When Zhen Bao was pushed out by Jia Xiao Yu, the marching speed of the whole Class 2 suddenly slowed down. The girls excitedly looked back and the boys behind looked at Fu Ming Shi, who was nonchalantly supporting Zhen Bao, and then at the apple-cheeked class belle, someone whistled and cheered, while others felt complicated.
I was going to try after military training, didn't expect the class belle already had an owner.
"Forward... look!"
The stern instructor suddenly yelled, Class 2 was still in a daze, but the classes in front and behind burst into laughter at the scene. Finally reacting, Class 2 quickly followed the instructor, but feeling the probing eyes from the classes behind, Zhen Bao really wanted to find a crack to crawl into.
Now it's good, not only the whole class, but the whole Veterinary Medicine Institute knew she had a boyfriend.
"Your phone was unreachable." Seeing her predicament, Fu Ming Shi decided to explain, he had wanted to wait for her downstairs at the dormitory building, but didn't know when she would finish, worried that she would go eat lunch first with her roommates, so he came to this main road.
"I don't bring my phone during military training." Zhen Bao didn't blame him. After the whole school's squad had passed, she quickly brought Fu Ming Shi to the small road between the two dormitory buildings across the street, and asked in puzzlement: "Why did you come at this time?" Don't you have work in the afternoon?
"It's less busy during lunch time, so I came to see you." Fu Ming Shi took two steps back and lowered his head to look at her, half of her face covered by the visor of her military cap, this was also one of the disadvantages of being too tall.
His gaze was too obvious, Zhen Bao subconsciously touched her face and laughed, "Did I get tanned?"
"A little." Fu Ming Shi helped her take off her hat, and at the same time tidied up a few strands of hair stuck on her forehead.
This move was too intimate, Zhen Bao was afraid of being seen by others, she hugged her thermos and turned around, drinking water to cover up her embarrassment. The young girl raised her head, revealing her fair and delicate side face and a piece of neck skin, like petals that had just bloomed under the sun, tender and delicious, tempting people to touch, yet afraid of accidentally damaging her.
Fu Ming Shi's eyes darkened.
She was too pure and simple, he was easily attracted to her, but also because of this purity, he always found it hard to make a move, afraid of scaring this freshman who was wholeheartedly studying. The way Zhen Bao did test papers in the study, her concentration when she learned to make spreadsheets with him, all reminded him not to get ahead of himself.
"Grandpa asked me to take some photos and send them to him." Fu Ming Shi took out his phone, the implication was obvious, then pointed to the ginkgo tree next to him and asked Zhen Bao to stand under the tree.
Since it was for Grandpa Fu to see, Zhen Bao obediently went over and posed, smiling lightly at Fu Ming Shi.
Fu Ming Shi took several consecutive shots, after taking solo shots of Zhen Bao, he walked over, looking into Zhen Bao's eyes, "Let's take one together?"
Zhen Bao's smile became constrained.
"Take it, to prove I really came to see you, to put his mind at ease."
Skillfully putting his arm around Zhen Bao's shoulders, Fu Ming Shi adjusted the camera, and when she smiled naturally, they took a selfie together.
He would accompany her through her college years.
~
Letting Fu Ming Shi wait downstairs, Zhen Bao ran back to her dorm to get her meal card.
Fan Xuan and Jia Xiao Yu had gone to eat, Qian LeLe didn't have an appetite and went back to the dorm first to rest. When Zhen Bao came in, she had just washed her face. Seeing Zhen Bao rush in to grab her meal card and go back down, Qian LeLe hurriedly stopped her, pulling on her camouflage uniform and complained: "Your boyfriend is here, you should at least wash your face and change your clothes!"
She was really too sloppy.
Zhen Bao hesitated: "He's waiting downstairs..."
Qian LeLe pushed her back, "Don't worry, he won't mind waiting a few more minutes, make yourself look nice, it'll make his trip here more worthwhile, right?" Snatching Zhen Bao's meal card and throwing it on the table, she told her to wash her face first.
Zhen Bao thought about all the sweat from military training, and obediently went into the bathroom, then changed into a pair of black jeans with a white T-shirt before going down. Qian LeLe actually wanted to help her pick something more feminine, but unfortunately Zhen Bao's wardrobe was almost all such combinations, not even a skirt.
But compared to the camouflage uniform, the jeans looked much better. Fu Ming Shi standing outside the dorm building, upon hearing footsteps, he turned around again, and seeing Zhen Bao like this, he was actually stunned for a moment.
"Let's go to the second floor, the food there is better." After starting school for over a week, Zhen Bao had tasted almost every window with her roommates, of course she had to take him to eat the best when Fu Ming Shi came over, and the money on the card was originally Fu Ming Shi’s anyway.
Fu Ming Shi smiled and followed her with the thermos.
Lunch was very simple, and it was already 12:30 after they finished eating. They had to assemble again at 2pm.
Fu Ming Shi sent Zhen Bao to the dorm building and told her to go upstairs.
"I'll walk you up." He was so busy yet made time to come see her, thinking of the few minutes' walk from the dorm building to the school gate, she felt bad not seeing him off, so Zhen Bao said.
Fu Ming Shi didn't say anything, just gestured with his chin towards the stairs.
Auntie at the door had been watching them, since he insisted, Zhen Bao touched her head and said goodbye, then went upstairs alone.
Only when he could no longer see her figure did Fu Ming Shi leave alone. Arriving at the gate of University A, he took a taxi to his house near University A, changed into a suit, then drove to the company, seamlessly.
~
After two weeks of military training, Zhen Bao's neck and below her collarbones had turned into two different colors.
But college life had just begun. During their free time, the freshmen went around applying to clubs they were interested in. Zhen Bao followed Jia Xiao Yu and browsed through the promotional booths of various clubs, only applying to the University A Stray Animal Protection Association, filling out the form, then waiting for the interview.
She applied over the weekend, and on Monday noon got a notice for her to go to the Animal Protection Association office for an interview at 5:30pm.
Zhen Bao was a little nervous, and went over half an hour early with Feng Yue who had also applied.
The publicity leaflet of the Animal Protection Association was very nice. There were two main responsibilities: first, free spaying/neutering and vaccination for stray animals; second, finding suitable owners for stray cats and dogs. From a practical perspective, the technical work such as spaying/neutering was instructed by clinical professors and conducted by senior students, so many freshmen were especially keen to join the association.
Zhen Bao truly liked little animals, but the prospect of early exposure to professional skills also greatly attracted her.
The association was divided into several departments. Zhen Bao and Feng Yue were interviewing for the Technical Department.
In groups of five, after waiting for over ten minutes, it was finally their turn.
The office wasn't big, it felt a little crowded with five people inside. Surprisingly, there was only one person conducting the interview. Zhen Bao walked behind Feng Yue, out of curiosity she looked at the male student typing on the computer at the desk. He kept his eyes on the screen, briefly glancing at them, then pointing to the cat perch on the east wall: "Take turns to try, whoever can get it to come down without touching it, wait outside, the rest may leave."
Zhen Bao looked towards the cat perch, and saw a particularly fat, big white cat lying there, neck curled in, looking like a big white furball, but its cat eyes were open, amber-colored, looking at them with an air of superiority.
The first new student went to try first, the girl's voice was especially gentle, but no matter how she coaxed, the big white cat didn't budge. The girl wanted to try again, but the man at the computer emotionlessly said, "Thirty seconds each, you may leave now."
The girl was extremely embarrassed and left with a red face.
The next boy and girl also failed.
Just as Zhen Bao was about to encourage Feng Yue, Feng Yue smiled and moved aside, letting her go first, while speaking to Zhen Bao but sneakily glancing at the man behind the computer. Zhen Bao didn't notice, she slowly walked to the cat perch she had to raise her hand to touch, looked up at the big white cat with a smile, and reached out, "Can I get a hug?"
The big white cat lowered its head to look at her, and meowed.
Meng Ji Ning stopped tapping the keyboard and looked over there, but only saw the girl's slender back.
"Ah, you're Meng Ji Ning?" As if only just recognizing him, Feng Yue excitedly shouted.
Meng Ji Ning glanced at her, looked for a few seconds, recognizing her, his face unchanged, "You're in University A too?"
Feng Yue excitedly nodded, gazing at Meng Ji Ning as if greedily, he was her high school classmate, the school hunk of the entire grade, and the one she had a secret crush on for a full three years. Actually with her scores last year, she could have gone to a top university in the province, but Feng Yue wanted to be with Meng Ji Ning, so she chose to repeat a year, and successfully achieved her wish this year.
"Leave me your number, you can look for me if you need anything in the future."
Meng Ji Ning didn't have a deep impression of Feng Yue, but since they were from the same high school, if Feng Yue needed help with anything, Meng Ji Ning was willing to provide what assistance he could.
Feng Yue happily went over to exchange numbers with him.
Over there, Zhen Bao had already successfully gotten the big white cat into her arms. Hearing Feng Yue call out "Meng Ji Ning", Zhen Bao was shocked, and listening to their conversation, she could no longer describe her feelings. She stood there stiffly, apprehensive and uneasy.
"Oh yes, Zhen Bao was also in our batch, but she stopped school after finishing first year of high school, you may not know her." Remembering Zhen Bao, Feng Yue familiarly introduced her to Meng Ji Ning. She had only been in the same class as Meng Ji Ning after the arts/science split in second year of high school, she’d forgotten which class Meng Ji Ning was in during first year.
Meng Ji Ning had not forgotten, he looked at the girl who was said to be called Zhen Bao in shock.
Zhen Bao took a deep breath, turned around holding the big white cat, and forced a natural smile at Meng Ji Ning.
She could no longer remember the names of many high school classmates, but she remembered Meng Ji Ning.
Zhen Bao had been a model student since young. When entering high school, her middle school grades were second in the new class, and her student ID number was also No.2, while the No.1 ranked before her was Meng Ji Ning. Meng Ji Ning was good-looking, his dad was the director of the C City Zoo, many girls in class liked him, but in Zhen Bao’s eyes, Meng Ji Ning was only the person she wanted to surpass.
She studied hard, and after being second for over half a year, she finally got first place in the end-of-term exams. But before she could secretly celebrate, her dad suddenly fell ill and passed away, the family ran out of money, there was also a bad student in school who kept pestering her, Zhen Bao felt tired and dropped out.
Feng Yue didn’t know she dropped out due to poverty at home. Would Meng Ji Ning know?
Zhen Bao looked at Meng Ji Ning worriedly.
Would he question where she got the well-off relative from, who helped her transfer schools to continue studying?
