Chapter 21: Delete Me as a Friend

"Old Jiang, let's go pick up our admission letters! Together!"

The day after returning from the bar, Jiang Qin had just rolled out of bed when he received a QQ message from Guo Zihang.

He couldn't help but glance at the calendar on the wall. Sure enough, today was the day to pick up admission letters. But with Guo Zihang's grades, he'd barely scrape into a second-tier university—his letter shouldn't have arrived this fast, right?

"Your admission letter came too?"

"Nope, I'm just tagging along with you!"

"It's not even yours. Why are you so excited?"

"You said after getting the letters, you'd take me to a foot massage place!"

Jiang Qin spat at his phone, thinking, Is this the ambition of today's college students? Obsessed with foot massages all day? He tossed the phone aside, got up, washed up, changed, and headed out. By the time he reached the post office, Guo Zihang was already waiting at the entrance.

"Godfather, your admission letter's on the third shelf, top row, fifth from the left!"

"How do you know?"

"I already checked for you! If the staff hadn't stopped me, I'd have grabbed it myself."

"You're really pulling out all the stops for a foot massage, huh?"

Jiang Qin was floored by Guo Zihang's dedication. If this guy had been half as motivated in school, he could've had his pick of Tsinghua or Peking University.

Guo Zihang grinned sheepishly without explaining, trailing behind Jiang Qin like a loyal lackey as they entered the post office.

Admission letters were important documents. While there wasn't a strict rule requiring the recipient to pick them up in person, even a proxy needed to present the recipient's ID.

Jiang Qin found his letter on the top of the third shelf, then rummaged a bit more and pulled out another package.

"Bro Jiang, why do you have two admission letters?"

"The other one's Feng Nanshu's."

"No way, you need her ID to pick it up if it's not yours."

Jiang Qin didn't respond. He pulled two IDs from his pocket and handed them to the clerk—one his, the other Feng Nanshu's.

Seeing this, Guo Zihang's eyes widened like saucers. Holding her ID too? And he still calls them just friends?

"Bro Jiang, which university did Goddess Feng apply to?"

"Same as me—Linchuan."

"She told you?"

"Nah, I guessed."

Guo Zihang was about to press further when his peripheral vision caught a familiar figure.

She wore a denim mini-skirt and a neat ponytail—none other than Chu Siqi, the class beauty of Senior Year 3, Class 2.

"Jiang Qin, long time no see."

Jiang Qin nodded slightly. "Long time no see."

Chu Siqi bit her lip. "You applied to Linchuan University too? I'm in the Law Department. You?"

"Who told you I applied to Linchuan?"

"Wang Huiru. But don't get the wrong idea—I didn't pry on purpose. It just came up in passing yesterday."

Jiang Qin gave a small smile and stepped out of the post office.

He didn't care much about what Chu Siqi said, only responding out of politeness. As for being at the same school, it didn't matter—the Finance School was at the main campus, while Law was at the East Campus. Unless they specifically planned to meet, they'd hardly cross paths.

But seeing Jiang Qin walk off, Chu Siqi panicked.

She'd actually arrived earlier, sitting at the milk tea shop across the street. The moment she spotted Jiang Qin, she'd bolted over. All that effort just to say a few words to him.

Aren't you mad at me?

Isn't it enough that I'm talking to you first?

But she hadn't expected Jiang Qin to be so cold, leaving without a second thought.

So what if you've got three hundred thousand? You liked me, not the other way around. I'm giving you a way out, and you won't take it!

"Jiang Qin, are you really planning to treat me like a stranger?"

"Yeah, didn't I already make that clear?"

Chu Siqi clenched her teeth, fuming. "Fine, then tell me—why did you apply to the same university as me?"

Jiang Qin paused, suddenly recalling something he'd forgotten.

Right—before the college entrance exam, back when he hadn't reborn yet, his teenage self had asked Chu Siqi which university she wanted to attend. She'd said Linchuan University because her dad graduated from there.

After being reborn, he'd let a lot of details slip. He only remembered Linchuan as a familiar city, completely forgetting he'd originally chosen it for Chu Siqi.

Holy crap, isn't that just a damn cosmic coincidence?

"Me going to Linchuan has nothing to do with you."

"Heh, with your grades, you could've gone to the capital, right? But you picked Linchuan because you knew I'd be there!"

Jiang Qin sighed and turned to face Chu Siqi. "The capital's too far. I didn't want to be that far from home. Linchuan's a good choice."

Tears welled in Chu Siqi's eyes, her lips red from biting them. "Then let's never talk again. Delete me—right now, in front of me, delete me from your QQ!"

"…"

"What's wrong? Why the silence? Scared now?" Chu Siqi spat, her chest heaving with anger.

Jiang Qin pulled out his phone, glancing sheepishly at Guo Zihang. "Old Guo, how do you delete a friend on the 2008 QQ version?"

Guo Zihang stared at him like he was an idiot. "Godfather, you don't even know that?"

"I really don't. Help me out."

"Watch me!"

So Guo Zihang took Jiang Qin's phone and deleted Chu Siqi right there in front of her.

At that, Chu Siqi burst into tears, cursing Guo Zihang as a jerk while sobbing and running off—forgetting her admission letter entirely.

Guo Zihang, now the scolded one, was dumbfounded. What's this got to do with me? I just provided tech support!

Then he snapped his head up, glaring at Jiang Qin. Godfather, you're ruthless—shifting the blame onto me while playing the good guy?

But Jiang Qin felt wronged too—he genuinely didn't know how to use this old QQ version!

"Old Jiang, if you don't treat me to the foot massage place today, I'll never forgive you!"

"Fine, I'll treat you till your skin peels off!"

Jiang Qin hopped on his bike, pedaling Guo Zihang to Xinghai Road and up the grand steps of Shuiyunjian.

But before entering, Jiang Qin paused, giving Guo Zihang a rundown of the rules and some industry slang to avoid embarrassment inside.

Guo Zihang listened, his face turning red, eyes darting nervously. In the end, he refused to go in, yanking his collar up like a thief hiding his face.

"What the hell? Weren't you dying to go?"

"Bro, I thought it was just foot massages!"

"So?"

"I'm not going in—let's head back!"

"Useless. You'll never amount to anything."

Guo Zihang sulked, glancing down at his feet.

He'd genuinely thought it was just a place for foot massages—different from home only because cute girls did the work. He'd even scrubbed his feet with soap three times before leaving, worried they'd think he stank. Who'd have guessed a "foot massage place" wasn't about feet at all?