After swallowing a heavy dose of public displays of affection, the three of them finally arrived at the restaurant. Once they ordered, the group started chatting.
"Dongzi, hasn't Wu Siyan started school yet?"
By the time the four of them went from dinner to the barbecue stall, it was already nearly eight o'clock. Wu Siyan was clearly already busy working there.
"Yanyan is also from Xinzhou, but she isn't feeling well, so she couldn't do military training."
The group chatted desultorily.
Wang Peng felt time passing so slowly; he desperately wanted to go find the senior, desperately wanted to hold her little hand.
Because of the time, the four of them finished eating quickly.
"I won't go back to the dorm tonight. Yanyan isn't feeling well, so I'm staying here to keep her company."
Wang Peng and the other two patted their chests and pointed at Wang Dong.
"Good luck."
Wu Siyan blushed and hid behind Wang Dong.
The three of them walked toward the school.
The dorms didn't lock until eleven o'clock, and since it was only ten-thirty, the three of them strolled leisurely toward the dorms.
Just then, Wang Peng caught sight of a familiar figure.
*It looks like the senior,* Wang Peng thought to himself.
"I need to use the restroom—a big one. You guys don't need to wait for me."
After telling Ye Chen and the other guy, he turned and walked away.
He walked toward the person who looked like the senior, purposely walking ahead of her, squatting down to tie his shoelaces while looking back, and realized it really was her.
"Senior, what were you up to, coming back to the dorms so late?"
Wang Peng walked up to Liu Yiyi, grabbed her hand, and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.
"I went out to hang out with my roommates today. We haven't eaten together in a long time."
The two of them walked hand in hand like this across the campus.
"Senior, let's go check out the lantern exhibition tomorrow afternoon. I've already bought the tickets, and I hear it's really lively over there."
"Sure."
At that moment, an untimely voice rang out.
"Yiyi, that design file you sent me for the sports meeting cheerleader uniforms won't open. Can you send it to me again?"
Hearing the voice, Liu Yiyi instantly pulled her hand out of Wang Peng's grasp, but Li Jiaxin still managed to catch the whole scene.
"Oh? So this is your boyfriend? He's quite handsome."
She immediately raised her phone to snap a photo and bolted.
Hearing someone praise him, Wang Peng's expression didn't change much—he was used to being complimented since he was a kid. But when he saw the flashlight on Li Jiaxin's phone light up, he still froze for a second.
Liu Yiyi stood beside him with a deeply flushed face and said to Wang Peng, "Junior, she's just like that, don't mind her."
"It's fine, Senior. Let's take a selfie together. I'll make it my phone wallpaper."
Click.
Wang Peng looked at the senior in the photo. She was so bright and stunning. Looking at those slightly parted, moist red lips, he really wanted to kiss them and taste what her lip balm was like.
Click.
The two of them took another selfie. This time, Liu Yiyi rested her head on Wang Peng's shoulder, except Wang Peng grabbed the senior's phone and held it right between their chests, making it look so sweet.
Since it was almost eleven o'clock, Liu Yiyi had set her phone to automatically turn on Do Not Disturb at ten o'clock just as school started, though it was restricted to WeChat—she would definitely answer if there was an emergency call.
By now, the "Plastic Besties" group chat had exploded.
[Li Jiaxin]: @Zhang Xueyang @Li Miao, breaking news, breaking news!
She sent the photo of Wang Peng and Liu Yiyi into the chat.
All three of them started tagging Liu Yiyi, asking what was going on. After all, it had been a very long time since any man other than Liu Qing had appeared around Liu Yiyi.
While they were tagging Liu Yiyi, she was completely oblivious.
"Junior, are you participating in the sports meeting?"
"The sports meeting?"
"Yeah, every year when the freshmen arrive, the school organizes a sports meeting. It's scheduled for half a month after military training."
"Are you participating, Senior?"
"This is a freshman sports meeting, so only first-year students take part."
"Even though I'm not competing, I can cheer for you."
"Then I'll enter the basketball tournament and the 5,000-meter long-distance run."
Chatting and laughing, the two of them quickly arrived downstairs at the women's dormitory.
Wang Peng wished this path were longer so he could keep holding the senior's hand and never let go.
Watching Liu Yiyi enter the dormitory, he walked toward his own dorm.
...
September 6th, morning.
"Dismissed!" Following the instructor's order, Wang Peng's platoon broke ranks and began looking for tree shade.
Xinzhou's weather was unbearably hot.
"Liu Qing, is your rain-summoning trick going to work or not? It's been two days already."
"Whether the rain-summoning works or not, we'll have to wait and see, but the bubble tea delivery is already on its way."
Hearing about bubble tea, Wang Dong perked up. "Is your girlfriend coming to bring you bubble tea?"
"No, my girlfriend is still training."
[Half a Roasted Duck]: What is the junior doing? I'm coming to bring you guys bubble tea.
[The Other Half]: Really? Senior, you're so thoughtful.
[Half a Roasted Duck]: Hope the junior likes it. Where are you guys?
[The Other Half]: I'm under the big tree in the northwest corner of the sports field.
Wang Peng seemed to have thought of something and began muttering to himself, "Liu Yiyi, Liu Qing... what a coincidence that they both have the last name Liu. Liu Qing's older sister couldn't possibly be Liu Yiyi, could she?"
The mere thought that Liu Qing might find out he was hitting on his sister—Liu Qing would surely string him up and beat him, subjecting him to capital punishment.
Just thinking about it made Wang Peng shiver all over.
Liu Qing was so ugly, while the senior was so pretty—no matter how you looked at it, they couldn't possibly be biological siblings. Right, they weren't biological siblings.
Yet once the seed of doubt was planted, it was hard to forget.
Still, why would a cousin bring bubble tea? Could Liu Qing just be an afterthought, and she actually wanted to bring it to him, but felt too embarrassed and used bringing bubble tea to her younger brother as an excuse to bring it to him instead?
Wang Peng temporarily suppressed the urge to go find the senior. He quietly waited for the senior's arrival to reveal the answer.
At that moment, a graceful figure walked over from the sports field. He saw that the senior was wearing a white T-shirt and a white knitted cardigan on top, paired with slightly flared jeans on the bottom. The hem of the white shirt was tucked into her jeans, outlining her long legs as slender and straight.
At the moment, the senior's face was flushed from the sun, adding a touch of charming allure to her youthful and vibrant appearance.
Many boys' gazes were firmly locked onto this figure.
Along the way, she smiled and greeted the junior students, her smile carrying a hint of polite formality.
"Xiaoqing, divide the bubble tea among everyone." Liu Yiyi handed the bubble tea to Liu Qing.
Liu Qing first handed a cup of bubble tea to Wang Peng, then walked toward Ye Chen and Wang Dong.
At this point, Wang Peng walked up to the senior.
"Thank you, Senior. Senior—"
Before Wang Peng could finish his sentence, she went, "Shh!"
"You can't let Xiaoqing find out that the two of us are dating, or he'll lose his mind."
Wang Peng didn't know what to say for a moment.
It was basically confirmed that she was indeed the senior's biological younger sister.
He couldn't let Liu Qing find out—though maybe she was just afraid he'd tell their parents. But from her latter sentence, he knew their relationship wasn't ordinary.
"I'm leaving first. I just came to drop off some bubble tea; if I stay too long, Xiaoqing will get suspicious."
After Liu Yiyi left, Ye Chen came over to Liu Qing's side.
"Is that your biological sister?"
"Biological sister, what else did you think?"
"What does our sister like?"
Liu Qing stood up and said to Wang Peng and Ye Chen, "Don't you dare lay a hand on my sister, or I'll fight you to the death."
"Are you a siscon or something?"
Ye Chen looked at Liu Qing with a strange gaze.
Afterward, Liu Qing and Ye Chen began a martial arts duel.