Chapter 27: As brothers, of course we must respect each other's wishes!

Liu Han Zhu was dumbfounded!

I said to go buy water for Professor Su, what are you thanking me for? Why does it seem like you and Professor Su are together?

How shameless! In that instant, Liu Han Zhu thought of many things.

But seeing Jiang Cheng and Su Manyao wearing sunglasses, both pairs of eyes looked at him longingly.

Liu Han Zhu was unwilling, but he had no choice; he could only get out of the car sheepishly.

Because the car was about to leave, he jogged toward the store.

Su Manyao removed her sunglasses and leisurely glanced at the big boy sitting beside her.

Jiang Cheng spread his hands, indicating it was he himself who wanted to go, none of my business.

Su Manyao rolled her eyes, flashed a smirk that said 'you dead look', looked out the window, and gave Jiang Cheng a view of the back of his head.

Liu Han Zhu brought back the ice water just as roll call ended and they were about to depart.

He gazed at the seat beside Su Manyao where Jiang Cheng sat, feeling somewhat unwilling.

She's an associate professor, I'm a counselor, so our seats should be together; you, a student, butting in here, what's the point of joining the fun? Do you still want to get close to the teacher?

The students on the bus were few; the boys sat in twos and threes chatting, but their attention was all on Su Manyao's row of seats, occasionally glancing over.

Those seated behind, blocked by the seats, could only pretend to adjust their chairs, stand up, and glance forward twice.

Although they couldn't see anything, they could only glimpse a few strands of Su Manyao's hair above the seatback, yet even that gave them a feeling of having struck it rich.

Think again about the male student sitting next to Professor Su.

They were truly stunned; they actually had such an operation! That's Professor Su, after all—that's a teacher! Doesn't he know? Did he mistake Professor Su for a classmate?

Otherwise, how dare he do that?

Just go straight and flirt?

…

Two buses set off, aiming for a mountain villa in the suburbs of Modu.

Because they hadn't yet gotten onto the main road, they were driving slowly in the city.

Jiang Cheng smelled the faint fragrance coming from beside him and seriously glanced at Su Manyao wearing a light green dress.

Su Manyao's dress today concealed those evenly proportioned long legs, but the sense of enclosure accentuated the lines, making people indulge in endless imagination.

Just then Su Manyao turned her head, saw Jiang Cheng looking at her, and said, "What are you looking at?"

Jiang Cheng didn't reply, just shifted his butt, leaning toward the older sister.

He expressed his thoughts at that moment with his actions.

Su Manyao glared at him, but discovered Jiang Cheng remained unmoved.

In a moment she realized this big boy's skin was thicker than last time.

Glancing didn't help; Su Manyao withdrew her gaze to look out the window, then pulled the curtains that were open shut.

"Come over onto my shoulder." Su Manyao said.

Then she slightly turned her body, tilting her head to lean on Jiang Cheng's shoulder.

Jiang Cheng stiffened, meaning he froze for a moment.

He had just wanted to be a little playful with the older sister, with no other thoughts.

But he didn't expect the older sister to directly put her head on him.

Before he could react, he felt his shoulder sink and his neck itch—Su Manyao's hair brushing his neck.

He smelled a faint woody fragrance, probably Su Manyao's shampoo.

Jiang Cheng lowered his gaze, but could only see Su Manyao's hair.

His body felt a bit stiff; this shoulder had never been leaned on by a girl before.

I don't know what the older sister is thinking right now.

Jiang Cheng took out his phone, opened the camera, switched to front-facing, slowly raised it to point at Su Manyao's face, using the phone as a mirror.

On the phone screen, Su Manyao's beautiful eyes appeared; she had her eyes closed, her long, slightly upturned eyelashes trembling.

Whether or not she noticed Jiang Cheng looking at her with his phone, the aloof older sister didn't open her eyes but put the sunglasses she had just taken off back on.

This made Jiang Cheng even more unsure whether the older sister would notice him secretly filming with his phone, so he put the phone away.

He shifted his shoulder, finding a comfortable spot for Su Manyao's little head.

Jiang Cheng himself also relaxed, only then realizing perhaps this was the older sister's counterattack.

Jiang Cheng thought, "Just because you're asleep now, otherwise I'd have to reach out and pull you into my arms to sleep!"

"Let's see whose counterattack is more aggressive!"

A few students sitting in front of them were staring in shock, secretly glancing at him and Su Manyao.

Jiang Cheng smugly chose to ignore them, "Your professor is tired and leaned over on her own—what does that have to do with me?!"

Actually.

Su Manyao wasn't that quick to fall asleep; she had been called out by Jiang Cheng, and this was her retaliation.

"Little brother, didn't you want to get closer? Now the older sister is leaning directly on you—can you hold steady?"

But just after she leaned on him a moment, Su Manyao heard Jiang Cheng's heartbeat speed up.

The corner of her mouth unconsciously curled into a smile.

Turns out the little brother was also forcing himself…

But Su Manyao was genuinely tired; after returning last night, her mind kept flashing with images of the riverside.

All night she felt as if a hand were climbing up her waist.

She didn't sleep well all night.

Adding to that, her company recently hit a bottleneck, business competition fierce; it wasn't that her company itself had problems, but this time the opponent was truly strong.

Su Manyao had been busy for a long time; yesterday she saw that a class monitor from the Music Department of Modu University sent her a message, inviting her to join a team-building activity.

She herself was somewhat tempted, wanting to relax with those younger students, but in the end she still refused.

Given her personality, being with those students would inevitably feel somewhat awkward.

But she happened to see on the class monitor's Moments that the team-building activity was jointly organized with the Philosophy Department Year 2-3 Class 5.

Her younger brother is in that Philosophy Department Year 2-3 Class 5, and Jiang Cheng is his classmate, so Jiang Cheng would also be going to this team-building activity?

So she came.

She wanted to see what else there was about this big guy who dared to make a move on her by the river.

On the bus behind the one Su Manyao was riding.

Here, most of the students are from the Philosophy Department.

Su Peng, Deng Qi, and Liu Tao were three of them on this bus.

Deng Qi and Su Peng sat in the same row, while Liu Tao sat in Guo De's other seat.

"Did you just see? The third and fourth rows on the left are all girls from the Music Department."

"Just saying these few already outshine the vast majority of girls in our class—truly, the Music Department is blessed!"

Liu Tao nudged Su Peng's shoulder and whispered.

Su Peng said: "Our class is fine as is; there aren't many girls anyway, but I'm loyal—I only like the class monitor, Zhouzixin!"

Deng Qi interjected: "Are we really not going to look out for old Jiang? Should we tell the monitor that old Jiang actually didn't get on the bus?"

Because Jiang Cheng boarded last, those three still don't know that he is actually on the bus ahead and has already put his arm around the Yujie! They think Jiang Cheng didn't come and is just falsely reporting in the group chat.

Hearing Deng Qi's words, Su Peng hurriedly interrupted, saying: "No need, old Jiang has always said he doesn't want to go. As his brothers, we can't betray him now—if he's unwilling to go, we should respect his wishes."

Actually, deep down he was thinking, it's good that old Jiang isn't going, otherwise his heart would be in his throat!

(End of chapter)