He Deserved Better.

Chen Lu turned just in time to see a young man furiously pointing at the girl working part-time and shouting at her. She flinched in fright, and the scalding soup he was carrying splashed onto her arm.

Strangely, even then, she didn't dare make a sound. She only hung her head low.

Every time the young man shouted, the girl trembled in fright. Her eyes were visibly wet, but she didn't dare let the tears fall.

"What's wrong with this guy? He's the one who drank too much, stumbled into her, and now he's biting back at her first," Jiang Chao remarked, narrowing his eyes.

Chen Lu nodded. Without another word, he stepped forward and gently pulled the girl behind him.

"She wasn't even the one who knocked it out of your hands. Don't you think you're going too far, yelling at her like that?" Chen Lu said, looking over the young man, who seemed to be drunk.

He appeared to be around Chen Lu's age, and two other young men were with him.

Even the highest admission cutoff can't weed out human trash...

"What's it to you? If you want a fight, just say so!"

Seeing the man glare at him furiously, Chen Lu didn't get worked up. Instead, he turned to look at the two young men beside him.

Not one of them was willing to tell the truth. Instead, they looked at him with ill intent.

Wow, they can even wallow in the same mud over this?

Quite a few onlookers had gathered, and many had raised their phones to film, looking like they couldn't care less how big the commotion got.

Chen Lu suddenly slung an arm around the man's shoulders and pointed at the security camera in the corner. "There's a camera, brother. And all these people are recording too."

Then Chen Lu pointed at his roommates, who had already moved closer, and lowered his voice.

"You go to this university too, right?

We're from the law school, and those two are student council officers.

See the one smoking? He might look like a good-for-nothing, but his dad's the chief of the Public Security Bureau.

We really shouldn't get into a fight with him. There's something wrong with his head, and he doesn't know how to hold back.

What if... I mean, just what if, while you're in there getting a lecture from the police, he's playing games in his dad's office?

So let's not mess with them."

For a moment, the young man didn't know what to say. He stared at Chen Lu blankly. "Aren't you afraid those two will lose their student council positions?"

Chen Lu blinked and met his gaze, pretending he hadn't understood at all. "No, he just failed to stop us. He wouldn't actually fight.

But I believe we're all civilized people. We're bound to run into each other again, and who knows? We might even have a chance to help each other out someday. Want to get acquainted?"

The young man looked at the composed Chen Lu and swallowed nervously.

Chen Lu had said everything there was to say, both nice and nasty, with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. The young man was actually intimidated.

He's given me a way to step down... so should I take it?

Then, as if possessed, he nodded. "Okay."

There was no trace left of his earlier arrogance.

Sure enough, just as Chen Lu had thought, people who let their tempers take over without thinking usually backed down just as quickly.

He had the nerve to bully a girl, but he would never dare pick on someone who was a tough nut to crack.

The little incident ended inexplicably just like that. As soon as Chen Lu returned, the others started chattering again, as though they were already used to him doing things like this.

"If Mo Yuqing had been here to see that, she'd definitely have fallen in love with you!"

"...Did you come to drink with me, or to rub salt in my wound?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the girl quietly came over and stammered out her thanks again.

"Th-thank you."

Chen Lu looked at her reddened arm and gently advised her, "You'd better rinse it under cool water right away, and remember to get some medicine from the pharmacy to put on it. That burn's a little serious."

"Next time something like this happens, say what you need to say. Don't just stand there like a punching bag and take the scolding for nothing. You don't owe anyone anything."

The girl nodded hard and left, leaving behind only a single teardrop on the ground.

Chen Lu shrugged at the others. "Come on, let's eat."

Once guys had too much to drink, they could brag for ages. Somehow, Chen Lu was kept there until ten at night.

The moment he stepped outside, a cold wind rushed at his face, making him shiver.

"This damn weather," he couldn't help muttering.

The mall next door had closed early, but the street was still ablaze with lights and nightlife.

"The dorms are about to close by now, aren't they? Want to go to an internet café?" Zheng Haoyu asked, rubbing his hands.

Jiang Chao and Li Sinian had no objections, and both turned to Chen Lu.

"You guys go... I'm going home," Chen Lu said softly. The cold wind kept blowing against his cheeks, which were still a little hot from the alcohol, making him more and more sober, and more and more dejected.

Jiang Chao patted him on the shoulder. "Get some sleep early."

Watching Chen Lu's somewhat lonely figure, the others all felt a little sorry for him.

Jiang Chao had just lit a cigarette when he noticed several children playing nearby. He hurriedly put it out and said, "Let him take some time to himself..."

"Fuck!" Zheng Haoyu suddenly cursed.

"Why doesn't Mo Yuqing like Brother Lu?"

Jiang Chao just listened in silence, the extinguished cigarette between his lips, and looked at the message that lit up his phone screen.

Mo Yuqing: Where's Chen Lu?

He looked up and saw that Chen Lu had already run off and disappeared from sight. His thumb tapped a few times on the glowing screen.

"If you'd asked earlier, you might still have made it in time. It's too late now."

"Other girls will see just how wonderful Chen Lu is."

With that, he deleted her contact.

Chen Lu didn't go straight home. Instead, he wandered aimlessly and eventually arrived at a nearby park.

After he passed a few scattered streetlights, everything around him was pitch-black. Only by the light from outside could he make out anything at all.

There was hardly anyone in the park at this hour. He sat on a swing and let out a deep sigh.

He used to play here with Mo Yuqing every day when they were little. Even now, he could still see the shadows of those memories in many places.

Chen Lu lifted the corners of his mouth in a self-mocking smile, its bitterness plain to see.

Back when they played house, the two of them had even talked about getting married when they grew up.

How ridiculous. He was the only one who had taken it seriously.

He raised his head and gazed casually into the distance. Suddenly, he spotted a figure on a bench by the street, both unfamiliar and somewhat familiar.

It was the girl who had been handing out flyers at the school gate that evening. If it had been anyone else, Chen Lu might not have been so sure, but her perpetually timid manner, which made her social anxiety obvious at a glance, had now become her distinguishing feature.

So Chen Lu recognized her at once.

The girl was sitting alone on a bench beneath a streetlight, quietly wiping away her tears.

The dim light fell on her, making her already solitary figure look even more forlorn.

As though the world had abandoned her in a corner.

She seemed so out of place with everything. Just like him now.

After hesitating for a moment, Chen Lu stepped in front of the girl.

"Why haven't you gone home so late at night?"

The sudden voice made the girl flinch. When she saw it was Chen Lu, she seemed to breathe a small sigh of relief, then quickly lowered her head and wiped away her tears.

The air fell silent for a while before she sniffled and said quietly, "When I'm feeling down, I stay here for a while..."

Thinking back to what had happened that evening, Chen Lu changed the subject. "Did you put any medicine on your burn?"

"No..."

"Wait for me."

A few minutes later.

"What's the matter with you? Burns can be a real problem if you don't treat them," Chen Lu said, panting heavily.

The evening breeze kept stirring the loose sleeves of the girl's T-shirt and her hair. Sitting there, she looked every bit like a punching bag.

Chen Lu crouched down in front of her and gently poked her arm with the tube of ointment, gesturing for her to put some on.

The girl actually held out her arm.

And then... she didn't move.

She didn't know to talk back when she was scolded, and now she only moved when she was told to, one step at a time...

Why is she such a goof...

Chen Lu grumbled to himself and simply applied it for her. Even though the streetlight wasn't very bright, he could still see that her arm was pale and tender, as though a firm squeeze might wring water from it.

The burned area was already red, and some of the skin was peeling.

"Did you rinse it under cool water or not?" Chen Lu asked, keeping his head down.

"I... I did." The girl's voice was very quiet and timid, but lovely to hear.

Although Chen Lu thought his tone was gentle, the girl kept her head down for some reason, as though she were being scolded.

"Then why didn't you go to the pharmacy? Look how late it is."

"I hadn't finished handing out the flyers then, and... medicine costs a lot of money."

Chen Lu was at a loss for words. All he could do was reach out and silently apply the ointment to her burn.

"That should do it. There's plenty of ointment left, so remember to apply it often."

After reminding her, Chen Lu looked up and found the girl staring blankly at him.

The girl lifted her face, and the loose strands of hair on her forehead fell apart, revealing eyes as clear as gemstones.

Her pure, fair face also came into Chen Lu's view.

Jiang Chao, are you blind? Five points? She's a hundred...

The noise of traffic and honking from the road suddenly faded from Chen Lu's ears.

The world was strangely quiet.

As though all the world's disturbances no longer had anything to do with them.

At that moment, each of them was the only person in the other's world.

In the girl's clear, gentle eyes, he saw the headlights of passing cars, the countless lights in the tall buildings behind him, and the dazzling stars. Finally;

He saw himself.

"P-please don't keep looking at me, okay?"

After a long while, the girl came back to her senses and lowered her head, her face full of embarrassment. She spoke timidly, a mist of tears clouding her eyes.

Chen Lu smiled for no particular reason.

It was something she could have said with perfect confidence.

Yet she had actually asked if it was okay.

What a fool.