Qi Changzhou acted quickly, releasing a clarification announcement right at midnight.

The netizens who were waiting under the official Weibo post immediately went wild.

The news spread like wildfire online all night, while Shan Song, holding the warm body in his arms, slept soundly without a dream.

Tong Zhao woke up naturally after a good night's sleep, and after looking around, she found that Shan Song was not in the room.

A small note was pressed next to the pillow: [Going out on a mission with Qi Yan. You can have lunch at Professor Luan's place when you wake up. PS: No internet access today!]

Tong Zhao looked at the fierce-looking little figure drawn on the note and suddenly laughed.

I was thinking of replying to his message, but then I realized that my phone and tablet weren't with me. Could it be?

Tong Zhao's mind raced, and she flipped over the small note: 【Don't bother looking, it's confiscated! [pointing and gesturing]】

"..." Where did this emoji come from?

Tong Zhao was both amused and exasperated, and got out of bed.

There are no random tasks today, and even if there were, it wouldn't matter, Tong Zhao thought silently to herself.

Suddenly, he paused, realizing he had actually gotten used to this feeling of breaking the rules. A dark thought quietly crept into Tong Zhao's mind: if anyone bullied him again, he would make them taste the bitterness of "those who bully others will be bullied themselves."

...

Room 2.

"Zhao Zhao?" Luan Yining looked towards the door: "Let's eat first, it's still warm."

"Professor Luan, I'm sorry to bother you." Tong Zhao was a little reserved. He had never spent time alone with Luan Yining before. Jiang Li had been there to liven up the atmosphere, so the situation was never awkward. But neither he nor Professor Luan were usually very talkative, so the atmosphere easily cooled down when they got together.

Tong Zhao wanted to take the initiative to liven up the atmosphere, but she struggled to find a suitable topic. In particular, Professor Luan had an unapproachable air about him, and she felt that talking about mundane family matters would be a desecration to him.

Luan Yining seemed to sense his unease and took the initiative to speak: "Qi Yan said this morning that he was worried I'd be bored, so he asked Zhao Zhao to keep me company today. You eat first, and then we'll go upstairs—"

What should we do upstairs?

Luan Yining paused. He didn't have many interests, except for reading and playing chess. He would occasionally watch some documentaries. His life was not interesting at all. He couldn't think of any interesting entertainment activities.

People are strange like that; when others are in similar "predicaments" to themselves, they inexplicably become closer.

Luan Yining paused for a while, then exchanged a glance with Tong Zhao, and both of them gave a slight smile.

The atmosphere immediately lightened considerably.

Tong Zhao sat at the dining table, observed the layout of the living room, and said, "Professor Luan."

"Just call me Aning, like A-Li does."

"Okay, Aning." Tong Zhao felt a little uncomfortable with this form of address. She lowered her head, touched her nose, and continued, "Your living room has been renovated very well. It feels completely different from when I came here."

Tong Zhao felt that this was the style Luan Yining liked.

"Most of it was arranged by Qi Yan."

Tong Zhao was studying the flower arrangement on the dining table when she heard this. She paused for a moment, then pointed to the artistic Liu Chuhua in front of her: "Wasn't this arranged by Professor Luan?"

Luan Yining shifted her gaze to the clusters of light pink and smiled: "It's Qi Yan. He likes to tinker with these things."

Huh? Tong Zhao was genuinely surprised this time. Did this chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) kid actually like flower arranging when he wasn't being pretentious?

"Surprised?" Luan Yining sat down at the dining table with Tong Zhao, served them each a bowl of soup, and chatted with Tong Zhao as they ate.

Tong Zhao nodded: "His temperament is not compatible with quiet activities that require patience. I feel that he, Shan Song, and Brother Qi would prefer activities like boxing, racing, cycling, diving, or skiing."

At this point, Luan Yining looked up at him, but Tong Zhao was lost in thought and didn't notice.

"Is it because Aning likes it?" Tong Zhao asked.

Luan Yining shook her head: "It's his own interest, but he also quite likes activities like racing, it's just that he doesn't go as often now."

"Is he afraid that Aning would worry? I didn't expect him to be so considerate."

Luan Yining didn't deny it and put some food on Tong Zhao's plate: "This is something Shan Song learned from Qi Yan. He told me before he left that you had to try it."

Qi Yan is teaching Shan Song? Tong Zhao's eyes widened slightly as she stared at the only dish on the table, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, which didn't look very appealing, and fell into deep thought.

"Did Qi Yan cook the other dishes?" Tong Zhao asked, suppressing her disbelief.

"Hmm, is it to your liking?"

"...It suits my taste quite well."

Is Qi Yan a chef?

He seems different from the person I knew.

While puzzled, Tong Zhao ate half a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes that had barely been touched. It seemed like there was a bit too much sugar in it; it was something Dan Song would make.

After dinner, Luan Yining led the group upstairs: "The two rooms on the right haven't been cleaned yet, let's go to the study first."

Tong Zhao nodded, but was surprised when he entered the study. It was too exquisite. Unlike the half-finished living room, the study was fully equipped with bookshelves, a height-adjustable desk, an ergonomic chair, a sofa, a table lamp, a wall painting, a side table, storage cabinets, as well as green plants and a sound system.

Is this where all the points are used?

Luan Yining's computer was still on the table, as if she had just finished working.

Luan Yining pulled Tong Zhao to sit on the sofa: "Can we watch a movie?"

Tong Zhao snapped out of her daze: "Sure, what does Aning usually watch?"

"Me? I actually watch very few movies."

"So what does Aning usually do?"

"Reading? Playing chess?"

"What kind of chess are we playing? Chinese chess?"

"You know a little bit of everything, mostly chess. Does Zhaozhao know how to play?"

Hmm... he only knows how to play Gomoku.

Seeing Tong Zhao's troubled expression, Luan Yining said understandingly, "Are you a little bored? Is there anything Zhao Zhao wants to do? I can accompany you."

Tong Zhao shook her head: "No, it's just that I happen to not know how to play chess. Those who do would definitely find it very interesting. Professor Luan, have you not had time to develop your hobbies since you started working? Did you have any hobbies that you were interested in or had a good experience with before?"

Luan Yining thought for a moment and said, "I wouldn't call it a hobby, but I think I was invited by my roommates to play games a few times when I was in school, and I played mahjong once at a student graduation party. I felt that was pretty good."

He still knows how to do that!

Tong Zhao reached for her phone, then suddenly remembered it had been confiscated by someone: "..."

Tong Zhao looked at Luan Yining, who shrugged and smiled slightly, clearly aware that his phone had been confiscated.

Tong Zhao sighed. He could have just ignored it; why was he being so vigilant?

So, playing mahjong is the only option?

Half an hour later, with the help of the production team, Tong Zhao received a box of physical mahjong tiles and two staff members.

After playing for an hour, a shout suddenly came from outside the window: "Ah Ning, open the door! Ah Mo and I are here to play!"

It's Jiang Li; she's back after completing her mission.

Luan Yining and Tong Zhao went downstairs. Luan Yining opened the door, and Jiang Li said as she walked in, "Don't worry, the live stream is all turned off!"

Upon entering, I saw Tong Zhao standing behind Luan Yining.

"Ah Zhao, you're so pitiful!"

Jiang Li pounced on Tong Zhao and gave him a big bear hug. She quickly got up and patted him on the shoulder like a good buddy: "Don't worry, I'll get back at him for you!"

"Let me show you my results... Oh, Shan Song won't let you see!" Jiang Li took out her phone and then put it away again.

Before Tong Zhao could even react, Jiang Li took a bag of snacks from Rong Mo and stuffed it into his hand: "As a token of my appreciation!"

Tong Zhao looked down and said, "..."

He's not sick, so why does he have canned yellow peaches?

Tong Zhao looked up speechlessly, and his eyes met those of Rong Mo, who had just entered the room. Rong Mo nodded to him expressionlessly: "Don't worry about it."

Okay then.

"What were you doing just now? I knocked on the door for ages and no one came." Jiang Li dragged the two of them by the arms and led them inside.

"Playing mahjong? I'm an expert at that! Count me in, count me in!"

Wow, your study is so comfortably decorated!

The two staff members had just quietly left, and Jiang Li automatically pulled Rong Mo to take the two empty seats: "I'm super good at mahjong, watch me dominate the game."

"What do we win?" Jiang Li asked, looking around.

Luan Yining and Tong Zhao exchanged a glance and shook their heads.

“If we don’t win, the loser will have to write a note,” Rong Mo said, raising an eyebrow.

Jiang Li squinted at him; a great battle was about to break out.