What’s the most useless fantasy you can have as a student?
Zhou Ye’s answer was: falling for the campus belle.
He’d bought a wish plaque on a whim for ten yuan, and, a little drunk, wrote, "I hope a girl confesses to me out loud." He hung it on a tree and forgot all about it.
Until that day on the sports field, when an upperclassman made a scene and cornered her in front of everyone. Surrounded with nowhere to go, she shoved aside the people jeering at her and stumbled, nearly falling. Like a small animal backed into a corner, she ran from the crowd with red-rimmed eyes.
Anyone would do.
Anyone who could get her out of there and free her from their harassment.
In her panic, her gaze "just happened" to land on Zhou Ye.
She stopped in front of him. Her voice trembled off-key, as if she were summoning every last bit of courage, shouting for him to hear and for everyone there to hear:
"Zhou Ye! I like you!"
In that moment, all the noise around Zhou Ye fell silent. All he could hear was her ragged breathing and his own heart pounding like a drum.
A rejection letter originally meant for someone else and a confession born of a misunderstanding came together in an agreement to "pretend to be a couple" for twenty days.
He’d thought he’d be no more than a bit player in this drama.
But when she was cornered and swept up in the crowd again, head bowed, unable even to defend herself, Zhou Ye hesitated for just a moment before gritting his teeth and charging in, shielding her firmly behind him.
If you don’t even have the courage to step forward, what right do you have to say you like her?
Even if it’s only for twenty days. Even if it’s all an act.
This time, he wanted to be her leading man.
