The older the meme, the more charming it becomes.

The sunlight poured down unhindered, kissing the lightly closed eyes of the girl, golden rays flowing along the curve of her eyelids and blending into a warm, natural eyeshadow, even dusting her brow bones with flecks of light.

Xia Yanchun’s lashes fluttered slightly, and the light rippled beneath her eyes, as if kneading the last remnants of early autumn’s warmth into her bare, makeup-free face.

Croak!

That sunlight eyeshadow looked good.

Just kidding, she looked good even without it.

"You’ve got this 6-foot-tall guy—who has an older sister and a childhood friend—feeling all kinds of comfortable," Shen Nian gave a thumbs-up.

"You’re being kinda cringe..." Xia Yanchun lowered her long lashes, her bangs faintly obscuring her gaze.

"Damn, even this level of romance can’t win you over?" Shen Nian pinched his chin. Crap, this troublemaker’s defenses are too high.

"Ugh, instead of all this nonsense, just buy me lunch. That’s more practical."

"Wasting my emotions here. I put in all this romantic effort and got zero feedback. Isn’t this just plain ungrateful?"

"Where’s the ‘grace’? Where’s the ‘loyalty’? And where’s the ‘romance’?"

"Don’t worry about that."

"??"

You’re the one who brought up ‘ungrateful,’ and now you’re telling me not to worry about grace or loyalty?

She was so mad she laughed.

Xia Yanchun crossed her arms and hmphed. Did he really think sweet-talking alone could win a girl over? Someone’s been reading too much wish-fulfillment fiction.

Even if they’d grown up together—she knew his shortcomings, but he didn’t know her depths—there was no way she’d let Shen Nian take advantage so easily. She’d already been way too lenient with him.

So lenient that she’d even allowed him to crash at her place, sleeping on the floor, and play with her hair.

"Fine, you wanted to see legs, right? Here you go." Xia Yanchun deliberately stretched her legs forward. Her skirt rode up just past her knees, revealing her fair calves.

Who said she wouldn’t let Shen Nian look?

"Usually when people say ‘see legs,’ they mean thighs... Let’s find somewhere private—"

"Aren’t calves legs too? Then next time you eat chicken legs, make sure to skip the drumsticks."

"..."

Damn, she had a point. Skipping drumsticks when eating chicken? Impossible!

Game over. Xia Yanchun was high attack, high defense—how was he supposed to fight that? This was no different from raiding a boss.

"You’re absolutely right," Shen Nian clasped his hands in surrender. "This humble one shall retreat—and this retreat may very well last a lifetime."

"?"

What kind of abstract nonsense was this?

"Are you gonna off yourself?"

"Nah, I’m gonna go check out some junior girls instead. Let’s bounce, my dude."

Clutching a mini fan, Shen Nian dashed off, leaving Xia Yanchun utterly bewildered in the wind.

What—what a lunatic!

For no reason, a surge of irritation rose in Xia Yanchun. She plopped down beside Li Shiyan with a huff. Since she always wore safety shorts under her skirt and the hem was long, she wasn’t too concerned about flashing anyone, so her movements were unrestrained.

The sun still hung in the sky, the blue expanse dotted with fluffy white clouds. After her anger subsided, her mood settled into the same easy rhythm as the drifting clouds.

Absentmindedly, she touched her own eyelid. Only when she did it herself did she realize how lightly Shen Nian had brushed against her earlier.

"Xiao Chun, your face is so red," Li Shiyan pinched Xia Yanchun’s soft, warm cheek. "Did Shen Nian say something to you?"

"He pissed me off."

Xia Yanchun pressed her lips together, smoothing the strands of hair by her temples with both hands, her tone indifferent.

"Ugh, that awful Shen Nian! Always teasing girls!"

Li Shiyan fumed, then pinched Xia Yanchun’s equally pinkened earlobe.

Suddenly, she felt bad for Xiao Chun. Dragged out into the sun by Shen Nian, only to return flushed with anger—she must’ve been furious.

She shook her tiny fist. Shen Nian thought just because he and Xiao Chun were hometown buddies, he could bully her? Disgusting. He deserved to be punched to death—tonight, she’d force-feed him two pounds of crap.

Meanwhile.

Shen Nian wandered around for a bit. Though there were indeed cute junior girls in cosplay outfits, he hadn’t really paid them much attention.

He was looking for Ma Mingfan. Ma Mingfan was a top-tier gamer—Shen Nian was itching for a 1v1. Junior girls who didn’t play Naruto? Nah, not interested.

The sun was brutal. Thank goodness for Li Shiyan’s mini fan, or Shen Nian would’ve already melted into "Shen Nian paste."

Next to the stage was a large concrete staircase for seating. Because of the scorching sun, students crowded the shaded center section, where Shen Nian eventually found Ma Mingfan and Chen Dong.

"Wanna duel?"

"R-right here? That’s kinda awkward, Shen Nian..."

"Bruh, I meant Naruto. What were you thinking?"

"I meant Naruto too," Ma Mingfan said awkwardly. "There are so many junior girls around. If we start playing Naruto, they’ll look at us weird. Being a ‘Naruto freak’ is way too cringe."

"I hereby declare you a rogue ninja. Expelled from the village. Someone like you doesn’t deserve to inherit the Will of Fire."

Ma Mingfan fell silent, heart aching.

There was a poll on Xiaohongshu once—guys who played Naruto were voted as having low EQ, the cringiest, and the least popular, just below forum trolls.

But that wasn’t even legit.

How come Shen Nian could play Naruto and troll forums, yet still blend in seamlessly with the girls in class, even popping up on the confession wall sometimes? How?!

Guess it all came down to looks.

Without top-tier aesthetics, you had to sacrifice some things.

Sure, he looked as handsome as Sasuke, but if being a Naruto fanboy ruined his reputation, what choice did he have but to go rogue?

"I just wanna make friends with junior girls... What’s wrong with that?"

"A rogue ninja is a rogue ninja."

Chen Dong chimed in, "Exactly. No matter the reason, betraying the village is unforgivable."

"You guys—fine! I’ve gone dark side!"

"666 Orochimaru."

"Idiot, hurry up and duel me."

"Bring it. I’ll wreck you."

......

"My phone’s overheating. I’m dizzy. Gonna log off." Shen Nian pocketed his phone, looking calm and collected—but truthfully, he was a little tilted.

Getting styled on for thirty minutes straight? Even in that game, he wouldn’t get bullied this hard.

Time for an IRL match.

"Confidence: restored." Ma Mingfan puffed out his chest.

"Just had an off day. Don’t get cocky."

"Trash."

"This was supposed to be a friendly match. You teabag online and talk trash offline? Maybe we shouldn’t be friends anymore. Remember that Choco Pie I bought you sophomore year? Venmo me back." Shen Nian deadpanned.

"Mad."

"Damn, pulling out the ancient memes? Blue and not because of bruising, mushroom and not because of fungi."

"That meme’s so old it’s fossilized." Ma Mingfan’s lips twitched. He could dig a hole with his toes from sheer cringe.

Shen Nian wagged a finger and tutted. "Some like young girls, some like mature women. Memes are the same—the older, the more refined."

"Damn, that’s deep. Without Golden Bull, African farming can’t flourish!"

"That’s just gerontophilia."

……

By noon, Shen Nian had only caught a glimpse of the freshman relay race. The rest of the time, he’d spent shooting the breeze with Ma Mingfan and Chen Dong.

He hadn’t paid much attention to the class’s sports event sign-ups and only just found out Chen Dong had registered for the triple jump.

"I definitely won’t stand by the sandpit cracking jokes to make you laugh. Promise." Shen Nian thumped his chest. Bros before hoes.

"The fact that you said that makes me not believe you."

Shen Nian squinted. Who emptied my credit score?

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