In mid-December, Saint Sakura Academy was already immersed in the chill of deep winter. A thin layer of fog condensed on the glass windows, blurring the bare sycamore branches outside into indistinct silhouettes.

The student council office was well-heated. Yu Jiuyuan held a silver-gray fountain pen between her fingers. When her gaze swept over the open notebook in front of her, her eyelashes cast a small, gentle shadow under her eyes.

"The observation activities at Changbai Mountain last week went very smoothly, according to the Astronomy Club?" She looked up at Xie Zhecheng, who was sitting diagonally opposite her, her voice carrying just the right amount of gentle laughter.

Xie Zhecheng was wearing a dark gray turtleneck sweater, his neck as hard and cold as meticulously sculpted marble. He merely nodded slightly upon hearing this, his fingertips tapping lightly twice on the table.

"Data collection was 98% complete, and the equipment was undamaged. The only unexpected thing was a sudden blizzard in the early hours of the third day, which brought forward the scheduled Orion observation by two hours."

His tone was as flat as if he were reporting an unimportant experiment, his gaze fixed on the notebook, without a trace of extra emotion.

Yu Jiuyuan quickly jotted down "Astronomy Club Activity Review: Blizzard Response Plan Needs Supplementation" in her notebook, the rustling sound of her pen gliding across the paper particularly clear in the quiet office.

When she looked up, her gaze inadvertently swept over the watch peeking out from Xie Zhecheng's sleeve. It was a Patek Philippe Starry Night watch, with tiny sapphires adorning the dial, much like the starry night sky over Changbai Mountain.

"Thank you for your hard work, President Xie," she said, her eyes crinkling with genuine warmth. "I heard you stayed up all night adjusting the spectrometer to complete the observations before the snow stopped?"

Xie Zhecheng paused for half a second, then looked up with his eyes still cold: "It's my duty."

Yu Jiuyuan smiled and didn't press the matter further, but she clearly sensed his almost negligible emotional fluctuation in that instant, his neutral value jumping from 10 to 12 before quickly dropping back down.

She turned back to Rong Shenghan, who was sitting on her left: "How are the student council activities going? Has the logistics department confirmed the newly approved venue for the New Year's Eve party?"

Rong Shenghan was looking down at a folder when he heard this. He looked up, a gentle and harmless smile on his lips: "It's all arranged with the stadium. It'll be available all day on New Year's Day. The stage construction supplier sent over new design drawings. I think there are a few details that can be adjusted to better fit the theme. I'll show them to you after the meeting."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on Yu Jiuyuan's face, his dark eyes filled with what seemed like shattered starlight, his intimacy just right.

“Okay,” Yu Jiuyuan readily agreed, circling “New Year’s Eve Party: Stage Design Second Review” on her notebook with her fingertip. “But the vice president seems to be very busy lately? I went to your office yesterday afternoon to deliver some documents, but I didn’t see you there.”

Rong Shenghan's smile remained unchanged as he gently stroked the edge of the folder with his fingertips: "Something came up at home, so I left half an hour early. Sorry, I didn't have time to inform the chairman."

His tone carried just the right amount of apology, but the emotions in his eyes were like a lake shrouded in thick fog, impossible to discern clearly.

Yu Jiuyuan smiled and said it was okay, but she silently updated the data in her mind. Rong Shenghan's positive emotion value remained at 92 without any fluctuation.

This man always seemed to wear a perfect mask; what lay hidden beneath his gentle exterior, she still hadn't fully figured out.

“Yuan Xu,” she turned to the boy sitting to her right, her tone softening unconsciously, “is the Biology Club’s annual report almost finished? It needs to be submitted to the Academic Affairs Office next week.”

Yuan Xu was staring down at her phone screen, which displayed a microscopic image of cell division.

Hearing this, he suddenly looked up, his gold-rimmed glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose, revealing a pair of clear, doe-like eyes: "Ah? Oh, almost done. I stayed up all night yesterday to finish labeling the last set of chromosome data, now all that's left is the cover design."

As he spoke, he handed his phone to Yu Jiuyuan, his tone carrying a hint of barely perceptible excitement, "Look at this, I discovered a new type of actinomycete in a permafrost sample from Changbai Mountain, and its morphology is particularly beautiful."

On the phone screen, clumps of pale blue mycelium spread across the culture medium, resembling crystal flowers blooming in the snow. As Yu Jiuyuan leaned closer to look, her hair brushed against Yuan Xu's hand, and the boy's earlobe instantly flushed red.

“It’s really special,” she exclaimed sincerely, tapping the edge of the screen with her fingertip. “Is this mycelial structure related to the actinomycetes found in polar glaciers?”

Yuan Xu's eyes lit up, and she spoke faster: "You think so too? I compared the gene sequences in the NCBI database, and the similarity was as high as 89%, but its antifreeze protein expression level was significantly higher..."

Once he starts talking about his professional field, he can't stop, his animated expression completely different from his usual quiet demeanor.

Yu Jiuyuan listened patiently, occasionally nodding in agreement. When her gaze fell on his reddened ear tips, the precise scale in her heart swayed slightly again. Yuan Xu's favorability rating remained steadily at 85, while his positive emotion value had soared to 98.

"Cough cough."

Two deliberate coughs interrupted Yuan Xu's words.

Lin Yanran leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, her face showing undisguised impatience.

He was wearing a burgundy velvet shirt with the top two buttons undone, revealing his prominent collarbone. He looked like a wildcat that was kept in captivity but still bared its teeth and claws.

"In a meeting, talking about bacteria and fungi? Is that interesting?" He scoffed, his gaze sweeping over Yuan Xu with undisguised contempt.

"President, when will I be assigned tasks? Are you making me organize old files every day because you think I, Lin Yanran, am only fit to do these trivial tasks?"

Yu Jiuyuan withdrew her gaze, her smile fading slightly, but she still maintained her composure: "Every task of the student council is important, Secretary Lin."

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