Past

Liang Shiyun’s mother, Fang Yuan, was a college professor and Chu Xia’s advisor at the School of Architecture.

On Saturday, Liang Shiyun went home for dinner as usual.

Fang Yuan lived in the faculty building subsidized by the school. It was next to the college, had convenient transportation, and a nice surrounding. It was an older area, so there was a serious shortage of parking spaces. Thus, Liang Shiyun could only get out of the car at the gate and carry her things in.

The building was an old-fashioned family building with six floors and no elevators.

Her mother’s salary plus various allowances and bonuses altogether was not low, but it couldn’t compare with the rapidly rising housing prices in the past few years.

Liang Shiyun tried persuading Fang Yuan to move out of this place a few years ago, and she paid for them to change to a place with a better environment. However, Fang Yuan didn’t appreciate it. She said that her legs and feet still worked, and she didn’t need it. To put it bluntly, she didn’t like using anything that came from her father’s money.

Liang Shiyun stood on the fourth floor and raised her hand to knock on the door.

“Sister, you’re back—” Soon, the heavy door opened from the inside, and Fang Shiya’s head poked out.

“Yea,” Liang Shiyun said. “Help me carry the things in first.”

She handed the bags in her hands to Fang Shiya. She opened the shoe cabinet and took out the slippers. While she was changing her shoes, she noticed a pair of leather shoes at the door. These were not her stepfather’s size, and the style was more like those worn by young people.

They had guests at home?

She was about to ask Fang Shiya, but out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a familiar figure—Chu Xia.

He was sitting on the sofa and looking down at what looked like a school book, while reaching for a string bean in the bowl from time to time. He neatly broke it into smaller pieces.

His fingers were slender and well-defined, even grabbing a string bean was pleasing to the eye.

Liang Shiyun was looking at him for a while. He turned his head when he heard movement, and their eyes met.

At this moment, Fang Shiya came out after putting away her things. She glanced at the string bean in Chu Xia’s hand, and exclaimed, “Oh, why are you still doing that? I’ll just do it myself.”

As she spoke, she quickly pulled the bowl of string bean aside.

Chu Xia stopped. He took a piece of napkin from the table and wiped his hands.

“This elder brother is my mother’s student,” Fang Shiya introduced him to Liang Shiyun, “I don’t know how to solve a few problems, so I asked him for help.”

Fang Shiya was 18 years old this year and was about to take the college entrance exam.

Liang Shiyun glanced at the book and said, “You’re amazing if you can remember something from so many years ago.”

Chu Xia: “I remember just a little bit.”

Fang Shiya’s eyes switched between them. “Do you know each other?”

Liang Shiyun: “We’re college classmates.”

Fang Shiya: “Oh, it seems that I don’t need to introduce you two.”

“Yeah.” Liang Shiyun looked at the kitchen again. “Why are you cooking so early today?”

“Because we have a guest here? Mom said I should cook two more dishes today.” Fang Shiya smiled.

Liang Shiyun raised her eyebrows slightly.

Dinner wasn’t ready until six o’clock.

It was sweet and sour short ribs, pork belly and bamboo shoot soup, simmered fish, hairy crab and fried rice cake, and two stir-fried vegetables.

These were all authentic local dishes. Although there was nothing special about the ingredients, these many dishes took quite a while to make.

Liang Shiyun came home to eat every week, and had never encountered such treatment.

When Fang Shiya entered the kitchen to help with the dishes, Liang Shiyun had to tease Chu Xia, “This is all thanks to you. I haven’t tasted my mother’s cooking in so many years.”

Although it was a joke, Chu Xia could hear the faint disappointment in her tone.

“You and professor—” he was about to ask.

At this moment, Fang Yuan, who had finished in the kitchen, had come out. When she saw the supplements and health care products Liang Shiyun had brought, she frowned. “Uncle Zhou and I are in good health, we don’t need these.”

Chu Xia swallowed his remaining words, it was not the time to ask about more.

The relationship between Liang Shiyun and Professor Fang had never been very good.

When Chu Xia first learned about this, it wasn’t directly from Liang Shiyun. It was when he accidentally bumped into Liang Shiyun and Professor Fang arguing.

Back then, the national architectural design competition made an exception and allowed freshmen to participate. As the most influential professor in the college, Fang Yuan happened to have a spot she could recommend, and Fang Yuan recommended—Chu Xia.

To this day, Chu Xia still remembered Liang Shiyun’s disappointment.

“Chu Xia’s work is only half-finished. He’s sick again, and he doesn’t know if he can finish it before the deadline. Why would you recommend his work over mine?”

Liang Shiyun, who always seemed like she didn’t care, questioned it loudly. Her eyes were full of stubborness.

Fang Yuan just glanced at Liang Shiyun, and told her in a rational and cold tone, “If his work is completed, then he still has a chance to win an award, even if it’s just an excellence award. As for your work—I’m not trying to bring you down, it won’t even get into the finals.”

After Fang Yuan finished speaking, she opened the door and left. This ended the conversation.

Chu Xia had never seen a mother treat her child with such contempt and impatience.

But from that day on, Liang Shiyun’s attitude towards him changed.

Liang Shiyun, who only concentrated on her major, suddenly asked someone to deliver medicine to him while he was suffering from a cold. She also began to approach him.

In the past, he liked to stay in the library. Thus, he would always bump into her “by chance” in the library. She would ask him what books he was reading, and find a topic to discuss with him.

Chu Xia soon realized something was wrong.

Liang Shiyun was kind to everyone on the surface, but she had actually alienated herself from everyone.

There were quite a few boys in the class who were interested in her, but because of Gao Yan’s tragic confession, they all gave up.

And that person would suddenly approach him.

Chu Xia always felt that she was approaching for a purpose. Thus, he asked her if it was because of the competition.

“If you really want a spot, then you don’t have to go through this much effort. I can tell Professor Fang directly that I abstain.” He had seen the dispute between them, so he simply went straight to the point.

But Liang Shiyun was surprised after hearing this. She smiled after hesitating for a long time. She asked, “Why do you think that?”

Then she continued, “Your work is great, and I’m convinced that I will lose. I just thought that since there is such a big gap between us, I should learn more from you. I think we should be friends.”

Friends?

Chu Xia had no interest in such a deliberate friendship.

One afternoon, while he was listening to a not so pure radio program, Liang Shiyun bumped into him and asked him what he was listening to. He put the earphones into her ears.

“So you’re listening to this.” She took the earphones off in embarrassment after listening for a while.

She pretended to be calm, but her ears were slightly red.

It was April at that time. The weather in this city was already very hot. She changed from heavy winter clothes to a T-shirt.

For the first time, he discovered that her neck was so white and slender with pieces of hair falling from her ears. It was so white like a freshly peeled onion.

It made him want to kiss.

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