Chapter 49: Eyes Go Dark

Jiang Nian felt awkward; he had just told Li Qingrong he didn't like playing with his phone.

The very next second, his phone rang in his pocket.

"Actually… I use my phone critically."

Li Qingrong turned her face away, her trembling shoulders betraying her.

Not… are you really this easily amused, monitor? You don't mind if I sell this secret to someone else, do you?

Jiang Nian turned his head to distract himself and saw the basketball court. Li Hua stood atop a stone bench, pointing at their side and shouting something.

Too far to hear clearly, but it sounded like words such as "father."

Too filial. I'll reward him with a mom someday.

The moment he stepped into the cafeteria, the dismissal bell rang—two minutes later than the expected six, just as predicted: women slow down the speed of drawing the sword.

He shouldn't be here; he should be in the cafeteria lady's heart.

At the cafeteria entrance, under Li Qingrong's slightly surprised gaze, Jiang Nian bolted off, as if he had made up his mind.

To leave, according to the dictionary, means to separate from a person at a place.

"Sister, that eggplant!" Jiang Nian shouted urgently.

Li Qingrong pressed her lips together, tray in hand, ordering food—then suddenly saw a flood of people surging toward the cafeteria entrance.

Freshmen and sophomores, each holding a book, slammed them down one by one as they entered, each taking their assigned role.

One person placed a book to reserve a seat; others lined up. In under ten seconds, every seat in the cafeteria was covered in colorful books.

The queue stretched outside the cafeteria, still packed with people.

Li Qingrong froze, stunned—this was her first time eating in the cafeteria. Realizing it, she hurried to find a seat, or she'd have to eat holding her tray.

Though she didn't mind, it would still be embarrassing.

She instinctively searched for Jiang Nian's figure, but found a sophomore girl moving faster—she grabbed two books and sprinted toward Jiang Nian.

Jiang Nian's seat was by the window, theoretically the golden spot. The girl looked disappointed, too shy to place her books opposite him, so she set both down at the far end of the long table.

Li Qingrong exhaled in relief and walked over to sit across from Jiang Nian.

Jiang Nian glanced at her curiously.

"No seats left," Li Qingrong said calmly, beginning to eat quietly.

"Oh, fine," Jiang Nian said, not that self-absorbed—just curious why she moved so slowly. "The cafeteria's always like this, monitor. Next time you should…"

He suddenly realized Li Qingrong rarely ate in the cafeteria, and instantly stopped talking.

There wouldn't be a next time.

"Next time what?" Li Qingrong suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Jiang Nian blinked. What, are you tracking me now? Can I go eat at your house next time? Baby?

"Uh… nothing. The cafeteria's just crowded."

Yu Tongjie rarely ate in the cafeteria. Today, after PE ended, he didn't go play basketball or soccer—he found a shady corner to memorize English words.

He'd already asked his cousin who got into a 985 university: there's no such thing as memorizing every single English word. Studying hard helps, but no one's stupid enough to memorize them all.

Those words gave him confidence—Jiang Nian was clearly bluffing. Since the guy wasn't invincible, he'd exposed his HP—he wasn't unbeatable.

He swore to wash away last time's humiliation, study hard, and score 140 on the final exam to defeat Jiang Nian. But he accidentally studied too hard, and when he snapped back to reality, dismissal had already come.

He thought going home wasted too much time—he might as well eat in the cafeteria. The saved time could be used to memorize more words—even while lining up for food, he silently recited vocabulary.

He turned around and faced the same problem: no seats.

Yu Tongjie wasn't thick-skinned—he was a bit sensitive. That incident in class had already crushed his self-esteem; he couldn't take any more blows.

So he paced around the cafeteria, reciting words, searching for a seat.

Unfortunately, people who care about their dignity can't grab seats in the cafeteria. He spotted one—bam! A black-skinned athlete sprinted over and claimed it.

Fine. Gentlemen use words, not fists.

He ran to the other side, spotted another good seat—then suddenly, seven or eight girls appeared out of nowhere. Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh! A stack of freshman textbooks landed on it.

He finally found a spot, about to sit down, when a pretty freshman girl said:

"Bro, you're tall and handsome—can I have this seat?"

The senior's face flushed red. Yu Tongjie forgot his words, stammering:

"Okay…"

After all that wandering, his food was cold.

People kept pouring in through the cafeteria entrance, swallowing up students from grades one, two, and three—though saying it that way sounded a bit suggestive. Either way, Yu Tongjie had no seat and stood like an idiot in the middle of the corridor.

Until he heard a girl shout: "Let's go, let's go back to the dorm to wash our hair!"

Yu Tongjie's heart skipped. He hurried toward the voice. His legs weren't tired, but he felt everyone was staring at him—he couldn't bear it.

He stepped forward, sidestepping to make room—then saw, now exposed by the retreating crowd, two familiar people sitting by the window.

Li Qingrong… and Jiang Nian!

Yu Tongjie froze as if time had stopped. He'd known Li Qingrong for a long time—they'd been in the same middle school class, and their families occasionally visited each other during the New Year.

He saw Jiang Nian had nearly finished eating, reached behind him, and pulled out his phone. Li Qingrong frowned slightly.

"Phones aren't allowed on campus."

Hearing this, Yu Tongjie breathed a sigh of relief.

Of course—Li Qingrong was too rigid. She could never have feelings for Jiang Nian. No one could tolerate her stiff personality; not even getting angry would be too much.

But Jiang Nian wasn't embarrassed at all. He didn't put his phone away—he spoke seriously:

"I really can't stop using my phone. I have severe anxiety. The moment I'm away from it, I start thinking about my miserable, failed life."

Hearing this, Li Qingrong's face actually showed a flicker of guilt.

"I'm sorry… I didn't know you…"

Jiang Nian tilted his head back forty-five degrees, revealing a melancholy smile. "Nothing, I'm used to it."

The smile vanished from Yu Tongjie's face. What the hell is that?! Such a clumsy lie—why didn't you call him out on it? You just believed him like that? What's going on?

Li Qingrong lowered her head, the apologetic look on her face growing more pronounced.

"Sorry."

Jiang Nian was about to say something smooth when, turning his head, he caught sight of the little brat eavesdropping. His gaze swept over Yu Tongjie once, a look of suspicion on his face, and he slowly raised a question mark.

"Classmate, you look awfully familiar—like that guy who's been spreading rumors everywhere that I cheated."

Yu Tongjie's heart clenched at those words. He wanted to leave, but realized there were no seats left outside. He had no choice but to meet Li Qingrong's gaze and sit down awkwardly on the other side.

He couldn't taste a single bite of that meal, and even began to wonder if the cafeteria chef had lost his sense of taste. How could this food taste like a special Qingming offering—chewing on wax.

He didn't know when Jiang Nian and the others had left. With a gloomy mood, he walked toward the tray return. A familiar sweet voice reached his ears—sounded like that high school freshman girl who'd called him handsome.

"Oh, lucky me today—ran into a toad from the senior year giving up his seat for me."

Yu Tongjie's vision went black on the spot.