"It's so dark out. I thought it was still nighttime."
「The next morning.」
Quan Yafeng was leaning against his bed, looking at the gloomy sky outside and rubbing his drowsy eyes.
He clearly hadn't slept well. He'd been gaming until two in the morning, but he had an 8 a.m. class he couldn't skip, so he had to force himself awake.
Chen Yuan and the others were already up and had finished washing up. They were just waiting for him.
So, Quan Yafeng quickly rolled out of bed and grabbed a couple of items from a pile of clothes to put on.
"Aren't you going to wear something warmer? It's really cold out. The temperature's dropped hard these last few days. You don't want to freeze your ass off."
"It's fine. Forgot I'm one of the Dongbai People?"
"Right. Get ready, let's go." Chen Yuan was holding his textbook. He was a bit tired too, having stayed up late last night. But unlike their dorm leader, he had been doing practice problems until the early hours.
Keeping busy was definitely a good option when he felt troubled. Whenever Chen Yuan thought about how cold and rigid Jiangg Ning had been before, only to suddenly become so intense yesterday, he grew annoyed.
'Women... such unfathomable creatures.'
'But the earnest look on her face didn't seem like a lie.'
'What is she thinking?'
'Forget it. I can't figure it out.'
Chen Yuan pushed her from his mind and walked out of the dormitory with his roommates.
"The south is so weird. How many times has it rained in the few months we've been in Lanjing? I did laundry the day before yesterday, and it's still not dry. You think it's going to get moldy?"
Chen Yuan's entire dorm room was filled with northerners.
Coming to Landa University, the thing they were least accustomed to was the humid, temperate climate. It rained at the drop of a hat, and the air often carried the scent of damp earth.
A tenderness like rain—that was Lanjing's signature trait.
"Probably not. I checked the weather forecast yesterday, and it said no rain."
"The weather forecast is the least accurate thing there is... BRR." Quan Yafeng didn't get to finish his sentence before a cold gust of wind made him shiver violently.
In the damp, cold weather, none of the university students walking to and fro could escape the icy feeling in their hands and feet.
Chen Yuan couldn't help but wrap his clothes tighter around himself.
...
The lecture hall was packed with students as usual.
After they finally found seats, Quan Yafeng, the so-called 'Dongbai People', had purple lips and couldn't stop stomping his feet. He looked like a zombie.
Chen Yuan was afraid he was going to freeze to death. He quickly took off his own jacket and offered it to him. "Here, wear mine. I told you this morning it was cold out."
"No need, I can handle it!"
The air conditioner overhead was working hard. Amidst the clamor of the students, the room warmed up in no time.
Seeing how stubborn their dorm leader was, Chen Yuan sighed in resignation and started flipping through his book.
Just as he was flipping through his book, a few girls came over from the other side of the lecture hall, making their way to his row.
They quietly asked some other students to switch seats and sat down next to him.
"Chen Yuan!"
Startled at hearing his name, Chen Yuan paused and turned his head.
He saw a familiar face and his eyes widened in surprise.
"Senior?"
"Surprised? Bet you didn't expect to run into me here." The girl before him had a charming smile. She was wearing a short, black down jacket, extremely slim-fit jeans, and a cute, brown teddy bear scarf over her long, smooth hair that draped over her shoulders.
She was at least a seven out of ten, the kind of pretty girl you'd spot in a crowd instantly.
Behind this girl were several other good-looking upperclassmen.
The reason he could tell they were upperclassmen was that their style was a playful kind of mature. Their makeup was exquisite, and their entire demeanor revealed the cute, little tricks girls use to their advantage.
First-year girls were almost never like this.
Chen Yuan knew her. And not just him—Quan Yafeng's face also lit up when he saw her, and he greeted her enthusiastically.
"Tingyue, you came for Jiangg's class too!"
"Of course. As for Jiangg's class, we come whenever we're free. We saw you guys last time but didn't say hi."
Liu Tingyue had a gentle and charming smile and carried herself with an easy grace. She was the type of girl with more than enough emotional intelligence; while talking to Quan Yafeng, she didn't neglect his other two roommates and made simple introductions.
That's when Liu Nan and the others learned that she had gone to the same high school as Chen Yuan and had gotten into Lanjing University last year.
The interesting thing was, although Quan Yafeng was the one chattering away with them...
...all of the girls' eyes were fixed on Chen Yuan.
Their gazes were like a pack of greedy cats staring at a tender, juicy piece of meat, and they even exchanged looks with each other.
Chen Yuan knew Liu Tingyue, but only barely. They had met while organizing an event in high school but hadn't even exchanged contact information. He had no idea she had also tested into Landa University, which was why he was so surprised.
"This is Chen Yuan... the one I'm always telling you girls about," Liu Tingyue said, turning to introduce him to her friends.
"Ooh, we know. The cute guy from the school forum with that super long thread."
The upperclassmen smiled, their words carrying a hint of teasing.
"Thread? What thread?" Chen Yuan looked completely bewildered.
"You don't know? You're really popular on our school's forum. A bunch of students took candid photos of you and posted them. Lots of people are talking about it."
"It's true!" Wei Zhenle, who was sitting beside him, chimed in and showed Chen Yuan his phone.
He shifted his gaze to the screen. What came into view was a post—or more accurately, a thread of candid photos.
There were photos of him in class, in the library, in the cafeteria, and even at the base of the men's dormitory.
They covered everything.
And every single picture had a ton of replies underneath.
Most were things like, "He's so handsome!"
"Sis, can you DM me this pic? I followed you, thx thx thx!"
"Wow, this is such a good picture. I can't believe Landa University has a guy this handsome."
"AHHHH, how have I never seen him? Does this guy usually travel through the sewers or something?!"
Chen Yuan swallowed. It wasn't just that. He even saw some blatantly thirsty comments, with replies that were wildly explicit.
'This is such a turn-off!'
He suddenly felt a chill run down his spine... no matter how you looked at it, taking candid photos of people was wrong, right?
'Who can even understand these forum dwellers?'
Forcing down his discomfort, Chen Yuan pushed the phone away. He felt restless. If even his normal school activities were being secretly photographed, what privacy did he have left?
"Seeing you in person... you're even better looking than in the photos," one of the girls who came with Liu Tingyue said, raising an eyebrow and covering her mouth to stifle a laugh.
"Right? I told you he was the most handsome guy at our high school."
"Please, Senior, you're exaggerating."
"I'm not. You're the only one who doesn't know it."
As Liu Tingyue spoke, she leaned in a little closer, showing her friendliness. The way she looked at Chen Yuan, however, was different from the other girls.
...
"AHEM—"
Someone suddenly cleared their throat, and the noisy classroom swiftly fell silent.
Caught off guard, Liu Tingyue and her friends couldn't stifle their laughter in time, making it particularly conspicuous.
On the lecture platform now stood a tall woman who carried herself with a unique blend of gentleness and cold aloofness.
Hearing the laughter, she also turned her gaze in their direction. When she saw the brightly smiling Liu Tingyue talking to Chen Yuan, her expression froze.
Jiangg Ning realized what she was seeing. The two of them were talking practically ear to ear, and the unfamiliar girl's eyes were filled with intense delight.
This seemingly ordinary scene of a male and female student being slightly affectionate with each other unexpectedly caused an unshakeable ache of bitterness to well up in her heart.
Jiangg Ning felt this bitterness quickly fill every corner of her heart. Such a subtle emotion, yet it felt like heavy water enveloping her from head to toe.
Her hearing dulled, and the sea of students was automatically filtered out. All she could see was that one scene.
The seated students, seeing such an expression on Jiangg's face for the first time, were filled with curiosity. They looked at each other, none of them knowing what was going on.
She didn't know why she was so stunned either.
After more than ten seconds, she finally snapped out of it and feigned composure.
"Class is starting!"