Chapter 18: The Group Chat

Shen Ruoshuang had exercised extreme restraint to keep her voice as level as usual, but danger still leaked through the inexplicable tremor in her tone.

Ji Yan, on the other hand, was full of mischief, content to merely stir the pot and watch the show. After all, Shen Ruoshuang was the one who liked Xu Yinian and feared exposure; it had nothing to do with her.

While Ji Yan delighted in seeing the usually untouchable Shen Ruoshuang lose her composure, she wasn’t about to proactively leak the secret either. If Xu Yinian found out about Shen Ruoshuang’s feelings, the delicate balance of the room would be shattered.

Hearing those two voices, Xu Yinian froze. She caught the nervous testing in Shen Ruoshuang’s words and was well aware of the history behind it. Naturally, the Ice Queen was afraid that their “special relationship” would be used as leverage by a cannon fodder villain like herself.

Regardless, the best strategy was to maintain total ignorance.

“I… I only woke up when I heard my name… Have you both been back for a while? Is something wrong?”

Xu Yinian took a deep breath, turned around, and forced herself to meet Shen Ruoshuang’s gaze. She let her eyes cloud over with a layer of feigned confusion. As soon as the words left her mouth, she was nearly startled by the complex emotions swirling in Shen Ruoshuang’s depths.

Those eyes, as cold as frost just like her name, were now pitch black, carrying a bone-chilling intensity like a fall into an ice cave. Xu Yinian wondered if she was seeing things; otherwise, how could she have spotted a flash of something that looked like panic?

Shen Ruoshuang stared at Xu Yinian for a moment. In those few seconds, her photographic memory replayed every line of their previous conversation, analyzing it frame by frame. This allowed her to finally claw back some of her sanity.

If someone were in the know, the things she had said were practically laying her cards on the table. But what kind of personality did Xu Yinian have? She was cowardly and prone to avoidance; even if a confession were shouted in her face, she would likely choose to selectively ignore the subject.

Realizing her reaction had been too extreme, Shen Ruoshuang suppressed all traces of emotion in her eyes. She calmly soothed Xu Yinian’s suspicion. “I was only afraid you would miss the roll call.”

In reality, even if Xu Yinian had been absent, Shen Ruoshuang would have found a way to protect her.

Huh? That’s it…?

Xu Yinian was stunned for a moment before the realization sank in. When her gaze shifted to Ji Yan, she seemed to remember something suddenly, and her eyes flickered away. She gave a hurried nod and tried to turn back around to hide under her covers again.

However, that small movement was caught red-handed by Ji Yan.

Ji Yan, who had been leaning casually against the wall, moved. Her slender fingers hooked behind her ear, easily sliding off the strap of her mask. In an instant, her bewitchingly beautiful features were fully revealed, and the pressure she exerted seemed to intensify.

“What a pity. It turns out Shen Ruoshuang was just trying to scare you. Otherwise, I really wanted to see how she planned to eat you alive—”

Then, her tone shifted. “But, Xu Yinian, didn’t you forget something?”

As the topic turned, her feigned disappointment vanished, replaced by a meaningful, step-by-step interrogation. Her eyes fixed onto Xu Yinian, taking in every bit of the other girl’s guilt.

Xu Yinian knew exactly what she was talking about, but she was reluctant to speak. It wasn’t just out of fear of Ji Yan, but also because…

Thinking of this, Xu Yinian stole a glance at Shen Ruoshuang. Unexpectedly, her gaze collided head-on with the other woman’s, making her flinch. Sure enough, Shen Ruoshuang’s eyes had been glued to her from the very beginning.

Seeing their gazes intertwine in the air, the mockery Shen Ruoshuang had spat earlier resurfaced in Ji Yan’s mind. Her voice turned cold.

“Xu Yinian, are you really only going to speak when someone is about to eat you?”

“Are you going to explain why you left me there this afternoon? You know my patience is limited, and I don’t like it when people zone out while I’m asking a question.”

The laziness in her voice had vanished, replaced by a dangerous edge indicating her patience had reached its end.

Those words made Shen Ruoshuang’s brow furrow slightly. Her gaze toward Xu Yinian darkened instantly.

This afternoon? They were together this afternoon…?

Meanwhile, Xu Yinian was reminded of the ordeal in the school hospital. Ji Yan’s usual lethargy was just a mask for her playfulness; once truly provoked, her cruel and wicked nature surfaced.

After getting her bone set at the clinic, Xu Yinian had intentionally circumnavigated Ji Yan to return to the dorm on her own. After all, there was another campus shuttle line that hadn’t stopped running. There was no need to remain under Ji Yan’s thumb.

If she couldn’t afford to provoke her, couldn’t she at least hide?

This wasn’t the first time she had escaped from under Ji Yan’s nose. Practice makes perfect, and Xu Yinian had grown a bit bolder. But then she remembered the scene where she had been forced to sit on the back of Ji Yan’s motorcycle, clutching the other woman’s clothes out of pure terror…

Although Xu Yinian had a clear conscience—having nothing but awkward rejection and zero Improper Thoughts—there was no guarantee Shen Ruoshuang wouldn’t misunderstand again, just as she had at the clinic.

Sure enough, Ji Yan’s vague mention of “this afternoon” caused Shen Ruoshuang’s face to stiffen. The atmospheric pressure in the room seemed to drop.

Caught in the middle, enduring the intense stares coming from both sides, Xu Yinian felt like she was about to have a breakdown. She finally understood that she was just a tool used to make the Ice Queen jealous and knock her off her pedestal.

If you two are having a Shura Field lovers’ spat, can you please leave me out of it?!

Seeing Ji Yan intentionally baiting Shen Ruoshuang with vague details, Xu Yinian marveled at her skill while deciding to play the “riddle-maker” herself.

“…I didn’t see you, and I couldn’t get in touch, so I left first.”

This was the excuse she had prepared. Since the two of them didn’t have each other’s phone numbers or WeChat, saying she couldn’t find her was a perfectly valid defense.

“Is that so?” Ji Yan’s voice was eerily calm, like the silence before a storm. “Then give me your phone number. You’ll be able to reach me next time.”

As she spoke, Ji Yan raised her narrow eyes, her intent to toy with Xu Yinian plain to see.

The moment those words came out, Xu Yinian stopped smiling. What was this? Shooting herself in the foot?

“Unwilling? Or did you leave on purpose?” Ji Yan asked leisurely, her refined tone dripping with hidden meaning.

Before Xu Yinian could answer this life-or-death question, Shen Ruoshuang interjected. “If you have time, add my WeChat first.”

Her tone allowed for no refusal, and she followed up with an even more undeniable reason: “I’m the Dorm Head. It was already a requirement to add everyone, but your old number is out of service.”

Xu Yinian blinked, remembering she had indeed changed her number. Her old number was under her mother’s name from when she was a minor, which was inconvenient during their cold war. After turning eighteen over the summer, she got a new one and hadn’t updated all her school records yet.

Faced with such a professional reason, Xu Yinian didn’t want to add Shen Ruoshuang, but she couldn’t refuse. She could only compromise. “Should I scan you, or…”

Ji Yan’s voice turned heavy, interrupting her. “I asked first. Why add her first?”

“But… didn’t you say… you don’t have WeChat…?”

Xu Yinian suddenly remembered how Ji Yan had dismissively refused to give her contact info to someone at the Opening Ceremony after stealing their seat. She couldn’t help but mutter the petty provocation under her breath.

The words reached Ji Yan’s ears with perfect clarity. She suddenly curled her lips into a smile, though it didn’t reach her eyes. Her drawn-out tone was strangely dangerous. “Xu Yinian, what did you say?”

Xu Yinian shut her mouth. Now it wasn’t a matter of who to add first; no matter who she picked, she was dead…

In this moment of crisis, a spark of inspiration hit her.

“…Let’s just make a group. A Room 503 group. You can add me through there or not, whatever you want.”

Fortunately, WeChat had a “Face-to-Face Group” feature. Fearing another argument, Xu Yinian rushed to call out four digits: “Let’s all just enter four zeros.”

“Four zeros?” Ji Yan repeated.

“You certainly know how to pick a number,” Shen Ruoshuang remarked. Her expression didn’t change, but her brow twitched slightly.

Xu Yinian didn’t see the problem, but the sudden awkwardness made her worry. Is ‘0000’ some kind of secret code between them?

(Note: In Chinese internet slang, “0” refers to the submissive or “bottom” role in a relationship. A room of four zeros implies a room where no one is the “top”.)

There was no time to overthink it. The group appeared, and she was the first one in. Her attention was drawn to the tension of when the other two would join.

Two system notifications appeared almost simultaneously at the bottom of the chat:

“srs” joined the group chat.

“Ji” joined the group chat.

Their names were incredibly simple; it was obvious who was who. Coincidentally, Xu Yinian’s WeChat name had always been her initials, “xyn,” which mirrored Shen Ruoshuang’s style.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t curious. Xu Yinian quietly opened the group member list to look at their profile pictures.

Like many art students, Ji Yan’s avatar seemed to be a self-drawn sketch. Xu Yinian didn’t look closely, her eyes sliding immediately to Shen Ruoshuang.

When she saw Shen Ruoshuang’s picture, she froze. The avatar was a cat—a common ginger-and-white tabby.

But this orange cat looked inexplicably familiar. A nearly impossible suspicion flashed through Xu Yinian’s mind. Eager to confirm, she reached out to tap the image to enlarge it.

In her haste, her finger slipped. Instead of opening the photo, the phone vibrated, and a line of small text appeared on the screen:

[You patted “srs”]