She sent it. Thirty seconds later, it was rejected again.
No note.
Xu Yuan gritted her teeth and continued.
Second attempt: [Cheer up, get a raise, drink JDB—none of that beats adding me. Quality guaranteed, no cheating, no deception.]
Third attempt: [Your Majesty, I am Xia Yuhe from the shores of Daming Lake! I’ve waited eighteen years for you—you can’t just abandon me!]
Rejected. Note: Xia Yuhe waited for Emperor Qianlong, and Emperor Qianlong doesn’t use WeChat.
Xu Yuan stared at the note, surprised he’d actually responded.
She felt a surge of adrenaline and kept going.
Fourth attempt: [Across a thousand mountains and rivers, there’s feeling—can we be friends?]
Rejected. Note: No.
Xu Yuan felt like she’d been dealt a critical blow, but a critical blow couldn’t kill her—it only made her stronger.
Fifth attempt: [I have the secret to preventing hair loss. Add me, and I’ll tell you.]
Rejected. Note: I have plenty of hair.
Sixth attempt: [I heard you’re pretty strong? I don’t believe it.]
Rejected. Note: What’s that got to do with me?
Xu Yuan gritted her teeth. How could this person be immune to everything?
Praise didn’t work. Provocation didn’t work. Acting cute didn’t work. Being serious didn’t work either.
She decided to switch tactics.
Seventh attempt: [Your servant wishes to report Empress Noble Consort Xi for adultery!]
No response from the other side.
Seven attempts in total.
She’d tried every tactic she could think of—from playing the maidservant to Xia Yuhe, from hair loss prevention to Empress Noble Consort Xi—and that guy had rejected her seven times.
She waited for a while, but still no response.
She thought about it and decided to retreat in order to advance, sending another friend request: [Sigh~ How can you be so heartless, brother? I’m tired.]
After sending it, she flopped onto her back.
So tired, so tired.
Seven visits to the thatched cottage, and she hadn’t even pried open a crack in the door.
Zhuge Liang’s coffin lid was about to burst open.
Meanwhile, in the A University male dormitory.
Yan Ting sat at his desk, phone in hand, expression unreadable.
The phone screen was lit, the WeChat friend request page filled with a long row of messages.
The last one read:
Pray to God Rather Than Make a Wish: [Sigh~ How can you be so heartless, brother? I’m tired.]
He read from the first one to the last, the corner of his mouth twitching involuntarily.
This person—at first he thought she was a lunatic, then a persistent lunatic, and now he thought she was a lunatic so persistent it was infuriating.
In short: a lunatic!
Great. His WeChat was contaminated now!
His thumb hovered over the screen, about to tap into this person’s profile and block her completely.
Suddenly, someone snatched his phone away.
Yan Ting turned around.
Xu Shen had come back at some point, tilting his head as he stared at Yan Ting’s phone screen, the corner of his mouth twitching, expression complicated.
“Who’s this?” he asked, pointing at the string of chat records on the screen.
“A lunatic.” Yan Ting reached for his phone. “Give it back.”
Xu Shen dodged backward, read through it again, and his mouth twitched even harder.
“Pray to God Rather Than Make a Wish…” He read out the username, his expression subtle. “This girl’s pretty interesting. She’s been so persistent—from playing the maidservant to Xia Yuhe, even bringing out Empresses in the Palace—and you won’t even accept her request? So heartless.”
Yan Ting raised an eyebrow. “How do you know it’s a girl?”
Xu Shen’s smile froze at the corner of his mouth.
Then, without missing a beat, he shrugged. “She’s calling herself a maidservant and calling you ‘brother’—she’s definitely a girl.”
Yan Ting said nothing, just stared at him.
Xu Shen felt a little guilty under his gaze, shoved the phone back into his hand, and let out a hollow laugh: “Whatever, man. I just think she’s got real perseverance. If it were me, I’d have accepted by now. These days, girls this fun and this devoted are rare—you should cherish her.”
With that, he turned and walked toward his own bed, pretending to ask casually: “You haven’t accepted her yet, have you? Why not accept and chat a bit? This girl’s got jokes—she’d be good for killing time when you’re bored.”
Yan Ting lowered his eyes, looking at the messages on the screen.
He paused for two seconds.
Then he tapped “Accept.”
And looked at Xu Shen, saying flatly: “As you wish. Accepted.”
Xu Shen had just lain down on his bed. When he heard that, he nearly choked on his own saliva and bolted upright: “What?”
“I said I accepted.” Yan Ting set his phone down on the desk. “You don’t look too happy about it?”
“I—I’m not unhappy.” Xu Shen forced a dry laugh. “I just think, you know, other people send you seven or eight requests and you won’t accept a single one, but I say one thing and you accept it right away. That’s just too—”
He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly freezing.
He said one thing and it was done?
He said one thing and it was done!!
Since when did Yan Ting listen to him like that?
Whatever Yan Ting was told to do, Yan Ting just did it?
Xu Shen’s expression shifted subtly.
Could he actually be gay?
His suspicion jumped from 30% to 70%.
Now it was just the two of them in the dorm, and he was suddenly feeling a little uneasy.
Xu Shen rolled off his bed in one motion and grabbed a book at random.
“Um,” he laughed dryly, “good that you accepted. Good that you accepted.”
He headed for the door as he spoke: “I’ve got stuff to do. I’m heading out.”
“Xu Shen.” Yan Ting called after him, his voice unhurried.
Xu Shen slowly turned his head. “Huh?”
Yan Ting leaned lazily against the back of his chair. “After summer break, you’ll be a senior. What are you planning to do this summer?”
Xu Shen was taken aback, not expecting him to ask that.
“What else would I do? Go help out at the shop.”
Xu Shen’s family ran a small noodle shop—not a big storefront, but business was good. Every time school was out, Xu Shen and Xu Yuan would go help at the shop.
“I see. School’s out in a couple of days.”
Xu Shen had no idea what he was getting at.
Yan Ting added, “I heard the food’s pretty good. I want to try it.”
Xu Shen blinked. “Try what?”
“Try the noodles, of course. What did you think I meant?”
Xu Shen blinked again, forcing a smile. “Sure.”
With that, he quickly pulled open the door, slipped out of the dorm in a flash, and shut it behind him—almost colliding with Tang Shuqing, who was coming the other way.
Tang Shuqing was holding two cups of coffee. Seeing how distracted Xu Shen looked, he smiled. “What’s wrong? You don’t look so good.”
“Nothing, nothing.” Xu Shen waved his hand without even slowing down. “I’m heading off!”
And with that, he disappeared down the stairwell.
Tang Shuqing watched his flustered retreat, frowned slightly, and pushed open the dorm door.
Yan Ting was sitting in his chair playing a game, the little character on screen unleashing a frenzy of attacks, his expression as indifferent as ever.
“What’s up with Xu Shen?” Tang Shuqing set a cup of coffee on Yan Ting’s desk. “He looks like he’s seen a ghost.”
Yan Ting’s fingers never stopped, his eyes never leaving the screen, but the corner of his mouth curled up just slightly. “Probably has a guilty conscience. Something weighing on his mind?”