“You seem to know everything,” Xie Zhecheng suddenly spoke, breaking the silence. He looked at Yu Jiuyuan, a hint of confusion in his eyes, “Astronomical data, instrument principles, you even know the animals in the mountains…”
“I’ve learned a little bit before.” Yu Jiuyuan smiled, her tone casual. “My dad always says that there’s no harm in learning more things.”
That's only half true. The schedules of rich heiresses are always packed full of courses: etiquette, finance, horseback riding, foreign languages... As for astronomy and biology, they're just last-minute cramming to win over their targets.
But this argument is most convincing in front of someone like Hsieh Che-cheng, who has a natural reverence for "omnipotence".
"Hmm." Xie Zhecheng nodded, not asking any further questions, but quietly moved half a step closer to her.
Rong Shenghan, who was in the corner, suddenly closed his observation log and stood up: "Since we have to wait half an hour, shall I go get some drinks?"
“No need to trouble yourself…” Yu Jiuyuan had just opened her mouth when he interrupted her.
"No trouble at all." Rong Shenghan smiled gently, but his gaze seemed to sweep over Xie Zhecheng almost imperceptibly. "I'm thirsty anyway, so I'll bring you two bottles."
As he turned to leave, his steps were so light that it didn't seem like he was going to get water, but rather like he was deliberately avoiding something.
Xie Zhecheng watched his retreating figure, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly. He then looked at Yu Jiuyuan, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't.
Yu Jiuyuan observed all of this, her mind racing with calculations. Xie Zhecheng's unease and Rong Shenghan's "wise departure"—this standoff triggered by "equipment problems" was far more interesting than the spectrometer's curves.
"Actually..." Xie Zhecheng suddenly began in a low voice, "About yesterday, I..."
What did he want to say? An apology? Or an explanation? Yu Jiuyuan was waiting for him to continue when Rong Shenghan returned with two bottles of water, his timing as precise as if he were on a watch.
"Here you go." He handed a bottle of warm water to Yu Jiuyuan and placed the other bottle on the table next to Xie Zhecheng, his movements as natural as if he were at home.
Xie Zhecheng was interrupted as he was about to speak. His expression darkened, and he didn't touch the bottle of water.
"Thanks." Yu Jiuyuan took the water, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip. The warm water slid down her throat, just enough to suppress the smile that almost appeared on her face. The subtle battle between these two was becoming more and more obvious.
Half an hour passed quickly. When Xie Zhecheng pressed the power button, his fingertips trembled slightly.
Yu Jiuyuan stood beside him, watching the curve on the screen jump again. This time, the absorption line was straight and clear, falling perfectly in the standard position.
"Alright," she said lightly. "I told you, it was overheated."
Xie Zhecheng stared at the screen, his face expressionless, but his ears turned even redder. He had actually brought her here because of such a basic mistake... and she had seen right through him.
"Thank you." His voice was so low it was like a mosquito's hum, yet it reached Yu Jiuyuan's ears clearly.
This was the first time Xie Zhecheng had proactively said thank you. Yu Jiuyuan raised an eyebrow inwardly, but smiled frankly on the surface: "It's nothing, helping each other is only right."
She turned to look at Rong Shenghan, who was leaning against the railing of the observation platform, looking at them with a gentle smile on his lips, but his eyes were devoid of warmth.
"Since everything's alright, I'll go see if Yuan Xu is back." Yu Jiuyuan waved her phone. "His phone probably still doesn't have a signal."
“I’ll go with you.” Rong Shenghan immediately stood up straight.
"Me too..." Xie Zhecheng blurted out, but then realized it was inappropriate and swallowed the rest of his sentence, changing his words to, "I still need to organize the data."
"Then we're leaving." Yu Jiuyuan waved to him, turned around and followed Rong Shenghan down the mountain.
The two had just stepped off the observation platform when they heard a soft thud behind them, like a recording tablet falling to the ground. Yu Jiuyuan didn't stop, but a knowing smile appeared on her lips.
"President Xie seems to rely on you a lot." Rong Shenghan suddenly spoke, his tone still gentle, but with a hint of probing.
“He’s just too meticulous about the data.” Yu Jiuyuan turned her head to look at him, the sunlight falling into her eyes, shining like shattered gold. “It’s a common trait of perfectionists, don’t you think it’s cute?”
Rong Shenghan looked at the smile in her eyes, suddenly stopped, and gently squeezed her wrist. His grip was light, but it carried an air of unyielding strength.
“Cute?” He repeated the word, his gaze fixed on her intently. “Yu Jiuyuan, do you know what you’re doing?”
Yu Jiuyuan's heart skipped a beat. This was the first time Rong Shenghan had called her by her full name like this, and his tone lacked its usual gentleness, instead carrying a dangerous sharpness, like an ice shard hidden beneath warm water.
She looked up to meet his gaze, her smile unchanged, but a hint of amusement in her eyes: "What am I doing? Helping a friend fix an equipment problem, and checking on a lost classmate. Is there a problem?"
Rong Shenghan stared at her for a few seconds, then suddenly released her hand, took a half step back, and resumed his gentle demeanor, as if his previous sharpness was just an illusion. "It's nothing," he smiled, "I just feel that no matter how beautiful the scenery of Changbai Mountain is, it's not as distracting as you."
These words are both direct and ambiguous, like a whisper between lovers, or a hunter's probing.
Yu Jiuyuan's heart was filled with alarm bells, but her smile became even sweeter: "The vice president is joking with me again." She turned and walked forward, her voice light and cheerful, "Let's hurry up, Yuanxu will faint from hunger in the woods if we stay any later."
Rong Shenghan watched her retreating figure, the smile in his eyes gradually fading.
He knew exactly what she was doing. Like a skilled animal trainer, she could always precisely pluck the strings of everyone's heart, yet never linger. Xie Zhecheng's embarrassment, Yuan Xu's dependence, and perhaps... his own inexplicable concern.
She played this "strategy game" with ease, while they, the "prey" she targeted, unknowingly stepped into the net she had laid.
Inside the observation deck, Xie Zhecheng picked up the record board from the ground; the writing on it was somewhat blurred from being crumpled. He looked down the mountain in the direction where the two people were walking side by side, the sunlight casting long shadows of them, making them appear intimately close.
He suddenly realized that the 0.3-nanometer deviation he'd just witnessed might not have mattered at all. When did the real "deviation" begin to surface in his mind? Was it the moment she tiptoed to kiss him? Or the instant she knelt down to pick up the star chart for him?
The wind from Changbai Mountain swept through the observation platform, carrying the scent of pine needles and scattering the data on the recording board. Xie Zhecheng gripped his pen tightly, feeling for the first time that those numbers, accurate to six decimal places, seemed... not so important after all.
This incident, caused by "equipment problems," was just a minor episode in the trip to Changbai Mountain, but like a pebble thrown into a lake, it rippled through everyone's hearts.
Yu Jiuyuan looked at Xie Zhecheng's still stable positive emotion of 93 on the system panel, and Rong Shenghan's value had risen back to 72, and the smile on her lips became even deeper.
That's good. That's exactly the balance she wants. Neither letting anyone get too close, nor letting anyone completely withdraw.
After all, the essence of "strategy games" is never about taming a single prey, but about making all the "prey" willingly revolve around her.
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