Chapter 314 Eyes Can’t Hide Insight

Jiang Nian spent some effort to shake off Li Hua and the dozen others.

“Chasing me? Dream on.”

He shook his head, hummed a song, and entered the dormitory area’s convenience store to buy a bottle of Sprite. The only drawback was that the proprietress hadn’t plugged in the refrigerator to save electricity.

Jiang Nian glanced at his phone, preparing to meet up with Xu Qianqian.

The internal campus road near the dorms was quiet, with the winter sun shining warmly and densely.

He hadn’t walked two steps when he met Yu Tongjie at another exit of the sports field. The other party just glanced at him, but said nothing.

Jiang Nian frowned slightly, not bothering to pay attention to the Squirtle.

A few minutes later.

He saw a dressed-up Xu Qianqian and Song Xiyun at the edge of the sports field.

“Are you two done?”

“Yeah, we took photos.” Xu Qianqian looked very happy, saying as she raised her phone, “Look, we’re quite photogenic.”

“Young Master Xu is amazing.” Jiang Nian gave a perfunctory reply.

Seeing that Xu Qianqian didn’t ask about other things, he subtly probed with a few questions.

“Did you see anything interesting when you passed through the Dragon Gate?”

“Oh, yeah, all sorts of strange things.” Xu Qianqian said, “The clothes people wore were weird, and there were even two boys holding hands.”

Hearing this, Jiang Nian immediately felt relieved.

He wasn’t that outrageous himself, and besides, time was tight then. While his class was being rushed, other classes were also busy finding people to group with.

Who had the mood to pay attention to what was happening in Class Three? There were even more Heaven-Defying things going on.

Even the small bell had popped out, so who would pay attention to him?

Thus, he didn’t bring out the prepared excuses. After all, it wasn’t really necessary to explain, lest explaining it further lead to more confusion and be counterproductive.

“Let’s go then, time for photos.”

Song Xiyun kept her head down the whole time, not saying much.

It wasn’t that she had something on her mind; she was just used to listening to Xu Qianqian and Jiang Nian bickering back and forth, and she didn’t know what to say.

After all, she wasn’t that interesting.

In between talking, Jiang Nian glanced at Song Xiyun. He felt like she was becoming more and more taciturn, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

If that were truly the case, Xu Qianqian would usually complain to him.

The fact was… she hadn’t.

This proved that Song Xiyun was only taciturn when he was present, which made sense.

Jiang Nian didn’t pay too much attention to this.

He had merely extended a helping hand to Song Xiyun, and she might be the type of person who takes favors very seriously. The more he deliberately tried to get close, the more awkward it would become.

During the photo, Xu Qianqian stood in the middle.

To her left was Song Xiyun, linking arms with her, a gentle smile on her face. To her right was Jiang Nian, who had already put on his trench coat.

Jiang Nian’s stance was more casual, his hand resting on Xu Qianqian’s shoulder.

It wasn’t a curled-up gentleman’s hand; instead, it looked more like the way male friends would put their arms around each other’s shoulders. His palm hung down, covering her right shoulder.

“Cheese!”

A passing girl helped to capture the photo.

“Remember to send me a copy.” Jiang Nian was ready to leave after the photo.

If he stayed, Song Xiyun would inevitably feel constrained. It was still over half an hour until noon dismissal, leaving them plenty of time for more photos.

“No.” Xu Qianqian said.

Hearing this, Jiang Nian walked backward while turning his head, pointing at her and saying,

“You’re secretly in love, aren’t you? Hiding your Treasure Trove.”

“Ugh!” Xu Qianqian looked like she wanted to vomit, saying speechlessly, “I’ll crop your head out before I send it to you, you disgusting man.”

Jiang Nian walked away, only to be summoned again.

So he rushed to Zhang Ningzhi’s photo spot for another group photo of the three of them.

Before the photo, he glanced at Yao Beibei.

“Huang Beibei, do you have a problem with me?”

She snorted lightly at his words.

“What’s wrong?”

A snort of disdain.

“Nothing, it’s just…” Jiang Nian’s tone was flat, “I followed your Douyin account, ‘Lordly Domineering Love, Ingenious Use of Auntie-Wear for First Night.'”

Hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi was dumbfounded, turning to stone.

“Huh?”

Yao Beibei rolled her eyes, gritting her teeth and saying,

“Do you enjoy peeping so much?”

“No, no, you’re too modest.” Jiang Nian waved his hand, explaining, “Your talent is like a cough, it cannot be hidden.”

Yao Beibei wasn’t completely shameless; secretly coerced by someone, she could only be a little more compliant.

After all, she didn’t want to.

The group photo was very simple, in line with propriety.

Jiang Nian’s hands were well-behaved, and he still stood to Zhang Ningzhi’s right. Their shoulders were a small distance apart, like a layer of paper covering a window.

As for whether it was sandpaper or rice paper, it was unknown.

In the photo, Zhang Ningzhi’s gaze shifted slightly, looking in Jiang Nian’s direction.

Click, and it was captured.

Being familiar with both girls, he didn’t leave after the group photo. Instead, he chatted with them for a while before finding an excuse to slip away.

The rest was… Jiang Nian felt a bit busy, moving between ‘n’ venues at once.

The coming-of-age ceremony was truly a bit unreasonable.

“Hey, is Tigger going to cry?” Jiang Nian patted the intellectually challenged elementary schooler, “Why are your eyes red?”

“None of your business!” Wang Yuhe was a bit bristly.

This guy seemed to be in an enraged state, perhaps about to turn into a berserker. He might just go into a blood rage and then lose his mind, specifically attacking him.

Wang Yuhe punched Jiang Nian’s kidney area, but there was no force behind it. Clearly, the elementary schooler wasn’t angry, just embarrassed and indignant.

Jiang Nian paused, “Didn’t eat?”

Wang Yuhe:

Chen Yunyun smiled, pulling Wang Yuhe behind her.

“Stop messing around, let’s take the photo.”

During the photo, Jiang Nian still stood to Chen Yunyun’s right.

Unlike standing with Zhang Ningzhi, when he stood with Chen Yunyun, the distance between them was a bit greater, but their expressions and postures were more relaxed.

If one were to speak of pure friendship, his friendship with Chen Yunyun was relatively purer.

Firstly, Chen Yunyun spent most of her time on her studies and life, so the two didn’t spend much time together in a day, and when they were together, they only chatted.

The other party was clear-headed and had a strong sense of propriety.

The distance was neither too close nor too far, like a cloud of mist. Seeing mountains that are not mountains, and then seeing mountains that are mountains, they never left.

When chatting, Chen Yunyun would bring up many interesting topics.

Her temperament was also becoming gentler, and she clearly had something on her mind.

Jiang Nian noticed, but didn’t ask in detail. He hadn’t perceived any romantic feelings… Not really, but at most it was just a good impression, nothing worth asking about.

Third year of high school was clearly not a good time for romance, and asking might not yield any results.

As the shutter button was pressed, Chen Yunyun happened to turn her head and look at Jiang Nian.

The photo was captured.

Buzz buzz buzz.

Jiang Nian received four group photos, making a total of five with the Dragon Gate photo.

He glanced at his phone and smiled.

Then he walked to the last check-in spot, where over ten people were waiting for him under the basketball hoop. They had just sent a message, calling Jiang Nian over for a big group photo.

They promised it wasn’t a trap, just brotherhood, no ‘Aruba’ (a prank).

Jiang Nian didn’t believe them; he wasn’t a three-year-old. He approached the crowd, and before they could speak, he directly held up his meal card and announced loudly,

“Cafeteria, lunch and drinks, all expenses are on me!”

Hearing this, the ‘Aruba’ group instantly disbanded.

“Holy crap, Brother Nian is so generous?”

“The boss has a good waist and good kidneys.”

“Woohoo, a free lunch!”

“Lin (referring to himself) was blind, I’ve offended you greatly.”

“Damn it, it’s all Li Hua’s fault! Sowing discord between us lads and Young Master Jiang, I propose we ‘Aruba’ the culprit Li Hua!”

“Seconded!!”

“Seconded!!!”

Li Hua panicked and tried to run, but he didn’t have Jiang Nian’s stamina. After being caught, he was subjected to an ‘Aruba’ against the basketball hoop, with screams echoing continuously.

Jiang Nian smiled, observing with his blue meal card in hand.

In the midst of laughter, little Li Hua vanished into thin air.

Over a dozen people took a group photo in front of the basketball court, and then close friends took photos in twos and threes, helping each other take pictures and then rotating.

Ma Guojun, Jiang Nian, and Li Hua did the same.

Cafeteria.

A group of people occupied two tables, each with a large bottle of iced red tea. It wasn’t dismissal yet, so there weren’t many people in the cafeteria, mostly third-year students.

Young Master Jiang’s generosity was evident to all, and Old Dog Li’s treachery was common knowledge.

“Holy crap!” Ma Guojun was halfway through his meal when he looked up at Jiang Nian and Li Hua, “I forgot to call the two of them, for our group photo of five.”

Hearing this, Li Hua and Jiang Nian were also taken aback.

“It’s true.”

“It’s alright, there’ll be other opportunities.” Jiang Nian consoled them.

The dismissal bell rang, signaling the end of the third-year coming-of-age ceremony.

After the meal.

Jiang Nian handed his trench coat to Li Hua, who would return the clothes at noon.

Afterward, he went to the classroom to do problems, as usual.

He had originally brought a biology test paper to work on that morning, but unfortunately… the paper wasn’t finished.

Due to the coming-of-age ceremony, there was only one person in the classroom.

“Fangfang.”

“Hmm.” Huang Fang looked back at Jiang Nian, wondering why he wasn’t out playing.

Ten minutes later, the classroom was silent.

Huang Fang looked up, turned around, and glanced at Jiang Nian. She found that he had quieted down after entering the classroom and had already been working on the test for ten minutes.

She was inevitably a little surprised by this.

With such a Heart-Nature, it was no wonder he could move up a class.