Shang Xinglu couldn’t believe it!

She really couldn’t believe it!!!

She had repeatedly reassured herself that there would definitely be no issues, but was this what “no issues” meant?

She was suffocating!

She immediately sent a message: “Little sisters, what’s going on? Where’s the rescue you promised me???”

Admittedly, Shang Xinglu’s comment about “crushing people” had a grammatical mistake that could be picked apart, but Shi Rui didn’t nitpick her wording.

Shi Rui said: “Aren’t you always such a fangirl? Today, let’s let you indulge a little. Don’t thank us too much.”

Shang Xinglu: “???”

Is this even something a person would say?!

Shang Xinglu quickly typed: “You plastic sisters! I’m cutting ties with you!!!”

Jiang Lexuan: “Oh, is it the first time you’ve realized our relationship is plastic?” She then sent a cold expression emoji.

Shang Xinglu had no more energy to argue.

Looking at Lin Heng’s calm and graceful eating posture across from her…

It really was quite nice.

…Maybe admiring his looks isn’t such a bad thing.

Shang Xinglu immediately covered her face after thinking that. …Her face really hurt!

Lin Heng didn’t talk much during the meal. After finishing the food, they only started talking when they were drinking tea.

Shang Xinglu thought that someone like Lin Heng, no matter what she said, would only expose the fact that she was an ignorant human being.

This was also why she didn’t like these kinds of occasions. It wasn’t because she was afraid the other person would be too boring, but because she was afraid of exposing her own lack of interest.

However, it turned out that she was overthinking it.

Talking to Lin Heng was actually very comfortable.

Shang Xinglu realized that although he had the “I’ve thought this through, don’t waste my time” kind of face, if Lin Heng wanted to, he could make people feel like they were bathed in spring wind.

The resentment from being abandoned by her sisters gradually dissipated little by little. The two of them ended up talking for more than two hours over a meal.

Afterwards, they went for a walk. The time was getting late, and Lin Heng glanced at his watch, saying, “Let me walk you back.”

As they passed by a stall selling soft serve ice cream, Shang Xinglu remembered that Lin Heng liked sweets. She asked, “Do you want some?”

Lin Heng nodded.

Shang Xinglu suddenly felt that his nod this time wasn’t just a usual nod. There was a hint of craving in it, a bit cute.

She couldn’t help but smile.

Seeing her smile, Lin Heng’s heart suddenly softened for some reason.

He had never thought of himself as someone with delicate, sweet emotions.

But now, Lin Heng thought that if Louise’s smile had a taste, it would surely be the taste of soft serve ice cream.

When they reached Shang Xinglu’s villa, before she went inside, they exchanged contact information.

As soon as she entered, her mother didn’t ask about the situation, but Shang Xinglu’s younger brother, Shang Xingyu, quickly ran down from upstairs like a dog.

He grabbed both of Shang Xinglu’s arms. “Sis, sis, you went to the matchmaking event? Who was the other person?”

Shang Xinglu narrowed her eyes, feeling something was off.

She asked, “Why are you asking this?”

Shang Xingyu: “I… I’m just concerned about you!”

Shang Xinglu kicked him away, “You traitor! You might as well change your last name to Shen.”

Shang Xingyu held his little leg, howling in pain, and Shang Xinglu went upstairs to her room.

The next day, Shang Xinglu didn’t hesitate and went straight to donate the meteorite.

Although it wasn’t an extraordinary donation for the research institute, the PI still came to thank her.

With him was a young man, probably about 25 or 26, around the same age as Shang Xinglu.

Young people at this age usually had just graduated with a master’s and would need to do a Ph.D. to join a research institute.

But since he had a staff ID, he was likely a formal member of the institute, maybe having accelerated his studies.

Shang Xinglu scanned him over.

This was her first time in this lab, but she felt like this young man looked very familiar.

His appearance couldn’t be considered striking, but he gave off a very clean and refined aura, which made one overlook his looks at first glance.

Such an outstanding person, Shang Xinglu thought, if she had met him before, she wouldn’t have forgotten.

She thought about it again, realizing that it was probably her “fangirl” instincts acting up.

However, after hearing her name, the young man looked down, thought for a moment, and spoke: “Miss Shang, I wonder if you remember me?”

Shang Xinglu froze.

She looked at his ID card again.

His name was Chi Yu.

The surname “Chi” was quite rare.

Looking at his face again, the surname triggered a vague memory in her mind.

On the day of the self-exam, she had seen him in the examination hall, and again in the department head’s office.

Chi Yu asked: “Miss Shang, I’ve always been curious, why didn’t you sign up back then?”

Shang Xinglu was stunned into silence.

It had to be said, the connections between people were truly strange.

After a long while, Shang Xinglu finally spoke: “I couldn’t handle the pressure, so I didn’t sign up.”

She then awkwardly smiled.

Chi Yu didn’t ask any further questions.

But Chi Yu didn’t need to say much. His mere presence held a different significance for Shang Xinglu.

…Like a thorn in her throat.

After returning home, not long after, Shang Xinglu quit her part-time job at the planetarium.

Before, it was fine when Chi Yu wasn’t in the picture, but as soon as he appeared, it felt like all news in the world was about him.

This year, the Shaw Prize in Astronomy nominated his mentor, and the paper published by his mentor in Nature had his name at the end.

Although the award wasn’t widely followed, some marketing accounts took advantage of the hype and wrote about Chi Yu.

Chi Yu wasn’t particularly handsome, but his temperament was exceptional. He had skipped grades and had an excellent mind. At his age, achieving what he had was almost unparalleled.

Such a prodigy.

And people never got tired of hearing stories about child prodigies.

A lot of online influencers made a big deal about it, and it stayed hot for three or four days.

Shang Xinglu read through it seriously.

To be honest, even if she were given another lifetime, she could never achieve what he had accomplished.

He was so exceptional that it didn’t even make sense to be jealous of him—it just felt pointless.

Now that she had quit all her part-time jobs, Shang Xinglu found herself with a lot of free time. She and Lin Heng would occasionally meet up for meals.

Her girlfriends teased her, saying it was dating. But Shang Xinglu didn’t think so.

…Something just felt off.

Originally, she only planned to talk to him about the meteorite donation. But Lin Heng had casually asked, “Want to grab a meal later?”

So, they ate together.

Then, one thing led to another, and they kept meeting quite frequently.

Her girlfriends did some quick calculations and suspiciously asked, “Are you two already dating? Why haven’t you told us?”

Dating? No, they weren’t dating.

Shang Xinglu sneered, “Ha! Aren’t we just plastic sisters? What’s there to tell?”

Her girlfriends: “…”

One day, Shang Xinglu was browsing online news about Chi Yu when Lin Heng asked, “Are you interested in him?”

Shang Xinglu replied, “Just casually looking.”

Lin Heng hesitated for a moment before asking, “You love astronomy. Why didn’t you choose it as your major back then?”

By now, Lin Heng knew quite a bit about Shang Xinglu—her academic background, how she used to have top grades.

But her chosen field had nothing to do with astronomy.

That didn’t seem like her usual straightforward style, which made Lin Heng curious.

Maybe it was because they weren’t too close, or maybe because talking to Lin Heng felt comfortable and effortless, but Shang Xinglu ended up revealing a secret she had kept in her heart for years.

The moment she said it, she regretted it.

She understood all the logic behind her decision, but emotions weren’t something logic could easily explain.

She thought Lin Heng would lecture her.

With his serious face, he had a stern, headmaster-like authority.

But instead, Lin Heng simply said, “I also think you could never reach his level.”

Shang Xinglu: “…”

Excuse me?!

That was way too blunt!

Lin Heng continued, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, “But what does that matter?”

Shang Xinglu froze.

She thought about it carefully.

He was right.

Even if she could never surpass Chi Yu, so what?

Hadn’t she already decided that, in this second chance at life, she would just do something different and make herself happy?

Shang Xinglu scratched her cheek.

She didn’t continue the topic. Instead, she asked, “Do you think Chi Yu’s mentor will win the award this time? I think he will.”

Lin Heng had no idea. He wasn’t knowledgeable about these things.

So he simply said, “Then I think he won’t.”

Shang Xinglu hadn’t expected him to take the opposite stance so completely. She raised an eyebrow and said, “Then let’s make a bet. I’m definitely going to win!”

“What’s the bet?” Lin Heng asked, suddenly interested.

Shang Xinglu thought for a moment. “Money. Simple and straightforward.”

Lin Heng chuckled softly. “Why not bet something more interesting?”

“…”

“If you lose, you marry me. How about that?” Lin Heng looked at her, his gaze deep and unwavering.

Shang Xinglu: “!!!”

What?

What???

Wait—Lin Heng, what the hell are you saying?!

“Afraid?” Lin Heng goaded her.

That one sentence, paired with that face and those intense eyes, made Shang Xinglu’s brain short-circuit. She slammed the table boldly.

“Bring it on! Who’s scared?!”

That September, the Shaw Prize in Astronomy announced its winner—a German astronomer with a ridiculously long name.

Chi Yu’s mentor had nothing to do with it.

Shang Xinglu found out immediately.

Don’t ask how. Someone just sent her the link, okay?

And then she locked herself in her room for some self-reflection.

After a while, she started googling:

“Top ten ways to play dead?”

“How to break a bet?”

“How to go back on your word without consequences?”

A few seconds later, Shang Xinglu optimistically thought: It was just a joke, anyway. Why take it so seriously…

Just then, her phone vibrated. It was a call from her friend, Shi Rui.

Shi Rui only knew that Shang Xinglu and Lin Heng had made a bet on the Shaw Prize. She didn’t know what the actual stakes were.

But in her mind, a bet was nothing more than money, expensive gifts, or—if it was a bit romantic—maybe a date.

Nothing serious.

She called just to mock Shang Xinglu.

“Hahahahaha, you lost, didn’t you?!”

Shang Xinglu: “…”

Her emotions were complicated.

Did these people even know what she had bet on?

Damn it, what a bunch of fake friends!