This was all just a script, though — a script!

But Tan Yin couldn’t explain that. If it accidentally got out, all the effort spent clearing Zhou Ming’s name would go to waste. She could only clear her throat and say stiffly, “It’s not really Zhou Ming’s fault. Even the most patient person has their limits — it’s me, I’m just too difficult, it’s my fault…”

“It’s understandable for a girl to be a little difficult in a relationship.”

Tan Yin was momentarily stunned, but quickly gave Chu Hang a self-deprecating smile. “That’s easy for you to say as an outsider. Once you actually experience it yourself, you’ll know — even with a girlfriend, that kind of behavior wears thin.”

“Depends how pretty she is.”

“What?”

Chu Hang glanced at Tan Yin quickly and lightly, then looked away even faster. “Someone like you, being difficult like that — that’s still manageable.”

Tan Yin blinked, and it took a moment before she understood what Chu Hang meant. Instantly, her ears went bright red.

Fortunately it was the middle of the day and the sun was already blazing, so even with her ears turning red, it shouldn’t draw Chu Hang’s attention — especially since his own ears had gone red from the heat too.

But… did Chu Hang just mean he thought she was pretty?

Unfortunately, before Tan Yin’s imagination could take flight, Chu Hang’s next words cut it short —

“Xu Yu said so.”

There was something unnatural in Chu Hang’s voice — apparently even quoting someone else’s words made him a little embarrassed. He quickly looked off into the distance, pressing his lips together and saying nothing more.

The answer was hardly a surprise — someone as detached and cold as Chu Hang would never compliment her like that on his own. Still, even knowing this, Tan Yin couldn’t help feeling a pang of disappointment and melancholy. Her heart, which had been pounding wildly, finally settled, followed by a vague, sour feeling.

“Chu Hang, put me down.” Tan Yin composed herself, then said firmly, “My leg’s fine, actually. It feels better now. You don’t need to trouble yourself carrying me down.”

Chu Hang, probably eager to do just that, said nothing, simply stopped walking and set her down.

But just as Tan Yin was about to tell him to head back up the mountain, he crouched down slightly in front of her. “Get on.”

Tan Yin blinked.

Chu Hang, seemingly a little impatient, urged unnaturally, “Crouching’s tiring. Hurry up and get on. Carrying you like before wasn’t safe — this way’s better.”

There was still a fair stretch of road left before reaching the bottom, and though Tan Yin wasn’t heavy, having Chu Hang carry her on his back the whole way down was still a lot to ask. Instinctively, she refused, and to prove her legs were fine to walk on, she stepped forward on her own, using action to reject his offer and firmly declining to be carried down.

But she’d only taken a couple of steps before a pair of hands reached out and lifted her right back up, steady as before. Instinctively, Tan Yin tried to wriggle out of Chu Hang’s arms.

“Don’t move around.” Chu Hang’s voice was low, carrying a faint warning. “Squirming like that will throw off your balance — it’s dangerous going downhill.”

Tan Yin was practically in tears. “Then put me down! Carrying me like this, I’m worried about falling too!”

Chu Hang’s reply was so self-righteous it left Tan Yin speechless. “You’re the one who wouldn’t let me carry you on my back, so this is the only way. Just behave and don’t move, and nothing will happen.”

He cleared his throat, and after a moment added, “Xu Yu told me that during a previous law school event, someone left the group on their own to take photos and slipped, fell off the mountain, and died. So as the person responsible for safety, I have to see this through to the end.”

Hearing Chu Hang speak in that tone, Tan Yin knew there was no point struggling any further. She finally accepted reality, let Chu Hang set her down, then obediently climbed onto his back, switching to the safer, less strenuous piggyback position.

Ever since learning Chu Hang was off the market, Tan Yin hadn’t been sleeping well, and last night especially had been fitful and broken. Now, lying against Chu Hang’s back, lulled by his steady footsteps and the slight jostling, she couldn’t help but start to doze off. Chu Hang smelled faintly of lemon today — a pleasant scent.

“You and Zhou Ming…”

Chu Hang knew he should hold back, but in the end he couldn’t help himself and opened his mouth — only to have Tan Yin, on his back, mumble something incoherent and shift into a different sleeping position.

She’d fallen asleep.

Carrying someone down a mountain wasn’t easy, and the most sensible thing to do would have been to hurry to the base and set her down as quickly as possible. Yet Chu Hang found himself, without meaning to, slowing his pace. He deliberately took the shaded paths under the trees, trying to avoid direct sunlight, but the patch of skin on his back where Tan Yin’s face was pressed against him was still rapidly heating up, and Chu Hang could feel a faint warmth creeping into his own face.

No matter how slowly he walked, the road eventually came to an end. Chu Hang carried Tan Yin, step by step, all the way to the foot of the mountain, yet she showed no sign of waking, her breathing even deepening into what sounded like proper sleep…

At a time like this, the sensible thing to do would be to set her down and wake her up directly. He wasn’t anything to her, after all — nothing more than a former object of infatuation, one she herself had already declared a mistake, an unrealistic fixation. He wasn’t her boyfriend. Whether she got to sleep comfortably or not had nothing to do with him.

Chu Hang understood all this perfectly well, and yet, in the end, he didn’t move. After all… after all, being woken abruptly from a daytime nap could easily cause dizziness and discomfort. What if Tan Yin’s constitution was delicate, and waking her caused some kind of problem — wouldn’t he bear some responsibility for that too?

Too much trouble. Better to just let her sleep. It wasn’t as if he had anything else to do anyway.

In the end, Chu Hang found a large sun umbrella outside a small shop, pressed his lips together, and stood there the whole time with Tan Yin on his back. He was actually rather thirsty, but with both hands occupied keeping Tan Yin from sliding off, he had no free hand to buy himself a drink. Still, perhaps thanks to the gentle breeze drifting by, Chu Hang’s mood wasn’t bad at all.

When Tan Yin finally stirred awake in a daze, she lifted her head and, noticing the changed scenery, realized with a start that they were already at the foot of the mountain. She instinctively wriggled free and jumped down off Chu Hang’s back, thoroughly embarrassed. “I just fell asleep…” She glanced at her watch, and the sight made her jaw drop. “An hour and a half has passed?!”

Given the route, going from the base to the halfway point had only taken half an hour going up — did that mean she’d slept for a whole hour on the way down?!

“Chu Hang, did you carry me on your back for a whole hour?” Tan Yin’s mind reeled in shock — perhaps because she’d just woken up, her head still wasn’t fully clear, and she only felt a wave of dizziness and a racing heart.

Had Chu Hang really just kept carrying her this whole time, just to avoid waking her up midway?

“You’re overthinking it.” Chu Hang’s answer shattered her fantasy. His expression stayed perfectly composed. “Xu Yu told me there’s a shortcut down this mountain, so I tried taking it, but it wound around so much I ended up going the long way instead — that’s why we’re only just reaching the bottom now.”

“Oh.” Tan Yin felt a bit disappointed, but still offered her thanks. “Anyway, thank you.”

Though Tan Yin really didn’t want to go to the hospital, under the pressure of Chu Hang’s authority she still ended up making a quick trip to orthopedics. Only after getting confirmation that she was fine did Chu Hang finally let her leave.

After thanking him once more, Tan Yin glanced at Chu Hang. “I’m safely at the bottom of the mountain now, my leg’s confirmed fine — why don’t you head back up?”

Chu Hang glared at her, his voice rising slightly. “You’re telling me to leave now?” His tone carried a note of near gritted-teeth resentment. “You’re pretty ungrateful, kicking down the ladder the moment it’s served its purpose.”

What was she supposed to do, Tan Yin thought — shouldn’t you be hurrying back to hike with Anna?!

Seeing Tan Yin still standing there without responding, this time Chu Hang’s voice bordered on genuinely aggrieved. “You won’t even buy me a glass of water?”

Only then did it dawn on Tan Yin — Chu Hang had just carried her the whole way and must have sweated plenty without a chance to drink anything. His lips, usually well-hydrated, had gone faintly pale.

“My bad, my bad!”

Tan Yin promptly hurried into a nearby shop and bought a bottle of water, handing it to him. His expression finally eased a little.

Tan Yin was thirsty too by now, and she reached to twist open her own bottle cap, but somehow — maybe her strength had given out — she couldn’t get it open. Just as she was about to try again with more force, Chu Hang simply took the bottle right out of her hands.

Was he going to grab his own bottle too since one wasn’t enough?

But that guess was quickly proven wrong. Chu Hang twisted the cap open with almost rough force, then handed the bottle back to her with a scowl.

“You had two big bowls of rice at the farmstead for lunch — it’s not like you didn’t eat. How can you not even twist off a bottle cap?”

This man was a menace, Tan Yin thought, her face flushing as she took the water. She really did eat a lot, but as a girl, she felt too embarrassed about it — she always snuck extra helpings on the sly, never expecting Chu Hang would have noticed… how mortifying, damn it…

Chu Hang cleared his throat, glanced at Tan Yin, then looked off into the distance. “Nothing to be embarrassed about. Girls who can eat well usually have good health and a good mindset. Nothing wrong with that.”

Now that he was in a relationship, Chu Hang had actually started considering other people’s feelings — Tan Yin wasn’t sure whether to feel happy or sad about that. She instinctively turned her head away and started drinking her water, but her peripheral vision still couldn’t help catching glimpses of Chu Hang. He was tilting his head back to drink, his profile carved sharp and handsome under the sunlight, even the slight curve of his Adam’s apple somehow appealing…

Stop looking! He belongs to someone else now!

Tan Yin scolded herself internally, but her heart still refused to settle. Luckily, Chu Hang finally broke the silence and pulled her thoughts back onto a normal track.

“You and Zhou Ming…” Chu Hang’s voice was a little unnatural, the topic somewhat abrupt, yet he seemed to genuinely care. “Is Zhou Ming really that good? You… do you girls actually go for guys like him?”

When it came to praising Zhou Ming, Tan Yin was always completely sincere. “Not exactly — everyone has their own preferences, whatever suits you is what’s best for you. As far as I’m concerned, Zhou Ming’s good enough.”

Chu Hang was silent for a moment, then, looking as though he were still thirsty, took another long swig of water before setting the bottle down. He wasn’t looking at Tan Yin, his gaze fixed instead on the passing tourists nearby, but his words were meant for her. “I don’t think you and Zhou Ming suit each other.”

Me and Zhou Ming don’t suit each other — but do I suit you, then??? Tan Yin thought.

Under the protective filter of friendship, she refused to accept this. “How do Zhou Ming and I not suit each other? I’m impulsive, he’s rational; I talk a lot, he’s quiet; I’m a science student, he’s liberal arts; I’m the assertive type, he’s the passive type — we’re practically perfect complements to each other!”

“You’re impulsive, he’s rational — so when you argue, you’ll end up furious while he stays calm and composed.”

“You talk a lot, he’s quiet — that’s fine short-term, but over time you’ll feel like he can’t keep up with your topics at all, that most of the time it’s you doing all the talking with no response or feedback from him, and you’ll end up feeling out of balance.”

“You’re a science student, he’s liberal arts — when you run into a problem in structural mechanics or architectural theory, he’ll understand it even less than you do, so he can’t help tutor you at all. If your grades don’t improve, dating him is just a waste of time.”

“You’re the assertive type, he’s the passive type — which means in the relationship, you’ll always be the one leading, always the one carrying the weight, and over time that’ll wear you down.”

Once Chu Hang finished, he pressed his lips together and glanced at Tan Yin. “So I don’t think he and you suit each other.”

Well-reasoned and thoroughly convincing!

Listening to this, Tan Yin actually found Chu Hang’s analysis quite sound — she really didn’t suit Zhou Ming. But she did have one question — when had Chu Hang become a relationship counselor? Was it because he was in a relationship himself now that he’d suddenly grown so perceptive about feelings? And besides, what did it matter to him whether she and Zhou Ming were compatible or together at all?

“Chu Hang, are you this concerned about me and Zhou Ming?” Tan Yin asked, puzzled. “You… are you maybe a little too invested in me? Could it be…”

There was a common trope in romance novels — the girl chases passionately at first while the guy remains indifferent, and once the girl finally exhausts herself and gives up completely and turns away, the guy suddenly has an epiphany and starts chasing her instead. Was Chu Hang some kind of Stockholm syndrome case too?

But before Tan Yin’s bold guess could finish forming, Chu Hang cut her off directly. He cleared his throat, his voice unnatural. “I just thought it was strange how drastically different the people you’ve liked are, before and after. I was worried maybe it was my fault — that I treated you badly in the past and left you with some kind of psychological scar, and now you’re just giving up on yourself out of despair.”

Oh — Tan Yin thought, so she really had been reading too much into it. For a second there she’d actually gotten a little worked up over nothing…

But of course, why would Chu Hang ever like her? He already had Anna.

“No, I don’t have any feelings for you anymore, don’t worry.” Tan Yin lowered her head, then looked back up with a smile, feigning ease. “I’m not giving up on myself. Have you heard the saying — ‘Love as if you’ve never been hurt’? With that kind of mindset, every relationship feels like a first love!”

Tan Yin figured that with this, Chu Hang would probably be ready to end the topic — after all, she’d clarified that she wasn’t giving up on herself because of him, which should be enough to relieve any guilt he might feel.

But contrary to Tan Yin’s expectations, Chu Hang glanced at her and said, with an odd, sarcastic edge, “Every relationship feels like a first love, huh. You really are something.”

Something about Chu Hang’s tone and expression was so strange that Tan Yin couldn’t quite tell whether he was mocking her or complimenting her.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to keep puzzling over it, because the main group had clearly finished their climb and were making their way back down from the summit. Before long, Jiang Yilu’s loud voice called out to Tan Yin.

“The view from the top was gorgeous — such a shame you didn’t get to see it!” She pulled out her phone and started showing Tan Yin photos.

Zhou Ming came over too, his voice lowered, sounding a little frustrated. “What do we do now, Tan Yin? Looks like we failed to fight again this time…”

Once Zhou Ming and Jiang Yilu arrived, they crowded Chu Hang out to the side, while Xu Yu, Duan Yingfei, Anna, and Zhang Chen immediately surrounded him instead, all chatting about something. Chu Hang seemed distracted, Xu Yu was as chatty as ever, Anna stayed quiet, Zhang Chen, watching Anna, was quiet too, and Duan Yingfei glared fixedly at Anna — the group had already formed a complicated, turbulent web of relationships all on its own…

Tan Yin glanced at Chu Hang again, thoroughly puzzled. Were she and Chu Hang cursed to keep crossing paths like this? What was going on with him lately? Why did he keep showing up everywhere she went? Wasn’t he usually so indifferent toward her — so why, now that he was in a relationship, had he suddenly started talking to her more?

But that didn’t make sense either, Tan Yin thought — whenever he was actually with his real girlfriend Anna, he stayed just as quiet as always, as if speaking even one extra word might kill him. Was it to keep up appearances? Or was he homesick, anxious being back? Too worried about how to start a conversation, so it all just built up and he ended up talking to her instead out of sheer frustration?

Forget it, no point thinking about it, Tan Yin told herself — she had real business to attend to. This time, another attempted fight had failed — looks like she needed to come up with a foolproof plan.

After the hike, the group wrapped up their short outdoor excursion and headed back to school. With finals approaching, coursework grew steadily more intense, and Tan Yin didn’t have time to think about how to naturally “break up” with Zhou Ming — she threw herself into studying instead.

Design class assignments were due soon, but wouldn’t you know it, the studio classroom lost power entirely due to aging wiring, so the architecture students, buried in their drafting work, all flooded into the library and the school’s 24-hour self-study rooms, opened specially to accommodate students preparing for graduate entrance exams.

Unfortunately, demand far outstripped supply. With finals approaching, students from other departments had also started camping out in the library and study rooms. The 24-hour classrooms were perpetually occupied by grad-exam candidates, and the library required lining up at 5 a.m. to grab a seat. Unable to compete with the exam candidates and unable to wake up that early herself, Tan Yin had no choice but to travel further afield, to the empty classrooms in the old campus area shared between the schools. The facilities there were far worse than the new campus buildings — old desks and chairs, plenty of mosquitoes, dim lighting — but at least it offered a quiet place to draft and study.

The only issue was that at night it was so quiet it bordered on eerie. This section of the old campus was now used almost exclusively by graduate students, most of whom weren’t even around during off-hours — some doing internships, others gone home — so the area was sparsely populated. You could walk for half an hour without running into a single person. Genuinely creepy.

A little unnerved, Tan Yin tried to convince Jiang Yilu to come along with her after their structural mechanics class let out. “It’s actually really quiet there, no one to bother you at all. Want to come with me tonight? It’s in the old campus — I found what looks like the newest classroom there, Room 302, and there’s a hot water room right nearby too, super convenient.”

Jiang Yilu flatly refused. Chu Hang, on the other hand, seemed rather surprised by Tan Yin’s newfound enthusiasm for studying and glanced back at her with a faint look.

Jiang Yilu looked a bit awkward, stammering, “Not tonight, I’ve got something going on. Can I go with you next time?”

Though she didn’t say what, Tan Yin could tell from her expression that whatever she had going on tonight probably had something to do with Xu Yu.

Tan Yin didn’t press the point, instead inviting a few other girls she was on good terms with, but the moment they heard the classroom was in the old campus, their interest evaporated.

“The study environment over there is terrible, forget it — the studio should be back up and running in a day or two anyway, what’s one or two more days? We’re all just going to end up cramming through the night to finish our drawings anyway.”

“Same here — I’m just going to go get a good night’s sleep tonight.”

“Yeah, Tan Yin, you’ve been way too into studying lately, haven’t you? Come hang out with me tonight instead, we can go shopping — one day off won’t hurt anything. Your grades are already in the top twenty now, why work yourself so hard?”

…

After asking around, it turned out nobody was willing to come with her. The studious spirit of today’s college students! Tan Yin thought bitterly. Fine, she’d just go alone! The wise don’t speak of ghosts and spirits — and besides, she had a whole aura of righteous energy about her, and she was a chosen one with actual superpowers. What was there to be afraid of?

But once she’d actually settled into the classroom that night, the leaves outside the window rustling in the wind, the tree shadows swaying like demons dancing wildly under the dim, flickering fluorescent light — whether from a faulty voltage or an aging tube, the lights flickered every now and then — it was hard to deny things felt genuinely creepy…

Tan Yin had finally managed to lose herself in her architecture textbook when an empty soda can rolling down the hallway outside startled her badly, and then some cat somewhere let out a yowl that sounded eerily like a child crying in terror.

It really was unsettling. Maybe it was just her nerves, but the breeze that had felt refreshingly cool earlier now felt like a chilling gust…

Just as Tan Yin was on the verge of trembling with fear, someone pushed open the classroom door and walked in —

Tan Yin looked up with a start, only to find that the person wasn’t any of the girls she’d invited earlier — it was Chu Hang.