Chapter 101: Side Story 2 Part 2

Under Su Mi’s gaze, Shen Han sighed and finally admitted honestly: “Maybe there were other emotions too. Like, although I’ve been through university, I never really experienced college life. So when those students passed by your school, I didn’t really want to look at them.”

Su Mi crunched the pearl in her mouth and asked curiously: “No college life experience? Did you even attend classes back then?”

Shen Han said: “Mostly self-study and individual exams. No participation in your kind of mainstream… campus life.”

Su Mi was amazed: “Wow…”

Pondering Shen Han’s past, her eyes suddenly lit up: “Then do you want to come sit in on my classes? Be my study buddy.”

Shen Han paused, glancing at her.

Su Mi’s eyes sparkled: “My class schedule has two big lectures where the professor won’t mind a new face. You should have access to our library too…”

She acted on it immediately, buzzing with inexplicable excitement.

The day Shen Han came to audit for her, Su Mi was thrilled. She and Shen Han sat in the third-to-last row of the lecture hall, a discreet corner spot she had carefully chosen.

But once seated, Su Mi realized her earlier worries were unnecessary.

For such a general education big lecture, plenty of couples attended together. Several pairs sat around them.

Su Mi shared her lecture notes with Shen Han. As class started, after listening a bit, she couldn’t resist inching her hand toward Shen Han’s.

A cool sidelong glance came her way.

Su Mi coughed lightly and boldly slipped her hand into Shen Han’s palm.

She whispered: “Holding hands in class… Let’s try it. Everyone does.”

Shen Han smiled faintly, looking down at her: “You dragged me here to audit just to flirt in class?”

“Flirting is part of campus life, and it adds to the experience,” Su Mi argued righteously. “Plus, I won’t affect your learning. I’m already an expert on this material. Watch, the next slide will definitely be…”

Shen Han arched a brow toward the podium. Sure enough.

She said: “Impressive.”

Su Mi: “Of course! I study seriously. Just not sure if a certain someone can focus while holding hands.”

She leaned in, prompting Shen Han to elaborate, and heard Shen Han say slowly: “Hmm, no, I can’t.”

Before Su Mi could react, her earlobe was gently nipped by the other person. No teeth pressure, just an ambiguous breath holding the soft flesh, whispering intimately: “I’ll end up wanting to…”

Su Mi’s ear burned like fire. She didn’t even wait for the rest, sitting bolt upright as if scalded.

But she didn’t pull her hand away.

After class, Su Mi coughed lightly and shook Shen Han’s hand: “Next step: cafeteria dinner together.”

Shen Han: “What to eat?”

Su Mi: “When I eat with classmates, we usually get the stew at Canteen Three… But since you’re here today, I’ll treat you to the most expensive meal on campus!”

Shen Han: “Nan Family Banquet by the East Administrative Building?”

Su Mi blinked blankly: “What’s that?”

Two seconds later, it hit her: “No, not that! Cafeteria, cafeteria. How’s it a cafeteria without window food? You didn’t have personal chefs every day at your prep school too, right?”

Shen Han shrugged. “I do eat, just not that often.”

Su Mi gave her a look that said she didn’t know good food. “The window at Prime University is pretty tasty too. Come on, I’ll take you to try it.”

They had just come down from the academic building when a girl suddenly jumped out from the side, grinning as she patted Su Mi’s shoulder. “Su Su, heading to the cafeteria?”

Su Mi turned her head and saw it was a group member from the report they wrote together.

They had eaten together before, so Su Mi somewhat apologetically raised the hand she was holding with Shen Han. “Yeah, but I’m going with my girlfriend…”

The girl curiously sized up Shen Han, a bit surprised. “She’s so pretty. I haven’t seen her around school. Is she a senior from your major? I haven’t heard you mention having a girlfriend… Oh, I heard Zhang Xun say that a couple days ago after the discussion, someone picked you up at the library entrance. Was that her?”

Su Mi grinned. “That’s her, but she’s not from my major.” Nor from these recent years.

The girl also had a change in the report’s division of labor to tell Su Mi about, besides eating, so they chatted for a bit. Then the girl waved understandingly. “Have fun then. I’m off to eat—if I’m late, there’ll be a line for the rice noodles I like. Bye!”

Once the other girl had hurried off, Su Mi turned to Shen Han with a teasing grin. “She’s so young. President Shen, others think you’re in university. What’s your secret to staying young?”

Shen Han pretended to ponder. “Maybe because I am young.”

Su Mi shook her head. “Nonono, it’s because you have a cute girlfriend, and you’re wearing matching couple outfits with her.”

She eyed the matching couple outfit on Shen Han and sighed. “It makes you look so much younger.”

Shen Han seemed a bit helpless. “It’s kinda childish…”

Su Mi immediately huffed and pinched the palm of her hand. “What else? You want to dress like my stepmom?”

Shen Han looked at her. “…”

Su Mi realized she’d said the wrong thing and sheepishly backpedaled. “I don’t mean your usual style is bad… I mean, you usually dress so sexy and mature. You don’t look like a university student at all.”

She shook the hand intertwined with Shen Han’s. “We’re university sweethearts now, so we can’t dress too mature. Change up the style sometimes, change up the mood.”

Shen Han raised a brow. “You want a peer that badly? I’m only a few years older than you.”

“…” Su Mi immediately put on puppy-dog eyes and smiled obediently. “Of course not. Dating one big sis is plenty. She can be my sister or pretend to be my peer—I’m getting the best deal~”

Shen Han chuckled helplessly and pinched her. “What a rascal.”

…

Winter deepened day by day, and Su Mi’s review grew busier and busier. Finally, before New Year’s Day, she finished her last exam. For the New Year’s holiday, Shen Han took her to the northernmost city to see the ice and snow. The moment Su Mi got off the plane, she excitedly wanted to hit the ice rink. Relying on her self-heating wrist cord, she didn’t even change clothes. The result was catching a cold and shrinking under the hotel blankets for three days. She might as well nest in bed and finished the paper that was due after the holiday.

She pressed the upload button for the paper, watching the progress bar reach 100%, which also marked the end of her first semester.

That evening, Su Mi’s cold had improved a lot. After eating some warming food at the hotel, she prudently put on normal thick clothes and went with Shen Han to see the local largest and most famous ice exhibition.

At the center of the ice exhibition stood a massive castle built entirely of ice. The inside of the castle didn’t seem open to the public, but Shen Han showed some credentials, and staff led them up.

They went all the way up to the top of the Ice and Snow Castle, to a Tower Terrace with minimal decoration—but the silver frost itself was beautiful enough.

Looking down, they saw a vibrant world of ice and snow.

It was Su Mi’s first time seeing such a grand and beautiful ice landscape. She looked left and right, unable to stop exclaiming, “So beautiful.”

They spent midnight here, watching the people below ring bells, sing and dance in front of a bell-shaped ice sculpture, celebrating the new year.

Until fireworks burst in the distance.

They held hands watching the fireworks, embracing and kissing against the brilliant backdrop.

Gazing at the dazzling fireworks, Su Mi felt a strange daze, thinking it was all… so magical.

This was her first natural year in this world, and it had ended so smoothly.

It started with trepidation going to the Southern Garden and meeting the antagonist. It ended hand-in-hand watching fireworks into the new year.

Everything had gone smoothly, especially the task she thought would take forever or even fail—it had been steadily completed step by step. Her studies had leveled up, and she had gained a love she never even fantasized about.

Once the fireworks ended, the two walked down the ice-brick steps. Inside the ice houses, the ice bricks everywhere emanated cold.

For some reason, Su Mi found the feeling familiar. A thought flashed, and she suddenly remembered—this was just like the chill she felt when she first arrived in this world and met Shen Han for the first time.

She licked her lips, suddenly wanting to ask a question.

She knew she shouldn’t, really. Deep down, she always knew her task had gone smoothly mainly because the target was Shen Han, who had fallen for her on his own, without any strategy needed.

Su Mi felt a bit nervous but still spoke up.

“Sis.”

Shen Han: “Hm?”

She probably thought Su Mi was scared of the stairs and wrapped an arm around her waist.

The question slipped out of Su Mi’s mouth unbidden. She asked, “When did you first notice me?”

The words came out smoothly, and Su Mi inexplicably regretted it. She shouldn’t have asked— what if Shen Han said it was something the Original Host did…

But Shen Han said, “If I think back carefully, it was the first time you went up to the third floor of the Southern Garden.”

Su Mi: “…Eh.”

She widened her eyes at Shen Han.

That… that was when she…

Su Mi couldn’t help but quicken her heartbeat. She held back and then pressed, “Why?”

Shen Han didn’t seem to have thought deeply about it before. She said, “I’m not sure. I just noticed you were different from before.”

They walked into the first-floor lantern exhibition, and Shen Han continued unhurriedly, “If I think even further back, it seems like the moment you came up and sat there staring blankly at me, I felt…”

“Yeah, you were different, like you had come alive in my memories, in my world, and you had this kind of…”

Her words paused.

Su Mi didn’t even have the mind to retort about the “staring blankly” part. She looked at Shen Han like she’d hit the jackpot, urgent and delighted.