Boys and Girls

The meal lasted until five in the afternoon.

Because of the 31 percent college student discount, Shen Nian only spent a little over seven hundred to treat six people to a meal, which wasn't too much at about a hundred per person.

At the very least, for the current Shen Nian, this seven hundred bucks didn't carry much weight.

Either way, he ate happily.

Everyone chatted as they ate, talking about their current situations and future plans. Whatever they couldn't finish was packed up by Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun to serve as a midnight snack later.

After dinner, Xia Yanchun and Li Shiyan went to buy lottery tickets, and Shen Nian tagged along with them. Chen Dong and Chen Qiuyu went outside the mall to wait for their ride. Ma Mingfan and Liang Jing planned to stroll around a bit more, so they said goodbye to Shen Nian and headed to the lower floors of the mall.

"Are you full?"

Ma Mingfan stood beside Liang Jing, afraid that she had been too shy to eat to her heart's content. If she was still hungry, they could go buy some snacks or milk tea later.

Liang Jing looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, it was delicious. By the way, do you know how much this meal cost?"

"I don't know. The bill was settled on a tablet, and I didn't look when Shen Nian was paying."

"The service was so good, it felt like it would be really expensive..."

Shen Nian and Ma Mingfan were good friends, but he couldn't really be called friends with Liang Jing. At best, they were classmates of three years who rarely talked. For today's gathering, Shen Nian had invited Ma Mingfan, and she had just tagged along for the free food. She felt quite embarrassed about eating so much of his food.

"Remember to treat Shen Nian to a meal next time too."

"Yeah, if we get the chance in the future, we should treat Shen Nian and the class monitor to a meal," Ma Mingfan smiled.

"Mhm."

Liang Jing was in a beautiful mood. When they arrived at the first floor of the mall and passed by a clothing store, she went in to browse for a while.

The inner section of the store also had sexy women's lingerie hanging up. Ma Mingfan originally wanted to follow her in, but upon catching a glimpse of the underwear, he lost his nerve and stood outside the store playing on his phone.

The joy of shopping lies in the strolling itself. Girls don't necessarily have to buy things when they shop; often, they just go in for a look and then leave, and Liang Jing was no exception.

"Let's go, stop looking at your phone."

"Coming... By the way, don't we need to catch the bus? It's already five-thirty."

Liang Jing paused her steps and twirled a strand of hair by her cheek. "I still have to take a long bus ride back. It will be completely dark by the time I get home."

She wasn't lying to Ma Mingfan.

Although she shared the same route home as Ma Mingfan and they could buy tickets together, Ma Mingfan lived in the city while she lived in a rural town. It was quite remote. Not only did she have to transfer to a long-distance bus halfway, but she also had to trouble her family to drive out and pick her up once she reached the town. If she rushed to the passenger station now, it would probably be close to ten o'clock by the time she got home.

"Going home is that troublesome for you? I just need to take one bus ride."

"I'm really sorry my home is so remote!" Liang Jing clasped her hands together.

"Then..." Ma Mingfan's Adam's apple bobbed. "Anyway, we're going the same way, h-how about you come to my house first... and then... take the bus back tomorrow. Uh, haha, just joking."

"..."

Liang Jing pursed her lips, her bangs slightly covering her wide eyes, and her cheeks almost instantly flushed with color.

She was invited by a boy to be a guest at his house!

So dizzy.

"Otherwise, the only option is to book a hotel and wait for tomorrow..." Ma Mingfan added.

It seemed these were the only two solutions! Could she really just sleep under a bridge with a cotton quilt?

"Um, are your parents... easy to get along with?"

"...They are both quite friendly." Ma Mingfan's heart raced.

After struggling with it for a long time, Liang Jing still didn't dare to agree to spend the night at Ma Mingfan's house. "Let's just stay at a hotel..."

"That works too."

"Will you keep me company?"

Liang Jing's big eyes blinked rapidly, not quite daring to meet Ma Mingfan's gaze. Her voice was very, very low; if Ma Mingfan had stood any further away, he wouldn't have heard a thing.

Ma Mingfan's mind was also a mess. Such a simple sentence actually took him a few seconds to process.

"Is that okay...?"

"Yeah... Don't overthink it, we're booking two rooms, and then we'll go back together tomorrow!"

"I know! I wasn't overthinking it!"

"Let's go, I'm thirsty. Let's see if there's any green tea..." Liang Jing couldn't handle it anymore and quickly walked away.

Ma Mingfan quickly followed. They left the mall together, as only the outside of the mall had those milk tea shops, and only the vending machines by the road had the sugar-free or low-sugar green tea that Liang Jing really liked.

Of course, Ma Mingfan didn't like that, so he bought a bottle of Assam milk tea.

After gulping down some milk tea, Ma Mingfan's mood settled down quite a bit, but then he started feeling depressed again.

He had almost stuttered when speaking just now. He still wasn't strong enough. He needed to go back and challenge himself to watch Pursuing Dreams in Showbiz with a straight face.

Liang Jing neatly tied her long hair into a high ponytail. The ends of her hair swayed gently as she walked, looking clean and refreshing. As it swayed back and forth in front of Ma Mingfan, his newly calmed mood began to stir again.

He couldn't resist reaching out to play with it a little. Noticing that Liang Jing only glanced at him sideways, he grew bolder and started playing with it more.

Then, feeling that he was being a bit creepy, he quickly withdrew his hand.

"Since we're not going back tonight, let's rest a bit and then go stroll around the Garden Expo Park over there. I've been studying here for so long and still haven't visited it!" Ma Mingfan cleared his throat.

"Sure, let's get shared bikes!"

"Okay."

"Then let's sit for a while..."

Liang Jing casually sat down on an ergonomic bench dedicated for resting outside a shop, slowly relaxing.

Ma Mingfan sat beside her and finished the rest of his milk tea. As he relaxed, his hand accidentally brushed against hers. Liang Jing merely pulled her hand back slightly and secretly glanced at Ma Mingfan.

"..."

"..."

Perhaps the tacit permission when he played with her hair earlier had inflated his courage. Ma Mingfan took a deep breath to embolden himself, moved his hand toward Liang Jing, and gently pressed it over two or three of her fingers.

Amidst the noisy mall, Liang Jing could clearly hear her own heartbeat, thumping so hard it felt like it would jump out.

Wait!

Pressing on the fingers is enough, don't push your luck!!

Even when Ma Mingfan boldly held her hand, Liang Jing only felt a storm raging in her heart.

She couldn't speak...

...

Shen Nian stroked his chin, watching Li Shiyan operate the claw machine, smoothly picking up a ragdoll cat plushie with the grace of flowing water, and fell into deep thought.

How should one evaluate this person who scratched three lottery tickets, missed the first two, won a thousand on the third, and caught two plushies in seven attempts at the claw machine?

Sigh, she truly is a bloodsucker.

Is there really any capital in this world that can siphon blood from Li Shiyan?

The strictest mother of capitalists.

On the other hand, looking at Haji-chun.

She had already fed over forty bucks into the claw machines, generously building up the pity timer for others with the heart of a bodhisattva.

If she had just stuck to one machine, she might have triggered the guaranteed win by now. But this girl insisted on trying one machine here and another machine there.

Forget it, Haji-chun looked very cute when she was angry, so he decided not to scold her.