Liu Shang took nearly another hour to transfer buses and return to the dormitory.
The moment he came back, Fu Liang reacted with great excitement.
"Second Brother! You finally came back."
"Have you eaten yet?"
Liu Shang set down his bag and smiled. "I got back a little late today. I ate downstairs on my way back."
"Have you guys eaten?"
Fu Liang clapped his hands. "No! Weren't we waiting for you?"
"Come on, let's go out and get online, maybe pull an all-nighter? It's only Saturday."
Liu Shang rolled his eyes at the swaying big guy with a smile. "All-nighter? Are you trying to wreck your body and get yourself killed?!"
"You guys go ahead. I'm not going."
"Hey, don't be like that. Hou'ai went home for the weekend, so it's just Big Brother and me. Playing Warcraft RPG is no fun with only two people, right?"
Zheng Shiwei chimed in from the side. "Two people really are too boring. And in The Frozen Throne, Fu Liang isn't even a match for me."
By then, Liu Shang had changed into sportswear and gotten his headphones ready.
"I'm going for a run now. You two want to come?"
Seeing this, Fu Liang smacked his forehead. "Run?"
"It's the weekend. Why are you running for no reason?"
Liu Shang smiled. "How does that saying go? What goes around comes around."
"The damage we do to our bodies now will come back to collect after we're thirty-five. The wheel of karma turns—who does heaven spare?"
Zheng Shiwei burst out laughing. "Haha, that even rhymes pretty well."
"Then tonight, I guess it'll just be Fu Liang and me."
"Sigh, people in love really are different!! Mentally healthy, psychologically healthy, physically healthy!"
After that, Liu Shang left the dormitory building and began jogging along the wide roads that ran through the enormous campus.
He had never noticed before that this school was far better than he had imagined.
If a person's heart was dark and gloomy, then the world they saw lacked color.
It turned out that his former self simply had not been worthy of this school's peace and beauty.
A moment later, Liu Shang, headphones on, dialed Jiang Ruolin's number.
He had been busy all day and had barely exchanged messages with Jiang Ruolin.
And Jiang Ruolin seemed busy after returning home as well. There had been long gaps between their replies.
"Hello?"
The call connected quickly, and Jiang Ruolin's crisp, sweet voice came through.
The moment he heard her voice, Liu Shang felt as though the emptiness of his day and the emptiness in his soul had both been instantly filled.
"Hehe, have you eaten? What were you busy with today?"
On the other end of the line, Jiang Ruolin, exhausted and irritable after a whole day, held her phone as she fell back onto her soft, comfortable bed.
She had hurried home for the weekend so she could be ready to put out fires at any time, lest her parents learn from someone else that she had found a boyfriend.
For now, things seemed fine. No one had deliberately leaked the news to her parents.
Still, quite a few people had come at her from all directions, probing and expressing their "concern" for her.
Faced with those persuaders' earnest advice and veiled hints, even Jiang Ruolin felt overwhelmed and terribly annoyed.
"Whew, I'm a little tired. I haven't eaten, and I don't have the slightest appetite."
"Oh? Our Princess Ruolin is in low spirits. What happened? Want me to keep you company while you eat?"
After hearing Liu Shang's voice, Jiang Ruolin's mood on the other end visibly improved. "Hey, how are you so bold?"
"I'm at home, you know. You dare joke with me like that? Aren't you afraid my parents will hear?"
Liu Shang smiled. "From your tone, volume, and how naturally you're speaking, I could tell you were home alone."
"Besides, even if Uncle and Auntie were home, are classmates not allowed to care about and ask after each other?"
Jiang Ruolin smiled softly, her voice gentle and wistful. "But my dear classmate Liu Shang, you're not one of my ordinary classmates."
"Aren't you afraid my parents will find out and take me away from your side?"
Liu Shang smiled. "Let me make this clear first: no matter what happens, I will always hold Uncle and Auntie in the utmost respect."
"But even they can't take you away from me."
"I said this before. In this world, other than God, no one can take you away from me!"
At that moment, Jiang Ruolin could not help sighing. "Goebbels once said that if a lie is repeated a thousand times, it becomes the truth."
"But a lie is still a lie. Even self-hypnosis has a moment when you wake up."
"Liu Shang, you need to know that even if we leave my parents out of it, there are still many people who want to break us apart."
"They really are unbearable."
Liu Shang hesitated as he ran, then frowned and said gently but seriously, "Ruolin, try to relax. Don't pay attention to them."
"I don't want your once orderly, happy life to become less beautiful because of them and these trivial matters."
Perhaps because she had been in an extremely bad mood and poor condition all day, Jiang Ruolin inexplicably felt wronged as she listened to Liu Shang.
She was not one of Lu Xun's warriors, able to face the accusations of a thousand men with cold brows.
Despite her high emotional intelligence, she could not simply turn a blind eye to pressure coming from every direction, nor could she tear off all pretenses and angrily lash back.
They were indirectly and tactfully trying to persuade her, so she could only indirectly and tactfully express her determination.
In Jiang Ruolin's heart, she cherished and protected this relationship more than anyone.
She feared those people would disturb Liu Shang's life, yet she also tried to bear everything alone and face all those doubts and objections by herself.
"Heh, are you saying we should relax and bury our heads in the sand like ostriches?"
"If we do that, perhaps we can be ostriches for two or three years. But what happens after that?"
"The problems we need to face will have to be faced sooner or later! Unless—"
At that point, Jiang Ruolin suddenly realized that her words had been too harsh.
She should not have placed pressure on Liu Shang that he should not have borne, or that far exceeded what he could bear.
But just then, Jiang Ruolin heard Liu Shang's magnetic voice from the other end of the call—relaxed and calm, yet incomparably serious.
"Ruolin, don't concern yourself with any of that."
"You only need to live in peaceful days. I'll bear all the burdens and move forward for everything else!"
At that moment, when Jiang Ruolin heard Liu Shang's heartfelt, forceful words, tears streamed down her face.
She had wronged Liu Shang just now. It turned out he was not failing to consider their future. He had said that only because, like her, he wanted to shoulder everything alone—to use his thin shoulders to bear the immense pressure he could not handle and should never have had to face at his age.
As long as your days remain peaceful, I am willing to bear the burden alone and move forward!
Before you continue