Gu Yan's attention to Qi Xi began in this imperceptible way. By the time he became aware of it, he had already become accustomed to seeking out Qi Xi's figure, whether in his major courses or in other elective courses. Gu Yan even unconsciously chose the exact same elective courses as Qi Xi. He learned which electives Qi Xi had chosen thanks to his gossipy roommate, Zhang Jialiang—
"That beautiful girl in our class, Qi Xi, chose to study popular romance novels for her elective. To keep up with the beautiful girl, I've decided to take that class too! When the elective course selection system opens, I'll be the first to stake my claim, because this class is very popular! I heard that many girls are scrambling to choose it, because the class just involves the teacher introducing contemporary popular romance novels. The homework for each class is just to read novels. As you know, girls just like to read that kind of romantic stuff..."
Zhang Jialiang spoke without thinking, but Gu Yan listened with intent. When the elective course selection system opened, he specifically went home, taking advantage of his home's internet speed, which crushed the school's, and successfully secured a spot in the popular romance novel research course. Conversely, Zhang Jialiang, who had been clamoring about using the elective course to create chance encounters with Qi Xi, returned in defeat.
Gu Yan didn't feel much when choosing the course, but when classes officially started, he realized that the situation was somewhat unfavorable—this course was basically chosen by all girls...
As one of the few male students, and with his looks, Gu Yan naturally received the attention one might give to an endangered species.
But Gu Yan's belated embarrassment vanished when he saw Qi Xi. Zhang Jialiang hadn't lied about at least one thing: Qi Xi had indeed chosen this elective.
Actually, he was a little surprised that she had chosen this course, because he always felt that Qi Xi was the type of person who didn't care about anything other than studying. Her mind shouldn't be filled with the romantic fluff of romance novels. After all, if she really yearned for novel-like love, she had countless opportunities to pick someone at random to put it into practice.
However, Gu Yan soon learned the reason why Qi Xi chose this course—the teacher for this course was very lenient with roll call, and in previous years, the final grades were very high.
Gu Yan only saw Qi Xi during the first class. After that, Qi Xi never came. She always asked her friend Zhao Yiran, who also chose this course, to answer roll call for her, while she herself ran to the library to continue frowning at case studies.
In fact, this course was also a complete waste of time for Gu Yan. He had no interest in romance novels at all. Attending this course also came with receiving some small notes and love letters, and he had to spend time rejecting and comforting the girls who admired him. But Gu Yan still came every time, because he always hoped that maybe, just maybe, Qi Xi would come to one of the classes.
But Qi Xi did not.
Gu Yan knew that his approach to Qi Xi was very passive. He waited silently alone, without even letting the person involved know. He had never been in love before, so he didn't know if this was his usual silent type when it came to relationships. But he was sure that the best way to treat Qi Xi was this kind of waiting, because he had witnessed too many times Qi Xi's cold attitude towards the boys who confessed their feelings to her.
Her enthusiasm for learning was also stronger than her enthusiasm for men.
Apart from attending classes and listening attentively to lectures in her major, she spent the rest of her time diligently studying in the library. She rarely participated in the college's entertainment activities. The only thing she was most active in was checking the rankings after each exam was posted on the bulletin board.
It was also at this time that Gu Yan decided to become the person Qi Xi would pay attention to when the rankings were released. He found that no matter how many activities he participated in, how many awards he won, or how many times he walked back and forth near Qi Xi as if unintentionally, Qi Xi would not pay attention to him. The only way to make her eyes focus solely on him was to surpass her, to become the top student with better grades than her.
Much later, when faced with Qi Xi's questioning, Gu Yan pretended to be relaxed and said that being first was actually very easy. But in reality, he lied to Qi Xi. It was not easy at all. To surpass Qi Xi and become first, to make Qi Xi remember his name, to make her eyes only see him, was not a simple matter, because Qi Xi's grades were much better than Gu Yan had imagined, and she was also more diligent than Gu Yan had thought. This little squirrel was indeed not an ordinary squirrel. Gu Yan also expended a lot of energy in every exam.
But in order to make Qi Xi remember him, he always acted as if it were effortless. He often slept in the library and participated in more entertainment activities. But in reality, once he went home every weekend, Gu Yan would study desperately. Originally, he needed to sleep for twelve hours a day, but now, for Qi Xi, he could only compress his sleep time.
He was able to become the top student in the law school, and be praised by classmates and teachers. Actually, it was truly inseparable from Qi Xi, because she was always striving to catch up and spur him on from behind. Gu Yan became even more outstanding than before.
And because of Qi Xi, Gu Yan knew his future direction—he decided to refuse his sister's invitation and choose to study abroad.
Because Qi Xi would go.
If it were in the past, Gu Yan would have found it hard to imagine that he would change his major life decisions because of someone he had a crush on. However, when it really happened, he wasn't even surprised by his own behavior, only feeling that everything was perfectly natural.
This one-sided affection lasted far longer than Gu Yan had expected—he had originally thought it might be temporary, but Qi Xi always had a way of making Gu Yan care more and more.
At the end of the freshman year, the counselor who had been in charge of Gu Yan and Qi Xi's class decided to resign and return to his hometown to accompany his mother for treatment because his mother, who lived far away, was seriously ill. Because this counselor was very approachable and had a good relationship with the students, he was also very reluctant to leave this job. Therefore, all the freshmen students held a farewell banquet for him. All the freshmen students in the law school participated in this banquet, including Qi Xi.
This was almost the only group activity Qi Xi participated in during the entire freshman year.
Gu Yan liked the counselor who was about to leave very much, and he was also very reluctant to see him go. However, because of Qi Xi, he became somewhat unconscionably and silently looking forward to this farewell banquet.
At the farewell banquet, Qi Xi did come. She seemed to have just rushed over from the library, and she looked a little tired. She yawned several times in a row, thinking she was being unobserved.
Gu Yan knew that Qi Xi had been going to the all-night study room for the past few days to stay up all night for tomorrow's final exam in jurisprudence.
The scene was somewhat sentimental because of the counselor's departure. Some boys brought several cases of beer. Because of the farewell, these freshmen, who had only recently become adults, seemed to need to drink some alcohol to relieve their feelings of saying goodbye. It was unclear who started it, but in the end, everyone was given a can of beer.
"Today, we won't stop until we're drunk! Everyone has to have a can!"
It was unclear who started the commotion, but the last farewell banquet turned into a drinking contest. Perhaps it was really the emotions, perhaps it was the alcohol, but after a round of beer, many people became somewhat out of control—
Some were hugging the counselor and crying loudly, some were so excited that they were singing with beer bottles as microphones, some were giggling, and some...
And some, like Qi Xi, pretended to drink.
Gu Yan had a good alcohol tolerance and didn't drink much, so he was even very clear-headed. He almost saw how Qi Xi "cheated" while drinking.
In fact, although some people at the scene started the culture of persuading others to drink, none of them forced the girls to drink. Even because the counselor was present, everyone was advising the girls not to drink.
But Qi Xi still picked up the beer. She seemed to be a little curious herself. She leaned in and smelled it, and then quickly frowned in disgust. However, she seemed unable to resist her curiosity, especially when she saw several boys around her drinking and getting tipsy.
Then Gu Yan watched Qi Xi take a straw that had been used to drink juice earlier, insert it into the beer, and carefully take a sip. It was almost a very, very small sip, because Qi Xi was quickly forced to frown tightly by the slightly bitter taste of the beer. Probably the taste was really too unpleasant for Qi Xi. Even her delicate and pretty nose seemed to be about to wrinkle together with her eyebrows and eyes.
She looked like an unlucky squirrel again.
Just as Gu Yan was about to chuckle, he saw Qi Xi take another careful sip, as if she didn't believe it. And this time, perhaps because she drank a little too much, the alcohol was so spicy that she directly stuck out her tongue.
Although Qi Xi's tongue-sticking action was only for a moment, she quickly composed her facial expression, looked left and right, thinking that no one had seen it, and immediately returned to her calm and composed self.
But while Qi Xi's face quickly returned to normal, Gu Yan's mood could not return to normal.
He heard his heart beating again.
And it was also at this time—
"Wu Ying, I've liked you for a really long time, just say yes! Let me kiss you, and you'll be my girlfriend, you'll be my queen. You can make me do whatever you want, I'll be your slave! But tonight, I have to make things clear with you! And seal it with a kiss!"
Although most people were gathered around the counselor, saying their reluctant farewells, there were exceptions.
For example, in a corner not far away, amid the noisy background sound, came the sound of someone confessing their love.
Gu Yan followed the sound and found that the person confessing was Li Yong from the dormitory next door. Li Yong was on the school basketball team, tall and strong. At this moment, he was blocking a petite girl, Wu Ying, in a corner.
He was obviously a little drunk, his face flushed, clearly tipsy, and he had become irrational. His voice was extremely loud. It was only because the atmosphere at the scene was lively due to sending off the counselor that it did not attract the attention of most people.
If this were normal, Gu Yan would naturally not meddle in other people's business, after all, the person confessing was not confessing to Qi Xi.
But today seemed to be a little different.
Wu Ying was blocked in the corner, her face showing embarrassment, shame, and obvious uneasiness and panic. However, the drunk Li Yong could not distinguish these emotions in the girl. He probably couldn't even tell reality from dreams because of the alcohol. He was blatantly trying to put his mouth on the girl's face.
This was not a confession, it was harassment.
Gu Yan frowned. He decided to step forward and pull Li Yong away.
But what he didn't expect was that someone stepped forward to help Wu Ying before he did—
It was Qi Xi.
She dropped the beer, frowned, and rushed forward. Although her figure was so petite in comparison to Li Yong's that it could almost be ignored, it was unclear where this little squirrel got her courage. She directly pulled Li Yong away from behind.
Li Yong was interrupted in his confession, and naturally felt that Qi Xi had ruined things. His anger was further fueled by the alcohol. He glared at Qi Xi, obviously preparing to vent his anger on her.
Qi Xi might not know, but Gu Yan knew Li Yong's temper roughly. He was a pretty normal person usually, but as soon as he drank, he was prone to drunken rages. His personality became very impulsive, and he was very prone to conflict and friction with others. Just with his own roommates, he had almost gotten into fights three times because of his impulsive nature after drinking...
Drunk people don't have the rationality not to hit girls.
Gu Yan's heart became very tense. He almost immediately took a quick step forward, fearing that if he was half a step late, Qi Xi would be hurt.
But...
But facing the angry and on the verge of violent Li Yong, Qi Xi didn't even show fear. She smiled, pulled Li Yong's hand, and then shouted towards the counselor: "Hey, everyone, come and see! Li Yong is secretly confessing behind our backs! Hahahaha, everyone come and witness this. How could Li Yong do this? How can you confess when you're drunk?"
With her distraction, Wu Ying quickly escaped from Li Yong's grasp. She gave Qi Xi a grateful look and quickly ran into the group of classmates around the counselor.
Li Yong was also a little confused. He probably hadn't reacted yet.
And when the counselor and the students surrounding the counselor turned around, Qi Xi put on a show of "acting up while drunk": "Hey, Li Yong, were you just about to confess to me?"
"I'm sorry, my true love is studying. Men will only affect the speed at which I draw my sword, so I'm sorry, you have no chance!"
Although she had barely drunk any alcohol, since no one knew, Qi Xi very professionally played the role of someone who was also drunk in front of everyone.
Li Yong obviously wanted to explain: "Hey, this is not? I wasn't confessing to you, I was confessing to..."
Unfortunately, Qi Xi didn't give him a chance to finish. She patted Li Yong vigorously: "Don't love me, there's no result!"
This kind of confession interlude naturally ignited the atmosphere. The other students all started to make a fuss. No one took it seriously, and instead, they all laughed. Li Yong was surrounded by so many people, and seeing Qi Xi's appearance, she also seemed to be drunk, so naturally he couldn't act out. In the end, this confession, which originally made the person involved uncomfortable, turned into a fleeting little interlude with all the noise and laughter.
Except for Wu Ying, no one else saw it.
But Gu Yan saw it.
His little squirrel was braver and more resourceful than he had imagined.
Her playfulness when she secretly tasted beer and stuck out her tongue, her standing up for her companion when she saw them in trouble, her decisiveness in thinking on her feet when faced with difficulties.
Qi Xi did not make a fuss or seek praise, but Gu Yan saw it all, and he was glad that only he saw it.
Because most people only saw Qi Xi's beautiful exterior, and had no idea that Qi Xi had other things besides that.
But Gu Yan knew.