“Can… can I give you my answer tomorrow?”

Lu Xun paused, seeming to have no choice but to nod, but after a moment’s thought, apparently not entirely reassured, he added a warning. “I confessed to you in person this time. You’re not allowed to ignore me, not allowed to pretend nothing happened, and not allowed to just leave me hanging without giving me a title, understand?”

“Got it, got it.”

“Then let’s go. I’ll walk you back to school—you can start thinking it over properly on the way.”

With that, Lu Xun tucked his hands in his pockets and started walking ahead with an air of nonchalance. Qian Wei followed behind him. “Wrong way, wrong way!”

He turned back, his expression betraying a hint of bluster covering uncertainty. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re going the wrong direction.” Qian Wei pointed to the other side. “The school’s that way…”

“…”

The walk back to school took ten minutes, but this time, Lu Xun didn’t say a word the whole way. The mood felt quite serious, and his expression stayed solemn, his eyes once again fixed straight ahead without wavering, his head held just as high—like a proud peacock. But from Qian Wei’s angle, she could clearly see his ears turning faintly red. Despite his aloof, disdainful-of-mortals expression, Qian Wei really wanted to point out to Lu Xun that… um, you’re walking with the same arm and leg on the same side…

The two parted ways at the dorm entrance, but just as Qian Wei was about to head upstairs, Lu Xun called out to stop her.

“Qian Wei.”

“Yeah?”

“You’d better think it over carefully.”

“Huh? Okay…”

“I have a lot of good qualities.” Lu Xun said this as if it were an offhand remark. “When you’re weighing things, make sure to consider everything—don’t leave anything out. Miss this chance, and there’s no guarantee you’ll get another. People should know how to seize the moment.”

“Okay…”

By the time she got back to the dorm, Qian Wei still didn’t quite feel it was real. She glanced over at Liu Shiyun, who was lying in bed grinning stupidly at her phone—no need to even ask, Qian Wei already knew she was chatting with her boyfriend Tang Lü, whom she was head over heels for.

Was dating really that fun? Really that full of happiness?

Watching Liu Shiyun’s goofy smile, Qian Wei suddenly felt a flicker of envy and eagerness herself… If she dated Lu Xun, wouldn’t just imagining it already feel pretty thrilling???

“Liu Shiyun, if I got together with Lu Xun, do you think the whole school’s girls would beat me to death?”

Liu Shiyun finally set down her phone and looked at Qian Wei with a sympathetic expression. “Qian Wei, if a person has no dreams, living is no different from being a dead fish. So having dreams is a good thing! As long as you’ve tried for your dream, you won’t have any regrets about your youth!”

“…”

Forget it… Qian Wei thought, I’d better just sit quietly by myself…

But she’d barely settled onto her bed when her phone rang.

Qian Wei picked up, and Lu Xun’s voice came through. “Have you made up your mind?” She could tell he was trying hard to sound calm, but even someone as slow as Qian Wei could catch the thread of nervousness leaking through at the edge of his tone.

As if nerves were contagious, Qian Wei, phone in hand, found herself growing tense too, to the point that when she opened her mouth, she stammered. “Didn’t… didn’t you say I could tell you tomorrow?”

“Oh, I just happened to have nothing to do, and it occurred to me suddenly, so I thought I’d call and ask—maybe you’d already made up your mind early.”

“…” Qian Wei checked the time. Friend, do you realize it’s only been ten minutes since we parted ways???

“Well, keep thinking it over then.” Lu Xun hung up rather awkwardly.

But an hour later, the phone rang again.

“Qian Wei, have you made up your mind yet?”

“…” How had she never noticed before that Lu Xun was this impatient?

“Still haven’t decided?” Lu Xun’s voice was full of feigned composure. “It’s already been an hour. I figured you’d have decided by now.”

…

By the time Qian Wei got another call from Lu Xun two hours later, having accepted this new normal, she was completely unfazed.

She picked up and decided to take the initiative. “Um… I still haven’t decided… I’ll just tell you tomorrow…”

This time it was Lu Xun’s turn to fall silent. “…”

“I’ll definitely give you my answer tomorrow! My head’s all muddled right now, and I still have a paper on Western legal history due first thing tomorrow morning—you know if I don’t turn it in, my participation grade gets docked entirely, so I need to write that tonight first…”

“Give it to me. I’ll write it.”

Qian Wei: ???

Lu Xun’s attitude remained as domineering as ever—if you ignored the actual content of what he was saying, Qian Wei almost felt like he was ordering her to help him with his homework instead…

And yet, being “looked after” this domineeringly right now, Qian Wei found she didn’t actually mind it that much… She thought vaguely, is something wrong with my brain??? That she’d find Lu Xun saying “give it to me, I’ll write it” so ridiculously attractive… her heart wouldn’t stop pounding uncontrollably… this was really going to be the death of her…

“I’ll have it done and give it to you tomorrow.” Lu Xun’s voice remained firm, but carried a stubborn, slightly unnatural edge. “So you just focus on thinking it over properly.”

“Okay…”

Qian Wei had no idea how she’d spent the past few hours—everything felt hazy and unreal. Her mind felt like a mess, and she wanted to sleep for a bit, but the moment she closed her eyes, all she could picture was Lu Xun standing there with his hands fiercely on his hips, demanding to know if she’d made up her mind yet. She got up instead, turned on her computer, and randomly picked an idol drama to watch, but partway through, something felt off—the male lead was nowhere near as good-looking, not even close to Lu Xun. Huh? Why was she thinking about Lu Xun again?! Never mind, she’d practice some calligraphy with a pen to calm her mind instead—but as she wrote, her thoughts drifted again. Lu Xun had said he wrote her a love letter? She was so curious what it actually said. That idiot Qian Chuan, how had he mistaken that letter as being from Li Linlin! She’d have to ask Lu Xun next time she saw him whether he still had it—a love letter from Lu Xun!! She really ought to frame it and hang it on the wall to show off!!! Wait, wait, wait—wasn’t she practicing calligraphy to calm down? No good, no good, she couldn’t keep thinking about Lu Xun…

Qian Wei fidgeted around, touching this and that, and after all that fuss, she hadn’t accomplished a single thing—meanwhile, Lu Xun kept bouncing around endlessly in her head.

Just as she finally braced herself to try to sleep, her phone rang.

It was Lu Xun.

Qian Wei felt a flutter of nerves, a bit of unease, and, embarrassingly, even a touch of shyness. “Lu Xun…”

“Your answer?”

“Huh? Didn’t you say tomorrow was fine?”

“It’s midnight now. It’s already tomorrow.”

“…”

“Qian Wei, I overestimated my own patience. I can’t wait even one more minute.” Lu Xun seemed to be outdoors—she could hear wind in the background through the phone. “Come to the balcony. I’m down here.”

The other girls in the dorm were all asleep. Qian Wei crept out of bed on tiptoe and made her way to the balcony. Looking down, she saw Lu Xun standing in what had been an empty stretch of ground, the night seeming to drape him in a layer of shadow. But when Qian Wei looked his way, he tilted his head up slightly to meet her gaze—his pale face seemed to catch and reflect the night itself.

But Qian Wei suddenly thought of something and asked into the phone, “Isn’t the boys’ dorm locked at night?? How did you get out?? How are you getting back in later?”

“Couldn’t sleep, so I climbed over the wall.” Down below, Lu Xun held his phone but kept his head tilted up, looking at Qian Wei, his voice as calm as ever. “I’ll just climb back over after I see you.”

Qian Wei: ??? This was the first time she’d ever encountered someone who could talk about scaling walls back and forth as casually as strolling on flat ground…

Midnight outdoors carried a slight chill, and Lu Xun’s clothing looked rather thin for the night air. Sure enough, a faint cough came through the phone. After coughing, he looked up at Qian Wei again, his eyes fixed on her across the long distance, as if she were the whole world.

Qian Wei’s heart pounded, but she kept her voice deliberately composed. “It’s cold out there, hurry up and go back to sleep.”

“I’m waiting for you to say yes.” Lu Xun’s voice dropped lower. “I can’t sleep until you do.”

Lu Xun was usually so domineering, always used to getting his way without question—but now, this sudden lowering of his guard, the unintentional note of wounded vulnerability slipping through his words, was hard not to feel a pang of tenderness for.

Fitting the mood perfectly, Lu Xun coughed softly again right on cue, his voice turning completely soft. “If you say yes right now, I’ll go straight back to sleep.”

This man was entirely too calculating… The hardest thing for people to resist was a mature person suddenly acting childish, an aloof person suddenly turning gentle, a domineering person suddenly begging, a composed person suddenly showing nerves…

To emphasize just how pitiful he was, Lu Xun even started coughing softly again, almost unfairly so…

Though there was some distance between them, Qian Wei could practically feel the yearning, pitiful quality in the gaze fixed on her… like some large dog terrified of being abandoned, as if saying “no” would make her some unforgivable villain, as if refusing him now would fill her with guilt.

Yet even knowing full well this was all Lu Xun’s calculated maneuvering, Qian Wei found, infuriatingly, that she was falling for it completely… It seemed she really couldn’t refuse him… And worse still, she realized she didn’t actually want to refuse him…

The night wind wasn’t gentle—if anything, it had a strange, biting edge, stinging cold against her face. Yet standing in that wind, Qian Wei barely registered the cold at all. Despite the bleak night around her, her heart felt as though it were basking in warm spring—as if someone had planted a seed in her chest, and that seed was now slowly breaking through the soil to sprout. Everything seemed the same as before, yet somehow everything felt different too.

It was as if a pair of strong yet gentle hands had reached into Qian Wei’s heart and wiped away the dust, and only now could she begin to see things clearly.

Lu Xun had always meant something different to her.

Things she’d never dared even consider before—in this second chance at life, could she finally be brave enough to reach for them?

“Qian Wei, if you don’t answer me soon, I really am going to freeze to death.”

“But, but my dream was to be pursued for a really, really long time…” Qian Wei said with some regret. “I’ve never been chased after passionately by anyone before.”

Lu Xun paused, then continued. “Say yes first, and I’ll make up for everything you want afterward.”

“So it’s board first, tickets later, huh…”

Lu Xun paused again, then, seeming to have made up his mind, began pulling out the big guns.

“Say yes, and I’ll write all your law papers for you from now on.”

Qian Wei started to waver…

“I’ll mark your exam review points every finals season.”

Qian Wei felt herself softening a little…

“I’ll cover attendance check-ins for your general education classes.”

Qian Wei found it getting harder to say no…

“I’ll buy you breakfast every day.”

Qian Wei was tempted, restless…

“And if I ever make my fortune down the road, I’ll take you along for the ride.”

Qian Wei was completely, thoroughly won over…

“I agree, I agree! You’d better keep your word!”

“I will. Everything I’ve said, I’ll keep every bit of it.” Having secured the answer he wanted, Lu Xun finally relaxed, letting out a soft chuckle over the phone, his low voice utterly magnetic. “Guess I really have no principles when it comes to you.”

She’d always heard people say a voice could be “so nice it makes your knees weak” and never quite believed it—but now, faced with the real thing, she had to admit the wisdom of the masses. Lu Xun’s voice genuinely did make her knees a little weak; she now understood, to some degree, the mindset of those foolish ancient emperors who granted their beloved consorts anything they desired. Faced with that face of his, it really did feel impossible to say no.

But if she agreed to everything outright, with the prize already secured, there’d be no more sense of urgency driving that enthusiastic pursuit. Qian Wei thought it over and decided she needed to hold her ground on principle. A thought struck her, and she added, “Tell you what—you’ll start with a probationary boyfriend period first. If you perform well during probation, then you’ll be formally hired.”

Sure enough, Lu Xun sounded displeased. “Probationary period? How long?”

“Six months!”

“Six months?” Lu Xun sounded like he was gritting his teeth. “Some people could go through three whole relationships in six months, and I’m still on probation? Six months?! Qian Wei, aren’t you abusing the probationary period a little?”

“How am I abusing it? For labor contracts of three months to under one year, the probationary period can’t exceed one month. For contracts of one to under three years, it can’t exceed two months; for fixed-term contracts of three years or more, and for open-ended contracts, the probationary period can’t exceed six months.” Qian Wei cleared her throat and said solemnly, “My understanding is that the relationship between you and me is meant to be an open-ended one lasting more than three years, so a six-month probation isn’t unfair at all—unless I’ve misunderstood, and you only want to sign the kind of contract that’s three months to under a year???”

“How exactly did you study labor contract law? It says ‘can’t exceed six months,’ not that it has to be six months.” Lu Xun sounded irritated. “Six months is too long.”

“Qian Wei, I like you.”

Just as Qian Wei’s thoughts were spiraling, Lu Xun’s words struck her again, sending her poor little heart pounding so hard it could barely take it.

Lu Xun was openly and shamelessly exploiting his voice and face to bend the rules. “Six months really is too long. Of course, for your sake, I’ll endure it—just very painfully.” Lu Xun added, seemingly offhand, “You know, some employers, relying on their position of power, try to push for the maximum legally allowed probationary period, but honestly, I think that’s unfair to the employee. You know how labor arbitration works nowadays—it always leans in favor of the employee, because the whole point of labor contract law is really to protect workers.”

“…”

Fine, fine, Qian Wei thought, I lose, I lose. When it comes to talking law, she could never out-argue Lu Xun.

While Qian Wei was busy reflecting on her defeat, Lu Xun swiftly and decisively cut to the chase. “Two months.”

That was quite the ruthless negotiation—more than cutting it in half.

Lu Xun’s tone was full of certainty. “Two months seems just right to me—that way, by the time I’m officially hired, it’ll line up perfectly with Valentine’s Day.”

“Fine! Two months it is, then!”

Qian Wei thought, no wonder that senior from law school had once warned her repeatedly never to date someone from the same major—back then she hadn’t fully grasped the wisdom behind that advice, but now she finally understood. Other people’s relationships were all about racing against time, whispering sweet nothings—but two law students dating felt more like an ongoing legal case study. And yet, strangely, she now found the idea of a running legal commentary on her own love life rather thrilling?? Qian Wei wondered if maybe she had some deep-seated diligent-student gene buried in her after all.