“It’s more romantic than any glow-in-the-dark bookmark.” She tucked the bookmark into her copy of “The History of Celestial Evolution,” the one Xie Zhecheng had lent her. “In a few days, we can go to Changbai Mountain to try it out. The nights there are dark enough to see the brightest light.”

Yuan Xu's ears turned bright red instantly, and her voice trembled as she spoke: "R-really? I've wanted to collect genes from cold-resistant insects in Changbai Mountain for so long!"

He excitedly grabbed Yu Jiuyuan's wrist, his fingertips carrying the coolness of the lab table, yet burning her as if she were being electrocuted.

[Yuan Xu: Concealing emotions, excited (+1)]

Yu Jiuyuan squeezed his hand in return, the gesture as natural as if to comfort him: "Of course, but we'll have to wait until the student council matters are finished."

As she withdrew her hand, she deliberately let her fingertips linger on his palm for half a second longer. "By the way, Xie Zhecheng said there was a mistake in a formula in your patent application materials. He corrected it for you on a draft paper and left it on the astronomy club's desk."

Yuan Xu's attention was indeed diverted. He grabbed his coat and rushed out, saying, "I'm going to get it right now! That formula has been stuck on me for three days!" He ran to the door, then turned back, his eyes shining like they were filled with starlight. "The promise to Changbai Mountain is a promise you can't break!"

Watching the boy's figure disappear down the corridor, Yu Jiuyuan's smile faded slightly. She took out her phone and sent a message to Xie Zhecheng: "Yuan Xu is almost at the astronomy club. Remember to correct the formula you deliberately wrote wrong, so as not to scare him."

When the notification of successful submission popped up, Xie Zhecheng was doing calculations on a draft paper with a red pen in the astronomy club's observation room.

The formula he wrote did indeed contain errors, but the errors were extremely subtle and could only be discovered by someone like Yuan Xu who was familiar with gene sequences.

This was a "coincidence" he had designed overnight, one that wouldn't actually delay the experiment, and would give Yuan Xu a reason to come find him.

When the door was pushed open, he said without looking up, "The error is in the base pairing on the third line. I marked it..." His voice trailed off when he saw Yuan Xu's nose, which was red from the cold.

The boy held a thermos in his arms, and snowflakes fell on his eyelashes, like butterflies that had wandered into the cold winter.

"Are you busy?" Yuan Xu placed the thermos on the table, her voice a little cautious. "My mom asked me to bring some pork rib soup. She said it's cold outside and my hands will feel cold, so drinking it will warm me up."

The moment the insulated container was opened, a fragrant aroma filled the entire observation room.

Xie Zhecheng looked at the tender, stewed ribs and suddenly remembered what Yu Jiuyuan had said that morning: "Yuan Xu's world is very simple. If you are good to him, he will be good to you."

[Xie Zhecheng: Positive emotions +3 (currently 44), Negative emotions -3 (currently 1) (Triggered the "Active Acceptance" threshold breakthrough)]

He picked up a spoon and ladled a bowlful. As the warm soup slid down his throat, he suddenly felt that breaking the rule of "not accepting food from strangers" wasn't so hard to accept after all.

The snow outside the observation room was falling heavier and heavier.

Yu Jiuyuan stood at the end of the corridor, watching the lights of the astronomy club glow warm yellow in the snow and mist. She suddenly remembered the light green pine needles on Rong Shenghan's sleeve. The Yuan family had a private forest in Changbai Mountain, which was dedicated to cultivating cold-resistant tree species.

The unpredictable vice president was also secretly preparing for the appointment at Changbai Mountain.

As she turned to walk toward her office, snowflakes landed on her shoulder, instantly melting into cool water stains. The three "gifts" in her handbag pressed against her palms: Yuan Xu's fluorescent bookmark, Xie Zhecheng's annotated formula, and Rong Shenghan's forest farm information hidden in pine needles.

In this game called "taming," everyone is approaching each other in their own way.

Xie Zhecheng's gentleness wrapped in rules, Yuan Xu's pure and innocent enthusiasm, Rong Shenghan's hidden foreshadowing, and even Lin Yanran's wavering under the temptation of profit...

Like the first snow, seemingly chaotic, it will eventually solidify into the desired shape in her palm.

Yu Jiuyuan pushed open the office door, and Rong Shenghan was smiling lightly at the computer screen. The screen displayed a satellite map of Changbai Mountain, with the location of Yuanjia Forest Farm circled in red and marked "Suitable for observing the aurora".

"When would the chairman like to go to Changbai Mountain?" When he looked up, the calculation in his eyes was softened by the snow. "I can arrange a helicopter, which is three hours faster than driving."

Yu Jiuyuan looked at the snow reflection in his eyes and suddenly chuckled: "Why don't you ask Xie Zhecheng? His astronomy club has a Changbai Mountain observation program next week, which is convenient since we're going there."

Rong Shenghan's fingertips paused on the keyboard. Yu Jiuyuan knew that he was calculating the pros and cons of this "on-the-way" trip, just as Xie Zhecheng was calculating the nuances when his design formula was flawed, and Yuan Xu was calculating the fluorescence intensity when cultivating luminous butterflies.

All she needs to do is stand at the center of this meticulous calculation and softly say "okay".

Snow fell on the clock tower of St. Cherry Academy, accumulating into a thin layer of white.

Looking at the swirling snowflakes outside the window, Yu Jiuyuan suddenly realized that the most interesting part of this game was never the "taming" itself.

Instead, she watched as these people, each with their own agendas, willingly broke their own rules to get closer to her, like ice and snow in the dead of winter, which would eventually crack open with tenderness for a little warmth.

As for who will ultimately occupy that gap?

She opened the book "The History of Celestial Evolution" that Xie Zhecheng had lent her. The fluorescent bookmark that Yuan Xu had made lit up between the pages, reflecting the aurora photos of Changbai Mountain that Rong Shenghan had just secretly slipped in.

Yu Jiuyuan's lips curled into a faint smile.

Winter has only just begun, hasn't it?