"Gu Yunjia, what are you doing? One drink isn’t enough for you, is it?" Huang Feng glared from beside them.

A few other students looked over, their gazes subtly shifting toward Xi Zirong, who wasn’t far away. They clearly remembered the past entanglement between Xu Su, Xi Zirong, and Gu Yunjia...

Gu Yunjia ignored Huang Feng and just looked at Xu Su. "I’ll finish mine first."

She tilted her head back and started chugging. Xu Su watched, speechless for a moment. ’Is she a heavy drinker, too?’

After a moment’s thought, Xu Su also stood up, can in hand, and tilted her head back to drink. She actually quite liked Gu Yunjia. She was true to her nature—if she liked something, she liked it; if she hated something, she hated it.

It was hard for Xu Su not to like a girl with that kind of personality.

After downing the can of beer, Xu Su raised her hand to wipe her lips. Suddenly, an arm hooked around her neck, pulling her head uncontrollably to the right. Before she could react, someone planted a firm kiss on her right cheek.

"If I were a guy, I’d spend my whole life going after you. I’d do whatever it took to make you mine." Gu Yunjia let her go and said with a smile, "Too bad I’m not a guy. I can only steal a kiss to get my fix."

"..." Xu Su was completely stunned. She stiffly touched the spot on her cheek...

The room fell silent...

"Holy shit!"

Huang Feng was the first to react. She shot up, grabbed Xu Su’s arm, and yelled, "I haven’t even gotten a kiss yet!"

Xu Su jumped back in alarm, dodging Huang Feng’s incoming face. "Don’t, don’t..."

"No way! Aren’t we best friends? You let Gu Yunjia kiss your cheek, so you have to let me kiss you too," Huang Feng insisted, chasing after her. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"No, no, no!" Xu Su dodged backward, a headache forming. She quickly explained, "I’m straight! I don’t like girls."

Huang Feng was just joking around, and when she heard Xu Su’s words, she burst out laughing. "Does that mean you think Gu Yunjia’s sexual orientation *isn’t* normal?"

Xu Su: "..."

’She actually suspected as much.’

Gu Yunjia, who was standing nearby, laughed too. "If it were Xu Su, I think I could make an exception and like girls."

’Oh my god!’

’This is getting out of hand!’

Goosebumps immediately prickled on Xu Su’s arms. She took two steps back, away from Gu Yunjia, and was suddenly steadied by a pair of hands. "There are bottles behind you. Be careful."

"..." She turned to find she had backed right into Xi Zirong.

In the midst of the awkward atmosphere, Gu Yunjia said goodbye to the teachers, gave a slight nod to her classmates, and said, "I have something else to do, so I’m going to head out."

One of her classmates tried to persuade her, "Don’t go! We’re going upstairs for karaoke after dinner. You’re already here. Besides, what could you possibly have to do during summer break?"

Gu Yunjia smiled and said, "I just came to liven things up a bit. Getting to kiss Miss Xu was an unexpected delight. I really do have something this afternoon, so I’ll be going."

She had changed a lot in the last six months. At the end of last year, she had been gloomy and withdrawn, but over the past half-year, she had reverted to the well-liked, charismatic Gu Yunjia everyone knew.

Her smile now held a charm completely different from other girls her age; she had a very classy air about her.

Since she insisted on leaving, her classmates didn’t press her further. Gu Yunjia looked at Xu Su again. "Goodbye, Xu Su. I’ll always remember you."

"..." Xu Su let out a dry laugh. "Thanks."

"She doesn’t actually like you, does she?" As soon as Gu Yunjia was gone, Huang Feng sidled over conspiratorially. "Wait, that’s not right. Doesn’t she like Xi Zirong? How come she didn’t even glance at him?"

Huang Feng’s voice grew louder as she spoke. "Could it be that you were the one Gu Yunjia liked all along, and Xi Zirong was just a decoy?"

The decoy in question—Xi Zirong—sat right beside them, his face expressionless. "..."

Xu Su felt her mind go numb. "If you’ve got nothing better to say, just eat and drink. Stop talking nonsense."

Xu Su had no idea what Gu Yunjia was thinking, but it was an undeniable fact that she had liked Xi Zirong.

Rao Lu, who had come over at some point, pointed to Xu Su’s right cheek. "You’ve got a lipstick print on your face."

"..." Xu Su shot up from her seat and headed for the restroom.

Both restrooms in their private dining room were occupied. Having had a few beers, Xu Su really needed to go, so she decided to leave the room and use the public restroom outside.

The "WC" sign was easy to spot, and Xu Su found it without much trouble. After using the toilet, she came out, washed her hands at the public sinks, and pulled a tissue from her purse to wipe the lipstick mark off her face in the mirror.

She wiped away the mark Gu Yunjia had left in a couple of quick motions. Then, Xu Su took out her lip gloss to touch up her lipstick. At that exact moment, a man walked out of the adjacent men’s restroom.

Xu Su continued applying her lip gloss, her eyes fixed forward. However, in her peripheral vision, she saw in the mirror that the man was staring at her openly. She was actually getting used to these kinds of stares.

After finishing, she put the lip gloss back in her purse and turned to leave, but the man called out to her. "Hey, beautiful. Can I get to know you?"

Xu Su didn’t even turn her head. She never responded to strangers hitting on her. Acting as if she hadn’t heard a thing, she took a couple of steps toward her private room, but a hand grabbed her wrist from behind. Xu Su immediately shook it off. "What are you doing?"

"Don’t be so cold. I’m not a bad guy, I mean no harm. I just want to get to know you."

Xu Su turned and looked up at him.

He was a tall, thin young man, probably not much older than her. He was dressed respectably and wore a pricey-looking watch. Right now, his eyes were fixed on her with a burning intensity.

In Xu Su’s opinion, his looks were merely average...

But...

’Why does he look so familiar?’

Xu Su frowned, her patience wearing thin. "What is it?"

"My name is Jiang Peng. I’m from Beijing, and I just got to Chang City yesterday. Can you tell me your name?"

Jiang Peng discreetly sized up the girl before him, his gaze lingering on her only accessory: a watch that didn’t look particularly expensive.

After his assessment, he smiled with impeccable manners. "Meeting you on my very first trip to Chang City... it must be fate. Could I get your contact information?"

’Jiang Peng...’

The moment he said his name, Xu Su’s fingers froze. She finally remembered who he was...

Xu Su looked speechlessly at the man trying to pick her up. She reached into her small purse, pulled out her phone, and prepared to call Shen Chen. If she remembered correctly, this Jiang Peng was one of Shen Chen’s no-good friends...

Jiang Peng didn’t try to stop her. He just watched her with a smile, a look on his face that said, ’Go on, call whoever you want.’ He was thinking, ’With my status, if I set my sights on a girl here in Chang City, won’t it be an easy catch?’

The phone rang twice before it was answered. Xu Su kept her eyes lowered, not looking at Jiang Peng, as she spoke into the phone. "Come to the restrooms on the third floor."

Then she hung up.

On the other end of the line, Shen Chen was surprised to get a call from Xu Su. He was just about to speak when he heard the dial tone. He sat bolt upright, instantly wondering if something was wrong.

The next second, he shot up from his seat, yanked open the door to his private room, and hurried out without a word to the people he was dining with.