After sorting out his homework, Xie Shu didn’t rush to contact Ruan Nianxi. He freshened up and lay down to rest.

His eyes were truly tired after several days of poor sleep.

Having bid Ruan Nianxi goodnight, he prepared to rest.

Despite his excitement, fatigue eventually overcame him, and he fell asleep. But Ruan Nianxi wasn’t so lucky; her mind was equally abuzz with excitement, anxiety, and fear…

She realized she’d have to be more secretive in the future, making sure Xie Shu never learned anything unfavorable about her, never met her parents, and never left her side!

She tossed and turned with these thoughts until deep into the night when she finally fell into a heavy sleep.

The next morning, they met again in the cafeteria.

Xie Shu’s fellow students, still groggy with sleep, were force-fed a mouthful of “dog food” as they watched the couple’s interactions.

Xie Shu and Ruan Nianxi weren’t overly affectionate, just holding hands, but even that was enough to send their single friends into fits of jealousy.

If only they had launched Operation Dark Shark the night before, they lamented, they wouldn’t be regretting it now!

Thankfully, they all had classes that morning, or who knows how long the couple’s sweetness would have continued.

As class time approached, they headed to the teaching area and then parted ways.

Their landscape design teacher hadn’t asked them to prepare anything in advance, just to bring their books, so they were likely to stay in the classroom for the duration of the lesson.

They chose seats in the back rows upon arriving early and finding plenty of space in the four-seat rows.

With a few minutes to spare before class, Xie Shu, out of boredom, sent Ruan Nianxi a message.

However, the usually prompt Ruan Nianxi took a while to reply this time.

Ruan Nianxi: [Sorry, I was solving a problem and didn’t see your message.]

Xie Shu: [What problem?]

Ruan Nianxi: [Calculus.]

Calculus?

That seemed foreign to him; it wasn’t required for their major.

Xie Shu: [Isn’t class starting? Why are you doing problems already?]

Ruan Nianxi: [Yeah, it’s for attendance.]

Xie Shu: [How does that work for attendance? Send me a picture, let’s see if I can do it.]

Soon after, Ruan Nianxi sent him a photo.

Opening it, Xie Shu saw a problem written on the blackboard.

“Z=3X^4+X^2Y^3, find the derivative at (1,1).”

Teachers sure have unique ways of taking attendance these days, he thought.

Then he messaged back: [I’m not good at English, but bring on the math!]

Ruan Nianxi: […]

Xie Shu joked around with Ruan Nianxi on his phone for a bit before class started and then stopped messaging.

Their teacher arrived shortly after.

Their attendance was simple: either by seating arrangement or by drawing, without any fancy tricks.

After attendance, the teacher began the lesson, and Xie Shu, putting aside his playful mood, listened attentively.

When the teacher mentioned landscape elements, Xie Shu, out of habit, searched online for images to reinforce his memory.

Sometimes, he couldn’t help but think how rich a resource the website TaoBao was.

While listening to the lecture, Xie Shu browsed TaoBao. He intended to search for specific landscape elements but was immediately greeted with recommendations for women’s clothing on the homepage, likely due to his previous searches.

He found the recommendations quite fitting for Ruan Nianxi, so he clicked to view and added some to his cart.

After refreshing the page a few times and adding more items to his cart, Xie Shu suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

He marveled at how advanced the internet had become, making it easy to forget about studies with just a smartphone.

Returning to the homepage to catch up with the teacher’s pace, he was about to search when Liu Ping glanced over at his screen.

“Xie Shu, I didn’t know you were into this stuff,” Liu Ping whispered, nudging him with his elbow.

“???”

Liu Ping didn’t wait for a response but quickly shared his discovery with another roommate, who also reacted similarly.

In just a few seconds, all three of his “sons” were giving him knowing looks.

Confused, Xie Shu glanced at his phone and realized he had refreshed the page, which now displayed stockings…

Xie Shu: “…”

After a few seconds, he added the stockings to his cart, prompting the three onlookers, who had been watching his every move, to smirk meaningfully.

“You rascal, you never said you liked these things before. Has having a girlfriend changed you?” Liu Ping continued in a low voice.

Xie Shu replied seriously: “The past is the past; now, I’m a pervert.”