Yan Luqing opened her eyes and gazed at the bright moon outside the window. In her mind she recalled, at the time they encountered Wolf, the silly words she had said about “transforming into a werewolf under the moonlight.”

They lived in the same villa now, yet compared to then…

It felt a little distant.

Nighttime truly was when depression came easily.

Yan Luqing fell asleep melancholic last night, but when she woke up the next morning, her sentimental mood had already been swept clean away, replaced by the nervousness of going to a new school.

After washing and getting ready, she went downstairs to eat breakfast. Gu Ci arrived five minutes later than her.

It was odd to think about. At first, both of them were patients—the kind who felt unwell leaving their beds—so they had always eaten in their own rooms.

But ever since returning from Dieye Mountain, it had naturally turned into three meals together.

When Gu Ci sat down, he gave her a once-over, paused slightly, then shifted his gaze away and said: “Miss Yan is also going out?”

“…Yes, I am going out.” Yan Luqing usually wore whatever was most comfortable, but now she was dressed in outdoor clothes. It wasn’t strange for Gu Ci to notice, but—

“Why the word ‘also’? Are you going out too?”

“Mm.” Gu Ci nodded, and with astonishing words said, “To your university.”

“???” Yan Luqing almost choked in shock. “What are you going there for?”

“To meet a friend.”

“When?”

“In the afternoon.”

“In the afternoon, huh, that’s just right, I also have to go to my school—” Yan Luqing said the excuse she had long prepared, “Gu Ci, you come with me to listen to a lecture first before meeting your friend. The lecture is in the morning. Mainly… I’ll definitely fall asleep listening to that kind of thing, but my grandfather already spoke with the teacher, so I have to go. I need someone to keep nudging me awake…”

Gu Ci gave her a look that said ‘as expected of you‘. But he didn’t hesitate much before agreeing to her request.

After eating, the two watched some TV and played with the dog for a while—this sort of life’s joys and routines had somehow gradually become synchronized between them.

When they were changing shoes at the entrance before going out, Yan Luqing happened to glance over and saw Gu Ci’s phone screen lit up—it was the lock screen.

But… why did that screensaver look a little familiar?

Just as Gu Ci was about to leave, Yan Luqing reached out, grabbed his coat, and yanked him back. “Wait, don’t move.”

“Show me your screensaver.”

Gu Ci laughed knowingly, and without the slightest avoidance, directly unlocked it and showed her.

…Damn!

It was the one he’d sent her last night! That very stupid-looking photo with her wearing the dumb ring on her head!

Yan Luqing stared at Gu Ci in shock, but before she could even ask, he answered with the exact same words he’d used in WeChat last night.

“Courtesy repaid in kind.” Keeping his sideways posture, he leaned forward a little closer—close enough that Yan Luqing could even smell the faint fragrance of the shampoo they both used. She heard Gu Ci’s low voice say, “After all, if only you change yours, that’s quite unfair, don’t you think?”

“……”

—

The university Yan Luqing was about to attend had a long history of establishment. The campus had been renovated and rebuilt many times, its grounds absurdly vast, and it was located rather far from the city.

The trip took nearly an hour, but with Gu Ci’s quick sense of direction, they managed to find the lecture hall just in time. Yan Luqing calculated it perfectly—when they arrived, there were still more than ten minutes left, yet the only seats available were in the first three rows.

Yan Luqing pulled Gu Ci to sit in the third row. She didn’t notice the many glances cast their way, only sighed: “Heavens, the third row. Thank goodness you came, otherwise wouldn’t I be sleeping right under the professor’s nose…”

Gu Ci also automatically filtered out the stares. After sitting, he looked at the topic of the seminar posted on the stage, then nodded with certainty at Yan Luqing: “You really will fall asleep. Because this one I haven’t taught you.”

“…Why not?” Yan Luqing grew anxious. “The exam is in a week! Teacher Gu, you can’t keep hiding it—”

“Because for first-years to understand this content is the kind of thing ninety-pointers aiming for a hundred need to do.” Gu Ci turned his face to look at her, his eyes slightly curved. “Your target is fifty. Should I be teaching you this?”

“……”

Why was it that even a simple rhetorical question could spin back and hit her like a flying blade???

Yan Luqing puffed her cheeks and shut her mouth, no longer looking at Gu Ci, and turned her head toward the lecture hall entrance.

But that one look stunned her.

A boy and a girl entered. The girl had long black hair with slightly curled ends, the boy’s short hair was a bit longer than the village-head cut, and he was noticeably taller than her. They came in one after the other and began searching for seats.

The unspoken rule in university was always to sit in the back if possible, never the front. The two also targeted the edge seats of the third row, and soon ended up right next to Yan Luqing.

But that wasn’t the point.

The point was—both of them had special effects. The kind she hadn’t seen in a long time, the kind she’d only ever seen on the main character group.

The girl was wreathed from head to toe in a faint green, different from the pine trees around the original male lead—around her swirled… tea leaves. A true green tea.

But the boy beside her was even more astonishing.

All around him floated knives.

Knives so realistic they reflected light, flashing as the shadows shifted.

Yan Luqing stared blankly as the two drew closer and closer, not even hearing Gu Ci ask her “What’s wrong.” The green tea girl walked right up to her, met her eyes, and smiled. “Hello, classmate, is this seat taken?”

Yan Luqing looked at the tea leaves drifting around her and silently shook her head.

After sitting down, the green tea girl smiled warmly and introduced herself: “Classmate, we’re both first-years this year. My name is You Jing, and his name is Yu Qin.”

These two names instantly jolted Yan Luqing awake.

——They were the Squid CP, one of the original novel’s side couples, seniors to the male and female leads, with deep ties between the four.

You Jing was a woman with a personality naturally laced with green tea attributes—not only toward men, but toward women as well. In the original book, when the male lead had just entered university, she had feelings for him. At that time the male lead was single due to a breakup with the female lead, but eventually, because the leads reunited, she gave up.

The male lead didn’t fall for her green tea tricks, but Yu Qin did. Thus, for this CP, it was the male’s story of “secret love fulfilled.”

That You Jing drifted tea was understandable.

But why would Yu Qin drift knives…?

While Yan Luqing pondered, You Jing had already cheerfully asked to add her WeChat. Her gaze kept flicking toward Gu Ci’s face, clearly hoping to add his WeChat as well, though Yan Luqing didn’t notice her hints.

Because right now she was too curious, forcing herself to endure the glare of all those flashing knives, repeatedly scrutinizing Yu Qin’s face.

You Jing misunderstood, thinking Yan Luqing wanted Yu Qin’s WeChat, so she grabbed her phone and added Yu Qin for her. Then she continued hinting with her eyes that she wanted Gu Ci’s.

At that very moment, Yan Luqing finally worked out the answer—

It was because of Yu Qin’s physical description!

“A face as if cut and carved by knife and axe,” “a knife-hewn face,” “as though sculpted by a blade”…

That’s why he drifted little knives!!!

After being assaulted over and over by the reflected gleam of knives, Yan Luqing’s eyes were overwhelmed. She pulled back her gaze and couldn’t help grabbing at Gu Ci beside her—her hand landed right on his.

The sudden warmth and softness made Gu Ci pause.

But she gave him no time to react, her grip tight, as she leaned close to his ear and whispered: “Gu Ci, I’m going blind.”

“…?” Blind from what?

But before he could ask, the woman beside her called her attention back.

“Hey, sister.”

Yan Luqing looked at You Jing. Staring, her focus drifted to the tea on the girl’s face, wondering whether it was Biluochun, when suddenly You Jing smiled mysteriously at her, pointed with a finger toward Gu Ci, and asked: “You came with that great beauty?”

Yan Luqing found this title of great beauty very agreeable. In truth, with Gu Ci’s looks, calling him either great beauty or great handsome guy would work—she simply preferred the former.

She nodded to You Jing. “Mm.”

You Jing: “Are you two a couple?”

At this question, Yan Luqing was stunned for a moment. “…Ah?” Then she snapped back to herself and immediately denied it: “We’re not!”

What kind of joke was this?

This was the first time anyone had misunderstood them that way.

Yan Luqing’s heartbeat raced, even abnormally fast. She didn’t know why, nor did she have the time to think about why.

Then she saw You Jing’s expression brighten with excitement at the answer. “Then, can you help me ask him if he’d add me on WeChat, okay?” You Jing leaned sneakily close to her ear. “He looks so cold and aloof.”

“……”

So this literal green tea girl… had her eyes on Gu Ci, and was preparing to serve tea to Gu Ci?

Just as Yan Luqing thought this, before she could even decide whether to persuade Gu Ci to add her, the familiar cool voice came from beside her. “What time is it on your phone?”

“…Hm?”

Gu Ci pressed his phone awake, tilting the screen toward her. “I think my time’s wrong. Adjust it.”

Yan Luqing didn’t think anything of it. “Oh,” she answered, obediently lighting up her own screen to check the time, then reported it to Gu Ci.

What she didn’t know was that Gu Ci, facing her, was precisely facing You Jing’s direction as well.

From that angle, You Jing could see clearly—Yan Luqing’s phone screensaver was the great beauty she fancied, and the great beauty’s own screensaver was Yan Luqing.

When Yan Luqing turned back again, she saw that the green tea girl’s face was not only full of tea but also full of speechlessness.

“Uh this…” She flicked her hair, gesturing with her finger. “It’s one thing to secretly hold hands and whisper, but to use each other’s photos as screensavers is just too much—and the flower crowns on your heads even match like couple items, and you’re still telling me you’re not together?”

Yan Luqing opened her mouth. “That’s not—”

The green tea cut her off. “Sister, if you’re a couple then just admit it. Why be embarrassed to say so?”

“……”