Before Lu Yicheng and Jiang Ruoqiao got together, and after — there wasn’t actually much difference. Lu Yicheng hadn’t slackened off in the way some people might have imagined. He still brought Jiang Ruoqiao breakfast every morning without fail, and of course, he brought breakfast for her three roommates as well. This in turn left the three roommates feeling a little awkward. They’d discussed it among themselves in private: when Lu Yicheng was still pursuing their dear friend, eating breakfast he brought over felt acceptable — but now that Lu Yicheng was officially their friend’s boyfriend…

In any case, after deliberating, the three of them solemnly said to Jiang Ruoqiao: “Dear Xiao Jiang, please relay a message to your boyfriend — from now on, just bring breakfast for you alone. As her family, we don’t need to be included.”

Her family?

Jiang Ruoqiao gave each of them a punch.

The dormitory room erupted into chaos, and Yun Jia seized the opportunity to say: “It’s not that we don’t want to take advantage of a good thing — it’s just that our consciences won’t let us. I heard people from his department say that Lu Yicheng works so hard because he wants to buy a home and marry you as soon as possible!”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “?”

She was at a loss for words. “We’ve only been together for how long — not even two months! Don’t believe rumors, don’t spread rumors, thank you very much!”

Marriage of all things…

Even though she and he had a child together, marriage still felt about ten thousand miles away from where she stood!

“Whether it’s true or not,” Gao Jingjing replied, “we really can’t let Lu Yicheng’s future son-in-law keep spending money on us. Consider this our small gesture of goodwill — let him save up more and buy a home sooner!”

Work toward buying a home sooner!

Work toward giving our Qiaoqiao a home sooner!

Jiang Ruoqiao: “I’ll pass along your thoughts.”

She conveyed her roommates’ wishes to Lu Yicheng, naturally omitting the parts about buying a home and marrying her. Lu Yicheng was still a bit hesitant. “Will they think I’m insincere — that I’m being transactional?”

Bringing breakfast every day while pursuing Jiang Ruoqiao.

And then, once he’d won her over, only bringing it for his girlfriend.

Jiang Ruoqiao put her hands on her hips. “You can’t think that way about my friends. They are my very dear, very dear friends — they would never think that.”

Her friends were the best, the best friends in the world.

Her boyfriend was also the best, the best boyfriend in the world.

Lu Yicheng took the lesson to heart: “Understood. But, if there’s any day they don’t feel like getting up yet still want breakfast, they’re welcome to place an order with me anytime.”

The second semester of their third year was a special time.

It was probably the last stretch of their carefree days. The four girls in the dormitory didn’t all have the same plans ahead — some wanted to pursue graduate school, some were heading into internships. It seemed that from this point on, the time when all four of them could truly be together was getting shorter and shorter. One evening, all four of them happened to be free, so they packed up food from the cafeteria, opened two self-heating hot pots, and ate while chatting.

After they finished, Yun Jia suggested playing a game.

Of course it was the perennial classic — Truth or Dare.

This was really just a game aimed at Jiang Ruoqiao. They were all too curious about the details of Jiang Ruoqiao and Lu Yicheng’s relationship. This was also something of an unspoken rule in the dormitory — whenever someone got into a relationship, this was how it went.

Jiang Ruoqiao had no way of stopping the enthusiasm of three older dormitory sisters.

All four of them sat around the small table.

The atmosphere was thrilling and tense.

Thrilling for Yun Jia and the others, tense for Jiang Ruoqiao. It was genuinely strange — she had never felt like this the other times she’d dated. The three older dormitory sisters all knew: Jiang Ruoqiao had the worst luck of anyone. Sure enough, in the very first round, the arrow landed squarely on her.

Luo Wen rubbed her hands together with a sly grin. “My darling, tell me — truth or dare?”

Between friends, who would dare to risk a dare?

Jiang Ruoqiao certainly wouldn’t.

After all, these sisters had once set a dare that involved running to the public women’s bathroom on campus and belting out “Let Us Row Our Boats.”

She said meekly, “Truth. Have mercy on me. Prosperity and fortune upon you, thank you.”

Yun Jia tossed her head. “I’m a student — what prosperity am I going to have? Not listening.”

“Don’t let her throw you off track,” Luo Wen reminded.

“Right!” Yun Jia rubbed her chin, smiling with a scheming look. “First question — I’ll go easy on you. What’s your contact name for your Lu Yicheng on WeChat?”

Jiang Ruoqiao’s expression stiffened.

Gao Jingjing observed her closely. “That’s about as simple as a question can get. Is it really that hard to answer?”

Yun Jia burst out laughing. “It can’t possibly be something like ‘hubby’ or ‘Chengcheng,’ can it?”

Jiang Ruoqiao stretched out her arm. “See this? You did this.”

She was covered in goosebumps. All thanks to Yun Jia.

“No good, you have to take out your phone and show us.” Luo Wen pushed for more.

In the end, Jiang Ruoqiao had no choice but to reluctantly fish her phone out of her pocket. Under the watchful eyes of her three dormitory sisters, she opened WeChat contacts — absolutely refusing to let them see her chat history with Lu Yicheng. And so they saw:

“Little Goldfish Lu??” Yun Jia thought she’d misread it and looked again. “What does that mean?”

Jiang Ruoqiao snatched her phone back with swift precision, her expression perfectly composed. “Alright, you’ve all seen it. This question can be passed.”

Why “Little Goldfish Lu.”

She didn’t want to say.

Some things between her and Lu Yicheng — certain jokes that only the two of them understood — she treasured deeply, and didn’t want to share even with her closest friends.

Those were her private treasures.

He was her goldfish. She was the insatiably greedy fisherman’s wife.

She didn’t want to share it. The other three, naturally, wouldn’t press her. But that wouldn’t stop them from letting their imaginations run wild with endless speculation.

“Goldfish, goldfish…” Luo Wen still couldn’t figure out what the reference was, so she tossed it to Yun Jia. “Jiajia, what do you think? What does it mean?”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “Ahem! On to the second round!!”

Yun Jia paid no attention, muttering to herself, “Goldfish, goldfish… could it be ‘forbidden desires’?” She suddenly looked up. “That’s it! Maybe it’s ‘forbidden desires’!! Lu, forbidden desires?”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “???”

“It must be!!” Yun Jia declared with finality. Luo Wen and Gao Jingjing’s eyes also lit up with the same suggestive gleam. Forbidden desires??

Surely the inside story here was something only their three noble dormitory sisters could be privy to, wasn’t it?

Jiang Ruoqiao’s expression was utterly serious. “I apparently don’t know you three well enough.”

She’d always known they had mischievous minds.

But she hadn’t known they’d take it in this direction.

“Nearly three years, and I haven’t been led astray by you all,” Jiang Ruoqiao said with righteous dignity. “It seems I’m simply a person of exceptional moral character — untainted by the surrounding muck. That’s me.”

“Oh please! Who was it hiding under the covers watching videos late at night!” Yun Jia pulled the rug out from under her.

The little figure in Jiang Ruoqiao’s mind was frantically explaining: I was watching parenting livestreams!

……

The round finally passed.

The second round still landed on the unlucky Jiang Ruoqiao.

And the third round as well.

The questions grew increasingly outrageous.

For instance:

“When did you two have your first kiss — wait, you have kissed, right??”

“Luo Wen, you’re so bold! Are you questioning our campus heartthrob or what?!”

Jiang Ruoqiao, in barely a whisper: “Valentine’s Day.”

“Ohhh~” Gao Jingjing pinched her fingers together and calculated with great interest. “Sooner than I imagined. So the whole stoic and reserved thing is a myth — looks like Lu Yicheng really knows what he’s doing.”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “……”

The roommates went on to ask several more questions:

“How many times do you kiss in a day?”

“Where does Lu Yicheng put his hands?”

“Is he obsessed with kissing?”

“What’s the longest a single kiss has lasted?”

Jiang Ruoqiao was nearly at the point of surrendering completely, covering her head and begging for mercy. Eventually, her thoughts scattered and her gaze went vacant, and she said: “This round, I choose dare.”

She would rather go sing “Little Swallow Dressed in Flowers” in the bathroom — anything but this!

She couldn’t answer any more questions like these!

The three of them exchanged a smile. “Hahahaha, we’ve finally reached my favorite part! You chose dare yourself — we didn’t force you. Alright!” Yun Jia announced loudly, “Dare commencing: you, right now, call Lu Yicheng on the phone. Put it on speaker. And call him ‘hubby’ once!”

Jiang Ruoqiao: I am going to lose my mind……

She said with great difficulty, “Can I choose to drink alcohol instead?”

Gao Jingjing nudged her glasses up her nose. “What kind of impression do you have of our dormitory — we can’t have alcohol here. Forget it.”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “……”

Could they not just let her go and be done with it?

They were bullying her!

Under the relentless pressure of three pairs of staring eyes and a chorus of verbal persuasion, Jiang Ruoqiao reluctantly dialed Lu Yicheng’s number.

Before she placed the call, she made one last dying struggle: “He’s working overtime today.”

The other three weren’t listening.

At that very moment, Lu Yicheng had just finished his work. Feeling thirsty, he had gone to the break room to pour himself some water, planning to drink up and head home. Lu Siyan’s class had a child who’d come down with hand, foot, and mouth disease. The entire class of big three-year-olds was now on leave — counting the weekend, it was likely to stretch to about ten days. So Lu Siyan had been sent off to Xi Shi.

Lu Yicheng’s phone rang. He saw it was Jiang Ruoqiao calling and felt a smile come to his face.

Being in love really was a wonderful thing.

He picked up the call. He was still waiting for the water to boil. He was the only one in the break room.

“Hello.”

In the girls’ dormitory, the three of them lit up at that single low “hello” from Lu Yicheng, their faces flushed with excitement.

Here we go here we go!!

Jiang Ruoqiao’s expression was thoroughly twisted.

There was a small, instinctive flicker of joy — the automatic response of hearing his voice.

But the moment she looked at those three faces…

Well. Complicated, to say the least.

“Lu Yicheng,” she called, then forced herself into awkward small talk, buying time: “What are you up to right now?”

Lu Yicheng: “Just finished work. I’m in the break room waiting for the water to boil so I can have a drink.”

He added another sentence: “There’s only one other person in the office — a senior colleague. Male.”

Yun Jia and the others were practically dying holding back their laughter, faces red, still managing to stick their thumbs up in Jiang Ruoqiao’s direction — to be interpreted as a message to Jiang Ruoqiao: the campus heartthrob, excellent, proactively reporting location, context, and other personnel.

Jiang Ruoqiao was rather annoyed. “Who asked you that?”

Lu Yicheng: “You didn’t ask. I wanted to say it myself.”

For Jiang Ruoqiao, saying the word “hubby” was simply not something that could come out of her mouth.

Not unless there was a knife at her throat.

And wasn’t there a knife right now?

The stares of three dormitory sisters were the knives, and they were already mouthing at her: “Hubby! Hubby!”

Jiang Ruoqiao squeezed her eyes shut in anguish. How much water must have flooded her brain for her to have chosen dare? Wasn’t truth perfectly fine? Right now she’d rather answer even the most provocative, face-burning questions in the world.

She covered the phone and pressed her voice as low as it would go: “I’ll swap to truth — can three truths replace one dare?”

Yun Jia and the others: “No!”

Jiang Ruoqiao had no option. She’d been backed into a corner with nowhere to go.

After a bit more filler conversation with Lu Yicheng, in a voice so soft it was barely audible, she said: “Bye… hubby.”

The last two words were almost inaudible.

But whenever Lu Yicheng took a call from Jiang Ruoqiao, he would always set down whatever he was doing and listen very, very carefully.

He heard those two words.

The next instant came the beeping tone of a disconnected call. She’d hung up.

Lu Yicheng stood frozen in place.

The electric kettle had long since boiled, burbling and bubbling away.

He was still standing there, rooted to the spot.

What had she just called him?

Back in the dormitory, Jiang Ruoqiao said through gritted teeth: “You’d all better remember — when any of you gets into a relationship in the future, I’ll do the exact same thing to you! Even if I’m at work and you’re back home, I will personally travel to wherever you are! You remember that!”

Ahhh she was going to lose her mind!!

Lu Yicheng definitely heard it, he absolutely heard it!!

Should she explain it was a dare? But wouldn’t that make things even more awkward?

Yun Jia blinked. “Welcome to it — I’m single right now, I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Luo Wen chimed in: “Same here. I’m not scared.”

……

Jiang Ruoqiao hollered and ranted.

The three roommates looked at her fondly. Oh you silly girl — you’ve really gone and fallen in love, haven’t you.

Lu Yicheng appeared outwardly calm, but after returning to his desk, he turned on his computer.

He had already shut the computer down. He had already been preparing to leave.

He turned the computer on, entered his login password, and signed into his company account.

Up to this point, Lu Yicheng still hadn’t quite come back to himself — not until a message came in from He Li: 【?】

He Li: 【Didn’t you say you were done for the day? Why are you back on? Did something happen?】

Only then did Lu Yicheng snap back to reality. He slapped his forehead, but then the memory of what she had said on the phone came back to him, and his expression went very still again.

He sat at his desk like that for quite a while before his phone rang. It was He Li calling.

He answered, giving a very composed “hello.”

He Li asked with suspicion: “Did something happen at work? Why are you logged back on?”

Lu Yicheng replied honestly, “Something did happen. Not work-related.”

He was just…

He just couldn’t think straight anymore.

He Li: “Got it.”

Then, without mercy, hung up.

This Lu Yicheng had gone and gotten himself a girlfriend, and ever since, he was not himself!! Without question, that light-as-air yet rippling-with-feeling tone was absolutely girlfriend-related.

Annoying! He didn’t want to hear it! Too much to handle.

Lu Yicheng shut down his computer, took his phone, and left his desk. The odd behavior continued — for instance, he forgot that there was still a senior colleague in the office and turned off the lights, until the colleague let out a startled cry: “What the hell!! Did the power go out?!”

The colleague looked at his computer screen. “No, the monitor’s still on — what’s going on?”

Lu Yicheng hurried to turn the lights back on, jogged over to his colleague’s desk, and apologized with full sincerity: “Sun-ge, I’m so sorry, so sorry — I thought everyone had left.”

Sun-ge was famously easygoing. He pushed his glasses up his nose and chuckled good-naturedly. “No worries. I just got excited for nothing — thought the power had gone out.”

Lu Yicheng left the office.

He tilted his head back to look at the night sky, and felt a feeling he couldn’t quite name.

That feeling had been a constant presence over the past several days.

He knew it had something to do with Jiang Ruoqiao.

Was this how it was for everyone when they were in love? Being in love was really something wonderful.

So wonderful that this entire world looked good to him from every angle.

He took his phone from his pocket and dialed Lu Siyan. The call was picked up quickly on the other end.

Lu Yicheng had already guessed — Jiang Ruoqiao had probably been playing a game with her friends, and there must have been some reason behind it. Otherwise she would never have said that.

He understood all of it, and yet he was still happy.

He was being an idiot. He knew it. And he delighted in every second of it.

In extraordinarily high spirits, he said warmly into the phone to Lu Siyan: “Siyan, how would you feel about Dad buying you some Lego?”

A brief silence on the other end, and then Lu Siyan replied with utmost seriousness: “Who are you? You are not my dad!!”

—