On Sunday, starting from daytime, Su Yan's major fan groups and forums became lively once again.
After waiting painfully for a whole week—
The fans had finally, finally, reached tonight.
From early in the day, people were already messaging friends, tagging acquaintances, and reminding everyone both online and offline not to miss Episode 18.
Countless couples, on a weekend night like this, didn't even consider going out—
Instead, they stayed home, ready to watch the episode together.
After all, they had stayed glued to their screens for over four months.
Wasn't it all for this very moment?
At 7:30 PM, high school student Xu Zhiqing was fully prepared.
At 7:45, she spent ten minutes arguing with a troll in her fan group.
At 8:00, she tossed her phone aside—she didn't even want to deal with that hater anymore—and fixed her gaze firmly on the TV.
This episode—
had no opening theme.
After making fans wait an entire week, Su Yan clearly knew that if he played the opening song now, a lot of viewers might actually explode.
The story picked up directly from last week's ending.
Xu Zhiqing held her breath.
Normally, a confession scene in a drama might last only about a minute.
She didn't dare blink, afraid of missing anything.
But she didn't expect—
What she was about to witness would become one of the most iconic confession scenes in Xia Nation's television history.
Blushing, eyes wide, delicate and beautiful, with fair skin—
Kuronuma Sawako stood at the classroom door.
She pushed it open sideways—
but not all the way.
Because she was too nervous, too shy—
She only dared to reveal half of her face.
Kazehaya Shota saw her.
A trace of loneliness lingered in his eyes, but he spoke first:
"Sorry… I made you cry. I'm really sorry."
Xu Zhiqing froze for a moment, then recalled—
That scene from last week, when Sawako, acting as a fortune teller, had burst into tears upon seeing him.
"If you have something you want to say to me, then say it!"
The slanting sunset behind Kazehaya bathed both him and Sawako in warm light.
Their shadows overlapped behind them.
Dust seemed to float in the glowing air.
Outside, students gathered near the school gates—
But inside the classroom, it was so quiet you could almost hear breathing.
Xu Zhiqing's heartbeat quickened.
The lighting, the composition—
It felt perfect.
Su Yan… you really know what you're doing.
"I want to hear it. No matter what you say, my feelings won't change. My 'like'… and your 'like'… aren't the same!"
Xu Zhiqing sighed.
Still misunderstanding each other, these two.
"If you didn't come here for me…" Seeing that Sawako remained silent, Kazehaya continued.
"I came because I have something I want to tell you."
At that moment—
Sawako stopped shrinking back.
Her eyes widened.
Her hands pressed lightly against the door, half her face still hidden behind it.
"In the past… whenever I did something, people would get scared of me… and say 'sorry.' But when I first met you, Kazehaya-kun… you smiled and said 'thank you.' That made me… really happy."
Xu Zhiqing sat up straight.
It felt like Sawako's emotions weren't being conveyed to the male lead—
but directly to her.
"My world… suddenly had color. Kazehaya-kun, you changed my world. But I… ended up doing the exact opposite of what you did back then…"
"Thank you… for smiling at me. Thank you… for talking to me. Thank you… for being so kind to me…"
"No… that's not what I want to say…"
Her voice began to tremble with tears.
She leaned against the doorframe, her face already wet, looking at Kazehaya inside the classroom.
At that moment—
goosebumps rose across Xu Zhiqing's skin.
"Kuronuma… why are you—" Kazehaya stepped forward, about to ask why she was crying.
["I like you… I like you…"]
"I like you…"
The words repeated again and again.
The background music swelled.
A gentle breeze drifted in from outside.
Bathed in orange light—
She just kept repeating it.
She didn't know what misunderstanding Kurumizawa had mentioned.
So she simply said it.
Again and again.
She didn't know what kind of "like" Kazehaya meant.
So she expressed her own.
Xu Zhiqing clenched her fists.
There were no complicated explanations—
But anyone could understand:
This was love.
Not friendship.
In that moment—
The barrier between them disappeared.
Kazehaya's eyes widened.
He understood.
He stepped forward—
and pulled Sawako, still outside the door, into the classroom.
The image of the girl—blushing, tearful, half-hidden behind the door—
and the boy, whose loneliness vanished in an instant—
was delivered to millions of viewers watching.
Xu Zhiqing's mind went blank.
Her immersion was too strong.
At that moment, she felt just as dazed as the heroine.
Everything that followed—
Her eyes watched, but her brain couldn't process it clearly.
It seemed like the two stood in the classroom, facing each other, saying something—
and then…
Two classmates entered to grab something—
instantly breaking the atmosphere.
Xu Zhiqing snapped back to reality.
["Wait—WHAT? It's the second-to-last episode, and you're still pulling this?!"]
She panicked.
Fortunately, although there were twists, the story didn't drag things out again.
Sawako ran home that day—
But the next day at school, they met again.
This time—
with the misunderstanding resolved—
They truly expressed their feelings to each other.
Xu Zhiqing couldn't help but smile like a proud aunt.
"I like you… more than anyone else."
The episode ended on Kazehaya Shota's line to Sawako.
As the ending theme played—
Xu Zhiqing's eyes instantly turned red.
Tears streamed down uncontrollably.
["Su Yan, you old sadist—tonight, you're a god!"]
Finally—
This storyline had been delivered.
But she was still so excited that she paced around her living room.
She quickly grabbed her phone and logged onto the forums.
There—
countless fans were already posting frantically.
["Give Su Yan extra drumsticks tonight!"]
["Su Yan? Show some respect—tonight it's Su Yan-sensei!"]
["Aren't you the one who called him 'old sadist' the loudest before? Switching sides now?"]
["This made me cry. Reminded me of my first love."]
["Same here—tears instantly."]
["This is what youth feels like. Su Yan-sensei really understands pure romance."]
["When he writes angst, it's devastating. When he writes pure love, it's pure."]
["I've never seen a romance this innocent—domestic or international."]
["I haven't dated in over twenty years and now I actually want to fall in love."]
["Su Yan was amazing tonight. No cliffhanger, no annoying back-and-forth."]
["This is youth."]
["Best drama I've ever watched."]
["Honestly, I liked this more than 'Fate/Zero'."]
["Pure romance fans are fully satisfied tonight!"]
["This is love!"]
["Sawako is so cute. Kazehaya too."]
["Just for not turning this into a tragedy, I'll never hate on Su Yan again."]
["Congrats on the finale!"]
["What finale? It ends next week!"]
Since Su Yan's debut—
This was the first time his comment sections were this harmonious.
Almost every post was praising him.
Even many longtime haters posted apologies.
At home, Su Yan sat calmly, watching the emotional value in his system skyrocket.
"Out of all the works I've brought to Xia Nation… this is the only pure romance one. The results aren't bad."
He smiled.
After being scolded by fans for so long—
seeing so much praise all at once…
felt a little unfamiliar.