"Chen Yuan, over here!"
On the tree-lined avenue crowded with students, Wei Zhen spotted Chen Yuan and frantically waved him over.
Chen Yuan saw him and walked over, pushing a huge orange trash can.
As a member of the student council, he had received a notice early that morning. He had to rush to campus and follow the student council president’s arrangements to carry out the cleanup, as per the leadership’s instructions.
The Arts Department wasn’t responsible for organizing these kinds of activities, but as a member, he had to have a sense of service for the campus and its students.
Naturally, he was at the forefront, following orders and starting the cleanup.
It wasn’t just him. Liu Tingyue and a dozen other girls were also picking up trash by Qingyan Lake, and they had been busy for nearly two hours.
Wei Zhen had just arrived, and the first thing he saw was Chen Yuan in the middle of a crowd, dragging a thick tree branch and stuffing it into the trash can.
"Wow, you’re covered in sweat. Here, have a tissue."
"Am I?" Chen Yuan touched his forehead under his bangs and found that he was indeed sweating. He took the tissue and wiped his brow. "Why aren’t Yafeng and the others here?"
"They’re here. They were assigned to the library area, so they’ll probably come over after they’re done cleaning," Wei Zhen said with a smile, then sighed as if remembering something. "It’s a shame you’re not living in the dorm anymore. Now I’m left to face those two troublemakers by myself."
He was just about to complain about how late the other two had been playing games last night when someone called out from behind him.
"Chen Yuan, pass me the trash can."
Chen Yuan answered and waved toward the voice. Seeing how swamped he was, Wei Zhen waved a hand. "Go on. We’ll talk when you have time."
"Okay, see you in the cafeteria at lunch."
The cleanup continued until noon. The rarely seen sun peeked out from behind the layers of gray clouds, its rays spilling down one by one.
A student looked up and was surprised to see a rainbow appear on the horizon!
A real rainbow, faint and beautiful, stretched diagonally across half the sky like a bridge.
Immediately, many people exclaimed in amazement and started taking pictures.
Within a few hours, probably half the school would see the rainbow—not because everyone was looking up, but because everyone was posting it on their social media...
...
"COUGH—"
Chen Yuan was exhausted. After finishing lunch, he was summoned to a meeting. The other members of the Arts Department were there too.
A whole room with sixteen girls—you can imagine how noisy it was.
He was incredibly thirsty. He took the water Liu Tingyue handed him and chugged a large mouthful, nearly choking.
"Are you okay, Chen Yuan?" Liu Tingyue asked, flustered and concerned.
"I’m fine, just drank too fast."
"You worked so hard this morning. There were so many of us working on Qingyan Lake, and we still didn’t finish. If you hadn’t come to help, we probably would have had to go back this afternoon." Liu Tingyue seemed completely unaffected by the pressure Jiangg Yao had put on her; in fact, she was only spurred on.
Because her interest in Chen Yuan had only grown stronger.
Liu Tingyue was the type of person who was always plotting—how to get ahead at school, gain status among her classmates, and win approval from her teachers.
She didn’t mind winning over Chen Yuan, even if it meant stealing him away from his girlfriend.
In fact, she found it thrilling.
’Without a doubt, conquering Chen Yuan would earn me countless envious and jealous gazes... and that would feel amazing.’
Chen Yuan was unaware of the terrifying thoughts of the senior student next to him. He just waved his hand to show it was no big deal.
’Thank goodness I’m dating Jiangg Yao. We both know where we stand.’
’If I had started dating Senior Liu Tingyue online and then met her in person, I would’ve been sucked dry in bed within ten days... She’s definitely the type to take charge and ride a man into the ground.’
"Oh, right, I still haven’t apologized for yesterday," Liu Tingyue said, full of remorse. She looked extremely guilty. "I didn’t realize you had a girlfriend. She wasn’t angry, was she?"
"It’s fine. I just had to coax her a bit."
"That’s good. My conscience wouldn’t be clear if I’d ruined your relationship," Liu Tingyue said, pursing her lips. Before Chen Yuan could react, she quickly changed the subject. "No one told you what the meeting this afternoon is about, did they?"
"Right. Is there something else after the cleanup?" Chen Yuan asked doubtfully.
"I just found out myself. The school has a new deputy secretary for the Youth League Committee. We all have to meet them, so there’s probably a half-hour meeting. All student council members have to attend."
The Youth League Committee Secretary at Lanjing University is an incredibly busy person, a position held concurrently by one of the university’s top leaders. Therefore, the deputy secretary is basically in charge of all the student council’s administrative affairs. They hold a deputy title but shoulder the most responsibility.
"As for who it is, we don’t know yet. We’ll find out soon," Liu Tingyue added.
"Got it."
Chen Yuan chugged another mouthful of bottled water. How could he possibly have guessed... that the new deputy secretary of the Youth League Committee would be Jiangg Ning!
A notification came through on the main student council group chat.
It was time to head to the conference hall on the ninth floor.
The group quickly stood up and hurried into the hallway.
Chen Yuan was no exception, of course, but Liu Tingyue kept sticking close to him. Since they were all going to the same place, he couldn’t really say she was doing it on purpose.
There were plenty of members from other departments, too, all rushing to the ninth floor together.
The elevator was full, so some people had to take the stairs. Chen Yuan watched as a huge crowd of girls squeezed into the elevator... ’Forget it, I’ll take the stairs!’
"Well, well, if it isn’t junior Chen Yuan!"
"Why’d you join the Arts Department? You should have come to our Disciplinary Department. We’re short one handsome guy."
"In your dreams. Tingyue is watching. She’d never let him go."
As they climbed the stairs, a few girls who seemed to know Chen Yuan came up to tease him without a hint of shyness. They chatted and laughed, sharing knowing looks that said it all.