The hospital sick leave still had a few days left, so after Liu Shuyao was discharged, she stayed in the dorm obediently for two days, working on her drafts. For the rest of the time, she devoured the two books borrowed from the library, completely absorbed and forgetting to eat or sleep.
When Zhao Ying came back after class, she brought a serving of tomato rice noodles from the cafeteria and placed it on Liu Shuyao’s desk.
Liu Shuyao had already caught the sweet and sour scent. Leaning half her body against the railing, she reached back and pulled Zhao Ying into her arms.
"Yingying, you're the best! You’re afraid I’d starve to death in the dorm~"
It was still pretty hot in Ningzhou in September, and Zhao Ying's back was already drenched in sweat after just coming in from outside. She was about to go straight to shower but noticed the book on Liu Shuyao's desk with a sticky note stuck in it.
Casually, she asked, "Can you get some inspiration from that?"
Liu Shuyao had already taken a bite of the noodles. She hadn’t eaten anything all morning and was indeed a bit hungry.
“Hiss~”
“Mmm... so hot.”
Liu Shuyao's tongue, slightly scalded, gently pressed against her upper lip. It took her a while to recover.
“Of course not, my inspiration only comes from Xiang Ran~”
“What if you two break up? Will you still draw?” Zhao Ying asked, a bit curious.
“Why would we break up?”
Liu Shuyao tilted her head, the corners of her eyes lifting, clearly having never considered this question before.
“Hypothetically! I’m just saying hypothetically!”
“Emmm…”
“Well, if that happened, then I definitely wouldn’t draw anymore. I’ve been updating it just to record our daily lives together.”
“But isn’t the series you’re currently serializing making quite a bit of money?”
There was a time when Liu Shuyao received a decent manuscript fee and treated her roommates to a meal.
“I’m not doing it for the money~”
This casual dismissal of money revealed her priorities. Though she never mentioned his name, every word was steeped in his presence.
“In that case, you definitely need to take a good look at that book.”
Somehow fed a mouthful of dog food, Zhao Ying quickly grabbed her toiletries and fled the dorm.
Meanwhile, after the morning class, Xiang Ran was planning to grab a bite when unexpectedly, Teacher Li called him over.
In the office, Teacher Li brewed a cup of tea, steam rising from the scalding hot water. Xiang Ran stood quietly across from him, waiting.
“You know this year marks the school’s 70th anniversary, right?”
Xiang Ran nodded.
His two roommates were so busy with the anniversary preparations that they were almost pulling their hair out. Now that he was called over, did they need his help?
That shouldn’t be the case. Just yesterday, Qi Dong was still saying in the dorm that the department had everything mostly ready. It would be like previous years, organizing a few game competitions and doing some presentations on computer history to wrap things up.
Could it be that they needed him to make a PPT?
Or maybe to go on stage and play games?
Countless reasons for how he could help flashed through Xiang Ran’s mind, but the reality was—
“This year, the art department plans to do a digital weaving art exhibition. We might need some students from our side to create a digital art installation, and this task has fallen on us.”
He doubted his ears.
“You’ll need to find two classmates to set up this system. This afternoon, head over there for a meeting to clarify the requirements. Any issues with that?”
Xiang Ran frowned, feeling inclined to push this task aside. Even though the odds were slim, he wasn’t keen on taking that gamble.
“Teacher, all the people in our group have been assigned to handle the anniversary preparations. I’m currently doing most of the work for our group project, so…”
“This task can count as volunteer work for extra credit.”
Teacher Li casually mentioned this while scraping the lid of his cup.
Alright, fine.
Money makes people greedy, and college students are desperate for credits.
“Teacher, what time are we going this afternoon?”
“The time is 2:30 PM, in Building C, Room 301 of the Art Institute.”
The Art Department?
It couldn’t be that coincidental!
Besides, wasn’t Liu Shuyao still in the hospital?
Thinking of this, Xiang Ran finally relaxed.
In the past few days, Liu Shuyao had suddenly disappeared from his life again, which he found quite satisfactory. It seemed the playboy’s advice had some merit after all. Keeping things as they were and waiting for Liu Shuyao to recover slowly would solve the problem.
Xiang Ran ultimately categorized this as an unexpected event. After all, relationships were not something he was considering right now.
He lowered his head and walked towards the door, only to be grabbed by the chubby guy waiting nearby.
“Can’t you see so many of us?”
“What did Teacher Li call you for?” Wang Hao asked.
“They’re planning some kind of digital exhibition for the art department’s anniversary. Teacher Li said we need to help write a system,” Xiang Ran replied, his spirit visibly low. However, Qi Dong raised an eyebrow after hearing this.
“See? I told you this year would likely involve cross-department collaboration!”
“You clearly didn’t say that!” The chubby guy shot back without mercy.
Xiang Ran didn’t mind and asked, “So, what’s the plan?”
“So, are you guys interested?”
Wang Hao replied, “No way, I’m swamped with student council work.”
Qi Dong chimed in, “Our debate club president seems to be involved too. I don’t want to be enslaved by that woman again—no way!”
“Brother Ran! Brother Ran!” The chubby guy was still quite excited.
“Look at me!”
“Let’s go, let’s go! We can talk while walking; I’m about to starve!” Qi Dong pushed the chubby guy towards the cafeteria.
Xiang Ran wasn’t feeling very hungry today. After looking around, he reluctantly ordered a serving of tomato rice noodles.
The unexpected tangy sweetness pleasantly surprised him.
Then he slowly said to the chubby guy, “Even if you’re working on this system, you probably won’t run into any junior or senior girls, let alone Liu Shuyao.”
“Come on! I’m doing this for the development of the school and the friendly relations between departments; it has nothing to do with anyone else!”
“Brother Ran, you’re being too shallow.”
As Qi Dong was eating, he suddenly seemed to remember something.
“Not necessarily; this time, it’s mostly second-year students who are in charge.”
“Oh, that doesn’t matter.”
Xiang Ran had no interest in who he would be coordinating with.
The next moment, Qi Dong said, “Ran Ge, didn’t you know that Liu Shuyao has been discharged from the hospital?”
“…”
He really didn’t know!
“When did this happen?”
“Just in the past couple of days. But I heard she hasn’t started attending classes yet and will be resting in the dorm for a few more days.” Qi Dong shook his phone, suggesting that it was probably Zhao Ying who told him.
Hearing this, the weight on Xiang Ran’s heart finally lifted.
The silence at the table lasted less than two seconds before the chubby guy began to promote himself again.
“So, Brother Ran, are you really not considering me?”
“On the character front: I’m solid and reliable, sincere and enthusiastic.”
“Academically: I’m proficient in HTML/CSS, JavaScript, server-side programming, and database integration!”
“What statement in JavaScript can capture exceptions and handle them?”
Xiang Ran's question effectively silenced the chubby guy.
“The Art Department has several majors, and there are so many students that it’s unlikely you’ll run into Liu Shuyao. Not to mention her current health situation. Given all this, do you still want to go with me?”
He needed to clarify things; otherwise, the chubby guy would lose interest in three minutes and bail, which would be a problem.
“Of course I’ll go! I don’t have much artistic talent, so it’ll be good to get some exposure this time!”
“As the Pure Love God, isn’t your dream to catch up with all the romance dramas?” Wang Hao teased.
“Well, that’s true, but my beloved series hasn’t updated in ages,” the chubby guy lamented.
“Stop dragging it out. Finish eating and go back to the dorm for a nap. We have a meeting at the art school at two-thirty this afternoon,” Xiang Ran said, giving him a much-needed boost of motivation. By the time the chubby guy had devoured three bowls of dishes and one soup, Xiang Ran’s rice noodles still had quite a bit left.
After they finished eating, the group returned to the dormitory.
Xiang Ran climbed into bed, planning to take a nap and relax. However, just as his head touched the pillow, he heard the chubby guy shout excitedly, “Ah! My spiritual nourishment has finally updated!”
“The missing person has returned!”
“Let me check it out first.”
Five minutes later…
“Damn!”
“Why does this romance manga have a fighting plot?”
“What is the author thinking? Out of inspiration? And the male lead is such a jerk—how can this once-in-a-lifetime female lead still be arguing?”
“This update is terrible!”
“Why is the male lead so ungrateful?”
“He doesn’t even answer the female lead’s calls!”
“He actually rejected her apology? Is this guy crazy? My precious girl is so wonderful, and he doesn’t know how to cherish her!”
The chubby guy criticized as he read, making Xiang Ran lose all courage to ask questions.
If he didn’t know the guy was talking about a manga, he would have thought the chubby guy was insulting him.
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