Meanwhile, outside the corridor, the “shadow” Xu Jinli kept sensing crouched awkwardly behind a potted plant. The young girl wore sunglasses too big for her face and a hoodie pulled up like she thought herself invisible.

However, she totally wasn’t. 

And yet, as if through a miracle, she had been able to secretly follow them since the courtyard, her phone raising at suspicious intervals as she posted live updates to the forum, as giddy as a gossip god.

They’re going in together! Yes, together! Young Master Li held the door for him! This is not a drill!

Every time Yoyo moved, her shadow flickered unnaturally, stretching longer than it should, then snapping back. To anyone watching from the wrong angle, it looked like something out of a ghost story.

Which was exactly what Tian Wei thought when he arrived at the building. 

He’d been sent to retrieve Li Zhen by Father Li’s summons, something that should have been a simple errand. But as he looked down the hall, he caught sight of a figure that did not belong.

Oversized black hoodie. Sunglasses indoors. Half-hidden behind a waist-high plant, like a spy in a low-budget movie.

He stared at her for a full five seconds before saying flatly, “You do realize I can see you, right?”

However, the girl didn’t even look up from her phone. “No, you can’t," she answered. "I’m blending into the environment.”

“The environment,” Tian Wei said, “is beige tile and dirty floors.”

“…I’m a very niche chameleon,” she replied, still not looking at him.

Tian Wei narrowed his eyes. “You’ve been following my brother for ten minutes.”

“Following? Please. I’m investigating.”

“That’s literally the definition of stalking.”

Yoyo finally pushed her sunglasses down just enough to meet his gaze, only to find a tall and rather pretty young man staring down at her with the kind of disdain usually reserved for stray dogs chewing library books.

“I... uh... was just passing by?”

“With your camera raised?”

“It’s… art.”

“...Art?” Tian Wei's tone now suggested he was ready to dismantle her entire life philosophy.

“Yes,” Yoyo declared, rallying fast. “Performance art. Street photography. Investigative journalism. Take your pick.”

Tian Wei blinked, unimpressed. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You’re boring,” she shot back.

Before he could retort, the office door opened as Li Zhen and Xu Jinli stepped out together. Xu Jinli seemed to have said something, while Li Zhen’s head inclined toward him in that familiar way he had when he was listening but not really agreeing.

The girl’s hands moved like lightning. Click.

Tian Wei lunged at her, but she was already turning away, phone tucked against her chest like contraband.

“Delete that.”

“Not a chance, study god.”

"...What?" Tian Wei's eyes narrowed. 

“You have the posture of someone who’s been top of his class since birth,” Yoyo answered cheerfully. “And you look at me like I'm beneath you. I know your type.”

In the blink of an eye, she was gone before he could stop her, weaving between students in the hall. Tian Wei glanced toward his brother, still talking with someone, completely unaware...

....Then back to the path the girl had taken.

He should deliver Father Li’s message. He should.

Instead, he ran after her.

..........................

Yoyo might have been fast, but Tian Wei had longer legs. His footsteps echoed behind her against the chipped tile floor as she darted around a corner, hoodie pulled up, muttering something about “exclusive rights” under her breath.

“Delete. The. Photo.” Tian Wei's voice was low but carried a long distance, in the way a teacher might say to sit down without raising his tone.

However, there was no way she'd give up now. Instead, Yoyo barked back: “Do you always stalk girls around the campus, or is this a special service?!”

“I’m not stalking you.” His tone was calm, infuriatingly so. “I’m removing a security risk for my brother.”

Yoyo nearly tripped over a stray mop bucket. “Security risk?!" she gasped, "He’s not the president!”

Tian Wei closed the gap between them in three strides, but she slipped through a narrow service doorway, emerging into one of those back hallways that smelled faintly of printer ink and existential dread.

She even had the energy to turn around mid-step, exclaiming: “You are related to him, then! I knew it!”

“Not the point,” Tian Wei cut in. “You’ve been shadowing him. Why?”

“Journalistic integrity,” she deadpanned, flashing her phone like a press badge.

“That’s not a real thing.”

“It is if you believe hard enough.”

Tian Wei stared at her while she slowly backed toward another exit, one that would put her on a parallel path to Li Zhen and Xu Jinli’s route. Clearly, she intended to keep following them.

“Don’t you dare!” he said.

“Oh, I do.”

And off she was again, her sneakers rapidly squeaking on the floor. This time around, Tian Wei didn’t call after her. He just sighed through his nose and followed, keeping a few meters back. Now they both looked like stalkers, trailing after the duo outside like a pair of mismatched bounty hunters.

From a distance, anyone who glanced over would’ve seen the ridiculous progression: Li Zhen and Xu Jinli walking side by side, unaware... twenty paces behind them, Yoyo hunched like a cartoon burglar... twenty paces behind her, Tian Wei upright and visibly regretting his life choices.

At one point, Yoyo even squatted behind a fence to get a better angle. Tian Wei squatted next to her, ignoring the fact that he now looked like an unwilling accomplice in some B-grade spy drama.

“Do you mind?!” she hissed.

“Do you?!” he hissed back.

A stray cat padded up beside them, its tail flicking like a metronome. It sat squarely between their crouched forms, staring with glowing eyes as if judging their technique.

“See?” Yoyo whispered triumphantly. “Even nature’s on my side!”

“No,” Tian Wei muttered, staring at the cat with deadly seriousness. “It’s trying to warn us.”

The cat sneezed, then wandered off, just as Xu Jinli suddenly paused mid-step, turning his head slightly like he’d caught a whisper of movement.

Yoyo froze. 

Tian Wei froze even harder before quickly raising his hand, pressing the girl's head low and out of sight. The two of them, trapped in that awkward crouch, stared at each other until Xu Jinli finally turned forward again and kept walking.

Yoyo let out a slow breath. “You’re good at this,” she admitted, "pretty quick reflexes."

“I’m not good at this,” Tian Wei replied flatly. “I’m just… thorough.”

But when she stood to keep following, he didn’t stop her. He just sighed and went along, muttering something about “making sure she doesn’t get herself arrested.”

Neither of them remembered why they were there in the first place. Tian Wei’s original mission, to take Li Zhen home on Father Li’s orders, was now completely forgotten, lost in the absurd choreography of their improvised stakeout.

And somewhere in the distance, the “cicada” kept walking, unaware that both the “mantis” and the “oriole” were in on the hunt.

In the end, they trailed the pair all the way to the far end of the campus, where Xu Jinli and Li Zhen finally disappeared into the glare of the main avenue. Yoyo finally straightened her back, brushing dirt and rotten leaves off her hoodie. 

“Well, that was productive!”

Tian Wei arched a brow. “You got nothing but a few bad angles of their backs.”

“Correction!” She then held up her phone like a magician, revealing the ace up her sleeve. On the screen was a perfectly timed shot from earlier in the admin building doorway. Li Zhen’s hand was brushing against Xu Jinli’s shoulder, both of them framed in a slant of late-afternoon light, their heads just close enough to make it look… suspicious.

Tian Wei’s mouth flattened. 

“Delete it.”

“Post it? Sure.”

“That’s not the same!”

But she was already thumbing at the screen, eyes glinting with triumph. And somewhere in the vast, chaotic digital underbelly of the university, a new post blinked into existence on "The Garden of Earthly Delights":

[Photo Attachment]

The Sculptor & The Department's Ghost, caught in the daylight?

#CollaborationOrCourtship #SpottedLeavingTogether

Within minutes, the comments began to bloom like mold in winter.

[CandleInTheWind]: Didn’t they hate each other?!

[LittleMu4Life]: Isn't this the good kind of enemies-to-lovers plot that we all dream about?

[InkAndLiterature]: …Or maybe just lovers-to-lovers? 👀

[ModNote]: OP, where’d you get this pic?!

Back on the sidewalk, Tian Wei peered over Yoyo’s shoulder at the furious cascade of notifications.

“You’re insane,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” she said.

For one strange moment, they stood there side by side, watching the scandal they’d just unleashed spiral into the digital stratosphere. Then Yoyo pocketed her phone and strolled off like she hadn’t just set a small fire.

Tian Wei hesitated. He could follow her, demand she take it down… or he could shadow her and figure out exactly who she was. But by the time he made up his mind, she was already halfway across the street, vanishing into the crowd. 

He should have turned back. 

Father Li’s summons still burned somewhere in the back of his head, as heavy as stone. He should have delivered the message and fulfilled the duty expected of him.

But his feet were already moving, carrying him in the direction the girl had gone. Not out of curiosity, at least, that’s what he told himself, but because some sharp instinct warned him she was trouble, and trouble had a habit of finding his brother first.

As for somewhere else entirely, Li Zhen and Xu Jinli kept walking, still blissfully unaware that the first spark of a new scandal had just been lit, and that it was going to burn all the way to the gala.

..................... 

Back in her office, Shen Yan sat at her desk, idly swirling a cup of suspicious-looking tea. Her phone buzzed, but a simple glance at the screen was enough.

The photo. The hashtags. The comment count that was climbing like ivy on a sunlit wall.

Shen Yan took a slow sip, her smile curling sharply at the edges. The mantis stalks the cicada, she thought, watching the drama basically assemble itself. But the oriole waits in the branches.

“Excellent,” she murmured to no one in particular.

And then she forwarded the post. 

After all, her contacts list was already curated for maximum chaos: half students, half famous alumni, and more than a few bored faculty members. One press of her thumb, and the wildfire could easily leap past campus walls. As the screen of her phone lit with the repost, Shen Yan leaned back in her chair, humming a jolly tune that clashed with the office’s gloom. 

“Mm… let’s see how long before the thread crashes this time,” she mused aloud, as though placing bets in an invisible game.

The shadows in the corners shifted, restless. But unlike Xu Jinli, Shen Yan didn’t flinch. She smiled into them, perfectly at ease, the oriole who not only watched from the branches but also whistled while the cicada screamed.