The person beside him was in deep sleep, his hair occasionally brushing against Shen Nianjing’s neck.
It tickled a little.
This was really hard to endure… Shen Nianjing uncomfortably shifted his arm and turned to look at Su Zhiyan’s peaceful profile.
They made it to G University’s new campus without incident, but when Shen Nianjing got off the bus, his entire right arm had gone numb.
He gave Su Zhiyan a resentful look, but the latter was just rubbing his right cheek, returning his stare with a neutral expression that revealed nothing of his thoughts.
If anything, his eyes were clear, and he just looked dazed from sleep.
Shen Nianjing’s irritation and resentment instantly melted away.
It was just leaning on him for a while, much better than dealing with his usual sharp tongue.
Su Zhiyan was mortified when he woke up to find himself leaning on Shen Nianjing’s shoulder. All he wanted was enough contact to ensure a good night’s sleep, but anything beyond that was unnecessary.
Fortunately, Shen Nianjing didn’t say anything, and he slept quite comfortably the whole way.
“Tangtang[mfn]means Sugar or Sweetie[/mfn]!”
A cheerful call came from behind.
Su Zhiyan turned around to see his competition teammates Zhou Zhou and Wang Mingzhi walking towards him.
Zhou Zhou was someone who loved giving others random nicknames, while Wang Mingzhi was full-blown introvert. Both of them had worked with Su Zhiyan during their freshman and sophomore years, so it was natural for the three of them to team up for this competition.
“Did you see the teacher’s message in the group chat? The dorm arrangements for our training are out.”
Su Zhiyan suddenly felt uneasy at these words, feeling something was about to slip out of his control.
He took out his phone and opened the document, quickly scanning through the accommodation arrangements for their school’s students.
Names, student IDs, dorm numbers, roommates – everything was there. So what was wrong?
Why was he still worried?
“What are you looking for?” Zhou Zhou couldn’t help asking after watching him flip through the chart three or four times.
“Looking for…” Su Zhiyan stumbled over his words, and suddenly felt this question was familiar.
It seemed someone had asked him the same thing this morning.
Just then, Gao Yue’s face flashed through the crowd.
Su Zhiyan had a sudden revelation and looked at the chart again.
Looking for Shen Nianjing!
Why wasn’t Shen Nianjing’s name in the dorm arrangement chart for A University students?
“Where’s Shen Nianjing?” he asked while scrolling through the chart.
If they weren’t staying in the same building or on the same floor, the chances of maintaining their daily contact would greatly decrease.
After all, that bastard was really good at avoiding people.
“He’s not in the chart?” Zhou Zhou scratched his head.
“Maybe he was assigned to fill a vacancy in G University or B University’s dorms,” Wang Mingzhi mumbled. Filling dorm vacancies was pretty common, so Shen Nianjing was likely assigned to another dorm building.
As he finished speaking and looked up, Wang Mingzhi was startled by Su Zhiyan’s expression.
His unblinking eyes and fake smile made him look like a demon villain ready to explode at any moment.
The shadow cast by his bangs over his eyes made him look even more the part.
Isn’t this completely normal? Wang Mingzhi couldn’t help but tremble.
–
The next morning during training class, just as Shen Nianjing arrived at the classroom, he felt a chill run down his spine.
“…” He suddenly had a bad feeling.
As if heaven had heard his thoughts, Shen Nianjing sensed someone walking toward him, stopping beside him, watching him.
A shadow fell across the pages of his book, and Shen Nianjing slowly looked up.
Su Zhiyan stood on his left with his hands in his pockets, his brown irises barely visible through his bangs as he stared down at him.
“Thud.”
He dropped his book, sat down beside Shen Nianjing, and opened his laptop.
His movements were smooth and fluid, without saying a single word.
Yet the latter didn’t feel relaxed at all.
I must have pissed him off again.
Shen Nianjing glanced over at Su Zhiyan, who was skillfully navigating the touchscreen with his left hand while continuously spinning a pen with his right.
He glanced up further to see Su Zhiyan wearing a mask, completely focused on his laptop screen, appearing completely oblivious to his surroundings.
Shen Nianjing felt inexplicably guilty and gradually straightened his posture.
“What are you looking at?” Su Zhiyan suddenly spoke up.
His voice was cold, carrying the beautiful implication that one wrong move would result in being blown to bits.
Shen Nianjing quickly turned his head to face forward. “N-nothing.”
Seeing his reaction, Su Zhiyan’s suspicions only grew stronger.
That bastard must have changed dorms on purpose!
Su Zhiyan irritably ran his fingers through his bangs, resisting the urge to grab the other’s collar.
While Shen Nianjing’s eyes were on the teacher who had started lecturing about modeling basics, his mind remained completely focused on Su Zhiyan.
Why does he seem even angrier?
What the hell did I do now??
Shen Nianjing’s hands gripped his pants tightly under the desk as he sat ramrod straight, looking like a kindergartener waiting to be fed by the teacher.
Where did Lao Qi and the others go? Why aren’t they sitting with me?!
Shen Nianjing quickly scanned the room until he finally saw Lao Qi in the first five rows turn back, raise his eyebrows, and give him a thumbs up.
“…”
“What’s wrong? Why so nervous?” Su Zhiyan suddenly smiled, shifting his gaze from the screen to Shen Nianjing’s face as he lowered his voice. “You always get so tense when you see me~”
“It’s really strange.”
“When I said I wanted to be friends, you refused.”
“When you said you wanted to be my rival, I agreed.”
“Looking at it this way, aren’t I much more generous than you?”
Both of them sat in the back row, very close to each other. Su Zhiyan tilted his head as he spoke softly, his warm breath ghosting over Shen Nianjing’s face.
That sweet orange soap scent again.
Shen Nianjing was dazed for a moment before coming to his senses and immediately denying, “I’m not nervous.”
Shen Nianjing’s eyes were wide open, his smile painfully earnest.
Su Zhiyan let out a mocking chuckle, speaking in a breathy voice, “Then why did you have the teacher assign you to Building Five?”
Everything clicked!
It all made sense now!
Shen Nianjing suddenly understood.
So this ancestor[mfn]Calling someone “祖宗” (zǔzōng) literally means “ancestor,” but it’s often used sarcastically or affectionately to refer to someone who’s being difficult, demanding, or high-maintenance, like a fussy, entitled ancestor who expects to be waited on hand and foot.[/mfn] had been sulking all morning because he wasn’t staying in A University’s dorm building?
Heaven knows he really didn’t do it on purpose.
It was fine to blame him for things he did, but not for things beyond his control!
“Let me explain this clearly!” Shen Nianjing argued earnestly, his tense features becoming animated. “I’m a guy, right?”
Su Zhiyan frowned immediately.
“No, no, scratch that!” Shen Nianjing patted his mouth a few times and started over.
“Our group has both guys and girls. The men’s dorm, including students from G University, is already full. Since I was last on the list, I had to go to the empty room in the next building.”
“This arrangement was due to uneven numbers. It had nothing to do with me!”
Really, Shen Nianjing could argue confidently even when he was in the wrong before, let alone this time when he truly hadn’t done anything!
Who knew it would work out this way, that he of all people would be assigned to Building 5.
Su Zhiyan stared at him silently for a long while before saying, “Oh.” Then he looked away.
Oh?? Shen Nianjing was going crazy.
He really didn’t pull any strings behind the scenes. He absolutely refused to take the blame for this!
“I wasn’t deliberately avoiding you or refusing your friendship.”
“In my heart, we’ve always been worthy rivals and mutually cherished friends.”
“Your doubts from before were all misunderstandings. I always wanted you to join the competition.”
At this point, Shen Nianjing threw caution to the wind and the sweet talk flowed freely.
“I was genuinely worried you’d be too busy to handle everything.”
“Look, you’re even checking project data while attending class.” He pointed at the computer screen.
Because he spoke so urgently, his voice was a bit loud. Several people in the front rows turned around to look, giving him disapproving glances.
Shen Nianjing immediately fell silent, awkwardly waving his hand to indicate he would shut up.
Su Zhiyan, chin propped in his hand, couldn’t help but laugh.
He picked up his phone and casually tapped it a few times.
The next second, Shen Nianjing’s phone screen lit up.
[S: Is that so, good friend?]
Along with a grinning emoji.
Shen Nianjing: “…”
He reluctantly replied.
[Dream Thief: Yes.]
[S: Okay then, shouldn’t good friends attend classes together every day?]
[S: Or eat meals together?]
[S: Or go for night runs together?]
Shen Nianjing felt his scalp tingle and his eyelids twitch. If he could dig a hole for himself, it would definitely be his grave.
[Dream Thief: …seriously?]
[Dream Thief: You don’t attend classes with your friends either, and you usually do things alone at school]
[Dream Thief: But you’re still good friends with them /smile]
Shen Nianjing took a deep breath, calmly typing, feeling his argument was perfectly reasonable.
The next second his pupils dilated.
[S: Seems you really weren’t avoiding me, since you even know I usually walk alone.]
[S: Good friend, were you paying that much attention to me?]
[S: Please forgive me. From now on, I’ll make sure to give you the same level of humanistic care. /smile]
Shen Nianjing: “……”
Why did this guy love to nitpick words so much! He must be an liberal arts student!
Su Zhiyan put down his phone and focused intently on the sample data sheet. The competition wouldn’t officially start for another week, so his project was still the most urgent matter.
The training class covered basic knowledge that he had already mastered, so for most of the lesson, he didn’t even look up once.
Strangely, although Shen Nianjing also had competition experience and was quite capable, he still listened very attentively and even categorized and took notes on the teacher’s key points.
After class, Su Zhiyan looked at his messy notebook filled with various basic modeling sketches.
The drawings were quite good.
Shen Nianjing noticed his gaze. “This is my special notebook for my teammates. Everything’s clearly categorized so it’s easy to follow.”
“How about that? I’m a good team leader, right?” He lifted his head proudly.
Su Zhiyan nodded. “Mm.”
He was quite competent indeed.
If it were anyone else, they would’ve probably rushed to grab Shen Nianjing’s leg begging for a copy, but Su Zhiyan wasn’t just anyone.
He had already planned to handle the competition problem by himself. After all, he had his own fixed thesis format and was familiar with programming, so he wasn’t at all worried about whether Zhou Zhou and the others could keep up with the course.
His purpose for coming this time was simply to avoid dreaming, and so far, things were looking quite good.
As long as Shen Nianjing didn’t suddenly act up, he could completely focus on following the project progress while quietly waiting for the modeling competition. Except for those three competition days which might be busy, but he believed he could handle it at his peak condition.
What does “Mm” mean, acknowledging my ability? And then what, is he going to want to hang out with me in the computer room later… Shen Nianjing felt uneasy.
“Well…” he spoke with difficulty, the words struggling to escape through his teeth, “I’m still not good enough, my logical thinking isn’t great and not broad enough.”
Su Zhiyan frowned slightly, the pen he had been spinning in his hand slowly coming to a stop.
Not broad enough? Was this guy actually a perfectionist?
He gave Shen Nianjing’s pained expression a cool glance.
“Mm.”
Then casually looked away.
Mm…??? Shen Nianjing blinked.
You’re not even going to argue? I’m actually amazing, okay!
Su Zhiyan ignored his shocked and confused expression, gathered his things, and walked out.
Shen Nianjing stood there in confusion.
Just leaving like that?
The first time he actively tried to make conversation, why was this person so cold?
Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.
Shen Nianjing slowly picked up his backpack, his lips gradually curving upward with the movement, his eyes brightening.
Could it be that as long as he took the initiative, Su Zhiyan would keep his distance?
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