Locking away my heart and love! Going back to 2000 to be a top student again.

"..." Xu Su remained silent, carefully recalling her time with Jiang Chusheng.

In less than two months since the start of the semester, they had only met a few times. They chatted on QQ, but it wasn't a particularly lively conversation.

Where did the term 'biggest winner' come from?

She took Lin Rongrong's tablet and discovered that half of the top ten most popular posts on the campus forum revolved around "the story of campus beauty Xu Su and her male suitors"...

The names that appeared most often were Jiang Chusheng and Si Xuan. One of them was photographed chatting with the other many times, while the other had put aside his aloofness and practically had the word 'pursuit' written all over his face.

Besides them, there were also some boys whose names Xu Su didn't even recognize that were popular topics. On the contrary, Xi Zirong appeared the least. Only a few floors mentioned that the math department's most handsome guy and Xu Su seemed to have an unusual relationship. Sometimes when the two met, the atmosphere was very strange.

But these words, which even made Xu Su feel guilty for being caught red-handed, were not paid much attention to, which shows how unfounded these gossips were.

Xu Su knew Si Xuan's thoughts, so she tried her best to avoid him, and even rarely played the game "Immortal Continent" to avoid him.

Other boys had even less chance of getting close to her. With her jealous boyfriend Zhou Mochen around, Xu Su learned her lesson from Shen Chen early on and dared not look at any boy differently, maintaining her aloofness to the very end.

Perhaps it was because she was so unapproachable that Jiang Chusheng, who had met her a few times, seemed more special, which is why he was named the 'biggest winner'?

This was a false alarm...

After thinking it over, Xu Su came to this conclusion.

After she explained the situation to Wei Wei and the others in a serious manner, her first thought was actually whether Xi Zirong had seen these posts on the campus forum.

If he knew he was being rumored to be having an affair with his best friend…

Xu Su took out her phone and opened her QQ chat with Xi Zirong. It had been seven days since their last chat.

They didn't talk much, except that Xi Zirong sent over a picture of autumn rain, and Xu Su sent back an awkward but polite 'neither here nor there' emoji.

Xi Zirong's profile picture is grayed out; she is offline.

Xu Su thought for a moment, then poked the person opposite her.

Not long after, Xi Zirong's voice call came in.

Everyone in the dorm was there. Xu Su took her phone and went up to the balcony. Across the way was the boys' dorm...

She pressed the answer button and asked, "Are you a boarding student?"

The person on the other end clearly hadn't expected her to ask him this, and after a moment of surprise, said, "I live here, on the fourth floor opposite yours."

Xu Su looked around, unconsciously wondering if he was also in the dormitory, when she heard the sound of a sliding door being pushed open on the other end of the phone.

After a pause, Xi Zirong said, "You can see me from the ten o'clock position."

"..." Xu Su obediently raised her eyes and saw the young man in black standing on the opposite floor. He was looking this way and seemed to be smiling.

Xu Su felt a sudden pang of sadness. She took a breath and was about to speak when she heard Xi Zirong say, "Go put on a coat. It's gotten colder lately."

The recent temperature drop has indeed been severe; Beijing in November is even colder than Changshi.

It was windy on the balcony, and Xu Su was only wearing a sweatshirt, so it was indeed a bit too windy.

She quickly went back inside, found a coat and put it on. In the dormitory, Lin Rongrong saw Xu Su getting dressed and asked her, "Didn't you just come back with Jiang Chusheng? Are you going out again?"

"..." Xu Su reflexively glanced at the still-connected voice call, ignoring Lin Rongrong's words. Holding her phone, she walked out, saying, "Jiang Chusheng and I aren't like what the forum says, don't believe it..."

Ever since Xu Su learned that Xi Zirong had attempted suicide by cutting her wrists, he's been no different from a fragile object in Xu Su's eyes. If he really misunderstood that she had some kind of ambiguous relationship with his good friend Jiang Chusheng...

Xu Su was afraid that he would fall back into despair after seeing his emotions, which had finally calmed down.

On the other end of the phone, Xi Zirong's voice was very calm: "Xu Su, can we meet?"

Xu Su paused as she walked downstairs. She had arranged to go back to stay with Zhou Mochen tonight.

That person was on their way at that moment...

But thinking of those outrageous posts on the forum, Xu Su hesitated for a few seconds before agreeing: "Where shall we meet?"

Xi Zirong chose the school's basketball court as the location.

Their dorm rooms were so close together that they arrived at the basketball court one after the other.

Xu Su found a seat in the corner and sat down. Not long after, Xi Zirong sat down next to her with two cups of hot cocoa.

The stadium was packed with spectators, and it seemed like a match was going on below; nobody was looking into the corners.

Xu Su took the hot drink, and Xi Zirong smiled as she inserted a straw for her: "Don't drink it yet, be careful not to burn yourself."

"..." Xu Su thought of the Lunar New Year's Eve of her first year of high school, and her heart was filled with mixed feelings. She sniffed and said, "The posts on the school forum are all rumors. I don't even remember many of the names in the posts. As you know, my boyfriend is Zhou Mochen."

Xi Zirong hummed in agreement, "I didn't take it seriously. I know it's just some people making things up."

As if he had just thought of something, he suddenly smiled and said, "If you look around some more, you might find more posts about me. They're saying I'm gay. Isn't that even more outrageous?"

"!!" Xu Su's pupils dilated in surprise, and she stared wide-eyed as she asked, "Where did this rumor come from?"

After she finished speaking, she thought of how Xi Zirong's reputation in the department had spread far and wide for keeping girls at arm's length for the past two months.

Could it be possible...?

Xi Zirong looked at her with a smile, without saying a word, her eyes full of laughter.

Xu Su felt a little embarrassed by his gaze, so she lowered her head and took a small sip of her hot drink, barely suppressing the emotions in her heart.

"You just went out with Jiang Chusheng?"

"Cough cough..." Xu Su coughed twice, took the tissue handed to her, wiped her lips, and said, "He told me yesterday that there was an event, and it wasn't just us going alone, there were other people there too."

Speaking of which…

She didn't actually need to explain anything to Xi Zirong, but Jiang Chusheng was different; he was her childhood friend, and she couldn't let him misunderstand that she had been doubly betrayed.

Unexpectedly, Xi Zirong didn't even flinch, still tilting her head to look at her: "He seems to like you, Su Su, do you know that?"

"..." Xu Su remained stiffly silent for a long time, then slowly widened her eyes: "He told you?"

Xi Zirong shook her head: "No, I figured it out myself."

"Then you must have misunderstood. He knows about your relationship with me, how could he possibly..."

"What's our relationship?" Xi Zirong interrupted with a smile, reaching out to hold her hand, but Xu Su dodged it. He paused, his smile fading, and continued, "I'm telling you, he likes you, don't disbelieve me."

He spoke with such certainty that Xu Su began to recall how frequently Jiang Chusheng had appeared during this period.

A jolt went through her. Compared to Si Xuan, she didn't seem to consider Jiang Chusheng a threat at all; it was as if...