As if sensing someone’s gaze, Song Jianye looked up and saw that it was Chen Yuan, the guy she had met at noon.
Their eyes met, and Song Jianye wanted to say something, but being shy, she didn’t know how to start. Instead, she quietly pointed to the nearby pharmacy, signaling that she was going to buy something.
Chen Yuan nodded, walked a few steps ahead, and waited for Song Jianye to come out.
’Looking at the mission details and requirements again, with the added note, it’s not that hard. I just have to take her to see some small animals, and that should be enough to complete it.’
The first place Chen Yuan thought of was the zoo. A decent option.
’But the animals there aren’t small, and they’re a bit grubby—not exactly what you’d call cute.’
’A beautiful girl like Song Jianye probably wouldn’t like it. I’ll have to think of a more suitable place.’
A few moments later, Song Jianye came out.
But just as she came out, she saw a boy walking toward her.
"Hey, freshman!"
The boy wasn’t short. He was carrying a bubble tea and wearing basketball shoes. Guys like him usually came from a well-off family and were quite confident.
Song Jianye froze for a moment, watching the boy approach her.
"You are...?"
"You don’t remember me? I’m Li Dongyang. I was the one who showed you to the dorms on registration day. I even helped you with your luggage."
"I don’t remember. Besides, it was Uncle Zhang who carried my luggage up for me, not you."
"Well, I wanted to help, but you didn’t let me."
Chen Yuan: ???
’I wanted to help you = I helped you with your luggage.’
’Prepping for the civil service exam = A PhD.’
"I bought this bubble tea for you."
Li Dongyang handed the drink over. "To make up for you not getting the ’first bubble tea of autumn.’"
"I’m not thirsty, thank you."
"I don’t mean anything by it, I just wanted to buy you a bubble tea. Don’t get the wrong idea."
"I still don’t want it."
Song Jianye walked over to Chen Yuan and shyly stood behind him.
Chen Yuan looked at Li Dongyang. "Are you trying to hit on her?"
"Yeah," Li Dongyang said firmly.
"What do you like about her? Go home and make a 2,000-word PowerPoint presentation explaining it in detail."
"I genuinely like her. The answer to that is very long. I want to spend every day of the future telling her."
’God, that’s so fucking cheesy!’
’It’s one thing to be shameless as a freshman, but he’s a sophomore and he’s still like this? Did he age without getting any wiser?’
"Then write 2,000 words a day. And what’s this, buying her Miyue? You could at least spring for Overlord Tea. Don’t be so cheap."
Chen Yuan led Song Jianye away, and the two walked at a leisurely pace.
"Thank you. I’ll buy you a more expensive fruit tea next time," Song Jianye said apologetically.
"Are you talking about the Miyue Ice City drink from noon?" Chen Yuan said with a chuckle.
"I was just messing with you. I drink from Miyue all the time, too. Overlord Tea is too expensive."
"That’s not it. This afternoon I came across a news story saying that Miyue Ice City uses day-old lemon slices."
"Oh, so that’s what you were talking about."
Song Jianye looked at Chen Yuan, her expression serious. "Isn’t that important?"
"My mom reheats the same fish for five meals. A few day-old lemon slices aren’t going to hurt me."
"But they’re still day-old."
’What a little stickler.’
’Time for Daddy to trot out another line of reasoning.’
"If at eight p.m. you buy a lemonade, and the lemons were sliced at eight a.m. that same day, would you think there’s a problem?"
"No, that’s from the same day."
"What if the lemons were sliced at eight p.m., and you bought the drink at eight a.m. the next morning? Would you see a problem with that?"
"Yes. They’d be day-old by then."
’I give up. What an adorable airhead.’
"Just listen to me. From now on, drink more walnut milk."
"But I still feel bad about it," Song Jianye said, twisting her hands. "You helped me, so I should be the one to buy you the expensive drink. Wait for me."
With that, Song Jianye jogged to the nearby Overlord Tea shop and called back over her shoulder,
"What do you want to drink?"
"What are you getting?"
"I want the Huatian Oolong."
"I’ll have the same, then."
Song Jianye took out her phone, but Chen Yuan beat her to it and scanned the payment code.
The back of her phone case was printed with Jia’Er from Digimon, and a small Celestial Maiden Beast charm dangled below it.
’Not many girls watch that anime, it seems.’
Song Jianye looked at Chen Yuan, her large, beautiful eyes shining with an innocent light.
"I’ll treat you next time, then."
’Don’t worry about keeping score, kiddo. This is what I’m here for.’
After ordering and paying, they stood to the side to wait.
Just then, Chen Yuan saw a middle-aged man in a suit standing not far away, looking in their direction.
Judging by his clothes, he didn’t look like a successful businessman; he had a name tag pinned to his chest, suggesting he worked somewhere nearby.
’This is Zhonghai, not Rongcheng. I doubt he’s looking at me. He must be staring at Song Jianye.’
’What’s this old creep want?’
"What are you looking at?"
Hearing the hostility in Chen Yuan’s voice, Song Jianye noticed the middle-aged man in the distance.
"Uncle Zhang."
’Uncle?’
’Looks like I misunderstood.’
Song Jianye quickly walked over to him, and they exchanged a few whispered words.
Every so often, the middle-aged man would glance up at Chen Yuan, his eyes full of suspicion.
’But judging by Song Jianye’s reaction, the two of them must be very close.’
They only talked for a couple of minutes before the man left. As he walked away, he kept looking back every few steps.
’He’s just an uncle. Does he really need to be that overprotective?’
’One of these days I should get a flashy modified scooter and dye my hair blond, just to give the guy a heart attack.’
"Was that man your uncle?"
"No, Uncle Zhang is the manager of the hotel. He saw I hadn’t returned yet, so he came to check on me."
"The hotel manager? The Lanting Hotel?"
"Mhm, my family owns it."
’Whoa!’
’What is this, some kind of Crooked-Mouthed Dragon King plot twist?’
"So whenever you need something, you go find him, right?"
"Mhm, the hotel has washing machines, so I take my clothes there to do laundry. Uncle Zhang is very good to me."
"My apologies for being rude earlier."
"It’s okay. I already apologized to him on your behalf. Uncle Zhang isn’t the petty type."
"Good girl."
After a little while, their Huatian Oolong teas were ready.
This was Chen Yuan’s first time drinking anything from Overlord Tea. ’It’s not good,’ he thought. ’It doesn’t have that artificial sweetener taste. Not authentic at all.’
The two of them walked side by side, heading back toward the university.
"So what did you buy at the pharmacy earlier?" Chen Yuan asked casually.
"This."
Song Jianye took out the medicine. Deanxit.
"I haven’t been sleeping very well lately, so the doctor told me to take this."
Chen Yuan was familiar with this medication; he had taken it before himself. He’d take a pill when he was stressed before exams and couldn’t sleep.
’But her situation probably wasn’t that serious, or she wouldn’t have been prescribed this particular medication.’
"Is it because of stress?"
Song Jianye pouted, looking like a little airhead. She struggled to find the words for a moment. "I don’t know what it is... my sleep has just never been very good."
"So you’ve been taking this medicine continuously?"
"Not all the time. On days I can fall asleep, I don’t take it."
Chen Yuan thought for a moment, unsure how to comfort her. He fell back on the one-size-fits-all solution.
"Drink more hot water."