Zhuang Nuo nodded.
Meng Lan stroked her head. “Mom will take you to the hospital again tomorrow. If the doctor says you need to take medicine, then we’ll take it properly and get you better soon, all right?”
Zhuang Nuo shook her head. “I don’t want to take medicine. I want to go to school.”
Zhuang Yi forced a smile. “Be good, Nuonuo. You can go back to school once you’re better.”
“I’m not sick. I want to go to college, or Su Li won’t want me anymore.” Zhuang Nuo’s tone was firm, almost stubborn.
Meng Lan and Zhuang Yi’s expressions changed at once. They couldn’t tell whether their daughter’s attitude was a good sign or a bad one, nor did they know what Su Li was thinking.
That night, Su Li was punished with an hour of standing at attention while facing the wall.
He had plenty of arguments to make.
When Linlin scolded him for responding to violence with violence, he said that was merely moral grandstanding and unfairly blaming the victim.
When Linlin said he had bullied a girl, he said he was respecting gender equality and treating everyone the same.
Linlin couldn’t win an argument with him using such twisted logic, so she threatened to complain to their mother. Only then did Su Li admit defeat and apologize.
Lin Zhilan was even better at arguing nonsense than he was. In front of his mother, he was no more than a raw recruit.
“Sis, I promise I’ll never lay a hand on anyone again. I’ll call the police instead.” Su Li raised his hands in surrender.
“Hands out!”
Su Li obediently extended his hands. Linlin smacked one of his palms. “Let this be a warning. Do you think I’m angry because you stood up for Nuonuo? I’m angry because you dragged yourself into it. You’re about to start college. If you end up with a criminal record because of this, who will suffer more—the other people or you?”
“I know I was wrong, Sis.” Su Li shot a meaningful glance at Yan Yuan on the sofa.
Yan Yuan understood and sat up straighter. “Li Li, what exactly is your relationship with Zhuang Nuo?”
Su Li’s gaze darted away. “We’re just friends. I simply can’t stand seeing her get bullied.”
Yan Yuan raised an eyebrow. “Really? Just friends?”
“For now.” Su Li left his answer deliberately open-ended.
He couldn’t quite figure out what he felt for Zhuang Nuo. Having grown up surrounded by his family’s marriages and relationships, Su Li always felt that matters of the heart shouldn’t be taken lightly.
What he felt toward Zhuang Nuo seemed less like love and more like protectiveness and pity.
The subject ended there.
Everyone in their family was protective of their own. Su Li protected Nuonuo, and Linlin and Yan Yuan had also come to regard Nuonuo as one of the family and protect her accordingly.
He Jiaxin exposed quite a few of the other students who had bullied Zhuang Nuo. Although it did not prevent them from attending college, the incident was recorded in their files, which would affect their future job assignments to some extent.
But Zhuang Nuo no longer cared about that. All she wanted now was to study hard. She didn’t want to disappoint Su Li.
Su Li’s university was not in the capital, but in Beicheng, the city next door.
Before leaving for school, Su Li invited Zhuang Nuo out for a meal.
He had reserved a private room. The setting was elegant, and it was secluded enough to ensure their privacy.
“I heard from your parents that you’re planning to go back to school?”
Zhuang Nuo fiddled with the tableware. “Mm.”
Su Li leaned lazily against the back of his chair, looking somewhat carefree. “What’s your goal? Which university do you want to apply to?”
Zhuang Nuo blinked and looked up at him. In a soft, coquettish voice, she said, “I’ll listen to you. Whichever university you tell me to apply to, I’ll apply to.”
Su Li curved his lips into a smile. “Even if I told you to apply to Capital University or Huaqing?”
“I’ll do my best to try.” Zhuang Nuo bit her lower lip.
Before taking time off from school, her grades had been fairly good, but she was still some distance away from getting into Capital University or Huaqing.
For Su Li, she was willing to work as hard as she could and give it one shot.
Su Li looked at her and suddenly sighed. “You shouldn’t listen to me. Apply wherever you want to go.”
Zhuang Nuo’s heart tightened, and her gaze fell on his tightly pressed lips.
What did he mean by that?
Was he no longer going to care about her?
Zhuang Nuo forced herself to shift her eyes to the plate and said evasively, “The universities you recommend must be good, right?”
Su Li wanted to say that wasn’t necessarily true, but the moment he met her eyes, he abruptly sat up straight. “What’s wrong? I was just saying it casually. I didn’t mean anything else.”
“Su Li,” Zhuang Nuo said haltingly, “you don’t like me, do you? You’re going to break up with me.”
Su Li was silent for a while, not knowing what to say.
When they looked back on the things they had said as children, they seemed no more than childish make-believe.
He had only deliberately teased her earlier when he said they hadn’t broken up.
As for Zhuang Nuo’s current behavior, Su Li felt that she was merely treating him as a lifeline. It wasn’t that she had truly fallen in love with him.
“Zhuang Nuo, those were just jokes we made when we were kids.”
Zhuang Nuo lowered her head and tried to force a smile, but she couldn’t manage it.
Su Li didn’t know how to continue either, and a suffocating silence filled the room.
Her heart ached dully. Without realizing it, Zhuang Nuo raised a hand and bit down on her fingertip with her teeth, trying to ease the bitterness and pain inside her.
Su Li’s pupils contracted. He reached over to pull her hand away and reprimanded her in a low voice, “What are you doing? Don’t bite yourself!”
Zhuang Nuo pulled her hand back and shoved her chair away as she stood. “I want to go home. Can we meet another day?”
She didn’t want to continue that conversation. She only wanted to get away from there as quickly as possible.
She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, her tears would fall.
No one liked someone who was always crying.
Su Li rose anxiously and caught hold of her. “Zhuang Nuo, that’s not what I meant.”
Tears suddenly burst from Zhuang Nuo’s eyes. “Su Li, but I like you.”
Su Li froze for a moment, then pulled her into his arms and wiped away her tears. “Do you even know what it means to like someone?”
Zhuang Nuo was 168 centimeters tall, but standing beside Su Li, she still had to tilt her head up to look at him.
“You said that when we grew up, we would get married. You can’t go back on your word.”
Su Li pinched her cheek. “You don’t understand anything! Go to school first, then go out and see the world before you say things like that.”
Su Li knew that although Zhuang Nuo appeared to be doted on and protected by her family, she was actually very lonely.
She had no friends her own age, so after meeting him, she had become so dependent on him.
That was not a normal kind of love.
Su Li liked Zhuang Nuo too, but he disdained using such a method to win a girl’s heart.
Zhuang Nuo pouted. “Even after I’ve seen the world, you’ll still be the only one I like.”
Su Li smiled. “Then prove it to me. Even if we don’t end up becoming lovers, we can still be friends.”
Zhuang Nuo said nothing. She looked at his handsome, jade-like face and thought: No. If we can’t be lovers, we can’t be friends either.
Once someone like that had appeared in her life, there would never again be room in her heart for anyone else.
A year later, Zhuang Nuo was admitted to the Broadcasting and Hosting program at Capital Broadcasting University.
As the freshman representative, Zhuang Nuo gave a speech at the opening ceremony.
She was poised and graceful now, and there was no longer any trace of the timid, insecure girl she had once been.
Su Li stood below the stage to one side, a bouquet of vivid red roses in his arms, watching her.
Under the blazing summer sun, he gazed tenderly at the girl speaking onstage. His eyes were focused and full of warmth, without the slightest hint of impatience.
When the speech ended, enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience.
Zhuang Nuo followed the usher down from the side of the stage, then stopped on the steps beside it.
She was wearing a little dress and high heels that day. Her features were clear and lovely, and her limpid eyes stared fixedly at Su Li, her surprise at seeing him unmistakable.
Su Li’s face held a doting smile.
Zhuang Nuo hurried forward, even overtaking the guide ahead of her, and walked up to Su Li.
“Congratulations.”
Zhuang Nuo gazed at him, a glimmer of tears in her beautiful eyes, then smiled and threw herself into his arms.
