I Might Really Have Fallen in Love

After talking with Yang Zhi, Ding Yebai felt much better.

He understood that there was no need to wallow in sadness. Instead, he should use this opportunity to study even harder.

October had grown chilly, and his clothes were getting thicker layer by layer.

One Saturday afternoon after school,

he went to play basketball at the neighborhood court.

Halfway through, the sky, which had been overcast for a long time, suddenly began to rain.

The guys playing with him hurriedly packed up and went home.

Ding Yebai did the same. The rain was getting heavy, and he hurriedly packed his schoolbag.

The rain poured down.

He knew he had already become a drowned rat.

In his panic, he knocked the water bottle off the chair with a "bang."

Just as he was about to reach for it, a pair of white canvas shoes appeared in his vision.

He slowly raised his eyes and saw Yang Zhi standing in front of him with an umbrella.

She had rarely tied her hair into a bun, and she had brushed back her bangs, revealing her delicate features. Her eyes were still as gentle as water, always carrying a brightness and innocence. She wore thin silver-rimmed glasses, a simple, casual white top, and light-blue jeans. She was not carrying anything and looked as though she had simply come out for a stroll.

Yang Zhi crouched down, extending the umbrella toward Ding Yebai while picking up his water bottle. After turning it around once, she handed it back to him with a faint smile. "It's fine. It didn't break."

Ding Yebai stared blankly at her. Their eyes met, and he suddenly felt nervous.

He took the bottle, quickly stuffed it into the side of his schoolbag, and stood up without hurry.

Since she had to hold the umbrella over both of them, Yang Zhi stood up with him.

After putting on his schoolbag, Ding Yebai scratched his head. His eyes first rested on Yang Zhi, then drifted elsewhere.

"Sister Yang Zhi... what are you doing here?"

"Writing my thesis gave me a headache, so I thought I'd come out for a walk. I found you here, and when I saw you didn't have an umbrella, I came over."

"Oh. I see."

"The rain's pretty heavy."

"Yeah."

"Then I'll walk you home."

"...Okay."

Afterward, the two of them walked along the path beneath the same umbrella.

Since Ding Yebai was taller, Yang Zhi raised the umbrella a little higher.

She glanced sideways at his soaked hair and said, "Dry yourself as soon as you get back. Don't catch a cold."

Ding Yebai nodded.

Yang Zhi said, "You're pretty good at basketball."

Ding Yebai asked, "You saw?"

"Mm. I watched for a little while. You really can do a lot of things."

Ding Yebai said nothing.

"You can join your university basketball team after you enroll." Yang Zhi smiled gently at him.

Ding Yebai's heart took a direct hit. His pupils widened, and he quickly looked away.

His sudden panic made his body fall out of his control, too.

He accidentally bumped Yang Zhi's shoulder.

It was only a light bump.

But in his eyes, the impact on Yang Zhi felt like a meteor striking Earth.

"Cough, cough—sorry!" Ding Yebai took a large step to the side, putting more distance between them.

The step was so large that half his body was already outside the umbrella, exposed to the rain.

Yang Zhi stared blankly at his strange behavior.

After a moment, she stretched out her arm and covered him with the umbrella again.

This time, her own other side was getting wet.

Yang Zhi asked, "What's wrong?"

Ding Yebai said, "Nothing..."

"Are you not used to being with me?"

He was probably just not used to being so close a moment ago.

Ding Yebai said, "No..."

He scratched his head, stepped back under the umbrella, and took hold of the handle so that Yang Zhi was covered too.

"That's not it," he denied again.

Other than that, he had no idea what to say.

In some ways, he really was clumsy—clumsy at expressing his feelings.

Yang Zhi did not ask any further. The two of them simply continued walking together.

"Sister Yang Zhi, do you... like hair clips?"

"Hair clips?"

"Mm."

Yang Zhi studied Ding Yebai's face for a while before calmly saying, "I do."

In truth, she felt indifferent about them.

She just did not want to dampen Ding Yebai's enthusiasm.

Hearing that, Ding Yebai immediately pulled a cute white hair clip with a rabbit on it from his pocket.

It was small, lying flat in his broad, powerful palm.

Yang Zhi looked at the clip, then pointed at herself. "For me?"

Ding Yebai glanced at her and nodded shyly.

"Yes."

"Did you buy it?"

"No."

Ding Yebai denied it decisively.

"I got it once when I bought something at a store. They were holding a promotion, and I won it in a lucky draw. A man like me obviously has no use for it."

At the word "man," Yang Zhi looked up at Ding Yebai in confusion.

She said nothing, simply taking the hair clip from him.

"It's pretty. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I thought you'd give it to your senior sister."

"My older sister's a tomboy. She has no use for something this girly."

"Pfft..."

Yang Zhi burst out laughing.

Seeing her smiling face, Ding Yebai awkwardly scratched his cheek with one finger.

"Do you like it?" he suddenly asked.

"Hm?" Yang Zhi spaced out for a few seconds, then smiled faintly. "I like it quite a lot."

"Sister Yang Zhi, what kind of boys do you like?"

"...Huh?"

The question left Yang Zhi completely flustered.

The transition between those two questions was far too abrupt.

If she asked what he wanted to know that for, the scene would definitely become awkward. Ding Yebai would be the one embarrassed, while it would not affect her much.

Yang Zhi thought for a few seconds, subconsciously touched her face, and gazed ahead. "Steady, upright, with sound values..." After thinking for a long time and failing to come up with anything else, she laughed it off. "Forget it. Those things don't matter."

Ding Yebai asked, "Why?"

Yang Zhi said, "Because loving someone means meeting them. Only after meeting that person do you realize that all the conditions you once set for your future partner no longer matter."

Ding Yebai stared at her, at her beautiful profile, her high nose, and her long eyelashes...

Yang Zhi said, "What is love, anyway? Loving someone happens in an instant. It is a gentle plucking of the heartstrings, something difficult to control and impossible to escape. Love doesn't have many causes or reasons. When love arrives, not even a flash flood can stop it."

She paused, and her tone softened.

"As they say, you love because you love."

Ding Yebai said nothing.

Yang Zhi turned to look at him and sighed helplessly.

She knew she had said too much.

She had suddenly elevated the conversation to such a lofty level, only to realize that Ding Yebai was merely eighteen.

He was still a child. He probably would not understand.

Ding Yebai said, "Sister Yang Zhi, you still haven't met that person?"

Yang Zhi answered, "Mm."

She looked up at the sky. Raindrops pattered against the umbrella, just like the tears Luo Luo had shed while lying on her shoulder that night.

"What would it matter even if I met him? Being mutually in love with the person you like is a miracle in today's society."

Ding Yebai was instantly speechless.

He had always thought Sister Yang Zhi believed in fairy tales and love, and was an incurable romantic. But why did those words suddenly sound as if...

That was true. She was someone who had entered society and weathered its storms. Life had long since worn down her edges and pressed the air from her lungs. Did love seem hollow and unreal to her?

"But I still believe in miracles."

Yang Zhi suddenly spoke.

"There's no reason. I just foolishly believe." Her eyes curved as she smiled calmly.

Light instantly appeared in Ding Yebai's eyes.

She really was still Sister Yang Zhi!

Sister Yang Zhi, who remained bright and cheerful no matter how cold reality became, and who continued treating everything with kindness!

Swish, swish, swish—

The rain fell rustlingly, drumming against the roof tiles.

The two of them gazed at each other. It was as if the thread connecting Ding Yebai's soul had come loose, leaving especially the area around his chest hollow.

His entire being felt empty.

When Yang Zhi looked over, he clearly felt shy!!!

He could not look away. His eyes held nothing but her.

Every one of her movements was so cute. Every smile warmed him, and he even found himself smiling along unconsciously.

He might really have fallen in love.

If possible, he wanted to become someone as outstanding as Sister Yang Zhi and walk with her hand in hand toward the future.

But Ding Yebai was still troubled. After all, he had always adhered to the belief that the wise did not fall in love, and his Third Uncle was a living example.

Hmm... forget it! It was fine.

With a brain as intelligent as his, becoming a little foolish would not matter.

Besides,

he was not madly in love like his Third Uncle.

At most, he felt a tiny bit of fondness for Sister Yang Zhi. A tiny bit of admiration, and nothing more.

He came back to himself and was just about to say something when Yang Zhi's words left him stunned.

"I never expected someone who looks so cold to be this gossipy." Yang Zhi deliberately teased him.

Ding Yebai straightened and swallowed the words he had been about to say. "I was just asking."

"Hm? Is that so?"

"..."

Sigh...

He really did love her smile the most.

Love was something that happened in an instant-()

Thanks to Zui Ai Liuhua Meng for the 200 Origin Point Coins tip, Hua He for 200 Origin Point Coins, Sundy｀Yin for 4,500 Origin Point Coins, Xiangjian Molu for 1,500 Origin Point Coins, book friend 20210812154651685 for 100 Origin Point Coins, Jiayin Zhi Zhou for 100 Origin Point Coins, book friend 20201025143756411 for 100 Origin Point Coins, Ai Shang Yingying De Di Ji Nian for 100 Origin Point Coins, and Luo Fan, Mr.?????, for the tips.