Should she find a way to come clean about her identity when they gathered later?
Yan Nuoya let out a silent sigh in her heart.
In truth, she hadn’t meant to hide it from the president or Xiao Huo, nor had she ever intended to conceal her identity from Bai Bai.
…Of course, all of that was predicated on already knowing they were girls—and after observing them for a while.
After all, these three were different from Mo Xiangwen, and different from her too.
So, whether it was running into the three of them at Yipin Tea after gaming with Xiangwen that day, or discovering today that the teacher’s daughter was Bai Bai, both had come as quite a shock to her.
The former wouldn’t have been a big deal; if she wanted to explain, she could always find a way. Plus, she’d already deduced from his reaction afterward that her identity had been exposed.
But after he’d thrown out those lines in front of Bai Bai—”just classmates” and “don’t know the president or Xiao Huo at all”—she realized she had no way to proactively reveal to Bai Bai that she was Pigeon right now.
It was perfectly normal for Bai Bai to have given Mo Xiangwen a heads-up beforehand, before coming to H University.
Mo Xiangwen sneaked a glance at Yan Nuoya. She looked about the same as her usual expressionless self, but he could still sense her distress from the slight furrow in her brow.
Wasn’t this a taste of his own medicine? He chuckled lightly to himself.
Still, Yan Nuoya was probably already thinking about how to come clean. She wasn’t the type to let things spiral out of control.
…Though he hoped she’d take a bit longer to figure it out—that would give him some room to maneuver.
Bai Shishi watched as the two of them sat there silently scrolling on their phones. She felt a bit odd about it.
She couldn’t read Yan Nuoya at all, but something seemed off about Xiao Yi.
“Aren’t we going to Yipin Tea?” Bai Shishi asked. “The president and the others should be almost there by now, right?”
The group chat had unanimously settled on Yipin Tea, of course.
If they just wanted drinks and chit-chat, there were other options.
But for board games, they needed a bigger table to fit all five of them.
Plus, the president and the others hadn’t bought any board games yet, so they’d have to borrow a set from the staff at Yipin Tea.
“Let’s wait just a bit longer,” Mo Xiangwen said, shaking his head with a light smile. “That way, it’ll be easier to surprise them later.”
“Surprise?” Bai Shishi nodded thoughtfully.
“Yeah, like I told you before—have you come out and say hi when they least expect it.”
Oh, so he’d planned this all along.
Yan Nuoya’s expression darkened slightly beside them, though it quickly faded.
No—if he’d known from the start that Bai Bai was the counselor’s daughter, he never would have refused, given his personality.
Yan Nuoya frowned, pushing the thought aside.
A short while later, a new message popped up in the group chat.
Pass One Charm: We’re here. Where are you, Xiao Yi? You’re not gonna ditch us like that stinky Pigeon, are you?
Mo Xiangwen instinctively glanced at Yan Nuoya, but she had already pocketed her phone and showed no sign of pulling it out.
Human-Dragon Unity: Be right there. Got held up with something.
Pass One Charm: Okay, we’ll head upstairs and wait. Got you some juice too.
Mo Xiangwen put away his phone and turned to the two of them with a smile. “Alright, we can head out now.”
“Great!” Bai Shishi came to his side, grinning. “Let’s go then.”
Little Square was right next to the commercial street, and Yipin Tea’s second floor even had a direct view of it—so he’d deliberately steered clear of spots visible from upstairs.
Once the three of them arrived at Yipin Tea, he first ordered milk teas for Yan Nuoya and Bai Shishi, then borrowed a deck of UNO from the staff—after all, they had the most UNO and Werewolf Kill sets here.
“Nuoya,” Mo Xiangwen said with a smile, “could you do me a favor and keep Bai Shishi company down here for a bit?”
“Sure.”
Yan Nuoya hadn’t figured out her next move yet, so she agreed without a second thought.
“Shishi, just hang out here with classmate Yan Nuoya for a minute,” Mo Xiangwen said, turning to Bai Shishi. “It’ll only be a sec—I’ll come right back down to bring you up.”
“Got it. I’ll wait here for Xiao Yi,” Bai Shishi replied with an obedient nod.
Then he headed upstairs with the UNO deck.
As soon as he reached the second floor, he scanned the room and spotted Su Mengyao waving at him from the corner.
They’d picked a table suited for four, with three different glasses of juice on it.
He sat across from Su Mengyao and Su Mengli, noticing the deck of cards in Su Mengyao’s hand.
But Su Mengyao reacted faster—his UNO deck was pretty obvious.
“Why’d you bring another UNO deck?” Su Mengyao asked curiously.
Mo Xiangwen shrugged. “Pretty obvious, right? To play.”
“With three people, Fight the Landlord works better,” Su Mengyao said, shaking her head. “UNO’s good if there’s one more person.”
Su Mengli nodded. “I can play with you if you want, but it won’t be as fun.”
“Then let’s just call someone else.” Mo Xiangwen stated it like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Su Mengli and Su Mengyao exchanged awkward glances and fell silent for a moment before Su Mengli spoke. “We don’t know many people. Our roommates are all busy today.”
“I see. Then I’ll grab someone.”
Mo Xiangwen nodded and stood up immediately, not giving them time to respond.
“Huh?”
Su Mengli opened her mouth to say more, but seeing him already walking away, she swallowed her words.
Su Mengyao glanced at his retreating figure, then turned to Su Mengli with unease. “He won’t bring a roommate, will he?”
“Probably not. Mo Xiangwen doesn’t seem that reckless,” Su Mengli said, shaking her head. “If it was a roommate, he’d ask us first. Must be some close female classmate from his class.”
“Does he even have close female classmates?” Su Mengyao pursed her lips. “I don’t buy it.”
Whatever Su Mengyao and Su Mengli thought of him, he was already back on the first floor.
He stopped at the counter first to pick up the juices, handing the blueberry one to Yan Nuoya.
“Let’s go, Shishi.” Mo Xiangwen held the other glass of juice for Bai Shishi and smiled at her. “Time to introduce you to the president and the others.”
