At that time, Qin Zhi'ai had already finished the first half of her freshman year and was on winter break. After the Spring Festival, she received a call from Xu Wen Nuan, inviting her to go ice-skating.

  It wasn't until she arrived that she found out, apart from Xu Wen Nuan, there were several other boys, brought by Wu Hang.

  He was among them.

  At first, Qin Zhi'ai didn't notice Gu Yu Sheng. After greeting the boys brought by Wu Hang under his introduction, she was pulled by Xu Wen Nuan to change into ice skates when she turned around and found him standing behind her, leaning against the wall with a cigarette in his mouth, playing with a lighter.

  Just as Qin Zhi'ai thought it was just a coincidence, Wu Hao spoke up: "Sheng Ge, this is my wife's deskmate, Qin Zhi'ai."

  Gu Yu Sheng heard Wu Hao's words, but didn't rush to respond. Instead, he lowered his eyes, lit a cigarette, took a drag, and then exhaled, blowing out unformed smoke rings as he turned his head to glance over at where she was standing.

  In her daily life at school, she only dared to secretly notice him, but suddenly he stood in front of her and looked at her with an unexpected glance.

  Qin Zhi Ai felt her heart skip a beat and her breathing stop for an instant when his gaze fell on her face.

  He was different from those other boys, he didn't look her up and down, nor did he flash a brilliant smile and call out to her "Little Junior High School Sister".

  He just glanced at her and didn't stay on her for even a second, nodded slightly, and then withdrew his gaze.

  When Qin Zhi'ai came back to her senses, she had already been dragged by Xu Wen Nuan to a nearby seat and stuffed with a pair of pink ice skates in her hands.

  Xu Wen Nuan was changing her shoes while chattering non-stop to share with her about Wu Hao running to her doorstep on New Year's Day to give her a gift.

  Qin Zhi Ai was mechanically changing into her ice skates, her brain still not fully awake, and the image of Gu Yu Sheng glancing at her occasionally would flash before her eyes. Just as she finished changing shoes, Qin Zhi Ai suddenly interrupted Xu Wen Nuan's words and asked: "Does Wu Hao know Gu Yu Sheng?"

  "Huh?" Probably because Qin Zhi's topic changed a bit too quickly, Xu Wen Nuan was stunned for a moment before saying: "Right, they're roommates and have known each other since childhood, from the same dorm..."

  Xu Wen Nuan hadn't finished speaking when Wu Huang rushed over, Xu Wen Nuan waved at her and said "have fun", then she and Wu Huang held hands and left the ice rink.

  Qin Zhi Ai changed into her ice skates and stood up. She glanced over at where Gu Yu Sheng was standing.

  He didn't change his shoes and remained leaning against the wall, smoking.

  Qin Zhi'ai walked around the venue, took a glance at Yu Sheng, and found that except for the new cigarette in his hand, everything else remained unchanged.

  After playing for almost three hours, Qin Zhi'ai bumped into Xu Wen Nuan. She pointed to Gu Yu Sheng and whispered: "Doesn't he play at all?"

  "When he's like this, it means his mood is bad. Haven't you noticed? Everyone keeps a distance from him and no one dares to approach him to talk?"

  As Xu Wen Nuan's words trailed off, Qin Zhi Ai suddenly realized that it seemed like this was the case - for an entire afternoon, his friends had been slipping in and out of sight before him, yet not a single one of them had spoken to him.