Chapter 50: Tightly

September 16th, Tuesday, overcast.

The morning consisted of two boring classes, dragging on from eight in the morning to twelve-thirty in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, it was the public break that happened twice a week.

During these public breaks, the school prohibited any scheduled class.

Tuesday and Thursday afternoons were typically reserved for various activities.

This included events such as the first-year basketball tournament, table tennis matches, badminton games, and so on.

Rarely not looking for his girlfriend at noon, Xun Liang had lunch with his two good roommates. While munching, he asked, “There’s a ball game in the afternoon. It’s at the west sports field. Wanna check it out together?”

“I’m not free. I have a debate meeting.” Wang Xin shook his head, clearly committed to the meeting with his debate teammates.

“Same here,” Jiang Miao said. “Busy with a meeting too.”

“Brother Jiang, are you really going to a meeting?” Xun Liang teased. “Or is it a tryst with Senior Sister?”

Jiang Miao smiled and poked Xun Liang’s meatball with his chopsticks, threatening to snatch it away.

But Xun Liang was quick-witted. He lowered his head and spat, scaring Jiang Miao into quickly pulling his chopsticks back.

“You’re something else.” Jiang Miao’s mouth twitched, and then he asked curiously, “Why do you have time to eat with us today? Where’s your girlfriend?”

“My wife has to be a scorekeeper this afternoon. She’s having lunch with the other three scorekeepers.”

“So you were sent back here?”

“You can’t say that,” Xun Liang corrected. “This is the free time my wife gave me. It means she respects me!”

Jiang Miao said, “… You’re really awesome.”

Wang Xin pondered for a moment before asking, “Is deceiving yourself a necessary skill for being in a relationship?”

Jiang Miao shook his head. “That should be a necessary skill for a licking dog[1].”

“You’re just jealous!” Xun Liang huffed and raised his chin proudly and indulgently. “Single dogs can’t understand.”

Wang Xin said, “Jiang Miao isn’t.”

“I am!”

…

Meanwhile, Su Huaizhou went to the south gate to pick up two food orders and returned to the Youth Association’s publicity department’s office to have lunch with Qi Lianyue.

At this time, the first-years were not around, so it was just the two of them in the office.

“There’s a meet-and-greet this afternoon to help the members get to know each other.” The petite Qi Lianyue sat in her chair, her toes barely touching the floor. “Are you going?”

“I’m not free. My debate team has a meeting.” Su Huaizhou shook her head and tucked a few strands of hair behind her left ear, revealing her alluring beauty mark. She lowered her head to take a sip of soup.

“Our team is the same.” Qi Lianyue nodded. “Then I’ll leave it to Xiaoyun to be in charge.”

“Which classes are your team in?”

“Accounting Class 1 and 2,” Qi Lianyue said, then recalled something. “Jiang Miao is in Class 2, right?”

At the mention of Jiang Miao, Su Huaizhou immediately turned her head away unnaturally. “Why are you bringing him up?”

“I’m just mentioning it.” Qi Lianyue gave her a sidelong glance. “You’re being overly sensitive.”

“… I’m not.”

“Then who woke up with dark circles under their eyes this morning?” Qi Lianyue exposed her without giving her any face. “You were so troubled that you couldn’t sleep.” S~eaʀᴄh the nôvel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“No way!!” Su Huaizhou protested. “I just stayed up too late reading a novel!”

She had merely stared blankly at the end of Peach Jam’s latest chapter.

“What’s the use of thinking so much about this?” Qi Lianyue suddenly said in an experienced tone. “It’s not like studying, where you can prepare in advance. You’ll naturally know if you really like someone once you’ve given it a shot.”

“Hmph, now you sound all reasonable.” Su Huaizhou curled his lips. “You secretly got together with Zhao Lu without telling the sisters.”

At the mention of Zhao Lu, Qi Lianyue immediately looked away guiltily, her previously calm voice now faint. “We-we’re not really together. That guy just held my hand…”

“Ew~”

“Don’t change the topic,” Qi Lianyue said, turning the muzzle back. “If you really have feelings for him, then talk with him. Otherwise, who knows when you’ll find someone else you’re interested in.”

“I won’t date,” Su Huaizhou mumbled while chewing some stir-fried pork.

Qi Lianyue chuckled. “You’re just being hard-mouthed.”

“Whether I’m hard-mouthed or not, Yueyue, do you want to try it?” Su Huaizhou started messing around. She leaned over to hug Qi Lianyue’s slender figure, pouted her moist lips glistening with oil, and playfully kissed her.

“Get off me! That’s disgusting!” Qi Lianyue pushed her face away with a look of disgust.

While the two of them were fooling around, someone pushed the door open. Seeing this scene, he was stunned.

“Sister Zhou… It’s hard for me to handle being cheated on like this.” After Zhao Lu came to his senses, he returned to his usual lazy appearance and leaned against the door with a smile, pretending to be sad.

“Cheated on your head!” Qi Lianyue pushed Su Huaizhou away and glared at Zhao Lu.

“Tsk~” Su Huaizhou crossed her arms and curled her lips. “You’re the one who stole my Yueyue. Who’s getting cheated on here?”

Qi Lianyue immediately grabbed Su Huiazhou’s ear in exasperation. “If you continue talking nonsense, I’ll tell Junior Brother!”

“Don’t! Don’t! Yueyue, I’m sorry~” Su Huaizhou immediately begged.

“Yueyue, are you done eating?” Zhao Lu smiled while waiting at the door. “Shall we head out together later?”

“Who gave you permission to call me that?” Qi Lianyue frowned and glared at him.

“Then what should I call you? Lianyue? Little Yue? Babe? Darling?”

“N-no way!” Qi Lianyue suddenly blushed. She stood up and stomped her feet. Her earlobes were bright red, and she instantly turned into a flustered mess.

“I can’t take it anymore!” Su Huaizhou quickly finished her remaining food, grabbed her bag, and left. “The office is all yours! Remember to help me throw out the trash, Little Lu!”

“Zhouzhou! Don’t leave!” Qi Lianyue panicked when she saw Su Huaizhou about to leave and realized she and Zhao Lu would be alone in the office. “Come back!”

“I’m leaving~ I can’t hear you~” Su Huaizhou disappeared around the corner and even considerately closed the door for them.

With the office now a two-person world, Qi Lianyue immediately changed from her previous bravado to a stuttering, nervous young girl. Seeing Zhao Lu’s lazy smile inching closer, she anxiously closed her eyes.

“Am I that scary?” Zhao Lu found it a little amusing. He walked over to Qi Lianyue and gently touched her head.

He was very tall, standing at 1.85 meters, whereas Qi Lianyue was less than 1.6 meters. They were a head and a neck apart.

With Zhao Lu pressing her head against his chest, Qi Lianyue’s forehead could only touch below his collar.

“D-don’t mess around…” Qi Lianyue closed her eyes nervously, her small hands clutching his shirt tightly, her earlier commanding tone completely gone. “The first-years might come by after eating.”

Zhao Lu chuckled. “Why aren’t you biting me this time?”

“… Who bit you?” Qi Lianyue denied with a red face.

“My wound is still here.” Zhao Lu raised his left hand, showing a clear row of bite marks near the base of his thumb. It was evident that someone had bitten him hard.



“Who told you to hold my hand all of a sudden?” Qi Lianyue murmured. “If you hadn’t refused to let go…”

“If I had let go, I’m afraid my future wife would have run away.”

“Get lost!” Qi Lianyue gathered courage from somewhere and pushed him away angrily. “Who’s your wife?!”

“Whoever responds is the one.” Zhao Lu pressed closer and pinned her against the wall. Looking at her weak and helpless appearance, he smiled. “Secretary, you’re much cuter than usual right now.”

“Who do you think… Ah!” Qi Lianyue’s eyes widened.

After a few seconds of stiffness, her eyes gradually glistened with tears.

Eventually, she closed them again.

…

1:30 p.m., Room 215 of the Department of Accounting building.

“I think we need to define what we mean by passions first. We must distinguish passions from simple liking or hobbies,” Jia Tongxue said seriously, adjusting her glasses.

“Yes.” Yi Luren added. “The right to define this time is very important. It affects the amount of effort required later. We have to prepare in advance.”

“I think we should also break down ‘during high school’ to some extent,” Pei Jue said. “What kind of high school experience is meaningful? Given the increasingly competitive nature of college entrance exams, are there other paths to consider?”

“Mm-hmm, that’s right!” Ding Ning nodded vigorously in agreement, feeling that everyone’s points were great, and mustered her courage to add her thoughts. “I think finding something you’re truly passionate about in reality is very rare, so we can narrow down the scope of our discussion.”

“Yes, very good.” Su Huaizhou didn’t express her own views, trying her best not to affect their performance. She only helped write down their ideas on the blackboard and assist with organizing them.

Jiang Miao sat in the row behind the four girls and looked at the debate topic: During high school, should you invest time and energy into developing skills related to your passions? He sighed slightly.

After the first debate last weekend, his teammates had indeed made progress.

Look at Ding Ning. She could now express her opinions.

It was an impressive improvement.

Half an hour later, the definitions of some terms within the debate topic had been preliminarily resolved, and the team began to discuss their arguments.

When it was Jiang Miao’s turn to present the opposition arguments, he became the outlet for the girls’ intense critiques.

By the time they walked out of the classroom at 4 p.m., Jiang Miao’s face was visibly pale from the experience.

“Ding Ning, try to write your first speaker’s draft and send it to the group as soon as possible,” Su Huaizhou instructed. “Afterwards, Jia Tongxue, Yi Luren, and Pei Jue, you should finish your own drafts.

“The deadline is before Thursday afternoon. I’ll arrange for us to have a practice debate against the other team on Thursday afternoon.”

Each half of the first-year debate competition had four teams, with two matches each week, all debating the same topic.

Since Su Huaizhou’s team was on the affirmative side, they could seek out the other opposition team to organize a private mock debate so that both sides could refine their arguments.

This was also to make the competition more exciting. It had been like this in past years.

Once the four girls left together, Jiang Miao instinctively followed Senior Sister. It wasn’t until they stepped out of the Department of Accounting building that he realized what he was doing.

Just as he was about to find an excuse to slip away, Su Huaizhou spoke.

“Did you enjoy yourself today? It must have been exciting to go one against four, huh?”

“…” Jiang Miao was speechless. “Senior Sister, how are you going to make up for all the brain cells I lost this afternoon?”

“I’ll buy you a cup of boba?”

“Is your boba some kind of all-purpose medicine?”

“Forget it if you don’t want it.” Su Huaizhou rolled her eyes at him and then asked, “I feel that your arguments today were pretty standard. Didn’t you prepare well?”

Jiang Miao sighed. “… I already did my best, considering I was arguing against my beliefs.”

“Hehe~ That’s what makes debating fun.”

Debating from a position you believed in could be enjoyable.

In contrast, taking a stance you disagreed with could be quite challenging.

If you couldn’t convincingly argue for something that went against your conscience, then you might not be cut out to be a professional debater.

“But the affirmative side does seem to be your choice.” Su Huaizhou mused, holding her chin. “You’ve been writing novels for a few years, right?”

“I guess so.” Jiang Miao was very calm when it came to this topic.

“Since high school?”

“Back then, it was just a hobby.”

“That’s still impressive,” Su Huaizhou praised before asking curiously, “But isn’t studying in high school more important? Why did you start writing?”

“What do you think, Senior Sister?”

“Because you love it?”

“That’s half of it at most.”

“And the other half?”

“I want to make money.”

“Huh?” Su Huaizhou was taken aback. After hesitating for a moment, she asked, “Um… is your family… struggling financially?”

“No.” Jiang Miao smiled. “I just want to make money for myself.”

“What kind of thinking is that?” Su Huaizhou was a bit puzzled. “If your family isn’t short of money, there’s no need to rush into making money in high school.”

“That’s true.” Jiang Miao didn’t deny it. After a brief pause, he continued, “It’s just that I’ve been thinking about a question since my middle school exam ended.”

“Hmm?”

“After the high school exam, it’s the college entrance exam. Then it’s a good college. After graduating, it’s finding a good job, marrying a good wife, and having a good child.”

At this point, Jiang Miao turned to look at Senior Sister, his expression suddenly becoming very serious. “Doesn’t that sound boring?”

Hearing this, Su Huaizhou suddenly thought of something and smiled. “I agree.”

“So, back then, I decided that I had to do what I liked.” Jiang Miao looked at the sky. The overcast sky resembled a dark tide. “And this premise is that what I choose to do has to at least provide for my basic needs.”

“So you started writing novels?”

“Yes, and then I was a failure for three years.” Jiang Miao shrugged helplessly. “Without enough experience, I really couldn’t write anything noteworthy.”

“But Peach Jam’s new novel is doing really well now, right?”

“…” The originally pleasant atmosphere was suddenly broken by Senior Sister. Jiang Miao choked at her words and finally adjusted himself before continuing, “That’s why I keep saying I don’t want to date. This novel is very important to me.”

“I see,” Su Huaizhou responded and looked up at the dark clouds in the sky. From the corner of her eye, she glanced at Junior Brother standing beside her.



Suddenly, she smiled.

The next moment, Jiang Miao felt his left hand being held.

Tightly.

===

1. 舔狗 basically means simp, but the word dog is used widely in the story, so I chose licking dog.↩