"Look, look, the plain tea you like," Huang Chuying said enthusiastically, her sharp eyes catching sight of the new Peach Joy Lemon Freeze on the menu. Curious, she asked, "Want to try the new one?"
"This one looks pretty refreshing—seems like the type you'd like."
Chu Yao happened to be scrolling past the Peach Joy Lemon Freeze.
The new drink was pink on top and orange below, with a lemon slice standing on the rim and another one floating inside.
Ice cubes sat on the upper layer, and the whole cup had a harmonious color scheme.
Lemon fruit teas were usually hard to get wrong.
Chu Yao drank them occasionally, though not often—she usually ordered plain tea when visiting bubble tea shops.
But when the shop released something new, she'd give it a try.
Chu Ying teased her for being like Shennong, tasting every herb.
Now it was time to play Shennong again. Chu Yao tapped +1 on the Peach Joy Lemon Freeze. "You getting this too?"
Huang Chuying: "Sure! I'll have the same as A'Yao—we'll be Shennongs together."
Chu Yao tapped +1 again, left the notes section unchanged, and handed the payment over to Huang Chuying.
Huang Chuying took it, tapped a few times, and the payment went through.
The campus bubble tea shop didn't deliver slowly—fifteen minutes or so was about right.
She nudged Chu Yao with her elbow and asked, "Hey… what do you want for breakfast later?"
Chu Yao: "I'll check when we get to the cafeteria. Nothing specific I'm craving right now."
Huang Chuying: "Alright."
There was nothing to do now, and it was the first National Day since starting freshman year.
Chu Yao sat in her chair and picked up her phone, noticing there was an unread message from ten o'clock last night.
She'd just woken up and completely missed it.
Chu Yao tapped in and saw the profile picture was a leaf.
Blank background, no note saved, and the ID displayed as 【Wuqing】.
She was baffled—who was this? She had absolutely no recollection.
【Wuqing】: I've accepted your friend request. We can start chatting now.
The other person hadn't sent a single word—quite aloof.
Chu Yao tried hard to recall, but she still couldn't remember who this was.
…Probably some poor soul she'd added last night.
She'd been dead drunk yesterday, everything spinning, feet unsteady—she'd been clearly aware she was drunk.
She'd chosen "dare" and added the contact of someone of the opposite sex from the next booth over. She couldn't remember what he looked like, but vaguely recalled… his hands were nice.
The hand that had passed the phone over—knuckles pale and fair, slender and long, clean and neat.
Like the hands people thirsted over in internet photos, commenting all sorts of things.
Also like the trait described in novels—beautiful people having beautiful hands.
Chu Yao stared at the screen for a long while.
Huang Chuying's voice snapped her out of it: "So absorbed??? What are you looking at?"
She leaned over to look herself, muttering, "Isn't this the person you added yesterday? You were asked what he looked like, and you said he seemed pretty handsome—forgot already?"
Chu Yao was lost: "I really can't remember."
She tapped on 【Wuqing】's profile picture, thinking about whether to delete him.
Out of politeness, she typed on the screen: Sorry, would it be alright to delete you as a courtesy?
She attached a cute cat picture with the caption 【Please please】.
She continued explaining: I was drunk yesterday and not thinking clearly. Now that I'm sober today, I realize how abrupt and impulsive it was.
【Sorry】【Sorry】【Sorry】
Chu Yao: If I offended you in any way, I'm truly sorry 【Hands pressed together】
【Wuqing】 showed as typing, then slowly sent out: …So saying 'please please, can I apply to be your girlfriend?' was also impulsive?
A question mark popped up over Chu Yao's head.
Wait, did she really say that? Did she actually say those words?
Save—she doesn't remember it at all!
Chu Yao was shocked.
She was that bold??
More images surfaced in her mind.
After knocking on the door of the next private room, some people were sitting inside, talking about something.
After hearing her purpose, a person in the corner reached out a hand.
A hand like white jade, with distinct knuckles and fingertips so beautiful—she had never seen a hand that beautiful on anyone in real life.
A QR code on the phone was clearly displayed.
She scanned it.
As for what exactly she said, she didn't really remember.
Chu Yao turned her head and asked, "What did the truth or dare make me do yesterday?"
Huang Chuying was scrolling through Youth Learning while waiting for the delivery to arrive: "Add a member of the opposite sex and request to become their girlfriend. But it was just a dare, so no one should take it seriously. Why?"
…Case closed, it was actually true.
The other person hadn't lied to her.
Chu Yao was silent for a moment: "…Never mind."
The bad girl was me all along!
She lowered her eyes, full of embarrassment: [Sorry] [Sorry] [Sorry] I'm really so sorry, I couldn't remember, I was too drunk yesterday, I just confirmed it, this really happened.
[Wuqing] replied quickly: It's fine, girlfriend.
Chu Yao was shocked that [Wuqing] actually accepted it?
He quickly sent a second message: Girlfriend, can I call you that?
Chu Yao was silent for a strange two seconds, then typed dryly: …Maybe, not really, yesterday, yesterday was a dare.
Even just explaining made her feel guilty.
She had harmed an innocent stranger, and she felt a strong sense of guilt.
But she even less wanted to inexplicably gain a boyfriend she knew nothing about.
Embarrassment was only temporary.
She couldn't agree carelessly just because she was too embarrassed to refuse; an ill-timed beginning was what led to mistakes.
Explaining what she didn't want wasn't that hard.
By now, Chu Yao had calmed down from her embarrassment.
Chu Yao: So I'm really sorry, because of the dare, we had a wrong start. You can't call me girlfriend—that's a title for an actual girlfriend, not a stranger you've only met once and know nothing about.
[Wuqing]: It's fine.
[Wuqing]: Want to meet and talk in person?
Chu Yao: Okay.
She just stood up.
Huang Chuying raised her head too, confused: "A'Yao, where are you going?"
Chu Yao: "Going downstairs to meet someone, to explain yesterday's dare."
Huang Chuying leaned back in her seat, suddenly enlightened: "You mean that pretty handsome guy? Okay, okay, I support you, girl! Go get him!"
Huang Chuying's excitement was obvious, as if she wanted to beat drums and gongs for her. Chu Yao was caught between laughter and tears: "What are you talking about? I'm going to clear things up with him, how did that turn into 'getting him'? Even if he's a handsome guy I don't remember, I can't be that casual."
After Huang Chuying understood, she puffed out her face and said seriously, nodding repeatedly: "Exactly, exactly, you can't just look at how handsome he is, you also need to see if he's good in other ways—"
Chu Yao quickly stopped her: "Okay, okay, that's enough, don't say anymore, you big yellow duck head, I don't want to hear this."
Huang Chuying smirked meaningfully: "Don't be shy, A'Yao, this is really important."
Was this something to tease about?
It scared Chu Yao into fleeing, quickly retreating from the beautiful dorm room.
She was really afraid that if she kept listening, Chu Ying would blurt out something even more shocking. She knew Chu Ying could really unleash even more explicit words.
She clearly didn't have the thick skin to listen to that.
She was still in her little fantasy world, but Chu Ying had already sped off onto the highway.
Chu Yao's face flushed with heat. She covered her cheeks and hurried downstairs.
Walking quickly, she glanced down at the interface.
【Wuqing】had sent a set of coordinates—Cafeteria No. 2 at A University.
A University had six cafeterias, and No. 2 was closest to the female dormitory, just a short walk away.
Ten minutes later.
Chu Yao pushed through the transparent plastic curtain of Cafeteria No. 2 and was stunned by the packed crowd. She thought to herself, This time of day shouldn't have this many people—why is it so different today?
She had no choice but to squeeze through the crowd quickly.
Occasionally, she overheard people whispering in hushed, excited tones.
"Damn, Zhou Wenshi!"
"Whoa! He's actually here—isn't he, isn't he usually at Cafeteria No. 3?"
"Who knows? Damn, I'm genuinely shocked. I never expected this, really never. The real person is even hotter than his photos! Damn! When will I ever get to live a life with that face?! Then I'd have no regrets!"
Chu Yao was right there, listening to these people's delusional fantasies of soul-transmigrating into Zhou Wenshi, and she was a bit taken aback.
Did Zhou Wenshi know how many people fantasized about him?
Some even said that if they became Zhou Wenshi, they'd let their girlfriends have some fun first.
Cough… Chu Yao was too embarrassed to keep listening.
Why was everyone thinking about such 18+ stories?
They said he had a face that looked like it lived a very satisfying life—an authoritative claim.
Chu Yao had seen it.
Objectively speaking, Zhou Wenshi had a top-tier, model-perfect face.
In photos, he'd lower his gaze without speaking, not looking at anyone. Even in a simple white shirt, he could radiate the aura of a male lead.
The greenery behind him was instinctively overlooked by everyone.
Truly authoritative.
There was a wall between him and ordinary people.
If this were her high school days, she'd have been happy to see a face like that from time to time—easy on the eyes, a pleasant sight.
But now—
Chu Yao said softly, "Excuse me, could you move aside? Sorry, coming through, coming through."
She thought Zhou Wenshi was quite troublesome.
The moment he appeared, he caused a commotion in the crowd and blocked the way.
The girls who realized they were in her way apologized and stepped aside.
As she passed, she could still hear their whispers—nothing more than passersby affirming the male lead's beauty.
In the Mission World, this was all too normal.
The male lead's looks, the female lead's glory.
Without a face authoritative enough, one couldn't possibly qualify for the position of male lead.
None of this had anything to do with her.
She was here to meet that 【Wuqing】person, and the sooner she cleared up this misunderstanding, the better. Afterward, she still needed to add the male lead as a friend—she couldn't afford to delay things.
The plot hadn't specified exactly which point in time this was. Chu Yao had just started university, so she guessed the plot point wasn't that close yet.
Any time during the university years should work.
When the big group game later paired them together, she'd go.
The reason the male lead hadn't rejected her was simply that he was playing the game too and had agreed to the first person's request.
So they'd become an unfamiliar boyfriend-girlfriend pair by sheer coincidence.
It was a mix-up.
The mission only required her to agree, then wait to be broken up with. After that, nothing else. Just those two requirements. She didn't need to do anything in daily life—just go about her business. Extremely high freedom.
The mission actually had one implicit requirement: the relationship had to last at least a month.
That was practically meaningless, though, since the male lead was mostly busy with his startup—whether it was a month or not made no difference.
Once he had free time, his first step would be to notify her of the breakup.
In summary, this mission was almost too simple. All she had to do was wait.
The cafeteria was too crowded. Chu Yao couldn't see Wuqing, so she opened the interface and typed: Hello, where are you? The cafeteria is really crowded.
Wuqing: Wait a moment.
Wuqing initiated location sharing.
Chu Yao accepted.
A leaf-shaped avatar appeared not far from her, moving in her direction.
Chu Yao watched the avatar approach. The two avatars grew closer, but the crowd also grew denser, and the murmuring grew louder.
They were saying—"Zhou Wenshi."
The male lead…?
In the surging crowd, a path suddenly opened up, gradually forming a vacuum zone. The surrounding voices lowered considerably, yet somehow seemed even more intense.
The noise was deafening.
Someone walked through as if on flat ground, effortless and at ease.
Behind him was clamor, dissolving into muted background noise.
Chu Yao was suddenly struck by top-tier beauty, her mind going blank for a moment.
Before she could even react, Zhou Wenshi had already reached her.
"Heart-Sprout?"
His brow bone carried a cold aloofness, untouchable. His voice was also of the cool type, fitting perfectly with the first impression he gave upon meeting.
Chu Yao: "…" The male lead looks like this…?
She instantly understood why so many female leads in novels said that being captivated by beauty was only natural.
If one wasn't captivated, it meant the beauty wasn't top-tier enough.
The photos hadn't merely failed to capture his real presence—they'd only revealed three-tenths of it.
She let out a quiet inward gasp. Unbelievable. This was a top-grade succubus.
Fortunately, her willpower was strong. She only spaced out for a brief second.
Chu Yao remained composed: "Yes."
Zhou Wenshi: "Want to talk?"
Chu Yao's expression turned odd: "Here?"
With this many people, news would spread across A University in less than a second. She didn't want to be mentioned as Zhou Wenshi's rumored love interest.
She wanted to keep a low profile throughout her college years.
Zhou Wenshi: "Private room upstairs."
Chu Yao didn't understand why he'd come down. Wouldn't it have been better to wait upstairs? She could have gotten there faster.
Him coming down brought no benefit—just more people, even more of them, on top of the already crowded space.
Still, she said, "Then let's go up."
The two walked one after the other. Behind them was near-explosive excitement and fervor. Chu Yao silently closed her eyes for a second.
Ruined.
Her college life.