If at this moment Yan Luqing could open a dialogue-box special effect, then she would see that the question marks above Little Mahua’s head had already multiplied to the point of almost bursting into a dialogue box.

She said she didn’t have a boyfriend, yet she was already living together with one.

Then what about this super handsome guy from T University?

Just earlier, when Little Mahua opened the group chat, she saw people discussing him inside. A sister who had a friend in the Physics Department said that not only did he look so good, but he also seemed to have scored full marks in a subject. The group didn’t bother whether it was true or not, and immediately rows and rows of stickers started flooding the chat.

Little Mahua suddenly remembered the question Yan Luqing had just asked her—what does it mean when a boy says a girl is cute.

Could it be…

This super handsome guy is exactly that boy who said she was cute, whom she then treated as a “two-dimensional character” to “like”?

Little Mahua was born with an extremely strong sense of gossip, always prioritizing melon-eating [spectating gossip]. At this moment, even though her mind was filled with countless question marks, her hand still moved on its own.

She turned on the camera, and standing beside the two of them, she captured this scene.

At the instant the picture froze, she saw Yan Luqing as if suddenly coming back to her senses, quickly turning her head left and right, then tugging at a corner of that super handsome guy’s jacket and heading straight toward the stairway. Very soon, there was no trace of them.

After leaving the teaching building, that feeling of being stared at by a crowd finally lessened quite a bit.

Moreover, since it was the end of class, the noise was overwhelming, the corridors were packed with moving people. If Yan Luqing didn’t pull along this attention-magnet by her side, every single word they said would probably be overheard.

“Now we can talk.”

She released Gu Ci’s jacket, and the two slowly walked in the direction of the school gate.

“You just said you came to pick me up after class?” Yan Luqing asked. “Why did you come to pick me up?”

Gu Ci seemed to have long known that she would ask this question.

While she was speaking, he was flipping through his phone. Yan Luqing thought he was replying to someone’s message. But as soon as she finished her words, Gu Ci stretched his phone out in front of her.

On the screen was the WeChat Moments interface, and the first thing that came into view was that sticker she had just posted not long ago—

[Someone hurry and come pick the child up after school qaq.jpg]

When Yan Luqing posted it, it was merely on a whim, because the few girls in the class had all posted it in their Moments, so she followed suit.

Only now did she carefully look at this picture. The image was a panda head carrying a little backpack with tears streaming down, vividly illustrating going to school in tears.

“……”

His meaning was, because he saw this sticker, he came to pick her up after class?

But they were already university students. How could there be such a thing as picking someone up after school… She wasn’t really a little child anymore. Weren’t these stickers all just for fun?

As Yan Luqing thought this, she recalled her feelings when she had first laid eyes on him.

What was she thinking at that time? She couldn’t put it into words. It was as if her brain went blank for a moment, simultaneously wondering why this person would appear here, and also thinking that—him wearing this white shirt was absolutely stunning.

Perhaps it was surprise mixed with delight, with delight accounting for ninety-nine percent of it.

“This says parents picking up children,” Yan Luqing held it in for a while and finally found a breakthrough. “Are you my parent?”

Gu Ci actually laughed lightly when he heard her words, then countered: “Then take a look. Does it say here that only parents are allowed to pick up?”

Yan Luqing: “……”

“Then why did you come?” she pressed further. “Isn’t it good to stay home and watch TV? At this time, isn’t your favorite drama about to air? I was still planning to go home and ask you about the plot.”

Hearing this, Gu Ci first corrected: “That’s not my favorite drama, it’s yours. And besides…” He laughed again, “Do I need a reason to pick you up after class?”

Yan Luqing felt something, and turned her head to look at him. Just at that moment, Gu Ci’s gaze also landed on her.

Class ended at five in the afternoon, the horizon beginning to be dyed with rosy colors. From this angle, Gu Ci was walking against such a backdrop, which made the black and white on his body appear even more distinct.

His lips were a bit pale in color, curling with a careless smile: “I was idle, so I came because I felt like it.”

Yan Luqing felt her heart skip a beat.

She didn’t say anything more, withdrawing her gaze and turning back to the road ahead.

……

The car stopped at the school’s side gate.

Yan Luqing saw Big Black and Little Black getting out from another car, greeting her, and opening the car door for the two of them.

Because she didn’t get the chance earlier, Yan Luqing only asked Gu Ci after getting into the car.

“You came out to pick me up after class…” Yan Luqing barely overcame the awkwardness of saying these words, and then added, “Didn’t Big Black and Little Black find it strange? Didn’t they ask you anything?”

Gu Ci was silent for a few seconds.

“You can ask them yourself,” he said. “You may not believe it, but I truly didn’t explain a single word.”

“……” She believed him, she knew exactly what those two were thinking in their hearts.

Yan Luqing asked again: “How did you know what time my class ended?”

“I asked a friend in this university to check the campus network.”

Yan Luqing looked around, recalling the directions from this morning. “We seem… not to be on the way home?”

“Mm,” Gu Ci glanced at her, “to the fried chicken shop.”

Yan Luqing: “???”

In her Moments that afternoon she had posted: [Electrical Physics, lifelong enemy. I want happy water [cola], I want to eat fried chicken.]

So it was because of that Moments post again?

Yan Luqing was genuinely a little shocked, and couldn’t help but directly ask: “Why on earth are you following my Moments post today?”

Gu Ci clicked his tongue: “Why do you have so many questions.”

Then after a few seconds, he gave her an explanation, his answer extremely concise: “A thank-you gift.”

Yan Luqing was stunned: “…What thank-you gift?”

Gu Ci raised his hand and tugged at the edge of the collar of his white shirt inside. With this movement, a little of his collarbone was revealed.

At first Yan Luqing was slightly startled by this action of his, thinking to herself what kind of tactic this was—an enemy princess attempting online seduction?

Then she realized that what he tugged on was precisely the shirt she had bought him.

“……”

Oh, so it was a thank-you gift for the clothes she had bought him.

Yan Luqing began to recall the whole sequence of that matter.

That day she had first bought clothes for Big Black and Little Black, and Gu Ci had reproached her, saying she couldn’t treat her close friends like that. So she ended up buying him a whole bunch as well, and thus came today’s thank-you gift.

Why was there such back-and-forth?

Why did being together give off such a strange feeling?

The fried chicken shop wasn’t far from the school, and by the time she thought this, the two of them had already arrived. Yan Luqing’s train of thought was interrupted, and she followed Gu Ci out of the car.

The shop’s interior decoration was unexpectedly good. The moment they stepped in, an enticing fragrance greeted them. After sitting down, Yan Luqing belatedly felt worried: “Gu Ci, the two of us… with our stomachs, can we really eat fried chicken?”

She really liked fried chicken, but she feared even more that after eating it, she’d end up needing an IV drip.

“Asked the doctor already.” Gu Ci pushed the menu toward her and said, “Not allowed.”

“?”

Yan Luqing fired a huge question mark at him.

“The doctor said you can only eat steamed chicken.” Gu Ci spoke unhurriedly. “I checked, and only this fried chicken shop sells steamed chicken.”

“…?” Yan Luqing’s head was still full of question marks. “Then why are we coming to a fried chicken shop to eat steamed chicken?”

“So you can experience the atmosphere?” The last syllable of Gu Ci’s voice rose, as if he were making a guess.

“…Thank you,” Yan Luqing said expressionlessly. “I’ve felt it now. Truly such a strong atmosphere.”

“You’re welcome.”

In the end, the two of them really did order a health-preserving, nourishing steamed chicken soup set in the fried chicken shop.