Chapter 288 - 172: Li Zhi! You Have to Hold Your Bottom Line
After playing with the kitten in the room for a while longer, Li Zhi carefully tucked the dark blue velvet box containing the pearl hair clip into her pocket.
"I really should get going. It’s almost 10:20," Li Zhi said, standing up. The gentle smile hadn’t completely faded from her face.
Shen Yuan nodded. Although his eyes betrayed a hint of reluctance, he knew he couldn’t ask her to stay. "Okay, I’ll see you to the door."
The two walked to the entryway. Li Zhi changed her shoes and checked for the box in her pocket one more time.
She didn’t say anything else. She simply waved at Shen Yuan, whispered, "Good night," and went to her apartment across the hall.
Back in her bedroom, Li Zhi took out the box with the hair clip. Her fingers gently caressed its smooth surface, and the corners of her mouth curled up into a subtle, unconscious smile.
’This guy... he’s surprisingly thoughtful.’
Li Zhi placed the box on her desk. A moment later, she opened her mouth. "Next time..."
Before she could finish, the beautiful young woman immediately shot the idea down.
’No, no! Li Zhi! You have to maintain your boundaries!’
「Meanwhile.」
After returning to his room, Shen Yuan glanced at the kitten grooming itself on his desk. The memory of the smile in Li Zhi’s eyes when she saw the hair clip flashed through his mind.
He let out a long breath, the smile of a successful schemer reappearing on his face.
’Right, the mission reward!’
At the thought, Shen Yuan immediately sat bolt upright.
The reward for the system mission was one of Li Zhi’s memories. Even though it was a memory from a timeline that didn’t exist here, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of curiosity.
He was curious about what the beautiful young woman had been doing in the system’s timeline, during that long stretch of time when their paths had never crossed.
Shen Yuan opened the system panel and quickly located his mission reward.
The moment his consciousness touched the cluster of memories, the world in front of him was replaced by a blurry scene.
In a tiered lecture hall, Li Zhi sat alone near the front.
Her head was slightly bowed, taking notes with intense Concentration. A few unruly strands of hair at her temple were neatly pinned back by that small pearl hair clip.
The clip, peeking out from her thick, dark hair, refracted tiny specks of light. That expression of calm Concentration was a look Shen Yuan often saw on her.
Before Shen Yuan could fully appreciate the sight, the scene before him changed.
On a field teeming with people, Li Zhi stood in a crowd, dressed in a graduation gown and offering a practiced smile for the camera.
She was surrounded by boisterous classmates and a cacophony of noise.
Shen Yuan clearly spotted it: the pearl hair clip was still pinned in her hair, shimmering brilliantly in the early summer sun.
She had chosen to wear it even on such an important day.
The scene quickly cut to a bright, pristine office.
This version of Li Zhi was dressed in sharp business attire, presenting in a conference room with a projector. Her expression was calm and confident.
What made Shen Yuan’s heart tremble was that even with this mature, professional look, the small pearl hair clip was still there, pinned askew by the bun at the side of her head.
It was no longer a girlish accessory. Instead, it unexpectedly complemented her mature, composed aura, becoming a subtle, gentle touch.
Suddenly, the image dimmed.
After parking her car in a garage, a weary-looking Li Zhi got into an elevator, eventually entering an apartment completely unfamiliar to Shen Yuan.
Once inside, Li Zhi sank onto the sofa. She sat there alone, tilting her head back slightly as if shedding the burdens of the day.
Shen Yuan stood behind her, unable to make out her expression.
Then she raised a hand and gently removed the pearl hair clip.
Li Zhi held the clip in front of her eyes. The cool touch of it against her fingertips seemed to bring her a moment of solace.
Shen Yuan stood frozen behind her, his eyes wide with disbelief.
The light and shadows receded like a tide, and Shen Yuan was yanked from the phantom memory. His consciousness snapped back to his quiet bedroom, his eyes landing on the kitten, which was still licking its paws.
The memory fragments he had just witnessed were like fine needles, silently piercing the softest corner of his heart.
But what stunned Shen Yuan the most was the hair clip.
Shen Yuan was certain that the hair clip in this memory was different from the one he had seen in the previous memory of her university days.
An absurd thought surfaced in his mind.
’Have my actions now... caused a change in the system’s timeline?’
The smug smile of a successful schemer had already frozen on his face, replaced by an unprecedented tremor in his heart and an indescribable shock.
This shock, however, didn’t last long.
’What am I even thinking...’
Shen Yuan’s gaze drifted to the wall. ’Even if things changed, we still didn’t meet again until we were 35.’
Averting his gaze, Shen Yuan flopped lazily onto his bed.
Shen Yuan didn’t know when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, he felt Vigorous and Full of Energy once more.
After his usual wake-up call to Li Bao, Shen Yuan got ready and headed out.
The moment he opened his door, the one across the hall happened to open as well.
Li Zhi was in her usual school uniform, her hair in a ponytail.
As Shen Yuan’s gaze swept over her long hair, he noticed it was bare—there was no sign of the hair clip.
"Hm? Not wearing the hair clip?" Shen Yuan blurted out.
Li Zhi looked up at him and sighed in resignation. "Come on. There’s no reason to wear it right now, is there?"