After ninety-nine online romances, I finally met my ex in person when school started.

Lin Yuan dragged Zhu Xunchuan and ran wildly up to the sixth floor.

As soon as Lin Yuan pushed open the door to dormitory 621, he rushed straight to the balcony, leaning half his body over the railing.

"Brother Chuan! Look! Look!"

Zhu Xun Chuan walked over slowly.

As dusk fell on the campus, the sunset painted half the sky a fiery red. The light shone on the newly renovated graduate student apartment building across the street, its exterior illuminated by stylishly designed warm-toned LED strips.

But what was truly shocking was the convoy of cars downstairs.

Six pure black Rolls-Royce Phantoms, lined up one after another, completely blocked the tree-lined road leading from the south gate to the dormitory area.

In the middle, guarding the vehicle, was a pure white, custom-made, extended-length Maybach Pullman.

The car is over six and a half meters long and is blindingly white.

Instead of turning people away, the dozen or so security guards from the school's security office stood neatly on the perimeter and set up a cordon. Hundreds of students surrounded the area, holding up their phones like they were at a concert.

"That car... I checked, it costs at least twenty million including options! You can't buy it even if you have the money, you need a special purchase quota!" Lin Yuan swallowed, his eyes red. "This extravagance, is a Dubai prince visiting our school?"

Zhu Xun Chuan didn't speak. He took out a cigarette from his pocket, knocked one out, put it in his mouth, and lit it.

The commotion downstairs continues.

The doors of the Phantom opened in unison. A line of foreign maids and butlers in dark gray high-end uniforms filed out. They wore white gloves and carried identical Hermès custom-made suitcases, moving them into the building like an assembly line.

"Hey! Look at those boxes!" Lin Yuan pinched Zhu Xun Chuan's arm. "Just pick one out, and it's enough for my living expenses for four years of college! What does this woman do? Did she strike it rich?"

"Maybe he's a rich kid," Zhu Xun Chuan said casually, exhaling a smoke ring.

"A rich kid? Buying a building and decorating it like this makes you a rich kid? Brother Chuan, do you have some kind of misunderstanding about rich kids?"

Zhu Xun Chuan flicked his cigarette ash and his gaze fell on the white Maybach in the middle.

The car door remained closed.

Dozens of bodyguards dressed in black suits and wearing headsets quickly dispersed, opening long black umbrellas in their hands. The dozens of black umbrellas were seamlessly joined together, stretching from the car door all the way to the apartment entrance, forming an impenetrable black corridor.

The students watching were all standing on tiptoe, craning their necks so long that not a single hair could be seen.

"Damn, she's covered up so tightly! I wanted to see which fairy goddess she was!" Lin Yuan punched the railing, his face full of regret.

Zhu Xun Chuan, a cigarette dangling from his lips, leaned on the balcony railing with both hands.

The evening breeze blew by, making his T-shirt cling to his body and revealing the faint lines of his muscles.

Suddenly, he felt an intense gaze upon him.

It was a highly aggressive gaze that pierced through the crowd.

His hand holding the cigarette paused, and his gaze followed his intuition downwards.

Through an extremely narrow gap where the bodyguard's black umbrella met, the Maybach's rear window was lowered halfway.

Because of the angle, the onlookers downstairs couldn't see inside at all. But Zhu Xunchuan, standing on the sixth-floor balcony, could see the scene inside the car through that narrow angle.

In the dimly lit carriage, only the lower half of her face and a long, swan-like neck were visible.

The woman tilted her head slightly, her chin curving beautifully, her full red lips carrying a nonchalant smile.

She didn't look ahead or around; her gaze was precisely fixed on Zhu Xunchuan on the sixth-floor balcony.

Immediately afterwards, a hand reached out from the half-open car window.

Her hands were dazzlingly white, her wrists as white as snow, and she wore a pair of semi-transparent black lace gloves. The lace texture clung to her delicate skin, exuding a sense of forbidden desire that made one's mouth dry.

She waved twice lightly towards the sixth floor.

very slow.

Very elegant.

It's like a queen surveying her territory, spotting her beloved prey.

Zhu Xun Chuan's Adam's apple bobbed.

The cigarette ash fell on the back of his hand, burning him, before he came to his senses.

The black umbrella quickly closed, and the car window rolled up. The figure completely disappeared into the dark corridor.

"She's in! She's in!" Lin Yuan yelled from the side. "Brother Chuan, did you see that? That hand! That glove! Amazing! That rich woman is an absolute stunner! Was she waving upstairs just now? Was she looking at me?"

"You're overthinking it. She's probably just swatting flies." Zhu Xun Chuan calmly stubbed out his cigarette.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

He took it out.

A new message popped up on WeChat, sent by "Sweet Strawberry".

"Brother Chuan, you look even more handsome standing on the balcony smoking than in the video."

It also ends with a strawberry emoji.

Zhu Xun Chuan looked at the screen and twitched the corner of his mouth.

He typed back: "Wow, quite the grand display. Didn't you say your family runs a small business?"

The other party replied instantly.

"Yes, it was just a building materials business, and I bought this building on the side. The renovation was a bit rushed, so it's barely habitable."

It's barely habitable.

An Italian bathtub costing 800,000, with a rooftop garden and a heated swimming pool—that's barely habitable.

"What's wrong, Brother Chuan doesn't like it?" Sweet Strawberry sent another message.

"I like it, but it's a bit expensive."

"My money is your money. I'll come over tonight after I've tidied up and taken a shower. Remember to leave the door open for me. I'd like to try out your single bed in the dorm."

single bed.

Zhu Xun Chuan immediately pictured those hands wearing black lace gloves. The image of those hands resting on his rickety wooden bed...

He quickly stopped himself from thinking about it.

"Don't come. It's not convenient in the boys' dormitory." Zhu Xun Chuan decisively refused. What a joke! Su Mu Cheng was still waiting for him at the hotel, and Jiang Yao was still waiting for him at the club. If she were to suddenly appear, the earth would explode tonight.

"Inconvenient? It was quite convenient when Su Mucheng went there last night."

The moment the message popped up, the hairs on the back of Zhu Xunchuan stood on end.

She even knows that Su Mucheng came here last night?!

Who exactly is this woman? Is she part of a clairvoyant system?

Before Zhu Xun Chuan could figure out how to reply, another message arrived.

"Honey, wait for me. I brought you a present."

Zhu Xunchuan put his phone back in his pocket.

He rubbed his temples, feeling that the wind tonight was not only noisy but also a bit deadly. He couldn't stay on the balcony any longer; he had to hurry back inside and think of a solution. At least he had to get Lin Yuan, that big mouth, out of the way to prevent any inappropriate bloodshed from happening tonight.

"Old Lin, aren't you going to spend the night at an internet cafe?" Zhu Xun Chuan turned and walked back into the dormitory.

"I'm not going! With a super-rich woman like that living next door, why would I play games? I'm going to stay on the balcony and maybe I can get noticed!" Lin Yuan clung tightly to the railing.

"You stay here and see if the bodyguards will mistake you for a psycho and snipe you with binoculars."

Zhu Xunchuan stepped through the sliding door of the balcony and into the dormitory.

The dormitory lights were off, and the afterglow of dusk slanted in through the window, casting long shadows on the objects in the room.

Zhu Xun Chuan walked to his desk, preparing to get his water glass.

Then, his feet froze on the spot.

A person was sitting in the chair in front of the desk.

Long hair cascading down her shoulders, a white T-shirt paired with a floral skirt. She was backlit by the balcony light, so his expression was obscured, but that silhouette was all too familiar to him.

Shen Tianxi.

She came in at some point, and just sat quietly in his seat.

On the desk in front of her was a package from SF Express (Single Express).

The seal has been torn open.

In Shen Tianxi's hand, she held three exquisitely designed pieces of cardstock with dark gold borders.

Those are concert tickets.

The top one has several very eye-catching words printed on it:

"Su Mucheng National Tour Concert - Kyoto Station".

Below is a line of smaller print: VVIP privilege seating area, row 1, seats 1, 2, and 3.

Zhu Xunchuan's breath caught in his throat.

Su Mucheng, that troublemaker! It's all my fault! Why didn't I check the table right away when I came in?

"Sweetie..." Zhu Xun Chuan opened his mouth, his voice dry.

Shen Tianxi did not turn around.

She held the tickets between two fingers and examined them carefully in the afterglow of the sunlight streaming through the window.

"Brother Chuan." Her voice was very soft, sweet yet tinged with a deathly stillness.

"Um."

"I remember you once said that you hated idol worship the most."

Shen Tianxi slowly turned her swivel chair around to face him.

Backlit, her pure and sweet face was devoid of any smile. Her eyes, which usually curved into crescents, now resembled two bottomless wells.

She raised her hand and waved the tickets in mid-air.

"Su Mucheng. Top idol. Nation's first love."

Shen Tianxi's gaze shifted from the ticket to Zhu Xunchuan's face, her voice growing softer, as if reciting a poem. "This morning, the whole internet was buzzing about her being in a relationship; it was even trending at number one."

She stood up and walked step by step to Zhu Xun Chuan.

The hem of her floral dress brushed against his knee.

She tilted her head back, her eyes misty with tears, yet concealing a sharpness like a needle's point.

"Who do you think is so lucky to date a beauty like Su Mucheng?"

Shen Tianxi placed her index finger on Zhu Xunchuan's chest, slowly tracing it down, past his Adam's apple, and stopping at the spot where the band-aid was.

"Brother Chuan, did you sleep well at your hotel last night?"

Zhu Xun Chuan looked into her eyes, his mind racing.

At this point, explaining that "my roommate bought it" is no longer an option.

He took a deep breath and grasped Shen Tianxi's hand, which was resting on his collarbone.

"Sweetie, let me explain."

"Okay." Shen Tianxi didn't struggle; instead, she nestled into his arms, her cheek pressed against his chest. Her voice was still sweet, but it carried a chilling, morbid quality. "Explain. I'm listening. But if you lie to me..."

Her hand slid down his chest, wrapped around his waist, and gently pinched the soft flesh on his side through the fabric.

"My grandfather has a sidearm," she breathed softly in his ear. "I'll steal it, and then... bang."

Zhu Xun Chuan broke out in a cold sweat in an instant.