Birthday

Luo Ye opened the door.

The living room was quiet, but the light in his senior's room was on.

Just as Luo Ye was about to turn on the light, her bedroom door opened.

The instant the door opened, the light in Su Baizhou's room went out.

The living room was now pitch-black. Luo Ye could only make out a dark silhouette in the doorway of Fairy Senior's room.

"Senior?" Luo Ye asked in confusion.

Su Baizhou started walking, and the click of high heels rang through the living room.

High heels? Why was she wearing high heels?

Su Baizhou reached the table and took the lighter she had just bought out of her pocket.

Luo Ye heard the flick of a lighter. A moment later, the table lit up as rows of candles on a cake began to burn.

Luo Ye froze for a moment.

He walked over to the table, looking a little bewildered.

"Senior, this is..."

"This is your birthday cake."

Su Baizhou handed Luo Ye a birthday hat and said calmly, "Put it on and make a wish."

Luo Ye sat down. He looked at the birthday hat in front of him, then at Fairy Senior sitting across from him. Though her face was mostly expressionless, her eyes watched him intently.

Luo Ye felt that, at this moment, Su Baizhou had become even more beautiful than before.

Before, he had simply thought Su Baizhou was very pretty.

But now it was different. Now, Su Baizhou was beauty itself.

Affection cast its own glow.

Once you started liking someone, whether they were beautiful was no longer something their looks alone could decide.

Just like Su Baizhou in Luo Ye's eyes right now.

The candlelight was faint, illuminating only the table. They could barely make out each other's faces.

Luo Ye put the birthday hat on his head.

Looking at the candles before him, Luo Ye closed his eyes and said, "I wish..."

"If you say your wish out loud, it won't come true," Su Baizhou reminded him softly.

But Luo Ye had never intended to say it aloud.

After saying "I wish," Luo Ye finished the wish silently in his heart.

I wish Fairy Senior liked me too.

Then Luo Ye blew out the candles and opened his eyes.

The living room went dark once more.

Everything around him was pitch-black, and only Su Baizhou's voice sounded beside Luo Ye's ears.

"What did you wish for?"

"Senior, if I say it out loud, it won't come true," Luo Ye replied.

"That's true."

She had just reminded him of that herself, and now it was his turn to remind her.

She was very curious about Luo Ye's wish.

Though she didn't know what it was, she hoped this junior's wish would come true.

She hoped the person who brought her happiness could be happy too.

Suddenly.

The light came on.

Su Baizhou looked at Luo Ye standing beside the light switch, her expression freezing as though she had yet to process what had happened.

Why had he suddenly gone and turned on the living room light?

"Senior, what's wrong?" Luo Ye looked puzzled.

Why did Fairy Senior seem a little off? Why did her expression look so awkward?

"Nothing."

Su Baizhou stood up and walked toward her room, her movements a little stiff.

The click of high heels rang out again. Luo Ye looked over, then his eyes widened in shock.

"Senior... what are you wearing?"

Su Baizhou stood before him in a short black spaghetti-strap dress, her smooth, fair arms completely bare.

For Su Baizhou, who normally wore nothing shorter than short sleeves, even spaghetti straps made her feel a little embarrassed.

She wore nothing else below the dress, which ended above her knees and could hardly conceal her long, perfectly shaped legs.

Accentuated by her high heels, Su Baizhou's fair, straight legs looked like a work of art, impossible to look away from.

Incredible. Absolutely perfect.

Probably no one in all of Jiangda had ever seen Fairy Senior in spaghetti straps.

Su Baizhou turned her back to him, her face faintly flushed, and asked in a soft, restrained voice, "Does it look good?"

"Y-yes... it does."

Hearing that, Su Baizhou let out a breath of relief.

Li Xia hadn't lied to her. It really worked.

Su Baizhou had resisted wearing this outfit every step of the way.

But Li Xia had insisted on dragging her to the mall, buying this entire outfit, and making Su Baizhou try it on in the fitting room right then and there.

Seeing the delectable-looking Su Baizhou in the mirror, even Li Xia, a woman herself, found her irresistibly alluring, let alone a man like Luo Ye.

When the Iceberg Goddess tried her hand at innocent seduction, that contrast was simply unbeatable.

At Li Xia's insistence, Su Baizhou had bought the outfit.

But now she was utterly flustered. After letting Luo Ye have a look, she hurried back to her room and changed into her pajamas.

Her pajamas were very modest: a pale blue cooling-silk short-sleeved top and long pants patterned with little rabbits.

Su Baizhou also held another gift she had prepared for Luo Ye.

It was a keyboard!

A pink one, at that!

"Professor Gu said you spend every day tapping away at a keyboard at home, so this is for you," Su Baizhou said calmly.

At that, the corner of Luo Ye's mouth twitched.

He tapped away at a keyboard because he was writing.

But since it was a gift from Fairy Senior, Luo Ye naturally accepted it with complete satisfaction.

At the time, he had no idea that from the moment he accepted this keyboard, his knees were destined to form a deep bond with it in the near future.

The night passed without further incident.

The next morning, Luo Ye woke up.

Today was the day students returned to Jiangda, and his class had a mandatory roll call that evening.

That also meant he had to return to the dorm and see his three "sons."

Luo Ye had gotten up very early today so he could exercise with Fairy Senior.

In the living room, Su Baizhou had changed into her usual black running clothes and was about to head out when she heard movement behind her.

Seeing how listless Luo Ye looked, Su Baizhou asked, "Can you handle it?"

Those words struck a nerve with Luo Ye.

"Of course I can!"

Su Baizhou said nothing more and walked out of the living room.

Luo Ye followed her, and the two went to Jiangda next door to run on the Morning Track in the early morning.

The sun had yet to rise, but the sky was already growing light.

Not far away, an elderly couple was practicing tai chi.

The two elderly people, a man and a woman, seemed to be husband and wife.

When the old man saw Su Baizhou, he even greeted her.

She nodded politely in return.

"Who's that?" Luo Ye asked curiously.

"Jiangda's vice dean. My teacher's teacher," Su Baizhou replied.

Jiangda's vice dean? Someone that important?

Wait, what did she mean by her teacher's teacher?

Fairy Senior's teacher was Gu Mingxuan.

Then Gu Mingxuan's teacher was Fairy Senior's teacher's teacher.

Having worked that out, Luo Ye looked at the old man again.

So Jiangda's vice dean was his cousin's teacher.

That meant, to Luo Ye, he wasn't merely a teacher, but an elder of the family as well.