Ling Hanlu's heart trembled, and she immediately sat up straight, lowering her head.

　　The troublemaking girl waved her arm, summoning someone to the booth area. A tall boy arrived in response to her call. As he approached step by step, Ling Hanlu pressed her head even lower, using her hand to cover her forehead.

　　Ten seconds ago, when she heard the girl call out "Gu Pan," she felt countless insects crawling through her veins. It made her hair stand on end and her cheeks flush. Although she harbored a glimmer of hope that this "Gu Pan" was not the same as the one she feared, she didn't want to take any chances. She was simply vexed by not having learned any escape techniques and being trapped in a dead end. All she could do was cover her face with her hand.

　　The guy dashed over to ask what happened. The girl showed a mind at least ten years behind her actual age, snuggling up to the boy's side. She softly said, "Gu Pan, I messed up, spilled someone's coffee. Please don't scold me, okay?"

　　"Did you... apologize to the person?" The boy glanced at the woman hiding behind her hand. But his angle only allowed him to see the woman's ponytail, illuminated by the blue light from the computer screen.

　　Recognizing Gu Pan's voice, Ling Hanlu buried her head even deeper. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest.

　　"Did you apologize?" The boy pressed.

　　"I was so scared, how could I think of that..." The girl's voice trembled, clinging tightly to the boy's sleeve.

　　Seeing the girl in such a state, looking completely incapable of handling life, the boy shook his head, sighed in resignation. Then he turned around, swiftly ran to the counter, and grabbed a stack of tissues.

　　He stood next to Ling Hanlu and sincerely apologized to the lady who still refused to look up. Then, he squatted down and wiped the dirty floor. Seeing two drops of liquid on the tip of the lady's shoe, he discreetly wiped them away.

　　Following the coffee type indicated on the paper cup, he ordered a new one and personally brought it over, placing it on Ling Hanlu's small round table. "Ma'am, here's your coffee. I'm sorry!"

　　Ling Hanlu cleared her throat and awkwardly replied, "Um."

　　In the booth area, Gu Pan continued to accompany Lu Yitong for her birthday, as instructed by Li Danxia.

　　"Last year, I celebrated my birthday with my roommates. Just in the dorm, we ordered takeout and cake. They sang me a birthday song, but it was pretty late, so they sang it quietly. It felt like a meeting on a boat in the Nanhu Lake in Jiaxing..." Lu Yitong untied the ribbon on the cake box, twirling it around her fingers, then letting it go. Letting go, then twirling it again.

　　"You're talking more smoothly now." Gu Pan lowered his gaze, green plastic disposable forks scraping against the edge of the white porcelain plate.

　　"Gu Pan, please don't be mad! I don't know what happened, I was just shocked earlier. Maybe I didn't expect to cause such a scene on my birthday, so the mood swing was a bit big, you know? I was just frustrated, believe me." Lu Yitong wouldn't tell Gu Pan how much she enjoyed the sense of relief he brought by coming to her rescue.

　　"Okay."

　　Lu Yitong cut a piece of cake for Gu Pan. The cake was covered with cream, and on top of the cream lay a slice of peach. Gu Pan was about to indulge in this sweet treat when suddenly a fork flew over from across the table, scooping up a corner of the cake and offering it to him.

　　"What are you doing?" Gu Pan instinctively dodged, raising his chin and pursing his lips out of caution.

　　"I'm feeding you! Come on!" Lu Yitong held out her hand, showing no intention of backing down. "Just one bite, okay? It's my birthday today."

　　"First, put down your phone." Gu Pan felt like in Lu Yitong's lens, ropes would sprout out, shaping his every move to fit her ambiguous narrative. Then she would broadcast this ambiguity to the world.

　　"Okay." Lu Yitong put away her phone, and discreetly hid her hand under the table. Once again, she tried to coax Gu Pan into cooperation with a small plastic fork.

　　Seeing the girl's raised arm gradually attracting attention and discussion from nearby tables, Gu Pan realized that to make a mountain out of a molehill, he had to close his eyes and steel his heart.

　　With a sigh of relief from Lu Yitong's shallow smile, this extremely awkward short drama finally came to an end.

　　Gu Pan looked at the girl opposite him, whose complexion was somewhere between Li Danxia and Yu Yan. Her smile, the more persistent and determined it was, the more it made him believe that her mother, Li Danxia, had given her full confidence. The obsession of a mother fearing her son's relationship with older girls made Lu Yitong seem perfect in her eyes. He even felt a bit sorry for Lu Yitong. Because he understood that a girl willing to put in effort must be in love. However, despite this, he didn't want to continue with this situation.

　　After a few encounters, Gu Pan had already understood Lu Yitong's way of doing things quite well. So, without waiting for her to speak, Gu Pan had already arranged for a car in advance. He wouldn't give her any chance to play any tricks.

　　After successfully getting her into the car, Gu Pan gave the driver the destination, Shiyuan University, once again. Watching the wheels rolling forward, Gu Pan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he had seen her off completely.

　　Back at the apartment, it was nearly three in the afternoon for Gu Pan. Upon entering, he realized he was enveloped in a blend of chicken roll, cream, and the strong perfume sprayed by Lu Yitong. He decided to just get his workout done early. So, he headed to the dark green lawn for some muscle-building training, then dashed into the shower with a strange and complex scent clinging to him.

　　After the shower, he felt drowsy. Gu Pan flipped through a few pages of a book before collapsing on the couch and drifting off to sleep. About an hour later, he groggily heard footsteps and the faint rustling of plastic bags.

　　When Gu Pan opened his eyes, a female figure had collapsed onto his chest. With disheveled hair and a captivating scent, although warm to the touch, she remained still, unlike any living being.

　　Still not fully awake, Gu Pan forcefully pushed away the female head resting on his chest, fueled by a surge of fear. It was a stubborn head, determined and lingering on Gu Pan's proud, developed chest muscles.

　　The fragrance emanating from the female figure was weaker than at the noon coffee shop, but it still provided Gu Pan with a clue to her identity. Gathering his courage, almost roaring, he shouted out the dreaded name — "Lu Yitong, let go!"

　　"Haha..." Lu Yitong withdrew her arms and curled up at the other end of the couch.

　　"Did you come in through the door?" Gu Pan adjusted the collar and front of his long-sleeved hoodie.

　　"So what then? Last time I was here, I paid attention when you punched in the code to open the door. I tried figuring out those numbers for ages, but couldn't make sense of them. Did you discuss it with your roommates?" Lu Yitong's right index finger tapped and poked in her left palm, mimicking pressing buttons.

　　"Yeah," Gu Pan sat up straight, hands on his knees, his gaze fixed on the blank wall opposite. But his posture didn't indicate interrogation; it was more of a blank expression.

　　"What are you thinking?" Lu tilted her head, propping her elbow on her knee. The sight of Gu Pan's profile from her angle made her reluctant to blink.

　　"This birthday isn't over yet..."

　　"It's not over until midnight!" Lu crossed her legs, sitting upright. "What do you want?"

　　Gu Pan's temple throbbed visibly, his back teeth clenched. But he immediately regretted speaking. His question, bland and obviously open-ended, was as dumb as a pig.

　　Lu Yitong didn't let the opportunity to retreat slip away. She gestured towards the dining table. "I brought dinner - beef offal noodles, okay? And the cake we didn't finish at lunch, I brought that too. Let's continue celebrating. Oh, and about the noodles, I got the ingredients from the boss, fresh rice noodles, cooked to perfection. Quick, lend a hand, find me the strainer and stuff..."

　　Thirty minutes later. Both of them held large soup bowls. Gu Pan's bowl only had a few coriander leaves floating in it. Lu Yitong leaned over, a smug grin spreading across her face. "So, how was it? Delicious, right?"

　　"Yeah... um, you know, my roommate will be back soon," Gu Pan didn't want to deny the fact that the beef offal noodles had comforted him. But finding a way to gracefully show Lu the door was the top priority.

　　"Really? Will that be a problem?"

　　"Of course, when my roommate comes back, I can't sleep in the living room anymore, it's a common area after all."

　　"Don't worry, I'll leave when your roommate comes back, okay? Here, give me that!" Lu Yitong reached out and took Gu Pan's soup bowl, heading to the kitchen.

　　Gu Pan stopped struggling. There's no use trying to wake up someone pretending to be asleep. He opened the cupboard, checking for a thick cotton quilt to ward off the chill of late autumn. Just then, a figure approached, looming in the darkness.

　　"You lied... your roommate isn't coming back today, right?" Lu Yitong wore a triumphant expression, as if holding all the cards.

　　"What does he do?"

　　"Not sure."

　　"Hey, hold off on rolling out the sleeping mat for now," Lu Yitong pulled Gu Pan back onto the couch. "Since we've got some time, why don't you tell me about the outline of the stories in your notebook?"

　　"I've told you, it's all nonsense." Gu Pan avoided that blue notebook and all the colorful traces of years past inside like the plague. Having it brought out again now was like opening Pandora's box. "There's nothing worth telling."

　　"Come on, help me understand. First off, in the first story you wrote as a kid, what kind of medicine were those little paper packets, and why were you saving them?"

　　"It's made up, no specific medicine. Just a personal quirk, like collecting stamps or coins." Gu Pan didn't want to tell her that those little paper packets he surreptitiously took from his mother, Li Danxia's drawer contained pills that could make someone fall asleep.

　　"Oh... and this recent story, it looks like a carefully planned revenge plot. Is there a twist coming up?"

　　"Stuck."

　　"I remember Wang Shuo talking about his writing, basically saying, once you hit twenty thousand words, the characters just start doing their own thing. How about you?"

　　"No one likes being manipulated."

　　"Du Fu said, 'Articles hate being manipulated, are you willing to trade for profound thoughts with wandering?'"

　　"I've got a question for you too. How can someone who can discuss these issues freak out and not even know how to apologize after spilling someone's coffee? You're always so smooth with polite language, so how does that contrast feel? Are you enjoying playing this game?"

　　"Um, how about I help you with the sleeping mat?"

　　Gu Pan's counterattack left Lu Yitong, usually so adept at logic, speechless. For a moment, she felt a bit relieved. But then, she couldn't help but think, even if the girl tacitly acknowledged his deliberate act of playing dumb, what then? Did Gu Pan win this round? The unwanted situation he didn't want was still happening, and the unwelcome company was right in front of him.

　　He was getting agitated.

　　Ling Hanlu left a message for Fang Yu, discussing improvements to the plan. Only when she closed her laptop did she notice the time. It was already another early morning.

　　She stood in front of the vanity mirror, staring at her smeared makeup. It had been a full twelve hours since she slathered on that layer of chemicals.

　　Getting closer, she noticed some powder caking around the sides of her nose. She remembered the youthful face in the coffee shop. Despite the untimely look of distress, there was no denying the envy-inducing delicate skin that seemed as fragile as a bubble.

　　That girl wore too much makeup, drew on unnecessary brows, and sprayed on an unwelcome perfume. For her, the impatient thirty was still far away. But what about her true thirties? By then, she would firmly hold Gu Pan, who would be the same age, in her hands, with children around her knees... Was it like this?

　　Ling Hanlu used her mind detached from academia to recall the events of the afternoon. Unconsciously, she walked to the balcony. It was really cold in the early morning! After standing for a short while, Ling Hanlu began to shiver in her big robe. She hugged herself, feeling a slight warmth from the action, momentarily transported back to that thrilling moment on the couch.

　　The sweaty body of the young man kept trembling. His hands were rough and stubborn. He kept muttering something, like "too late" or something similar. She couldn't remember. But she remembered what he said when he struggled to break free. She was glad she didn't say "Fuck off !" at that moment. In retrospect, she didn't feel the anger and disgust necessary to utter that word. So, besides astonishment and bewilderment, what other feelings did she refuse to admit?

　　Ling Hanlu was deeply immersed in self-reflection. The cold outside was becoming more piercing. Fortunately, other thoughts flooded into her mind, prompting her to give up the struggle against nature.

　　She rushed into the bathroom, removing her makeup while reminiscing about the actions of that little troublemaker. At its core, it wasn't unfamiliar. She encountered things with the same essence almost every year.

　　For example, candidates caught cheating who knelt before her begging for mercy. They appealed to her emotions, trying to reason with her, willing to do anything to avoid punishment.

　　These young kids often had remarkable acting skills, capable of manipulating hearts and minds. Some of them were skilled at distorting facts, confusing people's perceptions. They could twist the situation without you even realizing it. You might not even notice when they suddenly transformed into victims. If you didn't compromise your principles and give them the benefit of the doubt, you might end up being targeted as "cruel"...

　　"Sigh, it's their own business. Why am I bothering myself with it..." Ling Hanlu loosened her clothes, heading to the shower to wash away the day's agitation and worries.