Chapter 467

Mu Youyu shook their head, bringing their gaze back to the textbook, "Are we taking graduation photos this afternoon?"

Jiang Liangjin didn't recall this matter in their mind, "When is this? I haven't seen it yet."

"You haven't seen this? At 2 p. m. this afternoon, the lawn over there on the field, Zhou Ge said we shouldn't be late." The speaker was Lin Yu, who was separated from Jiang Liangjin by an aisle.

He spun the pen in his hand, turned it twice but didn't catch it; the pen fell to the ground and rolled to Song Lujing's feet.

Song Lujing lowered their head, glanced, and kicked the pen over.

Lin Yu bent over to pick it up themselves, muttered something under their breath, then sat back up.

No one asked him, Jiang Liangjin gave him a sideways glance, "Oh, okay."

This afternoon, the lawn beside the field had been taken up early; when Class 1 arrived, the neighboring Olympiad Class had already formed their ranks.

The students' uniforms varied in shade, looking a bit disordered in the sunlight.

Mu Youyu wore a white uniform, their pink-gold hair tied into a high ponytail, standing in the second-to-last row of the formation, on the right side.

To their left was Jiang Liangjin in the same style and color uniform, to their right was Mu Xi.

Song Lujing stood beside Mu Xi, their gaze falling on the camera.

The photographer was a middle-aged man holding a camera that looked expensive, crouching in front of the line and shouting, "Look here, look here, smile!"

The students in the front row cooperated with a smile.

In the few seconds before the shutter clicked, Jiang Liangjin's gaze unconsciously drifted to the right; realizing something, they made eye contact just before the shutter sounded and lifted the corner of their mouth toward the camera.

After the group photo was taken, Zhou Laoshi organized them to shoot a few more small-group shots, and then free time began.

Mu Xi was pulled away by Lin Yu and their group to take photos, and Song Lujing was also surrounded by a crowd taking photos, their expression shifting from helpless to numb.

Mu Youyu didn't want to squeeze in, so they took Jiang Liangjin's hand and walked over to Mu Xin, who had somehow arrived there.

Mu Xin stood not far away, holding an unopened bottle of water, their blue eyes fixed on their sister being chased by the camera in the middle of the field, the corner of their mouth bearing an extremely faint smile.

Qing An stood beside them, also holding a bottle of water.

"How did you come, brother?" Mu Youyu stepped forward, lifting their face, "Wasn't there supposed to be a meeting this afternoon?"

"It's over." Seeing their sister approach, Mu Xin handed over the bottle whose cap they had just unscrewed, "I came to watch you take photos; Grandfather asked me to bring back a few pictures."

"Then are the other matters also finished?"

"Yes."

Qing An muttered quietly, "Everything's been handed over to me, this slave."

"Mu Xin brother is really impressive." Mu Youyu lightly twisted the cap, took a sip, then passed the bottle back to them and took off their outer jacket to hand it over.

Mu Xin naturally accepted the bottled water, capped it, and then took her jacket.

Qing An's heart ached for a few seconds; they handed the water in their hand to Jiang Liangjin, their golden eyes fixed on the sister before them in graduation robes and a high ponytail, "In the blink of an eye my sister has graduated, yet I still miss when she was six years old."

Hearing this, Mu Youyu didn't know what to say.

From childhood onward, almost every step of the way someone had paved the path for her; most of the time she was protected and moved forward, with someone blocking both big and small matters ahead of her.

Now standing on the lawn, gazing at classmates about to go their separate ways, and hearing Qing An's words, a strange surge welled up in her heart, something quietly loosening.

Mu Youyu blinked, then asked out of the blue, "Qing An brother, you say, does not relying on a brother count as growing up?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Liangjin's grip on the bottled water tightened slightly.

Qing An pondered for a few seconds, then said, "No, growing up isn't something that can be defined simply by not relying on someone."

Mu Youyu tilted their head, "Then what does one rely on?"

"Reli—" Qing An stumbled, their gaze shifting back and forth between the two siblings, then sighed as if surrendering, "Ask Ah Xin."

Mu Youyu turned toward Mu Xin, whose expression was indulgent.

Jiang Liangjin's eyes reflected her silhouette, recalling how as a child she would run behind him, falling without crying, just sitting on the ground looking at him, waiting for him to turn back and take her hand.

Later she no longer needed him to hold her hand to walk, and when faced with things she could handle herself, she learned to deal with them on her own.

Many times she walked ahead of him, occasionally glancing back at him; he still remembers that first glance.

Previously he felt a sense of gratification watching her grow step by step; now, seeing her stand before Mu Xin and hearing her question, a feeling welled up in him as well.

Though they were only half a step apart, he felt that the road had grown longer again.

Mu Xin reached out and ruffled the top of her head without much thought, "Consider the brother useless."

Qing An: "……"

Mu Xi, who had just caught up and happened to hear the previous few sentences, said, "Can you take that back so I can speak?"

The inexplicable pang of sadness Mu Youyu had just felt was scattered by this remark, "Brother, what kind of twisted reasoning is this?"

"This is sound reasoning; know that I have come this far step by step solely to be able to be your support."

Mu Xin's smile deepened; they stepped back half a step, gently took her hand, lowered their head to lightly kiss the back of her hand in a standard hand‑kiss gesture, "Your willingness to rely on me is my honor."

Those nearby turned their faces away.

Song Lujing finally broke free from the photo‑taking crowd, hurried back, their hair mussed, collar askew, looking as if they had just endured a small skirmish.

"I'm never taking photos again; that bunch is crazy, they've taken dozens of shots in a row."

He straightened his collar, raised his eyebrows, "Sweetheart, why didn't you go take photos? You look just as good as I do."

Mu Xi frowned, "Don't be narcissistic."

Mu Youyu took Mu Xin's hand, "I don't want to take photos."

Jiang Liangjin stood beside her again, "Let's take photos together."

"All right." Song Lujing felt hurt, "Mu Xi, how can you say that about me…"

He stopped his wail, "Hey, Xin treasure, when did you arrive?"

"Just arrived."

After the reply, a hand suddenly reached out from behind him, covering Mu Youyu's eyes; the fingertips were slightly cool, and Mu Youyu could smell a faint hint of disinfectant.

"Guess who I am." The deliberately lowered voice carried a smile, the tone rising at the end.

This tone, Mu Youyu knew it all too well: "Brother Yichi."

"Oh my, baby, you're really smart." Mu Yichi loosened his grip, went around from behind her to the front, holding a bundle of platycodon flowers, white and green intermingled, wrapped in light-colored wrapping paper, tied with a ribbon of matching hue.

There was only one bundle; at a glance you could tell who it was for.

Mu Yichi shoved the flowers into his sister's arms, "Happy graduation, the proper sense of ceremony cannot be lacking."

Mu Youyu laughed sweetly, "Thank you, Brother Yichi."