The Senior Who Wouldn't Add Personal Contacts and the Natural Next Step of Scanning Her Code
"Beep-!"
The piercing assembly whistle cut across the Jiang University sports field for the last time.
"Everyone! At ease! Attention!"
The chief instructor stood on the platform, a rare hint of a smile on his sun-darkened, reddish face. Speaking into the microphone, he bellowed the final command in a booming voice.
"I hereby declare this year's freshman military training officially over! Dismissed!"
With a roar,
the entire field erupted.
Deafening cheers burst from the formations, and countless camouflage caps were flung into the air. The exhaustion, sweat, and complaints bottled up for more than ten days were released all at once.
The four men from Room 504 followed the crowd and made their way along the familiar route to the big camphor tree where they usually rested.
After spending the past ten-odd days together, from sanitary-pad insoles to teaming up at the internet café and that meal at the hole-in-the-wall restaurant, the four young men from vastly different backgrounds had long since shed their initial guard and settled into an understanding of their own, the kind shared by guys in a dorm.
Han Dong squeezed his mineral water bottle until it crackled, then plopped down on the grass.
"Finally made it through. I feel like I could eat a whole cow in one sitting."
Chen Ziang stood nearby, without his usual complaints about the grass being dirty. He simply tugged at his collar to fan himself, and though he said nothing, the weariness around his eyes eased.
Just then,
the crowd at the edge of the field suddenly parted to either side.
Shen Zhiyi had a campus media work badge hanging around her neck and a stack of freshman military training feedback forms in her hand. She was walking toward the shade where Room 504's residents stood.
She was dressed as simply as ever today.
Yet the cool aloofness that came from her very bones somehow subdued the stifling heat around her, thick with the sour smell of sweat.
She walked under the tree and held out the forms.
"Please fill out the military training feedback forms."
Han Dong was closest.
He reached out for a form without thinking, and as she came closer, he got a clear look at Shen Zhiyi's face. She wore no makeup at all, yet her face was flawlessly fresh.
The burly man from Northeast China froze up on the spot.
The quick-witted guy who was usually loud and full of cheeky remarks in the dorm vanished without a trace. He scratched the back of his head like a clueless, sheltered boy, struggling for a long moment before finally blurting out something foolishly earnest.
"Senior, you're really pretty."
Shen Zhiyi's hand paused slightly as she handed out the forms.
She clearly hadn't expected such a blunt compliment, delivered without a shred of finesse. She froze for half a second, then gave him a faint, polite smile.
"Thank you."
Standing nearby, Chen Ziang immediately felt his chance had come.
A crude, straightforward compliment like Han Dong's was as tacky as it got.
He straightened the hem of his camouflage uniform and adopted the graceful manner of a local young master as he reached out and took a form.
As Chen Ziang quickly filled it out, he looked up and struck up a conversation with Shen Zhiyi in carefully chosen, tactful words.
"Senior, you folks from campus media have been running around the training grounds all this time. It must have been hard work."
"We had a similar school publication back in high school. Coordinating everything takes the most effort. If you ever need help arranging layout or sponsorships, you could get the outreach team more involved."
He was trying to use the conversation to show how much more knowledgeable and composed he was than the average freshman.
Shen Zhiyi simply listened quietly, nodding occasionally without taking up his remarks about sponsorships or outreach.
Chen Ziang finished the form and handed it back.
At the same time,
he took the opportunity to pull his phone from his pants pocket and open his WeChat QR code.
He turned his wrist, facing the screen toward Shen Zhiyi. His tone was pitched just right, neither too eager nor lacking in helpfulness.
"Senior, if campus media ever needs help with an event, you can always ask me."
"Let's add each other on WeChat. It'll make communication easier."
Chen Ziang had done this many times before, and it had always worked.
However,
Shen Zhiyi didn't even take out her phone.
She simply looked at Chen Ziang in silence, her clear eyes without the slightest ripple.
"Sorry."
Her tone was calm, leaving no room for negotiation.
"For work matters, just follow the campus media official account and leave a message."
"I don't add personal contacts on WeChat."
Chen Ziang's hand froze in midair, still holding his phone.
The green QR code on the screen looked painfully conspicuous now. The composure and confidence on his face vanished in an instant, like a balloon pricked by a needle, and his face turned alternately pale and livid.
The dignified young master of Jiangcheng's Chen family had been rejected so decisively, right in front of everyone.
Han Dong watched from the side, swallowing hard, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Shen Zhiyi paid no attention to Chen Ziang's embarrassment.
She turned and handed the last form to Lu Chuan, who was leaning against the camphor tree's trunk.
Lu Chuan took it, used the trunk for support, checked the options in a few quick strokes, and handed it back.
Shen Zhiyi took the form.
She didn't leave.
Her clear gaze met Lu Chuan's eyes directly. There were no pleasantries, no wasted words.
"You still haven't told me."
Shen Zhiyi looked straight at him.
"How did you know my surname that day by the sinks?"
Lu Chuan stood in the shade.
Faced with the campus belle's intensely pressing question, his expression remained unchanged.
"At the school gates, when they were welcoming new students on the first day."
Lu Chuan spoke evenly, tossing out a reason with no apparent flaws.
"I heard the senior students mention it."
It was a watertight excuse.
Shen Zhiyi saw at a glance that he was brushing her off.
What freshman would go out of his way to remember the name of a senior he'd never even spoken to, amid all the chaos of just entering campus?
She lowered her head and glanced at the form Lu Chuan had returned.
Her gaze swept over the paper.
Then she extended a slender finger and pointed to a blank remarks field at the very bottom of the form, one that was actually of no importance at all.
"You didn't fill this part in completely."
Shen Zhiyi looked up, very naturally coming up with a flimsy work-related excuse.
"We'll need to verify the information later."
She took out her phone, opened her QR code, and held it out in front of Lu Chuan.
"Let's add each other on WeChat."
"I'll send you the verification details later."
A breeze blew through the camphor tree's branches and leaves, setting them rustling.
The air beneath the tree seemed to be sucked out completely at that moment.
Chen Ziang stood to the side, as if struck by lightning. He stared fixedly at the phone Shen Zhiyi was holding out to Lu Chuan, his brain grinding to a complete halt.
What was going on?
The campus belle who had just been cold as frost, declaring so righteously, "I don't add personal contacts on WeChat."
Had turned right around and offered Lu Chuan her QR code, all because of a lousy excuse even a fool could see through?
It was nothing less than a naked dimensionality-reduction strike.
Lu Chuan looked down at the QR code.
He knew perfectly well this was just an excuse Shen Zhiyi was using to test him. But he didn't expose it, much less show any sign of being thrilled by the unexpected favor.
He took his phone from his pocket.
He opened the scanner and aimed it at her screen.
"Beep."
The crisp scan sounded.
He tapped to send a friend request.
Then Lu Chuan slipped his phone straight back into his pocket, his expression unchanged.
"Done."
Shen Zhiyi glanced at him, put away her phone, and turned to walk off the field with the stack of forms.
Her retreating figure gradually disappeared into the distance.
Under the camphor tree,
Chen Ziang's face had turned completely black. The young master's pride had shattered into pieces on the ground.
Han Dong's mouth fell open so wide that his jaw nearly hit the ground.
He whipped his head around and stared at Lu Chuan as if he were looking at an alien, spreading his arms to pounce on him.
"Brother Chuan! What kind of bewitching spell did you use-"
Lu Chuan raised a hand and stopped Han Dong from lunging at him.
Just then,
the phone in his pocket vibrated.
Lu Chuan took it out.
A WeChat message had popped up on the screen.
It was Xu Chengyuan.
Lu Chuan opened the chat.
The message was brief and businesslike, conveying a brisk, decisive efficiency.
[President Lu, the investment company has been registered, and the lease for the office space has been signed. What should we do next?]
Lu Chuan's gaze swept over the words on the screen.
He gently pressed the lock button with his thumb, turning off the screen, then slipped the phone back into his pocket.
He looked up at the crowd of freshmen gradually dispersing across the field in the distance.
Military training was over.
And some things needed to begin.