WBLNOFY Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – The Hidden Secret (Part 5)

Chapter 4: The Hidden Secret, Part 5

Novel Title: We Best Love: 永遠の１位 (We Best Love: No. 1 for You)

Original Script Writer：林珮瑜 (Lin Peiyu)

Author：羽宸寰 (Yu Chenhuan)

Japanese Translator 1：李佳歆 (Li Jiaxin)

Japanese Translator 2：夏海 (Natsumi)

English Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 周書逸 (Zhou Shuyi -MC) & 高仕德 (Gao Shide -ML)

*Please read at knoxt.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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~Library

Sitting in the self-study area, Gao Shide stared at the message on his phone that had been read but left unanswered.

Just then, he caught sight of Fang Zhengwen and Jiang Yuxin entering through the library doors. He immediately stood up and walked over to them.

“Um… do you know where Zhou Shuyi is?”

“…”

The two of them exchanged a quick look. Jiang Yuxin hesitated for a moment, clearly debating whether she should tell the truth.

“Actually… Shuyi is…”

After a brief pause, she explained that Zhou Shuyi had asked her if there were any group dates happening, so she had introduced him to one of her juniors.

“There’s this underclassman who’s liked him for a long time,” she said. “I thought it would be a good chance for her, so I set them up. You and Shuyi have been close lately, haven’t you? Are you two… friends?”

“Yeah,” Gao Shide replied quietly. “Friends—or rather… best friends.”

He lowered his eyes as if forcing himself to accept the unchangeable reality.

“…Thanks for telling me.”

He returned to his seat in silence. He flipped open the book on his desk, but his gaze remained fixed on the message on his phone beside it—the one Zhou Shuyi had already read and ignored.

―――Friends…

―――Yes.

―――That’s all we are.

―――Just friends.

***

~Restaurant

She kept talking, her words flowing endlessly, while the person sitting across from her listened in silence, his thoughts drifting further and further away.

“I love shrimp the most. What about you, senpai? Do you like it?”

“I do.”

Zhou Shuyi answered flatly, expressionless, and moved a grilled shrimp from the platter to his own plate with his chopsticks.

Thinking his lack of enthusiasm must be her fault for not trying hard enough, the girl decided to show her kindness — she picked up the biggest shrimp, carefully peeled off the shell, and held it out to him.

“Here, senpai. Please have this.”

“……”

As Zhou Shuyi looked at the girl’s bright, sweet smile, a different face came to mind — the face of the person who had once peeled the biggest shrimp and placed it on his plate as well.

On the way back from the restaurant to campus, He Jiaxing kept chatting nonstop, but Zhou Shuyi’s mind was somewhere else. She changed the topic again and again, but he would always answer the previous question instead.

“Senpai, are you feeling all right?”

She stopped in front of the school gate and asked with concern. He had barely spoken during lunch or on the walk back.

“I’m fine. You’ve got class this afternoon, right? You should get going.”

“Then… if it’s all right, maybe next time we could—”

She bit her lower lip, summoning her courage to invite him on another date.

But Zhou Shuyi, lost in his thoughts, suddenly saw the girl standing before him as someone else entirely — that handsome, gentle, endlessly considerate face…

“Stop it!” The words burst out before he could stop them — a reflexive rejection, born from the clash between reason and everything he didn’t want to admit.

For He Jiaxing, who had spent the whole day desperately searching for topics to please him only to be ignored, those two harsh words could mean only one thing: a rejection of her invitation.

Her face flushed with anger; she stomped down hard on his foot.

“You never intended to go out with me, did you? I’ve got class, so I’ll be going now. Thanks for the meal.”

She turned sharply on her heel and stormed off, leaving behind only Zhou Shuyi, clutching his aching right foot and crying out in pain — still too dazed to understand what had just happened.

***

~Zhou Shuyi’s Home

A Steinway piano — is  the kind every pianist dreams of. Its polished black lid reflected the soft light and the quiet room around it.

Seated before it, Zhou Shuyi ran his fingers across the keys, playing ‘Étude Op.10 No.3 in E major’, Chopin’s ‘Farewell Song’, also known as ‘Tristesse’.

It was the piece his mother had played most often. Years ago, it had also been used as the background music in the drama ‘101st Marriage Proposal’. In that story, the plain and clumsy protagonist had confessed to the cellist heroine with those unforgettable words—

“I will not die! I will not die! Because I love you! I will not die!”

That moment, together with the music, made ‘101st Marriage Proposal’ an enduring masterpiece in the hearts of its fans.

“Let me tell you a secret,” his mother had once said. “Your father proposed to me with this song. He told me that if one of us had to leave this world first, he wanted to be the one who stayed behind—to see the other off. Because the one who dies feels nothing, but the one who remains must live with the pain of loss. You know, Yi-chan, your father may seem old-fashioned and serious, but I think he’s a romantic at heart.”

Those words had become reality.

The illness had taken not only his mother’s time, but also what little remained of his father’s smile. All that was left was a weight that had settled deep in his heart over the years — quiet, heavy, unspoken.

As the notes flowed, his mind began to fill with memories of ’him’.

―――“What about you? If the person you liked liked someone else… what would you do?”

―――“I’d probably make them break up—and then steal them away.”

Though said half in jest, his gaze had been deadly serious.

Gao Shide was never as harmless or gentle as his appearance suggested. He was the kind of man who made plans, faced obstacles head-on, and never stopped until he reached his goal.

―――“You even know where the instant noodles are? You must be really close with that delinquent school doctor. Wait— don’t tell me he’s your crush?”

―――“The person I like… is you.”

―――“Huh? Wait, *me*? You like *me*? That’s impossible.”

―――“Yeah… impossible.”

―――“You’re kidding, right?”

―――“Of course. Don’t go pairing me up with Pei Shouyi on your own.”

―――“Jeez, fine, don’t tell me then.”

At the time, Zhou Shuyi had thought it was a joke.

But it wasn’t.

―――“If you don’t want to say who you like, then at least tell me what kind of person they are. Their personality, what they look like, what they like — that sort of thing.”

―――“You’re really nosy, you know that?”

―――“If you think of me as a friend, then spill it.”

―――“That person is… They’re adorable. Some people think they’re narcissistic or arrogant, but to me… that’s part of their charm.”

―――“You even like their flaws, huh? Sounds like you’re really in love.”

―――“They’re proud and stubborn… but they care deeply for their friends. They’d sacrifice themselves for them.”

―――“So their strength is… their kindness, huh?”

Thinking back now, that ‘arrogant, narcissistic, stubborn but loyal’ person Gao Shide described…

Could it have been Zhou Shuyi himself?

―――“Aren’t you going to confess?”

―――“I don’t want to ruin the friendship I worked so hard to build.”

―――“I get it. I’m in a similar situation. I’ve already given up. But you… you’re still struggling, huh? If it ever gets too hard, just talk to me. I’ll listen, and I’ll keep your secret.”

When a man loves another man, it’s a love doomed never to bloom — and that’s what makes it so painful.

So he hid his true feelings behind the mask of friendship, pretending to be content just to watch the person he loved fall for someone else.

―――“That summer day you set my heart aflame,

Love hides deep within you, circling endlessly.

Between us — a silence, an uncertain bond,

I want you to know, right now.

There’s no need to wait until tomorrow.

If you too could let the quiet rain

wash away your old beliefs,

Then the change in feeling would not just bring peace —

It would awaken a voice within,

A cry you’ve never heard before…”

It was a song he had only heard once, and yet it was burned into his memory.

Because the one who sang it — and the one who played it — were both Zhou Shuyi himself.

Everything about him… had been quietly gathered, piece by piece, by ‘that man’.

―――“When I said I liked you, it wasn’t a joke. When I said I’d break you two apart and take you for myself, that wasn’t a lie either. You once told me that the person I love is lucky—but unfortunately, you’ll never know the truth. Because that luck has always belonged to you. Zhou Shuyi… I love you.”

“Gao Shide…” Zhou Shuyi whispered the name, and the elegant piano melody came to an abrupt halt.

His fingers lifted from the keys and brushed gently against the cheek that had once been kissed. A sudden heat flushed through him, and Zhou Shuyi shot to his feet, leaving the room in a rush.

He stumbled into the bathroom, turned on the tap, and stood under the shower fully clothed, letting the cold water pour over him — as if he could wash away the confusion and the storm raging inside of him.

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*Japanese Translator’s Note: The lyrics were excerpted from ‘Shui Lan Se Qing Ren (Blue Lover)’. -Li Jiaxin/Natsumi

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*Translator’s Note: I included the link to the song below. It was sung by the actor of the series, Yang Yuteng. By the way, since I translated this from the Japanese version, I’ve been battling with myself on whether to use ‘Yi-chan’ or ‘Xiao Yi’, but then decided to just stay with the Japanese. I know some people might be dissatisfied with this, but I’ve made my decision, so meh… -K

SONG LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyrrdeFHDAQ 

Next update: 2026.09.18

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