The post had gone up at five in the afternoon, and by now it had already accumulated dozens of replies.

First reply: 【The one from the Yao Program?】

Original poster’s reply: 【Yep】

Reply: 【Holy sh**, what happened?!?!?!?!】

【AAAH I got here too early, lurking lurking!】

【Their department had a match against Math today, lots of people showed up. At first it looked like their side was going to lose, so they called out XYC — he’d been pretty busy these past few days, wasn’t originally supposed to be playing.】

【Also at the scene — I saw it too… but isn’t there a chance he just got scratched by a cat? 【poor thing】】

【Hahahahaha the person above is still desperately grasping for explanations, bless you】

Just then, someone who had been there with a DSLR posted photos.

The replies below exploded instantly.

【With a mark like that, it could only have been a bite from his girlfriend 【tsk tsk】】

【Does he really have a girlfriend… I’d love to know who she is 【crying】】

【The person at this floor is in the same cohort as Chen-master from the college entrance exam. As far as I know, he mentioned at a class reunion that he’s already been seeing someone. She’s probably someone he knows — he didn’t say more than that.】

【【crying】【crying】【crying】 Dreams crushed】

【Dying of laughter, haven’t even gotten his WeChat yet】

【The laugh of the person above is so heartbreaking 【doghead】】

……

“What did I tell you — won’t even take three months.” Qu Handong was stretched out on the top bunk, wearing the expression of someone whose every prediction had come true.

Counting the dates — from the start of the fall semester in September to New Year’s — that was roughly the timeline.

Liu Chang raised an eyebrow to look at him. It really was.

With Yichen’s everything, if it had taken longer than three months for him to stop being single, they’d all have assumed something had gone seriously wrong.

Liu Chang said: “But where is Yichen? Why didn’t he go to the computer lab today?”

“He went to Jingda to be with his girlfriend.” At the thought of it, Qu Handong shook his head with a world-weary sigh. “Is this what they call a TP-Link relationship? I bet the Jingda security guards all know his face by now.”

Liu Chang: “Just yesterday, a junior of mine was asking me whether Yichen was really in a relationship.”

Qu Handong: “Dying of laughter — with a lip injury that obvious, and they still can’t believe it.”

He craned his neck over the edge of his bunk and could see, hanging neatly from the wardrobe door, Xie Yichen’s pale gray scarf.

Though nothing had been said — it somehow felt like a quiet declaration of something.

— This wasn’t even scarf weather anymore. Good grief.

“This is outrageous! Single people have no rights!”

Just as Qu Handong was releasing that earth-shaking, spirit-rattling cry, Ning Sui was walking through the second teaching building with her backpack, looking for a seat to study.

She had saved a spot for Xie Yichen too. She opened her laptop, took out her practice notebook, and settled into the week’s assignments.

She’d been studying for a little while when she heard someone sit down nearby. Assuming it was Xie Yichen, she looked up mid-question: “You’re here?”

But the face that met her was Yin Rui’s.

“Oh?” He looked mildly embarrassed, holding a thick stack of books, and smiled at her with a small, bright smile. “Ning Sui, you’re studying here too?”

“Yeah.”

She’d run into Yin Rui in the library several times before; she hadn’t expected him to have switched to studying in this building as well.

Yin Rui’s gaze dropped, noticing two math textbooks on the desk beside Ning Sui’s things. He looked up again and studied her quietly for a moment.

She was wearing a loose, lightweight pale green knit sweater today. Her smooth hair was loosely pinned up, making her neck look soft and gracefully fair. Yin Rui’s eyes shifted slightly. He asked, treading carefully: “Um… would it be all right if I sat next to you?”

He had spent winter break constantly finding excuses to message her. Though he’d never said anything outright, Ning Sui had a rough sense of what it was about.

Her lashes flickered. She was just about to say something measured when a calm voice cut in from beside her.

“I’m sorry.”

Yin Rui followed the sound and looked to the side. A tall, handsome young man stood there with his hands tucked in his pockets and a single-shoulder bag on his back, his sharp eyes glancing over without particular concern.

He was quite good-looking. He reached out and pointed to the seat entrance that was blocked by Yin Rui’s position: “Could you let me through?”

Yin Rui felt a flicker of awkwardness, but since he didn’t recognize Xie Yichen, he didn’t immediately move — instead he turned to Ning Sui and asked: “Is this a friend of yours?”

Ning Sui snuck a sideways glance. Xie Yichen was holding a milk oat tea from a place she liked very much. Her heart gave a small tug: “Something like that.”

Xie Yichen looked down at her, the emotion in his dark eyes unreadable, but he said nothing.

Yin Rui, relieved, was about to say that he could sit on the other side instead — but before he could speak, he saw Ning Sui blink softly: “Actually, the closest kind of friend there is—”

Yin Rui: “Ah?”

“My boyfriend.”

“…”

After Yin Rui made a hurried exit, Xie Yichen finally settled into the seat with his bag, first placing the milk tea in front of her, then taking out his laptop to boot up. The cursor spun on the screen for a while. He leaned back casually in his chair, and then finally asked: “How long has he been after you?”

“He hasn’t been after me,” Ning Sui said.

“I don’t believe that.”

“Really, he hasn’t.” Ning Sui glanced sidelong at his visibly disgruntled expression and felt an irresistible impulse to smile. “We just talked briefly at the school sports day. We’ve barely run into each other since, and we’re not close.”

Xie Yichen didn’t look up, his tone unhurried: “All right. Then when you get home, delete Shen Qing.”

“…”

Ning Sui had just naturally pulled out a straw to poke through the lid of her milk tea. She’d been on the verge of a sincere, earnest conversation — when she couldn’t help a sudden laugh slipping out: “What does Shen Qing have to do with this?”

Feeling her laugh at him like this with absolutely no sense of guilt, Xie Yichen glanced sidelong at her. Ning Sui thought about it, then let out a slow “oh.”

Just the day before, she’d posted a photo of the magnolia blossoms she’d taken at Qinghua on her Moments — and Shen Qing had once again praised both the photo and the person in it with characteristically generous language, saying the photography was impressive and the subject was beautiful.

Xie Yichen kept a blank expression: “Is that his only mode of commenting? His vocabulary is lacking.”

“…”

Ning Sui had been watching him this whole time and nearly laughed out loud again. She pressed her lips together to stop herself.

She thought for a moment, then reached out and gently, tentatively tugged at his sleeve. Her dark eyes held the faintest gleam: “He and I aren’t close either. Apart from that one time we went out with the group, we haven’t really talked since.”

Xie Yichen’s gaze dropped to her fingertips. Some of the tension in his expression eased. A few seconds passed; then a measured, unhurried sound came from the back of his throat.

Ning Sui pressed her advantage, reasoning from his perspective: “Do you want to look through my phone?”

“No need.” Xie Yichen turned his head, held her gaze for a moment, then leaned closer with a burning look and asked: “We don’t have to hide from anyone anymore, do we?”

Ning Sui’s lashes gave a sudden flutter.

Now that Xia Fanghui knew too, there was no point in hiding from anyone else. She gave a small nod: “Yeah.”

“Good.” He said it with that characteristic languid ease.

“?”

Ning Sui wasn’t entirely sure what specifically he was finding “good,” but that evening Xie Yichen stayed with her studying in the building all the way until night, and then a few weeks after that he left with his faculty advisor to travel to the United States to compete.

During that time, Ning Sui and Hu Ke’er booked flights to Xiamen for a concert.

Although the Strawberry Music Festival was already a hard act to follow, the prospect of attending the Kuiyu Planet concert made Ning Sui genuinely excited — she’d been a fan of this band since middle school and knew every song they’d ever released well enough to sing along.

It had to be said — Fang Fang really did know her.

That evening, Ning Sui and Hu Ke’er took countless photos together. They were even lucky enough to be picked up by the official camera crew and briefly appeared on the big screen. Hu Ke’er spotted it first and dragged Ning Sui into a fit of elated shrieking, both of them carrying on as if a windfall had dropped from the sky. They were still buzzing with excitement long after.

She hadn’t let herself enjoy something so freely in a long time. Ning Sui carefully framed a proper recording of the stage and sent it to Xia Fanghui: 【Thank you, Mom. It was so good! 【kiss kiss】】

Fang Fang replied quickly: 【I’m glad you loved it 【hug】【heart】】

Xie Yichen was currently in the United States, with the time difference — probably close to noon for him. The competition was in South Dakota, set to begin at precisely twelve o’clock.

Pre-competition preparations were underway. Zhang Yuge called him on a voice chat.

Xie Yichen answered lazily: “What is it.”

Zhang Yuge grinned: “Eaten yet?”

“Yeah.”

“When does it start?”

“Soon. Say what you have to say.”

Zhang Yuge knew he got intensely focused once he entered the zone, so he replied in that same breezy tone: “Nothing much. Just calling to check in on my brother.”

“Thanks.” Xie Yichen gave a brief, polite smile. Concise. “I’m hanging up.”

Zhang Yuge: “…”

The ACM gathered the best computer science teams from around the world. Many participants were second- or even third-year university students; Xie Yichen’s team was participating unusually early. Their faculty advisor had also told them not to put too much pressure on themselves — just treat it as getting a feel for the competition.

Xie Yichen didn’t take it too heavily. For him, there wasn’t much weight to carry. He’d never been one for excessive nerves — you do what you can, and what you can’t do yet, you learn. He’d always approached things with that kind of grounded, forward-moving attitude. After all, there was still so much to learn, and the road was always ongoing.

Meanwhile, Ning Sui had returned to her hotel room in Xiamen. Xie Yichen had sent her a photo of his lunch earlier — a very plain sandwich.

While Hu Ke’er was in the shower, Ning Sui poked him. A video call came through after a moment.

She answered. Xie Yichen’s face appeared on the screen — it was daytime on his end, the light warm and bright. He was seated in an armchair, flipping through a book for reference.

“Was the concert good?”

“Pretty good,” Ning Sui said. “Just one sandwich — aren’t you hungry?”

“Not just one. I had three.” He looked at her. “The sandwich is practical for long days. This one runs about five hours total.”

“Oh.”

Even through her phone’s mediocre camera quality, his features remained sharp and well-defined — those keen eyes, that trace of quiet amusement, the clean jawline. Ning Sui studied him carefully and, while he wasn’t looking, tapped twice quickly on the screen to use the shortcut to screenshot.

The first attempt didn’t go through. She tapped again.

Xie Yichen caught it. He gave her a half-amused look: “What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” Ning Sui’s eyes darted to one side. “I’m tapping a digital wooden fish for you to accumulate good fortune.”

“?”

She changed the subject with deliberate calm: “You’re almost up, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

At that moment, Hu Ke’er had just finished her shower. She was still in the bathroom, hadn’t put her top on yet, and glanced over at her phone to find the Huai’an group chat lighting up with a stream of new messages.

She tapped it open and scrolled to the top.

About ten minutes prior, Zhang Yuge and Lin Shuyu had sent cheering messages in the group.

Jin Ge: 【Xie-master, YYDS! Go get them bro! Top 3 worldwide! Crush everyone!】

Kuge Lin: 【Go go go, no gold medal no coming home!】

SuiSuiSui: 【No matter what rank you place, it’s already amazing 【hug】 @Xie Yichen】

Xie Yichen: 【Got it 【ruffle】 @SuiSuiSui】

SuiSuiSui: 【【cute-cat-bouncing-a-ball.jpg】】

Xie Yichen: 【Go to sleep early, don’t stay up late 【hug】】

Kuge Lin: 【…】

Kuge Lin: 【Zhangyu, do you ever feel like we’re just scenery here?】

Jin Ge: 【🙂】

Jin Ge: 【Apologies for speaking out of turn 【crying】】

Jin Ge: 【Born a person, I am deeply sorry for existing 【slapping-myself.jpg】】

Kuge Lin: 【【slapping-you.jpg】】

Kuge Lin: 【【slapping-myself.jpg】】

The two of them kept chatting on their own, then moved to the smaller group chat — the one that contained Hu Ke’er.

Jin Ge: 【How come those two went quiet?】

Jin Ge: 【Do they think we’re annoying?】

Hu Ke’er cracked the bathroom door open and peeked out — Ning Sui had finished her shower first, and was now lying on the left-side bed in her pink strawberry pajamas, talking to someone on her phone, laughing with those peach-blossom eyes curving into crescents.

“…”

Paopao Ke: 【The two of them are on a video call.】

Jin Ge: 【…】

Kuge Lin: 【…】

Jin Ge: 【This servant shall take his leave】

Kuge Lin: 【+1】

Paopao Ke: 【.】

Ning Sui had no idea what they were up to in the group chat. She’d chatted a little longer on the call when a familiar, distinctly measured voice cut in from Xie Yichen’s side: “Oh? Who are you talking to?”

Xie Yichen was wearing his Bluetooth earphones. He glanced to one side, and Qu Handong’s face appeared briefly on screen — before vanishing a second later as if he’d been burned: “Oh damn, sorry, my bad.”

At the same moment, another male voice filtered through, muffled, asking something. Ning Sui faintly heard Qu Handong’s voice shouting in the background: “Yichen’s on a video call with his girlfriend!”

“…”

Ning Sui wasn’t sure if there were other people over there, or whether it was a public space, but she knew his phone had a privacy screen — it wasn’t easy for anyone nearby to see the display.

Ning Sui licked her lip. She could feel the warmth rising in her cheeks, and her gaze drifted with poorly concealed innocence toward the book open in front of him.

From his end, scattered English voices were filtering in — it seemed like it was almost time to put away the phone. Xie Yichen gave the ghost of a smile. His voice dropped: “Get some rest then. Don’t stay up too late. I’ll be flying back tomorrow night.”

Ning Sui gave a small nod, smiling too: “Okay. Good luck at the competition.”

The image of him on screen raised an eyebrow: “That’s it?”

Ning Sui’s heart gave a small skip: “What else did you want?”

Xie Yichen held her gaze steadily, his voice low: “What do you think?”

“…”

Ning Sui’s fingers curled.

She glanced to the side — Hu Ke’er was sitting on the other bed, absorbed in her phone, face perfectly neutral.

“Well,” Ning Sui cleared her throat carefully, “today I drank a cup of taro—”

“Boba milk tea.”

Xie Yichen was startled for a moment, then broke into laughter when it clicked.

“Ah.” There was something distinctly meaningful in his tone now. “And how was that boba milk tea?”

Ning Sui said slowly: “Pretty good.”

“That boba milk tea is really a very good boba milk tea.”

She lowered her head, rubbing the floor with her toes. “And the boba pearls inside are also really very good boba pearls.”

“…”

He really did need to go compete. They lingered over that particular topic for a couple more exchanges, until finally Ning Sui ended the call. She stretched with satisfaction, rolled around on the bed for a bit, then settled and picked up her phone to check her messages.

There was a new WeChat message from Ning Deyan.

Ning Deyan: 【Are you hanging out with the little carrot-top right now? Just finished the concert?】

SuiSuiSui: 【Yes yes! 【wow】】

Ning Deyan: 【Was it good?】

SuiSuiSui: 【Really good! 【cat-rolling.jpg】】

Ning Deyan: 【Oh, while you’re at it, check in on her mental state.】

SuiSuiSui: 【?】

Ning Deyan: 【Her dad is really worried. Says she doesn’t know what got into her, but she suddenly told him she wants to enter a monastery.】