Chu Ziyu

Biodata

Background / History

Family and Education

Chu Ziyu is the youngest son of a wealthy family whose entertainment and media company represents prominent actors, singers, and models. After graduation, he receives a nominal position at Chu Group, with attendance largely left to his own inclination. His father actively discourages him from starting a business, preferring that he continue his comfortable, undemanding lifestyle 13 291.

He has known Lu Lin since kindergarten. Academically indifferent, he pays his way into No. 1 Middle School chiefly to remain with Lu Lin and Xie Yunjie, expecting to rank near the bottom wherever he studies. His parents trust Lu Lin enough that Chu Ziyu repeatedly uses supposed tutoring sessions at Lu Lin’s home as an excuse to stay out 287 289 295 296.

Meeting Shen Huaiyu

During his first year of high school, Chu Ziyu’s girlfriend ends their three-day relationship because she has developed a one-sided crush on Shen Huaiyu. With information obtained through Xie Yunjie’s contacts, Chu Ziyu travels to Shen’s school intending to confront him 286.

Instead, he witnesses a group of boys threatening Shen after an unwanted confession. He initially leaves, then returns because he considers a group attack unfair. Finding Shen already walking away injured, he follows him, watches him dress a badly wounded arm, and discovers that he works part-time at a convenience store 287 288.

His hostility becomes fascination. He steals Shen’s photograph from the school honor roll, visits the convenience store nightly, and becomes especially captivated by Shen’s voice. Believing that academically successful people prefer similarly accomplished partners, he even hires tutors for every subject and studies diligently for a month 289 290.

First Conversation and Rejection

At Christmas, Chu Ziyu finds Shen being berated by his uncle outside the convenience store. He kicks the man, grabs Shen’s hand, and runs away with him. Their first substantial conversation leads to a cheap hot-pot meal, after which Chu Ziyu offers the chocolates and candy he has brought. Shen selects white chocolate, Chu Ziyu’s own favorite. Chu later develops acute enteritis, but remembers the evening fondly 291 292.

He also visits Shen while he is ill, brings nutritional supplements, and stays overnight. During that visit, he learns more about Shen’s difficult household: his father died after bankruptcy, his mother works to repay the debts, and his uncle demands money from them 295 296.

On his eighteenth birthday, shortly after the college entrance examinations, Chu Ziyu slips away from his lavish party to share two saved slices of cake with Shen. He confirms his feelings, receives his first kiss, and instinctively reacts to Shen’s cold fingers. Shen withdraws and claims that Chu does not really like men before rejecting him 293 294 297.

Chu Ziyu spends the following week at Lu Lin’s home, crying over a breakup that feels unlike his earlier disappointments. He later searches for Shen, only to be told that he has moved away. Unknown to Chu, Shen had reciprocated his feelings but rejected him out of shame over their financial circumstances; he also kept watch outside Lu Lin’s home throughout that week 297 298.

Appearance

• Fair complexion and an innocent-looking face: His apparently well-behaved appearance often helps him escape consequences for mischief; Lu Lin is notably unimpressed by it 286.
• Brown eyes: Described when he returns to the alley looking for Shen Huaiyu 287.
• Slim build and poor stamina: Unlike Lu Lin and Xie Yunjie, he does not work out and takes considerable time to recover after running 150.
• Sensitive to cold: His reaction to Shen’s cold touch becomes part of the misunderstanding surrounding their first kiss 297.

Personality

Chu Ziyu is sociable, teasing, and enthusiastic about company. He invites celebrities to drinking parties, invents affectionate nicknames for Yan Heqing, and openly jokes about Lu Lin’s romantic life. His manners become more restrained around people he regards as elders, and he is explicitly described as respectful toward elders and kind to children 13 150 211 286.

His privileged upbringing initially leaves him dismissive of roadside food and unfamiliar with part-time work. He credits Lu Lin with changing his attitude toward inexpensive food. He also accepts that he will never match Lu Lin’s achievements, repeating his father’s view that accepting one’s ordinariness has value 196 288 296.

Despite his impulsive temper, he is capable of reconsidering his actions: he abandons his grudge against Shen long enough to return to help him and later intervenes directly against Shen’s uncle. His usual joking manner gives way to pronounced awkwardness around Shen, whose rejection remains painful more than a decade later 287 288 292 297.

Although he dates frequently and initially accepts matchmaking as a way to benefit his family, he eventually refuses further dates after reuniting with Shen. He had concealed his attraction to men from Lu Lin and Xie Yunjie in his youth—not because he expected rejection, but because he feared damaging gossip might affect their friendship 291 298.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Bringing Lu Lin to Oxygen

Chu Ziyu and Xie Yunjie repeatedly visit Oxygen for Yan Heqing’s cocktails and encourage Lu Lin to join them. Chu finally secures his attendance by announcing the anniversary of his breakup 12.

Much later, Lu Lin sends him a proposal to short Cheng Group as a thank-you gift. After forwarding it to his older brother, Chu concludes that Lu Lin is thanking him for the invitation to Oxygen that brought him together with Yan Heqing 271.

Friendship with Yan Heqing

Reunion with Shen Huaiyu

Chu Ziyu unexpectedly encounters Shen again at a hot-pot dinner with Lu Lin and Yan Heqing, discovering that he is Yan’s academic advisor. He becomes visibly distracted and flustered, while Shen addresses him politely as “Mr. Chu” 285 286 288.

Afterward, Chu walks with Yan Heqing to the site of their old hot-pot restaurant, now replaced by a shopping mall, and cries while recalling the past. He then spends hours playing AR racing games to stop thinking about Shen 288 289.

Learning that Shen’s birthday celebration will be held at the Mirror Bar, Chu arranges his own celebrity gathering there as a pretext to attend. Shen finds him unsteady in the corridor, and they later join Lu Lin and Yan Heqing for a drinking game. Shen repeatedly takes losing calls himself to spare Chu, whose alcohol tolerance is poor 292 293 294 295.

Once they are alone, Chu finally voices his resentment over the rejection and Shen’s disappearance. Shen apologizes, explains that he is unmarried and has paid off his family’s debts, and asks for another chance. Chu kisses him, and their reunion becomes intimate 297 298.

The following morning, an embarrassed Chu flees despite remembering the night clearly. Shen follows him home and promises to spend a year pursuing him, asking whether they can marry afterward if Chu approves 299.

Equipment / Personal Items

• Luxury bicycles — Owns several bicycles, each worth over a million, and brings them on the hot-spring holiday 211.
• Photo album — Preserves both his kindergarten graduation photograph with Lu Lin and the photograph of Shen Huaiyu stolen from the school honor roll 289.

Relationships

• Shen Huaiyu — First love and eventual partner. Chu pursues him for a year as a teenager; their reconciliation exposes the financial insecurity behind Shen’s earlier rejection 297 299.
• Lu Lin — Friend since kindergarten and personal role model. Lu shelters him after Shen’s rejection, while Chu later helps bring Lu and Yan Heqing together at Oxygen 271 296 298.
• Xie Yunjie — Longtime friend and frequent companion at bars and group outings. He helps Chu identify Shen during their school years and regularly trades teasing remarks with him 18 147 275 286.
• Yan Heqing — Develops from a bartender Chu admires into a close friend who accompanies him through his reunion with Shen and listens to his memories 12 195 288 289.
• Older brother — Handles greater family responsibilities, arranges matchmaking dates, and receives the Cheng Group shorting proposal from Chu 61 271 291.
• Parents — Indulge and support him, trust Lu Lin’s influence, and stay beside him during his hospitalization for enteritis 287 291 292.

Notable Quotes

“But my dad also said there will always be outstanding people and ordinary people in this world. Accepting your own ordinariness is pretty great too.” 296

“I pursued you for a year. Even if we were just ordinary friends, you couldn't leave without saying goodbye...” 297

Trivia

• He admits that he has been attempting the second driving test for three years 150.
• By his eighteenth birthday, he counts thirty-two former girlfriends, including childhood relationships; he insists that all of them dumped him 294.
• Despite frequently organizing drinking parties, he has poor alcohol tolerance. At Lu Lin and Yan Heqing’s marriage celebration, he becomes drunk enough to see Yan as two people and searches for Sprite to mix with red wine 275 295.
• His family marked his eighteenth birthday with a nationwide film release that his older brother had spent five years preparing 293.