Song Qiuyu blankly caught the toothbrush that already had toothpaste squeezed on it.
Within just a few breaths, she formed a guess about this seemingly incomprehensible gesture, and her eyes brightened involuntarily.
This is compensation for me, isn’t it!
Jiang Xiao’s compensating action seemed to have caught the attention of the other two roommates as well.
“Look, look! What did I say? This is pure fatherly love and filial piety!”
Xie Zhuran gave a serious evaluation. “The start of the semester was Song Qiuyu tirelessly taking care of Jiang Xiao, and the end of the semester is Jiang Shen doing his best to repay Song Qiuyu!”
“Why don’t you focus on how not to laugh during today’s short video shoot, and how to avoid failing your courses this semester?”
Lin An sighed.
Song Qiuyu brushed her teeth, listening carefully to their conversation, and glanced sideways at Jiang Xiao, who was also brushing his teeth.
Failing courses was indeed a serious problem.
Although they attended all their classes this semester, most of their energy had gone into filming short videos.
But if Jiang Xiao was still the top student he had been in middle school, then failing courses would be nearly impossible for them.
“Jiang Xiao, you must have done pretty well this semester, right? How about tutoring us a bit?”
Song Qiuyu said bluntly.
Jiang Xiao paused in brushing his teeth but nodded lightly without much hesitation.
Actually, even if she hadn’t brought it up, he would have taken the initiative.
As soon as he agreed, the person beside him excitedly craned his neck backward to share the good news with the other two roommates.
“Lao Jiang, actually, I’ve had a question that’s been bugging me.”
Lin An spoke after hearing the news.
“Hm?”
Jiang Xiao turned his face to look over.
“You don’t seem like a student who barely scraped through the college entrance exam with borderline scores. Your grades should be higher. Is there some hidden reason?”
As Lin An continued talking, Song Qiuyu, who was brushing her teeth, suddenly choked and coughed violently.
“Song Qiuyu, are you okay?”
Jiang Xiao immediately turned to her side, gently patting her back to help ease her discomfort.
Lin An rubbed his chin, and as he did, a clear-eyed person beside him did the same. The two exchanged glances, sharing the same thought.
There was definitely some secret between Song Qiuyu and Jiang Xiao that they didn’t know about!
What could have caused such a high-achieving student’s grades to suddenly plummet?
Could it be…
That xixi again!
“It’s nothing, just choked on some bubbles.” After taking a sip of water and rinsing her mouth, Song Qiuyu forced a calm explanation, though her heartbeat sped up.
The timing of her choking was just too suspicious—Jiang Xiao wouldn’t start suspecting, right?
But Jiang Xiao wasn’t suspicious.
He was practically certain.
“Be careful, okay? Someone once almost had their life reset because they choked while brushing their teeth.”
Song Qiuyu was a bit startled, half-believing, half-doubting. Could someone really be stupid enough to choke themselves into a life reset?
But on second thought, Jiang Xiao probably wouldn’t lie just to scare her.
There was another possibility.
“Jiang Xiao, the person you’re talking about—is it yourself?”
Song Qiuyu blinked her beautiful apricot eyes, sparkling mischievously.
“No, it’s the person I like.”
Jiang Xiao smiled.
“?”
Song Qiuyu froze awkwardly.
“When I think back to it now, she was really cute, super cute, the kind of cute where she had no brain.”
Jiang Xiao smiled again.
At that time, Xi’er had been spoiled, dependent, and even cried on him. He had comforted her all night until she was fine.
That memory was especially vivid.
“Oh, that really is very cute then.”
Song Qiuyu nodded, struggling hard to hold back a smile—save me, so it turns out I’m the fool here!
Jiang Xiao didn’t continue down that topic. After finishing brushing his teeth, he quietly walked inside and started changing clothes.
On the balcony, only one injured figure and one wounded heart remained.
Song Qiuyu sighed. Even if she thought positively, that Jiang Xiao was becoming more cheerful and could now talk about Shen Xi, she still couldn’t bring herself to smile.
When would the boomerang of youth finally let me go?
Damn it!
“By the way, what are you all having for breakfast today?” Song Qiuyu asked, tilting her body forward to peek at the cafeteria ladies serving food.
“Since we’ll be doing physical work later, I’m having two eggs, three buns, and two bowls of soy milk!”
Xie Zhuran said seriously, clenching his fists. The shoot hadn’t started yet, but he was already nervous.
He absolutely would not laugh this time!
Song Qiuyu blinked and then asked Jiang Xiao and Lin An’s opinions. In the end, she decided on vegetarian porridge with tomato scrambled eggs to soothe her stomach!
The stomach disease role had to be played continuously—it couldn’t be dropped.
Watching Song Qiuyu prepare breakfast, Jiang Xiao smiled silently.
After breakfast, Song Qiuyu parted ways with the three roommates and went alone to the supermarket to buy white stockings.
To avoid last time’s embarrassment, she chased down the clerk repeatedly to confirm they weren’t erotic stockings before daring to buy them.
After buying them, she headed back.
The first scene they were filming involved the Biology Professor lecturing on the Catgirl storyline in the classroom, so everyone was meeting first in an empty classroom.
When she reunited with the three roommates, she noticed a crowd of onlookers had gathered at the filming location.
Among them were three of Sang Tian’s roommates, one fan girl named Xue Qi, and finally, their Class Counselor.
[Except for the Class Counselor who was there to supervise, the other onlookers plus Sang Tian had formed an impromptu makeup team.]
Only the counselor’s arrival was somewhat sudden, like a surprise inspection; the others had all been arranged beforehand.
While she was buying the white stockings alone, Lin An had already been made up and changed into the Catgirl costume. For some reason, Xie Zhuran was also in makeup.
“This is what Lao Jiang said—since we want to reduce the chance of laughing out loud and messing up takes, all four of us have to wear makeup!”
Xie Zhuran gritted his teeth.
“Oh?”
Song Qiuyu laughed.
“That’s right. Brothers share good fortune and endure hardship together!”
After saying that, she saw Xie Zhuran stiffly cooperate with the girls, not daring to move even a muscle in his face as they touched and applied makeup.
“So Jiang Xiao, are you getting made up too?”
Looking especially pleased, Song Qiuyu turned to Jiang Xiao and asked quietly.
At her words, the three girls in the makeup team all perked up, their eyes sparkling as they stared unblinkingly at Jiang Xiao.
They all looked forward to doing his makeup. Such a handsome face—just one touch, and these hands wouldn’t be washed all month!
[If they could touch twice, they’d eat vegetarian for the rest of the month!]
“Yes.”
Jiang Xiao nodded lightly.
“Oh.”
Song Qiuyu glanced at Xie Zhuran’s condition and frowned.
She suddenly felt that entrusting Jiang Xiao to these girls was like sending a lamb into a tiger’s den.
Among the girls, only Sang Tian could make her feel at ease.
But specifically naming only Sang Tian would be too obvious.
“I can do it myself.”
Jiang Xiao said calmly.
The moment he spoke, everyone’s gazes turned to him.
Even the counselor, who had been holding up a phone filming behind-the-scenes footage, stopped.
“Lao Jiang, you actually put points into makeup skills? Why haven’t you mentioned that before?”
Xie Zhuran was shocked enough that his jaw nearly hit the floor. If it had been Lao Song, he would have believed it immediately—but this was Lao Jiang!
“Because… I thought, since it’s for the person I like, I started learning it on my own very early on.”
Jiang Xiao pondered for a moment and said this.
As soon as he spoke, it was as if an invisible sword had pierced Song Qiuyu’s heart. She pursed her lips, cold sweat sliding down her cheek.
That too?
Why hadn’t Jiang Xiao ever mentioned it in their messages?
Xie Zhuran inhaled sharply, catching the key phrase: “the person I like.” Not even a girlfriend, but already self-studying makeup for her?
Could it be that he’s already picked out what to name their child?
Hiss…
But this person the “I like” was apparently a woman Jiang Xiao hadn’t gotten.
“For the person you like, huh.”
Lin An caught the key point too, adjusted his glasses, and pondered thoughtfully.
“Lao Jiang, you don’t happen to be good at cooking too, do you?”
“Hm. Of course I have to know how to do what’s within my ability. Besides, didn’t someone say that to win a person’s heart, you first have to win their stomach?”
Jiang Xiao didn’t deny it.
So, these skills were also for Shen Xi?
Hearing this, Song Qiuyu was so guilty she didn’t even know how to hide it, anxious on the spot.
“Lao Jiang, you…”
Xie Zhuran took a deep breath, feeling the atmosphere grow heavy, and deliberately joked, “Is there room in your rice jar at home? Ahem… I mean, can you save a spot for me to move in as a rice parasite?”
Lin An silently added one.
The makeup team joined in as well. Their thoughts on the person Jiang Xiao liked were surprisingly unanimous, each imagining a well-behaved face.
Who could this person be? So hard to guess!
Seeing the atmosphere like this, Song Qiuyu sighed in her heart and decided not to let the topic continue.
But having Jiang Xiao talk about it was somewhat good—it added makeup and cooking skills to his attributes, which would definitely score points with the girls!
It was just a pity it also revealed Jiang Xiao’s heart belonged elsewhere.
“So then, Jiang Xiao, you really can do makeup? Show us some first?”
Song Qiuyu didn’t hesitate anymore, afraid the situation might spiral out of control. Who knew what other skills Jiang Xiao had secretly leveled up?
Now that Jiang Xiao’s personality had improved thanks to her care, he was more talkative.
Otherwise, before this, she was the only one he would have normal conversations with; he wouldn’t even glance at others.
So she bluntly pulled the topic back.
Hearing this, Jiang Xiao was slightly stunned, then turned to look at her with a faint smile.
“Just waiting for you to say that.”