Once Shen An had straightened out his disheveled clothes, Chen Nannan returned to the desk. She tidied up the files once more and counted them from beginning to end.
“One, two, three…”
She reached fifty-eight and confirmed the count was correct before nodding in satisfaction.
“Come on, let’s carry them over to Teacher Pei’s office.”
Chen Nannan directed.
“Fifty-eight copies. From what I just checked against the list myself, there doesn’t seem to be a single guy among them—except for me.”
“I wonder how things look on your end, Senior Sister? You wouldn’t happen to have zero guys either, would you?”
Shen An picked up the heaviest stack and asked about his discovery as they walked.
Chen Nannan couldn’t recall off the top of her head. She grabbed the student registration form and scanned it from top to bottom.
“Huh?”
She looked surprised. From Shen An’s perspective, that surprise carried a hint of delight.
“Not just me?” Shen An grinned.
“Yep.”
Chen Nannan turned her head. “There’s been a good number more this year.”
“How many?” Shen An asked, his face full of anticipation.
“Three.”
Chen Nannan held up three fingers, dead serious.
Shen An tilted his head, nearly dropping the file bag in his hand. “How many?”
“Three!”
Chen Nannan saw the somewhat ferocious look on his face and immediately lost her momentum. She said softly.
“Three…” Shen An wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. “And that’s a good number more?”
Chen Nannan pouted. “Be grateful. Our class has zero.”
Shen An looked impressed. “An all-girl army, huh? Respect.”
Chen Nannan seemed used to that kind of teasing. She shrugged. “Actually, no guys isn’t so bad. At least there are fewer headaches.”
Heh~
Shen An muttered to himself, “All girls would mean even more trouble, wouldn’t it?”
“What are you muttering about?”
“Nothing. Hurry up and let’s drop them off. I’ve been holding this for a whole minute already.”
“Oh, right~”
They opened the door to the office, and Chen Nannan looked puzzled. “Where’s Teacher Pei?”
“Who knows? Maybe in a meeting, or maybe just hitting the bathroom.”
Shen An held the files. “We wouldn’t have to wait for her to come back, would we?”
“No, no. Just put them on her desk. She’ll sort them out herself.”
“Good.”
They placed the files and documents neatly on Pei Xiuran’s desk. Shen An clapped his hands. “Mission accomplished.”
Chen Nannan let out a sigh of relief and nodded appreciatively. “Thanks. Sorry to trouble you.”
Then, with a silly grin, she scratched her head. “Without you, I probably would’ve taken hours to sort them all.”
“Fifty-eight copies, but not hours, right?”
“Uh… I… I check pretty carefully, so I’m a bit slow.”
“Oh, got it. Prone to spacing out, huh?”
“I’m not!!”
Chen Nannan was so exasperated she could die. With a cute huff, she turned around. “Alright, remember to come to the class meeting tomorrow. Don’t forget.”
Shen An raised an eyebrow. “You’re just leaving like that?”
“Well… Oh, right, right!”
Chen Nannan spun back around and pulled out her phone from her pocket. “I haven’t added you yet. Gotta pull you into the class group, or you won’t get the notices.”
“What are you standing there for? Get your phone out.”
Chen Nannan blinked at him.
But Shen An eyed the pink phone in her hand, hesitating.
Pink again.
He hated pink the most.
Under Chen Nannan’s urging, though, Shen An reluctantly pulled out his own pink brick phone.
He had to admit, whether in style or looks, Chen Nannan’s phone was far more “advanced” than his.
But because they both had pink cases, at first glance, they gave off a couple’s matching set vibe.
Chen Nannan, a bit scatterbrained, didn’t notice at first—or rather, she didn’t realize it at all.
She stared at Shen An’s pink brick phone. Her little mouth puffed out, her head drooped, and her big eyes fixed straight on her canvas shoes.
Her shoulders trembled slightly. Shen An said irritably, “If you wanna laugh, just laugh. Don’t hold it in.”
Pfft~
With permission, Chen Nannan burst out laughing—very impolitely.
Then came a string of crisp giggles that echoed through the entire office.
Black lines appeared on Shen An’s forehead. He gave a half-smile. “It’s just a phone. No need to laugh that hard, right?”
“Sorry, sorry…”
Chen Nannan tried hard to stifle her laughter, but sorry, she really couldn’t help it.
She just couldn’t imagine a somewhat carefree, roguish guy like Shen An using a pink phone.
What made it even harder to hold back was how utterly ridiculous that pink phone looked.
Her laughter wasn’t because the phone was old or outdated.
It was simply because it clashed so hard with Shen An—like a tiger king of the mountains draped in a pink padded jacket. A double shock to the eyes and the mind, that’s all.
Shen An ignored her laughter and picked up his phone. With a touch of fondness and nostalgia, he gently stroked the ridiculous pink case.
“Isn’t it hilarious? The first time I held it, I thought it was funny too.”
“Who but an idiot would carry a phone like this? No normal person would want to use one, right?”
“But I got it from my mom. She’d been using it all along.”
As he spoke with such deep emotion, Chen Nannan’s wild laughter gradually faded until it stopped completely.
She lowered her head in shock and shame, not daring to even glance at Shen An.
“Because I told her I was going to university and needed a phone.”
“So she gave me hers.”
“Luckily, there was still that old button phone at home—mine originally. We basically just swapped.”
Her uneasy gaze swept over the pink, ridiculous “brick.” The worn back cover, marked by years of use, bore several clear cracks.
It lay quietly in his hand, yet it seemed to silently tell a story behind it.
A story Chen Nannan didn’t want to imagine at all.
She glanced again at the white shirt he wore, and in that moment, the cracks on the phone case seemed to stitch together with the tear in his shirt.
She kept her head down awkwardly, staying silent in guilty quiet.
She regretted it—regretted why she’d laughed so foolishly.
Maybe it was unintentional, without malice.
But that lack of thought had turned into a sharp blade that hurt him.
The silence lasted until Shen An spoke.
“What’s wrong? Add me already.”
He said softly.
“Oh, right.” Chen Nannan clumsily picked up her phone and entered the number he gave her. An avatar popped up.
She sent the friend request, and Shen An accepted.
Then he showed her his interface—completely empty, with only Chen Nannan as a friend.
“You’re my first friend.”
Shen An said gently.
Chen Nannan didn’t know what expression to make. The optimism and cheer in his smile pierced her heart like a sharp knife.
“Alright, nothing else, right?”
Shen An asked.
“No…” Chen Nannan said softly.
“Good. I’m heading back then.” Shen An waved and turned to leave.
He soon stepped out of the office.
In the now-empty office, Chen Nannan stood there in a daze, still not quite back to herself.
Bewildered and stunned, the stinging ache and bitterness welling up in her heart left her unable to stay calm.
Less than ten seconds of thought later, Chen Nannan whipped around and hurried out.
Outside in the hallway, Shen An was walking slowly, as if waiting for something.
“Shen An!”
Her hurried footsteps came with an urgent call as Chen Nannan rushed up and stopped him.
Shen An had his back to her, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly.
Then he turned, the smile already suppressed. “What’s up, Senior Sister? More business?”
Chen Nannan’s little hands twisted behind her back as she stepped up to him. A touch of shyness suddenly bloomed on her face.
“You… got anything else this afternoon?”
“Me? Nah, planning to head back and sleep.”
“Oh… The weather today… is pretty nice, huh.” Chen Nannan’s gaze flickered as she looked out at the blue sky beyond the hallway.
“Yeah, it’s good. Just too sunny.”
Shen An chimed in.
“Right? Such nice weather…” Chen Nannan hemmed and hawed, her eyes quietly flicking to him, then away, scared he’d notice her intentions.
Shen An grinned easily. “What are you trying to say, Senior Sister?”
“I…” Chen Nannan fought the anxiety bubbling from her heart.
“I mean, with weather this nice… wanna take a walk?”
Her smile was full of sincerity—and the careful caution hidden within.
“Take a walk?” Shen An teased. “Senior Sister, are you asking me out?”
“N-No, no!!” Chen Nannan shook her head frantically, her little face flushing red. “I mean… I don’t have anything this afternoon either.”
“I… I wanna show you around campus. You’re new here, after all, right?”
“Get you familiar with the place—that’s what I mean!”
“Mm.”
Shen An neither agreed nor refused.
He rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful.
Under Chen Nannan’s anxious gaze, he suddenly asked, “Where’s my umbrella?”
Huh??
Chen Nannan froze for a moment, then stomped her foot in shy annoyance. “I asked if you wanted to go for a walk together!”
“How are we supposed to walk without an umbrella? The sun’s blazing out there—aren’t you afraid of getting sunburned, Senior Sister?”
Shen An replied innocently.
“Uh…”
Chen Nannan immediately realized she’d lost her composure a bit.
She lowered her little head and mumbled, “You didn’t even explain clearly. Of course I’m afraid of getting sunburned.”
“Then where’s my umbrella?”
“Your umbrella…”
Chen Nannan was about to say she didn’t know when she instinctively patted her other pants pocket.
Oh!
She pulled out an umbrella from her pocket, exclaiming in delight, “It’s right here with me.”
“How did it end up with you?”
He was a little surprised. How had that even fit in there?
“I… I was just kindly holding it for you!” Chen Nannan said, blushing with annoyance. “And you have the nerve to bring it up? You forgot it yourself back at the pavilion when we were resting.”
“Oh, right~”
Shen An also “remembered.” “Ahem, sorry about that. I spaced out for a second. I don’t usually carry an umbrella, so I just forgot about it instinctively.”
“Hmph~” Chen Nannan puffed out her cheeks.
“So, where should we head first?”
Shen An took the umbrella from her hand and asked softly.
“Uh… let’s go…” Chen Nannan actually had no idea.
She glanced at his umbrella again, hesitating a little.
But in the end, she didn’t voice her question. “Let’s go to the Central District first.”
“What’s the Central District?”
“That’s the Teaching District.”
As the two of them walked along, Chen Nannan gradually explained it to him.
The school’s campus was enormous, so it was divided into five districts—east, west, north, south, and central—centered around the Library for easier management and navigation.
Of these five districts, the Central District was where classes were held, so it was also called the Teaching District. The main academic buildings and faculty offices were all located there.
The sports fields, stadiums, and the like were mostly concentrated in the Central District as well.
The east and west districts were the student housing areas, primarily consisting of dormitory buildings, though there were a few scattered teaching structures.
As for the north and south districts, the North District was the Apartment District, home to teachers’ residences and a handful of student apartments for those living independently.
That was where Shen An lived now.
The South District was a bit of a mixed bag, mainly serving as the hub for student leisure, entertainment, and dining.
The school’s official cafeterias were spread across all five districts.
But beyond those, all the other places to eat, have fun, or shop were in the South District.
It featured two bustling commercial streets that led straight out to the outside world, lined with all sorts of shops.
The campus also had Little Yellow Shuttles—plenty of them—like mini-buses with fixed stops, perfect for cruising around.
Otherwise, just walking everywhere would be exhausting, especially going to and from classes and back to the dorms.
Of course, students had their own ways to get around, like bicycles and such.
The roads were wide, with clearly marked pedestrian walkways and vehicle lanes. Step out of line and get caught, and you’d face penalties—warnings at best, confiscation or demerits at worst.
