Walking on the gray stone brick pavement, I could see the brightly lit library not far away, with electric scooters shuttling back and forth on the road, their headlights flashing.

Shen Wanyu had already taken her bag back early, carrying it over one shoulder, her body wrapped in Jiang Linyuan's jacket, making her look somewhat petite.

The Department Head wasn't really the petite type, but wearing my clothes, she unexpectedly looked small and cute.

"What are you looking at?"

Shen Wanyu walked beside Jiang Linyuan.

"Looking at the cute Department Head."

Jiang Linyuan's answer was honest.

Brows as sharp as willow leaves, eyes as cold as an icy spring—beautiful to look at, love to see, want to see more.

"It seems your feelings for Su Muzhi have still lost to my charm."

Shen Wanyu's tone was flat as she mocked him.

"The Department Head is framing me again."

"Just stating facts."

"Where are the facts?"

Jiang Linyuan asked, not understanding.

"What a stupid ape-man, having to ask about something so obvious?"

Shen Wanyu sighed.

"I can't see it."

Jiang Linyuan said.

She looked at him, just shaking her head.

The conversation between them suddenly stopped.

In the silence, they reached a crossroads. The night was cold and crisp, as calm as if the air itself could be breathed.

"Department Head, were you happy today?"

Jiang Linyuan asked.

Shen Wanyu was silent for a moment, then nodded without a sound.

"Although it was the same old campus scenery."

She said without much emotion:

"But with one extra person, taking a lap around felt completely different."

"What kind of feeling?"

Jiang Linyuan asked again.

"One day, you suddenly think of someone. He makes you both hate and not hate tomorrow, yet he never appears in your tomorrow."

Shen Wanyu stopped walking, looking up at the dim yellow streetlamp not far away, her tone as plain as boiled water.

"It's probably something like that."

Jiang Linyuan also stopped, but didn't respond.

"What's the deal between you and Lin Yilin?"

Shen Wanyu lowered her head again, looking at their two shadows.

"All I can say is, it's a mess."

Jiang Linyuan said.

"And Yu Songsong?"

"For now, I can't just let her go."

Shen Wanyu didn't speak.

After a few seconds of silence, Jiang Linyuan couldn't help asking:

"Aren't you going to ask about anything else?"

"The one who should be worried is Su Muzhi, not me."

Shen Wanyu answered quickly.

"You know Yu Songsong's situation. I was the one who went and provoked her. Now, if I just abandoned her, she'd have nothing left."

Jiang Linyuan explained a bit about the story between him and Yu Songsong.

Shen Wanyu said:

"You don't need to tell me all this."

"Just think of it as a friend venting."

Shen Wanyu remembered what he said when they were watching the starry sky projector together.

"Department Head, I don't want to only come find you in my next life."

Jiang Linyuan was a person who didn't care at all about other people's feelings, including his own. She had known that from their first meeting.

Scheming and plotting, deliberately making other girls fall for him, then casually walking away.

But if the other party made a move again, still not letting him go, then he would just surrender without a fight.

In his own words, it was asking for trouble.

Yu Songsong's approach was also surprising. It was as if her whole world was just him, living unbelievably for him alone.

Such an unbelievable thing actually happened right in front of her.

Speaking of unbelievable, she herself was even more…

"So what are you going to do now?"

She asked.

"Just this."

"Just this?"

Shen Wanyu looked at him in surprise:

"What about Su Muzhi?"

"Xiao Su knows everything."

Jiang Linyuan said, unconcerned:

"I never really hid it from her."

"How can you have the nerve to say something like that?"

"That's just the kind of person I am."

"Idiot."

Shen Wanyu spat out two words to comment.

"So… what are you thinking now, Department Head?"

Jiang Linyuan looked directly at her.

"What can I be thinking? Just that I've met a bad person and made friends with a scumbag."

Shen Wanyu's expression was very calm.

After a long while, she asked:

"If one day you break up with Su Muzhi, completely turn over a new leaf, and beg me to be your girlfriend, and I tell you to cut off all ties with the others, would you be willing to do it?"

Completely turn over a new leaf?

Why not say be reborn into a new life?

"That day will never come. I won't break up with Xiao Su."

After saying this, he explained:

"What I'm doing now is taking responsibility for my past actions."

"You didn't deny the second half."

Shen Wanyu nodded:

"Does that mean you might beg me to be your girlfriend in the future?"

"I have that determination, but whether I can actually do it depends on the future."

"So it's a possibility."

Shen Wanyu said:

"When that day comes, will you listen to me?"

As she spoke, she pointed at the crossroads ahead:

"Going straight ahead leads out of the school gate, to find Su Muzhi."

"Turning left leads to the girls' dormitory."

"Which one will you choose?"

Jiang Linyuan couldn't help complaining:

"What would I even do at the girls' dormitory?"

"Don't change the subject. You know what I mean. Answer me."

Shen Wanyu's tone was very calm.

"If I had to choose, I'd go find Xiao Su first and tell her I was going to the girls' dormitory."

"A very stupid move."

Shen Wanyu nodded:

"You have a third option, which is to stand right here."

"...Not make a choice?"

"To cry and beg me to be your girlfriend."

"Department Head, I really want to ask, aren't you a little too confident?"

Jiang Linyuan retorted.

"Didn't you say you liked me?"

Shen Wanyu revealed a faint smile:

"I can feel that stubborn determination of yours to never let go. So, you better prepare yourself mentally to cut off ties with the others, and have an apology letter ready to kneel down and confess to me."

"I'm going to tell Xiao Su about this."

Jiang Linyuan said.

"You think I'm afraid of her?"

Shen Wanyu raised her chin slightly.

"You're even afraid of a stray cat."

"What did you say?"

"Meow meow."

Jiang Linyuan mimicked a stray cat's meow, pretending not to hear, trying to scare Shen Wanyu away.

"Jiang Linyuan, I thought you would be devoted to Su Muzhi, so I usually wouldn't interfere with you."

Shen Wanyu ignored his strange sounds, and her expressionless face suddenly broke into a smile:

"Now it seems your relationship is on shaky ground."

"What do you mean, Department Head?"

"As a friend, I've decided to turn you from a scumbag into a normal person."

Shen Wanyu looked at him with clear, bright eyes.

"Meow meow."

"It looks like I need to teach you how to understand human language first."

Shen Wanyu stepped forward, walking toward the school gate.

Jiang Linyuan followed:

"Department Head, where are you going?"

"To see Su Muzhi, and mock her a bit while I'm at it."

"Didn't you say you wanted to go alone?"

"You can choose not to follow."

The two of them walked one after another toward the school gate, their figures gradually disappearing into the early spring night, like a yellowed scene from an old story, half-deaf and half-dumb as their lives faded away.