"Hey... why are you coming with me?" "You’re spacing out again! Alright, since you’re driving, I won’t fuss with you. I said, come with me to look at houses." The voice from the passenger seat was still crisp and pleasant. The girl was very relaxed, leaning against the leather seat, legs casually crossed, revealing enticing fairness beneath her plaid skirt. "I’ve been busy lately, I might not have much free time." Lu Jincheng shook his head suggestively. Zhou Sinin replied reluctantly, sulking and not looking at him. A few seconds later, she seemed to remember something and murmured, "You just said you had time to go shopping with me... liar." "Shopping is no problem, of course." "So why can’t we look at houses?" "How can that be the same?" The man, with an air of unreasonable confidence, puffed out his chest and spoke. "Shopping can satisfy both the eyes and taste buds. Seeing baby try on pretty clothes, that’s a visual impact, indulging in delicious food, eating desserts, drinking milk tea and coffee, that’s real enjoyment!" "Looking at houses is too boring, not going, not going." "What kind of ridiculous logic is that!" Zhou Sinin pouted and quickly retorted, "Who says looking at houses is useless!" "Food, clothing, shelter, transportation—having a place to live is to make it convenient for you in the future..." "Convenient for what?" Lu Jincheng held back a laugh, raised his eyebrows, and teased. "You know what I mean, whether you want to go or not, I’m not talking to someone playing dumb." The girl with brown hair let out a cold snort, crossed her arms, and realized that they had been driving the Range Rover for quite a while, heading somewhere completely unfamiliar to her. Having stayed in Jiang City for over half a year, Zhou Sinin could naturally tell. This was obviously not the road back to school, nor did it seem like any busy commercial district she was familiar with. "Where are we going?" "Since you want to move out so much, I’ll take you to see some houses." "Not in a hurry... I still want to drop off my luggage at the dorm, plus I haven’t eaten yet, so hungry, so hungry~" Zhou Sinin murmured to herself, twisting her fingers, feeling quite pleased inside. Her boyfriend was just being stubborn on the surface but soft-hearted. Lu Jincheng cared so much for her and never missed his cue when he needed to step up. But she never expected that as they drove past skyscrapers and bustling traffic, through traffic lights and overpasses, the buildings outside the window became increasingly unfamiliar, arranged in a bizarrely disordered fashion. Until the Range Rover turned into a community. Zhou Sinin rubbed her eyes. Just a moment ago, she had been playing on her phone with her head down and hadn’t caught a clear glimpse of the community’s name on the archway as they passed by. But she too was born into a life of luxury, and just by looking at the surrounding architectural style and landscaping, she could deduce one thing. Living here is definitely not cheap. "What’s the situation, Mr. Lu, upgrading your lifestyle?" It wasn’t until Lu Jincheng, acting like it was his home, opened the garage door of a standalone villa, parked the car, and cheerfully took out their luggage from the trunk that Zhou Sinin spoke up. "Just a little fun, houses in Jiang City don’t cost much, not worth mentioning." The man chuckled as he opened the door, bent down, and made a welcoming gesture, making way for her. "Wow... not bad at all!" This was Zhou Sinin’s first time at East Lake Tianyue Villa. She confidently changed her shoes, casually tossed her purse onto the sofa, and naturally took a stroll around the room. Compared to the few shining stars at Golden Stone Media, the little princess’s reaction was much calmer. As she looked around and clicked her tongue in appraisal, she showed none of the surprised expressions a typical girl might have upon a first visit. "This size Sony TV... my god, you really splurged, I just saw Principle Wang post about it on Weibo during the New Year, and people were commenting that his was close to half a million!" "There’s even a piano, can you play it? Fake artsy type." "Seriously... is this huge bathtub meant for keeping whales?" Zhou Sinin looked here and there, directing her comments all around, finally sprinting up the stairs to the rooftop. A soft voice floated down from above, over the man’s head. "Why aren’t you coming up~ this rooftop is great, I love it!" From the direction of the third-floor stairs, a small head peeked out. Zhou Sinin leaned on the railing, signaling to the man below to come and check out the view. "When did you buy the house? I never knew." In the spacious villa, there were plenty of areas for leisure and gatherings. But a rooftop with the same decor style was much more unique. The two of them, a man and a woman, sat side by side at the center of the large rooftop. It was more like a personal secret garden, an imaginative rooftop. A few distinctive sculptures filled the otherwise undecorated exterior, and a few vintage-style tables and chairs in a clean, concise pure white theme greatly enhanced the beauty of the space. "Not long ago, I wanted to surprise you." "What kind of surprise is this..." Zhou Sinin didn’t understand the man’s meaning, shrugged her shoulders, leaned back in the chair, and looked up at the sky, blue as if washed clean. "But sitting on this rooftop, indeed, it can make one feel quite happy." She took a deep breath, the slight chill penetrating her heart. The winter sunlight was not intense, gently casting light on the girl’s profile, making it seem like she was surrounded by a sky full of red clouds. "When I was young, I read in a book that when people are happy, they should go to the place closest to the sky." "So, should we... stand up then?" On the rooftop, with only each other, their eyes intertwined, conjuring boundless romantic poetry seemingly out of thin air. Lu Jincheng certainly wouldn’t miss this moment. Whether the book was fiction or had some basis in reality, he stood up, earnestly reaching his hand out to Zhou Sinin. He and she stood side by side, leaning against the edge of the rooftop railing, at the spot closest to the blue sky. "Actually, besides nightmares, I’ve had many dreams of happiness." The breeze kissed the girl’s cheek, her brown hair trailing like a tail, hand pressed closely against hand. She gazed into the distance, murmuring. "Like... dreaming many times of being with you, running to the rooftop of Nanhu Industrial Park, to watch the sky from there." Zhou Sinin slightly tilted her head, giving the man a gentle smile. "Do you like watching the sky that much?" She tightened her five fingers, dimples blossomed at the corners of her mouth. "When happy, I want to be closer to the sky. When in pain, I feel the world around me is about to explode, so I must see something vast." "During my trip to Europe, I specifically went to the Twin Towers in Paris." Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel★fire.net "It stands 320 meters tall; although it fully meets needs for living, to me it serves only one purpose: to get to the highest point and look at the sky." Zhou Sinin released the man’s left hand, took a step back, picked up her phone from the table, and continued speaking. "Look, that day there was an exhibition, and I took pictures of dozens of stories that were very close to the sky." "The background color is a 50-level gradient of the sky at different times, said to be a once-in-a-lifetime, never-to-be-repeated color." "Why didn’t you share it with me back then?" Lu Jincheng blinked, moved closer to Zhou Sinin, curiously asking. "Because... there’s a time difference with back home." "Baby, next time you lie, can you be a bit more sincere?" In an instant, the man unmasked Zhou Sinin’s white lie. "Well, actually, because she was also on the tower taking pictures, I felt that she would send them to you too, and suddenly I got a bit mad." "So, I recorded all my feelings at that time." Zhou Sinin waved her phone, a satisfied smile flickered in her starry eyes. "This is a unique picture with text, you might even like it more." She unlocked the phone, swiped a few times, and moved the screen in front of Lu Jincheng. Each photo depicted different scenery, alongside the girl’s inner thoughts. —"It feels like I’m floating in the sky!" She wrote happiness for the first time. —Standing from high above, it seems I could reach out and touch the clouds. —The sky is the place to face oneself. —I like standing on high places. —The wind feels so good! Though sometimes it’s a strong wind. —Want to share it with him, want to stand here with the one I love deeply. —The sunset is so beautiful, it clearly shows the arrival of night. —A sky where people from all over the world can meet, feeling that everyone is the same in an instant. "The sky is the place to face oneself..." As Lu Jincheng flipped through, this sentence struck him, prompting him to read it once more. "Yes, I’ve been to the highest place so many times, each time with different people." Zhou Sinin faced the sky, head held high, chest out, stretching her arms. "Happy people taking pictures, those wrapped up in their thoughts staying silent, those lining up to buy beer to come up, those shedding tears, confident ones shattered, those with life stalled in every aspect, those eager to move forward but unable..." "Life always seems to get muddy over things one cannot understand, yet it sounds so simple saying it." "I think, the next time such a moment arrives, let’s do something futile and look at the sky." "Under the sky, there’s only one thing to do, and that is to wait." "Not knowing what to wait for, but waiting." "Waiting for the sunset to set, waiting for the sky to darken, waiting for the wind to cool, waiting for the song to loop, waiting for the phone’s battery to drain, waiting until you feel today’s connection with the sky can end here, waiting until you naturally get up and leave." "When facing the sky, it seems I can’t figure anything out, but at least I can admit to many things." "For example, life still makes no progress, just letting a long time of cold wind blow for nothing, yet still needing to return to reality, facing people I don’t want to see, accepting things I don’t want to accept." "But at that moment, the eyes can encompass the sky."