The classroom fell silent for a moment. Everyone looked up at the bold girl who had asked the question, then turned to look at Senior Chi Xu standing on the podium.
Chi Xu stared calmly at the girl. His well - defined fingers gently tapped the podium, and his voice was cold. "Sorry, this is a private question. I can't answer it."
At noon in the cafeteria, when he met Jiang Yuan, he was being confessed to and was struggling to find a way out. Remembering that they used to be close, he told everyone that his heart already belonged to someone, and that someone was Jiang Yuan.
It was to force the girl who confessed to give up,
and also to tell Jiang Yuan his feelings.
All these years, he had always remembered that charming girl who had followed him around as a child, calling him "Brother Chi Xu" sweetly.
Time really flew by. In the blink of an eye, the little girl had grown into a young woman, shedding her childishness.
Chi Xu lowered his head slightly and looked at Jiang Yuan sitting quietly in the front row.
The creaking ceiling fan blew the stray hairs on her forehead. She hung her head, pursed her lips, and doodled lines on the draft paper with a black pen.
She was overly quiet.
It was as if the eye - contact just now had been an illusion.
A strange feeling welled up in Chi Xu's chest, and his voice became even colder. He glanced at the girl who had stood up to ask the question. "Do you have any other questions?"
"I do. Which department are you in in the Student Union, Senior?" The brave girl asked with a big smile, showing no sign of shyness.
Chi Xu clearly noticed that the girl in the front row lifted her head slightly. He answered concisely. "I'm in the presidium."
One by one, students in the class asked questions, and Chi Xu answered them patiently. After answering all the questions, he told the students who wanted to apply for the Student Union to join the QQ group.
The two members he brought immediately took action. They held up the QR code of the QQ group and walked around, shouting, "Please change your remarks after joining the group. The interview time and location will be announced in the group."
Lin Suye, Jiang Yuan's friend, scanned the QR code and joined the group. She clicked on the group members and saw Chi Xu was in it.
She pointed at Chi Xu's avatar with a big smile and whispered to Jiang Yuan, "Yuanyuan, are you really not going to join the group?"
"Not joining." Jiang Yuan refused firmly.
"Can't you consider my idea and take revenge?"
Jiang Yuan gave Lin Suye a strange look, then reached out with a smile to tickle her. "Huh? If you're so eager, you go."
Lin Suye failed to dodge and burst into laughter, tears streaming down her face. "No, no. Please spare me, the on - looker."
Their playful voices were not very loud in the noisy classroom, but Chi Xu, who was standing on the podium, heard every word clearly.
He lowered his eyes and looked at the girl he had been thinking about for so long, then let out a sigh.
It was okay. He could take his time.
After the Student Union members finished their promotion, they left immediately. As soon as they left, Jiang Yuan looked up at Chi Xu's back. It seemed both strange and familiar.
After the evening self - study, Jiang Yuan and Lin Suye returned to their dormitory. It was a four - person dormitory with beds on the upper level and desks below. All of them were from the same major and class.
The other two roommates were Yu Huan and Su Kexin.
It was still early. Jiang Yuan sat on her chair and played with her phone. Her mind was in a mess, filled with memories of Chi Xu, both from the past and the present.
Lin Suye's unreliable words also lingered in her mind. She just couldn't calm down. Right, Chi Xu had once abandoned her resolutely without saying a single word and just left...
She still liked him, a liking that was engraved deep in her bones.
Remembering that there was a school forum, Jiang Yuan logged in and posted a thread. "What should I do when my long - lost childhood sweetheart suddenly turns into a pure college hunk?"
After posting, Jiang Yuan turned off her phone and went to take a shower.
Yu Huan and Su Kexin came back later. As soon as Su Kexin came back, she slumped on the desk and moaned, "How can someone be so handsome? How can someone be so handsome..."
Then, as if she had thought of something, she jumped up and turned to Lin Suye. "Yezi, didn't you join the Student Union recruitment group? Can you invite me in?"
"Sure. I'll invite you." Lin Suye clicked on the plus sign for inviting members in the group chat. A search bar popped up. Too lazy to search, she just scrolled down.
"Damn it, Yuanyuan. I accidentally invited you into the group!" Lin Suye's eyes widened. She immediately ran to the washroom and shouted at Jiang Yuan who was coming out after taking a shower.
"It's okay. I'll leave the group later." Jiang Yuan wrapped her wet hair and picked up her phone. She clicked into the group, and at the bottom of the group chat, it said, "You have successfully joined this group chat."
Jiang Yuan opened the group information, and the four red characters "Leave the group" were displayed at the bottom.
Suddenly, QQ gave a clear "ding", and a new message popped up. Jiang Yuan was startled and accidentally clicked the wrong button, jumping to the new friend application interface.
It was Chi Xu. He had sent a friend request.
"Yuanyuan, you should just do what I said tonight," Lin Suye sitting opposite winked at her and grinned. "You won't lose out anyway. Otherwise, your fever back then would have been in vain."
Yes, he had made her have a fever for days and just left without a word.
Just thinking about it made her angry.
Jiang Yuan stared at the new friend application interface and, somehow, clicked "Agree".
The system prompt said, "You have added this person as a friend."
Jiang Yuan: "..."
Damn it. What was she thinking? How could she listen to Lin Suye's unreliable words?
That guy Chi Xu would surely laugh at her.
Chi Xu: "Jiang Yuan, long time no see."
Jiang Yuan sat in front of her phone, staring at the screen. She waited for a while before seeing this message.
It was just an ordinary greeting.
Jiang Yuan was so angry that she laughed. Her eyes were slightly moist. There was no explanation, not a single word of explanation. It was just an ordinary, ordinary sentence.
Did Chi Xu really have nothing else to say to her?
Like why he didn't show up for their appointment back then?
Like why he left without saying goodbye?
She seemed so ridiculous, like a joke, like a toy.
He had laughed at her, gotten bored of her, and then casually thrown her away.
Explanation was redundant.
Even the post she had made an hour ago, that crazy fantasy, had become a huge joke.
Jiang Yuan didn't reply to his message. She exited QQ and opened the forum post. She saw that there were many replies below.
The most popular one said, "Chase him! Flirt with him! Kiss him! The childhood - sweetheart romance is the best!"
The best?
Was she, Jiang Yuan, that easy to manipulate? Could Chi Xu just come and go as he pleased?
Especially his leaving back then without any explanation. He clearly didn't take her seriously at all. Bitterness spread on her tongue. Jiang Yuan forced a smile and sent a message to Lin Suye. "You're right. It was Chi Xu who left without a word back then. He was the one in the wrong first."
"Yuanyuan, you actually agreed!" Lin Suye typed quickly. "You go and get close to him, seduce him. Hook him successfully, and then dump him when he's most into you."
"One, you can take revenge for his abandoning you back then. Two, dating such a good - looking guy won't be a loss. Three, maybe it's a good thing if you can finally let go."
"Yuanyuan, you mustn't get trapped in it."