The boy sat back down, and the room remained restless for quite a while after — practically roaring with laughter and thunderous applause, marveling at Professor Jiang’s sharp insight while also feeling a little sorry for that poor unsuspecting soul.

Once the atmosphere quieted down, Jiang Rong smiled and said: “To prevent any of you from getting confused, let me further distinguish for everyone the causes behind the avoidant attachment type.”

She clicked to the next slide, then turned to write on the blackboard: “Avoidant types mostly come from families of origin with a controlling and suppressive style of upbringing. Parents may have imposed excessively harsh demands on them, with praise being scarce and negative evaluations being predominant, so they are unable to find a sense of self-worth and tend to avoid anyone’s closeness — because deep down, they lack confidence and fear being hurt again.”

Ning Sui held her ballpoint pen, her eyelashes slowly blinking once.

She curled her fingers inward and quietly wrapped them in her palm. As she lowered her head, she couldn’t help but recall all the various demands Xia Fanghui had placed on her over the years.

In elementary school she had been pushed to score full marks whenever possible. Not scoring full marks meant having her palms struck. As she gradually got older, Xia Fanghui stopped doing that, but she still couldn’t help scolding her when she made mistakes — why didn’t you try harder? Why can’t you do something even this simple?!

Back then, even though young Ning Sui understood that her mother’s nature was a little extreme, she still couldn’t help questioning herself — yes, why can’t I do it right? I really shouldn’t have made that mistake.

And then she would repeatedly fall into a negative cycle of self-blame leading to more mistakes.

As time passed, her emotional management was now far stronger than before, and she no longer felt like crying just because of some small reprimand. But all this while, Ning Sui realized she had never genuinely examined the origins of this personality tendency of hers. Only now did she finally understand where it came from.

As she thought about this, she suddenly recalled a conversation she’d once had with that pen pal of hers.

Back then, because it was all online and they’d known each other for a while, Ning Sui’s guard had gradually lowered, and she had shared some experiences from her own life with him — funny things, sad things. Sometimes she’d even used him as an emotional dumping ground, pouring out whatever was weighing on her heart.

Ning Sui remembered saying to him: [Because you’re someone I don’t know in real life — that’s why I dare to tell you all this. If real-life people knew, I would run far, far away.]

Nathan asked: [Why?]

1212 Coconut: [Because I’d feel uneasy. I have a bit of an avoidant attachment tendency.]

1212 Coconut: [Please don’t tell anyone, okay?]

Ning Sui had once quietly told Ning Deyan that she felt something was a bit off with her when it came to intimate relationships — it seemed like whenever someone tried to get close, a panic and sense of insecurity arose from some unknown place, and she wanted to curl inward and hide.

After looking it up online, the term for it was apparently “avoidant type.” Not knowing what to do about it, and it being exactly the second semester of her second year of high school, she brought up wanting to see a psychologist.

But Ning Deyan’s reaction was strongly resistant. He said at once with a serious expression — stop talking nonsense, don’t be melodramatic. It’s completely normal to feel pressured in high school. It hasn’t reached the point where you need to see a psychologist. What you read online is all fake — don’t believe everything you see. A person absolutely cannot be too fragile.

Ning Sui understood that her father had been crushed under the weight of work at the time and was rejecting all forms of what he saw as useless weakness, but that truly was a moment when she had carefully laid bare a piece of her heart.

After that, she never brought it up again.

— But Nathan was different.

After she’d finished unburdening herself, he didn’t ask what avoidant attachment was. He simply replied with one word: [Okay.]

After a pause, Nathan answered with patient composure: [I won’t tell anyone. This is a secret between just us.]

The student by the window had pulled it mostly shut, leaving just a gap to let in a little air. The sound of the wind from that side no longer howled, but softened into something gentle and lingering. The tree shadows outside the window were light and faint, draped quietly against the exterior of the academic building.

Occasionally in the room came the soft scratch of pen on paper as someone took notes, or the crisp tap of fingers on keyboards. Ning Sui couldn’t help lifting her gaze and letting it drift toward a certain corner diagonally ahead.

Though the distance was not short, and heads in between obstructed the view, Ning Sui could still clearly make out, through the layered gaps between people, the sharp and well-defined profile of Xie Yichen’s face.

He had his eyes lowered, watching the screen, one elbow propped on the desk, long slender fingers resting against his jaw, his expression unreadable.

The one sitting on the outer side eating chicken pieces should be his roommate Liu Chang — Ning Sui had crossed paths with him during the basketball game last time and they’d chatted briefly.

Her mind wandered without meaning to. Ning Sui half-lowered her lashes, her gaze settling lightly on the laptop keyboard in front of her.

She found herself thinking: in a crowd, he always seemed to stand out so clearly.

Every time her attention slipped for even a moment, she’d somehow spot him right away.

— So, what kind of attachment type would Xie Yichen be?

Ning Sui wasn’t entirely sure.

Judging purely from their interactions, she felt he was mature, reliable, emotionally steady. It was as though nothing was a problem in his eyes, every issue was solvable — as long as Xie Yichen was around, he gave her a kind of fearless, forward-pressing confidence.

But he had also mentioned that his parents didn’t pay him much attention, that they didn’t even remember his birthday. So sometimes he would stay with his uncle and aunt, and he had even moved out on his own during middle school.

And then there was that scar on his arm. How had that come about?

Getting cut like that must have really hurt.

Only now did Ning Sui suddenly realize that, in truth, there was still so much about Xie Yichen she didn’t know.

She sat there in a slight daze, thinking, her lips slowly pressing into a flat line.

At this moment, a girl in the row ahead of her raised her hand: “Professor Jiang, how can this avoidant mentality be healed or improved?”

In the hundreds-person lecture hall, with everyone listening intently, the room fell completely silent. The question was exactly what Ning Sui had just been wanting to ask but hadn’t dared. Jiang Rong answered: “The first method is self-rescue: discover your own strengths, and seek out your inner emotional needs.”

“Now, dear ones, when I say self-rescue here, I do not mean this is a flawed personality — on the contrary, I want you to understand that every personality type is unique and precious.”

“For example, avoidant personalities have very sensitive and perceptive minds, and are adept at noticing subtle changes in others’ emotions. So please, do not belittle yourselves.”

“The other method is to draw on strength from the outside. If there is someone you trust who is able to offer you sustained encouragement, you will gradually build your own value system and enter a positive cycle of self-affirmation.”

Saying this, Jiang Rong blinked, looking slightly playful for a woman nearly fifty: “Of course, the fastest method is to find a securely attached partner.”

When the second break bell finally rang, students started getting up one by one to use the restroom.

Cui Xian chatted warmly with her senior for a while, then introduced him to Ning Sui. The two of them greeted each other amicably across Cui Xian, and Cui Xian asked with a smile: “How’s our Tsinghua class? Not bad, right?”

Ning Sui gave a small nod, the corners of her lips curving gently: “Pretty good.”

Taking advantage of the senior stepping out to get some water, she teased Cui Xian: “I feel like you’re about to leave the single life, aren’t you?”

A faint blush finally crept onto Cui Xian’s face, but her eyes were still bright: “Right? I think so too — wish me luck!”

Ning Sui thought she was like a little sunflower — very naturally at ease with people. Even sitting together at dinner earlier, she had been thinking that being liked by a girl like Cui Xian must make the people around her feel sunny too.

Cui Xian chased after the senior and headed out. Ning Sui sat there for a moment, then closed her laptop and finally decided to message Xie Yichen about returning his jacket.

But not wanting him to know she’d been sneaking into the class, Ning Sui simply pretended she was coming to find him from outside the lecture hall. She started by nudging him: [[Curious cat peeks in.jpg]]

Suisuisui: [Are you in class right now? Can I come return your jacket tonight?]

She could see from across the room that Liu Chang was bantering back and forth with another roommate, Qu Handong, their expressions quite animated, while Xie Yichen was sandwiched between the two of them, coolly and unhurriedly looking at his phone.

After a moment.

Xie Yichen replied: [Sure]

Suisuisui: [Where are you?]

Her intention was just to complete the surface-level pretense, but she saw him unexpectedly respond with a question of his own: [Where are you?]

Ning Sui’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, and she made up an excuse: [I’m strolling around on Xuetang Road [bouncy cat.jpg]]

She ventured: [Can I come find you now?]

Ning Sui saw that Xie Yichen still had his head lowered. The door near him at the front of the lecture hall was open, with people coming and going. He just leaned back in his chair, sitting there lazily, focused on whatever was in his hand, completely unbothered by how many people were quietly watching him.

Before long, a girl who’d clearly been working up the nerve came to stand before him, separated by the desk as she spoke to him.

Since Xie Yichen was sitting and she was standing, she cleverly bent forward slightly at the waist to close the distance between them.

Liu Chang and Qu Handong stopped chatting and pretended to each be looking at their own computers, while actually keeping themselves very pointedly from looking.

Ning Sui felt like that girl looked somewhat familiar. It wasn’t until the girl pulled out two boxes of fresh-cut mango and handed them to Xie Yichen that she suddenly realized.

“……”

Wasn’t that the girl who brought water to the basketball court that day? Liu Chang had said she was some kind of campus beauty from the Business School.

Ning Sui pressed her lips together. She saw Xie Yichen casually glance up, seemingly say a few words, then lower his gaze again. But the distance was too great to make out what was said.

Just as she was drifting into another slight daze, her phone suddenly vibrated.

From the other end came a leisurely reply: [Sure, I’m 6 rows ahead of you, 12th seat counting from the left.]

Ning Sui: “……”

Her gaze stopped. Her expression froze with complete lack of warning.

Wait — how did he know she was in the lecture hall? Had he turned around at some point?!

Ning Sui decided this person’s eyesight was truly extraordinary, able to pick her out from a dense sea of heads. Not wanting to look over there anymore, she tucked her head down, fingertips curling slightly.

She stared at the screen and typed, character by character: [Oh, is the fresh-cut mango sweet?]

She waited a moment, but no reply came from the other end.

She looked up instinctively to find him, only to discover he was no longer in his original seat.

Ning Sui froze for a second. Just as she was about to stand, a familiar crisp, clean scent suddenly descended from the side — the smell was clean and unhurried, but the voice that came with it was bright with a barely-concealed smile: “Don’t know. Didn’t eat any.”

Something swept across the tip of her heart, leaving a faint tingling. Ning Sui put down her phone: “……Oh.”

The student beside her had left as soon as class ended, and Xie Yichen had simply leaned himself against the back of that empty chair next to her.

He looked down, dark eyes pressed low, indistinct and slightly amused, drawing out his tone at an unhurried pace: “Weren’t you strolling on Xuetang Road? How did you make it here so fast?”

How on earth could he manage to handle someone and still find her at the same time.

Ning Sui stayed silent for a beat, tucked her warm ears behind her hair, and decided to just fully commit to the lie, slowly saying: “Yeah, I borrowed a bike.”

“……”

Xie Yichen raised an eyebrow and looked at her, but didn’t push the subject. He sat down in the empty seat beside her.

His body leaned slightly toward her, his tone languid and relaxed: “What made you think to come sit in on a psychology class?”

Ning Sui glanced at him: “Cui Xian invited me to come along. You know her, right?”

Xie Yichen thought for a moment: “Mm, I think we met at the summer program.”

Ning Sui gave a quiet “oh”: “I’m on pretty good terms with her.”

Xie Yichen looked directly at her and gave another easy sound of acknowledgment, but his gaze didn’t move even slightly.

Ning Sui felt her heart tighten a little. She was still trying to think of what else to say when he pulled out, from somewhere, a cup of avocado-flavored yogurt and pushed it toward her. He lowered his lashes, mouth curving slightly as he asked: “Want some?”

Xie Yichen was wearing dark grey cargo trousers with a drawstring at the waist, his legs long and lean. Up top he had on what was for once a very light khaki-colored hoodie, with two adjustable drawstrings hanging at the collar, loose and casual.

“Mm.” Ning Sui remembered the vending machine outside had this yogurt. As her eyes followed his movement, those two strings drifted back and forth in her field of view, and she reached out without thinking to pull one.

What she hadn’t expected was that the thing was extremely loose, and she pulled the whole string clean out in one go.

“?”

Ning Sui was holding the string in her hand, still somewhat dazed: “Um—”

The person in front of her had his dark eyes watching her with an unreadable expression. Ning Sui’s gaze flickered guiltily. She clapped her hands together with great sincerity and said: “Happy? You now own a limited-edition hoodie.”

Xie Yichen: “……”

In just those few short minutes, quite a few students nearby had cast curious glances their way — both of them were remarkably good-looking, so it was only natural people couldn’t help staring.

Ning Sui was, truthfully, rather accustomed to being watched by many eyes, just like Xie Yichen — she could tune out whatever gazes landed on her.

Back in high school, for every large-scale cultural event emcee position, morning assembly readings, or English speech competitions — any stage that could showcase herself — Xia Fanghui had required her to participate without exception. As a result, Ning Sui was exceptionally good at performing confidence.

She just didn’t know how to explain things to Cui Xian when she came back — that she and Xie Yichen actually had a pretty close relationship?

Thinking it was better to avoid extra complications, Ning Sui’s lashes stirred: “Oh right, your jacket—”

She hadn’t even pulled open the zipper of her bag when the bell rang to start class.

Xie Yichen stood up unhurriedly: “Leave it for now. Wait for me at the entrance of Building Six after class.”

Ning Sui: “Oh.”

Cui Xian and her senior came back just as the bell rang, the atmosphere between them subtly charged with something unspoken. She didn’t even notice the cup of yogurt that had appeared on Ning Sui’s desk, and sat in her seat keeping up the pretense of focusing intently on the lecture.

Later Ning Sui happened to glance over and see that the two of them were secretly holding hands under the table.

There were only two breaks in the session, and Ning Sui sipped her yogurt while earnestly listening to Professor Jiang lecture. She found she still really did love sweet things — especially this one, which was such a cheerful shade of green that just looking at it lifted her mood.

Ning Sui set down the empty cup and, unthinkingly, gave her lips a quiet lick.

—

Class dismissed. Students gathered their things and filtered out in a trickle. Xie Yichen was still sitting in the front section, completely at ease. Liu Chang and Qu Handong hadn’t left either, and were goading each other: “Should we go get a late-night snack? The barbecue place by the bridge — the chef’s grilled tendon is really chewy.”

“Sure, I can’t study anymore on Thursday nights.” Qu Handong slapped his laptop shut with great emphasis, fully demonstrating his enthusiasm. “Is Chen-bro coming?”

Xie Yichen was looking at his phone, still lazily laid-back: “Got something to do, you guys go.”

The two of them had gone out during the break and hadn’t seen Xie Yichen go to find Ning Sui, so they were completely in the dark. Qu Handong clamped a hand down on Xie Yichen’s shoulder and cried out: “Don’t tell me you’re going to sneak off and study behind our backs while we’re not looking!”

Liu Chang knocked his hand off, voice incredulous: “What are you on about? Does our brother look like someone who needs to study secretly?”

Qu Handong put on a long-suffering look: “You’re right — he studies openly.”

The two of them went back and forth like that, playing off each other. Xie Yichen gave each of them a flick and said without a care: “One IMO gold medalist and one national physics olympiad finalist, and you’re putting on this act for me?”

After Xie Yichen left, Qu Handong waved Liu Chang over conspiratorially and whispered: “Did you notice that Chen-bro’s mood got a lot better just now?”

“Seems like it,” Liu Chang said. “He was pretty unhappy when class first started.”

……

As class was almost over, Ning Sui felt Cui Xian growing restless, glancing at the time every few minutes.

The moment the bell rang, Ning Sui proactively said her goodbyes.

Two pairs of bright eyes met, transmitting a great deal of information in an instant. Cui Xian gave a light cough, blew her a flying kiss: “Alright babe, I’m heading off — let’s catch up again sometime!”

The temperature outside had cooled slightly. The exit of Building Six, Block A opened onto a crossroads on Xinmin Road. A row of poplars stood tall and straight, their leaves swaying in the wind. The evening was cool and still as water. One by one, students on bicycles swept carefree through, kicking up waves of refreshing wind.

Ning Sui was wearing a light pink pleated velvet skirt, paired with ankle boots. On top she wore a thin white down jacket, a fluffy crossover-collar scarf around her neck, and on her head a soft wool beret matching the color of her skirt.

She was naturally sensitive to cold, so Fanfan always prepared plenty of autumn and winter clothes for her.

Before leaving the classroom just now, Ning Sui had glanced toward the front — Xie Yichen had already packed up his bag, but it seemed those two roommates were still holding him up with something. Since she wanted some fresh air first anyway, she stepped outside to wait at the crossroads, gazing with mild interest at the passing strangers in a hurry.

She had just settled into a faintly distracted state when someone bumped into her from behind. Ning Sui stumbled half a step forward and simultaneously heard the other person curse under their breath first.

Ning Sui turned around, just about to apologize, when she looked up and saw a face carrying a touch of irritation.

It took her a few seconds to recall the name of this male student — he was Yu Qin’s former boyfriend, Fang Muzhuo.

Fang Muzhuo was with a girl who had a gentle, refined aura, quite similar to Yu Qin in type. The two of them had apparently wandered into the Tsinghua campus for a stroll.

Yu Qin had taken a photo before that happened to include the girl’s face, which was why Ning Sui could confirm this was the same girl who had been at the male dormitory entrance.

Fang Muzhuo had carelessly bumped into someone but had terrible manners — his reflexive reaction was to lay blame: “What kind of person — do you know how to walk?”

It was actually the girl who turned to Ning Sui and nodded apologetically: “I’m so sorry.”

A street lamp stood right beside them, its orange light spilling over Ning Sui. Though she wasn’t smiling, her pair of peach-blossom eyes were bright and vivid. Fang Muzhuo was startled by her appearance, and then realized the face was familiar — this seemed to be his ex-girlfriend’s roommate, the one he’d seen in front of the cafeteria that day.

Two emotions crossed through him quickly and entangled: on one hand, annoyance at the bad luck of running into her; on the other, the thought that somehow he hadn’t taken a proper look last time — this woman was actually surprisingly decent-looking, just those two sentences she’d said then had been unpleasant.

Suppressing his expression, he gave Ning Sui a once-over, then reached out to take his girlfriend’s hand flat: “Let’s go.”

The girlfriend, however, asked Ning Sui with concern: “Are you alright?”

Fang Muzhuo was impatient: “She’s barely touched — what could be wrong.”

He said this and pulled the girl to move on. Ning Sui tilted her head and called out warmly to both of them.

The girlfriend turned back first. Ning Sui smiled pleasantly: “Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to ask — do you know you’re the third wheel in this relationship?”

“What?” The girl was first astonished, then snapped her gaze to Fang Muzhuo. “What does she mean?!”

Fang Muzhuo hadn’t expected Ning Sui to come out and say it so directly. His dark, heavy gaze swept straight over, furious: “What nonsense are you talking about!”

Ning Sui ignored him and addressed the girl seriously: “Your boyfriend had a girlfriend he’d been with for half a year — they only just broke up recently. Your timelines overlap completely.”

The girl clearly hadn’t known any of this. Her expression changed on the spot, and she pulled her hand out of Fang Muzhuo’s palm. Her face had gone red with fury: “So you were pretending to be single and cheating on her with me? Explain yourself—”

It was close to ten o’clock, right at the moment when the last evening class session was letting out, and this road was the route that students from every department took heading back to the dormitories via the east and south gates. The street lamps were bright, and any commotion drew immediate attention.

The curious and gloating glances swept in, and Fang Muzhuo immediately felt his face burning. He cursed under his breath.

He glared at Ning Sui fiercely, took a quick step forward, shoved her, and then grabbed her by the collar. His tone was aggressive, trying to overpower her with his height and presence: “None of your damn business — shut the hell up—”

At that very moment, a fist came from somewhere with a thunderous crack, striking with full force. Fang Muzhuo felt the whole world spin and tilt, and he staggered backward several steps, losing his balance entirely.

He had never been in such an embarrassing state before — and in front of his girlfriend, with scattered onlooking students around.

He looked up to see a tall figure standing protectively in front of Ning Sui. Rage surged through Fang Muzhuo and he lunged forward, swinging back a fist, which was easily intercepted and locked at the wrist. Seeing this, Fang Muzhuo thrust his knee up hard toward the other person’s lower abdomen.

Xie Yichen hadn’t originally intended to hit him a second time, but that underhanded move was truly too vicious, so what followed was almost an instinctive defensive reflex — he kicked Fang Muzhuo and sent him sprawling to the ground.

Fang Muzhuo cried out in pain. Xie Yichen crouched down on one knee, grabbed him by the collar without ceremony. The veins on the back of his hand stood out, pinning the man to the ground without any room to move.

The young man’s handsome and striking brow and eyes were sharp and cold. He curved his lips in a cold, slight smile and gave a faint, contemptuous scoff: “My apologies — my foot slipped.”