Today, the temperature outside had dropped sharply, so the air conditioner was turned on in the room, the temperature pleasantly suitable. On the pillow where Yan Luqing lay there was still a faint fragrance—she did not know if it came from Gu Ci, but in any case, so long as it was not the “piercing pine scent,” everything was very pleasant to smell.

Yan Luqing felt her face burning, hotter and hotter.

Half of it was because of the fever, half of it was because of Gu Ci’s questioning.

She had originally wanted to refute him, because she had indeed praised him from the bottom of her heart, but then suddenly realized… whether it was the painstakingly worded compliments in Doumou [social media], or the praise given to the male and female leads of the original book, the frequency of “good-looking” from her mouth was indeed so high it was like being wholesale from a marketplace.

“Wholesale”—this word, Gu Ci had used with remarkable precision.

Worthy indeed of being a man called “word.”

Yan Luqing could only explain to him in a very dry and meager way: “…Although I praise a lot, you are different.”

Only after saying it did she realize, this was far too much like the classic scumbag phrase: “Although I had many exes, you are different.”

Gu Ci clearly thought so too. The smile on his face grew deeper, this person’s smile was usually not because of happiness. Yan Luqing had observed: aside from exceptional circumstances, his smile was either because he was about to be sarcastic, or he was already being sarcastic.

At this moment, since he said nothing, it could only be that he was being sarcastic in his heart.

Yan Luqing thought and thought, and could only imitate Da Hong Pao’s [a teasing character’s] tone to act pitiful: “…Didn’t I already say that my brain is fevered and lacking vocabulary? Do you really want to fuss over a single word with a patient burning with high fever?” She paused, then emphasized: “—Moreover, this patient is sincere!”

After speaking, Yan Luqing tried hard to squint her eyes, attempting to create that kind of glistening-springwater gaze, the delicate, pitiable beauty of a sickly person—just like a princess lying on the sickbed, so very endearing.

Unfortunately, her illness was high fever. Her eyes were as dry as the damned Sahara Desert, and after squeezing for a long while until her face ached, there still was not the slightest trace of moisture.

Gu Ci bent down, fetched the water cup from the bedside table, his white slender fingers rhythmically tapping the cup. He looked at her with great interest for a long while, then smiled and said: “Stop squeezing. Looks like a stroke.”

“…”

Gu Ci’s words were sharp, his mouth was venomous, but after delivering the venom he still turned around to pour her hot water, and after pouring even helped her sit up, speaking with concise clarity: “Drink it.”

Just these brief words moved Yan Luqing immensely.

As she drank water, she thought, although he was designated in the original book as a villainous boss, if Gu Ci had not been forced by so many sjb¹sjb: Internet slang, abbreviation for “sand sculpture,” meaning fools/idiots., how good would he have been?

Just like this now.

What a pure and attentive youth.

Yan Luqing nearly drank herself into tears over one cup of water.

—Princess Ci, forever the God.

—

Two hours later.

Yan Luqing was finally able to confirm: this illness was indeed caused by the system.

—Her illness could practically be called swift as the wind, like fooling around, a fever of thirty-nine point five degrees that in merely two hours dropped as quickly as it had risen.

Gu Ci stood at the bedside, looking at the thermometer that already showed a normal temperature, then lightly raised his eyes to look at her. That expression was calm as drifting clouds, yet in his eyes many emotions were hidden.

Yan Luqing was extremely guilty.

After all, whether the fever rose or fell, it was caused by other factors, and she could not yet tell Gu Ci, who was caring for her.

“…Ah, how miraculous, the fever receded so quickly.” Yan Luqing looked at him, dryly praising, “You are simply born with the talent of being a doctor, ah haha, haha…”

“Not at all.” Gu Ci’s smile was good-looking and gentle, his praise much more natural than hers. “Clearly it is Miss Yan’s good constitution, a gift of innate talent.”

Yan Luqing: “…” Damn this so-called innate talent.

She had to temporarily take back the word pure and kind that she had used to describe Gu Ci, keeping only attentive.

This bedroom, Gu Ci had by default left to her. After checking that Yan Luqing’s high fever had truly receded, he went back to another bedroom.

Yan Luqing got out of bed to take a shower, and came out refreshed. She discovered that her phone on the bed had rung twice. Picking it up, she saw it was a message from Jiang Baichu.

【Jiang Baichu】: Good night, jie jie～

【Jiang Baichu】: [cute cat head.jpg]

Yan Luqing’s mood was complicated.

It was fine that she liked beautiful women, but if this beautiful woman still did not transfer her affection toward the male lead, her little life would not be preserved.

Yan Luqing replied to Jiang Baichu with a sticker. At the same time, she noticed bubbles beginning to pop up above Jiang Baichu’s avatar, so she casually tapped it.

Yellow bubble: “Pretty jie jie told me good night la!”

Pink bubble: “Qi Yanchuan actually isn’t bad either…”

Yan Luqing: !!!

It was actually the pink belonging to the male lead! Damn it, male lead, you finally stood up!

Yan Luqing was still rejoicing when she suddenly discovered that below that line of text in the pink bubble, two more pictures appeared.

Pictures?

Suspicious and astonished, she tapped them open—

In the first picture, in a corner where the lighting was dim and yellow, Jiang Baichu was sitting against the wall, holding her knee with one hand, face tilted upward toward Qi Yanchuan who was standing opposite.

In the second picture—Qi Yanchuan was actually princess-carrying Jiang Baichu!!!

No wonder her high fever had suddenly receded!

As long as the young couple’s relationship eased, her body would be fine.

In the photos, the two of them still carried that blinding 3D special effect—a humanoid pine tree covered in pine needles carrying a beauty encircled by rose petals. Though it was rather strange, Yan Luqing did not find it an eyesore.

Because her whole mind was thinking: Grandpa’s golden finger had actually begun to bring pictures!

This was truly like a Bulbasaur eating Miaocui crisps while entering Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, too miao (wonderful) to be real.

At the same time, Makka Pakka’s voice rang in her ears again: “Congratulations ya Maria～when the golden finger upgrades to a certain level, it will evolve～”

Yan Luqing, with a shocked face, looked at the crimson-red WeChat—her tireless effort of posting comments day and night had not been in vain, this evolved function was simply too useful.

That meant in the future it would not only be textual explanations, but also pictures accompanying the words?

Then what would come after that?

Moreover…since the golden finger had evolved, could she now read Gu Ci’s inner thoughts? Could she, could she, could she?

Thinking of this, Yan Luqing instantly, excitedly tapped open the chat window with Gu Ci.

But five seconds later, she discovered that with Gu Ci there was no difference from before: when she did not provoke him to stir fluctuations in his heart, the bubbles were still transparent, and the content was still one period after another.

When she could read others’ words, for Gu Ci she could only read four kinds of punctuation marks;

Now she could already read the images of the protagonist group, yet for Gu Ci she could still only read punctuation marks.

A true human-shaped bug, Princess Ci.

\

Yan Luqing’s fever symptoms did not recur, and she slept peacefully through the night.

On the first day, because of the weather, they had been unable to go out, and everyone had been stifled. On the second day early in the morning, the plasters who stuck to Gu Ci—Number One and Number Two—proposed to everyone that they should camp overnight on the mountain.

They said it like this: “It wasn’t easy for us to all gather together, not a minute or second should be wasted. Moreover, if we come to the mountain and don’t stay in tents, it won’t be complete at all.”

Everyone had no objections, and what’s more, they had already borrowed tents and sleeping bags, this time simply acting first and reporting later.

On the way up the mountain, there were too many strange and interesting little things around. Yan Luqing was dragged left and right to shop and buy by the sisters Xia Yutian and Xia Xuetian, and quickly exhausted her strength. During the process, Yan Luqing suddenly had blackness before her eyes two or three times—but at that time she was already in extreme fatigue, so she did not take it to heart.

Because some lacked the physical strength from insufficient exercise, because the boys were curious about climbing and such activities, and because the girls could not move from seeing pretty stalls, by the time the large group ascended the mountain together and set up the tents, night had already fallen.

Everyone prepared to have a nighttime talk, playing Truth or Dare, Who is the Undercover, and so forth. Before that, they decided to form teams to go to the nearest supermarket to buy snacks and beer.

On the way to the supermarket, amidst the noisy laughter, Yan Luqing seized the opportunity, ignoring the ambiguous looks from classmates, and pulled Gu Ci along to the very back of the group.

Gu Ci did not resist, following behind her with a lazy expression.

The two of them stopped in a more hidden spot, and Gu Ci looked on as Yan Luqing released his sleeve, suddenly shifted her backpack to her front, and unzipped it—

She first took out two small bottles from her own backpack, introducing them one in each hand: “This is the medicine you need to apply to your eyes today, this is the one you’ll need to drop into your eyes every day hereafter.” Next, she brought out a glasses case: “This is what I had Dr. Liu directly send to Big Black, starting tomorrow you have to switch to the fourth pair of glasses.” She rummaged some more, “And then there’s the stomach medicine I asked the family doctor for. I don’t know if that restaurant we ate at at noon today will cause you any reaction…”

After pulling everything out and stuffing it into his hands, Yan Luqing zipped up her backpack, and at the moment she raised her head, she happened to collide with Gu Ci’s gaze.

By chance, moonlight struck around his eyes, making that gaze clear and crystalline.

Yan Luqing was somewhat doubtful: “…Did you just hear what I said clearly?”

Gu Ci did not make clear whether he had or not.

He first glanced at the things stuffed full in his hands, then lifted his long lashes to look at her, the corners of his lips curving faintly into an arc, “When did you bring all these.”

Yan Luqing was made slightly unnatural by his smile, and turned her eyes away a bit, saying: “Of course it was the day we left.” She pursed her lips, “I knew it… you really did forget to bring them.”

This sentence spun in the night wind, finally reaching Gu Ci’s ears, carrying a trace of small reproach, yet in the tail note there was that unique girlish coquettishness that did not make one feel dislike.

Gu Ci was silent for too long, so Yan Luqing was puzzled and turned to look at him again.

…And then she found he was still staring at her.

Whether it was because the moonlight illuminated him too well or not, tonight Gu Ci’s beauty value had practically reached the peak of what Yan Luqing had seen since knowing him. Aside from his facial features and appearance, there was a unique aura upon him—right now it seemed to gather the essence of heaven and earth, carrying also a sense of contradiction, like the soft water in a spring pond, yet also like the cool frost and snow on a high mountain.

Especially those pitch-black as ink, half-smiling half-not eyes. Though he said nothing at all, just by looking at you it seemed as if he could capture one’s soul.

Yan Luqing once again swiftly turned away her eyes, this time turning even her face away.

Indeed, nighttime solitude made people’s thoughts wander, especially when being with such a great beauty—the wild imaginings multiplied by geometric progression.

“Eh, why are we stupidly standing here.” Yan Luqing secured her backpack, and was the first to give him a push, “Let’s go, let’s go.”

……

The two of them had fallen behind for too long, but they more or less knew the direction of the supermarket, and so they walked in silence all the way.

There were many trees around them, the leaves colliding and occasionally making rustling sounds.

When Yan Luqing was silent, she tried to control the thoughts that leapt in her head. She thought, Gu Ci being called “Princess Ci” really was the right name—he had gathered so many fairy-tale scripts, and this scene presently unfolding she named “Ci Ci in Wonderland.”

When they passed a bend in the path, Yan Luqing suddenly felt an unprovoked dizziness.

She finally realized something—

How many times had this already happened today?

Perhaps noticing she was acting somewhat strange, Gu Ci reminded her beside her: “There’s a slope down here, watch the road.”

Yan Luqing nodded, “Alright.”

She muttered silently in her heart: There must… there must be something wrong.

So she held up the flashlight, preparing to observe the road ahead more carefully.

But before she had taken even two steps, her left foot suddenly stepped into emptiness—

Yan Luqing’s pupils shrank sharply.

Damn it! The system again!

It was clearly solid ground there! Every step she took she had watched carefully! This damn… this damn thing was absolutely another punishment from those two kids, the male and female lead, for messing up their relationship!!

Weren’t they just sweet and lovey-dovey before! How did it collapse so badly all of a sudden?

Can’t you kids manage your emotions with a little stability when dating!!!

Her heart frantically ranting, but everything happened far too suddenly. As the weightless feeling surged up, Yan Luqing only had time to let out a short “ah.” That sound was very, very small, so small that she thought no one but herself would hear it.

But the next second, her hand was suddenly seized by someone.

“…Gu Ci!!” Yan Luqing’s eyes widened, she felt she had called this “Gu Ci” with the same feeling as crying out “Dad.”

“Yan Luqing, I told you there was a slope, you—”

Gu Ci, gripping one of her hands, spoke half the sentence but suddenly stopped, his brows slowly knitting together.

—He too realized something strange.

Gu Ci’s leg braced against an old tree beside them, his arm constantly pulling her upward. Yet no matter how much strength he applied, Yan Luqing not only did not move upward in the least, she was instead falling farther and farther down.

At this rate, the result could only be that she would drag Gu Ci down together with her.

Yan Luqing was very clear about how heavy she was. Gu Ci might not know the exact number, but surely by sight he could tell—she could not possibly bring such a great downward force. This force dragging her down was inexplicable, belonging to some kind of power within that so-called system of this world.

Realizing this, Yan Luqing immediately let go of her own hand, wanting to release Gu Ci.

—Yet she had not thought that in that instant, that slender hand would reverse and grasp back, steadily, firmly holding her tight.

Footnotes

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  sjb: Internet slang, abbreviation for “sand sculpture,” meaning fools/idiots.