Chapter 10
Three months of travel and longing finally came to an end. Zhao Jinglu, dragging her suitcase, chatted and laughed with her fellow team members as they walked along the familiar campus tree-lined path. In her arms, she clutched a thick stack of documents and a heavy award certificate. Sunlight streamed through the leaves, and everything was filled with the joy of returning home.
As she was chatting and laughing, the sharp edge of the document in her arms accidentally cut a tiny cut on her palm. The blood that oozed out was small but quite noticeable.
“Ah! Hiss…”
"Oh, you're scratched?" A male classmate next to her noticed it immediately and came over with concern. He subconsciously reached out and wanted to hold her wrist for a closer look. "Let me see, is it serious? I have a Band-Aid in my bag..."
This was just normal concern between classmates.
However, just when the boy's hand was about to touch Zhao Jinglu, another slender, powerful hand with distinct joints suddenly stretched out from the side and accurately grasped Zhao Jinglu's wrist. The force was not great, but it was unquestionable in its strength.
The hand had a familiar, slightly cool body temperature.
Zhao Jinglu's heart skipped a beat and she looked up in surprise.
Ling Peng appeared beside him at some point. He was wearing a simple black shirt, with an upright figure and a calm expression. However, his eyes swept sharply over the stunned male student. His tone was calm, but it carried an invisible sense of oppression:
"Don't bother you. I'll take her to see it."
After saying that, he didn't even give Zhao Jinglu and the male classmate any time to react. He pulled her with one hand, took the suitcase with the other, and turned and left.
Zhao Jinglu was practically half-dragged away by him. She still held the pile of documents in her arms, her wrist tightly gripped by him. She could clearly feel the scorching heat of his palm, a contrast to his apparent calm. She stumbled after him, her gaze fixed on his broad back and neatly cropped hair.
At this moment, she felt mixed emotions.
Surprise—how could he suddenly appear here? Was it a coincidence, or...had he calculated the time of her return?
It was embarrassing - he just dragged her away without saying anything in front of so many classmates, and she didn't know what kind of gossip would spread tomorrow.
But even more than that, she felt an indescribable, surging joy, like the sudden pop of soda after the cap is pulled off, bringing with it the sense of relief and peace of mind that three months of longing had finally come to an end. This unfamiliar, overpowering presence, far from frightening her, became, because it was directed at him, a strange, heart-racing confirmation.
He pulled her silently all the way and stopped at a relatively deserted tree-lined path.
Zhao Jinglu finally pulled her wrist back, the warmth and touch of his grip still lingering on it. She looked at the man before her, whose aura seemed a little unstable, feeling both angry and amused. She couldn't help but scold him, "What are you doing? How come after just a few days of work, you've become Daomingsi, so overbearing?"
Ling Peng stopped and turned. His eyes first quickly swept over the red mark on her palm that had stopped bleeding. His brows knitted together in a barely perceptible frown, a flash of distress passing through his face. But when he spoke, his tone was deliberately indifferent, even a little provocative:
"Isn't it just a small cut? No one will die. Is it necessary for him to do that?" The sourness and dissatisfaction in his tone almost overflowed.
Zhao Jinglu was amused by his logic of putting the blame on someone else and blurted out, "They're just classmates showing some concern for each other. Is it really that serious?"
As soon as the words came out, the air seemed to be silent for a moment.
The smile on Zhao Jinglu's face also froze slightly.
"Do you really need to?"
These words, like a key, unexpectedly opened the floodgates of her memory.
Countless images flashed through her mind:
In front of the campus, he never tires of delivering materials and CDs.
On the steps, he listened to the companionable and gentle advice.
He was depressed and miserable after seeing her, but his mood suddenly brightened up when she said, "I don't have anyone I like."
For three months, those pervasive text messages and phone calls, oozing with worry...
And just now, his almost out-of-control, possessive and overbearing behavior...
All the little things, all the anomalies, all the special treatments... at this moment, they were linked together by the four words "Do you really need to?", pointing to a desire that she had not dared to think about before, but had lingered in her heart countless times!
Her heartbeat suddenly became disordered and her breathing became rapid.
She suddenly raised her head, her eyes locked on Ling Peng, as if she were truly getting to know him for the first time. Unease and nervousness washed over her like a tide, causing her fingers to tremble slightly.
She no longer hesitated, no longer afraid of the answer she might face, and she tugged hard at his arm, forcing him to turn completely around to face her.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps between the branches, casting dappled shadows on his face. She tilted her head back, mustering the greatest courage she had ever possessed, her voice trembling with a barely perceptible tremor as she finally asked the question that had been lingering in her mind for so long:
"Ling Peng,"
"You said before..."
"The person you like..."
"Who is it?"
She stared at him without blinking, waiting for the answer that might change everything.
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