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

Just as Li Chen finished affixing the label, his phone vibrated again.

[Shen Ruolan: Your grandfather said something before he passed away.]

Shen Ruolan: He said, "That girl is better than you."

[Shen Ruolan: Then she glanced at your father.]

Shen Ruolan: Your father still hasn't recovered.

Li Chen turned off the message and came out of the kitchen.

Yan Xi sat on the living room sofa with her legs crossed and her sketchbook spread out on her lap.

He couldn't see what she was drawing, but the pencil was held at a very low angle, the kind of grip used when drawing thin lines.

"Going back to Linjiang tomorrow?" Li Chen sat down next to her.

"The day after tomorrow," Yan Xi said without looking up, "Come shopping with me tomorrow."

It's not a question.

Li Chen glanced at the page she had turned to—a half-drawn fishbone pattern, with numbers marking the spacing between each spine.

"What should I buy?"

"Leng Qingge asked me to bring back some things from the capital. Also, Wang Qiang's osmanthus cake wasn't enough to go around, and your mother said there's an old brand in the north that makes even better ones."

When she said "your mom," her tone was already very natural.

Li Chen nodded. "Which shopping district?"

Yan Xi finally raised her eyelids slightly. "Didn't you make a heat map of Beijing's commercial districts? It was in the attachment of that class presentation in the first semester of our junior year."

Li Chen's hand paused for a second.

It was something he made for fun before starting university, stored deep in his cloud drive, and later used as a case study in class by a senior from the computer science department. He had almost forgotten about it.

How did you know?

"Your department's official WeChat account promoted it." Yan Xi continued drawing with her head down. "I took a screenshot."

Li Chen opened his mouth, but couldn't ask, "When was it taken?"

He no longer needed to ask.

There is only one answer—she started collecting from the moment she met him.

Just like him.

"Then should I use my heat map to select business districts?"

"No need." Yan Xi closed her sketchbook. "I have my own route."

"...When did you do that?"

"The half hour you spent teaching your grandpa how to send red envelopes on WeChat."

Li Chen choked for a moment.

He assumed she was resting in the guest room for that half hour.

Yan Xi stood up and stuffed her sketchbook into her bag. As she passed by him, she tapped his shoulder with her fingertip.

Go to bed early. We're leaving at nine tomorrow.

She took three steps, then stopped.

"Wear your navy blue coat."

Why?

"nice."

She went upstairs after she finished speaking.

Li Chen sat on the sofa, savoring the tone of the word "good-looking".

This isn't a compliment. It's an instruction.

My phone vibrated again. It was from group 302.

[Wang Qiang: Brother Chen! Does your grandfather think highly of your sister-in-law?]

[Chen Mo: Additional background—Li Qingcang's highest evaluation of Li Chen was "not bad," which appeared twice: once when Li Chen scored 148 points in the college entrance examination mathematics and again when he first completed the Jeet Kune Do triple strike combo. "Acceptable" carries a higher weight than "not bad" in their semantic system.]

[Zhao Zixuan: So, does that mean my sister-in-law is more popular with Grandpa than Brother Chen?]

[Chen Mo: Significantly higher than.]

[Wang Qiang: Brother Chen, how's your status at home...?]

Li Chen typed two words and then deleted them.

He wanted to say it was alright. But then he thought about the difference in the amount of the red envelopes today, the direction the fish belly was facing, how the chestnut cake was wrapped, and what his mother had just relayed: "That girl is better than you."

Forget it.

[Li Chen: I'm taking her shopping tomorrow. We'll talk later.]

[Wang Qiang: Taking your sister-in-law shopping?? Aren't you the person who hates shopping the most in all of Linjiang?]

[Li Chen: That was before.]

[Chen Mo: Record—The subject's attitude towards "shopping" changed from "physiological aversion" to "active participation," triggered by Yan Xi. The transition took approximately 0.3 seconds.]

Li Chen locked the screen.

I went to the bedroom and found that navy blue coat.

He only wore it twice since winter began. Once was on Christmas Day when he took Yan Xi to the student activity center and she glanced at him; the other was on New Year's Eve when she said, "This one is alright."

It was the first time she had said "it looks good".

He hung his coat behind the door and pressed it down.

Nine o'clock. Navy blue coat. Her route.

enough.

At 8:40 a.m. the next morning, Shen Ruolan stopped Li Chen in the entrance hall.

"scarf."

Li Chen looked down; there was nothing on his neck.

Shen Ruolan pulled a dark gray cashmere scarf from the top of the shoe cabinet. "Yan Xi told me last night that it was windy today and I should wear a scarf. Didn't you see her message?"

Li Chen took out his phone.

[Yan Xi: Bring your scarf tomorrow. (23:47)]

He went to bed at 11:40 last night. Three minutes to go.

Shen Ruolan wrapped the scarf around his neck and creased it. "Make a note of when she sent the message. Don't go to sleep before her next time."

"Mom, she told me to go to bed early."

"Going to bed early is one thing, but news is another," Shen Ruolan slapped the back of his head. "You still have a long way to go."

Li Mohan poked half his head out of the bedroom. "You're not tying your scarf right."

Shen Ruolan turned to look at him.

Li Mohan shrank back.

At 8:56, Yan Xi came down from the guest room.

She wore a black turtleneck sweater and the camel-colored coat he had seen her wearing in Nanxi Ancient Town that day. Her hair was half-up with the phoenix hairpin he had given her. On her left wrist was the silver bracelet.

Li Chen noticed that she had changed her shoes.

It wasn't yesterday's sneakers; it was a pair of light brown flat ankle boots.

The soles are relatively thick with deep anti-slip treads.

For shopping.

She made preparations.

"Let's go." Yan Xi stopped at the door and glanced at him.

My gaze shifted from how the scarf was tied to the buttons of his coat, and then to his freshly polished leather shoes.

"Did your mom tie the scarf for you?"

"……Um."

Yan Xi walked over, took the scarf apart, and rewound it.

Her folding method was different from Shen Ruolan's. She wrapped it around twice, tucked the end inside the collar of his coat, and pressed her fingertip below his Adam's apple.

"The wind is blowing in from here. She tied it too loosely."

Shen Ruolan stood behind the entrance hall without making a sound.

But Li Chen caught a glimpse of her smiling out of the corner of his eye.

At nine o'clock sharp, the two went out.

Yan Xi was driving. She wasn't very familiar with the roads in Beijing, but she had planned the route last night—Li Chen saw that the navigation showed four points marked at varying intervals, arranged not by distance but by type.

The first stop was a time-honored pastry shop.

"Buy Wang Qiang some osmanthus cake." Yan Xi turned the steering wheel with one hand. "What's the name of the shop your mom recommended?"

"Daoxiangzhai. The one in the alley, it's not a chain store."

"I know. Your mom mentioned 'hutongli' twice when she told me yesterday, which means she doesn't approve of chain stores."

Li Chen didn't reply.

He was looking at the fourth location on the navigation.

He didn't recognize that address.

"What is the fourth one?"

Yan Xi glanced at him. "You'll know when we get there."

She moved her right hand off the steering wheel for two seconds, then placed it on the back of his hand next to the gearshift, and traced a line on the inside of his wrist with her index finger.

Then take it back.

Continue driving.

Li Chen looked down at his wrist.

That spot—was where his pulse was most pronounced.

She was just counting his heartbeats.

My phone vibrated.

[Shen Ruolan: Let Mom know you arrived safely. Please thank Yan Xi for helping you tie your scarf.]

Shen Ruolan: Let me examine her tying method.

Li Chen replied with an "okay".