Li Shuyun didn’t sleep well that night.

When the alarm went off the next day and he had finished washing up and sat down at the dining table, Li Shuyun’s eyes still carried a deep sense of drowsiness and fatigue.

But he forced himself to stay alert. The moment he sat down at the dining table, he couldn’t help but ask his brother, “Brother, how is Dad? Did he reply last night?”

Li Yunhui smiled, took out two phones from his pocket, and handed his brother’s phone to him.

He said, “Don’t worry, Shuyun. Li Zhengshen sent a message in the morning to say he’s safe.”

Li Shuyun was pleasantly surprised, the fatigue on his face swept away. “Dad is safe? Brother, why didn’t you wake me up!”

He impatiently opened Green Letter. The words “all is well” came into view, and Li Shuyun finally let out a huge sigh of relief.

But soon, he began to worry again. “Brother, have you had a video call with Dad? Did Dad get hurt?”

Li Yunhui: “…No call. But I asked.”

He paused for a moment. “Li Zhengshen didn’t reply.”

Li Shuyun was restless. “He didn’t reply?”

Li Yunhui showed him his Green Letter. After “wrapping up,” there were several messages from him asking about the situation. But until now, Li Zhengshen hadn’t replied with a second message.

Li Yunhui found a reason for him. “He’s probably busy wrapping things up. Shuyun, don’t worry. You go to school. If there’s any news from Li Zhengshen, I’ll let you know.”

Li Shuyun was pushed into the car by his brother.

He pursed his lips, feeling very uneasy, and said softly, “What kind of wrapping up prevents him from replying to a message? Brother, let’s have a video call with Dad to confirm his safety.”

Li Yunhui had no choice but to watch as Li Shuyun once again sent a video request to Li Zhengshen.

…No one answered.

Seeing that his brother was about to start worrying again, Li Yunhui immediately pressed his brother’s shoulder, hesitated for a moment, and said, “Li Zhengshen said all is well, so it’s safe. I know him. He wouldn’t embellish the situation just to soothe our feelings… He’s not that kind of person.”

…No matter how bad his relationship with Li Zhengshen was, it was still a father-son relationship of over twenty years.

No matter how little he understood… there was still some understanding there.

Li Shuyun was reluctantly appeased by him.

Li Shuyun said slowly, “Then… alright, brother. It’s a deal. If there’s any news this time, you must tell me right away!”

After giving his final instructions, Li Shuyun finally set off for school.

After registration, the other new students were busy tidying up their dormitories. Considering the time new students would need to settle in, the school had scheduled the first class meeting for 4:30 in the afternoon.

Li Shuyun didn’t need to live on campus. Therefore, after registration, he had nothing else to do.

However, he didn’t go home either.

He had already made plans for this day.

Li Shuyun had, under the pretext of “wanting to wander around the school by himself,” sent the butler and driver home first.

Then, following the location on his WeChat, he bypassed the teaching buildings and arrived at a well-known square on the campus of University A.

Li Shuyun looked around and soon saw a familiar figure.

It was Cheng Huanzhen.

It was currently late summer and early autumn. Cheng Huanzhen was wearing a simple dark blue long-sleeved shirt, the sleeves neatly rolled up to his elbows. A thin windbreaker was draped over his arm, folded very neatly, looking as if it had never been worn.

Seeing him, Cheng Huanzhen stood up from the steps at the edge of the square, patted his clothes, and walked up to him.

He greeted him seriously, “Hello, Shuyun. Welcome to University A.”

Li Shuyun’s eyes curved into a smile. “Looks like I should be calling you Senior Huanzhen now.”

Cheng Huanzhen had just graduated from University A in June.

Logically, he shouldn’t have been able to enter the campus now. Fortunately, today was a new student registration day, so it was easy to get onto campus by using the excuse of being a parent or relative.

But of course, Cheng Huanzhen’s return to the school after graduation was not for his own business.

It was entirely to show this new student friend around the campus.

During this period, Cheng Huanzhen and Li Shuyun had been in contact quite a bit.

Every few days, Cheng Huanzhen would ask Li Shuyun out to wander around according to his list of target shops.

He had originally thought that the more he understood Li Shuyun’s preferences, the more detailed his knowledge, the more obvious the differences between Li Shuyun and his little uncle would become.

But, why…

Why was this Li family’s young master’s preference level for all the shops almost identical to the results he had predicted based on his little uncle’s preferences…?

“This is it.”

Cheng Huanzhen stopped at the entrance of the small shop under the teaching building.

He introduced it to Li Shuyun seriously, “The owner of this shop is very nice. If you buy water or paper from him, he’ll give you one or two candies depending on his mood.”

He demonstrated by going up and buying two bottles of water.

Amidst the owner’s enthusiastic and joyful “Bringing me a new customer, are you? Oh, good kid, come, come, take two more!” Cheng Huanzhen picked three strawberry-flavored candies.

Then he handed them, along with the water he had just bought, to Shuyun.

Cheng Huanzhen said, “Just like this. The owner is very easy to talk to. His strawberry-flavored candies are also very good.”

He paused for a moment and said, “This is the only shop in University A that gives out strawberry candies when you buy water. There are no others.”

As Cheng Huanzhen introduced it, he watched Li Shuyun intently.

He saw the brown-haired young man, three years his junior, break into a clear smile the moment the strawberry candies landed in his palm.

…Just like this.

His little uncle’s preferences for various shops were very obvious, very direct.

A little more, a little less—it could be very clearly judged from his comments on each shop.

Shuyun’s preferences were relatively more reserved.

But if you observed carefully, you would find that his preferences were just as distinct.

When encountering an object he generally liked, Shuyun would just smile and then politely and joyfully say some words of thanks.

When encountering an object he was very satisfied with, besides the smile on his lips, his eyes would also be colored with joyful amusement. In addition to thanking him for the recommendation, he would also make a couple of comments.

Just like now—

“The sweetness is just right, the texture is silky smooth. If it had a chocolate filling inside, the effect would surely be top-notch!”

Li Shuyun smiled at him and said, “Senior Huanzhen has really good taste. If I had to figure it out on my own, I don’t know how long it would have taken to find this shop.”

Shuyun really liked strawberry candies.

Just like his little uncle.

Cheng Huanzhen stared at Li Shuyun without blinking, a polite smile on his face.

He said, “You’re welcome. This is just a little thank you for helping me select the core target shops.”

Cheng Huanzhen led Li Shuyun outwards.

He introduced Li Shuyun to the commonly used places in University A, while casually chatting, “Where did Shuyun live before? I heard you lived in L country, and in D country, and originally planned to go to university in M country?”

After getting an affirmative answer, Cheng Huanzhen asked casually again, “When you were in L country, where did Shuyun go to school? Which city, which street? How big was the house you lived in? Did you make any friends? What did you like to eat there?”

He asked one by one, as if making small talk.

Shuyun was an easy person to get along with, with a gentle temperament. He softly and slowly answered the questions one by one.

After asking about L country, Cheng Huanzhen asked about D country.

From friends to details of life, he asked about every aspect in great detail.

Li Shuyun answered softly and patiently, “Friends? Of course. My best friend at the time was named Adam. It was on the way to school, so he would come to my house every day to wait for me to go to school together…”

Every single detail was spoken as if it were real.

Cheng Huanzhen listened intently, memorizing everything, nodding from time to time in response.

They asked and answered, not going too deep.

While chatting, Cheng Huanzhen also treated Li Shuyun to some food in the cafeteria that he judged his little uncle would like, and took Li Shuyun to places on campus that he judged his little uncle would be interested in.

As expected, Li Shuyun showed a rather satisfied reaction to all these places.

…So strange.

So strange. So strange. So strange.

In this world, could there really be two people who could score almost the same on a preference rating sheet?

Cheng Huanzhen was worried and confused.

After the matter of his little uncle’s upbringing expenses, he had once again encountered a question for which he desperately wanted an answer but found it very difficult to find directly.

Time flew by, and soon it was a quarter past four in the afternoon.

Cheng Huanzhen walked Li Shuyun to the bottom of the teaching building.

Li Shuyun stood in front of the teaching building and thanked him warmly, “Senior Huanzhen, thank you for showing me around the school all day. Whenever you need me to help you continue selecting shops, please contact me anytime. As long as I’m free, I will do my best to help you find your uncle.”

Cheng Huanzhen corrected, “He is my little uncle.”

He paused for a moment and said, “I hope you had a good time today too. Perhaps my act of walking you to the bottom of the teaching building can make me a friend like your friend Adams.”

The system hadn’t even reacted yet when Li Shuyun smiled and said, “My friend’s name is Adam.”

He pronounced the name in L language and said softly, “But, Senior, you’ve long been my friend. To me, you and Adam are both equally good friends.”

Cheng Huanzhen: “…Oh.”

Seeing Li Shuyun answer so naturally, he felt a slight disappointment.

Li Yunhui glanced at the time. There were only a few minutes left before the class meeting started.

But before leaving, Li Shuyun had one more question he wanted to ask Cheng Huanzhen.

Li Shuyun: “By the way, Senior Huanzhen, can I ask you a question? …The weather isn’t cold today. Why did you bring a jacket with you? I don’t think I’ve seen you wear it.”

The disappointment in Cheng Huanzhen’s eyes receded, and he answered seriously, “My little uncle’s health wasn’t very good before. In weather like this, sometimes he would need to wear a jacket to keep warm. So I bring it with me, just in case.”

Li Shuyun understood.

Li Shuyun smiled gently and said, “Senior Huanzhen is so thoughtful. Your little uncle must have been very happy living with you.”

Cheng Huanzhen was silent for a moment, then answered honestly, “I don’t know.”

Li Shuyun comforted, “He must have been.”

Seeing that it was getting late, he finally said goodbye to Cheng Huanzhen and walked towards the elevator of the teaching building.

It was only now that the system faintly emerged from the depths of his consciousness.

The system tutted, “Host, the past you made up is so detailed! But, it looks like Cheng Huanzhen’s memory isn’t that great either, he even got a name wrong!”

Lin Chen glanced at it and sneered, “Got it wrong? He was testing me.”

The system was shocked. “…?…??! Te-testing you!”

The system reacted with a delay, exclaiming, “Th-then, what Cheng Huanzhen said about selecting shops, was that also a test for you? …Ahhh, Host, why are you still smiling! He’s trying to expose you!”

Lin Chen smiled. “Why can’t I smile?”

Lin Chen narrowed his eyes and popped another strawberry candy into his mouth.

He asked, “Isn’t it something to be happy about when someone is willing to study your preferences so seriously?”

…

After leaving the teaching building, Cheng Huanzhen didn’t go far.

He stood on the road not far from the teaching building, staring blankly at the building for a long time.

After about five minutes of the wind blowing, Cheng Huanzhen finally, slowly, and with a blank and hesitant expression, took out his phone.

…He was probably a little crazy.

Having not been able to find his little uncle for so long, now he couldn’t even help but want to verify and investigate such an absurd conjecture.

Thinking about what he was about to do, Cheng Huanzhen himself felt it was absurd to the extreme.

He found Qi Xiuyi, a young master from his circle whom he had never spoken to before, edited a text message, and sent it.

Then he found Fang Ji, another young master from his circle with whom he barely had a nodding acquaintance, edited a text message, and sent it.

He asked them—

[Hello. May I ask if Qi Wendong (Fang Chengyu) likes strawberries?]

…

Li Yunhui waited at home for a whole day.

He was waiting for his brother, and also waiting for news.

Of course, he was waiting for news entirely because of what his brother had said before he left—he had to wait for news from Li Zhengshen to tell his brother, so his brother could be completely at ease.

The wait was not easy to endure.

At least today, Li Yunhui couldn’t muster the energy for anything.

He didn’t want to play on his phone, didn’t want to go out. Without his brother, he didn’t want to work on the project even more. His mind was solely focused on these two things, not knowing when there would be a result.

As a result, he waited until 4:30 in the afternoon.

His phone buzzed.

Li Yunhui unlocked it and took a look.

Li Zhengshen: [Matter temporarily concluded. Have ten minutes of free time.]

Li Yunhui: ?

Li Yunhui: !

Li Yunhui shot up straight from the bed, the heart that had been hanging in his throat eighty percent settled.

…A full twelve hours! What on earth was Li Zhengshen doing that he only replied after twelve hours!

Li Yunhui thought this to himself, but his hands didn’t rest. He took a screenshot and sent it to his brother.

Li Yunhui: [Li Zhengshen is safe. Shuyun, don’t worry ^ ^]

After reporting the safety, Li Yunhui let out a long sigh of relief.

He comfortably lay back down on the bed, planning to coldly question Li Zhengshen.

Alright. He understood that Li Zhengshen couldn’t find the time to reply to them when he was busy.

But for making Shuyun unable to sleep or eat well for a whole day and night, Li Zhengshen should take full responsibility!

Just as he was about to start furiously editing a message, a ‘ding-dong’ came from his brother’s message.

His brother first sent a long string of exclamation marks.

Then, he said with extreme excitement: [Brother! Quickly have a video call with Dad and see if he has any new injuries! [Crying loudly] Our class meeting just started. Brother, quickly help me check on Dad!]

Li Yunhui’s coldness froze midway.

…That’s right. When coaxing his brother this morning, he seemed to have indeed promised that.

Li Yunhui: “…”

Li Yunhui: “…”

His brother’s expectations, of course, could not be betrayed.

And promises made to his brother, of course, had to be fulfilled.

But, but…

A vi-video call?

Him and Li Zhengshen, just the two of them… alone??