Chapter 588

After another group of people dispersed, Mu Youyu finally seized the gap, pulling Jiang Liangjin away silently from the edge of the main table.

Jiang Liangjin used his body as a shield, turning sideways to protect her as they slipped through several gaps in the crowd, following the narrow path along the garden's edge to the porch on the side of the main manor building.

The light inside the porch was bright and also very quiet.

Mu Youyu leaned against the column and stood firm, turning her head to look back, still able to faintly see the bustling crowd of people raising their cups on the lawn.

"How can they talk so much?" she muttered quietly.

Jiang Liangjin stood in front of her, his back to the light, keeping the bustle a few steps away, and asked, "Tired?"

"I feel like I've been praised all day……" Mu Youyu patted his hand, "Ah, I should have brought Brother Jiangjiang along."

Saying that, she lowered her head to adjust her skirt, and a strand of loose hair slipped from behind her ear onto her cheek.

Jiang Liangjin's gaze followed that strand of hair, and he gave a low chuckle, "You'll just have to get used to it from now on; we still have a long road ahead, and Ah You is already seventeen."

Mu Youyu sensed another meaning in his words, lifted her eyes to him, and her eyes looked especially clear and bright in the warm yellow light.

Their eyes met, and the distance between them seemed to have grown a little closer than before.

She lowered her head again, tried to move back, but the column blocked her retreat, so she slightly tilted her face up and asked, feigning calm, "What are you doing?"

The more Jiang Liangjin listened, the more she sounded like she was being coquettish; he stepped forward another pace, his voice indulgent: "I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday, another year older."

A warm breath brushed her cheek, Mu Youyu's eyelashes fluttered, and she said, "You already said that."

"That wasn't formal enough." Jiang Liangjin lowered his head slightly, his voice dropping even lower, with a hint of allure, "This is formal."

He leaned in, one hand suddenly resting on her waist, pulling her a bit closer to him.

His other hand paused, then gently settled on the back of her head, his fingertips rubbing a strand of her hair, as if confirming her willingness.

The surrounding atmosphere turned strange, so quiet that only their intertwined breathing could be heard.

Jiang Liangjin gradually leaned in; Mu Youyu watched his features become clearer against the backlight, a strange feeling rose in her heart, yet she made no move.

A warm sensation flashed by, an extremely light touch landing on the corner of her lips; both froze, a heat spreading up their ears.

"I……" Jiang Liangjin, rarely at a loss for words, stumbled slightly, "Thank you."

After saying those three words, even he felt foolish, his ears heating a bit more, and he withdrew his hand from her waist, his fingertips curling.

Mu Youyu's heart had been pounding so hard it almost drowned out all surrounding sounds.

Seeing him like this, and recalling the game ID she had given him—"Cold and Pure Young Master Jiang"—she inexplicably felt it matched this scene perfectly.

She replied in a soft breath: "You're welcome."

Jiang Liangjin gazed at his fiancée's slightly flushed cheeks, swallowed the speech he had prepared, buried his head in the crook of her neck, and said, "Ah You is really polite."

Finally, hand in hand, they returned to the garden.

When Mu Youyu received the message from her former homeroom teacher Liu Yunmi of Class A, she was playing a game with Jiang Liangjin.

The phone screen lit up; she had just won a round, in a good mood she opened the chat box.

Liu Yunmi sent a voice message; upon opening it, her familiar voice, laced with a smile, said, "Youyu, are you free next Thursday? The school would like to invite you back to give an outstanding graduate speech to cheer up the senior students; it won't take much of your time. If you agree, I'll send you the schedule."

Although Mu Youyu didn't graduate from Lan Lin, she was outstanding and qualified, so the school naturally wanted to invite her.

She replied: 【Okay, teacher, just send me the time.】

Liu Yunmi instantly replied with a string of thumbs-up, then sent the time, adding: 【It would be best to bring Jiang Liangjin, Gu Xingnan, and Yu Ci along; after the speech we can take the graduation photo together, and I bet those kids in our class all want a picture with you.】

Mu Youyu: 【Okay, teacher, I'll let them know.】

After replying, she switched to another small group of only five people, screenshotted the chat with Teacher Liu, and added a note: 【I'll be going; are you three coming?】

Jiang Liangjin was the first to reply: 【If you go, I'll go 【heart】.】

Yu Ci quickly followed: 【Let's go!! I'm going with Ah Nan too.】

Then Lin Ning, who was attending classes in Y Guo, chimed in: 【Do I need to go too?】

Mu Youyu sent: 【You don't need to go.】

Lin Ning: 【Fine.】

The day before the graduation ceremony, inside the classroom of Lan Lin's Senior Year Class A.

Class monitor Bai Yun sat beside the podium, her head lowered as she revised a form.

Xia Chao-yi slipped in through the back door, holding two cups of milk tea, setting one on her desk corner, and said, "You're revising again? Isn't it already decided?"

Bai Yun didn't lift her head, "I plan to add a page with Xiao Youyu and their names; I don't know if they have time to come."

Xia Chao-yi pulled out the chair beside her, sat down, took a sip of her own tea, and said, "Let's go beg them to write it down!"

Bai Yun rested her chin on her hands, "I've already asked."

Leng Yueyou walked in from outside, just catching the latter half of the sentence, and asked, "Will she come then?"

Bai Yun shook her head, "She didn't give a definite answer; she just said she'd see."

Mo Song lifted his head from the math problem and murmured, "She told me she has class, so she should come."

Everyone around her felt that Elder Sister Youyu would generally not disappoint them.

Leng Yueyou held her math practice sheet, saying, "It's up to fate; let's review quickly, we still have another exam tomorrow."

Bai Yun raised an eyebrow, "Everything's so simple this time; do we really need to review?"

Mo Song agreed, "Exactly."

Xia Chao-yi leaned back against the chair, his long legs stretching into the aisle, his thoughts clearly elsewhere, "Last time on her birthday we should have begged more."

Bai Yun clicked her tongue, ignored him, and kept her head down while continuing to fill out the form.

When the day arrived, the sun wasn't strong, and the breeze carried the warmth of early summer.

The ceremony rehearsal was scheduled for that morning; first- and second-year students attended class as usual, while all third-year students were summoned to the auditorium to prepare for the graduation proceedings.

They would soon face the college entrance exam, and the school hoped this sense of ceremony would boost their morale.

Time was tight; Bai Yun led the whole class in line from the back door into the venue, less than half an hour after the final second mock exam had ended.

Inside the auditorium, a few people sat sparsely scattered; several school leaders and grade directors chatted quietly in the front row, while staff adjusted the microphones behind the side curtains of the stage.

Bai Yun and her group sat down in the second and third rows, glanced around the back rows, and didn't see any particularly notable figures.

Xia Chaoyi leaned over from beside her, "I heard that Xiao Liu Jie invited someone to give a lecture, but exactly who, I asked a few people and nobody said."