Chapter 115: Love is the foundation. You just have someone you like...

Outside, the night was warm and cozy. Pure moonlight streamed in through the window, gathering a small pile of silver coins on the floor. Zhu Zhiwei didn't answer her question immediately. After a long silence, he turned around and asked, "So, what about the other winners?"

Zhu Yingning looked up at her in confusion, not understanding the deeper meaning of her words.

"After watching your livestream, I looked up some information about your competition. It says there are individual and multi-person awards, and there are quite a few individual award winners. Do you feel the same way about those people now?"

"I don't... like anyone else." After saying that, Zhu Yingning felt even more confused. Since she wasn't jealous of other people, why couldn't she like Xia Jiayi?

Zhu Zhiwei put down his wine glass, smiled softly, and said slowly, "I think I know why."

"Why?" Zhu Yingning quickly put on an attitude of humbly seeking advice.

Zhu Zhiwei smiled for a moment longer before supporting her forehead with her hand and resting her elbows on the sofa armrest. She stared at the drops of water slowly trickling down the sides of her wine glass and sighed softly, "...Ningning, you just have someone you like."

She was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously wanted to ask, who do you like?

But before she could even utter the question, the answer suddenly came to her. It was the person who first popped into her mind. She slowly opened her eyes, her blood boiling, as if struck by lightning, frozen in place, frozen like a fossil over the years.

The curtains were blown by the breeze, and the moonlight like broken silver on the ground flowed in fragments, trembling like the clear and hazy thoughts of a young girl.

So that's how it is...

Her mind suddenly opened up, her foggy mind suddenly becoming exceptionally clear after that single word of enlightenment, as if all the anomalies suddenly had a normal explanation. Those moments when she inexplicably dared not look at him, those feelings when she felt uneasy and unrighteous, those unprecedented feelings of meanness and pettiness… all of them were like tiny fallen petals, carefully gathered by a pair of hands, swept into a sachet, and given a unified name.

It turns out that this is the liking based on love.

It was not the kind of love that was shared equally between friends and could be admitted openly, nor was it the kind of love that was close to family affection between her and Zhu Zhiwei, nor was it the kind of love that was filled with gratitude and respect for Chen Bin, but rather a more obscure, more sour, and more inexplicable feeling that made people unlike themselves.

With a loud crash.

She suddenly stood up from her seat, startling Zhu Zhiwei beside her: "What's wrong?"

"Sister Weiwei." Her face flushed, as if embarrassed. After hesitating for a moment, she mustered up the courage to say, "If I leave here now and go find him, will you be angry?"

Zhu Zhiwei was stunned at first, then burst into laughter: "How could I be angry?"

She found it too cute to be able to do such a youthful thing.

"But do you know where Xu Sirui is now? Do you need me to take you there?"

"Ah!" Zhu Yingning was shocked. "How did you know I was going to look for Xu Sirui?"

She nearly fell off the sofa laughing so hard, hammering the cushion with one hand and steadying herself with the other as she said, "Who else?" Wiping away tears of laughter, she tried to be more reserved, but couldn't help but pry curiously, "Are you going to confess to him?"

Zhu Yingning's expression was frightened again. A staid, dogmatic expression took over, and she kept shaking her head and waving her hands, as if rejecting a drug. "A student's main task is to study. We're only in high school, so we can't fall in love too early. And I promised Teacher Chen that I would study hard and make progress every day."

Zhu Zhiwei was stunned by the unexpectedly simple and unconventional reason. But after thinking about it again, she felt that it was reasonable for her to say this: "Then why are you looking for him...?" It can't be something as boring as remembering that she left something with him, right?

Mentioning this, she felt embarrassed, pursed her lips and smiled, lowering her voice and saying, "Actually... I just suddenly wanted to see him."

No reason is needed and no logic exists.

Teenagers are free and unrestrained.

If you want to see someone, run to see him.

I ran past the tree-lined path downstairs in the residential complex, past the elderly walking their teddy dogs, past the streets shaded by green belts, past the bustling night, and past the years that were said to be the end of the world in 2012 but remained calm and peaceful.

The destination of her run was a KTV chain - she heard Xia Jiayi and others discussing this name before leaving dinner.

When she was almost at the end, she remembered that she didn't know which box they were in. She ran a little hesitantly, but the next second she shook off the hesitation.

Forget it, never mind.

Things will work out when the time comes. No matter how big the KTV is, the number of private rooms is limited. She doesn't believe that she won't be able to find him if she searches one by one.

As soon as she finished thinking this, maybe it was God's blessing, or to use a more romantic word, it should be fate - maybe it was fate's blessing, she saw him under the colorful signboards at the entrance of the KTV.

**

The song hadn't finished yet, and Xu Sirui came out simply because he was bored. The song he ordered had already been sung, and he was too lazy to order another one after it was over. He made an excuse to go to the bathroom and walked to the door alone to get some fresh air.

From this spot, he looked out onto the streetscape. Tall trees lined the street, dividing the street across into tiny panes. He stared at one pane, lost in thought, his mind clear. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone leaping and hopping in the next one. He turned his gaze, squinting, and was shocked to discover it was Zhu Yingning, the one rumored to be with Zhu Zhiwei. Like a gingerbread man baked for Christmas, she hopped in a wide-legged position, her arms and legs spread wide, persistently vying for his attention.

What is this doing?

He couldn't help but laugh.

The green light for the pedestrian crossing at the intersection happened to be on. Xu Sirui took a few quick steps and crossed the sidewalk to her side.

Zhu Yingning jumped and ran towards him again.

"Didn't your sister pick you up? Why are you here?" he asked.

She had come in a hurry, only focused on seeing him, and hadn't thought of an excuse yet. Hearing this, she paused, debating whether to just say, "Because I wanted to see you." Before she realized it, it felt like she could say anything. But once she realized her feelings, anything seemed ambiguous and inappropriate. Zhu Yingning's brows knitted together in thought.

Xu Sirui waited for a long time but didn't get her answer. Seeing that she was immersed in her own world, he reached out and gently touched her forehead, and whispered, "I'm asking you a question."

She finally stopped brainstorming and cleverly asked him, "Why didn't you sing in it?"

“…”

This question also stumped Xu Sirui. Just as she couldn't answer why she was here, he couldn't answer why he found singing boring.

The two people looked at each other silently, without saying a word.

Finally he said, "I asked you the question first, so you answer first."

"I bounced back, you answer first."

"Ladies first, you answer first."

"Women's questions come first, not women's answers, so you answer first."

The two of them were bickering childishly and walking along the street as if they were in perfect sync with each other.

The streetlights cast their shadows on the ground, which became longer and shorter depending on where they walked.

We passed a park with several trampolines and a ball pool. There was also a small path dedicated to children's activities, including bamboo grasshopper weaving, sugar painting, and balloon shooting. Although it was a children's playground, in addition to parents with their children, there were also many teenagers in their teens and twenties who were strolling by and had the leisure to play, so they stopped in to join in the fun.

"You are suitable to play that. Hey, Zhu Yingning, I'll pay for you to play." Xu Sirui said, pointing to the many children under ten years old on the trampoline.

She rolled her eyes at him, knowing he was making fun of her for being short, and pointed at a stall selling golden cudgels and retorted, "You'd better buy a stick for monkey shows."

When she reached the balloon stand, she became interested and tugged at Xu Sirui's clothes, signaling him to stop: "Xu Sirui, have you ever played balloon shooting?"

"I played with them as a kid." He looked at the wall of balloons and the matching dolls hanging on them, and expressed his disdain in front of the boss. "The crosshairs have been deliberately adjusted. It's impossible to aim. It's a complete rip-off."

The boss immediately retorted loudly, "Little brother, don't talk nonsense! How can you blame me for your poor skills?" Seeing that Zhu Yingning seemed interested, he actively encouraged her, "Little sister, do you want to try it? Seeing is believing. Instead of listening to others, why not try it yourself? I've been doing business here for so long, I definitely have a good reputation. Don't listen to some people's instigation."

Xu Sirui, who was categorized as "certain people," snorted with a cold smile. He wanted to leave immediately, but when he turned around and saw Zhu Yingning's hesitation and procrastination, he was suddenly speechless: "Do you really want to play?"

She smiled weakly: "I have never played it since I was a child."

Fearing that he would not agree, she took out her own money and said without knowing the truth, "Is there anything you want? I will cum for you."

"...Who wants such an ugly doll?" He walked back reluctantly, but his hands did the opposite of what he said. He pointed at Shaun the Sheep and said, "That's it."

Zhu Yingning found it funny and suppressed the urge to complain to him, "Didn't you say you didn't want it?" and nodded, "I understand."

She gave the stall owner five dollars in exchange for ten chances to shoot.

With the gun in hand, since it was her first time using a gun, she had to ask Xu Sirui for help, asking him what the correct posture was. He came over and corrected her stance, spreading her shoulders and raising her elbows.

After posing her, he slowly remembered that the man in front of him was an expert archer, and maybe he could actually be shot by her.

Zhu Yingning obviously thought the same thing. He twisted his shoulders confidently and asked the boss, "Boss, can you give me a chance to test the gun?"

Seeing that she was a novice, the boss thought that she would not be able to shoot even if he gave her a chance, so he generously did her a favor: "Try it."

"Thanks."

She picked up the gun again, got into position as Xu Sirui had taught her, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly and evenly.

The first shot was fired in the rhythm of exhalation. With a bang, like the arrow representing the Coriolis force in the geography book, it deviated to the Pacific Ocean as expected.