Jiang Ruoqiao’s answer was the honest truth.

What did it mean to have successfully won someone over? If both parties harbored the same feelings for each other, then she supposed she was the one who had been won over by him.

Yet in everyone’s understanding, being “won over” also meant that the two people had officially defined their relationship… but at the moment, he hadn’t taken the initiative to say anything, and there was still a thin veil of gauze hanging between them.

Truthfully, she quite enjoyed being in this state. She always felt that when it came to someone like Lu Yicheng, the pace of things would slow down involuntarily. Perhaps he felt comfortable with it too. In terms of relationship experience, she was certainly more seasoned than he was — maybe he felt that letting things develop naturally was better. After all, he had always been a careful, meticulous, and responsible person. So she was willing to follow his rhythm.

Jiang Ruoqiao knew that given his character, he would absolutely never look at her computer screen, but she still felt a guilty conscience and logged out of the web version of WeChat anyway.

Without realizing it, over an hour had passed. It wasn’t until Jiang Ruoqiao habitually reached for the insulated cup at her side that she discovered all the water inside had been drunk.

Winter made indoor spaces quite dry, and Jiang Ruoqiao had to drink several cups of water every day.

She felt a bit torn, unsure whether or not to go refill it with hot water.

The library did provide hot water, and during this kind of period, the library was packed nearly every single day, which meant the hot water station was without a doubt also subject to queuing.

Just as she was hesitating, Lu Yicheng suddenly lowered his voice and asked her very softly, “Are you going to go get hot water?”

Jiang Ruoqiao was also afraid of disturbing the other people studying nearby, so she leaned in closer to him and said, “The water’s all gone. I want to go, but I don’t want to go.”

Lu Yicheng let out a quiet laugh.

The two of them were leaning this close together — close enough to catch the scent of each other.

Lu Yicheng reached out and took her insulated cup. “I’ll go get you hot water.”

As if afraid that Jiang Ruoqiao would politely refuse, he quietly offered another explanation: “Hot water is a hundred degrees. Be careful not to burn yourself.”

If this had been before, Jiang Ruoqiao would never have said that to Lu Yicheng, but now…

She had rather naturally come to accept his care as a matter of course.

She let Lu Yicheng take her insulated cup, watching his retreating figure as he headed toward the hot water station, one hand propped under her chin as she gazed after him attentively. She really had to say — how had she never noticed before that Lu Yicheng was such an appealing person?

Lu Yicheng arrived at the hot water station.

Sure enough, several people were already waiting for the water to boil.

His arrival naturally drew the attention of those around him. People glanced up at him, and their gazes gradually drifted downward, landing on the insulated cup in his hand. A few of them immediately understood: the campus heartthrob was here to fetch water for the campus beauty.

*Oh goodness, what a breathtakingly beautiful love story!*

Lu Yicheng seemed completely oblivious to the stares, standing there perfectly upright.

By now, everyone on campus had already grown accustomed to the fact that Lu Yicheng was pursuing Jiang Ruoqiao.

While waiting for the water to boil, someone suddenly called out to him: “Senior Lu.”

Lu Yicheng turned around and realized it was a second-year junior from the same department.

Lu Yicheng was definitely something of a celebrity in the department — juniors and underclassmen were generally quite familiar with him, since he was the prized student that several professors constantly boasted about. Lu Yicheng was also the ideal man in the hearts of his female juniors in the department. A young man like him — excellent academic performance, outstanding looks and bearing, and an irreproachably good character — was someone who would be warmly welcomed whether in society or on campus.

There were many people pursuing Jiang Ruoqiao, and there were quite a few who had feelings for Lu Yicheng as well.

It was precisely because of this that the two of them as a pairing had caused such a stir across such a large campus.

This particular junior had quietly harbored feelings for Lu Yicheng for a long time. She had also come to get hot water, and had recognized him from his silhouette alone, instinctively and excitedly calling out to him.

Lu Yicheng’s expression remained calm, his eyes gentle as he gave a small nod. “Hello.”

The junior wanted to say something more, but suddenly noticed something — the insulated cup in Lu Yicheng’s hand.

The cup was pink.

Senior Lu never used an insulated cup. She had never seen him carry this pink one before either.

In that instant, her mind and reactions moved with extraordinary speed: this had to be Senior Jiang’s!

She had nearly forgotten — just earlier in the group chat, she’d seen a classmate post that Senior Lu and Senior Jiang had come to the library to study together! She’d been so deep in her sea of practice problems that her memory was getting worse and worse. When she spotted Senior Lu, she’d only thought to come say hello, completely forgetting about that post — but this insulated cup had reminded her…

Senior Lu was no longer the Senior Lu of before.

The old Senior Lu had been closed off to love, his mind entirely devoted to his studies.

The current Senior Lu had blossomed at last, awakening to feelings for the first time — in addition to his studies, there was now a girl who occupied a great deal of his thoughts.

The junior immediately reined in the bright smile on her face. “Hello, Senior.”

And then she had no intention of saying anything more. Although Lu Yicheng was well-liked, he was also not adept at interacting with members of the opposite sex. Since the other party showed no interest in continuing the conversation, he naturally wouldn’t take the initiative to force awkward small talk either, and so the exchange came to an end.

The water came to a boil, and after Lu Yicheng had filled the cup to the brim for Jiang Ruoqiao, he turned to leave. Before he did, he gave the junior a polite smile — a gesture of farewell.

Once Lu Yicheng had gone, the junior immediately fished out her phone and sent a message to her close friends group: 【My heart is broken!! I just ran into Senior Lu at the library!! I’ve finally figured it out today — insulated cups and diamond rings are two sides of the same coin!!】

Her friends all replied in unison with question marks.

Junior: 【I called out to him, and when he turned around, I saw he was holding a pink insulated cup in his hands — do you guys get it?! In that split second, I had the illusion that I was talking to a married man. I even felt guilty for still having feelings for him! My heart is broken!!】

Friends: 【HAHAHAHAHA!!】

Friend: 【I told you — a man of this caliber, he either goes years without falling for anyone, but once his heart moves, he falls completely. There’d be no room for him to even notice any other girl. You should give it up while you still can~】

Junior: 【Don’t worry, that insulated cup has completely severed whatever feelings I had. In my mind now, he’s a man who’s already married…】

The “already married man” Lu Yicheng carried the insulated cup back to their original seats.

Jiang Ruoqiao took it back from him, and inwardly let out a heartfelt sigh: *Wow, he smells so good!!*

—

Lu Yicheng had been busier than a dog lately.

The upcoming exam week meant he had to review for exams, and on top of that, the part-time company had a great deal of matters that needed him to handle. When Lu Yicheng had first joined the company, several seniors hadn’t been particularly convinced, always feeling that a student who hadn’t even graduated yet — could he really be more professional and capable than them in this area? But in just a little over a month, they had been won over. As a result, the tasks assigned to Lu Yicheng were also considerably more than before.

At around four in the afternoon, after leaving the library, Lu Yicheng took his laptop directly onto the subway to head to the company.

Jiang Ruoqiao also took her laptop over to the apartment Lu Yicheng was renting.

Since Lu Yicheng wasn’t home, it fell to her to look after Lu Siyan.

Kindergarten didn’t provide dinner, and Jiang Ruoqiao was in a particularly good mood today, so she decided to personally cook a meal for her son. Lu Siyan, fresh from school, stood at the kitchen doorway with a face full of worry. “Mom… maybe we should just order takeout?”

Jiang Ruoqiao furrowed her brow. “But every time I’m with you, we order takeout. That’s not great.”

Lu Siyan shook his head frantically. “No no no, that’s perfectly great! I think takeout tastes really good!”

“But I don’t think it’s great.” Jiang Ruoqiao made the final call. “Today, let me give it a try.”

Lu Siyan pulled a long face.

Jiang Ruoqiao was both exasperated and amused. “Relax. The occasions when I’m in the mood to cook myself and endure the torture of oil fumes are few and far between — maybe just a handful of times a year! It’s not an everyday thing. Don’t you want to appreciate this while you can?”

Lu Siyan muttered under his breath: “I don’t want to appreciate it.”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “Lu Siyan!”

Lu Siyan immediately blurted out: “Mom, you know that sugar and salt are different things, right?!”

Jiang Ruoqiao was furious. She tied on the apron and picked up the spatula. “Your mother is twenty years old!” Not two! “

Lu Siyan: “…”

In her fury, Jiang Ruoqiao drove Lu Siyan out to the living room and ordered him that starting from this moment, he was not allowed to sneak peeks into the kitchen.

Lu Siyan made one last desperate attempt: “Mom, actually, I think instant noodles are the finest delicacy in the world.”

If they weren’t ordering takeout, he was all hands and feet in favor of instant noodles too!

Add a sausage into the noodles — he’d love that even more!

Jiang Ruoqiao: “You don’t have to say anything more. I’ve already decided.”

Lu Siyan: “Nooo~~”

Jiang Ruoqiao headed back into the kitchen. Just a little while ago, she had solemnly announced to Lu Yicheng over WeChat that she would be cooking tonight, and Lu Yicheng had responded with equal gravity by making a video call.

When she picked up, she found that Lu Yicheng was still inside the subway car.

She looked at Lu Yicheng on the screen, then glanced at her own small window in the corner, and suddenly felt self-conscious. She forced a stiff attempt at conversation: “So what ingredients do you have at home for me to work with?”

Lu Yicheng let out a quiet laugh. “You can take a look — I’m not too sure anymore. I’ve been incredibly busy lately.”

Neither of them made a move to end the video call.

Jiang Ruoqiao walked around with her phone, rummaging through the ingredients.

Lu Yicheng stood in the subway car, feeling the rush of air as it roared through the tunnel, her soft murmuring coming through his earphones: “There’s potato… Siyan really loves shredded potato.”

He quickly said: “He had that just yesterday. Cutting potatoes into thin shreds is really tedious, and it’s easy to cut yourself.”

Jiang Ruoqiao imagined the process.

Cutting a potato into very thin, fine shreds — the difficulty did seem rather high. And if she cut her finger…

Ugh! How gruesome.

She shook her head and put the potato back in its place. “Alright, I won’t make shredded potato.”

Lu Yicheng let out a quiet breath of relief.

“There are spare ribs and chicken wings in the fridge. Siyan also really loves sweet-and-sour spare ribs and cola chicken wings.” Jiang Ruoqiao wasn’t even sure anymore if she was just talking to herself.

“Don’t.” Lu Yicheng was listening very carefully. “Spare ribs and chicken wings both need to be pan-fried first to taste good. You’re a beginner, and it’s very easy to get splattered by the oil. I once wasn’t paying attention, and the hot oil got on my left wrist — it blistered up and even left a scar.”

The moment Jiang Ruoqiao heard the word “scar,” she immediately let go. “Then forget it, forget it — come to think of it, dishes like that really are above my skill level.”

Actually, as she kept talking through it, she couldn’t help but start laughing.

Lu Yicheng was a little puzzled. “What is it?”

Jiang Ruoqiao didn’t answer. She just wanted to laugh. She kept thinking that in the future Siyan came from, the reason “she” had been such a terrible cook was largely thanks to Lu Yicheng.

In that future, that Lu Yicheng must have been just as fussily cautious.

Shredded potato — not allowed, too easy to cut yourself.

Spare ribs and chicken wings — not allowed, too easy to get splattered by oil.

“I think,” Jiang Ruoqiao paused, “my cooking skills are probably never going to improve in this lifetime.”

—