Friend?
What Kind of Friend?
After that girl left, Su Yao was still a bit dazed, unable to recover from the shock of what she had just learned.
Isn’t it normal for Mu Nanqiu to have friends?
Only people like her wouldn’t have any friends—someone beautiful and wealthy would definitely be surrounded by many people, Su Yao thought to herself.
But even as she thought this, there was still a trace of worry in her heart.
Carrying her backpack, she walked into the library and made her way effortlessly to the spot they had agreed on.
Sure enough, Mu Nanqiu wasn’t there yet; she must still be on her way and would arrive soon.
Su Yao went over alone, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
She glanced around.
Although the atmosphere of finals was heavy, not many people had actually come to the library to study.
“It should be different in a few days.”
People naturally postpone worrying about the day after tomorrow until tomorrow; it’s hard to get motivated to study until a day or two before the exam.
Besides, as long as she could pass graduation, sixty points would be enough.
She took out her calculus book from her backpack and flipped through it.
As expected, she still didn’t quite understand it.
Putting her things on the table, Su Yao pulled her phone from her jacket pocket and looked at the long-cracked screen.
She sighed and then stared blankly at the unclear reflection on it.
Opening the camera app, she switched to the front camera, and her own face appeared on the screen.
Su Yao thought she was quite decent-looking.
She wasn’t overly confident that she was a stunning beauty, at most just a little pretty.
Compared to those slender, elegant girls, she was a bit rounder.
Her skin was tender but pale with a cool tone, slightly sickly-looking—after all, she often stayed up late, so it was inevitable.
She tilted her head left and right, examining herself carefully, then couldn’t help but smile.
Finding an angle that was not too bad, she took a few photos with her phone.
After choosing one she liked, she saved it.
From the photo album, she switched to the Chat App and glanced again at the message Mu Nanqiu had sent her.
Then she opened the conversation with “Oyster Sauce” and typed a message before hitting send.
“Oyster Sauce, if… I mean if, there’s a very enthusiastic female friend around her, what should I do?”
After sending it, Su Yao felt it might have been inappropriate.
Just as she was about to retract the message, she saw that Oyster Sauce had already replied.
Oyster Sauce: “Ah…”
Mu Nanqiu had just arrived at the library entrance when she felt her phone vibrate inside her jacket pocket.
She frowned.
At first, she thought it would be a message from Gu Qin, but it turned out to be from Teacher Mantou.
From the lock screen, she saw the gist of the message.
She unlocked her phone and entered the app, only to see that the message had already been withdrawn.
First, she sent two words to tell Teacher Mantou she had seen it and there was no need to hide it.
Then she focused and began to wonder what was wrong with Su Yao.
“Isn’t her boyfriend me? That very enthusiastic female friend by her side… did she see Gu Qin?”
Mu Nanqiu had no intention of letting Su Yao have any interaction with Gu Qin.
She didn’t even want her own family to know about Su Yao’s existence.
For that, she ordered Bei Zhi to keep her mouth shut, and she made sure to lock the door before going to bed.
She had no idea that Bei Zhi had already met Su Yao.
Although they recognized each other, neither had confessed, both pretending not to know the other.
After thinking for a moment, Mu Nanqiu decided this matter needed clarification.
She first messaged Su Yao from Oyster Sauce’s account.
“Did she respond to that enthusiastic female friend?”
Su Yao was embarrassed when she saw the two words from Oyster Sauce.
She was still pondering how to explain when Oyster Sauce sent another message.
After a moment of thought, recalling the scenes she had glimpsed before, she replied.
“Seems like… no?”
“Then how does she act when she’s with you?”
Mu Nanqiu didn’t notice any positive response from Su Yao toward that girl’s enthusiasm; her expression was usually blank.
But when she was with Su Yao, she sometimes smiled and even teased her.
Thinking about the way Mu Nanqiu had touched her before, Su Yao blushed, shy.
“She smiles, and sometimes pretends to be angry.”
“That means she treats you specially, and others normally. So what’s there to be afraid of?”
Right, what was there to be afraid of?
Su Yao agreed, but then her thoughts drifted to her birth and past.
She understood the root of her fear—it came from her lack of confidence.
That was why she had asked Oyster Sauce in the first place; it was really about doubting her own charm.
After realizing this, although the issue wasn’t completely solved, it did help somewhat.
Pulling herself together, Su Yao straightened her back.
Because of the ancient act she had been faking and the heavy rabbit plush she carried, she habitually slouched.
Fortunately, it was winter and she wore thick down coats, so it wasn’t very obvious.
If it were summer, her lack of grace would be obvious.
She typed to Oyster Sauce on her phone:
“Arigato, Oyster Sauce!”
“Heh, just a little thing~”
After that was a cute cat emoji with its head held high proudly.
Su Yao smiled and sent back a meme expressing her admiration for the expert.
“Oyster Sauce, you really get it. How do you know so much?”
Su Yao was curious.
Oyster Sauce had been the hopeless romantic before, so how did she suddenly become a love guru?
Mu Nanqiu chuckled and said,
“All thanks to the junior sister. One night of secret training and I achieved enlightenment.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t get it.”
Su Yao pouted.
She knew Oyster Sauce loved to brag now and then to tease her.
Before, she’d try to one-up her, but now she’d let it go.
She was happy for her beautiful senior to share, but her own beautiful Nanqiu was off-limits.
Raising her chin, pouting, hands on hips, she muttered to herself,
“Nanqiu is mine alone. Only I can appreciate her beauty. No, no, no…”
“Ahem~”
Just as Su Yao was about to lose herself in delight, a clear cough beside her made her shudder thrice.
She hurriedly covered her face with her book, pretending to be a diligent student and not the crazy one who had just been daydreaming.
“Damn, wasn’t there no one here just a moment ago?”
Mu Nanqiu looked at Su Yao with great interest after catching her making strange movements.
Even though she couldn’t see her face from behind, she could feel the excitement.
It was as if Mu Nanqiu had found her “G-spot.” Smiling slyly, she tiptoed behind Su Yao, covered her eyes with delicate hands, leaned slightly forward, and gradually rested her weight on Su Yao’s back and head.
Feeling Su Yao shiver in surprise beneath her, Mu Nanqiu whispered mischievously in her ear,
“Guess who I am~”
Who else could it be? Just hearing that voice, Su Yao didn’t need to think twice.
Su Yao had been sitting facing the staircase.
Anyone entering the floor from that door would be in her sight.
If Mu Nanqiu had walked in normally, she’d have been seen immediately.
But after sending the message from Oyster Sauce’s account and waiting for Su Yao’s reply, she sneaked in quietly, hid behind the bookshelves, and tiptoed soundlessly all the way until she reached Su Yao’s back, then the scene just described happened.
“Is it Nanqiu?”
Su Yao pretended to be puzzled and answered accordingly.
“Correct, but unfortunately, no special reward.”
“Hmm!”
As soon as Mu Nanqiu finished speaking, Su Yao felt the hands leave her eyes.
She blinked, quickly shrank her neck, and tilted her head slightly, clamping down on the pair of unreasonable hands that had ventured into her hair and neck.
That area was super sensitive, and the cool touch made her cry out in a high-pitched voice.
“Hehe~”
Mu Nanqiu didn’t press her advantage further.
She pulled her hands away and wrapped her arms around Su Yao from behind.
“My dear Yao Yao, can you say what you just said again?”
“Is it Nanqiu?”
“The previous sentence.”
“Can I not…?”
Saying that kind of thing quietly by herself was one thing, but saying it in front of the person concerned was a bit much.
Just after she spoke, she made a soft ‘hmm’ sound, trying to act cute and brush it off, but it didn’t seem to work very well.
Mu Nanqiu looked mischievous and whispered into Su Yao’s ear,
“Yao Yao wants me to use force, right?”
Su Yao was silent for a long time, then finally gasped, opening her mouth.
Mu Nanqiu looked at Su Yao, who was tightly embraced, head lowered and face flushed with embarrassment.
She loved seeing Su Yao so flustered and at a loss; no matter how many times, she found it adorable—especially the first time they met, when she pinched her face and Su Yao didn’t know where to look.
Just thinking about it stirred her desires.
Yao Yao was really so much fun!
After a while, they calmed down.
Mu Nanqiu pulled a yellow-brown Envelope from her bag.
Inside was a thick stack of things. Su Yao took it tremblingly.
At first, she thought it was soft currency notes, but seeing how square and neat it was, she realized they must be photographs.
She opened it and glanced inside.
Sure enough, they were photos—all of Su Yao alone.
“There’s more.”
After Su Yao finished looking through those photos, Mu Nanqiu took out another Envelope.
The weight of this one was nothing like the first.
Su Yao looked at Mu Nanqiu, silently asking with her eyes,
“Can I open this?”
Mu Nanqiu nodded.
“Go ahead and open it.”
With a hesitant heart, Su Yao opened the Envelope.
Inside were neatly stacked soft currency notes.
She swallowed hard.
“Yao Yao, I want to ask you to be my model, alright?”