Chapter 84: Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots
1108 Words
Seeing his own bed perfectly tidy—sheets and duvet already made—Luo Ye froze for a moment.
The surprise hit him so hard he didn’t know what to say. He recognized the bedding; the apartment only housed the senior, so it had to be her handiwork.
The fairy senior had set everything up for him, which clearly meant she’d consented to him staying there.
But she’d still been teasing him just like before.
So Luo Ye had to admit something:
Good‑looking people are always scheming, even the fairy senior isn’t an exception.
He stepped inside, looked at the spotless room, opened the window, and carried the parcels out.
He didn’t say a word—not because he was shy, but because the roller‑coaster of emotions made his voice tremble. In short, he was stuttering.
He left the faculty apartment, clutched the heaps of trash, and headed downstairs to throw them away, hoping the walk would calm his nerves.
When Su Bai Zhu saw him strolling away with a mountain of rubbish, her rabbit ears twitched twice, as if asking, “Did he really get played?”
Whatever—freshmen are always weird. She went back to her room to draw manga.
She’d been fixing her sleep schedule lately, trying to be in bed before midnight. She’d just bought a tablet, so her drawing speed shot up, and the first chapter of her comic got a ton of praise and her first royalty check. She’d skipped the “white‑moonlight” (first love) segment, so the novel she was adapting wasn’t far behind the latest chapters.
Back in her room she opened the novel Youth Still Continues to check the newest chapter.
Instead of a “new update” notice, the page read… “On leave?”
FallingLeaves: “Dear readers, I’m taking a day off. Some of you know I limped a few days ago without asking for leave, so today’s stuff is super important.” (Posted just now.)
Comments rolled in:
CuteYixue: “Nooo, this is my only daily joy. You can’t skip updates.”
ScumbagMuYue (please don’t name‑drop the author): “Wifey, if you’re bored, come help me keep world peace.”
CuteYixue: “Childish, hm, even more boring now.”
VampireQueenYourHighness: “Take a day off? You dare? At your age? Are you even human?”
WarmGuyDogTail: “Author, you’re not going to meet the goddess, right? Too excited to write?” (Liked by the author.)
Seeing the liked comment made Su Bai Zhu’s expression turn weird.
She reread FallingLeaves’ leave‑notice about his recent limp.
A thought clicked. She opened Luo Ye’s Green Bubble profile and saw his note: “Professor Gu’s younger brother.” She’d never changed that note. Below his nickname displayed [FallingLeaves].
She stared at it, intrigued. When she first added him on Green Bubble she hadn’t read his novel, so his username didn’t matter. After changing the note she never noticed his nickname again.
No wonder the novel felt familiar, why some scenes resonated.
Could it be that FallingLeaves is Luo Ye?
She flipped through Youth Still Continues again and again, becoming more convinced that Luo Ye was the author. The passages described the male lead’s feelings for the heroine—together they made readers swoon. Those snippets were the reason Su Bai Zhu fell for the story.
If the novel was written using herself as a template… “Then he feels about me—”
A faint, puzzled look crossed Su Bai Zhu’s face, then she quickly masked it with her usual coolness. She remembered something crucial she’d ignored: the male lead’s high‑school “white‑moonlight” introduction. She scrolled, growing angrier with each line.
She didn’t even hear the door open when Luo Ye returned.
Finally, she stood up, looking like a hair‑trigger ready to snap. She knew those events happened before Luo Ye met her and that he had nothing to do with that “white‑moonlight,” yet she was still angry.
She needed to be soothed.
Su Bai Zhu left her room and plopped onto the living‑room sofa.
Across from her, Luo Ye’s excitement had settled, but his face still wore a bright grin.
Seeing her act “I’m mad” right next to him left Luo Ye completely baffled.
It had just been fine—what turned this sunshine into a sudden thunderstorm?
Everyone says a woman’s heart is a needle‑sharp ocean, but he hadn’t expected his senior’s mind to be just as elusive—second only to his aunt, since those were the only two women he really knew.
He called out tentatively, “Senior?”
She answered with a haughty, “Hmm.”
That snarky hum made his heart melt.
What a cute, mischievous sound!
Even though the fairy senior was angry and seemed a bit cold, she was dropping hints for him to placate her.
“Senior, who made you mad? I’ll beat them up.”
Luo Ye threw a mock‑punch, ready to act.
Su Bai Zhu glanced at him, then let out another “Hmm.”
Somehow, the fairy senior had developed a dash of tsundere.
“Did I do something to upset you?”
Luo Ye pointed at himself.
He then stood, grabbed the TV remote, held it up to his neck like a mock‑suicide pose, and declared, “If I make you angry, I’d rather die. I’m withdrawing… I’m…”
“Shut up.”
“Oh.”
Luo Ye sat back down obediently. His flamboyant performance felt embarrassingly over the top.
Su Bai Zhu glanced at Luo Ye’s profile.
To be honest, the moment she saw him, her anger evaporated. Yet being with him made her feel like a child again—unable to stop being whimsically impulsive.
She crossed her arms, kept a flat expression, and asked, “Is the freshman campus beauty really that pretty?”
Luo Ye tilted his head, answered honestly, “You mean Tang En Qi? Yeah, she’s gorgeous.”
Then he added, “But you, senior, are the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Su Bai Zhu looked puzzled, “She doesn’t like you, yet you still call her beautiful?”
“He’s just beautiful and talented. If she doesn’t like me, that’s my problem, not hers.”
Her eyes widened. She thought of the high‑school guy who had confessed, got rejected, then spread rumors about her.
Turns out not every boy is like that.
- Writer
