Buying snacks didn’t take much time. It was just that, with a fairly large delivery box in her arms, stuffing all those snacks into her pockets became a bit difficult. In any case, Shu Yuxin felt like she looked pretty stupid walking down the road.

Luckily, there were fewer and fewer people on this small path. She was quite glad she had chosen to pick up the package after mealtime.

What surprised her slightly was that the little dog was actually waiting obediently in the same place. It paced back and forth near the corn sausage wrapper, its gaze occasionally landing on the packaging. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single bit of sausage left on it.

When it saw Shu Yuxin come back, the dog froze for a moment, then wagged its tail and trotted over.

Shu Yuxin stopped at the spot where she had fed it earlier, slowly squatted down, placed all the snacks she had bought onto the delivery box she was holding, then tore open the packages one by one and put them on the ground.

The little dog came closer, sniffed the snacks on the ground, and began to eat cautiously.

The way it buried its head while eating was very cute. Shu Yuxin reached out, originally wanting to pat its head, but when she saw its fur completely soaked, she hesitated. She didn’t want to dirty her hands—there was nowhere nearby to wash them, and having dirty hands would feel awful.

In the end, she withdrew her hand and quietly watched it eat.

The rain grew heavier again. Raindrops splashed onto the dog’s wagging tail, and a few were flicked onto Shu Yuxin’s pants. The dog was completely unaware, still excitedly eating the food on the ground.

Shu Yuxin looked ahead. Noticing the heavier rain, she slowly stood up and hugged the delivery box in her arms more tightly.

The single-person umbrella she was holding was very small. If the rain got too heavy, it wouldn’t be enough to cover everything. Getting herself wet didn’t matter, but the important thing was that the delivery box contained her newly bought mouse. If something happened to that, it would be a huge loss.

Looking at the little dog on the ground, she hesitated for a while, then decided to head back early. She felt a lot of sympathy for the dog, but sympathy was all she could offer.

Letting out a soft sigh, Shu Yuxin turned to leave. However, after taking just one step, she suddenly stopped.

On the gravel path not far away, a male student was standing there, watching her.

He was holding a black umbrella, wearing a disposable mask, and dressed very neatly and politely, giving off a comfortable impression.

But being stared at by him at the same time didn’t exactly feel comfortable.

Shu Yuxin didn’t know this person, had never even seen him before. Whenever she was stared at by a stranger without knowing why, she would inexplicably feel nervous.

On his left arm was a red armband. Because of the angle, Shu Yuxin couldn’t see what was written on it, but judging from her experience, he was probably from the student union—there weren’t many other possibilities. In a university, someone wearing an armband certainly wouldn’t be from the neighborhood committee, right?

Shu Yuxin didn’t know much about the student union at Nanhu College. To be precise, she didn’t know much about student unions at all. The only way she had ever learned about them was through campus-themed Japanese comics. Not only were they from a different country, but more importantly, those were high school student councils. They definitely had nothing to do with Chinese university student unions. In short, her understanding of student unions basically amounted to one rumor she had once heard: “University student unions are pretty much like society—mostly full of intrigue and power struggles.”

She didn’t know whether that statement was true, nor what level of “intrigue and power struggles” it referred to. Whenever she heard that phrase, images of ancient palace dramas would pop into her head. But perhaps because of that first impression, she didn’t have a very good image of the student union as an organization.

So now, seeing a student union member staring at her without blinking, her first reaction was that she must have done something wrong.

Could it be that the school didn’t allow feeding stray dogs? That didn’t seem right. During military training, she often saw people throwing food to stray cats and dogs. Besides, plenty of people secretly kept pets in their dorms. Compared to that, what she was doing now didn’t seem over the line.

Shu Yuxin lowered her head in confusion and glanced at the little dog by her feet.

Then it suddenly dawned on her—

Good thing she had bought so many snacks. Now the ground was covered in trash.

The boy was still staring at her, making her feel a bit uneasy.

Damn it, they were already university students. Was tossing a bit of trash really such a big deal? She was doing a good deed!

The boy kept staring.

Shu Yuxin pouted, clamped the delivery box under her arm, then squatted down and, with her free left hand, messily picked up the pile of wrappers on the ground. Many of the packages had already been chewed up by the dog and were mixed with rainwater, saliva, dead leaves, and so on. When she grabbed them all at once, the texture made her feel very uncomfortable.

Damn it. She had just been thinking about not getting her hands dirty.

That jerk.

After picking up the trash and standing up, Shu Yuxin shot him an indignant glare.

Unfortunately, the hazy effect created by the rain meant the other person didn’t see that displeased little look.

The two of them stared at each other like that for another half a minute. Finally, the boy nodded, turned around, and left, heading toward the small street.

“Just throwing away some trash and it’s this much trouble. You really think this is still high school?” she muttered unhappily, then lowered her head to look at the little dog by her feet.

While she was cleaning up the trash, the dog had already finished all the snacks. It seemed to know that Shu Yuxin was about to leave—and along with her would go the small shelter from the rain beneath that single-person umbrella. The rain was still getting heavier. The dog lingered by Shu Yuxin’s feet for a moment, then, as if saying goodbye, let out a soft bark and ran off into the rain.

The direction it ran toward was the farthest corner of the wasteland, where some bamboo was planted. The shelter from the rain there wasn’t very good, but at least it was better than the thin trees with arm-thick trunks.

Shu Yuxin stood where she was, watching the little dog run into that small patch of bamboo and disappear, before slowly turning around and leaving.

Only two or three students remained on the path. The student union guy from before was still in the small street and hadn’t come out. Shu Yuxin didn’t linger either. After casually finding a trash can and throwing away the garbage in her hand, she headed straight back to Wei Ya Er Si.

A few days ago, Jiang Zixuan had already made a spare set of keys to the Wei Ya Er Si rental for her. He seemed to have classes this afternoon, so there should be no one in the apartment right now.

After finally reaching the door, the suddenly intensified rain had already soaked her pant legs. The feeling of wet fabric clinging to her skin was very uncomfortable. She casually tossed the umbrella aside, took out her keys, and was about to open the door and go in to change her pants.

However, as soon as she opened the door, she realized the place wasn’t empty.

On the living room sofa, Peng Xiaoxiao and Yan Zhikai were sitting together playing on the PS. The game on the TV screen was a very famous fighting game. The two were locked in an intense battle and hadn’t even noticed Shu Yuxin entering.

“Hey! Wait! We agreed you’re not allowed to use that cheap combo!” Peng Xiaoxiao was clearly at a disadvantage. While frantically controlling her character, she couldn’t help but shout.

Yan Zhikai scoffed. “Oh please. If I don’t use this combo, am I supposed to just let you pin me to the ground and rub my face in it?”

“Wah! How can you bring yourself to beat up such a cute Marie Rose?!”

“Eh~ sorry, I’m into mature ladies.”

As he finished speaking, Yan Zhikai unleashed a very flashy combo, slamming Peng Xiaoxiao’s character into the ground and scoring a KO.

“Ah—! I’m done playing! I can’t win, I can’t win!” Peng Xiaoxiao slumped back against the sofa in frustration and tossed the controller aside.

Yan Zhikai also put down his controller and smiled in what he thought was a dashing manner. “Come on, I used to practice combos in this game for half a month straight, okay? If I got taken out by you that easily, wouldn’t that be a huge blow to my pride?”

Shu Yuxin stood off to the side for a while. Seeing that they still hadn’t noticed her, she couldn’t help but clear her throat softly. “Ahem, so why are you in my place?”

Only then did Peng Xiaoxiao and Yan Zhikai notice Shu Yuxin. The former immediately jumped up excitedly. “Wahaha! Shu Yuxin! So it’s true—you and Jiang Zixuan really live together!”

“…Didn’t I tell you before?”

“Haha, seeing is believing!” Peng Xiaoxiao was still cheerful, though it wasn’t clear what exactly she was so happy about.

In contrast, Yan Zhikai looked like he’d seen a ghost. “What?! You live together with Jiang Zixuan?! Holy crap?!”

Shu Yuxin put the delivery box down on the nearby table, looking a bit confused herself. “So how did you get here?”

“I brought them,” Jiang Zixuan said with a smile as the bathroom door suddenly opened and he walked out. “They said they wanted to come hang out, so I brought them over.”

Yan Zhikai’s expression had gone from seeing a ghost to being seen by a ghost. He had indeed guessed that the two of them were quite close, maybe even at the level of opposite-sex best friends, but he really hadn’t imagined that they were actually living together.

Damn.

Shu Yuxin didn’t notice Yan Zhikai’s expression. She stared at Jiang Zixuan for a moment and asked, “Didn’t you have class this afternoon?”

“Yeah,” Jiang Zixuan said with a grin. “I skipped it.”

“You skipped class?!” Now it was Shu Yuxin’s turn to look like she’d seen a ghost.

The semester had just started! They were only first-years! How could this guy say something like skipping class with such a casual, everyday expression?!

“Hah, what’s with that look?” Jiang Zixuan laughed at her reaction. “It’s just a Marxism class. Skipping it doesn’t matter.”

Shu Yuxin twitched at the corner of her mouth. “Just wait to die.”

“I’m waiting to die every second of every day,” Jiang Zixuan shrugged.

Shu Yuxin: “…”

“Hey, that was a good line. Very much my style,” Yan Zhikai said, running a hand through his hair as he pushed himself up from the sofa. “Old Jiang, I’m heading out in a bit. Tonight’s the final all-out review—last make-up exam tomorrow. I came over this time mainly to ask you guys—any plans for National Day? If you’re free, let’s go out and have fun for a couple of days. I’ll pay.”