The person left, and Ye Qingchang and Xiao Yi’an’s journey continued.
Xiao Yi’an’s expression remained unchanged.
Ye Qingchang’s expression, however, carried a hint of curiosity.
“I didn’t expect you to have a bit of a scheming persona around other people?” She tilted her head. “That’s something I never noticed.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything bad to you.”
Xiao Yi’an said this and slightly turned his head to glance at Ye Qingchang, but quickly looked away.
“That’s something you can say once you actually have the ability.”
A pleasant curve formed at the corner of Ye Qingchang’s lips.
She was a master of emotions, incomparable to a mere digital pet.
Before they reached the dormitory building, a girl walked toward them and stopped in front of the two, hands clasped together.
Her face seemed to carry unease.
Ye Qingchang, standing beside him, glanced at her, then at Xiao Yi’an, whose expression seemed unchanged, only lacking the gentleness he showed when he was with her.
This scene seemed a little familiar.
It was also common in all sorts of youth-themed dramas.
A heroine harboring special feelings runs up to the male lead to confess.
Ho ho, how exaggerated, had Xiao Yi’an really reached this level?
Just three months ago, he should have been exactly like her, a gloomy rat from the sewers who was helpless against real life.
How had he turned into this unfamiliar version of himself?
But this scene seemed pretty rare, and she, as the perfect first-person spectator, should wield her divine power.
So Ye Qingchang took out from her pocket the mobile phone she hadn’t touched since leaving the classroom after class, seemingly wanting to capture this moment on video.
Unfortunately, things didn’t seem to be as she thought.
The girl was indeed uneasy and nervous, but her first sentence cut off Ye Qingchang’s attempt to record.
“Minister Xiao, the activity report you said to submit last time, I forgot to hand it in. Even though you never mentioned it afterward, maybe you missed me when counting people, but I always felt a little uncomfortable about it, so I came to say something.”
What an honest person. If it were anyone in Ye Qingchang’s dormitory, faced with this situation, they would either burn incense in gratitude for escaping this activity report, or shamelessly wait for someone above to come scold them before making a move.
Someone who remembered they forgot to do something and came to admit the mistake was truly rare.
“I remember you.” Xiao Yi’an spoke slowly. “That was last month, right? You even came to add me as a friend back then, but what you said then didn’t seem as clear as now.”
“Maybe I still had some wishful thinking back then…”
Now it was a choice made after being tormented by guilt.
“You’re fine on that matter. That report shouldn’t have been given to someone who just joined the department for a week or two to write. Without explaining the relevant format and such, once it’s handed to you, it’d be like revising a proposal, getting changed a dozen times bit by bit, and wasting time. I already helped you all do it and submitted it.”
It seemed departments like this always had these inexplicable formatting requirements, from first-line indentation to font size to spacing, and some even required proper refinement of writing style.
Xiao Yi’an said this, as if comforting the girl before him. “Don’t think about that stuff. You’re here to do work, don’t take responsibility too seriously. Just do the tasks within your ability that are given to you, and that’s fine. If the sky falls, there’s someone taller to hold it up. Go have fun.”
He waved his hand, somewhat like an inexplicable, earnest elder.
Ye Qingchang watched as the girl in front of her nodded, then took the arm of her best friend who had been waiting nearby for a long time, and left happily.
“Wow.”
After the other party had completely walked away, Ye Qingchang’s tone carried a hint of teasing.
“Minister Xiao~” Her tone seemed to carry a bit of snark, as if she were joking with those non-human roommates in her dormitory. “Aren’t you the vice minister? Got promoted again?”
“How could that be, unless I go to the department now and launch the Xuanwu Gate Coup.” Xiao Yi’an shook his head. “That’s just how the titles are. The minister is called minister, and the vice minister is also called minister.”
Ye Qingchang felt this was a bit like some little detail in officialdom.
“A bunch of people really love official titles.”
The two continued walking along the road.
No one came up to chat with Xiao Yi’an on their own initiative, but a few passersby who met his gaze would smile and nod at him.
“Do you know that many people? Are you really planning to have a Xuanwu Gate showdown with your minister?”
Ye Qingchang watched as another person passing by nodded at Xiao Yi’an, and even looked at her beside him a couple more times.
“Only five or six along this whole way. Rather than saying I know a lot of people, it’s more like you know too few.”
Xiao Yi’an looked at Ye Qingchang, who seemed not to quite understand.
“I know what you’re thinking. Most of them are just superficially socializing, mostly things that bring emotional value, so there aren’t many I’m deeply close with.”
There were many nodding acquaintances, the kind that could make you seem slightly at ease anywhere, but few close friends.
It felt a little familiar.
“Did you really learn something from those Japanese light novels on the bookshelf?”
“A book definitely has its own value. If you can learn something from it or gain value from it, then it hasn’t been wasted. That’s what you told me back then.” Xiao Yi’an replied.
Ye Qingchang shrank her neck.
She couldn’t think of how to respond. She felt as if Xiao Yi’an had become something that no one could possibly control.
“After a while, she spoke. “Then how many close friends do you have? The kind you can open your heart to.”
“Close friends are one thing, and heart-to-heart friends are another. They’re different.”
Ye Qingchang thought for a moment, considering which of the two terms was more important. “Then how many can you open your heart to?”
“One.”
Xiao Yi’an stared at Ye Qingchang.
Ye Qingchang knew the answer to that question. She even knew the specific name.
Fortunately, just when the topic between the two was becoming hard to continue, the girls’ dormitory building arrived.
The two stopped at the entrance of the dormitory building. Xiao Yi’an handed the books in his hands to Ye Qingchang.
“Sorry to make your hands full while you go upstairs.”
“It wasn’t like it was comfortable having them free on the way here either.”
Ye Qingchang pouted.
Then, before she turned to leave, Xiao Yi’an spoke.
“Ye, my classmate.”
“Hm?”
“Don’t forget, Christmas, your birthday.”
Ye Qingchang wouldn’t forget her own birthday, of course. She also knew what Xiao Yi’an was trying to say.
That day she was going out to have a meal with Xiao Yi’an. This had been agreed upon earlier.
“I remember.”
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Well finally