After all, this was just pretend. It wasn’t real emotion.
Thinking about it, Su Yun didn’t know why, but she felt a little weighed down inside.
......
There was a bit of distance between Summer's End Plaza Station and Summer's End University Station—about a half-hour trip.
Sitting on the bus, Su Yun held a thermos that could hold about a liter.
This was the "food" Qin Xue had just given her, afraid she’d starve to death.
Su Yun gripped the thermos handle tightly, scared it might fall to the floor of the bus.
She looked out the window, at the bustling city bathed in bright lights and indulgence, and felt like she didn’t belong here.
The people on the bus—those sitting were looking down at their phones, and those standing and holding onto the rails were also looking down at their phones.
In this dim and slightly gloomy bus compartment, Su Yun felt a subtle sense of dread.
Maybe everyone was just tired from work. Life isn’t easy.
Su Yun sighed a little, wondering if she’d ever be able to gain a foothold in this city.
With her current grades, that was clearly not going to happen—at the very least, she’d need to enter some competitions and win a few awards to have any real options.
She was only a freshman. There was still time.
But what was she working so hard for, really?
......
Arriving at the dorm entrance, Su Yun had already tidied her hair and put on her mask—once again transforming into that “rice dumpling” look.
Creak...
She pushed open the door, and her roommates once again shot synchronized glances her way.
In college, roommates might not care how much money you have or what you eat, but if you come back late—they’re all curious little babies.
“Didn’t you say you got off at eleven? How come you’re back at nine today?” Curious Baby No. 1 asked while tapping away at his keyboard.
“Got off early today, nothing much to do.” Su Yun explained calmly as usual and quickly walked over to her desk.
Maybe they were already used to her coming back late, so no one asked further. They just kept coding—the assignment tonight was a heavy one.
After setting the thermos down on her bed, Su Yun sat down at her desk.
She opened her laptop, wanting to try her hand at writing some code.
She launched Dev-C++ (the coding software), then pulled out her phone to look up some resources. This was the first time she had ever tried to self-study since starting university.
But after just a few minutes, someone quietly crept up behind her.
Curious Baby No. 2—and because of his own past experiences, he was especially curious these days.
“?” Su Yun turned her head, puzzled, and looked at Zhang Deyi.
What’s with this guy? Wasn’t he just coding a minute ago?
I can't code yet, so don’t even think about asking me for help.
“Brother Yun, can I ask you something seriously?” Zhang Deyi lowered his voice as much as he could, afraid the other roommates might hear.
“What is it?” Su Yun immediately sensed trouble, her brows furrowing.
Could it be... this guy figured out she was actually a girl?
“Have you been going out these days to meet your girlfriend? Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone—you know me, I don’t run my mouth,” Zhang Deyi whispered, face all serious.
“This…”
Zhang Deyi really was an honest guy, which was probably why he had been easily tricked emotionally by girl before.
But... Su Yun really didn’t have a girlfriend.
If anything, maybe half of one—because it was fake, just for work.
“No, just work,” Su Yun hesitated for a few seconds before giving her reply.
“OK.” Zhang Deyi didn’t press any further, just gave an “OK” hand gesture and went back to his seat.
“Uhh.” And just like that, the stealthy little conversation ended.
Su Yun wasn’t sure what else to say.
Back to studying. She had just learned how to input text (the basics of coding)...
Su Yun buried her head in her studies, but Zhang Deyi across from her wasn’t quite so calm.
Because in those few seconds Su Yun hesitated earlier, he had already confirmed: something was definitely going on.
And judging by the way things looked, Su Yun’s girlfriend was probably shy and clingy, which was why Su Yun kept coming back late and couldn’t talk about it.
Awesome, bro.
Zhang Deyi gave an invisible thumbs-up to the air.
Then he got back to his homework.
......
Su Yun studied all night, from the time she returned at nine until midnight—three full hours.
She covered about half of the past semester’s C language course.
The process was simple—learning the basics, solving basic problems. That sense of achievement and confidence made her work much more efficient.
In those three hours, she caught up with content that had taken weeks to explain in class.
She didn’t feel proud or anything, just thought—it was only the beginning.
What was difficult was sticking with it.
She didn’t finish today’s homework herself, so she reached out to her roommate to get it.
Copy, paste. Crawl into bed and rest.
Done in five minutes flat. Only then did Su Yun finally have time to look at her phone.
By then, there were already tons of messages.
Besides messages from her parents, there were ones from Qin Xue, and of course, a youth study reminder from the class QQ group.
To get her paycheck, Su Yun had even changed her WeChat profile picture to an orange kitten, making it look more neutral, and she had directly switched her gender setting to “female.”
After replying to her parents’ messages, Su Yun then responded to Qin Xue.
(Qin Xue: This is your pay for working as a maid today.)
(For playing the girlfriend.)
The other party had sent two separate transfers—probably to help her tell the difference.
Su Yun didn’t expect much from her daily housework salary—fifty yuan or so was fine, just enough to cover time and effort.
She found it pretty easy, honestly.
Of course, for special services like today, it had to be at least 100+. It was just too exhausting.
“Huh?” But once Su Yun saw the actual transfer amount, she couldn’t help but let out a little yelp.
This… how much!?
Cough, cough…
Realizing she’d lost her composure, she immediately faked a cough to cover it up, afraid her roommates would notice.
Daily salary: 1,000.00.
Girlfriend service fee: 100,000.00.
“???” Su Yun stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
Qin Xue really was a rich young lady—dropping six figures just like that.
Her finger hovered in the air, unable to click the “accept” button.
For the next while, Su Yun kept thinking about what that hundred thousand could do.
If it were before, that money could let her comfortably coast for two years, and she could even send 2,000 yuan a month to her parents.
And she wouldn’t just lie around either. With some crappy job earning 4,000 a month and the interest from that hundred grand, she could live out the rest of her life comfortably.
After almost ten minutes of hesitation, Su Yun only accepted 1,000 yuan.
Because that 100,000.00—it probably meant she was being bought.
If she took it, she’d have to do things for Qin Xue, and she wouldn’t be able to say no.
But 1,000? That could just count as pay for acting as a fake girlfriend and doing some extra work.
If she didn’t want to do it anymore, she could just quit.
Seeing her WeChat balance actually increase by 1,000, she froze for a second.
“...”
(Me: Thank you, Sister Xue!)
Su Yun sent that message to Qin Xue at 12:07 AM.
After sending it, she locked her phone screen and started reflecting on life.
1,000 a day—that’s 30,000 a month...
It really felt like she was doing something shady. Was she going to get arrested or something?
Su Yun wasn’t excited, instead, she spent a while feeling uneasy.
Eventually, she calmed down a little and began thinking about what to do with the money.
The first thing that came to her mind was to send most of it to her parents, so they wouldn’t have to keep working overtime until 11 PM. It was bad for their health—they should clock out on time.
Her dad’s back had already gone out before, and he was still constantly moving heavy stuff on the job. He needed to rest.
And then… she needed to move out of the dorm. Living here every day felt like walking on a tightrope. If she get found out, she was finished.
Su Yun wasn’t scared of anyone trying to took her down, since honestly, one punch from her might actually kill someone now. But if she got found out, she probably couldn’t stay in school.
She’d talk to her counselor about it tomorrow.
Those were the only two things she wanted to do.
She drew her bed curtain shut and started removing all the things she wore to hide herself. Then she collapsed onto her bed like a deflated pufferfish.
Half the day learning how to code, half the day learning how to be a maid—basically a full day of studying.
She was exhausted. Even vampires didn’t live like this.
As the tension left her body, Su Yun felt her head start to spin.
She didn’t hesitate—she grabbed the thermos that had been beside her all along and carefully unscrewed the lid.
A few gulps later, she’d drunk about a fifth of it.
Su Yun felt the taste was pretty ordinary—like the cheap meals she’d eaten before. Definitely didn’t compare to that little crybaby potato.
Still, the quality was fine—she could feel energy returning to her body instantly.
That feeling was really nice.
Su Yun screwed the lid back on tight, her pale body curling up inside the big blanket.
Time to sleep.
(End of Chapter)