Shi Yin and Gu Congli officially entered their first emotional crisis and cold war.

It was one-sided on her part.

Shi Yin went to the restroom to tend to the visible wound on her lips, then pulled her collar higher before returning to the previous private room.

Gu Congli stood silently by the door, head bowed, not entering. Hearing footsteps, he raised his head, his gaze lingering on her lips as he pressed his own together.

Shi Yin lowered her head, avoiding eye contact, and walked straight into the private room.

Fortunately, the dim lighting inside concealed any abnormalities. As soon as she entered, Nishi no Na approached her. “Where did our little Shi Yi go just now? We called for you so many times!”

Shi Yin glanced to the side and noticed that drinks and a set of dice had been brought out.

She politely declined Nishi no Na’s invitation to join a team, retreating to a corner seat where she sat lost in thought.

Shi Yin had originally thought that facing someone like Gu Congli would make her feel afraid and want to run away.

But now that it had actually happened, was she truly afraid of him?

There was a faint sense of unease, yes.

However, this emotion wasn’t fear—it was more anger and confusion.

His personality harbored many hidden layers beneath his indifferent exterior, aspects she didn’t fully understand. Now that these facets had surfaced, she felt at a loss about what to do.

It was her first time encountering something like this. She was unsure how to handle it or what the “right” response even was.

About ten minutes later, Nishi no Na received a message from Qian An saying he wouldn’t come.

By now, Shi Yin was almost certain who Qian An was. She froze momentarily, walked to the private room door, and opened it slightly to peek outside.

Gu Congli was already gone.

She closed the door again, leaned against the frame, and after a moment of thought, pulled out her phone. Opening the browser, she hesitated for a long while before typing in—

“Is biting during a kiss a sign of violent tendencies?”

Glancing around furtively to ensure no one nearby was paying attention, she leaned against the wall and hit search.

A flurry of responses popped up. Shi Yin clicked on the top result—

“Hello, this isn’t typically considered a sign of violent tendencies. Biting your partner’s lips during a kiss can indicate a desire for sexual intimacy.”

Shi Yin: “….”

Her face turned visibly red at an alarming speed. With an audible “slam,” she shut her phone, covering her face with one hand in embarrassment. After a moment, she guiltily removed her hand and hastily exited the browser.

What nonsense was this?

What… what kind of “desire”?

Around ten o’clock in the evening, the gathering finally ended.

Since Shi Yin had arrived with Lin Youhe, it was only natural that he took responsibility for sending her home. Outside the KTV, as they exited, Shi Yin noticed a familiar car parked in the lot.

The familiar Porsche, its iconic red, white, and black emblem featuring a galloping horse.

She glanced at the license plate—it was unmistakable.

Shi Yin checked her watch.

Several hours had passed.

Lin Youhe had been drinking, so Shi Yin hailed a taxi. Before getting in, she glanced back at the car still parked there, seemingly lifeless.

As the taxi drove off, the Porsche slowly followed.

Maintaining a moderate distance—two cars between them—it trailed her all the way to her neighborhood.

After paying the fare, Shi Yin got out.

The Porsche remained parked by the roadside, unmoving.

She turned and headed into the residential complex.

From afar, she heard the sound of a car door closing.

Shi Yin exhaled deeply, about to turn around when she remembered the information she’d looked up earlier.

“Is biting during a kiss a sign of violent tendencies?”

“Biting your partner’s lips during a kiss indicates a desire for sexual intimacy.”

“…”

Shi Yin stiffened, quickening her pace as the sound of her heels clicking echoed through the night. She hurried into the building, stood by the elevator, and peeked cautiously outside.

He hadn’t followed her inside.

She boarded the elevator, unlocked her door, kicked off her shoes, and tiptoed to the living room window. Pulling the sheer curtain aside slightly, she peeked out stealthily.

Gu Congli stood under the streetlamp, leaning against the black lamppost, a cigarette dangling from his lips. Silently, he tilted his head upward, gazing toward her apartment.

From such a distance, Shi Yin felt as though their eyes met for a fleeting moment.

Caught peeking, she quickly retracted her gaze, flustered, and plopped down onto the floor, hiding her head behind a potted plant.

Two minutes later, unable to resist, she cautiously peeked out again.

Gu Congli was gone.

She leaned against the windowsill, staring at the empty space beneath the streetlamp. Her phone buzzed in the dark room, its glowing screen bright against the shadows.

Shi Yin held her phone up to her face.

[Gu Congli: Remember to treat your wounds.]

Shi Yin stared blankly.

So… he had waited in his car for several hours, followed her home like a shadow, watched her reach her doorstep, and then left. What exactly had he been doing?

Was he seeing her home…?

She couldn’t help but tug at the corners of her lips.

The movement tugged at her bitten lip, sending sharp stabs of pain through her mouth. Shi Yin sucked in a sharp breath, clutching her mouth and whimpering pitifully.

If biting indicated a desire for intimacy…

Then someone like Gu Congli, who seemed determined to bite her to death, must be absolutely exploding with desire.

Teacher Shi Yi’s mind filled with inappropriate thoughts.

Though he certainly looked like someone devoid of carnal needs, he was nearly thirty years old. Surely, he must have had girlfriends before, right?

Even if his personality made it seem unlikely that he’d ever dated anyone, a man his age surely couldn’t lack experience in that area?

Shi Yin wasn’t particularly bothered by whether or not he’d had women in the past—in fact, she hoped he had some experience.

Otherwise, a thirty-year-old virgin would be quite terrifying. What kind of rare species would that be?

Wait.

Wait a minute.

Slowly, the hand covering her mouth slid up to cover her entire face.

What on earth was she thinking about?!

Thanks to that untrustworthy Baidu search, Shi Yin barely slept all night.

Her dreams were flooded with all sorts of inappropriate thoughts. She woke up early the next morning, sitting on her bed in a daze.

Shi Yin remembered a similar incident from the past. A few days after her period had ended, she’d gone to the bathroom and, upon finishing, noticed the toilet bowl filled with red liquid. Terrified, she thought it was blood and panicked. In her confusion, she frantically turned to Baidu for answers.

Baidu told her it was an incurable disease, that she might be dying soon, and advised her to eat well while she still could.

Heartbroken and depressed, Shi Yin spent the entire afternoon sobbing into her pillow, tears streaming down her face. Suddenly, she remembered that she’d eaten dragon fruit earlier that day.

The red-fleshed kind.

From that day on, Shi Yin vowed never to trust the nonsense spouted by Baidu again.

So why had she fallen for its tricks once more?

In a foggy haze, Shi Yin pulled back the air-conditioner blanket, swung her legs off the bed, and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

While brushing her teeth, the foam touched the tip of her tongue and the corner of her mouth, sending sharp jolts of pain through her lips. She flailed her legs in agony right there in the bathroom.

That damn old bastard, Gu Congli.

One day, she would get her revenge and make him experience just how “refreshing” this pain was.

By the time she emerged from the bathroom, it was already a little past eight in the morning. After half-drying her hair, she slipped into a coral fleece long sleep dress and shuffled out of the bedroom toward the study.

As she passed the kitchen, her steps faltered.

On the dining table sat two sandwiches and a glass of milk. Shi Yin approached and lifted the top slice of bread.

Perhaps because he didn’t know when she’d wake up, the filling consisted of tomatoes, pickles, avocado, and cold-smoked bacon.

She raised her head, craning her neck to peer into the kitchen, then scanned the room.

The house was silent, save for her presence—no one else seemed to be around.

Taking a bite of the sandwich, the soft buckwheat bread paired perfectly with the refreshing slices of pickle and tomato. It was both tangy and appetizing.

Last night, he had silently escorted her home, and now this morning, he had left her breakfast without a word. This man truly was as reserved as they came—even his apologies were delivered in silence.

She pouted, munching on the sandwich as she made her way to the study.

Pushing open the door, she spotted someone seated at the desk near the entrance. The computer was on, displaying a rough draft of a storyboard.

Shi Yin froze.

Liang Qiushi looked up, equally startled.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Liang Qiushi lowered his gaze, his voice soft. “I had already finished the storyboard for the next chapter of Hong Ming Long Que . I didn’t have anything else to do today, so I thought I’d check which panels needed adjustments.”

Shi Yin blinked, unsure what to say.

Suddenly, Liang Qiushi stood up and bowed deeply to her.

Startled, Shi Yin nearly jumped, her mouth still full of sandwich as she stared at him in alarm.

Straightening up, Liang Qiushi squeezed his eyes shut, his features contorted with remorse. “Teacher Shi Yi, I’m sorry!”

His loud apology made Shi Yin flinch again.

“I was blinded by greed when that deputy manager sweet-talked me. I wasn’t planning to go when I ran into you that day, but I don’t know why—I just didn’t want to listen to you…” His voice grew quieter. “I know my skills aren’t good enough yet, and dreaming of making my debut and drawing my own manga is nothing but wishful thinking. I’ve let you down, and I’m sorry.”

Shi Yin gazed at him with maternal affection.

It was as though the child she’d raised had finally grown out of their rebellious phase, realizing the love and care she’d given him. He’d abandoned his street gang friends and returned home to focus on his studies.

But she’d never encountered such a situation before.

Feeling slightly awkward, she scratched her eyebrow and muttered, unsure of what to say.

Lowering her gaze, she stared at the sandwich in her hand, momentarily stunned.

If Liang Qiushi was here, then the maker of this sandwich clearly wasn’t who she had assumed.

She had thought it was someone who had specially come by in the morning to prepare it.

Come to think of it, the editorial department must be swamped right now. He had to be at work early—how could he possibly have time to make her breakfast?

Liang Qiushi had arrived that morning and stayed until evening.

It was as if he had been injected with energy. After ranting endlessly about how clueless Yang Culture and that deputy manager were, he began urging Shi Yin to draw her manuscript.

“Teacher Shi Yi, your work ethic has always been problematic. Look, if you finish these tasks leisurely during the day and spread the workload evenly over each day, you wouldn’t need to pull all-nighters before the deadline. I’ve prepared a schedule for you…”

—He spoke at least twice as much as usual.

Shi Yin, still troubled by the events involving Gu Congli, desperately needed something to distract herself. After ordering lunch delivery, the two of them moved to the living room with their notebooks and worked diligently through the afternoon.

Around six o’clock, the sound of keys turning echoed, and the anti-theft door opened from the outside.

Both Shi Yin and Liang Qiushi looked up simultaneously, their attention drawn to the doorway. Shi Yin had just been pointing out where the background needed adjustments, and the two had been sitting rather close. Her pen was still touching his notebook screen.

Gu Congli stood at the entrance, holding a supermarket shopping bag. His gaze lingered on them for a moment before dropping.

Shi Yin froze, then quickly scrambled to the other end of the sofa, widening the distance between them. She nervously watched Gu Congli, trying to figure out how to explain the situation.

The man remained silent, standing motionless at the door, his lips pressed tightly together.

Shi Yin opened her mouth, about to stand up, when Gu Congli nodded faintly at Liang Qiushi. “Hello, I’m Gu Congli, Teacher Shi Yi’s…”

He paused ever so slightly, his voice dropping imperceptibly. “…Editor-in-Chief.”

The man stood quietly, his long lashes lowered, thin lips pursed together in silent, restrained sorrow.

Shi Yin leaned against the sofa cushion, staring at him blankly.

Her heart suddenly ached, overwhelmed with sadness.

A man like him—how much restraint and self-control must it have taken for him to utter those words?