While preparing for Gu Ci’s birthday, Little Black was astonished to discover that Miss Yan’s recent whereabouts were quite mysterious.

On the afternoon of the 10th she had no classes, only a half-day in the morning. At noon, instead of returning to the villa on time, she…

That alone was nothing, but the problem was—she had even brought back a strange man from somewhere, middle-aged, about thirty-something, followed by several staff members carrying giant cardboard boxes.

Originally, Little Black could not resist his curiosity and wanted to go see what was inside those boxes. Unexpectedly, she pointed at him specifically, ordering him to stop, and said: “Don’t look, and don’t ask. Do what you’re supposed to do.”

Little Black answered with an “oh,” his face full of gloom, watching her take the people upstairs—to the third floor?

He grew even more puzzled, so he went to ask Big Black: “Bro, does anyone even use the third floor of this house? Isn’t that the attic?”

“There are still two or three rooms. I remember one is a small room for viewing.” Big Black said, “Why? Why are you asking this?”

Little Black recounted what had just happened: “Miss Yan just brought a man and a big box upstairs to the third floor…”

Big Black listened, then pondered for a moment: “Did you ask her?”

“I asked. She told me not to ask, and not to look.”

Big Black thought, with such a big fuss, and Gu Ci’s birthday near, most likely it had to do with the gift.

Not letting Little Black know was probably out of fear he would let something slip.

“Since she said so,” Big Black patted the foolish Odoudou on the shoulder, “then just do as she says.”

“……”

Yan Luqing busied herself the whole afternoon. Around a little past four, after sending away the invited expert, she returned to her room, took a comfortable bath, then sat cross-legged on the bed, once more becoming Yan Ma Liang.

Before drawing, she especially summoned Makka Pakka to confirm: “If I draw a star, will I really summon a star, and then it will fall here on the villa and crush us to death?”

“…It won’t.” Makka Pakka said. “I don’t know how to explain the reason, but in short, things beyond Earth, as well as objects beyond a certain range, cannot appear.”

Yan Luqing was relieved: “As long as it won’t, that’s fine.”

Then she focused on creating, concentrating on producing all sorts of things. Not until Gu Ci returned in the evening did she come downstairs for dinner. And as soon as she finished eating, she went back upstairs to continue working, even giving up the time of watching television together with Princess Ci.

But for just these two days, watching television with him was still not as important as his birthday gift.

Yan Luqing drew with great focus, and with great joy. Until it was time to sleep, she put away the drawing board, washed up, climbed into bed ready to close her eyes—when suddenly the phone at her pillow vibrated.

It was a WeChat message from the female lead, Jiang Baichu.

She had long changed Jiang Baichu’s remark name to “Little Rose of the Mortal World.”

【Little Rose of the Mortal World】: Elder sister, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you, have you been well recently?

This little girl would seek her out for a few words every now and then. Whenever Yan Luqing posted to Moments, she never missed giving likes and comments. Beautiful in looks and kind in temperament—truly worthy of being the female lead of this book.

Yan Luqing replied to Jiang Baichu with a sentence, then turned the question back on her with a “what about you,” adding a few stickers afterward.

It was then that she noticed, above Jiang Baichu’s head, countless bubbles, mostly pink in color. Curious, she tapped on them.

But upon opening, Yan Luqing discovered that the little box which had once popped up with text or images was not showing plain text messages, but a short video.

“?”

Yan Luqing was puzzled: “What’s this? How come there’s even a short video now?”

Makka Pakka’s voice was full of excitement: “Maria’s golden cheat finger upgraded not long ago because of your post on the campus forum! The pink level rose quite high, so now it’s advanced from showing text and pictures to showing short videos.”

“Originally it might have only been text bubbles, but the golden cheat finger will automatically generate short videos and send them to you~”

“In other words… a real-time live broadcast?”

“Something like that!”

Yan Luqing, deeply curious, clicked open that short video.

Caught off guard, she immediately saw the Little Pine Tree wall-slam the Little Rose. They said very little. After the wall-slam, he lowered his head and kissed the Little Rose.

…Another kiss scene.

She was about to develop kiss-scene PTSD.

A boy and girl in school uniforms, in a hidden corner by the wall, kissing in a way both youthful and romantic. It was not as intense as in a movie, but it lasted quite a while. Afterward, the male lead Qi Yanchuan’s voice clearly came through the video: “Wife.”

Jiang Baichu’s little face flushed red: “Who’s your wife? Don’t call nonsense.”

“Whoever I kiss is my wife.” The Little Pine Tree continued, “Wife, wife…”

“……”

For some reason, she watched it through with a mood both awkward and complicated.

Then Yan Luqing said with a blank face: “…Wow, thank you, female lead, for taking time out of your busy schedule to deliver dog food.”

Even Makka Pakka could not help but sigh: “Heavens, they’re so sweet~”

“Yes, truly sweet.”

But so what if it was sweet? Yan Luqing thought.

Their couple matters had nothing to do with her in the least.

She definitely felt no envy. On the contrary, seeing yet another kiss scene, she only found it cloying.

——

The next day, November 11.

Early in the morning, Yan Luqing received Little Black’s heartfelt blessing.

“Miss Yan, happy Singles’ Day!”

“……”

Yan Luqing narrowed her eyes: “Little Black, you make sure to also wish me happiness come next year’s Qingming Festival.”

She came downstairs a little earlier than Gu Ci. When he entered the dining room, the two locked eyes for two seconds. Gu Ci seemed to observe her briefly, then as usual opened his mouth: “Morning.”

“You scared me,” Yan Luqing let out a breath of relief. “I thought you were also going to wish me a happy Singles’ Day like Little Black.”

Gu Ci’s motion of drinking water paused.

“Oh? You don’t want to be wished?” He looked rather interested. “Why, as a single, do you feel that this festival is not happy?”

“……”

What a question.

If she said she wasn’t happy, wouldn’t it seem like she wanted to get out of being single?

Yan Luqing steadied herself, lowered her head to eat: “I just simply think the word ‘single dog’ sounds unpleasant, that’s all.”

The topic of “Singles” ended there.

Gu Ci had no classes in the morning, so Yan Luqing went off to school alone.

She had thought Little Black’s greeting was just an isolated case. Unexpectedly, when she got to school, even more people were joking with one another, wishing each other a happy Singles’ Day.

At noon, Little Mahua’s boyfriend actually came over from T University—said it was because of some lecture he had signed up for, and he came to have lunch with her by the way.

Yan Luqing finally got to meet the actual boyfriend Little Mahua often mentioned. He looked refined, with a scholarly air, not very talkative—just right to complement Little Mahua.

The three of them had just sat down with their trays when a voice came from nearby: “Oh, what a coincidence?”

Yan Luqing looked over, and saw that the table they had chosen was right next to Senior Wine Bottle’s.

She was just thinking, good, Little Mahua and her boyfriend are one pair, but at least with Senior Wine Bottle here, she could count another single beside herself—“Happy holiday” was already on the tip of her tongue when Senior Wine Bottle suddenly pointed to the girl opposite him: “Junior sisters, let me introduce, this is my girlfriend. I managed to get out of being single just before Singles’ Day! Hahahaha!”

“……”

Alright, the clown turned out to be me alone.

So then.

On the left was a new couple—Wine Bottle’s words poured out sweetly, serving dishes, buying drinks, tending to the girl with full attentiveness, calling her “wife” one after another, smoother and smoother on the tongue.

On the right was an older couple—though the boyfriend was not good with words, the low-voiced “wife” he spoke still drilled straight into Yan Luqing’s ear.

Altogether, as if completely ignoring that at the same table sat one who was still single, still celebrating this festival.

By the time Yan Luqing finished her meal, her mouth felt as though it had turned bitter from sourness.

Since Little Mahua and her boyfriend were in an interschool relationship, after lunch the two of them went off to date alone, leaving Yan Luqing to stroll back to the classroom by herself.

On the way back, Yan Luqing began reflecting again.

In fact, back in high school, every November 11th everyone would joke with each other too. At that time she had never minded, never envied those paired up. She had felt that she herself liked being single, and even if she stayed single her whole life, that would be fine.

So what was this now?

Why had she suddenly become unable to stand seeing couples, unable to stand kiss scenes, unable to stand people calling each other “wife”?

Was this an attitude of begrudging others their happiness? Was she so narrow-minded?

……

Fortunately, tomorrow was the 12th. The birthday gift had absorbed most of her energy. Other than while at school, Yan Luqing had no time to sink again into such tangled thoughts.

In the afternoon she had one less class than Gu Ci, so she returned home early and went into her room.

By the time Gu Ci got home, the living room sofa was empty. Normally, Yan Luqing could always be found sprawled, slouched, or lying in some position across the sofa. These past two days, however, she had become extremely elusive.

At the entryway, Little Black stood, looking at him, hesitating to speak.

Little Black was far too easy to read. In truth, his hesitation to speak was no different from saying it outright. Just like now—on Little Black’s face Gu Ci could clearly see a line of big words: 【Did something go wrong with your relationship】.

He only smiled without speaking, walked to the sofa, sat down, and turned on the television as usual.

An hour later came dinner.

Yan Luqing, just like yesterday, quickly went upstairs again after eating, as if someone were chasing her from behind.

Because when she first learned about Gu Ci’s birthday, it was already urgent, and because her idea came too late, her time to prepare the gift was too short. On top of that, she didn’t want the household to find out, so Yan Luqing could only rely on herself—after all, if even one other person prepared it together with her, with Gu Ci’s powers of observation, what she was doing and for whom he would immediately perceive, and that sense of surprise would be reduced.

Thus, on the eve of Gu Ci’s birthday, Yan Luqing still had not achieved the ideal effect. Anyway, since Gu Ci’s birthday was on a Saturday, and the big celebration would be in the evening, she simply spent the whole night in the attic, finally completing it to her satisfaction.

In the morning, Yan Luqing went downstairs to breakfast with panda eyes. After Gu Ci asked several times, “Did you have a nightmare,” she answered honestly, “I had something to do, I stayed up all night.” Then, yawning, she finished eating and went upstairs to sleep straight through until five in the afternoon.

When Yan Luqing had changed clothes and was preparing to go downstairs, she almost thought she had once again transmigrated in her sleep.

At this moment, the entire living room was filled with overlapping decorations of bright red and pink—flowers, balloons, artfully arranged hearts, and in the center stood a giant multi-tiered birthday cake.

Da Little Black truly had put thought and effort into it, but… this atmosphere was not like a birthday at all! On the contrary, it looked very much like a couple’s anniversary celebration.

Halfway down the stairs, she saw Gu Ci standing between the sofa and the stairway. Before she even reached the last step, he seemed to sense something and turned his head.

Meeting his gaze, Yan Luqing walked toward him slowly.

Perhaps because it was his birthday, Gu Ci looked particularly easygoing today, his voice especially gentle as he asked her: “Slept well?”

“Mm.” Yan Luqing nodded, then fixed her eyes on him and said seriously: “Gu Ci, happy birthday.”

He faintly curved his lips, his voice still mild: “Thank you.”

Yan Luqing awkwardly pointed at the living room: “This… was arranged by Big Black and Little Black?”

“Yes.” Gu Ci stood leisurely at the side, speaking as if in admiration, “They even went so far as to deliberately send me away, not letting me come out of the room.”

“……”

Gu Ci: “I wonder whose idea that was?”

Yan Luqing: “…It wasn’t mine anyway.”

She did not think it was ugly—their aesthetics were still passable. It was just that this setup, like an anniversary, really did not fit the theme.

After a moment’s thought, Yan Luqing said: “How about this.”