Inside the dormitory.
Wearing her laboratory gloves, Yan Sui took the cup out of the bag.
After drawing the curtains, she pulled out a UV lamp and stared at the adorable cat-themed mug.
The ceramic cup was decorated with cute patterns.
She licked her lips, her pupils narrowing slightly. She felt both excited and nervous.
Click.
The ultraviolet light switched on, casting invisible rays onto the cup—
Fluorescent purple fingerprints instantly appeared.
The girl’s heartbeat quickened.
Got you.
Last night, she had coated the stems of the roses on her windowsill with a fluorescent substance invisible to the naked eye.
Colorless and odorless, once it got on someone’s skin, it couldn’t be washed off completely. It would only fade gradually through natural metabolism.
And now, that substance had left Jiang Yuan’s fingerprints imprinted on the cup.
It was hard to imagine.
President Jiang—the man everyone gave way to wherever he went—had actually climbed a wall in the middle of the night just to replace the roses in her room.
Was he sick in the head?
She pulled out the fingerprint samples she had previously collected from her own cup.
Using a magnifying glass, she carefully compared them with the fluorescent fingerprints on the mug.
They were exactly the same.
Yan Sui opened the curtains and narrowed her eyes.
The person who had entered her dormitory was him as well.
Surprised?
Not really.
Why?
Why was he shadowing her like a ghost, taking her cup and replacing her roses?
What else had he seen?
What was he trying to get?
Had he done other things too?
What else did he know?
How intrusive.
A smile lingered on her lips, but her eyes were cold.
Even if he meant no harm, it was still deeply unsettling.
He was like the Sword of Damocles hanging over her head, making her extremely uncomfortable.
She had to deal with him.
Pulling out her phone, she stared at Jiang Yuan’s number. Her fingernail tapped the screen repeatedly before she added it to her favorites.
Suddenly, her ringtone sounded.
Her train of thought was interrupted.
Slightly annoyed, Yan Sui answered.
“Dad, what’s the matter?”
“Yan Sui, it’s the weekend tomorrow. Come home. I need to talk to you about something.”
On the other end of the phone, besides Lin Jian’s voice, she could vaguely hear He Wan’s as well.
But Lin Jian hung up immediately after speaking.
Before the call ended, Yan Sui only caught He Wan’s hoarse, hysterical voice, as though she were venting her frustrations.
Looks like the gift she had sent was working.
She stood up and headed out.
Problems had to be solved one at a time.
But right now, the most important thing was that she was hungry.
However, after only a few steps, she heard a commotion nearby.
A crowd had gathered around something.
People seemed to be arguing.
Yan Sui originally had no intention of getting involved, but then she heard someone shout,
“Lin Qi, calm down!”
Instantly interested, she walked over.
The handsome young man’s eyebrow was split open. He had just been pulled away from the fight, and his eyes glared viciously at the other party like a young wolf.
“If I ever hear you say that kind of crap again, see what happens!”
The other person wasn’t much better off. Covering his face, he cursed,
“Lin Qi, are you insane? You can’t even take a joke?”
“To hell with your joke!”
Enraged, Lin Qi tried to charge forward again, but several friends held him back.
“Forget it, forget it.”
“Yu Yang, stop talking.”
“Enough. Getting disciplinary records won’t look good for anyone.”
Surrounded by others, Yu Yang walked away while cursing and insisting on going to the hospital.
Just then, his gaze met Yan Sui’s curious eyes from the edge of the crowd.
He paused noticeably.
A complicated expression crossed his face as he looked her over before striding away.
Only then did Yan Sui realize she knew him.
They had met briefly at the bar before.
Pretty handsome, too.
As the crowd dispersed, Lin Qi stood there breathing heavily, his anger still burning.
Yu Yang had actually dared to make vulgar remarks about Yan Sui.
That bastard…
When he looked up, he met Yan Sui’s worried gaze.
He froze.
Before he could even process his surprise, the girl had already run over.
“Why did you get into a fight? Is it serious? Does it hurt?”
Lin Qi instinctively straightened up and shook his head.
“It’s fine. Just a small injury.”
“Do you really not need to go to the hospital?”
Yan Sui raised a hand and lightly touched the wound at the corner of his forehead.
Lin Qi hissed and awkwardly looked away.
“It’s really nothing.”
“If you’re not going to the hospital, at least let me clean the wound a little.”
As it happened, she always carried bandages and iodine with her.
It was a habit she had picked up from her godfather.
The two of them found a bench.
Yan Sui leaned close as she disinfected his wound.
At some point, her scent had completely filled his breathing space.
It was faint.
A little like laundry detergent.
A little fresh and sweet.
Completely different from the strong perfumes worn by other girls.
It smelled especially nice.
After carefully cleaning the wound, she applied a bandage.
“All done.”
She smiled with narrowed eyes.
“Fortunately, it’s only a superficial injury. Don’t be so impulsive next time.”
Lin Qi frowned.
“I wasn’t being impulsive. It was because he…”
His voice stopped when he noticed her wrist.
“What happened to your hand?”
Only then did Yan Sui realize the injured patch of skin near her wrist looked rather frightening.
“It’s nothing. I accidentally hurt it.”
It looked painful.
Yet she smiled as though it didn’t matter at all.
A strange ache welled up in Lin Qi’s chest.
“Was it because of your part-time job?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Why are you working at a café? What did Mom do to you this time? This is ridiculous. With our family’s conditions, why should you have to suffer like this?”
Lin Qi genuinely felt miserable.
An indescribable kind of misery.
He had completely forgotten his attitude when he first met Yan Sui.
Back then, He Wan had humiliated her and mocked her for not knowing how to use a knife and fork.
Despite having countless empty rooms in the house, they had only given her the smallest storage room.
At the time, he hadn’t even looked at her face properly.
He had simply found everything boring.
“I’m really fine.”
The girl’s eyes sparkled, completely free of resentment.
“I don’t think it’s hard at all. You don’t need to worry about me.
“Tomorrow is the weekend. Dad and Auntie asked me to come home. Maybe they just want to show some concern for me. It’ll be fine.”
The moment he heard she was going home, Lin Qi immediately said,
“I’ll go back with you. I’ll have the driver pick you up tomorrow.”
The girl smiled brightly.
“That would be wonderful.”
Lin Qi couldn’t understand why someone in this world could be so pure, kind, and gentle.
When Yu Yang told him he had seen Yan Sui working at the café, he hadn’t believed it at first.
Then Yu Yang added,
“She’s really beautiful. Looks incredibly easy to pursue. I bet I could sleep with her in less than a week.”
In an instant, all the blood rushed to Lin Qi’s head.
His brain hadn’t even processed it before his fist had already flown.
Unable to stop himself, he said,
“Don’t be afraid. I won’t let anyone bully you.”
“Mhm, I’m not afraid.”
The girl’s eyes curved into crescents as she smiled.
A tiny dimple appeared on her fair, delicate face.
“I know. You’re the nicest to me.”
Lin Qi felt the blood rush to his head again.
But this time, it was completely different from before.
His face turned red.
Unable to find words, he tugged irritably at his hair after a long moment.
“If I’d known this would cause so much trouble, I wouldn’t have taken you to the bar that day.”
“It’s okay.”
The girl comforted him sincerely.
“I’m really happy that you took me out to experience new things. I didn’t know anything. It’s all thanks to you.”
She genuinely meant those words.
Without Lin Qi, where would all these opportunities have come from?
The more she spoke, the closer she leaned toward him.
The smile on her face grew sweeter and sweeter.
But suddenly—
The smile on her face stiffened.