Chapter 313: The Eyes Can't Hide It

Jiang Nian spent some effort shaking off Li Hua and his dozen-or-so followers.

"Chase me? Keep dreaming."

He tossed his head and, humming a tune, walked into the small shop in the dorm area to buy a bottle of Sprite. The only hitch was that the proprietress, trying to save electricity, hadn't plugged in the fridge.

Jiang Nian glanced at his phone, preparing to link up with Xu Qianqian.

The campus path leading toward the dorms was quiet, the winter sunlight dense and warm.

He hadn't walked two steps before running into Yu Tongjie at the other exit of the sports field. The other only glanced at him,

and said nothing.

Jiang Nian frowned slightly, too lazy to pay attention to Squirtle.

A few minutes later.

At the edge of the sports field, he saw Xu Qianqian and Song Xiyun, all dressed up.

"Are you two done walking around?"

"Mm, took some photos." Xu Qianqian looked very pleased, raising her phone as she spoke, "Look, we're pretty photogenic."

"Xu Shao's impressive." Jiang Nian brushed it off with a couple of words.

Seeing that Xu Qianqian hadn't asked about anything else, he probed around the edges with a few questions.

"When you two crossed the Longmen, did you see anything fun?"

"Yeah, all sorts of weird stuff." Xu Qianqian said, "The clothes people wore were bizarre too, and there were two guys holding hands."

Hearing that, Jiang Nian immediately felt relieved.

He hadn't been that outrageous himself, and besides, time had been tight back then. His side had been forced into action at the last minute, and other classes were also busy finding people to group up.

Who had the mood to pay attention to what Class Three was up about? Plenty of people were even more outrageous.

A little bell had even popped out—who would care about him?

So he didn't bring out the explanation he'd prepared. After all, he hadn't really needed to explain in the first place; better not to explain and make things more confusing, which would be more loss than gain.

"Then let's go, time to take photos."

Song Xiyun kept her head down the whole time, barely speaking.

It wasn't that she had anything on her mind; she was just used to listening to Xu Qianqian and Jiang Nian's off-and-on bickering and didn't know what to say.

After all, she wasn't that interesting.

In the gaps between Jiang Nian's words, he glanced at Song Xiyun. He kept feeling she was getting more and more taciturn, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

If that were really the case, Xu Qianqian would normally have complained to him about it.

The fact was... she hadn't.

Which proved Song Xiyun was only taciturn in her own settings, and that made sense.

Jiang Nian didn't pay it much mind.

He just casually looked after Song Xiyun; she might be the type who weighed human sentiment especially heavily. The more deliberately he got close, the more awkward it would be.

When taking photos, Xu Qianqian stood in the middle.

On the left was Song Xiyun, looping her arm through Xu Qianqian's, a faint smile on her face. On the right was Jiang Nian, already wearing his trench coat.

Jiang Nian's stance was more casual, his hand resting on Xu Qianqian's shoulder.

Not a curled-up gentleman's hand, but more like the arm-around-the-shoulder pose between bros. His palm hung down, covering her right shoulder.

Eggplant!

A passing girl helped out, freezing the photo in place.

"Remember to send me a copy." Jiang Nian finished the photo and prepared to leave.

If he stayed, Song Xiyun would inevitably feel awkward. There was still a little over half an hour until the noon dismissal, plenty of time for them to snap away.

"Won't send." Xu Qianqian said.

Hearing that, Jiang Nian turned his head while walking backward, pointing at her.

"Stalwart stalker, huh? Hoarding treasure."

"Blech!" Xu Qianqian made a gagging face, speechless, "In a bit I'll knock your head off and then send it to you, cringe lord."

Jiang Nian walked off into the distance, summoned once again.

So he hurried off to the photo spot where Zhang Nianzhi was, and once again took a three-person friendship photo.

Before the photo, he glanced at Yao Bei Bei.

"Huang Beibei, do you have a problem with me?"

Hearing that, she gave a light snort.

"What about it?"

What a grating little snort.

"Nothing, just..." Jiang Nian's tone was flat, "I followed your Douyin account, 'Domineering Prince Loves Me', cleverly using sanitary pads for your first night."

Hearing that, Zhang Nianzhi stood rooted to the spot, completely petrified.

"Huh?"

Yao Bei Bei rolled her eyes, gritting her teeth.

"Do you like cyberstalking that much?"

"No, no, you're being too modest." Jiang Nian waved his hand, explaining, "Your talent is like a cough—

impossible to hide."

Yao Bei Bei wasn't completely shameless either; secretly pressured by someone, she could only behave.

After all, she didn't want to.

The group photo was simple, in line with Zhou propriety.

Jiang Nian's hands behaved themselves, and he still stood on Zhang Ningzhi's right side. The distance between their shoulders was like a sheet of paper covering a window.

Whether it was sandpaper or rice paper, no one could tell.

In the photo, Zhang Ningzhi's gaze shifted slightly—she was looking in Jiang Nian's direction.

Click—the moment froze.

Since he was familiar with both girls, he didn't leave after the group photo. Instead, he chatted with them for a while before finding an excuse to slip away.

What was left was...

Jiang Nian felt he was a bit busy, running from one event to another in a single outing.

The coming-of-age ceremony was honestly a little unreasonable.

"Hey, Tigger, you aren't crying, are you?" Jiang Nian patted the elementary schooler who was short on IQ. "Why are your eyes red?"

"None of your business!" Wang Yuhe bristled a little.

This girl seemed to be in a rage state—she might turn into a berserker. Direct bloodlust, then lose rationality and launch targeted attacks against him.

Wang Yuhe's punch landed just outside Jiang Nian's kidney, with no real force. Clearly the elementary schooler wasn't angry, just in a state of indignant embarrassment.

Jiang Nian was taken aback. "Haven't eaten?"

Wang Yuhe:

Chen Yunyun smiled and pulled Wang Yuhe behind her.

"Stop fooling around, let's take the photo."

When taking the photo, Jiang Nian still stood on Chen Yunyun's right side.

Unlike when standing with Zhang Ningzhi, when he stood with Chen Yunyun, the gap between them was a little larger, but their expressions and postures were both more relaxed.

If we're talking about pure friendship, his friendship with Chen Yunyun was relatively purer.

For one, Chen Yunyun spent most of her time on her studies, so the two of them didn't spend much time together in a day—when they were together, it was just chatting.

She knew where the line was; her sense of boundaries was very strong.

The distance was neither close nor far, like clouds and mist shrouding the peaks. See the mountain, and it is not the mountain; see the mountain, and it is the mountain.

Never having left.

While chatting, Chen Yunyun would bring up many interesting topics.

Her temperament was also growing gentler—she clearly had something on her mind.

Jiang Nian noticed, but didn't ask in detail. Unaware of any budding feelings... well, not quite that, but he figured it was only a little fondness—nothing worth asking about.

Gao San was obviously not a good time for romance either; even asking might not get a result.

When he pressed the shutter, Chen Yunyun happened to turn her head and look at Jiang Nian.

The photo froze.

Buzz buzz buzz.

Jiang Nian received four group photos—together with the one at the Longmen, five in total.

He glanced at his phone and smiled.

Then he headed to the last check-in spot, where over ten people were waiting for him under the basketball hoop. They had just sent a message, calling Jiang Nian over for a big group photo.

Guaranteed not a Hongmen Banquet—only brotherly bonds, no wedgies.

Jiang Nian didn't buy it—he wasn't a three-year-old. He walked up to the crowd, and before they could speak, he directly raised his meal card and announced loudly,

"Cafeteria—lunch and drinks, everything's on me!"

At his words, the Wedgie Coalition instantly collapsed.

"Holy crap, Brother Nian's this generous?"

"Boss's waist is strong, kidneys are strong."

"Wuhu, a free lunch, nice."

"Lin某 has eyes but no pearls—I've been terribly rude."

"Damn, it's all Li Hua's fault! Sowing discord between us brothers and Young Master Jiang's feelings—I propose we wedgie the criminal Li Hua!"

"Seconded!!"

"Seconded!!!"

Li Hua panicked and tried to run, but he didn't have Jiang Nian's stamina. Once caught, he was wedgied against the basketball hoop repeatedly, screams following one after another.

Jiang Nian laughed, pinching his blue meal card as he watched from the sidelines.

Amid laughter and chatter, little Li Hua vanished into ashes.

Over a dozen people took a group photo in front of the basketball court, then close friends paired off in twos and threes for photos. They helped each other take pictures, then rotated.

Ma Guojun, Jiang Nian, and Li Hua did the same.

Cafeteria.

A group occupied two tables, each person with a bottle of large iced black tea. School wasn't out yet, so the cafeteria was basically empty—everyone there was Gao San.

Young Master Jiang's generosity was plain for all to see; Old Dog Li's treachery was known to everyone.

"Holy crap!" Ma Guojun, halfway through his meal, looked up at Jiang Nian and Li Hua. "Forgot to call those two over—

the five of us need a group photo."

At his words, Li Hua and Jiang Nian were both stunned.

"It really is."

"No worries, there'll be other chances." Jiang Nian offered in comfort.

The school bell rang, and the Gao San coming-of-age ceremony came to an end.

After the meal.

Jiang Nian handed his windbreaker to Li Hua, asking him to return the clothes along with his own at noon.

Afterwards, he went to the classroom to work on problems as usual.

In the morning he had originally brought a biology test paper to work on, but unfortunately....... the test paper was never finished.

Because of the coming-of-age ceremony, there was only one person in the classroom.

"Fangfang."

"Mm." Huang Fang turned her head and glanced at Jiang Nian, wondering why he wasn't off having fun.

Ten minutes later, the classroom was utterly silent.

Huang Fang raised her head, turned around, and glanced at Jiang Nian. She noticed that since entering the classroom he had settled down and had already been writing the test paper for ten minutes.

She couldn't help but feel a little surprised by this.

With that kind of temperament, no wonder he was able to advance to a higher class.