On the first day of holiday, Shen An was up bright and early too.
But Xu Yijing didn’t rise at dawn for her usual practice routine. Her room stayed dead quiet.
Shen An figured it was a rare break, so sleeping in made sense.
He whipped up breakfast and was eating when the door creaked open. Xu Yijing shuffled over, dark circles under her eyes like bruises, and went straight for the question. “Did she tell you?”
Shen An’s chopsticks froze for a split second. He looked up blankly. “Huh?”
Xu Yijing pressed her lips thin. “Did… my mom tell you?”
His confusion only deepened.
Huh???
He blinked, taking in her exhaustion and those bags under her eyes. “You didn’t pull an all-nighter again, did you?”
This girl… she couldn’t have spent the whole night agonizing over that, tossing and turning, right?
“Answer the question.”
Xu Yijing stared him down coldly.
It was clear she cared deeply about his response.
Shen An hadn’t expected her to take it so seriously. He scratched his cheek, hesitating. “Uh… well…”
Xu Yijing’s eyes narrowed. “So you just made it up?”
“Not really,” Shen An said, shaking his head hurriedly. “Just… I think, I think your mother probably misses you quite a bit.”
“In the end, that’s still just your subjective opinion.”
Xu Yijing bent down with a blank expression, her cold demeanor heavier than ever before. “You’re lying to me.”
“I…”
Faced with Xu Yijing’s sudden questioning and seriousness, even Shen An, with his usual silver tongue, found himself at a loss for words.
She was truly taking this matter to heart.
Xu Yijing stared at him coldly for a long moment before her lips suddenly curved into a faint smile. “Scared you? It’s not good to lie to people casually.”
Then, just as quickly, the smile vanished as if it had never been there.
“Please don’t casually base your subjective judgments on things that will never happen and tell them to me next time.”
With that, she turned to leave.
“Hey, wait.”
Shen An called out to her.
Xu Yijing glanced back over her shoulder. “Just leave it there. I’ll eat it.”
“No, that’s not what I was reminding you about breakfast.” Shen An grew serious. “I’m apologizing for my careless nonsense.”
Xu Yijing let out a scoff. “Didn’t expect a guy like you to say sorry.”
“I didn’t say sorry. I was just expressing my regret to you.”
“Heh.”
“But I think… you might have some misunderstandings about your mother.”
Shen An’s tone was gentle. He knew that Xu Yijing’s biggest issue probably stemmed from her mother.
The conflict between this mother and daughter was the root cause of Xu Yijing’s “abnormal” behavior.
On the flip side, resolving this problem might just complete his mission.
Even so, he didn’t want to push her too hard. He proceeded cautiously.
Whenever topics like this came up—anything related to her mother—she would drop her usual calm facade and become intense, even extreme.
This time was no different.
He had just made an offhand comment, and it had weighed on her all night.
Now he was certain the dark circles under Xu Yijing’s eyes were from a sleepless night.
At his words, Xu Yijing turned slightly, a smile on her face. “That’s pretty funny.”
“Hm?”
Shen An blinked in surprise.
“Don’t you think it’s funny? Someone who knows nothing boldly telling me I have a ‘misunderstanding.'”
“Do you know her that well? Or do you think you know me that well?”
Xu Yijing spoke lightly, but that dismissive tone only highlighted her displeasure.
Shen An wasn’t angered. He raised an eyebrow and chuckled softly. “I don’t know you, and I don’t know her, but there’s a saying: Onlookers see more clearly than those involved.”
“Not sure if you’ve heard it.”
Xu Yijing narrowed her eyes. “I’ve heard that one, but have you heard this: thinking you’re so smart?”
“I’m quite familiar with it. People often call me that, usually adding ‘nosy parker’ for good measure.”
Shen An grinned.
“Tsk, you’re pretty self-aware, aren’t you?”
Xu Yijing gave a half-smile.
“Being self-aware is a good thing. What I worry about is when people aren’t—oh right, what’s that called? Self-righteous?”
“No need to waste time playing these games with me. I’m not interested.”
Xu Yijing snorted coldly.
“You’re the one who started it. You could’ve just said I misunderstood. Why get all flowery about it? Outsiders might think you’re from the Literature Department.”
Shen An pursed his lips, unconcerned.
This…
Xu Yijing found him utterly unreasonable. Normal conversation with him was impossible!
This guy was only good at getting under her skin!
Then Shen An continued, “You call me self-important, so why not tell me what happened between you two to make it seem like there’s such deep hatred?”
“After all, you’re mother and daughter. It can’t be that bad, right?”
Xu Yijing replied expressionlessly, “You’re misunderstanding again. My relationship with my mother is just fine. Don’t stir up trouble here.”
Shen An’s mouth twitched slightly. Just fine, huh?
Fine enough that your mom hired me, a fake doctor, to treat your psychological issues.
“No, I have to prove my judgment.”
As he spoke, Shen An reached for his phone.
A flash of panic crossed Xu Yijing’s face. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing much. I’ll call her and ask if she misses you.” Shen An laid his cards on the table, not bothering to beat around the bush with Xu Yijing.
“Don’t do something so pointless!”
Xu Yijing panicked at once. She rushed forward and grabbed his hand to stop him from pulling out his phone.
Shen An raised an eyebrow. “Men and women shouldn’t get too touchy.”
Xu Yijing rolled her eyes at him, released his hand, and sighed. “Is this fun for you?”
“See? That reaction of yours—how am I supposed to believe your relationship with your mom is just fine?”
Shen An crossed his legs casually. “Why not chat with me about it? I’m free anyway.”
Xu Yijing turned her head away. “You’re so boring.”
“I’m concerned about you.”
Shen An’s tone softened.
“I… I don’t need your concern.” Xu Yijing turned and hurried away. “The best way you can care for me is to stop bothering me.”
“No rush. We’ve got seven days in this holiday. We can take it slow.”
Shen An watched her flustered retreating figure and couldn’t help bursting into laughter.
As he laughed, his expression sobered, and he muttered under his breath, “This is so boring.”
He picked up his chopsticks and continued eating his breakfast.
After breakfast, Xu Yijing holed up in her room and didn’t emerge. He faced the vast living room alone, boredom settling in thick waves.
He’d told others he needed to work hard and not let tasks spill into after the holiday.
In truth, he had nowhere to go.
Home…
That felt too distant.
He had the leisure to poke into others’ business—who was there to care about him?
Ha.
How ironic.
Shen An mocked himself for a moment, then pulled himself together. He packed up his mood, got up, and headed to the Art Troupe.
Better to just go “work” honestly.
Thanks to the holiday, the usually lively campus was deserted everywhere. The entire school path held only Shen An’s solitary figure.
He arrived at the Art Troupe, where things were similarly quiet and empty.
Pushing open the door to the main hall, he found not a soul in sight.
He sighed. “Doesn’t the Model Group have holiday duties?”
He’d come hoping to chat with Yu Wen, or at least flirt with the girls from the Model Group.
This stark emptiness dashed his hopes.
Looking wistful, Shen An climbed the stairs step by step toward the office.
But when he pushed open the door, he got a pleasant surprise.
Shen Lianyao was in the office!
The sound of the door startled her—just like how Song Rui had scared her a few days ago. A perfect reenactment.
But Shen An’s “intimidating presence” clearly outmatched Song Rui’s. With Song Rui, Shen Lianyao could at least force some calm. Now, under Shen An’s playful gaze, she fumbled in panic and knocked over the cup on the desk, spilling water everywhere.
Unfortunately, the computer tower sat right beside the desk.
Drops of water fell steadily onto it.
Hiss…
It seemed to be smoking…
Well, it wasn’t actually smoking. It was just Shen Lianyao’s illusion.
She froze in place, at a complete loss. Fortunately, Shen An reacted quickly. He rushed over and yanked the power cord from the computer.
The screen went black instantly.
“Whew.”
Shen An breathed a sigh of relief. “Shouldn’t be damaged, right?”
“Hey? Hello? Hello?”
He turned and saw Shen Lianyao’s eyes vacant, as if she were on the verge of passing out.
He waved his hand in front of her face repeatedly until he gradually coaxed her soul back.
Once focus returned to her eyes, Shen An chuckled lightly. “What, scared? It’s fine. Probably not broken.”
Shen Lianyao’s little mouth twitched. She wanted to say something but didn’t know how.
After hemming and hawing in frustration, she swallowed it back down.
“Don’t worry, really. It’s okay.”
Shen An assumed she was fretting over the computer.
“I…”
Shen Lianyao bit her lip, hesitating. “Doesn’t that count as a forced shutdown?”
“Sort of. I unplugged the power—physical cutoff. Water won’t cause any damage.”
“Then… then…”
Shen Lianyao’s voice carried a hint of tragedy. “Will the data be saved?”
“Huh?”
Shen An blinked. “Were you entering data?”
“Uh… yeah.”
“Then it’s gone. No auto-save function. It won’t save after shutdown.”
Shen Lianyao’s vision went black. She slumped backward, drained.
Shen An caught her quickly. “You okay?”
“N-No… I’m fine.”
Shen Lianyao collapsed into the chair, her face lifeless.
The data…
My data…
Gone again…
Have to re-enter it all?
What Shen An didn’t know was that Shen Lianyao had arrived at the office at six that morning.
She’d been inputting data for nearly three hours straight.
Now, one cup of water had extinguished all her efforts.
Gone.
Everything, gone.
“It’s okay.”
Shen An kept comforting her. “Just re-enter the data later. As long as the tower’s fine, that’s what matters.”
Wah…
Shen Lianyao wanted to cry but couldn’t.
She hung her head, her little head drooping, and fell silent.
Shen An figured he should give her a little time to compose herself, so he decided not to disturb her for the moment. He turned and headed back to his own seat.
He had already finished entering all the data that needed his attention.
What remained were just some minor miscellaneous tasks.
But right now, he wasn’t in the mood to deal with those trivialities. Instead, he browsed idly around the computer until his eyes landed on the Art Troupe’s data file.
He clicked it open. The document contained records of every Art Troupe member list since documentation had begun, along with the organization’s full history of changes.
“Whoa, that’s pretty detailed,” he murmured.
He scrolled through page by page, starting with the member list from the previous term.
There, in the office roster, were the prominent names of Zhao Qingyu, Xu Yijing, and Chen Nannan.
But aside from them, another name caught his eye: Pei Mingyao.
That was the current Drama Group Leader.
Had the Drama Group’s leader been transferred over from the previous office, then?
He skimmed a few more lines before shifting his attention to the previous Deputy Troupe Leader.
Her name was Gu Yuning.
It even had a “Yu” in it.
Fortunately, her surname wasn’t Wang.
Otherwise, Shen An might have started making random associations again.
But that name… why did it feel so familiar somehow?
Like he’d seen it somewhere before.
Shen An pulled out his phone on impulse and opened the Student Union app.
Under the positions section, there it was.
Student Union President: Gu Yuning.
Sure enough.
No wonder it rang a bell.
But…
Shen An narrowed his eyes, racking his brain.
Last time he’d filled in for Zhao Qingyu at the meeting, every Student Union member should have been there.
That plain-looking senior sister who’d been sitting right in the middle…
Was that Gu Yuning?
But…
A snippet of conversation from Yu Wen suddenly flashed through Shen An’s mind.
She had said that the previous Troupe Leader, the current one, and Xu Yijing were all widely acknowledged as stunning beauties.
If the previous Troupe Leader was the same person as the current Student Union President…
Then the unremarkable senior sister he’d seen back then couldn’t have been the Student Union President.
And if all three of them were supposed to be on the same level of beauty…
Shen An strained to remember.
In the front row that day, he hadn’t spotted anyone who matched Zhao Qingyu or Xu Yijing in looks.
