He really had changed!

"So you've settled on Public Garden Tree-Planting?" Bai Jianai found it a little hard to believe, too.

She couldn't imagine He Zhen, who followed Fu Xin around whenever she appeared, actually suggesting that option himself!

"Yep. Doesn't cost a cent, and lunch is included," Yao Tao answered listlessly.

"He Zhen from your class really has changed," Bai Jianai couldn't help remarking. "People really do change, after all."

He Zhen's reputation as a hopeless simp was deeply entrenched.

"Now that I don't like hearing." Yao Tao pouted. "Does that look like a normal relationship to you?"

"Aren't they not even dating?" Bai Jianai thought it over seriously. "Loads of girls in our class have given up on He Zhen. We all thought he'd end up with Fu Xin sooner or later."

When it came to gossip, even a sheltered, pretty rich girl like Bai Jianai could chat with Yao Tao for hours.

"No way!" Yao Tao knew perfectly well that Fu Xin was the indecisive type. She hesitated, never moved forward, couldn't choose, and wanted them all!

Watching from the sidelines was enough to make you tear your hair out and wish you could choose for her. Having someone like that around you, though? Sorry, but it was downright annoying.

It was fine to be hesitant or indecisive, but you couldn't keep sitting on the fence forever.

Anyone could come along and steal her away.

There was no security in that at all.

Yao Tao and Bai Jianai talked for ages before finally dropping the subject and turning to the actual team-building activities.

"You've got it good with a barbecue. Eating, drinking, and having fun." Yao Tao was envious. "And you get to see Qin Zhen."

"Aren't Cheng Yu and the others going tree-planting, too?" Bai Jianai gave her an odd look. "Couldn't you just take pictures of her?"

"You don't get it." Yao Tao began explaining earnestly. "With someone like Qin Zhen, who's practically overflowing with testosterone and always making himself the center of attention, I feel absolutely no guilt making money off him!"

"Cheng Yu is different. Look around our school. What other good-looking person is as showy as Qin Zhen?"

"The moment he decided to pursue Fu Xin, he wanted the whole world to know."

"He might as well stick a sign on his forehead saying, 'Look, I'm popular with women. You should feel honored that I'm pursuing you. I can turn down other women for your sake!'"

"With someone that flashy, the nice way to put it is that he's making a grand romantic gesture. In reality, he still hasn't grown out of his delusions of grandeur!"

"So I don't feel the slightest pressure making money off him."

"The other hotties are different. I only sell pictures of the ones who make a big show of themselves."

"After all, they'd only be happy to have their pictures taken."

"What halfway normal hottie would want someone secretly taking their picture and selling it?"

Bai Jianai was speechless. And she actually thought she was in the right.

Bai Jianai, the sheltered, pretty rich girl who hadn't seen much of the world, couldn't help giving a cold laugh. "Should I praise you, then?"

"You flatter me!" Yao Tao clasped her hands in a bow, the picture of humility.

Bai Jianai was speechless again. A shameless brat with a perfectly self-consistent logic!

"Hey, it'd be great if you could snap a few pictures of Qin Zhen for me while you're there. I'm not asking for anyone else. If you took pictures of Qin Zhen from somewhere in the crowd..." Yao Tao narrowed her eyes and stole a look at Bai Jianai.

"Don't even think about it." Bai Jianai rejected her mercilessly. "That's not my hobby."

"Boo-hoo."

"Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo."

"Waaah, boo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!"

"Little cabbage, yellow in the field, nobody loves me, stuck doing hard labor~" Yao Tao started singing.

"All right, all right!" Bai Jianai sighed. "You're not short of money anymore. Would it kill you not to take his picture?"

"Who complains about having too much money? Not me!" Yao Tao sat up. She'd known Bai Jianai was as softhearted as marshmallow!

"I'll take just one picture for you." Bai Jianai was utterly resigned by now. "Don't blame me if I don't run into him."

"Got it!" Yao Tao saluted respectfully. "Even if the picture's total garbage, I can edit it into something usable. Go forth without fear, ma'am!"

"Cut the wisecracks!" Bai Jianai's phone started beeping nonstop.

"Whoa, did you set off firecrackers in your phone?" Yao Tao leaned over curiously, and Bai Jianai didn't push her away.

"See? Barbecues are such a hassle. They're arguing again." Bai Jianai didn't particularly care. She wasn't hoping for some amazingly fun team-building outing, anyway. As long as it didn't exhaust her to death.

"Just focus on collecting the money for your class. Don't worry about everything else," Yao Tao reassured her.

Bai Jianai was Class Three's welfare representative, usually responsible for collecting money, keeping it safe, and things like that.

"Managing the money isn't easy, either." Bai Jianai exhaled. "Getting people to pay is hard."

"You can do it!" Knowing she couldn't help, Yao Tao decided not to make things worse.

Seeing Bai Jianai quietly start tallying things up, Yao Tao considerately switched her phone to vibrate and even found a small towel to put underneath it.

Her spare phone was far too busy. She still needed to lurk in the chat and see what the girls were talking about to liven up her boring downtime.

The phone in her pocket vibrated. Yao Tao opened it and found, to her surprise, a private message from He Zhen.

He Zhen: We'll be in groups of three. Is there anyone you want to team up with?

Yao Tao thought for a moment. Figuring she was probably dreaming, she nevertheless typed without blushing or missing a beat: I have social anxiety. Could I team up with you, He Zhen?

When He Zhen saw that reply, he distinctly felt the corner of his mouth twitch.

She had social anxiety...

If that counted as social anxiety, then people with social anxiety really were a rare species.

Still...

He had wanted to use this opportunity to team up with Yao Tao in the first place.

"Whoa, which girl are you chatting with?" His roommate Zhang Yuan looked at He Zhen as though he were some rare specimen. "Look at all those expressions. I honestly thought that polite smile was the only one you had."

Zhang Yuan said He Zhen's smile was fake and generally thought he seemed like a hypocrite hiding behind a gentlemanly façade.

Those changing expressions just now, however, had been a rare sight for Zhang Yuan.

At that, Ning Tianci nudged him with an elbow.

"That's just how he is. Don't take it to heart," Ning Tianci said.

"It's fine." He Zhen didn't mind. He had just replied to Yao Tao with an okay when a message from Fu Xin popped up.

Until now, He Zhen had always been the one to ask about Fu Xin's affairs. Fu Xin only initiated contact when she needed his help.

Whenever Fu Xin reached out first, He Zhen had never refused her. But Fu Xin simply asking where his class was going for their team-building outing like this really was a first.

He couldn't quite describe the feeling. It was as though something were pressing down on him, neither painful nor irritating, yet making it hard to breathe.

Fu Xin: We're going for a barbecue this time. What about you? I remember a barbecue was one of your class's options too, wasn't it?

Fu Xin: I'm really looking forward to it.

Fu Xin: Let's hang out together when we get there!

Fu Xin: ₍˄·͈༝·͈˄*₎◞ ̑̑

Yao Tao was dumbfounded when she received He Zhen's reply.

What had he typed?

Yao Tao rubbed her eyes and took a closer look.

He Zhen had typed okay.

He'd said okay!!!

Holy crap!

Had hundreds of years passed without her noticing?

He Zhen had actually invited a girl other than Fu Xin!

Had something happened that she didn't know about?

"What's with that expression?" Once Bai Jianai finished tallying everything, she looked up to find Yao Tao looking as though she'd been struck by lightning. "Did the sky fall?"

Yao Tao shook her head mournfully, then perked up. "No. Could it be that spring has arrived?"

Bai Jianai paused. "That's a pretty unusual way for your spring to arrive."