Yu Songsong and the underclassman suspected of being her victim went off to a corner and started going over their script, running through a rough rehearsal.
Jiang Linyuan watched from the shadows, afraid Yu Songsong might suddenly spring into action and turn the underclassman into fertilizer.
Lin Yilin was distracted, sneaking glances at Jiang Linyuan.
Jiang Linyuan glanced back at Lin Yilin.
She hurriedly turned around to face her computer, typing away at random as if she were hard at work.
This Xiao Yilin! Her attempts to look busy while slacking off were terrible!
Jiang Linyuan sighed.
After a while, Lin Yilin peeked out again, only to find that Jiang Linyuan hadn't looked away.
Their eyes met. It was a little awkward.
"Xiao Yilin, if you've got something to say, just say it. Stop staring at your senior."
Jiang Linyuan was blunt.
"This isn't staring!"
Lin Yilin protested at first, then hesitated before saying:
"Senior, are you not hosting because you need me?"
No way. Since when did you get so Average and Confident?
Has Su Muzhi possessed you?
Jiang Linyuan looked at her in surprise and said earnestly:
"Xiao Yilin, that's a little Average and Confident of you. Promise me you won't grow into a middle-aged, oily woman, okay?"
"What middle-aged, oily woman?!"
Lin Yilin got annoyed and kicked Jiang Linyuan lightly, fuming.
"Go chase after your Yu Songsong. I can handle the work."
"Xiao Yilin, you might be a woman who could become my mother."
"Y-You're going to be the death of me! What... what nonsense are you talking about?"
Binary Sister fumbled about again, blushing as she pushed Jiang Linyuan and shouted:
"Go on, get out of here!"
After forcing Jiang Linyuan away, Lin Yilin stared blankly at her computer screen.
At last, I can have some peace and quiet.
She patted her cheeks, forcing herself not to look over at Jiang Linyuan.
But her eyes still drifted that way despite herself.
He really went.
She turned back to her computer and slowly worked on the PowerPoint.
Is it a little too quiet now?
she wondered.
"Little Su, have you managed to trick Yu Songsong into giving you her Little Red Book post history?"
Jiang Linyuan messaged Su Muzhi as he walked toward Yu Songsong.
"Classmate Jiang, don't use your low-down tricks to guess how other people operate."
Su Muzhi replied quickly.
"What low-down tricks? I, Jiang Linyuan, have always acted with honor!"
Jiang Linyuan typed back righteously.
"Then check her browser history."
Su Muzhi replied.
This damn Downer Girl wants to freeload off my resources, huh? No chance!
"Send me fifty yuan and I'll let you take a look with me tomorrow."
"Sure, sure."
Su Muzhi generously sent him a red envelope.
Jiang Linyuan didn't dare accept it.
This is damn near pornographic!
"Let's talk business. Stop messing around."
"Sure, don't worry. Yu Songsong seems perfectly normal. She's not the kind of person you think she is."
Jiang Linyuan was a little suspicious. Was Su Muzhi trying to deceive him?
"Don't doubt me. I'll send you her account. See for yourself."
It didn't take long for Jiang Linyuan to find Yu Songsong's account.
He quickly browsed through it.
The good news: she wasn't an alchemist.
The bad news: damn it, she was depressed.
Her profile was filled with posts complaining about the pressure of her senior year.
"Recently, the pressure of studying has been immense. Being known as the top student in my grade is suffocating."
"To meet the school's expectations, I cheated on an exam and came first. Was I really wrong?"
"After losing my status as the top student, my classmates and teachers started giving me the cold shoulder."
"Chinese-style education, you win. I'm depressed now. Are you satisfied?"
Her latest post was titled, "My roommate and I had a huge falling-out because of my depression."
After reading through it all, Jiang Linyuan wore the expression of an old man staring at a phone on the subway.
Good grief, what a character.
According to Yu Songsong's post history, she'd had outstanding grades in her senior year, coming first in her grade on every exam.
But a teacher caught her cheating during one exam, and from then on, her grades plummeted.
The hard-to-swallow part was that the subjects in which Yu Songsong's grades had dropped dramatically were all sciences.
Her humanities grades, on the other hand, had barely fluctuated. She blamed it on her depression.
Had depression become powerful enough to reverse mathematical formulas and theorems?
To be honest, Jiang Linyuan thought Yu Songsong had cheated her way to first place all along.
She'd only been caught once, and the resulting attention had exposed her for what she was.
One exam proctor destroyed my dream of being top of the grade.
We'll meet again at the summit!
Still, Yu Songsong was quite the character.
With so many cheating attempts and only one screwup, she'd have been a Saint of Thieves even in ancient times.
Why were there so many characters like this at Xingnan University?
Jiang Linyuan thought back to all the people he'd met lately and couldn't help grumbling.
Downer Girl Su Muzhi, Little Madwoman Zhang Juntang, Zhuang Yan the social queen...
He couldn't even count them all!
There aren't any normal people left here.
There'd been plenty of poets in universities of ancient times. Modern universities had simplified things: now they had plenty of crap.
Jiang Linyuan finally managed to process it all. He let out a long sigh and looked at Yu Songsong.
Depressed Saint of Thieves it is. Still better than an alchemist and feminist.
But then he saw what was happening and couldn't keep a straight face.
"This part—you're supposed to pick up the line, right?"
Yu Songsong said, sounding displeased as she looked at the shy boy.
"B-But that's your line in the script."
The boy spoke softly.
"Oh, come on. We're just going over the script. Why be so serious?"
Yu Songsong's frown slowly relaxed as she smiled and said:
"I can't remember this line. You can say it when the time comes, okay?"
The boy was obviously a virgin. He blushed and stammered before nodding.
"Great, let's keep going."
Yu Songsong smiled and started reciting her lines.
But halfway through, the boy reminded her:
"That's not what it says in the script. If you say it like that, I won't know how to pick up the line."
Yu Songsong sighed. People who took everything so seriously were such a pain.
"Don't you get what I mean? We'll have to perform without the script anyway, so we should be more flexible."
The boy hesitated, but couldn't bring himself to say anything. He merely nodded in silence.
Ugh, why did I have to get paired with someone like him? He's so dull and boring.
Yu Songsong looked up with a helpless expression and spotted Jiang Linyuan standing nearby.
She smiled and ran over.
"Senior Jiang, what are you doing here?"
"I came to see our female host in action."
"Oh, don't even ask. Memorizing the script is so hard."
Yu Songsong swayed as she complained, her breasts bouncing with her.
Jiang Linyuan kept his eyes straight ahead and smiled as he nodded.
"You've been rehearsing for a while, right? Should I go buy you some water to soothe your throats?"
"Mm-hmm. I'll go with you, Senior Jiang. I could use a break."
Yu Songsong smiled and nodded.
The boy opened his mouth, hesitated, then shouted at Jiang Linyuan:
"I'm coming too!"
Jiang Linyuan looked at him.
There was a hint of reluctance in the boy's eyes, along with a bit of hostility.
Oh? He's interested in Yu Songsong and thinks I'm his rival?
This underclassman really doesn't get it.
They couldn't make the most of their time together while rehearsing, yet even when they took a break, they had to stay on guard.
They chose "seizing the moment" over "enjoying the present," and ended up grabbing the wrong end of the stick.
Before you continue