Mint flavor
On the first day of university registration, Jiang Yanmu wore a double braid with ribbons, a preppy-style puff-sleeved plaid dress with a bow, a plaid beret with a teddy bear pattern, and her usual white sneakers. She dragged her suitcase in one hand and held a small fan in the other as she walked into the campus corridor.
All the way there, they kept asking Jiang Yanmu if she wanted to join their club. "Junior, how about joining our photography club?" the senior asked.
"Hey junior, come join our basketball club!"
"Junior sister, junior sister..."
Jiang Yanmu simply shook her head and smiled, declining all the clubs' invitations. "No, thank you." Jiang Yanmu didn't like participating in clubs or activities. Not long after, a senior student approached. "Hello, junior, I'm here to take you to your dorm."
"oh"
As he spoke, the extremely enthusiastic senior took the suitcase from Jiang Yanmu's hand and walked away. Jiang Yanmu wanted to carry it herself and was about to go forward to take it when she said, "No need, thank you, I can carry it myself."
The senior student carried the suitcase to the other side. "It's okay, junior. It's hot, try to rest as much as you can."
Jiang Yanmu let it go if she couldn't get it back. Finally, she stopped in front of Wanyuan Building. "Junior, you'll be staying here from now on. Wanyuan Building, fifth floor, room 502." The senior handed the suitcase back to Jiang Yanmu.
Jiang Yanmu was about to enter the dormitory when her senior leaned forward and blocked her way. "Junior, why did you only say thank you and not call me senior?"
Taking a step back with her suitcase, she coldly said, "Thank you, senior." Then, she walked around to the side, dragging her suitcase away. Upon arriving at the dormitory, she found two roommates already there. To the right of the entrance, she saw one person frantically typing incomprehensible data on the computer. To the left of the computer was a cute girl dressed in Lolita fashion. As Jiang Yanmu entered, the Lolita girl ran over and hugged her, exclaiming, "Welcome!"
Lolita's enthusiasm startled Jiang Yanmu. Somewhat bewildered, she said, "Ah, okay..." The computer seemed to have finished processing her data. It turned its chair around to face the two people still embracing, put its index and middle fingers together, pushed up its glasses, and said coldly, "Are you going to hug all afternoon?" After saying that, it turned back and went to work on its things again.
Lolita released Jiang Yanmu and apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry."
"fine"
"Um... is there any position that hasn't been selected yet?"
"Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!" Lolita stood on tiptoe and raised her hand to recommend herself.
"Okay" packed her luggage, while Lolita next to her kept making a fuss.
Xu Nai, with her hands behind her back, leaned forward to face Jiang Yanmu. "Oh right, I forgot to ask, my name is Xu Nai, and the one who was just being sarcastic was Fu Xianli." Fu Xianli turned her chair around and nodded to Jiang Yanmu.
Jiang Yanmu stopped what she was doing, looked up, and said, "Jiang Yanmu."
"That sounds nice!" She conjured a piece of candy from her hand, offered it to Jiang Yanmu, and placed it in her palm. "Here, have some candy~"
"Thank you." Just then, the door opened. The last roommate entered, wearing a red fishtail dress and sporting long, wavy black hair. Her smile was particularly captivating. "Li Yan" and the others came over and introduced themselves.
"Xu Nai!" As she was introduced, Lolita kept swaying up and down, making Xu Nai even cuter.
Just like before, Fu Xianli turned back after her introduction.
Jiang Yanmu
"Hmm~" Li Yan held onto the stair railing with one hand, taking off her high heel, and then slipped it off with the other, putting on slippers instead. She sat down in a chair, brushed some hair from her eyes behind her ear, and rubbed her sore heels. Li Yan's actions captivated Jiang Yanmu and Xu Nai, who stared at her intently. Li Yan noticed and looked up at them with a smile: "What's wrong?" Li Yan's voice was alluring.
"No~ You're too beautiful, Li Yan." Xu Nai. Jiang Yanmu nodded in agreement.
"Thank you," Li Yan said with a light smile.
After packing her things, Jiang Yanmu went downstairs and strolled around the school. Not knowing her way around, she ended up at the koi pond and took out her phone to take some pictures. The emerald green water and the koi swimming back and forth were beautiful.
She continued walking, reaching the passageway. She kept running into couples strolling hand-in-hand, or friends chasing and playing together. Jiang Yanmu finally stopped on a bench under a ginkgo tree to rest. "Sigh," she sighed, watching the people coming and going, and couldn't help but reminisce about the past. The flowers he chose for her, the plush toys he won…
Unable to hold back her tears, Jiang Yanmu tilted her head back to stop them from falling. Suddenly, someone walked over, placing their hands on a chair. Looking down at Jiang Yanmu, she was startled and jumped up, bumping her head against the person. The person, caught off guard, hit their nose with Jiang Yanmu's head, causing it to bleed.
Jiang Yanmu rubbed her sore forehead and took several steps back. "It hurts!"
"Ouch, that really hurts, junior," said the senior.
“If you don’t do that, it won’t hurt,” Jiang Yanmu said coldly, stopping her rubbing of her forehead.
Not wanting to pay any more attention, she turned to leave. The person behind her kept following. Jiang Yanmu just wanted to get away quickly, but being lost and unsure where to go, she finally stopped. "Is there something you need that's keeping you following us?"
"It's nothing, I just wanted to follow." The other person stepped forward, walking beside Jiang Yanmu, feigning sadness and grievance. "Junior, you've already forgotten about me? I'm so heartbroken~"
"What?" Jiang Yanmu doesn't hold grudges over certain things and moves on quickly. Like now, even though this person is acting strangely, she will still politely reply.
"The senior who escorted you to your dorm, what a ruthless junior."
"Oh, a little."
"Where is the junior going now?"
"Have a meal"
"Does the junior know where the cafeteria is?" Jiang Yan asked, having already known this earlier.
Mu kept going in circles, guessing that she had no sense of direction, so he teased her a little.
She wanted to argue but couldn't, so she walked away in silence. The senior student, charmed by Jiang Yanmu's cuteness, stopped teasing her and took her to the cafeteria. Before that, he wanted to find out her name. "Junior, tell me your name, and I'll take you to the cafeteria."
Jiang Yanmu
Jiang Yanmu repeated the name in her mind.
When they arrived at the cafeteria, the senior student continued to follow Jiang Yanmu. Wherever Jiang Yanmu sat, he sat there too. Jiang Yanmu had no choice but to let him do as he pleased.
Later, when she couldn't sleep, Jiang Yanmu would hide under the covers and secretly browse his social media profile. When the three-month period ended, Jiang Yanmu deleted him. She didn't delete him on WeChat, because she was worried not only about him but also about other people, fearing they might suspect something, so she only unpinned his profile picture.
Classes, art studios, libraries, dormitories, and occasional holiday jobs became Jiang Yanmu's entire campus life. Gradually, she stopped talking in the group chat with the five members. However, whenever he had time, he would bombard the group with messages. Even when no one else was chatting, he would still talk; he was never seen without something to say.
While running, I suddenly tripped and fell flat on my face, landing on my knees with my hands on my knees. It hurt a little, but I got up after a short while and dusted off my hands and trouser legs.
I had gone to the infirmary with Xu Nai before to get medicine for Li Yan. Following my memory, I found the place and got some iodine. Back in the dorm, I changed and applied the medicine. Just then, Xu Nai returned and saw Jiang Yanmu's condition, and came over. "What happened? Does it hurt, Xiao Yan?"
Jiang Yanmu said as she removed the iodine solution, "I fell while running, but it doesn't hurt."
She spent the afternoon painting in the studio. Opening the second-floor window revealed a view of the ginkgo trees in the corridor and the orange-pink sunset. Jiang Yanmu took a picture, planning to paint it next time she came. She went to the convenience store to buy food, wearing headphones. She ran into Li Jing and his friends, who were buying water after playing basketball. Li Jing recognized Jiang Yanmu's back as soon as he entered and excitedly called out, "Jiang Yanmu!" But Jiang Yanmu was listening to music with her headphones on and didn't hear clearly. She vaguely heard a sound and thought it was a hallucination, so she didn't pay attention.
After Jiang Yanmu finished paying the bill, she turned around and saw Li Jing, only then realizing that she hadn't misheard. She took off one earphone, held it in her hand, and apologized, "Sorry, I didn't hear you. Is something wrong, senior?"
Li Jing's brother twirled the basketball in his hand, curious about when Li Jing had met the girl, and nudged Li Jing, "Li Jing, who's this? Introduce her!"
"Junior, I helped the junior who was in charge of the dormitory before."
"Oh~" The people around them started to cheer.
Jiang Yanmu just wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. "It's okay, I'll let you pass, senior."
"Oh, okay," Li Jing said, making way for him with a slight hesitation.
"It's so cold, can I catch up with Li Jing?"
Li Jing ignored them, staring intently at Jiang Yanmu as she walked away, before finally saying, "I don't know."
"You used to be able to win over anyone you pursued in no time, so why don't you know how to do it now?"
You don't understand.
Later, she would occasionally run into Li Jing. At first, she thought it was just a coincidence and didn't pay much attention. But as time went on, she noticed. Not long after, Li Jing, sitting by the window in the library, brought some food and sat down next to Jiang Yanmu. Jiang Yanmu gently moved her chair aside, as if to tell him to forget it, that it was pointless. She added, "I don't like this kind of thing, don't come again."
Li Jing just smiled and said, "Then I won't bring these next time," pretending not to understand. The other party didn't give up and continued. During military training, Jiang Yanmu suddenly got her period. The weather was already hot, and the stomach pain was even worse. She asked for leave and went back to the dormitory alone. After the training ended, Xu Nai was worried about Jiang Yanmu being alone. She was even preparing to take her things back when suddenly the instructor messaged her looking for her.
She called the other two people, but they were both busy. Just as she hung up, Li Jing ran over and said, "I'll do it."
Li Jing had secretly come to watch Jiang Yanmu's military training during a break and saw her walking away clutching her stomach. He rushed to the infirmary, asking what medicine a girl with a stomachache should take. After a long explanation, the school doctor finally understood: she had started her period. "Just buy a heat pack and apply it to your lower back or back area at 40-50 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes at a time. Then make some brown sugar ginger tea or warm water."
"Okay, thank you, teacher!" He quickly ran over.
Xu Nai recognized the man as the boy who had been pursuing Jiang Yanmu. A little worried, but with no one else to help, she had no choice but to entrust the task to him, repeatedly pointing and warning him, "Just deliver it, don't do anything else. If I find out, you're finished!"
"I won't do anything else, don't worry."
"I hope you keep your word." After saying that, Xu Nai walked towards the counselor's office, sending messages to Li Yan and Fu Xuanli as she went, telling them to come back quickly if anyone was busy...
She forced herself to change. Curled up in bed, she gripped the blanket, sweating profusely, her hands trembling with pain, and a wave of nausea rose in her stomach. She thought of getting the trash can, but the pain was too much, and she was worried about vomiting on the floor, so she rushed over and knelt down beside it, dry heaving. Then the dorm room door opened, and Li Jing walked in.
Li Jing immediately put the bag on the table and ran over, calling out, "Jiang Yanmu!" Upon realizing it was Li Jing, she lost her focus and started vomiting again. Li Jing tried to say something, but Jiang Yanmu waved her hand, indicating she was fine.
"Okay, I'll go boil some water for you first."
Feeling no longer nauseous, Jiang Yanmu got up from the floor and sat down in a chair. She grabbed a cushion and placed it on her stomach, trying to ease the pain. Li Jing, having finished boiling water, came over and took out a hand warmer, explaining, "Put this on your abdomen; it'll make you feel better."
"Thank you," Jiang Yanmu said, her hands trembling as she took the heat pack and applied it.
Should I help you to bed?
Jiang Yanmu shook her head weakly and said, "I don't want to go."
"Okay. Is this your cup?" Jiang Yanmu nodded. Li Jing poured water, placed it next to Jiang Yanmu, and instructed, "Wait until it's warm before you drink it. Well, I'll be going now."
Jiang Yanmu forced a smile and said, "Thank you."
"No, it's nothing. I'll be going now." Li Jing scratched his head, backed away as he spoke, bumped into the door, and then left with a silly grin.
My phone rang again. Then I remembered that Xu Nai had messaged me when I was in pain. I opened it and saw several messages: "How are you? Still feeling unwell?"
Did that person do anything to you?
[If he does, I'll beat him to a pulp when I get back.jpg]
【Xiaoyan】
[It's alright, they didn't do anything to me, don't worry. (Kitten hugging.jpg)]
[That's good. You get some rest. I'll bring you food later. *kiss*]
【good】
While the cafeteria ladies were eating, Li Jing massaged their shoulders, pleading and begging until she finally agreed to make them brown sugar ginger tea. "Auntie~ could you make me a bowl of brown sugar ginger tea? Just one bowl, Auntie~ Auntie is the best~ Auntie is so kind, how could she bear to let me drink someone else's tea and end up in the hospital, right, Auntie~ My dear Auntie~ Please, Auntie!"
The auntie was so happy she couldn't stop smiling. "Okay, okay, I'll cook it for you right away. Just wait."
"Okay, thank you, Auntie. You've worked so hard!"
Li Jing, carrying brown sugar ginger tea, arrived at the foot of Wanyuanlou Restaurant and ran into Xu Nai and Li Yan, who were bringing back food for Jiang Yanmu. Xu Nai walked over and asked, "Are you here to bring something to Xiao Yan again?"
"Um... Could you please deliver this to her for me?" Li Jing said embarrassedly after being caught.
"Okay, give it to me."
"Thanks"
The two walked up the stairs, and Li Yan asked, "Is he the one you were talking about this afternoon?"
"right"
"Xiaoyan, we're back. We brought you porridge and mung bean soup. Oh, and that person's soup too." Seeing Jiang Yanmu asleep in the chair, Xu Nai put down the food and opened the package. Li Yan went over and gently patted Jiang Yanmu, "Wake up, Jiang Yanmu."
"Thank you for your help."
"No trouble at all~"
Li Yanba pushed the brown sugar ginger tea that Li Jing had brought to Jiang Yanmu in front of her, saying, "It was brought by the little boy who's pursuing you."
"Um……"
"I still need to tell him again," he thought to himself.
"This brown sugar ginger tea..."
Seeing Jiang Yanmu's thoughts, Li Yan spoke up for her, saying, "Since you've already given it, drink it."
"Hmm... okay."
Military training ended, and soon things got busy again. As time passed, Jiang Yanmu forgot about it. For a long time afterward, Li Jing didn't come to see her. Jiang Yanmu was very grateful, grateful that he hadn't kept chasing after someone who didn't like him. "Luckily he didn't, luckily he didn't end up like me."
Li Jing hadn't come for a while because his elderly relative had been sick and needed care. The situation had only recently stabilized, allowing him to return to school with peace of mind. Li Jing stood for a while downstairs at Jiang Yanmu's dormitory building before leaving.
Everyone except Jiang Yanmu had class today. I went downstairs to throw out the trash and planned to go out for lunch. Afterwards, I remembered I'd forgotten my phone. Just as I was about to go back upstairs to get it, Li Jing called out, "Jiang Yanmu!"
"Um?"
"Long time no see, junior."
"Yeah, long time no see. Oh right, I haven't returned your thermos yet, wait a moment."
"Ah, okay."
Holding the thermos, she went downstairs and handed it to Li Jing, saying, "It's clean. Also, thank you for the brown sugar ginger tea."
"No, no need," Li Jing said, his hands trembling as he took the thermos.
Jiang Yanmu understood this feeling all too well. "Let me treat you to dinner."
"Ah, okay." In the end, they chose a noodle shop that wasn't very crowded.
Jiang Yanmu stirred the noodles in her bowl and said, "Li Jing."
Li Jing stopped what he was doing, arranged the chopsticks, and listened to what Jiang Yanmu was about to say.
"Um!"
“Liking someone who doesn’t like you back is pointless, especially since you’ve been trying so hard to be around them and treat them well. If they remain unmoved, that’s it. Forget it. Wouldn’t it be better to find someone else? Why be so fixated on one person?” Jiang Yanmu’s words weren’t just directed at Li Jing, but also a question she was asking herself.
"Because I like it so much, I want to be persistent just this once!"
“But…” Jiang Yanmu didn’t know how to continue.
Li Jing suddenly spoke up: "Liking you is voluntary, you don't need to feel pressured."
"I'm sorry..." Jiang Yanmu covered her face and cried. She was telling the other person, "I'm sorry, I can't, I don't want you..."
Li Jing handed over a tissue, smiling as he said, "This isn't your fault. On the contrary, I should thank you for letting me meet you." He deliberately changed the subject, patting Jiang Yanmu's head, "How about we order another bowl? This one is probably too much."
"Hmm..." She sniffed, thinking to herself, "I was too loud." After that incident, she rarely saw Li Jing. Even when they did meet, she would just greet him or pretend not to see him. But Li Jing would never pretend not to see her. Instead, he would greet her when he saw her, but he would switch back to calling her "junior sister." Perhaps because of what happened last time, he didn't want to put Jiang Yanmu in a difficult position and chose to back down.
She even guessed what had happened; perhaps she had a crush on someone who never came of it, which was why she said those things that day and apologized to herself, calling herself a "fool."
During the New Year's holiday, I heard that the organization visits each other's schools during holidays, and this time it was Ye Ziyi's turn. Jiang Yanmu was supposed to tutor a senior student for a day that day. [Sorry, I have to tutor a senior student that day, so I can't go.]
[Okay, I'll cry along with you, like a husky.jpg]
When you get there, I'll send you some delicious food.
[Okay, thank you, Ayan Cat.jpg]
On the day Li Jing graduated, he invited Jiang Yanmu to the graduation ceremony. Jiang Yanmu presented Li Jing with a bouquet of sunflowers, saying, "Thank you, junior."
I wanted to take a photo with Jiang Yanmu as a memento. I thought, "It's graduation day, so the juniors have to take a photo with the seniors."
"good"
Xu Nai held up her phone, helping to take a picture with the count of "three, two, one".
Li Jing whispered in Jiang Yanmu's ear, "Don't miss your senior too much~"
"Cheese!" Li Jing turned back and said with a smile to the camera.
"Cheese!" everyone shouted.
"I've graduated," Xu Nai sighed as she sat on the steps.
“Yes,” Jiang Yanmu sat down as well.
Xu Nai hugged Jiang Yanmu tightly, looking reluctant to part with her, and said, "I can't bear to part with you, Xiao Yan."
Jiang Yanmu patted Xu Nai on the shoulder and said, "Just send a message when you see each other."
"Um……"
"I will miss your Xiaoyan, and you must miss me too, okay?" Xu Nai hugged them one by one, saying goodbye.
Yes, it will.
"Lili, remember to miss me."
"I understand," Fu Xianli said, still feeling awkward about the way she addressed her, and blushed as she hugged her back.
"Yanyan, remember me."
"Okay~ Nana"
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