Jing Xiao: Is this your hair tie?
Jing Xiao: [Image]
When Meng Xiyao emerged from her shower, she found two messages on the blank chat interface.
The time stamp indicated ten minutes prior.
Meng Xiyao dried her hair and casually opened the photo.
Although it was taken casually, making the image slightly blurry.
She could tell it was her hair tie.
She had intentionally put it in his pocket when buying bubble tea.
As for his contact information, she used the pretense of caring about Lu Youran to get his WeChat ID.
Meng Xiyao patiently blew her hair dry.
Once finished, she zoomed in on the image.
She examined it carefully, inch by inch.
Finally, she found a clue in a corner of the photo.
It was an accidental shot of a figurine from an obscure anime.
Meng Xiyao immediately grabbed her laptop and watched the anime at double speed.
She occasionally made notes on her phone.
On the other side.
Lu Youran and her two friends had finished their shopping and were walking back to the dorm, chatting and laughing.
As they passed the basketball court, they were drawn in by the surging crowd.
"What's going on? Is there a celebrity here?"
Lu Youran's gossip radar instantly went off.
"Shall we go take a look?"
Though it was a question, she was already pulling the two of them towards the crowd.
Wen Tingxue and Jiao Yutong weren't fond of crowds.
But being dragged by Lu Youran, they had no opportunity to refuse.
Once they found stable footing, the three of them had reached the front row.
It turned out to be a group of boys playing basketball.
Whether their skills were good or not was debatable, but they were undeniably handsome.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have attracted so many girls.
Especially the most eye-catching one, dressed in a white jersey. Whether dribbling or shooting, every movement exuded fluid coolness.
Under the dim light, even without seeing his face clearly, one would feel he was incredibly handsome.
The atmosphere was perfectly captured.
In a flash, the young man faked a shot, evading the opponent's attempt to steal the ball.
Then, he leaped, and his powerfully built arm steadily released the ball.
The crowd instantly held its breath, their gazes unconsciously following the ball's trajectory.
The young man, however, seemed unconcerned. After shooting, he lowered his eyes, as if certain it would be a score.
Indeed, a loud clang echoed as the ball hit the rim.
A three-pointer.
"Wow—!"
The girls watching from the side immediately erupted in adoring screams.
Their voices seemed to pierce the clouds.
It was at this moment that Lu Youran suddenly remembered.
"Ah! He's that freshman campus heartthrob, just like you were.
"As soon as his photo came out, it exploded on the confession wall, what was his name… Tang something…"
While Lu Youran was rubbing her forehead trying to recall, Jiao Yutong calmly uttered the name.
"Tang Mobai."
"Ah, right! Tang Mobai!"
After saying that, Lu Youran's eyes widened in surprise. "Tongtong, you actually follow handsome guys? I thought you only cared about your studies."
Jiao Yutong smiled faintly. "No, he just happened to be my neighbor before."
"Neighbor?!"
Lu Youran's interest immediately piqued, her eyes shining as she asked:
"Was he a childhood neighbor?"
"Kind of," Jiao Yutong lowered her gaze, a hint of sadness flashing in her eyes. "He only moved away when I started high school."
"Then you're childhood sweethearts? Just like me and Xiao Xiao."
Lu Youran immediately pressed on, gossiping, "Are you still in touch? Does he know you're at this school?"
Jiao Yutong shook her head with a gentle smile. "We were childhood sweethearts, but he doesn't remember me."
And, perhaps… he didn't even recognize her anymore.
"How could that be?" Lu Youran didn't believe it. "Childhood sweethearts, he shouldn't forget you no matter what."
The second before her words fell, Tang Mobai, who had just shot another ball, glanced in their direction.
His gaze landed precisely on Jiao Yutong.
However, Jiao Yutong had her head down, and Wen Tingxue and Lu Youran were too busy gossiping. None of them noticed.
The next day, Emperor Capital University officially opened.
It was nine in the morning.
Wen Tingxue and Xu Kexin finished their morning routines and began moving their luggage downstairs.
Although they didn't have much, it still took the two girls a bit of time.
Lu Youran, seeing this, offered to help and managed to get everything done in one trip.
While waiting for the car, Lu Youran rubbed her eyes, yawning and complaining.
"I'm really impressed. Don't you think she's not tired at all? She made me sleep at three in the morning!"
Wen Tingxue, still groggy, replied, "Me too, about the same."
Last night, Meng Xiyao had been live-streaming and playing games.
There was nothing they could do.
It would only help for a short while at best.
After that, things would go back to how they were.
The key was that she was using a high-pitched, childish voice when acting cute, which was impossible to ignore.
"I think I need to buy some earplugs."
Wen Tingxue had a feeling that such situations would become more frequent.
Lu Youran looked at her pleadingly. "Can you get me a pair too? I'm too tired to move today."
Wen Tingxue nodded. "Okay."
As soon as she finished speaking, two cars, one after the other, stopped in front of the three of them.
Xu Kexin's expression froze, then she turned back.
"Didn't you tell your senior Song?"
She lowered her voice, and Wen Tingxue couldn't quite hear her.
Just as she was about to ask, the doors of both cars opened.
Two equally distinguished and elegant young men stepped out.
Wen Tingxue felt a bolt of lightning strike her from the sky.
It landed squarely on her head.
Who could tell her what was going on?!
Wasn't Song You very busy?
How could he appear at the same time as Yu Wenli?!!!
Just then, another car pulled up in front of the three of them.
Leave of absence: I'm experiencing writer's block and can't produce anything.
This is because I only outlined the high school period, and I haven't had time to outline the university and entertainment industry arcs yet.
Therefore, after posting this chapter, I plan to work on the outlines first.
Tomorrow's update might be delayed, or it might not be updated at all.
I apologize in advance.
My updates have been quite erratic lately.
However, once the outlines are clear, I promise to maintain stable updates. [Meaning, every day at midnight].
Apologies again, I hope all my dear readers can understand.