LVLYA

Chapter 89: Peeling Away the Darkness

"You don't need to let everyone know when you like someone. I'm not trying to force you."

The smile on Zhang Siyun's face slightly faded away. "But your parents seem to really care about your love life and future marriage. If you don't tell them, they'll still think they can introduce suitable girls to you in the future. There'll only be more and more problems between you and your girlfriend, and once more time has passed, she really might end up leaving you. Do you know how hard it is for a girl when she's tired? Please — that shouldn't be what you want, right?"

Seeing Song Yu's tightly drawn eyebrows, Zhang Siyun held her chin in her hands. "I'm serious. I'm saying all of this from the bottom of my heart."

Song Yu looked at her with some uncertainty as he heard her encouraging him once again. "What are your plans?"

"Me?" Zhang Siyun blinked. "Plans?"

"Didn't you just say you were temporarily shelving your plans." Song Yu blandly explained to her, "I've liked this person for many years already. I will acknowledge only him in this lifetime."

"I know. Don't worry, I don't have any more plans." Zhang Siyun took a sip of her coffee and put the cup back down. "I only said 'temporarily shelving' in order to leave myself some face. It was so rare for me to fall in love at first sight, only for you to already have a girlfriend. I ended up wasting my heart. I'm actually quite hurt, but I care more about how I look than my broken heart. I don't want to blubber and spill a cup of coffee over you — how terrible would that look?"

"Ah yes, saying we could be friends was also to leave some dignity for the both of us since I can't just disappear after yelling at you. Don't mention that plan anymore; it was just talk. Don't take it seriously. I might be dating a new handsome guy next week, and having a friend like you around would only affect my peach blossoms. We're not the same kind of people. You hold love sacred while me — I intend on enjoying my life to its fullest."

Standing up, she paid the bill before saying to Song Yu, "Hey, I'm being serious. What if your parents end up accepting her if you just try? Someone who could make you like them — wouldn't they be the kind of treasure found only in the heavens?"

"True love is very powerful. You should believe in fairy tales for once in your life, classmate Song Yu."

He stayed by himself in that cold and deserted cafe for a very long time, thinking.

In the few days after, Song Yu submitted his application to change his graduation thesis topic three times, only for them to all be turned down. He was swamped with needing to submit all different kinds of data every day, needing to run back and forth among different offices, and yet he still wasn't able to get the answer he wanted.

When he'd first been guaranteed a spot in the postgraduate program, Song Yu had already looked for Professor He, who was in charge of the research area he liked. But the professor had been too busy — Song Yu had waited for him outside his office for several days in row. He'd only bumped into him the last day he'd gone, and Professor He had been very surprised to see him.

"I know you." Professor He had hesitated. "You're very famous. Why are you thinking of coming to me?"

Song Yu had talked to him for a long time, and old Professor He had finally agreed, patting his shoulder. "Young fellow, our research area here is the most tiring, most bitter kind — it's also really dangerous. It's completely only to serve the people."

"I know."

"Fine, I can see you've already decided. Come over once you've graduated."

Thinking of what Professor He had said, Song Yu held onto his rejected application and knocked on Professor Zhang's office door.