After staying in the institute for a long time, Lin Zichen didn’t leave until 10 p.m.

When he got back to the dorm, Shen Qinghan was fussing about in the kitchen.

She wasn’t cooking—just arranging spices and seasonings.

Seeing Lin Zichen at the kitchen door, Shen Qinghan looked over and said, “Xiao Chen, you were at the Celestial Pavilion for so long. I was going to cook dinner with you tonight.”

“It’s fine. If we miss dinner, we can make a late-night snack.”

“No way. Eating late-night snacks makes you gain weight.”

“With how much exercise you do, you won’t gain weight.”

“That’s true.” Shen Qinghan smiled and asked, “What do you want for a snack? I’ll make it now.”

Lin Zichen thought for a moment, “Then noodles. I haven’t had your noodles in ages. I want a taste.”

“Okay, I’ll boil some noodles for you.”

Shen Qinghan took out two bricks of dried noodles and started cooking for Lin Zichen.

* * *

About ten minutes later, the noodles were done.

It was simple—just a fried egg, a few pieces of meat and some greens.

After they finished the noodles and washed the dishes, Shen Qinghan looped her arm through Lin Zichen’s and asked in a slightly coy voice, “Xiao Chen, want to take a bath together later?”

“Mm. I’ll scrub your back.”

Shen Qinghan pressed her cherry-red lips together; a faint blush rose on her cheeks as she murmured, “Only scrubbing my back is a little boring… how about… scrubbing other places?”

“Wherever you say, I’ll scrub.”

“Then in return, wherever you want me to scrub, I’ll scrub.”

* * *

The next day, 5:30 a.m.

Lin Zichen was used to getting up early; he opened his eyes before dawn.

Shen Qinghan, by contrast, was still curled up under the covers fast asleep.

He wiped a bit of drool from the corner of her mouth, then tiptoed out to the training room for morning practice.

Near 7:15 a.m. Shen Qinghan finally woke, lazily shuffling out of the bedroom.

She never wears makeup; she doesn’t need to get up early like other girls to do it.

With class at 8 a.m. she could stay in bed until 7:15 and still be fine.

After a quick wash, Shen Qinghan slung on the small crossbody bag Lin Zichen had made for her and headed out with him.

Once the elevator doors opened, the two split and walked in opposite directions.

Holding an umbrella in one hand and a small fan in the other, Shen Qinghan strolled toward the Evolution Academy’s teaching building to attend the freshmen’s homeroom meeting and get acquainted with her new classmates.

Lin Zichen headed for the secluded Pure Human Institute to meet the other members of the Celestial Pavilion—that is, the three fourth-year martial arts students who’d made the students’ Peak Ranking.

Five minutes later, Lin Zichen arrived at the institute.

He’d made it faster than when Song Yuyan had brought him on her motorcycle yesterday.

Inside, the lights weren’t even on. It was very quiet.

Lin Zichen activated Danger Perception to sense the biological pressure in the institute and discovered that only Song Yuyan was inside, over in the living & leisure area.

He withdrew his perception and walked toward that area.

Entering, he saw Song Yuyan in pajamas doing yoga on a mat, her curvy figure on full display.

“Here this early?”

Still holding a difficult yoga pose, Song Yuyan smiled over at him.

Lin Zichen returned the smile, “You’re earlier than me, Sister Yan.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea—I’m not early. I live here at the institute.”

“Why live here?”

Lin Zichen was puzzled. The institute felt like a storage room; how could it be more comfortable than home?

“Saving money,” she said, “If I live here, the school covers utilities. In summer with the AC, I can save a few hundred a month.”

‘All that to save a few hundred?’

Lin Zichen found it a bit unbelievable.

With her position, saying she made a million a year wouldn’t be an exaggeration—yet she still pinched pennies on utilities. That was frugal.

He asked, “Sister Yan, when do the dean and those three seniors usually come in?”

“The three of them usually show up around 10 a.m. As for the dean, his hours aren’t fixed—he often has to go out and keep his old flames company.”

“Old flames?”

Lin Zichen felt he’d heard something juicy, “How many ‘old flames’ does the dean have?”

“Oh, a lot. More than ten that I know of.”

“The dean is impressive.”

Song Yuyan gave a wry smile, “There’s no choice. The school’s funding is too low to cover daily needs. The dean has to… trade on his looks to bring in investment.”

Hearing that, Lin Zichen suddenly felt the dean’s image grow taller.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Song Yuyan finished yoga and took Lin Zichen to her private research room.

She went to a cabinet, took out a thick stack of materials and handed them to him, “These are the Celestial Pavilion’s research results and directions over the years. Go through them when you can—get a feel for the contents.”

The stack was about the size of a dictionary.

“There’s a lot,” she warned, “Just skim to familiarize yourself. Don’t try to read too seriously—you might not finish even by the end of the term.”

With that, she sat down at her desk and began the day’s work: textual research on the Opening-Aperture Chapter of the Blood-Tempering Art.

From several meters away, Lin Zichen glanced at the pages of the Blood-Tempering Art in front of her. The pages were covered with strange-looking script—not modern writing, totally unreadable.

Since he couldn’t read it, he stopped looking and found a seat to browse the research materials in his hands, scanning line by line at speed.

By 10:30 a.m. he had worked through almost a third.

He learned that the Celestial Pavilion’s research focuses mainly on the essence of the fleshly body and how vitality affects it.

“Weird… It’s already 10:30—why haven’t those three shown up?”

Song Yuyan put down her copy and muttered. Normally, the three fourth-year martial arts students arrived at 10 sharp to take part in the research.

But today they were half an hour late and still nowhere to be seen.

Worried, she pulled out her phone to check in on them via WeChat.

As soon as she opened it, she saw that one of them had messaged her half an hour ago.

All three were quitting the Celestial Pavilion and wouldn’t be coming to the institute anymore.

Stunned, she asked why.

He wouldn’t say at first, but under her repeated questioning, he confessed: the dean of the Evolution Academy had offered benefits they couldn’t refuse and poached them.

Song Yuyan frowned but didn’t bad-mouth them.

After years together they had a decent relationship.

People have their own paths; best to wish them well.

Ending the chat, she looked at Lin Zichen, “Zichen, those three fourth-year seniors messaged that they’ve left the Celestial Pavilion. They won’t be coming anymore. The Evolution Academy’s dean lured them away with high benefits—probably payback for our dean stealing you from the Evolution Academy. From now on it’ll just be you, me and the dean here.”