Chapter 7 : Her Fragrance

The stars faded, and the morning light was sparse.

It was exactly six o’clock in the morning.

The entire boys’ dormitory woke from its slumber, and the resistance to early military training was written all over the faces of the freshmen.

In Dorm 602, only one person was still in bed.

“Song Qiuyu, the sun is shining on your butt! Get up!”

Xie Zhuran patted the head of Song Qiuyu’s bed.

Song Qiuyu simply turned over.

“This guy sleeps like the dead…”

Xie Zhuran pulled open the bed curtain and, using his height, saw half of Song Qiuyu’s head poking out from under the blanket.

He curled his lips.

“Song Qiuyu, if you don’t get up, I’m pulling the blanket off!”

“No pulling!!”

Song Qiuyu, still groggy with sleep, instinctively reached out for her little Qiuyu but found nothing, confused and puzzled.

Hearing “pull the blanket,” she suddenly came to her senses, opened her eyes wide in shock, and sat up straight.

Then she looked down and met Xie Zhuran’s gaze — both were stunned.

It wasn’t Jiang Xiao.

Back in middle school, Jiang Xiao was the only one in the dorm who could get up early.

So he took on the role of the human alarm clock for everyone.

And the hardest person to wake in the dorm was her, Song Qiuyu.

So Jiang Xiao’s way of waking her up was different from the others — he would pull her blanket off.

Thinking of the male habits she had carried over, her heart pounded wildly with nervousness, and she felt secretly relieved.

Thank goodness the blanket wasn’t pulled.

She rolled out of bed and carefully climbed down the ladder.

She plugged in her phone to charge, glanced at the time, then looked up — just in time to catch a glimpse of a slender back heading to the balcony to wash up.

All the information she had seen last night came flooding into her mind like a storm.

Jiang Xiao now probably wouldn’t pull her blanket off anymore.

She felt so damn guilty!

She had to take responsibility for the stupid things she had done in middle school.

With a guilty glance at Jiang Xiao, her eyes filled with determination — she would do everything she could to make it up to him and make him happy.

In Lin An and Xie Zhuran’s view, she quickly darted onto the balcony, grabbed her own cup, and took the initiative to turn on the tap for him.

After filling her cup, she motioned that he could fill his now.

“……”

Jiang Xiao said nothing.

The two onlookers also said nothing.

Song Qiuyu hurriedly squeezed out toothpaste and began brushing her teeth.

As the cup filled halfway, Jiang Xiao reached for the toothpaste.

But Song Qiuyu handed it to him even faster.

“No need to thank me!” she said earnestly.

Seeing this, Jiang Xiao’s eyes darkened slightly, but he didn’t speak.

“By the way, Jiang Xiao, did you charge your phone last night?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

Song Qiuyu looked at Xie Zhuran, who was hanging up his military training uniform, then quickly took a sip of water, gargled a few times, and spat the foam into the sink.

She splashed her face with cool water and wiped it dry with a face towel.

After hanging up her towel, she casually took Jiang Xiao’s towel and handed it to him.

“Just lending a hand!”

“……”

Jiang Xiao was a bit baffled.

As soon as he took the towel, he saw her take the clothes hanger from Xie Zhuran and unhook the remaining two military uniforms.

“Jiang Xiao, I put your uniform on your desk, okay?”

Watching her dash into the bathroom with her own uniform and close the door, he couldn’t help but frown slightly.

Her towel, which he was still holding, was still warm from her hand.

Even without deliberately smelling it, a faint fragrance drifted into his nose.

“Was Song Qiuyu always like this back in middle school?”

Xie Zhuran popped his head up beside Jiang Xiao, stroked his chin, and asked curiously.

Of course, the question was directed at Jiang Xiao, but he said nothing and simply began washing his face.

Seeing this, Xie Zhuran didn’t press further.

Instead, he stared at the bathroom door and asked loudly in confusion, “Song Qiuyu, why did you go to the bathroom just to change clothes?”

Lin An was curious too.

Jiang Xiao didn’t pause while washing his face, but he was equally puzzled.

Song Qiuyu didn’t do this in middle school.

“Mind your own business!”

Song Qiuyu frowned and snapped back, then unbuttoned her pajamas one by one and quickly changed out of them.

When she walked out of the bathroom fully dressed, the other three roommates had already changed into their military training uniforms.

They were all ready to leave, but she walked over to her storage box and pulled out a pack of sanitary pads.

“?”

In that instant, Lin An and Xie Zhuran’s expressions changed multiple times.

Shock and confusion swirled in their minds, refusing to settle.

But Jiang Xiao reacted almost immediately.

He calmly watched as she tore open the large package, pulled one out, then unwrapped the individual pack.

“Watch carefully, Jiang Xiao. This is how you use a sanitary pad!”

Jiang Xiao’s expression didn’t change, but Lin An and Xie Zhuran were visibly unsettled.

Thinking back to how she went to the bathroom just to change —

Wait, wait, wait — was she seriously going to take off her pants in front of them?

That bold?!

Then they saw Song Qiuyu pick up a pair of army-green cloth shoes.

She unfolded the sanitary pad and placed it inside the sole, gently pressing it flat with her fingers.

Next, she sat down in a chair, leaned her slender back against the backrest, raised her fair bare feet, and bent forward.

Her small foot slowly slid into the shoe, the thin front sole stepping onto the soft pad, and then her entire foot followed.

“This is the secret weapon for surviving military training. This way, your feet won’t hurt!”

Jiang Xiao squinted slightly.

“Seriously? That’s it?” Xie Zhuran curled his lips, unable to hide his disappointment.

“I thought you were going to confess you’re actually a girl or something.”

“Sorry to disappoint!”

Song Qiuyu rolled her eyes at him, speaking sharply.

Lin An quietly let out a breath — a false alarm.

The large training field was far from the dorm, but luckily, there was a small cafeteria right next to it.

It didn’t offer as much value for money as the main one, but it was still the go-to for freshmen during training.

By now, the outside of the cafeteria was already crowded with people — all in camouflage uniforms.

Song Qiuyu blended into the crowd.

At 1.65 meters tall, she wasn’t especially noticeable by height, but her striking looks drew plenty of attention.

She and the others were all heading toward the cafeteria, focused on getting food, when a familiar figure suddenly appeared in their view.

“Excuse me…”

It was the JK-uniform girl Jiang Xiao had mercilessly rejected the night before.

Now, she was also dressed in the military training camouflage uniform.

Most notably, her face was full of grievance as she stared intently at Jiang Xiao.

Song Qiuyu paused slightly, not at all surprised by the girl’s persistence.

What concerned her more was the reason Jiang Xiao had rejected her — it suddenly weighed heavily on her.

Persistence alone would’ve been fine, but if the girl got desperate and outed Jiang Xiao on the school confession wall…

“Let’s go.”

Jiang Xiao didn’t seem interested in dealing with the girl.

Lin An adjusted his glasses, looking like he wanted to say something but didn’t.

Xie Zhuran felt secondhand embarrassment and just wanted to flee.

The girl seemed like she wanted to speak again, but Song Qiuyu cut her off: “Sorry, we’re in a rush to get breakfast. Catch you later if there’s time!”

With that, she grabbed Jiang Xiao’s arm and quickly pushed through the crowd.

Let her be the bad guy this time.

Lin An and Xie Zhuran, of course, followed right behind.

Jiang Xiao was stunned.

He looked at the small hand grabbing his arm, then looked back at her, his pupils slightly widening.

The 6:30 a.m. sunlight wasn’t too harsh yet.

It shone down on Song Qiuyu, lighting up her side profile — she looked radiant.

Like a living painting.

After a bit of running, they finally reached the cafeteria.

Song Qiuyu glanced around the seating area.

“There are four seats over there. You guys go get food. Give me your water bottles — I’ll hold the spot. I just want two buns and a bowl of soy milk!”

“Was Song Qiuyu already like this in middle school?”

Xie Zhuran mumbled as he watched her run over and obediently claim their seats.

Jiang Xiao silently pretended not to hear.

Don’t ask.

If you ask, then no.

Completely unaware, Song Qiuyu pulled out her phone to check today’s weather.

Sunny, 32 degrees Celsius.

It was going to be a full day of sunshine.

“…Let’s hope the forecast is wrong like usual.”

But today’s forecast was spot-on.

The military training had barely begun when the scorching sun started baking the entire field.

The strictness of this year’s military training was just about what Song Qiuyu had heard from others.

If she could, she wished it could be a bit easier.

“You’re the worst batch of freshmen I’ve ever trained!”

The young instructor, Bian Lianhai, pointed sternly at them as they marched: “Now I’ll give you five minutes to rest. After that, you’ll stand in military posture for half an hour. Anyone moves, we add five more minutes!”

A chorus of groans rose from the formation.

Everyone plopped down on the ground.

Song Qiuyu’s sharp eyes noticed that Jiang Xiao’s water bottle was empty.

She looked down at her own, still a little water left, and wiped her sweat.

“My water’s almost gone too. I’ll go buy some and bring one back for you, okay? What kind do you want, Jiang Xiao?”

Jiang Xiao was silent for a moment.

“Mineral water is fine.”

“Got it. Wait for me!”

Song Qiuyu stood up and ran off quickly.

The boys nearby just silently watched her go, but Xie Zhuran looked absolutely shocked.

He turned his head toward Jiang Xiao, eyes wide.

“No way, are you telling me Song Qiuyu was really like this in middle school? That’s not a roommate — that’s practically a godfather!”