The message was short, exactly like his style.
[Go to Echo Café at the east side of Griffin North Gate this afternoon.]
Wow.
A big-shot like Mr. Jiang, busy with endless affairs, had arranged everything for her so quickly.
She knew this café.
Griffin was the best aristocratic school, and most businesses around it belonged to the Griffin group.
Echo was one of the most high-end coffee brands.
Recently, it had even trended online because its hiring standards were extremely strict—even ordinary baristas were required to have outstanding looks and academic backgrounds.
Naturally, the salary matched that standard.
Before this, she had checked—there were no work-study positions inside the elite school, and high-end shops outside never hired part-time workers.
Without Jiang Yuan’s help, she truly would not have known how to legally earn money while studying.
The girl immediately replied:
[Okay~ Thank you, Mr. Jiang. You really helped me a lot. Wishing you a pleasant life~]
She pressed send, then looked up—
Only to meet Lin Qi’s tightly furrowed brows.
The boy stared at the corner of her lips, his tone strangely stiff.
“Who is it?”
Yan Sui hadn’t expected such a question from him.
She looked up, the smile on her lips not yet faded.
“Oh, just someone kind I met before.”
Vague.
Clearly unwilling to explain further.
He felt that if he continued asking, it would seem strange.
But if he didn’t ask, he felt inexplicably uncomfortable.
Lin Qi moved his lips, swallowing back all the words he had almost said.
The car fell silent.
Yan Sui, on the other hand, was in a very good mood and already looking forward to the afternoon.
Her major was philosophy.
This, of course, was arranged by the Lin family.
Philosophy was the safest subject—one where results were hard to measure.
In many cases, you could just coast through and graduate. It was the typical choice for wealthy heirs and young ladies who just wanted a diploma.
But unexpectedly, she liked it.
Her socialization level was actually not high. When she lived in the mountains, everything her godfather taught her was extremely… hardcore.
She had no understanding of things like existence, perception and desire, ethics and morality, or how society and human relationships functioned.
Before leaving, her godfather had even given her several drama series about real-world life and told her to finish them.
Said she would become “adaptable” after watching them.
It did work—she was very good at learning by analogy.
But that did not mean she truly understood any of it.
Now that she had come into contact with this entirely new structure, she was extremely interested.
She never skipped class and always completed her assignments seriously.
So this afternoon’s trip to the café to report for work—she needed to properly negotiate her working hours so they wouldn’t conflict with her classes.
Outside the window, scenery drifted backward.
In the quiet, Lin Qi couldn’t help but glance at her again, awkwardly.
But Yan Sui didn’t notice his discomfort at all.
At the same time, he also couldn’t figure out what exactly he was unhappy about.
Was it because he got slapped?
Or because she smiled while replying to that message?
Who made her smile like that?
The sting on his cheek had mostly faded, leaving only a slight redness thanks to timely ice application.
He glanced at his reflection in the rearview mirror.
He thought, wow, that healed fast.
Wait—healing fast is a good thing, right?
Annoyed, he shoved those messy thoughts aside and spoke up.
“Are you going back to the dorm, or want to grab lunch together?”
Yan Sui smiled at him.
“I’ll go back directly. I still have a lot to do this afternoon.”
“Thanks again for today. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve been really scared.”
Lin Qi straightened his posture without realizing it.
His earlier irritation vanished instantly, and a faint smile returned to his face.
“This is what I should do. Sis—”
He tried to call her “sister” to feel closer, but halfway through, he got stuck and couldn’t say it.
He swallowed the word back down.
The car stopped. The girl stepped out and waved.
“Bye~”
She returned to her room.
The moment she entered, she paused and carefully scanned the surroundings.
Everything looked normal, exactly as it had been when she left.
…Right?
Her gaze lingered on the bedside table.
She usually kept a glass of water there. She remembered there had been more than half a cup left when she rushed out earlier.
Now… the water level seemed slightly lower.
Only a little—barely noticeable.
Her slender fingertips brushed over every possible hiding place, confirming there was no surveillance here.
Then she sat at the desk, took out a pencil, and gently scraped the graphite.
Black powder fell onto the paper, forming a small pile.
Using a tissue, she held the cup and scraped the black powder along the surface with a small blade.
Soon, fingerprints on the glass became visible.
All of them were hers.
Wait…
Found you.
A few prints were clearly larger than hers, overlapping hers. If not carefully observed, they would be easily missed.
Yan Sui licked her lips and carefully lifted those unfamiliar prints using tape.
Not perfectly clear, but enough to confirm two things.
First—someone really was following her. They had entered her room and touched her things. It was not her imagination.
Second—this person was likely over a head taller than her, with a lean but average build and long fingers.
Male. Careful. Skilled.
The profile matched the glimpse of a coat hem she had seen in the hospital corridor.
She began imagining a direct confrontation.
She was skilled, but not very strong. Her godfather always said she was smart but lazy and would tap her head for it.
She was better at ambushes or dealing with people with no combat experience.
But against this stalker in a direct fight, she wasn’t fully confident.
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have any ill intent—for now.
She wondered if her godfather had attracted police attention, and if they had discovered her connection to him.
So… were the police secretly investigating her?
But that didn’t seem likely.
That old fox would never leave traces so easily.
And if there were any, he would have warned her long ago.
So why was she being followed?
And even drinking her water… that was even stranger.
The girl scratched her head.
She carefully sealed the fingerprint sample into her book.
Then stretched and looked at the cup again.
Hmm…
Should she still keep using this cup?
After finishing his work, Jiang Yuan stared blankly at the message on his phone.
The message from Yan Sui had already been screenshotted and set as his lock screen.
That little tilde symbol—just like her smiling eyes, full of life.
How could she be this cute…
After a while, he seemed to think of something and touched his lips again.
His brows furrowed, but the tips of his ears were faintly red.
Ever since the last time he nearly got discovered, he had become much more careful.
Only when he was sure she was not in the dorm—and would not return soon—would he cautiously go in… to absorb a little of her scent.
Then clean up every trace before leaving.
Like a disgusting rat that cannot see the light.
Pathetic.
He had already decided, with the help of medication, that he would never do such things again.
But the moment he saw her, heard her, he realized he could not control himself at all.
Still, he would control the degree. He must.
If one day he became like his father…
He would kill himself first.
Suddenly, the office phone rang.
His thoughts were interrupted, a dull pain pressing at his temples.
But after hearing the report, his heart suddenly jumped.
“Mr. Jiang, Miss Yan has arrived at the café. Everything has been arranged as you instructed.”