Shen Wanyu, what kind of person do you take me for?!
So shallow! So very shallow!
Jiang Linyuan scolded her as he opened the red packet.
Though Shen Wanyu had terrible taste, he couldn't reject her kind gesture. What if he hurt the department head's feelings?
She'd offered him money of her own accord. It'd be a waste not to take it.
"Take the money, then show the new External Relations Department members around and introduce them to our work. The Badminton Club sponsorship is a perfect opportunity."
"Anyone newly added to the work group is a new member. You're in charge."
Shen Wanyu was almost certain Jiang Linyuan would accept the red packet, and sent those messages at the same time.
The department head really gets me. She must have a soft spot for me.
I looked into it. She's the kind of girl who's cold on the outside but warm on the inside.
Jiang Linyuan glanced at the new additions to the work group. The External Relations Department had recruited four people.
One person's username caught his attention: Magic Stone and Binary.
Binary Sister?
Before Jiang Linyuan could think much more about it, he received a friend request.
It was from Magic Stone and Binary.
"Hi, senior! I'm Lin Yilin, a new member of the External Relations Department. I'm also the person you helped out earlier. I'd like to treat you to a meal to thank you. When are you free?"
Jiang Linyuan thought it over.
"How about you just give me the money?"
The other person seemed stumped by his reply. It took her a good while to come up with a response.
"Are you busy?"
"Do you know what day it is today?"
Jiang Linyuan answered her question with one of his own.
Lin Yilin seemed to think it over, then asked:
"Is it the university's new student recruitment day?"
"Today's the first day of school at Hogwarts. I met a new student."
"Senior!!"
Lin Yilin reacted especially quickly this time. Those enormous exclamation marks made it easy to picture her blushing furiously on the other side of the screen.
Junior girls are so much fun.
But he shouldn't tease her too much.
"I wasn't making fun of you, junior. There's nothing wrong with being a romantic. Besides, I was playing along with your lines earlier."
"Actually, I like role-playing too, junior."
Though I might have something a little different in mind.
After a while, Lin Yilin abruptly changed the subject.
"So, senior, are you free or not?"
"If you're trying to get me pregnant, junior, I recommend Thursday. That's when I get wild."
After sending that message, Jiang Linyuan put his phone away and stopped paying attention to her.
If I let this Binary Sister fall for me, I'm done for. Better nip those delusions in the bud!
I'm a man you'll never get in this lifetime!
"Honestly, what is this guy even saying?"
Lin Yilin stared at the message on her phone, her pretty eyes wide as she pouted and tapped Jiang Linyuan's chat avatar.
No matter how she turned it over in her mind, she couldn't figure out how to respond. She let out a long sigh and buried her face in her pillow.
She thought back to what had happened that afternoon.
In high school, few girls liked chatting with her. To put it nicely, she was straightforward; to put it less nicely, she didn't know how to adapt.
When a group of girls chatted, they had to go along with things they didn't understand. Even if they couldn't hold forth, they still had to chime in and play along. That wasn't the kind of socializing Lin Yilin wanted.
So she had hardly any peers she got along with.
Really, someone as unconventional as her shouldn't have felt melancholy.
After all, anyone who knew Lin Yilin would say she was an open, cheerful girl.
But few people could see the little feelings she liked to keep hidden away.
At the recruitment fair, faced with the Student Union's unreasonable demands and a crowd of cold stares,
all kinds of negative emotions—hurt, anger, and frustration—surged up like a tide and swept over her.
But just as she was about to run away, someone spoke up for her.
He was a hard person to describe. At least, Lin Yilin couldn't make him out at all yet.
Still, he seemed like a kind and interesting person.
"Juntang, Minister Shen said that Senior Jiang graduated from the same high school as you. What do you think of him?"
Lin Yilin rolled over, poked her head out from behind the curtain, and asked her roommate, Zhang Juntang.
"...I don't know."
Zhang Juntang, who had been looking at her phone, hesitated at the question before answering softly.
"True, you weren't in the same year."
Lin Yilin smiled.
"But we'll have lots of chances to get to know him."
"Mm..."
Zhang Juntang nodded gently.
The evening breeze stirred the dorm's pale blue curtains.
Night deepened, and the girls' eyes reflected the stars—and the future.
"Senior Liu, you don't seem like yourself today. Do you want to take a break?"
On the badminton court, Jiang Linyuan saw that Liu Tingting was distracted. He handed her a cup of water and asked with concern.
Liu Tingting took the water, let down the ponytail she'd tied up for the game, and looked at Jiang Linyuan with a strained smile.
"Mm. You really know how to care about people, junior."
After that, she paid him no further attention, lowering her head to drink slowly and rest.
At her words, Jiang Linyuan raised an eyebrow. This green tea's gone off.
Usually, she'd have already started a Sword of Affectionate Lovers with him by now.
Seeing that, Jiang Linyuan said no more and simply sat beside her.
The two of them sat in silence, listening to the evening breeze brush past their shoulders.
After a while, Liu Tingting raised her head in confusion and looked at Jiang Linyuan.
"Why did you stop talking, junior?"
"When you're quiet, senior, you have a uniquely lovely air about you. I'd like to know what you think about when you're not speaking."
Jiang Linyuan softened his tone and spoke gently.
Hearing that, Liu Tingting covered her mouth and laughed, her narrowed eyes curving like crescent moons.
"I'm thinking about you, junior."
"Then you're always thinking about other people, senior. Don't you ever think about yourself?"
Jiang Linyuan spoke slowly.
"You've got something on your mind, don't you, senior?"
Liu Tingting froze, then nodded without saying anything more.
Seeing that, Jiang Linyuan chuckled softly.
Oh? Have we finally reached this point? The green tea's killer move: retreat to advance.
All right, I'll play along.
"You're not telling me because you're afraid I'll worry, right, senior?"
Jiang Linyuan said with a smile, slowly turning to look at Liu Tingting.
The light swept across his face, glinting in his bright eyes.
"But more than the problem itself, what worries me is that you don't trust me."
"So, senior, will you give me a chance to earn your trust?"
Liu Tingting froze, blushed, and elbowed Jiang Linyuan in the waist.
"You sure know how to sweet-talk."
Though she said that, her tone had already softened.
"Since you've put it that way, junior, it'd be awful of me to keep everything to myself."
She sighed, studied Jiang Linyuan's expression, and spoke slowly.
"Actually, something's been bothering me lately. I don't know what to do..."
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