Looking at the expensive bracelet, Wen Chu thought that since the male lead had given her a gift, she should at least thank him.
She put the bracelet on her wrist, casually took a photo, opened her chat with Xi Liye, and sent it over.
【ChuChu Hiding: Xi Liye, Xi Liye! Look, how does it look on me? Isn’t it super pretty?】
By then, Xi Liye had already finished speaking with his academic advisor and returned to his high-rise apartment near campus.
He usually didn’t stay in the dormitory. It was too noisy, and he had a strong sense of personal boundaries. He preferred somewhere quiet with absolute privacy.
His phone screen lit up on the table.
Several vibrations followed.
He picked it up and saw the girl’s message.
Then he opened the photo she had sent.
The lighting wasn’t particularly good.
At the center of the image was a slender, fair wrist.
The delicate bone structure was beautifully defined, and under the warm lighting, her skin looked smooth and soft.
The bracelet he had given her rested perfectly around that wrist.
The extremely fine chain almost disappeared against her skin.
Only the moonstone and the curled silver cat charm reflected a gentle, tranquil glow beneath the light.
【L.YE: Mm.】
Afraid Wen Chu might think he was being perfunctory, he sent another message.
【L.YE: Very beautiful.】
Soon, another message arrived.
This time, there was a clear note of hesitation and testing in her tone.
【ChuChu Hiding: But the gift you gave me is so expensive. I didn’t give you anything…】
Xi Liye smiled.
He hadn’t expected the easily irritated Wen Chu to feel embarrassed too.
His fingers moved calmly across the screen.
【L.YE: It’s okay.】
【L.YE: That kitten bead art can count as your gift to me. I like it very much.】
【ChuChu Hiding: Xi Liye, do you really like cats? The bead art was a kitten, and the bracelet you bought me also has a cat on it. I didn’t expect you to be a furry enthusiast.】
Wen Chu was genuinely curious.
Who would have thought that the novel’s obsessive male lead liked fluffy things?
A long time passed before Xi Liye replied.
【L.YE: Not really.】
Perhaps the Xi Liye of childhood had genuinely loved cats.
He had even secretly raised one.
But for certain reasons, that cat eventually died.
Something crossed his mind.
His eyes darkened slightly.
The atmosphere around him turned dangerous.
Wasn’t the girl crouching in the snow that morning, shrinking her neck against the cold, just like a pitiful kitten waiting for someone to claim it?
Wen Chu lay sprawled across her bed.
She didn’t think much about Xi Liye’s answer.
After all, she loved cats too.
Back before transmigrating, when she spent her days alone at home, a friend had worried she might be lonely and gifted her a cat for company.
Time passed.
Eventually, the dormitory door opened.
Familiar footsteps entered, accompanied by the rustling of plastic bags.
Her roommate Xia Yaoyao had returned.
And she had thoughtfully brought dinner.
“ChuChu, get up and eat! If you wait any longer, it’ll get cold!”
Xia Yaoyao’s voice was full of energy.
The scent of food immediately made Wen Chu’s stomach growl honestly.
She struggled out of bed, her long hair messy from sleeping, and slowly climbed down the ladder.
“Thanks, Yaoyao…”
She accepted the food container while mumbling her gratitude.
But when she looked up—
Three pairs of eyes filled with excitement and curiosity were staring directly at her.
Xia Yaoyao.
And the other two roommates, Zhou Rui and Li Yue, who had somehow gathered around her.
Although Wen Chu had gradually become accustomed to her three roommates and no longer hid in bed all day due to social anxiety, she was still startled by the formation.
She blinked blankly.
“…?”
Xia Yaoyao made the first move.
She suddenly leaned forward and stared at Wen Chu’s lips, scanning them carefully from every angle.
After several seconds, confusion appeared on her face.
“Huh? Nothing there…”
“Nothing where?”
Wen Chu felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny.
“Yaoyao, you’re not looking carefully enough!”
Zhou Rui shoved Xia Yaoyao aside and squeezed closer.
“ChuChu, don’t move. Let me check… your neck! Right, your neck!”
Her gaze immediately dropped to the exposed section of Wen Chu’s neck above her pajama collar.
Li Yue stood slightly farther away, looking equally expectant.
Wen Chu felt goosebumps rise all over her body.
She instinctively shrank back and pulled up her collar.
“What… are you doing?”
Xia Yaoyao finally straightened up, unable to hide her excitement.
“ChuChu! Stop pretending!”
“You left so early this morning. We thought you had something to do.”
“Then we saw the forum post and found out you’re actually dating Senior Xi!”
“Forum post? What forum post?”
Wen Chu’s heart skipped a beat.
A bad feeling instantly appeared.
“The campus forum! The hot post!”
Li Yue held up her phone.
Displayed on the screen was the university forum.
At the very top sat a highlighted post with a red trending label:
Wen Chu: “???”
What kind of ridiculous title was that?!
She took the phone.
The photo showed Xi Liye in his black coat, leaning slightly forward as he wrapped a scarf around a girl dressed in a fluffy white jacket.
Only part of her profile was visible.
The comments had already reached hundreds of replies.
“Holy shit! That’s really Xi Liye! He actually puts scarves on people?!”
“Who’s the female lead? Someone investigate!”
“Looks like… Wen Chu from the Computer Science Department? The pretty girl who’s always by herself? Didn’t she just become their department beauty?”
“Yeah! It’s definitely her! I saw them eating together at the cafeteria this morning!”
“So Xi Liye is actually dating someone?!”
“Am I the only one paying attention to the way he looked at her? I took a screenshot. Judge for yourselves.”
Wen Chu scrolled down rapidly.
Someone had indeed posted a screenshot.
In the picture, Xi Liye was looking down at the girl before him.
Although the image quality was poor, his focused and quiet gaze, combined with the snowy backdrop, made it very easy for people to imagine things.
“See? See?”
Xia Yaoyao pointed at the screenshot, her face red from excitement.
“We all thought you two definitely kissed today!”
“But there’s nothing on your lips or neck.”
“Who would’ve thought Xi Liye was actually such a gentleman?”
Zhou Rui looked equally invested.
“Seriously! Such a romantic setting, and no intimate contact at all?”
“That makes no sense!”
“Hurry up and tell us what you did today!”
Honestly, in the past, Xia Yaoyao and the others would never have surrounded her like this.
The original Wen Chu had been proud and aloof.
She always carried herself as if she were above everyone else and maintained only average relationships with her roommates.
But recently…
They all felt something about her had changed.
They couldn’t quite explain it.
She seemed less arrogant.
More quiet and introverted.
The occasional confusion and clumsiness she displayed made her seem unexpectedly genuine and adorable.
That was why they dared to gossip so freely around her.
Meanwhile, Wen Chu was already dizzy from the endless questions and absurd deductions.
Her cheeks were so hot they could probably fry an egg.
She opened her mouth to explain.
To tell them things weren’t what they thought.
But the words refused to come out.
Because…
Technically, they really were dating.
“W-We just… had a normal meal, took a walk, and did some crafts together…”
She squeezed out the words awkwardly.
“Crafts?!”
All three roommates shouted simultaneously.
Their eyes became even brighter.
“Couple crafts?!”
“Did you exchange tokens of love?!”
Wen Chu: “…”
Tokens of love?
She suddenly thought of the bead art.
In the end, after being bombarded by endless questions, she gave a vague explanation and barely managed to escape.
After finishing dinner, she practically fled back to her bed, pulled the curtains shut, and isolated herself inside her own tiny safe space.
Finally.
The world was quiet again.
As expected of a novel’s male lead.
Even dating became a public spectacle.
Thinking back to her own university days before transmigrating, there had never been any campus prince or dream guy.
There had only been exhausted college students dragged unwillingly into 8 A.M. classes.
Wen Chu: Thanks, but I feel like I’ve been manipulated by capitalism.
She pulled out her phone and opened the post marked with the bright red “EXPLOSIVE” icon.
The thread was even hotter than before.
Besides the scarf photo from that morning, more details had been added.
The comment section had completely exploded.
After all, from the moment Xi Liye entered university as a freshman, his flawless face and cold, noble aura had instantly made him the center of attention.
For two years, countless people had pursued him openly and secretly.
Yet the genius student had remained as untouchable as a frozen mountain.
At one point, rumors that he preferred men had even spread widely across campus.
And now?
Not only had the iceberg apparently melted—
He had personally put a scarf on someone.
That was more shocking than the sun rising in the west.
Watching the rapidly refreshing comments, Wen Chu felt a headache coming on.
She was doomed.
At this rate, wouldn’t people stare at her everywhere she went?
Just imagining countless eyes on her made her vision go dark.
It seemed tomorrow’s classes would require a face mask after all.