[Guy]: Watching monkeys?
[Guy]: Journey to the West?
Chu Yao had set that as the guy's contact name. She couldn't be bothered to use his real name—it didn't matter anyway. They'd break up soon enough. This was just going through the motions.
Chu Yao: Nah, not that. Someone in my dorm is putting on a monkey act. Don't get me wrong—she's actually pretty good at it. The audience is loving it [laughing emoji]
[Guy]: Oh.
[Guy]: What do you want to eat tomorrow?
Chu Yao, surprised: You're planning to bring me breakfast? It's National Day break, no classes. No need—thanks for the thought though [heart gesture]
An unexpected silence from the guy's side.
Chu Yao didn't think much of it, because Huang Chuying had already poked a straw into her Peach Joy Lemon Freeze and handed it over.
Chu Yao took it: "Awesome, thanks, my wonderful Chu Ying."
Huang Chuying let out an "ooh" sound: "Sweet talker, aren't you, A'Yao."
She draped an arm over Chu Yao's shoulder, a playful smile on her face: "Chatting with some handsome guy? So into it? Tell me all about it—I'll help you weigh your options."
Chu Yao recalled Chu Ying's rather wild way of conversing and quietly lowered her head to sip her Lemon Freeze, mumbling under her breath: "…Wh-what are you talking about? Though I guess he is kind of handsome."
Huang Chuying had already drunk most of her Peach Joy Lemon Freeze, the ice melting as she swirled the half-cup of liquid: "Oh right, weren't you going to explain things to that handsome guy? How'd it go?"
Chu Yao chewed on her jelly bits: "Pfft, how should I put it? It went pretty smoothly, I guess. Resolved it perfectly."
Huang Chuying nodded approvingly: "Nice. Next time there's a guy you like, I'll get his contact info for you. By the way, you still haven't told me what type you're into."
"Let's raise our standards a bit, improve our taste. When we're old and gray, we can look back and say it was all glorious achievements."
Chu Yao could tell—Chu Ying was already thinking ahead to the future, terrified of racking up a string of embarrassing relationship stories.
What was most admirable was that Chu Ying actually practiced what she preached. Anything ugly, anything lacking in looks—she wouldn't even glance at it. Every guy she'd pursued and won over fit her type to a T. Quite the track record.
That was something Chu Yao respected about her.
Chu Ying truly walked the talk. She was probably some mommy-level dominatrix in her other circles.
As for what type she liked, Chu Yao couldn't really say. All she could do was hold her Peach Joy Lemon Freeze, ponder fruitlessly, and answer honestly: "I don't know. Depends on the vibe."
"I don't have any plans for dating anytime soon. It's not even as entertaining as reading novels—at least in sweet romance stories, the leads are devoted to each other, deeply faithful and single-minded."
"In reality, that kind of thing is basically extinct."
Huang Chuying agreed wholeheartedly: "Right? Faithfulness is hard to come by. Only girls with main-character luck get a devoted male lead waiting for them. The rest of us can only chase after whoever we like."
"A'Yao, has your heart ever been moved?"
Chu Yao was genuinely confused: "I don't get it. Is dating really that fun?"
Huang Chuying: "That's hard to explain. It's all just for pleasure and amusement anyway. The way you are is fine too—carefree, no worries, totally free."
She suddenly sighed: "If you liked Zhou Wenshi, I'd go all out and get you his contact info, sister's honor."
Chu Yao oddly didn't respond.
Mm… if it were the male lead, she wouldn't need his contact info—he was already in her contacts.
She glanced at Chu Ying, who was still rambling on, oblivious to her discomfort. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Good, good.
Chu Ying didn't know.
Otherwise, she wouldn't know how to explain it. Like, she'd added him yesterday and almost deleted him.
Just thinking about it was awkward.
More importantly, she was currently in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with the male lead.
But according to the mission requirements, this relationship was meant to be ended. She didn't want to broadcast it to the whole world—if it got out, she'd be fine, but things wouldn't look good for the male lead.
This kind of relationship, which she didn't even take seriously and was purely for the sake of a dare, was completely different from a relationship that developed naturally into romance.
Chu Yao didn't consider Zhou Wenshi her boyfriend.
She thought, once this period passed, everything would be fine.
"See, you go quiet again whenever Zhou Wenshi comes up," Huang Chuying said with an exaggerated sigh, making Chu Yao break out in a slight sweat and feel restless in her seat.
She lowered her head and sipped her Peach Joy Lemon Freeze.
Mm, delicious.
Fortunately, Huang Chuying didn't pay much attention to her odd behavior and sighed dramatically: "If you can't even fancy Zhou Wenshi, then it'll be hard to find a handsome guy who's better-looking and more universally appealing than him."
"Not to mention, Zhou Wenshi isn't just good-looking. I've done some digging—he used to be a revered academic prodigy, a perfect-score warrior in the sciences. He participated in all kinds of competitions, won countless awards, and got in through direct recommendation. I heard he's already on a fast-track to a PhD."
Huang Chuying was in awe.
Really, she'd only known that Zhou Wenshi had top-tier looks, but upon learning more, she realized the gap between an academic prodigy and ordinary people was no small matter.
At his age, few people had more prestige than him. The key thing was, he was still young, with an infinitely bright future ahead of him.
Zhou Wenshi's popularity was visibly high, and it was truly well-deserved.
She suddenly noticed something off and turned to ask: "A'Yao, why are you so scarily quiet?"
Chu Yao: "…Maybe I'm just as in awe as you are."
Zhou Wenshi was the male lead, so of course he wouldn't just have a pretty face—he wasn't some dumb pretty boy.
It would be abnormal if he didn't have these credentials.
Huang Chuying: "But your eyes are saying, 'Wow, Zhou Wenshi is amazing,' and 'Wow, Chuying, you're so great.'"
Her tone also turned listless, mimicking Chu Yao perfectly.
"So calm, like your heart has died."
Chu Yao: "…"
Chu Yao: "Mm… I'm a low-key person. It's hard for me to be like those people in the cafeteria who passionately discuss him amid the surging crowd."
Huang Chuying caught the key point and asked suspiciously: "How do you know what's going on in the cafeteria? Today's a holiday—you went to the cafeteria without telling me, and here I thought I was behind you."
"You were… behind me?" Chu Yao froze, suddenly panicking. Could Chuying have seen her with Zhou Wenshi??? Wait, how was she supposed to explain something like that?
Huang Chuying let out a long "oh" and studied Chu Yao's suddenly evasive gaze, her lips pressed together again and again, and her busy pretense of pretending to really like the Peach Joy Lemon Freeze.
How could she not understand by now?
Huang Chuying asked meaningfully: "What are you hiding from me?"
"Come clean now—confess and get leniency, resist and get strictness."
Chu Yao: "…" You're damn perceptive!
"I actually—"
"Chu Yao, you met Zhou Wenshi in the cafeteria?????!" Jiang Yuncheng yelped, nearly dropping the clothes-drying pole as her eyes went wide. "…Wh-when did this happen?"
The dormmates all said: "What?! Chu Yao and Zhou Wenshi??"
In an instant, Chu Yao became the center of attention in the dorm—people above her, people beside her, people to the left, and Chuying to the right.
Chu Yao… Chu Yao felt so busy.
She blocked the left but couldn't block the right, couldn't block above, and couldn't block the side.
Ah… was it too late to say she had no relationship with Zhou Wenshi at all?
The male lead has really done a number on her!
Huang Chuying was shocked: "You kept something like this from your sisters?!"
Chu Yao: "…"
Cheng Yunxiu was no longer acting frail and helpless. She slowly straightened up from Chu Yao's embrace and said incredulously, "Oh my god, Chu Yao, you and Zhou… Zhou Wenshi?!"
She covered her little mouth in exaggeration.
In this dorm, living itself was a full-blown drama.
Chu Yao: "…" Help. Me.
After a brief silence, Chu Yao's mind raced, and her mouth opened like a machine gun firing bullets: "No, I didn't, I have no relationship with him, we're not close at all, please don't link me with him."
Thank you. Zhou Wenshi, who is that? Not familiar.
From now on, out in the world, this never happened.
Even if asked, she wouldn't admit it.
Chu Yao gradually calmed down, realizing they had no evidence. The thin sweat on her forehead slowly disappeared.
"I don't know him. He came to me about something, and it was cleared up afterward."
Just a tiny connection with Zhou Wenshi had caused an instant uproar in the dorm. She didn't dare imagine how sensational it would be if it spread to the whole school.
The center of attention!
The focus of all eyes!
Walking down the street like a rare animal.
Ah… just thinking about that scene made Chu Yao scream internally. Zhou Wenshi, are you trying to ruin me?!!
She refused to be treated like a gorilla in a zoo.
Chu Yao was now beginning to realize just how much attraction anyone connected to the male lead held.
There was absolutely no way she would admit it.
Not only had she never planned to own up to it, but even if someone asked, her answer would uniformly be that she didn't know him.
Chu Yao said seriously, "Don't you trust me?"
Huang Chuying: "That makes sense. A'Yao clearly couldn't possibly lie. I even doubt A'Yao has ever deceived anyone in her life."
Cheng Yunxiu nestled back into Chu Yao's arms, saying softly, "I believe Chu Yao too. It's probably people from A University catching wind and making a fuss, spreading rumors. Everyone knows anything and anyone connected to Zhou Wenshi explodes in popularity, right?"
"I unconditionally believe in my wife~"
Chu Yao breathed a sigh of relief. Problem perfectly solved.
If it were a normal relationship, she wouldn't mind bringing her boyfriend to meet them, even having a meal together. But the male lead didn't fall into that category, so there was no need to mention it.
Chen Xiuyuan said weakly, "…But then why do people say Zhou Wenshi called Chu Yao 'Heart-Sprout'?"
Zhang Xiuli was surprised: "Chu Yao's WeChat ID?"
Huang Chuying felt she'd figured it out: "Whatever he wants to call her actually proves A'Yao isn't close to Zhou Wenshi."
Jiang Yuncheng also had a realization: "That makes sense."
Cheng Buning observed from afar. She felt there was something more to this.
Fu Qifang looked down on them all from above.
Chu Yao hadn't said a single word, and her roommates had already filled in the blanks themselves.
Zhang Xiuli scrolled through the forum.
Photos and accounts of Zhou Wenshi and Chu Yao's encounter had been thoroughly detailed by the onlookers.
It basically matched what they had guessed.
As Cheng Yunxiu scrolled, she suddenly went wide-eyed and speechless, blurting out: "…A-A'Yao, you and… and Zhou Wenshi are a couple?!"
She didn't even have time to be dramatic—she was stunned into stillness.
Cheng Yunxiu said blankly, "Why would Zhou Wenshi say you two are dating, and tell… everyone not to bother you?"
It was as if she couldn't process the words on the screen.
Zhang Xiuli was also shaken by the news: "Didn't Chu Yao say they weren't close…?"
This was not close? If they weren't close, would Zhou Wenshi say they were dating? This—this was clearly past well-done!
The shocking news exploded, and Room 703 fell into silence.
Even Huang Chuying, who was usually quick to speak her mind, froze for a moment before swiftly turning her gaze toward Chu Yao, utterly incredulous.
Sisters share their hearts with you, and you play mind games with your sisters?
Chu Yao, once again the center of attention: "…"
An atomic bomb went off deep inside her, blasting everything to scorched earth.
One sentence kept flashing through her mind on repeat.
That was—
Why did he choose to go public? This wasn't in the plot setting.
Chu Yao furrowed her brow in deep thought, wondering where exactly the problem lay.
Logically speaking, it shouldn't have happened.
Wasn't he… supposed to not care?
So why did it clearly seem like that wasn't the case now?
Chu Yao realized belatedly—something was wrong!
On the screen, the 【Male Lead】was calling her via voice chat.