Xi Liye paused mid-step. His gaze lingered for a fleeting moment on the couple who had just parted on such sour terms before shifting back to Wen Chu’s preoccupied profile.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
He walked over and sat beside her, his voice sounding calm and steady. “What are you looking at?”
“Ah!” Startled, Wen Chu snapped back to reality. Meeting Xi Liye’s deep, searching gaze, she guiltily averted her eyes. “N-nothing… just looking around.”
Xi Liye didn’t say anything. He simply picked up a napkin, wiped his hands with slow deliberation, and then rested his arm across the back of her chair once more. His fingertips brushed—seemingly by accident—against the delicate, exposed skin of her nape.
*So slender… I could wrap my hand around it,* he thought.
He pulled his hand back, rubbing his thumb against his fingertips as if savoring the lingering warmth. The cool contact sent a violent shiver through Wen Chu, nearly making her bolt from her seat.
“Finished eating?” he asked, as if that small gesture had been entirely unintentional.
“…Y-yes, I’m full.”
“Let’s go then.” Xi Liye stood up, picked up her coat from the chair, and handed it to her naturally.
With his arm draped half-around her shoulders, he guided her out of the restaurant. It wasn’t until they were back in the car, enveloped by the heater’s warmth, that she finally found her bearings.
“Oh, right. This is the scarf you lent me last time. Here.” Wen Chu pulled a paper bag from her purse and handed it over.
Xi Liye took the bag but didn’t check it immediately, simply tossing it onto the back seat. “Did you wash it?” he asked tonelessly.
“Mhm. Washed and ironed.”
Xi Liye gave a non-committal “Mhm.”
The silence felt stifling to Wen Chu. Despite her long-standing social anxiety, she knew she couldn’t just sit there if she wanted to play her role. She scrambled for a topic.
“By the way, Xi Liye, have you ‘gone official’ with our relationship on your WeChat Moments?” She knew perfectly well the male lead would never post such a thing; she was asking purely to be difficult.
“No,” he answered curtly.
*As expected! The male lead doesn’t take this relationship seriously at all! Time to shine.*
She immediately shifted her expression, knitting her brows together with just the right amount of grievance and dissatisfaction. “Why not? Is it because you think I’m not ‘presentable’ enough? Are you embarrassed to let your friends know about me?”
Xi Liye fell silent for a moment, observing her pained expression.
“No.” He denied her accusation, his voice level. “I just feel that a relationship is between two people. There’s no need to perform it for others.”
Wen Chu knew that in the original book, this was exactly his personality—he never cared about the opinions of others. But as a “girl in love,” she wasn’t about to let this perfect opportunity for a quarrel slip away!
Refusing to back down, she grumbled, “But everyone else posts an announcement when they’re dating… a sense of ceremony is important!”
“You care about that?” he asked.
“Of course I do!” Wen Chu nodded vigorously, doubling down on her stance. “It’s a matter of attitude!”
“Fine.” Xi Liye nodded and didn’t say another word.
Wen Chu assumed he had dropped the subject, so she retreated into her corner of the seat and ignored him. She hadn’t actually planned on causing a major scene over it anyway.
However, when the car pulled up to the school gates, Xi Liye stopped her just as she was about to get out.
The man pulled his phone from his pocket and took her hand. He held it stiffly—exactly like two business partners shaking hands at a high-level summit—intending to snap a photo and post it to his Moments to “go official.”
Wen Chu nearly died laughing at the way he was holding her hand.
“Who on earth takes a photo like *this* for an announcement?”
She figured this must be the male lead’s first time doing something so public. She felt a strange sense of satisfaction, as if she were training him so he’d be ready when he eventually met the real female lead. *Is this what they call ‘planting the tree for those who come after to enjoy the shade’?*
Xi Liye’s finger paused over the shutter button. He looked up at her.
“Then,” he said, lowering the phone but still holding her hand, his tone remarkably sincere, “what kind of photo should I take?”
Wen Chu froze.
*Right… what kind of photo SHOULD it be?* As a “socially phobic” girl who had been single since birth and hadn’t even held a boy’s hand before transmigrating, how was she supposed to know the correct way for a couple to announce their relationship? Her comment had just been instinctive snark.
She hadn’t “eaten the pork,” but she’d certainly “seen the pig run”—she knew it definitely shouldn’t look like a corporate negotiation.
But Xi Liye was staring at her with focused, earnest eyes, waiting for a lesson. She was trapped. She couldn’t very well say “I don’t know,” or she’d be slapping her own face after that critique.
Her brain went into overdrive, trying to recall couple photos from her past life, only to realize her social media feed back then had been incredibly barren. She didn’t even have a habit of scrolling through it.
“Wait a second.”
With fumbling fingers, she opened a search app and typed: *”How to post a couple’s announcement on WeChat.”*
Xi Liye continued to hold her hand, not rushing her, simply watching her frantic maneuvers in silence. The screen lit up with a flood of results: girls kissing guys on the cheek, silhouettes of couples hugging, people holding up marriage certificates, and all sorts of strange poses.
*What is this junk?!* None of this suited the bizarre relationship she had with Xi Liye.
Her face flushed red, especially since Xi Liye was leaning in curiously to look.
“This one… this one looks okay…” She finally found a relatively simple image—two hands with fingers interlaced, the background blurred, the lighting warm. No faces, no extra fluff, but the intimacy of the locked fingers conveyed more than Xi Liye’s “business shake” ever could.
She tilted the screen toward him, pointing at the example. “Something… something like this. Fingers locked together… it looks… a bit better.”
He studied the picture, then looked down at the soft, slightly cool hand he was holding.
Wen Chu felt him guiding her fingers, gently adjusting their position. His fingers spread slightly, and with a slow, firm, and indisputable strength, he slid them into the gaps between hers.
Then, he squeezed.
Their fingers were perfectly interlaced.