Oh no! I've only been a freshman and I've already been targeted by a mean upperclassman.

"Xi Xi".

"Um."

"Just be yourself. My mom isn't the kind of person who would make things difficult for anyone."

"I know."

"Then why are you so nervous?"

Yan Xi's lips moved slightly.

He didn't speak for two seconds.

"I'm not nervous, I'm preparing."

Li Chen suppressed a laugh.

"What are you preparing?"

"Dialogue".

This time, Li Chen couldn't hold back.

"You even need to prepare lines for making phone calls?"

Yan Xi shook off his hand.

"Shut up."

Li Chen withdrew his hand and leaned back obediently in his chair.

But he never managed to suppress the corners of his mouth.

The car entered the highway and picked up speed.

The view outside the window turned into continuous gray-green blocks, rushing past.

Yan Xi's phone was on the center console, and the screen lit up briefly. It was a message from Leng Qingge.

[Leng Qingge: Are you back? Where are the photos you brought back? I want to see them! Do you know there are over three hundred comments under your post on WeChat Moments?!]

Yan Xi ignored her.

Her attention was drawn to something else.

It's a 40-minute drive from the school.

There are still a few hours until that phone call.

Yan Xi, the student council president and the eldest daughter of the Yan family, a woman who could dominate any situation, had only one thought in her mind at this moment.

What kind of girl does Li Chen's mother like?

……

By the time the highway turned into Linjiang city, it was already dark.

Yan Xi parked her car downstairs in front of the boys' dormitory.

Li Chen took out his suitcase and stood outside the car window.

"I'm going up now."

"Um."

Li Chen bent down and braced himself against the car window frame.

"Think it over before you call tonight, there's no rush."

Yan Xi looked at him.

"When did I say I wasn't in a hurry?"

Li Chen was stunned for a moment.

"What time is convenient for you tonight?"

Nine o'clock.

"I'll have my mom call you at nine o'clock."

"OK."

Li Chen straightened up and dragged his suitcase toward the dormitory building.

After taking a few steps, I looked back.

The Porsche's taillights flashed briefly in the night as it turned out of the intersection.

He stood there until the red dot completely disappeared.

The door to dormitory 302 was unlocked.

The moment Li Chen pushed the door open, all three people's eyes shot over at him.

Wang Qiang sat on the bed, clutching a bag of spicy strips that he had already eaten most of.

Zhao Zixuan was playing games while leaning back in his chair, but his eyes were clearly not on the screen.

Chen Mo pushed up his glasses and glanced at Li Chen from head to toe.

There was a moment of silence.

"Godfather!" Wang Qiang was the first to jump out of bed.

"You're finally back!!!"

Zhao Zixuan immediately exited the game to the background.

Chen Mo put down the book in his hand, his tone calm.

"Based on the body posture analysis, the target's emotional index is good, and the relaxation of facial muscles has improved by about 15% compared to before departure."

"My skin condition has improved slightly, which I suspect is positively correlated with air quality and sleep duration."

"Speak like a human being." Wang Qiang patted him on the shoulder.

Chen Mo pushed up his glasses.

"He's living a very comfortable life."

Li Chen leaned his suitcase against the door and sat on his bed.

"Missing me?"

"I missed you, you bastard." Wang Qiang plopped down opposite him. "Do you know what we've been through these past three days while you were gone? The food in the cafeteria got worse and worse, no one carried us in the game, and even the air in the dorm wasn't fresh anymore!"

Zhao Zixuan delivered the finishing blow.

"The main problem is that nobody's treating us to meals anymore."

Li Chen took three paper bags out of his bag and threw them to the three people respectively.

"A handmade osmanthus cake from the ancient town."

Wang Qiang opened the paper bag and stuffed a piece into his mouth.

"Hmm... alright, I'll reluctantly forgive you."

Zhao Zixuan took a bite and gave his evaluation.

"Not bad, better than the cafeteria."

Chen Mo picked up the paper bag and examined the outer packaging.

"This store is ranked in the top three in local forum reviews. Did you use a web crawler to filter it or did you buy it randomly?"

Li Chen did not answer the question.

He took out his phone and sent a message to Li Mohan.

[Li Chen: Have Mom call her at 9 PM tonight. I'll send you the phone number.]

After sending it, he copied Yan Xi's phone number over.

Ten seconds later, Li Mohan replied with an OK hand gesture emoji.

Then another one came in.

[Dad: Your mom has already started picking out clothes.]

Li Chen stared at the message for three seconds.

Choosing clothes? Do I need to choose clothes just to make a phone call?

He recalled what Yan Xi had said in the car two hours earlier: "I'm preparing my lines."

It turns out that this tension is two-way.

……

8:55.

Yan Xi sat at her desk in her dormitory.

She had tidied up the desk.

All the scattered drawings, model parts, and water cups were put back in their places.

I switched the desk lamp to a soft light setting and closed the computer, pushing it aside.

Leng Qingge squatted down next to her, looking up at her face.

"nervous?"

"I'm not nervous."

"You changed your clothes three times."

Yan Xi looked down at herself.

She wore a beige turtleneck sweater, her hair was down, and she had removed her phoenix hairpin.

"I can't see it even if I call," Leng Qingge muttered to herself.

"Say one more word, and you'll be writing the meeting minutes tonight."

Leng Qingge immediately shut up.

She stood up and patted Yan Xi on the shoulder.

"Relax, you're Yan Xi, you've seen it all."

Yan Xi did not answer.

She has seen many things.

At the Yan family's banquet, she was only seven years old when she was able to raise a glass to toast a table of adults and say things that pleased all the guests.

During the student council election, she gave a 15-minute impromptu speech in front of 300 people, and the applause lasted for half a minute.

But she could handle those situations using her identity as "the eldest daughter of the Yan family".

Not tonight.

Tonight, she is Li Chen's girlfriend.

An ordinary girlfriend who needs to call her boyfriend's mother.

There's no script to follow for this identity.

The phone screen lit up.

News about Li Chen.

[Li Chen: My mom will call you at nine o'clock. Don't worry, she just wants to chat.]

Yan Xi swiped her thumb across the screen.

Yan Xi: I told you I wasn't nervous.

[Li Chen: You type faster than usual.]

Yan Xi lock screen.

Leng Qingge had already tactfully returned to her bed and put on her headphones, but her gaze kept drifting over from time to time.

8:59.

Yan Xi placed her phone on the table, screen facing up.

Her hands were on her knees.

The fingertips did not move.

His back was ramrod straight.

Nine o'clock sharp.

The screen lit up.

An unfamiliar number.

There is no note on the caller ID.

Yan Xi stared at the string of numbers for a second.

Take a deep breath.

Pick up the phone, answer it, and hold it to your ear.

"Feed—"

A woman's voice came from the other end of the phone; her tone was high-pitched, she spoke quickly, and there was a clear hint of laughter in her voice.

"Is this Xiaoxi? I'm Li Chen's mother!"

Yan Xi straightened her back even more.

Hello, Auntie.

Three words.

The sound was crisp and clear.

Leng Qingge, sitting opposite her, quietly took off one of her earphones.

On the other end of the phone, Li Chen's mother, Shen Ruolan, spoke with a voice as warm as a fire.

"Oh, finally it's connected! Xiaoxi, I've been looking forward to talking to you for the past month!"

"That brat is so tight-lipped. Every time I ask him about his girlfriend, he just says 'she's doing great,' it drives me crazy..."