17: Chapter 17 Take a Brave Step

Xu Weidong paused for a moment, then said, "The look of a father encouraging his son to pursue a girl."

Xu Tianhua did not reply, but Xu Weidong could feel his father smiling on the other end of the line.

"That's enough, I've said too much."

"Thank you, Dad."

"Mm."

"Really."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds.

"Comrade Weidong, from the time you were little until now, I have rarely praised you."

"Mm."

"It's not because you aren't worthy of praise, but because I feared you would become arrogant."

"I feared you would think everything comes too easily, and that you wouldn't know how to cherish it."

"Now you know."

"In this world, nothing is easy. Those things that seem to be obtained effortlessly are things others have carried for you behind the scenes."

"Your father has carried them, and in the future, you will have to carry them too."

"I know."

"But there is one thing that you do not need to carry."

"What?"

"The matter of who you like."

"It doesn't need to be carried, it doesn't need to be weighed, and it doesn't need to account for anyone else's mood."

"This is the only thing you are allowed to be willful about."

Xu Tianhua paused, then said, "This is also the only thing your mother and I hope you will be willful about."

Xu Weidong held his phone, standing on the playground.

His eyes felt a bit warm, not because of sadness, but because of a strange feeling he hadn't experienced for a long time.

He was allowed!

Not allowed to do something...

He had never felt that he needed permission to do anything; rather, he was allowed to be himself.

That nineteen-year-old boy whose heart would race because of a girl's smile.

That ordinary, normal young man, whether it was lust at first sight or love at first sight, who didn't need to bear anyone's expectations.

"Dad, I know."

"Know what?"

"I know what to do next."

"Go back early, it's cold outside."

"Mm."

"I'm going to Yancheng for a meeting next week, I'll come to see you if I have time."

"Okay."

"That girl, remember to tell me when you've successfully pursued her."

Xu Weidong laughed and said, "I haven't even started pursuing her yet."

"Then you'd better hurry."

"If you're too late, there will be nowhere to cry."

The call ended. Xu Weidong stood where he was, watching the phone screen slowly go dark.

He put the phone in his pocket and suddenly made a decision.

Xu Weidong didn't want to wait anymore!

The next morning, Bai Bing was studying at a window seat on the second floor of the library.

This was her habit: when she didn't have classes, she would come to the library, find a quiet corner, read books, do homework, and handle matters for the Literature Club.

At 9:17, someone gently tapped on her table.

She looked up, and Xu Weidong was standing in front of her.

It wasn't a chance encounter; he had no books or backpack in his hands, was wearing a dark grey jacket, and his hair was slightly messy from the wind, looking as if he had run straight from the dormitory.

"Senior Bai Bing, are you free?"

Bai Bing was stunned for two seconds. She subconsciously wanted to smile and greet him naturally like before, asking her junior how he got here.

But the words reached her lips and she swallowed them back.

She just nodded and said, "I'm free."

Xu Weidong sat down opposite her. The library was very quiet, with only the sound of turning pages and occasional footsteps.

"I heard about what happened yesterday."

"You went to see Teacher Li."

"You don't need to take those things he said to heart."

Bai Bing looked up; she thought he would explain.

To say that it was all an accident, that he didn't want it to be this way, that he was still the same person he was before, but Xu Weidong did not explain.

"I don't know how to make you believe that there are some things that, just because you say it's not a level you can reach, doesn't mean it really has nothing to do with you."

"When you first met me, I was still nothing. This fact, no one can change."

Bai Bing looked at him and suddenly realized that this boy she had always treated as a junior had a different look in his eyes today when he looked at her.

It was a boy looking at a girl.

"Are you here to comfort me?"

"No."

"Then you're here to..."

"To tell you that I still remember what happened on the first day of school."

"That day you were wearing a white dress, with your hair in a high ponytail, standing at the school gate."

"I asked you which way to go to the School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, and you said, 'I'll take you.'"

"You helped me carry a bag. I was too embarrassed to let you carry it, so I took it back."

Bai Bing suddenly smiled; she remembered too.

She remembered the sunlight was very nice that day, remembered how the freshman looked a bit shy but was trying to stay calm, and remembered how the tips of his ears turned red when she offered to help him carry his bag.

That was months ago; at that time, she didn't know anything.

"So what?"

"You remember, and then what?"

Xu Weidong looked at her. Another gust of wind blew outside the window, and ginkgo leaves rustled as they fell all over the ground.

"Then I came to ask you, are you willing to..."

"Give that junior who secretly looked at you a dozen times on the first day of school..."

"A chance."

Bai Bing was stunned. Xu Weidong did not rush her.

He sat there, waiting quietly.

Just like that day in the corridor when he waited for her to introduce the Literature Club—patient, calm, and unhurried.

A long time later, Bai Bing lowered her head, looking at the pages spread out before her; she couldn't take in a single word.

"Do you know what Teacher Li said?"

"I know."

"He said this is not a level I can reach."

"He is wrong."

Bai Bing looked up, and Xu Weidong looked at her.

"Those things, I didn't choose them, and I didn't want them. If I had a choice..."

He didn't continue, and Bai Bing finished for him, "You would still rather be an ordinary student?"

Xu Weidong smiled bitterly and said, "But I can't anymore; it's already like this."

"But there is one thing that has nothing to do with those things."

"What thing?"

"The fact that I like you."

"It didn't start today, nor did it start from when I knew you were a senior and I was a junior. It was from the day school started, when you stood under the sun and asked me, 'Classmate, are you a freshman?'"

"It started from that moment."

Bai Bing lowered her head, staring at the blurry lead type on the page, and didn't speak for a very, very long time.

Then she looked up and said, "Do you know?"

"The day I helped you carry your bag, it wasn't a volunteer job."

"I just wanted to help you carry it."

"I thought you looked quite tired dragging your luggage by yourself."

She paused, her voice so soft it was like she was talking to herself.

"At that time, I didn't even know your name."

Xu Weidong looked at her, his eyes very calm.

"So, you don't need to explain, and you don't need to promise anything."

She looked at him, her eyes a bit red, but the corners of her mouth curved up.

"I actually, when you were still nothing..."

"...already liked you a little bit."

The library was still very quiet, with the sound of turning pages, footsteps, and occasional low whispers.

No one knew that in the corner by the window, two young people had just finished a conversation.

A long time later, Bai Bing closed her book.

"Have you had breakfast?"

"No."

"The cafeteria only has steamed buns at this hour."

"That's fine."

She stood up and picked up her schoolbag.

Xu Weidong also stood up, and the two walked out of the library side by side.

The sun was shining brightly outside, and ginkgo leaves were spread all over the ground in a golden carpet.

Bai Bing walked half a step in front, her ponytail swaying gently on her shoulder.