Qi Xi had never been in a relationship before, and she had no idea what the normal course of dating was supposed to look like.

But after clearing up the misunderstanding with Gu Yan, she couldn’t help growing a little lazy, almost wishing the world would stop turning so that she and Gu Yan could just curl up together in this space that belonged only to the two of them. Even doing nothing at all, as long as he was there, it felt like she could go on like this forever, not wanting to go to work at all.

Qi Xi had originally been lounging in Gu Yan’s arms, but the moment she thought of work, she gave a start. They were still in Gu Xuehan’s apartment!

Qi Xi practically scrambled straight out of Gu Yan’s embrace. She smoothed herself down, restoring her proper, serious demeanor, wishing she could sit several meters away from Gu Yan.

Facing Gu Yan’s somewhat puzzled, questioning gaze, Qi Xi cleared her throat and reminded him, “What if your sister suddenly comes home to grab some documents or files and sees us like this, all disheveled and wrapped around each other? She’d definitely be upset.”

The more she talked, the more her voice dropped, a little embarrassed: “After all, we both took the morning off today. If she found out we skipped work to date on the company’s dime, so to speak, she’d think we were completely unprofessional. She’d probably think I was biting the hand that feeds me too—borrowing her place to live and then going after her little brother. Absolutely shameless, repaying kindness with betrayal.”

Having said all that, Qi Xi cleared her throat again. “So starting now, we need to restrain our feelings. We should keep our distance in this apartment, behave like proper colleagues, disciplined and courteous.”

Unfortunately, this speech failed to convince Gu Yan. He merely smiled and seized on the most crucial point of her little lecture: “Restrain your feelings? So you’re saying you really want to hold me right now?”

Caught out, Qi Xi’s face flushed. She shot him a look that was fierce on the outside but hollow within, and denied it stubbornly: “That’s not true at all.”

But the words had barely left her mouth when Gu Yan wrapped his arms around her from behind. His posture was stiff at first, obviously nervous, but soon he seemed to settle into this new role, gently pulling Qi Xi closer, then bending down to rest his head lightly on her shoulder.

Qi Xi felt the faint warmth against her neck. It made her feel a little ticklish, and that ticklish sensation seemed to travel along her skin straight into her heart, making her whole body feel like her heartbeat had sped up.

Then she heard his voice, close against her ear—

“It’s fine. If you want to hold me, you can.”

As he spoke, he deepened the embrace from behind.

Qi Xi couldn’t see his face, but for some reason, this felt even more heart-fluttering than a face-to-face hug. Yet the moment she remembered this was Gu Xuehan’s apartment, she immediately felt like they were about to be caught—as embarrassing as being caught in an affair. So she gave Gu Yan a gentle push, trying to wriggle free of his arms.

“Gu Yan, let go of me first.”

Gu Yan turned out to be shameless about it, saying matter-of-factly, “I won’t.”

“But if your sister comes back—”

Gu Yan held her, face buried in her long hair, his voice low but calm: “Don’t worry. She definitely won’t come back.”

What kind of logic was that! People having affairs always thought that too! And they still got caught red-handed in the end!

Just as Qi Xi was about to lecture him, she heard Gu Yan continue—

“Because this apartment isn’t my sister’s.”

The man calmly clarified the lie he’d told earlier, his tone steady and matter-of-fact: “This apartment is mine. It’s always been mine. So my sister has no reason to come here at all.”

Now Qi Xi couldn’t stay composed. She turned to look at him. “You lied to me?”

“I did lie. So what?” Gu Yan only glanced away for a few seconds before meeting her eyes again. “If I hadn’t, there’s no way you’d have ended up living across the hall from me.”

Though he sounded quite righteous about it, he still seemed a little embarrassed underneath, so he explained briefly: “I have a lot of books, but this unit’s layout has a very small study. So when my parents bought it, they bought both units on this floor under my name. First, it gives more privacy. Second, there’s also a storage room. Third…”

But right as he got to “third,” the man suddenly stopped, as if he’d abruptly cut himself off.

Qi Xi looked up at him. “What’s the third reason?”

Gu Yan looked away, as if trying to hide something. “Never mind. It’s nothing.”

But the more he acted like that, the more suspicious it seemed, which only made Qi Xi more determined to find out. She started to wheedle and act coy: “Tell me. Stopping halfway through is such a tease.”

Gu Yan clearly hadn’t wanted to say it at first, but he seemed to have very little resistance to Qi Xi’s requests. She only had to act coy once, staring at him with moist eyes, and the man nearly caved on the spot, surrendering without a fight—

“The third reason is that when my parents bought these two units, they were thinking ahead—that someday I’d get married and have kids, and it would be convenient for them to come help take care of the child if they lived right across the hall. That way they could help out easily without interfering too much in our lives.”

His reasoning was perfectly sound, the kind of thoughtful consideration any set of parents might have. But that “our,” and the way Gu Yan looked at Qi Xi while mentioning marriage, made her whole body feel embarrassed.

Qi Xi turned her head away, feigning composure, and said in a voice that, despite her best efforts, still sounded strained: “Your parents think way too far ahead.”

Gu Yan picked up the thread. “I used to think they were thinking too far ahead too. But now it doesn’t seem so far off.” He cleared his throat and tried to keep his tone even. “The wisdom of elders never fails—better to have a place ready when you need it than to regret not having one. Good thing they bought it early. Now it’s ready whenever we need it.”

The nerve of this man…

Qi Xi lightly punched him and glared at him, fierce on the outside, flustered within: “Don’t say another word! You—you obstacle standing in the way of my career!”

Speaking of the apartment, something suddenly occurred to Qi Xi: “So is that why Chen Xuan wanted to stay here too—because you didn’t want her to?”

Gu Yan showed not the slightest hint of guilt about it. He nodded calmly, then wore an expression that was almost willful. “That’s right. I didn’t want her staying here.”

“This apartment—I only ever wanted you to live in it.” He hugged her again, gently, turning almost like a stubborn little boy who only wanted to share his candy with one particular person, refusing everyone else no matter how much they wanted it. As if to emphasize the point, he repeated himself, “No one else gets to live here.”

He looked into her eyes. “It took so much effort to get you to move in next door to me. I didn’t want anyone coming to ruin it. I just wanted it to be the two of us.”

Gu Yan continued confessing without the slightest burden of guilt. “So that day, when my parents wanted to come visit me, I turned them away too.”

He didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with that, but Qi Xi grew nervous and flustered hearing it. “That’s not great, is it? What if your parents find out eventually—then I’ll look terrible. We haven’t even really started anything, and it’ll look like I swooped in and drove your parents away. What am I supposed to do when we finally meet? Won’t they think I’m impossible to deal with…”

“Qi Xi.”

“Hm?”

Gu Yan tightened the embrace slightly, a hint of laughter in his low voice. “Who was it that just told me not to think so far ahead?”

Qi Xi blinked, and once she caught his meaning, her face immediately twisted with embarrassed fury. She raised a hand as if to hit him, and Gu Yan had to laugh and let her go before she’d relent.

After finishing the porridge, Qi Xi still felt unsatisfied. She tugged at Gu Yan’s sleeve. “Do you have anything else to eat?”

Gu Yan answered without thinking. “There’s dessert I bought before, in the fridge.”

Dessert! Excellent!

Qi Xi felt she urgently needed some sugar. But just as she turned to head to the kitchen to open the fridge, Gu Yan suddenly seemed to remember something and rushed over to pull her back—

“Never mind. Just pretend I never bought it.”

Qi Xi was puzzled. Leaning against the fridge, she blinked at him. “Why?”

Gu Yan looked a little embarrassed and cleared his throat. “Because it’s durian flavored.” He explained, “I bought it before—back when I didn’t know you didn’t like durian either.”

“Whether I like it or not doesn’t matter, but don’t you hate it? Aren’t you supposedly unable to stand even the smell of it? And you kept durian dessert in the fridge? Doesn’t that mean the whole fridge now—”

Gu Yan looked a little helpless. “Couldn’t be helped.” He looked into her eyes, then seemed too embarrassed to keep looking and lowered his gaze instead. “Even though I don’t like durian, if you really liked it that much, I’d have made myself learn to like it too.”

Having said that, a look of relief washed over Gu Yan’s face, as though he’d narrowly escaped some disaster. He sighed. “Thank goodness you don’t like it either.”

Watching Gu Yan’s expression of having survived a close call just because he too disliked durian, Qi Xi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Are you an idiot?” She tugged at the hem of his shirt, muttering quietly. “Even if I liked something, you don’t have to like it too…”

“But I want to eat it with you.” Gu Yan thought about it for a moment, then said very earnestly, “Actually, if you really did like durian, I think I could eat it with you too.”

“Durian! That smell!” The mere mention of it nearly made Qi Xi suffocate. “I used to force myself to endure it. Gu Yan, you really don’t need to go that far!”

Gu Yan pressed his lips together. “Actually, every time you bought so much of it for me, I ate it until I went numb to it. I still can’t say I like it, but I think I’ve gotten used to the taste.”

Was that even something a person could get used to…

Qi Xi thought Gu Yan was a little foolish, but at the same time felt he might be the cleverest man in the world, because he always seemed to know exactly what to say to make her heart melt effortlessly, unable to resist.

“No more durian from now on. I’ll never make you eat it again.” An indescribable tenderness and reluctance to let go welled up inside Qi Xi. She reached out and touched his face. “Gu Yan, will you help me write a new, accurate edition of the Complete Compendium of Gu Yan?”

Hearing the words “Complete Compendium of Gu Yan,” Gu Yan froze for a moment, then seemed to be holding back laughter. But faced with Qi Xi’s serious, earnest gaze, he didn’t dare actually laugh, afraid the girl in front of him would get flustered and angry.

He simply reached out and gently patted the top of her head, then lightly pinched her cheek, before answering her request without the slightest hesitation—

“Okay.”

At that single word “okay,” Qi Xi’s heart suddenly began to race, like a rebellious little lamb that had escaped its pen at night, the instant it leapt over the fence. She found herself filled with anticipation and restless excitement for what lay ahead.

Gu Yan paused. His ears had gone slightly red, but his tone remained firm and serious. “But I have quite a lot of hobbies, and some of them are complicated. It might take you a very, very long time to complete a truly authoritative revision of the Complete Compendium of Gu Yan.”

He looked at her. “So you might have to stay with me for a very, very long time.” He lowered his gaze. “Before you can really finish a complete Compendium of Gu Yan.”

Qi Xi’s heart ached with a bittersweet feeling, though not entirely bitter—savoring it carefully, there was a citrus-like sweetness mixed into the ache, the sour and the sweet intertwining to create something richer, more layered.

Amid this overwhelming surprise, this chaos, this flustered helplessness, amid this swollen, sweet, and full emotion, Qi Xi met Gu Yan’s gaze and nodded solemnly—

“From now on, I’m the editor-in-chief and the person responsible for the Complete Compendium of Gu Yan. I hold final interpretive authority over it.”

Gu Yan smiled and, following her lead, nodded just as solemnly. “All right. You’re the one and only editor-in-chief.”