The male dorms were dead silent in the early morning.
Yun Tao and Yuwen Chong had just fallen asleep; they had been gaming all night and were utterly exhausted.
As for Mo Yu, he hadn't slept much either; his routine was usually the most normal in the dorm, but due to yesterday's events, he still had some insomnia.
He had absolutely no experience!
It's worth mentioning that he hadn't told his two roommates—emmmm—if he told them he had just gotten out of singlehood… those two would kill him.
Mo Yu could already imagine the scene.
Yuwen Chong would be crying his eyes out, while Yun Tao would be going on a rant—"You bastard! We said we'd stay single until graduation, and now you're out of it? How can you face your brothers?"
Such is dating in male dorms; if you start early in freshman year, your roommates usually just tease you a bit, and then become your solid support.
But if it's senior year… it's pretty much the same, but some steps are essential.
"Buzz—"
A phone vibration broke the silence.
Yuwen Chong was still sound asleep, completely oblivious, but Yun Tao on the other side let out a grunt.
"Ugh—what's going on… this early in the morning…"
Mo Yu's dorm usually didn't set alarms in the morning, because… well, everyone knows, alarms usually don't wake up the owner, only the roommates.
Therefore, if someone needed to get up early the next day for something, they would usually inform each other to avoid oversleeping due to sudden events.
Mo Yu's routine was indeed the most normal, but it had gradually become a bit abnormal; he often stayed in the Laboratory until very late before returning, after all, when he first joined the Laboratory, he also hoped not to drag down his senior brothers and sisters, and not to embarrass his mentor.
"…"
The phone was placed by Mo Yu's pillow, so after ringing for a few seconds, Mo Yu, with sleepy, half-closed eyes, groggily answered the WeChat call.
"Hello…?"
His voice, from the first word, was incredibly adorable and sweet, like a baby's.
"Hello! Are you awake, Little Junior Brother?"
Xing Qinglan's energetic voice came from the other end of the phone, but upon closer listening, one could indeed sense a hint of fatigue and… unusual excitement beneath that energy.
"Uh… just… just woke up."
Mo Yu mumbled groggily; in fact, he was completely in the state of an old computer booting up.
"Um… I've booked the photographer, the scenery by the Qiusuo Building is nice, and the coffee shop there has great settings too, and the Anime Club also has some backdrops we can use…"
"Um… anyway… don't sleep anymore! Get up quickly, come out and shoot!"
"Ah…"
Xing Qinglan spoke excitedly for a long time, but Mo Yu still felt like he hadn't fully activated, not really listening.
"Little Junior Brother, my… my dear! Wake up, okay? Don't make me wait for you in front of your dorm building!"
Mo Yu hadn't heard anything else, but that slightly affected "my dear" he heard clearly, and then Mo Yu himself became a bit more awake.
He had never heard that voice before… it was very cute… for a moment, Mo Yu had the idea of recording it, but unfortunately, it was a voice call, not a voice message, but the proactive nature of a science student quickly got him into gear.
"Ah—okay, I understand."
"Mm-hmm, waiting for you!"
Then, with a 'ding', the call ended, and Mo Yu sat up from his bed.
"What's going on… Fourth Brother…?"
Yun Tao, on the other bed, didn't sit up, just asked groggily out of instinct; his state was… somewhat dead-like.
After all, after an all-nighter, one's mental state is like that; if his sleep quality hadn't been slightly poor, he wouldn't have woken up at all.
"Nothing, your sleep quality is a bit poor. My senior sister needs my help. I'll come back later and get you some medicine."
Mo Yu shook his head and whispered, his slightly jumbled syntax still reflecting his inner thoughts at the moment.
"Oh… got it… I'm going back to sleep."
Having received an answer, Yun Tao was satisfied and fell back asleep; if Mo Yu hadn't given a suitable explanation, he probably wouldn't have been able to sleep.
Having something on your mind and not having something on your mind are completely different states.
"Phew—"
Mo Yu took a deep breath, got out of bed, and then went through his usual morning routine; after getting ready, he went to the small single room on the balcony and used the system's power.
And so—Ruan Mei's limited-time rerun.
Under the system's power, the original drowsiness and fatigue vanished, but in return, Mo Yu could also feel that he himself had become slightly duller, yet his thinking was more rigorous and active.
Hmm, this was a characteristic brought about by the role-playing.
After all, for Ruan Mei, emotions… were a solvable existence; of course, the reality was another matter, in the game, we could see Ruan Mei's changes to a certain extent.
But in reality… role-playing is just role-playing, compared to the gradual change of the character itself, role-playing is completely the opposite, it cannot be reflected.
"Phew—"
Looking at himself in the mirror, Mo Yu had a sense of replicating his old self in the mirror.
"Today's state… is also perfect."
Mo Yu whispered, adjusting his voice and state, and the figure in the mirror became increasingly similar.
It's worth mentioning that Mo Yu's movements weren't loud, so the two sleeping guys in the dorm didn't notice; afterwards, he picked up his handbag and left.
The dorm building was relatively empty, after all, it was still late August, and male college students who needed to return to school at this time generally didn't have early morning classes, so he didn't encounter many people on the way.
The Dorm Auntie was still dutifully guarding the entrance on the first floor, and seeing Mo Yu appear, she smiled and waved hello.
"Is there an event today?"
"Hmm… not really… just… accompanying a friend."
Mo Yu spoke in a calm tone, but as he said these words, his eyes unconsciously revealed a slightly incongruous emotion; of course, to the Dorm Auntie, this was completely normal—this is what people are like.
"Oh, I wouldn't have guessed, did you find someone?"
The Dorm Auntie teased; she had been a dorm manager here for four or five years, and she could directly guess what these students were thinking.
"I… I suppose so?"
Mo Yu answered somewhat vaguely, then took out his phone, sent a message to someone, and attached a selfie.
"I'm out."
"Holy crap! Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! Wait for me! Wait for me! I'm coming to pick you up!"
"…"
Looking at the message she sent, Mo Yu fell silent again.
No… you guys! What the hell? Wait for you… and then you'll pick me up? These words… why do they look so unfamiliar! Isn't it usually the boy who picks up the girl?
And… makeup and a series of procedures basically take no time for Mo Yu, so Mo Yu's efficiency was entirely that of a male college student, but if it were her, it would probably take a lot of time.
Makeup… getting dressed… for cosplay, spending a few hours is normal, so… should he wait here?
"No, I'll pick you up instead, where are you?"
"It's fine, it's fine! I'm almost ready, I'll be right over to find you, wait for me for three minutes!"
"…"
Mo Yu replied with a Ruan Mei emoji, but he actually had a pretty good idea in his heart.
Hmm—senior sister… she probably won't be in full makeup when she comes out, but that also fits her style; compared to other girls, senior sister is also the type to be decisive and efficient, not the very delicate kind.
Moreover, she already said three minutes… hmm, scientifically calculating it, it's roughly… the distance from the milk tea shop in the cafeteria to here… hmm, this is the most probable.
Uh… why… did he always feel a bit strange?
Mo Yu shook his head, put away his phone, and looked at the Dorm Auntie beside him again; well, since he was idle, he could chat with the Dorm Auntie… On the other side, in front of the counter of a milk tea shop, a woman who looked heroic and dashing, wearing sunglasses and a formal uniform, was anxiously waiting at the counter, but at this moment, she was grinning foolishly at her phone.
Yes, this woman was Xing Qinglan.
Just as Mo Yu knew, she was indeed somewhat different from other girls; before, her mind was entirely focused on her studies, and this first… hmm… date, she didn't know how to dress appropriately, so she wore a rather formal suit.
How to put it, this professional attire looked very good on her, it's just… it always felt a bit strange.
Whose girlfriend wears professional attire on a date!
And… "Your milk tea is ready."
"Thank you!"
The staff's voice rang out, and Xing Qinglan snapped out of her phone-gazing state; the photo on her phone was indeed the one Mo Yu had just sent.
Hehehe… lost in Little Junior Brother's beauty, unable to extricate herself… Ruan Mei… Ruan Mei!… *slurp*… She casually set the photo as her phone wallpaper, and Xing Qinglan quickly picked up the milk tea on the counter; it wasn't anything special, just two regular coconut jelly milk teas.
Hmm, she had actually thought about doing something romantic, like sharing a cup between lovers, but… she felt that this efficiency was too low, and it seemed to go against the original intention of buying milk tea.
And so, she still bought two cups.
Then, holding the milk tea, Xing Qinglan jogged all the way towards the male dorm building; it's worth mentioning that she was wearing flat sports shoes, while Mo Yu… naturally wore Ruan Mei's low heels… "Hehehe, that's really interesting."
"But those were all before the dorm renovation; now the dorms all have air conditioning. Speaking of which, it seems the dorm renovation happened after that guy graduated."
"Then he's probably going to be furious, hahahaha—"
On the other side, on the first floor of the male dorm, Mo Yu leaned slightly forward, resting his elbows on the marble counter in front of the Dorm Auntie's room window, listening to the Dorm Auntie recount the tragic experiences of previous senior students.
Hmm, the dorms originally didn't have air conditioning, and one senior almost suffered heatstroke in the dorm, but in the year he graduated, the dorms were renovated and got air conditioning. This kind of thing… one can only say it's like a strange loop; for this group of people, it seems to have always been like this since childhood, with poor dorm and teaching environments, but by the time this group graduated, they just happened to catch the renovation.
And the result was that they were the last batch to experience the poorer environment.
As they were talking, a figure rushed into the lobby of the male dorm building—hmm, this was allowed, after all, strictly speaking, this wasn't part of the dorm area, but a purely public area.
"Little Junior Brother! Here!"
"You don't need to rush."
Mo Yu somewhat helplessly took the milk tea Xing Qinglan handed him, not feeling any unaccustomedness; hmm, because this scene had actually happened frequently in the past.
Yes, even though he was the Little Junior Brother in the Laboratory, in fact… when it came to buying milk tea in the Laboratory, it was often Xing Qinglan, the senior sister, who did it, usually as a reward for him? After all, the mentor and the senior most brother didn't drink it.
Professor Li generally drank tea, and being older, it wasn't suitable for him to drink milk tea; as for the senior most brother… it was said that he initially loved beer, but now he also seemed to follow the mentor in drinking tea, and often, he also needed to drive or something.
"Hehe, I'm used to it."
"Let's go, let's go! To the Anime Club, there's a makeup room there. I'm telling you, I specifically found a very authoritative makeup artist from our school!"
"…Actually… you could give it to me too."
Mo Yu took a sip of milk tea and said softly, makeup… he was indeed skilled at it now, although he himself didn't actually need special makeup, but… whether for Ruan Mei or for Lingsha, this was a normal life skill, not even included in the rewards given by the system.
"Uh… the nature of this is different, okay?"
Xing Qinglan hesitated for a moment, then said quite seriously.
"…As long as you're happy."
Mo Yu could actually roughly guess Xing Qinglan's thoughts, after all, Mo Yu himself wasn't a professional cosplayer, and their relationship wasn't the kind of "close friend" in the common sense of the circle.
Furthermore, according to Xing Qinglan's logic, her and Mo Yu's relationship was… well, a date! For a date, this kind of thing… naturally shouldn't be done personally, and… makeup is also a skilled job, very tiring!
Hmm, her boy, she wanted to spoil him!