Jiang Nian remained completely unaware of everything around her and focused solely on admiring her own beauty in the mirror. Only after hearing Lu Zhiheng urge her did she hurriedly respond,
“Okay, okay!”
She put away the lip gloss and used her fingers to lightly smudge her lips twice, blending out the overly sharp edges.
Lu Zhiheng caught sight of it from the corner of his eye. Only after Jiang Nian took the items back from his hands did he quietly let out a breath of relief.
【Male Lead Lu Zhiheng disgust value +4. Current disgust value: 25.】
Hearing the sudden increase in disgust points, Jiang Nian immediately instructed System 999 in her mind to take notes.
She was not sure whether Lu Zhiheng had gotten annoyed because she treated him like a tool or because touching up her lipstick delayed their time, but either way—
She profited!
“Oh right, Lu Zhiheng, let’s take a commemorative photo together?” Jiang Nian had touched up her makeup specifically for this. She remembered that the Male Lead disliked taking photos.
Lu Zhiheng looked puzzled.
“Commemorating what?”
“Last time only counted because I was soft-hearted.” Jiang Nian crossed her arms. “This date is officially our first real date, so of course we need a commemorative photo!”
Seeing that Lu Zhiheng was still hesitating, Jiang Nian struck while the iron was hot.
“Didn’t you say you haven’t officially announced your relationship on Moments? What if someone suspects your ‘girlfriend’ is just an excuse? When that happens, if you can’t even produce a single couple photo, wouldn’t that sound suspicious?”
After thinking for a moment, Lu Zhiheng nodded.
“That’s true.”
At the moment, he still did not want Jiang Nian appearing publicly in front of too many people. But if too much time passed, their “relationship” would seem fake.
Having photo evidence would certainly help, and it would also reduce trouble for Jiang Nian.
Seeing that her plan had succeeded, Jiang Nian smiled brightly and handed him her phone.
“Here, you hold it up. It’ll make my face look smaller.”
Lu Zhiheng normally never took selfies and did not enjoy taking photos either. The only times people photographed him were usually for awards ceremonies, interviews, or similar occasions.
Jiang Nian watched as Lu Zhiheng lifted the phone stiffly like a robot. Before she could even lean closer, he had already pressed the shutter.
Lu Zhiheng: “Done.”
Jiang Nian glanced at the photo and immediately frowned in disbelief.
“Half your girlfriend’s body got cropped out, Mr. Lu Big Photographer!”
Lu Zhiheng looked at Jiang Nian’s puffed-up, indignant expression without saying a word. He simply raised the phone again silently.
“Tell me when it’s okay, then I’ll take it.”
Jiang Nian reached out to guide him.
“This angle. Then look over here, and make your expression more natural.”
Jiang Nian felt that the Lu Zhiheng beside her was stiff as a wooden puppet.
A sly glint flashed through her eyes. Without drawing attention to it, she quietly leaned several centimeters closer into his arms.
From the phone screen’s perspective, they actually looked somewhat like an intimate little couple.
“Okay, now! Take it!” Jiang Nian ordered. “And don’t capture my hair parting!”
Lu Zhiheng: “……”
What kind of request was that?
And from his angle, Jiang Nian barely even had a visible hair parting.
Still, since she asked, he complied.
Lu Zhiheng glanced at the composition. It still seemed possible to see a tiny bit of the top of Jiang Nian’s head, but after that previous ghost-like disaster photo, he no longer dared casually adjust the angle or ask Jiang Nian to tilt her face.
“Hurry up… my fake smile is about to crack…” Jiang Nian muttered through gritted teeth while maintaining her lifted lips.
Lu Zhiheng suddenly came up with a solution.
Without hesitating further, he raised his free hand and lightly rested it atop Jiang Nian’s head.
He was not actually touching her much, merely hovering over her hair, but through the camera lens it looked exactly as though he were affectionately patting her head.
Jiang Nian was startled by his sudden movement, but his snapshot timing was surprisingly excellent.
Click.
Time froze in that instant.
When Jiang Nian looked up at him in surprise, Lu Zhiheng had already finished taking the photo.
“Check it.”
Jiang Nian no longer bothered questioning why the “model” had suddenly changed poses. The final product turned out even better than she imagined.
She nodded with satisfaction.
“Not bad, not bad!”
System 999’s voice rang out again.
【Male Lead Lu Zhiheng disgust value +2. Current disgust value: 27.】
Jiang Nian wisely stopped while she was ahead. Together with Lu Zhiheng, she returned to where the car was parked and prepared to head back.
The return trip went smoothly. What had taken forty minutes on the way there only took twenty minutes on the way back. Jiang Nian had barely spent any time watching videos from a famous painting reviewer before they arrived.
There were no parking spots near the entrance, so Lu Zhiheng could only stop the car diagonally near the gate. Once Jiang Nian got out, he would have to move immediately.
Jiang Nian was also afraid the security guard uncle would scold them, so after saying goodbye to Lu Zhiheng, she quickly grabbed her bag and got out of the car.
She had just started walking toward the dormitory when she suddenly remembered something. Turning around, she circled past the front of the car and knocked on the privacy-tinted driver’s side window.
The glass slowly lowered.
Lu Zhiheng met Jiang Nian’s sparkling eyes.
Jiang Nian raised her phone and waved it.
“I sent you the photos! Don’t forget to save them!”
Lu Zhiheng responded softly,
“Mm.”
Just then, someone happened to pass by the school entrance. Afraid someone might recognize them, Jiang Nian turned sideways and leaned closer, using her body to block most of the window.
She quickly said,
“I had a lot of fun on today’s date, and thanks for driving me back!”
After saying that, she stepped backward twice and waved at him.
“Bye-bye! Drive safely!”
Then Lu Zhiheng watched as Jiang Nian quickly walked away without turning back once.
He was not sure whether it was merely his imagination.
Every time they met, Jiang Nian acted very enthusiastic.
Yet whenever things ended, she always left without the slightest reluctance.
“Student, you can’t park here,” the Yun University security guard uncle called out.
Hearing the guard’s reminder, Lu Zhiheng turned the car around and drove away.
It was only when he nearly arrived at his friend Song Chengyi’s house that realization finally struck him.
Wasn’t Jiang Nian’s behavior proof of one thing?
—Everything she requested was simply to make their contract relationship appear more realistic. She had no other intentions.
That was obviously how things should be.
So why did he vaguely feel… bothered by it?
The moment Jiang Nian returned to the dormitory, she was immediately surrounded and interrogated by the three great generals of Room 401.
The instant Su Shishi saw Jiang Nian’s outfit, she immediately grasped onto a clue.
“Niannian, you went on a date?!”
“What? What?!” Fang Tian practically bounced upright from her bed, abandoning the drama she had been watching. “Oh my god, baby, why are you such a goddess today? I’m in love, wuwuwu…”
Xu Yuner also stopped drawing and joined the battlefield.
“So? Did that mysterious man get completely charmed unconscious?”
Jiang Nian tilted her head.
“Probably… not?”
Whether he had been charmed or not, she did not know.
What she did know was that during today’s date, the Male Lead had disliked her several percentage points more again!
“My baby is already this beautiful, and he’s still unmoved?” Fang Tian shouted dramatically. “What kind of man is he?!”
Jiang Nian burst into laughter.
But the Male Lead truly was written as someone who kept women at a distance. Otherwise, how could he possibly have remained single for so many years before eventually developing feelings for the Female Lead after she joined the studio later on?
Jiang Nian remembered that the very first reason Lu Zhiheng became interested in the Female Lead was because she had performed exceptionally well during her interview.
A textbook sapiosexual.
The sparks of love between the two of them only began near graduation. Before that, they had merely been the most compatible work partners.
Naturally, that was completely different from Jiang Nian’s path as a high-maintenance Supporting Female Character.
After being teased for a while longer, Jiang Nian skillfully shifted the topic toward the food at Sichuan Flavor Residence.
Xu Yuner was originally from Sichuan City and had gone to Sichuan Flavor Residence with her boyfriend multiple times before. Su Shishi and Fang Tian, however, had never been there.
The descriptions from Jiang Nian and Xu Yuner sounded so tempting—like food content creators seducing their audience—that the two girls were thoroughly hooked.
In the end, the night concluded with the three great generals of Dorm 401 ordering late-night snacks at ten-thirty.
The next day, Jiang Nian had a morning class at ten o’clock.
She woke up ten minutes early, casually washed up, then hugged her iPad and hurried toward the teaching building.
Fortunately, the professor did not take attendance today.
Jiang Nian sat down in the back row with the hood of her sweatshirt pulled over her head and first sent Lu Zhiheng a good morning message.
Soon after, another notification popped up.
The contact’s note was simply a fish icon.
What did that mean?
Had the original host really been keeping backup men?
Jiang Nian tapped into the chat and discovered that the conversation history with the fish-icon contact had apparently been wiped clean as well.
Only one newly sent message remained on the screen.
[Fish: How long are you planning to keep throwing this tantrum?]