Chapter 69

Chapter 69

On Monday, Xie Hang indeed brought a teriyaki chicken pastry into the classroom, and for most of the following month, he brought breakfast for Ji Mian.

Ji Mian wasn't picky; he ate whatever Xie Hang brought.

For these meals, Ji Mian even made a point to wake up ten minutes early every day to rush to the classroom.

By the end of December, as various courses were nearing their end, it was the busiest time of the semester for college students.

During this period, Ji Mian completed an important task.

Over the past month, he had been pursuing Song Yu both openly and covertly, who had recently noticed his advances.

However, Song Yu did not avoid him as in the original plot. He still seemed to treat Ji Mian as a friend, though he now felt a bit awkward upon seeing him and no longer accepted Ji Mian's invitations.

On Tuesday morning, the first class was still that dreaded Business Management class.

Xie Hang entered the classroom fifteen minutes before class started, but Ji Mian was even earlier, waiting for Xie Hang to arrive with breakfast.

"It's still from that pastry shop, curry chicken," Xie Hang handed him the food.

Along with the pastry, there was also a cup of black sesame-flavored soy milk. Although their school sold soy milk, it wasn't as good as the one from the shop outside.

Ji Mian took it with both hands; both the pastry and the soy milk were still warm.

"Thank you, Brother Xie!" The pastry was flavorful, so after thanking him, Ji Mian took his pastry outside the classroom to eat.

After finishing the pastry, Ji Mian inserted a straw into the soy milk and had just taken a couple of sips when someone playfully ruffled his hair from behind.

"Hmm?" Before he could swallow the soy milk in his mouth, he turned around, expecting it to be Jia Wenbo, but instead, he saw Han Ji's face.

Ji Mian felt a knot in his stomach, somewhat speechless, momentarily unsure if this was just Han Ji's usual way of greeting.

Although he was quite sociable, he wasn't comfortable with this slightly intimate contact, unless it was from someone he was very close to, like Xie Hang or Jia Wenbo.

"Good morning," Han Ji said with a slight smile.

Ji Mian nodded at him.

"I'm almost done with the course project, I'll send the screenshots to the group once I've organized them."

Luo Jin was a girl in their group, also from the Computer Science department.

Ji Mian clapped enthusiastically, "Nice, nice."

"It's not hard, just takes time. But I promised to help you, so it's only fair that I put in the extra time."

After hearing this, Ji Mian's lips curved slightly.

He had initially claimed to be terrible at it, but he hadn't shirked any of the effort required.

Ji Mian's work in his previous life also involved some programming; he wasn't bad at it, but to maintain Lu Zhou's slacker persona from his university days, he didn't get too involved in the course project system.

However, although their course project accounted for a large portion, it was only sixty percent, with the remaining forty percent divided into individual assignments and group work.

Ji Mian contributed a lot during the group assignments, and he was always the first to complete his individual assignments, directly sending them to the group.

The framework of the system was a template he found, and he also wrote several key function codes, though he claimed to have found them online when sending them to the group. Plus, he was responsible for the subsequent PPT and presentation. In terms of workload, he might have been just as busy as Han Ji.

Besides, Han Ji and Luo Jin worked together on their system, and Luo Jin also put in a lot of effort, yet Han Ji only mentioned himself earlier.

Ji Mian thought it was pretty funny.

"This Friday is my birthday, wanna hang out?" Han Ji asked.

"No, I..."

"Come on, I’ve already invited the other three girls in our group," Han Ji interrupted him. "I’ve asked you before, and you always said no. This time, since it’s my birthday, you should come, right?"

Ji Mian smiled and said, "How come I never agreed? Don’t we always play basketball together?"

"Basketball’s not the same," Han Ji stood in front of him, seemingly determined to get him to agree.

Ji Mian hesitated for a moment.

He really didn’t want to hang out with Han Ji; they just didn’t vibe well. Han Ji had a strong desire to win, and after losing to Ji Mian a few times in basketball, the way he looked at Ji Mian made him uneasy. He couldn’t quite describe it, like he wanted to dominate, mixed with something else weird.

But they were in the same group, after all, and the other members were going. Plus, Han Ji had indeed invited him many times.

After thinking for a while, he gave in: "Friday, right? Okay."

Seeing his agreement, Han Ji smiled and raised his hand again, wanting to touch Ji Mian’s hair, but this time Ji Mian deftly avoided it.

"You don’t mess with a guy’s hair," Ji Mian joked half-heartedly.

Han Ji had to withdraw his hand. "See you on Friday."

Chatting with him took a while, and Ji Mian hadn’t touched his soy milk much.

Seeing that class was about to start, he chugged the rest of his soy milk, and in his haste, he ended up choking.

But in any case, he managed to return to the classroom before the bell rang.

The project presentation for this class was next week, and many students brought their computers to class, trying to squeeze in some last-minute work during the lecture.

Xie Hang’s laptop was open on the desk.

Ji Mian sat back down next to him and glanced over, and noticed Xie Hang’s screen wasn’t on the course software, but a page entirely in English.

"What’s this?" he asked.

"An open-source website, I’m practicing some algorithm problems here."

"Why are you doing that?"

"I entered a school competition, it’s happening in a couple of days."

When Xie Hang mentioned the name of the competition, Ji Mian was surprised: "I’ve heard of it, isn’t that for the CS department?"

He had heard from Han Ji that it’s supposed to be a big deal.

"Anyone can join, but not many from other departments do."

"Oh~" Ji Mian leaned in and whispered curiously, "Think you’ll win anything?"

Xie Hang whispered back, "Yes."

Xie Hang hadn’t thought about winning the first prize; there are only two spots for that, and there are always some top talents in the school. But second place is definitely doable.

"Wow, you're that good? Han Ji said it's pretty tough for freshmen in their major to win awards."

"I just started early, so I know a bit more about algorithms. In other areas, the pros are still better."

Computer science has many fields, and Xie Hang's strength is limited to algorithms. Computer science students have a lot to learn, and it's quite diverse. Xie Hang admits he can't compete with them in other areas.

"How early did you start?"

Xie Hang thought for a moment and said, "Around middle school, I think."

He had solved algorithm problems on several well-known open-source websites multiple times in high school. So when he saw the programming competition on campus, he signed up.

"...When I was in middle school, I was still playing in the dirt."

Xie Hang chuckled.

"Middle school, seriously?"

"So why did you choose economics? Aren't you into computer science?"

Xie Hang shook his head, "It's not that I'm really into computer science. At first, I thought I wanted to major in computer science, but later I realized I just liked solving problems and finding simpler solutions. It's like solving puzzles."

Ji Mian was stunned, and after a moment, he silently turned away. "...Being a slacker suits me better."

Xie Hang said, "You're not a slacker."

Ji Mian slumped on the table, too down to speak.

Xie Hang glanced at the back of Ji Mian's head. Ji Mian had recently cut his hair, and it looked fluffy, making Xie Hang want to ruffle it.

He glanced a few more times but resisted the urge to mess with Ji Mian's hair.

*

On Friday, Ji Mian showed up at the restaurant Han Ji had reserved, bringing a gift as promised.

When he walked in, he was momentarily stunned.

Han Ji was already there, and at the dining table were a few men Ji Mian didn't recognize. They didn't look like they were from their school, and one looked to be around twenty-eight or twenty-nine, dressed pretty flashy.

"These are my buddies, here to celebrate my birthday," Han Ji introduced.

They hadn't ordered yet, but several beers were already open.

Ji Mian frowned. Friends? Friends from bars or nightclubs?

It's not that he was prejudiced against anyone, but there were girls coming later. If Han Ji had only invited him, it would have been fine, but with several girls at the table, Han Ji bringing such friends was really out of line.

Before he could sit down, Fan Tao, Luo Jin, and another girl from their group arrived. Seeing the beer bottles on the table, they were all somewhat bewildered.

Clearly, they hadn't expected such a scene.

They still politely greeted everyone.

Fan Tao took the lead and gave her gift to Han Ji. Luo Jin and the other girl followed suit, saying "Happy Birthday" after presenting their gifts, and then sat down.

The table was a large square one, with seats on all four sides, but the girls all chose to sit on Ji Mian's side, crowding together and not moving elsewhere, creating a clear boundary between them and Han Ji's group.

After ordering, during the meal, they didn't talk much.

Halfway through the meal, Han Ji inexplicably started cueing Ji Mian to chat, and his male friends occasionally glanced at Ji Mian with subtle looks.

What’s the deal? Ji Mian suppressed his discomfort.

He had completely lost any desire to talk to Han Ji, only responding with a word or two now and then.

The guys across the table got their drinks refilled, and the oldest-looking guy, already drunk, had his neck turning red. He was staring at Ji Mian even more boldly.

Go ahead and drink yourself stupid. Ji Mian thought.

For the first time, Ji Mian was cursing in his head but kept a straight face.

The system, sensing Ji Mian’s inner thoughts: "..."

Well, he’s really soaked it up.

"Hey, hey," Ji Mian finally spoke up, "Everyone, take it easy on the drinks, there are girls here."

"Don’t worry, we can handle our liquor, we won’t get drunk."

Han Ji heard this but surprisingly didn’t say anything.

Ji Mian was dying to curse, holding it in for a few minutes, feeling like he’d blow up if he didn’t vent soon.

He pulled out his phone and quickly texted someone to vent.

"Lu Zhou": Damn it, I’m stuck with some morons.

In less than two seconds, a message popped up from the other side.

"Xie Hang": ?

"Lu Zhou": Han Ji’s birthday dinner, he invited me and a few girls from our team, brought along some guys I don’t know, drinking themselves red in the face.

"Xie Hang": What’s wrong with them?

"Lu Zhou": And the vibe is so freaking weird! These guys, I don’t know what’s wrong with their eyes, but the way they’re staring is disgusting!

Ji Mian glanced at Fan Tao beside him, who also looked uncomfortable.

He simply spoke up, "It’s getting late, if you want to head back, go ahead. We’ll stay a bit longer, no problem."

Another girl visibly relaxed, "Okay, I think… it’s getting late."

Han Ji glanced at Ji Mian from the side.

Ji Mian wasn’t the one who should’ve said that, but he didn’t care what Han Ji thought anymore.

The girls quickly stood up and left the restaurant.

"I’ll make sure they get a cab and then come back."

Ji Mian stood up as well, and seeing Han Ji also about to get up to go with him, he turned his head, "You’ve been drinking, don’t come."

He smiled gently, advising, "It’s windy out there, don’t catch a chill."

Han Ji: "..."