The next day at the library, Shen Nianjing arrived earlier than Su Zhiyan.
“Have you eaten breakfast?” He pulled out two bags of bread and a carton of strawberry milk from his bag. “I have extra that I can’t finish.”
Su Zhiyan’s gaze swept lightly over the completely unwrinkled brand new packaging of the breakfast before landing on Shen Nianjing’s grinning face.
“Pretty energetic this early in the morning.” He put down his backpack and sat down by the window. He picked up the strawberry milk and stabbed the straw in. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Shen Nianjing smiled, leaning slightly closer as he clicked his mouse, sending Su Zhiyan the prepared study materials.
After seeing that all the PDFs had been received, he glanced up at Su Zhiyan who was quietly drinking his milk, then cleared his throat softly.
“Your profile picture is quite cute.” His eyes crinkled as he peeked sideways at him.
“Mm.” Su Zhiyan held his mouse, calmly browsing through the materials.
Shen Nianjing: “…”
What kind of reaction was that?
“Did a junior from the College of Arts draw it for you, or did you commission it yourself? It’s pretty well done.” He pressed on.
Su Zhiyan put down the empty milk carton, not even bothering to lift his eyelids. “It’s alright, nothing special.”
Shen Nianjing: “…”
Shen Nianjing: “Can’t you say a bit more?”
Only then did Su Zhiyan turn his head, wearing an expression that said “what are you talking about, I don’t understand” and went “Huh?”
“Nothing.” Shen Nianjing gave up and turned to look at the screen.
He really shouldn’t expect any interesting stories from Su Zhiyan, nor should he imagine ever teasing him like that.
It’s fine, he was going to his house in the afternoon anyway.
And little sister Xiao Yao would be there!
The two of them spent the whole morning looking through competition resources and systematically organizing knowledge modules. When it was almost noon, Su Zhiyan rubbed his stomach.
He’d only had a carton of milk for breakfast, and now he was a bit hungry.
Shen Nianjing caught this from the corner of his eye, chuckled softly, and held out the two bags of bread to him again.
“One is a strawberry mochi bagel, the other is a strawberry ice bread, from that shop on North Street. Everyone says they’re delicious.”
Su Zhiyan looked surprised, “They’re all strawberry?”
“Yep!” Shen Nianjing nodded.
Su Zhiyan took one of the bags, “I never heard that you liked strawberry.”
Shen Nianjing glanced at him.
Su Zhiyan tore open the packaging with both hands, taking a small bite as he smiled. The strawberry cream and jam oozed out slightly before he quickly licked it away.
He seemed to be enjoying it.
Shen Nianjing averted his gaze and saved the document they’d just been working on.
“Thanks, but don’t buy any next time. I’ll eat proper meals,” Su Zhiyan said as he cleaned up the wrapper.
“Was it not good?” Shen Nianjing frowned.
“…” Su Zhiyan shook his head, “It was good, but why did you buy it for me?”
“Is this some kind of teammate benefit or something?”
As if. Shen Nianjing thought to himself, Lao Qi and the others never got this treatment.
?
Shen Nianjing stared at Su Zhiyan.
So why did he get this special treatment?
“Eat it or don’t, whatever,” he finally said.
Su Zhiyan gave him a speechless look, not understanding why this person suddenly started acting weird.
“Let’s go eat,” he stood up, patting Shen Nianjing’s shoulder as a signal to leave. “I’m starving, two pieces of bread aren’t enough.”
“What a big appetite.” Shen Nianjing muttered, getting up with a smirk and humming as they walked out.
During the holiday break, there were far fewer people on the campus shopping street than usual, and some shops had even posted closure notices while students were away.
They walked from one end of the street to the other without finding anything they wanted to eat.
Shen Nianjing sipped his taro bubble tea, “Should we just go to the cafeteria?”
“Sure.”
They turned back toward the cafeteria, and before they even got their food, their WeChat step count was approaching five thousand.
Shen Nianjing went to get food while Su Zhiyan looked around for seats, finally settling down in a corner by the window.
“Su-ge, you’re not going home for the break?”
They hadn’t been sitting long when a familiar face appeared.
Su Zhiyan looked up to see a friend from his major. They used to work together often in the student council, but his personality wasn’t the type Su Zhiyan would choose to be friends with, so they gradually grew distant.
“No.” He replied.
“Is anyone sitting here?” Fang Yu sat down across from him without waiting for an answer. “Probably not, right?”
Su Zhiyan smiled slightly, “Yes, there is.”
“Never seen you eat with anyone in the cafeteria before. Who is it?” Fang Yu’s eyes lit up.
“There are so many cafeterias on campus. How would you know who I’ve eaten with?” Su Zhiyan countered.
“Uh,” Fang Yu obviously didn’t expect Su Zhiyan to snap back at him, “I just meant I don’t often see you…”
“I heard you went to another competition a few days ago. How was it? Must have been fun, right?” He changed the subject.
Su Zhiyan frowned, feeling there was some hidden meaning behind those words.
“Of course it was fun, since I’ll be winning another award.”
“You’re still the same as ever.” Fang Yu laughed loudly.
Su Zhiyan was getting impatient. “If you’re done laughing, you should leave. My friend will be back soon.”
“Really? Let me see.”
Fang Yu started looking around in all directions, without lifting his butt even slightly from the chair.
Su Zhiyan’s face darkened. Just as he was considering whether to change seats or request again for Fang Yu to leave, he heard an “eh” from across the table.
He looked up to see, sure enough, Shen Nianjing walking over with his food tray, confusion written all over his face showing he clearly didn’t understand why there was suddenly someone in his seat.
“Are you Shen Nianjing? The other top student from our department?” Fang Yu asked eagerly. “I’m Fang Yu. Our class schedules don’t overlap, so you probably haven’t seen me before.”
“Oh.” Shen Nianjing put down his tray and sat next to Su Zhiyan. “Hello.”
“Are you two that close? You’re even eating together during the break. I remember you’re a day student, right?”
“Yeah.” Shen Nianjing gave an awkward laugh.
Su Zhiyan watched coldly as Fang Yu continued chattering.
This person was like the department’s, or rather the school’s, “know-it-all.” In his freshman year, he was behind the campus anonymous confession page, holding onto lots of gossip others didn’t know about. He had shown off his “gossip archive” to Su Zhiyan several times, and even though he knew Su Zhiyan wasn’t interested in any of it and didn’t want to talk to him, he still approached whenever he saw him.
Just like now, asking questions without any sense of personal boundaries.
“I heard you took a gap year before. Why was that?” Fang Yu wouldn’t let go of Shen Nianjing, pestering him with questions. “Were you sick?”
“No.” Shen Nianjing arranged his food from the tray and handed a pair of chopsticks to Su Zhiyan.
“Then why did you become a day student when you came back? And why come to school during break? Is it to find Su Zhiyan—”
“Are you done asking questions?” Su Zhiyan cut him off.
“We’re about to eat.”
Fang Yu’s smile froze on his face, intimidated by Su Zhiyan’s sharp gaze. “Are you that unwelcoming, Mr. Handsome Su?”
“Only people worth welcoming get welcomed.” Su Zhiyan couldn’t be bothered to say more. “Have I ever welcomed you once in these two years?”
“Stop embarrassing yourself.”[mfn]”上赶着犯贱” (shàng gǎnzhe fànjiàn) roughly means “eagerly making a fool of oneself” or “actively seeking humiliation.” It implies someone is shamelessly inserting themselves where they aren’t wanted, despite clear disinterest or rejection.[/mfn]
With that, he took a bite of food with his rice, not sparing Fang Yu another glance.
“…”
Shen Nianjing’s eyes lit up, silently giving Su Zhiyan a thumbs up under the table, then flipped Fang Yu the middle finger.
Fang Yu left.
“That was awesome, Mr. Handsome Su!” Shen Nianjing gaped in awe, raising his thumb properly now. “So this is what you’re really like when you don’t hold back. I underestimated you.”
Su Zhiyan chuckled softly.
What a nutjob.
“When have I ever not held back?” he turned to ask, considering he didn’t even directly chase Fang Yu away at first.
Shen Nianjing smiled and let out a smug “hmph.” “Want to guess?”
“Say it or don’t, whatever.” Su Zhiyan tossed his own earlier words back at him.
“Who was that guy anyway? Do you have beef with him?” Shen Nianjing asked.
“An idiot.” Su Zhiyan answered.
Shen Nianjing: “…” Was that aimed at me or him?
With the annoying person gone, the food tasted even better. Su Zhiyan ate a big bowl of rice, drank an entire cup of milk tea, and felt completely satisfied.
A few days later, a title appeared in a corner of the campus forum.
[Breaking News | Two Famous Male Top Students from a Certain Department Suspected of Messing Around]
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