Although Qian Wei scoffed at Liu Shiyun’s method for reeling in men, she had to admit it actually worked pretty well. The moment she and Liu Shiyun got back to the dorm, Tang Lü sent Liu Shiyun a message asking her out. Facing Tang Lü’s date invitation, Liu Shiyun stood in the dorm with her hands on her hips, cackling wildly for a solid five minutes — but by the time she went downstairs, she’d transformed back into a soft-spoken, bashful-eyed picture of innocence. The contrast was so stark, her acting skills so masterful, that Qian Wei felt it was a genuine loss to the Chinese entertainment industry that no one had discovered her yet.

Not long after Qian Wei got back and sat down in the dorm, she actually received a call from Lu Xun.

“Qian Wei, are you free this weekend?” Lu Xun’s voice sounded a bit stiff.

“This weekend? I’m not free this weekend.” Qian Wei was curious. “Is something up? Tell me first, let’s see if I can help.”

Lu Xun coughed awkwardly. “It’s nothing, I just wanted to take you to dinner. What do you have going on this weekend?”

“It’s my mom’s birthday on Saturday, so I’m heading home with Qian Chuan this weekend to celebrate.” Qian Wei was a local of City A, so going home was very convenient. “I haven’t been home in a while, so I’ll be staying at home the whole weekend. Today’s Friday and I only have one general education class in the afternoon, so I’m planning to skip it and go straight home.”

“Oh.” Qian Wei wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but Lu Xun’s voice sounded… a little disappointed?

Qian Wei figured Lu Xun must have something on his mind, otherwise he wouldn’t be acting like this — this definitely wasn’t as simple as just taking her to dinner.

“Do you have something urgent? I could stay at school this afternoon and go home in the evening instead?”

Lu Xun’s voice was still a bit stiff. “It’s nothing urgent, just something I wanted to tell you, but it’s fine to say it later.”

“Alright then, wait for me — I’ll be back at school Sunday night.” Qian Wei scratched her head. “But why didn’t you just say something when we saw each other earlier, instead of calling specially?”

“Can’t I just have forgotten?” Lu Xun’s voice sounded a bit huffy. “I’m hanging up.”

After hanging up, Qian Wei was still puzzled about what exactly Lu Xun wanted to tell her, but once Qian Chuan arrived, the matter slipped her mind.

“Qian Wei, I already ordered the cake. Do you have anything you need to bring home? I’ll carry it for you.”

Looking at Qian Chuan in front of her, hauling all her bags, big and small, Qian Wei couldn’t help but feel — having a little brother really was nice.

But today, Qian Chuan was acting differently from usual. He seemed rather sneaky, constantly urging Qian Wei to hurry up and leave with him. Even though it was quite hot out today, he’d wrapped a scarf around himself, covering most of his face. The getup was so bizarre that as they walked together, Qian Wei could feel the stares of passersby on the street.

“Are you sick or something? It’s so hot out…” Qian Wei said, reaching to pull off the scarf.

This met with fierce resistance from Qian Chuan, who cried in despair, “You don’t understand! I finally managed to shake off Li Linlin, I’m genuinely terrified of her! She’s been texting me all sorts of confessions — you know what, in one hour I got over forty texts!!! This is honestly the first time I’ve experienced something like this, turns out being chased has its dangers too! Sometimes being too outstanding really is a burden!”

“…”

After finally getting into the car, Qian Chuan, seeing the crisis had passed, finally undid his scarf. “By the way, besides Li Linlin, there’s something else that’s been bothering me lately.”

“Oh?”

“It’s that Lu Xun guy from your college.” Qian Chuan paused, then lowered his voice. “This might sound unbelievable, but I feel like the way he’s been looking at me lately is kind of off.”

Qian Wei: !!!

“He used to have his nose stuck up in the air whenever he saw me, right, wouldn’t even look me in the eye, the whole ‘I look down on all humanity’ vibe. I’d say hi to him before and he’d barely acknowledge me — honestly, it made you want to smack him. But you know what? Since about last week, his attitude toward me has done a complete 360-degree turn, totally caught me off guard, like he’d suddenly become a different person — he actually started greeting me first every time he sees me! We even played basketball together a few days ago, and I’d sometimes look up suddenly and catch him staring at me thoughtfully, several times. So I started paying more attention, and sure enough — it’s not my imagination, he’s really been focused on me lately!!! He even came up and asked for my phone number!!! Sometimes he even smiles at me! This whole thing genuinely scares me!!!”

Qian Wei was a bit confused. “What are you scared of? So what if he’s being friendly to you?”

Qian Chuan reacted intensely. “You don’t get it, you don’t get it. There’s no way Lu Xun would just suddenly change his attitude for no reason. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Qian Chuan paused. “You have to keep this a secret, but I’ll tell you privately — I think he’s got a thing for me!”

“???”

“I’m serious!” Qian Chuan swore. “Think about it, once you look at it this way, everything makes sense, so much stuff from the past finally clicks into place. I even suspect that whole thing where he competed with me over Zixin was just a way to get my attention. Because of Zixin, I did end up paying closer attention to a lot of Lu Xun’s business, and isn’t that exactly what he wanted? To get me to notice him! Being cold and distant toward me before was probably also just to hide his true feelings — after all, that kind of shocking, taboo emotion, if he let it show, of course I’d run away scared!”

“That can’t be right…”

“Just listen to my analysis.” And indeed, Qian Chuan had clearly been observing Lu Xun for a while now — he cited several examples, and in the end even Qian Wei found herself half-convinced.

“Honestly, I’m starting to feel a little sorry for Lu Xun now. After all, there’s no way I could ever reciprocate — he’s doomed to a one-sided love that can never be fulfilled.” Qian Chuan sighed, touching his own face. “You think I really have that kind of devastatingly good looks? Not just attracting women, but even men can’t escape my fatal charm?”

“…”

Qian Chuan, I think you might be overthinking this…

Regardless, Qian Wei made it all the way home listening to Qian Chuan’s self-admiration. Their mother had already prepared a full table of food, and the family of four had a warm, happy dinner together. Afterward Qian Wei washed the dishes and cleared the table, while Qian Chuan helped mop the floor, and their father and mother happily sat back and watched some TV dramas.

Once the chores were done, Qian Chuan quickly found an excuse to duck into his own room. Watching him eagerly whip out his phone, Qian Wei knew he was going to contact Mo Zixin — this guy was still deep in the honeymoon phase, acting like “a day apart feels like three autumns” every single day.

After tidying up, Qian Wei had planned to organize her bookshelf, but just as she was about to start, she got a call from Liu Shiyun.

“Qian Wei! I, I have news I need to share with you first thing!” Liu Shiyun’s voice was as booming as ever, though this time it carried a rare hint of shy bashfulness. “I’m off the market!”

Qian Wei was a bit surprised, but also felt it made sense. She was genuinely happy for Liu Shiyun. “Congratulations! Did Tang Lü confess?”

Liu Shiyun giggled. “Yeah, just now after dinner we were taking a walk, and he suddenly came over, took my hand, and told me he really liked me, that I was exactly his ideal dream girlfriend.” Liu Shiyun’s tone made it clear she was completely swept up in romance. “Honestly, Tang Lü is just so handsome, every time I look at his face I feel like it helps me eat better — I finally understand for the first time what it means for someone to be ‘a feast for the eyes,’ I feel like I really scored big, hahahaha.”

Listening to Liu Shiyun share her little worries and little joys, Qian Wei found it all rather lovely just to hear about — that fluttering, uncertain state of a young girl’s heart, how many times in a lifetime does one get to experience that! The two of them chatted about various other things, but before they’d finished, Tang Lü’s call came through on Liu Shiyun’s end. Qian Wei quickly said goodbye and hung up, not wanting to interrupt their romance.

After hanging up, Qian Wei lay down on her bed. Her bedroom had a large floor-to-ceiling bay window, and since the curtains weren’t drawn right now, she could see straight out over the city skyline. Qian Wei’s family lived in the old part of the city, where the neighborhood was relatively quiet and there weren’t too many tall buildings nearby. The night sky above her head wasn’t polluted by so much city light — it remained tranquil and deep blue, and she could even make out the scattered stars clearly.

Qian Chuan was off the market. Mo Tao was off the market. Liu Shiyun was off the market too.

No matter how close friends or family are, once they start dating, they inevitably spend more time and energy with their romantic partner — that’s just natural. But at this moment, left alone as the odd one out, Qian Wei couldn’t help but feel a bit lonely too.

Out of nowhere, she thought of Lu Xun. Qian Wei took out her phone, scrolled through her contacts, and her eyes settled on the name “Lu Xun.” As if possessed, she found herself, at that moment, actually missing him a little.

She scrolled through her call log too, and was startled to discover that most of her call records over the past month were actually with Lu Xun.

What was Lu Xun doing right now? Playing basketball? Sleeping in his dorm? Out for a walk somewhere?

Qian Wei suddenly realized she genuinely wanted to know what Lu Xun was up to — she even found herself missing the sound of his voice a little.

After lying there lost in these thoughts for a long while, Qian Wei drifted off in a daze. Half-asleep, half-awake, she thought she heard her phone ring, but when she groggily picked it up to check, there was no incoming call.

No call from Lu Xun.

For some reason, Qian Wei felt a little disappointed.

She didn’t sleep well that night. Qian Wei had a dream, the scenes disjointed and utterly illogical — she only remembered attending a wedding, a grand ceremony with guests applauding wildly, and then the groom appeared. When Qian Wei saw his face, she realized she was attending Lu Xun’s wedding. The bride emerged covered in a white veil, and Qian Wei tried hard to make out the bride’s face, but that layer of white gauze was like a fog draped over her face — no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t see it clearly…

Even though she’d slept a full ten hours, Qian Wei woke up feeling rather conflicted. She took a deep breath and tried to talk herself through it — sure, Lu Xun was single right now, but sooner or later he’d find someone too. He was so outstanding, standing at the top of the pyramid — if not Mo Zixin, there’d be someone else. Why was she letting herself feel down about it?

Compared to Qian Wei, Qian Chuan looked positively radiant. First thing in the morning, he proudly presented his gift like offering a treasure, and Qian Wei brought out the gift she’d prepared for their mother too. She quickly pulled herself together and started washing vegetables — today was their mother’s birthday, and Qian Wei and Qian Chuan were planning to really show off their skills making her a loving lunch.

“Ding-dong.”

The moment Qian Chuan heard the doorbell, he dashed to the door. “Is that the cake I ordered arriving?”

“Is it the cake?” Qian Wei asked, peeking up from the vegetables she was handling.

“No!” Qian Chuan wasn’t holding a cake box — instead, he was cradling a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. He glanced at Qian Wei. “Did you order flowers for Mom?”

Qian Wei was puzzled too. “No, I didn’t!”

“Then who sent them? Dad?” Qian Chuan scratched his head. “That doesn’t seem right — Dad’s not that romantic, he just hands Mom a red envelope directly…” As he spoke, he examined the bouquet, and finally spotted the clue. “Hey, there’s a card here! And a letter too!”

“‘To the beautiful auntie, happy birthday!'” Qian Chuan read it out, still utterly baffled about who could have sent it. He then opened the letter.

Before Qian Wei could even walk over, she heard Qian Chuan let out a wail of anguish.

“Can Li Linlin please just leave me alone!!” he cried, clutching his head, looking genuinely pained. “She actually tracked down our home address, and found out Mom’s birthday too, all to try to win her over! I already turned her down, why won’t she listen! And now she’s writing me a confession letter! This kind of girl is terrifying!!”

By the time Qian Wei had washed her hands and come out of the kitchen, Qian Chuan had already tossed the letter aside like a hot potato, as if desperate to get rid of it. Qian Wei walked over curiously, wanting to take a look, but was immediately stopped by Qian Chuan, his face full of anguish.

“Don’t look! For your own safety!”

Qian Wei: ???

Qian Chuan’s expression turned grave. “It’s written so cheesily, I only skimmed a few lines and already got goosebumps. It says stuff like, ‘I originally planned to wait until you’re back at school on Monday to tell you in person, but I overestimated myself — I like you so much I couldn’t even wait a day,’ and also, ‘Even though I might not be the type you like, for you, I’m willing to work hard to become the person you’d like’…” Qian Chuan touched his chest. “And what really shocked me was that Li Linlin is actually pretty full of herself — she even wrote something like, ‘You’re the only person I’ve ever pursued, and the last one too.’ That’s such an obvious lie! I definitely heard she’s chased after like ten different guys! But honestly, Qian Wei, the way Li Linlin is going about this really scares me — this confession letter reads like she won’t stop until she’s got me, and did she really go on a diet for me? She even said she’d change into someone I’d like — I’ve got a bad feeling that she’s actually serious about this, and I might not be able to talk my way out of this one with her…” Qian Chuan gripped the letter tightly, brows furrowed. “I never imagined that being liked by someone could actually become such a burden. What am I supposed to do?”

“You’ve clearly and directly rejected her before, right?”

Qian Chuan nodded.

“Then that’s that. You’ve made your position clear — what you need to do now is give her the cold shoulder, don’t respond, just act like you never received this letter.” Qian Wei patted Qian Chuan’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, even the deepest love can’t withstand that kind of treatment.”

Having said that, Qian Wei turned and headed back to the kitchen, leaving Qian Chuan still standing in the living room, muttering to himself.

“Although, I have to say, Li Linlin’s handwriting is actually pretty nice. She’s such a soft, gentle person, but her handwriting is surprisingly bold — even more masculine than mine. Maybe I should practice my handwriting too? At least work on my signature or something, might come in handy if I ever get famous…”

“…” Qian Wei thought to herself, save your energy — you’re overthinking this way too much.