The weather forecast said Jiang City would see light rain today. The winter sun only barely peeked out before disappearing again, dark clouds pressing down over the city the whole day.

Zhu Wenshu wasn’t sure how long had passed when she heard the faint patter of water.

She rarely slept this deeply. Struggling to open her eyes, she saw only a faint light filtering through the curtains.

It didn’t look like rain.

She sat up, her head foggy, gaze drifting unfocused around the room, until she finally noticed the bathroom light was on and realized — the sound of water wasn’t rain at all.

She stared blankly at the light, not understanding why Ling Chen was showering again.

Counting the time they’d showered together in between, this was already the fourth time Ling Chen had showered today.

Did he have some kind of cleanliness obsession?

Just as she was thinking this, the water shut off in the bathroom.

Zhu Wenshu reflexively shrank back under the covers, turning away from the bathroom and closing her eyes, pretending to sleep.

The room was carpeted with soft flooring, so footsteps made no sound. But a few minutes later, Zhu Wenshu could sense Ling Chen approaching.

She’d become unusually attuned to Ling Chen’s presence lately — she could almost tell how far away he was just by feel.

Once he’d walked up to the bed, Zhu Wenshu immediately shut her eyes tighter.

A shadow fell over her, and then his breath brushed against her face.

These few seconds stretched impossibly long; Ling Chen barely moved, said nothing, just quietly watching her.

After a good while, just as Zhu Wenshu was about to run out of patience, her forehead was suddenly kissed.

When their skin touched again, it felt like being back in the intimacy of dawn, open and unguarded.

Zhu Wenshu relaxed at the kiss, letting out a long breath, dispelling her nervousness.

But she must have moved too slowly, because before she’d even opened her eyes, she heard Ling Chen say, “Still going to pretend to be asleep?”

“……”

Zhu Wenshu was caught, opening her eyes to find Ling Chen’s face filling her view.

His hair wasn’t fully dry yet, a few strands sticking to his forehead, water droplets rolling down.

It looked exactly like how he’d been a few hours earlier, hovering over her, drenched in sweat.

And the way he was looking at her now — his dark eyes still holding onto some unspent storm, as if the next second he might say something that would leave her both mortified and helplessly drawn in.

“I wasn’t pretending.”

Zhu Wenshu’s mind wavered; she quickly looked away from his eyes, struggling to sit up. “What time is it?”

Just as she lifted the covers, she heard Ling Chen say, “Five.”

“Five?!”

She froze for a moment, then scrambled out of bed in a hurry.

The instant her feet touched the floor, she looked down and saw her bare legs. Without the cover of darkness, those physical memories became vivid and concrete in her mind.

She couldn’t help but imagine what she must have looked like from Ling Chen’s point of view. In the moment, caught up in it, it hadn’t seemed like anything — but now, with daylight and clarity, the wave of embarrassment hit her all at once.

Zhu Wenshu closed her eyes, wanting badly to tell Ling Chen that from now on, could he please not lift her legs like that — she couldn’t really handle it.

But then she suddenly remembered — she was fairly sure she’d already said something like that.

And the response she’d gotten back had only made her blush and race harder.

“I need to head back.”

Zhu Wenshu got out of bed and went to find her clothes.

That morning, Ling Chen had given her one of his short-sleeved shirts, loose and oversized, perfectly serviceable as a nightgown.

She found her pants and was about to bend down to put them on when she heard Ling Chen say out of nowhere, “I knew it.”

Zhu Wenshu paused and turned to look at him.

“What?”

Ling Chen glanced at the pants in her hand, then looked up, watching her with a certain amount of pressure in his gaze.

“The moment you put your pants on, you’re going to leave.”

“……”

He’d put on a black robe after his shower, the sash loosely tied at his waist, revealing a large expanse of his chest. He was half-reclined on the edge of the bed, hair still damp at the ends, a water droplet trailing down his neck, head tilted as he watched Zhu Wenshu, the faintest hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

She knew he wasn’t seriously accusing her of anything, but Zhu Wenshu found herself bewitched by his expression anyway.

She felt like she really was being a bit unreasonable.

She thought about it, set the clothes back down, and walked back to the bed.

Ling Chen slowly sat up straight, and as she came near, reached out and pulled her — Zhu Wenshu obligingly climbed onto his lap.

“I really do have things to take care of.” Zhu Wenshu lowered her head, cupping his face in her hands. “I still have some online courses to finish, I don’t want to have to bring the work home over the New Year.”

“Mm.”

Ling Chen rubbed his cheek against her palm, uncharacteristically docile.

But his hands lifted the loose fabric of the shirt, settling on her waist.

The warm, rough sensation spread like wildfire, sending a shiver through every nerve in Zhu Wenshu’s body.

She let out a soft groan and pressed his hand still.

“Hey, no — it’s already almost dark again.”

Ling Chen said nothing, and didn’t move again either.

He simply buried his face in her neck, and after a long while, his voice finally emerged, muffled against her skin.

“Let’s eat something before you go.”

Zhu Wenshu’s breath caught for a moment; she tried to pull his head away, found she couldn’t budge him, and turned to look off to the side instead.

“Ling Chen, you’re a public figure.”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t be so indecent.”

“……”

After a moment, a muffled laugh came from her shoulder.

“Teacher Zhu, you’re a schoolteacher — your mind shouldn’t be full of dirty thoughts.”

He leaned back slightly, tilting her chin up to make her look at him.

“What I said,” his other arm suddenly tightened around her, pulling her against him, nose to nose, “really was just about food.”

“……”

Zhu Wenshu had no idea when Ling Chen had ordered dinner.

He opened the containers one by one, arranging them on the table, while Zhu Wenshu turned her head, openly studying the apartment.

Since arriving the night before, Zhu Wenshu had spent over ten hours in Ling Chen’s bedroom — this was the first time she’d stepped outside it.

Just as Ling Chen himself had said, it really did look like a show home.

The décor was sleek and minimalist, from the overall layout down to the placement of the tea set — everything flawlessly, precisely designed.

Unfortunately, it lacked any real sense of life, as if even the position of every item on the table had been carefully calculated.

“Is this a new place?”

“No.”

Ling Chen said, “Just recently renovated.”

“Oh……” Zhu Wenshu nodded, then suddenly thought of something and spun around to look at him. “Doesn’t that mean there’s a lot of formaldehyde in here?”

“Yeah.”

Ling Chen tore open the packaging on the chopsticks, eyes lowered, a faint smile on his lips. “Just waiting for you to come breathe it in.”

“?”

Was that something a person should say?

Zhu Wenshu’s eyes went wide, hands braced on her chair, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.

She was still young — she didn’t want to get cancer this early in life.

Ling Chen glanced at her and passed over a pair of chopsticks.

“You didn’t seem this worried about your life expectancy last night, rolling around on the floor hugging Ling Siyuan.”

Given how strong the “fake alcohol” hangover apparently was, it took Zhu Wenshu a moment to process what he’d said before she realized — if this place really had just been renovated, there was no way Ling Chen would have brought her here.

It had probably been aired out for months already.

“So then why do you keep staying at Ling Xingyan’s place? You have your own home and don’t even live in it.”

Ling Chen’s gaze lingered on the food for a moment before he said, offhandedly, “Too lazy to move.”

Before Zhu Wenshu had asked, he honestly hadn’t given the question much thought.

Lu Manman had brought it up a couple of times, asking when he planned to move back so she could prepare things. Ling Chen had always brushed her off with “we’ll see,” and just kept staying at Ling Xingyan’s place.

Now that he thought about it, he supposed it was simply that he’d gotten used to a home that always had the sound of someone else in it, and hadn’t wanted to come back to this show home.

But right now, in this moment, he didn’t feel that way at all.

Simply because Zhu Wenshu was sitting across from him.

“Wenshu.”

He suddenly spoke up.

“Hm?”

Zhu Wenshu was still studying the décor, not even glancing at him. “What?”

“Do you think this place looks nice?”

“It’s nice.”

Zhu Wenshu gave an honest assessment, then added her own opinion. “But it’s not really my style — it’s like an art piece, not really a home.”

Ling Chen set down his chopsticks and sat up straight, looking directly at her.

“Then what style do you like?”

“American country style, I guess.” Zhu Wenshu turned back around, not noticing Ling Chen’s expression, just resting her chin on her hand and looking at the black-and-white mural ahead. “Wouldn’t some flowers and plants in the dining room feel a lot more inviting than this postmodern look?”

“Mm.”

Ling Chen nodded and said nothing more.

Today’s rain fell in the evening, the sky darkening earlier than usual.

It wasn’t even seven o’clock yet, and lights were already on in every household in the complex.

Ying Fei woke up and dragged her exhausted feet out of her room, instinctively heading for the bathroom, when a groan from the living room caught her attention.

She slowly turned her head and saw a figure lying on the couch.

“Why are you still here?”

The night before, after Ling Chen had taken Zhu Wenshu away, Ying Fei and Shi Xue’er had sat frozen in the dining room for a good thirty or forty minutes.

Eventually, Ying Fei couldn’t take it anymore and went straight to bed.

That night she’d cried, gotten drunk, and been thoroughly shocked — she woke up with a splitting headache.

Seeing Shi Xue’er now, Ying Fei remembered how she’d bawled her eyes out in front of her the night before, had a sudden epiphany, and even sung Ling Chen’s praises a couple of times — she wanted to slap herself all over again.

“I’m not leaving.”

Shi Xue’er clutched her stomach, groaning. “I’m waiting for Teacher Zhu to come back.”

“……”

Ying Fei rolled her eyes. “Have you two blocked each other or something? Can’t you just call her?”

“No.”

Shi Xue’er bit her lip, muttering under her breath. “I don’t want to bother them.”

Seeing Ying Fei standing there, unmoving, Shi Xue’er added, “Is there any food? My stomach hurts.”

“No.”

Ying Fei turned and walked off.

“Ugh… if it weren’t for keeping someone company drinking, would my stomach even hurt this much?”

Shi Xue’er hugged her pillow and rolled over a couple times. “Forget it, guess I’ll just order takeout.”

“So annoying!”

Ying Fei stomped her foot and stormed off to the kitchen, roughly pulling out the small rice cooker to wash rice.

After a whole night of psychological preparation, Ying Fei still hadn’t been able to fully accept that Zhu Wenshu’s boyfriend was Ling Chen.

But seeing was believing — she couldn’t deceive herself.

And as the ringleader of Ling Chen’s haters, she’d never been afraid to talk trash about him online in all sorts of creative ways — but that was only because there’d always been a screen between them.

Now, realizing she might well have danced right in front of the real deal, Ying Fei felt everything go dark, certain she was about to be personally hauled off to jail by Ling Chen himself.

She was still young. She didn’t want to eat prison food.

So, with her back to Shi Xue’er, she said, “Hey, when she gets back, you go ask her.”

“Why me?!”

Shi Xue’er said, “You two are roommates, you’re closer to her, you go ask.”

Compared to a hater, Shi Xue’er, the die-hard fan, wasn’t much better off.

After the initial shock had worn off, she remembered all the times she’d gushed shamelessly about Zhu Wenshu’s boyfriend in front of her, and wanted to dig a hole and bury herself in it.

She was pretty sure she’d also said something about wanting to sleep with him.

She had no idea whether Zhu Wenshu now saw her as some kind of homewrecker.

Waaah, she really had just been running her mouth!

“I’m not close to her!”

Ying Fei said. “You two are good friends, you go ask.”

“No way! I’ve only known her for a few months, we’re not that close!”

“I’m Ling Chen’s hater! I can’t bring myself to ask!”

“I’m Ling Chen’s obsessive fan! I really can’t bring myself to ask!”

Just as the words left her mouth, the door suddenly opened.

Zhu Wenshu walked in, and the two of them froze as if someone had hit pause, staring fixedly at her.

“What’s wrong?”

Zhu Wenshu asked.

Ying Fei suddenly held up two fingers. “I swear, from this moment on, I’ve flipped from hater to fan of Ling Chen!”

“?”

Shi Xue’er’s eyes went wide at Ying Fei, and she copied the gesture, holding up two fingers of her own. “And I’ve flipped from fan to hater, starting now!”