The morning mist over Changbai Mountain had not yet dissipated when the sound of the off-road vehicle's engine broke the silence of the forest.
Yu Jiuyuan pulled her camel-colored scarf tighter, her fingertips brushing against the frost that had formed on the car window.
Outside the car window, Yuan Xu was squatting by the roadside taking pictures of a dying dwarf pine tree. The lens was almost touching the frozen ground, and she didn't even notice the snow particles stuck to the hem of her down jacket.
She chuckled softly and turned to look at the passenger seat. Xie Zhecheng was looking down at the observation data, his profile outlined in the morning light, his cold, hard features clearly visible. The sound of his pen scratching across the notebook was clearly audible, as if the surrounding noise had nothing to do with him.
"President Xie," Yu Jiuyuan tapped the back of his chair, "Is the last set of star trail data checked?"
Xie Zhecheng looked up, his gaze sweeping over her slightly red nose from the cold behind his glasses, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly: "Hmm. The error is controlled within 0.3 arcseconds."
"Perfect." She smiled, her eyes crinkling, her tone carrying just the right amount of admiration.
The system panel flashed in his mind. Xie Zhecheng's favorability rating remained at 10, but his positive emotional fluctuations jumped and stabilized at 99.
Sure enough, for this aloof perfectionist, accurate data was more useful than any words of comfort.
The sound of fabric rubbing came from the back seat of the car.
Rong Shenghan had woken up at some point and was resting his chin on his hand, looking out the window. The warm brown sunlight fell on his eyelashes, creating a soft golden edge.
He was wearing the same windbreaker as everyone else, but he always seemed more relaxed than others, as if he hadn't just spent seven sleepless nights in the wilderness at minus twenty degrees Celsius, but was attending an afternoon tea party.
"President," he suddenly spoke, his voice slightly hoarse from just waking up, "hasn't Secretary Lin gotten on the bus yet?"
Yu Jiuyuan glanced at her watch; it was 8:03. Three minutes had passed since the agreed departure time. She pushed open the car door, and the cold air instantly rushed into her collar, making her instinctively shrink back.
In front of the temporary tent in the student union office, Lin Yanran was arguing with members of the astronomy club.
He was wearing an oversized black down jacket, the zipper only halfway up, revealing a hoodie with a skull print underneath, which clashed with the serious academic atmosphere around him.
"I told you I didn't take it!" Lin Yanran's voice carried its usual arrogance, her brows furrowed tightly. "Who cares about your broken compass?"
The member who was rebuked blushed: "You're the only one in the entire camp who touched my backpack yesterday!"
"Heh," Lin Yanran scoffed, taking a step to leave, but Yu Jiuyuan blocked her way.
"Officer Lin," she said calmly, but her gaze was like a frozen lake, "it's time to depart."
Lin Yanran's gaze lingered on her face, his expression revealing undisguised resistance: "I didn't find his junk. You'll have to wait for yourselves."
“No need.” Yu Jiuyuan stepped aside and pointed to the supply truck not far away. “Your backpack is in truck number three; I’ve already had the driver put it away. As for the compass…”
She pulled a small silver object from her pocket and tossed it over, saying, "I just found this in the corner of your tent. It probably got blown outside last night because of the strong wind."
Lin Yanran caught the compass, her fingertips tracing the astronomical society emblem engraved on it, her face alternating between pale and flushed.
The system panel popped up at the right time, and his negative emotion fluctuation dropped from 18 to 12, but there was still no trace of positive emotion.
Yu Jiuyuan didn't look at him again and turned to walk towards the SUV.
As soon as she opened the door, she bumped into Rong Shenghan leaning against the car door, playing with a pine cone in his hand, a mischievous smile in his eyes: "The president is getting better and better at taming wild horses."
“Vice President Rong is joking.” She raised an eyebrow. “I’m more concerned about whether we can get back to school on time than about taming the horses. After all, the student council has a budget review meeting next week.”
Rong Shenghan chuckled softly and bent down to open the car door for her: "Yes, Chairman."
His fingertips brushed against the back of her hand unintentionally, and the warm touch sent a jolt through him like an electric current.
Yu Jiuyuan calmly withdrew her hand and got into the car. She glanced at the system panel and saw that Rong Shenghan's favorability rating jumped to 64. The positive emotional fluctuation remained steadily at 91.
This unpredictable man always managed to give her a little unexpected "sweetness" in these subtle interactions.
Yuan Xu was the last to board the bus. He carefully sat down in the last row, carrying a thermos. As soon as he was settled, he couldn't wait to open the lid. Inside, there was a thick layer of cotton and several rare Changbai Mountain snow lotus seedlings.
“Jiuyuan, look!” His eyes lit up, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement. “This is a mutated variety found by Tianchi Lake. The edges of its petals have a fluorescent reaction. We can do gene sequencing when we get back…”
"Be careful not to get cold." Yu Jiuyuan handed him a hand warmer. "The car is well heated, so don't let the temperature difference be too great."
Yuan Xu obediently took it and wrapped the hand warmer in the incubator as if it were a rare treasure.
On the system panel, his favorability rating was still 85, with his positive emotions close to the maximum, as stable as the culture medium in his petri dish.
As the convoy slowly drove away from the camp, Yu Jiuyuan glanced back. The outline of Changbai Mountain was faintly visible in the morning mist, like a sleeping giant beast.
During those seven days, she accompanied Xie Zhecheng to the observatory to watch over Orion at 3 a.m., helped Rong Shenghan handle urgent documents from the student council, listened to Yuan Xu talk for three whole hours about the evolutionary history of alpine plants, and even endured Lin Yanran's seventeen overt and covert provocations.
The progress of the strategy isn't exactly rapid, but at least it's not regressing.
"What are you thinking about?" Rong Shenghan's voice came from beside her. He had changed seats at some point and sat down next to her, holding a can of hot cocoa, which was still warm when he handed it to her.
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