Chapter 6, Ninth Boyfriend. She continued flipping through the pages, her heart pounding faster and faster…

Lin Yuwei's thoughts drifted back to ten years ago, following Gu Qingyan's busy yet familiar figure.

On the third day of university, Lin Yuwei had enough of the dormitory life: the cramped space of a six-person room, the dampness of the communal bathroom, the moldy corners, the dirty toilets with long queues, and the prying looks from her roommates—it all suffocated her. When her roommate on the top bunk accidentally spilled her essence, she packed her bags and went to a hotel. On the way, she made an overseas call to her mother.

"Mom, either get me a single room or help me rent a place outside. The dorms at this school are too shabby, I really can't stand it." She sneered at the voice on the other end of the phone, "Otherwise, I'll drop out of school tomorrow."

Lin Yuwei's mother knew that her daughter had been spoiled and extremely willful since childhood. She said that she really meant dropping out of school, so she had no choice but to agree to her request: "I really can't do anything with you. You can stay in a hotel for two days first. I will ask Secretary Wang to buy an apartment near your school and hire a live-in nanny for you."

Lin Yuwei finally calmed down: "I'm already on my way to the hotel. As for the nanny... there's no need to trouble Aunt Wang to help find one. I have a suitable candidate." Her gaze fell on Gu Qingyan, who was walking ahead and helping her carry her luggage to the hotel. Under the scorching sun, his thin back was covered with bags and suitcases, and he was dragging two of the largest suitcases in his hands. His forehead was soaked with sweat.

Gu Qingyan's university was in the same university town area as her school. Of course, this was no coincidence. Gu Qingyan had excellent college entrance examination scores. It was Lin Yuwei who forced Gu Qingyan to change her university application and apply to a university in the same city as her. Lin Yuwei praised herself for her foresight in her heart. At the same time, a mischievous idea suddenly popped into her head.

Three days later, she moved into a luxury apartment near the school, and Gu Qingyan also moved into the second bedroom of the apartment. He became her nanny and private housekeeper, whose duties included, but were not limited to: serving her a pleasantly warm black coffee and a delicious breakfast in the morning, cooking instant noodles with a soft-boiled egg at midnight, handling all the household chores, doing plumbing and electrical repairs, and providing drinks, snacks, and fruit platters whenever she brought her boyfriend home.

If she had been more observant back then, she would have noticed that Gu Qingyan's changes were not without reason. She remembered very clearly that when the senior named Chen Xiao first came to her apartment, Gu Qingyan was wiping the balcony glass. Sunlight shone through the rag in his hand, casting shimmering watermarks on the coffee table. While Chen Xiao was playing mobile games on the sofa with his arm around her waist, she caught a glimpse of Gu Qingyan's fingers suddenly tighten, and the rag made a screeching sound as it scraped against the glass.

"What's wrong with your cousin? He's so inconsiderate," Chen Xiao grumbled. Yes, she introduced Gu Qingyan to Chen Xiao as her cousin, who was also studying at a university in the city and had come to live with her.

Lin Yuwei deliberately raised her voice: "Qingyan, we've finished the fruit, cut some more."

Gu Qingyan obediently put down the rag and went into the kitchen, where the crisp sound of a knife chopping could be heard.

After finishing a game of mobile game, Chen Xiao's hand, which was wrapped around Lin Yuwei, wandered into the hem of her clothes. Lin Yuwei sat on Chen Xiao's lap. Gu Qingyan came out with a fruit platter. The fruit platter was exquisite. The apples were cut into the shape of little rabbits, and the strawberries were arranged in a heart shape after the stems were removed—this was her favorite way of arranging fruit.

When Gu Qingyan put down the fruit plate, his eyes were dark and brooding as he glanced at them. His back was stiff as an iron plate as he turned to leave, but Lin Yuwei didn't care. In her heart, Gu Qingyan was no different from the other furniture in the house. They were all there to make her life more comfortable, so his presence did not affect her and her boyfriend's affectionate mood. But soon, the sound of something breaking came from the kitchen. Gu Qingyan kept going in and out of the kitchen and living room with a broom. Chen Xiao let go of her in disappointment.

****

Gu Qingyan placed the hangover soup on the coffee table. The porcelain bowl clinked against the glass tabletop, making a crisp "ding" sound that pulled Lin Yuwei back to her senses.

"The hangover soup should be drunk while it's hot." He straightened up, looked around her residence, and suddenly said, "Miss Lin, you seem to have become much more detached from worldly desires now."

Lin Yuwei knew he was mocking her past chaotic private life. She didn't respond, but lowered her head, picked up the hangover soup, and sipped it slowly, the spiciness of the ginger spreading on her tongue.

Gu Qingyan walked to the bookshelf against the wall. Lin Yuwei remembered what was on the bookshelf, her eyes twitched, she quickly finished the rest of her soup, put down the bowl, and walked over. Sure enough, Gu Qingyan's gaze fell on the cardboard box on the bookshelf: inside was a stack of business magazines, each cover featuring Gu Qingyan from a different period of his life, such as "Tech Newcomer Starting from Scratch," "From Humble Beginnings to CEO," and "Dark Horse in the Cutting-Edge Technology Field"... These titles were particularly eye-catching under the warm yellow light.

"I ordered a whole box of journals and forgot to throw them away." Lin Yuwei walked quickly past him, only realizing her palms were sweaty when her fingers touched the magazines. The edges of the journals inside the box were curled, showing signs of frequent reading. She guiltily hugged the box to her chest, hoping Gu Qingyan hadn't noticed.

Gu Qingyan's lips curled into a half-smile as she watched Lin Yuwei flee into the bedroom with the magazine in her arms. The door slammed shut so hard that the decorative paintings on the wall swayed slightly.

After putting the cardboard box away, Lin Yuwei walked out of the living room again. Gu Qingyan had already washed the dishes. She hesitated before saying, "It's late, Mr. Gu. Thank you for bringing me back today and for making the hangover soup. You should go back and rest too."

Gu Qingyan's eyes sparkled. He was never one to show his emotions openly, but Lin Yuwei, having known him for over a decade, knew that this expression meant he was in a good mood. Sure enough, he didn't press the matter further, grabbed his suit jacket, and headed out the door.

"I won't see you out." Lin Yuwei quickly closed the door, and the moment it closed, she collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

It took Lin Yuwei a while to regain her strength before she could get up and go to the bathroom to take a shower.

She walked out of the bathroom, drying her wet hair. Water droplets dripped from her hair onto her silk nightgown, leaving dark stains. Only a bedside lamp was on in the bedroom, its warm yellow light casting a soft outline on the stack of magazines and documents hastily packed in. Her gaze fell on the conspicuous brown paper bag—it lay quietly among the magazines, its edges worn, as if it had been opened and closed countless times.

Lin Yuwei sat cross-legged on the soft bed, the brown paper bag making a slight rustling sound in her hands. She carefully took out the contents, which was a sketchbook, Gu Qingyan's sketchbook, the black hard cover already somewhat faded.

She discovered this sketchbook by chance when she and Gu Qingyan lived together in college. That day, Gu Qingyan went to class, and her phone charger broke, so she went to Gu Qingyan's room to find a charger. She accidentally opened his drawer, and there lay this thick sketchbook.

Lin Yuwei didn't know that Gu Qingyan could paint, and she had never seen him paint. In her impression, Gu Qingyan was a boring person with no artistic talent. He was either hunched over the computer typing code, or rolling up his sleeves to tidy up the household chores, or quietly preparing meals in the kitchen, always as quiet as a shadow.

Out of curiosity, Lin Yuwei opened the first page of the sketchbook and then froze on the spot.

The pencil lines on the page outlined a familiar profile—her profile. It was how she looked when she was reading in the library, sunlight streaming through the window casting dappled shadows on her eyelashes, the corners of her lips slightly upturned, as if she had read something interesting.

She continued flipping over, her heartbeat gradually accelerating.

Every page features her.

Her languid posture as she nestled on the sofa watching a movie.

Her furrowed brows and lips pressed into a thin line when she gets angry.

The moment she woke up in the morning, the shoulder strap of her nightgown slipped down, revealing her collarbone.

These sketches likely spanned several years. The earliest ones still show signs of rough brushstrokes, but they became more and more skillful as they progressed. By the end, they could almost capture every subtle change in her expression. Some pages even depicted her half-naked back, with the lines ambiguously hidden in the shadows. These works were clearly created after they began "that kind of relationship."

What shocked Lin Yuwei the most was that Gu Qingyan saw her as so... vivid, not as the spoiled and willful eldest daughter of the Lin family that everyone else saw, but as a real girl with flesh and blood who could laugh and get angry.

The characters he portrays are sometimes gentle, sometimes irritable, and sometimes fragile, but they all share one common trait: they are always stunningly beautiful.

The latest page had been torn out and carefully pasted back in; it had no drawings on it, only countless words repeatedly written in pencil:

hatred?

Wei

Wei

Wei

...

The numerous characters "薇" (Wei) vary in depth and weight; some are so strong they seem to penetrate the paper, while others are so light they are almost invisible. They must be products of the writer's different emotional states.

Lin Yuwei stared at that page for a long time, her heart pounding in her chest, but she couldn't tell whether it was anger, fear, or some other more complex emotion.

Now, ten years later, when she opens this sketchbook again, the lines and handwriting still make her breathless.

****

The winter of her sophomore year was particularly harsh. The sycamore trees in front of the library had long since lost their vibrant colors, leaving only their gnarled branches reaching towards the leaden sky. Lin Yuwei wrapped herself tightly in her newly bought cashmere coat, waiting outside the gymnasium for her ninth boyfriend, Li Rui, the captain of the basketball team from the School of Economics and Management.

"Weiwei!" Li Rui jogged towards her, the heat from his exercise rising in a light, hazy mist around him. Lin Yuwei looked up at Li Rui; he certainly had the looks to make all the girls in the college scream. He was 1.88 meters tall and had clearly defined arm muscles when he played basketball. When he smiled, there was a dimple on his right cheek.

He ran to Lin Yuwei's side and reached out to put his arm around her shoulder: "Have you been waiting long?" Lin Yuwei smelled the cologne mixed with his sweat on his body and subtly moved half a step to the side: "Just arrived."

Li Rui flashed his signature sunny smile and said indulgently, "I knew my girlfriend was the most considerate. Come on, let's go eat! What do you want to eat? It's so cold, how about hot pot?" He reached out to try and hold her hand, but Lin Yuwei buried her hands even deeper into her coat pockets, subtly avoiding Li Rui's touch once again.

A note from the author:

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The revenge of the yandere loyal dog has arrived.