Chapter 97 A Bouquet of Flowers and a Confession: "How about I give you a star? How about I give you a star?"
"I have never stopped loving you."
Lin Nan calmed down instead. She loosened her arms, her hands trembling, her eyes red, but she was unusually calm and decisive: "I have always loved you, but you really can't feel it anymore."
You Long was silent for a moment, then felt a pang of reluctance: "I shouldn't have come back with you."
"What's the point of saying all this now?" Lin Nan laughed sarcastically. "If you want to leave, then leave. Just remember to announce our sudden breakup."
Exhausted, she went back to her bedroom, ran a bath, and fell asleep in the tub. When she woke up, she had a splitting headache. Starship reminded her that she had been soaking for two hours and suggested that she go back to her room to rest.
Lin Nan tripped and fell while climbing into bed. She fell into a deep sleep again, and when she woke up, her days and nights were still reversed.
The colonel rose and went outside. The starry sky outside the porthole was silently unfolding. Countless dust particles drifted in the universe, and a comet streaked across the night sky. It was still a magnificent and spectacular night.
She walked numbly across the carpet, silently arriving at the laboratory door. She heard clanging and banging sounds coming from inside, and breathed a sigh of relief; You Long hadn't left.
Through the glass, she saw You Long standing intently at the workbench, welding a strangely shaped object. Behind her goggles, her eyes were calm and steady, but Lin Nan could see someone else. She probably had a pencil tucked behind her ear, her work clothes smeared with machine oil, she was probably humming a song as she worked, and she was probably occasionally glancing at it, then proudly boasting, "You Xiaolong, you're a genius!"
Memories flooded her mind like a tide: those everyday moments when Yulong would look at her with a silly grin, those sleepy, listless mornings when she looked at him and thought they were all commonplace.
She staggered out of the corridor and slowly slid down the porthole. She finally understood that even the most passionate and radiant youth, the most deafening love, would be worn away by time. She finally cried silently—hugging her head, curling up in despair; she had never felt so hopeless.
When Lin Nan was five years old, she asked Lin Xing what death was. Lin Xing replied, "Death is never seeing each other again."
That person will never buy you your favorite ice cream again, and you'll never see that bright smile she always showed you. Lin Nan was sad for an entire afternoon. She didn't like dying, she really didn't.
At the age of twenty-nine, Lin Xing passed away, and for the first time, she truly understood what death was.
At the age of thirty-two, in her third year of military academy, she broke up with You Long.
Only then did I realize that leaving is the same explanation. It's all about never seeing each other again, it's all about parting forever.
Human lifespan has been extended by technology, and so has loneliness.
Another story: The sophist Oubrid borrowed money and didn't repay it, so his friend had to go to collect the debt. Unexpectedly, Oubrid said, "Everything flows, everything changes. The me who borrowed the money was the me of the past, and the me of the past is not the me of the present. If you want to collect the debt, go collect it from the me of the past!"
His friend was enraged by his sophistry and beat him up badly.
This example came up in Lin Nan's philosophy class on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year. From a philosophical perspective, Aubrid denied the existence of relative stillness, committing the fallacy of sophistry. Lin Nan was one of the teenagers who laughed along with them back then, thinking that Aubrid was indeed the greatest fool of the previous era. Years later, now at forty-two and a colonel, she suddenly realized that, from a certain perspective, Aubrid wasn't wrong after all.
People always cherish the person in their memories. Because what I miss in this moment is you from the last moment.
At the age of thirty-one, she was a sophomore at military academy. To prevent these officers from becoming illiterate, there were several elective courses in humanities and social sciences each semester.
This course covers popular culture from the early 20th century. The professor is humorous and witty, and sometimes likes to crack jokes, which the students naturally enjoy.
"In the early 20th century, some interesting cultural phenomena emerged in a certain Eastern country, where people created many amusing phonetic loan characters. For example, '袜' (socks) was a phonetic loan for '妹' (sister), and '乘' (ride) was a phonetic loan for '乖' (well-behaved). This was related to the booming development of internet culture and people's mental state at the time..."
"After the millennium, the so-called 'nine-legged essay' also emerged, and teenagers who grew up during this period were generally proficient in four to five types of essays..."
The professor wrote a line on the virtual screen: "1. Fever, Mom carries you, rain, falls down, picks you up, takes you to the hospital."
"Second, when learning to drive, I couldn't do it and fell down. Dad encouraged me, and I got it."
"Part Three: Good friends, conflict, breakup, disappointment, Mom's guidance, apology, reconciliation..."
Amidst laughter, You glided into the arena. With his bright red hair and trendy clothes, he drew stares from the girls in the front row.
"Report, I'm late by accident," You Long said lazily, giving off the vibe of a bad student pretending to be well-behaved.
She caused quite a stir, drawing everyone's attention to her. Even Lin Nan looked up thoughtfully. In the era of stars, a "living person" like You Long was incredibly captivating. The distance between stars and the cold, dark space outside the porthole influenced the distance between people, and the distance between hearts was also increasing.
In this era, there are many aloof and indifferent people like the colonel. If a dazzling sun suddenly appears, everyone will take a second look.
The professor stopped and asked gently, "What's the reason?"
You Long's eyes darted around, and he immediately shouted, "I didn't do well on the test, I'm scared, and I don't dare to tell my parents. If they know, they'll patiently comfort me, help me regain my confidence, and I'll come to class!"
The classroom erupted in laughter, and even the professor burst into tears, wiping away his tears as he said, "It seems this student has fully grasped the content of our lesson. Go find a place to sit down."
With an expression of utter arrogance, You Long stepped onto the stairs and tapped his fingers on the table: "Excuse me, classmate."
Lin Nan felt that this person was restless and might want to go to the toilet every few minutes if she sat down, so she simply moved herself to a different spot.
About seven or eight seconds later, You Long was still standing there, looking completely infatuated.
Before Lin Nan could look up, she sat down just in time, her face flushing and her heart pounding. This girl was just too beautiful!
It's all because there are too many people at the military academy; she had never encountered one before!
Ms. You fell head over heels in love. During that very class, she meticulously researched Lin Nan's information, even secretly hacking into her system to study her preferences. Everyone in the school knew she was a scoundrel, and scoundrels have no morals or conscience. She vowed to win Lin Nan's heart.
She made the vow a little too soon, because she soon discovered that this person was too aloof, even more aloof than his peers in the poker world. How could someone be so devoid of worldly desires...
Her everyday language is like this:
"Please step aside. My plan does not include wasting time on other people."
"Medical scans show all physiological indicators are within combat clearance range. Continue operations."
"The tactical choices for this raid were 6% more efficient. This has been documented and can be used as a standard template in the future."
You Long didn't dare to confess directly, fearing she would become the 974th person rejected by Lin Nan (this number was meticulously recorded by Lin Nan's friend). So she decided to be patient and take things slowly, starting with frequently passing by her world...
Lin Nan was thus forced to remember this face. She didn't dislike it, perhaps because You Long was too passionate and too vibrant. Her strong vitality and desire were exactly what people in this era lacked, so sometimes she would be attracted to You Long, who appeared laughing and joking with a few friends, and couldn't help but take a few more glances at her.
On a bright and sunny noon, Lin Nan, a student at the time, sat reading a book on a sycamore-lined path in the school that was not often frequented, with music playing in her headphones.
A lazy breeze blew through her hair, and a few drowsy cicadas chirped softly and intermittently.
So Lin Nan also drifted off to sleep in this languid summer retreat.
Suddenly someone ran by, startling a flock of birds.
The wind blew against Lin Nan's face, and she opened her eyes. Perhaps because the wind was blowing so hard, the person lost one of their earphones and only realized it after running quite a distance.
Lin Nan looked at the teardrop-shaped earphone on the ground, and suddenly had an idea. So she picked it up and put it in her ear.
The next second, Lin Nan and You Long, who had run back, were both stunned.
It's the same song. The same line.
The music was captivating.
Yu Long ran back.
Lin Nan had already picked up the earphones from the ground. You Long pretended to look for them, but he didn't get a single glance.
"She's really composed." Lin Nan thought to herself, her attention drawn to You Long, so she was completely unprepared for the next line of lyrics.
"I like you so much. Every day since I met you is like the blazing summer sun. I want to be your star and I want to be in your sight..."
The confession came to my ears unexpectedly.
Lin Nan was completely stunned.
Later, she tried various methods to ask You Long how he synced her playlists, but he remained tight-lipped. Lin Nan also tried to hack into his private channel, but all attempts failed.
You Long once apologized to her, blushing, saying that she had been confused and infatuated at the time. Fearing that Lin Nan would be angry, she promised her that she would never pry into her privacy without her consent again.
Colonel Lin had to admit that Yu Long was a genius in this field.
"What if I hadn't picked up that earphone?"
"Then I can take another look at you."
"What if I picked it up, but didn't wear it?"
"Then I can say something to you."
Which sentence?
"The song title is 'Will You Send Me a Star? Will You Send Me a Star?'"
When You Long said this to her, her eyes sparkled. She happily tiptoed, turned around, and walked backwards towards Lin Nan.
She put her hands behind her back, looking a little embarrassed.
That was the year when Yutaki's girlish feelings were most obvious.
"You like stars?"
"I love it. It's bright from afar and even more breathtaking up close. Before I met you, my favorite thing was the stars."
"You wouldn't..." Lin Nan silently noted down her preferences, then thought of something else and was amused by her own sudden strange idea. She remembered some old novels.
"What?" Yu Long asked in confusion.
Lin Nan smiled to herself: "Use whether I pick up your earphones as a condition to decide whether or not you should... confess to me."
Young Lin Nan blushed, while You Long laughed: "How could that be? I would never make such a hasty decision about my life's most important matter."
Within a week of the lost earphone incident, Lin Nan encountered You Long several more times. The two started talking and became acquainted as friends. When Lin Nan walked under the shade of the trees again, she found someone waiting for her ahead.
The reason they were certain they were "waiting for her" was because the girl was standing by the roadside, glancing in their direction every now and then. After Lin Nan appeared, he stared intently at her face, his gaze moving slowly like a sunflower.
Lin Nan really wanted to ask her, "Aren't you going to get sunburned?"
She walked in the shade of the trees, while Yulong stood in the sunlight.
You Long took a step closer to her, and just like she always did when she saw Lin Nan, she carefully put her hands behind her back and skipped around: "How about this?"
Lin Nan was captivated by his demeanor. You Long pursed his lips, glanced left and right, then took out a hand from behind his back and extended it to Lin Nan: "Can I... borrow your music to listen to?"
As if possessed, Lin Nan took off one of her earphones and placed it in her outstretched palm.
You Long pursed his lips, smiling with a restrained yet unrestrained mirth, and quickly followed.
The key word for summer is heat. The scorching sun beats down on the ground, the silver rings on fingers, the girl's hair, and the wind that blows past her ears—all are hot, burning hot, and baking the hearts of young people with a sense of panic.
The lake water rippled with emerald green light.
Lin Nan walked onto the boardwalk, where the lake water was only half a foot away from her boots.
The sunlight, like a shower of shattered diamonds, danced beautifully among the undulating waves, appearing and disappearing intermittently.
You Long followed behind, perhaps trying to peek at the people in front. Lin Nan, momentarily bathed in the sun, felt as if this walk was a leisurely date.
"Hey, bird eggs!" You Long suddenly spotted something and darted in front of Lin Nan.
Lin Nan also saw it: "There are no birds this big on campus."
Yutaki was greatly disappointed: "A hollow ball."
Lin Nan couldn't bear to see others disappointed, so You Long ran back to her side in two steps, and a few seconds later he became cheerful again.
At that time, Lin Nan did not know that You Long would be very happy as long as he could be with her.
Even just looking at her back.
For Lin Nan, You Long was unique because she didn't need to go to great lengths; she simply appeared and immediately caught Lin Nan's attention. When she first expressed her feelings for Lin Nan, he didn't reject her the way he rejected others.
You Long then realized that Lin Nan had tacitly approved of her pursuit.
Overwhelmed with gratitude, You Long began to believe that he and Lin Nan were truly a match made in heaven. He happily crafted a whole set of treasures for Lin Nan, saying, "These are all my personal creations. Look at this chip, it's tiny... but it can hack into the opponent's channels, and it can even crack encrypted ones, though it takes a little time. It can play an unimaginable role on the battlefield. There's only one in the entire Federation, it's exclusively yours!"
"It seems the title of 'God of Data and Cutting-Edge Technology' is well-deserved." Lin Nan smiled. "You just gave it to me like that? Aren't you afraid I'll use it for bad things?"
“We all swore an oath of discipline before entering military academy.” You Long smiled at her, walking backwards with his hands behind his back: “Besides, Senior Sister Lin looks so upright.”
Lin Nan said "Oh," and then asked her, "Since you researched this kind of thing, haven't you used it to do anything bad?"
"I'm innocent!" You Long exclaimed. "I'm just a little mischievous, but I've never hacked into the military or anything... The most outrageous thing I've ever done is... well, I peeked at your private playlist, and actually your book list too."
She scratched her head sheepishly and looked at Lin Nan nervously: "Because I want to hear the songs you've listened to and know what books you've read... Will you be angry?"
"Wasn't a missile launched?"
Yu Long: "Huh?"
Lin Nan: "The most outrageous thing."
Youlong waved his hand: "That's nothing, it's nothing compared to the tension of invading your channel. I'm sorry, I know this kind of behavior isn't good, are you angry?"
Lin Nan paused for a moment, then said, "You're alright."
If it were someone else, she might have filed a lawsuit directly.
Yu Long was both surprised and delighted, staring at her with a silly grin.
Lin Nan is so beautiful, so exquisite, like a model of the universe, with every part running in the perfect orbit.
For a moment, a flash of silver light appeared in her dark eyes. You Long was stunned and couldn't help but ask, "What was that?"
"Huh?" Lin Nan didn't understand.
“The things in your eyes,” You Long gestured with his hand, “are so bright, so beautiful.”
Like a shooting star brushing past someone's eyes.
Lin Nan thought this person's IQ was fluctuating wildly: "What could be in my eyes? They're original, untouched eyes."
You Long blushed slowly, and she suddenly leaned over and kissed Lin Nan on the cheek.
Then he dashed away, nervously watching Lin Nan's suddenly motionless back, afraid that she would kill him in the next second.
Lin Nan turned around and asked her in a relatively calm manner, "Did you pursue other girls like this before?"
"No, no!" You Long waved his hands anxiously, "I've never pursued anyone before, you're the first!"
Lin Nan moved a little closer: "Never liked anyone else?"
Yu Longqing couldn't help but swallow: "Well... um... actually, I've had crushes on two cute girls, but they were just superficial crushes, not to the point of pursuing them."
Lin Nan took another step forward: "Then I'm the one?"
"Yes, yes." You Long nodded obediently: "I like you so much."
Lin Nan stared at her for a long time, then turned and left, saying, "Fine."
You Long pestered her all afternoon: "What do you mean by 'okay'? Did you agree?"
"Promise what?"
"Accept my advances."
Are you pursuing her?
"Of course, of course! What do you want? I'll pluck the stars from the sky for you!"
"I've heard that people in ancient times believed that love should begin with a bouquet of flowers and a confession. If you can do that, I'll say yes."
Yu Long was stunned; such simple conditions...
"Isn't this the least I can do?! I'll go buy flowers right now!"
She rushed off in a panic, but didn't return before dark. Even the usually patient Lin Nan started to get restless, wondering if she had changed her mind. Had she been faking it all along?
Evening training was over, evening self-study was over, and the classroom was empty. Lin Nan slowly packed her things, stood up, and calmly walked towards the dormitory.
As Lin Nan passed by the playground, she saw a figure limping in from the school gate, carrying a large bundle of things in his arms.
Lin Nan stopped in her tracks; she felt that it was You Long.
You Long walked over with a long face, and was surprised to see Lin Nan. He lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you waiting so long..."
Lin Nan frowned at her: "Are you injured?"
You Long touched his nose: "The rented flying motorcycle malfunctioned, and I didn't dare tell you for fear of scaring you. As a result, the police forced me to lie in the medical pod at three o'clock..."
"So, you're saying you won't go even if the police don't force you?" Lin Nan's voice turned cold. "Don't you care about your health at all?"
"No, I went to the hospital for a check-up, I just stayed in bed for a while..." You Long stared at her cautiously: "Then... do you still want the flowers?"
Lin Nan was silent for a moment, then pulled her over and kissed her.
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