"He's here to pick me up. I'll see you at our part-time job tomorrow, then."

"See you, Wei."

The car's window wasn't rolled down. As the door opened, Li Bing, standing still, caught a fleeting glimpse of Chen Yuan in the driver's seat.

BANG!

The car door closed.

A moment later, the window rolled down again.

"Hey, Chen Yuan is asking where you're headed. We've got nothing better to do, so how about we give you a ride?" Wei Zhen asked, waving her over.

It was unexpected.

Li Bing hesitated for a moment before, to their surprise, nodding.

"Okay."

She walked somewhat awkwardly to the back door, pulling it open with deliberate care. After settling into the back seat, she pressed her legs tightly together, clearly nervous.

Wei Zhen hadn't expected her to actually agree. In the past, even when he'd called a cab and was going her way, Li Bing had always declined.

'Why is everything so unusual today!'

"Li Tongxue, where are you headed? I'll set up the navigation. I'm not too familiar with the roads in Lanjing either."

Chen Yuan asked politely, turning his head to look back.

In any case, Li Bing was the girl Quan Yafeng liked. Regardless of whether she might become their 'sister-in-law' in the future... it was right for them to be polite. Besides, all the students in their class admired a girl like her from the bottom of their hearts.

"Let me think... There's a Li Zhu Beauty in the city center."

"Li Zhu... Beauty salon. Found it. It's only about seven kilometers away."

"Thank you, Chen."

"Don't mention it! We're all good classmates."

Chen Yuan glanced back and smiled at Li Bing before turning around, starting the engine, and focusing on driving.

The slightly fragile and somewhat plain-looking girl sat silently in the back, listening to Chen Yuan and Wei Zhen chat about everything under the sun. She didn't say a single word the entire way, remaining perfectly quiet.

Her gaze darted left and right, sweeping over the car's understated yet luxurious interior. It would occasionally linger on Chen Yuan's face, and at times she seemed to focus intently, listening to their conversation.

She dug her nail into the edge of the seat with a bit of force, then nervously smoothed over the white mark it left.

It was now evening.

The playlist, a constant stream of light-hearted tunes, cycled to a song called "Sunset Boulevard," which was incredibly fitting for the moment.

Because the sun was setting, its afterglow dyeing half the sky red.

Outside the window, the scenery flew by as cars came and went.

Before long, they reached an intersection in the city center and stopped for a red light. The crimson glow of the sunset enveloped the entire street, spilling through the front windshield and caressing Chen Yuan's hair. His thick bangs, covering his forehead, instantly shimmered with a transparent, reddish hue.

From the back seat, she watched him with pursed lips, a little dazed.

...

The night sky was dotted with countless bright stars, looking deep and mysterious. Near the tall building, pigeons of unknown origin flew back and forth on the windowsill, occasionally fluttering against the window with a RATTLE.

Lying in bed, Chen Yuan tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

In fact, as he got older, it had become rare for him to lose sleep due to being overly excited.

Even the night before his college entrance exam scores were released, Chen Yuan had slept soundly. He had even played several intense rounds of a game that night, until his eyes were sore from exhaustion. After a quick shower, he was fast asleep within five minutes of hitting the bed.

His most vivid memory of this was from the fifth grade. The school had booked a tour group for a bunch of teachers—a four-day, three-night trip to visit Suzhou and Hangzhou. His family of three had of course gone along happily. That had been Chen Yuan's first time traveling.

The night before they left, Chen Yuan had been too excited to sleep, fantasizing about the southern cities he'd never seen and picturing himself boating on West Lake.

This time, it had nothing to do with where he was going.

It was because someone was about to return.

This separation of over twenty long days had undoubtedly pushed their rapidly intensifying relationship to a breaking point, one that demanded release. Never mind the clingy Yaoyao; in truth, Chen Yuan himself was about to fall ill from longing.

Just thinking about those sweet, heart-fluttering moments, the tenderness in their gazes when their eyes met... Recalling Jiangg Ning's gentle intellect and Yaoyao's lively energy, Chen Yuan's heart began to pound wildly.

He started to think, involuntarily, about all the interesting things that had happened during their relationship. It seemed that ever since he and Jiangg had made things official, not a single day of his life had been dull.

Somehow, an image of Jiangg Ning's slightly shy and timid expression floated into his mind.

A smile tugged at Chen Yuan's lips, and he suddenly let out a silly little laugh.

In the silent room, the laugh was abrupt, but it was filled with genuine emotion.

Memories are undoubtedly beautiful, their value sometimes even surpassing the moment of the experience itself. A person can fall in love with someone in an instant due to a sudden bout of sensitivity, or rather, love them more than usual. That's why so many couples suddenly message each other late at night. And if you're in that ambiguous, 'just talking' phase, you have to be even more careful. A casual but sudden late-night message is definitely hiding a storm of emotions.

Chen Yuan really couldn't sleep. The more he thought, the more he felt that Jiangg was truly the best girlfriend in the whole world. 'How could such a wonderful girl exist?'

She fulfilled his every fantasy.

And she had so many cute sides that she kept hidden.

Moved by his feelings, Chen Yuan opened the "Heartbeat Diary" app on his phone and began to voluntarily record his emotions from that night, describing his longing for Jiangg. As he wrote, he looked at the symbol for her "Hidden" diary, which he couldn't view.

It was this very symbol that piqued Chen Yuan's curiosity.

He couldn't help but wonder. 'Has Jiangg recorded lots of heart-fluttering moments, too? And in those entries, how would she describe me, her boyfriend?'

If the day ever came when he could finally read that diary, he would probably be just as full of anticipation as he was today.

'I wonder if Jiangg Ning ever wrote in her diary that she wants to marry me?'

'What about the moments she cherishes? The ones where she loved me the most?'

Chen Yuan's curiosity was killing him as he wondered...

'Could she have written about that passionate kiss when she was drunk...? Or the moment we got on the plane for our first trip together! I remember it so clearly. Jiangg Ning was asleep, but she still held my hand tightly, her head on my shoulder. Her jet-black hair fell beside her ear, and when I looked down, I saw her profile... so beautiful it was heartbreaking.'

'After waking up in her seat, she'd let out a lazy, contented hum, opened her eyes, looked at me, and whispered close to my ear, "Holding your hand makes me feel so safe." All I could think at that moment was how Ningning could be so gentle, her voice so soft...'

'And that other time!'

'Her actions were so patient. Her own cheeks were flushed crimson, yet she suppressed her shyness to be considerate of my feelings.'

Recalling it now, it was just a blur in the night.

But that scene was impossible to forget.

Because Jiangg was just too beautiful. The more beautiful she was, the more it felt like an interweaving of art and morbidity.

What moved him most was when Jiangg Ning said she didn't feel like she was compromising or being wronged.

On the contrary, she was happy, and even thought he looked a little handsome when he blushed.

'Maybe she'd also recorded the first time she called me "hubby"... Forget Ningning, even *I* had bitten my lip at the time. Thinking back on it now, it was both awkward and thrilling.'

'It was pretty addicting.'

'This is so great...'

Lying in bed, Chen Yuan rolled over and stared at the ceiling.

'Being in love with Jiangg is so blissful. I wish this could last a lifetime. If this were a dream, I'd never want to wake up. But the thing is, it's not a dream.'

'This is reality.'

'And now, I even have my own company! In the future, when I bring up marriage with Jiangg Ning, I'll have a bit more confidence. When she comes back, I can mention it nonchalantly, showing off just a little to satisfy my ego in front of my girlfriend.'

He still had a wonderful college life ahead of him, secretly dating Jiangg while hiding it from everyone at school, and lying together at night gossiping about campus news.

'How can life be this happy...' It seemed everything was moving in the direction he had always hoped for.

Perhaps one day, he and Jiangg Ning would walk down the aisle. When that day came, he wanted to listen closely.

To hear Jiangg Ning say she was willing to marry him.