Chapter 28: Youth Campus Chapter 1

  Su Luo bid farewell to Xu Zi Rong and Xu Zi Yan, then was thrown into a new world by Yao Zhuo without her knowledge.

  Yao Zhu's Taoist practice was indeed much higher than Liu Qianqian's, and Liu Qianqian couldn't make her willingly cross over, but Yao Zhu could. With just a simple spell, she forgot the reason for crossing over and wouldn't think about going back, and whoever she wanted to love, she would be able to love with all her heart, without regret or resentment.

  This is a youthful campus story similar to "You Are the Apple of My Eye" and "Our Times", telling the sweet love between a handsome and mischievous boy and an academic goddess.

  The male lead, Yan Yu, is the class sports committee member. He's tall and handsome, plays basketball well, doesn't like studying but is very smart, loyal to friends, and has a high popularity among both boys and girls. He's a campus celebrity and a legendary school grass. The female lead, Zhou Xiaomeng, has parents who are teachers. She was raised with strict home education, can play the piano, has long hair, likes wearing white dresses, and studies very hard. She's an outstanding campus goddess and the dream girl of many boys.

  At first, Yan Yu always heard the boys in his dormitory talking about Zhou Xiaomeng, but he didn't think much of it and thought she was just a good-looking bookworm. Later, when the school held a sports meeting, no one from their class signed up for the girls' long-distance running event, but the school stipulated that all events must have participants, otherwise they would not be eligible for ranking in the grade or school level. As the athletic committee member, Yan Yu was anxious. Zhou Xiaomeng, although a good girl and poor at sports, had a strong sense of collective honor as the class leader and volunteered to sign up. On the day of the competition, her results were naturally terrible, and she fell far behind due to lack of exercise, but she didn't give up and persisted until the end, even though she stumbled and fell near the finish line. When everyone else had finished the race, only she was still on the track, but she refused to admit defeat and crawled back up, limping across the finish line.

  This moved Yan Yu, who was touched by Zhou Xiaomeng's kindness and bravery, as well as her unwillingness to give up. As soon as Zhou Xiaomeng reached the finish line, he swept her up in his arms and took her to the infirmary to bandage her wounds, with their classmates cheering them on good-naturedly.

  After that, although they didn't interact much on the surface, in their hearts, they both distinguished each other from other classmates, with a subtle tacit understanding and ambiguity between them.

  In the second year of high school on Valentine's Day, Yan Yu was urged by his buddies and decided to confess.

  After self-study class, he arranged Zhou Xiaomeng's name with candles and fireworks under the girls' dormitory building. Under the name, there was a line of "I love you". He held 11 roses in his hands and called out to her.

  The girls in the entire dormitory were shocked by his romantic and bold behavior, and they all ran out to lie down on the corridor to watch. The boys from the opposite male dormitory also rushed over to cheer for Yan Yu downstairs.

  Zhou Xiaomeng hid under the bed and didn't want to come out, but Yan Yu still insisted on shouting her name repeatedly downstairs. She felt embarrassed, so she got up, scooped a basin of water, and poured it over Yan Yu's head.

  This splash was so sudden that Yan Yu froze for a moment, let out a loud "ah-choo", and stared foolishly at Zhou Xiaomeng on the second floor who was still holding an empty basin, asking with a childlike tone of grievance, "Why did you splash me?"

  Zhou Xiaomeng was amused by his appearance and couldn't help but let out a giggle, while Yan Yu was again captivated by her sweet smile, completely forgetting the unpleasantness from before.

  Zhou Xiaomeng urged him to hurry back, as he still had class tomorrow, and he was stupidly dragged away by his roommate.

  When he got back, the bathhouse had already closed, so Yan Yu naturally couldn't take a hot bath, and the next day he proudly caught a cold. After Zhou Xiaomeng found out, she didn't say anything, but quietly made him a cup of brown sugar ginger tea that she usually drank during her period and placed it on his desk, moving Yan Yu to tears again.

  After school, Yan Yu asked Zhou Xiaomeng what she thought of him. Zhou Xiaomeng said, I want to take the B university entrance exam, and before going to college, I absolutely will not fall in love early, otherwise it will affect my studies.

  Yan Yun was stunned for a moment, then reacted and asked Zhou Xiaomeng, "If I get accepted into the same university as you, will you agree to be my girlfriend?" Zhou Xiaomeng said with a straight face, "That depends on whether you can get in, let's talk about it after you're admitted."

  Actually, Zhou Xiaomeng already liked Yan Yu, but she hoped to motivate him to study hard in this way. As the class leader and a good student, she was the hope of her parents and teachers, so for now, her task is to do well on the college entrance exam, only after doing well on the exam can she have the qualifications to talk about the future.

  Yan Yu saw hope and was overjoyed, under the encouragement of love he started studying desperately. In fact, he was very smart, usually just lazy, now that he had motivation, naturally things went twice as fast, his grades improved rapidly. Zhou Xiaomeng also often helped him with questions, both of them didn't mention emotional things again, but in their hearts they were thinking about working hard together for the future.

  Yan Yu had a roommate named Chen Jinsong, who was also one of the top students in the class and served as vice class monitor. He often worked with Zhou Xiaomeng on class assignments and secretly admired her, but as a good student, he thought to himself that he would wait until after the college entrance exams to confess his feelings to her. However, he didn't expect that his goddess would be snatched away by Yan Yu, whom he had always looked down upon as childish and only having a pretty face, who would show off in front of everyone. Every time he saw the two of them working together sweetly, he would feel resentful in his heart. Especially after Yan Yu started to work hard, his grades got better and better, and on the last mock exam, he even surpassed Chen Jinsong, which made this person who had been studying hard since childhood feel even more humiliated and hateful towards Yan Yu.

  The college entrance examination is approaching, and both Yan Yu and Zhou Xiaomeng are making a final sprint to get into B University. Zhou Xiaomeng was assigned to the on-campus exam venue, while Yan Yu will be taking the exam at another high school's venue.

  The night before, both of them, like all the other examinees, checked their examination tools under the repeated reminders of their parents and teachers, and then went to bed early.

  The next morning, Yan Yu went to the bathroom before leaving. At that time, only Chen Jinsong was left in the dormitory. Chen Jinsong suddenly saw that Yan Yu's transparent pen bag had his admission ticket with the name facing inward, while the pen holder next to it contained his last mock exam certificate. The devil in his heart emerged, and he glanced at the empty dormitory, secretly swapping the two admission tickets. After all, they were almost identical, and even if Yan Yu discovered it later, he would think he had misplaced it himself. Then, Chen Jinsong took his belongings and left the room.

  Yan Yu took the mock exam admission ticket to another school's test site, and it wasn't until the proctor checked his ID before entering the room that he realized he had grabbed the wrong one. He was anxious, but going back would definitely not make it in time, and he didn't want to give up like this, so he called his best roommate to see if they could rush to ask a teacher who stayed at their school to send it over. His roommate's phone was still on, but had already entered the yellow warning zone and couldn't get out. The proctors in the test room were all uniformly arranged by the Education Bureau, and none of them knew him, so no one could help.

  Their class teacher did not invigilate, the students in charge of bringing the team to Yan Yu's examination room learned that Yan Yu had made such a big mistake and were also contacting people everywhere to see if they could catch up as much as possible. Unfortunately, the whole school was closed, and the people inside either took exams or invigilated, no one could spare time to come.

  Yan Yu missed the first subject and naturally failed to pass, not to mention B University, even the first-tier university was not admitted, while Zhou Xiaomeng successfully enrolled in the university they had agreed on.

  Because Yan Yu committed such a serious and foolish mistake, causing the dream of going to college together to be shattered, Zhou Xiaomeng felt that he was irresponsible, unreliable, and immature. Not only did she not comfort him, but she was also angry with him for a long time and didn't even answer his calls.

  Yan Yu was heartbroken and reflected on himself, feeling that he had wronged Zhou Xiaomeng. With the encouragement of his teachers and parents, he decided to study hard and retake the exam next year.

  Along with Zhou Xiaomeng, Chen Jinsong and two other classmates were also admitted to B University. Although Zhou Xiaomeng didn't answer Yan Yu's calls, she still quietly paid attention to his situation through Chen Jinsong. However, due to jealousy, Chen Jinsong often unintentionally provoked the relationship between the two, causing their conflict to deepen.

  In the second year, Yan Yu also successfully passed the entrance examination of B University. Zhou Xiaomeng finally forgave him and they made up as before. They spent a very sweet life from after the college entrance examination to before school started.

  However, after the start of school, another thunderbolt struck Yan Yu. Zhou Xiaomeng had already obtained a exchange student quota from an American university and would be leaving as soon as school started. After finding out, Yan Yu felt very reluctant to let her go and thought that Zhou Xiaomeng had deceived her. But he still understood her strong personality and told her to wait for him for a year, next year he would also apply for this project and the two could go together. What made him even more uneasy was that there was also a male teacher going with them on this trip, who also liked Zhou Xiaomeng. Although he hadn't openly pursued her, in private he had hinted to Yan Yu, who was her official boyfriend, and Zhou Xiaomeng admired him even more than she trusted Yan Yu himself.

  Yan Yu openly expressed his concerns to Zhou Xiaomeng, but instead of comforting him, she felt that he was being chauvinistic and didn't respect her.

  Regarding Yan Yu's dissatisfaction with the male instructor and his quotation of the male instructor's provocative words, Zhou Xiaomeng was even more furious, feeling that he was making unfounded accusations, damaging the male instructor's academic integrity and moral character, and also distrustful of himself.

  Yan Yu forced a smile, saying "trust" over and over again, but Zhou Xiao Meng had never trusted herself. In her eyes, she was always willful, immature, and ignorant. She had followed in her footsteps with such difficulty, step by step, yet she had never thought to pause for her own sake. Not even a little comfort or encouragement. It was always "Yan Yu, get up, go to self-study"; "Yan Yu, how did you only score so few points? That someone else..."; "Yan Yu, starting tomorrow, you'll recite vocabulary for half an hour every morning, I'll be checking", "Yan Yu..."

  Despite his many dissatisfactions, he still loved Zhou Xiaomeng after all and finally chose to compromise, allowing her to fly across the ocean with her lover.

  In the United States for a year, Zhou Xiaomeng was busy and energetic, shuttling between laboratories, libraries, and conference halls every day. Her male supervisor even invited her to be his assistant, and she unknowingly accepted with gratitude, working and studying even harder. As for Yan Yu, who stayed in China, she almost forgot about him, not because she had changed her heart, but because she felt that academics were more important to her than love. Since Yan Yu loved her, he should support her choices.

  Afraid of disturbing her rest and afraid of interrupting her studies, Yan Yu calculated the time difference every day, waiting for a few hours after her meal, getting up to make a phone call in the corridor. But out of ten times, seven or eight times she didn't answer, and when she did, they would only exchange a few words before hanging up, which made him very sad. He could only comfort himself that Xiaomeng was busy, and as her boyfriend, he should be understanding.

  He called again, and surprisingly, it was the male teacher who answered, saying that Zhou Xiaomeng was busy at the moment and asked him to call back another day. He tried to convince himself that they were just in a teacher-student relationship and must be busy with projects, but he still felt uneasy. After two or three hours, he called again. This time it was Zhou Xiaomeng who answered, which made him feel relieved, but the other party said, "Yan Yu, are you idle and have nothing to do? You will call every day, aren't you annoyed? Can't you do something serious?"

  Yan Yu was so angry that he laughed, and as he laughed, he cried. He had always been spoiled by others since he was young, and his temper wasn't good to begin with. But only when it came to Zhou Xiao Meng, he was diligent and responsible, willing to compromise on everything, fearing that if he didn't do well enough, she would be unhappy. But in the end, when he called her, she actually found it annoying. Wasn't he allowed to not meet her expectations of excellence, and therefore wasn't worthy of being her boyfriend? Did she only accept him because he could attend the same university as her, study together with her, and do research together? If he had tried his best but still hadn't gotten in back then, would she have abandoned him?

  Yan Yu felt more and more wronged, finally, in a fit of anger, he decided to go to the United States to find Zhou Xiaomeng. If she still cherished him as her boyfriend, he would forgive her when she returned. If she continued to ignore him, then this relationship was also due to end.

  Yan Yu arrived in the US and went to the university where Zhou Xiaomeng was, after asking around, he found the laboratory of his male instructor, but the security guard wouldn't let him in, and his phone had no battery left, so he asked the security guard to go in and call Zhou Xiaomeng, saying her boyfriend had arrived. At this time, a colleague from their lab happened to be passing by, heard that he was Zhou's boyfriend, and enthusiastically offered to take him in, and the security guard also agreed to let him pass.

  Two people walked and chatted, Yan Yu heard Zhou Xiaomeng's colleague praising her, and also had Rongyan, thinking that she was being petty, decided to apologize to Zhou Xiaomeng, and the two made up. But when pushing open the door, what they saw was indeed Zhou Xiaomeng lying on the sand, covered with a man's suit, and the male director was leaning over to kiss her.

  Yan Yu was furious and rushed up to give the male director a punch. His colleagues also came over to intervene.

  Zhou Xiaomeng was startled awake by the commotion of the two, and without saying a word, she slapped Yan Yu on the ear, scolding him "What nonsense are you making" and also told him to quickly apologize to the male teacher.

  This slap completely broke the last bit of warmth in Yan Yu's heart. He looked at Zhou Xiaomeng, didn't say a word, turned around and walked out of the lab. Alone on the foreign street, he ran wildly, tears streaming down his face.

  Zhou Xiaomeng heard the truth from her colleague, and she also felt guilty in her heart. She thought she had wrongly blamed Yan Yu, but she couldn't swallow her pride, thinking that Yan Yu would come back to find her as usual after a few days, and then she would apologize to him sincerely. However, she waited and waited, but Yan Yu never came back this time, he was completely disappointed.

  In the end, Zhou Xiaomeng agreed to marry her male mentor. Yan Yu came from a good family and attended a prestigious university, with great abilities and high achievements in his career, meeting Zhou Xiaomeng's initial requirements for maturity and stability. Unfortunately, it was too late for them, as too much harm had been done and could not be healed.

  From Zhou Xiaomeng's friend, Yan Yu heard that her new home was going to be renovated and the wedding needed a planner. So he quietly contacted the designer his male teacher had found and arranged everything according to his own vision for Zhou Xiaomeng's home and wedding, secretly adding a lot of money. Zhou Xiaomeng didn't find out until the day of the wedding, but by then it was too late. Just like in all those youth-themed movies, in the end they each went their separate ways.