Chapter 19

【Senior Ji, have you taken a liking to me?】

Ji Kailan's gaze lingered on those words for a moment before he lifted his head to meet Su Louzhi's eyes.

What he saw in them was far more nervousness than expectation.

She was afraid. Afraid that his answer would shatter the delicate balance between them, afraid that their relationship would become something different.

And she was right to be. Counting today, they had known each other for a grand total of eight days. Eight days. For most people, that was moving far too fast.

If he admitted it now—if he let even a sliver of his true intentions show—she would recoil like a startled kitten, darting back into her safe little corner and never poking her head out again.

Ji Kailan made his judgment in the space of a heartbeat.

He couldn't rush this.

His expression shifted with perfect timing—warm, but laced with just the right amount of puzzlement. "Zhizhi, what do you think counts as 'taking a liking'?" he asked softly.

Su Louzhi froze.

That answer was entirely outside her expectations. She had thought Ji Kailan would say yes or no, but instead, he was asking her to define what it meant.

She opened her mouth, then closed it, at a loss for words.

Ji Kailan watched her expression, the corner of his mouth curving up ever so slightly. "I think there are two kinds of liking," he said slowly, enunciating each word, his eyes fixed on her reaction. "One is the kind that makes you want to become lovers. The other is the kind that makes you want to become friends."

He paused, then continued, "Has Zhizhi ever met someone like that? Someone your age who had a quality you found irresistible, and you just really wanted to be friends with them?"

Su Louzhi's eyes slowly lit up.

Friends.

That word was like a key, unlocking a door deep in her memory.

Back in elementary school, there had been a girl a few grades above her—sunny, outgoing, like a little ray of sunshine. That girl hadn't known her at all, yet she'd always struck up conversations with Su Louzhi as if they were old friends, which made her feel flustered and grateful. Once, when she saw Su Louzhi being bullied, she'd stepped in to help and taken her back to her grandfather's house.

Su Louzhi had always wanted to be friends with that girl.

But she hadn't dared.

She knew her own situation. She knew she was a child nobody wanted. She didn't dare speak up, didn't dare get close.

In the end, it was that girl who made the first move and became her friend.

Unfortunately, Su Louzhi had never been good at maintaining friendships back then. It was always that girl reaching out first, time and again. Then that girl got into university and moved away, while Su Louzhi entered the best high school in the county, buried under academic pressure. Gradually, their contact dwindled.

It was a regret she had carried in her heart ever since.

If this was what Ji Kailan meant by liking her...

She thought she understood. If that was the case, then this time, she absolutely had to be good to Senior Ji. She absolutely, absolutely could not let history repeat itself.

Ji Kailan watched her expression shift, dark currents swirling beneath his eyes.

"I just really want to be friends with Zhizhi," he said, his voice slightly hoarse but still gentle. "Yesterday, Zhizhi texted me about the forum post. I went and looked at it too."

He paused for a moment. "I'm sure Zhizhi saw it as well—in the three years I've been at this school, I've spent a lot of time alone. Occasionally, only Boyang would be by my side."

Su Louzhi recalled the posts on the forum and nodded.

"I don't know if Qin Qingyan has mentioned my family background to you," Ji Kailan continued. "I'm the only son of Ji Feng, the head of the Ji Group. My parents are wonderful to me, but as an only child, I've carried a lot of responsibility from a young age. The pressure to excel has always been heavy."

He let out a soft sigh. "Maybe with all that pressure, I never had the energy to make friends. Over the years, only Boyang could occasionally hang out with me."

His gaze fell on Su Louzhi's face, tender and earnest. "That day in the alley, I saw Zhizhi—clearly terrified, shaking all over—still step in front of Qin Qingyan to shield her."

"At that moment, I thought," he curved his lips, "that trait of yours, Zhizhi, really drew me in."

"I thought to myself: if only I could be friends with Zhizhi."

It all clicked for Su Louzhi. So that was it. She had almost forgotten—when she first met Ji Kailan, there really had been such a coincidence. He had seen her blocking Qin Qingyan with her body.

Remembering that day, she felt a bit embarrassed and lowered her head to type: 【Actually, that day... I thought those four thugs were after me in the first place, but Qingyan stood in front of me. I was afraid they would do something bad to her, and that I'd have dragged her into my mess. In the end, it was all because of me.】

She raised her phone, her gaze darting away.

Ji Kailan looked at her like that, and the corner of his mouth curved up secretively.

Good. The kitten's attention had been completely diverted.

The crisis was successfully averted.

His voice was slightly hoarse but even gentler now. "Zhizhi, don't blame yourself."

He looked at her, speaking slowly, one word at a time. "You're the victim here. How could you take that responsibility onto your own shoulders?"

Su Louzhi froze.

She actually knew that logic. After the college entrance exam ended, with no more academic pressure, she had spent nearly every day online. She'd read countless arguments about victim-blaming and how it should be refuted.

But knowing and understanding were two different things.

None of those arguments felt as powerful as this one sentence from Ji Kailan.

He was right.

She was the most innocent person in this from start to finish.

A child can't choose whose womb she's born into. Without the means to survive, she relied on her parents. They abandoned her, her classmates bullied her—

Why would she blame herself for that?

Why would she think it was her fault?

Something in Su Louzhi's heart suddenly loosened, and she felt lighter all over. She lowered her head to type, her fingers moving faster than usual: 【Yeah, I was being narrow-minded.】

【Senior Ji, let's just go and have a great time. These seven days of holiday, I've actually had a really wonderful time. And I've always wanted to be friends with you.】

She held up her phone, her brows curved into a smile as she looked at him.

Ji Kailan looked at those two lines of text, and the mirth in his eyes finally spilled over, impossible to contain.

"Mm," he said softly, his tone as gentle as if he were soothing a child. "Then Zhizhi, we're good friends now."

Once he was sure Su Louzhi had been properly comforted, Ji Kailan restarted the car and headed for Cloud Kingdom Amusement Park. Twenty minutes later, they arrived.

Just as Ji Kailan had said, with the National Day holiday just over, the park wasn't crowded. Looking around, there were almost no lines in front of any of the rides.

And Cloud Kingdom itself was even more dreamlike than Su Louzhi had imagined.

Every single attraction was shaped like clouds in pastel macaron shades—pink, pale blue, soft yellow—round and plump, soft and squishy, as if they'd been lifted straight out of a fairy tale. The carousel's canopy was a cloud of cotton candy, the roller coaster's track wound through rainbows, and even the trash cans were shaped like little clouds.

Su Louzhi's eyes lit up.

This amusement park was practically tailor-made for girls. Even the roller coaster looked tame, moving at a lazy, floating pace as if drifting through the clouds.

Still, Su Louzhi didn't dare get on. She was timid by nature. No matter how appealing the marketing promised, she couldn't take that step.

Ji Kailan naturally didn't push her. "What does Zhizhi want to ride?" he asked.

Su Louzhi's gaze swept across the park before landing on one spot.

The carousel.

She hesitated for a moment, then pointed.

Ji Kailan followed her finger and curved his lips. "Alright, let's go ride the carousel."

Actually, the carousel was a small obsession in Su Louzhi's heart.

She vaguely remembered that before she turned three, when her parents were still in love, her mother had once held her on a carousel ride. It was one of the few warm memories she had.

After she turned three, those warm moments vanished.

She was raised by her grandparents after that, without much money, attending a shabby school. Sometimes she'd see a simple carousel by the roadside—a few yuan for a ride. Other kids would climb on gleefully, but she could only stand on the sidelines and watch.

Once, she'd finally saved up enough pocket money and worked up the courage to sit on it.

But a kid nearby saw her and immediately ran off.

"She's the girl nobody wants. Don't sit next to her!"

She'd remembered those words for years.

After that, she never rode a carousel again.

But today, with Ji Kailan by her side, she suddenly wanted to try one more time.

Of course, she would never say any of that out loud.

The carousel had few riders—just a few pairs of visitors ahead of them.

Su Louzhi noticed there were female-female pairs and male-male pairs among them. She was momentarily puzzled but didn't think too much about it. This park was designed for girls anyway, so more women coming was normal, and men accompanying their girlfriends was normal too.

But two guys coming together... what could they even ride?

Still, she wasn't one to dwell on things, and she quickly tossed that question aside.

The carousel had two levels—the lower one had spinning wooden horses, and the upper one had several pumpkin-carriage-shaped cabins. Ji Kailan asked her, "Which one does Zhizhi want to ride?"

Su Louzhi thought for a moment, then pointed at the pumpkin carriage. If she sat there, she could face Ji Kailan directly.

After that, they rode the bumper cars, the pirate ship, and even tried an escape room.

On the bumper cars, Ji Kailan shielded her from getting slammed by others; on the pirate ship, he held her wrist, afraid she'd be scared; in the escape room, he walked ahead of her, keeping her behind his protective back.

Su Louzhi had a wonderful time.

Before she knew it, the sky had started to darken.

Ji Kailan took her to one of the park's restaurants for dinner, then led her by the hand toward the Ferris wheel.

"The timing is perfect now," he said.

Su Louzhi had no idea what timing was perfect, but she obediently followed him onto the Ferris wheel.

The cabin rose slowly, and the park's nighttime scenery unfolded beneath their feet—lights glittering like a sea of stars.

At the highest point—

Bang!

A massive firework exploded right in front of them.

Huge and brilliant, it burst at exactly their eye level.

The light of the fireworks painted Su Louzhi's face pale and pure, her eyes shining bright, reflecting the entire night sky and the sea of sparks.

Ji Kailan looked at her.

Watched the fireworks bloom in her eyes, watched her lips curve into a gentle smile.

And then, he felt something pluck at the strings of his heart.

Beyond his control.