Chapter 59: Girls

Recently, because of the event, she no longer needed to go home during meal times.

She either ate in the cafeteria or got dragged over by Mu Nanqiu to have lunch together.

After hastily placing her tray at the collection point, Su Yao immediately slipped out through the side door without a moment’s pause.

Taking advantage of the fact that classes hadn’t officially ended yet, she left the cafeteria and headed towards the main road.

She had shoveled down a few mouthfuls in no time, stopping as soon as she felt full.

There was quite a bit of food left, which was a pity, but if she waited until after class, the place would be packed with people, and such a scene would put her under some pressure.

That was why she called it—eat quickly, slip away quickly.

Although class hadn’t ended, there were still quite a few people around.

The “dads” from every dormitory had already packed up and left in groups by May Day.

Along the way, Su Yao felt like someone kept glancing her way, but it probably wasn’t her they were paying attention to.

She didn’t have that kind of confidence; she just thought she was pretty ordinary.

Although Su Yao considered herself somewhat attractive, she still believed that most people’s gazes were drawn to the camera hanging from her neck.

Being watched could have made Su Yao happy, but it only made her feel pressured.

She quickened her pace and slipped out of a side path.

Su Yao arrived at the back gate of the Activity Classroom Building, but she didn’t enter right away.

Instead, she found a slightly raised flower bed and sat down, waiting for the time to pass.

Heading upstairs during break time was really swimming against the current.

As the 4:50 PM bell rang precisely, the entire school grew restless.

At the end of class, especially during meal times, the downstairs areas were crowded with people packed shoulder to shoulder.

Usually, Su Yao waited until most of the crowd had left before going down herself.

The Activity Classroom Building was one of the earlier constructions on campus.

It was usually a public space used temporarily by school clubs or organizations after applying for and receiving approval, without any fixed classes held there.

That said, X University’s clubs were numerous and active, so people frequently came and went, even on normal days.

Now, during this special period, the bustle was naturally even more intense.

Unsurprisingly, students poured out not only from the front door but also from the back gate.

Fortunately, the students maintained order, moving slowly forward and only running once outside the gate—there was no pushing or shoving.

In the dead of winter, the clothes were definitely thicker and bulkier than in warmer weather, making people stick closely to one another with almost no gap between them.

Attempting to go upstairs at this moment was basically impossible.

After the crowd thinned out and only a few stragglers occasionally walked out, Su Yao finally stood up from behind the flower bed and cautiously walked inside.

Just as she entered, she bumped into someone.

Luckily, both sides stopped in time, and since they were about two meters apart, no contact was made.

Su Yao lowered her head and hurried up the nearby staircase.

Wearing a hat and carrying a camera, looking sneaky and suspicious, she seemed like a suspicious person.

But when someone caught a glimpse of her pale, delicately rosy face, they thought, “What a cute little girl! Those features definitely don’t belong to a bad person!”

One of them laughed but then felt something was off.

Turning to look at the stairs, he asked uncertainly, “Was that Su Yao from our class just now?”

“Seems like it…”

Taking quick, small steps, Su Yao climbed the stairs one by one until she reached the classroom door.

The door was closed but not locked—after all, they were supposed to come back after eating to rest a bit.

She gently pushed, and the door opened.

Inside was quiet this time, and since she knew there couldn’t be many people, Su Yao felt much less burdened.

She peeked in first and saw only a few classmates who were about as quiet as she was.

They glanced up when the door opened but quickly returned their attention to their own affairs.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, Su Yao relaxed and walked in confidently, picking a random corner seat.

In the middle of the classroom, nine desks had been pushed together to form a large table cluttered with all sorts of items.

Along the walls on both sides, rows of desks were placed, with stools arranged haphazardly.

Besides Su Yao, there were three girls and two silent boys playing games.

They didn’t seem to be planning to eat just yet.

Respecting the principle of not disturbing each other, Su Yao ignored them and focused her gaze on the already assembled stage props at the back of the classroom.

Some of them were her handiwork.

Because the play required many different scenes, many props were designed to be dual-purpose, transforming quickly to enable fast scene changes.

If done fast enough, the effect could be quite impressive, enough to win applause during the performance.

However, to win awards at school, some “elegant” elements would be necessary.

But Su Yao had already removed all those “elegant” parts from the script.

Now, on display was a grand scene of the Cloud Peak mountain summit.

Although the effect was mediocre due to amateur execution, it was already quite stunning.

In the story, an ugly Witch crossed the mountains and arrived at a cave on Cloud Peak, where she found the Great Dragon that had existed there since ancient times…

Click.

Su Yao tried to take a photo, but the result wasn’t very good.

She looked around and noticed no one was paying attention to her actions, so she relaxed and sat back down.

Once things quieted down, she began flipping through the photos she had taken earlier, especially those of Mu Nanqiu.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps beside her.

She exited the album, turned off the camera screen, and put the lens cap on.

Thud.

The wooden stool hit the floor with a dull sound.

Su Yao turned and saw a girl with shoulder-length hair staring straight at her.

That kind of unfiltered gaze made Su Yao uncomfortable.

She shrank inward but didn’t ask what the girl wanted.

“Su Yao, you’re a girl, right?”

“…”

The girl pulled out her phone, did a few gestures, and then turned the screen to face Su Yao.

When Su Yao saw the image on the screen, her pupils involuntarily contracted.

The phone displayed a photo of a girl bowing her head, resting it against the chest of a tall girl.

With a swipe of a finger, the image switched to a close-up of the two girls looking at each other from an unusually intimate distance.

The photo’s perspective was from above, apparently taken from the height of this floor of the building, near the window by the stairwell.

Su Yao didn’t understand why the girl was showing her this… Did she have some kind of purpose?

Staring at the short-haired girl in front of her, Su Yao was about to snatch the phone and delete the photo, but the girl quickly pocketed her phone with a smile and said, “Don’t worry, I’m not spreading it around.”