“Are you going out this late?” Cheng Yu saw Lu Manman putting on her down jacket and called out to her with concern, “I’ll go with you.”

Lu Manman turned around and said, “I’m just going out to call Dad. I won’t go far.”

“Then… come back soon.”

“Okay.”

There was no moon tonight, and no wind either. Although the temperature was low, it wasn’t cold.

In the distance, the sound of a basketball bouncing on the playground could be heard, along with the chatter of the girls in the dormitory building.

Lu Manman walked to a quieter spot by the flower bed and called her dad.

“Good morning, Lu Manman. What’s up?”

Lu Manman softly replied, “Nothing much.”

“Why not do a video call?” Alex asked. “International calls are still a bit expensive.”

“I didn’t want to stay in the dorm. My roommates are all there.”

“Oh, Lu Manman has a little secret to tell Dad.”

Alex spoke in a relaxed tone, and Lu Manman could imagine him standing on a sunlit balcony, holding a cup of coffee, stretching lazily as he talked to her.

As she imagined this, her heart felt as if it was filled with sunlight, warm and comforting.

“I heard that Queen won the intercontinental championship.”

“Louis even said not to tell you, worried it might make you feel bad. But I told him, with the internet being so advanced, you’d find out sooner or later. Besides, it’s just an intercontinental championship. Is Lu Manman afraid of that? Let them enjoy their moment now. When Lu Manman comes back, they’ll be in big trouble!”

Lu Manman lowered her head, idly kicking at the wild grass by the roadside. “Alex has so much faith in me.”

“Not joking around, you’re my daughter. No parent doesn’t believe in their child. Even if the child is ugly or a little rascal, in their parents’ eyes, they’re still a precious treasure.”

Sigh, hearing that…

Alex continued, “By the way, I haven’t congratulated you yet for winning the national championship you mentioned earlier.”

“It’s just an amateur level competition, nothing to be too happy about.”

Alex sensed the disappointment in her tone, paused, and said, “Do you remember your first competition?”

“I remember, it was when I was 14. We went to a real-life CS arena with Dad and the others, and we held out until the very end.”

“And that match, was it fun?”

“Of course, winning a match together with Dad was especially fun—I’ll never forget it.”

“So, does it really matter if it’s professional or amateur? As long as you’re having fun, that’s what counts. Don’t always think about coming back for revenge. Louis and I just want you to do what you want in China and be happy—that’s more important than anything else.”

“Dad Alex…”

“You sound a bit down. Is it because you don’t want to do your own laundry, or is there not enough cat food?”

Leaning against the lamppost, Lu Manman quickly responded, “No, no, we have a washing machine in the dorm, and I can buy plenty of cat food cans through Taobao with a proxy buyer. Everything is fine here. The girls in the dorm take good care of me, so you don’t need to worry, Dad…”

“That’s good to hear.”

“I just really miss you and Dad Louis.” Lu Manman sniffled slightly. “Without Louis and Alex, this place doesn’t feel like home.”

Alex sighed lightly and said, “Tell Dad about your friends.”

Talking about her friends lifted Lu Manman’s mood a bit.

“My roommates are all super nice. Xia Tian is a living academic genius, secretly dating behind her mom’s back. She seems like a goody-two-shoes, but she’s got a bit of a rebellious streak. Sister Cheng Yu is a total tsundere—always saying no, but her actions show otherwise. She’s kind but doesn’t want anyone to know it…”

“Oh, oh, and there’s Yuan Xiu! Wow, he’s really popular in China; his fangirls are everywhere.”

“He’s someone who, though sometimes he seems unreasonable, acting like his opinion is always right and never listening to others, he takes good care of me. When he went to Korea, he even brought me a gift.”

“He knows I’m W, and it seems like he recognized me from the very first meeting.” Lu Manman couldn’t help but smile, her cheeks turning red. “He said W is his goddess. When I heard that, I felt like I was floating on air. A man like him…”

“Oh, and by the way, his physique is amazing! I dare say, Dad Alex, even your body can’t compare to his. Those abs, that V-line… it’s perfection.”

Alex listened quietly and patiently to Lu Manman’s story. After a long pause, he glanced at his watch with a smile and said, “You talked about your roommates for less than a minute, but you talked about your ‘husband’ for a whole ten minutes…”

“Uh…”

Did she really? Without realizing it, she had gone on and on…

Lu Manman, afraid that Alex might overthink things or ask her more questions, casually said a few words before hastily hanging up the phone.

As she walked back along the garden path, she noticed a familiar figure standing beneath the dormitory building. As she got closer, she realized it was Yuan Xiu.

Lu Manman glanced around cautiously, making sure no one was around. She approached Yuan Xiu and curiously asked, “I don’t think I left anything at your place, did I?”

“I have classes tomorrow, so I’m staying at the school tonight. I just came by to see if this silly donkey was hiding somewhere crying by herself.”

“That’s impossible,” Lu Manman replied easily. “There’s no way I’d cry.”

Yuan Xiu lowered his head, kicking a small stone at his feet. “So, I guess you don’t need my shoulder to lean on either.”

“So you came to offer your shoulder,” Lu Manman said with a playful smile. “Well, I wouldn’t want you to have made the trip for nothing.”

“Hm?”

Before Yuan Xiu could react, Lu Manman stepped closer, resting her head gently against his chest.

Yuan Xiu’s breath caught, and he instinctively held his breath.

There were no stars or moon in the sky tonight, yet to him, it felt as if the whole world was filled with a dazzling starlight.

The girl in front of him rested her forehead against his chest, the pressure light but warm.

As he lowered his head, he could catch the scent of her hair, with a few rebellious strands brushing against his nose, making his heart itch.

“I just talked to my Dad Alex,” she said in a muffled voice. “I was going to tell him that after this semester, I’d be ending the exchange and heading back. But when he asked me to talk about the friends I’ve made in China, the words about going back just wouldn’t come out.”

She continued, her voice still muffled, “Giving up like that isn’t W’s style.”

Yuan Xiu’s gaze softened, and he reached out to place his hand on her back. But just as he was about to, Lu Manman suddenly stepped back two steps and said to him, “My dad was right. If all I think about is going back to get revenge, to beat Qiao Xingye and Judy, I won’t be able to enjoy the game. They keep getting stronger, and I keep getting jealous.”

“I don’t want this game to become my tool for revenge, or worse, a burden.”

Yuan Xiu clasped his hands behind his back, tightening his fingers into a fist, his expression remaining calm.

“I love this game. No, I’m passionate about it.”

Passionate, he thought, recalling his own reckless youth. The times he clashed with his parents, the arguments, the times he ran away from home, the countless times he fought and then compromised, the negotiations, and eventually the understanding they reached.

His family had given him a few years to participate in competitions, seeing how far he could go on his own terms. But the deal was that he had to go to university, study finance, and eventually take over the family business.

All the struggles and compromises could be summed up in two words: passion.

He was passionate about the competition, and of course, passionate about his goddess.

His gaze softened as he looked at her, and almost instinctively, he reached out to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Lu Manman glanced to the side, feeling his fingers lightly brush her hair, occasionally grazing her soft earlobe. It sent electric tingles through her body, waves of sensation coursing through her.

The dormitory supervisor stood by the door, urging them, “We’re closing up. Don’t be all lovey-dovey now; you’ll see each other tomorrow.”

“I… we’re not a couple.”

Lu Manman stammered, her face flushing red as she quickly took a few steps toward the dormitory entrance, only to stop just before going inside.

“Thank you for being so kind and coming to check on me,” she said to him.

“Mm.”

“Goodnight, Yuan Xiu.” She lingered by the door, reluctant to go in. “Do you have classes tomorrow morning? I do too…”

“You really are a chatterbox. The supervisor is getting impatient,” Yuan Xiu remarked, a hint of amusement in his tone as he glanced at the increasingly stern expression of the supervisor.

Lu Manman quickly darted inside the gate, but she couldn’t resist turning back to wave at him. Yuan Xiu watched her until she disappeared around the corner of the hallway, then finally turned to leave.

Tonight, it really wasn’t cold at all.

***

In the badminton hall, the girl on the other side of the net was relentlessly smashing the shuttlecock at Xia Tian over and over.

Xia Tian kept running around, picking up the shuttlecock, over and over again, while Cheng Yu stood by, giving completely useless instructions: “Hold the racket with your forehand, use your forearm to hit the shuttlecock. I told you to swing your arm, not fling yourself across the court.”

“What the heck, are you playing badminton, or is the shuttlecock playing you?”

Cheng Yu fanned herself with her textbook, frustrated. “Look at that smug look on that girl’s face over there. Ugh, I’m so mad. I can’t teach you anymore, you’re on your own.”

Panting heavily, Xia Tian picked up the shuttlecock and muttered in frustration, “I bet she didn’t even pass CET-6. A woman who hasn’t passed CET-6 has no right to be on the same level as me!”

Meanwhile, Lu Manman, who had just failed her CET-6 two days ago and was now leisurely sipping a Coke, burped contentedly. “It took me an hour and a half, but I finally finished the cloze test.”

“So, you spent the entire exam struggling with the cloze test?”

Lu Manman nodded solemnly.

Xia Tian, holding her racket, lifted her chin proudly. “Loser.”

A shuttlecock suddenly flew across the court and hit her square on the forehead, causing her to flare up instantly. “Did you pass CET-6? If not, why are you even playing badminton with me? How can you be so relaxed and not be studying!”

While Xia Tian was having a meltdown and wildly counterattacking, Lu Manman shared her thoughts with Cheng Yu.

“My Dad Louis helped me evaluate this. To establish a professional team in China now, you need a registration fund of one million, at least three team members, and a club base. If you meet these conditions, you can apply to the organizing committee to establish the team and then qualify for professional competitions.”

“Hold on, what are you talking about? Setting up a professional team, what does that have to do with us?”

Xia Tian added, “This American woman who failed CET-6 stayed up until three in the morning last night researching the status of Chinese professional teams. Then, as if on drugs, she told me she wants to establish a professional team.”

“Wait, why were you two up at three in the morning?”

Lu Manman replied, “This academic genius who passed CET-6 deliberately stayed up until three to send a message to her mother, showing her determination to go to Harvard. She’s using the sacrifice strategy to its fullest.”

Cheng Yu put a hand to his forehead and said, “Do you two know what ‘health punk’ means?”

They shook their heads, and Cheng Yu explained, “It’s using the most expensive eye cream, staying up the longest, adding goji berries to your beer, ginseng to your Coke. It’s about self-destructing while claiming to be health-conscious, and that’s you two.”

Lu Manman silently pushed her Coke aside, sat up straight, and declared, “Back to the point. Since those clubs won’t accept female players, I’m planning to establish a professional team myself!”

Cheng Yu cleared his throat and poured cold water on her idea, “Don’t get your hopes up. Setting up a club is no easy task. Where’s the money? The venue? The team members?”

“Uh.”

“Em…”

Xia Tian suggested to Lu Manman, “Why don’t you consult our husband about setting up the team?”

Lu Manman asked in confusion, “Zhou Yan?”

“Not him!” Xia Tian scoffed. “Zhou Yan is mine, all mine!”

Cheng Yu explained to Lu Manman, “Yuan Xiu is your husband, but he’s also her husband and mine—he’s a national treasure.”

Lu Manman slammed her Coke bottle down. “That’s not fair! Yuan Xiu is mine, all mine, not yours!”

Half the girls in the badminton hall put down their rackets and looked over at Lu Manman.

Oh no, Lu Manman quickly made her escape.