I downloaded the app and discovered that my childhood sweetheart's affection level had skyrocke

Why has the topic circled back to marriage?

Lin Zhou and Ye Zhiyu looked at each other, and Ye's father smiled, "If neither of you has any objections, you can get married right after graduation."

"That's too fast!!"

"Will it?" Ye's father thought about it seriously for a moment. "You still have several years before you graduate, so it's not that fast. If you don't want to get engaged, that's fine, but you can maintain normal male-female relationships. You're not allowed to run to Xiaozhou's house all the time anymore, and you're not allowed to stay overnight casually."

Ye Zhiyu's face immediately fell, and she looked like a fish thrown ashore, even her shoulders losing all strength.

"Ugh... Just kill me. We've been like this since we were kids, why do we suddenly have to get engaged?"

"Childhood is childhood, things are different now."

"Can't we start by dating?"

"Dating is fine, but it must be with marriage in mind."

"ah--!!!"

Ye Zhiyu let out a series of incomprehensible fish-like cries, clutched her head with both hands, and swayed back and forth in her seat for a while, her soft, short black hair on her forehead becoming a mess.

After she finally finished wailing, she raised her eyes and looked at Lin Zhou pitifully, "Hey Zhouzi, say something!"

"I understand, Dad." Lin Zhou looked at Ye's father with a serious expression.

"I didn't tell you to say that!"

Ye Zhiyu turned her head abruptly, her feigned pitiful expression instantly crumbling, her eyes widening in disbelief. "How dare you call me 'Dad' now?!"

"Oops, a slip of the tongue."

"You said it so naturally!"

Lin Zhou didn't argue with her any further. He looked at Ye's father and said, "Uncle, although I do like Xiaoyu, I also have other girls I like besides her, so I can't make a choice right now."

The private room fell silent.

"Can't you choose my daughter?" For the first time, Mr. Ye's expression turned slightly serious. "Isn't my little Yu the cutest?"

"Of course it's cute."

Lin Zhou spoke almost without hesitation, but paused for a moment after speaking, "But I hope to be with everyone forever. Although it's unrealistic to say it now, I will find a way to make it happen."

"I...don't want to say goodbye."

"Zhouzi..." Ye Zhiyu seemed to realize something and understood the deeper meaning behind Lin Zhou's words.

"It's unbelievable that you have the nerve to say such things in front of the girl's parents." Mr. Ye stared at him expressionlessly.

Lin Zhou: "..."

He glanced subconsciously at the several beautiful women sitting next to Ye's father, and hesitated before speaking, "Um... there seems to be more than one auntie, right? I remember Xiaoyu saying that you all registered your marriages abroad."

Mr. Ye coughed heavily. "You don't understand."

"Eh..."

"Double standards."

"What were you muttering just now? I didn't hear you clearly."

There's nothing there.

"Alright, let the children handle their own affairs," the beautiful woman sitting next to Ye's father said with a smile, trying to smooth things over. She had been observing the whole thing from the sidelines the whole time.

"Anyway, they're all grown up now. No matter how much we try to control them, we can't decide who they like for them. As long as they're happy and content, that's all that matters."

"Alright." Father Ye didn't press further. Lin Zhou and Ye Zhiyu exchanged a quick glance, both seeing a sense of relief in each other's eyes.

I survived at least.

After dinner, the two practically fled the private room, emerging one after the other from the hotel corridor.

The door behind him had just closed when Lin Zhou bent over and let out a long sigh. "I'm exhausted... Your dad was always smiling, so why did he seem so intimidating? Was it just my imagination?"

The warm yellow wall lamps in the hotel corridor cast long shadows of the two people. Ye Zhiyu, holding a Coke, followed slowly behind, showing no trace of the look of being pressured into marriage just moments before.

"Tsk, that's because you're feeling guilty."

"I have no guilty conscience whatsoever, I didn't do anything."

"Who knows?"

Ye Zhiyu gave a soft hum and took a few steps forward, stepping on Lin Zhou's shadow's head. But just as she was about to reach the elevator, she suddenly stopped.

"Is what you just said true?"

Which sentence?

"I like that line of mine."

The warm light fell on her fair profile, softening her originally somewhat heroic features. Her short black hair clung to her ears, swaying slightly as she tilted her head.

Lin Zhou looked at her for a moment, then looked away. "Who knows?"

"Tsk."

Ye Zhiyu immediately reverted to his usual carefree self, quickly catching up and bumping him with his shoulder. "I treated you like a brother, and you actually tried to seduce me?"

"You're such a hassle."

Lin Zhou was knocked to the side by the impact, then turned to look at her, "So what about you? You really don't have any feelings for me at all?"

"no."

Ye Zhiyu answered decisively.

What are your criteria for choosing a partner?

"Criteria for choosing a partner?"

Ye Zhiyu blinked, as if this was the first time she had seriously considered the question.

She never thought about what kind of person she would fall in love with in the future, nor did she think about what love should actually be like.

She simply felt that being with Lin Zhou like this was good enough. She didn't need to be careful, didn't need to guess, and didn't need to worry that if she said something wrong, their relationship would never be the same again.

"Isn't the most comfortable mode the best?"

As Ye Zhiyu walked forward, she lightly kicked the pattern on the carpet with the tip of her shoe. "Why do we have to be in a relationship? Being in a relationship is troublesome. We'll argue over all sorts of trivial things. Just thinking about it is exhausting."

She paused, turned to look at Lin Zhou, and smiled matter-of-factly, "I think the way we are now is the most comfortable way for us to get along."

"Is that so?" Lin Zhou could somewhat understand Ye Zhiyu's thoughts.

She simply didn't want to break out of her current comfort zone, and was even more afraid that once she crossed that line, some things would become uncontrollable.

"But if we really have to talk about my criteria for choosing a partner..."

The two walked out of the hotel, and the night breeze blew in their faces, ruffling the soft hair by Ye Zhiyu's ears. She looked up at the night sky illuminated by the city lights, and seemed to have really begun to think seriously.

She casually tossed the empty Coke can behind her; the red can traced a beautiful arc under the light before landing precisely in a trash can a few meters away.

"First of all, you have to be handsome."

Ye Zhiyu stretched out her hand, as if posing for a photo, and aimed it at the streetlights. "Then, when I was in danger and thought there was no hope, he would suddenly appear out of nowhere and save me like a hero."

When she said these words, her nonchalant demeanor suddenly faded considerably.

It was just an ordinary girl's fantasy, but when Ye Zhiyu said it, Lin Zhou felt a strange sense of dreaminess.

In an instant, Lin Zhou suddenly realized that Ye Zhiyu might have also hoped that when she really couldn't hold on any longer, someone would clear away all the darkness and appear in front of her.

"That's difficult." Lin Zhou looked away.

Given Ye Zhiyu's physical condition, if she were to encounter a danger that she couldn't handle on her own, an ordinary person, let alone falling from the sky, would probably be carried away as soon as they landed.

"That's true..." Ye Zhiyu chuckled softly, transforming back into the carefree girl she always was.

She put her hands behind her back, took a few quick steps forward, then turned around and walked backwards in front of Lin Zhou.

"If you can do that... then it'll be okay if I dated you."

After she finished speaking, she suddenly smiled exceptionally beautifully.