Chapter 62: Jiang Mengyuan, Who Wants to Socialize

Three weeks into the semester, after military training, Jiang Mengyuan could clearly feel that the relationships between the roommates had become much more harmonious.

She was no longer as reserved as she had been at the start, and she would no longer timidly refuse when her roommates asked her to go to the cafeteria to eat together.

Today, she ate at the Fourth Cafeteria with her roommates as usual; the food was not expensive, with a price level where one could get full for three or four yuan.

Chang Lingling generously said she would treat them, using her own meal card to pay for the few of them.

Such behavior could undoubtedly earn favor in the eyes of others, and Jiang Mengyuan also wanted to learn from her, but unfortunately, her social skills were insufficient, and she could never bring herself to say it.

Although it was true that the dormitory relationship had become closer, she was still like a little transparent, basically walking at the very back of the dormitory group and rarely speaking; only when her roommates talked about something funny would she follow along and laugh twice.

"The clubs are recruiting today, is anyone going to take a look?" Chang Lingling asked the others after clearing her tray and taking it to the washbasin.

"What kind of clubs does our school have? I want to join one where I can have fun, and it would be best if I could learn a skill," said a girl named Wang Li.

Chang Lingling laughed: "How can you learn any skills in a club? The senior girls in the clubs are thinking about picking up the freshman boys, and the senior boys are thinking about picking up the freshman girls. Isn't everyone joining a club just to expand their circles and make more friends? There's no one genuinely teaching skills."

"Lingling, you know so much!" another roommate, Yu Huifang, chimed in.

Chang Lingling waved her hand, not caring at all: "I joined clubs back in high school, so I know a few details about what's inside. Actually, clubs really aren't anything special. If you want to learn a skill, I suggest you sign up for a training class. If you want to find a boyfriend, I suggest you join clubs like Basketball or Street Dance, where there are the most handsome guys."

"Damn, Lingling, you had clubs in high school?"

"What's strange about that? High schools in Modu all have clubs."

Wang Li said enviously: "The educational level in Modu is just different. Sigh~ we didn't even get to have P. E. class in our high school; the P. E. teacher got sick more times in a year than my whole family combined."

"Yeah, it was the same at my school. The most critical thing was that once, just after the math teacher said the P. E. teacher was sick and had asked for leave, the P. E. teacher walked right past our classroom window. We had fifteen math classes a week out of ten, it was so annoying," Yu Huifang also lamented.

"You had five P. E. classes a week?"

"No, there were only two P. E. classes, and three were evening self-study sessions."

"Damn! Then you guys were too miserable, hahaha."

The three girls chatted and laughed all the way. Wang Li said she didn't want to learn anything and would just join the Basketball Club to see if she could meet handsome guys. Yu Huifang then said, "Take me with you, I want to find a handsome guy too." Wang Li said, "Alright, then our dormitory will join the Basketball Club together and charm those senior boys to death."

At this time, Chang Lingling did not express her own opinion, but instead asked Jiang Mengyuan, who was walking at the back of the group: "Yuanyuan, have you decided which club to join?"

"Me?" Jiang Mengyuan raised her head, looking a bit surprised.

"Yeah, aren't you planning to join a club?"

Jiang Mengyuan shook her head: "Forget it, I... don't really like participating in group activities."

Chang Lingling said: "Just treat it as exercising your social skills. I heard that our Jin Da has an Anime Club. Don't you like that kind of stuff? If you join, you might find quite a few friends with common topics, right?"

Jiang Mengyuan's social anxiety wasn't the particularly severe kind; it was just the shyness and innate introversion of a young girl who had just come of age, which was why she was always timid in her conduct. Now, hearing Chang Lingling say that their school had an Anime Club, she felt a bit moved.

In this day and age when *One Piece*, *Bleach*, and *Naruto* are popular, most people who come into contact with the Island Country anime world like hot-blooded shonen manga; a pure Two-dimensional otaku like her is actually very rare.

If she could find a fellow Two-dimensional fan at school, perhaps chatting wouldn't be so awkward.

That was what Jiang Mengyuan thought.

"Let's go~ let's go take a look together, just treat it as keeping us three company while we stroll around," Chang Lingling said, pulling her arm and persuading her in a sweet, coquettish voice.

It must be said that she was truly the type of social butterfly who knew how to get along with people. Sensing that Jiang Mengyuan was somewhat moved, she immediately took the initiative to request it, making it hard for Jiang Mengyuan to refuse again.

Jiang Mengyuan hesitated for two seconds, then nodded and said, "Alright, but I'm not necessarily going to join a club."

Chang Lingling laughed: "It's fine, it's just like shopping; no one dictates that you have to buy something just because you looked at it. We'll just take a look, and if we don't like it, we won't join."

Thus, the four of them joined the flood of students heading to the club recruitment.

There were many freshmen like their dormitory coming to browse the club recruitment; after all, going alone and going in a group were completely different concepts. Going in a group could bolster one's courage, and some students with social anxiety who had just left high school could also summon the courage to deal with the senior students.

Jiang Mengyuan first accompanied her three roommates to look at the Basketball Club. There were quite a few tall senior boys in the Basketball Club, and there were even two boys with bangs who looked like Rukawa Kaede.

Wang Li and Yu Huifang immediately couldn't move their feet. They asked if they could join the Basketball Club even if they didn't know how to play basketball.

The senior boy smiled gently and said it didn't matter, as the Basketball Club would organize "old-teaching-new" activities from time to time, and newly joined members could quickly get the hang of basketball.

"Old-teaching-new"—for young girls, this was even more exciting. Thinking of the scene where a handsome senior would teach them basketball hand-in-hand, Yu Huifang and Wang Li no longer hesitated and paid the membership fee on the spot, filling out the registration form to become members of the Basketball Club.

"Do the remaining two roommates want to join the Basketball Club? If you don't want the senior boys to teach you, there are also pretty senior girls!" the recruiting senior said, his eyes scanning Jiang Mengyuan directly.

Compared to Yu Huifang and the others, Jiang Mengyuan was the target he truly wanted to "recruit." This girl was wearing a T-shirt with a blue fat cat pattern, had her hair in twin tails, and was wearing a light cyan A-line skirt and platform shoes on her lower body. Although her outfit was very strange, it had an indescribable charm.

And a senior who had spent many years in the dating scene could conclude that Jiang Mengyuan would definitely be a top-tier beauty if she took off her glasses.

It would be a pity for such high-quality freshman resources not to come to the Basketball Club!

"No thanks, senior. Our Yuanyuan doesn't like basketball." Jiang Mengyuan didn't speak, so Chang Lingling refused on her behalf.

"Hey! How can you say you like it or not? Playing basketball is very interesting. I learned basketball for two and a half years in high school, and I can do under-the-leg dribbling and shoulder dribbling. Next time I'll perform for you, and you'll definitely fall in love with this sport."

*I'm afraid what you're dribbling under your legs isn't a ball. *

Chang Lingling thought speechlessly. She had long since noticed the unkind gaze in the eyes of this Basketball Club recruiter. That wolf-like look, as if he were about to eat Jiang Mengyuan, meant that letting Jiang Mengyuan join this kind of club was equivalent to sending a little lamb into the mouth of a big bad wolf.

So, after apologizing, she quickly took Jiang Mengyuan and withdrew from the Basketball Club's recruitment booth.