Although Jiang Xiao had called in reinforcements to keep her company, Song Qiuyu never expected him to summon Sang Tian and Xia Qi.
She looked at the two girls who had come specifically to accompany her, then at the half-eaten small cake on the table, and fell into thought.
I was about to eat it all myself, and now suddenly there are friends here… if I keep eating alone…
“Here, Jiang Xiao asked us to bring these for you—he already paid!”
Just as she was struggling with whether to share a piece with them, Xia Qi placed the oranges she’d bought on the way onto the table and said.
Song Qiuyu stared blankly at the bag of oranges. The corners of her mouth lifted and fell, lifted and fell, and after repeating several times, she simply pressed her lips together.
“Oh, by the way, I can only stay with you until five in the afternoon. My major has a group dinner at six, and we need to gather at the school gate,” Xia Qi added.
“Yeah, me too.” Sang Tian nodded.
Hearing this, Song Qiuyu was momentarily stunned.
Her own major naturally had a group dinner too, but Lin An, Xie Zhuran, and Jiang Xiao were all out of town.
For this graduation dinner, the four of them in their dorm probably wouldn’t be able to gather together.
Over the past three years, after the joint account they’d built had taken off, they’d each started their own accounts and developed separately.
Overall, things were going well, but the times they actually met were mostly for filming short videos or attending class.
The simple gatherings of friends like in their freshman year had become rare.
Thinking of this, she felt a twinge of sadness.
But more than that, she was happy that the important people in her life were all moving on to better things. Their directing major needed to be busy to be good.
Her current lull was only temporary.
“But we still have two hours. Qiu Yu, whatever you want to do, we’ll play with you.” Sang Tian picked up an orange from the bag and handed it to her.
“What to do…”
Song Qiuyu took the orange and looked at Sang Tian, who now exuded a mature, intellectual gentleness. She couldn’t help but think.
Counting the time, Sang Tian had already been her assistant for three years.
Her address had naturally shifted from “Song Classmate” to “Qiu Yu.”
But after graduation, would keeping Sang Tian as an assistant be holding her back? After all, Sang Tian studied dance—she was someone meant to shine on a stage.
“If you really don’t know what to do,” Xia Qi raised her phone and suddenly burst out laughing, “then let’s watch some great anime!”
“I brought tons of snacks too—pickled pepper chicken feet, Lay’s potato chips, golden crispy shark… you name it!”
“That much?”
Song Qiuyu saw that Xia Qi had come prepared and took the opportunity to shove the remaining small cake into her mouth in one big bite, her cheeks puffing out.
As long as no one sees me eat it, it’s like that little cake was never there in the first place.
Sang Tian saw her. She just smiled gently, like the eldest sister in a family watching two younger sisters who never grow up.
The anime Xia Qi recommended started. A youth campus romance.
The opening featured a girl who was always languid and sleepy, barely able to walk straight, being carried to school by her childhood friend and then carried back home in the same way.
The only time the heroine was fully awake was when her childhood friend fed her.
“This heroine must have saved the solar system in her past life!” Xia Qi commented.
“So cute, but I feel like it would be even cuter if it were Qiu Yu. How about next time we shoot a short video with this concept—have Jiang Xiao carry you around campus?” Sang Tian beamed.
“I think it would look amazing. And Qiu Yu would have to wear a pretty little skirt like that, too.”
As she talked, she couldn’t stop, completely immersed in her personal art—the art of turning her best friend into a dress-up doll.
“Ha…” Song Qiuyu gave a wry smile. Just a few seconds ago, she’d thought Sang Tian was far more mature than the two of them.
How had she suddenly become so childish?
She tried to imagine it. Forget about whether it would look good in shots—the impact it would have on the underclassmen was definitely not small.
But the most important thing was how embarrassing it would be. She absolutely refused to be carried around campus by Jiang Xiao!
She had to change the subject.
“But speaking of which, now that there are three of us, you’re the only one without a boyfriend.” She went straight for the critical hit.
“Huh?” Sang Tian’s eyes widened in confusion.
“Yeah, Lao Sang, your school has handsome guys everywhere. How come I haven’t seen you find someone?” Xia Qi nibbled on a chicken foot.
“Ah, that…” Sang Tian pursed her lips, showing a rare look of hesitation.
“Actually, when I was very young, I was kidnapped by a man.”
“?!”
Song Qiuyu, just about to eat an orange, dropped it with a splat on the table.
Xia Qi’s half-eaten chicken foot also fell with a splat onto her white trousers, and she quickly picked it up.
“After that, I’ve had a bit of a aversion to men. With a psychologist’s help, I’ve only been able to manage being friends with men. Anything deeper…” Sang Tian furrowed her brows and shook her head.
“…I can’t. I get scared.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell us this before?” Song Qiuyu was startled. Sang Tian had such a past?
“No one ever asked,” Sang Tian said.
Song Qiuyu was convinced. At the same time, it suddenly clicked. So Sang Tian had never been interested in Jiang Xiao from the very beginning.
“Lao Sang, you’re not making this up, are you? I heard from Lao Lin that you trusted them a lot—you hadn’t known them long before you dared to go sing karaoke with all four of them!” Xia Qi continued gnawing on the chicken foot she’d just picked up.
“No, I’m serious.” Sang Tian shook her head.
Hearing this, Song Qiuyu swallowed her saliva, suddenly nervous for no reason.
If Sang Tian hadn’t been interested in Jiang Xiao from the start, then… then…
Could it be that she was interested in me?
“Lao Sang, do you like girls?” Xia Qi jumped in first.
But Sang Tian seemed to find the question funny. She laughed and shook her head. “Where did you get that idea?”
She glanced at how tense both of them looked, thought for a moment, and deliberately said, “But I do like Qiu Yu. Liking a beautiful girl like Qiu Yu—that’s only natural, isn’t it?”
“What the hell?!” Xia Qi nearly jumped out of her seat.
Song Qiuyu opened her mouth but hesitated.
She thought back over the past four years of Sang Tian’s behavior, her eyes darting.
She looked at her seriously and said, “Sang Tian, you… are you the type who loves shipping other people’s CPs but can’t date yourself?”
At these words, Sang Tian nodded. Xia Qi tried to process the meaning.
“So what you just said to Lao Song—you were deliberately tricking us?”
“No, I really do like her.” Sang Tian smiled, eyes narrowing, affirming gently.
Xia Qi was full of question marks and couldn’t tell whether Sang Tian was serious or joking.
“Well then…” Song Qiuyu lowered her eyes and glanced at the fallen orange slice on the table, slightly moved.
She understood.
The “like” Sang Tian meant had always been the friend kind of like. It was easy to distinguish—Sang Tian had always shipped her and Jiang Xiao as a CP.
She was interested, yes, but only in the way of wanting to be good friends.
“Sang Tian, what do you think of Jiang Xiao’s younger brother, Jiang Yu?”
Hearing this, Xia Qi perked up. She secretly paused the anime so they could all hear the answer more clearly.
Sang Tian looked at them with some surprise, clearly not expecting Song Qiuyu to suddenly ask that.
She hesitated for a long moment, then finally spoke.
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