"What's wrong?" Seeing Xiao Xiao suddenly stop, Zhuge Yun and the others looked at him in confusion. They followed his gaze, but all they saw was an ordinary row of plane trees. Thick white snow covered their brown branches, lending them a faint grayish hue. Students walked briskly toward the lecture halls in twos and threes.
"Did you see someone you know?" Zhao Luzheng offered a plausible guess.
"Hm? No, I was mistaken." Xiao Xiao shook his head and set off first. "Come on, class is about to start."
Xiao Xiao and the others climbed the stairs. Their classroom was on the fourth floor.
As the partially open stairwell climbed higher, it gave them a better view of Yan University's snowy scenery.
The icy air seeped into their bones, and the biting wind swirled past their hair and the hems of their clothes.
While the others hunched their shoulders against the cold, Xiao Xiao's greatly strengthened constitution kept him from feeling chilled to the bone. He only felt a refreshing coolness, and the air seemed all the clearer and crisper after the snowfall.
Suddenly, Xiao Xiao's expression shifted. His body stiffened for an instant, and the foot he'd lifted came to a halt. What was that?
Somewhat apprehensively, Xiao Xiao lowered his head. Familiar silver-gray fur came into view. Ear Mouse?!
Before he could react, the warning bell rang. Its clear, high-pitched notes echoed across the entire campus, shaking snow from the trees in soft, rustling showers.
Xiao Xiao had no time to think about the mysteriously appearing Ear Mouse. He hurried after Eldest Brother and the others toward the classroom.
In the classroom, the students clearly weren't in much of a mood for class. A faint restlessness rippled through the air. After all, it was the first snow of the year, and everyone was still excited.
It was an elective, so there weren't many students. Even though Xiao Xiao and the others arrived late, they managed to find good seats by the window. Naturally, the main advantage was the view of the snow.
Apparently, in the brief time they'd spent running down the corridor, fine, scattered flakes had begun to fall outside again.
The snow wasn't heavy, but it only enhanced the campus's quiet, serene beauty. It was class time, so the vast campus was almost deserted. Rows of footprints wound across the snow, some shallow, some deep. A little stream burbled, its surface rippling in small circles.
Soft, white, icy snowflakes drifted gently down, like goose down or willow catkins. They filled the sky, yet fell in complete silence, as light as nothing at all. Their beauty was dreamlike.
But Xiao Xiao wasn't in the mood to admire the snow. Ear Mouse was perched on the windowsill beside him, its head tilted slightly. Its gaze seemed almost tangible, as if it could bore a hole right through him.
Those scarlet eyes were unnerving.
Especially when they gleamed. Xiao Xiao had the feeling Ear Mouse was sizing him up, trying to decide where to start taking a bite.
Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything too conspicuous while they were in class.
Luckily, Xiao Xiao didn't have to put up with it for long.
After a few words, the teacher asked the students by the windows to draw the curtains. The classroom immediately fell into darkness, and the projector flickered to life. It was an old film, and an art-house one at that.
This was, after all, a film appreciation class.
Slowly shifting images flowed by, accompanied by a graceful, ethereal melody that created a captivating stillness tinged with melancholy.
Xiao Xiao wanted to focus on the film, but Ear Mouse, which he'd clearly left outside the window, had somehow brazenly appeared on his desk. Its expressionless face sported a pair of dead-fish eyes.
Well, he really shouldn't have expected to keep a demon out so easily.
Xiao Xiao raised an eyebrow. Was he even that familiar with this demon? Why did Ear Mouse seem to have set its sights on him?
Did it need his help with something?
After a moment's thought, Xiao Xiao had a pretty good idea what Ear Mouse wanted.
He tried to communicate with it through eye contact, but Ear Mouse merely lifted its chin slightly and gazed down at him.
Its contempt was utterly undisguised.
Uh, fine. Xiao Xiao looked away. He was a little offended. What an unpleasant demon!
He'd clearly been mistaken to feel even the slightest fondness for it earlier!
Xiao Xiao composed his expression and stared intently at the projector, acting as though Ear Mouse didn't exist.
Of course, he would never admit that he was deliberately ignoring it because of that contemptuous look. He wasn't the sort of person to be petty and hold a grudge.
He was just paying attention in class.
After giving himself this explanation, Xiao Xiao felt perfectly justified and immediately lost himself in the film's sights, sounds, and music.
Ear Mouse didn't cause any more trouble. Since it often showed up around campus, it naturally knew that students weren't supposed to make noise in class. Watching Xiao Xiao's focused profile, it lay down and rested its head on its crossed forepaws. A faint worry and barely concealed impatience passed through its cool, sharp vertical pupils, but it waited quietly for the bell.
It lay on Xiao Xiao's desk, facing him with its back to the lectern.
After staring at Xiao Xiao in silence for a while, Ear Mouse slowly closed its eyes.
With those dangerous Blood Pupils hidden, Ear Mouse looked much more harmless. Its small figure had an endearingly obedient air about it. If any girl saw it, she'd definitely cry, "So cute!" before hugging it and rubbing her face against it.
It was easy to imagine Ear Mouse becoming a huge hit with the girls.
But Xiao Xiao wore an utterly indifferent expression, and the girls couldn't see how cute Ear Mouse was anyway. What good would that do?
So, when the film ended and the bell rang, Xiao Xiao looked down to find Ear Mouse staring up at him with its eyes open. He couldn't bring himself to look pleased.
You want to look down on me? Then don't come crawling back, Xiao Xiao grumbled inwardly, keeping his face cool and aloof.
In the blink of an eye, most of the students had left the classroom.
Xiao Xiao and the others stood up to head back to the dorm. They only had two film appreciation classes that morning.
Ear Mouse doggedly trailed behind Xiao Xiao.
It seemed to have noticed that Xiao Xiao didn't care for it. Ear Mouse was considerate enough to keep some distance as it followed him, making no noise and simply trailing along in silence.
Xiao Xiao was at a loss. He had no interest in dragging a clingy pest around with him.
"Eldest Brother, Second Brother, Fourth Brother, you go on ahead. I have something to take care of."
The snow had stopped back during the second class.
Xiao Xiao trudged across the soft snow, his shoes sinking in before he pulled them free again. The wind blowing against him was bitingly cold. He felt he was really going out of his way just to find somewhere to talk to a demon.
It didn't take long for Xiao Xiao to find a quiet corner. After all, places like this weren't hard to come by on a university campus.
It was around the corner of an old lecture hall, where several thick, gnarled banyan trees completely blocked the view from outside.
Xiao Xiao stopped and turned to look at the Ear Mouse that had followed him the whole way. Its small body was nimble, and it left no footprints in the snow. Not once had it sunk into the snow.
Xiao Xiao felt that, as unbelievable as it seemed, he was becoming more and more certain that Ear Mouse wanted something from him.
Otherwise, why would it keep following him so obediently?
Still, he had no idea what he could possibly do for this strange Ear Mouse.
Before you continue