“Just eating barbecue is too boring, why don’t we play Truth or Dare?” someone interrupted Qian Wei’s train of thought with this suggestion—she wasn’t sure who.

The proposal was met with unanimous enthusiasm from the group.

“Yes! Let’s do it!”

“So we spin this empty beer bottle—whoever the mouth points to has to answer a truth question or do a dare, and whoever the bottom points to gets to ask the question or set the dare. Then whoever just answered the truth or did the dare spins the bottle next to decide the next pair.” The boy who made the suggestion, after finishing, glanced somewhat pointedly at a girl sitting across from him. “Let’s start now then. I’ll go first to kick things off—first round, I’ll do truth or dare, and whoever’s first to ask me a question or give me a dare, I’ll do it.”

“Li Zhiqiang, then… then let me ask you—do you have a girl you like?”

The moment the boy called Li Zhiqiang finished speaking, the girl sitting across from him immediately jumped in with a question.

“Yes! And she’s actually here today too.”

The moment Li Zhiqiang finished answering, everyone burst into laughter and teasing, and the girl’s face turned red. It wasn’t hard to tell that Li Zhiqiang and that girl had feelings for each other, likely somewhere in the ambiguous “almost official” stage, just waiting for the right moment to break through the tension and get together—this was probably exactly why Li Zhiqiang had proposed this game of Truth or Dare in the first place, and plenty of the others present harbored similar hopes too.

Li Zhiqiang finished answering and spun the bottle to start the next round.

Before long, the fire of Truth or Dare spread to Qian Wei’s group. She looked over and saw the mouth of the bottle pointing at Lu Xun, and the bottom pointing at Mo Zixin.

“Lu Xun, what kind of work do you want to do after graduation?”

Mo Zixin was actually quite polite about it, asking Lu Xun a fairly conventional question. Qian Wei thought to herself, this one, forget Lu Xun, even I could answer for him—of course he wants to be a lawyer! After all, only a job like law, billing by the hour, would ever satisfy Lu Xun!

“A judge.”

Qian Wei blinked, wondering if she’d misheard, but when she looked up, she saw Lu Xun with his lips pressed together, answering with a serious expression.

Qian Wei couldn’t help herself: “You’re not joking, are you? You don’t want to be a lawyer? I know judges and prosecutors are stable civil servant jobs, iron rice bowls and all, but I’m telling you, civil service reform is definitely coming in the future, and civil servant pay will absolutely fall behind lawyers’ income, and judges have a lot of case pressure too! Lawyers are where the real money’s at!”

Lu Xun frowned, glancing at Qian Wei with clear disdain. “I’m not the type of person who only cares about money.” He paused. “In the legal system, a lawyer’s job matters, sure, but a lawyer’s duty is to defend their client to the best of their ability, not to uphold justice or determine the truth. I want to be a judge, even if it means less money.”

Qian Wei was utterly baffled. She really wanted to ask, then why in your previous life did you become a lawyer the moment you graduated without a second thought???

“But if you become a judge, then in ten or twenty years, all your lawyer classmates will be living in mansions worth millions while you’re stuck in some old shabby apartment. You’ll definitely regret it.”

“Whatever decision I make, I will never regret it.” Lu Xun’s tone was resolute.

“Okay okay, next round, next round!”

Amid everyone’s lively chatter, several more rounds of Truth or Dare passed, and eventually it was Mo Zixin’s turn again. As luck would have it, the one who got to ask her a question turned out to be Qian Chuan.

Qian Chuan looked a bit nervous. He cleared his throat: “I’d like to ask, Mo Zixin, what’s your ideal type when it comes to choosing a partner?”

Mo Zixin looked a bit shy. “It’s a little early to talk about that kind of standard, isn’t it? I don’t have anything particular in mind—just someone I click with, though he does have to be tall.”

At this point, Qian Chuan was still grinning—tall, he definitely fit the bill! Click with her, he was confident that if he hung around her enough, she’d grow to like him more and more.

But then Mo Zixin’s tone shifted, and she added: “As for everything else, I’d just want someone in the same field as me. Since we’re law students, and we tend to talk in legal jargon a lot in daily life, I feel like it’d be easier to relate to someone in the same field—we could discuss cases together and never run out of things to talk about.”

After Mo Zixin finished, she glanced at Lu Xun, but unfortunately, Lu Xun had his eyes lowered and completely missed this wave of romantic hinting from her.

The bottle spun again, landing on Li Zhiqiang once more to answer, and everyone cheered loudly again. Amid the noise, Qian Chuan leaned toward Qian Wei’s ear, his voice full of gloom.

“How many years do you think it’ll take me to pass the bar exam, studying law?”

Liu Shiyun, sitting nearby, overheard Qian Chuan’s words too, her expression turning teasing. “I’d advise you to just give up. If a zombie outbreak ever happened, Qian Wei and I would have to run for our lives everywhere to survive, but you’d be perfectly safe. Why? Because even zombies wouldn’t want that brain of yours.”

Qian Chuan gazed at Mo Zixin in the distance and, after holding back for a moment, spoke up with heroic determination: “It’s fine. If I don’t pass in one year, I’ll try again the second year. If I don’t pass the second year, I’ll try a third! I refuse to believe I can’t do it—if I work hard enough, if the effort’s there, I’ll get there eventually!”

“The bar exam is definitely going to reform eventually, and people without a law degree won’t be able to take it anymore.” Qian Wei took a sip of her orange juice and patted Qian Chuan’s shoulder earnestly. “Qian Chuan, you probably won’t manage to pass before the bar exam reform happens. Haven’t you heard? Knowing when to give up in time is a kind of wisdom—it lets you examine your own inner potential and outside circumstances more clearly, lets your exhausted body and mind get some rest, so you can start pursuing something new and become a happier, wiser person.”

“Get lost!”

“Qian Wei! Your turn! Come on, answer the question!”

Just as Qian Wei was lost in thought, Liu Shiyun nudged her arm, and Qian Wei realized the bottle mouth had landed on her this time, with the question coming from a boy she didn’t know. Since they weren’t familiar with each other, his question wasn’t a difficult one.

“What kind of work do you want to do after graduation?”

Qian Wei answered without even needing to think: “I want to be a female lawyer.”

The boy looked rather impressed. “Sounds like you’re going to be quite the career-driven power woman in the future.”

Lu Xun, rarely, also looked up and spared a glance at Qian Wei.

This made Qian Wei feel a bit embarrassed. “I’m not necessarily trying to be career-driven, my motivation is actually pretty simple—lawyers make good money! I just want to live a life where I don’t have to check price tags when I buy things! Ideally I’d find a fellow lawyer to be with, and we’d both get rich together and live that decadent capitalist lifestyle! Maybe I could even land myself a partner at a firm.”

“How vulgar.” Lu Xun’s assessment was, as always, terse and to the point.

Qian Wei glanced at Lu Xun and grumbled inwardly, aren’t you the future poster child of capitalism yourself? You’ve got some nerve calling me vulgar.

She patted Lu Xun on the shoulder. “You’re only saying that because you’re still young. What in the future won’t require money? Even dating costs money, doesn’t it?”

“So when you fall in love, all you care about is money?”

Qian Wei shrugged. “Sure, there are definitely girls out there willing to suffer hardship alongside a guy, but I’m a delicate flower who can’t handle hardship. Love isn’t only about money, but bread and love matter equally—and you might not know this, but the divorce rate among civil servants is actually way higher than among lawyers. Besides, I think you’d suit being a lawyer much better anyway.”

“Hm.” Lu Xun seemed to be lost in thought, but after that brief reply, he fell silent and said nothing more, just glanced at Qian Wei once.

Qian Wei didn’t think much of it. Though she had no idea why Lu Xun was so set on becoming a judge right now, no matter what, in the end he would become a lawyer—though this rebirth might change everything else, on this one point, Qian Wei was absolutely certain. She had a strong feeling that Lu Xun would ultimately choose the path of a lawyer after all.

“Come on, Qian Wei, let’s go see the fireflies.”

After the barbecue, everyone was eager to check out the fireflies in the forest park. Only Qian Wei felt little enthusiasm for Liu Shiyun’s invitation—she wasn’t sure if it was from eating too much or being too tired from all the activity, but she felt off all over.

“I’m not going. I need to go take a shower first, there are too many mosquitoes here, I’m itchy all over.”

“Mosquitoes? Where?” Liu Shiyun sounded a bit surprised. “I haven’t been bitten even once.”

Before heading back to the treehouse, Qian Wei specifically looked around and noticed that Qian Chuan was nowhere to be found, and Mo Zixin wasn’t around either. Looking further, even Lu Xun was missing.

“Where did they all go?”

“Qian Chuan said he was too tired and wanted to go back to sleep.”

Qian Wei paused, looked around, and didn’t spot Mo Zixin either, and immediately understood: “Mo Zixin went back to the treehouse too, right?”

Liu Shiyun nodded.

“And Lu Xun?”

“Lu Xun? I didn’t really notice, but I think I saw him heading toward the firefly forest earlier.” As Liu Shiyun spoke, she made an eager gesture, rubbing her hands together. “Anyway, I’m heading out too—if I get there early while it’s less crowded, I can grab a good spot and take more photos.”

The moment Qian Wei heard that Lu Xun had gone off alone to see the fireflies, leaving Qian Chuan and Mo Zixin alone together in the treehouse, she nearly coughed up blood on the spot. She hurried back toward the treehouse—if she hadn’t been keeping such a close eye on Qian Chuan this whole time, Lu Xun’s chances with Mo Zixin would have been stolen away long ago!

When Qian Wei got back to the treehouse, her first instinct was to scope out the enemy’s movements. The place was fairly quiet inside; Mo Zixin’s door was closed, while Qian Chuan’s door was left slightly ajar. Qian Wei crept quietly into Qian Chuan’s room, and to her surprise, there really was someone lying in one of the two single beds. Qian Wei glanced at the pattern on the bedding—it was the exact same set their family had given both her and Qian Chuan, matching sets, since Qian Wei and Qian Chuan both followed their family’s habit of always bringing their own sheets for hotel stays, given their particular aversion to using hotel bedding directly. The blanket was fairly thin, and underneath it was clearly the outline of a person—even just from the silhouette, you could tell this person was tall with long legs. His whole face was buried in the blanket, with only a bit of hair visible. So Qian Chuan hadn’t lied this time after all—he really had been exhausted enough to come back and sleep.

Relieved, Qian Wei also felt a mischievous urge rising up. She tiptoed over to the bed, and then, without warning, sprang into action—quickly pulling the blanket over the sleeping figure’s head and flipping herself over to straddle the person underneath. This was something Qian Wei had loved doing ever since childhood—the Qian family had never favored sons over daughters; if anything, their parents had always doted more on Qian Wei, so far from ever suffering under Qian Chuan’s “oppression,” Qian Wei had actually often been the one oppressing him instead. Since she was little, she’d loved riding Qian Chuan like a horse this way, and pranking him while he slept was practically routine.

Qian Chuan must have really been asleep, because Qian Wei’s sudden move startled him awake, and he quickly began struggling.

“Get off of me!”

Perhaps because his voice was muffled by the blanket, it sounded a bit distorted and unfamiliar—it didn’t even sound like Qian Chuan.

Qian Wei was pleased with herself. “Struggling’s pointless, being tormented by me is your destiny, you might as well accept it. Come on, my hands are cold, warm them up for me.” As she spoke, she shoved her hands, freshly washed in cold water, straight under the blanket, pressing them firmly against the person’s body. Qian Wei fumbled around a bit before finally finding what she thought was Qian Chuan’s back, and pinned her ice-cold hands there.

“Your skin’s gotten pretty smooth lately, kid. Have you boys started following some skincare routine now too? Wow, this feels almost like Lu Xun’s skin.”

“Qian Wei!”

Wait, why did it not just feel like Lu Xun, but even sound like him too?

Just as Qian Wei was marveling over this, the person beneath her suddenly yanked the blanket off his own head and, in one swift motion, flipped the situation entirely—Qian Wei found herself pinned to the bed instead, both her hands pressed down by the culprit, who now leaned over her, glaring at her with something close to ferocity.

“Lu… Lu… Lu Xun…”

Qian Wei stared at that face looming enormous before her eyes, so startled she started to stammer.

Lu Xun’s expression was dreadful. Qian Wei had always thought she’d seen every version of Lu Xun’s cold face there was to see through work, but she swore she’d never seen his expression this unpredictable before. His beautiful eyes seemed almost bloodshot, his face flushed, likely from being buried under the blanket for so long, and his hands, pressing down on Qian Wei’s, felt uncomfortably warm too. His breathing, usually so composed and calm, now came heavier, and only his tousled hair from crawling out of the covers gave off any hint of languid disarray. Lu Xun was wearing a very loose sleep shirt, and now, hovering over Qian Wei in this position, his collar had fallen open enough that she could clearly see his gently rising and falling chest and the beautiful lines of muscle beneath it, his tightly toned abdomen moving rhythmically along with his labored, restrained breathing.

This was, quite frankly, ridiculously alluring.

Qian Wei stared blankly for a moment before finally coming to her senses and quickly turning her head away.

Lu Xun lowered his head, his hair brushing lightly against Qian Wei’s cheek, his eyes and voice both fierce and clenched with anger: “You did that on purpose, didn’t you.” As he spoke, each word carrying a deliberate weight, his breath brushed lightly across Qian Wei’s skin—that warm, damp sensation made it hard for her to breathe.

Before Qian Wei could even process what exactly she’d supposedly done “on purpose,” Lu Xun released her hands, rolled off the bed quickly, and walked out of the room. His retreating figure still looked calm on the surface, but Qian Wei sensed his composure wasn’t quite genuine—otherwise, why had his hands been trembling slightly while pinning her down just now, leaving red marks on her wrists from how hard he’d gripped them?

“Ahh, that shower felt so good!”

Almost the moment Lu Xun left, Qian Chuan walked in wearing a loose oversized T-shirt, toweling off his wet hair.

“Qian Wei? Why are you in our room?”

Qian Wei didn’t answer, just looked past him toward the door. “Where’s Lu Xun?”

“Lu Xun? He just stormed off to the bathroom with a dark face. Honestly, I was going to dry my hair in there, and he just barged in and told me to get out.” Qian Chuan snorted, then glanced around and, seeing no one else nearby, leaned in close to Qian Wei’s ear and lowered his voice mysteriously. “At first I was a little annoyed at Lu Xun for forcing me out of the bathroom to use it himself, but then I noticed what was going on under his pajama pants, and I decided to forgive him—I mean, that’s understandable, honestly.”

“What was going on?”

Qian Chuan wiggled his eyebrows. “You know, the guy thing.”

He gave a small snicker. “Never would have guessed—Lu Xun looks so pure and untouchable, but he was secretly doing that under the covers. Tsk tsk tsk, who would’ve thought.” He glanced sideways at Qian Wei. “You really picked the worst possible moment to barge in on him, you know? Do you have any idea how fragile us men can be sometimes? A sudden shock like that could leave lifelong trauma, even cause permanent problems, you know? Seriously, your girls’ room is your private space and nobody’s supposed to barge in—well, our room has privacy too, you know. Even though Lu Xun’s technically my rival for Mo Zixin, as a fellow man, I actually feel for him on this one. Qian Wei, what you did was really not cool.”

Qian Wei normally had thick skin, but this time, she couldn’t help feeling her whole body burning up. Qian Chuan had no idea, but she did—Lu Xun hadn’t actually been doing anything like that under the covers at all; he’d clearly just been sleeping peacefully, and it was her sudden ambush, jumping on top of him and groping around, that had caused… that reaction in the first place…

Qian Chuan, completely oblivious to Qian Wei’s shift in mood, kept rambling on with his own musings. “Still, as a guy, I have to admit I’m a little jealous of Lu Xun.”

“Jealous of what?”

Qian Chuan rolled his eyes at Qian Wei. “You don’t know that guys can’t even go to the bathroom together without comparing size?” He gestured downward. “Down there, I saw it just now—even though it was under his pajamas, that pretty boy Lu Xun is surprisingly impressive.” He gestured with his hands as he spoke. “It was standing at quite a height!”