The magical winter wonderland of the Alps felt like a brief, lively dream.
After that utterly one-sided, almost comically mismatched game of pool—akin to the White Snake flooding Jinshan Temple—the next day, Su Qingyu’s private jet carried the four girls into the clouds, leaving behind that silver-clad world and returning to the seaside city still embraced by summer’s warmth.
Tong Hua leaned against the airplane window, watching the mountain ranges below gradually shrink into what looked like a white sand table. A faint sense of wistfulness tugged at her heart, but it was overshadowed by a stronger anticipation for the familiar rhythm of campus life.
She touched the top of her head, where the sensation of He Sui ruffling her hair seemed to linger, and thought to herself with a huff: That sharp-tongued guy… we probably won’t meet again, right? After all, he doesn’t seem like the type of good student who shows up to school on time.
Meanwhile, in the VIP lounge on the other side, Xiao Yu kicked his suitcase idly, glancing at the composed He Sui beside him and at Nan Chao and Si Jin, who were preparing to return to school.
“Where are we heading back to? You two are definitely rolling back to school to soak up some knowledge, right?” Xiao Yu directed his question at Nan Chao and Si Jin, knowing their families were relatively strict, unlike him and He Sui, who enjoyed more freedom.
He Sui’s brain was simply too sharp for his family to bother managing, while Xiao Yu had just slacked off since starting university, effectively being left to his own devices.
Nan Chao sighed dramatically, throwing an arm around Si Jin’s shoulder in mock lament. “Yeah, once we get back, it’ll just be me and Si Jin, two lonely souls in the dorm, keeping each other company, forming a trio with our own shadows.”
Xiao Yu immediately curled his lip in disgust. “I’m starting to think it’s because you’ve been hanging around Si Jin too much—bad company corrupts good morals—that you’re acting more and more like a gay dude!”
“Fuck!” Si Jin protested, shoving Nan Chao away. “Xiao Zi, what kind of super-spiral bullshit are you spewing?! Why don’t you say it’s because you look too girly yourself and accidentally caught his eye?!”
“Me, spewing bullshit?!” Xiao Yu reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, immediately flexing his nonexistent biceps. “Are your titanium-alloy dog eyes blind to my superior, athletic muscles?! If I’m girly, then there are no straight men left in this world—only gay dudes!”
“Not necessarily,” Nan Chao chimed in, never one to miss a chance to stir the pot, gleefully shifting the focus to the one who hadn’t spoken. “Our young master He hasn’t weighed in yet~ His taste is the real standard~”
He Sui had been looking down at his phone. Without even lifting his eyelids, his cool voice, like Alpine snowmelt, precisely doused Xiao Yu: “Whether Nan Chao is gay or not, I don’t know. But I do know that even if he were, his standards wouldn’t be low enough to settle for you.”
Xiao Yu instantly clutched his chest, taking two exaggerated steps back, pointing at He Sui with a pained expression. “He Gou! You…! Over twenty years of friendship! And this is how you treat me?! My heart… it hurts! Worse than when you mocked me on the ski slopes!”
“Hahahahaha!” Nan Chao laughed so hard he squatted on the floor, while Si Jin couldn’t help but turn away, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.
After laughing for a good while, Nan Chao stood up, patted Xiao Yu’s shoulder, and clarified with a straight face: “Alright, Xiao Zi, put your heart back in your chest. My sexual orientation is women! Very straight! You can rest easy.”
At that moment, the He family’s private jet—with its sharper, more austere lines and understated yet undeniably luxurious markings—smoothly taxied into its designated position.
A steward dressed in a meticulous uniform led the crew forward respectfully to receive their luggage.
“Young Master, shall we head directly back to the old residence?” the steward inquired with a slight bow to He Sui.
Tucking his phone back into his pocket, He Sui glanced out the window at the vast sky, as if casually deciding a trivial matter. “No. Back to school. I’ll be attending classes on campus next semester.”
His words not only elicited a faint, almost imperceptible flicker of surprise in the steward’s eyes but also left Xiao Yu, who was still nursing his “heartache,” along with the chuckling Nan Chao and Si Jin, momentarily stunned.
“Holy shit?!” Xiao Yu was the first to react, as if he’d just heard the most unbelievable tale. “Has the sun risen from the west? Weren’t you always complaining that school courses were boring as hell and a waste of your precious life, He Da Shao? What’s with the sudden change of heart?”
Si Jin stroked his chin, his gaze sweeping over He Sui’s expressionless, handsome face before breaking into a knowing, suggestive smile. “Tsk, I’d say it’s not a change of heart but rather the drinker’s heart not being in the cup~ Isn’t that right, He Da Shao?”
He Sui couldn’t be bothered to entertain their teasing. He stepped onto the boarding stairs first, his stride unhurried and composed.
Settling into the spacious cabin, he elegantly crossed his long legs and closed his eyes as if preparing for a nap, leaving behind only a light, almost airy remark that struck the three who had just questioned him like a precisely aimed arrow: “It’s nothing. I just suddenly felt like going back to take a look. And incidentally, to see how the three of you get scolded like grandchildren by your families after flunking your finals. That scene… just thinking about it is… especially… satisfying~”
Xiao Yu, Nan Chao, and Si Jin immediately stopped their cheerful banter: “…”
A deathly silence fell over the cabin.
The three could almost foresee the tragic scene of being publicly humiliated at their family meetings once the final grades were released, while the instigator of it all now rested with his eyes closed, a faint, utterly infuriating smirk playing at the corner of his lips.
After a long moment, Xiao Yu turned to Si Jin with a mix of indignation and despair, his voice lowered to a furious whisper. “You! Why did you have to provoke that jinxed, sharp tongue of his?! Now look what happened! He’s going back just to watch us make fools of ourselves!”
Si Jin wore an expression of equal parts indignation and regret. “Who knew he’d be so touchy…!”
Nan Chao stared blankly at the cabin ceiling, utterly defeated. “Stop talking… The world isolates me, leaving me to his mockery…”
With a deafening roar, the plane’s engines pierced through the clouds, heading in the direction of Haishi.
Outside the window, the scenery shifted from endless snow-capped peaks to magnificent seas of clouds, gradually transitioning to the miniature model-like cities and fields below.
He Sui wasn’t actually asleep.
Leaning back in the comfortable leather seat, he felt the steady hum of the plane’s flight.
Yet, unbidden, an image surfaced in his mind—a small face adorned with cat-ear headphones, sometimes fierce and clawing, sometimes pitiful and aggrieved, and at other times, eyes sparkling brightly over some minor achievement.
That clumsy yet stubborn, clever yet occasionally foolish little kitten.
Returning to Haishi meant he could see her again.
This realization stirred something faintly in a corner of He Sui’s heart.
Unconsciously, he rubbed his fingertips together, as if he could still feel the soft, fluffy texture from that day when he had ruffled her hair.
Tsk, the feel of it really was quite nice.
He even had an untimely thought: If he could just touch her soft hair again, or… if she could hold him again like she did in the snow, recklessly and without a care, it would probably… feel even better.
The thought flashed through his mind so quickly that even he was taken aback. He quickly returned to his usual nonchalant demeanor, though the corners of his closed eyes and brows were faintly tinged with a subtle, almost imperceptible hint of delight and anticipation that he himself hadn’t noticed.
Their ill-fated entanglement was clearly not going to end in the snowfields of the Alps.
It seemed that the campus of Haida University was about to become even more lively, thanks to the young master He’s decision—one that was clearly not about the wine, but about the drinker.