Chapter 11

Shi Zhi didn't reply to Fu Xiling's teasing messages.
Shen Jia had also been sending messages, wanting to meet Shi Zhi for a meal. Eating couldn't solve substantive problems, so Shi Zhi didn't respond either.
Her mood was very bad. The cold noodles she'd bought back to the dormitory, she only ate a few bites before putting down her chopsticks, finding them tasteless. But she still went to her two afternoon classes as usual.
Just a boyfriend. He'd already disrupted her morning studies. Couldn't let this matter make her slack off on afternoon classes too.
Shen Jia contacted Shi Zhi again after those two classes ended.
They'd had a good relationship before, and she'd sent him a copy of her class schedule. Shen Jia had memorized all her class times and often came to pick her up outside the classroom right on time.
Maybe afraid of making a scene like in the cafeteria, he didn't come directly to block her, only sent Shi Zhi a message—
"Sorry Shi Zhi, I shouldn't have hidden it from you. I was afraid if I said she was a girl, you'd overthink it."
"Let's meet and talk. Okay?"
Shi Zhi never interfered with her boyfriend making female friends. She knew several of Shen Jia's senior and junior female classmates and got along quite well with them.
The day they celebrated Shen Jia's birthday, there were also several girls present.
Shen Jia clearly knew she wasn't that kind of petty girlfriend, yet he hadn't dared to mention Tao Jia's gender before.
It could only mean one thing:
He had a guilty conscience and couldn't bear Shi Zhi's trust.
And the facts were indeed like this.
Looking back through Tao Jia's Weibo, she'd posted many updates, and Shen Jia had commented on almost every one.
From those posts, Shi Zhi could piece together a vivid image of a girl—
Tao Jia studied abroad, majored in art, had won awards for oil paintings, and could play the violin. The colorful painting in her profile picture was her own artwork.
Occasionally she'd also wear a little dress to attend friends' small gatherings.
She was about the same height as Shi Zhi. When her weight reached 49kg, she'd post saying she'd gotten too fat and was going to give up carbs, only eating vegetable salads and protein.
More often, Tao Jia's posts were just photos of art exhibitions or food, without even text.
Even so, Shen Jia would leave comments under those posts and chat with her.
Half a year ago, Tao Jia posted a photo of lobster pasta and steak.
Shen Jia asked below, "Is it good?"
Tao Jia sent a crying face emoji and replied, "Not good. Waiting for you to come so I can take you to try it. Can't let me suffer alone."
Shi Zhi remembered that was just a few days after she'd started dating Shen Jia.
One day when Shen Jia's lab wasn't busy, he'd invited Shi Zhi to watch a movie.
Before the theater lights dimmed, the screen kept playing animated public service announcements about fire safety. Shen Jia took out his phone, saw something, and suddenly laughed.
Shi Zhi, holding a large bucket of popcorn, turned and asked puzzled: "What's so funny?"
Shen Jia dimmed his phone and said: "A friend of mine went to a bad restaurant and insisted on dragging me down with her."
The day Shen Jia celebrated his birthday, he took a photo of the three-tier birthday cake Shi Zhi gave him and posted it on Weibo.
"Taozi tsuki" appeared in the comments.
Tao Jia commented: "Got to eat cake? Want to hear me wish you happy birthday in person?"
This was probably why Shen Jia ran out of the bar to make a call. But his explanation at the time was that he was calling his parents back, and he told Shi Zhi the person asking if he'd eaten cake was also his parents.
Shi Zhi kept scrolling, all the way back to Shen Jia's first post from several years ago.
Calculating the time, Shen Jia should have been eighteen or nineteen then.
Shen Jia wore white athletic wear. Tao Jia stood beside him in a white dress. Talented man and beautiful woman, very well-matched.
He had his arm around Tao Jia's waist. Both were smiling brightly.
Shen Jia's caption for this post was: "Jiajia, you're the only one I want to marry."
Someone commented "Wow, wishing you forever, hahaha." Tao Jia replied for Shen Jia, saying: "Of course, we're the best/Jia combination."
Late at night, quiet in the dormitory, only roommates' even breathing.
Shi Zhi felt terribly suffocated.
If Shen Jia had only ever wanted to marry Tao Jia from back then, if Shen Jia had never forgotten his first love, why did he come pursue her?
Shi Zhi suddenly remembered what Fu Xiling had said to her in the coffee shop that morning—
He said, "'Childhood friend' isn't accurate. Hmm, 'childhood sweetheart' is more appropriate."
Fu Xiling had paused for a moment then.
Actually, the word he'd originally wanted to say probably wasn't "childhood sweetheart," but "ex-girlfriend."
Shi Zhi couldn't figure out why Fu Xiling wanted to get involved, but in these matters, he clearly wasn't that innocent either.
Because Shi Zhi quickly discovered that Tao Jia had one-sidedly followed Fu Xiling's Weibo.
And in earlier years, when Tao Jia first opened her Weibo account, many of her posts had @'d him, but he never replied.
This state had lasted for a very long time.
Shi Zhi casually clicked into the "Fu Xiling" ID.
No posts at all.
When Shen Jia sent another message that night, Shi Zhi replied.
She saw things clearly, didn't waste energy consuming emotions on pointless arguments. Her fingertips quickly tapped on the phone screen, sending three messages in a row—
"Shen Jia, you can have good female friends and childhood friends, and you can care about them and help them."
"But you can only have one girlfriend, like one person, marry one person."
"Is that person me or Tao Jia?"
Shen Jia must have seen her reply.