Hug You

Shen Nian felt a little restless. He cupped Xia Yanchun's small face and gently pecked her on the forehead.

"Stop playing around and go to sleep."

"Mhm."

Xia Yanchun took out a small pillow from her drawer.

She lay down lazily. Shen Nian was still beside her, so she rested her head on her arms and watched him with open eyes.

Shen Nian was a bit mischievous, occasionally poking Xia Yanchun's face, touching her hair, or flicking her lips. Xia Yanchun ignored him. Perhaps realizing he wasn't getting a reaction, he sat for a while before returning to his own seat.

Stifling a yawn, a wave of drowsiness washed over Xia Yanchun.

...

Afternoon.

The current classes were pretty meaningless to Shen Nian. It was the major review phase; the teachers had just gone through the review material once and were preparing to go over it again to consolidate their knowledge. But he had already consolidated his knowledge several times over.

In the beginning, reviewing was useful for correcting memorization mistakes, but now... he could say without exaggeration that he had completely mastered all the ancient poems required for their senior year.

Shen Nian propped up his face, feeling quite bored with nothing to do.

"Hey, you're on the confession wall again." Chen Dong returned from the restroom and hurriedly gossiped with Shen Nian before class started.

"What does it say?"

"Some junior girls are asking for your contact info," Chen Dong said truthfully. If phones weren't banned in the classroom, he would have definitely shown Shen Nian the screenshots.

"Can't be helped." Shen Nian sighed and shook his head. "I'm dangerously handsome."

"Wow, you just made me cringe."

"What's cringe about it? That was my QQ screen name back in elementary school. Can't you empathize with your past self? What was your old QQ name?"

"Prince of the Dark Night, with a wing symbol at the end."

"Yours is definitely cringier."

Shen Nian grinned and asked, "By the way, what university and major are you planning to apply for?"

Chen Dong looked up at the ceiling, frowned, and pondered for a moment. "I haven't decided yet. I might apply for computer science. Isn't that field highly sought after?"

"It used to be, but who knows about now." Shen Nian rubbed his chin and said mysteriously, "I know a really good major. Do you want to hear it?"

"What major?"

"Civil engineering."

"..." Chen Dong's smile faded, his face full of speechlessness.

Persuading someone to study civil engineering? That was very Shen Nian.

"You might as well persuade me to study medicine."

"I couldn't do that. Persuading someone to study medicine is asking to be struck by lightning."

"Then what major do you want to apply for?"

"I haven't decided yet," Shen Nian said seriously. "But an expert like me will definitely be in high demand no matter what major I choose."

"Are you really showing off like that?"

"Just stating facts."

Did they understand the true value of Glimmer Experience? No matter what major he chose or what position he worked in, Glimmer Experience gave him a high baseline. He might not be at the absolute top of the industry, but becoming an industry expert was definitely not a problem.

"What are you guys muttering about? You're already talking about choosing majors. It won't be too late to think about that after the college entrance exams," Ma Mingfan turned around and interjected.

"This is called getting to know things in advance, understand? Let me ask you, when you play a game, you can just wait for the update to see the new content, so why do you watch the preview livestreams?"

"I guess you have a point."

Shen Nian clicked his tongue. He didn't want to think about it too early either.

There were still a hundred days until the college entrance exam.

Hearing the boys' conversation, Li Shiyan also started to think.

She poked Xia Yanchun's arm, who was reading Youth Digest. "Chun, have you thought about what major you want to apply for?"

"Hmm... I haven't decided yet," Xia Yanchun pondered for a moment. "I might apply for an internet-related major. The major trend of the internet is very clear right now; AI and robotics will be highly sought after."

"That sounds so advanced. I want to be a teacher, but I also really want to be a boss like my mom..."

A boss...

Xia Yanchun tried to imagine Li Shiyan as a boss. With her soft and gentle personality, it felt like things would go very wrong.

If she encountered a quick-witted employee like Shen Nian, she'd probably be tricked into paying them double their salary in a month.

"Being a boss is great! You can inherit the family business, go for it!" she encouraged. Since Li Shiyan's mother was a boss, she would definitely guide Li Shiyan step by step to become one. There shouldn't be anything to worry about.

"Mhm! Hehe, actually, I think being a teacher would be fine too..."

So Xia Yanchun imagined Li Shiyan as a teacher.

If there were a few troublemakers in the class, Li Shiyan would end up going home and crying alone.

Bosses have to manage employees, and teachers have to manage students. Li Shiyan had a very likable personality, but she wasn't suited for a job that involved managing people.

However, there were still several years of college and graduate school, so she would definitely grow. Even though Li Shiyan was soft and timid now, who knows, maybe she would grow into a smart, intellectual, and aloof older sister type in college.

Who could say for sure?

"Don't think too much about it. Just wait until the last month to decide."

"Hehe, will you choose the same major as Shen Nian, Chun?"

"Ugh..."

Xia Yanchun choked up. Why did her Stinky bestie suddenly bring up Shen Nian?

This girl had already guessed most of it. She probably believed in her heart that she and Shen Nian were already together...

Although she wasn't wrong.

She was still too smart; she needed a good teasing!

Xia Yanchun pretended to be angry and knocked on Li Shiyan's head. "You stinky little pig, stop asking nonsense."

"You're the pig."

"Then we're both pigs. No more asking."

Li Shiyan pouted. If she couldn't ask, she wouldn't ask. It's not like she really wanted to know anyway. Hehe, you don't actually think I really want to know, do you? Please, you're being so pretentious!

Grumbling in her heart, Li Shiyan still acted obedient on the surface.

After evening self-study.

Shen Nian walked out of the classroom with his backpack and left the school gates with Xia Yanchun.

The streetlights at the school gate were very bright. Some street vendors specifically pushed their carts over at this time, planning to sell their last batch of goods.

Wu Dalang flatbreads, Takoyaki, Northeastern barbecue...

Shen Nian noticed a young girl selling candied fruit skewers, so he went ahead and bought two: one strawberry and one hawthorn.

It was super expensive, ten yuan a skewer, like daylight robbery.

One day, candied fruit skewers would also rank among high-end snacks.

"Here, my treat." Shen Nian handed the strawberry skewer to Xia Yanchun.

"Let me have a bite of the hawthorn one."

"You want the hawthorn instead of the strawberry? I swear. Here." Shen Nian held his skewer out horizontally for her.

Xia Yanchun gently bit onto the sugar-coated hawthorn at the very tip and pulled it outward gently. The sugar coating was very hard, and she had to use a bit of effort to bite off the whole piece.

The taste in her mouth was sweet and sour, and there were no hawthorn pits. Xia Yanchun felt delighted.

"Here, you can have a strawberry."

"Ah—"

Shen Nian was never polite with Xia Yanchun. As soon as she held it out, he bit down, devouring a strawberry in a few quick bites.

As they rode further away, Shen Nian started to complain, "It didn't taste that great."

"Not as good as the hawthorn."

"Indeed."

"Then let's swap."

"No way, you only have one piece left."

"Hehe."

Upon returning to their residential compound, Xia Yanchun tossed the bamboo skewer toward the trash can. She missed, but didn't care to pick it up, showing her slightly lacking manners.

"It's going to warm up tomorrow. It feels like winter passed by so fast."

"Yeah. Is that bad?"

"It is bad. Spring means the return of the damp southern winds."

"..."

That really is terrifying, enough to scare half a billion Southerners to tears.

Once they got into the elevator, Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun merged together to form a penguin.

If anyone else had wanted to use the elevator, they definitely would have thought this was some bizarre human behavior, like looking at a creepy doppelganger.

But Shen Nian really liked doing this. Hugging Xia Yanchun from behind and resting his chin on her head, merging together like this made it feel as if he were piloting her.

Ding.

The elevator doors opened. Shen Nian released her so she could fish out her keys and open the door.

Looking at the incredibly familiar hallway and the incredibly familiar girl, Shen Nian fell deep into thought. Right as Xia Yanchun got the door open, he suddenly wrapped his arms around her from behind again.

"How about a hallway hug, for old times' sake?"

"Aren't you already hugging me?"

"Oh damn, you're right." Shen Nian let go of her, took a step back, and opened his arms wide. "Let's do it over, then."

... Xia Yanchun blinked. This guy clearly just wanted her to take the initiative and hug him.

Honestly.

"Come here, then."

Xia Yanchun leaned into his chest, her two small hands naturally wrapping around Shen Nian's waist. She couldn't help but notice how much broader his waist was compared to her own.

Shen Nian's heart fluttered with absolute contentment. He lowered his head and planted a quick peck on the lips of the completely unprepared Xia Yanchun.

It was as if he could taste a hint of strawberry sweetness.