking confused. “Huh?”
“It’s like a window shake or something... I just wanted to see if you’d respond to me,” Shen Yihuan’s voice got softer and softer as she spoke, losing her confidence.
It seems I’m being quite inexplicable.
Lu Zhou’s gaze was indifferent. He walked forward silently and calmly.
Shen Yihuan followed him to the auditorium. The students were already seated, and the principal and school leaders were also on stage. An empty seat was reserved in the middle, slightly to the right, with Lu Zhou’s nameplate in front of it.
She walked to the last row under the stage. Lu Zhou nodded to the school leaders and took his seat.
As soon as he arrived, the young girls below erupted.
“Ahhh! Look! Who is that?! Is he going to be our instructor? He’s too handsome!”
“I want a passionate instructor x student romance, pronto!”
“Ah, I wanted to sneak my phone in today, why didn’t I?! I really want to take pictures of him!”
“Hey, hey, can you tell me his name? I’m nearsighted and didn’t bring my glasses!”
Shen Yihuan: “...”
All of them.
No wonder Teacher Xu said she couldn’t control the kids nowadays.
Back then, most of the girls were very reserved, especially with someone like Lu Zhou, who was aloof and unapproachable. Apart from receiving an overwhelming number of love letters at the start of the school year, no one dared to approach him after that, leaving only Shen Yihuan.
The principal and the academic director spoke for over half an hour before it was finally Lu Zhou’s turn.
As soon as the principal introduced him, a fierce round of applause erupted from below, much louder than the previous two times.
A crowd of beauty-obsessed fanatics.
“Hello everyone, I’m Lu Zhou, an active-duty soldier.”
A deep, resonant voice, like gravel rubbing together, amplified by the microphone, stimulated eardrums and ignited another small climax below.
A carnival for the beauty- and voice-obsessed.
Lu Zhou was a typical contradiction.
His appearance was calm and self-possessed, arrogant and cold, exuding an impeccable sense of abstinence from head to toe. Yet, his chiseled muscles and explosively alluring voice were like two violently colliding paradoxes.
Deeply captivating.
The first word that popped into her head was sexy.
Shen Yihuan took out her phone and secretly took pictures of him.
She barely heard anything Lu Zhou said. Her entire head, like those of the female students below, continued to burst with fireworks, as if she had returned to high school.
Beauty leads people astray.
She only reacted when the applause broke out, finding her photo album already filled with pictures of Lu Zhou.
The mobilization meeting lasted over an hour and concluded.
Lu Zhou finished using the restroom and washed his hands. As he stepped out, a pair of slightly cool hands tightly clutched his wrist, abruptly pulling him into a dark, secluded corner.
“Phew...” Shen Yihuan exhaled. “That was close.”
She crouched, furtively looking at the noisy corridor outside, then turned to meet Lu Zhou’s eyes.
Dark, staring straight at her.
“...” She subconsciously swallowed, explaining awkwardly, “I just heard those girls saying they were going to ask for your contact information, so I pulled you over here to hide.”
Lu Zhou looked at her. “So?”
She licked her lips, feeling a little wronged. “I didn’t even get it.”
Lu Zhou turned and walked away.
Shen Yihuan stared at him for a second, then caught up again. “Wait! Lu Zhou! I have something to ask you!”
She grabbed his arm. It was hard and rigid, a little uncomfortable to grip.
“Ask what?”
“Last time at my doorstep, you threatened me, saying ‘try it.’ I still haven’t figured it out. What would you do to me?”
His gaze turned cold, his face grim, a warning in his voice. “Shen Yihuan.”
Three words, like a bucket of ice water, drenched Shen Yihuan from head to toe.
She froze.
Lu Zhou countered, “Are you sober now?”
Shen Yihuan blinked, looking into his eyes, and seriously said, “I’m not afraid.”
Almost instantly, her wrist was tightly gripped, and she was abruptly pulled forward. Lu Zhou, his face stern, strode quickly, so fast that her feet barely touched the ground.
His movements were harsh, rude, like a beast finally unable to restrain itself.
He pulled open the car door, shoved Shen Yihuan in, closed and locked the door, all in one fluid motion.
Shen Yihuan’s head hit hard, and she immediately frowned. Lu Zhou drove furiously, his eyes dark and devoid of emotion.
“Where are we going...?” Shen Yihuan felt a chill.
She felt that Lu Zhou’s obsession had become more severe than before.
In the past, except for that one time before their breakup, he could control his temper. But now, he was completely out of control.
His current expression even made her feel, inexplicably, that Lu Zhou wanted to take her down with him.
“Aren’t you not afraid?”
“...No, I’m not afraid,” she said, emboldened.
“I’ll tell you what ‘try it’ means.”
Shen Yihuan frowned. “What?”
Lu Zhou turned his head to look at her. A moment later, he actually let out a laugh, soft and deep, fleeting, making her wonder if she had imagined it.
Like a gust of wind, like a dream.
And like that satisfied, bloodthirsty smile when one finally catches their prey.
He said.
“Taking you home.”