Yan Luqing ate this meal with too much joy.

She had originally wanted to apply for Fine Arts, and hearing them talk about many funny things that happened in class, she played along with great enthusiasm. All sorts of jokes that only Fine Arts students could understand came one after another. That senior with the wine bottle and the senior with little tiger teeth, seeing her so interested, acted like a cross-talk performance, one singing, one responding: “When we introduce ourselves, we never say we’re Fine Arts students.”

Yan Luqing: “Then what do you say?”

Wine Bottle: “We’re just poor painters.”

Everyone burst out laughing, then Little Tiger Teeth said: “Junior sister, do you know what we poor painters hate to hear the most?”

Yan Luqing was curious: “What?”

Little Tiger Teeth: “What we hate most is someone asking, ‘Isn’t it very easy for you art students to get into university?’”

Again there was a wave of loud laughter and agreement.

The whole meal was filled with endless laughter and cheerful voices. Only that senior sister who inexplicably rolled her eyes at Yan Luqing gave rise to bad emotions toward her again during the meal, adding many red points.

Perhaps because she was too angry, this senior sister left very early, saying she had something to do when she hadn’t even finished half her meal. Little Braids was overjoyed, while Yan Luqing even felt it was a pity that the red points could not upgrade further.

After reporting the red points, Makka Pakka said to her again: “Maria, the task of helping others is perfectly completed. The reward has been drawn, it’s loading and installing～”

Yan Luqing indicated she knew, and then remembered she hadn’t used her two hours today yet, so she opened the dialogue box special effect, wanting to see everyone’s mental activity to add some fun.

Then she saw one by one, the heads of everyone before her sprouting dialogue boxes.

Last time, when she set up the special effect for Miracle Cici, it was black swan and white swan, finally staying on the white swan.

This effect had both a swan crown and swan wings, as well as a white, beautiful halo. On Gu Ci it looked especially beautiful and harmonious, a proper swan princess.

She hadn’t expected that at this dining table, not one single person could carry it off.

—Yan Luqing looked at everyone, and saw no trace of a swan princess. Instead, the effect made their skin look especially dark, as if they were a group of little black swans that failed at pretending to be swans, shedding feathers, ugly yet somewhat cute.

So she silently condemned her own act of stepping on others, apologized to everyone in her heart, then removed the skin and returned to the original dialogue box.

On Yan Luqing’s left sat Little Braids, on her right was another senior sister with a kind face. In the intervals of eating, when she occasionally looked at her phone, that senior sister caught sight of her phone screensaver, and called out in great surprise: “Wow… junior sister, the person on your screensaver is really good-looking!”

Yan Luqing was stunned, and following her gaze, saw it was precisely the photo she had taken of the princess wearing the flower crown.

This photo was probably the sort of existence that would brighten people’s eyes no matter when it was placed.

Just like Gu Ci was, too.

Yan Luqing smiled: “Of course it’s good-looking.”

Yan Luqing had always felt that a screensaver was something one got used to looking at, and once she set it up, she rarely thought of changing it.

Generally, she would only change the default wallpaper and screensaver on the day she bought a new phone. It wasn’t that she was sentimental or anything, but simply that she completely forgot about it.

But now that someone mentioned it, she realized that she had used Gu Ci’s photo as her screensaver for quite a while already.

At first, it was because he didn’t let her show off the photo. Yet at that time she especially wanted everyone to see the photo of Princess Ci wearing the flower crown, so she wondered what kind of reaction Gu Ci would have after people saw this photo. With that thought, she suddenly came up with the idea of changing it to her phone wallpaper.

Of course, she also paid the price for this action, doing exercises for an entire evening.

And because of this punishment, she was even more unwilling to change it. Otherwise, wouldn’t all those exercises have been done in vain?

Later, this wallpaper caused Yu Jing Little Green Tea’s misunderstanding, yet that misunderstanding, by a freak combination of circumstances, saved her life—if not for this wallpaper, Gu Ci would probably have been pursued by Yu Jing. If the storyline changed, she would have been punished again.

After that, she simply got used to it, never thought of changing, and never found anything more suitable to change to.

The senior sister was still asking: “Is this some celebrity? Why do I feel like I’ve never seen him before…”

“He’s not a celebrity, he’s—”

Yan Luqing was halfway through speaking when Little Braids also noticed the two whispering, leaned over and asked: “What are you two talking about?”

Then she too saw the screensaver that the two were discussing, and her eyes instantly widened.

“Damn!” Little Braids exclaimed in a low voice, “Isn’t this that super handsome guy you live with? Your wallpaper is actually him? I actually never looked carefully at your wallpaper!”

The senior sister also swore: “Damn, live together? This is actually your boyfriend?”

Yan Luqing: “…………” Here we go again, here we go again, here we go again.

Yan Luqing once again had no choice but to explain to the senior sister: “No, senior sister, he’s my friend, he’s just temporarily living in my house. This wallpaper actually is…” She paused for a moment, then told the truth, “It seems I changed it to anger him. Because at that time, he didn’t like wearing this ring…”

Little Braids clicked her tongue in admiration several times, then was called away by someone nearby to chat. The senior sister sighed to Yan Luqing again: “So that’s how it is. If he really were your boyfriend, then you two would be the best-looking couple I’ve ever seen.” Pausing, she asked, “You said you two are temporarily living together, renting a place together?”

“Not exactly…” Yan Luqing had wanted to deny it, but then felt that without saying so, she couldn’t explain otherwise, so she simply admitted, “Sort of. Anyway, in less than ten days, he has to move out.”

Speaking the words “move out,” thinking that in the future when she returned to the villa she would no longer see Gu Ci, she inexplicably felt a sense of loss.

But before Yan Luqing could think deeply, the senior sister said again: “Last time a classmate showed me a photo, saying it was that so-called ‘Immortal Man’ that many people were praising. Tch, now that I think of it, what was that! I really want to show them your screensaver! Oh—” As if suddenly remembering something, she lowered her voice, “This photo isn’t photoshopped, right?”

Yan Luqing: “Of course not!”

Our Princess Ci is clearly even better looking in person!

“And it’s not Immortal Man,” Yan Luqing smiled mysteriously and corrected her: “It’s Princess!”

“Hahaha, what kind of strange nickname is that…”

After the two laughed, they joined the others in chatting about other topics.

But Yan Luqing was no longer as invested as at the beginning. She was somewhat absent-minded.

About the screensaver wallpaper… Normally, aside from using all sorts of styled background pictures, when it came to character screensavers, people usually used two-dimensional images, or photos of their idols.

Using a friend’s photo as a wallpaper… this action indeed was easy to be misunderstood.

Should she change it?

It seemed she still didn’t want to.

But very quickly Yan Luqing thought of a reason for herself—

Not changing it was of course because it was too good-looking!

She couldn’t find a more beautiful face—so wasn’t it only natural not to change it?

For Yan Luqing, the only regret of this dinner was that the artists present were all not very good at drinking. They all cried out that they were “one-bottle down.”

In the end, with so many people at the table, only one bottle of beer was opened. Yan Luqing drank a full glass, yet whether this beer had been watered down or whether her tolerance for alcohol had become higher, apart from her face feeling slightly warm, she surprisingly showed no sign of drunkenness.

By the time they finished eating, the car that came from the villa to pick her up was already waiting outside.

Everyone else was going back to school, only Yan Luqing herself was going home. Before parting, Wine Bottle and Little Braids both invited her to come again tomorrow: “All this painting today was for tomorrow’s event. We’re preparing to hold an outdoor exhibition. If you’re free, come and join?”

Little Braids: “See, you put in so much effort, you should at least come and look at the feedback, accept some praise!”

Yan Luqing hesitated a little: “Then I’ll think about it…”

Little Braids twisted her braided hair, winking: “If possible, bring along your household one too～”

“……”

Yan Luqing’s face heated from this way of saying it. But “household one” was indeed the literal truth, and she couldn’t refute it—wasn’t Gu Ci exactly her “household one”?

She bid farewell to everyone and walked toward the black car not far away. From behind her ears came the sound of gradually approaching running steps, accompanied by a clear male voice:

“Junior sister—”

Today Yan Luqing had been called “junior sister” all day long, and she could already distinguish each person’s voice.

This was definitely that senior with little tiger teeth.

She turned her head, and indeed saw that senior’s smiling face. His looks leaned toward a baby face, the cute type, and in the night that little tiger tooth looked especially white, especially eye-catching.

“Junior sister, you—”

Before he could finish, the car before Yan Luqing, which had been quietly parked, suddenly made a sound. Yan Luqing and Little Tiger Teeth looked over at the same time—the rear window slowly rolled down, revealing the person sitting inside.

As the window descended, from brow bone to chin, his full appearance was revealed bit by bit. In the night he appeared especially striking. Even though she saw him every day, Yan Luqing still politely found her breath catching.

Gu Ci looked at her faintly, saying: “Get in the car.”

Yan Luqing instinctively wanted to follow what he said, but just as she was about to move, she remembered there was still someone behind her, so she first said to Gu Ci: “Wait a moment.”

She turned back: “Senior, did you need something from me?”

At that moment, Little Tiger Teeth happened to meet the gaze of the person in the car.

There wasn’t much expression on the other’s face, but inexplicably it made one’s heart feel chilled.

Yan Luqing saw Little Tiger Teeth clearly pause in surprise, then slowly lowered his head to look at her, and seriously asked: “Is this your boyfriend?”

“……”

Yan Luqing had been asked this question so many times. At first she would still be stunned, her face flushing hot, shy. But now she was practiced, waving her hand smoothly: “No no, he’s—”

But Little Tiger Teeth didn’t listen to her explanation. After hearing “no,” he simply smiled, interrupting her: “It’s nothing serious, I just wanted to ask if you could come tomorrow.”

“They already asked me just now,” Yan Luqing gave the same answer, “I’ll try my best.”

“Then hurry home, you’ve been tired all day, get a good rest.”

Little Tiger Teeth smiled as he bid her farewell, then turned and ran back to rejoin the main group.

Yan Luqing sat down in the back seat of the car.

While pressing the window back up, she asked Gu Ci: “Why did you come?”

“To buy something.”

“Oh.” Yan Luqing nodded. Then she glanced around. The back seat was spotless, and beside his long legs there was nothing at all. She asked curiously, “Then where are the things you bought?”

“The shop was closed, I didn’t buy it.” Gu Ci also turned his head, meeting her gaze. On his thin eyelids seemed to be a layer of light. “Because it’s too late now.”

Unfortunately, someone did not correctly receive the message.

Yan Luqing nodded, “Alright then, what a pity. Next time remember to go earlier.”

“……”

The car fell into silence.

But that silence didn’t even last five seconds before being broken by Yan Luqing’s long sigh.

“Sigh——” She leaned her head back against the car seat, her tone carrying a small complaint, “You don’t know how much of a sensation you caused last time you came to school to pick me up, how many people misunderstood our relationship… Just like that senior asked just now, I couldn’t explain it clearly no matter what.”

“Is that so?” Gu Ci recalled the scene just now, suddenly let out a laugh: “Seems like it’s still not enough.”

Just then, a sports car sped past Yan Luqing’s side, the roar covering Gu Ci’s voice completely, and she didn’t hear a thing.

Yan Luqing looked puzzled: “What did you just say? What’s not enough?”

“Nothing.”

Immediately after, with the smile still not faded from his face, Gu Ci, whether joking or mocking, said: “How rare, why didn’t you drink yourself into a mess today?”

Mentioning this, Yan Luqing dispiritedly waved her hand: “Don’t bring it up. I only drank a little, but they all couldn’t hold their liquor—obviously they’re my seniors, but who would have thought they were all juniors!”

After finishing this complaint, Yan Luqing suddenly remembered her glorious achievements that afternoon which she still hadn’t boasted about. She swiftly turned her head toward Gu Ci, looking completely excited: “Right, Gu Ci! Did I ever tell you I’m a genius?”

“……” Gu Ci turned his face, giving her a lukewarm look that seemed to say: “Please redefine the word genius.”

Yan Luqing thought about it, and when it came to genius, the person in front of her seemed to be the genuine article. So, somewhat awkwardly, she added: “Ah, I forgot to add the field… ahem, I mean, did I ever tell you, I’m a genius in the field of painting.”

Gu Ci’s eyes returned to normal. “You never said that.” After a pause, he added, “You can say it now.”

Yan Luqing immediately opened her chatterbox: “This afternoon I went to help my friend out of trouble. She’s a member of the Fine Arts club, today their club was supposed to paint a wall. Four of the main members went out to play, got into a car accident, their hands and feet injured so they couldn’t participate in the painting process, so they called me to go help…”

“… babbling babbling blah blah blah…” For the rest of the time, Yan Luqing narrated in great detail what kind of techniques she used, how her brushstrokes flowed like moving clouds and flowing water, how miraculous her grasp of color transitions was, and finally gave Gu Ci a summarizing question: “Well? Am I amazing or not!”

When painting, Yan Luqing had been praised by the Fine Arts club members. After finishing, she was praised even more. Her responses were either to joke around, calling herself a folk artist, or to feel embarrassed, modestly pushing it off, saying she had only followed along in painting.

Listening to others sincerely praise and flatter her, she had actually felt quite ill at ease—because she knew that she had only surprised them as a non-professional, which was why it had that effect. Her strengths were that she painted fairly completely and painted very quickly. In truth, her details weren’t all that magical, and compared to the professional seniors she was far inferior.

But after seeing Gu Ci, this mindset of hers, without her noticing, had already changed.

He hadn’t been part of her highlight moment today, yet Yan Luqing suddenly felt that something was missing.

So she wanted to brag to him, wanted to tell him just how awesome she had been today.

In her subconscious actions, she wanted to take the initiative to tell these things to Gu Ci.

……

Gu Ci looked at the girl who kept talking non-stop, as if she didn’t know exhaustion.

The girl’s eyes shone astonishingly bright inside the dim car, black and white distinct, all emotions visible at a glance, without any concealment, saying to him: I’m asking for credit.

Perhaps there was also another sentence: Hurry and praise me.

It was as if two fluffy, cute ears were invisibly perched on her head.

For a long time, Gu Ci rarely had clear moments of bad mood or good mood. His emotions were never obvious.

But this afternoon, at around six o’clock, when he saw her WeChat, when he heard the dispiriting songs played by her bodyguard son, when he was eating dinner alone in the restaurant—

His mood had been at its worst.

Yet at this very moment, those absurd emotions seemed to fade and dissipate.

After listening to her exaggerated and highly dramatic narration, being looked at by her with those kinds of eyes, Gu Ci suddenly had the impulse to reach out and touch her head.