If he only looked at one of them, he still couldn’t tell them apart.

Perhaps only their mother could easily distinguish between them. It seemed that in this world, only blood ties possessed a magic that could transcend perception.

One day, if Chen Yuan became part of their family, maybe he could, too.

He would be able to tell the older sister from the younger with just a single glance.

Chen Yuan thought this with a sense of satisfaction. He placed a gentle kiss on Yaoyao’s forehead as well, just in case she felt it was unfair in her dreams.

RUSTLE—

Jiangg Yao crinkled her little nose, as if it tickled.

Then, she reached out, groped forward a little, and hugged Chen Yuan’s arm. He looked over in surprise, thinking he had woken Yaoyao up.

But she hadn’t.

Her eyes were still closed. Hugging things might just be a habit of Yaoyao’s when she slept.

The next second, his arm was pulled into her embrace, nestled between those rising peaks. In that instant, Chen Yuan felt an indescribable softness. But as he heard her faint, even breathing, Chen Yuan didn’t dare to move.

After doing this, Jiangg Yao seemed to fall into an even deeper sleep.

...

「7:30 a.m.」

Chen Yuan walked out of his own apartment’s bathroom, drying his damp hair.

He had been kicked out and sent back home after the two sisters woke up. It was just as well, since he needed to shower and change for school. After his classes, he had to rush to the company in the afternoon to oversee work.

After a rare day of rest, it was a given that an even busier daily routine would follow.

Life was like that—composed of countless trivial matters. Walking this path of life, one had to find its true meaning for oneself.

「7:45 a.m.」

Chen Yuan and Jiangg Ning took the elevator down to the underground garage together.

"Well, I’m off to school then. If anything comes up at the company, remember to message me. You just started, so there might be a lot you’re not familiar with. If you’re too shy to ask others, you can ask me first."

"I know, Chen," Jiangg Ning said with a gentle smile, her eyes filled with tenderness as she looked at his ’little adult’ act.

There are many moments when a boy can seem adorable, and in her eyes, this was one of them for Chen Yuan.

When Jiangg Ning thought about the surprise Chen Yuan would be receiving tonight, the smile in her eyes deepened. She was really looking forward to seeing his expression when he got this grand gift.

"I’m leaving now, or I’ll be late for my 8 a.m. class."

"Bye-bye."

She waved goodbye to Chen Yuan. After watching him get in his car, start the engine, and drive out of the garage, Jiangg Ning stood there for a moment before taking out her phone.

"Time to move. Yaoyao, it’s all up to you!"

A few seconds after she sent the voice message, Yaoyao’s reply came through: "No problem, sis! Mission guaranteed to be a success!"

...

「That morning.」

Chen Yuan walked along the tree-lined avenue, bathed in the gentle morning sun.

He was wearing casual clothes, completely different from his work attire: a black baseball jacket, a pair of jeans, and sneakers on his feet.

Although it was a simple outfit, it fit him well and gave him a rare youthful aura.

Ever since the secret about the twins was exposed, Chen Yuan hadn’t bought any clothes for himself at all; the two sisters handled everything.

For one, it was the shared opinion of both Jiangg Yao and Jiangg Ning that Chen Yuan’s fashion sense was very mediocre. Or rather, in their eyes as girls, most guys’ fashion sense was mediocre. As long as an outfit wasn’t ridiculously ugly or uncomfortable, they would wear it over and over again.

Just a few outfits for an entire season.

What left them most speechless was how guys’ clothes all seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Their aesthetic was remarkably consistent: either jeans with a hoodie or just a random shirt under a jacket. Eight out of ten college students dressed this way.

One of the most crucial signs that a guy has a girlfriend is a change in his style, which is also one of the perks of being in a relationship.

Jiangg Yao thought Chen Yuan was the perfect clothes horse. Whenever she was bored, she would buy a few outfits for him online and then start putting together combinations she had envisioned. Often, when Chen Yuan got home from work, he would find several new packages on the sofa.

Needless to say, they were definitely from Jiangg Yao.

Jiangg Ning, on the other hand, preferred taking him to physical stores, putting together an outfit on the spot if she found something suitable.

The other day, while browsing a luxury store, she spotted a scarf that would go great with Chen Yuan’s dark coat. Chen Yuan agreed at first, but when he asked for the price, he was stunned.

’A small scarf actually costs over ten thousand yuan???’

’Might as well just rob the place!’

He immediately said he didn’t want it anymore.

He had thought it looked good before, but by the time they were at the checkout, he’d changed his tune, claiming it was as ugly as could be.

It’s actually very simple for a girl to tell if a guy on the street has a girlfriend: just see if his style matches her own taste. If she finds his look particularly pleasing, there’s an eighty percent chance he’s already taken.

As Chen Yuan walked along the tree-lined avenue, quite a few girls glanced his way. But after a closer look, they all turned away. A careful observer could discern a myriad of emotions in the faint look of regret in their eyes.

As a hopelessly straight guy, Chen Yuan naturally didn’t understand any of this.

He started out walking, but as the number of students around him dwindled, he broke into a jog. When it got close to eight o’clock, Chen Yuan started sprinting. The early morning breeze ruffled his fluffy hair, revealing his clear forehead. In his frantic rush to get to class, he had completely abandoned any concern for his appearance.

...

"Who the hell knows what the school administration is thinking? They just pass the buck. The dorm management won’t even let us in. I’ve had it."

"Of course they won’t let you in to check. If everyone with a complaint was allowed to do that, would the school ever be quiet?"

"But the key thing is, this is a reasonable request from students! It’s our right, isn’t it? We can’t just swallow this injustice."

"Exactly. Now they won’t even let us post on forums or short-video platforms. If you get caught, you get called in for a ’talk.’ They’ve even taken away our ability to speak out. It’s disgusting."

Chen Yuan ran into the classroom, out of breath. The first thing he saw upon entering was a crowd of classmates gathered together, Wei Zhen and Liu Nan among them.

They were chattering away about something.

Except for a few students who would keep studying even if the sky were falling, almost everyone else had crowded around, chirping like it was a wet market.

Li Bing, of course, was studying with his head down, a perfect embodiment of the saying, "deaf to the world outside."

Chen Yuan didn’t want to interrupt their lively discussion, but as he got closer, he realized that Liu Nan, in the very center of the crowd, was standing on his desk! This put him in an awkward position; it felt inappropriate to push through the crowd, but just standing there frozen felt a bit foolish.

"Well, well, well, look who it is! What made you decide to grace us with your presence in class?"

The next second, the sharp-eyed Liu Nan shouted, and the surrounding students all turned their heads at his call, their gazes focusing on Chen Yuan.

"Third Brother, I thought you weren’t coming today either," Quan Yafeng said with a smile, patting him on the shoulder.

"No way, I can’t skip the important classes. What are you guys talking about?" Chen Yuan asked curiously.

"Ugh, it’s just that the food delivery thief in the dorms has been getting way too bold recently. It’s practically three meals a day now. Are they treating everyone’s orders like a free buffet? And what’s really strange is, we’ve tried staking it out so many times and still haven’t caught anyone. So now we’re thinking of checking the security footage."

"A food delivery thief?"

"Yeah, and it’s not just the men’s dorms; it’s happening in the women’s dorms too. This thief better hope I don’t catch them. It’s really pissing me off," an outspoken female student chimed in.

"They won’t let us check the footage, either. They keep saying the campus cameras are all on a unified system, and you need permission from the school leadership to view them. They claim they don’t have the authority to show it to students... I really don’t get it. What’s the big deal about looking at some security footage?"

"Is this only happening to our class?"

"It’s mostly on our floor, where most of the physics majors live."

"Don’t tell me it’s a guy and a girl working together... That’s too much. I can’t imagine what kind of person would do something so shameless."

At Chen Yuan’s question, the crowd once again erupted into a cacophony of voices.

Just as the discussion started to heat up, the bell for class rang. The professor then walked into the classroom right on time, and the crowd immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

And so began a day full of energy.

As Chen Yuan pulled out his notes in the classroom and began to listen attentively, he had no idea whatsoever.

That today—or rather, after midnight—

He would become the happiest man in the world.

...