At twenty-one, Zhuang Mengying was a tall, slender young woman. Since childhood, she had heard no shortage of praise for her beauty.
On this particular day, she sat quietly in the library of Anya University, reviewing statistics for her junior-year midterm exams.
She was seated on a small sofa in a corner by the window, holding a slice of her favorite chocolate cake. Behind her, floor-to-ceiling windows covered an entire wall, visually connecting the interior with the outside world.
Anya University was one of the world's top universities and also an expensive private institution.The Anya University Library was the work of a master architect, designed in a Mid-Century Modern style. The entire structure resembled a massive glass box, located at the intersection of forestland and the Anya River on the city's outskirts. Thanks to its ingenious integration with the natural environment, photographs of the library frequently appeared on the covers of architectural magazines.
At this moment, however, her attention was not on the cake she loved, nor on the statistics textbook on the table. Instead, it had been drawn to a male student sitting not far away.
The young man sat on a nearby sofa, apparently studying as well. His face had soft contours—an oval shape—with a high, straight nose and slanted phoenix eyes. His skin was fair, forming a striking contrast with his thick, jet-black hair, making him stand out conspicuously in the library.
He wore a coffee-colored casual sweater paired with light-colored trousers. The outfit was not from the latest trends, but its design was distinctive, and the fabric looked refined—Mengying guessed it was custom-made. The slanting afternoon sunlight of autumn fell upon him, with rows of solemn, towering bookshelves behind him. To Mengying, the scene before her resembled a carefully composed painting.
What caught her attention, however, was not his handsome appearance, nor his tasteful clothing, nor the pictorial composition of the scene itself. Rather, she felt that his face and this moment were strangely familiar.
The boy across from her pulled her back to a summer long ago, when she was six years old. It reminded her of Brother White, the boy who had once saved her that summer.
Not long after the black sedan's visit, Nannan was taken by Aunt Mei and Uncle Qiang away from the peaceful countryside of Yunxi. She never saw Brother White again. Aunt Mei said that because Nannan needed to start school, her mother had specially arranged for her to attend the best private elementary school in Anya City across the ocean. There, Nannan would receive the best education. Later, she could attend Anya University's affiliated middle school, then Anya University itself. Aunt Mei and Uncle Qiang would accompany Nannan across the ocean.
As for why her mother hadn't come all summer, Aunt Mei said she was simply too busy. Once Nannan was in Anya City, she would be closer to her parents and could see them often. What was the ocean? It was a big, big sea. So her mother had flown to the other side of the big sea? It made sense to live near mother. Nannan was also happy at the prospect of seeing her parents again.
But what if Brother White comes back and can't find us? Nannan had worried. Aunt Mei assured her that mother would explain the situation to Brother White. But if they flew to the other side of the sea, wouldn't they never see Brother White again? Could they ever come back?
Every time Mengying asked Aunt Mei about this, Aunt Mei would say she'd have to ask mother—that mother was arranging everything and she didn't know. But Aunt Mei never seemed to get answers.
Whether Brother White had ever returned to Yunxi in those fifteen years, how to contact him—Mengying had no way of knowing. When she first arrived in Anya City, Nannan frequently asked Aunt Mei about him, but Aunt Mei always gave the same response: she'd have to ask mother. Yet Aunt Mei never did seem to come back with an answer.
After arriving in Anya City, Aunt Mei and Uncle Qiang never again mentioned the distant Yunxi countryside. They were consumed with arranging Mengying's new life. Each day brought new class schedules, new assignments, new teachers—as if Yunxi had never existed.
Moreover, Chu Nannan was formally registered for school under the name "Zhuang Mengying." Zhuang was her grandmother's family name. Mengying knew her grandmother had no other children besides her mother. Her grandmother herself was an only child and had always expressed to mother the wish that Nannan would carry on her name. And Nannan was hardly a formal name anyway. So Mengying had no objection to her new name, whether first or last. She never used the name Chu Nannan again.
Though her mother hadn't waited for them in Anya City as Aunt Mei had suggested, she had arranged housing and school in advance. Mengying could only hear from Aunt Mei that her mother was "very busy" and "would come soon." Gradually, she stopped asking where her parents were or when they would come. Not until high school did she learn from Uncle Qiang that her living expenses and education were funded by a trust set up by her mother. And only after Mengying entered high school did her mother begin to call her occasionally, asking about her life and reminding her to study hard. But these calls always went one way—Mengying had no way to contact her mother, and she never thought to ask. She had wanted to ask her mother about Brother White, but so many years had passed, and he hadn't sought her out either. It seemed pointless to ask now.
The childhood betrothal and the peaceful life in the Yunxi countryside had become things of the past. The summer days in Yunxi, the stones by the river, the study beside the artificial lake—all those memories connected to Brother White seemed separated from her by the winds across the ocean. Sometimes, as Mengying held the chess set that Brother White had given her all those years ago, she would wonder: what had he been thinking back then? Had he taken the betrothal seriously? Had he remembered his promise to come find her and play chess with her? But his fifteen years of absence told her that he surely thought it was just a child's game and hadn't meant it. Yet each time she thought this way, there was a hint of melancholy in her heart, as if she had carelessly left something behind in that study beside the artificial lake, beneath the slanting afternoon sun of that summer long ago.
"There you are, Xiaomeng, hiding away eating chocolate again," her roommate Jiajia's voice suddenly pulled Mengying back from her reverie. She opened her eyes to find that the handsome young man who had been in her line-of-sight moments before had disappeared. Now standing in front of her was her university roommate, Jiajia, who had also been her classmate in middle school and high school.
Mengying knew that Jiajia's father had made his fortune mining Bitcoin. Jiajia had a round face and large, bright eyes. Mengying always thought she resembled a cat from a cartoon. Jiajia was always very fashionable—today she wore a cream-colored hooded sweatshirt paired with dark-wash jeans, with a Louis Vuitton Neverfull bag slung over her shoulder.
"It's chocolate cake, not just chocolate," Mengying corrected.
"What's the difference?" Jiajia shrugged and sat down in the chair beside Mengying. Then she said reproachfully, "We were waiting for you to come help us plan what to wear to the department dance, and here you are hiding away studying statistics."
Mengying had been about to argue that cake and chocolate were different, but realized it was pointless arguing with someone as illogical as Jiajia. She decided it was better to focus on the more important explanation.
"The midterm exams are coming up. If I bomb it, I'll lose my scholarship for this semester."
"You're worried about failing? What about us regular students?" Jiajia replied.
Anya University only admitted two types of students: the wealthy and the talented. Jiajia was decidedly not the latter.
Jiajia continued, "Besides, do you really need the scholarship? Don't tell me your bag is a fake."
Mengying glanced down at her custom-made bag and made no comment.
"Come on, let's go back," Jiajia said, apparently convinced she had persuaded Mengying. She stood up and pulled Mengying up with her. Mengying noticed the light outside had grown dim and figured it was time for dinner anyway, so she followed Jiajia out of the library.
On the way back to the dorm, gossip-loving Jiajia chattered non-stop about the dance. Mengying had no interest in the event, so she walked along lost in thought.
Then something Jiajia said suddenly caught her attention. "Did you hear? There's a gorgeous new guy who transferred to the architecture building. I mean, there were already plenty of handsome guys in architecture, but this one is completely different. The girls in the neighboring dorm keep saying he's the epitome of 'low-key luxury.'"
"Low-key luxury"—could that describe the beautiful young man from the library? "Tell me more about this mysterious luxury student," Mengying said.
"I knew you'd be interested! Ever since middle school, I've known you have a thing for handsome guys," Jiajia said, looking pleased with herself for finally capturing Mengying's attention.
Mengying shot her a disdainful look. "Am I really that shallow?"
"No, no, I'm sorry, I misspoke," Jiajia quickly said. "It's me who's shallow. You don't care about looks—you're an ice beauty."
"Ice beauty?" Mengying looked at Jiajia with confusion.
"It's what the guys in class call you! They're all afraid of you. Don't you know? Some even call you the Ice Queen," Jiajia said. The heartless queen in Andersen's fairy tale? Mengying smiled slightly at the corner of her mouth, making no comment. Actually, she didn't mind being called cold.
Jiajia continued, not noticing Mengying's reaction, "Anyway, this new handsome guy is from Daheng. His family is incredibly wealthy. People say his clothes are all custom-made, with no brand names, which is why the girls call him 'low-key luxury.'"
The way Jiajia described him sounded even more like the beautiful young man Mengying had seen yesterday.
"You love giving people nicknames, don't you? So, is this mysterious student named Yuwen?" Mengying asked Jiajia casually.
"No, his last name is Sima," Jiajia answered without looking at Mengying. "He's the youngest son of the Sima family—you know, that famous old-money family from Daheng. Though I heard the Yuwen family from Daheng is just as wealthy. I wonder if their young master is studying at Anya too."
The Sima family from Daheng... and the Yuwen family young master who once lived in the compound behind the iron gate? Are they connected somehow? Why do they look so similar?
"What's the full name of this 'low-key luxury' student?" Mengying, gathering her thoughts, asked Jiajia.
"Sima Jing. You'll probably meet him soon. I heard he's also taking classical literature, the same elective you chose," Jiajia said with a look that suggested she knew Mengying would be interested.
"You really dug up all the details," Mengying couldn't help but laugh. No wonder Jiajia is the number one gossip queen, she thought.