Two girls in the front row huddled together, holding a phone and zooming in on a photo. They scrutinized it carefully, commenting as they looked and laughing uncontrollably.
Chi Xu came over with a bottle of mineral water, handed it to Jiang Yuan, and casually sat down beside her. He asked, "What are you doing? I could see you staring blankly at them from afar."
Jiang Yuan pursed her lips and shook her head. "It's nothing. They're talking about a boy from a neighboring school. He seems to be my high school classmate."
"So coincidental?" Chi Xu raised his eyebrows. He was tall, and even sitting on a small stool, he towered over others. With a slight tilt of his head, he saw the photo on the phone of the two girls in the front row.
It was a boy with strong - featured facial features.
Chi Xu paused slightly, feeling a bit dazed. He seemed to have seen this boy somewhere. He looked quite familiar.
An inexplicable sense of crisis wove into a large net, surrounding him from all directions.
The words "You can just ask" almost blurted out, but Chi Xu tightened his lips and swallowed them back down his throat.
After the event ended, it was already past six in the evening when a large group of people returned to school in a grand manner. As the club president, Chi Xu still had some things to deal with, so Jiang Yuan went back alone.
It was still early in the evening. Jiang Yuan went to the night market street near the school to look for food.
Near Jing University were Jing University of Science and Technology and Jing Normal University. These three universities were scattered in three different directions. If you connected them with lines, it would form a triangle, and the night market street was located in the center of this triangle.
In the evening, the street was teeming with people.
Jiang Yuan walked while looking around. There were so many things she wanted to eat, but unfortunately, she only had one stomach. She walked and stopped, picked and chose, and finally decided to eat the particularly famous stir - fried rice noodles here.
There was a long queue for the stir - fried rice noodles. Jiang Yuan stood at the end of the queue, looking down at her phone.
The people in front moved a few steps forward, leaving some space. Jiang Yuan followed suit and stepped forward.
She didn't know what happened. Maybe it was karma for looking down at her phone while walking. She stepped on something slippery.
A terrifying sense of weightlessness suddenly hit her. Jiang Yuan instinctively tightened her grip on her phone, and only one thought flashed through her mind.
Sure enough, you shouldn't look at your phone when walking. You should look at the ground.
Well, she was careless this time.
Just as she was despairingly waiting to fall, she suddenly felt her arm being grabbed.
A strong force yanked her back. Jiang Yuan staggered and crashed into the person behind her.
Still in shock, the faint fragrance of laundry detergent from the person filled her nostrils.
Her heart was still pounding violently from the scare.
"Jiang Yuan, you can even fall while walking. It seems you can't do without me," a smiling voice came from above her head.
Jiang Yuan came to her senses, turned her head, and saw a simple black T - shirt. She looked up slightly and was stunned.
The person who caught her in time was Lu Zhen, whom she hadn't seen for a long time.
She had heard her classmates talking about him in the afternoon, and now she saw him in the evening.
"What's wrong? You're so happy to see me that you don't even want to leave my arms," the boy said with a soft laugh. His dark eyes seemed to be lit up, shining too brightly.
Jiang Yuan had never noticed that Lu Zhen's eyes were so bright. She stared at them for a few seconds, then calmly stepped out of his arms and whispered a thank - you.
The people in front of the queue had left a large gap, so Jiang Yuan quickly stepped forward to fill it. Looking down, she saw a watermelon rind on the ground, all dirty from being stepped on.
Jiang Yuan: "..."
This was the thing that made her make a fool of herself.
"Long time no see, Jiang Yuan. How's your college life? Is it different from what Teacher Wang said?"
Teacher Wang was their senior - three homeroom teacher, always full of motivational words, constantly coaxing them that once they got into college, they would be free and college life would be a lot of fun.
"It's not just different. It's completely different. Why do freshmen still have evening self - study?" When it came to this, Jiang Yuan became much more talkative and rambled on with her complaints.
By the time she bought her stir - fried rice noodles, Jiang Yuan still hadn't finished talking. It was hard to meet an acquaintance, so she wanted to talk more because she might not have another chance next time.
Lu Zhen listened beside her, occasionally chiming in. He took her to a nearby milk - tea shop and ordered two cups of milk tea.
One of them was Jiang Yuan's favorite flavor.
"You still remember how much sugar I like after all this time?" Jiang Yuan's eyes fell on the label of the milk tea, and she was momentarily stunned.
It had been almost half a year, but Lu Zhen, who seemed so carefree, still remembered such a small detail about how much sugar she liked.
"Of course. I have to remember it well. If it weren't for you, there wouldn't be Lu Zhen from Jing Normal University," Lu Zhen said half - jokingly, pushing the milk tea towards her. "Eat your noodles. They won't taste good when they get cold."
Jiang Yuan inserted the straw and took a big sip, showing a satisfied smile. Then she lowered her head to open the packaging bag and slowly ate.
The voice announcing the pick - up numbers rang out in the milk - tea shop. She and Lu Zhen occupied a corner, chatting back and forth.
They talked about their first meeting in sophomore year, about which teacher in the class was the most interesting, about the embarrassing things their classmates had done before, and then they talked about their current college lives.
"Do you still remember the girl who sat in front of you, the one before the college entrance exam?" Lu Zhen said slowly, his gaze directly falling on the girl.
"Sure, I remember. What happened to her?" Jiang Yuan replied indistinctly while eating.
That was a very gorgeous - looking girl.
"I heard that as soon as she entered college, she found a boyfriend. After just a few days, she changed to another one. So far... let me think," Lu Zhen propped his head up and tapped his fingers on the table. The sound was clear. "She's had about five or six boyfriends."
"Really? At this rate, it's one boyfriend a month, no, one every half - month. She's a real hero among girls. I really underestimated her before," Jiang Yuan said in surprise, her eyes widening and her voice unconsciously getting louder.
"Really! More real than I am!" Lu Zhen said playfully, swearing to the sky. "If you don't believe me, go ask her."
Jiang Yuan was amused. Her eyes curved into crescent moons, looking beautiful and lively. "Okay, I believe you."
"Hey, there's something I'm not sure if I should say or not," Lu Zhen leaned in a bit closer. The warmth of his breath fell on her cheek.
Jiang Yuan gave him a glare. "If you have something to say, just say it. What's our relationship? Do you need to be so secretive?"
"Well... how many boyfriends have you had since you entered college? More than your front - desk classmate?" Lu Zhen frowned, feeling nervous. He carefully looked at Jiang Yuan.
What kind of question was this?
Jiang Yuan was first confused, then she realized. She tapped his forehead with her chopsticks.
Lu Zhen let out an "ouch" and heard the girl say angrily, "Do you think your Sister Yuan is such a promiscuous person in your eyes?"
A faint sense of joy welled up in his heart.
Lu Zhen tried hard to hold back the smile on his lips. He covered the forehead that had been tapped and said pitifully, "So you haven't had a boyfriend yet?"
"Right, I haven't. So what? Don't look down on me," Jiang Yuan took a big sip of her milk tea and said fiercely. "Your Sister Yuan is a person with a strong sense of morality."