Chapter 69: Gu Shiyan Sends a Private Message to Explain to Luo Xing

The air froze for a moment.

Gu Shiyan lifted his gaze to look at Xu Yan. “Does that matter?”

Xu Yan smiled. “Of course it does. Once you join the team, you'll be busy. We’ll need to make it through the provincial rounds, then the nationals. If your girlfriend is the type who has a bad temper, always wants to stick to you and demands your company every day, that’s going to be a problem.”

Luo Xing’s fingers hovered over the tablet, and the document she was reading was inadvertently copied. The sweet and sour flavor of the candy in her mouth had almost faded away.

She looked up at last, meeting Gu Shiyan’s eyes.

At that moment, he was looking at her too.

“We just broke up,” he replied calmly.

Xu Yan glanced at Luo Xing and nearly lost his composure trying not to laugh.

Luo Xing shot him a glare, only now realizing he was doing it on purpose!

There had been no shortage of posts about how she used to chase after Gu Shiyan—Xu Yan would never not know.

“Well, all right then. Go home and wait for our notice. You’ll hear from us in at most three days,” Xu Yan said, waving his hand, barely suppressing a grin.

When all the interviews were done, the four of them sat looking over the files of the most suitable candidates.

Xu Yan turned to Luo Xing. “What do you think?”

Luo Xing narrowed her eyes. “Don’t try to trick me.”

Qi Changbai pulled out Gu Shiyan’s file. “The best candidate is clearly Gu Shiyan, but about you two…”

Luo Xing raised a hand. “Enough. He and I have nothing to do with each other anymore. You don’t need to look at me. If he’s really the right fit, then let’s choose him.”

Shen Que, watching from the side, asked, “Can you really stay unaffected by him?”

Xu Yan nodded. “I was joking earlier, but this is serious business. We can’t just pick teammates based on ability. We have to consider personalities too, whether we can communicate well, all of that.”

Luo Xing shut off her tablet. “It’s fine. I can work with him.”

“Then it’s settled.”

The decision was made.

The very next day, Luo Xing saw Gu Shiyan in the lab.

Xu Yan was holding several folders—these were the topic proposals they’d been putting together recently.

She didn’t react much. The group sat together and started discussing; her mind was so absorbed in analysis and understanding that she had no room for other thoughts.

She and Gu Shiyan were able to work together normally.

Time trickled by.

A month passed, and finally, they settled on a topic—during which they’d changed their proposal four times for various reasons, but at least it was finalized before the deadline.

It was already past noon when the team captain, Xu Yan, looked at the group. “Well, we’ve gotten through a major hurdle. Want to grab lunch together?”

Everyone agreed. Luo Xing packed away her tablet and put it in her bag.

As they left the lab building, there was a girl standing by the glass doors outside.

“Gu Shiyan.”

The moment she spotted him, the girl waved him over.

Luo Xing watched as Gu Shiyan walked over without a moment’s hesitation. As he left, he told Xu Yan, “You all go ahead.”

Almost simultaneously, the other three’s gazes landed on Luo Xing.

Luo Xing rolled her eyes skyward. “Don’t look at me.”

She strode out first—the girl was someone she recognized, the senior she’d once seen being very close with Gu Shiyan.

In the past, she might have watched them from a distance, feeling sorry for herself.

Now, Luo Xing’s expression didn’t change. She clutched her stomach and complained about being hungry.

Walking along the tree-lined path, Qi Changbai draped an arm around Xu Yan’s shoulders, watching Luo Xing. “Gu Shiyan’s already seeing someone else. Why don’t you start dating again too?”

Shen Que, standing between the two, blocked their teasing stares. “Let me carry your bag.”

Luo Xing’s bag held both her laptop and tablet, making it quite heavy. Shen Que had already offered to help her when they left the building, but she’d refused.

Now, standing under the sun with sweat soaking her back, she no longer felt like carrying it and handed it over to Shen Que.

Xu Yan and Qi Changbai exchanged a look and teased, “Why don’t you two just get together? Would save us all the trouble.”

Luo Xing shot them a look. “Well, why don’t you two, with your arms around each other like that, get together yourselves? That’d be trouble-saving too.”

The two of them let out a sound of protest and moved apart.

Her phone chimed.

It was a message from Gu Shiyan.

Not only had they re-added each other’s contact info, but now they were in the same competition group chat—it was impossible to avoid each other.

Before, Luo Xing had tried every means to get closer to him, only to feel him slipping further away.

Now, she wanted to quietly exit his world, but instead, he kept showing up at every turn in hers.

Perhaps fate enjoys playing tricks.

Luo Xing opened the message.

[The senior said there’s news about Wen Nuan. I’m going to talk to her, so I won’t be joining you all for lunch.]

Then another message followed.

[The senior and Wen Nuan are friends, so I’ve been asking her to help me get in touch with Wen Nuan.]

Reading this, Luo Xing realized something was off about Gu Shiyan.

Why was he explaining himself to her?

“What’s wrong?” Shen Que asked.

“Oh, Gu Shiyan said he’s not eating lunch with us. He has something to do,” Luo Xing replied.

Xu Yan raised an eyebrow. “He could’ve just posted that in the group chat. Why send it to you alone? Am I just a figurehead as the team captain?”

Luo Xing nodded. “Maybe he thinks you are.”

As soon as she finished, she darted behind Shen Que, making it impossible for Xu Yan to even joke by giving her a playful slap.

She pulled out her phone again and replied with a single word: “Okay.”

Looking over the previous messages, it seemed like Gu Shiyan was always the one reaching out, and she just responded with a simple “okay.”

Luo Xing felt she was doing well enough—at least she wasn’t ignoring him.

Another message arrived from him.

[You don’t believe me?]

By now, Luo Xing and the others had left campus and were about to cross the street to the restaurant opposite.

Following Shen Que, Luo Xing replied via voice message, “No.”

Shen Que glanced at her. “Still chatting with him?”

Luo Xing nodded. “I only said one word.”

With that, she put away her phone and didn’t reply to Gu Shiyan again.

In the restaurant, Shen Que was ordering for everyone.

Luo Xing pulled out her tablet. Now that their topic was settled, she needed to figure out the innovation points and angles.

“Luo Xing?”

A male voice called her name from the side.

She turned, but didn’t recognize him.

He carried his bowl of noodles over and sat at her table.

The seat next to Luo Xing should have been Shen Que’s, but he was still at the counter.

She shifted away uncomfortably.

The guy seemed oblivious to her discomfort.

“You don’t recognize me?”

Luo Xing thought for a moment, but with her brain crammed full of documents and lab equipment lately, she couldn’t recall his utterly ordinary face.

So she shook her head.

He looked a bit deflated. “I got your contact info from Yao Xiangming before and added you. We’ve met several times.”

He was still holding his chopsticks. “Why didn’t you add me back?”

Qi Changbai had gone to get drinks, leaving only Xu Yan at the table.

Xu Yan was clearly just there to watch the show.

“If I don’t know you, why would I add you?”

“Hi, I’m Ke Yu. Now we know each other, right? Can I add you now?”

Luo Xing was taken aback, not expecting to be ‘introduced’ in this way.