Jian Lingxuan followed Lu Yuanchen around like a puppy for four years, from Lu Yuanchen’s undergraduate days all the way through her master’s program.
Of course, “puppy” was a nickname Jian Heng gave her, and it was a popular topic of discussion within their small circle.
For example, Li Zhaoge would occasionally ask Lu Yuanchen, “How’s that little puppy you’re raising?”
The two were colleagues on the matter of Jian Heng’s transmigration. When they met in their free time to gossip, Lu Yuanchen would retort to Li Zhaoge, “You should be the one to keep it in line. Don’t let it run over to her side for no reason.”
Li Zhaoge was genuinely injured and would snap at anyone she saw. Jian Heng just listened on the side for entertainment.
Publicly, Jian Lingxuan always felt she and Lu Yuanchen were in an ambiguous, romantic relationship.
Whether they were actually dating was unknown. But no other dogs—oh, wait, no other potential romantic partners—ever appeared by Lu Yuanchen’s side.
Jian Lingxuan, on the other hand, was surrounded by a flock of admirers. She held back, maintaining a lukewarm relationship with them, just to see if Lu Yuanchen would make a move.
For the first three years, Lu Yuanchen barely reacted. After all, Jian Lingxuan was always by her side, and they were even living together. She never worried about the possibility of Jian Lingxuan ending up with someone else.
It was truly pitiful. Jian Lingxuan had fallen for her, but Lu Yuanchen treated her like a cute puppy she was playing with. She probably hadn’t invested much genuine feeling.
The turning point came in the second semester of Jian Lingxuan’s junior year of university.
Her major wasn’t in a research-focused science, but she signed up for a course with a practical component based on her interests.
The course required her to go to a small planet near the Capital Star during the holidays to observe a unique local symbiotic species.
It was a group project with four people per group, and one of them was quite close to Jian Lingxuan.
When it was time to leave, Jian Lingxuan was reluctant to go and wanted to take Lu Yuanchen with her.
But she couldn’t just stuff Lu Yuanchen into a portable capsule lab to keep her company.
She probably hadn’t even considered that.
Helpless, Jian Lingxuan could only leave with her group mates.
Lu Yuanchen was still living at her house.
In reality, the center of Lu Yuanchen’s family business had already moved to the Capital Star, and she was set to inherit that large hospital as soon as she graduated.
She had plenty of places to stay. If she had no feelings for Jian Lingxuan, there would have been no need for her to remain.
Jian Heng, who also hung around Jian Lingxuan’s house when she had nothing to do, watched as on the first day of the trip, Lu Yuanchen habitually called out Jian Lingxuan’s name and received no reply.
“Sister-in-law,” Jian Heng said, climbing onto the sofa. She had been playing a game, but finding this scene amusing, she secretly recorded it.
Misses my sister already? My sister tried for three years and was on the verge of giving up. Could it be that she actually succeeded?
Lu Yuanchen paused for a second, took the food out of the refrigerator, and didn’t answer Jian Heng.
Jian Heng sent the video to Jian Lingxuan.
Jian Lingxuan was probably angry too, as she only replied with a sticker after seeing it.
“So, want me to ask for you?” Jian Heng had gotten used to Lu Yuanchen being at their house for three years.
She preferred Lu Yuanchen to her sister bringing home some stranger to take up her space.
Besides, they were secretly working on the transmigration project. It really wouldn’t be good to involve anyone else.
If Jian Lingxuan and Lu Yuanchen had a falling out, it would make things quite awkward.
“No. What if you just end up making her angry?” Jian Lingxuan was still being cautious.
It was unclear what she was doing, but she seemed very free, replying to Jian Heng’s messages instantly.
【I’ve never seen her angry before. This is perfect, let me see it.】 Jian Heng loved to stir up trouble.
Lu Yuanchen didn’t have a good temper; she was just lazy.
She couldn’t be bothered to get angry. Most of the time, her emotions were placid, and her reactions weren’t very quick.
The only exception was when she encountered some cliché romantic drama, then she would suddenly spring to life as if resurrected.
For example, if Jian Lingxuan were to stage a manipulative, sad-girl act, she would love Lu Yuanchen’s reaction the most.
If even that didn’t work on Lu Yuanchen, Lin Jianheng would support Jian Lingxuan in kicking her out.
A relationship can’t be a one-way street.
Before, Jian Heng had enjoyed the show and didn’t really care. But if her sister was truly hurt by Lu Yuanchen, Jian Heng would still take her side.
Jian Heng had already thought of a plan. Someone in the group definitely had feelings for Jian Lingxuan, and she didn’t care about other people’s emotions. She wanted to push that person to confess.
Jian Lingxuan absolutely refused, and after much persuasion, managed to hold back her intelligent yet somewhat apathetic younger sister.
But, Jian Lingxuan didn’t message Lu Yuanchen either.
Her silence didn’t mean she wasn’t wavering.
She didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t given up on Lu Yuanchen, but this trip was making her waver.
There was a time difference where she was, and she often lay on her hotel bed, her heart aching with indecision.
The hotel room had been booked by her friend—a double room, booked with clear intentions—and for once, Jian Lingxuan hadn’t refused.
Now, she was stewing over it.
Opening her chat window, she saw that the last message from Lu Yuanchen was asking her to send a picture of her room to let her know she’d arrived safely.
Jian Lingxuan had already finished her work for the day, but she still hadn’t sent it.
“Lingxuan, are you showering first or am I? We should get to bed early, we have a busy day tomorrow.” Her friend’s voice came from the hallway.
Jian Lingxuan’s arm shot up, and she shut off her optical computer. “I’ll go first. Sorry to make you wait.”
Lu Yuanchen waited until midnight, but still received no message from Jian Lingxuan.
She sat in her room, quietly staring at the chat window on her optical computer.
The room next door had been commandeered by Jian Heng. The walls were well soundproofed, yet Lu Yuanchen kept hoping to hear some noise.
If Jian Lingxuan contacted Jian Heng to say she was safe, would there be any reaction from Jian Heng’s room?
She had checked the time on the planet Jian Lingxuan had gone to. It was already almost dawn the next day; she should have been done with her work. But… Jian Lingxuan shouldn’t be ignoring her on purpose, right?
It was at this moment that Lu Yuanchen realized her emotions were off.
It seemed that without realizing it, she had grown dependent on Jian Lingxuan.
Jian Lingxuan had become a habit in her life. Now that this habit was gone, she was actually feeling panicked over something like this.
So much so that now, she couldn’t sleep.
She could even bring herself to send a message to press for a reply. Jian Lingxuan should have at least sent her something back.
After all, this concern wasn’t one-sided.
Lu Yuanchen scrolled through her chat history with Jian Lingxuan all night.
She had experiments the next day and had to be at the lab by eight in the morning.
Her advisor was a slightly crazy old man, usually fashionable and gentle, but obsessive about academics. When he got angry, it was like the sky was falling. Lu Yuanchen did not want to experience the consequences of angering her advisor a second time.
But she still let herself stay awake, thinking about her relationship with Jian Lingxuan.
Her chat history with Jian Lingxuan was actually quite simple.
They saw each other for everything, so whatever they had to say, they said it face-to-face.
The chat log was mostly just Jian Heng from time to time.
Lu Yuanchen saw messages where she’d asked Jian Lingxuan to bring her food or deliver clothes.
Later, there were messages asking when Jian Lingxuan would be home, if she wanted to go out on the weekend, and what gift she wanted for the holidays.
Jian Lingxuan’s messages were a bit more numerous; she would chatter on, reminding her to bring her equipment and turn in her assignments.
She would also use stickers in her replies, unlike Lu Yuanchen, who was like an old person with one-liners that were “terribly aloof.”
It was just bits and pieces of daily life, but gathered together at this moment, they made things increasingly clear to Lu Yuanchen.
Perhaps her feelings had already started to change the first time she found herself caring about when Jian Lingxuan would be home.
When exactly did a presence become a habit, and a habit blossom into affection?
Or rather, could this sense of dependence be considered affection?
Lu Yuanchen didn’t understand.
But for the first time, she felt the desire to figure it out.
The next day, Lu Yuanchen emerged from her room with huge dark circles under her eyes.
Jian Heng observed silently from the shadows, feeling that something was about to happen.
If her sister wouldn’t make a move, then she could at least find some pictures to send and provoke Lu Yuanchen, right?
Jian Heng opened Jian Lingxuan’s social media feed and almost dropped her jaw.
Her sister usually posted new photos every day, but now there wasn’t a single one.
Not a single photo! And Jian Heng didn’t have the contact information for Jian Lingxuan’s new friend.
What Jian Heng didn’t know was that Jian Lingxuan had cleared her feed because she was afraid Lu Yuanchen would see something.
And indeed, Lu Yuanchen was also scrolling through Jian Lingxuan’s feed at that moment. Finding nothing, her feelings grew even more complicated.
With Jian Lingxuan not at home, there was no one to make her breakfast. She even had to take care of Jian Heng’s portion, so she bought some food and casually gave a share to Jian Heng.
On the way to Xuanzong Academy, her senior saw her state and found it strange.
“You look like a ghost sucked out your life force last night. And you keep staring at your phone. Don’t tell me you had a breakup?”
“…Not that.” “Then you’re probably about to start a relationship?”
Lu Yuanchen shook her head.
She was very troubled right now. She didn’t know… the lab, the fight for inheritance…
At any other time, she probably wouldn’t have refused Jian Lingxuan’s previous requests, nor would she have stayed up all night agonizing over her own feelings.
“Do you know… uh…” Lu Yuanchen had wanted to ask her senior for the contact information of the friend traveling with Jian Lingxuan.
After thinking for a long time, she realized she couldn’t even remember that person’s name.
Had Jian Lingxuan even told her?
Lu Yuanchen stopped mid-sentence, closed her eyes, and went back to her optical computer to search her chat history with Jian Lingxuan.
Seeing her like this, her senior wanted to cover for her.
It would be bad if their advisor saw.
Lu Yuanchen tried searching with keywords, using fuzzy matching.
She got… over a hundred results.
In the three years they’d known each other in university, Jian Lingxuan had met twenty potential romantic partners, similar to this current friend, who were all trying to woo her.
There were also chat logs about Jian Lingxuan getting hit on when she went out.
Lu Yuanchen belatedly realized, was Jian Lingxuan… trying to make her jealous?
Or was she testing her feelings?
She let out a breath, a vein popping on her forehead.
Was it necessary to test her like this? If she had just asked her formally earlier, she would have started thinking about it earlier. Why drag it out until now?
Three years’ worth of suppressed jealousy finally rushed to Lu Yuanchen’s brain, stinging her eyes with bitterness.
It dissolved her rationality as well.
For the first time, Lu Yuanchen cast aside something like reason.
Braving the gazes of her advisor and senior, she found her advisor.
She bowed to her advisor, gave him a death glare, and asked for a day off.
She sent a message to her mom, asking her to handle things in her stead.
She was going to pick up Jian Lingxuan. She wanted to see if the reason she hadn’t replied was because she had a guilty conscience and had found someone else.
When Lu Yuanchen arrived on the small planet, it was already the morning of the third day, local time.
Lu Yuanchen had gotten Jian Lingxuan’s address from Jian Heng.
She had traded a new type of reagent for it.
Jian Heng had an “I knew it” expression on her face as she took the reagent and went to the lab to take over Lu Yuanchen’s work.
After the handover, Lu Yuanchen hadn’t even washed her face and was unrecognizable. Jian Heng just needed to follow the senior.
Unfortunately, Lu Yuanchen didn’t go directly to Jian Lingxuan’s room.
She had heard that Jian Lingxuan would return to her room for a lunch break, so she simply stood by the door all morning.
Jian Lingxuan was a little anxious today.
Lu Yuanchen hadn’t replied to her for over ten hours.
Could it be that she had done something wrong and made Lu Yuanchen angry?
She finished her work for the day distractedly and declined her companion’s invitation for lunch.
Her companion was a little worried about her and escorted her back to the hotel.
It would have been better if they hadn’t.
From a distance, Jian Lingxuan saw a familiar figure at the door. Her heart leaped, and she wanted to grab her companion and run.
But the instinctive joy was also real. At the same time, there was the embarrassment of being caught and not daring to face her companion.
The mix of emotions made Jian Lingxuan’s steps stiffen, and she couldn’t move.
Her companion subconsciously grabbed her arm, trying to lead her forward.
They, on the other hand, saw the person at the door clearly and thought it was just a member of the cleaning staff.
Lu Yuanchen’s gaze was fixed on Jian Lingxuan’s arm. Jian Lingxuan reacted, springing up like a startled sparrow, jumping to the side, and standing ramrod straight.
The person at the door also moved.
Lu Yuanchen was travel-worn and weary-eyed, looking more disheveled than Jian Lingxuan had ever seen her.
The Lu Yuanchen in her memory always maintained a certain elegance. She was precise in her actions, her speech and manners were impeccable, giving off the air of a medieval noble—even more old-fashioned than Jian Lingxuan herself.
This was the first time Jian Lingxuan had seen such emotion from Lu Yuanchen.
Jian Heng had said she wanted to see Lu Yuanchen angry, but Jian Lingxuan was like a puppy afraid of being scolded.
She never thought she would actually have to face Lu Yuanchen’s wrath today.
