When the Paintbrush Meets the Pen

On a campus where phoenix leaves carpet the stone steps, romance blooms like colors blending on a palette, meeting the precision of financial formulas. When Chi Ye, who paints his dreams into being, meets Zhou Xubai, whose every inch radiates cool composure, their love, born of a young heart’s first stirrings, fills with countless moments of longing and attraction. From the cicada-filled height of summer, it stretches all the way to the neon lights of the city. He is an artist who hides tenderness in every brushstroke, each color on his canvas secretly tracing the silhouette of someone special. He is a boy who has carved reason into his very bones, yet tucked inside the financial journal turning beneath his fingertips is a sketch, crumpled from being handled so often. The sunset in the studio is just right. Warm fingers stained with paint brush by Shen’s jaw, stirring a silent flutter of the heart. Under the dim lights of the study room, Shen gathers his scattered sheets of art paper for him. His eyes fall on the initials in the signature, and the corners of his mouth lift without his even noticing.