She really did sleep until nearly noon the next day. Ning Sui was still bleary-eyed as she lay there, picking up her phone to check — almost eleven.

Liang Xinyue was out. Yu Qin and Bi Jiaxi were cuddled together in the bottom bunk watching a campus romance drama, eyes shining.

Hearing Ning Sui’s drowsy sounds as she slowly climbed down from the top bunk, both girls turned around at the same time.

Bi Jiaxi asked casually: “Sui, we went to bed early last night — what time did you get home?”

Ning Sui paused for a moment: “Around one, I think.”

Yu Qin: “Was it fun?”

Ning Sui nodded, started to say something, then held it back and licked the corner of her mouth: “It was. Really fun.”

Glancing naturally at the scene playing on the tablet in front of the two of them, she saw the male and female lead in the drama kissing in a corner of the library — restrained and lingering at the same time.

Ning Sui’s heart gave an involuntary start. Bi Jiaxi’s attention was also drawn back to the screen. Her focus snapped back to the drama: “Ahh ahh ahh, they kissed they kissed!”

As an eighteen-year-old lifelong singleton, Bi Jiaxi was full of curiosity: “Qin babe — what does your first kiss actually feel like?”

Yu Qin’s few previous experiences had been wasted on someone who’d turned out to be no good, but she was in fact the only one in the dormitory who had ever kissed anyone.

Nearly half a year on, Yu Qin had long since moved past it, so she just gave an objective, thoughtful answer: “How do I describe it……it’s really hard to put into words. Like an electric current going through your whole body, kind of.”

“Ooooo～～” Bi Jiaxi shuddered theatrically. “Is it really like that?”

Ning Sui quickly washed her face, brushed her teeth, changed into clothes for going out, and packed her things for a study session at the library. Throughout all of this they kept talking.

Ning Sui had been pretending not to hear any of it, but she couldn’t quite block out the last bit as she was heading out — Yu Qin saying: “Anyway, with someone you actually like — it’s something you’d never get tired of.”

Ning Sui had made plans with Hu Ke’er to meet for lunch. It being a holiday, some students had gone home and others were out, so the cafeteria had plenty of free tables.

The section they were in had a nice environment, restaurant-style four-person tables where you could order directly from a server.

There were plenty of proper main dishes on the menu. Hu Ke’er seemed perfectly energetic — there was no visible sign of having drunk the night before. But Ning Sui had only heard a brief mention from Xie Yichen, and didn’t know the extent of it.

Hu Ke’er was scanning the menu. Ning Sui sat opposite her, looking quite aimless and at ease. As usual when they went out together, Hu Ke’er took charge of choosing and ordering the food — their tastes were fairly similar anyway.

Only today there was something a little unusual: Hu Ke’er had looked up at her several times, her expression shifting.

Whether it was because she was planning to come clean about things, or for some other reason, Ning Sui felt inexplicably guilty under that gaze: “What is it?”

Hu Ke’er waited until the server had left before sighing with a complicated expression: “I need to come clean about something.”

Ning Sui froze: “Mm?”

Hu Ke’er said: “I did something stupid.”

Ning Sui looked her up and down, and said, off the top of her head: “What — did you spray the anti-harassment mist into your own face again?”

“Even dumber than that.” Hu Ke’er broke apart the disposable chopsticks in front of her, and raised her hand with transparent pointedness to emphasize: “But I swear — it really was an accident!”

Ning Sui knew exactly how to read her. She just looked at her and said nothing. Hu Ke’er immediately lost her nerve, and in a very muffled voice finally confessed: “I just, kind of……accidentally kissed the cousin.”

For some reason, today the whole world seemed to be talking about kissing in some form, and Ning Sui’s reaction was entirely genuine — she sucked in a sharp breath.

The two of them stared at each other. Ning Sui wanted to take Hu Ke’er’s side but found it difficult, and said with a slow drawl: “That is……quite an accident.”

Hu Ke’er: “……”

The whole situation had unfolded in a very convoluted way.

After she and Ning Sui had been separated the night before, she had stayed with Du Junnian the whole time.

Honestly, Hu Ke’er had liked Du Junnian from the start — she found him not only even-tempered, but very good at looking after people.

That said, she hadn’t been thinking anything in particular when she was with him. Hu Ke’er could talk a big game, but that was as far as it went.

To her, Du Junnian was Xie Yichen’s cousin and the CEO of Shanying — though he seemed very approachable in person, he was surely a sharp and capable figure behind closed doors, earning far more in a year than her own parents. The two of them were simply not in the same tier of society.

Du Junnian had initially been standing with her in the front section listening to the music, but later she said she was tired of standing, and he had sat with her on the grass.

They listened to music and chatted.

Du Junnian told her about some of his experiences over the past few years starting the company. Hu Ke’er listened with interest while sipping her drink, and shared a little of her own campus life. He was eight years older than her, but honestly, Hu Ke’er didn’t feel any generation gap at all talking to him — they got along quite naturally.

But later on, whether it was the alcohol going a bit to her head, or the lively atmosphere making her feel a kind of hollow longing, Hu Ke’er had called Xu Zhou as midnight approached.

She had no particular purpose, really — just wanted to hear his voice, see how he was getting on.

But someone else answered the phone, and it was someone Hu Ke’er recognized — Zhao Yingyao.

On the other end of the line, someone was cheerfully calling her “babe,” and Zhao Yingyao answered in a sweet, coy voice.

Hu Ke’er had been annoyed by this person all the way back on the graduation trip to Yunnan, and here they were running into each other like this. Later Xu Zhou took the phone back and explained — they were at a party at someone’s place with a group of exchange students, and he’d just stepped away to use the bathroom, leaving his phone out.

Hu Ke’er had known that Zhao Yingyao had also gone abroad, but hadn’t realized the two of them still had contact, let alone close enough contact that he would invite her to a New Year’s party together.

She couldn’t help thinking back on the few times she’d seen them like each other’s Moments posts. At the time, Hu Ke’er hadn’t thought much of it. But to say something was actually there — there wasn’t any concrete evidence to prove it either. The only thought that kept circling in her mind was: they’d only been broken up for this short a time — how was it that he already seemed on the verge of having someone new?

“Anyway, I was probably a little bit provoked, let’s say.” Hu Ke’er said, looking embarrassed. “Then when the midnight bell struck and there were couples hugging and kissing all around us, I just — followed along and planted one on the cousin.”

Ning Sui: “……”

You really are absurd.

Hu Ke’er genuinely couldn’t explain it. She’d been quite drunk, and she didn’t actually remember what she’d been thinking at the time — but the impression of that kiss was very vivid: she had lurched right into him, and then she must have gotten him on the mouth, because whatever she’d touched had been very soft.

Ning Sui was quiet for a good while: “How did the cousin react?”

This was exactly the part Hu Ke’er was struggling with — she didn’t remember Du Junnian’s reaction.

Although they had exchanged WeChat contacts, after he’d had a car send her back to campus, the two of them hadn’t messaged each other since.

Hu Ke’er agonized over whether to send him an apology. Then she thought about it again — an apology would make it even more awkward for both of them.

Better to just let it go……probably.

Ugh.

Being a bully for the first time in her life — Hu Ke’er felt extremely complicated about the whole thing.

But she didn’t know that her feelings were about to get even more complicated.

Most of the food had arrived, letting off sizzling steam, and there was honestly quite a lot of it. Ning Sui was sitting across from her, scrolling through her phone, looking thoroughly distracted and far away in thought. Hu Ke’er poked her: “What are you daydreaming about?”

Ning Sui put down her phone: “We ordered too much — do you mind if one more person joins us?”

Hu Ke’er blinked: “Who?”

Ning Sui lowered her head to take a sip of her milkshake, and dropped a thunderbolt with perfect composure: “My boyfriend.”

The food Hu Ke’er had been holding with her chopsticks fell with a splash back into her bowl. She was convinced she’d misheard: “What did you say?”

“Mm.” Ning Sui gave a calm, definitive nod. “You heard right.”

“……”

For the next twenty minutes, the two of them maintained an extraordinarily peculiar atmosphere between them.

To receive two thunderbolts in a single day — Hu Ke’er’s head was spinning.

So when Xie Yichen appeared, she hadn’t yet put the pieces together, and was startled to see him, assuming he had just happened to come to the Peking University cafeteria to eat and had run into them by coincidence.

It wasn’t until Xie Yichen unhurriedly found a chair and sat down beside Ning Sui that Hu Ke’er realized with a wary jolt that something was off.

“Didn’t you just tell me you were about to introduce someone?” Hu Ke’er looked at Ning Sui, doing her best to keep her voice steady. “Where are they?”

Ning Sui said nothing. She looked at Xie Yichen.

Neither said anything out loud, and yet everything was said.

Hu Ke’er’s expression was already starting to crack. She picked up her chopsticks and pointed them at Xie Yichen with a trembling hand: “All I see is a very familiar-looking Tsinghua heartthrob.”

Ning Sui said without batting an eye, swallowing lightly: “Then I think……it might be him.”

Hu Ke’er: “……”

Xie Yichen had gotten up at eight in the morning, taken care of something in the lab, and then finally been free. He’d sent Ning Sui a WeChat asking where she was. She said she was having lunch with Hu Ke’er, so he’d followed the directions and shown up.

When he walked in, he was immediately conspicuous. He had on a black cargo bomber jacket, tall and long-legged with a measured, unhurried stride. The girls at nearby tables looked over immediately. Xie Yichen didn’t pay any attention to them, pulled out the chair beside Ning Sui, and sat down with his legs relaxed and easy.

He was wearing a plain white long-sleeve underneath — whether because he’d left too quickly that morning or for some other reason, he hadn’t put on a scarf, which left his sharp-edged throat uncovered. Ning Sui glanced that way and lowered her voice instinctively: “You’re only wearing that — aren’t you cold?”

Xie Yichen smiled at her, and shifted his chair a little closer: “I’m fine.”

The fine dark hair at his forehead had been tossed by the wind into a wild dishevelment, but it had the same genuinely dark color as his eyes. Ning Sui was actually curious about what his hair would feel like to touch — she hadn’t thought to check last night. Xie Yichen seemed to sense exactly where her attention had landed, and gave her an unreadable look: “You can touch it if you want.”

She hadn’t expected him to read her completely, and Ning Sui felt a sharp jolt in her chest.

She couldn’t bring herself to flatly deny it, so she looked away with forced calm: “Maybe later.”

“……”

Hu Ke’er felt she had been force-fed an enormous mouthful of second-hand sweetness.

Looking back, when it was Xie Yichen’s birthday, she had felt she’d spotted something in the air between them — that five-pointed star balloon had been too glaring to miss. But she’d stopped herself from reading too much into it, because honestly, which of these two seemed like an easy person to end up in this situation?

And yet, as events had proven, her instincts hadn’t been entirely off base. Now that the two of them were really sitting there together, Hu Ke’er thought it made complete sense — they were clearly well-matched. Otherwise, why would the people at the adjacent table keep stealing glances over here?

But she still couldn’t help asking Ning Sui: “Since when?! During the sports meet you told me there was nothing going on!”

From that point until now, these two had gotten together under her very nose without her knowing — Hu Ke’er felt like a colossal fool.

Right now Ning Sui’s ears were tucked in her scarf. She put a bite of the cheese-stuffed shrimp ball that Xie Yichen had placed in her bowl into her mouth and said, vague and unbothered: “The sports meet was ages ago.”

Hu Ke’er watched her sit there with a completely self-satisfied air, utterly at ease being looked after, and suddenly understood what it had felt like when Ning Sui used to watch her and Xu Zhou.

——It really was unbearable, waaah.

And the way Ning Sui and this person were together was on an entirely different scale from her and Xu Zhou in terms of explosive impact.

The Tsinghua discussion forums had mentioned Xie Yichen more times than she could count, and the anonymous confession walls were full of elaborate new declarations for him every single day.

Never mind those other girls — even Hu Ke’er herself, knowing him this well, still couldn’t help automatically adding another layer of reverence when she looked at Xie Yichen. After all, how many people could actually achieve both top provincial exam results and a perfect score at the CMO?

And then the programming work, and the whole Shanying thing — there weren’t enough superlatives to cover it.

Hu Ke’er looked at the table full of fragrant, abundant food in front of her, feeling enormously complex.

Aunt Xia was always worrying that Ning Sui would get taken advantage of — she really had been overthinking it. Ning Sui was absolutely going to date people — she just did it quietly, moved in secret, and when she finally made her move, it was absolutely earth-shattering.

Hu Ke’er inhaled a deep breath to settle herself: “By the way — do Zhang Yuge and the others know?”

Ning Sui looked up, her expression entirely sincere: “Probably not yet.”

Hu Ke’er looked at the two of them: “Oh.”

Hu Ke’er knew Ning Sui almost certainly wasn’t going to tell her parents anytime soon, so this would need to be kept quiet — but since even Zhang Yuge and the others didn’t know yet, she suddenly felt rather pleased with herself. Honestly speaking, she was really quite looking forward to seeing the looks on those two faces when they found out.

Just then the server came over to bring another dish. The plate was fairly large and accidentally knocked Xie Yichen’s phone where it lay on the table.

The lock screen blinked on.

All three of them looked at it at the same time.

——In the warm amber glow, a pretty, fair-complexioned girl held a five-pointed star balloon, head tilted back as she looked up at someone. On her head was a fuzzy hat. The angle at which the light fell was beautiful. Her brows and eyes were visibly lit with a smile.

The photo only showed her, and the image had been processed slightly blurry — someone who didn’t know her well and wasn’t looking carefully might not recognize who it was.

Hu Ke’er recognized the balloon immediately. Her attention was seized at once, and she was just about to lean over for a better look when the phone screen was flatly pressed off by Xie Yichen, who pocketed it with a nonchalant, proprietary ease.

Hu Ke’er: “……”

How dare he not let her see??

Why had no one warned her that being around people in the honeymoon phase was like this?!

Heaven’s justice must come for all, no one escapes its reach!

……

That afternoon Ning Sui was going to the library to review for finals. Xie Yichen happened to have the same plan, so he said he’d take her to Tsinghua’s old library — the environment was quieter there, and compared to the north building there were relatively fewer people studying inside.

After lunch, they walked to let their food settle. The two campuses were close together, so they went on foot.

On the way, Ning Sui couldn’t help thinking about the lock screen again.

She remembered checking his phone last night — his wallpaper hadn’t been that image.

That photo looked like it had been taken by Qu Handong, candid, as they stood by the roadside at the birthday gathering.

Since the photo had clearly made it onto his phone, Ning Sui asked: “Does Qu Handong know already?”

Xie Yichen: “Nothing’s been said yet, but he’s probably guessed a fair bit.”

Watching her expression, he gave her a half-smile: “Don’t worry — they’ve all been told. None of them will say anything outside——”

He drew it out with deliberate intent: “Everyone will do a good job keeping things underground.”

“……”

Ning Sui paused: “That’s not what I meant.”

She had just been thinking about the photograph, simply.

In theory, the original shot must have captured him as well.

She wanted his half.

They walked very close together, and Xie Yichen was carrying her bag for her again. They strolled along the side of the road, with him keeping her safely tucked in on the inside. Ning Sui glanced up and caught a quiet look at his profile: “Xie Yichen.”

“Mm?”

“Could you also send me that photo?”

A car thundered past on the road. Ning Sui reached out and tugged lightly at his sleeve, her voice clear and soft: “I want to set a lock screen too.”

Xie Yichen looked down at her slender fingers, and the corner of his mouth gave an unmistakable curve.

“I’ll send it later.”

“Oh.”

The old library had an atmosphere all its own. From the moment you walked in through the main gate, everything was beautifully old-fashioned in character. This was Ning Sui’s first time coming here, so she was perfectly happy to follow wherever Xie Yichen led.

They found a secluded spot by a window — what was pleasingly referred to as a “couples’ seat.”

It had to be said — the designers of this place had a touch of the romantic in them. These seats weren’t out in the main hall but tucked between the heavy bookshelves and the wall, the chairs placed in pairs close together, with generous spacing between each pair.

When Ning Sui set down her bag, pulled off her coat, and settled into her seat, she felt a flicker of sweet anticipation. The window across from them had an exceptional view — clear sky and gentle sunlight, and the creeping ivy glowing lush and green against the red brick walls.

Xie Yichen sat beside her, opened his laptop, and began browsing through course materials.

She was on his left. His left hand rested on the table at a relaxed angle — long, well-jointed fingers, distinct musculature, with faint tracings of veins across the back of his hand.

The library was very quiet — only the occasional soft sound of turning pages, the scratch of a pen, or the click of a keyboard. Their particular corner was especially still, with very few people passing through.

Light fell in through the window, rich and scattered, filtering through the veined green leaves, and cast its brilliance across the outer edge of the warm brown wooden desk. Xie Yichen’s faint, cool, deep scent mixed with the smell of sunlight and drifted over.

Before she could properly settle into studying.

……She wanted to hold his hand first.

Ning Sui kept up the appearance of complete focus, while her fingers began to move slowly sideways, millimeter by careful millimeter, edging toward him in a transparent attempt to close the distance, approaching his hand.

The quiet click of the mouse kept up its steady rhythm. Ning Sui felt fairly certain he hadn’t noticed.

She stopped, then continued to inch slowly toward him, moving unhurriedly and with absolute concentration, advancing toward her target along the surface of the desk.

In her peripheral vision the gap seemed to have narrowed considerably, but just as her little finger seemed to have barely grazed his sleeve — her hand was suddenly seized by Xie Yichen.

Unlike every previous time they had held hands, this time his fingers moved directly between hers and locked them in place — accomplishing the act of interlacing their fingers in one clean, decisive movement.

Ning Sui went rigid, a current running through her fingertips.

“Ning Coconut, even if I am your secret underground lover.”

Because they were in the library, Xie Yichen had deliberately kept his voice very low, the low, magnetic, warm sound of it settling softly against her ear: “In the future — wherever you want to touch me, just reach out and touch me. Openly. Alright?”

Ning Sui’s heart nearly leapt straight out of her chest. She turned to look at him.

Without intending to, her gaze moved from the clean, angular line of his jaw to Xie Yichen’s beautifully shaped lips.

The color there was light. The outline was easy and relaxed.

She thought of the visually striking scene in the drama that morning, then recalled what Yu Qin and Bi Jiaxi had said.

Ning Sui stared at that spot for a moment, then suddenly leaned over and kissed him.

A brief touch — but she was still quite helplessly scorched by his warmth. Her shoulders drew in, and after a moment she buried her head, composed herself, and said with composure: “Oh. Okay then.”