A young man with defiant eyes approached, a nearly-burnt-out cigarette dangling from his lips, surrounded by a crowd of other boys.
The tall young man’s arm was tattooed with a ferocious red snake. It was so realistic it looked like it was coiled around his lean, powerful arm. The snake’s tail must have been on his shoulder, hidden by his black short-sleeved shirt, while its head rested on his wrist bone.
Zhou Jin seemed to notice Jiang You’s gaze and glanced over instinctively. The sight made his eyes feel as if they’d been seared, and his crimson gaze froze for a moment.
’Fuck, she’s gorgeous.’
Then, Zhou Jin noticed the young man beside the girl, and the hand he had wrapped around her waist.
The guy was wearing a thick gold chain and looked really familiar.
He remembered this punk was some rich kid.
’A beauty and a rich kid.’
A certain relationship immediately popped into Zhou Jin’s mind.
’Boyfriend and girlfriend?’
’With that kind of intimacy, they must be.’
Zhou Jin looked away, tossing his cigarette to the ground and stamping it out. ’A poor bastard like me... a beauty like that would never give me the time of day.’
He paid Jiang You and her group no more mind. With a deft leap, he vaulted over the wall.
The movements were fluid and seamless.
The boys following him also scrambled over the wall one after another.
"Brother Jing, wait for us!" several boys yelled as they clamorously departed.
But all their gazes seemed to drift, intentionally or not, toward Jiang You.
But with her boyfriend right there, there wasn’t much they could do.
After Zhou Jin made it over the wall, his followers scrambled over after him.
Their faces were all flushed with excitement.
"Brother Jing, did you see that chick just now? She was totally gorgeous," one of the boys said enthusiastically.
"She was that hot, and I’m not blind," Zhou Jin retorted. He popped a mint into his mouth, pressing down on the hard candy with the tip of his teeth, his mind still full of the girl’s image.
’Never seen anyone so beautiful in my life.’
"Yeah, how can a girl be that good-looking?" the boy nodded vigorously. "But she’s with a rich kid. Poor slobs like us shouldn’t even dream about it."
"Yeah, when I get rich, I’m gonna find a beauty just as fine as her," another boy nodded. "And then a girl like that will only have me for a boyfriend."
"You guys didn’t see? That chick’s legs were so fair and smooth, perfect for..."
Zhou Jin heard their conversation was about to veer into the gutter.
For uncultured guys like them from the slums, telling dirty jokes was common.
Usually, Zhou Jin didn’t participate, nor did he care.
But now, the subject was the girl from before.
And Zhou Jin was pissed.
"Fuck’s sake, shut it." Zhou Jin crunched the hard candy, cutting off their increasingly vulgar conversation. "You act like you’ve never seen a woman before. What the hell are you so horny about?"
The boys instantly shut their mouths.
"Brother Jing, who’s the one bullying our Sister Yan? Let’s go get ’em!" a boy said, tactfully changing the subject.
Zhou Jin was Zhou Yan’s older brother and a student at the sports academy.
He’d heard Zhou Yan was being bullied, so he had brought his boys over.
"Just a few rich bastards," Zhou Jin said, his eyes narrowing as a ferocious look came over his face.
His body was covered in scars, the obvious result of frequent fighting. His muscles were clearly defined, solid and tangible—the product of real, hard training. His whole aura was fierce.
On the other side, Jiang You failed to recognize the young man from before as the male lead.
In other words, the female lead’s non-blood-related older brother.
Jiang You pulled away from Yang Qi’s embrace, untied the jacket from her waist, and tossed it back into his arms.
Yu Lin and the others hopped down, immediately crowding around both sides of Jiang You.
Yang Qi tried to claim a spot on one side, but couldn’t squeeze in on either.
"Let’s go, let’s go! I’ll take you all to try our school’s best food," Yang Qi said, giving up and leading the way.
On the way, Yu Lin asked with great interest, "Hey, Yang Qi, who was that handsome red-haired guy just now? Do you know him?"
Yang Qi instinctively shot back, "Am I not the only handsome red-haired guy here?"
Lin Xue snorted with laughter. "She’s talking about the handsome red-haired guy who vaulted over the wall in one go, without needing to step on anyone’s shoulders."
Chen Yu also laughed. "We don’t have any handsome red-haired guys here."
Yang Qi heard these three girls subtly and not-so-subtly implying he wasn’t handsome.
If Jiang You hadn’t been there, he would’ve stopped being so polite.
He knew who they were asking about.
He wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with that person from earlier.
"Oh, that guy." Yang Qi glanced at Jiang You, worried she might also be interested in that Beastman, so he said casually, "He’s here on a sports scholarship, so he got in for free. Just another poor bastard who’s always fighting. Other than being good at sports, he’s a good-for-nothing."
Seeing that Yu Lin and the others were about to ask more questions, Yang Qi, worried that if he said more, Jiang You might become interested, pushed past Yu Lin who had just spoken. He quickly cut in, "Let’s go, Sister You, I’ll take you to get something good to eat."
The smile on his face was wide and bright, tinged with a sycophantic air.
Jiang You didn’t know Yang Qi’s beast form was actually a dog; she just thought he had a pair of puppy-dog eyes, and the way he looked at people was very... dog-like.
Of course, she also didn’t know that this was partly why his lackeys called him a "simp."
"Mm, let’s go," Jiang You replied casually.
For the past half-day, Jiang You hadn’t heard the system announce any missions, so she was in a pretty good mood.
So in the cafeteria, while Yang Qi waited on her hand and foot as she ate, her expression remained pleasant.
After the meal, Yang Qi obsequiously took out a wet wipe to clean her hands, then followed up with a dry napkin to wipe them again.
"That’s enough." Jiang You pulled her hand back. "Are you trying to rub the skin off my hands?"
Yang Qi’s face turned red. His eyes sparkling as he looked at her, he quickly shook his head. "No, no! It’s just that Sister You’s hands are so beautiful, I couldn’t help but wipe them a few more times..."
’...and touch them a few more times.’
"Tsk, tsk." Yu Lin and the others felt that Yang Qi’s sycophantic act was too cringey to watch.
After eating, Yang Qi played the part of the host and took Jiang You on a tour of his school.
"There’s nothing else worth seeing," Jiang You said, having lost interest. "Let’s go back."
Yang Qi bought lots of delicious snacks for Jiang You.
But Jiang You gave them all to her followers.
Even though Yang Qi knew that most of the things he bought would end up with her three followers, he still tirelessly bought piles of things for Jiang You.
As he was escorting Jiang You back, they just so happened to run into Zhou Jin and his group returning.
Zhou Jin’s gaze fixed on the girl over there, his expression unreadable.
It looked as if the girl was kissing that guy.
She seemed to notice a gaze on her that felt almost tangible.
The girl turned her head to look.
Zhou Jin saw the girl glance at him instinctively before quickly and indifferently looking away.
The girl’s lips were a little flushed and moist.
’They were just kissing.’
For some reason, Zhou Jin came to this conclusion.
In reality, Yang Qi was leaning down to say something to Jiang You, and she had simply turned her head to look at him.
From that angle, it looked a bit like a forced-perspective kiss.
Then, when she noticed someone watching her, she had instinctively looked toward Zhou Jin.
Her lips were flushed purely because she had burned them on some food earlier, and they were moist from the water she drank afterward.