Lin Qingxue had been busy taking photos all evening.
At the moment she was holding a bottle of ace of spades and snapping a selfie.
Yet, sensible as ever, she made sure Jiang Cheng never appeared in any of her shots.
After photographing the fruit platter and the snacks on the table, Lin Qingxue quietly posted the pictures to her social feed.
Once that was done, she set her phone down and stabbed a large strawberry with a fork.
She offered it to Jiang Cheng.
Seeing the strawberry appear in front of him, Jiang Cheng didn't hesitate for a second; he opened his mouth and took it in.
Then he savoured it slowly.
Watching him enjoy it, Lin Qingxue kept her eyes fixed on his lips.
In a sweet, cloying voice she asked, "Does my strawberry taste good?"
Jiang Cheng caught the double meaning in her question.
Suddenly the fruit no longer felt cold against his tongue—there was even a trace of warmth.
"Mm, big… sweet."
His gaze made her limbs go limp; Lin Qingxue quickly changed the subject.
This was the first time Jiang Cheng had brought her out to meet his friends.
Only now did Lin Qingxue feel that she and Jiang Cheng were finally starting to look like a couple.
"Your roommates are hilarious."
Jiang Cheng nodded. "Exactly why we're all sitting here together."
Lin Qingxue glanced at Lu Chuan and whispered, "You said he just got dumped?"
"Word is he was cheated on…"
"Ouch, that's rough…"
For a guy, being betrayed is no small thing.
The usual sequence is: rage, agony, wipe-the-slate-clean—or go dark—then finally reboot.
The rage stage should be over by now.
At noon Jiang Cheng had personally watched Lu Chuan scream at Mentioned in Lu Chuans pain in the middle of the street.
Right now he was squarely in the pain phase.
Sure enough, when they turned to look, Lu Chuan was already showing signs of drunkenness.
The emotions he'd been forcing down all night were finally surfacing.
He no longer joined the banter; he simply kept drinking, eyes glazed as he flicked through his phone.
Even the seasoned hype-girl beside him couldn't lift his mood.
She'd tried every trick to energise him, but now she just sat docilely against his shoulder, sipping ace of spades.
With a gorgeous girl pressed to his side and the club's frantic beat shaking the room, Lu Chuan remained unmoved.
He looked soulless, staring quietly at the screen.
Seeing his state, Jiang Cheng reached over and gave his shoulder a gentle pat.
The touch jolted Lu Chuan back.
He set his phone down and turned to Jiang Cheng.
"Bro Cheng… I…" His voice was hoarse, eyes brimming with confusion and pain.
Watching him hesitate, Jiang Cheng picked up a glass and clinked it lightly against Lu Chuan's.
"Drink up—once the glass is empty, you'll forget."
Lu Chuan nodded, raised the cup and downed what was left.
The harsh burn made him grimace.
He shook his head hard, as if trying to fling the misery out of his skull.
Then, half-sobbing, he muttered, "I really don't know why she did this, what I did wrong…"
Jiang Cheng drank in silence, listening to how he and Mentioned in Lu Chuans pain had met.
They'd gone to the same high school.
Back then she'd written him stacks of love letters, chasing him hard.
Senior year he'd accepted her pursuit.
To be with her he'd even given up his first-choice university and enrolled at hers.
The sweet story made the hype-girl beside him sigh: "You treated her so well. If it weren't for her you'd have gone to Kyoto—that school's way better."
Lu Chuan's face was bitter; he gave a slight nod.
Then he turned to the girl.
"I thought it was true love—she chased me so relentlessly—but once we started college she turned hot-and-cold on me?"
The girl tilted her head, thinking.
"So if you break up with her now, will she agree?"
Lu Chuan shook his head helplessly. "We've split several times. She dumped me before and I begged her back. This time I walked out, but she keeps texting, begging me to return."
"Then she still cares."
After she spoke Lin Qingxue added, "Could it be a misunderstanding? After all, you said she chased you for ages."
Lu Chuan nodded, then shook his head. "I… think so too. She keeps explaining… says nothing happened…"
Seeing his buddy about to be dragged back into the trap, Jiang Cheng cut in: "Hold up—ever think the logic itself is broken?"
Lu Chuan hesitated and looked at him. "Bro Cheng, I…"
"Bro, when your shower water turns hot-and-cold all of a sudden, you know someone else is sharing the supply."
The moment Jiang Cheng finished, Wang Jian—silent until now—spoke up.
"Bro Cheng's spot-on. Normal people don't run hot-and-cold. Wu Kun and I saw how you treated Mentioned in Lu Chuans pain."
Wang Jian had barely stopped when Wu Kun added,
"Right. I mean, you spend two-thousand-five of your three-thousand yuan monthly allowance on her and she still complains? That's too much. Sometimes I can't stand watching it."
Jiang Cheng remembered Lu Chuan drove a bmw.
An older model, a hand-me-down from his family,
but for a student his age a bmw plus his looks should have been more than enough for Mentioned in Lu Chuans pain.
And a three-grand allowance already beat more than half the campus.
Don't claim three thousand can't cover life in the Demon Capital.
Remember, it's a first-tier economy.
According to 2017 stats,
average monthly wage was 6,504 yuan, minimum 2,300.
That's straight from the city's bureau.
So how much living-expense money do kids from those homes actually get?
Don't say "but their families have no savings."
On those wages?
With families, or once you date, saving is impossible.
Only a single dog might manage.
So Lu Chuan's situation is actually pretty solid.
Jiang Cheng asked, "What does she complain about?"
Before he finished Wang Jian jumped in.
"Bro, you wouldn't believe it. Last month Mentioned in Lu Chuans pain's phone broke and she made Lu Chuan buy her a new one. He scrimped and got her a 2,000-yuan Huawei; she called it cheap, wanted a fruit phone, and sulked for ages. I was speechless."
As he spoke Wang Jian let go of the girl he'd been hugging.
He waved the others closer, as if sharing a secret.
They all leaned in at once.
In a low voice he said, "You guys know Yao Xue, right?"
They glanced at him; he went on.
"Every time we book a room she pays. I tell her I swapped some pricey car part and I'm broke. At first she wasn't happy, but ever since I switched to a super-car she's done a full one-eighty—covers every hotel bill and even scrimps daily just to buy me stuff…"