"..."
Jiang Nanfang turned her head away abruptly.
"How do you know him?"
Had her guess been right?
Had that scoundrel actually pursued her?
Zhan Beijue continued, his tone laced with jealousy.
"Once, when I went to a district math competition, I was in the junior high group and saw him constantly trying to talk to you."
"Tch."
Jiang Nanfang immediately responded with an displeased "Tch."
"You're blind. He was looking down on me, embarrassed to be in the same group as me. I even fought him over it..."
"..."
Zhan Beijue couldn't help but feel a secret sense of satisfaction.
"Why were you always fighting with people when you were in school?"
"Why do you say I was always fighting?" Jiang Nanfang asked, surprised. "Did you know me back then?"
Although they were in the same school, he was two grades above her, and they had never spoken.
Zhan Beijue, of course, was too embarrassed to admit that he knew her, let alone that he had secretly protected her.
"You were always being punished, or lectured at the dean's office. It was hard not to notice you."
Jiang Nanfang's thoughts drifted for a moment, and she sighed.
"I was really ugly back then, called Pigsy every day. Thinking about it now, I feel like I was so resilient."
Zhan Beijue agreed with her statement.
She had truly gone through a lot back then.
"Weren't you always wearing your younger brother's hand-me-downs? I remember..."
Jiang Nanfang interrupted him, "Don't mention it. I just hope I never have to see Jiang Zhenjun and the others again in this lifetime."
The interview took a long time.
As they chatted idly, Zhan Beijue suddenly spotted a roadside stall selling roasted sweet potatoes.
Thinking that she hadn't eaten much at breakfast, he got out of the car.
"You sit here first, I'm going to buy something."
Then Jiang Nanfang watched as his tall, long-legged figure walked towards the sweet potato vendor.
Several female students were gathered around the vendor. As he approached, they shyly covered their mouths, looking as delighted as fans seeing their idol.
Watching him shine amidst the crowd, Jiang Nanfang reflected on her own school days, feeling as though it were a lifetime ago.
Back then, she felt like a rat living in a gutter.
And he? He was the sunflower reaching for the sun.
She never imagined she'd one day be sitting beside him, even getting angry at him.
After a while, Zhan Beijue returned, holding a roasted sweet potato.
A plastic spoon was stuck diagonally into the potato.
"I bought this for you, eat it."
Jiang Nanfang couldn't quite articulate the feeling in her heart.
She wanted him to be good to her, and she enjoyed his kindness, but when it truly happened, she felt a pang of guilt.
"No. Who told you I liked roasted sweet potatoes?"
"You don't like them?" His expression turned slightly awkward.
"I saw so many girls gathered there, I thought you might like them. Never mind, if you don't like it, I'll just throw it away."
Jiang Nanfang grabbed his arm.
"Don't you know that every grain counts? You'd just throw it away if you didn't like it?"
"If you don't like it, and I ate too much breakfast, I can't eat it, so I'd have to throw it away, right?"
"What a waste." Jiang Nanfang snatched the sweet potato. "Never mind. I'll eat it reluctantly."
She ate it slowly, listening to music, and waited for a while longer.
Lu Mingzhe and Chen Jiaojiao finally emerged.
There was no need to ask about the result; they got into the car, and their expressions alone indicated they had succeeded.
Since Zhan Beijue was in the back seat, Chen Jiaojiao directly took the front passenger seat.
She looked back at Jiang Nanfang.
"Sister Nanfang, can I still live with you? Although I quite like this school, I'd still prefer to live with you."
"Of course, I'm alone anyway, as long as you don't mind."
"What did you eat just now? Why does the car smell so good?"
"What's wrong? Are you hungry?"
Lu Mingzhe quickly showed concern. "Then let's go eat something."
However, it was only ten-thirty in the morning.
It seemed too early for lunch.
Chen Jiaojiao waved her hand.
"I'm not hungry, I just said it casually. You guys aren't working today, do you have any plans for the rest of the day?"
"Do you have any plans?"
"Can we go see a movie?"
She gestured, "You know, the kind where there are lots of people, everyone holding popcorn and cola, sitting together to watch."
"I had a private cinema at home before, and my dad said outside cinemas were dirty, so he never let me go. I really want to go just once."
To be honest, Zhan Beijue had never been either.
Apart from Jiang Nanfang, he hadn't dated anyone.
Furthermore, he had germophobia. He also had a private cinema at home, so there was no need to go to such places.
Lu Mingzhe, with his wealth of experience, immediately said, "Sure!"
He pulled out his phone.
"I'll search for nearby cinemas. What do you want to watch?"
The two of them squeezed their heads together to look at the phone, and soon they had decided on a cinema and a film.
Lu Mingzhe booked the seats on his phone, and they set off!
Watching them excitedly, Jiang Nanfang thought to herself: Is today a return to university life?
Although it wasn't a holiday, the cinemas near the university town were quite crowded.
The two ladies waited on the side, while Lu Mingzhe very conscientiously pulled Zhan Beijue to queue for the tickets.
It was Zhan Beijue's first time doing something like this.
And just as Jiang Nanfang had said, as an older man, mingling with a group of young people doing this made him feel awkward.
"Does it take two people to queue? You queue by yourself, I'll wait over there."
Lu Mingzhe refused.
"Don't run off. Your ex-wife is here, it's not just me. You can't do nothing, can you?"
"Go. Buy four Cokes and two buckets of popcorn."
"Why buy them?"
"Are you kidding me? Would we buy them to look at?"
"...I don't eat or drink that stuff."
"Then you buy three Cokes and two buckets of popcorn. The three of us will drink, and you can watch."
It was too embarrassing, too embarrassing.
Zhan Beijue didn't know how he managed to buy the items from the girl at the counter.
At thirty years old, to be in a crowd of youngsters buying popcorn, he felt utterly mortified.
However, seeing Jiang Nanfang's reaction, he felt it was worth it.
It was the first time in Jiang Nanfang's life that a boy had given her popcorn at a cinema.
Although it wasn't expensive, eating such things was all about the atmosphere.
Everyone else had it, and she naturally wanted it too. Didn't she have a girlish heart?
Lu Mingzhe had chosen a domestic animated film.
It had good reviews, so it had a high number of screenings.
The four of them chose seats in the middle: Zhan Beijue next to Jiang Nanfang, Jiang Nanfang next to Chen Jiaojiao, and Chen Jiaojiao next to Lu Mingzhe.
Jiang Nanfang watched the movie, while Zhan Beijue watched her.
He would occasionally take a sip of Coke, pop a piece of popcorn into his mouth, laugh at the screen, or feel sad along with the story.
She was truly captivating to watch.
Gradually, he no longer found the air unpleasant or the seats dirty, and the feeling of being on pins and needles disappeared.
His mood relaxed along with hers.
At one point, during a slightly calmer part of the plot, he leaned over and playfully asked her.
"Can I have a sip of your Coke?"
Jiang Nanfang saw his empty hand and casually handed it over.
She grabbed two pieces of popcorn and popped them into her mouth, then suddenly remembered something and offered them to him.
"Want some?"
Zhan Beijue quickly opened his mouth and caught them.
So sweet.