Having gotten the answer he wanted, Lu Xun’s voice finally carried a hint of laughter. That soft, light chuckle seemed magnified in the night air—though separated by distance, Qian Wei felt almost as if Lu Xun were murmuring right at her ear. Well, the channel had suddenly switched from legal case studies to a romance drama.

The instigator himself remained oblivious. “Qian Wei, I really, really like you.” Lu Xun laughed again, letting out a long breath. “Saying it out loud wasn’t as hard as I thought, and it doesn’t feel embarrassing at all—it just feels good to be able to tell you.” His voice turned gentle. “I thought my overly proud ego would never let me get this far, but now I realize that’s not true. So this is what liking someone feels like—getting irritated, feeling down, suspicious, second-guessing everything, liking someone so much you want to fight against your own nature, liking someone so much you’d throw away your principles, liking someone so much that sometimes you don’t even feel like yourself anymore.” Lu Xun paused. “But it still feels good. It still feels good to have someone to like. Qian Wei, thank you for showing up. Thank you for letting me like you.”

Faced with this outpouring from Lu Xun, Qian Wei still couldn’t quite process it as real. Her heart was a tangle of surprise, secret joy, shyness, and disbelief.

Down below, Lu Xun sounded displeased. “Qian Wei, after a whole confession like that, you’ve got nothing to say?”

“Huh?” Qian Wei cupped her burning cheeks, feeling like her brain had short-circuited from his confession just now, unable to think or act quickly. She fidgeted and finally said, “I just… I just think this scene right now feels kind of like something out of a movie.”

Lu Xun perked up with interest. “Really? You think I’m being especially romantic, don’t you?” He gave a soft laugh, sounding thoroughly pleased with himself. “So what movie does it remind you of?”

“Romeo and Juliet?”

“…” Lu Xun sounded thoroughly exasperated. “Can’t you think of something better? They both died! And that was them sneaking around behind their families’ backs!”

“…”

The night grew deeper, tiny dewdrops forming on Qian Wei’s bangs from the moisture in the air. She looked down at Lu Xun. “Go back now, I already said yes.”

The usually composed Lu Xun turned rather childish. “I don’t want to.” He was being stubborn. “I want to keep talking to you a little longer.”

“You can just call me once you’re back.”

“No, then I can only hear your voice and not see you.”

Qian Wei’s face flushed unbearably. She thought, how had she never noticed before how clingy this guy could be—smooth-talking her like this. Liu Shiyun had been right—she really was no match for him.

Qian Wei covered her face. “You’ll see me again tomorrow.”

Lu Xun’s voice was full of resentment. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

The boss was upset—and that meant serious consequences. Qian Wei instinctively wanted to placate him, and somehow found herself quoting an old poem: “There’s a saying that goes, if two hearts are meant to last, why must they cling to every morning and night?”

This time Lu Xun finally seemed satisfied. “Fine, I’ll head back then. Goodnight, Qian Wei. Sweet dreams.”

Sweet dreams, as if! Qian Wei crawled back under her covers, clutching her wildly pounding heart. Damn Lu Xun, saying all that and then expecting her to just sleep?! Who could possibly fall peacefully asleep after being confessed to by Lu Xun? Impossible! There was no way she was getting any sleep tonight!

Qian Wei stayed up the whole night, so much so that the next day, Liu Shiyun was startled by the severity of her dark circles.

“Whoa, Qian Wei, what happened to you? Were you out all night stealing chickens or something?”

“…”

Before Qian Wei could even protest, the dorm supervisor’s booming voice carried up from downstairs. “Qian Wei! Someone’s looking for you!”

Qian Wei dashed downstairs and found Lu Xun waiting.

Today Lu Xun was dressed with meticulous care—from the color scheme and style of his clothes to his scarf, even his watch, every detail was flawless. Of course, compared to Lu Xun’s face, even this perfect outfit felt somehow lacking, since no matter what he wore, his looks always seemed to outshine the clothes. The only flaw was that beneath his beautiful eyes hung a pair of dark circles matching Qian Wei’s own, standing out starkly against his fair skin.

It seemed even someone as composed as Lu Xun hadn’t been quite as calm inside as he appeared—he’d probably stayed up all night too.

“Breakfast.”

While Qian Wei was still dazed, a warm bag was thrust into her hands. Looking down, she realized it was the hard-to-get Shandong multigrain pancake from the cafeteria.

Lu Xun’s expression remained as aloof as ever. Qian Wei looked down at the breakfast in her hands, thinking, well, this really was a case of the tables turning.

To get this pancake, Lu Xun must have been in line at the cafeteria since six-thirty this morning…

“Thanks for getting up so early for this.”

Lu Xun shot her a bluffing glare. “I didn’t sleep at all. What early?”

“Qian Wei! Huh?? Lu Xun?? What are you doing here too?” Just as the two of them stood there in a moment of tense, charged silence, Qian Chuan’s enthusiastic greeting rang out from not far away. Moments later, he came bounding over to them.

He shoved a bag into Qian Wei’s hands. “You got back to school before me on Sunday, so Mom and Dad asked me to bring you these warm clothes—it’s supposed to get cold in a few days.”

Qian Chuan then turned and gave Lu Xun a warm, friendly smile. “Lu Xun, you’re here too! Better bundle up these next few days, the temperature swing between day and night is brutal.”

Lu Xun nodded and was about to speak when Qian Chuan cut him off.

“Hey, Lu Xun, those dark circles are pretty bad—didn’t sleep well last night, huh!” Qian Chuan’s expression turned indignant. “You must’ve been kept up by that idiot who climbed the wall last night too!”

“…”

At the mention of wall-climbing, a hairline crack appeared in Lu Xun’s otherwise flawless composure, but Qian Chuan completely failed to notice and barreled straight on with his complaint. “No idea who that brain-dead idiot was—wind was so strong last night, and instead of sleeping, he climbed over the wall in the middle of the night! Fine, go ahead and climb out if you want! But then he had to climb back in too! The dorm supervisor heard him going out, and by the time he tried climbing back, the supervisor was wide awake and ready to catch him!”

Lu Xun’s face was expressionless, and he said nothing.

Qian Wei asked carefully, “Did they catch him?”

“Nope!” Qian Chuan sounded irritated. “The guy was pretty quick—heard the commotion and jumped straight down off the wall and bolted.”

Qian Wei let out a breath of relief.

But Qian Chuan continued, sounding gleeful. “Though he did get away, apparently he jumped down too fast and twisted his ankle.”

Qian Wei didn’t dare say anything. She glanced at Lu Xun’s foot, then at his face. Lu Xun’s expression remained utterly unbothered, as if none of this had anything to do with him. He stood there elegantly, listening to Qian Chuan talk, and no matter how Qian Wei studied him, she couldn’t spot anything off.

Right then, Qian Chuan’s phone rang, and he grinned and stepped aside to take the call. Taking advantage of the gap, Qian Wei asked quietly, “Lu Xun, is your ankle badly hurt?”

Lu Xun acted as if this had nothing to do with him at all. “I’m fine.” Having said that, he met Qian Wei’s probing gaze head-on, calm and utterly convincing.

Qian Wei thought, Qian Chuan did say “apparently”—it was probably just some exaggerated rumor. Lu Xun surely hadn’t twisted his ankle; after all, someone as elegant and formidable as Lu Xun could never end up in such an embarrassing situation.

Qian Wei was about to say something else when Qian Chuan finished his call and came back. He yawned, looking a bit worn out—the drowsiness apparently reminding him again of the wall-climbing incident that had disturbed his sleep the night before, and he pressed on relentlessly. “But seriously, that wall-climber probably didn’t just twist an ankle—it’s probably worse than that.”

Qian Wei: ???

Pleased with the curiosity on Qian Wei’s face, Qian Chuan drew it out before continuing. “You probably don’t know this, Qian Wei, but the wall by our boys’ dorm—since there’d been thieves climbing over to steal stuff—the school just installed a row of spikes on top. Man, with those spikes up there, I figure climbing that wall would turn a guy into a girl in about one second flat.” Qian Chuan rubbed his chin. “Makes you wonder if whoever climbed it last night still has everything intact down there.”

“…”

Lu Xun fell silent…

Qian Wei, though she really tried to resist, found herself instinctively glancing down at Lu Xun’s lower half…

Meanwhile Qian Chuan stood there, hands on hips, laughing away. “The dorm supervisor was still grumbling this morning about not catching the guy—said if they ever caught him, they’d make an example out of him. Honestly, I kind of want to suggest the supervisor go check the campus clinic right now, maybe the guy’s over there getting treated, hahahaha.” As he spoke, he clapped Lu Xun on the shoulder. “Right, Lu Xun? Who even climbs walls like that these days, thinking they’re some martial arts master? Next time he’ll break a leg and end up limping for good!”

Qian Wei desperately wanted to point out that the person whose shoulder he was currently clapping was in fact last night’s wall-climber…

“Based on my professional analysis, that wall-climber was probably sneaking out to see a secret lover last night.” Completely oblivious to the bizarre tension in the air, Qian Chuan barreled on, addressing Lu Xun directly. “Seriously, what’s with college guys these days, so lacking in restraint? Dating’s not a big deal, nothing to hide—why can’t whatever it is just wait until the next day? Why does he have to scale a wall in the dead of night just to go see his girlfriend? Definitely one of those clueless freshmen, no perspective, no self-control. Guys like you and me, sophomores, we’re way more mature and composed. And with our kind of personal charm, there’s no way either of us would ever do something that childish just for some girl! Right, Lu Xun?”

Lu Xun’s face had turned quite dark. He pressed his lips together, the picture of “trying-not-to-laugh.jpg,” and his voice came out sounding forced. “Mm.”

Qian Chuan, seemingly on a roll, looked ready to launch into a full psychological profile of last night’s wall-climber.

Lu Xun listened in silence for a moment longer before he finally couldn’t take it anymore. “I just remembered I have something to take care of. I’ll head out first.”

Qian Chuan looked a bit reluctant to see him go. “All right, then.” As he spoke, he kept watching Lu Xun’s retreating figure. “Huh??” He studied it a moment longer, sounding puzzled. “Qian Wei, look at the way Lu Xun’s walking? Doesn’t that seem kind of off to you? Like he’s limping a little? Did he twist something playing ball recently?”

Qian Wei silently watched Lu Xun’s back as he tried hard to disguise his uneven gait, feeling that his slow, careful steps carried a private, unspoken weight of misery…