When Will My Childhood Sweetheart Marry Me?-Chapter 164: Flirting with Flowers and Grass
Hanging on to the lioness while still flirting with the butterflies.
For instance, right now, this was the third time she had witnessed a highly reminiscent scene.
In the beverage aisle of the supermarket, Jiang Shuyao walked around two shelves and, looking up, suddenly stopped in her tracks.
That bastard’s profile was all too recognizable.
He seemed to be there to buy water too, but unlike the last time, he now held a cigarette between his fingers.
Jiang Shuyao’s brows furrowed slightly.
When did he start smoking again?
She took a step, intending to go over, but a girl appeared in her line of sight first.
Jiang Shuyao instinctively stopped in place, ready to observe the man’s reaction.
The stacks of mineral water bottles on the shelves were tall enough to completely hide her.
The girl was quite direct, diving straight to the point, "Pei Yan, could I have your contact details, WeChat is fine."
Not bad, she called out his name quite naturally.
Jiang Shuyao held a bottle of soda in her hand, the cap was too tight, no matter how she twisted, it wouldn’t open.
"Sorry, my phone is out of battery."
Heh, sorry...
She remembered how, back in high school, he would bluntly refuse Xie Anyu by shouting; he was never this polite.
Could it be that after just one summer vacation, or a month of volunteering, a person with no manners could suddenly turn over a new leaf?
She applied too much force, and the cap finally twisted open.
And succeeded in splashing water onto the front of her clothes.
She calmly drank a few sips of soda, her tight chest feeling slightly relieved, and looked outside; the girl had left. Three or four minutes later, Pei Yan pinched out the cigarette in his hand and turned back.
But he hadn’t walked two steps before another girl came running over, and Jiang Shuyao again drew her head back behind the shelves.
"I’ve been noticing you for a long time, can we add each other on WeChat? I’m from the School of Media and quite interested in computers as well; we could talk more when we have time."
...
Jiang Shuyao slowly peeked her head from behind the shelf.
She couldn’t stay composed any longer.
This one was much prettier than the last.
Even in the military training uniform, the girl had the flair of a catwalk model, her face layered with a white foundation, her eyelashes thick and curled, and her black eyeliner emphasized eyes that were full of allure.
The important thing was, that bastard didn’t refuse her; he lazily stretched out his hand and said to her, "Give me your phone."
At that moment, Jiang Shuyao felt her blood freeze.
If she had a mirror, she might have the chance to behold the ugliest she had been in the past eighteen years.
Apart from those she had witnessed herself, who knew how many girls had sought him out, or how many had caught his "eye" and successfully left their phone numbers.
At any rate, as military training neared its end, the name Pei Yan had become a frequent topic among many girls during meal times.
He Shumiao saw it all and, filled with indignant fury, stood up in righteous defense, "Yaoyao, your boyfriend is too eye-catching, if you don’t do something about it, sooner or later you’ll be wearing a green hat."
A green hat, the first time she had heard it could also be worn by women.
Jiang Shuyao didn’t have the energy to research whether the hat could actually be worn or not, she said listlessly, "What can I do? I don’t have half the temper he has, and moreover..."
She didn’t dare tell her roommates that, in a sense, Pei Yan was merely her ex.
From the beginning, that bastard never took a clear stance; now their status was so ambiguous—what on earth did that even count as?
It could no longer continue this way.
Jiang Shuyao set a final deadline for herself, deciding on midnight of the performance report evening as the cutoff. For that ungrateful jerk, if she still didn’t get an answer, she’d wait no longer.
She had extended an olive branch and admitted her faults.
What did he expect her to do, jump into the Yellow River?
After a period of lingering enthusiasm, everyone, charged with nervous anticipation, finally welcomed August 31.
The venue for the performance report remained the drill ground, but unfortunately, the heavens were not kind; only a third into the closing ceremony, what had been clear skies suddenly became overcast with dense clouds, flashing with lightning and thunder.
However, the adverse weather only served to highlight the team’s resilience; amidst the pouring rain, not a single seat on the dais was empty to the eye.
School leaders, deans, and representatives from previous student bodies stood in the rain with everyone else—a scene that was heart-stirring.
All thirty platoons marched past the dais, their resounding slogans and vigorous strides earning wave after wave of applause and praise from the officers and school authorities.
Finally, the dean concluded the half-month military training with a rousing speech.
There is no banquet that doesn’t end, no youth without tears; we can only hope that each seed watered by our sweat will sprout and grow into towering trees.
Worth celebrating was the fact that at the closing ceremony, two students from the Computer Science department received the Outstanding Soldier award.
They were Pei Yan and Jiang Shuyao.
When their names were announced on stage, He Shumiao couldn’t help but cover her mouth and laugh.
Really like a couple, even going up to the stage to receive awards side by side.
That night, someone in the class group suggested a dinner gathering, which was almost unanimously approved with great enthusiasm.
The dinner was booked at a hotpot restaurant near the school. The boys arrived early to order drinks and asked the waiter for a deck of playing cards. Before the broth was even served, they had already begun to play poker in the private room.
When Jiang Shuyao and her two companions entered, many people, busy with their activities, stopped what they were doing, their eyes converging on one person simultaneously.
Whom they were looking at, everyone was well aware.
No one could forget the performance of "Swan Lake" during the military training social; the image of the girl’s every spin and extended arm was etched into their minds frame by frame.
Sitting in the corner, He Shumiao picked up the teacup in front of her and took a sip, already used to such sights.
Fang Wei felt somewhat uncomfortable—although not the target, she still felt uneasy all over.
As the girls chatted and drank tea, the beaded curtain at the door of the private room next to them moved slightly, and Pei Yan’s aloof figure walked in.
The atmosphere in the room instantly turned tense; as lively as it was a moment before, it became just as silent.
Through the half-month of military training, even if not sharing a classroom, the general trajectory of Class 1 of Computer Science had become clear.
The universally recognized goddess of the class, Jiang Shuyao.
The two most difficult figures to handle were Pei Yan and Zhong Yuan.
After all, there were only eight girls in the class, and with Jiang Shuyao’s beauty and temperament laid bare, the boys weren’t blind—some things, even if not openly discussed, had become a tacit agreement among them.
As for the most challenging two to deal with.
No one knew exactly what kind of character Zhong Yuan had better than the three from Dorm 618. If his own home couldn’t accommodate him, what about others?
However, what Jiang Shuyao didn’t quite understand was, given that Pei Yan managed to befriend Chen Jin and others at Yunzhong, dealing with people naturally wasn’t an issue for him; why did he act as if he was possessed upon entering university, insisting on setting himself apart?
After careful thought, she realized the simple reason.
The difference between Chen Jin and the high-achieving students at Rong University was as wide as a chasm.
From a school tyrant to a top scholar, it took that person only half a year; with a nature full of thorns, if he didn’t jab a few times while mingling with a bunch of well-behaved cream of the crop, he wouldn’t be Pei Yan.
