Lu Yicheng’s move was far more charged than what Jiang Yan had just done drinking for Lin Kexing.

Du Yu hollered: “No way, no way — Lu senior, since when did you have something going on? I’ll bet my head on it, the last person Lu senior contacted was definitely a girl! A *girl* girl!”

Wang Jiangfeng snorted. “Sounds like you really are unwell. ‘Opposite sex’ is obviously female. What are you betting on?”

“That’s not what I meant! You don’t get it!” Du Yu said. “I mean not a teacher, not a parent, not his aunt — an *eligible* girl. Lu senior, come clean!”

Lu Yicheng had put away a full bottle of beer without his expression changing. His tone was even. “Truth or Dare. One question only.”

This was not an interrogation.

The group could only suppress their gossip-hungry impulses for now. Du Yu spun the bottle again, muttering a fervent little prayer: “Please land on Lu senior, please land on Lu senior…”

And the result was…

It landed on Jiang Yan.

Du Yu: “……”

With Lu Yicheng’s revelation hanging in the air, whatever Jiang Yan said for Truth or Dare felt utterly unremarkable and uninteresting by comparison.

But the game had to go on. Du Yu cleared his throat. “Truth or Dare?”

Jiang Yan said carelessly, “Dare.”

He said it while glancing toward Jiang Ruoqiao. He was feeling low. He wasn’t completely oblivious — he’d been slow to catch on, but he could see it now: Ruoqiao had been distant and cold toward him.

He didn’t understand. It had only been a little over a month since they’d seen each other. What had happened?

Du Yu knew Jiang Yan was in a low mood, and thought for a moment before saying: “Pick someone here and give them a kiss.”

*Brother, I’ve created an opportunity for you. Whether you can take it is up to you.*

Jiang Yan felt his heart skip. He looked over at Jiang Ruoqiao, his gaze expectant. In that moment, he couldn’t see anyone else — only her.

Jiang Ruoqiao, however, looked away, clearly unwilling to go along with it.

She and Jiang Yan had been together for several months. They’d held hands, hugged, kissed. But that was before. She was about to break up with him — why go through something like that? And especially not with her child sitting right there.

One thing about Jiang Yan, setting aside whatever faults he had: he was good at reading people’s moods, and he always respected Jiang Ruoqiao.

Jiang Ruoqiao had genuinely liked him before. But those feelings had grown complicated as Siyan arrived and the story unraveled, until she simply could no longer feel for him the way she once had.

Jiang Yan said nothing.

He could feel Jiang Ruoqiao’s reluctance clearly enough.

It only made his mood more depressed and irritable. But aside from her, who else could he kiss? Who else did he want to? He stood up and opened another beer instead.

Now everyone at the table had picked up on the tension between Jiang Yan and Jiang Ruoqiao.

Had they had a fight?

But nobody was particularly surprised. Lu Yicheng knew Jiang Ruoqiao had been thinking of ending things. The others suspected the presence of Lin Kexing had been rubbing Jiang Ruoqiao the wrong way. Either way, no one found it unexpected, and everyone could understand.

As the rounds continued, Jiang Yan drank again and again — sometimes for himself, sometimes for Lin Kexing.

Du Yu asked Lin Kexing whether she currently liked anyone.

Lin Kexing didn’t want to answer.

Jiang Yan covered for her again. After several bottles of beer, his head was beginning to ache. He’d had enough of this game and announced he was going back to his room to rest. No one stopped him. Only Lin Kexing watched him go with quiet, helpless concern. She hadn’t imagined it would go this way. Jiang Yan had been so happy when they arrived — why did he look like this now?

What was making him feel so wretched?

Had he and Jiang Ruoqiao had some kind of falling out?

The others were about to keep playing when Lin Kexing bit her lip. In the end, her concern for Jiang Yan won out, and she slipped away quietly. Of everyone present, only Jiang Ruoqiao noticed her leave.

No sooner had Lin Kexing gone than all the lights in the courtyard went out. The owner came hurrying out to explain: the voltage out here was unstable, and he’d go fix it right away. It wouldn’t take long — half an hour at most. He hoped they’d be understanding.

Jiang Ruoqiao decided it was time. She said to Yun Jia and the others: “Jiang Yan’s alone in the room. I’ll go check on him.”

Du Yu, overhearing, gave a wistful sigh. “That’s what having a good girlfriend looks like.”

Must be nice, having someone who thinks of you when you’ve had too much to drink.

When would he ever not be single? Even Lu senior had something brewing!

Right, speaking of — he’d ask Lu senior—

Hmm?

“Hey, little one — where did Lu senior go?” Du Yu turned around to find only Lu Siyan sitting there. Lu Yicheng had disappeared.

Lu Siyan put on his most innocent expression. “He went to the bathroom.”

He most certainly wasn’t going to tell them that his dad had followed his mom.

His dad had told him.

Lu Yicheng had noticed Lin Kexing slip away, and then noticed Jiang Ruoqiao follow after her. He had hesitated for a while before deciding to go after them. Mainly he was worried something might happen.

Jiang Ruoqiao made her way upstairs in the dark, feeling her way toward Jiang Yan’s room.

Thinking about what became of her in the original story, she felt a flash of longing to turn the warm little romance into a full-on revenge arc. But Jiang Yan, and Lin Kexing too — neither of them was worth spending too much mental energy on.

In the original story, the rural homestay was a pivotal moment in the plot.

The scene that had countless readers crying out for sweetness — the “tender little treat” of the novel.

That night, after everyone had drunk a little, the male lead felt unwell and went back to his room. Then the power cut out. Lin Kexing, whose heart was entirely with the male lead, slipped away to find him. The male lead was slightly tipsy, the room was dark, and he mistook Lin Kexing for his girlfriend. In a moment of feeling, he kissed her.

Lin Kexing didn’t say a word. The male lead never knew he’d kissed the wrong person.

Lin Kexing savored that sweetness in secret.

It wasn’t until much later, after they’d gotten together, that while playing Truth or Dare with friends, when the topic of their first kiss came up, Lin Kexing revealed what had happened. The male lead was utterly astonished.

Jiang Ruoqiao: “?”

Jiang Yan really is the worst!

People have feelings. Jiang Ruoqiao wasn’t so saintly that any of this left her completely unmoved. Just think about it — if she didn’t do something, these two people would have walked all over her and pushed her into an abyss she couldn’t climb out of? Fine. She was supposed to be the villainous second female lead. Might as well lean into it. A villainous second lead should *be* villainous — otherwise what was the point of the label?

There had actually been a chance for things to go differently.

After all, she hadn’t controlled Jiang Yan’s eyes or his mouth, hadn’t made him mistake one person for another and kiss the wrong girl. And she certainly hadn’t controlled Lin Kexing’s feet, hadn’t made her walk into a room occupied by a man who had a girlfriend in the middle of a dark night.

If either of these two people had been even slightly more clear-headed, none of it would have happened.

Jiang Ruoqiao had gone over every part of the plot, and maybe it was a matter of perspective, but the way things played out for her as the secondary character was genuinely nauseating.

She truly could not figure out what the version of herself in the story had done wrong to deserve that ending.

Three boyfriends in total, and Jiang Yan was the one she found most stomach-turning.

As for Jiang Yan and Lin Kexing — she could respect them and wish them well. Looking at it plainly, they were the noble leads of this story, destined to be together. She had only ever been a supporting character clearing the way for them.

……

Jiang Ruoqiao felt her way along the banister and climbed to the second floor.

One step at a time, her mood grew steadily calmer.

Inside the room, Lin Kexing had already pushed the door open. With the power out, everywhere was deep black. Through the darkness she could just make out a figure curled on one of the beds, back hunched, lying down. The sight of him made her heart twist with worry and pain. Jiang Ruoqiao hadn’t known Jiang Yan when he was small. If she had — would she still be capable of being this detached?

She walked toward him. The room had a carpet and her footsteps made no sound.

She reached the bed. She bent down and reached out to pat Jiang Yan on the arm. Before she could say a word, she heard his voice — hazy with drowsiness but carrying a note of surprised delight: “Ruoqiao?”

Jiang Yan had drunk too much.

His tolerance was never good to begin with, and he rarely drank at all. A few bottles of beer and he was in a bad way. From where he lay, all he could see in the dark was the outline of a girl with long hair. It was natural enough that he assumed, first and foremost, that it was his girlfriend Jiang Ruoqiao.

His head hurt. But his heart lifted.

She had come to find him.

Lin Kexing swallowed back whatever she had been about to say. She didn’t know what to say. Was she supposed to say she wasn’t Ruoqiao?

Her silence made Jiang Yan take it as confirmation. He reached up and took her hand, his voice soft and longing: “Ruoqiao, don’t ignore me. Please don’t ignore me…”

Lin Kexing’s eyes went hot at the corners.

Her nose stung, and tears slid down her face, landing on the back of Jiang Yan’s hand.

There had never been a moment as sharp as this one — the sudden clarity that this was it. This was all she would ever have. Even if Jiang Ruoqiao stepped aside, Jiang Yan would never love anyone else the way he loved her.

But what about him, then?

If Jiang Ruoqiao broke up with him, what would become of him?

Lin Kexing wanted to tell him. To tell him he had the wrong person. But the next second, Jiang Yan suddenly pulled her into his arms, and before she could react, she felt the warmth of his lips — and her eyes flew open in disbelief.

Jiang Yan thought Jiang Ruoqiao was the one crying.

He was half-drunk.

He wouldn’t even dare make her upset — and now she was crying? His heart clenched. She was the one he’d kept most carefully in his heart. How could he bear it?

Lips met, and Lin Kexing could have pushed him away. But she couldn’t bring herself to. Jiang Yan was someone she had quietly loved for so many years. She had sunken so long into this hopeless feeling, long enough that she had stubbornly convinced herself she would never love anyone else in this lifetime. Now he was right here. He was holding her. She closed her eyes, and allowed herself to be swept away just this once. Afterward — she would find her way back to where she was supposed to be. She would bless him and Jiang Ruoqiao. Because in this entire world, the person who most wanted him to be happy was her.

Both of them seemed to have retreated entirely into their own separate worlds.

Until a beam of light swung across them.

Lin Kexing jolted awake. On instinct she shoved Jiang Yan away and spun toward the door. The person standing there was… Jiang Ruoqiao.

Jiang Ruoqiao had turned on her phone’s torch function and was looking at them without expression.

Lin Kexing’s hands and feet went cold.

Jiang Yan had still been in a dizzy haze, but now he squinted against the light, trying to make out the figure in the doorway. The glow blurred the air around her, and gradually he could see — the person at the door was Ruoqiao.

Then who had he just been kissing?

Jiang Yan’s gaze locked.

Jiang Ruoqiao stepped to one side of the room, picked up a bottle of mineral water from the table, stepped past Lin Kexing, unscrewed the cap, and upended the entire bottle over Jiang Yan’s head.

Lin Kexing stood frozen, as though struck by lightning.

Jiang Ruoqiao dropped the empty bottle and looked steadily at Jiang Yan, her voice quiet. “Have you sobered up? Can you see clearly now who you were just kissing?”

At the same moment, Lu Yicheng had arrived and was now standing in the doorway, having walked in on the tail end of this scene. He stopped where he was, hovering on the threshold.

Jiang Yan had drunk too much, and had just been drenched from head to toe. His head was splitting — but he knew he had done something terribly wrong. Instinctively he reached out to grab Jiang Ruoqiao’s hand, but she stepped aside, glancing once at Lin Kexing, who stood there pale and motionless, and then back at Jiang Yan. “Still going to call her your little sister?”

With that, Jiang Ruoqiao had no desire to stay in that room for another moment.

She turned and walked out without a second look at Lin Kexing or Jiang Yan.

The end of this had already been decided.

Jiang Ruoqiao reached the doorway and only then saw that Lu Yicheng was there too.

She felt a flicker of surprise, but only paused for a moment before walking out of the room.

Lu Yicheng hesitated briefly, then turned and fell into step behind her.

From the room to the stairwell was a long corridor. Jiang Ruoqiao heard his footsteps and stopped, turning back. At that exact moment, the electricity returned. The lights along the corridor ceiling let out a crackling hum, and the next second the hallway flooded with brightness. The white light fell over her.

Lu Yicheng had adjusted to the darkness of the power outage, and when the light suddenly blazed back on, his eyes couldn’t take the sudden brightness. He narrowed them instinctively.

She smiled at him.

It was unlike any smile he had seen from her before.

She was where the light was.

Lu Yicheng said nothing. He just looked at her.

—