12

The Chen Family Restaurant was still as crowded as ever. Fortunately, Song Yuan had called the owner, Uncle Chen, in advance to reserve a spot for them on the second floor.

Hu Hanghang and the others often came here, so they took the menu themselves and headed upstairs. They handled tasks like pouring water on their own.

After sitting down, Song Yuan handed the menu to Tao Jia. "Take a look and see if there's anything you want."

Tao Jia smiled, not taking the menu, and said gracefully, "No need, you all come here often. Just order what you like; I'm fine with anything."

"Alright, you don't have any dietary restrictions, do you?"

"No."

Song Yuan nodded, quickly ticking off a few commonly ordered dishes, and considering they had an extra person today, added a couple more stir-fried dishes.

After ordering, the four of them chatted idly at the table.

Hu Hanghang looked at Tao Jia and asked, "How come you suddenly switched from the liberal arts class to the science class? Did you choose the wrong track?"

"No." Tao Jia played with the water cup on the table. "I just felt that studying pure liberal arts was too exhausting. It's better to deal with numbers in science."

"You're definitely a top student," Xu Yichuan snapped his fingers. "We're just average students, so we don't really understand the difference between liberal arts and science."

Tao Jia smiled, "I'm not a top student. I took the final exams in the same exam room as you. Have you forgotten?"

"Right," Hu Hanghang continued, "Speaking of which, Lin Mei and Jiang Yan were also from the same exam room as us."

"Please, Jiang Yan and we are not the same. He missed the exam, so he ended up in the same exam room as us," Song Yuan kicked Hu Hanghang's chair. "Can you stop embellishing?"

Hu Hanghang raised his voice, "When did I embellish? I'm just trying to highlight the connection between us."

Tao Jia casually asked, "Since Jiang Yan has such good grades, why didn't he join the rocket class?"

"He didn't want to," Song Yuan poured another glass of water. "He thinks the atmosphere in the rocket class is too oppressive. It's more comfortable in an ordinary key class."

"Part of the reason is that some teachers don't want Jiang Yan in the rocket class. After all, the students there probably haven't even had a fight, let alone a real scuffle. If he went there, it would definitely cause trouble."

Tao Jia nodded. "I see."

Xu Yichuan added, "Don't be fooled by his seemingly careless attitude. That's because he's already completed the second-year courses. If Mr. Yu hadn't insisted, he might not even come to class."

"Really impressive."

"Of course. The rocket class students are just top students plus, but our Yan Ge is a god of learning."

While they were praising Jiang Yan, he was waiting outside the hallway, getting increasingly impatient as Lin Tiao still hadn't come out.

He pulled out his phone and called Lin Tiao. As soon as she answered, he shot out, "Are you eating in the bathroom?"

Lin Tiao, irritated by his sudden remark and having just gotten her period, snapped back, "You're the one eating in the bathroom! You spend all day in there!"

"…" Jiang Yan wiped his hair, suppressing his rising anger. "Then may I ask why you're still not coming out?"

There was silence on the other end for a moment.

Lin Tiao's voice lowered. "You're waiting for me?"

"Otherwise, who else am I waiting for?"

"…"

Seeing she wasn't speaking, Jiang Yan patiently asked again, "What are you doing in there? Are you coming out or not? If not, I'll leave."

"Wait a moment." Lin Tiao hesitated, then said, "I got my period. Can you… help me buy a pack of…?"

Lin Tiao's period came early, and she wasn't prepared. Originally, she planned to ask Meng Xin for help, but her phone wasn't connecting. With no other girls she was close to in class and no one else around, she was stuck in the bathroom.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yan called at this moment. After much hesitation, she made the request.

Though it was a bit embarrassing, she had no other options. Being embarrassed was better than staying in the bathroom.

There was no response on the line.

Thinking the call had dropped, Lin Tiao checked her phone and saw it was still connected. She quietly called out, "…Jiang Yan?"

He responded, "Mm."

"…" Lin Tiao didn't know what to say.

After a moment of silence, Jiang Yan spoke again, "I'll be there soon."

"Okay."

---

Jiang Yan returned ten minutes later. Lin Tiao received his call again, "How do I get the things to you?"

"Wait a minute." Lin Tiao hung up, quickly handled things, and went out.

Jiang Yan was standing at the door with a black bag. He glanced at her and then turned away, handing her the bag without saying a word.

Lin Tiao took it with a red face. "Thank you."

Jiang Yan mumbled an indifferent "Mm," and once she went back into the bathroom, he relaxed, standing in the corridor. After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly kicked the wall.

Damn!

So embarrassing!

Thinking about the stares he got at the small supermarket, Jiang Yan felt increasingly embarrassed and kicked the wall a few more times.

Ah—!

If it weren't for the inappropriate timing, he might have actually shouted.

He considered kicking the wall a few more times to vent his frustration but noticed Lin Tiao's figure by the ladies' room door. He stopped, turned back, and said calmly, "Let's go. Time to eat."

He said that and went downstairs by himself.

Lin Tiao sighed in relief and silently followed him.

They walked side by side. The autumn leaves on campus were already yellow, and a light breeze blew some off. Jiang Yan, now more composed, glanced at Lin Tiao, who had a slight blush on her cheeks and red ears.

Jiang Yan watched her for a few moments, and inexplicably began to smile, eventually laughing quietly.

Lin Tiao, walking beside him, only heard him make a sound and didn't dare to speak.

When they arrived at the dining area, Hu Hanghang and the others were starving. "Damn, are you trying to starve us to death?"

"How could we? If you died from starvation, you'd be worthless," Jiang Yan pulled out two empty chairs, sitting in one, and Lin Tiao sat down as well.

Jiang Yan picked up some ribs with chopsticks and put them in Hu Hanghang's bowl. "Eat more. I'll find you a better slaughterhouse later."

"Hey, don't speak so rudely," Hu Hanghang raised his hand holding the meat, hesitated for three seconds, then put it down. "Let's eat, everyone."

Everyone: "…"

They preferred spicy food, and the dishes they ordered were quite hot. Song Yuan specifically brought a bottle of juice and poured a glass for each person after they started eating.

When he got to Lin Tiao, Jiang Yan suddenly raised his hand to stop him. "Does the restaurant not have hot drinks?"

Lin Tiao's hand paused, and her eyelid twitched.

"There is corn juice, but it's not really hot drink weather yet," Song Yuan stopped, "Alright, I'll go ask."

Jiang Yan put down his chopsticks. "No need. I'll go myself."

Song Yuan watched him go downstairs and muttered, "Strange, he's usually the last person to drink corn juice. Why's he suddenly interested?"

He was talking to himself, and no one replied. Lin Tiao, however, heard him and puffed her cheeks before letting them out.

Jiang Yan quickly returned with freshly squeezed corn juice, poured himself a glass, and naturally poured one for Lin Tiao as well.

The others were too busy eating to notice.

The corn juice was warm, and Lin Tiao felt warmed up after drinking a glass. She placed the empty cup on the table, ready to get another.

At that moment, Jiang Yan, still talking to Song Yuan, suddenly reached out and refilled her cup.

He didn't look at Lin Tiao and continued chatting with Song Yuan, his lips curved, lazily leaning back in his chair.

Lin Tiao glanced at him and noticed the half-full cup of corn juice in front of him hadn't been touched, making her heart flutter a bit.

---

It was already very late after dinner, and the group rushed back to the classroom just as the class bell rang.

---

The first class in the afternoon was math with Mr. Yu.

Lin Tiao hadn't rested at noon and, added to the discomfort from her period, she was feeling quite unwell and slumped on her desk, looking a bit listless.

Mr. Yu was at the podium talking about the new lesson. "The knowledge of trigonometric functions is very broad, and the likelihood of it appearing in major exam questions is high. Although it has many knowledge points…"

Mr. Yu, although usually quite chatty, was even more verbose when lecturing.

A few hundred words of introduction took him more than ten minutes to cover.

Lin Tiao, listening, felt sleepy and yawned several times. Struggling to stay awake, she finally couldn't help it, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

Jiang Yan, who was looking for a power bank from Hu Hanghang while his phone battery died, noticed that his deskmate was already asleep.

The girl was lying with her head on the book, face down, sleeping soundly. Her curled lashes fluttered slightly, casting a shadow beneath her eyes.

Jiang Yan turned his head to watch her.

Jiang Yan turned his head to watch her. Suddenly, something hit his head. A small piece of chalk fell from his hair onto the desk.

He looked up and saw Mr. Yu standing at the podium, smiling at him. Before Jiang Yan could react, Mr. Yu spoke up first.

"Your deskmate is that good looking? I've been watching you for a while, and you've been staring at Lin Tiao for ages. What are you thinking, Jiang Yan?"