Chapter 135: Have to Step Up
During the simple award ceremony, the sports association presented the award.
Six boys, arms draped over each other’s shoulders, posed with their award under a basketball hoop for a group photo.
Ding Ning stood nearby with her phone, taking pictures of them. She smiled sweetly as she watched Chen Haoshang being held by Xun Liang and Jiang Miao in the center.
Seeing Chen Haoshang gradually integrate into the dorm room and the class, she was happier than anyone else.
After taking the team photo, the six of them moved to the bottom of the stands to take a group picture with all the students from Accounting Class 2.
As their class assistant, Su Huaizhou naturally had to stand in the center. She stepped in front of Jiang Miao and raised her hand in a V-sign.
However, while Ding Ning was taking the class photo, no one noticed that Junior Brother Jiang Miao was holding Senior Sister Su’s other hand tightly and playing with it.
…
[Moments]
[Video]: Accounting Class 2 is the best! Our boys are so handsome!!![Picture x9: In today’s department basketball finals, Jiang Miao and Chen Haoshang were amazing! So cool!
[Group Photo: Invincible Class 2! Basketball champions~
Not long after leaving the gym, Jiang Miao’s Moments was flooded with posts related to the basketball game.
Many girls had added him on WeChat, so as soon as they posted on Moments, he saw everything.
Having been praised from a young age, Jiang Miao didn’t have much of a reaction after seeing them. Surrounded by his roommates and their female companions, he headed towards the food street not far from the school.
After all, winning the tournament called for a small celebration. Moreover, Xun Liang’s sister, Zhou Qin, had already planned to treat his roommates to a meal, and the victory was the perfect excuse for it.
Originally, Brother Monkey and the others planned to join, but after looking at the girls beside these four guys, they said goodbye, a bit dejected.
The four boys and four girls went to the nearby food street and found a clean restaurant.
Wang Xin and Chen Haoshang, both naturally quiet types, didn’t say much after sitting down.
Xun Liang, with his older sister present, also shrank into himself.
Ding Ning, being shy by nature, found it hard to speak in larger groups. She just silently moved her chair closer to Chen Haoshang.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Song Huanhuan, who was usually cheerful and lively, found herself less energetic in the presence of the two older girls.
Besides, she was still in shock, unable to shake off the scene of Jiang Miao and Senior Sister Su holding hands on the way, feeling that the world was really magical.
[Clean Often]: Wang Xin! Wang Xin! What’s up with Jiang Miao and Senior Sister?!
[Wash Hands Often]: Couple.
[Clean Often]: Whoa…
[Wash Hands Often]: Is there a problem?
[Clean Often]: No…
Song Huanhuan held her phone, sneaking glances at Jiang Miao and Su Huaizhou in disbelief.
Wasn’t this too shocking?
So Senior Sister had already been dating Jiang Miao…
But considering how handsome he was, it wasn’t all that surprising that he managed to win Senior Sister’s heart.
As Song Huanhuan thought about this, all kinds of dramatic, soap opera-like scenarios appeared in her mind.
In this setting, apart from Jiang Miao, only Su Huaizhou and Zhou Qin were chatting casually.
Zhou Qin, a top student at Zhejiang University with striking features and an elegant temperament, stood out among the group, and only Su Huaizhou could match her presence.
With Zhou Qin present, the atmosphere turned quieter, with only Su Huaizhou comfortably chatting with her.
Perhaps noticing the atmosphere at the table, Zhou Qin only had a quick bite before standing up and saying, “I’ll have to trouble you to look after my brother in the future. I need to return to campus tonight, so I’ll take my leave.”
“I’ll walk you out, Sis!”
The moment Xun Liang heard that Zhou Qin was leaving, he was visibly relieved and cheerfully escorted her out.
She paid the bill at the front desk and let him accompany her all the way through the foot street to the entrance of the subway station.
“How have you been at school?” She stood by the subway entrance and adjusted her brother’s collar.
“Pretty good,” he replied, silently hoping his sister would get on the subway already.
But Zhou Qin wasn’t in a hurry. “Don’t fall behind on your studies. Even with your father having your back, you’ll at least need to know how to read financial reports when you enter the company in the future.”
“Sis, I’m so tired of hearing that.” He looked up at the sky, exasperated.
“Then I’ll change to something you like.”
“Hmm?”
Xun Liang’s face was full of doubts. Then he saw Zhou Qin step a bit closer, a blush spreading on her normally composed cheeks.
Before he could react, she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
It lasted only a short moment before she stepped back, took a deep breath, and cast her gaze at the nearby bushes. “What a girlfriend can do, I can do too.”
With that, Zhou Qin turned around and walked into the subway.
Xun Liang: “…”
Covering his face, he took a moment to calm down and sighed helplessly, unsure how to reason with his sister.
…
By the time Xun Liang returned to the restaurant’s private room, half an hour had already passed.
“Hey! You guys could’ve at least saved me some!” He looked at the table full of leftovers, speechless. “What am I supposed to eat?”
“We did save you some.” Wang Xin spun the table’s lazy Susan, moving a plate of beef and a plate of shrimp in front of him.
Xun Liang looked at the remaining half plates of beef and shrimp and raised an eyebrow. He sat beside Wang Xin with a grin. “Our Prince is the best. He knows to save some food for me, and they’re my favorite too.”
Wang Xin didn’t respond. After eating, he was already engrossed in his phone, going over the prepared debate script.
The basketball game was over, but the debate finals were about to begin.
It was almost 5 p.m., and the finals would start at 7 p.m., so Wang Xin needed to stay focused and keep preparing.
Song Huanhuan followed suit, reading her first speaker’s script while quietly discussing with Wang Xin.
This scene made Ding Ning, another first speaker, feel anxious. She quickly took out her phone to review her own script.
Meanwhile, Jiang Miao and Su Huaizhou were the most relaxed, leisurely picking at the remaining food and chatting affectionately.
At first, she was a bit embarrassed. But after realizing no one was paying attention to them, she loosened up a bit.
Even when Jiang Miao secretly placed his hand on her thigh under the table, she only let out a soft sound, silently consenting.
In any case, it was just letting him touch her leg for a bit.
What this silly Junior Brother didn’t know was that she had secretly kissed him several times in the health center, eating him clean.
“Look at how serious your teammates and opponents are, but you are secretly doing bad things,” Su Huaizhou whispered. “Shouldn’t you reflect on yourself?”
“Senior Sister, I don’t need to go on stage.” Jiang Miao was speechless. “Moreover, the debate topic clearly favors the opposition, and there’s a monster like Wang Xin on their team. Our chances of winning are too low.”
“Don’t be a coward before the battle.” She pressed down his wandering hand with a harrumph. “According to military law, I’m giving you thirty strokes.”
Although she called it a stroke, it was actually just pinching his palm with her hand. It wasn’t punishment at all but just a massage.
At this moment, Ding Ning’s phone rang.
“Hello?” She answered the call. “What’s the matter? What?! Is everything okay? Huh? You’ve already left? But…
“Okay, wait a moment.”
Ding Ning turned to Su Huaizhou with a worried and helpless expression. “S-Senior Sister…”
“Ah? W-what’s wrong?” Su Huaizhou thought someone had discovered what was happening under the table and quickly pushed Jiang Miao’s hand away.
“Um… Pei Jue was in a traffic accident…”
“???” Su Huaizhou was shocked. “What did you say?! A traffic accident?!”
“Ah, it’s not what you think!” Ding Ning quickly waved her hand and explained, “Yi Luren was riding her scooter with Pei Jue to the cafeteria and collided with another scooter. Pei Jue fell and landed on her butt.”
Hearing this, Su Huaizhou let out a sigh of relief. She had thought it was a serious accident and nearly panicked.
“How is she now?” Su Huaizhou asked.
“She’s okay… But the nurse at the health center said she might have a fracture and recommended she go to the hospital to get checked…” Ding Ning said carefully. “She’s in so much pain she can’t even sit down. My roommate has already sent her to the hospital.”
“Hmm…” Su Huaizhou pondered for a moment. “She should definitely go to the hospital to avoid any issues.”
“Yes, so…” Ding Ning said, looking a bit embarrassed as she glanced at Jiang Miao. “Um, Senior Sister… Pei Jue might not be able to make it to the match tonight…”
Hearing this, Jiang Miao, who was in the middle of picking food, suddenly froze. He stiffly turned his neck to face Ding Ning, his face full of question marks. “She can’t make it?!”
“It takes more than twenty minutes to get to the hospital, and the round trip is nearly fifty minutes,” Ding Ning said helplessly. “In addition, the hospital needs to do some scans to check for fractures. There’s really not enough time.”
“It’s fine.” Su Huaizhou was worried about Pei Jue, but she wasn’t at all upset about Pei Jue not being able to compete. Instead, she looked at Jiang Miao, barely holding back a smile. “Junior Brother…”
“…?” Jiang Miao was dumbfounded.
“Your teammate is injured and can’t go on stage?” Wang Xin looked over curiously.
“Yes…” Ding Ning replied softly. “It’s our fourth speaker.”
“I remember your team only has Jiang Miao as a substitute, right?” Wang Xin looked at Jiang Miao with interest in his eyes.
“Junior Brother, it looks like we’ll have to count on you for the finals,” Su Huaizhou said solemnly, covering her mouth while patting him. In fact, she could barely suppress her laughter. “You can do it.”
Can I say I can’t? Jiang Miao was speechless.
He had thought that he would finally be free once the basketball tournament was over.
But now, he was thrown into this situation?
If you want to fall, you should have fallen earlier… With only an hour or two left until the finals, suddenly needing to switch people? How was he supposed to handle it?
Jiang Miao had only talked for a while during the discussion meeting on Tuesday. He hadn’t even seen his teammates’ scripts and had no idea about their specific offensive and defensive strategies.
And now they wanted him to go on stage???
How could he manage it?!
“Jiang Miao, there’s the fourth speaker’s script sent by Pei Jue in the group chat. Why don’t you take a look first?” Ding Ning suggested quietly.
“Brother Jiang, I believe in you!” Xun Liang, who had just finished eating, patted Jiang Miao’s back gloatingly. “Take down Old Wang!”
Take him down, my ass… Jiang Miao rolled his eyes at him.
Wang Xin had been preparing for an entire week, while he wasn’t prepared at all. Wouldn’t he just go to get crushed?
Seeing Wang Xin’s interest being aroused, Jiang Miao felt a toothache. But given the situation, he had to step up even if he didn’t want to.
…
After walking out of the restaurant, Jiang Miao was still in disbelief. He leaned close to Su Huaizhou and asked softly, “Senior Sister, did you and Pei Jue plan this to mess with me?”
“How would I have the time to mess with you?” She rolled her eyes at him. “You’re clearly the one who’s messing with me all this time.”
“?” Jiang Miao was speechless. “I only messed with you three times. Is there a need to be angry this long?”
Su Huaizhou: “???”
“What three times?
“You messed with me from the beginning of school until the National Day holiday, and now you’re pretending it didn’t happen?!
“How are you so shameless?”
At this point, Su Huaizhou recalled how Junior Brother had played her, and the annoyance came rushing back. She pinched his waist and twisted hard.
“Wait…” Jiang Miao was stunned and genuinely confused. “What do you mean by messed with you since the beginning of school?”
“You’re still pretending to be innocent?!” Su Huaizhou grew even angrier after seeing how well he was pretending. “You clearly knew my identity from the beginning, but you kept acting like you didn’t. You only exposed me when you confessed during the National Day holiday. And you still have the nerve to play innocent?”
“Wait!” Jiang Miao suddenly realized what was going on and immediately felt wronged. “Senior Sister, at the start of school, how could I have known you were Congee Boss?!
“I only figured it out when I went to your place during the National Day holiday.
“Before that, you were clearly the one who messed with me the whole time!”
This time, it was Su Huaizhou’s turn to be stunned.
“What do you mean?” She couldn’t wrap her head around it for a moment. “When did you find out?”
“During the National Day holiday,” Jiang Miao replied, exasperated. “I’ve seen many of Congee Boss’s drawings, so I recognize the style. You have several pictures on the bookshelf in your guest room. The art styles are similar.
“Back then, I started getting suspicious since your name also has the word congee in it.
“After that, I made use of when we went grocery shopping to chat with Congee Boss. Every time Congee Boss was typing, you’d be on your phone at the same time.
“That was when I was basically sure it was you.”
As Jiang Miao explained, Su Huaizhou’s mouth gradually widened.
“So, so…” She gradually started to piece things together. “Before National Day, you didn’t know I was Congee Boss?”
“That’s right.” He rolled his eyes at her. “I’m not as bad as you, Senior Sister. You hid it for over a month and even used your secret identity to push me into confessing.”
“Don’t say that!” Su Huaizhou panicked and quickly covered his mouth with her hand. But his tongue brushed against her fingers, causing her to scream and shrink back. In the end, she could only hold her head high and say, “But you often peek at me! You admitted when we were chatting!”
Jiang Miao became equally panicked. “Didn’t you trick me into saying it? You even kept telling me to just go for it!”
When Su Huaizhou heard him bring this up, her cheeks flushed bright red, but she quickly sought to turn the situation around by digging up the past. She took out her phone to check their chat history.
It was clearly Peach Jam who was more embarrassed. How could she lose?!
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