The moment Pei Jingshu stood up, the live chat paused for a second.
Then it spread like wildfire.
She stood up! She stood up!!!
My God, she's so brave!
Cheng Che was stunned. Look at his hands; the hands that were holding the plate were frozen.
Does he miss her? Of course he does!!!
[This girl is so beautiful, she looks so good even without makeup!]
[Confident, cheerful, generous, and so brave—who wouldn't like her?]
I'm so jealous, I'm really jealous!
Then the tone of the comments shifted.
First, a tentative one:
[A girl like this would definitely be a great help to Che Baby...?]
No one criticized this comment.
Soon, a second one followed.
[I think she's great, pretty, and a graduate of Korea University. She and Cheng Che are a good match.]
[The way she looked at Cheng Che was full of light.]
[I'm not a shipper, but this couple is really sweet.]
[A fan who's a career-oriented person says, if she's truly good to Che Baby, I don't object.]
[ Che Baby has never been in a relationship, it's time someone took care of him]
[My sister is so brave, I like her so much]
I hereby declare that I am not opposed to this marriage for the time being.
Cheng Che's fans are known for being fiercely protective of their idol, but this time, there were almost no negative comments about Pei Jingshu in the live chat.
It wasn't because they suddenly became more tolerant, but because Pei Jingshu stood there openly and honestly, without any pretense or scheming.
She just misses him.
She was saying she missed him.
That kind of courage is something that makes it impossible not to like.
The Capital City.
Yan Ruanning sat on the sofa in her apartment, her phone screen mirroring on.
The moment she saw Pei Jingshu stand up, her fingers tightened slightly.
She looked at the girl on the screen; she was sunny, confident, and made no attempt to hide her feelings.
She watched as the comments scrolled by, all filled with blessings and envy.
She sighed.
She knew Cheng Che the longest.
Earlier than Su Miaoyin, earlier than Pei Jingshu.
She was his homeroom teacher's daughter, and she had known him for a very, very long time.
At that time, he was just an ordinary high school student with average grades and his appearance hadn't fully developed yet.
She watched him grow step by step to where he is today.
She saw him singing in the Mushroom House, saw him winning championships on the tennis court, and saw him writing songs in the recording studio.
She was the first person to see him.
But she was also the last to speak.
She watched Pei Jingshu say "Do you miss me?" in front of the camera, watched Su Miaoyin scream "You're so amazing!" on the phone, watched Su Qingyue discuss math with him that she couldn't understand. Each of them was moving forward, while she was still stuck in the same place.
She suddenly felt a pang of regret.
If she had been braver sooner, if she had said something the night they finished recording at Mushroom House, if she had gotten a little closer to him while teaching him to play the piano in the recording studio, perhaps—
Perhaps they had already...
Yan Ruanning blushed slightly at this thought.
She covered her face and turned her phone face down on the sofa.
Shandong.
Su Miaoyin lay on her large bed in her room, holding her phone in front of her. On the screen was the scene of Pei Jingshu standing up and calling " Cheng Che ".
When she saw Pei Jingshu's radiant smile and the comments on the screen praising them as a perfect match, brave, and a virtuous wife, she felt terrible.
"Why did she go there?" Su Miaoyin muttered to herself, staring at her phone screen. "How could she be there?"
She angrily rolled over, buried her face in the pillow, then rolled back over and glanced at the screen again.
Pei Jingshu was smiling at Cheng Che, her eyes sparkling, while the comments section was still flooded with messages.
Su Miaoyin turned over again, kicking the blanket in anger.
Then she stopped.
She held her phone up to her face, stared at Pei Jingshu's face on the screen for three seconds, and then shouted, "I'll confess when school starts!"
After she finished speaking, she fell silent again.
She thought of the people around Cheng Che.
Yan Ruanning is a singer, Su Qingyue is from Beijing Normal University, Pei Jingshu is the campus belle of Korea University.
And what can Su Miaoyin do? She teaches music, plays the piano, and writes compositions.
Cheng Che knows how to do these things himself.
She rolled over and tossed her phone next to the pillow.
"Will it be too late...?" she muttered softly.
Then she picked up her phone again and continued looking at it.
Spring City
Su Qingyue sat cross-legged on the bed, her phone propped up in front of her, the screen showing the scene where Pei Jingshu stood up and called out " Cheng Che ".
She looked at Pei Jingshu's radiant smile and at the comments on the screen saying "So well-matched" and "So brave," and pursed her lips slightly.
dissatisfied.
She admitted that she was a little dissatisfied.
It wasn't directed at Pei Jingshu.
It's about oneself.
Pei Jingshu dared to stand up and call his name in front of the camera, and dared to say "Do you miss me?" in front of thirty people.
And what about her?
She couldn't even wipe his sweat in the kitchen.
Su Qingyue pursed her lips and shoved her phone onto the blanket.
Then her hand unconsciously rose up and touched the four-leaf clover pendant around her neck.
The one Cheng Che gave me.
She remembered that day at Baiwang Mountain when he handed her the pendant with a casual expression, as if he were just handing it to a friend as a small gift.
But she knew it wasn't. The way he looked at her was different from how he looked at others.
She held the pendant between her fingers, her thumb tracing the edge of the four-leaf clover.
Then she smiled.
It's like telling yourself, "It's okay, you have your own way."
South Korea, Daegu Korea.
Pei Jingshu sat on her bed at home, her phone propped up in front of her, the screen showing a replay of " Walking the Flower Road Together ".
She had already finished watching the part where she stood up and shouted " Cheng Che," and then she brought up the comments section and translated them one by one.
"He's so brave"... that's a compliment to me.
" Cheng Che, hurry up and answer her!" Hahaha, you guys are more anxious than I am.
"A girl like that would definitely be a great help to Che Baby, wouldn't she?" A great help?
Pei Jingshu's face slowly turned red.
She continued scrolling down and saw more similar comments.
Some offered their blessings, some expressed envy, and some shouted, "Get together!"
She read through them one by one, a smile creeping onto her lips.
"Sister, what are you looking at?"
Pei Jingshu's younger sister pushed open the door and peeked at her sister's phone screen.
The text above was written in the Xia Country, and she didn't recognize a single character.
"It's nothing." Pei Jingshu placed her phone face down on the bed.
The younger sister glanced at her suspiciously, then at her older sister's slightly flushed cheeks, muttered something, and quietly left the room.
After her sister left, Pei Jingshu turned her phone over again.
She looked at the frame on the screen that was paused on the moment she stood up, and reached out to press pause.
In the scene, Cheng Che stands at the doorway, holding a bowl of shredded pork with garlic sauce, stunned.
His expression showed he genuinely hadn't expected it; his eyes were wider than usual, and his mouth was slightly open.
Pei Jingshu stared at that expression for several seconds, then burst out laughing.
"You must have missed me," she whispered, as if she were talking to Cheng Che on the screen.
Spring City.
In Cheng Jianguo's living room, Jiang Xue stared wide-eyed at the television screen.
" Cheche, she..."
"Mom, look down."
Jiang Xue glanced at him, swallowed the words she was about to say, and turned back to stare at the screen.
But she was clearly distracted.
She glanced at Pei Jingshu's face on TV, then at her son sitting calmly beside her, and began to make plans in her mind.
She liked Xiao Shu.
Su Miaoyin also visited Magic City last time. That girl is gentle, considerate, and very good at taking care of people.
Yan Ruanning, needless to say, is the daughter of the Old Xu family. They've watched her grow up since she was little, and they know her inside and out.
There's also Su Qingyue, who came to our house for dinner a few days ago. She's quiet and reserved, and she's a graduate of Beijing Normal University. She and my son have a lot in common.
So many girls.
Each one is more outstanding than the last.
She glanced at Pei Jingshu on TV, then thought of Su Miaoyin, then Yan Ruanning, and then Su Qingyue.
There is only one woman who can be her daughter-in-law.
Jiang Xue leaned back on the sofa, her brows furrowed.
Why did she have to bear this painful choice?
Cheng Jianguo sat beside him, watching his son being publicly professed his love by a girl on TV. He glanced at his son's calm face and suddenly smiled.
He patted Cheng Che on the shoulder.
"He has the style of Lao Tzu back in the day."
Cheng Che turned to look at his father and gave a slight smirk.
Dad, can you think before you speak?
Sure enough, Jiang Xue's eyes narrowed.
She turned her head and looked at Cheng Jianguo.
"Your demeanor?" Jiang Xue's tone was calm. "You mean, when you were with me, you were seeing someone else too?"
Cheng Jianguo's smile froze on his face.
No, that's not what I meant--
"So what do you mean?"