Chapter 25

The days that followed were quiet for Lin Zhe; no more ex-girlfriends he’d once “conquered” came looking for him, and he breathed easier.

The freshmen slowly got used to the drill instructors’ routine.

Chen Zhijing—the girl with paralysing social anxiety—never returned to training after the day she was injured. An uncle who worked at a city hospital wrote her a medical note, and she traded camouflage for the red vest of the Logistics Company. From then on, the freshmen kept spotting a crimson-vested, dead-fish-eyed beauty wandering campus with a sketchboard under her arm.

She stationed herself just outside Third Company’s drill ground. At first the cadets wondered why this girl kept drawing them. A few curious souls tried to ask what she was sketching, but one glance at her ice-wall expression and the way her eyes flipped to full defensive shutdown sent them retreating.

Then Dormitory 502’s head, Yang Zhen, spilled the beans: the frosty artist was Lin Zhe’s girlfriend.

Rumour travelled fast. Girls who’d been circling Lin Zhe backed off; guys who hadn’t now ground their teeth in envy.

“Damn it, Xiao Lin—first a gorgeous senior sister, now a cute girlfriend? Unforgivable.”

Time slipped by; the fortnight of military training was almost over.

Lin Zhe still slipped away after class, grocery bags in hand, to the apartment off-campus where Zhao Ge senior sister forgot to feed herself. He cooked while she typed, racing to finish the final volume of her *Love Execution Handbook*.

Without noticing, she’d grown used to having him around—like they were really living together: she earned the rent with her words, he paid her back with hot meals. Thinking about it made her prop her chin on her hand and grin at the screen like an idiot.

He hadn’t stayed overnight since that first time—she regretted that—but when she pulled an all-nighter and woke past noon, the sight of him moving about the kitchen was enough.

On the days she slept too late, she found only the food he’d left on the table and a sticky note on her monitor: *Heat it properly, don’t eat cold stuff. And wash the dishes—if I come back to a mess, you’re getting instant noodles.*

She laughed behind her hand, hair sliding forward to curtain her cool, pretty profile. Even her ice-pale eyes softened, as if winter were thawing. She closed them, pressed the note to her chest, and murmured, “Once the book’s done, I’ll launch my attack on Xiao Lin.”

Zhou Yu—Zhao Ge’s friend—had caught wind of Lin Zhe’s “girlfriend,” and the name she heard wasn’t Zhao Ge’s but some art-freshman. She remembered the girl from the infirmary.

Idiot Zhao Ge—if she’s not careful, her boyfriend will be stolen and she won’t even notice.

Whatever. Too complicated. One more nap before the freshmen finish training and I lose my chance.

She glanced at the wall clock—already three—rolled over, and went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, daily band practice had turned Back-Alley Cat’s *Boundless Sea and Sky* into something tight.

In the club’s indoor room, Yunxiao lifted sweat-damp bangs from her forehead, star-bright eyes shining. Two days ago, Captain Ye Zi had swapped one welcome-party number for this song; the show was now only forty-eight hours away.

Lin Zhe was still on the drill ground, but Yunxiao couldn’t wait. Her heartbeat stumbled every time she pictured walking up to him.

Ye Zi packed her guitar and called, “Xiao Hei, that’s it for today.”

Yunxiao pressed a hand to her chest, trying to cage the racket inside. She didn’t even know what her own face looked like.

“Mm, got it.”

When she turned, smiling, the rest of the band—Ye Zi, Buou, Xiao Lan, Li Hua—stared. They had never seen Yunxiao look... girly. Not in two years of sister-level closeness.

Sunlight caught the damp strands at her temples; her profile was radiant, every sharp edge melted into spring softness.

For a heartbeat, even they—girls themselves—felt their own hearts skip.

A delicate flush colored her bright-eyed, pretty face, and the soft upward curve of her lips betrayed her excitement and anticipation.

Someone unconsciously murmured, “So cute...”

None of the girls had ever seen Yunxiao look this adorable.

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