Chapter 74 successfully completed! Hooray! I belong only to you...

Xiang Di had no idea how much damage she had inflicted on Bai Jiangxin by simply stating a fact.

Xiang Di felt like crying again.

Her intention was to help Bai Jiangxin, but Bai Jiangxin complained that she was too lenient.

On her pink succulent, two thick, juicy petals were being constantly rubbed together. Under the extreme stimulation of her nerve endings, Xiang Di knew that Bai Jiangxin must be able to hear her thoughts.

The thought that he would be able to hear her innermost thoughts every time she was at her lowest point made Xiang Di feel particularly unfair.

She suppressed a sob, saying haltingly, "This isn't fair. You can hear my heart, but I can't hear yours..."

Bai Jiangxin's voice was deep and hoarse: "...What do you want to hear?"

Xiang Di exclaimed, "Of course I want to hear what you're thinking right now!"

He was even more patient than she was. He was sweating so much, and the sweat was dripping onto her. His face was flushed red, but he just kept biting his lip and didn't say a word. She didn't know if he was comfortable or not; she just wanted to know if he was comfortable.

She would feel a great sense of accomplishment if he said it was comfortable.

Xiang Di wanted to hear it even if she was crying, but since she couldn't read minds, Bai Jiangxin could only take a deep breath, lean down, and whisper in her ear.

"I love you." He suppressed a muffled groan and repeated it twice, "I love you, I love you... Now you heard me."

He finished speaking and continued, while Xiang Di was completely stunned.

Bai Jiangxin said he loved her.

A pang of heartache shot through Xiang Di, and in that instant, he even felt a sense of death without regret. His pelvic floor muscles were contracting intensely, and his brain was frantically releasing dopamine and various hormones, bringing a tingling, trembling sensation, and a feeling of weightlessness and detachment from the depths of his soul.

The taut string on his spine finally snapped, leaving behind a brief void and emptiness. The tension was suddenly released, like a heat wave washing over his entire body. His body no longer belonged to him. Bai Jiangxin frowned, then suddenly relaxed.

□*□

Because of his unique physical characteristics, Bai Jiangxin has always avoided contact with people. He does not feel that establishing intimate relationships with people is necessary, nor does he understand why love is an eternal theme in human life.

Until he felt the warmth of the person in front of him and the sweet scent of her body, he realized that this person liked him and he liked this person. With his emotional investment and physical stimulation being satisfied at the same time, Bai Jiangxin finally understood why humans are so obsessed with love.

It wasn't an expression of animalistic instinct, but a complete and utter descent into her, both physically and emotionally.

This is the highest level of pleasure; this is what love is.

□*□

After his heartbeat gradually calmed down, Bai Jiangxin said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Tell me about it."

Xiang Di didn't react immediately: "Huh? What did you say?"

Tell me about your first and second years of high school.

He desperately wanted to know what had happened to her during those two years that he was unaware of.

If it were before, Xiang Di would never have been willing to tell him that those were the two most bitter years of her life, the girlish secrets she kept to herself, and also her trump card.

But now, in his arms, her dream had come true, and all that bitterness was gone, replaced by boundless peace and sweetness.

So Xiang Di cleared her throat and, in front of her former crush, now her boyfriend, began to tell her story of her unrequited love.

It all started with love at first sight in my first year of high school.

"You know what? I used to hate the flag-raising ceremony, but because of you, I'm all hyped up every Monday when I go to the playground. My classmates all say I'm crazy. How can anyone like Mondays? Haha."

“Before we were in the same class, I even investigated your behavior patterns. For example, I would deliberately pass by your class when you went to the restroom so that I could just brush past you.”

Bai Jiangxin said, "If I had known that, I would have drunk more water every day."

“It’s okay, I can still see you even if you don’t go to the toilet.” Xiang Di said smugly, “Our class is far from the toilet, so every time I go to the girls’ toilet, I have to pass by your class. When I pass by your class, I peek at you through the window. Sometimes you are doing your homework, sometimes you are chatting with someone. At that time, I didn’t know who you were chatting with. Later I found out that it was the class monitor.”

"I remember one day, I went to the toilet seven or eight times in order to see you more often. My deskmate thought I had a problem with my bladder and even advised me to take a day off to go to the hospital. It was hilarious."

Bai Jiangxin laughed along with him.

That fool.

Besides her embarrassing experiences using the toilet, Bai Jiangxin also learned about the secrets behind her personal signature.

22454264946, a tree, a landscape painting, and a star.

They are all his names.

Upon hearing this answer, Bai Jiangxin's eyes showed visibly surprise.

Xiang Di was both smug and disappointed.

She couldn't help but ask him, "It's very simple, just a nine-square grid, it's not difficult at all, how could you not have thought of it?"

Bai Jiangxin chuckled, "You only made it into a nine-grid and emoji because you didn't want me to find out. I didn't expect this to be exactly what you wanted, right?"

After finding out the answer, she realized that the answer was actually very simple, but who would have thought that this coward would dare to put his name as a secret code on her personal signature that everyone could see?

So, does she want him to know, or does she not want him to know?

If you want him to know, wouldn't it be better to just put his full name in his signature?

Xiang Di simply sighed at Bai Jiangxin's confusion, saying that someone who has never experienced unrequited love wouldn't understand.

People who have a crush on someone probably all have this contradictory feeling: they are afraid that the other person will find out their feelings, but at the same time, they hope that the other person will discover some of the subtle details of their crush.

Thus, a kind of code was born, secretly displaying this affection where the other person can see it, hoping for their interaction. Perhaps the other person will not even notice, but in the long process of unrequited love, one always needs some way to entertain oneself and make oneself seem less lonely.

Xiang Di recalled many fragmented memories, thinking that these memories would be buried deep in her heart after graduating from high school. No one would know that perhaps many years later, on some afternoon, she would gently bring them up and compare them to beautiful memories of her youth.

She never imagined that one day she would have the opportunity to say all these things, and to say them to Bai Jiangxin himself.

So she recounted to him, in the most cheerful tone, the two years she had spent alone performing the bittersweet drama, while he, the male lead, remained completely unaware.

Bai Jiangxin listened patiently, originally just wanting to confirm her love more and give herself more security. However, after hearing so many of her memories, Bai Jiangxin silently hugged the person in her arms even tighter.

For the first time, he felt a pang of regret that he hadn't known her feelings sooner and had wasted two years of his life.

If he had paid a little more attention to the things and people around him during those two years, he might have discovered those almond-shaped eyes that were silently watching him from the corner.

To catch up with him, Xiang Di spent two years getting into the honors class from the regular class. She transformed from a girl who only knew how to wear the same hairstyle to school every day into a girl who could research all kinds of beautiful hairstyles and gradually became more confident at school.

When she ran into her former classmates at the beginning of her senior year of high school, they all admired her for her remarkable turnaround. At that moment, Xiang Di knew that Bai Jiangxin must be her lucky star.

Whether or not he eventually learns of her feelings, she is grateful to him.

Xiang Di asked him, "Do you know that I gave you a nickname back then?"

Bai Jiangxin: "What?"

Xiang Di: "Naoki-kun."

Bai Jiangxin remembered that he had heard his aunt mention it, and at that time he was curious about what Naoki-kun was.

He only understood after Xiang Di explained it to him.

Naoki is the male protagonist of a shoujo manga idol drama. He is a typical iceberg man, rational and aloof, with outstanding intelligence. His flaw is that he is too indifferent and lacks the empathy of a normal person. As a result, the female protagonist Kotoko suffers a lot in her pursuit of him and often suffers various grievances because of him.

“I think of you as Naoki-kun, and I’m Kotoko, who’s always been chasing after you,” Xiang Di said. “But now I feel like I’m much luckier than her.”

She wasn't as brave as Kotoko; she was timid and dared not do anything. Yet, her "Naoki-kun" still saw her, not only protecting her secret but also giving her the gentlest response.

"Thank you for being able to read minds," she said sincerely. "If it weren't for this illness, I probably would never have said these things to you in my entire life."

Bai Jiangxin's brows softened, and he did not deny what he said.

However, there was one point he didn't quite agree with.

That's Naoki and Kotoko. The lucky one is actually Naoki. It was Kotoko's appearance that turned the indifferent Naoki into a vibrant person.

And he and Xiang Di, he was the lucky one.

This was the first time someone had told him that mind-reading was a good thing.

Because of her words, Bai Jiangxin realized for the first time that this mind-reading disease, which had caused him great trouble since childhood, had brought him such a big surprise.

Thank you for this wonderful world, which has given birth to all such amazing things.

-

They chatted leisurely for an entire afternoon. There were just too many details about their two years of unrequited love to recount in just one afternoon. Fortunately, they had more than just this one afternoon; they would have plenty of time in the future. She could talk slowly, and he could listen attentively.

As dusk settled in, Xiang Di was taken home.

When they arrived at the apartment building, Xiang Di was reluctant to let him leave so soon, so she took him to the bakery downstairs and bought him a lot of desserts.

The same employee who had worked there before happened to be on duty today. Seeing that this very familiar young couple had come to shop again, the employee began to observe them once more.

From the first time the girl saw them in the store, when she patiently and ingratiatingly asked the boy what he wanted to eat, to the boy's indifferent expression and stinginess that he was even unwilling to pay for the girl, to today when they appeared in the store again, the girl intimately linked arms with the boy as they entered the store, picking out a lot of desserts, while the boy was responsible for carrying the plates, walking beside the girl, watching her choose with a slight smile on his lips.

When it came time to pay the bill, the girl simply said, "You're paying today, so you're treating me."

The boy agreed and paid by scanning the QR code.

Looking at them, the shop assistant suddenly felt as if he had been transported to another world.

This little girl is amazing, a true master of discipline.

...

After leaving the bakery, Bai Jiangxin went home, but Xiang Di was still reluctant to let him go. She held his hand downstairs in the apartment complex and talked to him for a long time before finally saying goodbye with reluctance.

As soon as she got home, Xiang Di started missing him. She took out her phone, ate the dessert he had bought for her, and texted him to ask how much longer it would take for him to get home.

His profile picture was still that familiar Ragdoll cat. Xiang Di had been curious about the identity of this Ragdoll cat before, and it wasn't until he drove her home just now that she finally asked him.

This Ragdoll cat was Bai Jiangxin's pet cat during his middle school years, but it passed away two years ago due to heart disease.

Since then, Bai Jiangxin has never raised a cat again, because he feels that even if he raises another Ragdoll cat, it will never be the same one.

Bai Jiangxin is used to being reserved, so he rarely expresses his feelings to people or cats. However, you can tell from his profile picture that he has never changed it. Whether it is a person he cherishes or a cat, there is only one person in his heart, the only one.

Now that the college entrance exam is over, Xiang Di originally wanted to change her profile picture to a matching one with Bai Jiangxin to let her classmates know that her relationship with Bai Jiangxin was now special. However, after hearing the story of his pet cat, she decisively gave up the idea and quietly changed her profile picture back to the old one of a little orange cat.

These can be considered couple profile pictures, right?

Xiang Di looked at her old profile picture with satisfaction. While waiting for his reply, she clicked on his profile picture and silently said to the ragdoll cat in the picture, "I'm sorry, I only got to know you today. If I had had the courage to get to know your owner two years ago, maybe I could have had the chance to be good friends with you."

Xiang Di then opened Bai Jiangxin's Moments. At her request, he had already enabled the privacy settings so that she could easily access his posts.

As soon as I clicked on it, a number appeared in the previously empty signature below the Ragdoll cat's profile picture.

9426434, followed by an upward-pointing symbol and a flute.

Xiang Di suddenly opened his eyes wide.

This code format is incredibly easy to decipher, because it's blatantly plagiarizing her!

But he was being way too obvious!

Especially this flute, not only did she recognize it immediately, but anyone with a discerning eye would have immediately realized it was her.

...

As it turned out, Xiang Di's premonition was correct. Sure enough, at the class dinner a few days later, a group of classmates suggested playing games after the meal, and they played the old-fashioned Truth or Dare game.

When the bottle was turned in front of Bai Jiangxin, someone excitedly shouted "yes".

The boy in charge of asking the truth questions didn't waste any words and went straight to the point: "Excuse me, Bai Jiangxin, what is the meaning of your sexual signature on your WeChat Moments?"

Thinking it might be some tricky question, Bai Jiangxin curled his lips and said directly, "My girlfriend's name is an abbreviation of a nine-square grid."

Actually, when Xiang Di asked each of them to help record a farewell video, everyone in the class had a vague premonition. Since the two hadn't officially announced it, no one dared to ask directly, so they came up with this roundabout trick to try and get Bai Jiangxin or Xiang Di to agree.

Everyone thought that given Bai Jiangxin's personality, it would take some interrogation to get the information out of him, but who would have thought that he would just admit it so directly.

Like a bolt from the blue, everyone except Ye Minjia and a few others who already knew about it had an expression of having both eaten gossip and been fed dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection). Some girls excitedly covered their mouths, while some boys excitedly pounded the table with their hands.

"Ahhh!"

"Girlfriend! Oh my god!"

"Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap!!"

Anyone who didn't know better would think the people at this table had all gone mad. Bai Jiangxin sighed softly, thinking that this little groundhog had finally infected the whole class.

The noise around him was deafening, but the hustle and bustle surrounding him at this moment, compared to the quiet he was used to, didn't bother him at all.

Looking again at the groundhog, she was surprisingly quiet this time, her little face flushed, looking like she wanted to burrow into the ground.

She glared at him secretly, but he gave her a smug and gentle raise of his eyebrows.

Because of her, he truly fell in love with this bustling world.

Everything is just as described in the poems of Marc Levy and Albert Camus:

You have intruded into my life, a life I am not proud of.

Spring arrived as if without warning, bringing with it brilliant sunshine that illuminated my morning.

Before you, I belonged to no one but you.

I belong only to you.

[End of text]