She wasn’t sure whether it was her imagination.

But Zhu Yunque couldn’t shake the sense that Lu Rangchen’s voice carried a trace of feeling — something buried just beneath the surface. Each syllable seemed to press down on her chest with invisible weight, landing one after another.

The agitation in her hadn’t had time to quiet before the young man’s clear, penetrating gaze swept her up entirely and left her face flushed.

Lu Rangchen raised a brow. “Why aren’t you saying anything.”

Zhu Yunque: “…”

Zhu Yunque pressed against the rapid thudding of her heart. “You said it yourself — that you had a girlfriend.”

The study window had been left slightly ajar. A breeze came through, softly lifting the stray strands of hair at the girl’s temples.

The light fell just right — pale enough to make her pupils look almost translucent, a light blue shading the edges. The light-blue dress shirt she wore seemed to catch that same quality, as though traced around the hem with a fine, warm gold thread. She looked clean and bright and quietly lovely in a way that was impossible to ignore.

His gaze snagged on her without his permission.

Something at the very center of Lu Rangchen’s chest felt as though it had been lightly scratched — and his throat came alive with a faint, inexplicable warmth.

All at once he remembered — he had, in fact, said something like that to her once. Something rather thoughtless.

He tilted his brow. “At the bar?”

Zhu Yunque gave a slow, confirming sound. “A girl asked you for your number. You said it yourself.”

That measured tone of hers held a subtle undercurrent — something between reproach and primness.

Lu Rangchen let out a helpless, amused sound. “You remember that rather clearly.”

“…”

Zhu Yunque didn’t take the bait — she was afraid of giving herself away.

Just then, as she was stepping toward the door, Lu Rangchen stretched out one long leg with an idle, offhand ease and blocked her path.

He looked at her from above, unhurried, as he began to speak in that low, measured way of his: “I didn’t want to give out my number. So I made it up.”

And then, with studied sincerity: “I’m a good student. I don’t date.”

The way his eyes looked at her in that moment — too warm, too direct.

Warm enough to upset the rhythm of Zhu Yunque’s heartbeat.

She was forced to look away, doing her best to appear unmoved. “Then you—”

She took a careful beat. “—you’re quite good at lying.”

At this point, Lu Rangchen gave up trying not to laugh.

He laughed until his shoulders shook, and the curve at the corner of his mouth sharpened with something like genuine appreciation. He said, quite sincerely, “I’ve decided — you’re far more interesting than I thought.”

Zhu Yunque’s gaze wavered, all of her unspoken feeling pressing behind her eyes.

She said, “I’ve always been quite interesting.”

The girl’s lips were pressed into a prim line.

There was a rare, faintly defiant little quality about her — a trace of genuine pride.

Lu Rangchen found the corner of his mouth moving without his knowledge. “Didn’t Deng Zhe or Xu Linda tell you I was making it up?”

Zhu Yunque shook her head. “I didn’t ask. And no one said anything.”

Lu Rangchen nodded, unsurprised. “Of course. You don’t pay attention to me.”

He said it casually — almost as an aside, with a faint self-deprecating quality that he seemed barely conscious of.

And yet it unsettled Zhu Yunque’s thoughts in ways she couldn’t quite name.

The next moment, Lu Rangchen took the momentum back. Without a trace of subtlety, he asked, “What about you — the boy at the convenience store that night. Who was he?”

Zhu Yunque went slightly still. “What boy.”

Lu Rangchen smiled, just barely. “You know who I mean.”

That was simply one of his gifts.

He didn’t have to probe or push. A few glances were all it took to look straight through to what someone was actually thinking.

Zhu Yunque’s initial reaction was surprise, then incredulity — but settling at the bottom of her chest was something more uncertain, something she couldn’t quite name. A strange, disorienting panic — because Lu Rangchen had apparently been watching her, silently, without her knowing.

A few seconds of blankness, and then she answered without fully thinking: “He’s my cousin.”

Lu Rangchen’s eyes curved with faint skepticism.

Zhu Yunque hadn’t intended to bring up that night at all. But under the pressure of his questioning look, she found herself telling the truth: “I mean it — he really is my cousin. I had an argument with my family that evening. He was worried about me and came to find me.”

Cousin. Argument with the family.

Lu Rangchen caught both of these. A memory surfaced — the way she had looked that night, crying like her heart was breaking, and the image of the young man taking her by the wrist while she didn’t resist.

But before he could say anything —

Cheng Liru’s voice rose again from downstairs, urging him along. She had other things to take care of; now that the apartment handover was essentially done, there was no reason to linger, and she told him so.

Lu Rangchen seemed faintly impatient about it, but he lowered his lashes and answered her with lazy compliance.

He finished replying and straightened up from where he’d been leaning.

At 185 centimeters and above, he stood a full head taller than Zhu Yunque. The breadth of his shoulders and the length of his legs were the kind of thing impossible not to feel.

Zhu Yunque looked up at him. “Are you leaving now?”

Lu Rangchen made a sound of affirmation, then couldn’t quite resist the urge to tease her. “Why — is there something else?”

A flicker of discomfort moved across Zhu Yunque’s expression. “No.”

That refined, understated face of hers — clear and blameless — was the kind of face you felt vaguely guilty for even looking at too long.

Lu Rangchen let the corner of his mouth move almost imperceptibly, nodded, and said let’s go then.

And so the two of them descended the stairs — Zhu Yunque a step ahead this time. But somehow, without either of them consciously closing the gap, the distance between them had contracted compared to before.

Or, to put it differently — closer than it had been any time before today.

The faint fragrance of gardenias on the girl drifted together with the deeper warmth of dark agarwood — mingling in the narrow stairwell into something shadowed and half-dreamed.

One slight turn of the head, and Zhu Yunque could see Lu Rangchen’s long, casually unhurried legs just behind her.

It felt, for a moment, like the whole vast world belonged to no one else — just this small, close space, just the two of them.

Pity that the feeling lasted so briefly.

Back on the ground floor, the distance between them was restored — clean and ordinary again.

Lu Rangchen no longer had that easy freedom he’d shown upstairs. His manner shifted back into something measured, courteous — the natural bearing of a well-raised young man with an exceptional upbringing.

Zhu Yunque reverted too — back to the quiet, reserved girl who spoke little and showed even less.

She only permitted herself to look at him directly, and only then with great care, when he was standing at the door preparing to leave.

When it came time to say goodbye, Feng Yanlai’s reluctance was evident. Cheng Liru smiled and said they should find a time before long to bring Zhu Yunque over to visit. Feng Yanlai immediately agreed — and then, thinking of it, turned and gently pushed Zhu Yunque forward, saying that since she might have questions about her studies, she could ask Lu Rangchen for help.

At that, Lu Rangchen’s gaze lifted slowly from his phone.

He looked Zhu Yunque over unhurriedly, top to bottom, and then gave a light, genuine laugh. “No need for that — she’s a more dedicated student than I am.”

He said it lightly.

No teenage sharpness, no mockery.

Only sincere, instinctive admiration.

And for many years afterward, long after Zhu Yunque had grown and moved through the crowds of the world and met countless different people — she would still be able to recall the particular quality of that young man’s gaze in that moment. Bright and rare and precious.

That look was the reason she always knew.

This person —

She had never been wrong to love him.

That afternoon, Cheng Liru and Lu Rangchen were collected by Lu Dingzhong.

Lu Dingzhong was Lu Rangchen’s father — the chief professor of law at Nancheng University. His reputation extended far beyond Nancheng; he lectured at the national level and was known throughout the country.

Zhu Yunque had heard his name before. She just hadn’t imagined that a figure from such an utterly different world could be so close to her own life.

It was Feng Yanlai who told her all this — while the two of them were settling into the new apartment.

She told Zhu Yunque many things about the Lu family. For instance: Cheng Liru came from an established family in the capital — the Cheng family held significant influence there — and at first, they hadn’t thought much of the young Lu Dingzhong. So when Cheng Liru was young, she had cut ties with her family for love. It wasn’t until Lu Dingzhong had built his academic reputation, and Lu Rangchen was born, that relations between her and her family eventually began to mend.

Even so, though the breach was healed, Cheng Liru never leaned on the Cheng family for anything. She was an accomplished woman in her own right, with her own clothing company. It was through this work that Feng Yanlai had met her in the capital. They were close in age, similar in taste, and had a great deal to say to each other — they became the kind of close friends who could talk about anything.

And for instance: Lu Rangchen was exceptionally well regarded within the Cheng family — someone might have called him the crown prince of the next generation. So he would periodically return to the capital for a period of time. He had come to live in Nancheng because Lu Dingzhong had been transferred to teach at Nancheng University in recent years, and Cheng Liru, unwilling to have the family separated, had brought Lu Rangchen along.

At that point, Feng Yanlai asked her: “There must be a lot of girls at your school who like him, aren’t there?”

Zhu Yunque’s hands stilled over the clothes she was folding.

She wanted to say yes.

But then she reconsidered, and shook her head, and said she wasn’t sure.

Feng Yanlai didn’t notice anything amiss — she was lost in her own thoughts, envying Cheng Liru for having a good family background, a good education, and on top of all that, such an exceptional husband and son.

After a moment, she seemed to think of something, and let out a small sigh. “I don’t expect you to match his grades and come first in your year — I’d just be content if you could get your scores back to where they used to be.”

“…”

Zhu Yunque sat quietly, listening without inflection.

She didn’t answer. She didn’t push back.

Like a cloth doll that had been emptied of all its stuffing.

Later, when Feng Yanlai asked how she had come to know Lu Rangchen, Zhu Yunque answered in that slow, unhurried way of hers: “My friend and his friend are close. We gradually got to know each other through them.”

Feng Yanlai didn’t know much about her daughter’s social life.

She simply nodded, and said it was good to know someone like that — if anything came up at school, at least she’d have someone to turn to.

Before long, Zhu Yunque’s bedroom was in order.

Feng Yanlai went off to sort out other rooms, and left her to herself.

During that time, Zhu Yunque received a call from Zhu Ping’an.

He had a few shifts these days and hadn’t been able to send her off in person. Worried she might feel hurt, he called when he got a spare moment.

Zhu Yunque lay in her new bedroom — far more spacious and comfortable than anything she’d had before — staring at the design-conscious ceiling, at the curtains beside the window that looked like they’d cost a great deal, and listened while her mind drifted.

In the end, what it amounted to was the usual: instructions to be obedient while living with her mother, to work hard at her studies, to not waste the environment her mother had worked hard to provide, and to come home for meals when she could — both he and Deng Jiali thought of her often.

“…”

Zhu Yunque was quiet for a long time before she responded. “But school keeps me very busy.”

There was a brief silence from Zhu Ping’an, and then a laugh. “True enough. Well, I’ll come find you, then — just the two of us, and Dad will treat you to something good.”

Zhu Yunque murmured an agreement.

Apparently sensing her resistance, Zhu Ping’an didn’t prolong it. A few more words, and the conversation wound down.

The call finally ended.

Zhu Yunque lay there, staring blankly out at the deep blue of the sky beyond the high-floor window. She had to blink repeatedly just to feel that any of this was real.

That she had really escaped that household that had never belonged to her.

And that here, in this new home — safe and comfortable — she had run into Lu Rangchen.

And that… Lu Rangchen didn’t have a girlfriend.

It was like the last set of shackles suddenly falling away.

The sensation of being blessed by fortune against all expectation swelled inside her like hydrogen filling a balloon — buoyant and overpowering. Zhu Yunque couldn’t return to herself. Not until Xu Linda replied to her WeChat message.

Xu Linda: 【Huh】

Xu Linda: 【Rangchen??】

Xu Linda: 【Your mom rented a place from Rangchen’s family???】

Youth’s private feelings can only be properly shared with one’s peers.

Zhu Yunque finally felt alive.

She gave Xu Linda a brief account of what had happened, then got up and sent her a short video of the bedroom.

Xu Linda: 【Wow, his place is gorgeous】

Xu Linda: 【What ridiculous luck you have, running into him like this hahaha — if Gaoge found out, she’d be sick with envy】

That was a bit of a pointed remark.

But Zhu Yunque admitted to herself — she really was lucky.

Even so, luck like this didn’t mean anything in particular. The gap between them was written into things far deeper than luck — the kind of apartment she would have to exhaust herself to afford was just one small detail among the many ordinary details of Lu Rangchen’s life.

Zhu Yunque couldn’t find the words for that particular feeling of powerlessness.

She smiled at herself with thin self-awareness and typed back: 【No matter how lucky I am, I’m still paying rent. And it’s not like I’m living with him】

Xu Linda scolded her: 【I genuinely don’t know how you can be so pessimistic】

Xu Linda: 【Let me tell you this plainly — I think you and Rangchen have real potential】

That came so suddenly that Zhu Yunque’s heart stumbled.

Like a long-kept secret being dragged into daylight.

But Xu Linda had already seen through her completely: 【Stop pretending. I’ve known for a while — you like Lu Rangchen】

Zhu Yunque: “…”

The tangled, hesitant, frightened feeling churned.

After a long internal struggle, she finally gave up trying to deny it: 【When did you figure it out】

Xu Linda: 【That night at the bar. And lately too — every time you run into him, your eyes go all evasive】

Xu Linda: 【And that time during morning exercises when Lin Zhinian showed up — you don’t know what your face looked like. I’m not blind, you know. Some best friend I’d be if I couldn’t see that】

Having her cover blown in rapid succession, Zhu Yunque was lost for words.

She’d thought she had been doing a decent job of hiding it. She had no idea it was so obvious to someone watching.

Zhu Yunque’s cheeks burned: 【You haven’t told anyone, have you】

Xu Linda: 【Of course not — you think I would? I love you. Why would I say something like that to anyone?】

Xu Linda’s gossip habit was one thing. But her integrity, on things that mattered, was never in question — and especially not something like this.

Zhu Yunque let go of her worry quietly.

Xu Linda went on: 【Oh — and in the cafeteria that day, Rangchen was asking me about you. Whether you’d run into some kind of trouble lately. He even asked if you were in a relationship. I nearly died laughing at that part】

Zhu Yunque’s ears went hot.

She typed: 【I’m not in a relationship】

Xu Linda: 【I know, I told him so — and I found it a bit strange myself, why he’d ask that out of nowhere】

…Probably because he’d seen Lin Lang come to find her.

Zhu Yunque felt an uncertain flicker of hope — and a reluctant sort of humour: 【What did he say after that】

Xu Linda: 【Nothing much — just nodded and moved on once I said no】

Xu Linda: 【Oh right, those two pieces of rose cake — those were from him actually】

Zhu Yunque had been starting to feel calm again, and then these words lit her up again.

Her fingertips trembled slightly.

She typed: 【The rose cake was something he bought?】

Xu Linda: 【No — Lin Zhinian bought them】

The school cafeteria’s rose cake was one of its signature specialties — always selling out quickly, not available in the afternoon, so anyone who wanted one had to buy during the lunch hour, and they were gone before long.

That day Lin Zhinian had bought a few, and when she happened to run into Lu Rangchen, she’d cheerfully offered him two.

Xu Linda: 【Rangchen didn’t really want to take them — but I happened to mention that Zhu Yunque liked that kind of thing, so he did take them and then gave them to me】

Xu Linda: 【You should have seen Lin Zhinian’s face. It turned positively green. I nearly lost it】

The way Xu Linda described it, Zhu Yunque could picture the scene vividly.

Her heart rate picked up without her realizing it.

Zhu Yunque asked: 【Why didn’t you tell me that day】

Xu Linda, without missing a beat: 【Because Rangchen told me not to】

Zhu Yunque: 【…Why】

Xu Linda: 【He said it was a small thing, and besides, they were Lin Zhinian’s to begin with — if anyone deserved thanks it was her】

Xu Linda: 【And honestly I thought about it and agreed, so I didn’t say anything — because I had the feeling you’re not that fond of Lin Zhinian】

The implication being —

She didn’t want Zhu Yunque to feel uncomfortable while eating.

Zhu Yunque hadn’t expected Xu Linda to see her that clearly, and for a moment felt something that was half-gratitude and half-embarrassment.

But it wasn’t that she disliked Lin Zhinian. She was simply very envious of her — envious of her beauty, her confidence, her bright and uncomplicated warmth.

Which was why, every time she saw her, Zhu Yunque felt as though she were standing before a mirror that reflected back only her own pale, unremarkable self.

Xu Linda, after a pause: 【Anyway, I think Rangchen treats you differently from other people. If you really like him, maybe use this as an opportunity — try spending more time with him and see how things go】

Xu Linda’s personality was bold — if she wanted something, she went after it without second thoughts.

But Zhu Yunque was different.

By nature introverted and keenly self-aware, she weighed everything before she acted.

And more to the point — she didn’t have the luxury of being reckless. And she didn’t have the self-assurance to be certain that Lu Rangchen would ever like her back.

A few seconds of thought.

Zhu Yunque pressed her lips together and typed back: 【No. I need to focus on studying】

Zhu Yunque: 【Everything else — whatever is meant to be, will be】

Xu Linda: 【…………………………】

Even through a screen, the speechlessness was tangible.

Xu Linda: 【Is your brain literally just full of studying??? He’s basically delivered himself to your doorstep, and you won’t even take the opportunity??? Are you really going to just let Lin Zhinian get there first???】

Zhu Yunque suddenly didn’t know how to explain it.

Perhaps it was simply the way she was built.

She’d always been like this, ever since she was small.

No matter how much she wanted something, no matter how badly she wanted to do something — she would first make herself go still and calm, and take care of whatever needed to be taken care of right now.

Like this — at this age, what she could hold on to was only her studies. Only through that could she, in some possible future, stand at the same height as someone she cared about, and see the same sky.

Zhu Yunque felt steady and deliberate as she typed: 【If it were that easy for them to get together, then it was never meant to be for us in the first place】

And then, lightly: 【Which means I should take even better care of myself】

The message landed.

Xu Linda sent two words back: 【Holy shit】

Zhu Yunque assumed she was being teased.

But Xu Linda was completely serious.

Xu Linda: 【Honestly — hearing you say that, I feel like I should study properly too. I can’t keep coasting like this】

Zhu Yunque blinked: 【But aren’t you planning to go abroad after high school?】

Xu Linda: 【No — I’ve changed my mind about that】

Xu Linda: 【I want to stay in China for university】

Zhu Yunque couldn’t help asking: 【Is this because of Deng Zhe?】

A long silence.

Xu Linda sent back a wide-grinning emoji: 【Good friends don’t point things out that you already know about each other, okay?】

Zhu Yunque broke into a quiet laugh.

The tightness in her chest eased, and something lighter came through — the feeling of being understood.

And yet, for all her boldness in words, Xu Linda was nothing close to what she claimed.

She was all talk. When it came to her own feelings, she was every bit as timid as the rest.

Zhu Yunque could see it clearly now.

When it came to liking Deng Zhe, Xu Linda and she were exactly alike — they both wanted to hide it from the world, as if it were the most classified secret in existence.

Xu Linda: 【Anyway, this is between the two of us — not a word to anyone else】

Xu Linda: 【There’s no way I’m letting that smug, insufferable person find out what I’m thinking】

Zhu Yunque offered the same trade: 【Then you have to keep mine too】

Xu Linda sent back a wide-grinning face: 【Goes without saying】

Perhaps because a secret she’d been carrying in the dark had finally found a small crack of light and air — the first day in the new apartment, Zhu Yunque felt unusually well.

She worked through problem sets all afternoon.

And then spent extra time memorising a long list of obscure vocabulary words.

Xu Linda called her a maniac, and then pivoted to deliver a piece of disheartening news — after midterms results were posted, Zheng Guoxiong would rearrange seating by class rank. Which meant she and Zhu Yunque would no longer be sitting together.

Xu Linda went on about it at some length on WeChat, and then immediately opened up a game session with Deng Zhe.

Zhu Yunque knew her well enough by now to ignore this, though the news did leave her quietly uneasy.

She carried the worry with her into a fitful, distracted sleep.

As it turned out, their new apartment was much closer to Nancheng Third High than the old place — in the morning she needed only a short metro ride to reach school.

As it also turned out, Xu Linda’s information was not wrong.

After second period, Zheng Guoxiong announced to the class that results would be in soon, and seats would be reassigned accordingly, in descending order of rank.

A collective groan went through the room.

Very few people were pleased.

Class monitor Pang Shuo was one of the exceptions — his grades and Gaoge’s had been trading first and second place for as long as anyone could remember, and this round would likely be no different. He was genuinely delighted.

The moment Zheng Guoxiong left the room, he was already angling over to start a conversation with Gaoge.

Gaoge, visibly uninterested, leaned back in her seat and replied in monosyllables.

Zhu Yunque quietly sorted out the books she’d need for next period. Xu Linda leaned over to murmur to her, “Look at Pang Shuo — just beaming. The joy on that face.”

“Now that Gaoge’s written off Rangchen, he might finally get to sit with her.”

“What a triumph. What an absolutely petty triumph.”

Pang Shuo was widely acknowledged as one of the more disliked boys in Class B — he was top-scoring, and used it as license for arrogance. He could be cruel about girls in private, mocking their looks or weight behind their backs. He also had a habit of reporting classmates to teachers.

And yet this same person trailed shamelessly after Gaoge.

Which only made his particular brand of condescension more contemptible.

Xu Linda despised him most — she’d even gotten to the point of feeling sorry for Gaoge — and said in a low voice, “Can you imagine how Gaoge’s going to feel if those two actually end up sitting together?”

Zhu Yunque didn’t have strong feelings about either of them, and didn’t much care either way. She was more concerned that Xu Linda was being loud about it, so she gave her a warning look.

Xu Linda was unfazed, pressing her lips into an expression of gleeful anticipation.

In her mind, those two ending up as desk neighbours was a foregone conclusion.

But no one could have anticipated that this round of midterms would turn Class B’s ranking on its head.

Pang Shuo’s second place held firm.

First place was not Gaoge.

It was Zhu Yunque.

And not only was she first in Class B — her rank across the entire year level was 29th. The highest any Class B student had ever reached, for reference, was Gaoge’s 32nd from last time.

“Oh my god, who is Zhu Yunque? She’s incredible — I’ve never even heard of her before.”

“Class B, I think. Pretty low-profile, from what I remember. Very clean-looking, quiet type.”

“Oh wait, I think I remember — wasn’t she the one who got into it with Gaoge?”

“Yeah, sounds like her.”

“Honestly though — how is this even possible? That kind of jump doesn’t happen. She went up over a hundred places.”

“Do you think she cheated? I heard the exam room supervision wasn’t that tight.”

“I really don’t see how anyone improves by that much that fast. I don’t buy it.”

A few of the boys in the front rows were having a great time discussing it.

Lu Rangchen, earphones in, was staring down at a physics problem set, pen moving without urgency — when he caught the sound of Zhu Yunque’s name and her rank.

The tip of his pen paused for a brief, almost imperceptible moment.

The person at the desk in front turned around. “Hey, Rangchen — doesn’t that girl know you?”

Lu Rangchen turned his pen between his long fingers.

He glanced up unhurriedly and pulled one of his earbuds out.

The boy grinned. “Could you help us get some intel? How did she do it — how does someone improve like that in one go? Get us some insider tips?”

The tone was playful. The intent behind his eyes was not entirely without edge.

Lu Rangchen looked at him for a moment.

Then he let out a quiet, flat laugh, closed his expression, and said, “What exactly is your relationship to me that I’d ask on your behalf?”

His voice was cool. His words were precise. He had the particular kind of unhurried arrogance that made it obvious he was not someone to come up against.

“…”

The boy’s expression flickered between pale and greenish.

Apparently recognising that the relationship between Lu Rangchen and this sudden protagonist of the moment was not a shallow one, the boys nearby had the sense to shut their mouths and drop the topic.

His phone buzzed twice just then.

Lu Rangchen glanced at it.

It was Deng Zhe — a photo of the full year-level top 100 list.

Deng Zhe: 【Holy — Zhu is incredible】

Deng Zhe: 【I honestly thought she was in the same category as Xu Linda — all style, no substance】

Deng Zhe: 【Turns out she’s a top student just like you】

Lu Rangchen opened the photo. There it was — in the slot for 29th place in the year, three characters: 祝云雀.

Her scores across every subject were consistent. No notable weaknesses anywhere.

The results were clean and impressive in a way that silenced doubt.

For a moment, he thought of Zhu Yunque’s face — always that same quiet, composed stillness.

Still waters over hidden force.

She had broken through the pack without fanfare.

He looked for a moment longer, then dimmed the screen and turned back to his unfinished physics problem. His pen turned.

The corner of his mouth had lifted — without him noticing.

That afternoon, Zhu Yunque was undeniably the star of Class B.

Zheng Guoxiong praised her at length during class, barely containing his own pleasure. More dramatically still, he had her stand up and share with the class how she had managed to improve so dramatically.

Zhu Yunque was introverted, but not stage-fright. If asked to speak, she stood up and did so without apology.

Her voice was soft and precise. The advice she gave was honest: more practice problems, and any confusion resolved with a teacher as quickly as possible.

Her genuine suggestion landed as deliberately vague, as though she were guarding some private method and refusing to share it.

When she finished, the class responded with scattered, half-hearted applause.

Punctuated by a few dismissive sounds from somewhere in the middle.

Zhu Yunque registered none of it. She sat back down without expression.

It was Xu Linda who, directed at Pang Shuo’s general vicinity, muttered under her breath: “What is wrong with you.”

After class.

The students of Class B gathered themselves up in various states of low energy and began to shuffle their belongings around. The top-ranked student would be moving to the centre seat of the first row — the best unobstructed view in the room.

Her new desk neighbour would be Pang Shuo.

Xu Linda muttered while packing her things, “I really am cursed. I should never have said anything out loud. Jinxed it.”

She looked at Zhu Yunque with exaggerated pity. “Yunque, I feel terrible for you.”

Zhu Yunque knew the coming days wouldn’t be comfortable. But she couldn’t see the point of complaining.

She shook her head gently. “It’s fine.”

She rarely spoke at the best of times. She didn’t need to exchange words with Pang Shuo.

As for Xu Linda — she ended up with a new deskmate who had a decent personality. All things considered, that was a reasonable outcome.

After school.

To celebrate Zhu Yunque’s first-place ranking, Xu Linda organised a dinner — she would treat everyone — at the well-regarded Northeastern cuisine restaurant outside the school gates. She’d invited Deng Zhe and Lu Rangchen to join.

The moment Zhu Yunque heard Lu Rangchen’s name, she paused. “Doesn’t he have tennis practice?”

Xu Linda was already pulling up a group chat, and threw her a teasing look. “You have his schedule memorised?”

They were currently heading downstairs.

The stairwell wasn’t empty, but the echo was significant.

Zhu Yunque was startled enough to reach over and clap a hand over Xu Linda’s mouth.

Xu Linda laughed and laughed, and by the time she’d calmed down, she’d already relayed the situation to the group chat.

Zhu Yunque’s phone buzzed.

She opened it and found herself added to a new group chat with the four of them.

For a reason she couldn’t quite account for, Zhu Yunque’s heart started to race.

But Lu Rangchen didn’t appear in the chat.

It was Deng Zhe who relayed the message — said he had something on tonight.

What exactly, Deng Zhe didn’t say, and Zhu Yunque didn’t dare ask.

She only felt that her mood was like a balloon full of hydrogen — light and buoyant and completely at the mercy of forces she couldn’t control, impossible to settle.

Xu Linda patted her consolingly. “It’s fine. We’ll invite him again next time when he’s free.”

There was no pretending the disappointment wasn’t there.

But Zhu Yunque said nothing.

The two of them arrived at the restaurant and chose a table. Deng Zhe said he’d be a little while yet.

Not knowing his preferences, Xu Linda decided against ordering ahead.

With nothing to do, Zhu Yunque stepped into the corridor to look at the menu along the wall. Even though Xu Linda had said this was her treat, this evening was ostensibly in Zhu Yunque’s honour — she couldn’t genuinely let Xu Linda carry the cost.

Besides, the restaurant was reasonably priced. Dishes were large-portioned and in the tens of yuan range — three people wouldn’t make much of a dent.

With that settled in her mind, Zhu Yunque took out her phone and photographed a few sections of the picture menu.

She also remembered to message Feng Yanlai that she’d be home a little late.

Feng Yanlai, having just heard about her daughter’s first-place finish, was in high spirits — she encouraged the dinner out with friends, and transferred her three hundred yuan extra.

Zhu Yunque sent a thank-you and accepted the transfer.

She returned to the table and shared the menu in the group chat for Deng Zhe to look through.

Xu Linda immediately typed in the chat: 【See, that’s my Yunque — always thinking ahead】

Xu Linda: 【@Deng Zhe you better hurry up and pick something — once you’re here, we eat】

Deng Zhe: 【How are you both there already?!】

Deng Zhe: 【Fine, let me look】

Zhu Yunque kept one eye on the chat.

Just as she thought she’d give him a moment longer — the chat icon that had been silent the whole time suddenly scrolled into view.

Lu Rangchen: 【Don’t wait on him — order what you want】

Whether his appearance in the chat, or his actual words — either would have been enough to catch her completely unprepared.

Xu Linda looked up from her phone. “Wait — Rangchen showed up?”

Zhu Yunque snapped back to herself. Her heart skipped a beat.

Before she could ask anything —

Deng Zhe followed up: 【Right, don’t wait on me — order what you want】

Deng Zhe: 【Heads up though — we’re bringing someone extra】

He’d said we.

Not I. We.

A few seconds of total blankness.

Something inexpressible — something bright and fluttering — began to surface from the deepest part of Zhu Yunque’s chest. She felt herself breathing lighter.

Lu Rangchen added: 【Yeah — bringing Zhou Chuang】

And then he tagged Zhu Yunque directly: 【Is that alright?】

That message appeared — and Xu Linda immediately turned to her with barely-concealed delight. “Rangchen’s talking to you!!!”

“…”

Zhu Yunque’s heart rate climbed further.

When she finally pulled herself together enough to respond, she realized she had entirely missed the question.

Zhu Yunque: 【Didn’t you say you weren’t coming】

No punctuation. No emoji at the end.

And yet somehow it read as a very faint expression of reproach.

Zhu Yunque caught it herself — a beat too late.

She was just about to add an emoji to soften it when Lu Rangchen got there first.

Lu Rangchen: 【Don’t want me here?】

Zhu Yunque’s heart seized. Even her fingertips felt unsteady.

How could she not want him here. She’d be thrilled.

That was the truth. But when it came time to type a reply, something shivered through her: 【As if I’d dare】

Lu Rangchen said nothing more.

Zhu Yunque’s cheeks were warm. She looked up and met Xu Linda’s profoundly suggestive expression — “Well, well, Zhu Yunque.”

Zhu Yunque: “…”

Zhu Yunque, not entirely at ease, declared that she was going to order.

She made her way back to the window at the front.

The dinner rush was building, and the place was getting busy. She waited a long time for a server.

When she finally got one, she started: a braised fish for Xu Linda, who loved it. The restaurant’s signature pan-fried pork tenderloin. And a dry-fried green bean dish after that.

She was about to add another item when —

From just above her head, an unhurried, precise male voice: “Less pepper and chilli, please. Thank you.”

Lu Rangchen’s voice was clear and pleasant, his tone just right — easy and courteous without being stiff.

He had the particular freshness of someone young, the sort of unaffected quality that was both clean and subtly compelling.

The air around them was suffused with the warm, faint scent of dark agarwood.

She looked up. She found Lu Rangchen’s deep, unhurried gaze already settled on her. The effect was something like being struck — a sudden, spreading dizziness.

Lu Rangchen was wearing his tennis team’s training uniform, a grey sports bag over one shoulder. He looked as though he’d come directly from the courts.

Zhu Yunque’s voice came out slightly unsteady. “When did you get here?”

“Just now.”

“…You said you weren’t coming.”

She couldn’t quite let go of the question.

Lu Rangchen didn’t deflect.

That low, slightly grainy voice of his came out measured and easy, with a lightness that suggested a joke: “I said I didn’t have time.”

As they spoke, a server carrying a large pot of boiled fish came through behind them.

Without a thought, Lu Rangchen reached out and moved Zhu Yunque in front of him.

She had no say in the matter.

Her slender back pressed, quite suddenly, against the young man’s lean and broad chest.

Close enough that their breathing tangled.

Zhu Yunque went still, her breath catching.

Lu Rangchen looked down at her from above. In his long, dark eyes, something moved — light without clear shape.

All at once, he tilted the corner of his mouth upward. His expression was open, and genuine, and almost boyishly bright.

“I wanted to come congratulate the girl who placed first. Is that not allowed?”