Yuan Su

Biodata

Background / History

Yuan Su grew up in a prosperous family whose appliance shop was the largest in town. He consistently ranked first in his year, particularly excelling in mathematics and physics, and repeatedly appeared on the county joint-exam honors board. Teachers considered him capable of entering a top university. He was also popular with girls, receiving gifts and love letters, and delivered the opening-ceremony speech as the freshman representative 5 16.

His father gambled away the business, borrowed heavily from local families, and disappeared. Most of the family's property was sold or seized. The repair shop survived because it was registered in Lu Zhen's name; after she was hospitalized following the family's collapse, creditors did not force her to surrender it. Yuan Su kept the shop running to repay debts and cover her treatment 5 11.

The upheaval left him socially isolated. Friends distanced themselves under parental pressure, and his attendance and overall grades declined. After a former deskmate's mother publicly attacked his family background, Cheng Siyi stopped assigning him a deskmate. His home was stripped so thoroughly that it lacked decent furniture, while school became a place where he could briefly sleep without dealing with creditors 5 23 32 33.

His father, later identified as Yuan Hongzheng, repeatedly returns to take money or impose further debts on him. On Yuan Su's birthday, Yuan Hongzheng steals the three thousand yuan saved for Lu Zhen's medication and follow-up examination, while casino enforcers beat Yuan Su when he tries to recover it 51 52 53 54. Yuan Su subsequently takes whatever repair and installation work he can find, including jobs in neighboring villages and surveillance-camera installation in the county seat 57.

Yuan Su helps fund Li Suhua's surgery, selling nearly all his valuable repair parts and leaving his business short of operating money. When he cannot maintain his debt repayments, creditors attack him again 76 77. He later leaves before completing the college entrance examinations, missing the English examination, and works in Rinzhou while Pu Yu continues her education in Dongzhou 83 96 101.

Their eventual reunion does not immediately end his financial difficulties. Yuan Hongzheng uses Yuan Su's identity documents and a forged signature to make him the supposed guarantor of two million yuan in loans, threatening the survival of his Rinzhou business 126 127. Pu Yu's efforts to expose the scheme ultimately lead to Yuan Hongzheng's and Boss Zhao's arrests, and lawyer Zhou Bingjun confirms that Yuan Su is not legally liable for those debts 140.

Freed from that obligation, Yuan Su resumes serious physics study, prepares to take the college entrance examination again, and becomes Nanhua City's top science-track scorer 148 155 157. He enters university, gives the freshman representative's speech, and later joins Professor Dai's core research group while developing Su Yu Technology 159 166.

Appearance

Yuan Su is tall and lean, with long limbs, pale skin, black hair, and dark eyes 2 20.

• Face: Sharply defined features, a high nose bridge, thin lips, and a pronounced jawline 11 46.
• Hands: Prominent knuckles, thin fingertip calluses, and small scars and cuts from repair work 11 27.
• Work clothes: Black clothing with sleeves rolled to his elbows; grease often marks his hands and forearms 11.
• Scent: Machine oil mixed with soap; Pu Yu also notices a faint pine fragrance on his raincoat 11 31.
• Shoulder scar: A severe scar over the back of his left shoulder, sustained when a rock strikes him during a dangerous trucking job. Pu Yu later kisses it and treats it as a reminder of what he survived rather than something shameful 119 121 122.
• University appearance: Wears a tailored black suit, white shirt, tie, and a silver ring on his ring finger for his freshman representative's speech. His composure makes him appear more mature than his fellow freshmen 159.

Personality

Yuan Su is guarded, terse, and often irritable. He initially treats Pu Yu's attempts to help as possible charity or an obligation being imposed on him. His distrust extends to fairness itself: he tells her that the world does not contain as much justice as she expects. Despite this bitterness, he discusses debt and survival without openly complaining 12 16 22.

His harsh manner frequently conceals practical concern. He follows Pu Yu and Xu Suiran home to ensure their safety, gives Pu Yu his raincoat during a storm, and keeps dirty repair work away from her study space. He would rather appear unfriendly than expose her to danger or compromise her schooling 16 31 40.

Pu Yu's persistence gradually makes him more willing to accept care. After she nurses him through a fever, he admits privately that he can no longer push her away. His growing attachment also exposes jealousy and fear of being left behind, particularly when she spends less time at the shop or receives help from Song Jinnian 34 35 47.

His sense of responsibility can become self-destructive. He regards his father's debts as a burden he must carry alone, refuses Pu Yu's writing income and scholarship money, and withholds information in the belief that doing so protects her future. Pu Yu challenges this behavior because it excludes her from decisions affecting them both 78 96 105. He is also willing to risk his safety for money, initially valuing his ability to support her more than his own survival 119 120.

Although he often appears resigned, his bitterness conceals deep vulnerability. His father's theft of Lu Zhen's medical money leaves him crying in Pu Yu's arms, convinced that he cannot save either his mother or himself. Later, a birthday embrace from Lu Zhen, carefully arranged through Pu Yu's repeated reminders, breaks through the restraint he has maintained during their separation 54 89.

With Pu Yu, he develops a playful, affectionate side. He allows her to stroke his hair after recognizing himself in her essay about a scruffy puppy, jokes about being her puppy, and becomes more openly demonstrative after they establish their relationship 59 62 121 150. Their love remains intensely exclusive: when discussing children, he cites both the risks childbirth would pose to her and his wish to keep her love for himself 162.

His return to physics reveals patience and renewed ambition. Rather than resenting the knowledge he must relearn, he calmly works through unfamiliar terminology and research materials. By the time he leaves Rinzhou, he looks toward reclaiming his future rather than merely enduring his circumstances 148 155.

Abilities & Skills

Mathematics and Physics

Yuan Su retains exceptional ability in mathematics and physics despite neglecting other subjects 10 21.

• Completes a difficult physics paper in under twenty minutes without scratch work and earns full marks 10.
• Scores full marks in physics and 148 in mathematics in the later examination results 21.
• Explains problems through diagrams and key conditions, changing his explanation when Pu Yu does not understand 11.
• Tutors Pu Yu in physics and mathematics at school and in his repair shop 29 36.
• His strength in these subjects does not translate into consistent overall performance: Cheng Siyi challenges him over blank papers and zero scores elsewhere 21.
• Resumes advanced study through the Beili Physics Cultivation Group, independently reviewing papers, looking up technical English, running code, and recording key points 148.
• Identifies an overlooked deformation effect in a physics-modeling project. His proposed deformation coefficient reduces the simulation's deviation to 0.03%, earning recognition from university students who initially doubted him 148.
• Becomes Nanhua City's top science-track scorer after returning to take the college entrance examination, attracting recruitment offers from Tsinghua, Peking University, and numerous other leading institutions 157.
• Enters Professor Dai's core research group before completing his first university year. Professor Dai encourages him to consider a direct-entry PhD place 166.

Electrical and Mechanical Repair

Repair work is Yuan Su's main means of supporting his family 11 15.

• Diagnoses Pu Yu's broken lamp as aging wiring and poor contact at the lamp holder 11.
• Repairs circuit boards, computer hardware, and software issues for the town internet café 15 16.
• Recognizes a falsely advertised Sony player by its repainted casing, crooked headphone jack, and spliced wiring 19.
• Restores a cassette player with high-quality replacement belts and a recalibrated tape head; an audio-shop owner praises its workmanship and sound quality 28.
• Repairs Li Suhua's sewing machine by replacing its gear and lubricating the shafts 47.
• Restores a secondhand telescope by grinding and fitting a replacement lens and assembling a mismatched tripod 50.
• Takes outside repair calls and installs surveillance cameras to increase his income 57.
• Repairs machinery at a textile mill, prompting Boss Zhao to offer him work in Dongzhou 62.
• Expands into automotive repair in Rinzhou; his room contains technical books on mechanical repair, and he is shown completing truck repairs 89 96 155.

Parts Sourcing and Bargaining

Yuan Su knows the Nanhua City secondhand market well and maintains relationships with its sellers 41.

• Tests components with a multimeter before buying them 41.
• Bargains a transistor purchase down from fifteen yuan to ten and obtains an old brass gear for fifteen yuan 41.
• Regularly travels to obtain stock and hunt for difficult-to-find parts 36.

Emergency Work and Fighting

Yuan Su acts quickly in emergencies, but his fighting is described as ferocious rather than technically skilled 31 42.

• Climbs a slippery roof during a violent storm and secures tarpaulin over damaged tiles to stop the worst leaks 31.
• Intimidates Zhao Qiang into ending his harassment of Pu Yu during an examination 17.
• Rescues Pu Yu from Chen Jun and two thugs using an iron pipe and his fists, continuing even after being struck in the back with a brick 42.
• Frequently dismisses his own injuries and initially resists treatment 39 45.
• Scales a wall topped with broken glass to enter his home when casino enforcers accompany his father, injuring his palms in the process 53.
• Recognizes inconsistencies in Pu Yu's account of her trip to Nanhua, including her claim to be meeting Xu Suiran while Xu Suiran is away skiing, and immediately contacts lawyer Zhou to arrange his return 135.
• Breaks into the room where Yuan Hongzheng has stabbed Pu Yu and overpowers his father. His rage nearly leads him to kill Yuan Hongzheng before Pu Yu intervenes 137 138.

Business and Management

• Keeps the family appliance-repair shop operating while paying debts and funding Lu Zhen's care 5 11.
• Declines a lucrative offer to relocate to Dongzhou while still at school, choosing to remain near his family 62.
• Operates an auto repair shop in Rinzhou and works with Nie Yang and other friends 126 127 155.
• Negotiates the sale of the auto repair shop to Mr. Lu for twenty percent more than he expected, with the possibility of future cooperation 155.
• Balances university research with building Su Yu Technology, telling Professor Dai that he needs to earn money as well as conduct research 166.

Basketball

• Displays rapid changes of direction, accurate three-point shooting, and an exceptional ability to spot unexpected passing opportunities 167.
• Leads the physics department to a landslide victory over the sports college, dominating much of the game's second half 167.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Repair tools — Uses a soldering iron, tweezers, a multimeter, and a portable toolbox for appliance and computer work 11 16 36 41.
• Silver cassette player — Restores it and secretly leaves it on Pu Yu's desk; later gives her an English listening tape to use with it 28 29.
• Tarpaulin, nylon rope, and old raincoat — Uses the first two to protect Li Suhua's roof and gives the raincoat to Pu Yu 31.
• Iron pipe — An improvised weapon taken from a market stall during Pu Yu's rescue 42.
• Repaired telescope — Prepares it at North Mountain for Pu Yu's birthday stargazing 50.
• Red cord — Pu Yu gives him her mother's last keepsake for his birthday, wishing that he will remain safe and well. He later tries to return it after it becomes bloodstained, but she insists that it protected him. His instinct to shield it during a trucking accident causes him to twist away from a rock that would otherwise have struck his head 51 55 119.
• Secondhand smartphone — Gives Pu Yu a tested smartphone with a SIM card and credit, saving his own number as “AAA,” its only contact 62.
• Folding knife — Gives Pu Yu a knife for protection, which she carries when encountering the debt collectors who have attacked him 76.
• Copies of Wild Grass — Keeps issues of the magazine containing Pu Yu's writing in his Rinzhou apartment and reads her work during their separation 89 96.
• Peace Talisman — Receives a red embroidered talisman with a small bell from Pu Yu before returning to Rinzhou. She obtained it at Puji Temple after his earlier departure, hoping it would ensure his safe return 125 127.
• Number 12 basketball jersey — Requests the number because December is Pu Yu's birth month 166.

Relationships

• Pu Yu — Initially his neighbor, deskmate, and increasingly close friend, later his girlfriend and cohabiting partner. He tutors and protects her; she defends him at school, cares for him when ill, and visits his mother. Their attachment develops through jealousy, physical closeness, and his birthday surprise for her 21 29 35 40 47 50. His attempts to protect her by leaving and concealing his hardships lead to a prolonged separation and later conflict over his refusal to share his burdens 83 96 105. After their reunion, she introduces him to her roommates as her boyfriend 114. She risks her life to expose the forged-debt scheme, while he acknowledges that loving her has overcome his defenses 137 138 140. They eventually share a lakeside villa, and he publicly credits her love with helping him rebuild his life 159 162.
• Lu Zhen — Mother. Yuan Su pays for her hospitalization, brings her fruit, and tries to calm her during episodes of confusion. Her unreliable memory means she does not always recognize him 16 26 27. He fiercely protects her medical savings from Yuan Hongzheng and is devastated when they are stolen 53 54. While she is living in a care home, her birthday embrace, prompted by Pu Yu's repeated teaching, moves him to tears 89. She later promises to support him as he prepares to return to the college entrance examination 155.
• Yuan Hongzheng — Father. His gambling and disappearance leave Yuan Su responsible for the family's remaining shop and debts 5 11 53. He steals Lu Zhen's medical money, bites Yuan Su during their struggle, and uses casino enforcers to escape with the savings 53 54. He later forges Yuan Su's signature on a two-million-yuan guarantee and stabs Pu Yu when she attempts to expose the scheme 126 137. Yuan Su nearly kills him in retaliation but stops when Pu Yu intervenes. Yuan Hongzheng is subsequently arrested on suspicion of fraud and intentional assault 138 140.
• Li Suhua — Next-door neighbor and Pu Yu's grandmother. He helps her with her roof and sewing machine; she provides food when he is ill and entrusts him with Pu Yu's travel money 31 35 41 47. He gives her an eight-hundred-yuan advance toward repayment of his family's debt and later helps finance her surgery 62 76. Their familial closeness continues after he moves to Dongzhou; he returns to Whitebank Town and takes over picking persimmons when he finds her standing on a chair 163.
• Xu Suiran — Classmate and Pu Yu's friend. She remembers his former academic success and explains his circumstances to Pu Yu. Her parents lent his father eight thousand yuan, which remains unpaid when she recounts it 5 11. Pu Yu later borrows money from her and others for the plan that frees Yuan Su from the forged debts 140.
• Song Jinnian — Former close friend and academic rival. They once studied physics and planned their futures together, but stopped speaking after arguing over Yuan Su's withdrawal from schoolwork 47. He later challenges Yuan Su to reclaim his talent and introduces him to the Beili Physics Cultivation Group, helping him reenter serious physics study 143 148.
• Cheng Siyi — Homeroom teacher. She opposes judging him by his family, disciplines him after the exam-paper incident, and establishes the peer-support arrangement that keeps Pu Yu beside him 21 23 24.
• Teacher Wang — Physics teacher who recognizes his talent and wants him to enter the Physics Competition 10 15.
• Chen Jun — Attacks Pu Yu in Nanhua City; Yuan Su intervenes and beats him and his accomplices 42.
• Nie Yang — Friend and coworker in Rinzhou. Yuan Su trusts him to reassure Pu Yu about his whereabouts and intervenes to stop him from acting rashly during the dispute over the workshop. Before leaving Rinzhou, Yuan Su entrusts the shop to him, and Nie Yang encourages him to build a future with Pu Yu in Dongzhou 98 127 155.
• Zhou Bingjun — Lawyer consulted over the forged guarantee. He advises Yuan Su about handwriting examination and the danger of repeatedly paying his father's debts, assists with the case, and ultimately confirms that Yuan Su has no liability for the fraudulent loans 126 135 140.
• Professor Dai — University physics mentor. He brings Yuan Su into his core research group before the end of his first year and hopes to train him through a direct-entry PhD, although Yuan Su also wishes to continue building his company 166.
• Lin Hao — Fellow university student and the department's basketball captain. Yuan Su initially refuses his appeals to join a game because he has plans with Pu Yu, but agrees when she says she wants to watch him play 166.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Meeting Pu Yu

• Pu Yu mistakenly enters his home and invokes Officer Li to frighten away debt collectors. Yuan Su initially questions her suspiciously, then helps her reach Li Suhua by knocking loudly enough for the hard-of-hearing woman to answer 2 3.
• After becoming her deskmate, he helps her solve physics problems and repairs her lamp. She repays his help with breakfast, which he accepts while declaring them even 5 11 12 13.

The Physics Competition

• Yuan Su refuses Teacher Wang's invitation because residential training, travel, accommodation, and materials would consume money needed for debts and Lu Zhen's medical bills 15.
• Pu Yu apologizes for judging his choice and leaves the registration form with him. When Lu Zhen becomes distressed over his refusal, he promises to enter but privately decides never to submit the form 16.

Defending Pu Yu at School

• He tears up Zhao Qiang's exam paper after Zhao harasses Pu Yu. When the incident leads to a complaint, Pu Yu follows him to Cheng Siyi's office and explains what happened 17 21.
• His assigned self-reflection uses Pu Yu's account but ends with a declaration that he would tear another paper if someone targeted a classmate again 23.
• Cheng Siyi subsequently keeps Pu Yu as his deskmate through an academic peer-support plan, rather than leaving him isolated 24.

Accepting Friendship and Care

• Yuan Su gives Pu Yu the restored cassette player on the condition that she work toward first place in her year. When she worries that this may take until graduation, he says he will wait however long it takes 28 29.
• After protecting Li Suhua's roof during a storm, he develops a severe fever. Pu Yu finds him alone and delirious, stays with him, and helps nurse him through his recovery 31 33 34 35.
• Pu Yu begins visiting Lu Zhen regularly. Yuan Su quietly adds a stool for her beside the ward's best-lit window, while her visits help improve his mother's condition 38 39 40.

Nanhua City Rescue

• During a parts-buying trip, Yuan Su pursues a man through the market and leaves Pu Yu waiting at a stall. Chen Jun then abducts her, and Yuan Su returns to rescue her from an alley 41 42.
• He recovers her purse and her mother's red-cord keepsake, treats her injuries, and arranges an overnight stay near the station 43 44.
• When she is afraid to remain alone, he sleeps on the floor beside her bed and lets her hold his hand. He explicitly blames himself—not her—for leaving her unprotected 44 45.

Pu Yu's Birthday

• Yuan Su carries Pu Yu to North Mountain's summit and reveals the telescope he repaired for her birthday 50.
• Remembering her belief that her deceased mother became a star, he helps her identify constellations and suggests that an unnamed twinkling star might be her mother 50.
• As the night becomes his own birthday, Pu Yu gives him her mother's red cord, telling him that she wants the person most deserving of being treasured to have it and wishing him safety 51.

Yuan Hongzheng's Return

• Returning from the mountain, Yuan Su discovers that his father has come home with casino enforcers nearby. He hides Pu Yu and tells her to flee to the police if necessary, then enters the courtyard over a glass-topped wall 52 53.
• Yuan Hongzheng tries to take three thousand yuan saved for Lu Zhen's treatment. Yuan Su fights to stop him, but the enforcers overwhelm and beat him, allowing his father to leave with the money 53 54.
• Pu Yu finds him injured in the wrecked courtyard. When he breaks down, she insists that his father's wrongdoing does not define him and holds him as he cries 54.
• She treats his wounds and refuses his attempt to return her bloodstained red cord. After initially leaving at his insistence, she returns to embrace him and assures him that her birthday was still unforgettable 55.

The Puppy Essay and New Year

• Yuan Su works increasingly long hours and withdraws from Pu Yu. He later discovers that her essay about a fierce, neglected puppy is based on him and that she wrote it because his rejection hurt her 57 59.
• He explains that he had been overwhelmed, bends down, and invites her to stroke his hair, turning the puppy comparison into an affectionate expression of trust 59.
• After repairing a textile-mill machine, he refuses an offer to move to Dongzhou, choosing school and family obligations instead 62.
• He helps Pu Yu and Li Suhua prepare for the New Year, gives Li Suhua an eight-hundred-yuan debt repayment, and supplies Pu Yu with a secondhand smartphone. When she teases him about the contact saved as “AAA,” he identifies its owner as a puppy 62.

Li Suhua's Surgery and Separation

• Yuan Su helps raise money for Li Suhua's surgery, selling valuable parts and leaving his shop unable to sustain its previous operations. Pu Yu also tries to reduce his burden by collecting two thousand yuan owed to her grandmother, suffering a slap in the process; he discovers and treats her injury 73 76.
• After he falls behind on repayments, creditors ransack his business and beat him severely. Pu Yu finds him bleeding in the alley and tends to him 76 77.
• As university applications approach, Pu Yu proposes studying at Dongzhou University while he attends Dongzhou Polytechnic Institute. He agrees outwardly but privately believes that his debts make a shared future unsafe for her 78.
• He tells the sleeping Pu Yu that he likes her, then ultimately leaves before completing the college entrance examinations, missing the English examination 78 83.
• During their separation, he works in Rinzhou and continues reading her published writing. On his birthday, Lu Zhen hugs him after recalling Pu Yu's repeated instructions, and he cries in his mother's lap. He later types that he misses Pu Yu but deletes the message without sending it 89.

Reunion in Rinzhou

• Pu Yu finds Yuan Su living in a meticulously cleaned but cramped apartment behind his workplace. Their confrontation exposes his belief that leaving was necessary to preserve her education and protect her from creditors 96.
• Afraid that he will disappear again, Pu Yu refuses to stay in a hotel. Before going out to buy toiletries, he leaves his phone and identification with her as collateral 98.
• They sleep holding hands, recalling their earlier night in Nanhua, and share breakfast the next morning. His reluctance to let her visit Lu Zhen and his description of Pu Yu as being like a younger sister show that he is still resisting their intimacy 101 102.
• Pu Yu offers her writing earnings and scholarship money to help clear his debts. He refuses, provoking an argument in which she condemns his habit of deciding everything alone and keeping her uninformed 105.
• Their relationship becomes openly romantic. Yuan Su drives through the night to surprise her beneath a Christmas tree in Dongzhou, bringing roses, and she introduces him to her roommates as her boyfriend 114.

The Trucking Accident and Promise of Safety

• A dangerous trucking job leaves Yuan Su with a severe injury to the back of his left shoulder. During the accident, he shields Pu Yu's red cord; the movement saves him from a rock that would otherwise have struck his head 119.
• His concern on regaining consciousness centers on having already received enough payment to send Pu Yu money and on the cord remaining intact 119.
• After learning about his scar, Pu Yu makes him promise never to risk his life for money again. He tells her that he wants her to be happy rather than distressed over his past 121 122.
• Before he returns to Rinzhou, she gives him the Peace Talisman she obtained after their separation 125.

The Forged Guarantee and Mutual Rescue

• Yuan Su learns that Yuan Hongzheng has used his identity documents and forged his signature to guarantee two million yuan in loans. Creditors obstruct the workshop's operations, and lawyer Zhou warns that proving the forgery through handwriting examination may take six months to a year 126 127.
• While he struggles with the case in Rinzhou, Pu Yu secretly returns to Nanhua and poses as a wealthy woman to gather evidence against the people responsible. Yuan Su notices inconsistencies in her video-call account and contacts lawyer Zhou, insisting on returning 135 140.
• Yuan Hongzheng stabs Pu Yu in the left shoulder during the confrontation. Yuan Su breaks into the room, beats his father, and nearly stabs him before Pu Yu clings to his arm and persuades him not to sacrifice his future 137 138.
• He accompanies Pu Yu to the hospital and remains beside her through surgery and the night afterward 139 140.
• He tells her that Yuan Hongzheng and Boss Zhao have been arrested, that the evidence against them is conclusive, and that he has no legal liability for the forged debts 140.
• When Pu Yu admits that she borrowed eighty thousand yuan and advanced her writing payments to fund the plan, he promises to repay it. Rather than treating their sacrifices as a competition, he tells her that he has been defeated by her since the day they met 140.

Reclaiming His Education

• Song Jinnian urges Yuan Su to recover the confidence and ability he once possessed, arguing that he should not resign himself to an exhausted life after everything Pu Yu risked for him 143.
• Yuan Su joins the Beili Physics Cultivation Group and quietly studies its materials despite skepticism about his high-school education. His deformation-coefficient correction solves a modeling problem that has stalled the group and wins its members' respect 148.
• He visits Pu Yu at university, and their relationship grows more intimate, with each acknowledging the scars the other sustained for their sake 150 151.
• Preparing to take the college entrance examination again, he sells his auto repair shop to Mr. Lu, holds a farewell dinner for his Rinzhou friends, and leaves to reclaim his academic future 155.
• He becomes Nanhua City's top science-track scorer and receives recruitment calls from leading universities, including offers of a full scholarship and his choice of major 157.
• At university's opening ceremony, he again serves as freshman representative. In his speech, he publicly credits Pu Yu with helping him rebuild his life and describes love as a force capable of making broken things whole 159.

University and Life with Pu Yu

• Yuan Su and Pu Yu furnish their lakeside villa and move into it in early October. They plan to celebrate with Li Suhua and Lu Zhen 162.
• Discussing their future, he explains that he does not want children because he fears childbirth harming Pu Yu and wants her love to remain exclusively his; she tells him that she only wants him as well 162.
• He joins Professor Dai's core research group before finishing his first university year, balancing physics research with the development of Su Yu Technology 166.
• Initially refusing a departmental basketball game in favor of a date, he changes his mind when Pu Yu asks to watch him play. Wearing number 12 for her birth month, he leads the physics department to an overwhelming victory over the sports college 166 167.

Notable Quotes

“There's no such thing as that much fairness in this world.” 22

“Fine. I'll wait, however long it takes.” 29

“It's not your fault. … It's mine. … My fault for leaving you alone.” 45

“I can't save my mom... I can't save myself, either...” 54

“Yu, this was never a competition. There's no such thing as a draw.” 140

“From that rainy day when I met you, I've been utterly defeated.” 140

“Beyond the cold laws of physics, there is a force called 'love.' It can make what is broken whole again. It can bring a withered tree back into bloom.” 159

Trivia

• Says he is allergic when offered mango-flavored candy 20.
• According to Lu Zhen, he was afraid of dogs as a child 39.
• His January 1 birthday and Pu Yu's December 31 birthday fall at opposite ends of the same birth year 43.
• The affectionate “puppy” motif develops from Pu Yu's essay about him and later becomes a name he willingly applies to himself 59 62 150.
• Keeps Pu Yu's published writing in his Rinzhou room even while avoiding direct contact with her 89 96.
• Chooses basketball jersey number 12 because Pu Yu was born in December 166.