Lin Qingye waited until Xu Zhinan disappeared through the dormitory entrance before getting back into his car.

He didn’t rush to drive home. Instead, he just sat there, pulling a cigarette from his pack and placing it between his lips without lighting it, simply enjoying the faint tobacco scent.

The wind blew in through the gap in the car window.

Several locust trees on campus were in full bloom, their delicate fragrance drifting into the car.

Lin Qingye’s teeth repeatedly ground against the cigarette filter until tobacco strands came loose. He tossed the cigarette aside, propped his forehead in his hand, and let out a long sigh.

The palm that had covered Xu Zhinan’s eyes earlier had caught some fragrance—not her usual scent, but a faint trace of makeup powder. She had worn makeup today.

Lin Qingye’s mind drifted back to the moment when he had spotted Xu Zhinan in the audience while he was performing on stage.

It was the first time he’d seen her dressed that way. Seeing Xu Zhinan in such a style had surprised him too.

Beyond surprise, he found her adorable.

He couldn’t help smiling right there on stage.

After waiting in the car a while longer, his phone vibrated with a message from Xu Zhinan: I’m back in the dorm.

Lin Qingye replied with a simple “Good” and finally drove away.

As soon as Xu Zhinan approached the dormitory, Zhao Qian and Jiang Yue surrounded her, demanding to know how her date had gone.

“It wasn’t a date,” Xu Zhinan corrected, then pulled out Shen Linlin’s signed photo from her bag. “Here.”

“It’s even a signed photo!” Zhao Qian exclaimed in surprise, holding it preciously.

“Yes, she just signed it.”

“I love you so much, Ah Nan!” Zhao Qian hugged her excitedly. “And this photo is so beautiful!”

Xu Zhinan smiled. “Don’t thank me. Lin Qingye asked her for it.”

Zhao Qian winked at her. “Lin Qingye seems to have quite a bit of influence.”

“Huh?” Xu Zhinan thought back and said, “I felt like all those people had a pretty good relationship. They weren’t standoffish at all. Even though Shen Linlin has been in the industry longer, she was very nice.”

“Of course she is—she’s my idol after all,” Zhao Qian said.

She nudged Xu Zhinan with her elbow and asked in a lowered voice, “So what about you and Lin Qingye? How’s it going?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean. He seems to be pursuing you quite sincerely now. What do you think?”

Xu Zhinan paused, walking to her desk to set down her bag. “I don’t know either.”

“This is your chance to date a celebrity! If it were me, I’d seize the opportunity. In the future, you probably wouldn’t even need to fight for concert tickets or show tickets—they’d be arranged directly.” Zhao Qian reconsidered, “Though you’re not a fan of celebrities, so this benefit might not be that attractive to you.”

Jiang Yue turned her head to ask, “Ah Nan, are you hesitant to date him because he has so many fans now?”

“It’s not that.” Xu Zhinan ran her fingers through her hair. “I can’t explain it clearly.”

She had maintained that kind of relationship with Lin Qingye for three years.

For three years, she had looked up to Lin Qingye, spending countless nights overthinking and tossing and turning.

Honestly, she was still bewildered by Lin Qingye’s transformation. Learning that Lin Qingye had known her before and had been quietly watching her for so long—it was impossible not to be moved.

But those three years—over a thousand days and nights.

This was the first time Xu Zhinan had liked someone this way, her heart and eyes full of him, unable to even pretend otherwise.

Their relationship had always been led by Lin Qingye—before, and truthfully, even now.

He had such a powerful presence and knew exactly how to make others like him.

So sometimes Xu Zhinan felt afraid.

“But a fairy like you,” Zhao Qian said, stroking her chin, “should be pursued for a long time. Otherwise, those bad men won’t know how to cherish you. If you want a man to listen obediently, you have to play hard to get.”

Zhao Qian could always spout this kind of twisted logic at length.

Jiang Yue laughed from the side. “She’s not wrong.”

Xu Zhinan pinched her face. “You’ve been corrupted by Qianqian too.”

“No, it’s just that we’re talking about Lin Qingye here. I initially didn’t have a good impression of him. I thought he seemed like a bad boy—the type that no girl could handle in a relationship. I was worried he might bully you, but today he seemed to like you.”

Jiang Yue sat backward on a chair, arms crossed over the backrest, chin resting on them. “But you should still examine him closely. Don’t rush to say yes just because he’s Lin Qingye.”

Among the three roommates, Zhao Qian had dated in high school and had several boyfriends during her first two years of college. Xu Zhinan and Lin Qingye could be said to have had half a relationship. Only Jiang Yue was a complete blank slate when it came to romance.

Zhao Qian teased, “Wow, this graduate school candidate could teach a course on romance! You’ve got all these theories—you know your stuff!”

Jiang Yue became embarrassed at her words and raised her hand as if to hit her.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Zhao Qian surrendered with her hands up.

Jiang Yue snorted, glancing at her but refusing to engage. She turned back to Xu Zhinan and said, “Even though he’s Lin Qingye, you’re our Pingchuan’s brightest star.”

That night, after lights out, Jiang Yue and Zhao Qian continued analyzing Xu Zhinan’s love affairs until Xu Zhinan was confused and drowsy.

The sound of their debate was still in her ears as she fell asleep.

In the following days, Xu Zhinan had no time to think about her relationship with Lin Qingye—the themes for the tattoo design competition finals had been announced.

The four tattoo style groups each had their signature designs.

The School group was divided into Old School and New School. The competition theme provided for Old School was skull material, with the technical focus on simple, clean execution to create a bold, striking visual effect.

The Eastern Traditional group was given lotus flower and koi fish materials.

The Realistic style featured an owl, with emphasis on fur tones, misting techniques, and the owl’s eyes.

The Totem group was given phoenix material, but totems and realism were completely different. Totems didn’t require lifelike representation, but were more of an abstract concept that competitors needed to design themselves.

However, since Wei Jing, the School group’s champion, had already withdrawn from the competition, only three themes remained for the final contest.

The three group champions would each create three different style tattoos—their specialty style plus the other two styles.

The grand champion would need to excel in each style, with the final winner determined by the combined scores of all three tattoos.

This competition was called the “Tattoo Design Competition,” and it tested not just tattooing technique but also design ability.

The final competition themes assessed both skills equally.

While materials were provided, it was like an essay with a broad topic—the specific details and arrangement were up to the tattoo artists themselves.

Fortunately, senior year didn’t have many classes. In the days before the finals, Xu Zhinan spent almost all her time either working, attending class, or drawing design sketches.

After scrapping countless versions, she finally settled on three design drawings.

The given time wasn’t generous to begin with, and now she had only one day left to practice.

Xu Zhinan didn’t return to her dormitory that day, staying overnight at the tattoo parlor to practice.

She had done plenty of realistic style tattoos for clients recently and was quite skilled at it. Her main focus for practice was Eastern Traditional and Totem styles.

The bold, uninhibited, and rugged Totem style was rarely requested from Xu Zhinan, so she naturally had little experience with it.

After finishing the first set on practice skin, she was already feeling drowsy.

Just then, her phone vibrated—

[Lin Qingye: Tomorrow’s the finals?]

Xu Zhinan rubbed her eyes, yawned, and replied: Yes.

[Lin Qingye: Then get some rest early. I’ll take you there tomorrow.]

[Xu Zhinan: Can’t rest yet. Not fully prepared.]

[Lin Qingye: What’s wrong?]

[Xu Zhinan: Still practicing. Not skilled enough yet. Afraid I might make mistakes tomorrow if I’m not nervous.]

[Lin Qingye: Still at the shop?]

[Xu Zhinan: Yes.]

[Lin Qingye: You should go back and sleep soon. You have the competition tomorrow.]

[Xu Zhinan: No time left. Planning to sleep at the shop for the night. I’ll sleep after the competition.]

[Lin Qingye: Are you alone at the shop?]

[Xu Zhinan: Yes.]

After waiting a while with no further reply, Xu Zhinan took out another piece of practice skin and continued working on the lotus and koi fish design.

“Here.” Wang Qi came out of the recording studio. “This is the newly recorded demo. I’ve already listened to it and there are no issues. It could go straight to production.”

Lin Qingye took it. “I’ll listen to it when I get back. I felt the background instruments were a bit flat earlier. Might need to adjust them.”

“You’re not going to listen to it here?” Wang Qi checked the time—it wasn’t that late.

“No, I have something to do.”

“What is it?”

Lin Qingye didn’t answer. He waved the demo in his hand. “I’ll send it back to you in a few days after I make the changes.”

With that, he left.

Xu Zhinan was in the middle of tattooing when the shop’s melodious wind chimes suddenly rang. Lin Qingye pushed open the door, carrying two bags.

She froze.

Lin Qingye placed the bags on a nearby wooden shelf and asked, “No more clients coming, right?”

She responded in surprise, “No.”

Lin Qingye pulled down the roller shutter, brought the bags over to her, and took out food containers, calmly explaining, “This way, no one will see me in your shop.”

“Why did you come?”

“Have you had dinner?”

Xu Zhinan shook her head.

He took the tattoo pen from her hand and set it aside, then pushed the food container in front of her. “Eat first, then practice.”

The food container was exquisite—an antique-style wooden box with wooden patterns, divided into four compartments. Black sesame seeds were sprinkled on the rice, with a good balance of meat and vegetables.

Xu Zhinan realized she was indeed hungry. “How did you know I hadn’t eaten dinner?”

Lin Qingye laughed. “Don’t I know you well enough by now?”

“Hm?”

“When you get busy, you completely forget to eat. This isn’t the first time.”

Xu Zhinan blinked, suddenly remembering what incident he was referring to.

It was probably when she was a sophomore.

Sophomore year had an especially packed schedule—five days a week, three of which were full days of classes, making finals week particularly grueling.

At that time, Xu Zhinan hadn’t yet found a balance between her work at the tattoo parlor and finals, so as exams approached, she still had a pile of materials to memorize.

One course, a survey class with a closed-book exam, tested purely memorization-based content.

The day before the exam, Lin Qingye had picked her up, and they went to his apartment together.

When Lin Qingye came out after showering, he found her standing by the window with a thick textbook, memorizing.

The scene was soft, early evening with the setting sun casting just the right light. Xu Zhinan stood by the window, the sunlight giving her skin a translucent quality, the loose strands of hair at her temples looking fluffy.

He stood there watching for a moment. “What are you memorizing?”

“Aesthetics Survey.” Xu Zhinan made a pitiful face. “The exam is tomorrow, and I’ve just started memorizing.”

“You didn’t study earlier?”

“There are too many exams all at once. I didn’t have time to prepare for this course before.”

Lin Qingye walked over to her, wrapped an arm around her waist, and looked down at her textbook. The notes were meticulously taken, densely packed, with large sections highlighted with a marker.

“Are all these highlighted parts what you need to memorize?”

“Yes, the professor said these are the important points for the exam.”

He flipped through a few pages and scoffed. “With so many ‘important points,’ his exam paper must be worth three hundred points.”

“…”

This was the first time Xu Zhinan had hit a bottleneck in her studies, and she was anxious.

Lin Qingye said, “There’s so much, and the exam is tomorrow. There’s no way you can memorize it all.”

“Exactly, exactly.” She agreed, troubled.

Lin Qingye took the book from her hands, placed it on the windowsill, then pulled her close by the waist and mischievously whispered in her ear, “Since you can’t memorize it all anyway, why not just give up?”

How could she do that?

Xu Zhinan thought.

But before she could voice her objection, Lin Qingye leaned down and sealed her lips.

Under normal circumstances, she would have yielded, but today her desire to study was too strong. She struggled a bit. “No, no, Brother Qingye, if I don’t study, I might fail the course.”

“Do all you good students always talk about failing courses?” Lin Qingye laughed, lifting her chin. “With notes like yours, failing would be a challenge.”

Xu Zhinan caught his mischievous hand. “But I don’t have time to memorize everything.”

“Relaxing a bit will help you memorize faster,” he said in a playful tone, leaning down to give her ear a light peck. “Or, how about I do my thing, and you do your studying?”

“…”

His words made Xu Zhinan’s face flush red. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what he meant by “I do my thing.”

With her face burning and unable to speak, she felt a chill as Lin Qingye lifted her skirt.

After being placed on the bed, he teasingly asked in her ear, “Do you want to study? I can get your book for you.”

Xu Zhinan’s eyelashes trembled intensely as she bit her lip in silence.

Lin Qingye smiled roguishly, moving past the topic.

After that, Xu Zhinan no longer had any spare thought for finals.

By the time they finished, it was almost dark. Xu Zhinan had showered and was wearing a white robe, leaning against the headboard, too exhausted to move a finger.

Lin Qingye opened the window for ventilation, picked up the book from the windowsill, and handed it to her. “Still want to read?”

Xu Zhinan wearily took it, nodding resignedly: “Yes.”

“After you finish studying, we’ll have dinner.”

With that, he took his cigarette pack and lighter and went outside to smoke.

The previous intensity had left Xu Zhinan uncomfortable, no matter how she positioned herself. Finally, she found lying on her stomach the most comfortable, so she settled down to study that way.

An hour passed as she studied.

Lin Qingye had initially not wanted to disturb her and stayed in the living room, planning to order takeout when she got hungry and came out. But after waiting and waiting with no sign of her, he entered the bedroom again.

He walked straight to her side, sat on the edge of the bed, and smacked her buttocks through the blanket.

Xu Zhinan’s entire body tensed, and her finger, about to turn a page, froze.

Lin Qingye’s hand caressed back and forth, and Xu Zhinan couldn’t stand it. She arched her body upward, trying to escape his hand.

“Why are you avoiding me?”

“Stop it. Not again today. I need to study.”

Lin Qingye raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Did I say I wanted to go again?”

He was deliberately teasing her.

Teasing Xu Zhinan was always satisfying because she was so easily flustered. Sure enough, her face reddened again.

Seeing how genuinely embarrassed she was, Lin Qingye stopped teasing. “It’s time for dinner. You can study the rest tonight.”

“I don’t want dinner. I won’t finish memorizing in time.”

He frowned. “Ah Nan.”

She was unusually stubborn. “I don’t want to eat. I haven’t even memorized half of it yet. At this rate, I’ll fail.”

As a top student, Xu Zhinan didn’t realize that failing a course wasn’t actually that easy. With her high regular scores, as long as she didn’t completely blank on the exam, failing was nearly impossible.

“Then at least come out and study in the living room.”

Xu Zhinan finally got out of bed and followed him to the living room.

Lin Qingye ordered takeout, which arrived half an hour later. Xu Zhinan still clutched her book, refusing to let go, saying she wasn’t hungry and didn’t want to eat.

“Eat first, then study,” Lin Qingye insisted.

Xu Zhinan didn’t want to, but she also didn’t want to keep refusing him, so she simply pretended not to hear, resting her chin on the table’s edge without moving.

Lin Qingye waited for a moment. Seeing through her tactic, he directly snatched her book away, holding it high.

Xu Zhinan stood up to grab it, but he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him, making her sit on his lap, then tossed the textbook somewhere out of her reach.

His arm encircled her waist, restricting her movement, as he put chopsticks in her hand. “Eat first.”

“Oh come on,” she complained weakly. “I don’t want to eat.”

As she spoke, she struggled a bit, trying to get out of his embrace, shifting around on his lap.

Lin Qingye’s brow twitched, and his voice deepened. “Move again and you won’t be studying tonight either.”

Xu Zhinan froze, belatedly sensing the change. She didn’t dare move anymore, not even applying pressure as she sat lightly on his lap, her face red to her neck as she silently ate her meal, head down.

When she finished, she put down her chopsticks and turned to look at Lin Qingye, dutifully reporting, “I’m done eating.”

Lin Qingye glanced at the food—she hadn’t eaten much, but had consumed about half, which was enough to count as a genuine effort. He nodded with satisfaction. “Good.”

Xu Zhinan pressed her lips together and said honestly, “I want to study now.”

Lin Qingye smiled and finally released her.

Remembering these past events in her current situation made Xu Zhinan’s face heat up again.

Lin Qingye glanced at her and chuckled softly, without saying more. He handed her the chopsticks. “Finish eating, then practice.”

Perhaps because she had recalled that past incident, Xu Zhinan found even these simple four words somewhat embarrassing coming from him. She didn’t feel right refusing, lest it seem like she wanted to reenact the whole scenario from before.

Besides, Lin Qingye always had a way to make her eat.

Xu Zhinan took a bite of rice and looked up at him again. “Have you eaten?”

“Yes.”

Her design drawings were right beside them. As an art and design major, Xu Zhinan excelled at these designs, and each one was beautiful.

The totem design was perhaps the most special, and this was the first time Lin Qingye had seen her draw a totem.

A phoenix totem.

Very clean, with a gradient from black to red—a phoenix rising from the ashes.

“You’ll be tattooing these three designs in the competition tomorrow?” Lin Qingye asked.

“Yes.”

“Have you found models?”

“For the finals, the organizers provide models uniformly. I think they found volunteers.”

Since the group champions were doing the tattooing, there was no need to worry about poor results.

Lin Qingye nodded without saying more.

Xu Zhinan quickly finished eating and cleaned up the containers before asking, “Don’t you have anything to do today?”

“It’s so late. What could I have to do?” Lin Qingye tossed the bags into the trash can. “I’ll keep you company for a while.”

Xu Zhinan paused. “But I still need to practice.”

“Go ahead with what you’re doing. Don’t mind me.” As he spoke, he pulled out a notebook from the other bag and asked, “Do you have a pen?”

“On the table.”

Lin Qingye got up, took a pencil, sat back down across from her, and opened his notebook. Inside were handwritten music notes, not very neat, scattered here and there—probably only he could understand them.

He scanned through it again. Having already listened to the instrument-backed demo at Wang Qi’s place, he had clear ideas for revisions.

He quickly began making changes with his pencil.

He was captivating when engaged with music.

Whether on stage or quietly writing lyrics and composing.

His long, bony fingers held the pencil, crossing out sections and writing in new ones, drawing the musical notes beautifully.

Xu Zhinan watched him write his score for a while, her lips lifting slightly, then picked up her tattoo machine again to continue where she had left off.

The tattoo shop’s roller shutters were down, blocking out some of the outside noise.

The ceiling’s incandescent lights were on, and the two sat facing each other.

One was focused intently on making each tattoo detail exquisite.

The other wasn’t as intent, resting his chin on his hand, loosely holding the pencil, writing a few strokes only after some contemplation.

Lin Qingye finished first. With a general sense of the musical points in mind, he tapped his fingers lightly on the table, reviewing the revised score once more before sending it to Wang Qi.

After exchanging a few messages and confirming the final version, he put away his phone and looked at Xu Zhinan.

She was tired, yawning while tattooing, her eyes becoming teary and blurry. She rubbed them before continuing.

“Not going back?”

“No.” Xu Zhinan glanced at the clock. “It’s too late. They’re asleep by now, and I’d wake them up. I’ll just lie down here and sleep for a bit.”

“Why not come to my place—my studio? It’s closer, just a few steps away.”

Xu Zhinan paused, looked up at him, and said nothing.

Lin Qingye smiled. “Just to sleep, nothing more.”

“…”

Xu Zhinan said, “It’s fine. I’ll sleep here.”

Lin Qingye didn’t push further.

“Aren’t you going home?” Xu Zhinan asked.

“No, I’ll go back after you’re done practicing. I usually stay up late anyway.”

So Xu Zhinan continued practicing on the synthetic skin for tomorrow’s competition. Lin Qingye didn’t disturb her further, checking his phone for a while before flipping to a blank page in his notebook and continuing to write.

The night gradually quieted as Yangcheng’s nightlife entered its later stages.

Xu Zhinan yawned several more times.

Lin Qingye put down his pen, looked around, took the electric kettle from her table, and went to the back room to fill it with water and heat it.

Leaning against the wall, his phone vibrated.

[Lin Guancheng: Come home tomorrow.]

[Lin Qingye: I’m busy.]

[Lin Guancheng: You know what day it is tomorrow.]

Lin Qingye watched the kettle on the shelf bubbling and boiling, his eyes cold, devoid of emotion.

After a moment, he replied.

[Lin Qingye: What time?]

[Lin Guancheng: Morning.]

[Lin Qingye: I’m not free in the morning.]

[Lin Guancheng: Then noon.]

Lin Qingye hesitated briefly before finally replying with a simple “OK.”

At the same time, the water in the kettle had boiled, and the switch automatically clicked off.

He stood in the corner of the back room, leaning against the wall, feeling the urge to smoke.

He turned his head and noticed that the back room had a small window. Lin Qingye walked to it—it hadn’t been opened for a long time, and the latch was rusted.

Forcefully pulling the window open, Lin Qingye took out his cigarette pack from his pocket.

This pack had been in his pocket for some time. His effort to quit smoking had been quite effective—he had been smoking less lately, but unfortunately, tonight he was breaking his resolution.

A flash of fire lit up, the flame curling around the cigarette tip.

Lin Qingye rested his elbow on the windowsill, his back slightly hunched, surrounded by blue-white smoke.

After finishing one cigarette, he stayed by the window for a while longer before straightening up. Taking the kettle, he was about to go out when he suddenly remembered telling Xu Zhinan that he was quitting smoking, so he rinsed his mouth first.

When he pushed the door open, he found Xu Zhinan had already fallen asleep, her head pillowed on the workstation, still holding the tattoo pen in hand, though fortunately, she had turned off the power.

Lin Qingye poured a cup of water, set it aside to cool, then went over to put away the tattoo pens, practice skins, and design sketches around her.

He bent down, reached under her knees, picked her up, and placed her on the work bed, covering her with a blanket.

The water had cooled to a comfortable temperature. He took a sip, sat down in a nearby chair, and looked at the sleeping Xu Zhinan.

The blanket covered half her face.

Her face was small, delicate-boned, but not gaunt. Lying on her side with her arm as a pillow, her cheek was slightly squished, and she appeared to be in a deep sleep.

Her eyelashes were curled and distinct, thick and well-defined.

Lin Qingye watched from a distance for a while, then leaned in closer, unable to resist reaching out to touch her eyelashes.

The dark lashes fluttered slightly, very rapidly.

Lin Qingye continued his “harassment,” brushing his fingertip across her eyelashes again like a small brush.

Even in her sleep, Xu Zhinan sensed the disturbance. Probably thinking it was an insect, she wrinkled her nose and reached out to swat it away, coincidentally catching his mischievous index finger.

Having successfully caught the bug disturbing her sleep, Xu Zhinan made a soft “hmph” sound, nuzzled her face against the sheet, and kept holding onto him.

Lin Qingye let her hold on.

The gloom from earlier dissipated, and his craving for cigarettes completely vanished.

After a while, he leaned down, gently pressing his forehead against her arm, burying his face there. His lips curved into a smile as he said, “Ah Nan.”