The next morning turned out to be a little different from what Ning Sui had imagined.

She didn’t oversleep — she was simply jolted awake by a fuzzy, half-heard alarm.

When she opened her eyes, Xie Yichen was standing by the side of the bed changing clothes, having just pulled on a pure black hoodie. The whole look made him appear exceptionally clean and at ease.

“……”

He was like a completely different person from the one she had been glaring at yesterday.

How was it that even with the same lack of sleep, he could look this bright-eyed and refreshed?

Everyone had planned to go skiing that morning. Once they arrived at the slopes, the group naturally split off and went their own ways. Zhang Yuge and Lin Shuyu had tagged along with Xie Yichen’s group for a while, but were now sneaking off to the side, whispering to each other like conspirators: “Based on how things look, nothing happened yesterday, right?”

An ordinary pair of a man and a woman alone in a room — could anyone really hold back and let nothing happen?

In the past, not even a dog would have believed it.

But their Brother Chen wasn’t an ordinary person either. Given his temperament, his level of unpredictability was admittedly a little higher than most.

Just as the two of them were huddled together sighing and speculating, only Hu Ke’er had been quietly watching from the side with sharp, discerning eyes: “All I can say is, you two are far too naive.”

“What?” The four of them gathered into a huddle.

“Hasn’t anyone noticed that the Coconut Princess can barely grip her ski pole with her right hand?”

“?”

The group stared wide-eyed before dissolving into impressed murmurs: “Damn, it’s always you.”

—

After returning to Huai’an from Chongli, Ning Sui was not at all surprised to receive a barrage of interrogating messages from Hu Ke’er.

Paopao Ke: [What happened to the thing I gave you~?]

Suisui Sui: [Didn’t use it……]

In fact, Ning Sui had only remembered about that item when she was getting ready to leave — and feeling it would be wasteful to just throw it out, she had quietly slipped it into her own bag.

Naturally, she had no intention of sharing that particular detail with Hu Ke’er.

Paopao Ke: [How far have you two gotten? [Smug]]

She sent two emojis.

Paopao Ke: [[Handshake]?]

Paopao Ke: [or]

Paopao Ke: [[Lips]?]

Suisui Sui: [……]

Rather vivid imagery.

Ning Sui had to admit — compared to Hu Ke’er, her own skin was still quite a few layers thinner, and there was room for growth.

And Hu Ke’er was different from Liang Xinyue in this regard. It was hard to believe that someone who only pursued pure, wholesome love and had absolutely no personal experience in that department could possess such an extensive wealth of theoretical knowledge. Heaven only knew how many captivating novels and films she had devoured over the years.

Ning Sui had been to Hu Ke’er’s home before. Her bedroom had a bookcase filled entirely with romance novels and manga, along with discs collected over many years. One could only imagine how many treasures were among them.

She couldn’t let the conversation go any further in this direction. Ning Sui quickly changed the subject: [I heard from the others that Xu Zhou is applying to come to Jingda on exchange next semester?]

The moment the topic turned to her ex-boyfriend, Hu Ke’er’s energy noticeably deflated. She replied with disinterest: [Oh, is that so?]

The two of them had barely communicated since that phone call on New Year’s last year, and the status of their relationship had remained a mystery ever since. Ning Sui asked: [What do you think about it?]

Paopao Ke: [No particular thoughts. Just treating him like an ex-boyfriend.]

Paopao Ke: [[Crooked-mouth cat.jpg]]

And honestly, ever since that New Year’s phone call, she really hadn’t had any particular feelings about it.

Hu Ke’er might seem easygoing and carefree on the surface, but when it came to matters of the heart, she was actually a little fastidious. Her emotional needs were not small — she needed a love that was especially devoted and unwavering.

She also didn’t know what the current situation between Xu Zhou and Zhao Yingyao was — whether they were simply ordinary friends, or whether there was something more going on.

Back in Yunnan, Hu Ke’er had spent no small amount of time avoiding Xu Zhou while complaining about the other girl behind her back. That girl was clearly scheming and calculating, full of ulterior motives. But somehow, those two had ended up becoming even closer because of it. So Hu Ke’er couldn’t help but feel a certain lingering discomfort — it was better to steer clear altogether.

But if she was honest with herself, she still wanted to fall in love again.

In the past year or so, she hadn’t been without encounters with guys who caught her eye. But the timing was always off. Either they already had girlfriends, or she was in the middle of an especially busy academic stretch. No matter what, she’d remained single throughout.

Back in high school, she’d always imagined that university would be different, full of exciting possibilities. In reality, if you confined yourself to the library and lecture halls without actively going out to socialize and participate in activities, your social circle really did shrink to just a small plot of land — the same handful of people cycling through again and again.

Paopao Ke: [I’ve decided! I’m going to put in the effort and actively expand my social circle!]

Paopao Ke: [Starting next semester, I’ll join a few more student clubs!]

Hu Ke’er was a woman of action — once she decided on something, she always followed through. At the start of the new semester, when clubs began their recruitment drives, she filled out five or six interest forms in one go: the drama society, the street dance club, the mystery fiction society, the stand-up comedy club, the film and creation association, and more.

As she put it herself — somewhere among all of these, she was bound to find a handsome boyfriend.

And even if she didn’t, she would at least make plenty of like-minded friends.

Ning Sui’s needs in that area were comparatively modest. The Musical Theatre Society’s main group chat would occasionally organize gatherings, and on top of that, she was something of a semi-official member of the Arts and Culture department, with a good relationship with the department head. Through various events, she had already gotten to know quite a few people.

Gu Yanmiao had a way with words entirely her own — her tongue was especially sharp, and she had never come out on the losing end in a verbal clash with any guy.

There was that one time a female upperclassman in the department ran into an elementary school classmate she hadn’t spoken to in hundreds of years, who came looking for a gift contribution for his wedding. Gu Yanmiao had said: “Give him a compliment. It’s truly inspiring that he’s found a way to sustain himself this early in life through the trade of marriage.”

Everyone nearly died laughing. That was why Ning Sui especially loved attending any gathering that had Gu Yanmiao in it.

In early March, the Arts and Culture department organized a spring outing. Everyone picked a bright, clear day and went to the park for a picnic, taking photos of each other.

Ning Sui was helping to lay out all the food they’d brought — sandwiches, pizza, and the rest — distributing it to everyone. She’d been busily moving back and forth for a while when she suddenly spotted Gu Yanmiao walking over, and waved at her: “Yanmiao, do you want the tuna rice or the pasta?”

Gu Yanmiao’s expression looked a little off. She shook her head first, then held up her phone and leaned in close: “Sui, come with me to the bathroom for a second.”

Ning Sui assumed someone had upset her again, so she set down what she was holding and followed.

When they got there, she found that someone had been spreading rumors about her in Jingda’s anonymous forum.

[Main post: A certain mathematics department belle cheated on her exams last semester — haven’t you all heard? Haha]

Replies below:

[Oh? There’s gossip? Please, tell us more.]

[Which year’s belle? Not the one in that Jing-Qing TP-Link couple everyone’s been shipping lately??]

[Wow, I thought the beauty was supposed to have great grades, a perfect 4.0 — so that’s how the 4.0 was earned? [Eating Popcorn]]

[Took me a moment to place her — this is xyc’s girlfriend, right?]

[Cheating? How do you know? Don’t say things like this without evidence.]

Original poster’s reply: [Of course I have evidence. I was sitting right next to her during that exam — I saw it with my own eyes.]

This prompted a flood of new replies.

[Hilarious. Who keeps their eyes wandering during an exam?]

[If you really saw it, why didn’t you report it then? Why are you running to an anonymous forum now?]

[But still, there’s no smoke without fire. If Ning Sui didn’t do this, why would her classmate come out and say this?]

[True…… I kind of believe it, honestly……]

[Which exam? Calculus? Linear Algebra?]

Original poster’s reply: [I can’t say which exam last semester, but I’ve heard her first-year calculus was also copied. In any case, she’s a repeat offender…… She just counted on Jingda’s invigilators being lax, so she got away with it. The reason nobody reported her is that people are afraid of her. After all, she’s been quite prominent lately because of her boyfriend, and she cultivates this image of being “well-liked” on the outside — people don’t want to get on her bad side.]

“How does this person talk in such a scheming, underhanded way?” Gu Yanmiao didn’t believe a single word of it and scoffed with exasperation: “What does ‘prominent because of her boyfriend’ mean? And ‘get on her bad side’ — listen to that phrasing, as though you go around bullying people.”

Below were also more replies: [This is true, actually. I’ve always thought that a perfect image is just a facade. And sure enough, it’s finally fallen apart — haha.]

[Everyone was calling her a goddess just a while back. I’m genuinely baffled. Not even that pretty if you ask me. Pretty average looks.]

[Her boyfriend knows about the cheating, right? Haha.]

[Wait…… is this a joke? She doesn’t need to cheat. Her abilities speak for themselves — she’s consistently one of the top-ranked students in the department.]

[What the original poster means is that the ranking was built on cheating, haha.]

Ning Sui read through all of the posts carefully, then said, puzzled: “But my first-year calculus score wasn’t even good. If you’re going to fabricate lies about me, at least pick a subject where my grade looks impressive.”

Gu Yanmiao: “How much did you get?”

Ning Sui thought back: “3.7.”

Gu Yanmiao: “……”

This really was the world of top students.

Gu Yanmiao said: “This kind of rumor is the most troublesome to disprove. How do you prove your innocence over something you didn’t do? The controversy isn’t significant enough for the school to get involved, and people tend to just consume the gossip and move on.”

“By the way — do you have any idea who the original poster might be?”

Ning Sui had a pretty good sense of it.

Looking around, Sun Xiaozhen had asked for leave that day and wasn’t present — whether it was a genuine coincidence or a guilty conscience, she couldn’t say.

As for why the post specifically mentioned the first-year exam — it was probably because she figured something so long ago would have no surveillance footage for the school to pull, leaving no evidence, and therefore giving her free rein to say whatever she liked.

A clean conscience fears no accusation, but even so, nobody wanted to be dragged into that kind of public controversy. Ning Sui’s good mood that day was genuinely affected to some degree.

In an anonymous forum like the school’s bulletin board, even the smallest act can be magnified and scrutinized by everyone. All the more so with a rumor about academic dishonesty — something directly tied to a person’s character.

Some people began posting vague, ambiguous replies: things like “this sounds ninety percent true,” or “I always thought she seemed like that kind of person” — back and forth, adding fuel to the fire.

Below were naturally also some voices charging to her defense — Gu Yanmiao, Hu Ke’er, and Liang Xinyue among them — calling on the original poster to file a formal report or pull the surveillance footage and face her directly. The original poster then disappeared entirely, using “fear of retaliation” as an excuse, and quietly slipped away, leaving all sides to bicker amongst themselves.

That evening, when Ning Sui returned to the dormitory, Bi Jiaxi and the others were still discussing the incident, seething with indignation.

“Who on earth did this? How shameless — how dare they claim there’s something wrong with you. Sui’s grades are as solid as pure gold. This is absolutely outrageous!”

People passed by in the hallway occasionally, heading to the bathroom to fetch water or do laundry, so the girls closed the door and gathered in a circle. Liang Xinyue asked: “Sui-bao, do you have any suspects in mind for this mess?”

Since there was still no concrete evidence — only speculation — Ning Sui shook her head: “Not at the moment.”

“In any case, it’s clearly someone with bad intentions, but what their specific motive is, I’m still not sure.” Liang Xinyue said, then suddenly remembered something: “Oh right — the scholarship evaluation results are coming out soon, aren’t they? Do you think this might be connected?”

Yu Qin had a sudden realization: “That’s possible.”

Liang Xinyue said: “I’ve heard that someone has been going to the dean’s office to cry over the scholarship spots these past few days. Absolutely ridiculous.”

Bi Jiaxi: “What? What are they doing?”

Liang Xinyue lowered her voice: “Probably because their score barely scraped the eligibility line for the Comprehensive Scholarship, and they went in there crying to ask the school to directly give them that spot. The classmate who told me didn’t name names — she said she just happened to see it.”

Bi Jiaxi: “But that’s basically the same as naming names. Out of everyone in our department ranked third, fourth, or fifth, there are only so many people — once you exclude Sui, you can basically narrow it right down. Isn’t it just Ye Li and Sun Xiaozhen? Though I’m not entirely sure where Ye Li placed last semester — he seems to be consistently at the top.”

Liang Xinyue gave a small knowing laugh: “The classmate said it was a girl, so……”

Everyone exchanged glances. Yu Qin pulled the corner of her mouth: “So…… you don’t think the forum post is also her doing, do you?”

At this point, it seemed more than likely. After all, Ning Sui genuinely had a good reputation in the department — what deep-seated grudge could anyone possibly have to go around spreading rumors about her cheating?

“This is beyond outrageous — what is she trying to pull?!”

But since the anonymous forum was just that — anonymous, and run by students themselves as a private organization — tracking down the user and confronting them directly was no easy feat.

Liang Xinyue: “She’s playing a two-pronged strategy — going to cry to the teachers on one end, while stirring up public opinion on the other. With moves this sophisticated, she should have gone into PR.”

Bi Jiaxi, exasperated: “Truly shameless.”

The girls were civilized about it all — even in their most heated venting, not a single vulgar word was uttered. The scholarship results were due to be announced soon. They had informed their homeroom advisor about the forum post, who replied that he had already reported it to the relevant teachers, but that he didn’t know what was happening on that end — for now, all they could do was wait.

Ning Sui’s GPA placed her fourth in the department. With only three Comprehensive Scholarship spots, even if she didn’t receive one, it wouldn’t look too suspicious. This was exactly what Sun Xiaozhen was counting on — she hoped the public pressure would lead the department to choose her instead. Because of this, the dormitory atmosphere over those two days was tense, with everyone anxious that she might actually succeed.

Ning Sui herself, however, remained fairly calm. The truth would speak for itself — she hadn’t done anything wrong, and the school wouldn’t show favoritism to any student without proper cause. In all likelihood, it would still come down to comparing extra-curricular contributions and cultural and athletic achievements.

Perhaps it was spending so much time with Xie Yichen that had rubbed off on her — she had grown more optimistic, telling herself that if she didn’t get it this year, she would try again next year. She was only a sophomore, after all — there were plenty more opportunities ahead.

When the scholarship results were announced, Ning Sui was in the cafeteria eating with Hu Ke’er. Liang Xinyue’s call came through: “Sui-bao, Sui-bao — the results are out! Take a guess — what do you think happened?”

Her tone sounded bright and happy, as though it was good news. Ning Sui asked with interest: “Well?”

“You ranked second — haha! A solid Comprehensive Scholarship, no question. Clearly the teachers in the college have sharp eyes!”

Liang Xinyue could barely contain her delight: “The certain someone placed fourth — just barely missed the cutoff. She must be fuming! Ha! You know that saying — I love the look on the face of someone who can’t stand me but can’t get rid of me. I am absolutely thriving right now!”

“Oh, and — our little homeroom advisor has posted a clarification on the forum too!”

Hu Ke’er immediately opened the forum app, and sure enough, the original post had been pushed back up to the top.

The homeroom advisor had commented: [This is Gao Che, homeroom advisor for the Mathematics Department. I have verified through surveillance footage that the content of this post is false. If you have concerns in the future, please report directly to school staff rather than attempting to build public pressure through anonymous platforms.]

Attached below was a screenshot of the email thread documenting his communication with the relevant teachers.

Once that image was posted, the reaction was immediate.

[So…… it was just the original poster making things up?]

[Is this person planning to come out and apologize? [Polite smile]]

[Spoke with such certainty before, and now can’t be found anywhere? Hilarious.]

[This girl is genuinely without flaw. Good personality, smart — why on earth would she cheat? The one who made up these lies is pure jealousy. Eyes so red they’re practically bleeding.]

[Haha, I wonder if the people commenting positively now are the same ones who were tearing her apart before. Just goes to show — everyone loves to pile on when someone’s down.]

[Ha, that’s just how things work on this campus — everyone has an opinion on everything.]

[So the beautiful TP-Link couple didn’t crash after all! [Heart-eyes] Handsome guy, beautiful girl — keep shipping! [Heart-eyes]]

……

The thread gradually devolved into shipping commentary and was completely derailed.

What surprised Ning Sui, though, was that Sun Xiaozhen actually came to apologize to her that very day.

It was a very formal written apology, the kind that left a documented record — a short essay of several hundred characters, in which she admitted that the forum rumor had indeed been posted by her, driven by an intense desire to obtain the scholarship and a willingness to resort to unsavory means. She sincerely asked for forgiveness.

That level of accountability was actually quite striking. Ning Sui chose not to pursue the matter further and turned the page on the whole episode.

Later, when Cui Xian had her birthday celebration — gathering university friends and a few high school classmates from Huai’an for a small birthday party at a private bar — when the incident came up, everyone marveled at how they’d never seen this side of Sun Xiaozhen before.

The fact that Sun Xiaozhen had come out and apologized puzzled everyone. In reality, she had had no reason to step forward and admit it was her — the classmate who had witnessed her going to cry to the dean hadn’t spread the story widely, and the safest course of action would have been to lie low and pretend nothing had happened until the storm blew over.

Xie Yichen was seated at the bar not far away, working on his laptop — there was something urgent for Shanying that he needed to deal with. Zhang Yuge glanced over at him from across the room, shook his head slowly, and said with a meaningful air: “Want to guess why?”

Everyone: “What? There’s actually a reason for it?”

Zhang Yuge: “Brother Chen stepped in himself. Hacked right into Jingda’s anonymous forum, pulled Sun Xiaozhen’s student ID and account from behind the anonymous facade, and threw it in her face. Scared her so badly she practically threw herself to the ground in submission.”