Xu Yan had developed a theory, if you watched enough gossip, gossip eventually started watching you back. At first he'd treated it as an optimistic guess. Now he was starting to suspect it was closer to a law of nature.
After the crowd outside the Student Affairs Building finally thinned out, he and Lu Yichen headed toward the cafeteria for dinner. The evening breeze had chased off the afternoon heat, and the tree-lined paths were full of students moving in loose clusters — some talking about assignments, some about clubs, and some doing what university students did best.
Spreading rumors.
Xu Yan's ears picked it up almost immediately.
"Did you hear? Someone confessed to Senior Lin again."
"That's old news. I heard Senior Gu and Senior Qin had a massive fight. They almost broke up."
Xu Yan stopped walking.Senior Gu. Senior Qin.The names landed somewhere deep and uncomfortable.[ Wait.][Those aren't random seniors.][Those are the protagonists.]
It came back to him all at once — Gu Chen, the original male lead, and Qin Yu, the original main character. Their entire relationship had powered eighty chapters of loving each other, misunderstanding each other, breaking up, getting back together, and misunderstanding each other all over again. Xu Yan had once left a review that said something like - if these two sat down and talked for ten minutes, this novel would've ended by Chapter Five
The two girls ahead of him were already hurrying toward the business school. "Hurry, we'll miss it!"
Xu Yan's feet moved before he could stop them. Then he glanced sideways at Lu Yichen.
"You want to go," Lu Yichen said, Not in a questioning way .
"...A little."
"A little?"
"...A lot."
Lu Yichen looked at him for a moment, then tilted his head toward the path. "Let's go, then."
Xu Yan blinked. "Really?"
"Didn't we already agree to be Professional spectators."
His eyes lit up instantly. "Right."
By the time they reached the small square behind the business building, dozens of students had already gathered, keeping a respectful distance from the center of it. There were unspoken rules to this — watch, don't interfere — and everyone seemed to know them by instinct.
Xu Yan found a spot on a low flowerbed with a clean view and no obstacles. He dug into his bag and pulled out two cartons of banana milk, hesitated for half a second, then held one out. " Want one?"
Lu Yichen took it without hesitation . "Thanks."
Xu Yan smiled to himself. Drama with snacks. The proper way to do this.
A commotion started near the fountain — two guys facing off, drawing attention even from a distance. One had a gentler, more refined look; the other had sharper features and an expression that had already gone cold.
"They're here," Xu Yan murmured.
"You know them?" Lu Yichen asked.
He nearly bit his own tongue. "...No. Just heard of them."
Lu Yichen didn't question it further.The voices by the fountain rose.
"So you have nothing to explain?" Qin Yu's tone was calm.
Gu Chen frowned. "Explain what?"
"The dinner."
"I told you — it was for work."
Somewhere nearby, a girl whispered, "I knew it, my roommate saw him eating with another guy," and someone else added they'd been laughing together, and the whisper spread through the crowd like it had somewhere important to be.
Xu Yan sipped his milk and, without quite meaning to, said out loud, "Wrong. That's his cousin."
Lu Yichen glanced over. Xu Yan didn't notice — his eyes were locked on the fountain.
Gu Chen took a step forward. "I already explained. It wasn't what you think."
Qin Yu smiled, faint and unreadable. "I know."
Two words, and the whole square seemed to hold its breath.
Even Gu Chen looked thrown. "...You know?"
"I know he's your cousin. I know today's dinner was arranged by your family."
Xu Yan nearly choked on his own milk.[Wait.]
[That's not how this goes.][ He's supposed to misunderstand everything. He's supposed to slap him. This is where the longest breakup arc in the book starts.]
Before he could finish that thought, Qin Yu kept going, calmly . "But you still lied to me. I asked you this morning where you were going. You said you were working late." A pause. "You didn't trust me enough to just tell me the truth."
Gu Chen went silent.
Xu Yan slowly lowered his cup and covered his face with one hand.
"...The author's a genius."
"What do you mean?" Lu Yichen asked.
"The misunderstanding," Xu Yan said quietly, "was never about cheating. It was about trust."
Lu Yichen didn't answer right away. He watched the two figures by the fountain for a while, then looked back at Xu Yan.
"You read people well."
Xu Yan laughter, an awkward one . "Lucky guess."
Lu Yichen didn't push it. He just gave a small nod — whether he believed it or not, he kept that to himself.
A few minutes later, Qin Yu turned and walked away without another word. Gu Chen stayed by the fountain, alone.
There was No slap. No shouting. No dramatic seen .Just silent .
Xu Yan let out a slow breath. "...Somehow that hurt more."
He looked down at the barely touched. banana milk still in his handand muttered to himself, "This is only Chapter One. The real chaos hasn't even started."
Beside him, Lu Yichen heard every word and said nothing.But for the first time, a question had settled in and refused to leave.
Who exactly was Xu Yan? And why did he always seem to know what happened next?