Night had fallen by the time Shen An slowly opened his eyes, lying there on the bed.
To be precise, it was the second time he had done so.
Truth be told, he had woken much earlier—whether due to his constitution or the drug’s inherently weak effect, he wasn’t sure.
But when he came to, he found himself back in bed, in his own room no less.
His phone wasn’t with him; it was probably still in Zhao Qingyu’s hands.
The door…
Shen An held no hope for the hotel door anymore. Nine times out of ten, it was locked tight, trapping him just like the night before.
A glance at the time showed it was already four or five in the afternoon—an hour at least past their scheduled departure.
Bored out of his mind, Shen An simply closed his eyes again, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
When he woke once more, it was eight or nine at night. Outside the window stretched pitch blackness, with the bright moon hanging far off in the sky.
All around was deathly still—no tourists, no Art Troupe members. The silence was profound.
He withdrew his gaze and stared up at the ceiling, letting out an involuntary sigh.
These past couple of days, he had slept and slept some more. He was more rested than he could stand.
But a person couldn’t sleep forever~
A faint headache was even starting to creep in.
Yet he had no way to leave—not even to make outside contact. It was no different from being imprisoned.
So he kept lying there.
As he lay there, Shen An’s ears suddenly twitched.
Hm?
Some noise seemed to be coming from the living room.
The sound of a door opening?
He threw off the covers in a hurry, got out of bed, opened his bedroom door, and padded barefoot into the living room.
The living room lights blazed brightly. Zhao Qingyu was in the midst of closing the door.
The moment Shen An stepped out, he caught her red-handed. “Whoa!”
Her sudden exclamation made Zhao Qingyu’s slender frame jolt in fright. She whipped around and relaxed only upon seeing it was him.
“What was that for, scaring the life out of me!”
Zhao Qingyu rubbed her rapidly beating heart, shooting him a glare.
“Heh.” Shen An put on a stern face. “So, what’s the story here, my dear Senior Sister Zhao?”
Zhao Qingyu slipped off her shoes and strolled leisurely over to the sofa.
She ignored his question entirely, saying instead to herself, “Looks like that drug wasn’t all that effective after all. They said it’d knock you out for a full day and night.”
Shen An’s mouth twitched. “You weren’t seriously planning to make me walk all the way back, were you?”
Zhao Qingyu snorted. “If that were the case, you wouldn’t be seeing me right now.”
“Sigh~”
Shen An didn’t press the issue. While lying in bed earlier, he’d given it a bit of thought and already figured out what Zhao Qingyu was up to.
He just hadn’t expected her to execute it so decisively—and so seamlessly.
“So, what exactly happened, Senior Sister?”
Shen An sat down beside Zhao Qingyu.
“Hmm, where should I even start?”
Zhao Qingyu turned slightly toward him, narrowing her eyes.
After a moment’s contemplation, she laid out the entire sequence of events for him, holding nothing back.
There was no way she could have kept it from him anyway; he was bound to find out sooner or later. Better to come clean herself.
Even so, there wasn’t a trace of guilt or apology in her tone. On the contrary, she sounded perfectly justified.
Shen An listened quietly to the end, a flicker of astonishment rising in his heart.
He had suspected Zhao Qingyu might concoct some excuse to keep him behind while sending Wang Yuqiong and Song Rui back.
But he hadn’t imagined she would go this far—actually leaving with them first, then taking a car back from school.
The time spent on the round trip wasn’t so bad; it was the tedium of the drive itself that grated, a downright ordeal for anyone prone to carsickness.
“Tsk, I figured one of them might see through it.”
Zhao Qingyu shrugged smugly in hindsight. “None of them did. Kind of disappointing.”
“Well, maybe my plan was just too airtight. With their smarts, it’s no surprise they couldn’t crack it.”
She doubled down on her self-praise.
Shen An chuckled wryly at that. “It was certainly airtight.”
“Right?”
Pleased at what she took for his approval, Zhao Qingyu grinned from ear to ear, giggling like she’d pulled off the prank of the century.
But Shen An knew full well the plan wasn’t airtight at all—nor particularly clever.
As for her claim of masterfully exploiting the tensions between the three women, he remained skeptical.
In his view, the plan’s success boiled down to one thing: Zhao Qingyu’s sheer determination.
By leaving with the others in the car, she dispelled any lingering doubts.
After all, by the logic of any normal person, who would willingly endure hours of monotonous driving back and forth just for that?
Zhao Qingyu, however, had overlooked this—or rather, in her mind, such an effort was only natural. It was like paying for a soda at the store; no one griped about the price.
This, in turn, proved one undeniable fact: Shen An had become someone worth that kind of grueling effort to keep hold of.
And she didn’t see anything wrong with it—not a single word of complaint.
It reminded Shen An of a friend from back in the day. He and his girlfriend had been inseparable in college, but after graduation, they drifted into a long-distance relationship.
Every meeting meant one of them enduring hours on the road.
Neither wanted to do it. Even when they gave in to the other’s pleas, resentment simmered beneath the surface.
The outcome was predictable: the hours on the road tore them apart.
His thoughts wandered. How many people in the world were worth traveling hours out of your way just to see—even if only for a moment?
Lost in his musing, Shen An left Zhao Qingyu’s smug expression to slowly stiffen.
The abrupt silence filled her with unease.
Her bold tone masked inner doubts.
She hadn’t asked his permission at all—she knew that full well.
Lightly, she raised a small hand and poked his cheek. “Are you mad?”
Shen An startled, snapping back to the present. “Huh?”
Zhao Qingyu pouted. “What’s so bad about staying an extra night? Or do you miss Xu Yijing back at the apartment that much? Sulking over one night apart?”
Uh…
Shen An realized she’d misunderstood his reverie, but explaining would only complicate things. He went along with it, chuckling softly. “I’m just worried about missing class tomorrow.”
“Heh, you’re even in the hospital—would the teacher really make you rush back?”
Zhao Qingyu huffed irritably. “I had Wang Yuqiong and the others get leave for you. Just relax.”
Shen An arched a brow. “So doesn’t that mean I’m missing out on a whole day of knowledge absorption?”
Zhao Qingyu tilted her head, staring at him in utter disbelief. ?
Shen An said with perfect seriousness, “I really do love learning.”
Zhao Qingyu rolled her eyes and clutched her chest. “Anyone but you could say that and I’d believe it.”
“A guy who thinks about sleeping all through class dares to claim he loves learning? You’re insulting the very word!”
“Ahem, actually, I’m finding my groove in my sleep. Even if you don’t believe me, Senior Sister, I can only absorb what the teacher says when I’m dozing off.”
Shen An offered his defense, but then he paused, puzzled. “How do you know I always want to sleep in class, anyway?”
Zhao Qingyu was two years ahead of him—one a freshman, the other a junior. Their public classes didn’t overlap.
Zhao Qingyu blinked, a sly glint in her eye. “I guessed.”
“You guessed?”
“Aw, don’t sweat the details.” Zhao Qingyu grabbed his hand and stood. “Think about it—tonight, it’s just you and me.”
Shen An narrowed his eyes. “So this is your real plan, huh, Senior Sister?”
Zhao Qingyu didn’t deny it. She smiled faintly. “One of them, sure. Revenge on Wang Yuqiong is another!”
“Tch, you’re so petty.”
“Petty?!” Zhao Qingyu shot back. “She started it! You have no idea what she…”
She trailed off, then arched a brow and snorted. “Actually, why would you? Your eyes were glued to Song Rui the whole time. No clue what went down between her and me.”
Shen An fought back a grin at the corners of his mouth.
Did he even need to see it? He could smell the thick scent of battlefield gunpowder with his nose alone.
“Believe it or not.”
Zhao Qingyu let go of his hand and turned away, done talking to him.
But Shen An wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip.
He grabbed her hand quick, yanking Zhao Qingyu back into his arms.
His other arm slid around her waist in one smooth motion.
The whole thing flowed like a dance step. Zhao Qingyu instinctively looped her arms around his neck as her body dipped.
“Mm, this feels kinda weird.”
He looked down at her, savoring the panic and shyness in her eyes.
The tremor in her voice gave away Zhao Qingyu’s fluster. “W-Weird… what’s weird about it…?”
Shen An slowly steadied her, unable to resist pinching her cheek. “I’ve realized—you’re nothing like the Senior Sister I first met. It’s like you’re turning into a whole different person.”
The aloof, smirking senior from their first encounter—her smile laced with sarcasm and teasing—felt worlds apart from the girl before him now, who got flustered and blushed without thinking.
Her icy pride was crumbling bit by bit, stripped away by Shen An.
She hadn’t even noticed it herself—every move she made around him was starting to match the cute, petulant charm a girl her age should have.
And that was exactly what Shen An had been after from the start.
Peel back the thorny layers to embrace the softest heart hidden inside.
Zhao Qingyu pressed her lips together, sensing her own odd behavior.
But it came so naturally, she only realized it after the fact.
In this quiet, perfectly intimate atmosphere, Shen An wasn’t about to stand there like a lump.
His hand pressed against Zhao Qingyu’s slender waist, pulling her tighter, inch by inch, until she was fully molded to him.
“A long night ahead, Senior Sister. How do you plan to spend it?”
He masked it with teasing words, letting his touch do the real provoking.
Shyness lingered on Zhao Qingyu’s cheeks, that faint blush the clearest proof.
As for his little moves, she wasn’t resisting—more like secretly thrilled.
How strange…
Zhao Qingyu murmured the question to herself in her heart.
It really was strange.
Her thoughts wandered for just a moment. When her gaze refocused, their faces were already impossibly close.
His features sharp and clear, his eyes burning with undisguised heat.
Whoosh~
Tonight, the whole mountain villa was just her and him.
Endless tantalizing imaginings filled her mind, indecent thoughts weaving together like Pandora’s box. Once it cracked open, once the fantasies started, they wouldn’t stop.
A sultry restlessness brewed inside her.
Zhao Qingyu’s lips felt parched. She gave him a light push and turned away. “Don’t hold me—it’s so hot.”
“Hot?”
“Of course it’s hot, running around like this.” Zhao Qingyu pouted in complaint.
“Oh? So are you heading back for a bath, Senior Sister?”
Shen An’s eyes gleamed. “Or maybe in my room?”
Zhao Qingyu shot him a look. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna offer to scrub your back next.”
“If you don’t mind, Senior Sister.”
Shen An’s lips curved up.
“Hmph, in your dreams!” Zhao Qingyu gave him a light punch and stepped toward the door.
Then she stopped, her voice a mosquito’s whisper. “W-Wanna… soak in the hot spring?”
“Eh?”
Shen An blinked.
“Just asking! Didn’t you say before you wanted a soak and a massage~?” Zhao Qingyu fiddled with her fingers, pretending nonchalance while hanging on his answer. “Perfect season for it.”
“But it might be a bit hot—not sure if you can handle it.”
Shen An chuckled softly and took her small hand. “Wouldn’t miss it.”
