ATLAS TRANSLATES

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the night sky was dotted with stars, and moonlight filtered through the light gray curtains. The room was quiet, with the movie sounds seemingly muted, leaving only the man’s slow, deep breathing.

The night was enchanting.

Lu Jiaheng lowered his gaze, his hair falling forward, his eyes darker than the night sky outside. Chu Zhi lay curled up on the sofa, her head resting in his hands in an awkward, uncomfortable position.

She kept sliding down gradually, almost about to fall off. Chu Zhi had no choice but to grab onto him. In the dim light, her eyes sparkled, one hand instinctively pressed against his chest while the other held onto him tightly.

Though she seemed to be unconsciously resisting, she also appeared to completely trust and depend on him.

Lu Jiaheng had paid the heating bill, and the floor heating worked well, making the temperature steadily rise. Chu Zhi was nearly sliding off, with half of her sitting area hanging off the edge of the sofa. She clutched his clothes tightly, trying to climb back up, her knee brushing against the fabric of his pants as she moved.

Lu Jiaheng let out a low hiss, saying hoarsely, “Stop moving.”

Chu Zhi froze but made a pitiful face, looking slightly wronged: “Lu Jiaheng, I’m about to fall off.”

The young woman beneath him had a slender waist and carried a faint sweet scent. Her voice was as soft as feathers, floating through the air.

He clenched his jaw, closed his eyes tightly, and with one hand around her waist, lifted her up and almost roughly tossed her onto the sofa before abruptly standing up.

The sofa cushions were thick and soft, so deep you could sink into them. Chu Zhi didn’t feel hurt from being tossed, and even bounced a couple times.

She immediately curled up her legs, feet on the sofa, chin tucked behind her knees, only her bright black eyes showing, looking at him with confusion and timidity.

He stood before the sofa, eyes half-closed, backlit by the movie screen. His expression wasn’t visible, but the dominating pressure and aggressive aura were palpable.

Although Chu Zhi had no experience, she vaguely understood certain things. She slowly pulled over the cushion she’d been holding, drawing her exposed toes back until she was completely hidden behind it.

She quietly reached up to pinch her ear and whispered very softly: “Lu Jiaheng, my birthday is in January, I’m not even eighteen yet…”

“…………”

Lu Jiaheng: Holy shit.

His eyelids shot up, and he cursed under his breath.

Underage.

He’d thought she was at least of legal age. Weren’t first-year university students usually eighteen?

What was going on here?

The scenes he had imagined earlier kept involuntarily flooding his mind, making Lu Jiaheng’s temple throb.

Although he had only intended to scare her a bit and hadn’t planned to do anything, at this moment, even just the imagination made his guilt explode. He felt like he had committed some unforgivable sin.

Lu Jiaheng felt like a beast.

He covered one eye with his hand, the veins on his clean hand clearly visible.

The living room was silent except for the soft Japanese dialogue from the movie.

After a while, he lowered his hand and said hoarsely: “I wasn’t planning to do anything.”

Still not reassured, Chu Zhi reached for another cushion and stacked it on top of the first one, hiding even the top of her head. Nothing of her was visible now.

Like she was steadily holding up a shield, the two cushions swayed left and right, as if shaking her head to show she didn’t believe him.

Lu Jiaheng: “…”

Unable to stand it anymore, Lu Jiaheng stepped forward, grabbed the top cushion and tossed it aside. He pulled out the little girl who was trying to bury herself in the sofa cushions and looked down at her: “Go take a shower and sleep.”

Chu Zhi shrank her neck like a little turtle: “Where will I sleep?”

He didn’t answer, just turned her head toward the bedroom.

Still uncertain, she swallowed and looked at him timidly: “Then where will you sleep…”

She had already seen that his home had one master bedroom and a study, no guest room.

There wasn’t a second bed in the entire house, as if saying “this is my private space only, visitors aren’t welcome so there’s no need for a guest room or extra bed.”

Lu Jiaheng’s eye twitched: “…The sofa.”

Lu Jiaheng’s master bedroom had no door, just a partition blocking the bed area with only a glimpse of the bedside visible. Light gray curtains were drawn, making the bedroom behind them appear hazy.

Chu Zhi was quite carefree. Though she felt uneasy at first, his bed was so comfortable and she was exhausted from the whole day that she fell into a deep sleep within minutes.

She wasn’t a still sleeper. At home, she was the type to sprawl across however much bed space was available. Her parents had gotten used to it. In the dormitory’s single bed, she had no room to move around so she slept more properly. But now, whether she turned her head or feet, she couldn’t touch the edge of the bed. By late night, her head had ended up at the foot of the bed.

Young Master Lu took an ice-cold winter shower to deal with his problem, slept on the sofa, and spent the whole night picking up her fallen blanket.

Like a worried old father.

He stood by the bed, head lowered, looking at the young woman sprawled out sleeping soundly on the bed.

She wore his pajama top as a nightgown, revealing her snow-white slender legs. One arm was raised high above her head, hugging the pillow, her hair scattered across the sheets.

He had been wrong earlier – he’d thought she had improved a lot since they first met, at least showing some signs of wariness toward him. Now it seemed that was completely an illusion. As for awareness against predators, this girl still had absolutely none.

Lu Jiaheng raised his hand and roughly ran it through his hair, realizing for the first time that he was actually a gentleman.

He began to reflect on why he had gone to such lengths to bring her home, feeling pleased with himself after successfully luring her here.

He had really dug himself into a hole this time.

After Christmas came exam week. Although A University students were generally excellent in both character and studies and worked hard regularly, finals period was undoubtedly when the studying atmosphere was most intense across campus.

Most courses had finished their content and were reviewing. More people started pulling all-nighters in the study rooms.

Chu Zhi’s academic performance was quite good. Even at A University where randomly picking any student would find someone from a key provincial high school’s top exam hall, her grades ranked above average.

The saying goes that during university if you can’t get a scholarship, then just passing is equivalent to getting full marks. But the habits formed through nine years of compulsory education plus three years of high school meant that the mindset of “just passing is enough” didn’t exist in Chu Zhi’s mind. So she spent the entire two weeks of finals period focused solely on studying.

Chu Zhi hadn’t told anyone about dating Lu Jiaheng.

It wasn’t that she was deliberately hiding it. She just hadn’t had the mental space to think about it, and since no one asked, there didn’t seem to be any particular need to bring it up.

Plus, Lu Jiaheng also seemed very busy during this period.

Chu Zhi originally thought he was busy preparing for exams too. After all, he usually seemed so free it was like he had dropped out of school. This period he must be studying desperately to avoid failing courses, and the School of Economics and Management was far from her faculty.

Except for the milk tea that appeared without fail every evening in the library study room.

He wouldn’t come in or call out to her, just stand at the doorway waiting for her to notice him. Every time she looked up and saw him, when she put down her pen and ran over, he would curve his lips in pleasure, smiling gently.

Who knows what sentiment that was.

These days, Chu Zhi had developed a habit of choosing seats facing the door, and when it was about time, she would glance toward the entrance every few minutes.

He came late today. Chu Zhi had looked back and forth several times before finally seeing him as dusk fell.

In the freezing early January weather, the man wore a dark camouflage jacket, characteristically unzipped, leaning against the study room doorway, head tilted as he gazed at her.

Chu Zhi looked up and met his deep eyes.

As soon as she saw him, the young girl’s eyes lit up involuntarily.

Their gazes met and he smiled too, standing in place and slowly opening his arms toward her.

Chu Zhi’s eyes curved in a smile as she put down her pen, carefully pushing back her chair without making a sound and running over to him in small steps.

She looked back at the brightly lit study room behind her, feeling a bit shy, and pulled him to walk a few steps behind a stone pillar to the side before stopping in front of him.

The study room was well-heated, so Chu Zhi hadn’t worn a coat, just a sweater. The cold wind blew in from the doorway making her shiver and jump a little while hunching her shoulders.

Lu Jiaheng gave a light laugh. With one hand holding the milk tea bag, he pulled her over with his other hand, opened his jacket and wrapped her in his embrace.

His jacket was very large and could completely envelope her. His embrace was warm, and Chu Zhi nuzzled her nose against him before struggling to lift her head, her pointed chin resting on his sweater as she looked at him: “You came late today.”

Lu Jiaheng remained silent, pulling her closer into his embrace within his jacket.

Chu Zhi sensitively noticed something seemed off.

She tilted her head, her chin brushing slightly below his ribs, hugging his waist and swaying left and right, swaying and swaying, before suddenly calling out: “Senior.”

Lu Jiaheng lowered his eyes: “Mm?”

“Are you unhappy today?”

Lu Jiaheng paused: “Why do you ask?”

Chu Zhi said very seriously: “You look more proper today, like you’ve become more reliable.”

“…” Lu Jiaheng smiled wryly: “Seems like usually I don’t leave you with a very reliable impression.”

The little girl blinked her big eyes at him: “You’re usually always being a pervert.”

Lu Jiaheng laughed softly, tightening his arms around her. “Chu Zhi, I might be quite busy for a long period after this.”

Chu Zhi thought to herself, how could you not be busy, you’ve probably been so free you don’t even know what your professors look like.

She nodded: “That’s fine, I need to review too.”

Lu Jiaheng didn’t speak, holding her and turning slightly to block the cold wind with his back. His voice was low, almost a sigh: “What if I have nothing later, and can’t support you?”

As his words fell, alarm bells suddenly rang in Chu Zhi’s mind.

Could it be that he had skipped too many classes and failed too many courses, and was about to be asked to leave school?

Being forced to drop out without graduating university was indeed quite serious, and it might be hard to find work in the future.

But his family’s circumstances should be quite good, after all he wore four-figure sweaters.

He seemed to be genuinely worried, so Chu Zhi didn’t dare say “why don’t you ask your dad to pull some strings.” Her small hands pressed against his waist as she started imagining what his parents might be like, whether he looked more like his father or mother.

Chu Zhi’s inner theater became active again after a long time, her thoughts starting to drift. Last night she had spent the whole evening in the dorm trading expression packs with Lin Tong and Gu Han. Now triggered by keywords, she blurted out without thinking: “It’s okay, I’ll steal electric bikes to support you.”

Lu Jiaheng: “…”

Lu Jiaheng’s rare moment of heavy emotion instantly disappeared.