The two of them walked into the cafeteria under everyone’s gaze, and in the end Shen Yaoyao picked a deserted corner. Only after she was sure no one was paying attention did she let out a deep breath.

Nangong Yunhai looked at her, the corners of his lips curling up slightly.

Shen Yaoyao said helplessly, "Nangong Yunhai, when exactly is this little act of ours going to be over?"

This fake dating gig was exhausting her to death!

Nangong Yunhai gave a light cough. "The exact time depends on my mom’s arrangements."

"..."

...

Chu Ge was busy at work when he received a call from Mu Bingtong. He guessed Shen Yaoyao must have given her his number.

"Chu Ge, has Yaoyao been to see you?" Mu Bingtong asked over the phone.

Chu Ge remembered running into Shen Yaoyao once during the competition and gave a brief "Yeah." "What’s up?"

"Nothing, I was just asking."

Mu Bingtong suddenly realized that the distance between her and Chu Ge really had grown.

"Since it’s nothing, I’m hanging up." Chu Ge said coldly, and without the slightest courtesy he ended the call.

Chu Ge stood in front of the window, quietly looking out. He knew very clearly that he didn’t belong to this time-space, and nothing in this time-space—including Mu Bingtong—belonged to him.

His Mu Bingtong was still in another time-space, waiting for him to come back.

Nangong Yang walked over hugging a pile of documents and saw Chu Ge spacing out in front of the window. She’d been working with him for a few days now and felt that this person actually wasn’t as awful as she’d imagined.

Hearing the movement, Chu Ge turned his head and glanced at her. "What is it?"

He asked.

Nangong Yang shook her head. "Um... I want to treat you to a meal, is that okay?"

Chu Ge pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Okay."

Right after saying that, Nangong Yang wanted to bite off her own tongue. Why did she say she was treating him to a meal! She just had something she wanted to ask his advice on!

Chu Ge didn’t stand on ceremony with her either. Since she said she was treating him, he really came along.

It was just that Chu Ge ate a little too fast; she could hardly keep up.

"Don’t wear such casual clothes in front of the company."

"Huh?" Nangong Yang didn’t get it.

Wasn’t the rule to talk less while eating? "...Oh."

Chu Ge, however, had no intention of explaining. He quietly watched Nangong Yang eat, but in his mind he was thinking of when he and Mu Bingtong had first gotten together—they’d sat just like this back then.

"Except for group dinners or events, the two of us have to eat all three meals together every day. And, Mu Bingtong sets aside time every day to keep you company, so stop coming to our classroom for lectures. Focus on your major courses. There are only two months left before finals; you should start concentrating on the exams."

Only two months left before finals? No wonder there were suddenly a lot more people in class now. Before, at most two-thirds of the seats were taken, but now you had to show up twenty minutes early to get a good spot!

Of course, Mu Bingtong and Xiao Meng’s forever-last-row seats never had to worry about anyone snatching their "prime location."

"I’m done eating."

"Let’s go."

Now that she’d eaten her fill, if she could go back and catch up on sleep, life would be perfect.

"Go back and rest. Nine o’clock, meet at the library!"

Nine o’clock? Library?

"..."

"Make-up lessons for Advanced Math!"

Chu Ge, how do you know advanced math is Mu Bingtong’s weak point?!

What about Mu Bingtong’s precious post-breakfast nap!

Between her nap and Chu Ge, Mu Bingtong could only grit her teeth and sacrifice the nap, waving bye-bye to it!

Humming a little tune, she went back to the dorm and brought breakfast for Xiao Meng on the way. "Here, here, fresh and piping hot, eat while it’s warm."

"The sun must be rising in the west today, huh?" Xiao Meng pulled open the curtains and glanced outside.

"Chu Ge treated us!"

"Ohhh, no wonder you look so radiant. Look at you, grinning from ear to ear, huh?"

"Forget just blooming, I’m planning to bear fruit too."

Mu Bingtong flipped through Mu Bingtong’s wardrobe; it really was all androgynous clothes. Even for summer, it was all pants; not even half a skirt to be found. No wonder Xiao Meng said Mu Bingtong didn’t look like a girl!

Xiao Meng saw Mu Bingtong staring at the wardrobe in a daze. "You going out?"

"No, but I’m going to the library later!"

"Then what are you staring at your clothes for?"

"Chu Ge told Mu Bingtong today to wear fewer androgynous clothes!"

"Chu Ge is a detective, huh!"

She simply plopped down on the floor and stared at the clothes in the wardrobe. She thought of a popular saying online recently: in front of clothes, a woman is an emperor. Mu Bingtong pointed at Mu Bingtong’s clothes. "You silly concubines, why aren’t you volunteering to serve in bed!"

Xiao Meng gave Mu Bingtong a "you really should be on meds" look.

In the end she still went to the library in her original outfit. When the weekend came, she was definitely going to buy a few decent pieces!

The library was packed. After circling around and around she finally managed to sit down. Other people’s dates were in cafés, on random street corners, or in ice cream shops or something, but their very first date turned out to be: the library!

The other students around them weren’t really focusing on their books because of Chu Ge’s presence, sneaking glances over at them from time to time.

"Focus on your book, don’t keep looking around." Chu Ge’s eyes never left his textbook.

"Oh." Sometimes Mu Bingtong suspected Chu Ge had more than just two eyes.

Time always slips away quietly without saying hello. Every day she and Chu Ge not only ate three meals together, they also had two hours of "date time." And their date location, apart from the library, was still the library.

There was less than a month left before the exams. So this was what they meant by last-minute cramming; Mu Bingtong was finally seeing it for herself. Every class was full of new faces, the classroom packed to the brim, and even their treasured last-row seats would get taken if they didn’t show up early.

Xiao Meng, Fang Huai, and Su Ke had all joined their battle. Actually, she wasn’t very worried about the exams. Her philosophy was that as long as she didn’t fail, all was good, so she just slacked her way through every day. But whenever she thought of Chu Ge, who was about to enter senior year, starting to do research and write his graduation summary...

It meant they wouldn’t have that much time together anymore. Yet they’d only just gotten together; they weren’t even at the "passionate love" stage. It had already been a month since they started going out, and they still hadn’t had a proper date. Even their conversations were just a few words here and there before dying off.

Were other couples like this too? Fang Huai and Xiao Meng were clearly not like this, right?

Xiao Meng said he was overthinking it; this was a special period and he had to understand and be supportive!

Okay, he understood, he’d be supportive.

The tense study atmosphere was making her feel suffocated, so this afternoon, she skipped class!

In the quiet campus, only at times like this did it actually feel like a school?!

Walking down the road alone, not knowing where to go, she unconsciously ended up at the gym. Seeing the three words "basketball court," she couldn’t help a wry smile. Back then, for Chu Ge’s sake, she’d really made a lot of jokes—like sending a love letter to the wrong person, and getting laughed at by Fang Huai for being behind the times. What era was this, people confessed via text now!