An otherwise ordinary dinner became a bit more interesting after Peng Xiaoxiao joined in.

Although, thanks to Shu Yuxin’s efforts, Peng Xiaoxiao didn’t actually take part in the cooking, even her purely verbal participation was enough to give Shu Yuxin a headache.

Shu Yuxin had always thought that homebody girls didn’t have much of a gossiping streak, but judging from the outcome, she was simply too young. If Jiang Zixuan hadn’t promptly diverted Peng Xiaoxiao’s attention from the matter at hand to video games, she might have gone as far as asking whether Shu Yuxin had become Jiang Zixuan’s cook because she’d sold herself to him.

In any case, Peng Xiaoxiao now knew that Shu Yuxin had become Jiang Zixuan’s cook.

This meal was a painful ordeal for Shu Yuxin.

The most direct manifestation of that was that even her best dish—stir-fried potato slices—almost got burned.

The dinner itself wasn’t lavish. Aside from the potato slices, there was a bowl of shredded pork with green peppers, and a plate of chicken wings that were just a bit over-grilled. Peng Xiaoxiao, however, ate with great enjoyment. She wasn’t someone who cared much about the taste of food; compared to that, she valued the atmosphere at the table more. This dinner reminded her of scenes of eating at home with her brothers and sisters, so she was quite satisfied.

After dinner, Shu Yuxin remained sitting at the dining table in a daze until Peng Xiaoxiao left.

Jiang Zixuan was still sitting across from her. He played with his phone for a while, then looked up and saw her staring motionlessly at the empty bowl on the table. He couldn’t help laughing. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve just entered nirvana.”

Shu Yuxin snapped out of her daze, glanced at Jiang Zixuan, and tugged at the corner of her mouth. “What the hell is wrong with me—don’t you have any damn idea?”

“It’s just cooking a meal.”

“Just cooking a meal… easy for you to say,” Shu Yuxin turned her gaze away. “I’m so damn miserable.”

Hearing that, Jiang Zixuan shot her a surprised glance.

Noticing his look, Shu Yuxin paused, suddenly stood up from her chair, and snapped in embarrassment and anger, “Fine! My damn boobs hurt, okay?!”

With that, she walked around the dining table toward the bedroom. “Damn it! I’m going to take a shower!”

“Aren’t you washing the dishes?” Jiang Zixuan asked.

“Leave them! I’ll wash them tomorrow!” Shu Yuxin didn’t even turn her head back.

Jiang Zixuan watched her back disappear behind the door, then silently chuckled and stood up to start clearing the table.

He was now wondering whether his joke had gone a bit too far.

Even though he and Shu Yuxin were close friends who talked about almost everything, it was impossible for them to understand each other completely. For example, at this very moment, Jiang Zixuan—who could both hold his own in public and cook in the kitchen—would never understand just how much face Shu Yuxin felt she had lost because of the decision she’d just made.

Over the next few days, everything went on as usual, peaceful and uneventful.

Peng Xiaoxiao, having discovered a new “continent,” didn’t spread the matter everywhere. She only teased Shu Yuxin about it from time to time when no outsiders were around, which at least let Shu Yuxin retain a bit of dignity. Club president Yan Zhikai also finished all three of his make-up exams. Although no one knew how he actually did, judging from his relieved expression, it was easy to guess that he’d performed quite well—of course, no one cared whether that was due to studying or cheating. The atmosphere in the club activity room remained as harmonious and cheerful as ever. Although not many people usually came to the activity room, its lively vibe was its biggest advantage. After spending these few days together, even though they still weren’t particularly close, Shu Yuxin could at least fluently call everyone by name now. That was a good thing—it meant that our female lead had taken her first step on the road of making friends.

Time always passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, the students welcomed the eight-day National Day mini holiday.

For upperclassmen in university, this short holiday might not have been anything special, but for first-year students who had suffered through three years of high school, this eight-day National Day break was practically a symbol of paradise. Leaving other majors aside, just from what Shu Yuxin observed, on the afternoon of the day before the holiday, at least half the students skipped the last two classes. The entire tiered lecture hall looked especially empty. The teachers were probably already used to this scene. They didn’t say anything, simply lecturing as usual, not caring how many of the students who did show up were already mentally drifting toward the holiday.

Influenced by these students, Shu Yuxin and Peng Xiaoxiao also indulged themselves and became useless college students for once, spending the entire afternoon grinding co-op dungeons in Honkai Impact 3rd during class.

At the same time, Yan Zhikai and Zhang Houlin were busy preparing arrangements for the National Day trip.

Just as Yan Zhikai had predicted earlier, there weren’t many people who ultimately decided to go. The confirmed list included only Zhang Houlin, Yan Zhikai, Peng Xiaoxiao, Jiang Zixuan, Shu Yuxin, Guan Di, Mei Zhongyi, and one more—Fu Bai.

Aside from Shu Yuxin and her group, the others were all regulars at the activity room.

Guan Di was the unlucky guy whom Yan Zhikai had dragged over to help keep the scene lively during the club’s recruitment event. He was also the vice president of the e-sports entertainment club at Nanhu College. Though called vice president, he actually had no real authority. The only reason he was given that position was to provide Yan Zhikai with a perfectly legitimate excuse to boss him around and make him run errands. He himself was a hardcore otaku—the most obvious sign being that most of his clothes had anime characters on them, and his phone contained dozens of “2D wives.” His greatest hobby in life was watching anime. He personally considered himself a fleet commander and had recently started moonlighting as an army commander.

Mei Zhongyi was the sleazy-looking fat guy from the activity room, usually called “Old Mei” in the club. He was about the same size as Yan Zhikai—both in height and width. However, the two were easy to tell apart. Yan Zhikai always wore a perpetually serious expression tinged with a bit of rogue charm, often holding a bottle of Yibao water in his hand, speaking as if he were reasoning with people, the kind who might start throwing punches at any moment. As for Mei Zhongyi… his most distinctive feature was his shamelessly sleazy grin.

The last one, Fu Bai, was the skinny guy who used to discuss things together with Mei Zhongyi. He looked so frail that a single slap might send him flying to the ground. However, it was said that he had studied sanda and had some real skills. Just how strong he was, no one had tested—mainly because Yan Zhikai was afraid he might kill him with a single slap.

Mei Zhongyi and Fu Bai were close friends who had known each other since high school, a classic case of birds of a feather. Worth mentioning was that neither of them was an otaku. On the contrary, they were extremely socially active. One of their greatest daily pleasures was getting together to talk about the girls around them. The reason they had managed to stay in this club for so long without provoking the resentment and anger of the otaku crowd was probably because no one believed either of them had any chance of getting a girlfriend anyway.

Although these two usually looked quite unappealing, they were decent people at heart. Mei Zhongyi had once discussed Shu Yuxin together with Fu Bai, but after Shu Yuxin joined the club, he behaved himself properly and never crossed any lines. He didn’t even look at Shu Yuxin with a lecherous gaze.

After days of rain, the weather on the first day of the National Day holiday was clear and pleasant. Shu Yuxin rarely got up so early. After finishing breakfast, she eagerly began preparing for today’s trip to the amusement park. There wasn’t really much to prepare—going out to have fun basically just meant bringing a phone.

She was mainly just excited.

Jiang Zixuan’s daily routine was fairly regular most of the time. Going to bed early was probably a habit he’d developed after graduating high school, while waking up early was likely forced on him by high school itself. Today, however, after getting up, he was surprised to find that Shu Yuxin was already sitting on the living room sofa watching TV.

“You’re up already? The noodle soup is on the table—it shouldn’t be cold yet.” Seeing Jiang Zixuan standing there in just a pair of shorts with a confused expression, Shu Yuxin raised her eyebrows and smiled smugly, then pointed at the dining table.

Jiang Zixuan yawned and slowly wandered into the bathroom. “You got up pretty early today…”

Shu Yuxin hummed twice and said nothing.

After washing up and getting dressed, the underwear-clad hooligan turned into a handsome young man. Jiang Zixuan finished eating the noodles, tidied up his clothes, and came into the living room. “Let’s go. Yan Zhikai and the others are already waiting.”

Shu Yuxin jumped up from the sofa, stretched, and waved at him. “Let’s go, let’s go~!”

The agreed meeting spot was the central plaza of Wei Ya Er Si. When Shu Yuxin and Jiang Zixuan arrived, almost everyone was already there—only Peng Xiaoxiao was missing. Mei Zhongyi and Fu Bai were deeply engrossed in some discussion, so intense that passersby kept glancing over. Yan Zhikai and two others stood a bit apart from them, probably pretending not to know them.

As she got closer, Shu Yuxin finally heard what they were talking about.

“Alright, you said it—when the time comes, we’ll ride the extreme roller coaster five times. Whoever chickens out first is the grandson!” Old Mei said with a sleazy grin, pointing his right finger at Fu Bai. “So? You dare or not?”

“What do I have to be afraid of?” Fu Bai replied. “I’m telling you, it’s just a roller coaster. I could ride it ten times in a row and not even turn pale. Old Mei, to be honest, I’m more worried that with your build, you might just get flung straight off the coaster.”

Fu Bai’s expression was exaggerated, as if he completely looked down on Old Mei.

Old Mei just stood there chuckling.

It took quite a while before Peng Xiaoxiao arrived. From afar, she spotted everyone waiting in the middle of the plaza and quickened her pace. “I’m here, I’m here! Sorry, I woke up a bit late!”

Peng Xiaoxiao looked especially pretty today. Both her outfit and makeup were noticeably better than usual. Even though she was a homebody, she clearly still cared about her appearance on certain occasions.

“No worries, no worries, we can wait,” Old Mei waved his hand dismissively. “For a girl, we can wait as long as it takes.”

Peng Xiaoxiao smiled faintly and walked over to Shu Yuxin. “We’re going to Leiter Paradise Amusement Park, right?”

“Where else would we go? I’ve already booked the hotel,” Yan Zhikai said, then added, “There are things to do everywhere over there anyway. As long as we stay near the hotel, it’s fine. We’ll play for three days and come back the night after tomorrow.”

Peng Xiaoxiao was thrilled. “Sounds great! So what are we playing first?”

“We’ll decide when we get there. Tons of stuff to play,” Yan Zhikai said casually, waving his hand.

Peng Xiaoxiao grew even more excited. “Let’s go to the haunted house first! Yuxin! Come with me!”

Shu Yuxin immediately shuddered.