"Want a Hug~"

At six o'clock the next morning.

Chen Wen got up on time. After washing up, he went out for his usual workout.

The moment Chen Wen stepped out of apartment 901, the door to 902 across the hall opened in response.

Jiang Qiuyi, dressed in a pink tracksuit, poked her head out, tilted it at Chen Wen, and flashed him a playful grin.

Ever since they had moved out to live on their own during the second semester of junior year, morning runs had been an essential part of their daily routine for over two months.

As they entered the elevator, Jiang Qiuyi silently moved to Chen Wen's side, wrapped her arms around one of his, and smiled happily.

"Actually, I really hate morning runs. Getting up this early every day to torture myself, and I never even get enough sleep." Jiang Qiuyi rested her little head on Chen Wen's shoulder and covered her mouth as she yawned.

Chen Wen froze. "Didn't you say you wanted to stay in shape?"

"I just wanted to spend more time with you!" Jiang Qiuyi pouted in dissatisfaction. "But every time, you leave me way behind. By the time I run one lap, you've already run three."

"...Can't be helped. You're too slow," Chen Wen said honestly.

Provoked by his words, Jiang Qiuyi angrily grabbed Chen Wen's large hand and vigorously rubbed and squeezed it, trying to get revenge.

But Chen Wen's hand was too rough. All he felt was a soft, warm little hand massaging him. It felt quite nice.

After leaving the elevator, they arrived at the entrance to Huajing Garden. Once they had warmed up, they began jogging around the complex.

Out of consideration for his girlfriend, Chen Wen first accompanied Jiang Qiuyi through one slow lap before speeding up for the remaining two.

After Jiang Qiuyi stopped, panting heavily, she went to the breakfast shop at the entrance of the complex to buy breakfast.

"Xiao Qiu, the usual?" Aunt Liu at the breakfast shop asked with a smile.

"Mhm, thank you~" Jiang Qiuyi wiped the sweat from her forehead. "No scallions in the beef vermicelli, please."

"Got it." Aunt Liu shook her head with a smile. "You remind me every day, yet that kid Chen Wen still hasn't caught on."

Whenever Aunt Liu said something like that before, Jiang Qiuyi would surely have blushed and looked around in embarrassment.

But things were very different today.

Jiang Qiuyi clasped her hands behind her back, straightened up happily, and declared proudly, "We're together now~"

"Oh?" Aunt Liu spooned a bowl of savory tofu pudding onto the tray, surprise on her face. "That wasn't easy. Auntie thought that boy was just a block of wood."

"Don't say that. He's actually very good to me." Jiang Qiuyi shyly scuffed the floor a few times, twisting her body bashfully. "He's just a little slow when it comes to romance."

One bowl of tofu pudding, one bowl of beef vermicelli, a serving of soup dumplings, and a serving of pan-fried dumplings.

Jiang Qiuyi carried the tray to a seat and began eating in small bites.

She chewed her food slowly and carefully. By the time Chen Wen finished his run and came in to eat with her, he had finished his meal while she still had half a small bowl of tofu pudding left.

"Chen Wen, I think your video made it onto the homepage?" Jiang Qiuyi said as she ate breakfast and browsed Bilibili on her phone. Delighted, she placed the phone in front of him.

Chen Wen took a look and found that his "Meal Card Ring Transformation" video, uploaded last night, had indeed appeared among the homepage recommendations.

He took out his own phone and saw that his backend notifications had long since exceeded 99.

Over 50,000 views, over 10,000 likes, over 3,000 coins, and more than 10,000 favorites—nearly as many as the likes.

For a new content creator whose video had been up for less than ten hours, those were definitely quite impressive results.

Especially for a creator in the handicrafts category, that already counted as a modest hit.

As long as its growth remained steady, it had a good chance of surpassing 200,000 views within a week.

After all, Chen Wen's previous two videos had only just exceeded 10,000 views after several months.

That showed just how effective this video had been.

After checking the backend data, Chen Wen opened his direct messages and found quite a few people had specifically messaged him to ask about the details of making the ring.

He did not reply immediately, planning to answer them slowly while riding the subway to school.

When he entered the comments section, the top highly liked comment already had several thousand likes.

[Ri Dangwu de Chuhe]: Going by the description, did the creator successfully confess with this ring? I don't believe it. (dog head ×3)

A long chain of replies beneath it all read, in perfect unison, "I don't believe it either."

Chen Wen thoroughly agreed with that viewpoint, so he replied with, "I don't believe it either."

[Buyao Longwang de Shuihuo]: Would it work if you embedded the chip in dentures? Just flash a toothy smile when you tap your card.

[Mou Kaopu Chengnian Feizhai]: You only post this after 520 is already over? Reported. (dog head) Brothers, did I do the right thing? (dog head)

[Miao O]: Am I the only one paying attention to the creator's voice? It's so deep and sexy! (shocked kitty)

Chen Wen read a few more comments before putting away his phone out of boredom.

Jiang Qiuyi beside him, on the other hand, kept scrolling through his comments section, laughing so hard she could barely contain herself and tugging at Chen Wen to share them with him.

Her own videos easily got hundreds of thousands or even millions of views, with exploding comment sections and direct messages, yet he had never seen her this happy before.

"My cosplay outfits arrived. Help me carry them upstairs later, okay?" While reading the comments, a delivery notification from Beehive Express popped up on her phone, so Jiang Qiuyi turned to him and said.

Chen Wen paused, then quickly understood. "The million-follower reward?"

"Huh? You knew?" Jiang Qiuyi looked surprised, her face breaking into a happy smile. "I thought you never paid attention to my updates."

"I don't," Chen Wen admitted honestly. "You mentioned it yourself while we were eating last week. Did you forget?"

"..." Jiang Qiuyi's expression fell. She snorted in displeasure, then said helplessly, "Should I call you dumb or honest?"

Chen Wen did not take the bait and changed the subject. "What cosplay outfits did you buy? You never mentioned that."

"Several female characters from the Sword Art series." Jiang Qiuyi opened a post from half a month ago for Chen Wen to see. "I put up a poll when I reached a million followers, and Sword Art Online got the most votes."

"I bought outfits for Asuna, Suguha, Lisbeth, and Sinon. Want me to wear them for you when we get back?"

Chen Wen shook his head. "I have a morning class. I'm free in the afternoon."

"Mm..." Jiang Qiuyi made a regretful, disappointed sound. "I have classes both morning and afternoon. I won't be back until tonight."

"Are you coming back for dinner?" Chen Wen asked.

Jiang Qiuyi shook her head dejectedly. "My last class doesn't end until five-thirty. I'll probably just go eat with my classmates."

"Then we'll talk tonight."

After breakfast, Chen Wen held Jiang Qiuyi's hand as they walked into the complex beneath Aunt Liu's smiling gaze.

After carrying several cosplay outfits to Jiang Qiuyi's room, Chen Wen returned to his own apartment to pack his schoolbag. Once he had showered and changed clothes, the two of them walked out of the complex hand in hand again.

"Want a hug~"

Before they parted at the entrance of the complex, Jiang Qiuyi raised her head and opened her arms, her eyes closed and her face adorably silly.

Chen Wen noticed the gazes of the passersby around them. In the end, he stiffly wrapped his arms around Jiang Qiuyi's soft body.

"See you tonight~"

"Yeah, see you tonight."

[Pu Jie Ri Ji]: I mailed out the contract this afternoon. After a year of writing, I finally got a proper internal submission contract. It really wasn't easy... If it hadn't been an internal submission, then with this book's content, it probably would have been another agonizing solo journey... So it's not too much to ask for a recommendation ticket, right? (.-`ω-)