As soon as the military training ended, everyone rushed straight to the university cafeteria.
For them right now, eating was the most important thing in the world.
Word had it that because of the freshmen's military training today, the cafeteria had specially prepared iced watermelon juice, and if they went too late, it might all be gone.
Lu Huai'an and the other two had a quick, simple lunch at the cafeteria. The weather was too hot, and none of them had much of an appetite. After casually tossing down a few bites, they put their chopsticks down; right now, all they wanted was to go back to their apartment and get a good sleep.
If they didn't sleep at noon, there was no telling whether they'd survive the afternoon training.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, an alarm clock went off, dragging Lu Huai'an out of his light slumber. He rubbed his eyes, muttered a complaint, and rolled out of bed.
In the washroom, Jiang Chuan was fixing his hair in front of the mirror, even spraying on some hairspray.
"Is all that really necessary? You're going all out just for military training." Lu Huai'an shuffled over to the balcony in his slippers and turned on the tap to wash his face.
Jiang Chuan made a clicking sound with his tongue. "You don't understand. This is called image management. What if some senior girl falls for me?" He turned his head and shouted to Hu Huai'an: "Big Head, do you want some?"
Hu Huai'an gave an honest, foolish smile and scratched his head. "I'll pass. Nobody's looking at me anyway."
Lu Huai'an patted Hu Huai'an on the shoulder. "Don't say that. With your build, just standing there gives people a strong sense of security."
The three of them dawdled out of the apartment and headed toward the school playground.
The afternoon sun was even more punishing, feeling as though it could bake a person to a crisp. On the playground, the freshmen stood crookedly, looking thoroughly wilted.
Instructor Ou wore a dark expression, his roar shaking the air: "Stand up straight! Did you all skip breakfast? Look at your senior brothers and sisters—how spirited they are!"
Lu Huai'an followed the direction of the instructor's finger. Under the shade of the trees at the edge of the playground, a group of senior students was sitting around. They were wearing short sleeves and shorts, some hugging and biting into watermelons, while others held iced drinks, watching this side with cheeky grins.
"This is going too far!" Jiang Chuan gritted his teeth. "This is a blatant provocation!"
Lu Huai'an's throat felt parched as well, so he simply decided not to look over there anymore. Out of sight, out of mind...
After about an hour, Instructor Ou figured the time was just about right and gave a big wave of his hand: "Dismissed! Fifteen-minute break!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Jiang Chuan grabbed Lu Huai'an and Hu Huai'an. "Quick, quick, quick! Let's grab a good spot."
The three of them jogged all the way and managed to secure a patch of ground under the shade of a tree before the crowd arrived.
"Phew... I'm exhausted." Jiang Chuan collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.
"I'm dying of thirst. Old Lu, did you bring water?" Jiang Chuan suddenly remembered something, turned his head, and asked.
Lu Huai'an gave him an annoyed side-eye. "If it weren't for you insisting on spraying that damn hairspray and rushing us out, would we have forgotten the water?"
"Hehe, wasn't I just trying to make a good impression on the senior girls?" Knowing he was in the wrong, Jiang Chuan gave an awkward, sheepish scratch of his head.
"Give it a rest. Everyone can see right through your little schemes," Lu Huai'an ruthlessly exposed him.
"Man, those seniors are too much. We're out here in the sun working ourselves to the bone, and they actually sit there eating watermelon and drinking beverages right in front of us," Hu Huai'an sighed, looking at them with a hint of envy.
"Flesh and blood can bear it, but this is unbearable!" Jiang Chuan said with righteous indignation. "Next year, I'm holding a watermelon in my left hand and a cold drink in my right."
"Hey? Did none of you bring water?"
Hearing this, Lu Huai'an raised his head and saw a tall, thin boy walking toward them.
Lu Huai'an knew this guy; his name was Zhāng Yáng, and he was a classmate of theirs. It was just that because the three of them lived in an off-campus apartment, they didn't interact much on a regular basis and weren't very close.
"Duh. Did you bring any, smart guy?" Jiang Chuan rolled his eyes.
"I didn't bring any either..." Zhāng Yáng scratched his head, looking somewhat embarrassed.
"If you didn't bring any, what are you even bringing it up for? I thought you actually brought some!" Jiang Chuan felt even more depressed.
"Even though I didn't bring any, I had my girlfriend come bring me some water," Zhāng Yáng said with a smug smile.
"......"
Lu Huai'an, Jiang Chuan, and Hu Huai'an stared at each other in dismay, instantly feeling like they had suffered ten thousand points of critical damage.
Meanwhile, the surrounding boys who overheard Zhāng Yáng's words looked at him with envy. To already have a girlfriend right at the start of college—she probably carried over from high school.
Even though online dramas, novels, and anime were full of high school and college romance tropes, in reality, the vast majority of people were still single. Zhāng Yáng announcing that he had a girlfriend genuinely earned the envy of quite a few people.
Seeing his show-off succeed, Zhāng Yáng was immensely pleased with himself.
His girlfriend was from Jiangcheng University of Finance and Economics next door, and their school didn't have military training this year.
So, purely to show off, he had his girlfriend come deliver water to him during his military training.
Now it seemed his decision was spot-on. Showing off felt amazing!
"Zhāng Yáng, over here!"
A crisp female voice echoed from afar. At the entrance of the playground, a girl was waving in this direction. She wasn't very tall, wore a ponytail, and had a simple white T-shirt and denim shorts, revealing fair and slender arms and legs. Though her facial features weren't breathtaking, put together, she looked quite pretty.
The girl was holding a bottle of mineral water. Clearly, this was Zhāng Yáng's girlfriend.
"Coming!" Zhāng Yáng scrambled up from the ground, beaming with smiles, and trotted eagerly to meet her.
"Here, your water." The girl handed over the bottle and gave him a reproachful look. "I told you to bring your own water, but you had to make me make the trip."
"Hehe, didn't I just miss you?" Zhāng Yáng took the water, unscrewed the cap, chugged a few mouthfuls, and then handed the bottle back to the girl. "You have some too."
The girl shook her head. "I'm not thirsty. You drink it."
Zhāng Yáng didn't stand on ceremony and took a few more gulps before letting out a satisfied sigh. "Water brought by my girlfriend just tastes sweeter!"
The surrounding boys, regardless of whether they had girlfriends or not, wore faces full of envy. As for those who did have girlfriends, their partners were far away in other places and had no way to come deliver water...
"Let me introduce you guys. This is my girlfriend, Liú Zhēn." Zhāng Yáng took his girlfriend's hand and brought her over to his classmates with a smug, show-off expression.
During the previous class meeting held by their counselor, he had noticed that both Jiang Chuan and Lu Huai'an were extremely good-looking. This had deeply annoyed Zhāng Yáng, who had always been supremely confident in his own appearance, and he had been looking for a way to outshine them ever since. Right now happened to be a great opportunity.
"Hey, are you guys thirsty? Do you want some too?" Zhāng Yáng suddenly remembered something, raised the mineral water bottle in his hand, and asked with a pretentious tone.
Jiang Chuan rolled his eyes and snapped back irritably, "No thanks, we're not thirsty."
"Really not thirsty? This is love-water specially brought to me by my girlfriend. I don't just hand it out to anyone, you know." Zhāng Yáng continued to flaunt it.
Too lazy to engage with him, Lu Huai'an and Hu Huai'an simply turned their heads away.
Liú Zhēn awkwardly tugged at the hem of Zhāng Yáng's shirt. "Alright, that's enough, stop talking."
"It's fine, I'm just showing concern for my classmates," Zhāng Yáng said dismissively.
Just as Zhāng Yáng was about to continue showing off, the surrounding area suddenly fell completely silent. Everyone's gaze snapped uniformly toward the playground entrance, as if frozen in place.
Zhāng Yáng's smug mood was interrupted, and out of curiosity, he turned his head to look—and froze himself...