"Cousin Yanyan! I'm almost here. I've brought way too many things this time, can you get the aunties to give me a hand?"
"Got it, got it. Auntie Chen and the others have already tidied up your room. I'll be waiting for you at home."
After hanging up the call, Zhang Yanyan went downstairs and found Auntie Chen who was busy in the kitchen.
"Auntie Chen, Su Yuan is almost here. Later, you and Aunt Wang give her a hand, okay? Once she arrives, bring out the mango mousse and macarons you just made, and squeeze two glasses of fresh orange-mango juice too. It's hot out now, chill the drinks in the fridge first."
"Sure thing, no problem." Auntie Chen replied with a smile, then turned back toward the kitchen. Aunt Wang also put down the rag in her hand and walked over to the entryway to wait.
Barely five minutes later, the sound of a car engine came from the villa gate. Two black MPVs pulled up steadily under the front steps. The Su family's driver got out first and popped the trunk, which was stuffed full of suitcases, daily essentials, Su Yuan's clothes, and her game console, piling up nearly half the space in the back.
A Su family aunt who got out right after the driver was carrying several exquisite gift boxes, and called out to Zhang Yanyan with a smile, "Miss Zhang, Yuanyuan has been talking about you nonstop for ages. She's starting her first year at Tengyuan University this time, so I'll have to trouble you to look after her."
"Don't worry, Aunt Su. I'll make sure not a single hair on her head gets hurt."
Aunt Wang stepped forward and took the gift boxes from her.
Aunt Su then called out to Auntie Chen and Aunt Wang, "Sister Chen, Sister Wang, could you two help our driver sort out the young lady's room later?"
Su Yuan hopped down from the passenger seat. She had her high ponytail tied up and was wearing a white sweatsuit. She spotted Zhang Yanyan right away, trotted over to hook her arm through Yanyan's, and drew out the last syllable of her words, "Cousin Yanyan! I'm finally in Tengyuan! I get to live with you every single day from now on!"
"Look how happy you are." Zhang Yanyan raised an eyebrow, amused by how Su Yuan was shaking her arm, and reached over to ruffle her hair roughly, "Come inside and have some dessert first. Let the others handle the rest."
When the two walked into the living room, Auntie Chen had already set the desserts out on the crystal coffee table. The golden mango mousse was dotted with fresh mango chunks, the macarons were bright and colorful, and two glasses of orange-mango juice served in goblets were curling up with faint cold mist.
Su Yuan let go of Zhang Yanyan's hand, picked up a macaron and took a big bite. She squinted in pure satisfaction, "Auntie Chen's cooking really is the best. It tastes nothing like what the aunts back at my place make. Yanyan, you're so lucky to live here!"
Zhang Yanyan picked up a spoon, gently scooped a bite of mango mousse, and put it in her mouth. The sweetness was just right, and the texture was soft and fluffy. "Have as much as you want. Auntie Chen makes these every day."
Su Yuan rambled on while she ate, chattering about how high her gaokao score was, how she'd fought with her parents over her major before finally picking the acting department, and how Su Chen had been dying to move out of the family house and finally got his wish. Once she started talking, she couldn't stop.
Zhang Yanyan listened quietly, chiming in once in a while with a small response. Well, Zhang Yanyan wasn't much of a talker, which made her a perfectly good listener.
Auntie Chen and Aunt Wang helped the Su family's driver carry all Su Yuan's luggage up to the second-floor bedroom. They placed her plush toys by the head of the bed, set up her game console on the desk, and arranged her skincare products in order on the vanity. In less than an hour, the room was completely sorted out, almost exactly the same as Su Yuan's bedroom in the Su family's house.
The Su family aunt checked the room, said a few more words of advice to Su Yuan, then followed the driver back to the car. "Yuanyuan, be good and get along well with Miss Zhang, don't throw tantrums. I'll come visit you again on the weekend."
"Got it, Aunt Su, go on, go on!" Su Yuan waved as she watched the car drive away from the villa, then bounced back into the living room and threw her arms around Zhang Yanyan's neck. "Yanyan, this villa is our little paradise from now on. This is so awesome!"
Zhang Yanyan pried her hands off and said helplessly, "Stop being so silly. School starts tomorrow. You're a freshman, you still have to go through registration, and I've got professional courses as a sophomore. Don't be late."
"Yeah yeah, I know. I'm not a little kid anymore." Su Yuan pouted, then picked up another piece of mousse and kept eating.
The first day of school arrived as scheduled. Tengyuan University's campus was buzzing with the usual liveliness again. Sophomores were busy with their professional courses and all kinds of competitions, while freshmen wandered between the different teaching buildings, full of curiosity and confusion.
In the computer science department's lecture hall, the class teacher led a girl in a white dress into the room. She had delicate, pretty features, fair skin, and was holding a few books in her hands. Her timid look made all the boys in the classroom turn to stare.
"Class, quiet down for a second." The class teacher knocked on the podium. "This is Tang Tang. She's transferring to our Computer Science Class 2 starting today, and she's going to be your new classmate. Everyone, give her a warm welcome."
Sparse, scattered applause rang through the classroom. Tang Tang bowed slightly, her voice soft and gentle. "Hello everyone, I'm Tang Tang. Please take care of me."
She lifted her eyes and swept a quick glance across the room, and her gaze froze on the seat by the window. There sat a boy in a white button-down shirt, with sharp, neat features and a high, straight nose, who was flipping through a textbook with his head down. The sunlight fell on his side profile, tracing out soft, gentle lines. It was Song Ze.
Tang Tang's heart skipped a beat. Her fingers holding the books tightened slightly, and a strange, fluttery feeling bubbled up in her chest. University lecture halls let students pick their own seats, but she deliberately walked over to the class teacher, tugged gently at his sleeve, and whispered, "Teacher, can I sit there?"
Her finger pointed carefully at the empty seat next to Song Ze. The class teacher followed her gaze, saw that the spot really was free, and didn't think much of it. He just nodded kindly, "Of course. Go ahead and sit wherever you'd like."
Once she got the permission, Tang Tang immediately picked up her books and walked quickly over to that seat. Song Ze heard the footsteps and looked up. When he saw Tang Tang walking toward him, he curled a faint smile on his lips, closed his textbook, and shifted a little to the side to make more room for her. "Hi there, I'm Song Ze."
"Hi, Song Ze." Tang Tang sat down, turned to look at him, and the obvious affection in her eyes was impossible to hide. "I just transferred here, and I'm way behind on all the professional courses. I might have to trouble you to explain problems to me all the time later."
"No problem. Helping each other is what classmates do." Song Ze smiled and agreed, then tapped his finger lightly on the programming problem in his textbook. "If you run into anything you don't understand, you can ask me anytime."
The other students sitting nearby saw the whole thing, and some of them whispered, "Wait, Song Ze has a girlfriend, right? Zhou Nian is in our department too. Why's he being so nice to the new transfer student?"
"Who knows. Guys all love having girls fawning over them, I guess."
"And Tang Tang too, she clearly knows he has a girlfriend, why's she clinging to him like that? That's kind of messed up."
Those remarks drifted into Tang Tang's ears, but she pretended not to hear them. She kept chatting and laughing with Song Ze, and her fingers brushed his arm every now and then. Song Ze didn't move away either, he just went along with whatever she was saying, and the atmosphere between them was thick with obvious flirting.
Down the teaching building hallway, Zhang Yanyan had just finished her advanced finance elective. She was carrying a thick stack of textbooks and heading toward the library when she passed the computer science department's lecture hall, and just happened to see Tang Tang and Song Ze walking out of it together.
Tang Tang was holding a bottle of water, smiling as she passed it to Song Ze. Song Ze reached out to take it, then lowered his head to say something to her. Tang Tang laughed so that her eyes crinkled into crescents, and she tiptoed to whisper a secret right by his ear, making the corner of Song Ze's mouth lift even higher.
Zhang Yanyan's gaze swept lightly over the two of them, her footsteps not pausing for even a moment. She spoke to Eighteen in her mind, "This is really interesting. Even when the people involved have changed, the plot doesn't seem to have shifted at all."
[You see right through it, Host. Song Ze's nature is just like this. Even if it wasn't Tang Tang, there would be some Song Tang or Lin Tang sooner or later. Maybe he just enjoys the feeling of being in this kind of ambiguous flirtation.]
"Old habits die hard. Back then, Song Ze pursued Zhou Nian because she was good-looking, naive and easy to manipulate, and also got great grades. Her family wasn't super rich, but they lived a comfortable, worry-free life, at least far better off than his own." Zhang Yanyan let out a soft scoff, turned and walked into the library, leaving that whole scene far behind her.
