The window in the bedroom was opened, carrying away some of the ambiguous scent.

Lin Qingye had just finished showering. His black hair was wet, dripping down along the lines of his body.

He leaned against the window, enjoying the breeze with his arms crossed, looking lazy. He watched the little girl lying motionless on the bed, wrapped tightly in the quilt. She was on her side, and from his angle, he couldn't even see her face, just a mess of black hair.

Lin Qingye was satisfied, his craving for a cigarette gone. He just watched, and after a while, he chuckled. "Are you that tired? Like you've just run a marathon."

'What do you know.'

Xu Zhinan buried her face in the pillow, grumbling inwardly but not saying it out loud.

She struggled to keep her heavy eyelids open, got dressed under the covers, and finally sat up.

Her hair was a mess, like a little lunatic.

Lin Qingye's mouth curled up. "It's so late. Sleep at my place tonight. If you don't want to move, you can sleep here too."

Xu Zhinan didn't dare to stay out all night.

Although she had just done something even more outrageous, deep down she felt it was wrong, which made her even more afraid of getting caught doing something bad.

She puffed out her cheeks and said softly, "I have to go back."

Lin Qingye had suggested she not go back before and had been similarly rejected. Understanding her temperament, he didn't press the issue.

"I'll walk you back in a bit then."

"Okay."

Xu Zhinan tidied up a little. The corner of a page in the Buddhist scripture by the bed had been turned up at some point. She lowered her eyes, flattened the curl, and put it back in her schoolbag.

She put on her socks, then her shoes, and was fully dressed.

Even though their relationship had reached this stage, Xu Zhinan still didn't know much about Lin Qingye.

He was a popular figure at school, and there were many rumors about him on the school forums, some true, some false. One of them mentioned that Lin Qingye's father was a famous figure in Yan City and that his family was very wealthy.

But in the time Xu Zhinan had spent with him, she had discovered that Lin Qingye didn't have the slightest trace of a young master's temper.

Sometimes he wouldn't even go back to his apartment, just making do for a night in this small, messy studio.

He pulled on a simple white shirt and black pants, put on a mask, and took the schoolbag from Xu Zhinan's hand. "Let's go."

"Do you have an umbrella here?"

"It's not raining outside anymore."

"It might start raining again when you come back later," Xu Zhinan said. "The weather has been weird these past few days, raining on and off."

Lin Qingye obediently rummaged through the room and found a long-handled black umbrella. It was covered in dust, a clear sign it hadn't been used in a long time.

The small alley was quiet, with no one around.

Halfway through, they passed an open-air barbecue stall. A few plastic tables and stools were set up in the narrow passageway. The air was filled with a delicious aroma, and the skewers sizzled with oil. Seeing them approach, the owner called out, "Want some barbecue?"

"Are you hungry?" Lin Qingye asked, turning his head.

Xu Zhinan was about to shake her head when her stomach let out a very ill-timed growl.

Lin Qingye chuckled lightly. "Barbecue or something else?"

"No, I have to get back to the dorm quickly."

"It's not right to let you go back hungry. Eat something, then I'll walk you back."

In the afternoon, she had gone straight to the bar with Zhao Qian after closing the shop and had only eaten some of the bar's snacks. She was indeed hungry now. Hearing Lin Qingye say this, she sat down on a stool in front of the barbecue stall.

Business was poor due to the rain, so they were the only customers. Lin Qingye took off his mask.

Xu Zhinan had a very regular and healthy schedule. It was already past midnight, and she was extremely sleepy.

She propped her head up with one hand and rubbed her face with the other.

Lin Qingye glanced at her. "Tired?"

"Mhm," she answered obediently.

"You've regressed." His voice held a hint of teasing laughter. "I've never seen you this tired before."

Xu Zhinan froze, then realized what he meant. Her face immediately turned red, the heat spreading all the way down, flushing her ears and neck.

"No." She felt embarrassed, lowered her head, and said in a small voice, "It's not that kind of tired."

After all, Lin Qingye was uninhibited about these things, but Xu Zhinan wasn't.

Seeing her reaction, Lin Qingye burst out laughing and commented, "You're really thin-skinned."

Only then did Xu Zhinan realize he was just teasing her. She pressed her lips together and stopped talking.

The owner finished grilling the meat and asked, "Want it spicy?"

Lin Qingye remembered that Xu Zhinan couldn't eat spicy food, so he replied, "Half spicy, half not. Thank you."

"You got it!" the owner shouted. He skillfully separated half and sprinkled chili powder on it, then placed the tray on their table, teasing, "Remembering your girlfriend doesn't eat spicy food. You're a considerate young man."

Xu Zhinan caught the word 'girlfriend', and her heart skipped a beat. She raised her eyes to look at Lin Qingye.

His expression was normal. His phone rang at that moment, and he answered it with a "Hello."

Xu Zhinan lowered her eyes again.

Lin Qingye's tone was flat:

"It's so late. What's up?"

"What time?"

"We'll see. I might not be free."

...

After a few brief words, he hung up, tossed the phone back on the table, and picked up a skewer to take a bite.

"Do you have something else to do?" Xu Zhinan asked.

"No, just a program director."

Xu Zhinan blinked. "Is it that show you're going to be on?"

"Not decided yet."

"...Oh."

They finished eating quickly. Zhao Qian sent her another text asking why she wasn't back at the dorm yet. She didn't dare to linger any longer and started walking toward the school with Lin Qingye.

At this hour, the campus roads were almost empty.

Lin Qingye was wearing a mask and a hat, but Xu Zhinan was still a little worried about being seen and unconsciously quickened her pace, walking ahead of him.

Lin Qingye understood and didn't catch up, walking behind her with his hands in his pockets.

When she reached the dormitory entrance, she turned to look back at Lin Qingye. The young man stood under a streetlight with a cigarette in his mouth.

Xu Zhinan waved goodbye to him, then swiped her card and entered the dormitory area.

"Hey, student, wait a minute!" The dorm matron ran out from the guard booth. "Why are you back so late? What year are you?"

"A junior," Xu Zhinan said. "I got held up by something."

The dorm matron glanced at her and waved her hand in understanding. "You're a girl. Don't be so late next time."

"I know. Sorry for the trouble, auntie."

Out of the corner of her eye, Xu Zhinan glanced outside the dorm. Lin Qingye was already gone.

Tomorrow was Sunday, so there were no classes. The night owls in the dorm were still awake, chatting in the dark after the lights had been turned off.

Jiang Yue had decided to take the postgraduate entrance exam and was still reading under a desk lamp at this hour. Zhao Qian was lying in bed, playing on her phone while talking. The other roommate, Ruan Yuanyuan, wasn't there.

Hearing the door open, Zhao Qian poked her head out from her bed, her black hair hanging down.

Before she could speak, Jiang Yue looked up and saw the head of hair suspended in mid-air, letting out a scream. "Zhao Qian! You scared me to death!"

Zhao Qian was also startled by her sudden shriek. "You're the one who's scary!"

Xu Zhinan closed the door again and smiled. "What's going on?"

Zhao Qian: "Ah Nan, you're finally back. It's so late. What kind of client was that? Couldn't the tattoo design be changed tomorrow? They just had to make you work late. It's so unsafe coming back."

Xu Zhinan put down her schoolbag. "Yuanyuan isn't here either?"

Zhao Qian huffed. "It's better that she's not back. If she were here, Yueyue and I would have to be careful what we say, and we wouldn't be able to chat freely."

Ruan Yuanyuan's home was very close to the school, so she often went home on weekends. She also had a "princess syndrome" and had argued with Zhao Qian and Jiang Yue a few times before, making their relationship unpleasant.

Xu Zhinan was on the same side as Zhao Qian and Jiang Yue, but she had a good temper and had never truly shown any displeasure toward Ruan Yuanyuan.

Xu Zhinan went to the bathroom to wash up briefly. As soon as she stepped out, she heard the core of their conversation—Lin Qingye.

As a popular figure at school, Lin Qingye was even more of a topic of conversation now that he was a graduating senior. There were even several long threads about him on the school forums.

Zhao Qian: "I heard Ruan Yuanyuan is planning to confess to Lin Qingye before he graduates."

Jiang Yue: "For real?"

"That's what I heard. Hasn't she liked Lin Qingye for a long time? Back when we were freshmen, didn't she say she chose to come to Pingchuan University because of him?"

Nearly three years had passed, and Jiang Yue didn't remember this. "Huh?"

"Hey, your brain. Your exam scores are usually so high, how can you not remember this?"

Jiang Yue said, dissatisfied, "No, I mean, did she know Lin Qingye in high school?"

"Duh. Just think about when Lin Qingye got famous. I bet you're the only girl in our university who doesn't know."

Jiang Yue huffed. "Ah Nan probably doesn't know either."

Suddenly being brought up, Xu Zhinan, who had just finished organizing her things and was about to get into bed, tightened her grip on the ladder before continuing to climb up.

The two were deep in conversation, with Zhao Qian giving Jiang Yue a rundown of Lin Qingye's rise to fame.

Lin Qingye formed the Black Locust Band at the age of 16.

The band had four members: besides the lead singer Lin Qingye, there was the drummer Guan Chi, keyboardist Shi Si, and bassist Ji Yan—three guys and one girl.

All four of them studied at Yan City's No. 7 Middle School. No. 7 Middle School had the lowest college entrance rate and first-tier university acceptance rate of all the high schools in the area, famous for being bad and chaotic. Logically, it should have been impossible for anyone from there to get into Pingchuan University.

Xu Zhinan, on the other hand, went to No. 1 Middle School, which had an over 90% acceptance rate into top-tier universities.

At 18, Lin Qingye suddenly blew up because of the song 'Black Locust'. But this fame was only due to the song. At that time, no one in the entertainment industry had ever heard the name Lin Qingye, nor had anyone seen him.

He didn't even show up at the Golden Melody Award ceremony.

Xu Zhinan loved to read and knew of many examples of authors, both domestic and foreign, whose representative works were more famous than their own names.

That was the case with Lin Qingye at the time.

'Black Locust' became a hit, but Lin Qingye's name remained unknown.

Until an entertainment reporter went to "Ye Bar"—the bar where the Black Locust Band had a residency. Back then, it was an obscure little bar, and compared to other bars in such a luxurious metropolis, business was very slow.

That video captured Lin Qingye singing on stage.

He was different from all the personas crafted in the entertainment industry. He had a very unique aura that could effortlessly capture everyone's attention.

Flamboyant, unrestrained, roguishly charming.

Yet also as cool and aloof as the bright moon, difficult to approach, seemingly close yet distant.

Once the video was released, it instantly went viral online, which could be called a phenomenon at the time.

Lin Qingye had a Weibo account, which the award ceremony organizers had specially created for him, complete with real-name verification. It was just that he himself never posted anything on it.

After that day, his Weibo followers skyrocketed from the original 90,000 music fans to over a million.

Yet, that Weibo account has not posted a single thing to this day, which is something of a marvel.

As a result, "Ye Bar" also became the hottest bar in Yan City overnight.

Lin Qingye's sudden explosion in popularity led to all sorts of investors in the industry extending olive branches to him. Countless music producers, program directors, and talent agencies came looking for him, but all returned disappointed.

Although he didn't agree to enter the entertainment industry, he did get into Pingchuan University because of it.

The Golden Melody Award trophy was very prestigious, and because 'Black Locust' was written, composed, and sung solely by Lin Qingye, Pingchuan University's direct admission offer was only sent to him.

The other three band members had rock-bottom grades and later just stopped studying altogether. Fortunately, after they got famous, the bar, wanting to keep these cash cows, offered them very generous pay.

He still released new songs, posting them for free on music apps. Every song's play count was top-tier, with over 100,000 comments, but he never released an album or participated in any shows.

Fans grew more and more curious about him, but with no new content, they started digging up any information they could find.

They had originally hoped to find some cute quirks behind their treasured idol's fresh, noble, and untainted-by-money persona, but what they dug up instead was a string of scandals.

Concrete scandals, the kind that couldn't be whitewashed.

Because it was a video—

A video of a fight.

Lin Qingye, wearing his No. 7 Middle School uniform, looked indifferent and ruthless, punching the boy on the ground again and again as if he had no feeling or consciousness, his face completely impassive.

At the end of the video, the boy on the ground coughed up a mouthful of blood, and then the video abruptly cut off.

This was a video posted on the No. 7 Middle School's forum.

In addition to this, there were many other rumors about Lin Qingye. To sum it up, while he was handsome, he was also a terrifying figure who was ruthless when provoked.

Fame brings trouble.

Less than half a month after Lin Qingye went viral, he began to be criticized and ridiculed by many people, but his fans didn't buy it.

In the fans' words, they couldn't know the full context of the video from back then, so they couldn't jump to conclusions based on it alone. Besides, their idol hadn't even entered the entertainment industry, so he shouldn't be insulted like that.

Now, four years later, Lin Qingye was a senior in college and still had millions of fans. Despite the constant criticism and ridicule, he could still be considered the recipient of immense adoration.

He was like a rare evergreen tree, the kind you see once in a century.

Needing no water or fertilizer, yet always bearing abundant fruit.

"So," Zhao Qian concluded, "that was when Lin Qingye was at his most popular. That's when Ruan Yuanyuan chose her university because of him."

Jiang Yue: "But if she confesses like that, will he accept? Although Ruan Yuanyuan is quite pretty."

"Duh, of course not!" Zhao Qian rolled her eyes disdainfully. "Is she prettier than our Ah Nan?"

"Then isn't she just asking for humiliation?"

"It's called leaving no regrets. After all, she might never see him again." After saying this, Zhao Qian couldn't help but laugh. "But it's not even certain if Big Boss Lin can graduate."

"Why?"

"In our modern history class, Lin Qingye must have failed it before. He's in the same class as us this semester."

Jiang Yue was confused. "Then how come I've never seen him?"

"That's why I said it's not certain he'll graduate. He's never even shown up! If he fails again, he'll probably have to delay graduation. I bet he'll be the first student in our school who can't graduate because of modern history class."

Xu Zhinan lay in bed, paused for a moment, then pulled the covers over her head. She opened her phone and found her chat with Lin Qingye.

[Xu Zhinan: Brother Qingye, there's a final test in modern history class next week. Don't forget to go.]

She silently read the message again before sending it.

Zhao Qian and Jiang Yue's conversation deepened. Even Jiang Yue sighed, "I think girls who genuinely fall for Lin Qingye are quite pitiful. The way he is, it feels like no girl can hold onto him."

After sending the message, Xu Zhinan waited for about ten minutes, but he didn't reply.

She let out a soft sigh, turned off her phone, placed it under her pillow, and closed her eyes to sleep.

The author has something to say:

Ah Nan: I can hold onto him.