Since they had arrived at their destination, Xie Shu couldn’t possibly reply to everyone’s messages one by one. He could only ignore the flood of “???” in the group chat and respond uniformly: “I’m going on a date, talk to you later.”

This only made the question marks in the chat multiply.

An Tian was playing with her phone in the dormitory. As soon as she saw a notification from the class group chat, she immediately opened it.

Upon entering, she saw only the picture Xie Shu had posted, which was the same one he had shared on his Moments.

After his message, many of his close friends in the class responded with a string of question marks.

She hadn’t checked Moments earlier, so she didn’t know what had happened there or why Xie Shu was reposting the picture in the group chat.

Just as she was feeling puzzled, she saw Xie Shu’s message about going on a date.

While others in the group continued to send question marks, An Tian exited the chat and opened Su Qianyi’s chat window.

Xie Shu had already shared it openly in the group.

There was really no need for her to get involved.

It was pointless.

She had told herself that Xie Shu wasn’t the type to play with emotions, so he must be serious. Deceiving herself wouldn’t help.

Didn’t she realize that her current actions were just clinging on desperately?

With a sigh, An Tian sent a message to Su Qianyi: “Where are you?”

“Come back, it’s useless to keep looking. Xie Shu already posted it in the class group.”

“Are you there?”

She sent three messages in a row, but Su Qianyi didn’t reply.

Su Qianyi wasn’t ignoring her; she simply hadn’t seen the messages.

She had intended to go out and find Xie Shu, but she didn’t know where to start. The only place she could think of was the back street of the school, so she headed there first.

She wandered aimlessly along the street, her eyes scanning the crowd, desperately searching for Xie Shu. Whenever she saw a couple passing by, she would stare at them for a long time.

As time passed, she walked the entire length of the back street but still couldn’t find Xie Shu. Tears began to fall uncontrollably.

Standing in a quiet corner of the busy street, she silently wept, too heartbroken to check her phone. Naturally, she missed the messages in the group chat and An Tian’s messages.

…

After getting off the car, Xie Shu and Ruan Nianxi bought tickets to the amusement park and went inside.

They stored the items they didn’t need in a locker and then held hands as they looked at the park’s map.

While deciding what to do first, Xie Shu absentmindedly tied Ruan Nianxi’s long hair into a bun, thinking it would be more convenient for the rides.

After tying her hair, Ruan Nianxi suddenly had an idea and asked Xie Shu for a rubber band.

Besides the hair tie he always wore on his wrist, Xie Shu also carried a small pack of rubber bands, tissues, and even Ruan Nianxi’s lipstick in his pocket. He always had whatever she needed.

Ruan Nianxi only asked for one rubber band. Xie Shu thought she was dissatisfied with the bun he made and wanted to redo it. But instead, she gently tugged at his shirt and whispered, “Bend down a bit.”

Thinking she wanted to tell him something, Xie Shu leaned down immediately.

But she raised her hands and started tying his hair.

Xie Shu: “???”

Though he couldn’t see, he could feel that Ruan Nianxi was tying his hair.

Xie Shu’s hair was just long enough to be tied up, and Ruan Nianxi made him a mini “bun,” matching their hairstyles.

After she finished, Xie Shu touched his hair, then smiled and took out his phone to check the camera. He pulled Ruan Nianxi in for a photo to commemorate the moment.

In this small interaction, both of them smiled sweetly, unable to stop. Meanwhile, back at the school’s back street, someone who had just managed to stop crying broke down again after seeing the messages on her phone, with no one to comfort her.

This wasn’t their first time at the amusement park, but it was their first time as a couple.

During elementary school holidays, Ruan Nianxi had gone out with Xie Shu’s family, but back then, it was just innocent fun.

Now, they were holding hands and hugging.

After taking the photo, Xie Shu seriously studied the map to find the exact locations of the attractions. He carefully selected some less thrilling rides, worried that Ruan Nianxi might not handle the more intense ones well.

He remembered how she had cried when they rode the bouncing machine as kids and had taken a long time to recover afterward.

Recalling those memories, Xie Shu decided against the more thrilling rides and prioritized the Ferris wheel and carousel.

But he didn’t make the decision alone and asked Ruan Nianxi, “Which ones do you want to try?”

She pointed to the roller coaster, drop tower, pirate ship… a series of heart-pounding rides.

“Aren’t you scared?” Xie Shu raised an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Ruan Nianxi answered honestly.

“Then why do you want to go on them?”

“Because I want to.”

Being scared and wanting to try weren’t mutually exclusive.

It’s like playing a game—being bad at it doesn’t stop someone from wanting to play.

Ruan Nianxi was still young, not yet out in the real world, and at an age where she loved to have fun.

Since high school, she hadn’t found anyone to go out and play with. Later, she rarely went out, spending most of her time at home, leading to a lack of interesting experiences.

During the holidays from high school to college, her parents had taken her to amusement parks several times, just like other families, to play, relax, and bond.

But she wasn’t interested.

She always felt something was missing, never excited about anything, no matter how happy the kids around her were.

But now… she wanted to try everything!

With the right person by her side, everything seemed infinitely interesting!