Chapter 179: You’re So Well-Behaved Today

The movie tickets were bought by Qi Wen.

Five in total.

Aside from Sun Qian and Tian Yawen, who had tutoring sessions, everyone else came.

Even Zhu Hui, who normally lingered in the art studio whenever she had free time.

She made time to join this rare girls’ outing.

Because of this—

Miss Jiang and the others expressed strong disapproval of Sun and Tian’s absence.

But there was nothing they could do.

From what Sun Qian said, it sounded like her parents had pulled a lot of strings and paid quite a bit to hire a top-tier private tutor.

And the lessons were held at the teacher’s home.

Apparently, there were many students, and they had to meet a minimum performance standard.

If you didn’t meet it, you couldn’t get in, no matter how much money you had.

There was even an interview.

Good grief.

This left Miss Jiang and the others dumbfounded.

It’s just tutoring.

Why does it sound harder than landing a job at a major corporation?

Given that—

The girls couldn’t insist any further.

After all, it was a hard-earned opportunity.

As for Tian Yawen—

From the tone of Qi Wen, something was definitely up.

They were classmates in middle school, and Qi Wen knew her well.

Unless it was something unusual, Tian Yawen would always show up when Qi Wen called.

But this time—

When Qi Wen found Tian Yawen, and saw how shy and hesitant she looked,

She immediately knew something was going on.

But she didn’t press.

After all, even between best friends—

If someone wants to talk, they will.

If they don’t, there’s no point forcing it.

Just like that—

It was Saturday.

The weather was nice that day.

Though it had rained that morning,

Since summer had already begun,

The midday heat had quickly dried up the dampness.

But what followed was a sweltering, humid heat.

The kind that made your pants feel like they were glued to your legs.

Still, not a big deal.

A bit of wind while biking could solve it.

Half an hour later—

Jiang Ning arrived at Times Square.

From a distance, she saw a sweet-looking girl in a plaid dress with a pink crossbody bag, her hair cascading over her shoulders.

She stood quietly by the roadside of Times Square,

Looking around.

Obviously waiting for someone.

Even so—

Jiang Ning still noticed two guys standing beside Qi Wen, seemingly chatting her up.

But Qi Wen pretended not to notice, her gaze fixed in the direction of the parking lot.

When she saw Jiang Ning walking out from the garage—

Her eyes lit up.

She happily waved.

“Over here~”

Then she skipped right past the two guys and bounced toward Jiang Ning.

Seeing this—

One of the guys tried to say something.

But when he turned and saw Jiang Ning approaching,

He instinctively exchanged a look with his friend.

Both saw surprise in each other’s eyes.

Meanwhile—

Jiang Ning watched as sweet, demure little Qi came up to her, beaming.

She couldn’t help but praise her.

“Wenwen, you’re so well-behaved today~”

Upon hearing that—

Qi Wen’s eyes turned into crescents as she smiled, then stepped forward and looped her arm through Jiang Ning’s.

Jiang Ning caught a whiff of soft soap scent.

She reached out and tapped Qi Wen’s nose.

“You little flirt, showing off again~”

“Come on, who’d you attract this time?”

At that nickname, Qi Wen huffed proudly.

“Senior from No. 2 High School.”

“He was just bragging about getting into a top-tier university with his gaokao scores.”

“I didn’t even bother with him.”

The slightly boastful tone didn’t escape Jiang Ning.

She smiled silently.

Knowing this was just a teenage girl’s pride in her own charm being validated.

So she didn’t burst her bubble.

Instead, she asked,

“Where are the others?”

“Zhu Hui said she’ll be a bit late. She has a sketching class at noon and will come find us after.”

“Luo Shanshan already went up to buy food. Oh, her brother came too.”

???

“Her brother? Why’s he here?” Jiang Ning asked in surprise, glancing around.

Just then—

She noticed the two guys who had been hovering around Qi Wen following them.

“You’re Jiang Ning from No. 1 High?”

Well then.

Is my name really that well-known now?

“What do you want?”

“Can we get to know each other?” The taller guy smiled, showing several teeth.

He seemed quite confident in his smile.

But Miss Jiang wasn’t the type to entertain such things.

“Sorry, no reason to.”

The guy clearly hadn’t expected such a blunt rejection.

He was caught off guard.

Then the shorter guy suddenly asked,

“Not even to make friends?”

Hearing that—

Jiang Ning glanced at the two of them.

Then smiled.

“You two are high school seniors, right?”

“In two months, you’ll probably be on some college campus, wearing camouflage uniforms, marching stiffly and shouting slogans even you can’t hear clearly.”

“Meanwhile, we’ll still be in the classroom, heads down, cramming for the college entrance exam.”

“So, do we really need to get to know each other?”

With that—

She didn’t wait for them to respond.

She pulled the quietly snickering Qi Wen toward the mall.

“Jiangjiang, you’ve got such a sharp tongue.”

“Really?” Miss Jiang raised an eyebrow at the compliment.

“I’ve got even sharper skills.”

“Like what?”

In her usual innocence, Qi didn’t get why Jiang Ning suddenly held up two fingers.

She was just about to ask—

When suddenly—

Familiar music started playing nearby.

They turned to look.

At the entrance of the KFC at Times Square, the loudspeaker was playing “Eating Fried Chicken at Times Square.”

Hearing that—

Qi Wen giggled and asked,

“Jiangjiang, if they knew this song was sung by their competitor’s boss…”

“Would they still play it?”

“They probably would.” Jiang Ning stroked her chin.

“Why?”

“Because their skin’s thicker than you think.”

“Is that so… heeheehee…”

And just like that—

The two girls, laughing and chatting, entered the mall at Times Square.

As the most bustling central mall in Jiangzhou City—

It had the same setup as other modern malls.

Shopping, food, entertainment—

Neatly divided by floor.

Floors one to four were retail.

The fifth floor had the KTV and arcade.

The cinema was on the top sixth floor.

To be honest—

What attracted her most in the whole mall was the arcade on the fifth floor.

Back in the day, when she and Hu Weiwei ruled that place—

There wasn’t a single machine she hadn’t conquered.

But since her rebirth—

She hadn’t even touched a knockoff gaming console, let alone a proper arcade.

Her hands were itching badly.

So when they passed the fifth floor—

Jiang Ning’s eyes were almost glued to the arcade.

“Wenwen, when’s our movie?”

“2:40. Why?”

Jiang Ning didn’t reply.

She glanced at the ‘Zodiac’ watch on her wrist.

2:10…

Movies usually let you in ten minutes before showtime.

So she had 20 minutes of free time left.

If she went in to play a round of Knights of Valour…

Well.

She wouldn’t be able to stop for at least two hours.

But if she played King of Fighters…

Twenty minutes didn’t seem enough for even a few rounds.

Forget it…

She’d save it for later.

Jiang girl sighed with a bit of disappointment.

Then, hand in hand with Little Qi, they headed to the sixth floor elevator.

The cinema was pretty crowded.

Mostly filled with senior high school graduates fresh out of the college entrance exam.

As for how Jiang Ning knew—

Well.

You could smell the hormones radiating from these boys and girls from eight meters away.

It was intense.

“What movie are we watching?”

“My Youthful Days”…

“What’s it about?”

“A story between an ordinary girl and the class hottie.”

“Ugh, boring.”

Hearing that summary, Jiang Ning instinctively shook her head in protest.

But alas, her two fists were no match for the six hands of her friends.

Under the united front of the three girls, Jiang Ning could only watch helplessly as Luo Shanshan’s older brother, Luo Yong, confidently strode into a screening room showing a monster romance action flick.

As for herself…

She was dragged by the giggling girls into another screening room.

Oh well.

Just a youth melodrama.

Let it hurt then.

Didn’t she suffer through the same kind of stuff in her past life…

Eh?

This actress looks nice.

Got that refreshing and innocent vibe.

Hmm…

The plot’s actually kinda interesting…

Just the ending…

Ahem.

Gotta say—

It was kinda moving.

To preserve her tough-girl image, Jiang Ning forcibly turned her gaze away from the screen.

At that moment—

She unexpectedly noticed—

On either side of her, Qi Wen and Luo Shanshan already had their cheeks dotted with tiny pearls of tears.

A little farther off, Zhu Hui had crumpled the tissue in her hand into a soggy lump.

Tch.

A bunch of rookies.

Jiang girl casually wiped away the corner of her eye without a trace.

Just as she was about to look away—

Suddenly—

She thought she saw a familiar face.

She turned back for another look.

And in that instant—

Her face was filled with surprise.

(End of chapter)