After the hangover, her head throbbed with a dull ache.
Chu Yao let out a soft hiss, pressed a hand to her forehead, and sat up in bed.
The bed curtains blocked out the light exceptionally well, leaving the bunk in complete darkness.
She pulled the curtains aside.
“Swish—”
Blindingly bright light flooded into the upper bunk, forcing Chu Yao’s half-lidded, still-foggy eyes to snap shut.
She paused for a moment before slowly opening her eyes again, letting them adjust to the sun-drenched day.
She fumbled for her phone on the nightstand.
Whoa! 10:30 already—no wonder it was this bright.
She let out a sigh and, still in her soft nightgown, slowly climbed down from the bed.
The dormitory was an eight-person room with bunk beds.
When the beds were first assigned, she’d chosen the top bunk because people were always sitting on the bottom ones.
She’d gotten along well with her roommates since the semester started, and yesterday, for National Day, they’d all gone out drinking together.
Since they were all well-behaved kids at home, none of them had ever drunk alcohol before and didn’t know what it tasted like—though plenty of adults seemed to love having it with meals.
Curious, they’d gone ahead and ordered a whole bottle of baijiu.
The result? One sip, and everyone’s face turned sour.
None of them had expected white liquor to taste so awful.
After one sip, no one was willing to touch the bottle again.
Not wanting to waste it, they’d played a game of Truth or Dare after their meal.
The loser had to…
Wait, what did the loser have to do again?
Chu Yao couldn’t remember.
She only recalled that she’d drunk a full glass of the baijiu.
Actually, after just a few sips, she’d already felt something was off.
She seemed to be… drunk.
The others weren’t much better off—just like her, their faces were as red as monkey butts.
Chu Yao felt heavy and sluggish all over as she got to her feet, probably a side effect of the hangover.
She grabbed her cup and toothbrush and stood at the sink.
The person in the mirror had long, straight hair, with a few stray strands sticking up at the crown of her head.
Her features were delicate, her skin fair and clean.
She really was much paler than most people—no exaggeration—a trait inherited from her parents, who were both very fair-skinned themselves.
Chu Yao turned on the tap, rinsed her cup and toothbrush, filled the cup with water, squeezed out some toothpaste, and started brushing.
One by one, her roommates began climbing down from their bunks.
“Ugh… ow—my head’s killing me.”
“Same here. I woke up thinking someone had beaten me up QAQ”
“…Never drinking again. It’s so gross. I honestly don’t get what my dad and grandpa see in it—something that tastes this bad.”
A chorus of complaints rose from her roommates.
“Yesterday, I remember Chu Yao downed a whole glass. Damn, what a trooper!”
“Holy crap, I was shocked too. She downed the entire thing without even flinching. That’s seriously impressive.”
“Yeah, gotta hand it to her on that one.”
Behind Chu Yao came the patter of slippers dragging across the floor.
Huang Chuying slung a towel over her shoulder and patted Chu Yao’s shoulder. “You’re something else, Yao. You totally blew my mind yesterday!”
On the first day of reporting in, everyone had exchanged names.
Because their names shared the same-sounding character, and upon closer look, the exact same character too, Huang Chuying had quickly warmed up to her, and the two were always joking around.
Chu Yao was used to it by now. She pulled out a face towel from the counter, wet it, and wiped her face, dabbing at the corners of her eyes and behind her ears. Instantly, she felt refreshed all over.
She crumpled the towel in her hands and, facing the teasing, let out a sigh. “Don’t praise me. Truth is, I already regret it.”
Her entire face showed a look of chagrin.
Huang Chuying pinched her fair, tender cheeks, exclaiming in amazement: “So soft, and so nice to touch. A’Yao, how were you born like this?”
Chu Yao puffed out her cheeks, her eyes glistening with tears: “…I don’t know how I was born, but I do know you’re about to get hit.”
She grabbed Huang Chuying’s cheeks in return, and said triumphantly: “How’s that?”
Huang Chuying whimpered: “Please spare me, Your Majesty!”
Chu Yao burst out laughing: “Pfft, alright.”
Huang Chuying didn’t mind having her cheeks pinched either. While filling water, she joked: “If only I were a guy. Having such a great wife would be such a blessing!”
Chu Yao: “Get lost. You want me to be your wife? Dream on.”
“If you were a guy, you’d still want me to smile at you? Don’t believe I’d give you a smack?”
Huang Chuying clicked her tongue in regret: “A’Yao really is so cold and unfeeling.”
Chu Yao gave her a look, letting her figure it out herself. Huang Chuying giggled. Chu Yao was used to it—maybe Chuying was just born needing a male wife.
“A’Yao…” Huang Chuying squeezed out toothpaste, “I remember yesterday during truth or dare, didn’t you go add someone?”
Chu Yao: “Hmm? I… don’t really remember. I think I blacked out a bit after that.”
She tried to recall: “…I only remember being really wasted. I don’t even remember how I got back and climbed into bed.”
She let out a deep sigh.
“What they say in novels about drinking causing trouble—it really doesn’t lie. Good thing we both made it back safely.”
Huang Chuying also looked relieved now: “There are still more good people in this world. The car we took last night had a female driver, so it was much safer.”
Chu Yao returned to her seat and applied her toner and lotion.
The lotion had a nice texture—easy to spread and absorb. It moisturized her skin as soon as it touched her face.
It also had a faint, pleasant fragrance.
After applying it, her palms carried a subtle scent, and she brought them close to sniff.
Huang Chuying sat down beside her and leaned in: “What are you doing, sniffing around like a little cat?”
Chu Yao: “Applying my skincare. Go apply yours.”
Huang Chuying: “Okay, okay. We have the same one, so I’ll be smelling nice too in a moment.”
A few days into the semester, Huang Chuying had smelled Chu Yao’s skincare and liked the scent, so she asked for the link, declaring it their “sister product.”
Chu Yao was used to Huang Chuying’s easy familiarity.
After Huang Chuying applied hers, she too smelled nice. She raised her hand: “Want to take a whiff?”
Chu Yao said with a deadpan face: “I decline.”
Huang Chuying sighed: “So cold, A’Yao.”
“I can’t imagine how you’d ever fall in love. Speaking of which, is there any handsome guy at our school you’ve got your eye on?”
Every department at A University had its own “department heartthrob,” but this year’s batch had an especially high number of handsome guys, making the senior girls exclaim that this year’s freshmen girls were truly blessed.
Especially Zhou Wenshi, who had caused a sensation since enrolling.
According to confession walls and school forum posts, where on earth did this top-tier handsome guy come from? They’d never seen anyone this handsome in their entire lives!
No makeup, sharp features—you could tell from far away that he was a handsome guy.
He was a completely high-definition gem, nothing like the gaussian-blurred ordinary people.
Devastatingly handsome!
Just standing in the sunlight, he seemed to glow.
Whoever could be his girlfriend would probably wake up laughing just looking at that face.
After Zhou Wenshi enrolled, there were countless posts on the confession wall asking if he had a girlfriend and how to get his contact info. Posts about him surged, revitalizing the previously inactive forum.
In a sense, Zhou Wenshi was the undisputed top celebrity on A University’s forum.
Huang Chuying knew every handsome guy at A University like the back of her hand, but unfortunately none of them caught her fancy. In her words, these handsome guys were nice and all, but they had a sense of distance. She preferred the gentle, harmless, good-tempered type—ideally the kind with a self-deprecating, husband-material vibe.
The department heartthrobs at A University were all strutting around like peacocks, and she wasn’t having any of it.
From the start of the semester until now, Huang Chuying had never heard A Yao mention a single type she fancied.
Every day, she was either studying or on her way to study. In her free time, she’d play games, watch videos, or read web novels—nothing to do with romance at all.
She was also curious about what kind of person Chu Yao liked.
If she ever ran into someone who was Chu Yao’s type, she’d grab their contact info first and pass it over.
If she couldn’t pick just one, then date them all.
Life was too short not to experience everything.
Huang Chuying added, “If you’re going to date, whatever you do, don’t date an ugly one. In the future, looking back, it’ll be a criminal record.”
Chu Yao: “…”
She finally said, “That’s not even on the horizon. You’re overthinking it.”
Huang Chuying explained emphatically, “I’ve heard before that some girls, out of the kindness of their hearts, got tangled up with broke, ugly guys. After they broke up, it got ugly—not just the messy drama, but it also gave them psychological scars.”
“Some others, when they were head over heels, thought the ugly guy was the best thing ever. After the breakup, they’d see black and just want to bury that dark history at the bottom of the sea.”
Huang Chuying had endless complaints to air.
“A Yao, if you ever date someone in the future, you absolutely have to be careful.”
“Best not to get too invested. Put love aside for now. If there’s someone presentable and clean, just go for it and have your fun. Anyway, if you break up later, you won’t have lost anything. Handsome guys are never short on company, so there’s no need to be sad over them.”
Chu Yao thought to herself, You’re overthinking it.
The male leads were meant for the female leads. When would it ever be a passerby’s turn to touch them?
But there was no need to think about that now. She didn’t have to follow the plot anyway.
Life was free. She just had to wait until the breakup checkpoint, and that was it.
It wouldn’t affect her real life or work afterward at all.
Little work, lots of pay—this was truly a dream job.
The male lead wouldn’t have any impression of her.
He’d only vaguely remember that he’d added a strange girl and agreed to become boyfriend and girlfriend.
Aside from making the breakup more formal later, there would be zero communication the whole time.
Nobody took the truth-or-dare seriously, and then there was no “then” after that.
What an easy gig!
Just thinking about it made Chu Yao’s mood soar.
Huang Chuying noticed that right after she finished speaking, A Yao’s smile suddenly turned radiant.
She: ?
Ah… could it be… could she have set her sights on some ugly guy?
She prayed in terror.
No, no, A Yao. Reject ugly guys—let’s start with us.
Huang Chuying said in a heavy tone, “Some men are very cunning. They specialize in tricking young girls.”
Chu Yao said in confusion, “I know that, but why are you telling me this?”
Huang Chuying thought to herself, Oh no, A Yao’s situation is pretty serious. Grief-stricken, she opened the milk tea delivery app: “…Let me treat you to something nice.”
Chu Yao was shoved a phone: “…”
Bewildered, she said, “You’re in a good mood, so you’re buying me milk tea?”
Huang Chuying hinted with ulterior motives, “Right. Some men can’t even bear to buy a cup of milk tea. Not like me—I’ll let you drink whatever you want.”
Chu Yao felt like something was off, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She knew some people were both poor and stingy, but what did that have to do with her?
So early in the morning, Chuying was acting really weird.