The pretty little follower gets targeted by the crazy guys at the elite academy

Biological laboratory at Imperial Capital University.

The halo of the microscope flickered before my eyes.

Pei Qingrang stared at the cell slices in the lens, motionless, for three hours.

The assistants behind him fell silent, even their breathing became soft.

Everyone knows that Professor Pei hates being disturbed when he is conducting experiments.

But what's even more frightening is that this state of mind often means he's thinking about that person again.

five years.

Pei Qingrang transformed from a reserved academic prodigy into an internationally renowned biologist.

His research topic was "the storage and retrieval of memories," supposedly because he wanted to figure out "whether people can forget those they deeply loved."

Over the past five years, he has published 37 top-tier papers, won 18 international awards, and become the youngest tenured professor at Imperial University.

But he never smiles when receiving awards.

The only time he laughed was four years ago, when he accidentally saw the surveillance footage in the St. Lia's cafeteria, where he saw Li Ruo's expression after eating those things.

"Professor Pei."

An assistant cautiously began, "Tomorrow's schedule..."

"understood."

Pei Qingrang's voice remained cold and clear, as if it came from an ice cellar.

He straightened up, took off his glasses, and gently wiped them.

Those eyes were deeper and emptier than they were five years ago.

"What are Zhou Si investigating lately?" he asked.

The assistant paused for a moment, then whispered, "He...he's investigating Lu Xingzhou."

"Where is Lu Xingzhou?"

"We are investigating you."

And you?

Pei Qingrang remained silent for a second.

Then a slight smile appeared on his lips, a smile as cold as ice:

"I'm checking the air quality."

assistant:"???"

Pei Qingrang offered no further explanation.

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the night outside.

He was indeed checking the air quality.

Because he knew that the person was not in any of their hands.

The real Tibetan is someone else.

But he didn't intend to tell the other fools.

Let them distrust each other, fight amongst themselves, and wear each other down.

That way, when he finds her, he will have the chance to... have her all to himself.

Pei Qingrang took out a small object from his pocket: a gold hair clip.

Five years ago, when Li Ruo was forcibly kissed by him for the first time in the cafeteria, the hair clip was accidentally pulled off by his button during the struggle.

He originally wanted to find an opportunity to be alone with her to repay her, and then legitimately ask her for another kiss.

But then she disappeared.

He's kept it for five years.

He firmly believed that one day he would put that hair clip back on her hair with his own hands.

She won't disappear so easily.

She must be somewhere, waiting to see their reaction.

Let's wait and see who... is most worthy of her coming back.

Just like how she deliberately kissed Fu Chenzhou's forehead, deliberately said they weren't friends, and deliberately ate those things...

She was calculating and planning every step of the way.

Pei Qingrang held the hair clip up to his eyes, and through the golden light, he seemed to see her face.

"Ruoruo..."

His voice was very soft, so soft it was almost like he was talking to himself:

"I'm waiting for you."

"When you come back, tell me... whether my five-year wait was worth it."

-

Principal's Office, St. Lia's College.

The office lights were still on.

Guo Yiling sat at her desk, a stack of documents piled up in front of her.

But he didn't absorb a single word.

His gaze fell on a photograph hanging on the wall.

That was a class photo taken five years ago, after the start of the school year, in Class A of Grade 2.

In the photo, Li Ruo is standing in the last row, laughing carefree.

five years.

Guo Yiling went from being a rigid student council president to becoming the principal of St. Lia Academy.

He managed the school very well, strictly enforced school rules and regulations, and reduced the violation rate to the lowest point since the school was founded.

Every student who violates school rules will be called to the principal's office and given an hour-long lecture.

The students privately called him Guo Yanwang (King of Hell).

People in the education field say he is the most competent principal.

But he didn't care about any of that.

He only cares about one person.

That person once sat in his office, the one he forced to write a self-criticism, but instead made him lose face.

That person had once violated school rules and was caught red-handed, yet he easily and effortlessly subdued him.

That person once...

No one knew that he did all this just so that when she returned, she would see a better Saint Leah.

In the drawer of his desk, there was a special document locked away: all the clues he had secretly investigated over the past five years regarding Li Ruo's disappearance.

Every clue pointed in the same direction, but he didn't tell anyone.

Because he knew that if that guess was true... then there was more to her disappearance than met the eye.

My phone rang; it was the director of the academic affairs office calling.

"Principal, the celebration schedule has been confirmed."

"The seats for Mr. Zhou Si and Mr. Lu Xingzhou have been arranged... however, the six of them requested to sit separately, the farther apart the better."

Guo Yiling rubbed her temples: "Do as they say."

"And... will that empty classroom be kept for tomorrow?"

Guo Yiling was silent for a second.

Then he said, "Keep it."

He hung up the phone, stood up, walked out of the office, and went to a classroom at the end of the corridor.

The sign on the door reads: Grade 2, Class A.

He pushed open the door and went inside.

The classroom was empty, but the desks and chairs were arranged neatly.

In the last row by the window, there was an open book on the table.

That was the book Li Ruo read during her last class five years ago.

After she left, Guo Yiling disregarded school rules.

They even used the identity of the school chairman's son to forcibly seal off the classroom, forbidding anyone from entering.

I clean it myself every day.

Five years have passed, and it remains the same.

He walked up to that spot and gently touched the book on the table.

The page she was reading was yellowed, but the creases were still there.

"Ruoruo..." his voice was hoarse, "Where are you?"

"Do you know... how much I miss you?"

He paused, then gave a wry smile:

"Although I know you probably don't care whether I miss you or not."

"You never care what other people think."

"But I still want to tell you... I still have that office."

When are you going to write your self-criticism?

-

Jiang Wu's studio.

The lights were off in the studio.

Moonlight streamed in through the dilapidated window, casting dappled shadows on the floor.

Jiang Wu huddled in a corner, surrounded by piles of paintings.

All the paintings share the same theme: Li Ruo.

Li Ruo in a white dress, Li Ruo in her school uniform, Li Ruo smiling, Li Ruo pursing her lips when angry, Li Ruo squinting her eyes contentedly while eating strawberries, Li Ruo with a mischievous look when kissing his forehead...

More than one hundred paintings, each one lifelike.

In the bottom right corner of each picture, there are two words: Sister.

five years.

Jiang Wu transformed from that pale and gloomy boy into a world-renowned genius painter.

His paintings have repeatedly fetched record prices at international auctions, and critics have called him a "genius who paints with his soul."

But what they didn't know was that all his paintings depicted only one person.

That person disappeared for five years.

He searched for five years.

Every night he would curl up in this dilapidated studio, painting her, thinking of her, and waiting for her.

I painted until my fingers cramped, until my eyes were bloodshot, until I used up box after box of paint.

He signed and dated each painting, writing: "[The Xth day after my sister returns]"

Today is day 1826.

"elder sister……"

He murmured softly, the moonlight reflected in his amber eyes:

Where are you?

"Why haven't you come back yet?"

"Does that mean... you don't want me anymore?"

He lowered his head and looked at his chest.

There is a long scar there, which he cut himself five years ago.

He wanted to cut out his heart and give it to her, but he failed.

The wound eventually healed, leaving this scar.

This place used to be the closest to her.

Whenever he misses her, he touches the scar, then he makes a new cut and watches the blood drip down, only then can he feel that he is still alive.

"elder sister……"

His voice became even softer, as soft as a murmur in a dream:

"I know you must still be alive. You're so strong, you won't die."

"You're just...hiding away."

"It's okay."

He looked up at the moon outside the window, and a smile slowly crept onto his lips.

That smile was both innocent and crazy:

"Wherever you hide, I will find you."

"I'll wait as long as you hide."

"The day you come back..."

He paused, a strong possessiveness welling up in his amber eyes:

"I'll lock you up and never let you escape again."

"My sister can only be mine."

"It can only be mine..."