Chapter 12

Guan Nan eventually gave her the bottle of Sprite.

"Thank you~" Chen Aimei took Guan Nan's arm and happily went to eat. However, this time she acted cute and didn't want to go to the off-campus cafeteria anymore.

Aside from the off-campus cafeteria, Guan Nan couldn't find another cheap place to eat: "Where should we eat?"

“Come with me to Xingye,” Chen Aimei said. “I haven’t been there in a long time. We’ll be back after we finish eating. If you’re worried about being late, we’ll come right back after we finish shopping. We definitely won’t be late.”

Guan Nan was still hesitating, thinking about the test paper Qi Yang had found for her.

"Come on, come on~" Chen Aimei clung to her arm, pouting and coaxing her.

"I..." Guan Nan hesitated for a moment. Torn between the exam paper and Chen Aimei, she agreed to go with Chen Aimei in order not to upset her.

She thought to herself that she should be able to make it back in time after buying what she wanted.

Once in the car, Chen Aimei was quite happy and tilted her head to ask, "Is there anything you'd like to eat?"

Guan Nan shook her head: "Anything is fine, I'm not picky about food."

"Wow, you're taking good care of yourself!" Chen Aimei exclaimed enviously, then complained, "You don't know, my mom always says I won't eat this or that. I'm practically a living ancestor, I'm about to become an immortal."

Listening to what she said, Guan Nan nodded silently, indicating that she was listening.

"You absolutely can't let my mom know about you, or she'll nag me again." Chen Aimei said, sticking out her tongue playfully, looking mischievous.

Guan Nan nodded again, unsure how to respond.

As if realizing Guan Nan's lack of interest, and that despite her efforts to find topics to talk about, Guan Nan remained so dull, Chen Aimei pouted and simply lowered her head to fiddle with her phone.

Neither of them spoke again, and the air grew increasingly quiet, with only the bus swaying back and forth.

Guan Nan looked out the window and suddenly felt a pang of longing for her mother.

······

Xingye Shopping Mall's full name is Xingye Times Square. Guan Nan had heard the name of the mall from Lin Zhaozhao. Apparently, it was because the prices were very high that Zhang Guilian had to beg her for a long time before she agreed to take her to Xingye for her birthday.

As soon as they entered, Chen Aimei pulled her along and led her into a milk tea shop, where they ordered a milk tea with no ice and less sugar.

After speaking to the shop assistant, Chen Aimei turned to the shop assistant and asked, "My mother said that girls should eat less ice and less sugar. What would you like to drink?"

Standing in front of the menu, Guan Nan glanced at the prices silently; the cheapest item was 20 yuan.

The shop assistant didn't notice her embarrassment and introduced the shop's signature flavors to her from behind the counter. When she didn't choose any, he went on to introduce the best-selling flavors and popular flavors.

She dictated it quickly, and then asked again at the counter, "Which one would you like to drink?"

Guan Nan shook her head and said hesitantly, "I don't really want to drink it, thank you."

"Please drink, it's on me," Chen Aimei said. "My mother won money playing cards yesterday and gave me an extra two hundred."

Guan Nan shook her head again: "I don't like milk tea."

"You really won't drink?"

"Um."

Chen Aimei took out her phone and asked the clerk to scan the code: "Just one cup."

"Okay, avocado custard, 35, scan here."

Later, Chen Aimei asked her if she wanted to eat, or look at other things, or listen to her.

Guan Nan had never been here before and didn't know anything about the place, so naturally she listened to her.

"Let's have barbecue then."

"Will I make it back to school in time? Will I be late?" Guan Nan was worried because it took her half an hour to get to Xinye by bus and another half an hour to get back.

"It's okay, we can just take a taxi." Chen Aimei didn't seem to care much. "Besides, it's Banban's class this afternoon, so don't worry, he's very easy to talk to. If you don't like it, you can just sweet-talk him."

"·····"

"Come on, let's go. We're already here, why are you thinking so much?"

Guan Nan frowned as she watched her enter the barbecue restaurant alone, then wave to him.

Chen Aimei: "Hurry up, don't make a fuss."

After struggling for a few seconds, Guan Nan finally lost face and followed her inside.

Actually, she had already noticed that Chen Aimei was a little unhappy because she hadn't had milk tea, so she had no choice but to stay.

After picking up the side dishes, Chen Aimei, with her sharp eyes, noticed several tables nearby and peeked at them several times.

When Guan Nan arrived, she exclaimed "Huh?" and said, "Isn't that Jiang Li?"

Upon hearing this, Guan Nan paused for a moment, not looking over immediately.

She seemed unaffected, calmly replying, "Oh."

Throughout this, Chen Aimei kept staring at her expression, as if trying to discern something from her face. After confirming that she didn't react any differently, she smiled again.

As Chen Aimei put the meat in the pan, she kept an eye on the other side: "Hey, why don't you go say hello? That's your deskmate."

"No, thank you." Guan Nan mimicked her movements, wrapping the meat and side dishes into a meat roll.

The group of boys at the table were chatting excitedly. Since it was a weekday and there weren't many people in the store, their voices naturally reached Guan Nan and Chen Aimei's ears.

“That time, the one you mentioned,” the boy said, “if it weren’t for Jiang Li, let me tell you, Xin Jia would definitely not have gotten away with it. That damn Xin Jia is an idiot, he even took the blame for someone else, and that person almost got him killed.”

One of the boys scoffed and said, "Who are you calling a jerk?"

“I’m insulting you,” Yu Shu chimed in with a laugh, repeating himself as if afraid Xin Jia wouldn’t hear him clearly, “Xin Jia is an idiot.”

Xin Jia cursed and said, "Are you trying to cheat me or not?"

Then, Xin Jia turned the conversation to Jiang Li, "Hey, I heard you got a girlfriend?"

Yu Shu, who was with him every day, was completely unaware: "What girlfriend?"

"Damn it, Jiang Li, you're so disloyal!" Lin Rui said, too lazy to verify the truth. "You're dating without even telling us. Don't you have any brothers in your heart? You should at least learn from Yu Shu, shouldn't you?"

Yu Shu: "Why would you learn from me?"

“Like you, you change girlfriends three or four times a semester, and greet each one of them,” Xin Jia said mockingly.

"Go to hell, Xin Jia, how dare you talk about me like that?" Yu Shu didn't hold back anymore and spoke freely. "I wonder who it is that received so many love letters and then shamelessly told people they liked me. You're disgusting."

These guys are very open about everything, from meat to vegetables, and they can say anything without hesitation. Even if they don't like what they say, they can still eat and drink as usual and remain good brothers.

Only Guan Nan noticed that Jiang Li at that table spoke very little but was in a good mood, and occasionally even chimed in with a few words.

Chen Aimei whispered, "Jiang Li has a girlfriend. Who is she?"

"I don't know." Guan Nan lowered her head and ate, feeling a little curious but not showing it.

"You don't even know who his deskmate is?"

Guan Nan: "I don't know."

"No..." Chen Aimei suddenly leaned closer, controlling her voice just loud enough for her to hear, "Is it you?"

With a piece of grilled meat in her mouth, Guan Nan quickly shook her head, mumbling, "No, it's not like that."

"Who could it be?"

After thinking for a long time and hesitating for a while, Chen Aimei said as if to lay her cards on the table, "Let me tell you, actually all the girls in our class like Jiang Li."

After taking a sip of water, Guan Nan put down the cup and, in a cooperative tone, asked in a low voice, "Why?"

"Didn't you notice how cool he is? He's handsome, gets good grades, is good at fighting, and I heard his family is very rich."

"A guy like this would make you look incredibly prestigious if you took him out."

"I really want to know who it was that took them down so quickly."

"This is Jiang Li, it's Jiang Li!"

Having failed to win Jiang Li's heart, Chen Aimei bit her chopsticks, glancing at that table every now and then with a regretful expression.

Just as Guan Nan was stunned by her words, Xin Jia raised her chin, gesturing for them to look this way: "There's a beautiful woman over there, watching you, and making quite a fuss."

This happened frequently, and Jiang Li ignored him, not even glancing at him.

"Holy crap," Yu Shu couldn't resist the temptation and immediately turned to look at Xin Jia, his expression as if he'd seen a ghost. "Class, Class—"

Jiang Li put down his cup: "Teacher Ban?"

"Squad leader!"

Immediately, Jiang Li turned to look at him, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Just then, Guan Nan's phone vibrated. She didn't notice anything unusual at the next table, simply greeted Chen Aimei, and went outside to answer the call.

Xin Jia joked, "We're quite familiar with each other."

“Of course,” Lin Rui said with a laugh, “You didn’t see it, several male classmates even went under the knife for her.”

"You're talking nonsense again," Yu Shu slapped Lin Rui on the head, gritting his teeth in hatred for his mouth, "Would you die if you didn't embellish it? It's people like you who spread rumors!"

Lin Rui wasn't angry at all: "Yes, that's right."

“You spread rumors every day, even to my face last time. You must have spread rumors about me behind my back too.” Yu said with absolute certainty.

Xin Jia laughed and said, "You just found out? He's the one who spread the story about you being a Casanova."

"Lin! Big Mouth!"

Jiang Li didn't join in with them, making an excuse to go to the restroom.

"What are you doing in the toilet?" Yu Shu's mind hadn't quite caught up yet, but his thoughts were already racing before he could even finish speaking.

Lin Rui was overjoyed: "I'll get you some food."

After leaving the door, Guan Nan walked a little further away and answered the phone.

The caller was Qi Yang. He asked if she was in the classroom and if it was convenient for her to come and pick it up. If not, he would deliver the test paper to her.

Guan Nan: "Can it be later? I'm not really available right now."

"Did you go back?"

"No," Guan Nan murmured, her lips trembling. "I was eating out with my classmates."

There was a pause of a few seconds on the other end, then the person on the other end said, "I'll send you the test paper later. I have something to tell you."

"Okay," Guan Nan said. "Thank you, Brother Qi Yang."

If it weren't for something important, Qi Yang wouldn't have made a point of seeking her out.

But what could it be?

After hanging up the phone, Guan Nan gripped it tightly, pondering various possibilities in her mind.

When he looked up, he saw Jiang Li standing not far away. He looked like he was there to pick up takeout, holding a cup of milk tea in his hand.

"Hi." As if he had just seen her, Jiang Li raised an eyebrow and said slowly, "Classmate."

"·····"

Not wanting to play dumb any longer, Guan Nan gave a random "Hi".

After she finished fooling around, she wanted to take the opportunity to go back quickly.

Jiang Li strode over, pointed at the phone she was holding, and gave a half-smile:

"Don't you not have WeChat?"

“I have a cell phone,” Guan Nan nodded immediately.

Why didn't you say so?

Guan Nan said innocently, "You didn't ask."

“Okay, then I’ll ask another question,” Jiang Li said, a little annoyed by her irrelevant answer. “You have a phone, so how come you don’t have WeChat? Are you afraid I’ll ask you for your WeChat ID and you don’t want to give it to me?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Guan Nan muttered to herself, “but I just don’t have WeChat.”

Jiang Li stared at her: "Really?"