ATLAS TRANSLATES

Early September was the hottest time of the year. The northern sun was harsh and scorching as military training was in full swing.

After ten days, the boys were doing slightly better, but the delicate girls were suffering terribly, sneaking applications of sunscreen from their military training jacket pockets whenever they could.

Ever since Zhou Ming had talked with Chu Zhi and subtly tried to set her up with the mature and steady Xiao Yi, Chu Zhi had gradually gotten to know them better.

She had no idea that she and Xiao Yi had attended the same high school and didn’t have much of an impression of him, but that didn’t stop her from thinking he was a good person.

Xiao Yi was a typical well-behaved academic achiever – handsome but quiet, yet gentle and good-natured.

His military training uniform was always immaculate. Standing in the front row, he led the formations and marching drills.

During the training period, girls from other classes had already come over to talk to him. His response was always the same – “I’m sorry.”

At these times, Zhou Ming and Lin Tong would stand nearby making teasing noises, excited about who knows what. Somehow, Chu Zhi suddenly remembered the first time she saw Si Wei Shu, how casually indifferent he was when approached by women asking for his contact information. Looking at how Xiao Yi earnestly apologized to the rejected girls, Chu Zhi blinked, thinking about how different people could be.

Since that day when Si Wei Shu suddenly appeared sunbathing and casually took her water bottle, he had vanished again, not showing up for several days.

Chu Zhi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, hoping this young master would just wait for her to repay her debt and not appear again. His bizarre requests were really troublesome, and she wasn’t very good at refusing.

During the latter half of military training, every evening before finishing, student clubs would come to promote themselves.

As the sun set, rows of green-uniformed students sat on the ground, chatting in small groups, not really paying much attention to the clubs unless they were particularly interested.

Lin Tong, being tall, had originally stood in the front row of girls, but now secretly changed positions to chat with them.

Friendship between girls could be simple – after more than a week of hellish military training, the girls had become quite close.

As they were chatting happily, suddenly someone called Chu Zhi’s name.

She looked up to see a tall young man standing backlit before her, smiling slightly with surprise: “It really is you.”

Chu Zhi wasn’t unfamiliar with being pursued by boys. She had a pretty face that no one could dislike at first sight, a soft and docile personality, came from a wealthy family, was well-mannered, and was a top student – popular with both boys and girls.

From childhood to now, the boys who had liked and pursued her openly or secretly could probably line up for blocks.

Unfortunately, Chu Zhi wasn’t particularly romantic.

In middle school, when a boy she was good friends with suddenly confessed to her, she just cheerfully responded “Thank you, I like you too!” The boy thought the pretty girl had agreed and was overjoyed, walking her home, only to be seen by Chu’s father, who threw a broom from the second-floor balcony window at the boy’s head, accompanied by curses.

The middle school boy, being bold and arrogant at that age, defiantly said “What’s wrong with me walking my girlfriend home?”

Chu Zhi, wearing her little backpack, blinked in confusion: “But I’m not your girlfriend.”

Her father, thinking his daughter was being harassed, chased the boy to the community gate with a mop, making him run away crying.

She was in middle school then, truly a late bloomer in adolescence.

Later in high school, with the pressure of studies, she didn’t think about such things, making herself completely unapproachable, and the boys were defeated one by one.

But being a seventeen-year-old girl, she wasn’t completely clueless about everything.

During that long summer vacation after the college entrance exam, the class heartthrob started asking her out. He was fair and handsome, 180 cm tall, sunny and athletic, with a figure that stood out remarkably among his peers.

On the Ferris wheel at the amusement park, he confessed to Chu Zhi. On that summer night when darkness came late, the light purple sky was adorned with stars and moon, and the amusement park’s colored lights twinkled like little fairies peeking out from the bushes. When the Ferris wheel reached its highest point, Chu Zhi felt her maiden heart moved by those simple four words: “I like you.”

Chu Zhi accepted his confession, and they quickly fell in love, developing rapidly and enthusiastically preparing their first five-year plan within three days.

Until a week later, when Chu Zhi accidentally saw him and the school beauty entangled together, kissing each other at the entrance of a bar.

Chu Zhi calmly squatted nearby, counting the seconds on her fingers. It actually lasted over fifty seconds. Impressive.

After a minute passed, they finally noticed the girl squatting nearby, supporting her head with an admiring expression.

The romance ended, and Chu Zhi was heartbroken for three seconds before breaking up with him on the spot.

The girl’s first love, where they hadn’t even had the chance to hold hands, lasted less than two weeks. Chu Zhi felt that after that, she too became someone with a story.

Unexpectedly, he had also applied to A University and actually got in. Now as Chu Zhi sat on the ground with him standing, she had to tilt her head up to look at him, remarkably similar to their last meeting when she squatted at the bar entrance watching him.

He was backlit, and Chu Zhi squinted slightly against the light as she recognized him, letting out an “Ah.” Yin Mingshuo smiled handsomely and openly, showing no trace of guilt at seeing his ex-girlfriend, whom he had cheated on. He looked her up and down, feeling somewhat regretful.

Actually, Yin Mingshuo felt quite wronged. When he had confessed to the little girl before, he had genuinely found her cute. Such a tiny, soft girlfriend – just thinking about it made him feel she was adorable. The incident with the school beauty was completely unexpected.

After the college entrance exam, everyone was finally free, and he went to a bar with some friends. He had invited Chu Zhi, but the little girl said it was too late and didn’t come. He hadn’t known beforehand that the school beauty would come too.

The school beauty came from a wealthy family but didn’t do well academically, spending her teenage years focused elsewhere. She was registered at another school, attending as a “visiting student.”

Yin Mingshuo and the school beauty had their own history that needed to be told, and that day everyone had drunk quite a bit and were tipsy.

Adding to that the ambiguous relationship of being ex-boyfriend and girlfriend, with the dim lighting, it was easy to have an uncontrollable accident with an ex-girlfriend.

Yin Mingshuo felt quite unlucky – how coincidental that Chu Zhi had seen them. He sighed, looking at the little girl in her green military training uniform in front of him. He squatted down, his voice very gentle: “Long time no see, how are you?”

Chu Zhi tilted her head: “I’m good.”

“…” Yin Mingshuo continued as if he hadn’t heard: “I know you haven’t been doing well, neither have I. These two months have been a blur, thinking about you every day.”

Relationship history was a must-have topic for girls’ dormitory night chats. Lin Tong, having heard about this before, couldn’t help but shudder at these words, rolling her eyes in disgust.

Yin Mingshuo pretended not to notice and didn’t mind, smiling at Chu Zhi: “I have something I want to tell you.”

Chu Zhi nodded, looking at him very seriously: “Go ahead.”

He coughed softly twice: “Want to go buy some water together?”

Chu Zhi wanted to say she had water, bought just that afternoon and not even finished yet. She hesitated for a moment but still nodded, using her palms to push herself up from the ground. She walked a few steps forward, away from the crowd, and patted the dust off her pants.

The evening sunlight was brilliant red as the young man and woman walked side by side out of the field. The young man would occasionally lower his head to gently look at the girl beside him, saying something, the scene as beautiful as a painting.

Yin Mingshuo was good at pleasing girls, especially since he had been in the same class as Chu Zhi for three years. Although they had dated for less than two weeks, they had gone out twice, so he was quite familiar with her preferences.

He didn’t go to the vending machine but instead went to the small shop and bought her a vanilla Cute-Duo ice cream. Chu Zhi frowned, feeling that since they had broken up, she should pay him back. Yin Mingshuo insisted on not accepting, so Chu Zhi simply transferred the money to him via Alipay.

He had something to say and intentionally led her towards the multimedia building, saying helplessly: “Can’t you just let a high school classmate treat you to ice cream?”

Chu Zhi blinked, looking at him seriously: “It would be fine if you were just a high school classmate and not an ex-boyfriend.”

“…”

Yin Mingshuo sometimes felt this girl was truly naive, but other times felt she actually understood everything very well and was just pretending to be stupid.

Chu Zhi didn’t know what he was thinking. She just purely thought this way, so she said it, and after speaking didn’t look at him again. She happily tore open the Cute-Duo wrapper, lowered her eyes, stuck out her tongue, and slowly licked the milky white ice cream.

Yin Mingshuo watched her actions and swallowed. In his heart, he thought, this one’s mine for sure!!!

The two had already walked to the empty space near the multimedia building, next to an outdoor tennis court with a few people playing inside the fence. He stared at her directly, deciding to be straightforward.

Yin Mingshuo cleared his throat and began to explain: “The incident at the bar entrance last time was an accident.”

Chu Zhi’s tongue licked off a layer of ice cream and rolled it into her mouth, saying out of nowhere: “I think you’re quite impressive.”

Yin Mingshuo was stunned: “What?”

“I even timed you guys, you kissed for fifty-eight seconds,” Chu Zhi said sincerely, “You’re really good at holding your breath.”

“…”

Yin Mingshuo stepped forward, suddenly closing the distance between them. Before Chu Zhi could react, laughter came from nearby.

It was too quiet around them, even the laughter from the distant tennis court seemed empty, as if through clouds, making this laugh particularly abrupt and clear.

They both turned their heads. Someone was standing by the vending machine at the multimedia building entrance, lazily leaning against the machine, smiling languidly as he watched them, no one knew how long he had been standing there.

Yin Mingshuo frowned, somewhat displeased about their conversation being interrupted by an unexpected visitor.

The unexpected visitor completely ignored him, slowly straightened up, walked over, and stood beside them.

When Chu Zhi saw the man walk in front of her, she took a small step back to create some distance, remembering his cruel act of taking her water bottle before. Almost instinctively, she hid her hands behind her back, concealing the half-eaten Cute-Duo.

Sure enough, the man in front of her paused for a moment.

The next second, Chu Zhi realized that her behavior was really stingy, impolite, and ill-mannered. She blushed with shame, brought her hand back, and lowered her head: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it…”

He didn’t respond.

Chu Zhi bit her lip and raised her head tentatively, trying to make amends: “Would you like some? I’ve eaten from it, but I can buy you a new one.”

He looked down at her, still not speaking.

Just as Chu Zhi thought he was angry and was feeling at a loss, he suddenly let out a low laugh. The man glanced at the Cute-Duo in her hand, his dark peach blossom eyes slightly raised as he slowly licked the corner of his lips: “Is this what you grew up eating?”