Jiang Nian opened his mouth, but in the end, he had nothing to say.

"Awesome."

After a minute, the big guy also came out, cradling a bowl of pickled pepper flavored noodles, a look of surprise on his face.

"Li Hua, are you a pig?"

"Chi Shi, Chi Shi!!" Li Hua opened up a bowl, "You all just don't understand, the basic principle of instant noodles."

"If there's a pickled flavor, you definitely choose the pickled one first. Rinse it with water then add seasoning, let it sit for three minutes."

Ma Guojun was speechless, "Then why don't you just buy another packet?"

"What do you know?" Li Hua smirked, "The essence is all in the bowl, changing to a new one has no soul."

"Idiot."

"Chi Shi!!"

At the side of the cafeteria, Xu Shuang came down from upstairs. Tired of doing exercises, she simply decided to go out for a walk and grab a carton of milk.

After all, having a key means you can go several times.

She was about to leave and casually glanced over to see three people huddled together, eating instant noodles on the tables and chairs outside the cafeteria.

Didn't think much of it until she saw Jiang Nian.

"Huh?"

Jiang Nian was happily eating instant noodles when suddenly he got elbowed.

"Are you doing a trade fair?"

"Hey, someone's coming over." Li Hua said in a low voice, then left with two bowls of pickled noodles.

Ma Guojun looked up and was immediately frightened.

"Damn, your mother! This is bad, Li Hua, that bastard, why didn't he call me! Wait for me!"

The big guy also left with his small bowl of noodles.

Jiang Nian: "???"

No, these byd bastards!

....

"Why did your friends leave?"

"Urgent need to pee."

Xu Shuang: "???"

"They just changed tables to eat, they're secretly peeking over here."

Hearing this, Jiang Nian was a bit helpless.

"They think there's something between us, just guessing wildly. Still too idle, nothing to do before the college entrance exam."

"Something... like what?" Xu Shuang stammered slightly.

"Hmm?"

"I... I mean, what do they misunderstand?" Xu Shuang said, feeling a little flushed.

But she didn't show it, looking calm on the surface.

"Uh, I don't know about them." Jiang Nian changed the topic, "By the way, why did you ditch self-study?"

Xu Shuang glanced at him, was silent for two seconds, and said.

"Went back to the dorm... to get some milk."

From a certain point of view, the two were still roommates. Just that one didn't go often, and one didn't sleep in bed.

"Is that so." Jiang Nian, seeing Xu Shuang watching him eat noodles, wondered if the young miss wanted a taste too.

"Are you hungry?"

He didn't directly ask whether to eat the noodles. After all, it's fried noodles; what if the other person doesn't actually like it.

"No." Xu Shuang shook her head.

Now Jiang Nian hesitated a bit, eating the noodles seemed inappropriate. Not eating would waste them, this thing costs five yuan a bowl.

Forget it, eat first, deal with it later.

Xu Shuang wasn't in a hurry, just watching. Her childhood wasn't filled with many experiences; in troubled times, her grandpa always held the sky up for her.

Since last year, storms have been brewing at home.

But thinking about it, it seems that all the tough times had a shadow that always stayed by her side.

Watching over her, seeing all her vulnerable sides.

At this moment.

In Building D of the repeat class building, Zhao Yiqiu placed a pen horizontally under her nose, puffing her upper lip to hold it in place.

Suddenly, she sneezed a few times in a row.

She took a tissue to wipe her nose, frowned, and said, "Why do I feel like there's a bad omen..."

At the cafeteria.

Li Hua finished a bowl of instant noodles, feeling a bit full. But still a little lacking, so he looked over there.

"Still not done talking?"

"Who knows." Ma Guojun's eyes were on Li Hua's noodles, "By the way, share half of your noodles with me."

"No."

"I'll give you two yuan."

"Three yuan."

"Get lost, you greedy beast." Ma Guojun cursed, thinking later he might spit a bit into it.

Not a penny spent, all his own.

Wonderful.

Li Hua didn't know his unopened noodles were being eyed, "What do you think they're talking about?"

"Who knows, probably whispering sweet nothings." Ma Guojun said, "Why aren't you making noodles?"

"Sweet nothings?" Li Hua ignored the last sentence from the big guy, "You say, why is Jiang Nian so bold."

"This is still school, what if the class monitor sees him."

"Are you his dad, worrying about this?" The big guy, eager for noodles, urged again.

"Go get some water, the boiling water will get cold soon."

"You can't say that, he's still my buddy." Li Hua frowned, thinking seriously, "And, after the college entrance exam. We'll probably still be together, what if Jiang Nian's blood splatters..."

Hearing this, the big guy was stunned too.

"Damn, that'd be terrifying. If dragged into this, we might all get wiped out."

Li Hua lowered his voice, chirping, "Even worse, we might have to kneel with Jiang Nian on the spot."

"Huh?" Ma Guojun was stunned, "We have to kneel too?"

Li Hua sighed, cryptically said.

"Hard to say."

"If it really comes to that, as a temporary measure. What if Jiang Nian begs us, wouldn't we all have to kneel in a row."

"Damn it, kneel on the street?" Ma Guojun thought of the scene, and his dignity of eighteen years was suddenly shaky.

.....

"What are you two mumbling about?"

"Hmm?"

Li Hua was startled, looking at Jiang Nian who had somehow appeared in front of him, he couldn't help but crane his neck.

"Where's your sweetheart?"

"Damn!" Jiang Nian almost lost it, "What are you talking about, she was just passing by."

Ma Guojun felt uneasy, sighed.

"I don't want to kneel."

Jiang Nian: "???"

What's in those noodles, it felt like these two big guys lost their minds, talking nonsense.

"Are you done yet, let's head back to the classroom."

The three gazes fell on the last bowl of noodles, eventually deciding to split it into three servings.

Back in the classroom, the atmosphere was relaxed.

Most people were writing or flipping through books, while some were chatting. The vibe was laid-back, almost not like there was a college entrance exam coming.

Jiang Nian and his group smoothly returned to their seats, some glanced over, then quickly looked away.

After the night self-study session ended.

Zhou Yuting was pulled away by Yu Zhiyi, and after hearing all of her words, she couldn't help but pause.

"Huh?"

"You want to...?"

"No, no, just curious." Yu Zhiyi blushed, "The night after the college entrance exam, I'm going home."

"Oh, oh." Zhou Yuting nodded, thinking to herself that it wasn't... well, related to her.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Speaking of which, she hadn't been happy this past year since moving up a class. Studied hard for a year, never reached six hundred points.

Originally planned to repair her relationship with Jiang Nian, but never found the opportunity, it probably needed to be postponed.

Sigh.

"What's... wrong with you?" Yu Zhiyi noticed her zoning out and couldn't help but ask softly.

Zhou Yuting snapped back to reality.

"Nothing, just tired from doing exercises."

Yu Zhiyi didn't suspect anything else, after all Zhou Yuting was indeed diligent. Nearly every day she was writing exercises, doing test papers.

Like she was driven, frantically pushing herself.

"Take more breaks."

"Yeah." Zhou Yuting waved her off, "Jiang Nian... come over, let me tell you."

Yu Zhiyi was mildly surprised, leaned in to listen. After a while, her eyes widened in disbelief.

"Really?"

"Believe it or not." Zhou Yuting waved her hand, ready to leave, "Besides, we'll all graduate by then."

She didn't say the rest.

Going separate ways, just leaving a memory. Really, after a year of university, probably forgotten most of it.

Thinking about college, she got annoyed.

Will she really need a repeat year?

Yu Zhiyi was left standing, didn't even notice when Zhou Yuting left. Only returned to her senses and found no one around.

The bell rang again, and her heart skipped.

"Damn, class started!"

She hurried into the classroom, the corridor returning to silence. Until near the end of class, when the crowd surged again.

The lights brightened and dimmed, the teaching building closed its eyes in the night.

In the deep night.

Knock, knock, knock, a knocking sound echoed.

In the pitch black corridor, the open door revealed a large swath of orange light, illuminating Jiang Nian's face.

"Did you sleep yet?"