“No…”
Under the watchful eyes of the two girls, Shen An tried to put up a little resistance, even if it was just a token struggle.
“Want to grab lunch together?”
Wang Yuqiong leaned forward slightly, propping her elbow on the desk as she forcibly steered the conversation elsewhere.
Shen An let out a chuckle. She’d mocked Zhao Qingyu as a fox earlier, but he had no idea who the real fox spirit was.
He could practically see a pair of fluffy pointed ears sprouting from her silky hair.
“Right… want to grab lunch together?”
Having tasted a bit of sweetness from her earlier boldness, Song Rui grew a touch more proactive.
Sure enough, change itself wasn’t so hard. The real challenge was pushing through without any positive reinforcement along the way.
Take working out, for example. If every trip to the gym let you clearly track your muscle definition improving, giving you that instant feedback, those places would be packed every single day.
“I’ll sit out your dorm gathering this time.”
Seeing that his struggles were futile, Shen An stopped bothering.
With a casual wave, he stood up and stretched lazily.
“That’s not how you should put it. This is about building bonds between classmates.”
Wang Yuqiong spoke softly. “Don’t believe me? Ask Li Li and the others—they want to mingle with the class too, right?”
Did Li Li and Zhang Tong dare shake their heads under her piercing stare?
The pair could only smile and nod. “Yeah, yeah! More mingling, hehe…”
“Thanks for the warm invite.”
Shen An gave a light smile. “But I really can’t make it this time. Next round’s on me.”
Song Rui asked in her usual straightforward way, “You got something going on? Then go handle it.”
Wang Yuqiong caught on quick. She narrowed her eyes, and he swore he could glimpse a fluffy pointed tail flickering at the edges of her hair. “The Art Troupe?”
“Yeah.”
Shen An sighed. “A senior sister messaged me during class—said to head over right after.”
“Looks like things are about to get busy.”
“Tsk, what a pity. I was hoping for a seafood feast this time. Guess someone’s not lucky enough to enjoy it.”
Wang Yuqiong gloated.
“Heh, cut the passive-aggressive crap. When you go for your interview, just see if I don’t mess with you.”
Shen An’s attitude was downright cocky, and Wang Yuqiong played right along, putting on a perfectly aggrieved expression. “Ow, is Secretary Shen planning to settle a personal score?”
“Song Rui, we should grab some gifts anyway—just in case we get cut.”
Secretary Shen??
Song Rui blinked, staring blankly at the two of them. Their banter felt utterly foreign to her.
What had happened last night?
Had she missed something??
“Oh, I forgot to mention it to you last night.”
Wang Yuqiong smiled lightly. “I’ll fill you in over lunch. Quite a few interesting things went down.”
“Yeah, you all go eat.”
Shen An pulled his books from the drawer and handed them to Song Rui. “Hold onto these for me, will you?”
With that, he slipped away.
“Okay…”
Song Rui nodded obediently and watched him leave the classroom.
Her gaze lingered until Wang Yuqiong murmured beside her, “He’s gone. Snap out of it.”
“Huh?” Song Rui looked puzzled.
Wang Yuqiong: …
Sometimes, she really couldn’t figure Song Rui out. Was she genuinely clueless, or just playing dumb?
If she was faking it, no one could pull it off that convincingly.
Playing the fool was a high-level skill, after all.
But if she was truly dim, then how to explain those moments when Song Rui proved sharp as a tack, slipping right into the conversation at just the right time?
“Nothing. Let’s go eat! Seafood feast!”
Wang Yuqiong threw her arm up with gusto, and Li Li with Zhang Tong cheered, “Yay!”
The last thing they wanted was to get stuck in the middle of that awkward love triangle tension again. They’d gladly split the bill if it meant escaping.
Song Rui hesitated, though.
She lowered her head and mumbled, “You guys go ahead… I… I have something to do.”
Wang Yuqiong slung an arm around her shoulders, her lips curving up. “Relax—my treat. Consider it an early celebration.”
“Celebrating what?”
“Us all landing spots in the departments we want!”
Wang Yuqiong brimmed with confidence.
“Well… thanks for treating, then.” Facing such enthusiasm, Song Rui couldn’t bring herself to refuse.
“Silly, what kind of talk is that?”
Wang Yuqiong pouted playfully. “We’re stuck together for four years—we’ve got to get along.”
“Mm… oh, right. What’s the deal with Shen An being… Secretary Shen?”
“No rush. I’ll tell you on the way.”
Wang Yuqiong’s eyes flicked around. “Oh, and don’t forget his books.”
“Got it…”
The four girls from East 7 Dormitory 105 left the teaching building, heading off for their seafood feast.
Meanwhile, Shen An had it rougher. He was stuck with a boxed meal.
The one consolation? It was free—provided by the Art Troupe as a work lunch.
But if he had a choice, only an idiot would pass up seafood for this.
Too bad he had no say in the matter.
Neither Wang Yuqiong nor Zhao Qingyu had left him any room to maneuver.
At that moment, he was hemmed in by the Art Troupe’s presidents and senior sisters.
Shen An glanced left at Qi Taili, right at Yu Wen… and caught the slightly bitter, helpless looks on both their faces.
Good—at least he wasn’t the only one getting dragged into this.
What he was handling now was the official first round of interviews.
By rights, this wasn’t even a level that required the presidents to show up.
But this time, every department’s presidents had been ordered to attend in full—no absences, no excuses.
Unless it was a genuine emergency.
This also gave Shen An a chance to meet every department’s presidents.
All the presidents and vice presidents from the Troupe’s seven groups and five departments were present.
Looking around, not one of them was unattractive—the lowest bar was still above average.
Right below Zhao Qingyu in the top tier were the Dance Group’s leader, the Drama Group’s leader, and the Model Group’s leader, Yu Wen.
Yu Wen especially had that cold, glamorous big-sister vibe. No wonder she led the Model Group—her looks and figure were top-tier.
As for the Dance and Drama leaders, he didn’t know them yet. He’d only learned their names during introductions: Xu Yingfan and Pei Mingyao.
The next tier down belonged to Qi Taili and Xu Ling.
A step lower came the president of the Publicity Department—the one he’d seen yesterday. She ranked as fourth tier, for now.
Not that she was ugly. She just came off as aloof and chilly, with sharp, hard-edged features.
It wasn’t the same kind of aloofness as Shen Lianyao or Xu Yijing.
Hers felt like some ancient relic sealed away from the world, steeped in old-fashioned vibes.
And yet she couldn’t have been more than twenty, a year or two younger than Shen An.
Through this, he learned her name: Ye Xin.
The rest of the presidents and leaders were about even, all solidly in the third tier.
“Done eating?”
The question from right in front of him pulled Shen An’s gaze back. He looked up. “Huh?”
Zhao Qingyu sat across from him, one leg crossed over the other, her smile alluring. “Didn’t realize you got so focused when you eat.”
Uh…
Was that a jab?
Shen An thickened his skin. “I always take things seriously—total focus, no distractions.”
Pfft~
Qi Taili coughed, nearly spitting out her rice.
“Senior sister? You okay?”
Shen An quickly patted her back.
“It’s nothing… I… I just remembered something.”
Qi Taili stifled a laugh.
Zhao Qingyu drawled, “Tsk, must’ve been something hilarious. You almost sprayed your food.”
“Come on, senior sister—can you tone it down?”
“Don’t pull that like before…”
“Troupe Leader~” Qi Taili cut in quick, then muttered under her breath, “Can you leave me some face in front of the junior brother?”
“Fine, fine. I won’t say it.”
Zhao Qingyu turned her beaming smile back to Shen An. “That’s a great quality. Makes me feel even better about handing things off to you.”
“Heh…”
Shen An gave a dry laugh. Yeah, you can drop that.
“I asked earlier—are you full?” Zhao Qingyu got back to business.
“Still a bit left…”
“Then you’d better hurry. Work’s about to start.”
She glanced at her watch. “About three minutes.”
“No need to rush like that. The other senior sisters aren’t done yet…” Shen An protested on behalf of his stomach.
Three minutes? He’d get indigestion eating that fast.
Zhao Qingyu wagged a finger. “No, no—they’ve got time. You don’t.”
“?”
“You need to head over first and take charge. Right, Secretary Shen?”
“O… kay…”
Was this the gap between presidents and nobodies?
“No worries. There are others over there too—your senior sisters. Ask them if you’re unsure.”
“It’s normal for newbies to fumble a bit.”
Zhao Qingyu spoke gently. “But I’m only allowing you three mistakes. Got it?”
“The Art Troupe doesn’t need idiots.”
Man, I wish I could just be one, Shen An sighed inwardly.
Zhao Qingyu caught every one of Xu Yijing’s subtle expressions, the teasing smile at the corner of her mouth growing even more pronounced.
Now that was more like it…
The game was on~
Xu Yijing!
