Song Fu decided not to call Lu Yan Zhi “brother” anymore.
The two chatted about the game again. When she learned that the set of photos had leaked out because of Truth or Dare, Song Fu could only feel speechless. And when she heard that the poster was that Ququ who had caused a fuss once before, she found it even more unbelievable. “So he’s taking revenge?”
Lu Yan Zhi said that Ququ was a professional power leveler who had many accounts to switch between. “By tonight at the latest, he’ll post a handwritten apology letter on the forum and make a public apology.”
He gritted his back teeth but still couldn’t help emphasizing again, “Those aren’t photos from elementary school. They’re from eighth grade.”
Seeing how much Lu Yan Zhi cared about those photos, Song Fu comforted him along with it. “Actually, they look pretty cute. Not as bad as those people said.”
“Mm, and then you deleted me.” Lu Yan Zhi crossed his arms, his gaze full of resentment.
Song Fu gave an awkward laugh and quickly changed the subject. “There’s another really important matter.”
“What?”
“Break off the Romance relationship between our two game characters. You propose it, and I’ll agree.”
She set aside the matter of getting the money back for now. She couldn’t even keep the in-game Romance anymore. Lu Yan Zhi suspected again, “You’re saying you’ll agree after I graduate high school, but you’re not just coaxing me, right? Don’t people in those extreme situations where something happens at home try every way to hide it from College Entrance Exam takers? Just to let me prepare for the exam in peace, and then after it’s over, you throw me a ‘sorry’ and cut ties cleanly.”
“Your imagination doesn’t have to be that rich right now.”
Song Fu made a big X in front of her chest with her arms.
Lu Yan Zhi let out a “mm” and drawled slowly, “So, what’s the reason this time?”
Song Fu hadn’t thought of one yet and was momentarily speechless.
Lu Yan Zhi let out a hum of laughter and didn’t wait for an answer. “If you bring it up, I’ll do it.” He caught one of Song Fu’s fingers and held it. “But you know what they say—you can run from the monk, but not the temple, right?”
His slightly hoarse, ambiguous voice line made Song Fu’s ears itch. She didn’t forcibly pull back her index finger but instead looked up to meet the eyes of the person in front of her. “I already said I won’t go back on it.”
That night, two new hot posts appeared on the Game Forum.
One was Ququ’s handwritten apology letter, teased by passersby who said even scattering rice on the paper would look better than his handwriting. Just two lines of text, showing no attitude of admitting fault at all.
1l: I really didn’t expect this to turn into a drama series.
2l: Such a small thing, and it got the game officials involved. One pushing for a healthy environment, the other banning speech.
3l: You’d have to whale millions into the game to get that kind of treatment.
4l: Ate a loss once already and dares to come back? Doesn’t know what’s between his two ears.
…
The other was gossip about Yan breaking off his Romance. Just from the big title, some guessed that Fu Guang Luo couldn’t accept that her Romance partner was an elementary schooler, but then someone explained that the one who proposed breaking the Romance was Yan. And everyone who knew Yan in real life knew he was a standard handsome guy in looks.
The forum discussions were heated. Song Fu skimmed them briefly and didn’t pay attention anymore. Instead, she sent all the transferable resources from her account to Lu Yan Zhi. The rest that couldn’t be transferred, she sorted and uniformly decomposed to discard.
[What a shame.] The System couldn’t help but sigh.
Song Fu didn’t care. She figured she probably wouldn’t log in again afterward.
This game was a real prison. She’d run dungeons all afternoon before and ended up dizzy and nearly vomiting.
Before formally quitting the game, Song Fu lingered on the friends list for a bit and clicked open the chat with Tiantian. She deleted and retyped in the input box, finally just sending a simple sentence: You’re right, it really wasn’t good.
The online storm passed quickly. With one party not speaking up and the other nearly quitting the game, the photos, Romance, and outdated gossip were swiftly cast aside.
Daily life continued.
Later, Song Fu learned more. The high school Lu Yan Zhi attended was a key school with strict student management. But she’d never seen him in a school uniform. When she asked, she found out it was a perk for the top student in the whole school. Their school actually only had a holiday every two weeks, but every weekend, Lu Yan Zhi would take sick leave to create a holiday for himself. He really knew how to pamper himself.
“Happy birthday.”
As soon as Song Fu entered the apartment door, she was nearly blinded by the ribbons and glitter. Fortunately, she’d prepared herself mentally and took half a step back before timely putting on a matching smile. “Thanks.”
Song Fu noticed a trace of cream on Lu Yan Zhi’s face. “Did you make the cake yourself?”
Lu Yan Zhi’s expression stiffened, and he said sullenly, “No, I bought it. But I wanted to make it myself…” Unfortunately, it hadn’t worked. After messing around for a whole afternoon, he got a few charred cake bases and had no choice but to activate Plan B. “Do you want to try the one I made?”
Judging from his expression, Song Fu considered her answer. “If you’ve already made it, I can try it. If not, the bought one is fine too. I’m not picky.”
So Lu Yan Zhi brought out his trophy from the kitchen—a cake in a bowl topped with nothing but cream and fruit—placed next to the one with smooth icing, exquisite decorations, and even a cute rabbit on top. The contrast was stark.
Song Fu blinked and helped cover for him. “Actually, once it’s in your mouth, it all tastes the same!”
“…Not the same.”
Lu Yan Zhi lowered his eyelashes. “The one I made is bad.”
A combination of cake base, cream, and fruit—how bad could it be? Song Fu didn’t believe it and directly took the spoon to scoop a bite. Then her brows furrowed, and she coughed twice.
Her taste buds felt like they’d been punched by this cake.
Lu Yan Zhi still looked at her expectantly.
“It’s not bad, just too sweet. It’s actually okay.” It scorched her throat.
To prove she wasn’t lying, Song Fu scooped two more pieces of cantaloupe into her mouth. Fortunately, the fruit tasted normal.
Lu Yan Zhi had been coaxed too much and happily scooped a bite himself. Then: “…” He silently pushed his own cake aside and started sticking candles into the bought one. “Have you thought about what wish to make?”
The topic shifted seamlessly.
The candles were lit. Song Fu made a small wish that she’d get a C on this mission too, then opened her eyes and “whoosh”—blew out the candles.
“You’re not going to say the wish out loud?” Lu Yan Zhi asked as he tossed the candles into the trash.
Song Fu handed him a tissue to wipe the cream off his hands. “If you say it, it won’t come true.”
Lu Yan Zhi had heard that saying but didn’t take it to heart. Hearing this, he asked again, “So when does the gift-giving part come?” He’d never properly celebrated his own birthday and had no interest in others’, so he didn’t know the rules or process.
Although he’d decorated the scene with balloons and flowers according to online guides, it still felt lacking to him. Cake could be eaten any day; nothing special about it.
So Lu Yan Zhi hoped to make up for it with gifts.
“If you want, you can give them now.”
So Song Fu was led by the wrist to stand in front of the “small mountain,” which was covered by a white cloth and shaped like a pyramid.
As Lu Yan Zhi pulled the white cloth to the floor, a small mountain a person high, piled up from gifts, appeared—
“I spent a long time picking them.”
Lu Yan Zhi introduced it in a tone seeking praise. This layer was clothes and bags, that layer jewelry, and the top layer was…
Song Fu absolutely believed he’d spent a long time picking, just from the quantity. Ten minutes per item would still take hours. She’d been rich in the previous Small World and exchanged gifts with the male lead, but not on this scale. “You bought so much.”
“Because you’re missing so much.”
Lu Yan Zhi thought what was in front of them was far from enough; it was just to learn her preferences. “Pick out the ones you like, and it’ll be easier to buy more later.” As he spoke, he took a square box from the edge of the third layer. “This is a apology gift from a friend. He said it was worn by some Spanish royalty.”
For jewelry and such, history added value. Being worn by royalty was like gilding it. Lu Yan Zhi didn’t understand but respected it.
“Thanks, but I don’t have occasions to wear these. Can’t use them.” Song Fu tried to discourage him from spending in this area.
“Right.” Lu Yan Zhi nodded deeply in agreement, then took out another box. “This one I picked myself. It’s simpler; suitable for everyday wear. There’s also a matching bracelet. And a watch, a couple’s set with mine.”
Song Fu made a hand gesture to stop. “Can I just pick one?”
“You don’t like them?” Lu Yan Zhi wrote frustration all over his face, his eyelashes drooping, voice muffled. “…The others can’t be returned either.”
How could she let the gift-giver be unhappy? Song Fu immediately said, “I like them!”
In the end, Song Fu picked one from each major category. In reality, she couldn’t take them all; even putting them in the dorm would be too much. Lu Yan Zhi said he could provide storage services.
Song Fu’s weekly Saturday tutoring sessions for Lu Yan Zhi weren’t canceled. But rather than teaching, it was more like supervising him while he wrote. Because Lu Yan Zhi never asked questions.
Song Fu had seen Lu Yan Zhi’s transcript and even sighed to the System that the male lead’s brain was indeed sharp.
She played match-3 games boredly on the side.
“Your hair ribbon isn’t one I gave you.”
Lu Yan Zhi spoke abruptly.
The deep blue hair ribbon was neatly woven into her hair, tied into a bow at the end, matching Song Fu’s beige-and-blue pieced coat perfectly.
“Right, I bought this when shopping with my roommate.” Picking hair ties was one of Song Fu’s little hobbies; she had a whole organizer full of various styles. “Looks good?” This hairstyle had taken her twenty minutes to braid.
“Good.” Lu Yan Zhi nodded emphatically, full of sincerity.
Song Fu smiled.
Then that evening, Song Fu received a screenshot of a shopping record for hair ribbons.
Lu: [Kitten assault.jpg]
Lu: Arrives in three days.