Dedicated to studying, yet forced into a chaotic situation.

Chapter 85 What's there to argue about? We're all friends.

Shi Sui didn't understand why the two of them were arguing about 'liking' each other.

What's there to argue about? We're all friends.

Taking advantage of Chi Yan's relaxed vigilance, Shi Sui nimbly slipped out of his embrace and walked to the other side.

The three people stand in an equilateral triangle formation.

Shi Sui's mind was perfectly clear. She said, "Chi Yan, you and I are friends, and Song Xinying and I are also friends. I like you both the same. So please stop arguing."

Chi Yan frowned: "The same kind of liking?"

“Yes.” Shi Sui nodded.

Song Xinying rolled her eyes at Chi Yan: "You didn't believe the rumors on the forum and think that Sui Sui is pursuing you, did you? Stop dreaming, Sui Sui doesn't like you."

Song Xinying then looked at Shi Sui and asked, "Right, Sui Sui?"

Chi Yan looked at Shi Sui, the girl who had just escaped from his arms, standing obediently with slightly pink cheeks under her loose hair and a very serious expression.

She looked over, her tone equally serious: "Chi Yan, I'm not pursuing you. My feelings for you are just like those between classmates."

With a bang, Chi Yan felt as if his world had collapsed and cracked.

Didn't you pursue him?

Is it a crush between classmates?

What! ! !

Shi Sui didn't think she had said anything wrong, but she saw the boy's face darken and the air pressure around him drop lower and lower, signs of an approaching storm.

Um? what happened?

Why are your emotions so unstable?!

Seeing Chi Yan's discomfiture, Song Xinying was delighted: "Chi Yan, Sui Sui has made it perfectly clear. When she says she likes you, she only sees you as a friend."

In an instant, Chi Yan thought of many, many things.

Thinking back to the beginning, Shi Sui stubbornly insisted on being his deskmate, handing him water, and buying him small cakes...

Thinking of the aquarium, Shi Sui bought him a doll, put a headband on him, and gave him study notes...

He thought of the girl's always bright, sparkling eyes and the warm smile that curved her lips when she looked at him.

Was his liking me just a misconception? Or did he misunderstand?

We're just friends.

He's not my boyfriend, just a friend.

Chi Yan stared blankly at Shi Sui, somewhat unable to accept it. He moved his lips, wanting to ask something, but couldn't bring himself to ask.

In the end, he just smiled slightly, with a hint of self-deprecation.

Shi Sui also looked at him.

He looked so sad.

What is she sad about? Shi Sui didn't understand.

Seeing her looking at him with a blank expression, Chi Yan was completely defeated.

I cursed myself as an idiot in my heart.

Chi Yan left without a word, his demeanor as casual and lazy as ever, as if he didn't care about anything, but his departing figure looked like a stray dog.

"He's finally gone." Song Xinying breathed a sigh of relief, then belatedly realized, "I'm so brave to have dared to talk back to Chi Yan like that, I'm amazing."

Shi Sui was still looking in the direction Chi Yan had left, even though his figure had already disappeared.

"Sui Sui, how about we try dating?" Song Xinying looked at her. "You just said that I have a good personality and I'm pretty, so you can like girls too."

“I…” Shi Sui bit her lip and looked at Song Xinying, “My mind is a bit of a mess. I’ll go back and think about it. I feel like something’s not quite right.”

All she could see in her mind was the look in Chi Yan's eyes when he last looked at her, full of sorrow, like a pitiful little thing who had been abandoned.

“That means you didn’t reject me,” Song Xinying said with a smile. “Okay then, Sui Sui, I’ll wait for your reply.”

*

Sixty-seven seconds... eighty-nine seconds... one hundred and twenty-three seconds...

There were no footsteps behind me.

Chi Yan, expressionless, tried his best to suppress the sadness and depression that kept rising in his heart, and walked to the pavilion in the garden.

He leaned against the pillar, looked at the boy who had just finished smoking, waved away the secondhand smoke in the air, and frowned.

"You heard everything?" Chi Yan asked him.

"Pretty much." Pei Shuoxun smiled. "You guys are talking so loudly, it's hard not to hear."

Chi Yan didn't speak, lowering his eyes, the corners of which were somewhat bloodshot.

So what if I get laughed at? Whatever, I don't care. Let him do whatever he wants. He's just an idiot anyway.

Seeing his silence, Pei Shuoxun asked him after a while, "Do you like Shi Sui?"

"I don't like her at all." Chi Yan snorted heavily.

She doesn't like him, and he won't like her either!

Pei Shuoxun stared at his face for two seconds, then looked into the distance, his voice low and deep: "Chi Yan, she's not your type."

Chi Yan glanced at him, annoyed, and said, "How do you know she's not my type?" She is! She is! She is!

Pei Shuoxun didn't speak, but just glanced at him indifferently, a knowing smile playing on his lips.

"I don't like him at all." Chi Yan lowered his eyes, kicked a pillar, and his voice had no persuasive power whatsoever.

"Let's go." Pei Shuoxun put his hand on his shoulder. "The exams are over, and we'll be divided into classes next week. You and she won't have any more contact."

Who said that! Why can't they be in the same class? Chi Yan wanted to refute him, but in the end, he couldn't say anything in rebuttal.

They will no longer be deskmates.

The campus is huge; if we don't create opportunities to bump into each other, we might never see each other again.

The thought of never seeing her again brought a surge of sadness and bitterness, like drowning, making it hard to breathe.

“Pei Shuoxun,” Chi Yan called out to him, “you said something wrong.”

"what?"

“Shi Sui didn’t approach me for money.” Chi Yan rubbed his temples, his long bangs covering a third of his eyes, making his expression unreadable. “Because she doesn’t like me at all.”

wry smile.

She doesn't like him.

Rather than being bipolar or angry, he used to feel so sad that he wanted to cry.

*

The system barked: [Host, you are not allowed to have a girlfriend!]

Shi Sui: [I didn't talk about it.]

She opened her phone, found Song Xinying's profile picture, and stated that she had no intention of dating and that they were just friends.

System: [A wise person doesn't fall in love, for love is reckless and dangerous. You, the widowed king, will become a rich woman through your arduous journey to master's and doctoral degrees.]

System: [Host, have you remembered this? Take it as your motto.]

Shi Sui: [Oh, okay, I'll take the last two words as my motto.]

From afar, Shi Sui saw Xu Chaomu downstairs in the dormitory building.

The exams ended and it was the weekend. Most of the boarding students went home, leaving only homeless people in the quiet campus.

As the sunlight dipped below the horizon and the streetlights came on, the boy wore an extra light-colored jacket, and his long, straight legs were encased in black trousers.

Shi Sui wasn't oblivious; she knew the boy was waiting for her as he stood downstairs at the girls' dormitory.

Actually, she had just seen a WeChat message and discovered that Xu Chaomu had contacted her ten minutes earlier, saying he was downstairs in the dormitory and had something to say to her.

"Xu Chaomu." Shi Sui walked over, looked up at him, and said, "I'm sorry, I had something to do and kept you waiting."

"Just now." The evening breeze ruffled the boy's bangs, revealing a pair of cool and calm eyes. He asked, "Did Chi Yan contact you?"

"Yes, he just contacted me."

Did he say anything to you?

He asked me if I liked him.

"What did you say?" Xu Chaomu looked at her, her heart pounding in her throat.

“I said it’s just the kind of liking you have for a normal friend.” Shi Sui paused, then remembered, “He seems to have misunderstood that I was pursuing him, but really, I wasn’t.”

Xu Chaomu breathed a sigh of relief.

Shi Sui thought about it seriously: "Really, it's so inexplicable. How could he misunderstand that I like him? Did I do something that caused the misunderstanding? I'll change it."

"Or did he believe the rumors on the forum?"

Xu Chaomu smiled and said, "Then he really should download an anti-fraud app on his phone."

Shi Sui nodded, then remembered something else and looked troubled. She asked, "Xu Chaomu, do you have someone you like?"

"Yes," Xu Chaomu answered readily, looking intently at the girl in front of her.

Shi Sui subconsciously said "oh," then realized what she meant and asked in surprise, "Huh? You have someone you like?"

"Yes," Xu Chaomu said, looking at her again.

Shi Sui looked up and met the boy's eyes, those usually cool and aloof eyes now filled with vibrant desire.