1. Wan Ning 2. Qing Xue 3. Yu Ying

After seeing Long Aotian's message, a faint smile finally reappeared on Lin Wanning's delicate yet coldly beautiful face.

"At least for now, it seems Brother has some affection for me too."

With this thought, Lin Wanning hugged her phone and collapsed onto the bed.

Recalling her earlier actions, she couldn't help but laugh at herself. Honestly, the moment she kissed him, her mind had gone completely blank.

Because her heart had fallen faster than her body.

It had begun the first time Long Aotian came to her rescue.

Her fingertips lightly brushed over her red lips—that had been her first kiss.

Gazing at the chat interface, her cool eyes curved into crescents.

She could see the words 【The other party is typing...】 flashing on the screen.

But the message never came.

Perhaps Brother was at a loss for what to do right now?

"It's okay, Brother. Wanning will always be here for you."

Watching the 【Typing...】 notification flicker intermittently, she rolled over and placed the phone against her chest, her eyes sparkling with joy. "Brother, you really are the destined calamity of my life."

She had thought about love before but never met the right person. Who knew that once she did, she’d fall so fast?

Human desires are insatiable. At first, she just wanted to know the name of the person who saved her, just wanted to do something for him in return.

But from the moment she called him "Brother," that title had long ceased to be just a simple formality.

......

In the women’s dormitory, Building 6 of University A, Li Qingxue’s favorite daily activity was opening QQ to check her friends’ updates.

She loved seeing their shared snippets of life and, in turn, sharing her own amusing experiences with them.

Out of habit, she refreshed the page before browsing—just to make sure she didn’t miss any newly posted updates that hadn’t loaded yet.

Sure enough, a new post appeared after the refresh.

Thanks to the name tag, she recognized it as her new friend, Lin Wanning.

【Finally gathered the courage to take a step. What I want to say is, I’ll slowly try to let you understand me, without crossing any boundaries......】

Reading this, Li Qingxue covered her mouth and giggled. "‘Slowly try to let you understand me’—oh my, is this a roundabout way of confessing?"

Hugging her phone, she flopped onto her bed happily, eager to see the comments that followed.

But soon, one particular reply caught her attention: 【Silly girl】

It was from Long Aotian—nothing unusual in itself.

Except Lin Wanning had only liked his comment.

Admittedly, Li Qingxue might be a bit slow when it came to romance, but her mind was sharp in other ways.

【Slowly try to let you understand me, without crossing any boundaries】—this suggested they hadn’t known each other for long. And just moments ago, she had wondered if this was a veiled confession...

Combined with the fact that Long Aotian, that scoundrel, never commented on anyone’s posts yet chose to reply to Lin Wanning’s borderline-confessional update...

All sorts of wild speculations began swirling in Li Qingxue’s mind.

Of course, these were just her own imaginative musings.

After all, she posted updates all the time, yet Long Aotian had never left her a single comment.

The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became. "Shameless jerk! Big pervert! Heartless fool! You’ve never commented on my posts!"

"After all the cookies I baked for you, the times we skipped stones by the lake, even that indirect kiss—and yet you have the nerve to leave comments for someone else instead of me!"

The more she dwelled on it, the angrier she grew. It was precisely because she cared so much that such a trivial matter could upset her like this.

It wasn’t as if she wasn’t pretty. She was just as attractive as Lin Wanning, if not more so—her figure was even curvier in comparison...

Right now, Li Qingxue really wanted to make Long Aotian fall for her, just so she could stomp on his face with her little foot and demand to know why he commented on Lin Wanning’s post but not hers!

Then she’d make sure he only ever liked and commented on her posts from then on—well, maybe Hu Yuying’s too...

"Can’t get jealous over my bestie!"

She had already made up her mind: she’d find a chance to doll herself up and show Long Aotian just how stunning she could be.

"Hmph, let’s see if you can resist me then!"

But then another thought crossed her mind... Given Long Aotian’s clueless nature, would he even realize she was trying to seduce him?

She shook her head. "Whatever. I’ll just find a time to ask him out alone..."

"If Hu Yuying’s around, it’d just be awkward anyway."

With this little scheme in place, Li Qingxue’s mood instantly brightened.

Honestly, her temperament was quite endearing—in a way, it wasn’t so different from Long Aotian’s.

......

"Yuying, what are you working on?"

Hu Yuying smiled at her roommate’s question. "Nothing much."

"‘Blessing Koi’?" The roommate tilted her head curiously. "What does that mean?"

Hu Yuying shyly put her phone away. "It’s... nothing."

"Really? You’ve been keeping more and more secrets lately."

"Not just secrets—you’re ditching us for a guy now too..."

Hu Yuying couldn’t argue back. Her roommates loved teasing her, always making her blush furiously.

She knew they meant no harm—they even brought her meals sometimes—but the embarrassment was hers alone to bear.

So she quickly retreated to her bed, cutting off any further teasing.

Opening her phone again, she stared at the words "Blessing Koi," took a deep breath, and pressed her lips together.

Her goal had always been clear: to sell clothes.

She believed in what Long Aotian said, but her faith wasn’t blind...

If he was willing to guide her, she didn’t want to hold him back. And when he spoke of the 4G era, Hu Yuying couldn’t help but dream.

If the 4G era truly marked a leap forward for society, then this was her chance.

She refused to let Long Aotian down, so no matter what, she would give it her all.

If he wanted to see her grow stronger and more capable, then she would strive to become exactly that.

Maybe then, once he saw how much she’d changed and matured, he’d stop treating her like a child...

She had already made up her mind—and she was unwavering in her resolve.