After a whole night of overthinking, Qi Xi ultimately hadn’t slept well.

The next morning, when Qi Xi headed out with two dark circles under her eyes, Gu Yan was already waiting energetically by the door, looking as though he’d just been out running—slightly out of breath. Just as Qi Xi opened her mouth to speak, he handed her something.

The man was as sparing with words as ever: “Breakfast.”

Holding the warm eel rice ball in her hands, Qi Xi felt a rush of warmth well up inside her.

Gu Yan had never seemed to buy breakfast for any other female classmate before.

Looking at the rice ball in her hand, she realized it was even her favorite kind—eel.

Her heart churned with a complicated mix of nervousness, fluttering excitement, and something sweet and fizzy like soda bubbles rising up inside her.

Sure, Gu Yan had his unrequited moonlight, but that moonlight didn’t like him back—so eventually he’d have to let go, wouldn’t he? And with herself constantly around him every day, might Gu Yan gradually develop feelings for her without even realizing it?

Qi Xi startled herself with this bold thought that had suddenly surfaced, and her emotions began churning back and forth like waves washing over sand, tangled and unresolved.

Could Gu Yan really actually…

Replaying every small detail of their time together in her mind, the more she thought about it, the more confused and preoccupied she became.

Qi Xi looked at Gu Yan’s face so close in front of her, and—whether by coincidence or not—Gu Yan’s gaze happened to sweep across her at that exact moment. Their eyes met briefly in the air, and in that instant, Qi Xi felt a rush of heat go straight to her head, as if Gu Yan’s gaze carried an actual physical touch, like an elusive breeze brushing past her.

Gu Yan had already looked away, and Qi Xi lowered her eyes to the ground too, but the lingering sensation from that moment of eye contact hadn’t faded.

The wind itself probably had no intentions of its own, yet the person it swept past couldn’t help but assign it meaning—did it want to linger? Or did it want to always stay just out of reach?

Qi Xi felt her heart had turned into a wheat field stirred by wind—the wind made no sound, yet every stalk it passed through gave off its own note, all those faint sounds mixing together into a kind of natural symphony that even the field’s owner couldn’t quite untangle note by note.

From where she stood, Qi Xi could see Gu Yan’s pale wrist hanging at his side, the small black mole on it, his perfectly straight trouser legs, and, following her gaze upward, his stern but endlessly compelling face.

Holding the rice ball, not knowing what was going through Gu Yan’s mind, Qi Xi felt she should say something out of nervousness. But before she could get out the safest possible thank-you, she heard Gu Yan say, offhandedly—

“Grabbed it on my morning run to hit the discount threshold.”

“…”

Gu Yan glanced at her again, then looked away, clearing his throat, sounding oddly stiff. “It was a freebie thrown in. Don’t waste it.”

“…”

Qi Xi had no idea when Gu Yan had started jogging in the mornings, but she decided he probably shouldn’t keep it up.

Taking an indignant bite of the rice ball, wondering if she’d been reading too much into things, Qi Xi followed Gu Yan into the elevator, caught between confusion and a fluttering heart.

The elevator wasn’t empty. Qi Xi stepped in to find a tall, slender girl already standing inside.

The girl’s face lit up with delighted surprise the moment she saw Gu Yan. “Gu Yan? What a coincidence.”

So a neighbor he knew?

Compared to the girl’s enthusiasm, Gu Yan seemed rather reserved, almost stiff. He simply nodded at her with a brief “Mm.”

Qi Xi stayed quiet, secretly sizing the girl up—she was dressed in an effortlessly homey yet elegant style, looked to be around Qi Xi and Gu Yan’s age, fair-skinned with big eyes, her softly curled long hair topped with a beret. Her outfit was understated but stylish, though clearly not cheap—and given the property prices in this part of town where Gu Yan lived, it was easy to guess she came from a well-off family.

Her expression stayed gentle, unbothered by Gu Yan’s coolness, and she smiled. “Thanks again for walking me home last time. I’m baking cookies today—freshly baked, really good. I’ll bring you some tonight.”

Gu Yan had walked her home?!

Of the entire sentence, Gu Yan was probably the most trivial detail mentioned—yet Qi Xi found she hadn’t taken in a single other word, only latching onto the part that involved him.

A tangled mix of quiet disappointment and inexplicable unease churned inside her—Gu Yan had walked a girl home.

Qi Xi’s heart pounded erratically. She told herself it was nothing—they were neighbors, maybe walking her home had just been on the way, and surely Gu Yan probably still wouldn’t engage with her much, at least not warmly, since that was how he’d always treated admirers or other women.

Except this time seemed a little different.

To Qi Xi’s surprise, Gu Yan didn’t ignore her—he only frowned slightly. “No need for cookies. Be more careful walking home by yourself next time.”

The elevator chimed, having reached the ground floor. The girl across from them waved goodbye to Gu Yan, then headed off in a direction opposite to Qi Xi and Gu Yan’s.

Qi Xi watched her retreating figure, still a bit dazed.

Had Gu Yan just now… shown her the kind of concern he’d show someone he cared about?

It was perfectly ordinary, really, and yet Qi Xi couldn’t figure out why she felt so bothered, so uncomfortable about it.

Maybe, Qi Xi thought, maybe it was because she felt that earning Gu Yan’s care and attention had taken tremendous effort on her part—she’d studied his interests, worked hard to find common topics, done everything she could to support him at work, extended as much goodwill as possible—and only through all that had she managed to shift his attitude toward something that might be called closeness. But this female neighbor…

How well did this neighbor actually know Gu Yan? How much contact did she have with him? How well did she understand him?

Qi Xi knew this competitive mindset of hers was a little childish—Gu Yan wasn’t some little dress or pair of shoes that a kindergartner insisted only she could wear, something to be possessively claimed as uniquely hers. He wasn’t some trophy to be monopolized either.

She understood the logic perfectly well, and yet she still couldn’t quite manage not to care.

Biting her lip, following Gu Yan toward the subway entrance, she asked with feigned casualness, “Did she graduate from our school?”

Gu Yan looked a little surprised. “You’ve seen her at school too?”

So she really was a Rong University graduate. Could it be…

In response to Gu Yan’s question, Qi Xi just shook her head—right then, the subway they’d been waiting for arrived, and she didn’t pursue the topic further, telling herself she really had been overthinking things lately, connecting everything back to Gu Yan’s crush somehow.

**

Fortunately, once inside the firm, back in the familiar work atmosphere, Qi Xi’s mind settled. Surprisingly, though Gu Xuehan had only just returned from her business trip the night before, she was already in her office that morning, working energetically, well before Gu Yan and Qi Xi arrived on time.

Sitting across from Gu Xuehan, Qi Xi studied the woman’s sharp, capable, yet beautiful face with genuine admiration—not having gone home the night before, yet already in the office this morning, clearly having caught an early flight or train and coming straight to work, without so much as a shadow of dark circles under her eyes. Qi Xi found herself both impressed and envious.

Not long before, Qi Xi had received an internal call from Gu Xuehan asking her and Gu Yan to come to her office.

Now, Qi Xi sat properly beside Gu Yan, waiting for Gu Xuehan to finish her current task and assign them their next one.

Once Gu Xuehan finished writing an email with focused attention, she looked up from her computer at Qi Xi and Gu Yan, whom she’d called in earlier that morning. “You two get ready—this afternoon I’m heading back to Rong University. The law school invited me as a guest speaker for their career planning course, to share my career path and experience.”

Gu Xuehan brushed back her long hair. “This kind of talk doesn’t pay, but I can’t let my time go completely to waste either, so prepare a promotional deck for our firm along with an intro to our internship program. The class runs forty-five minutes—I’ll probably only manage half an hour of it, since I have a client meeting to rush to afterward. The remaining fifteen minutes will be on you two—first, introduce our firm, and second, as recent graduates who just started working, you’re naturally closer to these students, so you can add your own perspective on what a legal career actually looks like. The rest of the time will be Q&A.”

Gu Xuehan smiled. “Do a good job—hopefully by next year’s graduation season we’ll get a few more strong résumés from Rong University’s law school.”

**

The introductory deck for Jingfa had already been prepared ahead of time by the administrative team as standard promotional material, so there wasn’t really much prep work needed.

Gu Xuehan had a client lunch that afternoon, so she’d drive to Rong University alone after the meal, while Qi Xi and Gu Yan could leave from the firm a bit later and meet her there.

Rong University was located in the university district out in the suburbs. The subway line built there in recent years had made things much more convenient, but due to how the route was planned, the nearest subway station was still some distance from campus—it was actually faster and cheaper to take the direct bus.

Qi Xi had heard Zhao Yiran talk about how most of her fondest college memories had happened on that bus.

Qi Xi didn’t really have a say in the matter, since back when she was in school, she rarely left the university district on weekends to go into the city center—she’d devoted most of her college years to the library and study halls. On the rare occasions she went home, her father Qi Ruiming had either driven to pick her up or she’d taken a taxi directly. She’d always felt a certain longing for that bus route Zhao Yiran talked so fondly about.

With time to spare today, and a direct bus stop conveniently located just down the road from the firm, Qi Xi proposed to Gu Yan: “Why don’t we take the bus?”

Gu Yan frowned slightly. “Why? We could just take a taxi—this counts as business travel, the firm covers reimbursement.”

“It’s not about reimbursement.” Qi Xi looked at Gu Yan, a little embarrassed. “Did you ever take this bus back when you were in school?”

Gu Yan pressed his lips together. “No.”

Made sense—Gu Yan clearly came from a well-off family, and it was mostly ordinary students who took the bus. Someone like him, half rich young heir, probably had never experienced it either.

That thought gave Qi Xi a small sense of balance, and she launched into an enthusiastic pitch. “You know what? This bus route has really beautiful scenery along the way.”

Worried Gu Yan might not agree to take the bus, Qi Xi laid it on thick with some artistic embellishment: “They say it’s practically the most beautiful scenery in the whole city along that route. Picture it—a bright, sunny afternoon like today, us sitting on the bus, the clean windows cracked open slightly, the breeze gently rippling the curtains, and outside, fields, flowers, nature. The air carries this vibrant, alive scent, blue skies and white clouds overhead, and there we are, riding toward Rong University—doesn’t that sound so youthful? So nostalgic? Like the scenery outside never has to end?”

…

**

In the end, through sheer persuasive skill, Qi Xi successfully talked Gu Yan into taking the bus with her.

Gu Yan seemed unfazed by the whole thing, but Qi Xi felt a flutter of anticipation and excitement—some things missed in college only start to sting with regret once they’re truly gone for good.

At the stop where they boarded, the bus wasn’t too crowded. Qi Xi, already picturing sunlit grass along the route, quickly grabbed a window seat. Gu Yan didn’t say anything, but naturally sat down right beside her after boarding behind her.

At first, the bus wound through the city, with nothing particularly interesting outside—just unremarkable urban buildings.

This was a fairly old bus route, and the bus itself wasn’t new either—jolting along like a rusty old machine, the motor grinding with a wearing whine, exhaust from other cars and the bus itself drifting in through the windows.

None of it dampened Qi Xi’s mood in the slightest.

She leaned excitedly against the window, turning to Gu Yan with enthusiasm. “The good scenery’s coming up soon, just wait!”

Ten minutes later, the bus reached the border between the suburbs and the city proper, where a stretch of abandoned, unfinished buildings came into view.

Jostled a bit dispirited by the bumpy ride, Qi Xi nonetheless rallied and reassured herself. “Just a bit more—once we’re in the suburbs it’ll be all scenery.”

Another ten minutes later, the bus finally reached the suburbs…

Except…

The blue skies, white clouds, and open fields Qi Xi had been anticipating never materialized. Instead, what appeared was…

Tractor after tractor, rolling slowly past their bus. Near farmhouses in the distance, smoke rose from burning crop stubble, carrying with it a peculiar mix of scorched debris and manure smell, along with dust drifting in on the wind.

Qi Xi couldn’t help coughing, and turned to find herself facing Gu Yan.

The man said, deadpan and perfectly composed: “This is the most beautiful scenery in the city you were talking about?”

A little embarrassed, Qi Xi laughed awkwardly and closed the window. “This is raw, untouched nature—wild, unrestrained natural beauty. A kind of unconventional charm.”

But soon, even that forced laugh gave out.

At a small commercial hub not far from Rong University, a whole crowd of the school’s students piled onto the bus at once, packing it as tightly as a sardine can.

Most of them were couples who’d come to the nearby district to shop or catch a movie, and the bus quickly filled with murmured, intimate chatter.

A few elderly women also boarded at this stop, and Qi Xi and Gu Yan both stood up without hesitation to offer their seats.

Having given up their seats, the two of them had no choice but to stand together, and with the bus so crowded, they were forced up against other couples.

Right beside Qi Xi and Gu Yan stood one such couple, clearly deep in the throes of young love—even in the stuffy, cramped bus, they clung to each other like conjoined kissing fish. The boy leaned down to whisper something in the girl’s ear, and she gave a shy little laugh; then, somehow, the two of them started kissing.

The sound of their intimate kissing was right next to Qi Xi’s ear.

Qi Xi wasn’t a particularly conservative person, but standing next to Gu Yan right now, listening to all that kissing, she was mortified enough to want to disappear into the floor—like a kid caught watching an adult scene during a movie with her parents, feeling that specific shame of being caught by a parent.

If she’d been alone, even with a couple making out right in front of her, Qi Xi wouldn’t have thought much of it. But standing next to Gu Yan, she suddenly… suddenly understood exactly what it meant to be embarrassed enough to curl her toes into oblivion.

If only she could get away from Gu Yan right now.

But the terrible part was, the crowded space left her no room to keep her distance—if anything, a few sudden stops kept pushing her closer and closer to him, and with more passengers boarding at each stop, the gap between them shrank to a distance Qi Xi found downright dangerous.

She first tried looking to her left—where the couple was pecking kisses on each other’s cheeks.

She tried looking to her right instead—where the couple was whispering into each other’s ears, the boy occasionally kissing his girlfriend’s neck.

Face burning, breath short, mortified to the point of ascension, Qi Xi could only force her expression blank and stare straight ahead into empty space.

But it was exactly then that her height became a serious disadvantage. Shorter than the long-legged Gu Yan by a fair margin, the moment she looked straight ahead, her gaze landed right on his lips. On an ordinary day it would’ve been fine, but in this particular atmosphere, staring at Gu Yan’s lips inevitably conjured up some rather inappropriately vivid thoughts…

Sure enough, Gu Yan noticed he was being stared at and had something to say about it. He glanced down at her, deadpan. “Is there something on my face worth staring at like that? Why do you keep staring at my face?”

Inwardly, Qi Xi cursed out Zhao Yiran, who’d sworn up and down this route held her most beautiful memories—but none of it helped distract her now. She and Gu Yan were simply too close together, the bus swaying with every bump, everyone around them jostling and shoving, forcing constant physical contact between them—Qi Xi could even feel every breath Gu Yan took as he spoke.

But since his face was apparently off-limits, Qi Xi obediently looked away, settling her gaze instead on a rare solitary young man some distance off, earbuds in, listening to music.

Except after barely a few seconds of staring blankly at him, Gu Yan seemed to have an objection to that too. The impossible-to-please man said, “Why are you staring at some other guy’s face now?”

Not allowed to look at him, not allowed to look at anyone else either! Since when did Gu Yan get to police that much!