Chapter 1 Don't Confess Without a Reason

Ten years ago, Xiamen University.

Yan Yan was a freshman.

"Yan Yan, be my girlfriend," Lei Pili said, as if it took a lot of determination, even though this was already the fifth time he had asked that year.

"I don't plan on dating in my freshman year," Yan Yan answered with a smile.

"Why?" Every time Lei Pili confessed to Yan Yan, her first response was that she didn't plan to date as a freshman. Now rejected for the fifth time, Lei Pili only wanted a clear answer.

"I don't know, I just don't plan to," Yan Yan shook her head, her tone carrying a hint of helplessness.

"Then... should I wait to ask you again when you're a sophomore?" Lei Pili asked tentatively.

"I think you'd better not. You've asked so many times already. How about this? Pretend I'm already a sophomore and ask me one more time right now, immediately," Yan Yan never liked anyone "waiting" for her.

"Pretend you're already a sophomore?" Lei Pili was a bit puzzled by Yan Yan's new approach.

"Yes, you're a senior now, by the time I'm a sophomore, you would have already graduated. Aren't you planning to go work in Beijing soon? When that time comes, to ask this question, you'd have to nmake a special trip back here, and that just sounds troublesome," Yan Yan was entirely considering things for Lei Pili's sake.

"Yan Yan... next year, would you be willing to be my girlfriend?" Lei Pili asked.

"That's possible," Yan Yan answered, and a glint of surprise flashed in Lei Pili's eyes.

"Really?" Lei Pili was somewhat doubtful of his own ears.

"Really. There's just a small issue. I have a hard time accepting guys taller than 178 centimeters, and your height is 180 centimeters. If by next year you haven't grown any taller, in fact, if you could shrink by two centimeters, then I'll agree," Yan Yan looked at Lei Pili sincerely as she spoke.

Lei Pili was somewhat speechless; every time Yan Yan refused, she'd say she didn't want to date as a freshman, and her "serious reasons" for rejecting him were always a bit different.

But none of the reasons had ever been as "brutally inhumane" as this time.

Compared to the reasons Yan Yan used to turn people down, those like being too young or parents not allowing it seemed trivial.

He had heard about people thinking someone too short and undergoing bone lengthening surgery.

But Yan Yan criticized someone for being too tall right off the bat; in that case, unless one waited to be old and suffer from something like osteoporosis, what other solution could there be?

Although Yan Yan didn't like him, Lei Pili was still a pretty good person.

Yan Yan didn't want Lei Pili to keep asking her whether she would be willing to be his girlfriend, but she also didn't want to hurt him too much with her words.

After all, boys in university, no matter their year, were still nestled in the ivory tower and hadn't yet matured much psychologically.

And if someone simply liked her, that couldn't really be considered wrong.

But if it wasn't simple, that was a different story.

..............

"Yan Yan, will you agree to be my girlfriend?" Gao Yu stood in front of Yan Yan with a bouquet of flowers.

"I don't plan on dating in my freshman year," Yan Yan replied emotionlessly.

"So when do you plan on dating?" Gao Yu didn't intend to give up.

"Well, if it's you, maybe in ten years," Yan Yan thought for a moment before providing an answer.

"Ten years? Why?" Gao Yu was full of confusion.

"Do you remember, when we registered for school, I came two days early? It was you, as a senior, who took me to choose the dorm," Yan Yan looked up and asked Gao Yu.

"Yes, I remember that's when I fell in love with you at first sight," Gao Yu replied frankly, his expression sincere.

"Oh, I see. Do you remember when I first started school, I brought along a recording pen, and then you said the campus radio station needed it for an interview, so you borrowed it?" Yan Yan continued to ask Gao Yu.

"I remember." Doubts began to resurface in Gao Yu's mind; he didn't understand why Yan Yan would suddenly ask such a question at this time, "Did I not return it to you?"

"You returned it the next day," Yan Yan shook her head, stating the fact.

"And then what, did anything go wrong? Did it get damaged?" Gao Yu asked Yan Yan, more puzzled.

Gao Yu had no recollection of tampering with Yan Yan's recording pen; if he remembered correctly, he hadn't even figured out how to use it.

When he had borrowed Yan Yan's recording pen, it was merely an excuse to see her again.

For dealing with a naive and romantic freshman sister, such a strategy was the most effective.

"It's not broken. When you gave it back to me, there was a file inside. At the time, I didn't know whether this file was useful or not, nor did I know if it was the content of the interview, or even if you had saved it yourself, so I just opened it and listened to it," Yan Yan explained the situation with the recording pen succinctly.

Gao Yu hadn't actually used the recording pen for an interview, so he felt that the content inside should not be related to him at all; he had only picked it up and waved it around in front of his dorm mates.

"I didn't use the recording pen for interviewing later," Gao Yu felt he needed to explain, although he did not think it was a matter of principle that needed to be clarified.

"I know you didn't use it for interviews because it recorded a conversation between you and your dorm mates. I originally didn't want to listen, but the first sentence was you saying that the girl who lent you the recording pen, when she came to school, had a big entourage, with many people from her family and many nice cars; you said that if you could win this girl over, you could save at least ten years of struggle," Yan Yan looked at Gao Yu.

Gao Yu opened his mouth, not knowing what to say. He, of course, remembered the words he had said, but such words were not meant to be said in front of Yan Yan.

Gao Yu hadn't figured out how to use Yan Yan's recording pen, so naturally, he didn't know how to delete the files he had recorded accidentally.

"I didn't mean it that way..." Gao Yu wanted to explain, but couldn't organize his words.

"It's okay, after I listened to it that day, I called my dad. I asked him, just told him one of my senior brothers thought that winning me over could save him ten years of struggle and asked my dad to help analyze whether this ten-year figure was reasonable," Yan Yan continued speaking.

At that moment, Gao Yu was both embarrassed and regretful. He had nothing to say.

"My dad told me then that everyone's process and method of striving are different.

So he wasn't sure whether there was any exaggeration in the ten-year figure.

He said you could strive for ten years and then see if you're fit to pursue me.

So in other words, if it were you, it would be at least ten years before I would agree to be your girlfriend," Yan Yan said, dead serious.

.........

"Regardless, Gao Yu is still the president of our college's student council, and the election for the new term is tomorrow. As a candidate for the coming committee, you should at least leave some face for him," Ning Xuan somewhat disapproved of what Yan Yan had just done.

Yan Yan had rejected Gao Yu while Ning Xuan stood by.

Although Ning Xuan said this to Yan Yan now, she had barely kept herself from laughing aloud when she heard the conversation between Yan Yan and Gao Yu earlier.

The way Gao Yu had borrowed that recording pen was beyond words.

"I'm just a little rascal from freshman year, with no qualifications to run for president. Why should I save face for him? Besides, other than you, no one else heard it. As long as you don't spread it around, he surely wouldn't have the face to mention this incident to anyone else, right?" Yan Yan was indifferent.

"I think you'd better be careful," Ning Xuan always felt something was not quite right.

"The size of the heart is innate, they say it's about the size of each person's own fist, so you can't just say it's small and make it small," Yan Yan would always respond with some irrelevant comment whenever she received Ning Xuan's concerns.

Yan Yan was a science student. When she entered Xiamen University, she chose the Broadcasting and Television major, one of the few majors that encompassed both arts and sciences.

Though they say it's inclusive of both arts and sciences, in reality, it's purely an arts major. Among dozens of people, there are only one or two science students, which can be more or less ignored.

Since the division of arts and sciences in high school, Yan Yan had not been good at interacting with arts students.

Luckily, she had Ning Xuan in the same dormitory, who, like her, had entered through the path of a science student.