Their fingers interlocked, Xie Shu and Ruan Nianxi reluctantly reached the girls’ dormitory without wanting to part ways.

With a lingering reluctance, they finally let go only when the dormitory supervisor was about to close the doors. Ruan Nianxi, worried that Xie Shu wouldn’t make it back, finally released his hand.

Xie Shu tenderly ruffled her hair before bidding her farewell.

Just minutes after confirming their relationship, they had to separate—such is life.

But now, no matter how reluctant, it was time to return.

Xie Shu quickly returned to his dormitory. His roommates noticed the absence of the pop-up book in his hands, deducing that he must have given it away. And seeing the smile on his face, they were certain he had successfully confessed his feelings.

Damn it!

Someone has betrayed the brotherhood!

Operation Dark Shark is on for tonight!

His roommates gave Xie Shu “dangerous” looks, but he just laughed it off and sat down to contact Ruan Nianxi on his phone.

With nothing to hide anymore, he directly made a video call.

Ruan Nianxi quickly answered.

Through the video, Ruan Nianxi saw Xie Shu’s side for the first time.

He had propped his phone on the table and was chatting with her while tidying up various papers, pens, and other art supplies…

From her angle, she couldn’t see his entire desk, but watching him leave the frame several times with a pile of papers, it was clear his desk had been quite cluttered.

…It even seemed like he had rushed out immediately after finishing his work, not having time to tidy up.

Ruan Nianxi still held the pop-up book in her arms, feeling both happy and heartbroken.

The heartbreak was for Xie Shu, of course. Most of the images in the pop-up book were drawn by him, stroke by stroke.

To draw so much in just two days, and to do the handcrafting—it must have been exhausting.

He was so dedicated.

Xie Shu spent a long time cleaning up, going back and forth several times before he finally cleared all the scrap paper from his desk and put the pens and other art tools back in their places. Only then did he focus all his attention on the phone.

At first, he hadn’t been able to watch the phone continuously because he was cleaning, but now that he was done, he had plenty of time for a “face-to-face” chat with Ruan Nianxi. However, he noticed that every time her roommates passed behind her, they would stick their heads out to stare at him for a while before leaving.

Once or twice was fine, but they did it every time they passed by, and they stared at him intently through the screen.

Xie Shu: “……”

Considering they were Ruan Nianxi’s friends, Xie Shu mentioned them in the video after noticing this.

Ruan Nianxi had been aware of their little actions all along, but since they didn’t disturb her, she didn’t mind too much.

Now that Xie Shu brought them up, she intended to gloss over it by simply referring to them as roommates and classmates. But to her surprise, upon hearing Xie Shu mention them, they eagerly gathered around…

They were just purely curious.

They knew their class president was in a relationship and that the guy was probably from the Art College, but they were still curious!

They had been classmates and dormmates with Ruan Nianxi for three years and knew how aloof she could be. They were just curious about the man who had won their class president’s heart!

He was indeed handsome!

Definitely a cut above the boys in their college.

A match of handsome and beautiful!

Since they weren’t close, Xie Shu only exchanged a few symbolic words with them. But in the brief seconds he spoke with them, Ruan Nianxi felt a twinge of jealousy.

She pursed her lips, tempted to end the video call to prevent Xie Shu from talking to them.

But if she did that… she wouldn’t be able to see him either.

Years of restraint had taught Ruan Nianxi to hide her emotions well, so her brief change in demeanor went unnoticed by everyone.

Fortunately, Xie Shu didn’t talk to them much longer and quickly refocused on Ruan Nianxi. After a few words, he had to temporarily end the video call due to homework.

Ruan Nianxi pursed her lips, feeling somewhat unsatisfied with the short meeting time.

But in the end, she put down her phone and placed the pop-up book on the table.

Her roommates, who were about to leave, saw her place a thick, unmarked book on the table and became curious again. When the topic of the pop-up book came up, Ruan Nianxi proudly declared it was a gift from Xie Shu, made by his own hands.

They had no concept of a pop-up book and were even more curious. Ruan Nianxi initially didn’t want to show them, but a sudden impulse led her to open the book for them.

Upon seeing the first page, everyone was stunned. They might not understand what it was, but it looked complicated at first glance.

Moreover, Ruan Nianxi had just mentioned that the book was handmade by Xie Shu!

There was a photo in the middle that seemed to be a childhood photo of Ruan Nianxi with someone else. Out of curiosity, they asked, and then they learned it was a childhood photo of her with Xie Shu!

They were childhood sweethearts!?

How come there are so many childhood sweethearts in the world?

And they just happened to have none!

Someone became curious about the pop-up book and wanted to touch it, but Ruan Nianxi wouldn’t allow it.

Alright, alright, people in love are bound to be possessive. Since she didn’t allow it, no one insisted further.

It wasn’t until they reached the last page that their mouths, agape in amazement, hadn’t closed. Ruan Nianxi intended to just close the book, but her roommates kept reminding her there was “a window” in the middle that hadn’t been opened.

After some thought, Ruan Nianxi obliged them and opened it for a quick look.

Just a glance…

And she closed it again.

Her movements were swift, but even so, everyone got a rough idea of what was “outside the window.” They didn’t see the image clearly, but the bold text caught their eye, and they remembered most of it.

Without much thought, everyone guessed it was a confession, and someone exclaimed, “Class president, so this pop-up book, is it a gift Xie Shu gave you when he confessed?”

“Yep.”

Someone proudly nodded.

“Holy crap! That’s amazing!”

“Has the bar for confession gifts been raised this high now?”

“I’m so envious!”

…

In the boys’ dormitory.

Xie Shu’s final drawing was also completed. He hurriedly saved the image, exited the software, zipped the image and the original files together, then opened WeChat and searched for a while to find the blacklist.

After finding it, he released the only name on the list.

Back in his friends list, he opened Su Qianyi’s chat window and sent her the compressed file…

Elsewhere.

Su Qianyi had been prepared for Xie Shu to remove her from the blacklist and was waiting for him to send the homework.

Finally, around eleven o’clock at night, Xie Shu’s homework file came through.

Seeing the message, she immediately sent him the one she had edited in advance.

She had spent a long time crafting this message, condensing everything she wanted to say into a few short sentences, worried he wouldn’t have the patience to read it all.

But the very next second after sending it, she saw the familiar red exclamation mark.

“Your message has been sent but was rejected by the recipient.”