This meal is impossible to eat.

After several rounds of drinks and plenty of food.

The initially reserved graduation dinner atmosphere completely warmed up after some beer and drinks. The boys started putting their arms around each other's shoulders and bragging, while the girls gathered together, chattering and taking photos.

Only the atmosphere at the main table was a bit weird.

"Everyone, quiet down."

Pei Ningxue suddenly stood up.

With her movement, the originally noisy hall quieted down a lot. After all, she was the second-ranked top student in the grade, the universally recognized school beauty, and coupled with that stunning evening gown, it was hard not to attract attention.

Pei Ningxue held a silver USB flash drive in her hand and waved it under the light.

"Since this is our last gathering, I didn't prepare any expensive gifts." She had a smile on her lips, and her gaze lightly swept over Chen Zhi. "I just compiled some interesting video footage from the past three years to add to the fun."

Lin Wanwan's hand, which was peeling a shrimp, paused. She rolled her eyes and muttered softly, "Tch, deliberately mystifying things. What kind of tricks can a USB drive play?"

Chen Zhi, however, felt his right eyelid twitching violently.

His intuition told him that whatever this "bad woman" brought out was definitely not anything proper.

"Class monitor, let me borrow the projector." Pei Ningxue clicked her high heels as she walked to the multimedia console and skillfully plugged in the USB drive.

"Alright! If Goddess Pei gives the word, it must be arranged!" Zhao Kai ran over eagerly to help pull down the screen.

The lights in the hall dimmed.

Everyone's eyes focused on the white screen.

The next second, the screen lit up.

The image flashed, revealing a close-up shot.

It was a physics class in their freshman year.

The camera was a bit shaky, obviously secretly filmed. Right in the center of the frame, Chen Zhi was sprawled on his desk, sleeping like a log. His mouth was slightly open, and a crystal-clear trail of drool ran down the corner of his mouth, stretching longer and longer until it dripped onto the cover of his physics textbook.

"Pfft—!"

"Hahahaha! Damn! Isn't this Brother Zhi?"

"Look, look! There's more!"

The scene switched.

On the track field, during the sports meet relay race. Just as Chen Zhi received the baton, his foot slipped, and he flew out in a textbook face-plant posture, landing face-first.

Cut again.

During evening self-study, Chen Zhi was sneakily holding his phone, the screen showing a girl doing a hot dance. He was so engrossed that he completely failed to notice the homeroom teacher, Lao Liu, standing right outside the window. His big face was almost pressed against the glass, forming a perfect frame with Chen Zhi.

"Hahahahahaha!"

The entire Peony Hall erupted in roars of laughter.

Even the usually strict homeroom teacher, looking at his distorted big face on the screen, couldn't help but laugh and scold, "This brat, he never knows how to restrain himself when playing on his phone!"

Sitting in his seat, Chen Zhi was completely shattered.

He covered his face with his hands, wishing he could dig a three-bedroom apartment in the floor with his toes and bury himself in it right then and there.

"Pei, Ning, Xue!" Chen Zhi squeezed these three words through his fingers, gritting his teeth.

Next to him, Lin Wanwan was laughing so hard she was rocking back and forth, tears almost coming out of her eyes. She didn't forget to pat Chen Zhi's shoulder to add insult to injury, "Oh man, I can't... Chen Zhi, how were you so stupid back then... Hahahaha..."

Even Li Zhiyi couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle softly, her eyes curving into crescents.

Pei Ningxue stood by the projector, arms crossed, quietly watching this scene.

However.

Just as everyone's laughter had yet to subside, the style of the screen suddenly changed.

It switched to a very light, soft humming.

The footage was no longer of those embarrassing moments.

The camera became very steady, even carrying a sense of careful, voyeuristic observation.

An afternoon classroom, a corner of the curtain blown up by the wind. Chen Zhi was frowning as he solved a math problem, twirling a pen in his hand. Sunlight spilled onto his eyelashes, casting a small shadow on his sharply contoured side profile.

He was so focused on thinking that he completely didn't notice someone was filming him.

The scene flowed.

On the track field, the sun was setting. Chen Zhi had just finished running three thousand meters, sweating profusely. He casually lifted the hem of his shirt to wipe his sweat, revealing a section of tight abs. He tilted his head back to drink water, and the curve of his bobbing Adam's apple was magnified countless times in the lens, exuding a vibrant, youthful energy.

Cut again.

In the small alley behind the school's back gate. Chen Zhi squatted on the ground, holding a sausage, feeding that dirty stray cat. The expression on his face was very gentle, his fingers lightly scratching the cat's chin, his mouth seemingly murmuring something.

The entire hall slowly quieted down.

The boys who were just jeering shut their mouths. The girls rested their chins on their hands, watching that glowing young man on the screen.

This perspective was absolutely incredible.

Every frame carried a filter, carrying an indescribable sentiment.

Only someone who truly likes a person would use this perspective to observe him, to record him.

Only then would even the way he frowns, drinks water, and feeds a cat seem like the most beautiful scenery in the world.

The smile on Lin Wanwan's face froze bit by bit.

Lin Wanwan's hand under the table suddenly clenched tightly. She looked at the shining Chen Zhi on the screen, and a massive wave of panic suddenly surged in her heart.

For these three years, she hadn't been by Chen Zhi's side.

And Pei Ningxue had been sitting right next to him.

Through this bad woman's lens, it recorded Chen Zhi's most real, most vibrant, and the very moments she had missed over the past three years.

These videos were not a gift.

It was Pei Ningxue showing off; it was her telling everyone: I was also a part of his youth, even more so than what you all saw.

On the screen, the footage froze on the final photo.

It was a close-up of a piece of scratch paper.

The paper was densely packed with formulas, but in the blank space at the very corner, two large words were written:

[Make Money].

Next to it was a stick-figure drawing of a little pig's head, which was Chen Zhi's doodle when he was bored.

"Pfft..."

Someone laughed first, breaking the strange atmosphere.

"Make money? Brother Zhi's ambition is grand enough!"

"As expected of the first in our class, this level of awareness is high!"

The atmosphere became relaxed again, but the ambiguous scent in the air just wouldn't dissipate.

Looking at that photo, Chen Zhi was also startled.

This woman... just how many things did she secretly photograph?

Clap! Clap! Clap!

A crisp round of applause suddenly rang out.

Lin Wanwan stood up.

She wore a proper smile on her face, but raging flames of war burned in her eyes.

"Filmed really well."

Lin Wanwan said loudly, her voice clear and ringing, spreading throughout the entire hall.

She turned around and looked at Pei Ningxue standing by the projector, her chin slightly raised, as if declaring sovereignty.

"Classmate Pei is very thoughtful. Thank you for helping me record my boyfriend's growth trajectory over these past three years."

She deliberately put a heavy emphasis on the words my boyfriend.

"This video is edited quite well, and I like it a lot. Please, Classmate Pei, copy a version for me later. I want to treasure it properly. In the future, when we are old, we can bring it out to show our grandson and tell him that back in the day, there was an auntie who filmed grandpa exceptionally well."

The surrounding classmates exchanged glances.

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!

The implication was crystal clear: So what if you took great photos? The guy is mine. Even your precious memories are nothing more than items in my collection.

Pei Ningxue's expression didn't change in the slightest.

She unplugged the USB flash drive and tossed it lightly in her hand.

"Sure."

She looked at Lin Wanwan with a meaningful smile. "As long as you don't mind it taking up your storage space, I have plenty of backups. After all... this is just the tip of the iceberg."

With that, she took the USB drive and walked back to her seat.

As she passed by Chen Zhi, she paused for a brief moment.

A faint scent of gardenias drifted through the air.

Chen Zhi heard her murmur in a voice so low it was almost a whisper, "Did you enjoy the view? Pervert."

Chen Zhi: "..."

His appetite for this meal was completely ruined.