WIFTY - 55

I need to let her know.
How much I’m looking forward to our future.
—Zhang Lurang

Early the next morning.

Due to his internal clock, Zhang Lurang woke up very early.

Su Zaizai’s department had agreed to have morning tea at a famous local restaurant today. However, since it wasn’t too early, Su Zaizai hadn’t set an alarm.

Zhang Lurang lay in bed with Su Zaizai for a while but eventually couldn’t resist getting up. He sat up, tucked the blanket around her snugly, and quietly slipped into the bathroom to shower.

By the time he came out, Su Zaizai was just waking up.

Wrapped in a pure white blanket, her chestnut hair spread softly across her back, fluffy and warm.

She rubbed her sleepy eyes and mumbled groggily, “Lurang, what time is it?”

Zhang Lurang averted his gaze, drying his hair with a towel as he replied softly, “I didn’t check.”

Then, he walked over to the desk, turning his back to her.

Su Zaizai shifted lazily in bed, her voice soft and sticky.

“Did you see my phone? I want to check what my colleagues are saying.”

Zhang Lurang reached out to unzip his backpack, pretending to casually rummage through it.

“I didn’t see it.”

Hearing this, Su Zaizai paused for a moment, then happened to notice Zhang Lurang’s phone on the bedside table.

After some thought, she said, “Then I’ll use your phone to call mine.”

Zhang Lurang instinctively responded with a faint “Mm.”

The next second, as if suddenly remembering something, he abruptly turned his head.

Just in time, he saw Su Zaizai leaning over to grab his phone, exposing a large expanse of pale skin that was particularly blinding.

Zhang Lurang’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he took two steps back, his thigh bumping lightly against the table, making a faint sound.

Unaware of his movements, Su Zaizai yawned and picked up his phone.

She unlocked it effortlessly with her fingerprint and was about to return to the home screen when she suddenly noticed the page displayed on the screen.

—The XX Sexology Report

Su Zaizai froze for a moment, then looked up at Zhang Lurang.

His ears were burning red, and he avoided meeting her gaze.

After a long pause, Su Zaizai finally realized what was going on and exclaimed excitedly, “Lurang, you’re reading textbooks for me? But why are you reading the text version? You should’ve asked me—I have tons of videos!”

Zhang Lurang: “… “

“How about we skip morning tea today and stay here instead? We can practice multiple times—you know, apply what you’ve learned.”

The slight embarrassment Zhang Lurang had felt earlier vanished completely because of her words.

He walked over, picked up Su Zaizai’s backpack, rummaged through it, and placed a fresh set of clothes in front of her. In a cold tone, he said, “We need to check out by noon. Hurry up and take a shower.”

Su Zaizai glanced at the time and said innocently, “It’s only nine o’clock. That’s enough time for us to… do it more than ten times.”

At this, Zhang Lurang paused, lowering his head to look at her. His dark eyes were unreadable.

Noticing his expression change, Su Zaizai quickly corrected herself.

“One—just one time! I misspoke earlier…”

Zhang Lurang ignored her, sitting down on the adjacent bed and lying back, pretending to nap.

After waiting for a while without hearing any movement from her side,

his brow furrowed slightly, and he was about to check on her when—

Before he could open his eyes, he heard Su Zaizai’s cautious yet eager voice.

“What about… half a time?”

Zhang Lurang: “… “

________________________________________

Halfway through their dim sum breakfast, Su Zaizai went to the restroom with another girl from her department.

On the way, the girl looked curious and gossipy, unable to resist asking, “Zaizai, did your period start yesterday?”

Su Zaizai was confused. “No, why?”

“Then why was your boyfriend making that kind of face?”

Su Zaizai immediately understood what she meant and fell silent for a moment.

Then, she thought about Zhang Lurang’s cold, poker face that had persisted all morning. His entire demeanor still seemed gloomy.

She pondered for a bit, not entirely remembering what she’d said earlier, but she couldn’t shake the lingering frustration of being rejected by him.

“You should think about it the other way around.”

“Huh?”

Just as they returned to the table, Su Zaizai didn’t say anything more and sat back down in her seat.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zhang Lurang noticed her return, glanced at her sideways, and picked up some shrimp dumplings with his chopsticks, placing them on her plate.

Su Zaizai lowered her gaze, picked up her chopsticks, and slowly nibbled on the food.

… Probably because she wasn’t on her period.

And then, Zhang Lurang’s current feelings—she guessed they were probably filled with the pain of losing his purity.

Thinking about this, Su Zaizai turned her head and reached out to touch Zhang Lurang’s hand.

With a serious expression, she said, “I’ll take responsibility for you.”

Zhang Lurang: “… “

________________________________________

On the way back.

Perhaps because they hadn’t woken up too early today, Su Zaizai didn’t feel the slightest bit sleepy in the car.

She idly watched some videos for a while, but soon started feeling carsick.

Putting her phone down, Su Zaizai turned her head and stared at Zhang Lurang.

He was wearing a light blue mask, with the upper half of his prominent nose exposed.

A few strands of hair fell over his forehead, his curled lashes shimmering faintly in the light. The contours of his profile were sharp and strikingly handsome.

Su Zaizai leaned closer to peek at the content on his phone screen.

Zhang Lurang didn’t shy away and continued tapping on the screen with his slender fingers.

His expression was focused, as if he were working on something important.

The screen was filled with photos of Su Zaizai.

Each photo was carefully annotated with the time and location it was taken.

From her second year of high school until now, for three years, he had been doing this consistently.

Resting her chin on her hand, Su Zaizai asked curiously, “How many pictures are there now?”

“Three hundred and twelve,” he replied calmly.

Looking at one of the photos, Su Zaizai frowned slightly.

“This one doesn’t look good. How did you manage to take me like this?”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Lurang paused, staring at the photo for a few seconds.

Then, his finger swiped, flipping to another picture.

“This one looks good.”

Su Zaizai glanced at it.

In the photo, she was looking down, biting the cap of a pen, her brow furrowed as she thoughtfully worried about something.

The warm yellow light highlighted her skin, making it appear even whiter and smoother. A few strands of hair framed her cheeks, lending her an adorable, girlish charm.

The corners of Su Zaizai’s eyes lifted, clearly pleased with his compliment.

Then, she pulled out a selfie from her phone and handed it to him. “Even though I do look pretty in that one, it doesn’t fully capture my beauty.”

“… “

“Look at this one—it probably captures only about ten percent of my true beauty,” she said shamelessly.

This selfie was one she was completely satisfied with.

Hearing her words, Zhang Lurang turned to look at her phone screen.

Seeing the person in the photo, he froze for a moment, squinting his eyes to examine it closely.

Soon, he came to a conclusion: “That’s not you.”

Su Zaizai: “… “

Seeing her reaction, Zhang Lurang curved his lips into a smile.

He lowered his gaze, reaching out to ruffle the top of her head, and said earnestly, “They’re all beautiful.”

________________________________________

After a while, Su Zaizai leaned against Zhang Lurang’s arm, closing her eyes to rest.

Beside her, Zhang Lurang put down his phone and softly asked, “Where do you want to live in the future?”

“What?” Su Zaizai hadn’t heard clearly, and her eyelids fluttered.

Zhang Lurang tilted his head, watching her slightly trembling lashes, his voice full of indulgence. “If you don’t want to be too far from your parents, how about we live in Jinghua in the future?”

Hearing this, Su Zaizai slowly raised her head to look at him.

She didn’t understand why he suddenly brought this up and said blankly, “What are you talking about?”

“Our future.”

He was talking about… the future.

Through the double layers of their masks, Zhang Lurang gently nuzzled her cheek with his nose.

His eyes softened, dark and crystal clear like glass marbles.

“I’ll listen to whatever you say.”