You still like me, don't you?

Xu Ke walked over step by step.

She did not look at Qin Luo, but stared fixedly at Yao Yanyan instead, speaking in an icy voice, "Are you together with Qin Luo?"

With her putting on such a hostile attitude, Yao Yanyan stopped acting as carefree and casual as she usually did. Instead, she replied with a cold and rigid expression, "None of your business?"

Xu Ke narrowed her eyes, her voice laced with intense resentment, "Qin Luo is the one who likes me!"

Yao Yanyan twitched the corner of her eye, "None of my business... You're acting like a madwoman, I can't be bothered with you."

Acting as though she did not want to entangle herself with Xu Ke any further, she turned and left immediately.

Xu Ke made no attempt to stop her, turning her gaze to Qin Luo instead.

At this moment, her eyes and expression still betrayed deep resentment, but the sharp, overt hostility she had just displayed toward Yao Yanyan had vanished.

It was replaced by a profound sense of hope bleeding through her words.

"Tell me, Qin Luo, you still like me, right?"

She gazed at Qin Luo without blinking, the churning emotions within her transforming into complex colors in her eyes, finally converging into pure tension and anticipation.

Qin Luo gave her an expressionless look, then turned around in silence and walked away, acting as if he couldn't be bothered to waste even a single word on her.

Xu Ke's eyes widened slightly. She watched Qin Luo's figure recede from her view until it vanished completely, taking the trace of expectation in her eyes away with it.

"I won't give up..."

She clenched her fists, grinding her teeth as she forced the words out. Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly noticed a girl acting suspiciously behind a tree not far away.

Xu Ke frowned, then strode over.

The girl was currently fiddling with a camera while giggling to herself when she suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of crisis welling up in her heart.

The girl instinctively looked up, and immediately locked eyes with Xu Ke's icy glare.

This caused the girl's expression to turn somewhat flustered, and she subconsciously wanted to turn around and run away.

"Stop right there."

The freezing voice halted the girl's freshly taken steps. She pursed her lips, turned to face Xu Ke, and drooped her head in a dejected and somewhat gloomy manner.

"S-Sorry, my fingers were just itching and I couldn't help myself. The photos just now were really stunning. As long as you don't make me delete them, I'll do anything..."

Xu Ke ignored her, her cold eyes fixed entirely on the camera in the girl's hands as she said stiffly and coldly, "Hand me the camera."

As soon as these words were spoken, the girl's expression changed drastically.

Clutching the camera to her chest as if she were a mother protecting her cub, she hurriedly said, "No way! This is my life! You can take my dog head, but you can't take my camera!"

Xu Ke's expression chilled. "Taking candid photos without permission is illegal; you should know that much. Either hand me the camera, or I'm calling the police right now."

Xu Ke's words scared the wits out of the girl. Although she knew deep down that the pictures she took didn't cross into the territory of illegality, she would still inevitably run into trouble if Xu Ke insisted on making a big deal out of it.

Seeing that Xu Ke was actually about to fish out her phone, the girl panicked. She thrust the camera forward, looking both heartbroken and terrified as she pleaded, "Then be careful, please don't scratch it with your nails. It's just like me—a soft, fluffy, and fragile cute little girl that can't handle even the slightest bit of damage..."

Xu Ke did not soften at the girl's pitiful display. She simply snatched the camera away and began flipping through the photos inside.

The newest one among them was precisely the shot of her and Qin Luo in the same frame. Following that were group photos of her, Qin Luo, and Yao Yanyan, taken at the entrance of the teaching building they were currently at and the classroom they had just left. There were also other pictures with different backgrounds; the male lead in all of them was only Qin Luo, while the female leads occasionally included Tang Yu and Chu Sijin.

Xu Ke expressionlessly looked through the photos. She glanced over most of them in a blur, finally stopping on the recently taken photo of herself and Qin Luo side by side. Her gaze inexplicably turned somewhat dazed.

The girl stood nervously to the side, timidly offering, "I'm sorry, okay? I just couldn't help myself when I saw such a picturesque scene. I just wanted to capture beautiful things, I didn't plan to do anything with these photos. If you really have to blame someone... blame yourselves for being too good-looking!"

By the end, as if abandoning all resistance, she stiffened her neck and delivered a rather defiant retort.

Xu Ke ignored her, quietly studying the photographs on the camera.

After a few seconds, she finally broke the silence with a question: "Are you that photography-loving Nana?"

"Uh... My name is Wang Xiaona, Nana is just my nickname, but how did you know?"

"Heh."

Xu Ke let out a cold chuckle. The first time Qin Luo asked Yao Yanyan to attend a class with him, this "photography-loving Nana" had snapped a photo of the two of them. Xu Ke had been deeply impressed by that incident and naturally remembered it.

So she asked another question, "Were all those photos of Qin Luo on the forum taken by you?"

Wang Xiaona seemed somewhat intimidated by Xu Ke's cold and rigid demeanor, shrinking her neck as she replied, "No, I mostly just take them for my own collection and rarely post them on the forum. I've posted them at most once or twice... Um, I'm just an innocent photographer; capturing beautiful things is my instinct. If worst comes to worst... worst comes to worst I'll be more careful next time I shoot and make sure you guys don't notice me..."

Her words sounded cowardly, yet the content was amusing enough to make one chuckle.

Unfortunately, Xu Ke was clearly not someone who could be easily amused. Hearing this, she said nothing further, her gaze scanning back and forth between the camera and Wang Xiaona, her slightly furrowed brows suggesting she was deep in thought.

Wang Xiaona, standing off to the side, was frantic with anxiety, terrified that Xu Ke might smash her camera in a fit of rage.

Just as she was about to open her mouth and beg for mercy, Xu Ke finally spoke, "I need your help with something. If you agree, I won't pursue the matter of you taking candid photos, and I'll even provide you with opportunities to take pictures in the future."

Wang Xiaona blinked and asked timidly, "W-What kind of thing?"

Xu Ke said flatly, "It's simple. I want you to help me take some pictures."

Hearing this, Wang Xiaona instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

She had thought Xu Ke was going to make some difficult demand, but it turned out to be just taking photos.

It almost made Wang Xiaona want to jump up and down on the spot with joy. She hadn't expected Xu Ke to be so easy to talk to; not only did she not delete her photos, but she was even willing to let her keep taking them. All she had to do in return was take pictures for her—which, to her, wasn't a price to pay at all, but rather a pleasant surprise.

She couldn't help it; Xu Ke was simply too gorgeous. Ever since she was a little girl, Wang Xiaona had loved all sorts of beautiful things, often sighing when those things eventually withered and decayed due to various reasons. That was why she wanted to use her camera to preserve the most beautiful side of those things forever.

In the past, her favorite subjects had been landscapes and scenery, but lately, she had developed a particular fondness for handsome men and beautiful women.

For instance, Qin Luo, who appeared most frequently in her camera roll, alongside the various beauties around him—of which Xu Ke naturally was one.

Therefore, Wang Xiaona agreed without a moment's hesitation, "No problem! What kind of photos do you want to take? Portraits? Boudoir shots? Artistic photography? Or..."

"Group photos," Xu Ke interrupted.

Wang Xiaona froze, "Group photos? With whom?"

"You'll know when the time comes. Give me your phone number."

"Uh... Alright."

Though curious, Wang Xiaona was still intimidated by Xu Ke's cold exterior, so she didn't dare to ask any further and obediently exchanged contact information with her.

Meanwhile, inside the Student Union Presidium office, Tang Yu's brow had been furrowed for a long while...