Confession

Liu Chang'an arrived at the foot of Mount Lu and followed An Nuan's location pin to the milk tea shop called Cha Dao Dao. By the time he got there, an hour had passed.

Whitewash had been slathered over the uneven brick walls. A few wooden tables and chairs were scattered about, plastic vines hung from the ceiling, and students from nearby universities sat in the corner working on assignments or papers on their laptops. There was nothing special about this milk tea shop.

Except for the exceptionally special An Nuan.

When Liu Chang'an started high school under his new identity, his body went through the usual period of adjustment. He fell down the stairs. Everyone said he had lost his head over Bai Hui, but it was An Nuan who helped him up. When he opened his eyes, still a little dazed, the flustered gaze of a beautiful sixteen-year-old girl was fixed on him.

A thousand years of wind and snow, wandering through the world, and yet he still seemed to have the heart of a boy.

To Liu Chang'an, no one he had known since he could remember was particularly special. They were all just lives born of the natural laws of this world, himself included. And yet, in the era when those lives were born and entered his life, some people had always been special to him in that moment.

An Nuan was drinking orange juice. Another cup sat on the seat across from her, its rim covered in condensation. The ice cubes inside had already melted, so it probably tasted rather watered down.

Her best friend, Han Zhizhi, sat beside her. The daughter of Professor Ling, who lived across from An Nuan, she was now looking at Liu Chang'an with an expression of praise that was tinged with schadenfreude.

Back in their first year of high school, Han Zhizhi had visited An Nuan at the Affiliated High School. Han Zhizhi went to another school, one whose reputation and academic strength were on a par with the Affiliated High School.

"I told you. Coming down from Mount Lu takes half an hour for everyone else, but an hour for him," An Nuan said, chatting as casually as ever.

"But when he hurried over from home, he wasn't slow at all," Han Zhizhi said, her tone full of innuendo.

Han Zhizhi didn't have An Nuan's looks or figure, but she was cute too... Liu Chang'an basically used the word "cute" to describe all females, from newborns to those on the verge of being buried.

Liu Chang'an sat down and drank his orange juice.

"He can reach up to the Ninth Heaven and seize the moon, or dive into the five oceans to catch turtles. That's him for you. He's incredibly capable," An Nuan told Han Zhizhi.

Han Zhizhi immediately put on an admiring expression. "So punching the residents of South Mountain Nursing Home and kicking the kids at North Sea Kindergarten are among his heroic feats too?"

An Nuan was no longer in the mood for banter. It was impossible to say she wasn't touched. Liu Chang'an was always so unruffled, acting as if nothing mattered to him. But whenever she had a problem, he never hesitated. A friend like that... An Nuan couldn't help feeling a little resentful that he was doing all this for her as just a friend.

Most importantly, he might get into trouble for her sake. As his friend, she couldn't help feeling uneasy about dragging him into it.

Liu Chang'an was drinking his orange juice, enjoying life as usual. An Nuan snatched his cup, pulled out the straw, switched it to her own cup, then handed her cup to him.

After all, Han Zhizhi was there. An Nuan would have felt a little embarrassed to drink straight from his cup without switching the straw.

"Didn't I tell you not to come?" An Nuan glared at Liu Chang'an reproachfully. She tried to look angry, but her voice and eyes were soft despite herself.

"JIO feet were itchy," Liu Chang'an said in the Junsha dialect.

Han Zhizhi burst out laughing, twirling a strand of hair beside her cheek.

An Nuan couldn't take it anymore. She came around to Liu Chang'an, wrapped her arms around him, and shook him. She liked him and found him annoying all at once. "I hate you! And you even livestreamed it! Zhizhi nearly died laughing!"

"My orange juice." Liu Chang'an pressed a hand to An Nuan's face and pushed her away. "Settle down. People are trying to study."

The girl working on her computer in the corner turned her gaze back to the screen. Some things really couldn't be helped. The reality a girl had to face was that if she wasn't particularly pretty, she had to find other ways to secure more advantages for herself. Who wouldn't want to run around, act cute, and pout like that tall, beautiful girl? But men still cared about looks.

"I confess, I was the one who sold you out. I only meant to check whether Ma Shilong was still livestreaming and lurking outside, but I didn't expect to see you. I think you could get into livestreaming. The comments and messages on Ma Shilong's and Nuan Nuan's Weibo accounts are all about what happened tonight." Han Zhizhi shot An Nuan a look. Could she show a little restraint? They weren't even together yet, and she was already feeding everyone else dog food.

"Livestreaming fights?" An Nuan returned to her seat and said to Liu Chang'an, "You'd better not listen to her terrible ideas."

"He forced me," Liu Chang'an said, as he saw it. "I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen. He insisted I beat him up."

"I don't think he'll let this go," An Nuan said anxiously. "If he can lie in wait for me, he can lie in wait for you too."

"As long as he stops lying in wait for you, I don't mind," Liu Chang'an said indifferently.

"Then I'd rather he keep waiting outside the school and the neighborhood. It's not like he has any other options." An Nuan shook her head.

Han Zhizhi looked at An Nuan, completely baffled. Why had she asked her to come along? Just to torment the tender heart of a girl who knew nothing of love's sweetness and could only dream of it?

An Nuan caught Han Zhizhi's look, blushed a little, and gave her a meaningful glance.

Han Zhizhi was furious. An Nuan had just fed her a bunch of dog food, and now she was treating her like a third wheel? Han Zhizhi picked up her bag and stood. She shot An Nuan another look. She really was the sort who forgot her friends as soon as a guy came along.

"Why's she leaving?" Liu Chang'an's attention shifted. Han Zhizhi had a pretty nice figure from behind, though she wasn't as tall or as beautiful as An Nuan.

"Pay attention," An Nuan said sternly.

"It's really no big deal. We're on break for the next few days. He won't be able to block my way until school starts. After what happened today, he'll bring at least five people. But no young master would dare cause trouble at the Affiliated High School gates, so he'll probably just follow me somewhere more convenient, then I'll beat them all up." Liu Chang'an hesitated. "I promise I won't livestream a fight next time."

"You think you're invincible or something? You're going to fight five people!" The more Liu Chang'an said, the more worried An Nuan became. She couldn't even be bothered to scold him for still trying to livestream. At least he knew she'd be angry if he did it again.

"I wasn't this powerful before, but now I really am," Liu Chang'an said objectively.

"But you..."

An Nuan was about to say more, but Liu Chang'an had already walked out of the milk tea shop.

"I wasn't finished!"

"You're nagging. I don't want to listen anymore."

An Nuan caught up with Liu Chang'an at the entrance to the Juyuan neighborhood. She ran in front of him, grabbed his arm, and hoisted it over her shoulder, trying to throw him over her.

But Liu Chang'an didn't play along today. An Nuan gritted her teeth and strained, but couldn't budge him. In the end, she had to let go, panting.

"Have you been practicing the Zhenwei Technique I gave you?" Liu Chang'an asked, changing the subject.

"What?"

"The character for water on the left and Qin on the right; the character for water on the left and You on the right. They're the names of two rivers. The rivers converge, symbolizing the harmony of yin and yang and the free flow of the meridians. That's why it's called the Zhenwei Technique," Liu Chang'an explained. "The poem goes: 'The Qin and Wei are rushing in flood. Young men and women gather orchids. "Shall we go and see?" she asks. "I've been already," he says, "but let's go again." Beyond the Wei, it's vast and joyful. The young men and women flirt with one another, and he gives her peonies. In ancient times, orchids and peonies symbolized the beauty of love. Now I'm giving you the Zhenwei Technique as a wish that you'll find love."

An Nuan froze. She was used to Liu Chang'an's convoluted way of thinking, but she'd never have guessed... Was he confessing his love by giving her a breast-enhancement massage technique?

It was hard to understand Liu Chang'an's actions through the logic of an ordinary person. If an ordinary guy confessed to a girl like An Nuan, he might as well say, "If your breasts were bigger, I'd like you. Look, I've even found a way to help you." No one with any sense would ever do that. But Liu Chang'an wasn't necessarily like anyone else.

An Nuan knew that famous love poem by heart. Thinking it over, she suddenly understood. That bastard Liu Chang'an was definitely saying she had to have big breasts to be worthy of dating.

"Liu Chang'an!"

An Nuan was furious. She wrapped her arms around his waist and tried to throw him into the flower bed beside them.

"Watch yourself. We're near your neighborhood, and everyone here knows us!" Liu Chang'an reminded her helplessly. Why did this little girl always resort to violence at the drop of a hat? Wasn't his meaning clear? The man in the poem had already been to the banks of the Qin and Wei, but when the woman invited him, he agreed to go again. That meant mutual affection was what mattered between a man and a woman; everything else could be ignored.

Liu Chang'an and An Nuan were close. The Zhenwei Technique was just like the orchids and peonies in the poem, merely a symbol of love, not the reason love began... They had already taken a liking to each other, which was why he gave her orchids and peonies. They had already taken a liking to each other, which was why he gave her the Zhenwei Technique. If he hadn't liked her, why would he care whether anyone else's breasts were big or whether they needed to be enhanced?

How could she fail to understand such simple logic? Liu Chang'an thought as he let her push him down until he was sitting beside the flower bed.

Fine. He'd let her have her way.