03

 "Brother, is it delicious?" Jiang Nian saw that Fu Qing liked the cookie very much.

"Hmm, not bad." Fu Qing didn't deny it.

Jiang Nian took a few more and put them in Fu Qing's hand. The cookies were very fragile, and crumbs covered Fu Qing's hands, but he didn't mind; instead, he held them even tighter.

This was the first thing Jiang Nian had ever given him.

Fu Qing seemed to remember something, and told Jiang Nian to wait for him there. He turned and went back to the classroom, returning shortly after. The cookies in his hand were gone, replaced by a bottle of drink.

Fu Qing unscrewed the cap and handed it to Jiang Nian. He'd gotten this for the girls in his class; he usually only drank water, but he figured Jiang Nian would prefer something sweeter. Fu Qing said, "Eating just cookies will make you choke, how about some of this?"

Jiang Nian was indeed thirsty. He looked at the bottle—it was grape green tea flavored. He was about to take it, but couldn't move it. Jiang Nian looked at Fu Qing, puzzled. Fu Qing's handsome face broke into a carefree smile. He coaxed, "Sweetie, just drink it like this, your hands are too busy."

Jiang Nian looked at Fu Qing for a while, but finally didn't refuse. He opened his lips, his wet, red tongue faintly visible through the transparent bottom of the bottle. Fu Qing subconsciously swallowed. He was a little too eager to give her water, and Jiang Nian moved his hand away, saying discontentedly, "Brother, that's enough, I can't drink anymore."

But the taste was alright, bitter with a sweet aftertaste.

Fu Qing hummed in agreement, screwed the bottle cap back on, and ran his fingertip across Jiang Nian's lips. It was soft, like jelly. Fu Qing's voice was hoarse, "My dear

, you have some water on your lips." Jiang Nian didn't suspect anything and wiped her lips with the back of her hand; there was nothing there.

"I already wiped them clean."

"Okay."

Jiang Nian huffed and puffed as she closed the cookie box, then said seriously to Fu Qing, "I have to go back now, class is about to start."

"Okay, I'll take you."

Fu Qing didn't wait for Jiang Nian to refuse, took the cookie box, and led her back to his classroom. He ruffled Jiang Nian's hair, returned the cookie box to her, and waved goodbye.

The classmates saw Fu Qing but didn't ask any questions; it was Jiang Nian's private matter. Soon it was time to leave, and Jiang Nian was surrounded by a group of people, laughing and joking as she went down the stairs. Many boys wanted to invite her to lunch.

Jiang Nian had nothing to do at noon, so she went with everyone to the first cafeteria. The first floor was fairly standard, but the upper floors were all private rooms.

Surrounded by boys, Jiang Nian looked like someone important to anyone who didn't know her.

Before entering the private room, she saw another group of people walking towards her, led by Zhong Rui.

Jiang Nian remembered him and waved to him before going into the room with her classmates, ignoring Zhong Rui's reaction.

Zhong Rui was stunned for a moment, unsure whether Jiang Nian's actions were a case of playing hard to get. One of his underlings chimed in, "Boss, even though his reputation isn't great, dating him would be a win."

"Someone as handsome as him, even just holding his hand would be nice."

"Maybe we could even kiss. This is my first love, isn't it moving too fast?"

Even one of the underlings who had previously been a little jealous of Zhong Rui said, "Yeah, boss, if you're with him… I can look at him a little longer."

Zhong Rui ignored his underlings' nonsense and had no intention of being with Jiang Nian. He walked into the private room and said, "Don't overthink it, it won't happen."

Less than half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. Zhong Rui, who was eating, gestured to the underling sitting by the door to open it. The underling opened the door with a large hand.

Everyone assumed it was a waiter and didn't pay much attention until Jiang Nian's delicate face appeared in the doorway. He pursed his lips and smiled shyly, "Hello!"

Everyone froze, their chopsticks hanging in mid-air.

Zhong Rui, however, remained calm. He asked, "What are you doing here?"

Jiang Nian didn't answer, but beckoned to Zhong Rui, signaling him to come out and talk to him alone.

Zhong Rui put down his chopsticks, his handsome face turned to Jiang Nian, his expression indifferent, but his eyes were fixed on her. Looking at Jiang Nian's face, which always amazed him whenever they met, he said, "You can just say what you want to say." "

Yeah, what is it that we can't hear?"

"Is it going to be a confession? Isn't it too direct after only meeting once?"

"What do you know?"

His underlings chimed in.

Seeing that Zhong Rui really wouldn't come out, Jiang Nian hesitated at the door for a few seconds, then went in himself and walked to Zhong Rui's side. Jiang Nian had used the excuse of going to the restroom to come over, but he remembered that he had planned to get to know Zhong Rui better yesterday.

He opened his QR code, handed it to Zhong Rui, and said in a soft voice, "Zhong Rui, let's add each other as friends?"

His voice was already sweet, but he deliberately made it even sweeter, his tone soft and his words drawn out, really sounding like he was flirting with Zhong Rui.

"Oh—"

Amidst the cheers of his underlings, Zhong Rui stopped ignoring Jiang Nian this time. He took out his phone, scanned the QR code, and said to Jiang Nian, "Okay."

Zhong Rui glanced at it.

Jiang Nian's profile picture was a yellow and white long-haired hamster grinning foolishly at the camera, looking rather silly. It was completely different from Jiang Nian himself.

Seeing that he was now a friend, Jiang Nian planned to leave, but before leaving, he asked Zhong Rui, "Little brother, how tall are you?"

"193," Zhong Rui replied.

He asked, "Why are you asking this?"

(referring to his contact information). Jiang Nian thought to himself, but outwardly said, "Little brother, you're so tall! I like tall people, that's why I'm asking."

Zhong Rui finally smiled briefly, as if Jiang Nian's question was quite interesting.

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, then placed the hard candies wrapped in colorful paper from his pocket on the table in front of Zhong Rui. The candies were small, a large handful, bought casually at the supermarket. He'd only kept them because he found the rainbow-like reflections of the wrappers under the light interesting, and occasionally took them out to look at. Now they finally had a use, and wouldn't go to waste. He said, "I'll treat you to some candy. I'll head back now, see you next time!"

"Don't delete me, little brother,"

he said privately to Zhong Rui.

The younger brothers waved, "Goodbye!"

Zhong Rui remained seated, softly replying, "Okay."

As soon as Jiang Nian left and the door closed, the younger brothers rushed forward, taking a few candies and leaving five or six for Zhong Rui. Zhong Rui picked up a candy with his long, slender fingers, and upon closer inspection, realized it was a candy on sale at the school supermarket.

Zhong Rui couldn't hide his amusement, finding Jiang Nian quite amusing.

Chasing someone so casually, did he really think he could manipulate others so easily?

Ultimately, it's because everyone else is too easy to pursue that Jiang Nian got this misconception.

She heard her underlings' chatter: "So sweet, just like his taste."

"Maybe he'll even buy her a small cake every day."

"This is so cute... but this candy is a bit too sweet."

"Give it to me if you don't like it."

"Get lost."

Zhong Rui didn't comment. He tore open the wrapper with his fingertips, popped the candy into his mouth, and found it indeed very sweet, but awful, filled with the taste of artificial sweeteners.

This was the first time Zhong Rui had ever eaten such cheap stuff; he usually looked down on it. But then he thought, Jiang Nian is a nouveau riche, maybe she's never had much good food before, so she only buys cheap things.

Zhong Rui didn't mean Jiang Nian any harm. He thought to himself that if they met again, he wouldn't mind taking her to eat some really good candy,

even if he didn't eat candy himself.

But seeing such a beautiful girl who was even acting cute with him, yet carrying only cheap stuff in her pocket, it just didn't look right.

Zhong Rui wasn't a stingy person; giving Jiang Nian a little something was just a matter of course.

It was nothing.

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