(Swish swish swish swish swish swish swish swish...)  
(Spits out toothpaste foam, rinses mouth)  
(Tilts head back, gurgles...)  
(Spits again)  
(Puts toothbrush back in the cup, stirs it furiously)  
(Rinses once more with water.)

Xia Yan dries his face with a towel, then lifts his head and smiles—  
a perfectly calibrated, textbook smile.

The boy reflected in the mirror has just washed his face. Tiny droplets cling to his black, tousled bangs. His fair skin and sharp jawline accentuate his striking good looks. His deep-set eyes shimmer with gentle warmth. He wears no jewelry, and his bare upper torso shows off firm muscles and defined abs...

He fits the classic archetype of a sunny, outwardly radiant guy ☀️ with a secretly cunning, wolf-like nature 🐺—  
the kind of effortlessly handsome man you’d imagine causing chaos in nightclubs or hotel rooms, devouring hearts with a smirk 😋...

Except—he’s not like that at all.

“Beep beep beep.”  
His phone buzzes with a notification from the side.

Xia Yan’s smile instantly vanishes. His expression hardens, the previous warmth gone without a trace.  
Ever since becoming class monitor, he’s kept his phone on loud at all times—school notices constantly pour in, and he can’t afford to miss any.

He steps deeper into the room, away from the tightly shut door, and opens WeChat.

Ah—it’s Hua Xin again...  
She’s already taken three days off, which means she’ll be back tomorrow...

He lets out a quiet sigh and instantly replies with a simple 👌🏻, though his heart churns with complicated emotions.

He’d learned from the class advisor about this person—their would-be fourth dormmate.  
Bullied since middle school, treated unfairly by teachers, then hit by family tragedies—her medical file was dozens of pages thick.  
That photo in her file, with eyes hollow and evasive, reminded Xia Yan painfully of his own past.

Even if the advisor hadn’t asked him to look out for her, he’d have done it anyway.

Glancing at the clock—6:10 a.m.—he’s about to turn off his phone and head out for his morning run, but then a new message pops up on QQ.

Invincible Kitty Paw (Electronic Pet):

Instinct takes over—Xia Yan swipes right without thinking.  
After all... who can resist a fluffy little cloud-tiger? ☁️🐯

“?”

He stares blankly at the message the girl just sent, torn between amusement and quiet exasperation.

Did he really just fall for it? (Annoyed)  
Has that cat—who he’s annihilated 25 times in one sitting—gone off the rails again? (Proudly stubborn)

A few more messages appear, but Xia Yan has already powered off his phone. Silently, he changes into his workout clothes and slips out for his morning run.

————————

In a windowless, pitch-black room...

Hua Xin anxiously watches her phone, heart pounding. Still no reply. 😖  
Did he not see it? Or is he still asleep?  
This was the first time she’d ever sent a voice message to someone... (Mortified)

Sure, she’d sent those two awkward memes to tease him a bit...

Hesitantly, she taps on the voice note she just sent: ▶️|ııı|ıı|||5″.  

▶️|ııı|ıı|||5″:  
“1s (silence)... 2s (silence)... 3s (‘Ge...’)... 4s (pause)... 5s (‘Ge ge...’)”

The voice is soft, sweet, and incredibly cute—nothing like those fake “voice actresses” or digitally filtered tones.  
But Hua Xin’s face instantly turns scarlet, steam practically shooting from her ears.

“That... that’s my voice?!?!” 😨  
“It’s so sweet... so hot... I wanna—” 🤤

Wait—something’s wrong.

She wipes her mouth, snapping back to reality.  
Had she really just called some random guy—who she didn’t even know the age or appearance of, and who’d scammed 20 yuan from her—“Ge ge” (Big Brother)??

Her eyes blaze with fury as she jabs violently at the voice message.

“Recall! Recall! Recall! Recall! Recall! Recall!!! !!!!”

Hua Xin, what have you done?! 😡

Without her “male persona,” how could she possibly stand up to that smug jungler?!

...Wait. 🤔 Why does she even need to “stand up” to him?  
Isn’t her whole plan to seduce him so he’ll shower her with gold?

Instead of wasting time on polite small talk, she should drown him in her irresistible charm—her voice, her looks—until he’s completely obsessed, working like a dog in some construction site just to send every last yuan to her, begging for another scolding, another photo, another “Ge ge”... turning him into her mindless money puppet. 🤤

Yes... that’s exactly it!

Her vengeful fantasy floods her mind, washing away all traces of shame.  
She lowers her hand—though the app has already popped up: “Too late to recall.”

Her eyes gleam with triumphant glee.

Who could possibly resist her?  
Who could say no to a voice as sweet and tender as melodic silk?  
Who could ignore the temptation of long legs and delicate bare feet? 😏

(Though... she immediately rejects the idea of actually sending leg or foot pics. She won’t sell her body or soul for money—she’s got dignity! ✊)

Then her gaze drops back to the chat window—and her pupils morph into spinning dollar signs. (💵∀💵)

“‘Diamond-tier jungler’? ‘Loves killing supports’? ‘Xia Tou Man’ (Shrimp-head guy)?”  
“Just you wait... I’ll make you kneel and lick my feet!! (Daydreaming intensifies)”

Her fingers fly across the keyboard, sending off a few more messages.  
The thrill of turning an enemy into a devoted servant fills her with giddy delight. She loses herself in this fantasy of psychological domination—so absorbed that she forgets the Master Kong Sour Spicy Beef Noodles soaking beside her... for a full twenty minutes.

Predictably—

A wail erupts through the room.

“MY NOODLES!!! AAAAHHHHHH!!! 😭”

She stares mournfully at the mushy, overcooked mess, then tearfully takes a bite.

“...Still tastes good. 🤧”  
“Can’t waste food…”

————————

Meanwhile, on the track field of Modu University...

Even on this early autumn morning, just days into the new semester, disciplined students are already up and moving.

Xia Yan breathes rhythmically, sweat dampening his T-shirt, the outline of his abs faintly visible beneath the fabric.

“Hah…” He exhales deeply and sits down on a plastic bench, pulling out his phone to check messages.

“Hey there! Are you also running alone?” A gust of overpoweringly sweet perfume makes Xia Yan wrinkle his nose slightly.

“You’re Xia Yan, right? The freshman rep who gave the speech the other day?”

The girl wears black yoga pants, a sports bra, and sneakers, her hair pulled into a high ponytail. Her looks are above average—but she shows zero signs of having actually exercised.

Xia Yan answers politely: “Yes, I’m Xia Yan. Can I help you with something?”

As he speaks, he taps to convert a voice message to text—then reads it along with the messages that follow. His eyebrows lift in mild surprise.

The girl glances at his abs and handsome face, a flicker of confident smugness in her eyes. She feigns innocent surprise in a textbook “green tea” tone:  
“Oh! I just thought we might be fated to meet! You like running too? We could jog together every morning! How about you add my WeChat...?”

“Ge... ge ge…”

An unexpectedly soft, sugary-sweet voice suddenly floats from Xia Yan’s phone—cutting her off mid-sentence.

Xia Yan glances at his screen, eyes twinkling with amusement, the corner of his lips curling upward. But he quickly masks it with an apologetic expression.

“Sorry—I, uh… my girlfriend just messaged me.”