56/Co-pilot

Chen Mian's breath hitched.

Despite the raging wind and rain, Shen Yu's eyes remained calm.

This gaze instantly transported Chen Mian back to the past; they had shared countless moments of such calm eye contact.

During the tense time of her senior year of high school, the room lights were on, and one test paper after another made her drowsy. The scratching sound of the pen tip gliding across the test paper was the only accompaniment in the night. Occasionally, Chen Mian would drift off into thought and involuntarily look at Chen Yu's hand, noticing his habit of unconsciously twirling the pen when he was thinking. The black pen spun nimbly between his fingers as if it had a life of its own. Then her gaze would inevitably drift from his hand to his face, and she would always be caught red-handed.

The boy propped his head up with one hand, his other hand still twirling a pen. He didn't say a word, just smiled at her.

The clock on the table ticked away, bringing the scene from the past to the present.

Through a car door, the passenger-side window rolled down.

Shen Yu, sitting in the driver's seat, looked at her, seemingly realizing that if he didn't take the initiative to break the deadlock between them, she wouldn't say another word. Just looking at him was already the biggest struggle against reason.

"Get in the car."

So he took the initiative to speak, breaking the silence. His voice, falling into the rain, became like the warm spring sun suddenly appearing from the dense clouds in early winter.

Chen Mian has never been a proactive girl. She always needs others to come to her first before she will extend her hand. In relationships, she needs the other person to walk 9,999 steps towards her before she finally thinks about whether she should push open the door and let the other person take that last step.

When Chen Mian saw Shen Yu on the basketball court, she wondered if Shen Yu's face was at the end of the "Welcome to the Pharmacy" sign. When she saw Shen Yu at the restaurant entrance, she also wondered what they would say and what they could say if they had a chance to talk.

She hadn't even confided in Zhao Lili about Shen Yu, so she didn't know where to begin or what words to use to describe it. Even on anonymous platforms like the internet, Chen Mian had never mentioned Shen Yu's name. The only part that was outwardly revealed was the name she subconsciously entered when applying for Weibo: Oracle.

Then remove the subject, remove all the features that might be guessed, and turn them into sentences that are as short as they can get.

Writing "I'm sorry," writing "it's not hers," writing "winter has come and spring will never return"—this kind of obscure and difficult-to-express sadness carries a touch of affected sentimentality.

It's like a control group.

Everyone around her was open and direct about their relationships. Zhao Lili smiled and said that she just liked Liu Junjie. Deng Momo mentioned countless times in the dormitory at night that she missed her boyfriend. Su Wangqiu would sigh and count down the days of the holiday, planning when to go straight to Shanghai.

Chen Mian, however, erected a high wall, rejecting Shen Yu and everyone else from getting close. She couldn't tell anyone about her pessimism about relationships. She didn't know how to tell others that relationships are like a fruit that will eventually rot. At first, they are perfect and exude an alluring fragrance, but before long, they will rot and become infested with maggots, eventually ruining you.

You treat it as nourishment and spiritual sustenance, unaware that you are feeding a tiger with your own body. If you knew from the beginning that the ending would be bad, then don't push open the gates of Eden and pluck that fruit.

Her profound theories on emotional pessimism are numerous and could fill countless academic papers.

But who made it rain, who made her soaked to the bone, who made the cold wind blow like that, who made him stop in front of her, who made him shatter all her expectations and give her the most direct invitation.

Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine steps of Shenyu left, and Shenyu knocked on that door.

All reasoning was easily shattered by the two words "Shenyu" at this moment. She was a general who surrendered before even going into battle. The moment she stood up, she heard all the voices in her body sighing at her. A nerve that had been taut in her mind finally snapped. With a snap, she fell to the ground. When she came to her senses, she was already sitting in the passenger seat of Shenyu, her seatbelt fastened.

Music flowed between the two.

Chen Mian lowered her eyes and saw that her soaked trouser legs clashed terribly with the luxurious sports car in the Shenyu area, while rain streamed down the car window.

Shen Yu didn't say anything more, as if he wasn't the one who had just extended the invitation. He simply started the car and drove off.

In contrast to the silence, there was the constant blowing of the heater inside the car and the gradually warming seat cushion beneath me.

He was indifferent, yet he also took care of her as a matter of course.

Even though it was warm all around, as if she had stepped from winter into spring, Chen Mian felt a strange stinging in her nose and her eyes were sore.

She thought, Shen Yu is such an idiot. He could have been cooler and just drove right past her, or been more patient and stopped the car. That would have been enough. There was no need for him to take the initiative with her again and again.

The windshield wipers moved back and forth.

Chen Mian's breathing was so light that it could be replaced by the sound of the heater at any moment.

Time seemed to stop the moment she got into the car. Only her thoughts, which could not be restrained, moved back and forth with the windshield wipers. Her breathing, along with the seatbelt, was confined to the passenger seat. The faint scent of cedar on Shen Yu blocked all communication with the outside world. The small space inside the car became her entire world.

I don't know how much time has passed, but the scenery outside the window has changed again and again, streetlights have passed by one by one, and skyscrapers have sped away one after another.

She finally spoke, asking the person in the driver's seat, "Shen Yu, what are you doing here?"

red light.

The car stopped, and the traffic countdown timer ahead moved slowly.

He didn't take his hands off the steering wheel, and finally glanced in Chen Mian's direction, saying to her in the same tone as before, "Just pretend I was passing by."

Chen Mian pursed her lips, slowly looked up, and saw her own face reflected in the car window.

She looked somewhat disheveled, her hair was all messy, and her fingers were tightly clutching the scarf on her knees.

Then she gave a soft "oh," and slowly shifted her gaze from her own reflection in the car window to Chen Yu's shadow.

He stared ahead, his hands gripping the steering wheel. Despite the weather, he was only wearing a white hoodie, the drawstring of the hood casually tied in a knot, the collar completely covering him except for his prominent Adam's apple. Perhaps he was a little hot from the air conditioning, because he had rolled up his sleeves a bit, revealing a black watch on his wrist.

Looking further up, his face was blurred by the winding raindrops on the car window.

The green light came on again.

The car started, and we were almost at the gate of the China University of Political Science and Law.

Shen Yu suddenly asked her, "Is this still the school gate?"

Students passing by occasionally glanced at the car.

Chen Mian withdrew her gaze from the car window. "Here it is."

Shen Yu pressed the unlock button on the car door.

The moment Chen Mian pushed open the door, she couldn't help but turn back and look at Chen Yu.

She thought Shen Yu would say something, but he didn't. He remained silent the whole way.

However, this silence left Chen Mian feeling uneasy, as if something should have happened but hadn't.

The phone on the center console kept ringing. When Shen Yu picked it up, he glanced at Chen Mian and asked, "Is there anything else?"

Chen Mian sighed softly, suppressing all her thoughts, and said thank you to him in a light tone.

Shen Yu gave a slight smile, but did not respond to her thanks.

The rain has subsided.

As Chen Mian approached the school gate, she finally couldn't help but turn back for a glance.

I saw the black car disappear into the rain and vanish at the end of the road, as fast as if it had happened in an instant.

A guy next to him, holding an umbrella and a takeout order, muttered in amazement, "Holy crap, a Bugatti! Who's got that kind of rich guy..."

Chen Mian withdrew her gaze, clutching the bag in her arms, and jogged into the school amidst the slightly surprised exclamations of those around her.

/

There's one more chapter, it might be a little later.