Positive emotions are like a lit fuse, burning fiercely in silence.
Xie Zhecheng turned off the laser pointer with deliberate calmness: "I'll go check out the technical department." As he turned around, the hem of his coat swept across the ginger tea cup on the corner of the table, splashing water onto his trousers like an unsightly ink stain.
Yu Jiuyuan watched his slightly hurried back and suddenly picked up the cup of cold ginger tea.
There were still a few slices of ginger at the bottom of the cup. She had asked the aunt to add them, because she remembered that he had a bad stomach but always forgot to drink hot drinks while he was observing.
The "HDb" on the star chart is still twinkling, like a restless heart, quietly tilting towards a certain gravitational source on the chessboard of the universe.
In the greenhouse of the biology laboratory building, Yuan Xu was squatting in front of the incubator, applying protective oil to the wing veins of a butterfly.
When Yu Jiuyuan walked in, she saw a new brooch on his white coat, made from a specimen of the wing veins of an aurora butterfly.
The shape of the wing veins forms the Chinese character "鸢" (yuān), and the edges are inlaid with tiny silver diamonds.
"Ah Yuan!" Yuan Xu held up the brooch, her eyes shining like stars. "I made this from my shed old wing veins; it won't harm them!"
He pinned the brooch to her coat with the gentleness of someone handling a fragile item, saying, "That way, others will know that you are my... guardian of butterflies."
His voice carried a childlike declaration, and the tips of his ears were as red as ripe cherries.
Yu Jiuyuan looked down at the brooch. The luminescence of the wing veins glowed pale blue in the warm light, like the light that never went out in his eyes: "It's very beautiful. I like it very much."
Yuan Xu's smile instantly brightened, and she pulled her to another incubator: "I've also cultivated a new variety! Look at this!"
The butterfly in the box has gradient pink wings with silver tips. "I call it 'Snow Kite,' like you standing in the snow."
[Yuan Xu: Favorability 95→97, Emotional fluctuations—Negative 0/Neutral 12/Positive 98 (Positive +4)]
Positive emotions are like warm water flowing over a dam, gentle yet firm.
As Yu Jiuyuan watched him carefully hold out the butterfly, she suddenly remembered the night in Changbai Mountain when he wrapped her, who was shivering from the cold, in his sleeping bag and said, "A-Yuan, don't be afraid, the butterfly will stay with us."
There was a light in his eyes back then, so pure that it was impossible to deceive him.
She reached out and ruffled his hair, a drop of protective oil on her fingertips: "On the day of the party, should 'Snow Kite' be the first to appear?"
Yuan Xu nodded emphatically, holding the incubator as if it were the whole world: "Yes! I'll have them form a heart above your head!"
The greenhouse was very warm, and the fluttering of butterfly wings sounded like soft applause, providing accompaniment to this unspoken agreement.
At the student council's registration desk, Lin Yanran was checking the guest list on the computer.
The cursor on the screen blinked over the name "Tang Nianzhi," and he suddenly tapped the keyboard in frustration.
When I went to deliver the scarf just now, I saw Tang Nianzhi and Rong Shenghan huddled together looking at sheet music, the two of them so close it looked like they were kissing.
"Secretary Lin, this list needs the president's signature." The secretary handed him a folder, interrupting his reverie.
Lin Yanran took the folder with great force, and the edges of the papers were wrinkled from his grip.
As he walked toward the student council office, his steps were filled with inexplicable anger. As he passed the biology lab building, he happened to see Yu Jiuyuan and Yuan Xu talking at the entrance of the greenhouse.
She wore a butterfly brooch on her coat, and her smile was more dazzling than the most expensive diamond in the shop window.
[Lin Yanran: Favorability 26→30, Emotional fluctuations—Negative 24/Neutral 10/Positive 0 (Negative -6, Positive +6)]
Negative emotions, like tree branches bent under the weight of snow, continue to decline.
Lin Yanran loosened her grip on the folder, suddenly remembering her father's words: "If you like it, just grab it. The Lin family never suffers a loss."
But when he saw the gentleness in her voice as she spoke to Yuan Xu, he suddenly felt like a villain who had stumbled into a fairy tale, clumsy and superfluous.
He turned and walked toward the technical department, stuffing the folder into his pocket. Just now at the registration desk, he had secretly added a note next to "Lin Yanran's" name: "Responsible for security throughout the party, can approach the stage at any time."
The reasons he gave were grand and respectable, but only he knew that he simply wanted to be closer to her, even closer.
As night deepened, Yu Jiuyuan stood by the window of the student council office, watching the footprints in the snow being covered by fresh snow.
The favorability rating on the system panel resembles four slowly rotating stars, each on its own orbit, converging towards the same center:
Rong Shenghan's 90s carry a gentle determination to win;
Hsieh Che-cheng's 51 conceals a restrained surging power;
Yuanxu's 97 is wrapped in pure heat;
Lin Yanran's 30s were tinged with awkward concern.
She raised her hand and touched the butterfly brooch on her coat; the fluorescent light from the wing veins tingled slightly through the fabric.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a message from Rong Shenghan, containing only a photo.
Tang Nianzhi was playing the piano, and Rong Shenghan was standing behind her, but his gaze was directed out of the camera, and the smile on his lips was obviously perfunctory.
Rong Shenghan: Favorability rating 90→92, Emotional fluctuations—Negative 1/Neutral 8/Positive 92 (Positive +2)
Yu Jiuyuan looked at the photo and suddenly smiled.
She replied with a faint smiley face, then turned off her phone screen.
The snow was still falling outside the window. The clock tower of St. Sakura Academy stood silently in the snowy night, like a witness, watching this game she led, called "taming," write increasingly clear traces in the snow.
The task assignments for the party were still spread out on the table, like a map covered in codes.
Meanwhile, her "pets," each with their own worries, are searching the map for a way to her.
The most captivating part of the young lady's manual is never the moment of taming, but rather the struggle and surrender in her eyes as she watches her prey willingly walk into the trap.
Yu Jiuyuan turned off the office light and turned to walk into the snowstorm.
Her footprints were quickly covered by the fresh snow, but she left behind an invisible thread that gently tugged at four hearts beating for her, drawing them closer in the same direction in the snowy night.
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