Love in the Illusion

3

Crisp Berries

Chapter 3

When Xu Sui first entered university, social apps like WeChat had only recently become widespread. It was in October of that year when Xu Sui officially crossed paths with Zhou Jingze.

Early October, the lingering heat of the autumn tiger hadn't yet dissipated. The air was thick and sticky, and if one stood outside for even a short while, sweat from their elbows would drip to the ground and quickly melt away into vapor.

After completing their military training, this batch of medical students officially began their university life. Normally, anatomy would be a course for the second semester of their freshman year, but their professor went against the norm and had them start learning the subject early.

Today was only their second anatomy lesson, yet the professor assigned them homework—to dissect a toad and record its neural responses as a group project.

With novices at work, the lab was a scene of utter chaos.

"Damn it, hold it down, will you?" a guy snapped impatiently. "Don't let it get away again."

"Wuwuwu, no way, I can't do it. I'm scared just looking at it." The girl's voice trembled.

The two worked together, but the girl still didn't dare to reach out and touch it. Accidentally brushing against the toad, the green creature promptly sprayed the boy with urine.

The air froze for a moment before erupting into bursts of laughter. The boy at the next lab table was shaking with laughter and said, "Dude, what a golden start."

After several failed attempts, students from other groups had even more exaggerated reactions—some vomited multiple times in the restroom just from seeing the toad's appearance, without even touching it.

On the other side, several people gathered around a girl, watching her dissection experiment. The girl had a slender figure, her hair tied back to reveal a fair neck. Dressed in a white lab coat, her eyes beneath the goggles were calm and clear.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the toad, secured it, and drove a steel needle through the back of its head. Unfazed, she extracted the crushed matter, severed the spine, then used scissors to cut open its neck. With tweezers, she clamped its tongue for observation.

The entire process was executed seamlessly, her movements precise and fluid. A smattering of applause rose from the onlookers. A male student praised, "Impressive, Xu Sui. Given your looks, I thought you'd be the timid type. Who knew you'd be so bold and deft at dissection?"

A girl nearby gasped in astonishment, "Xu Sui, you're amazing! Weren't you scared at all?"

Xu Sui's dark lashes lowered, casting a faint arc as she smiled calmly. "Not afraid."

"Your technique just now was brilliant—could you teach me?" The girl speaking was Liang Shuang, Xu Sui's classmate.

"Sure," Xu Sui nodded.

Under Xu Sui's guidance, Liang Shuang grasped the key points and finally overcame her psychological barrier. Just as she was about to pierce the toad's brain with a large steel needle.

The roof gave a slight shake, followed by the considerable roar of an airplane engine. The continuous buzzing sound startled Liang Shuang, causing the steel needle in her hand to veer off and stab straight into the toad's thigh, blood spurting out.

Another failure.

Liang Shuang was furious and began to vent, "I really don't understand why the president who built this medical university decided to relocate the campus next to an aerospace university, just across the street. Those pilots training at the airfield make noise morning and night—it's absolutely maddening."

Hearing Liang Shuang's complaint, a female student teased, "Hey, Liang Shuang, I remember when you first arrived, didn't you say you wanted to find a pilot boyfriend? How come you changed your mind so quickly?"

At the mention of the word "pilot," Xu Sui's heart tightened, but she quickly returned to observing the data on the test bench as if nothing had happened.

Liang Shuang replied, "That's a different matter. We haven't found it yet."

Xu Sui went back to the lab bench to continue her experiment. A girl named Bai Yuyue, who was in the same group, contributed nothing to their group project except for handing over tweezers, steel needles, and other tools.

Because Bai Yuyue kept checking her phone every now and then, her mind was clearly not on the dissection. Suddenly, her phone, placed to the side, let out a "ding" notification sound. Bai Yuyue opened it and revealed a sweet smile.

Xu Sui was bending over, observing the neural responses of a toad on the computer screen, when Bai Yuyue called out to her, "Xu Sui, I have something to attend to and need to step out. Could you help me finish the rest?"

Meaning the assignment would be done by her alone, but the final submission would bear both their names.

Xu Sui glanced at the experiment, which was mostly completed, and nodded indifferently. She didn't particularly care about such things—it was more out of laziness.

Bai Yuyue left with a delighted expression. Since Xu Sui was working alone, she naturally finished the experiment later than usual. When she was done, she found Liang Shuang still waiting for her.

"You're still here?" Xu Suo removed her disposable gloves.

"Of course, I was waiting for you." Liang Shuang pinched her cheek and smirked, "Hmm, not bad."

After Xu Suo changed her clothes, Liang Shuang dragged her down the stairs in a mad dash, muttering nonstop, "Hurry up, my braised pork ribs with potatoes are gonna be gone."

Inside the cafeteria, the two finally managed to get their food and sat down. Then a bespectacled boy approached hesitantly with his tray, asking if he could join them.

With a face that looked sweet and harmless, Xu Sui mercilessly turned down his request.

Liang Shuang sat across from her, studying Xu Sui—her petite face, fair skin tinged with a hint of pink, almond-shaped eyes that sparkled, and two dimples that appeared when she smiled. Her hair was neatly tied back, though a few unruly strands fell across her forehead.

A typical Southern beauty, radiating freshness and charm in every way.

Liang Shuang took a bite of spare ribs and sighed, "Tsk, tsk, how many is that this month? Suisui, did you know our department forum is holding a vote for the department flower, and you're on the candidate list?"

Xu Sui didn't show much reaction to this matter. She poked a straw into the milk carton, puffing her cheeks as she said, "But I really was quite ordinary in high school."

The kind of existence that would get lost in a crowd.

If Liang Shuang had seen her high school photos, she wouldn't have said such things. During high school, due to chronic illness and long-term consumption of traditional Chinese medicine, her body was bloated, her complexion overly pale, and she always wore monotonous, oversized school uniforms—just a very ordinary girl.

Fortunately, after her health improved, she lost twenty pounds in college. Combined with her fair skin and delicate, petite features, it was as if she had truly undergone a complete transformation, and people started paying more attention to her.

It's truly because university and high school are so different—here, aesthetics are diverse, and every kind of personality is accepted, which is why she caught everyone's attention.

"Hey, who didn't look like a mess in high school? We were all just focused on studying," Liang Shuang said, placing a piece of meat in her bowl. "But I've seen you turn down quite a few guys. What kind of person are you actually into?"

Xu Sui bit her straw without moving, an image of a carefree, worldly face flashing through her mind before she quickly suppressed it. Shaking her head, she said, "I don't know either."

"It's fine, there's still plenty of time," Liang Shuang poked at her food with her chopsticks before suddenly realizing something. She had picked spinach and grimaced. "Ugh, I can't take it anymore. Just the sight of anything green makes me want to puke now. It's so disgusting."

"I'll eat it for you, I'm not afraid," Xu Sui said with a smile, then picked up the spinach and put it into her own bowl.

At five in the afternoon, Xu Sui stood on the rooftop of the school's ideological and political building, letting the evening breeze blow over her. The wind rustled the test papers she had spread out on the railing, making them flutter like white pigeons ready to take flight.

Xu Sui plugged her earphones into her phone and stood on the rooftop doing her listening test. Hardly anyone came here—it was quiet, with a good view. She often came to this place, a perfect spot to relax.

When she got tired, Xu Sui would press her elbow against the test papers and gaze into the distance to rest her eyes. At such times, she would always look in one fixed direction—the northeast corner of the school, straight toward the sports field of Beijing Beihang University.

Every day, students from the flight academy could be seen training tirelessly on the field. From the rooftop, all that was visible were the dark silhouettes of heads bobbing beneath a sea of green.

She couldn't make out anything clearly, nor did she know what she was expecting.

Xu Sui was lost in thought when her phone vibrated in her hand—it was a call from her mother. She answered, and after some routine inquiries about her studies and daily life, the conversation shifted to the topic of weather.

"Frost's Descent is almost here, and once it passes, the weather will turn colder. Remember to buy an extra quilt," her mother nagged.

Xu Sui chuckled lightly, her tone cheerful: "Mom, it's still early days here, and it's quite hot. Besides, it's not like I haven't lived in the north before."

Upon hearing this, Xu's mother sighed. Xu Sui was born into a single-parent family in the south, growing up in a small town called Liying in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region. Her mother was an ordinary middle school Chinese teacher. When Xu Sui was in high school, concerned about the limited educational resources in their small town, her mother planned to send her away for schooling.

Coincidentally, Xu Sui's uncle was doing business in Jingbei City and suggested she come there to study. For the sake of her child's education, Xu's mother gritted her teeth and sent her off.

Xu Sui transferred to Tianhua No.1 High School in the second semester of her first year and ended up staying in the north for two and a half years.

When it came time to fill out college applications, Xu's mother had already discussed it with Xu Sui—she could choose any university in the south. But who knew she would be dead set on applying to this medical university in Jingbei?

Thinking of this, Xu's mother softly complained, "Even in college, you're still so far from me, with no one to take care of you. You always have cold hands and feet in winter and can't stand the cold. I really don't know why you insisted on going there."

Xu Sui had no choice but to change the subject, coaxing her mother with a few words before finally hanging up the phone.

Standing on the rooftop in a daze, Xu Sui couldn't help but ask herself, why did she have to come here?

Must be crazy.

She was lost in thought when suddenly, a passionate moan laced with coquetry came from around the corner. Xu Sui turned her gaze toward the source of the sound.

Against the wall at the corner stood two people—a tall, bewitchingly beautiful girl pressed close to him in an intimate posture, while the boy leaned against the wall, his clothes hanging loosely on his frame.

Xu Sui was separated from them by a rusted, abandoned iron frame. Through the narrow gap, her view gradually narrowed, yet their movements became all the more pronounced.

The boy didn't move much, but the girl pressed close, her fingers unconsciously drifting down to hook onto the waistband of his black pants, the implication obvious.

Just as she was about to take it further, the boy reached out and effortlessly clamped down on her knuckles, rendering her immobile, watching her with an amused smirk.

Flushed under his gaze, the girl seized the moment to confess, "I really, really like you."

The boy showed little reaction, his demeanor lazy as he chuckled lowly, "How much do you like me?"

With that, the boy's slender fingers tangled with the red bow at her chest, his clean fingertips brushing against her skin, teasingly undoing it yet not quite, exuding an air of control. The girl's chest gradually rose and fell unevenly as she began to pant.

A faint anticipation welled up in her heart. When she looked up and met the boy's teasing gaze, her face flushed crimson. She buried her entire face in his broad chest and cooed, "You're so annoying."

The wind had died down, and the fiery sunset clouds burned bright and intense in the evening sky. Xu Sui felt the heat, the stifling air—she could hardly bear to stay any longer.

The orange-red, fish-scale-like clouds drifted across the horizon, and the light suddenly brightened at that moment. The boy abruptly turned his head to look at her, and their gazes collided mid-air.

The boy's hair was cropped extremely short, revealing a shadow of stubble. His eyelids had shallow creases, his pupils were pitch-black and indifferent, the line of his jaw was smooth, and his slightly raised Adam's apple bobbed slowly.

His eyes lingered on her without much emotion.

A fierce evening wind swept through, rushing into her throat and leaving it too parched to speak. Xu Sui fled in panic, the conversation between the girl and the boy faintly carried by the wind, reaching her ears with startling clarity.

She heard Bai Yuyue ask softly, "What are you spacing out for? Did you run into someone you know?"

The boy's voice was cold, almost metallic, as three words rolled out from his throat: "Don't know you."