Mo Zhu arrived at Beijiao Valley at exactly 8:50 AM. It wasn’t snowing today, so the outdoor amusement facilities were open.
He stood at the entrance but didn’t go in. His phone still displayed the last message he’d sent—a scan code for the admission ticket—but she hadn’t replied.
By 9 AM, she still hadn’t shown up. From her home to here, it should’ve taken just twenty minutes by car.
Mo Zhu found a spot to sit. Around him, people were either on their phones or taking photos. He was the only one sitting quietly, doing nothing but waiting.
He waited until 10 AM. No reply on his phone, and no sign of her in sight. Mo Zhu even began to wonder if he’d been too impulsive. Had he made a mistake?
As he stood up to hail a cab and head to her place to apologize, a voice called out from behind him.
"Um… Mo Zhu."
The voice was soft, almost drowned out by the noisy background music, but he recognized it instantly.
Before he could even turn around, a smile had already spread across his face. He spun to look.
Yu Zhiling seemed to have just arrived, holding two cups of milk tea in one hand. She was bundled up tightly today, a pale green scarf wrapped around her neck.
"There was an accident on the road, so traffic was stuck for a while. Did you wait long?" Yu Zhiling stepped forward and handed him the milk tea. "Just bought it. It’s still warm."
Mo Zhu took it, the weight in his chest finally lifting.
"Not too long. Are you cold, senior?"
Yu Zhiling shook her head. "Not at all. Let’s go in."
She scanned the ticket and entered the park, with Mo Zhu following closely behind. They walked side by side.
After last night’s confession, she’d thought meeting him today would feel awkward. But instead, she felt more at ease than before—so much so that she’d even bought milk tea on the way.
Beijiao Valley was a massive ecological park combined with an amusement area, big enough to spend an entire day exploring.
Yu Zhiling initiated the conversation. "How much did the tickets cost?"
Mo Zhu glanced at his phone. "Five hundred thirty for two."
Yu Zhiling frowned. "That’s expensive. Didn’t you get the student discount?"
Mo Zhu paused. "I forgot."
She shot him a look—not angry, but adorably exasperated. "You wasted almost two hundred yuan."
Mo Zhu didn’t mind at all. He stayed close, their shoulders brushing as they walked. After a while, he suddenly stopped and asked, "Want to ride the Ferris wheel?"
The Ferris wheel at Beijiao Valley was famously tall, a must-visit spot in Lincheng. Yu Zhiling asked, "You want to?"
Mo Zhu grabbed her wrist through her padded coat and tugged her along. "I’ve never been on one. Let’s try it, okay?"
There was a hint of pleading in his tone. Yu Zhiling glanced at his hand—pale, slender fingers with prominent veins, undeniably attractive.
Before she could react, he’d already pulled her into the queue.
Yu Zhiling had ridden this Ferris wheel twice before. But now, alone with Mo Zhu in the enclosed cabin, she focused on sipping her milk tea, her gaze fixed on the window.
Mo Zhu was tall, his long legs inevitably bumping against hers. He seemed oblivious to her unease.
Breaking the silence, he asked, "Senior, have you thought about it?"
Yu Zhiling’s grip on her cup tightened. Her thumb absently traced the rim as she hesitated. Finally, she mustered the courage to ask, "Are you serious about this?"
Mo Zhu’s brows furrowed. "Do you think I’m joking?"
Yu Zhiling had heard about Mo Zhu from the architecture department. He was somewhat famous—constantly appearing on the university’s confession boards since freshman year, yet never dating anyone. He rarely spoke to strangers and never added them on social media.
"You… you really like me?"
"I do." Mo Zhu leaned closer, his gaze intense. "I’m not joking, and I’m not playing around. If we date, it’s with marriage in mind. Say yes today, and tomorrow I’ll take you to meet my parents—"
"Shut up!" Yu Zhiling clapped a hand over his mouth, flustered. "I—I haven’t agreed yet!"
With half his face covered, Mo Zhu’s eyes still crinkled with amusement. "Then later. The offer stands whenever you’re ready."
His warm breath tickled her palm, and she quickly pulled her hand back.
She’d spent all last night thinking about it. She hadn’t known Mo Zhu for long, but in her eyes, he was polite and well-mannered—at least toward her.
But when it came to love, she didn’t feel much yet. Most of her fondness was for his outward appearance.
Mo Zhu softened his tone. "Senior, let’s take it slow, okay? Reply to my messages, spend time with me, and see how you feel. What do you think?"
Yu Zhiling held his gaze for a long moment. As the Ferris wheel reached its peak, her eyes flickered away.
Finally, she gave a quiet, muffled reply.
"…Okay."
At 9 PM, Mo Zhu walked Yu Zhiling home.
He watched her enter the apartment building, then stood outside, staring up at the lit window on the fourteenth floor. Her parents were probably home.
MZ: [Senior, did you get inside?]
Little Fish: [Yeah. You should head back.]
MZ: [Okay, I’m leaving now.]
He sent her a cartoon sticker—one his mom often used in their family group chat. He’d saved a few, never expecting they’d come in handy.
Yu Zhiling sent one back.
She set her phone down and peeked through her curtains, watching Mo Zhu’s retreating figure.
Suddenly, he stopped and glanced back. Yu Zhiling yanked the curtains shut, unsure if he’d seen her.
After a pause, she cautiously parted them again—but he was already gone.
Yu Zhiling rubbed her cheeks, flushed and warm despite having just come inside. She sat on the tatami by the bay window and picked up her phone just as a notification popped up—Mo Zhu’s little snake avatar.
MZ: [Senior, want to grab some oden?]
Yu Zhiling laughed and typed back: [You’re still here?]
MZ: [At the oden shop near your neighborhood entrance.]
Suppressing a smile, she replied slowly: [Don’t eat there. It’s not great. I’ll take you to the one in the east part of town tomorrow.]
MZ: [Okay.]
Yu Zhiling stared at the chubby snake stickers he’d sent, then quietly saved them. He always used this set—so cute, it felt like Mo Zhu himself was pouting at her.
Mo Zhu hailed a taxi and put away his phone. Standing by the roadside, he watched the bustling traffic flow past. The coldest time was always when the snow melted, but he had never been particularly sensitive to the cold—and right now, his heart felt especially warm.
Wanting to eat oden was just an excuse; what he truly wanted was to see her a little longer.
He had noticed her hiding behind the curtains—adorably clumsy, as she had only drawn the outer blackout layer. The sheer inner curtain let the light through, casting her silhouette against it. It was unbearably cute.
So, it seemed he wasn’t the only one reluctant to part.
While waiting for the taxi, Mo Zhu bought a serving of oden. She was right—this place really wasn’t any good.
After Yu Zhiling returned home late yet again, Yu Xiangrong and Jiang Yingchen finally decided to carve out some time when they were both home to have a proper talk with her.
When she opened the front door, the living room was brightly lit, with Jiang Yingchen and Yu Xiangrong seated on opposite ends of the sofa.
Yu Zhiling: "...Dad, Mom, what’s going on?"
Yu Xiangrong narrowed her eyes. "Are you seeing someone?"
Jiang Yingchen chimed in, "If you are, you should tell us."
Yu Zhiling: "?"
She changed her shoes and walked inside, sitting across from them with a resigned sigh. "I’m not."
Yu Xiangrong leaned in from her left. "So, it’s about to happen?"
Jiang Yingchen closed in from her right. "What does he look like? How old is he? What does he do? Is he local?"
Before Yu Zhiling could respond, her phone chimed with a notification. She tapped the screen and saw a message from Mo Zhu’s chat window.
[Senior, are you home yet?]
Yu Xiangrong had sharp eyes. Before Yu Zhiling could shield her screen, her mother had already taken in every word.
"Senior? So he’s from your school? You mentioned a classmate came to visit and you were showing them around—was it this kid?"
"And that profile picture is clearly a guy. Last night when I got off work, I saw a tall boy standing in front of our building. Was that him?"
Yu Xiangrong and Jiang Yingchen kept up their rapid-fire interrogation, their voices overlapping until Yu Zhiling’s ears buzzed. She quickly stood up, cutting them off.
"We’re... Anyway, we’re not in that kind of relationship right now. Don’t overthink it. He’s a good person, so don’t worry."
Deep down, she knew they were only asking because they cared—afraid she might be hiding a relationship from them while they remained in the dark about the other person.
But after spending these past few days with Mo Zhu, Yu Zhiling hadn’t reached that stage yet.
Yu Xiangrong wasn’t done. "Niannian, he—"
Yu Zhiling cut in firmly. "He’s my junior, five years younger than me. A sophomore in the architecture department. That’s all I can say for now. Mom, Dad, don’t read too much into it. We’re not there yet."
But her words also subtly confirmed that there was potential for things to develop with him.
Yu Xiangrong and Jiang Yingchen didn’t mind the age gap. Catching the implication in her tone, they exchanged a glance and smiled in unison.
Yu Zhiling grabbed her bag and hurried into her room, shutting the door before daring to reply to Mo Zhu’s message.
Little Fish: [Yeah, I’m home.]
MZ: [My train’s tomorrow afternoon. Will you come see me off?]
Yu Zhiling had spent the last nine whole days with him—visiting the ancient towns around Lingcheng. With just three days left until New Year’s Eve, he had booked a high-speed train back to Beicheng for the next afternoon.
Little Fish: [Okay, I’ll be there tomorrow.]
MZ: [Come early, okay? Let’s have lunch together. We won’t see each other again until the semester starts.]
As if afraid she might refuse, he sent a sticker of a little snake rolling around—like a tantrum—and Yu Zhiling could practically picture Mo Zhu himself pouting and acting cute in front of her.
She couldn’t resist his coquetry. Almost instinctively, she agreed.
[Okay.]
After their unspoken understanding, she had noticed how Mo Zhu had been deliberately closing the distance these past few days—his care more attentive, his words polite yet intimate.
Her phone chimed repeatedly as he sent over the photos he’d taken of her that day.
Mo Zhu had a knack for capturing the right moments. Many of the shots he took of her turned out beautifully.
The last one was a photo of the two of them together.
Their shoulders brushed, Yu Zhiling smiling softly while Mo Zhu leaned slightly toward her, his grin brighter, his eyes crinkling with joy.
The girl who had taken the photo for them had remarked how well-matched they looked. Yu Zhiling had been startled at the time, hastily clarifying their relationship.
MZ: [I really like this photo.]
Yu Zhiling stared at his message, then opened the last photo again, saving it to her phone with a long press.
She liked it too—because it was beautiful.
