Another straight hit.
Ren Yanjing lowered his head and met Tang Zhen’s sincere, starry-eyed gaze. Her eyes were genuinely beautiful—every curve nearly perfect. Those moist, shimmering eyes were filled with nothing but earnestness.
When Tang Zhen first said those words, she’d only meant to brush things off. But by the end, even she had started to believe them. Or perhaps, whether she believed them or not didn’t matter—at least in the instant she saw Ren Yanjing, she truly felt at ease.
So what she said wasn’t entirely a lie.
If it had been a lie at the beginning, it had turned into the truth by the end.
Ren Yanjing turned his head aside and cleared his throat softly, barely managing to suppress the urge for his lips to curl upward. He kept his tone as even as possible. “Got it.”
The smile stayed off his mouth, but it still spilled out from the corners of his eyes and brows. “Let’s go. Hungry?”
As it turned out, Tang Zhen really was a little hungry. She followed behind Ren Yanjing, tense the whole way, afraid she might run into Zhou Xusi and Zhou Wan again. Luckily, she didn’t see a single familiar face for the rest of the walk.
After breakfast, Ren Yanjing drove Tang Zhen back to her school.
She was currently a freshman majoring in Fine Arts at a second-tier university, one year behind him. Her campus was only two streets away from his top-ranked university—close enough to count as neighbors.
After getting out of the car, Tang Zhen waved goodbye and ran straight back to her dorm.
There was no early-morning class today, so she could still get some rest.
The moment she stepped into the dorm, her best friend Tiantian grabbed her, eyes gleaming with gossip. “Zhenzhen, you didn’t come back at all last night. You—”
Tang Zhen immediately raised her hand in surrender. “Nothing happened.”
Tiantian blinked. “Not even kissing or hugging?”
“Not even that!”
Tiantian looked utterly unconvinced. “None of that? I mean, your boyfriend’s facing a face as pretty as yours and didn’t even kiss you? What’s wrong with him?!”
Tang Zhen pressed her lips together. “We’ve been together for less than a week.”
Yezi leaned over with a mischievous grin. “Got it. You two aren’t that familiar yet.”
“Mm.” They really weren’t. Since getting together, they’d only gone on two dates.
Yezi stroked her chin. “Honestly, that’s a good thing. It shows your boyfriend isn’t a scumbag. Taking things step by step isn’t bad.”
Then she added, “When you went downstairs last night, I was on the balcony. I happened to see you and your boyfriend.”
Tang Zhen let out a small “oh,” feeling inexplicably shy.
Yezi chuckled. “He looks well-mannered, the type who really respects girls. So I think, if you’re serious about a relationship, taking it slow is the right way.”
While they were chatting, Tang Zhen received a message from Ren Yanjing:
“I’m competing at C University’s Jiangyi Campus this weekend. Want to come watch?”
Tang Zhen thought of the robot “Robert” that his team had been preparing for so long and quickly replied, “Sure.”
“I’ll come pick you up that day.”
“Okay.”
That afternoon, Tang Zhen went out sketching with her roommates, Tiantian and Yezi.
They sat down by the river on campus, spread out their canvases, and each chose a subject.
Tiantian planned to paint the river scene, while Yezi and Tang Zhen both chose autumn leaves.
Time flew by as they painted. By the time Tang Zhen put down her brush, dusk had already settled in.
Tiantian, who had been standing behind her for a while, suddenly exclaimed, “Zhenzhen—your style has changed…”
Changed?
How?
Tiantian answered herself almost immediately. “Your painting has… spirit now.”
“Yes, exactly—spirit,” Yezi chimed in. “That’s amazing, Zhenzhen. Did getting into a relationship suddenly unblock your meridians or something? Your improvement is super obvious.”
Tang Zhen was both surprised and delighted. “Really?”
“Really. When you submit it tomorrow, the teacher will definitely praise you.”
Tang Zhen had always loved painting, but she’d never had systematic training before—she’d been more or less self-taught. She hadn’t expected her very first outdoor sketch to earn such straightforward praise from her roommates.
“Thank you.”
Yezi waved it off. “Hey, are we going to have a famous artist in our dorm someday? Like, someone with their own solo exhibition?”
Even though she knew Yezi was joking, Tang Zhen couldn’t help but feel a spark of anticipation.
Someday in the future… could she really hold a solo exhibition?
Even 000 seemed confident in her.
【Little Zhenzhen, you’re very talented. You definitely can!】
Tang Zhen paused. “Sanquan, you think I have talent too?” Calling it “000” sounded a bit odd, so she’d decided to nickname the system “Sanquan.”
【Of course! And cheer up—registration for the International Youth Painting Competition just opened. Little Zhenzhen, you can check the announcement and decide whether you want to enter.】
A competition? Of course she wanted to participate!
Brimming with excitement, Tang Zhen rushed back to the dorm to look it up. According to the website, electronic submissions were accepted, which made things very convenient.
She’d decided.
She was going to compete.
With a clear goal in mind, the next two days passed quickly. Tang Zhen immersed herself in the joy of painting. She was so focused that even when the male lead messaged her a few times, she didn’t really feel like going out.
Until the night before the university robotics competition, when Ren Yanjing sent her a message:
“I’m downstairs at your dorm.”
Tang Zhen, deep in creation, froze for a second. She blinked, put down her brush, told her roommates, and hurried downstairs.
The system hadn’t issued any tasks these past few days, so Tang Zhen hadn’t deliberately gone to see him either.
The moment she reached Ren Yanjing, she was pulled into a warm embrace. Faintly, it seemed like cheers and applause were coming from upstairs.
Ren Yanjing’s low voice sounded above her head. “We haven’t seen each other for two days, my girlfriend.”
Tang Zhen answered honestly. “Before that, we went a full three days without any contact at all.”
So compared to last time, two days apart really wasn’t much. At least this time, they’d exchanged two or three messages a day—there hadn’t been a complete silence.
But to Ren Yanjing, it sounded like she was still upset.
He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her fluffy head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it through before and ended up neglecting you.”
Tang Zhen felt a bit embarrassed. In truth, she’d already let that go. Now that she had something she loved doing, she could fully understand how he’d forgotten to contact her.
Once you’re completely absorbed in something you enjoy, it really is hard to notice anything else—even if that “anything else” is your own boyfriend.
After a few days apart, Ren Yanjing sensed that Tang Zhen had become much colder toward him. Back when they’d just started dating, she’d been so clingy.
He frowned slightly and made a suggestion. “From now on, let’s see each other every day.”
Tang Zhen: ???
000: Oh ho!!!