He Ye said that was fine, handed him the umbrella, and returned to the activity room.

Ten minutes later, Yuan Fei sent her a message: [I’m back, at the door.]

He Ye said goodbye to her senior schoolmates and went out to get the umbrella.

It was a rainy night, and the light wasn’t very bright. Even in the dimness, He Ye’s hand, reaching out, appeared soft, white, and slender, warm like jade.

It was just her hand.

Yuan Fei didn’t want to stare at He Ye’s face too much, so he moved outside with the umbrella.

He Ye thought he had left, but when she opened her umbrella, she noticed Yuan Fei standing a few steps away, clearly waiting for her to walk with him.

Although it was normal behavior, He Ye wasn’t good at socializing, especially with unfamiliar boys, so she felt a bit uneasy.

Yuan Fei walked beside her, introducing himself first, and then asked about He Ye.

He Ye: “Me? I’m from Ancheng.”

Yuan Fei: “It’s easy to travel to Shanghai from there. I went to Ancheng during the summer.”

He kept talking while He Ye listened, walking quickly.

Her phone buzzed.

Team leader: [Is the activity over?]

He Ye: [Yes, we’re heading back.]

Team leader: [Do you want to video chat now, or wait until you get home?]

He Ye glanced at Yuan Fei beside her and replied: [Now is fine.]

Lu Jin’s video call came immediately.

Before He Ye answered, she told Yuan Fei, who was watching her: “I’ve got a video call. You can go ahead.”

Yuan Fei raised an eyebrow and jokingly asked, “Boyfriend?”

He Ye smiled politely and said, “Yes.”

After that, she answered the call and stepped back to keep a little distance from Yuan Fei.

Yuan Fei stood there, looking a bit shocked.

He Ye didn’t pay him any attention. She looked at her boyfriend on the screen and asked, “Where are you?”

Lu Jin: “Just left the library.”

Instead of looking at He Ye, Lu Jin was glancing at something behind her.

He Ye noticed and turned around.

Yuan Fei gave an awkward smile and quickly walked away.

Lu Jin finally looked at He Ye: “Classmate?”

He Ye: “No, not really. We’re in the same club.”

Lu Jin smiled, with a knowing look.

He Ye: “…He didn’t have an umbrella, so I lent him mine to go to the supermarket and buy one. He came back to return it, and we walked together for a while.”

Lu Jin: “Aren’t there other boys in your club? He could’ve asked someone else to walk with him.”

He Ye: “I left late, and when I came out, I saw him standing alone.”

Lu Jin: “Let me guess, he wanted you to walk him back, but you didn’t want to, so you lent him the umbrella instead?”

He Ye nodded.

Lu Jin: “If you didn’t have a boyfriend, would you still have given him an umbrella?”

He Ye shook her head.

Lu Jin: “If it was me back in high school, and I asked, would you have lent me one?”

He Ye thought for a moment, then tilted her head and smiled.

Lu Jin: “I see. You didn’t even give me a chance to ask. You saw me from afar and took a detour, right?”

He Ye answered while walking: “That’s not even a real situation. If you were in school, you’d have Zhou Xiangming with you. If you were in the club, you wouldn’t worry about getting wet on such a short walk.”

Lu Jin: “This isn’t about the rain. This is how boys get close to girls. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice that he might be interested in you.”

He Ye: “This is only the second time we’ve met. I’m not that self-centered. Even if he did like me, I just told him my boyfriend was calling me.”

Lu Jin: “If he looked better than me, would you still say no?”

He Ye glared at him: “He already looks better than you, and I still said no.”

Lu Jin stared at her: “Say that again.”

He Ye: “…I’m hanging up. I need to focus on walking.”

She felt like she was about to faint from embarrassment.

Team leader: [Focus on walking, or chasing after the handsome classmate?]

Ye Ziyuanyuan: [I suggest you stop teasing.]

Team leader: [Tell me honestly, who’s better looking, me or him?]

Ye Ziyuanyuan: […You.]

Team leader: [Send a voice message.]

He Ye laughed helplessly but still sent a voice message to her jealous boyfriend: “You’re better looking than him.”

She spoke softly, pausing between each word.

Team leader: [The correct answer should be: ‘You’re good-looking. I didn’t notice whether other boys were handsome or not.’]

Ye Ziyuanyuan: […I? I don’t have as many tricks as you.]

Team leader: [I never play tricks. Everything I say to you is true.]

Ye Ziyuanyuan: […]

_

The next day, there was a public class. He Ye and Wang Ran arrived early and sat in the front row.

After sitting down, He Ye started reading.

Hearing someone sit down behind her, she didn’t pay much attention.

“Yuan Fei, why are you sitting in the front when you’re so tall?”

Suddenly, someone from the back of the classroom spoke, and He Ye turned around in surprise. As expected, she saw Yuan Fei’s handsome face. He noticed her and smiled: “I still haven’t thanked you for lending me your umbrella last night.”

As Yuan Fei spoke, he picked up one of the two cups of milk tea on the table and handed it to He Ye: “Thank you.”

He Ye: “…”

Now she could sense the ambiguity from Yuan Fei.

Looking at the milk tea again, He Ye lowered her eyes and said, “No? It’s just a small matter.”

She didn’t accept it and went back to reading.

Yuan Fei walked over and put the milk tea on her table: “I’ve already bought it. Why not give it to you as a gift?”

Before he could sit down, He Ye had already returned the milk tea to his table, her expression calmer: “Really? It’s not necessary.”

Yuan Fei had the same teasing expression as the night before: “Are you afraid your boyfriend will be jealous?”

Wang Ran responded: “This isn’t about being afraid or not. If you had a girlfriend, would you drink milk tea from other girls?”

Yuan Fei: “Yes, it’s just a classmate’s thank you. Why not drink it? If my girlfriend gets jealous over something like this, it means she’s too picky.”

He hadn’t given this much thought and was just trying to make He Ye’s boyfriend seem “stingy.”

Wang Ran laughed: “I should record what you said and play it for your future girlfriend.”

Yuan Fei ignored her and kept looking at He Ye.

He Ye: “This has nothing to do with my boyfriend. I just think my small help doesn’t deserve milk tea as thanks, so I won’t accept it.”

If she had helped a male classmate more, and he happily wanted to buy her milk tea, He Ye wouldn’t have refused, and she believed Lu Jin wouldn’t mind either.

It was Yuan Fei who had crossed the line for normal classmate interactions.

Seeing that He Ye really didn’t want it, Yuan Fei didn’t insist.

However, looking at He Ye’s back, Yuan Fei turned the milk tea in his hand. His desire to keep pursuing her didn’t fade.

Couples who attend the same school will break up, let alone those in long-distance relationships. As long as he kept trying, one day, he believed, he’d win over He Ye.

A while later, Meng Qiao and Guo Leyan arrived.

With Yuan Fei sitting behind her, Wang Ran didn’t say anything. But once they were back at the dorm, she immediately complained about him: “What a jerk! Total scumbag!”

Guo Leyan: “Sure, he looks okay, but he’s no match for Lu Jin. Personality-wise, I don’t like him either, and Ye Zi wouldn’t!”

Meng Qiao: “The easiest way to deal with a guy that confident is to have Lu Jin show up and make him embarrassed.”

The three of them looked at He Ye.

He Ye: “…”

Is that childish? Maybe. But Lu Jin could only come on weekends, and who knows where Yuan Fei would be then?

_

Friday, September 19.

Tsinghua’s three-week military training ^[1]refers to mandatory physical training new students undergo in Chinese universities. officially ended, and Lu Jin flew over that evening on a 6:45 flight.

He came to pick He Ye up outside her dorm.

He Ye: “It’s just a two-day weekend, you could’ve taken the high-speed train tomorrow morning. Why fly here?”

She had checked both options and found the flight from Beijing that night was two or three times the price of the high-speed train ticket.

Lu Jin held her hand and said seriously, “I wanted to have breakfast with you a bit longer.”

He Ye: “…”

She wasn’t naive. It wasn’t about breakfast. He just wanted to spend one more night with her at the hotel.

If not for last time, He Ye would never have gone to a hotel with him overnight.

But she had already made an exception. Whether she went or not now, her roommates likely wouldn’t see her relationship with Lu Jin as simple, so that was one less thing to worry about.

The next day, they left the hotel around eleven and He Ye took Lu Jin straight to the campus cafeteria for lunch.

He Ye was at the front of the line. After she got her food, she gave her campus card ^[2]refers to a student ID card. to her boyfriend and went outside to wait.

Just as she stood still, someone called her from a distance: “He Ye!”

The voice was familiar. He Ye turned around and saw Yuan Fei with his three roommates beside him.

He Ye instinctively looked in Lu Jin’s direction.

Lu Jin had already walked away from the counter, glanced at them, but kept walking without showing recognition, continuing forward.

He Ye was surprised, not understanding what Lu Jin meant.

At that moment, Yuan Fei and his roommates came closer. Yuan Fei smiled and asked, “Why are you standing here alone?”

He Ye looked back at Lu Jin.

She felt upset. If Lu Jin was really ignoring her because Yuan Fei called her, then…

Just then, she saw Lu Jin set his tray on the table a few steps away, turn around, and come back.

He stopped in front of her, took the tray from her hands naturally, glanced at Yuan Fei with mild curiosity, and asked He Ye: “A classmate?”

Yuan Fei’s surprised expression made He Ye bite her lip, and then she smiled, replying to her boyfriend: “Yeah, we’re in the same club. His name is Yuan Fei.”

Lu Jin extended his hand to Yuan Fei: “Hello.”

He Ye introduced Lu Jin: “This is my boyfriend, Lu Jin.”

Yuan Fei’s eye twitched, and he reluctantly raised his hand to shake with Lu Jin.

Lu Jin was clearly much better-looking than Yuan Fei.

Yuan Fei’s roommates all thought He Ye was pretty and easy to approach, though they pretended to be happy for Yuan Fei’s interest. But deep down, they preferred Yuan Fei to succeed over this new guy, Lu Jin.

Losing out in looks, one of Yuan Fei’s roommates asked about Lu Jin’s university: “You came to see He Ye for the weekend. Do you also study in Shanghai?”

Lu Jin smiled slightly: “Beijing. If I were in Shanghai, I’d probably come here every day.”

The roommate: “Why didn’t you apply to a school in Shanghai?”

Lu Jin looked at He Ye.

He Ye gave him a small pinch and explained: “He’s from Tsinghua University.”

The roommate: “…”

Lu Jin walked off holding the tray in one hand, and his girlfriend’s hand in the other.

He Ye didn’t bother looking at Yuan Fei or the others anymore. She sat down and glared at her boyfriend. She asked quietly, “Why did you act like you didn’t know me earlier?”

Lu Jin handed He Ye a pair of chopsticks, his black eyes filled with joy: “We need to give them some time to perform.”

If he stood next to her like her boyfriend, the male classmate might just leave.

He Ye: “…So childish.”

Lu Jin: “I’m only eighteen. How mature do you expect me to be?”

He Ye bit her chopsticks silently.

After dinner, He Ye took Lu Jin to the library, using a campus card she had borrowed from Meng Qiao earlier.

He Ye was reading a professional book, and Lu Jin brought one to read too.

Just as Lu Jin had imagined during the summer break, they spent time in the library and cafeteria together like ordinary campus couples.

Around eight in the evening, they returned to the hotel.

He Ye finally got the chance to tease her boyfriend back. She stopped his hand from going under her clothes and said, “You’re only eighteen. Can you be more innocent?”

Lu Jin: “…Innocent enough.”

It wasn’t innocence she was worried about; she couldn’t even imagine it.