“Yeah, thanks.”
Xie Zhuran’s lips curled into a smile, though it looked more painful than crying. Even if the past was unbearable, at least the world remained warm.
Lin An sighed and shook his head. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw that Xia Qi had already quickly typed something into the group chat.
[Xia Qi]: I’m telling you guys, Xie Zhuran is here too!
[Jiang Li]: Tsk, you beat me to it.
Lin An’s glasses reflected the light as he wore a mischievous smile. It seemed someone else had the same idea as him. He looked at the haggard Xie Zhuran and fell into a slight contemplation.
‘This might actually work.’
After a nutritionally balanced dinner, everyone had a general idea of what Xie Zhuran had gone through. As expected, he had been criticized from head to toe by those matchmaking women. They even commented on his dyed hair and hairstyle. They didn’t even spare his university major, launching a verbal assault on everyone in the Nanxi Director Department!
However, this infuriating matter was quickly replaced by something that excited everyone else.
“The student representative when we started school was from our major, someone named Zhu Lei. It’s normal for him to get rank 1.”
“There’s a girl named Du Wei from Class Four. Apparently, she was a child star. After freshman year military training ended, she joined a production crew to film. It’s fine for her to be first, too.”
“The female class monitor from our class, Tong something… the teacher always praises her. She’s very serious in class. I can imagine her being first.”
“But wait? What’s going on, Jiang? How did you get rank 1 for the year?”
Xie Zhuran clutched his phone. After venting his grievances, he seemed to have regained some of his usual self. He had that authentic, silly vibe back.
As soon as the final grades were released, the major’s group chat and the class group chat exploded. Quite a few people in the group used similar sentence structures to express their shock. But Xie Zhuran was likely the only one to say it out loud—and very loudly at that.
However, Xie Zhuran’s reaction was within reason. After all, Jiang Xiao’s score on the National College Entrance Examination had been at the very bottom.
Lin An looked at Jiang Xiao, lost in thought. Even though he already knew the reason, it still felt incredible.
“What’s there to be so surprised about!”
Song Qiuyu didn’t care. If nothing went wrong, Jiang Xiao would probably be rank 1 every year for the next few years.
She woke up and scrolled through the grade sheet, found her own name, and quickly checked her results.
She passed everything. She even got a 95 in Advanced Math.
Math used to be her biggest headache. During the National College Entrance Examination, it was the subject she spent the most time on, yet her score was only mediocre.
Song Qiuyu stomped her feet in excitement.
“You did well!” Jiang Xiao’s happy voice rang out.
“It’s all thanks to you, Jiang Xiao!” Song Qiuyu’s eyes sparkled.
“No, you earned it through your own hard work.” Jiang Xiao patted her head.
“Mhm.” Song Qiuyu fell into thought.
After checking, everyone in the 602 Dormitory had perfectly passed the end of the first semester of their freshman year. Only Xia Qi failed a course.
“Is my life going to be ruined by University Physics?” Xia Qi stared fixedly at the 59 in University Physics and said tearfully, “Why didn’t the teacher save me?”
“Perhaps,” Xie Zhuran gazed out at the night sky beyond the balcony, “your teacher was also arranged to go on a blind date.”
‘Is this guy ever going to stop?’
Song Qiuyu grit her teeth in annoyance, but it only lasted a moment before she sighed. Anyway, should she try to help Xie find a reliable barber first? Like Shancheng Shun Oguri?
“Jiang, our final grades for the next few years will depend on you,” Lin An said, joking as he looked at Jiang Xiao.
“Is it really okay to entrust your finals for the next few years to me so easily?” Jiang Xiao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
The five of them chatted about pointless topics, and time passed quickly. Soon, they were discussing where everyone would sleep tonight. Song Qiuyu turned to look at her parents’ room and fell into a trance.
Just then, the doorbell rang twice.
Ding-dong.
Song Qiuyu rubbed her brow and exhaled a long breath. Should it finally be her mom and dad returning? But once her parents were back, there would be even fewer places to sleep in the house.
“Song, it’s embarrassing enough that we’re going to disturb you guys for a few days. Let me handle a small thing like opening the door.”
Just as she was about to get up, Xie Zhuran stood up first.
“Oh,” Song Qiuyu replied instinctively.
But thinking about how her parents would react the moment they saw him, she immediately stood up and followed.
With a creak, Xie Zhuran opened the door and looked out. He froze after just one glance. Song Qiuyu froze as well.
The people outside weren’t her parents; they were Jiang Li and Sang Tian.
“You two are…?”
Song Qiuyu looked down at the luggage they were carrying.
Suddenly, an untimely thought popped into her head. In anime, all the important supporting characters always seemed to like huddling together at the protagonist’s house.
A protagonist who originally had no social life would find their home getting livelier and livelier, the dining table more crowded, and the rice cooker getting bigger.
‘Am I an anime protagonist?’
“Because my aunt said she wasn’t worried about my brother being out alone, so she asked me to come check on him,” Jiang Li said, looking at Jiang Xiao as he walked over.
Hearing this, Jiang Xiao’s pace faltered.
Connecting it to everything that had happened today, he pieced together a possibility in his mind within a few breaths.
He simply continued walking over without saying anything.
Song Qiuyu was stunned. From the Jiang family’s perspective, Jiang Xiao had undoubtedly entered a bad woman’s den and even ended up on a bad woman’s bed! But the problem was that they didn’t know she was Shen Xi yet. More importantly, Jiang Xiao was an adult, yet they were still this worried. It must be because of the way he had acted before…
When the current Jiang Xiao returned home, everyone would definitely be shocked. Thinking of this, she secretly grit her teeth, already mentally preparing herself to face the Jiang family in the future. Then, she shifted her gaze to Sang Tian.
What about Sang Tian?
“I saw this video and was very worried about you, Song, so I flew straight here!” Sang Tian took out her phone and played the video of Jiang Xiao confronting the middle-aged uncle at the comic convention.
“Are you okay, Song? Don’t let that kind of bad person ruin your mood.”
Hearing this, Song Qiuyu couldn’t help but be moved.
Although she felt like something was slightly off, she wanted to believe in the other girl’s concern for her. Sang Tian really was a good girl—a better girl than herself.
“Now everyone who should be here has arrived,” Jiang Xiao said, stopping behind Song Qiuyu and looking at the two people at the door.
Hmm? Should be here? Song Qiuyu looked up, a bit confused.
“Did you forget? Didn’t we agree to film a short video at the seaside?” Jiang Xiao winked at her, hinting.
Hearing this, Song Qiuyu suddenly realized. There was still a hole left over from the hotel!
“And now that there are more people, you’ll have even more chicken legs!” Jiang Xiao took the opportunity to continue.
“That’s right!”
Song Qiuyu took the bait, her entire mind flying toward short videos and money.
Jiang Li and Sang Tian remained silent. Being able to pull off such perfect cooperation meant that the purpose of their visit had been completely discovered! They knew about the chicken legs, but where did this seaside short video come from? They hadn’t heard Xia Qi mention it.
“Come inside, it’s cold out.” Song Qiuyu smiled and took the initiative to help Sang Tian carry her luggage.
Jiang Xiao reflexively took his sister’s luggage.
Everyone entered the house. Xie Zhuran walked last and helped close the door. He stole a glance at Jiang Li and then quickly looked away, pursing his lips slightly. He suddenly had a feeling that he was being set up.
Was it really just a coincidence that even Jiang Li and the others had come? Thinking of Lin An’s usual mischievous nature, cold sweat broke out on his back. He started to feel a bit of lingering fear, but it didn’t last long before he just decided to give up and rot.
‘Could anything… be worse than what I’m going through now?’
Next, Jiang Xiao gave everyone a general explanation of the Chicken Leg Stickers and the seaside short video.
Of course, he wouldn’t tell the others the original reason he and Xi’er went to the hotel. His story to everyone was that they were just scouting for locations.
Currently, the seaside short video only had a general direction. Since it was linked to the hotel, it naturally featured a couple. More details needed to be discussed.
“Brother, I understand about the Chicken Leg Stickers. I’ll be going to the comic convention for the next two days. As for this seaside short video…” Jiang Li smiled faintly, her voice calm as she said, “I have an idea.”
Upon hearing those words, Song Qiuyu was slightly taken aback.