Chapter 9: The Cunning Lin Shiyue

“Little silly one, wake up… Little silly one, wake up…”

Su Cheng groggily reached for her old phone by her pillow, lit up the screen to check the time, and rubbed her sleepy eyes as she got up.

“Why is this phone ringtone like this, ugh…”

She hadn’t used this phone in so long that she’d forgotten what the ringtone was.

If she had known this ringtone, she would have changed it long ago.

Recalling her teasing words with Lin Shiyue yesterday, Su Cheng smiled to herself.

After her consciousness cleared, Su Cheng got out of bed, tapped the WeChat icon on her phone screen, and then tossed the phone aside.

The operating speed of this old phone could only be described as a snail’s pace; half a minute later, it was still stuck on the WeChat startup screen.

“I give up.”

Su Cheng sighed softly, placed the phone on the table, and let it continue its slow loading.

The sun at six in the morning was as red as an orange, its warmth just right to feel comfortable.

After washing up, Su Cheng saw her two roommates still lying in bed and shook her head helplessly.

She cleared her throat, took a deep breath.

“Lazybones, get up quickly!”

This shout was like a bombshell, exploding in the dorm.

Chen Xi and Sun Xiaochen were instantly jolted awake, groggily getting up.

Chen Xi, her eyes not fully open, complained to Su Cheng, “What are you shouting about so early in the morning…”

“If you don’t get up, you’ll just wait to be punished by the instructor.”

After hearing Su Cheng’s words, the two quickly got out of bed, got dressed, and washed up.

Su Cheng had already changed into her camouflage uniform and was sitting at her desk, checking WeChat.

There weren’t many unread messages, only one from Lin Shiyue.

– Yuetsu: “Good morning.”
– Orange Juice (Su Cheng): “Good morning.”

Just as she put down her phone, Lin Shiyue’s next message immediately came through.

– Yuetsu: “You’re up so early, are your roommates all awake?”
– Orange Juice: “I woke them all up, otherwise we’d be late for military training.”

The conversation ended there, with no new messages popping up.

Su Cheng boredly scrolled through the chat history and could still see Lin Shiyue’s messages and missed calls from when she tried to reach her yesterday.

She had called five times on WeChat without an answer, as her phone had already “died” by then.

After Sun Xiaochen and Chen Xi got out of bed, Su Cheng had already tied her ponytail, put on her hat, and left the dorm.

“Morning, Su Cheng.”

As soon as she opened the door, she heard Lin Shiyue’s greeting, and Su Cheng’s still hazy consciousness instantly cleared.

It was like a sudden enlightenment.

‘Might as well use Lin Shiyue’s good morning as an alarm from now on.’

‘Speaking of which, would anyone actually use an ex-girlfriend’s words as a ringtone?’

“Phew, you startled me. Class Monitor, why are you here?”

Everything was so sudden, Su Cheng suspected Lin Shiyue was a sneaky one, always lurking outside the dorm door, waiting for her.

Lin Shiyue, dressed in a camouflage uniform, her long hair neatly coiled into a bun beneath her cap, looked sharp and spirited. She raised the water bottle in her hand and swung it in front of Su Cheng, her eyes holding a smile.

“Getting water to drink. Don’t you need to get water?”

Su Cheng shook her head, her hands empty; she didn’t have the habit of carrying a water bottle.

“No, I usually buy water to drink.”

“You wouldn’t want ice, would you?”

“Of course! It’s so hot today, I definitely want to drink something icy, and I like ice water too.”

A subtle gleam flickered in Lin Shiyue’s eyes, and the smile at the corner of her lips deepened.

She took two steps closer to Su Cheng, and the faint scent of shower gel on her body entered Su Cheng’s lungs.

“Let’s go, we’re meeting at the west playground.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Shiyue unhesitatingly grabbed Su Cheng’s hand and walked downstairs. Su Cheng, being pulled, almost dropped her jaw.

“Class… Class Monitor? Why so sudden?”

Su Cheng’s voice held a hint of panic, and her steps slowed.

“Huh? Can’t I hold your hand?”

Lin Shiyue stopped, turning back to look at Su Cheng, whose pretty face was slightly flushed.

Looking back at Lin Shiyue, her face was completely calm, and her spring-like eyes held only tranquility.

Su Cheng wanted to pull her hand back, but Lin Shiyue showed no intention of letting go.

“You don’t like me holding your hand?”

“No… no, it’s just hot, and my hands get sweaty easily.”

Su Cheng swallowed. They were currently at the dorm building entrance. If others saw them, it would surely invite gossip.

The corners of Lin Shiyue’s mouth curved slightly, seemingly understanding Su Cheng’s concerns.

“It’s fine, I don’t mind. Besides, it’s very normal for girls to hold hands, don’t overthink it.”

Su Cheng reluctantly nodded, provisionally trusting Lin Shiyue’s words.

If the Lin Shiyue of her previous life had walked around school holding her hand like this, she would have been on the forum’s hot search top ten by tomorrow, and keyboard warriors would have cursed her countless times.

But Lin Shiyue had never paid attention to those comments before.

“Let’s go quickly, we’re pressed for time. If we’re late, we might get punished by standing.”

Su Cheng widened her eyes slightly, her small feet in liberation shoes starting to move.

“Ah? That miserable? I really don’t want to be punished by standing.”

Lin Shiyue wore a faint smile on her face. This time, she didn’t rush, but walked side-by-side with Su Cheng.

They encountered many classmates on the way, but Lin Shiyue showed no intention of letting go of Su Cheng.

She brazenly held Su Cheng’s hand and walked forward, as if to tell everyone that Su Cheng belonged to her.

In contrast, Su Cheng walked with her head down, her face blushing all the way to the sports field. By the time they reached the assembly point, her pale cheeks were as red as tomato paste.

She didn’t understand why Lin Shiyue would be so bold; this seemed to have gone beyond the scope of a normal classmate relationship.

‘No, next time Lin Shiyue does this, I must learn to refuse!’

The time reached six-thirty. Class 1 and Class 2 of the Science Department had all arrived. Although they were two classes, combined they were only about sixty people.

With the instructor’s whistle echoing across the sky, the scattered crowd hastily lined up.

Instructor Qiu, with short, sharp hair and a military cap, stood in front of the formation and shouted: “Attention, everyone! Right face! Forward march! I am your Instructor Qiu, good morning, everyone!”

“Good morning, instructor!”

Observing the disorganized formation, the first thing the instructor had to do was to rectify it.

“Tall ones stand at the back, short ones stand at the front, form four rows. Two minutes, or everyone does ten squats.”

At Instructor Qiu’s command, no one dared to be negligent.

A minute and a half later, the formation was neatly rearranged.

Next was the session for calling out names and getting to know each other.

Su Cheng stood first in the first row, so the name calling began with her.

“Su Cheng!”

After she started calling out names, many people’s gazes fell upon Su Cheng’s small, white-haired figure.

Some even debated that she looked very much like the person who embraced the campus belle in yesterday’s forum post.

‘Damn it, can they guess that too?!’

“Quiet, next!”

“Cheng Yue!”

“Guo Qiao!”

After everyone had called out their names, the morning drill began, simple in content: standing at attention.

But standing at attention for half an hour in the glow of the morning sun was quite a torment.

After standing at attention for half an hour, they were granted a precious five-minute break.

“Phew, it’s so hot.”

Su Cheng, dripping with sweat, hid in the shade of a tree, constantly tugging at her collar to cool down, her other hand fanning herself like a fan.

She looked around but found that the only small shop by the sports field was not yet open.

Now, to buy water, she would have to run to the nearest Cafeteria Two, but even a quick round trip would take more than five minutes.

“Miscalculated.”

Lin Shiyue walked over to Su Cheng with her water bottle.

“Little silly one who didn’t bring water, what now?”

Su Cheng’s slightly flushed face showed a hint of embarrassment, but she still tried to act tough.

“No panic, in twenty more minutes, the morning drill will be over, just bear with it and it’ll pass.”

Lin Shiyue, in front of Su Cheng, unscrewed her bottle and drank water with gulps.

Su Cheng stared blankly at the bottle in Lin Shiyue’s hand, swallowing, feeling like she was looking at plums to quench her thirst.

‘Darn Lin Shiyue, she must be doing this on purpose.’

Lin Shiyue secretly peeked at Su Cheng’s reaction while drinking water, chuckling to herself.

“Ah, refreshing!”

Lin Shiyue’s face was beaming with happiness; rehydrating after such intense training was indeed very comfortable.

Su Cheng felt so much hatred that she crossed her arms and turned her head, ignoring Lin Shiyue.

Lin Shiyue reined in her smile and offered her water bottle to her.

“Here, there’s half a bottle left, for you to drink.”

Su Cheng pouted slightly, reluctantly swatting away her bottle.

“No, you drink it yourself.”

“Drink it quickly, it won’t be good if you faint from dehydration later.”

At this moment, Lin Shiyue’s roommate, Duan Xuan, appeared beside her, teasingly saying, “Class Monitor, if Su Cheng doesn’t drink it, give it to me.”

Lin Shiyue rejected Duan Xuan’s request without a second thought, her gaze hardening.

“Go away, go away. I know you have water to drink, stop trying to trick me.”

“Hehe, I was just teasing you.”

After sending Duan Xuan away, Lin Shiyue quietly asked Su Cheng one last time.

“Su Cheng, are you really not drinking? If you don’t, I’ll give it to someone else, okay?”

After saying that, Lin Shiyue slightly pulled her hand back, but Su Cheng still stopped her.

“You don’t mind if I drink directly?”

Lin Shiyue, of course, understood what Su Cheng meant, and revealed a smile showing she didn’t mind at all.

“Of course not, drink quickly.”

Su Cheng took the cup, looked at the rim, seemingly trying to find where Lin Shiyue had drunk from, trying to avoid it as much as possible.

She didn’t want to have a so-called indirect kiss with Lin Shiyue, at least she was unwilling in her heart.

‘She probably didn’t touch this spot,’ Su Cheng thought to herself.

Her soft cherry lips touched the rim of the cup, and a faint, sweet aroma, accompanied by plain water, was swallowed.

Witnessing Su Cheng drink the remaining water in the cup, Lin Shiyue smiled contentedly.

Lin Shiyue had already tampered with the cup when she drank earlier; no matter how Su Cheng drank, they would both experience an indirect kiss.

Lin Shiyue felt she had won big.

Su Cheng, who had been set up, was still joyful from the rehydration, and her eyes held a hint of gratitude towards Lin Shiyue.

“Thank you, Class Monitor. Next time, I’ll treat you to milk tea.”

Lin Shiyue smiled happily, taking the empty cup Su Cheng handed her.

“Okay, it’s a deal then.”

“Break over!”

With the instructor’s command, the grueling morning drill resumed.

Lin Shiyue took the opportunity to kiss the spot where Su Cheng had drunk, quickly discarded the cup, and returned to the formation, joining the standing-at-attention queue with great joy.