Lu Huaizheng officially started pursuing Yu Hao around halfway through the first semester of his first year of high school. It was November back then, during High School 18's Art Week, and the weather was still quite cold.

At that time, Hu Siqi and her group of girlfriends were in the music room every day, rehearsing a popular Korean dance for the Art Week. They wore camisoles and short skirts, revealing pairs of fair, well-proportioned long legs. They were all lithe and graceful, and at sixteen or seventeen, their dancing was quite captivating.

Back then, at noon, a group of boys would hang out on the overpass outside the music room, chatting idly while watching the girls dance through the window.

Lu Huaizheng was also there.

But he wasn't watching those girls. Most of the time, he was looking in another direction. That window was tightly shut, its curtains drawn, but melodious piano music always drifted out from within, a stark contrast to the energetic pop music and dancing on the other side.

The piano music from there was soft and mellow, sometimes like a mountain stream, other times like a babbling brook, slowly flowing into one's heart. More often, it was melancholic and reserved, yet the notes that lingered by one's ear were clear and bright, sounding soul-stirring and making one's blood boil.

Later, when the two of them were smoking on the rooftop, Lu Huaizheng glanced at her sideways and casually said, "You probably got hit a lot as a child, right?"

Yu Hao didn't catch on and paused, "What do you mean?"

"The piano."

Yu Hao gave a rare smile, her hand resting on the railing. "It was okay. I quite like it. I didn't have much interest in doing other things as a child, so I just practiced the piano."

He turned around, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "Besides practicing piano, you have no other hobbies? For example, the NES, don't you play it?"

"What's an NES?"

...After a moment of silence, he changed his posture, looking down at her as if she were a weirdo, and asked again, "What about cartoons? Don't you watch those either?"

Looking completely baffled, "What cartoons?"

"Saint Seiya, M.A.S.K., Slam Dunk, or at the very least, you must have seen Tom and Jerry, right?"

Yu Hao shook her head at each one.

"Damn, you had no childhood." He stubbed out his cigarette.

Yu Hao stared at him with her bright, clear eyes. "Did you like all those things when you were a child?"

He leaned nonchalantly against the railing. "Yeah, I did. All boys do. I liked playing games the most, on the NES, playing Super Mario, and Tetris..." At this point, he suddenly bent down, leaned in closer, and looked straight into her eyes. The boy's eyes were filled with curiosity. "Your parents are too cruel to you. Such a lack of childhood, no wonder you're not cute."

Yu Hao glared at him. "So, you think girls like Hu Siqi from your class are what you call cute?"

The boy looked at her and laughed out loud, revealing his white, bright teeth. "Are you jealous?"

He was kicked over by Yu Hao.

The boy laughed again, his smile brighter than the sun behind him, and was exceptionally shameless. "Yu Hao, do you have a crush on me?"

"No."

"No? Then why did you turn and leave the other day after seeing me exchange a few words with Hu Siqi? You wouldn't listen no matter how I called out to you."

"I remembered I forgot my homework and went back to get it. Besides, just because you call me, I have to listen?" The girl rolled her eyes.

The boy scoffed. "Cut the act."

...

Yu Hao didn't say anything. Lu Huaizheng, feeling rebuffed, said, "Fine, if you don't like me, then you don't."

After that day, the two didn't see each other for a long time. Lu Huaizheng was busy setting up the basketball team, while Yu Hao was busy with her Art Week performance.

On the day of the Art Week performance, Lu Huaizheng had a game at another school and didn't make it back in time.

By the time he rushed back, the performance was already over. Jiamian said to him, "You're finally back."

He handed the ball to another teammate and went to the entrance to smoke a cigarette. Jiamian then started reporting the night's events in his ear.

"That ex-boyfriend of Hu Siqi's, do you remember him? The one from our middle school, the gangster from Zhaohui. He was the one who forced himself on Hu Siqi..."

Lu Huaizheng narrowed his eyes and thought carefully. There was indeed such an incident. Hu Siqi had posted about it directly on Baidu Tieba, making it known to the entire school. The school administration couldn't handle the pressure and called in the gangster's parents. They offered Hu Siqi compensation for her emotional distress, but she refused to take it, insisting that the gangster go to jail.

Don't be fooled by Hu Siqi's playful nature; she had a fiery temper. If anyone tried to force her to do something she didn't want to, she could raise hell. She never cared about things like saving face.

"Why? Who's he targeting now?" Lu Huaizheng asked, leaning leisurely against the wall while smoking.

Jiamian said in a low voice, "Yu Hao."

Lu Huaizheng froze, the cigarette still at his lips. He glanced sideways. "Who did you say?"

"Yu Hao," Jiamian repeated.

Lu Huaizheng looked down and chuckled. "You let him try and touch a single hair on Yu Hao."

After saying that, he stubbed out the cigarette and straightened up. "He's just after something new. It's not like he doesn't know about the relationship between me and Yu Hao."

The good thing about a girl like Yu Hao was that she was no trouble. She mostly ignored boys. You needed enough patience to get close to her, and the gangster didn't have that kind of patience. After pursuing her for two days and being ignored, he'd probably give up.

But as it turned out, the gangster actually had perseverance. He pursued Yu Hao for a full six months with all sorts of tricks. Sometimes, when Lu Huaizheng was playing on the court, he could see the gangster buzzing around Yu Hao like a fly.

He lost his patience, threw the ball aside, and said, "I'm done playing."

His teammates all knew what was going on. They shrugged but didn't bother him, and continued playing.

Lu Huaizheng leaned against the basketball hoop, his eyes fixed on the boy and girl opposite him.

The gangster reached out, wanting to brush Yu Hao's hair. Yu Hao frowned in disgust and was about to get up and leave when the person over there spoke.

"Hey, you." The tone was extremely lazy. "Take your hand off."

Both of them looked over at the same time. A boy in a shirt was leaning against the basketball hoop. When Lu Huaizheng saw Yu Hao turn her head back, he noticed the slight curl of her lips and knew that this girl had deliberately led the guy here.

'Trying to piss me off.'

He slowly walked over, sat down next to the gangster, hooked an arm around his neck, and pulled him forcefully into his embrace. His arm, hardened from years of playing basketball, was quite different from the gangster's. He almost choked him to death. The gangster's eyes rolled back as he was being choked, and he coughed violently a few times.

Lu Huaizheng whispered something in the gangster's ear, and the gangster stood up angrily and ran off.

Yu Hao asked him, "What did you say?"

A certain someone leaned back comfortably, propping himself up on his elbows, his gaze lifting slightly as he looked at her with a smile. "A topic between men."

Yu Hao turned back around and didn't answer.

Lu Huaizheng smiled and turned his head away, his gaze falling on his teammates on the court. He narrowed his eyes slightly. "I've discovered that you're actually quite mischievous. You knew I was here, and you brought him over. What's the meaning of that?"

Yu Hao spread her homework on her lap to write. "It was stuffy in the classroom, so I came out to get some sun. What's wrong with that? Is this basketball court yours? Is no one else allowed in?"

"Not exactly." Lu Huaizheng suddenly scooted a little closer to her and whispered in her ear with a smile, "It doesn't matter. I'm willing to be used by you anyway."

The sun was scorching that day.

Lu Huaizheng thought she would ignore him after he said that.

Unexpectedly, Yu Hao, who was looking down and writing her homework, her pen moving quickly as she finished a few problems, suddenly reached out and ruffled his fluffy hair a long moment after hearing his words.

"Good boy."

"You look really good in a shirt."

...

Lu Huaizheng received a text message from Yu Hao on Thursday afternoon.

The content was also quite formulaic.

"I'm free on Saturday night, but I have a lecture in the afternoon that runs until six in the evening. You might need to wait for me for a bit. Yu Hao."

At that time, combat training had just ended. Before Lu Huaizheng could even change out of his combat uniform, he was called away to a meeting by Li Hongwen. After the meeting, he got his phone from Li Hongwen.

Li Hongwen looked at him suspiciously. "You're a lone wolf. Who would be looking for you?"

"I need to confirm some news," Lu Huaizheng said.

"What news?"

Lu Huaizheng said without batting an eye, "I bought some funds. They're supposed to arrive today. Just checking if the money is in."

Li Hongwen threw the phone at him. "Full of nonsense! What funds could you buy with your measly salary? Don't you go and squander your marriage funds on me."

Lu Huaizheng didn't reply, just smiled and looked down at his phone. A single text message lay there quietly. He casually tapped it open.

Li Hongwen added, "That student of Professor Han's, do you have any thoughts?"

Lu Huaizheng looked down at the message. It really was her tone. While quickly replying, he answered Li Hongwen's question distractedly.

"Yeah, she's very pretty."

Hearing this, Li Hongwen wanted to grab the ashtray on the desk and smash it at him.

"Stop being flippant. I'm asking you a question. Do you have any intentions or not!"

Only then did Lu Huaizheng put his phone back in his pocket, straightened up from his slouching posture, stood at attention with his hands behind his back, and said seriously and frankly, "Yes!"

"I knew you did, you brat." Li Hongwen finally smiled. "If Professor Han hadn't mentioned it that day, I was planning to ask for you anyway. Guess how I knew?"

Lu Huaizheng: "Not guessing."

'It's definitely nothing good.'

Li Hongwen casually grabbed a piece of paper, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it hard at him. "You've been with me all these years, I even know what you ate from your farts. When have I ever seen you look at a woman like that! Don't think you hide it well. Anyone can see you're never serious with anyone, but the way you looked at that girl back then, even a fool could tell you're interested in her!"

Lu Huaizheng scratched the tip of his nose. "Was it really that obvious?"

Li Hongwen propped his hands on the desk, gave him a sideways glance, and snorted. "Did you two know each other before?"

"We did."

Li Hongwen's interest was piqued. He poured a pot of tea and pointed to the chair in front of him. "Come, sit down and tell me about it."

"There's nothing to tell. It's all in the past," Lu Huaizheng said.

Since he was unwilling to talk about it, Li Hongwen didn't press him. He waved his hand and said, "You know Li Taiping from the Air Force Political Department, right? Director Li. He has a precious daughter who was studying in the United Kingdom all this time. She just came back two years ago and is now working at one of the Big Four Law Firms as a lawyer. She's also beautiful. You two should have met when you were kids. I took you to dinner before, and she was there. That tall, slim girl. She quite likes you and asked Old Li to have the Political Commissar act as a matchmaker. But then you went to Venezuela for training and never had the time. Just now, the Political Commissar sent me a message saying Director Li wants to have dinner on Saturday. I figured you don't have that kind of interest in her—don't glare at me, I just found out about this too. Since you like Professor Han's student, you should take this opportunity to make things clear with Old Li's daughter. Don't let her wait around with false hope...I've already accepted the dinner invitation for Saturday night. You should think carefully about what to say so Old Li doesn't lose face."

Lu Huaizheng found this baffling. He didn't even know who that person was, yet she was supposedly waiting with hope. Who had he provoked? "No, I have something on Saturday."

Li Hongwen was displeased. "I might dare to refuse the Political Commissar, but I wouldn't dare refuse Old Li. Don't be so clueless. Postpone whatever you have, no matter how important it is."

Lu Huaizheng said bluntly, "I can't postpone it. I have a date with Yu Hao."

"What?" Li Hongwen was stunned.

"If I turn her down this time, it might really be over between us. I won't go to the dinner on Saturday. Please pass on the message for me, just say I'm busy."

Li Hongwen's face darkened. "No! You can't cancel dinner with Director Li. If you don't go to the dinner with me, I'll cancel your leave. You can forget about seeing Yu Hao."

"Then why didn't you ask if I was free before you accepted?!" he said, his brows shooting up.

"Director Li invites you to dinner, and I have to ask for your schedule? You tell me, what's your rank, and what's his? Has falling in love fried your brain or something!?"

"We're not even together yet!" he said, exasperated.

Li Hongwen tried to persuade him patiently, "Just tell Yu Hao that I changed your leave schedule at the last minute. Apologize to her first and make it up to her next time. Also, let me tell you, if you stand up Old Li on Saturday to go on a date with that girl, and word gets out, and Old Li's daughter finds out, aren't you just causing trouble for Yu Hao?!"

Lu Huaizheng placed both hands on his hips, looking down and breathing heavily. After a long moment, he raised his head, pursed his lips, turned his face to the side, licked the corner of his mouth, and nodded. "Fine. Just this once."

...

As Yu Hao was getting off work, she received two text messages in succession.

The first one: "Okay."

The second one was sent ten minutes ago.

"Sorry, my leave for Saturday was canceled at the last minute."

Yu Hao got into her car. The crimson evening glow gathered on the horizon, reflecting on her rosy face.

"It's okay," she replied, clutching her phone.

'In this floating world of dust, where humans and ghosts walk side by side, why be so persistent.'

She thought.