Whenever Jing Xuan wasn't by her side, Mu Ning felt like she was going through caffeine withdrawal, dragged swiftly into the abyss of drowsiness by a week's worth of accumulated fatigue.
Before going to sleep, they reached a consensus on WeChat: sleep in tomorrow until naturally waking up before even thinking about food. Wake up in the morning, eat lunch. Wake up in the afternoon, eat dinner.
Mu Ning woke up at ten-thirty, immediately reaching for her phone charging on the nightstand and turning off Do Not Disturb mode.
There was already a message from Jing Xuan on WeChat, sent an hour ago—a single character: "Morning."
"morning: You're up this early?"
"X: Mm. Spring-outing syndrome, I guess."
Baidu Baike's definition of "spring-outing syndrome": an internet term referring to the phenomenon of difficulty falling asleep caused by the brain's excitement over an upcoming anticipated event (such as a spring outing).
Mu Ning was certain that if she turned off her phone screen right now, it would reflect a face grinning like an idiot.
"morning: Teacher Jing, how would you like to arrange today's spring outing?"
"X: Can it be arranged any way I want?"
If the tone of their conversation was starting to take on a certain subtle hue, did that mean their game of batting back and forth was entering the next stage?
"morning: Yes"
She had a basic understanding of Jing Xuan's upstanding character. Those unspeakable little scenarios playing out in her head could never possibly happen.
Sure enough.
"X: …I'll leave it to Teacher Mu to arrange, then."
"morning: Come over and help me give the kitten her medicine, then we'll go get lunch?"
"morning: Want to see a movie this afternoon?"
"X: Sounds good. A perfect plan."
"morning: Be at my place by 11:30, OK?"
"morning: I just got up, still need to wash my hair"
"X: /ValeriusOK"
In today's hair-washing routine, Mu Ning added the hair mask and hair oil steps she usually skipped out of laziness.
She returned to the bedroom with her hair half-dry, facing the difficult decision of choosing from her treasured collection of dresses.
She tried on three, took mirror selfies, and sent them to Meng Meng.
"morning: Help me pick, quick! It's urgent!"
"Meng Meng: I'm here!"
"Meng Meng: What's the occasion?"
"morning: A date with a guy—lunch and a movie"
"Meng Meng: With Teacher X?"
"morning: Yesss"
"Meng Meng: You two finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel?"
"morning: Help me pick clothes first, I still need to do my makeup. I'll give you the tea later."
Meng Meng quoted one of the three photos and typed a string of "11111."
It was a light pink French-style square-neck dress with subtle dusty-rose polka dots, featuring a pleated waist design that would make her waistline look especially slender.
"morning: Are you sure?"
"Meng Meng: Give Teacher X a little taste of a human peach's shock and awe"
"morning: …Too pure and seductive, not my usual style"
"Meng Meng: Time to shake up his perception"
"Meng Meng: Trust me, men get secretly thrilled when you treat them differently from everyone else"
"morning: If this backfires, you're responsible"
"Meng Meng: It won't backfire—it'll only get steamy"
"morning: /covering mouth"
One hour to wash her hair, pick out clothes, do makeup, and blow-dry—it was cutting it extremely close. Mu Ning's makeup technique was what the internet would call "ineffective makeup." She was self-aware enough to keep it very light, just enough to give her a bit of color.
A message came through on WeChat from Jing Xuan, saying he'd already arrived downstairs.
Mu Ning shared the visitor code mini-program from last night again, then tidied up her vanity at lightning speed and walked to the full-length mirror for a final overall check.
She walked to the living room entrance to wait for Jing Xuan to come up, so nervous she could barely breathe.
Soon, a knock sounded at the door.
Mu Ning took two deep breaths and opened the door.
The scent of soap greeted her nostrils first, followed by the sight of an outfit completely different from his usual all-black—a white T-shirt, a light gray thin jacket, and dark gray cargo-style trousers.
Like an early morning before the sky had fully brightened, with thin mist lingering and the air still carrying the cool, dewy breath of dawn.
Teacher X had given her a major shock of being too handsome for words first.
Perhaps to match the color of his top, Jing Xuan had switched to a white mask today. His gaze lingered on her for the briefest moment, then his fingers lightly tugged at his mask, as if making an unconscious adjustment.
Then, he brought the hand he'd been hiding behind his back around to the front.
Mu Ning stared in a daze as a bouquet of pale blue-purple flowers appeared in his hand like magic—long, narrow petals with delicate white edges, beautiful yet utterly understated.
It seemed to be a single hydrangea, wrapped in white cotton paper and tied with a translucent white ribbon.
"…For me?"
Jing Xuan seemed to chuckle softly: "Who else would it be for?"
Her usually quick-witted mind, so full of wild ideas and effortless prose, somehow went completely blank the moment she was face to face with Jing Xuan.
"Thanks…" Mu Ning took it and held it in her arms. "It's beautiful. Is it a hydrangea? It looks a bit different from the common endless summer variety."
"Yeah. This variety is called Kaleidoscope."
She had received flowers from guys before, but they were usually roses, balloon flowers, or something like that.
"…This is my first time receiving hydrangeas," Mu Ning said. "It's very special."
"Because I think it resembles you. You're also very special."
Mu Ning was already at her limit, and the last sliver of her composure was completely wiped out by this sentence.
Her face flushed and her ears burned. She couldn't possibly act as if nothing had happened, and she had no idea what reaction would be better, so she could only dumbly say "thank you" again.
The two of them stood foolishly at the door for a moment before realizing they still had something important to do.
They walked through the living room and arrived at Mu Ning's room.
This time, Xiao Wa didn't get the treat-bribing treatment from last night. Taking advantage of his height and long arms, the man reached up and scooped the cat down from the cat tree, replicating the smooth medicine-feeding routine from last night.
He was done with it in two minutes.
Then he looked at her with smiling eyes. "Ready to go?"
"…Okay."
Mu Ning picked up the chain bag resting at the foot of the bed, slung it over her shoulder, and did a final check of the water bowl and the automatic cat feeder.
"Let's go."
They walked out of the room and left the apartment.
The two stood in front of the elevator, both caught in the same subtle awkwardness.
They stared straight ahead, not making eye contact at all.
When the elevator doors opened, Mu Ning stepped in first, with Jing Xuan following closely behind.
The elevator stopped once at the 17th floor, and three people came in. Mu Ning moved further inside, and Jing Xuan shifted along with her.
Their shoulders and arms brushed against each other.
Mu Ning stole a glance at the person beside her from the corner of her eye. Her gaze climbed from his pale neck to his Adam's apple, then to his jaw, and further up—only to suddenly collide with his line of sight.
The momentary weightlessness of the elevator descending hit her heart entirely.
She immediately averted her gaze in a fluster.
It wasn't until they walked out of the residential complex gate and agreed to walk to the mall that this discomfort seemed to ease somewhat.
The destination wasn't far—about a ten-minute walk.
On the way, Jing Xuan kept an eye on the queue status. He found that the waitlist had started, so he grabbed a number online. By the time they arrived, they were seated after only a short wait.
Once they sat down to order, Mu Ning, drawing on her experience from having eaten there twice, picked out some non-spicy but delicious dishes for Jing Xuan.
"You must be able to handle a lot of spice, right?" Jing Xuan asked.
"Yeah. The flavors back home are pretty heavy, and I went to school in Hunan."
After submitting the order, Mu Ning held her cup and took small sips of the tea infused with rose petals.
"How many years has it been since you graduated?"
"Just over two years."
"So you're 24?"
Mu Ning paused, then looked up at Jing Xuan, who had already taken off his mask across from her: "You don't know how old I am?"
"You never mentioned it."
"You never asked."
Jing Xuan let out a laugh: "Because it doesn't matter."
"What if I'm older than you?"
"You don't look it. And even if you were, it wouldn't matter."
"…Are you sure you haven't dated a hundred girls?" Mu Ning said quietly.
Jing Xuan didn't catch it. "Huh?"
"…I said I'm 26. I only started working after grad school."
"Where did you do your graduate studies?"
"Tongji."
"Teacher Mu has an impressive academic record."
Mu Ning had to use the act of drinking water to hide the expression she could barely contain.
At that moment, she deeply resented her talented friend for coming up with that pun about "checking credentials."
Mu Ning changed the subject: "I was scrolling on my phone while slacking off yesterday, and I saw a post from someone who might be an ex-employee of your studio, complaining about your boss."
"I saw it too."
"Is it true?"
"Not entirely. The boss is even more of a piece of work than described."
Mu Ning laughed out loud: "So what kind of game are you guys actually trying to make?"
"At first the boss wanted something like The Witcher 3, then he thought Elden Ring was better, and now he wants to make Death Stranding 2."
"…The requirements keep changing. How can you possibly satisfy that?"
"Can't. Planning to jump ship."
"Really?"
Jing Xuan smiled: "He thinks I'm not obedient enough. Maybe he'll fire me before I even get the chance to leave."
"Then he'd have to pay you a lot of severance."
"If I get the N+1, I'll treat you to a meal."
Mu Ning smiled softly: "So have you managed to make anything so far?"
"Yeah. But the boss isn't very satisfied." Jing Xuan picked up his phone. "Want to take a look?"
"Can I?"
"Sure. You can look at it on my phone."
Jing Xuan unlocked his phone, swiped through the screen for a moment, and was about to hand it to her when the server came over carrying a stone pot with the grilled fish.
He moved to the side to make room, and Mu Ning said, "Why don't you come sit over here?"
Jing Xuan paused, then stood up, walked around the table, and sat down on the booth seat beside her.
He tapped the screen and pressed play.
It was a video showing the flow from login to the prologue.
The screen was a bit dark—Jing Xuan noticed it too—but even after turning the brightness all the way up, it didn't improve much.
Mu Ning had to lean her head in closer.
Her hair slipped forward, and she casually tucked it behind her ear.
It was impossible not to notice the tiny, peach-shaped earring clipped to her fair earlobe.
Jing Xuan gave a light cough and glanced at the mask that had been left on the seat across from him.
Mu Ning was watching intently.
So this was what she looked like in work mode—lips pressed together, brows slightly furrowed, looking very serious, as if she were making the most objective assessment of the video's content.
He really wanted to tease her.
"Let me ask you something."
"Hm?" Mu Ning lifted her head.
"Is there a design sharing session today too?"
"…" Her earlobes grew warm, and she overcame her habit of deflecting. "…Do you really think my colleagues deserve to see me all made up?"
Hearing Jing Xuan let out a very soft laugh, Mu Ning didn't dare look at him, only lowered her head to stare intently at the screen, saying nothing more.
They watched until the player was guided through a boss kill.
"The quality is really good. What is your boss unsatisfied with?"
"If he could articulate it clearly, things would be easier for me." Jing Xuan gave a helpless smile.
"Bosses always want it all—this, that, and everything in between."
The video wasn't long, just five minutes.
After it finished, Jing Xuan exited the video and, out of habit, swiped right to return to his WeChat chat list.
Mu Ning caught a glimpse of the pinned profile picture—a hand-drawn lemon that she would recognize even if it turned to ashes.
Jing Xuan was about to get up and return to the seat across from her.
Mu Ning quickly reached out.
Her slender fingers gently wrapped around his wrist.
As he looked down at her, his gaze slightly startled, Mu Ning propped her cheek on her other hand and cast her eyes off in a distant direction.
In a casual tone, she said: "…Just sit here. The seat across is too far—I can't hear you clearly when you talk."
"You'll catch my cold."
"…I'm not afraid."