Confession 02

The snow was gleaming white, but fortunately, there was no biting wind to accompany it.

At this temperature, Lin Yu couldn't even be bothered to find a place to shelter from the cold.

Looking around, his gaze fell on a long bench piled high with snow.

Walking over, he casually brushed away the thick snow on the wooden bench with his hand. Clearing a relatively clean spot, Lin Yu plopped down and took out his phone to scroll through short videos.

Before finishing even a few short videos, Lin Yu looked up, a question arising in his mind.

What was Tang Manman trying to do by running over here so quietly this time?

Since their parting in City N, Tang Manman had barely paid any attention to him.

She sent very few messages, and even when he officially announced his relationship with Sister Zhuzi on his Moments, she didn't utter a peep.

From this perspective, it seemed she had already given up on him.

Then what was she trying to do with this sudden visit?

Lin Yu couldn't figure it out, but it wasn't really a problem either.

Anyway, as long as she could figure things out, be willing to give up on him and start a new life, the remaining issues couldn't be considered issues at all.

After figuring this out, Lin Yu happily lowered his head and continued scrolling on his phone.

Rarely, the algorithm recommended a very interesting, long science video about the evolution of marine life, and Lin Yu watched it with great relish.

Suddenly.

Lin Yu felt a sudden stir in his heart.

Without passing through his brain, his body acted on its own accord and raised his head.

Not far away by the side of the road, Tang Manman stood there prettily.

Her gaze looked this way, seeming to have just noticed Lin Yu as well. The surprise on her face hadn't yet had time to transform into a blooming smile.

Tang Manman stood on her tiptoes, waved her hand, and trotted all the way over.

Looking at the familiar sight of her, Lin Yu momentarily forgot to stand up from the chair.

Today, she was wearing a milky white down jacket mixed with specks of coffee color. Her lower body was clad in off-white knitted straight-leg pants, and wrapped around the collar of her padded jacket was a soft white scarf that looked incredibly warm.

Standing in the ice and snow, at first glance, she looked like a snow elf that had darted out from nowhere.

Seeing her outfit, Lin Yu subconsciously looked toward her shoes.

Unsurprisingly, it was a pair of off-white winter snow boots.

It wasn't until this moment that Lin Yu could be one hundred percent certain.

The clothes she was wearing today all seemed to be the ones he had bought for her the winter before last...

In the brief moment Lin Yu was zoning out, Tang Manman had already arrived in front of him.

A subtle smile hung on her delicate face, and most of the joy on her face had been roughly restrained into her shining peach-blossom eyes, which stared straight at Lin Yu without blinking.

It was as if she was silently acting cute.

Looking at her like this, Lin Yu suddenly experienced a momentary daze.

It was as if this winter was the winter from the year before last.

And the Tang Manman in front of him was also the Tang Manman from the year before last...

...

No.

Lin Yu quickly noticed the anomaly.

She wasn't as emaciated as she had been in the past.

Now she had obviously taken good care of herself. Her complexion was rosy, her cheeks were full, and she was brimming with vitality. Not a single trace of her former pitiful appearance could be seen anymore.

Now, she looked more like a little princess who had been spoiled since childhood.

Blinking his eyes to fish himself out from the ocean of memories, Lin Yu smiled and asked:

"Why did you come here?"

After Lin Yu asked this question, the smile at the corners of Tang Manman's mouth grew even more, almost unable to maintain the subtle expression on her face.

She looked just like a proud high school student who had scored full marks on a final exam and happened to be asked about her grades by relatives.

"I came to give you a surprise."

Tang Manman said with a beaming smile.

"What surprise?"

Lin Yu stood up and asked.

"At the beginning of the year, I joined a lab, and that lab was working on a very impressive project!"

"The project was completed a few days ago. Because I provided a small idea when we encountered difficulties earlier, the professor was willing to add my name at the very end of the credits!"

Tang Manman excitedly clenched her small fists.

Lin Yu could tell the importance of this matter to her; just bringing it up made her face full of pride.

"Ah?"

"That impressive?"

Lin Yu praised her, playing along very supportively.

"Yeah."

Tang Manman raised her small face, her expression showing unconcealable smugness.

"Let me tell you, at that time..."

"..."

...

As they spoke, it was unknown who took the first step, but the two began to walk slowly along the small path by the river.

The fresh snow had only recently fallen, stretching continuously with no end in sight.

In such a white world, the two walked shoulder to shoulder, leaving behind two trails of marks that belonged to them...

...

"I also have to thank you for this matter."

Tang Manman turned her head to look at Lin Yu, a very radiant smile blooming on her small face that was slightly flushed from the cold.

"Me?"

Lin Yu pointed at the tip of his own nose, not understanding what help he had been in this.

"Mhm."

Tang Manman nodded and said:

"You helped us recover that sum of money."

"The upperclassmen and the professor are all very grateful to you."

"Although the professor didn't say it explicitly, I know that there must be reasons related to you for him being willing to add my name."

"Is that so."

Lin Yu suddenly came to a realization.

Tang Manman stopped walking, turned around, and faced Lin Yu. Backlit, her eyes shone with anticipation.

"Guess, what is the surprise I want to give you?"

Lin Yu thought for a moment. He originally wanted to say, is it that you've achieved success and fame, earned a large sum of money, and can pay back the debt.

But as the words reached his mouth, Lin Yu swallowed them back down.

In case Tang Manman's surprise wasn't this, wouldn't saying so just add pressure on her for nothing?

"I can't guess."

Lin Yu shook his head, choosing not to guess anything.

Tang Manman didn't show the slightest bit of unhappiness because of Lin Yu giving up on guessing. On the contrary, because she could personally announce that surprise, she became even happier.

"I begged the professor to ask the university for a transfer quota."

"You can transfer to University A now!"

"Uh..."

Hearing this so-called surprise, Lin Yu was momentarily rendered speechless, the faint smile at the corners of his mouth vanishing at some unknown point.

He looked at Tang Manman's slightly glowing eyes, and looking at her expression that seemed to be asking for praise and claiming credit, for a moment he didn't know how to respond to her expectations.

A quota for University A?

What would he go to University A for?

Tang Manman noticed the change in Lin Yu's expression. She showed a bit of bewilderment, her volume involuntarily lowering a few notches, and said weakly:

"Didn't you say before that University A is a very good school."

"That you liked it very much?"

Hearing this, Lin Yu became even more bewildered.

University A was a great school, but when had he ever said he wanted to transfer over there?

Seeing Lin Yu remain silent, Tang Manman's breathing trembled slightly. In the span of a breath, she mustered up her courage, reached out and grabbed Lin Yu's hand, tilted her face up, and said with a mix of earnestness and a bit of pleading:

"Lin Yu, come to University A, let's be together, okay?"

Faced with these front and back halves of a sentence that didn't seem to mean the same thing no matter how he listened to them, Lin Yu's mind went blank, and he asked blankly:

"Haven't you seen my Moments?"

"Moments?"

Tang Manman blinked her eyes, nodded and said:

"I have."

"But there isn't anything in your Moments, is there?"

As she spoke, Tang Manman took her phone out of her bag, swiped the screen a few times, and turned it to face Lin Yu.

Seeing his completely empty Moments feed on her screen, Lin Yu's mind reeled with a deafening buzz.

He immediately pulled out his own phone, tapped on Tang Manman's profile picture, and checked her contact settings.

When he saw the small line of text that read (Hide my Moments from her), Lin Yu felt his mind go completely blank as if it had just exploded. A sudden chill shot up his spine and straight into his brain.

When did he ever enable this setting?

Seeing Lin Yu fall silent, Tang Manman took a deep breath. Gathering her courage, she pressed her offensive.

She reached out with both hands, tightly clasping Lin Yu's free left hand and gently pulling it toward her.

Tilting her delicate, innocent face upward, she ignored her increasingly flushed skin and the painful hammering of her heart against her ribs. She gazed deeply into Lin Yu's eyes and confessed:

"Lin Yu, I like you."

"I've liked you for a very long time."

"Can we be together?"

Lin Yu looked at Tang Manman's deepening blush. He looked at her lips, pursed slightly to keep from trembling with nerves, and he looked into her unwavering eyes, which met his gaze without a hint of evasion.

Within his completely blank mind, logic made a decision on its own, and a single sentence slipped out before he could stop it.

"I have a girlfriend."