That evening’s power outage was so sudden it caught everyone completely off guard.

The entire Xinyue Xiangfu complex went pitch black. Looking out from the upper floors, the city outside was a blaze of lights.

In a southern summer, there was no surviving without air conditioning.

Yunque hadn’t even had time to towel off her hair before the stifling heat of a summer night began to close in on her.

There was nothing in the apartment to provide light. She could only switch on her phone’s flashlight. Before long, Xu Linda’s call came through — asking what the situation was, and whether she should come pick her up and let her spend the night at hers.

Xu Linda lived in the first ring of the city center. Even by car, getting here would take at least an hour.

Yunque didn’t feel right putting her through that kind of trouble, and only said, “Never mind. I’ll go down to the lobby and find a hotel nearby. Same thing either way.”

Xu Linda confirmed with her again and again: “Are you sure it’s alright? You didn’t even finish your shower?”

“I’ll just give myself a quick wipe-down. It’s not that fragile an existence. And I have class first thing tomorrow morning.”

Yunque had English as her first period the next day.

Coming from Xu Linda’s side of the city would take quite some time to manage.

Xu Linda thought it through and felt that life as a working person really was no easy thing, so she let her be — but urged her to stay in constant contact.

But then just as the call ended, her phone battery dropped to twenty percent.

“……”

Yunque suddenly recalled an incident in her university days — a power outage mid-shower — when the battery had dropped straight to ten percent. Only back then she had a portable charger. Right now, she couldn’t find so much as a charging cable in the dark.

What was different, too, was that back then, she had had the right — and the boldness — to reach out to Lu Rangchen.

The love of youth was fierce and unrestrained. All it took was one call, and the person she wanted to see would cross mountains and seas to reach her side.

Now, though — she didn’t even have the right to ask where he was or who was beside him.

A subtle, bitter feeling surfaced in her chest.

Yunque pushed down the tangled emotions, forcing herself to pack up quickly and go downstairs to find a hotel.

But the limitations of her vision proved too great. Despite having had corrective surgery for her nearsightedness years ago, her night blindness had never improved.

Forget finding a charging cable — even locating her ID card took half the time. Finding an undergarment and clothes to wear tomorrow was even more difficult to manage. In her impatience her ankle caught the edge of the bed frame — a solid, sharp knock — and a dull thud rang out.

The pain came like something boring through to the bone.

Which made the knocking at the door in that same instant feel strangely unreal, like something from a dream.

She had truly not expected anyone to be knocking at her door at this hour, in a situation like this. Yunque was briefly stunned. By the time she came back to herself, the male voice outside had already grown somewhat urgent.

To be honest, Lu Rangchen was a person with very little patience.

Especially when he was unable to reach Yunque.

For a moment he had even considered asking Deng Jiao for Yunque’s phone number — but before that thought had even moved into action, the door lock gave a click and opened.

The room without air conditioning was stuffy and damp.

The dark night, lit only by the faint glow of a phone’s flashlight.

In that faint light, Yunque — wearing nothing but a slip dress — stood before him in a daze. Her long hair, still wet, lay draped over her slender shoulders. Her collarbone, lean and clear in the interplay of light and shadow, carried a quality of fragility that stirred something in the imagination.

Her light fragrance drifted into his nose.

Lu Rangchen’s throat moved quietly.

His gaze on her deepened by two degrees.

That the person who had come to find her was him — she hadn’t expected it at all. Yunque’s expression stiffened for a moment. Then, as if only just realizing it, she said softly, “…Lu Rangchen.”

She was always like this.

When she said his name, there was an unintentional softness to her tone — a softness that seeped into the heart and, without one realizing it, could smooth away all the sharp edges.

Just looking at her like this, Lu Rangchen suddenly lost all his irritability.

His gaze swept over the V-shaped neckline of her outfit, which the wet hair had made damp, and then shifted slightly away. He said, “The complex lost power.”

Yunque couldn’t quite say what she was feeling right now.

Only that her heart was stirring and jumping for no clear reason.

She hadn’t expected Lu Rangchen to appear.

And she couldn’t be certain whether he had specifically come back for her sake, or whether he’d simply come to check in because the power had suddenly gone out.

After a moment’s thought, she could only say, “Did you just get back?”

Lu Rangchen gave a confirming hum. The faint scent of alcohol on him was the best proof of that.

He looked in toward the room and said, “What are you planning to do now?”

“Go downstairs and find a hotel nearby.”

Yunque looked at him. “And you?”

A perfectly calm tone. A perfectly even gaze. Yet it was like a feather, making the very tip of your heart give a faint, light tremor.

Lu Rangchen clenched his jaw, and kept his eyes on her without moving them.

She didn’t look afraid — whatever it was, he wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or something else — but his gaze carried a slight edge of something searching. Once he confirmed she wasn’t frightened, he said in a slow, easy tone, “I’ll stay at the club.”

For some reason.

The small flame in Yunque’s chest went abruptly cool.

She pressed her lips together. “That sounds good then.”

“It does.”

Lu Rangchen’s burning gaze stayed fixed on her, and he had no patience for any more circling around. His tone, languid and unrestrained, carried that unhurried drawl of his: “Come with me?”

—

Lu Rangchen’s sports club was located outside the third ring road.

He needed the space to be large, and that area had the most suitable rental prices.

Yunque had searched for it online once. Even the group-deal packages were fairly pricey, but the comments were unanimously glowing — great facilities, great venue, and an insanely attractive owner.

At the time Yunque had thought: maybe one day if she had too much to drink and got worked up, she’d go see for herself just how attractive this owner was. But that dream had never been realized — because the owner of the club had “made that dream come true” himself, ahead of schedule.

Half an hour later.

Yunque followed Lu Rangchen back to the club.

On the taxi ride over, they barely spoke. He’d had quite a bit to drink — drowsiness was evident between his brows. Yunque didn’t bother him, and just sat quietly beside him.

When they arrived, Lu Rangchen didn’t say much. He took her bag for her and led her directly to the club’s dormitory.

The security guard at the gate had apparently never seen Lu Rangchen bring a girl back before — and certainly not one this beautiful. He took several extra looks while unlocking the entrance for them, and smiled, asking, “Young Lu, why are you staying in the dormitory tonight?”

Lu Rangchen pulled out two cigarettes and put them on the guard’s desk, then said lazily that there was a power outage at home.

The guard apparently couldn’t quite hold himself together.

His gaze went directly to Yunque, and he said, “So this young lady is…”

Lu Rangchen casually glanced at Yunque, his expression bland and unreadable.

Yunque had just opened her mouth to speak, when she heard Lu Rangchen say offhandedly, “Neighbor from upstairs.”

“……”

He said it so lightly.

Without another word, he dipped his chin in farewell to the guard and walked in.

The dormitory at the club housed the tennis players who lived there.

All of them were men.

So stepping into the dormitory building, you could immediately feel a strong, unmistakable atmosphere of single young men.

Yunque lifted her eyes and saw a young man with no shirt on, coming down the stairs noisily, who nearly ran straight into Lu Rangchen. Lu Rangchen furrowed his brow sharply, and the young man immediately snapped to attention like a mouse that had spotted a cat, saying, “Good evening, boss — weren’t you out drinking with Brother Zhe tonight? What brought you back so suddenly?”

Then his eyes lit up, having discovered something remarkable — his gaze fixed itself to Yunque standing behind Lu Rangchen.

Even with her shower half-finished and her hair not yet dry.

Yunque was still genuinely, undeniably good-looking.

The kind of good-looking that was nothing like the heavily made-up, perfumed allure of deliberate styling. There was a kind of natural, white-moonlight quality to her — understated and pure.

Not to mention that at this moment she had on nothing more than a form-hugging slip dress, her slender yet shapely figure on full display.

Earlier, when it had been just the two of them on the way over, Lu Rangchen hadn’t paid much attention.

Now, he suddenly realized it was a little bit dangerous.

Seemingly sensing too that his boss’s expression was not particularly good just then, the young man immediately looked away, gave a goofy laugh, and said that the guys on the third floor were cooking hot pot, boss should come by later.

Lu Rangchen gave an acknowledging hum, that low, resonant voice betraying no particular emotion.

Once the young man had gone downstairs, he suddenly called out — cold and without any warmth: “Put your clothes on properly.”

The young man immediately stood to attention and answered with a resounding yes.

Yunque couldn’t suppress a small twitch at the corner of her mouth.

Just as she raised her eyes, she met Lu Rangchen’s deep, ink-dark gaze head-on.

He looked at her directly, as though he wanted to bore a hole right through her face. His tone had a light undercurrent of mockery. “Was he that good-looking?”

“……”

Yunque suddenly felt quite speechless about this.

She looked at him in speechless exasperation and said back, “Yes — youth does wonders for looks.”

Then she turned and walked upstairs.

A few seconds later she heard Lu Rangchen give an unamused snort behind her, his following footsteps leisurely and unhurried.

On the fourth floor, Lu Rangchen led her to the door of his private room — a not-particularly-large studio with a living area, and a bathroom with a shower.

Lu Rangchen set her things down, told her how to use the water heater, and then crossed those long legs of his and sprawled on the sofa, tilting a cigarette between his lips, about to light it.

Yunque had the door halfway closed when she thought to ask, “I’m staying here tonight — what will you do?”

Lu Rangchen genuinely couldn’t suppress his bad side.

Especially thinking about how she’d had the audacity to compliment another man just a moment ago.

He gave an amused snort, lifted his eyelids to look at her, and said deliberately, “What can I do? Share the bed.”

He purposefully stressed and drew out the word “share.”

Outrageously sly.

Yunque’s heartbeat faltered by a beat.

Seeing that oval, doll-like face of hers — as she actually pursed her lips and looked at him without saying a word — Lu Rangchen pulled at the corner of his mouth and gave a slow smile, saying, “Keep dreaming.”

“……”

Yunque pulled the door shut directly.

A muffled burst of laughter came from Lu Rangchen.

Even his shoulders shook a little.

The cigarette rested between his lips for a moment, but he didn’t end up lighting it. He tossed it onto the tea table, then stood up and strolled with his hands in his pockets to the bathroom door. He raised his knuckles and knocked lightly.

Through the frosted glass, the blurred shape of movement inside was faintly visible.

She was probably undressing.

The next second came her voice, with no particular goodwill in it: “Now what?”

She was clearly still put out about that remark of his.

An almost imperceptible curve appeared at the corner of his mouth. Lu Rangchen stood with his hands in his pockets, his words drawn out and deliberate: “When you’re done, don’t cut the power — I still need to shower.”

It was a hot summer.

Not showering even one night felt unbearable.

Truthfully, it was a perfectly ordinary thing to say — but given the relationship between the two of them, Yunque found herself inexplicably ill at ease about it.

But it was someone else’s home, and she had no choice but to press her lips together and say okay.

The person outside finally walked away. She had no idea where he’d gone, and she was too tired to think about it, wanting only to finish her shower as quickly as possible.

When she came out again, she was in her sleepwear.

Yunque swept a glance around the living area, but couldn’t find her things. She could only push open the bedroom door.

And found, sure enough, that all her belongings had been arranged for her by Lu Rangchen.

Even the bedding had been changed to fresh. A light cream color, the air carrying the soft, faint scent of laundry detergent after line-drying in the sun.

And yet when she’d first walked in earlier, the sheets had still been a deep navy blue.

So — Lu Rangchen had changed them?

She stared at everything in front of her, and for a few involuntary seconds, her mind went quiet and still.

When she came back to herself, it was because Lu Rangchen had called her.

The man was now leaning against the bedroom doorframe — she had no idea when he’d gotten there. His tone was light and tilted upward, watching her with a half-smile. “Did you leave something in the bathroom?”

The words landed.

Yunque’s brow gave a sudden, sharp twitch.

She turned her head and looked toward Lu Rangchen with a slightly flustered expression. “What did I leave?”

Lu Rangchen’s brow rose in a light arch.

He honestly wasn’t sure whether she’d done it on purpose.

There was a faint, simmering something beneath the surface as he gave a short, amused hum and said, “What do you think?”

Even as he spoke, his gaze swept with a light and passing look at the beautifully curved outline beneath the front of Yunque’s sleepwear — then his throat moved quietly as he shifted it away, letting it settle on her face instead, and said, “Do you need me to bring it to you?”