He tricked the female lead into becoming his boyfriend, but then went on to criticize the male lead.

Just as a mouthful of rice was swallowed, a tiny grain of rice somehow managed to get stuck in the gap between the nasal cavity and the throat.

Instantly, a suffocating, foreign sensation struck her, making her throat tighten, her nose sting, and her breathing become labored, causing her extreme discomfort.

There are only two ways to deal with rice grains stuck in a crevice: either blow your nose forcefully to force the rice grain out of your nasal cavity, or inhale forcefully to suck the rice grain along with nasal secretions into your mouth and then spit it out.

The former method is too embarrassing and is really unseemly in a public place like the cafeteria.

Su Qingyan frowned subconsciously and chose the latter without hesitation.

She tilted her head slightly, held her breath, and gently inhaled, quickly sucking out the culprit grain of rice.

Tang Tongtong, who was about to ask Su Qingyan what song she was going to sing and whether she needed help practicing, caught a glimpse of Su Qingyan's suddenly pale face and her instantly tense jaw. She immediately changed her mind, her tone filled with concern: "Qingyan, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Qin Ying immediately stopped eating and looked over with concern: "Did you choke because you ate too fast? Are you alright?"

Su Qingyan didn't respond. She quickly pulled out a tissue to cover her mouth, gently cleaned her mouth, spat out the grain of rice, and carefully wiped the corners of her mouth clean.

As the uncomfortable feeling of something stuck in her throat gradually subsided, she slowly calmed her breathing, looked up at the two of them, and said in a calm tone, revealing little emotion: "I'm fine."

As she spoke, she simply put down her chopsticks and gently pushed her plate aside: "I'm finished eating. I don't have classes this afternoon. I'm going to practice singing. I'll go back to my dorm to put my things down first. I'm leaving now."

As soon as she finished speaking, she picked up her schoolbag from the table, stood up gracefully, and left the cafeteria.

Watching her swift departure, Tang Tongtong and Qin Ying exchanged a glance, both feeling somewhat puzzled. They wondered if it was just their imagination, but Su Qingyan seemed to have a cold and aloof demeanor these past two days.

Sang Jiuning, who had been focused on eating the whole time, finally ate and drank her fill after being hungry for a long time, and most of her fatigue and weakness dissipated.

The three of them cleaned up their plates and got up to return to their dormitory.

Back in the dormitory, fatigue washed over everyone, and they all climbed into their beds for a midday nap, plunging the dormitory into silence once again.

Sang Jiuning lay on the bed, a thin blanket draped over her stomach, her eyelids slightly closed, but a figure kept popping into her mind—Wen Zhaoci.

She subconsciously reached for her phone beside her pillow and opened her chat with Wen Zhaoci.

The screen was spotless and excessively quiet.

Another full week passed, and their chat history was almost nonexistent.

Wen Zhaoci, who used to always take the initiative to send WeChat messages and would always find time to chat with her even when she was busy, reminding her to eat well and rest well, has become unusually silent this week.

Monday: [ZC: I'm busy today.]

Tuesday: [ZC: Busy, will talk later.]

Wednesday: [ZC: No time, busy now.]

Thursday, Friday, and the weekend—seven whole days, every word and sentence is filled with the cold, hard word "busy".

The reply was simple and blunt, extremely perfunctory.

He seemed to have vanished from her world abruptly, completely severing all unnecessary contact.

Sang Jiuning stared at the cold, thin chat history. Her originally calm heart sank little by little, and a dense sense of annoyance and unease spread wildly through the cracks in her heart.

She curled up slightly, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the phone screen, her heart churning with confusion and resentment.

Wen Zhaoci would never have acted like this before.

But in the first week of school, he seemed like a completely different person.

He's busy from Monday to Friday, and even on Saturdays and Sundays, when all the students are on holiday and have plenty of free time, he still just gives a cold "very busy".

There was no explanation, no reporting, no extra tenderness, not even a single word of proactive concern.

The more Sang Jiuning thought about it, the more suffocated she felt. Her chest felt heavy, and layers of bitterness pressed up on her.

A thought that was both utterly absurd and incredibly clear suddenly shot into her mind.

She is a transmigrator, living inside a campus novel with a predetermined plot.

The trajectories of all the characters should have been firmly bound by the plot.

Now, could Wen Zhaoci's sudden coldness and inexplicable busyness not be his true intention at all?

Is it that invisible force, controlling the plot of the entire novel, secretly interfering with everything?

It was an uncontrollable deviation in the plot that forcibly shackled him with the "busy" label, forcing him to disappear, forcing him to neglect her, and forcing him to distance himself from her.

Once the thought arose, it could no longer be suppressed and firmly took root in her heart.

Sang Jiuning closed her eyes, her brows furrowed tightly, her heart filled with panic and confusion, mixed with resentment, grievance and stubbornness.

If he's truly fed up with her and doesn't want to talk to her anymore, she'll accept it.

But if it's that damned plot twist that's interfering, she suddenly doesn't know what to do.

The pent-up frustration and unease of the day finally reached their peak at this moment.

She could no longer bear this ambiguous indifference, this endless wait, or the helplessness of being manipulated by an unknown plot.

Sang Jiuning suddenly opened her eyes; she was determined to find out the truth.

She wanted to see it for herself.

Let's see if Wen Zhaoci is truly busy every day and unable to be in two places at once, or if he's just making excuses to appease her. Let's see if all of this is his true intention, or a forced intervention by the plot.

Tuesday afternoon's schedule is completely empty. There's only one short class in the morning, and after that, there are no more classes. It's the most leisurely afternoon of the week.

An excellent opportunity is before us.

Unable to fall asleep during her lunch break, Sang Jiuning tossed and turned in bed for a while before finally sitting up.

Whatever the outcome, she had to go to him in person to verify all her guesses.

After quickly tidying her clothes and applying light makeup, Sang Jiuning grabbed her phone and keys from the table, quietly greeted her roommate who was taking a nap on the bed, then turned and strode out of the dormitory, heading towards the school's laboratory building.

The laboratory building is the training ground for Wen Zhaoci's major. If he is in the laboratory, he will stay here all day.

She walked up the steps one by one, looking at the solemn and quiet laboratory building in front of her, her heartbeat quickening involuntarily, pounding against her chest.

Tension, trepidation, unease, and a touch of stubborn desperation swirled in my mind.

She wanted to see what that person, who had disappeared for a whole week, was up to.

Is he genuinely busy, or is the plot forcing him to pretend to be busy?