...
After the New Year, the two immediately threw themselves into their studies.
Days passed by one by one!
Finally... the intense college entrance examination, like a long battle, has finally come to an end.
What followed was an even more agonizing wait.
During that period, Li Jing and Guan Hongqi still went to the library often, but they could no longer concentrate on the books. Most of the time, they would just sit facing each other, occasionally looking up at each other, and they could see the deep anxiety and expectation in each other's eyes.
Until that day, both of them received their admission results.
Li Jing knew that the Guan family would celebrate for Guan Hongqi, so she also asked her parents to go to the shop owned by Guan Hongqi's sister to celebrate for her.
I just wanted to personally congratulate him on this joyous day.
Sure enough, she saw him and his family at Ruyi Restaurant, and she mustered up her courage to go up and greet them.
For her, getting to know his family made her very happy, and she felt like she had taken another step closer to him.
After that day, the two frequently met up before the start of the school term.
However, the window seats in the library are no longer their usual haunts; instead, they frequent parks in early summer, cinemas, or even the stone benches under the old locust tree near the tenement building.
Like most young people in relationships these days, they started going out together frequently.
Li Jing really wanted to expose their relationship, but she still felt that this kind of thing should be done by a man, so she just waited.
On this day, the park was filled with the swaying willows and the rippling lake.
Looking at the scattered boats on the lake, Guan Hongqi couldn't help but sigh, "There are so many people rowing boats."
“Yes,” Li Jing echoed, but her gaze secretly fell on Guan Hongqi’s arms with his sleeves rolled up. The strong lines of his forearms made her cheeks flush slightly, and she quickly looked away.
These days, their relationship seems to have gotten a little closer, so why hasn't he brought it up yet?
Do you feel that you haven't spent enough time together?
Still not enough understanding?
Li Jing felt inexplicably disappointed.
All I could do was follow him slowly along the lake shore.
The two were separated by a perfect fist's distance, their arms occasionally brushing against each other with each step, then quickly separating, leaving a momentary tingling sensation.
Li Jing was almost unable to resist taking the initiative!
However, he ultimately held back.
Since he didn't bring it up when we were strolling in the park, shouldn't he have brought it up when we went to see a movie?
So when Guan Hongqi invited her to go to the movies, she began to look forward to it again.
That day, the movie "Romance on Lushan Mountain" was being shown in the cinema, with the light and shadow changing.
In the film, the male and female protagonists boldly express their love. In the darkness below the screen, Li Jing feels the back of her hand seemingly accidentally touch Guan Hongqi's hand on the armrest.
They both froze for a moment, neither moving away, maintaining that ambiguous contact until the movie ended and the lights came on, at which point they quickly separated like startled birds.
When they left the movie theater, both of them still had a blush on their ears.
Li Jing was still thinking, hadn't her behavior just now been suggestive enough?
Should he say something?
Unfortunately, she was still disappointed. After dinner, Guan Hongqi drove her home as usual, without making any explicit suggestion.
...
Later, the two met up frequently, but most of the time they would just find a quiet place to sit.
They sat side by side on a stone bench beside the gnarled roots of the old locust tree.
Guan Hongqi would tell her interesting stories from his time in the army, and about his comrades from all over the country.
Li Jing would talk about her experiences as a sent-down youth in the countryside and her aspirations for her future career as a teacher.
As they speak, their voices gradually lower, and then they fall into a comfortable and warm silence.
At this moment, one's gaze will inevitably drift towards the other person.
Li Jing secretly glanced at his sharply defined profile and watched his Adam's apple bob as he spoke.
Guan Hongqi looked at her slightly trembling eyelashes and the tips of her hair bathed in the soft glow of the setting sun.
Occasionally, their eyes would meet unexpectedly in mid-air.
Like being electrocuted, they crossed paths for a moment, then hurriedly dodged away.
However, neither of them asked each other: "Do we count as dating?"
Neither of them said, "Will you be my boyfriend?"
Li Jing had no idea what Guan Hongqi was thinking, so she was somewhat disappointed.
Days passed like this, and finally the day of school started arrived, and the two went to their respective schools.
The two schools are not close to each other, so we see each other much less often than in the previous months.
...
University life flies by in the midst of acquiring knowledge and the thrill of youth.
After the start of the semester, Guan Hongqi almost without fail would travel from Beijing University of Technology to Beijing Normal University every weekend to visit Li Jing.
He would use the money he saved to take her to restaurants serving greasy, oily food.
Or they could go boating in the park, where he would steer the oars on the shimmering lake, telling jokes that made her laugh.
He talked enthusiastically about the new equipment their school had acquired and about the professor who spoke with an accent.
She would also complain to him about which of her roommates was petty and liked to take advantage of others, or share funny stories from practicing her lectures.
As they walked around campus, classmates who knew Li Jing would naturally greet them, "Going out with your boyfriend again?"
Li Jing's cheeks always flushed slightly, but she never offered any explanation.
Everyone took it for granted that they were a couple, but only they knew that the thin veil of paper separating them as lovers remained quietly in place, never to be pierced.
The days passed by, fulfilling and peaceful.
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