The fresh citrus scent had a remarkable effect, significantly freshening the air at the back of the bus.
After a moment to adjust, Jiang Xiao clearly heard his roommates beside him and Sang Tian in the front row chatting lively.
Sang Tian, seemingly due to the large number of new dance students, found all the seats taken and was therefore assigned to their directing department by the advisor.
Sang Tian was very popular.
Not only did Song Qiuyu keep smiling while talking to her, but Lin An and Xie Zhuran did too.
Jiang Xiao recalled how readily Song Qiuyu had added the dance student as a friend yesterday and how happily they were chatting now.
He cast a faint glance at Song Qiuyu.
Compared to his middle school days, Song Qiuyu had grown more refined and handsome.
There must be many girls pursuing him, and the dance student was probably one of them.
In middle school, when Song Qiuyu was bullied at school for having a feminine appearance, he would proudly confront all the criticisms.
Song Qiuyu had a good personality and good looks, but his family situation wasn’t great, and he wasn’t particularly smart.
Jiang Xiao quietly turned his head to look out the bus window.
He had never disliked Song Qiuyu, but the latter’s strange behavior since yesterday had perplexed and troubled him.
If Song Qiuyu could shift his attention to Sang Tian and start a relationship…
That would be pretty good.
The only problem was that Song Qiuyu’s current “giver” personality was a bit difficult to deal with.
If he met the wrong person, he’d likely suffer a great loss.
However, based on the current impression of Sang Tian, she seemed like a good choice.
Perhaps he could try to help them, but first, he needed to help Song Qiuyu change his “giver” personality.
The scenery outside the window changed, and soon the Oriental Green Boat Military Training Base appeared in the distance.
Vast green belts, sycamore trees lining both sides of the road, and a particularly striking mock aircraft carrier among the many buildings…
The PPT for the military theory class also contained information about these sights.
It looked extremely grand from afar.
And up close…
“We’re at the base! Jiang Xiao, aren’t you excited?” Song Qiuyu’s obedient and pretty face was clearly reflected on the window glass.
The bus had stopped.
Jiang Xiao silently unbuckled his seatbelt, ready to get off.
Seeing that Jiang Xiao didn’t respond, Song Qiuyu didn’t press further, simply reaching out to unbuckle her own seatbelt.
All the buses stopped in front of the base apartments, so as soon as they got off, they headed straight to their respective apartments to find their dorms.
Unlike university dorms, the apartment dorms were all eight-person rooms.
Song Qiuyu was full of hope that the four new roommates would be easy to get along with.
“Hey, Song Qiuyu, are you really not considering going to Thailand?”
One of the new roommates crossed his arms, looking at Song Qiuyu, who was making her bed on the upper bunk, with a playful look and joked, “Honestly, it’s such a waste for you to be a man with that face.”
As soon as he said this, Jiang Xiao saw Song Qiuyu on the adjacent bunk immediately put all his belongings back in his bag, looking as if he was about to leave, without saying a word.
“Song Qiuyu, what are you doing?”
Xie Zhuran looked bewildered.
“There’s a gay in this dorm! I’m going to ask the advisor to change dorms!”
Song Qiuyu earnestly warned the other three people in the original dorm, “I advise you all to change dorms with me. If you don’t, don’t sleep too soundly tonight, or your long johns might end up on backward!”
As she finished speaking, the new roommate who had joked with her was instantly mortified.
The expressions on the faces of the other three who had been in the same dorm as him were also a bit difficult to manage.
Lin An adjusted his glasses, glancing at a pensive Xie Zhuran, and sighed.
“Different dorms, same idiot,” he thought.
After much persuasion, Song Qiuyu finally stayed, and the playful teasing ceased.
The eight of them then left the dorm together.
They were set to spend nine days at Oriental Green Boat.
During this time, the directing department, along with the dance, broadcasting and hosting, and acting departments, would form a single company for training.
Once the formation was complete, the instructor led them to the mock aircraft carrier.
Immediately, the sound of camera clicks filled the air.
Xu Tongtong, the female class monitor, took out her phone and started recording a video.
This was a task assigned by their advisor: to record a vlog for the school website.
Most of the boys in the class were drawn to her, but none of the 602 dorm members were.
“Sang Tian, over here!” Song Qiuyu actively called out to Sang Tian, who was jogging over from the dance department.
While still on the bus, she had already arranged to visit the mock aircraft carrier with Sang Tian.
She was doing her best to create opportunities for Sang Tian and Jiang Xiao to interact, while also taking the chance to observe Sang Tian’s personality more closely.
Sang Tian was unaware of Song Qiuyu’s intentions.
She was simply happy that Song Qiuyu always invited her to hang out and enjoyed herself. “They must be good friends now, right?” she thought.
“Let’s go closer and take a look, Jiang Xiao.”
Song Qiuyu looked at Jiang Xiao and blinked.
Jiang Xiao didn’t speak but followed her forward.
Watching the three walk together, Xie Zhuran rubbed his chin, furrowed his brow, and feigned a profound tone: “Lin An, don’t you think there’s something off between Song Qiuyu and this Sang Tian?”
On the bus and now, Song Qiuyu was clearly being overly proactive.
“Could it be that this kid, Song Qiuyu, is smitten?”
Lin An watched Xie Zhuran even push up imaginary glasses on his nose, his own brows furrowing.
He then followed them, his gaze shifting between the three.
What was happening between Song Qiuyu and Sang Tian was hard to say, but he was certain that Sang Tian wasn’t interested in Jiang Xiao.
Her attention hadn’t landed on Jiang Xiao even once the entire time.
Many in the directing department were drama queens.
Even just visiting a mock aircraft carrier, they could spontaneously perform a decent skit or play, making the atmosphere lively and cheerful.
The mood intensified even further during the afternoon’s session on firearm knowledge.
Everyone’s desire to shoot exploded.
Real firearms were laid out before them, and while the instructor’s theoretical explanations were a bit tedious, they were by no means boring.
“Student Song, did you understand?” Sang Tian quietly asked Song Qiuyu beside her.
“No,” Song Qiuyu replied decisively, shaking her head.
She genuinely hadn’t understood.
The difference between playing shooting games and actual operation was vast.
But in such a moment, even if she understood, she’d still say she didn’t, saving the chance to show off for her brother.
She then turned to look at Jiang Xiao.
Her gaze, filled with a desire for knowledge, was so intense.
Song Qiuyu didn’t say a word, yet it felt like she had said so much.
A bead of cold sweat involuntarily trickled down Jiang Xiao’s cheek, and he hesitated for a long moment.
“I understood.”
“As expected of Jiang Xiao! We’ll be relying on you for target practice tomorrow!”
“We?”
“Yes, we.”
She and Sang Tian, the two of them, constituted “we.”
Jiang Xiao looked at Song Qiuyu with slight surprise.
Typically, in such a situation, shouldn’t she ask him to teach her, and then she would teach Sang Tian?
“Why are you so surprised? You know me, I’m bad at academics, not very smart,” she said, her watery eyes looking at him, her face completely unashamed, as if she didn’t find anything awkward about saying that.
“…”
Jiang Xiao silently gave her one last look, then took out his phone, confirming that it was almost time to send his message.
He coldly nodded and began typing.
Seeing this, Song Qiuyu also pulled out her phone.
Once bitten, twice shy, even if she remembered it wasn’t a secondary account, checking again put her mind at ease.
She discreetly breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the QQ account was indeed Song Qiuyu’s.
However, the rapid tapping of Jiang Xiao’s fingers on the screen beside her made her nervous.
Thinking of the “snitch report” from yesterday, a sudden opportunistic impulse to catch him in the act arose.
Unable to resist, she stretched her neck, moving her face closer until it was almost touching Jiang Xiao’s.
Just then, Jiang Xiao finished typing his message, and his finger stopped.
In Xi’er’s chat window, a new message appeared:
“Xi’er, today is the second day of military training. I saw the mock aircraft carrier at Oriental Green Boat; it was really cool. I also saw real guns. I wish you were here; I really want to see it with you. I’m going to target practice tomorrow, I…”
Before she could finish reading, within Song Qiuyu’s field of vision, Jiang Xiao discovered she was peeking and paused slightly.
Song Qiuyu immediately tried to pull her gaze back, but her entire face was covered by a large, thick hand, blocking her view.
Jiang Xiao gently pushed her aside.
Her warm breath brushed his palm, causing an irritating itch.
“S-sorry!” Song Qiuyu’s lips moved, her voice trembling with guilt.
Jiang Xiao said nothing, simply tapping quickly on his phone screen with one hand.
Another new message then popped up in Xi’er’s chat interface:
“My roommate seems a bit stupid.”
Jiang Xiao’s large hand, still covering Song Qiuyu’s face, opened slightly uncomfortably.
Through the gaps between his fingers, she glimpsed the latest message on the phone screen.
Her mind instantly crashed: “—?!”
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