Chapter 51: Daddy-Style Boy

The back-to-school season arrived with the soft morning light. Students carrying backpacks filed in through the school gates.

They gathered in small groups, chatting about their vacation experiences, while the campus radio played a cheerful melody that mingled with the lively sounds of the crowd.

The school leadership stood on the flag-raising platform, delivering passionate speeches, while students below either spaced out, glanced around, or whispered to each other.

Jiang Mingzhi boredly tapped her toes on the ground, mentally wishing the speech would end quickly.

Currently, only their grade was starting the school year. The school leader’s energetic speech seemed to go on forever, leaving the students under the podium looking exhausted until the leader finally shouted, “Dismissed!”

Jiang Mingzhi and Meng Yuanyuan quickly walked toward the teaching building, with Zhuang Heyang chattering behind them.

“Hey, Meng Yuanyuan, you’ve lost weight. Did you sign up for a weight loss camp?”

“Jiang Mingzhi has grown taller. Look at her legs, they’ve gotten longer. She’s growing so fast. Even Guan Jinxu and I can hardly keep up.”

Once they reached the shady area, Jiang Mingzhi slowed her pace and coolly turned to Zhuang Heyang, saying, “Your girlfriend doesn’t want you anymore since she went to university.”

Jiang Mingzhi had only found out about it by chance when she saw his posts showing off their love during the summer break. Turns out, the guy had secretly started dating someone.

Her words made Zhuang Heyang feel like he had been hit with a blast of winter, and he shouted, “You’re talking nonsense! She would never leave me!”

Jiang Mingzhi dismissively replied, “How could she stand someone as childish as you?”

Zhuang Heyang wouldn’t back down. He snorted, “I’m just an enthusiastic little puppy, you wouldn’t understand!”

Jiang Mingzhi and Meng Yuanyuan exchanged a glance and simultaneously made a face of disdain.

Zhuang Heyang saw their unimpressed reaction and sighed. “You girls must like mature older men, right? I’m warning you, be careful about those older guys…”

He rambled on, from bashing older men to advising them on how to spot a good man.

Jiang Mingzhi sat down and gave him a meaningful look. “You still don’t get women. We do like mature types, but that’s not the same as old men.”

What women actually like are ‘daddy-style boys,’ not ‘daddy-like men.’

Guan Jinxu, who had been quietly listening, nodded thoughtfully. “I see.”

He began to reflect on whether his past behavior had been mature enough.

He believed he was still more mature than Zhuang Heyang.

---

“Focus, everyone. Work hard for a year, and then you’ll have freedom once you go to college.” The homeroom teacher, Old Yu, stood at the podium, fervently giving the class a pep talk.

Jiang Mingzhi and Guan Jinxu were quietly passing something to each other.

It was two sticks of ink, which Guan Jinxu had asked her to buy from a friend in the south city a few days before school started.

Jiang Mingzhi thought about how Grandpa Pei also loved calligraphy, so she had asked Cui Li to send a few sticks over, along with two sets of paperweights.

“The paperweights are a gift.”

Guan Jinxu lowered his voice, “Your classmate is quite generous. How much was it? I’ll transfer you the money later.”

Old Yu cleared his throat and shouted, “Students, stop talking! I know it’s been a long time since you’ve seen each other, but now open your textbooks.”

Jiang Mingzhi instantly felt guilty. She straightened up, opened her textbook, and pretended to focus intently on her studies.

Guan Jinxu, who was behind her, smirked and whispered to himself. Old Yu wasn’t talking about them, so why did she feel guilty? Could it be that she had been caught?

Teenagers’ minds are often scattered, but the reality of opening textbooks quickly brought them back to the present.

Lin Wan, who had started school half a month later than Jiang Mingzhi, saw her in the cafeteria and, with a look of envy, said, “You only have one more year until you’re free, I’m so jealous.”

Meng Yuanyuan, who was next to them, looked rather pale. “Wait until you realize who you should really be jealous of. Do you know what the campus around Zhou Ji is like? Have you ever seen the campus at 10 PM?”

In their school, classes went late into the evening, and the end time for evening self-study had been pushed from 9:30 PM to 10:00 PM.

From mid-August to the end of September, the students had finally been able to look forward to their first holiday: the Mid-Autumn Festival.

After Mid-Autumn, it would be National Day, and the days of being buried under test papers would seem a bit more bearable.

As autumn deepened, Guan Jinxu noticed that Jiang Mingzhi had two new small piercings on her ears.

“You got your ears pierced?”

Jiang Mingzhi raised her chin. “Yeah, take a look.”

There were small, round ear lobes with silver studs, no fancy embellishments, but Guan Jinxu could still see the cuteness in them.

“Does it hurt?”

Jiang Mingzhi shook her head. “No, it was done in a flash, didn’t feel anything.”

Guan Jinxu didn’t believe her—how could getting a hole punched in your flesh not hurt?

“Did they numb it?”

“Do you need anesthesia to get your ears pierced?” Jiang Mingzhi tugged Meng Yuanyuan over to back her up. “I went with her; you can ask her if it hurt.”

Meng Yuanyuan shook her head. “It was fine. The pinch felt like an ant bite, and afterward, there was a little sensation.”

Jiang Mingzhi raised an eyebrow, teasing him. “Do you want to get one too? All the trendy guys have ear piercings.”

Guan Jinxu shook his head. “Too trendy. I’m afraid of getting rheumatism.”

Jiang Mingzhi laughed and turned to remind Meng Yuanyuan not to let her ear touch water, or it might get infected and hurt.

Last summer, she and Pei Jinyang had gotten their ear piercings together after graduation. He had only done one ear, but both of their ears had gotten infected.

At that time, Pei Jinyang had said, “Jiang Mingzhi, we’re meant to be. Even our ear piercings got infected at the same time.”

Back then, they were so innocent and naive, seeing all their hardships and struggles as tests of their bond and connection.

The next day at school, Guan Jinxu handed Jiang Mingzhi a tube of erythromycin ointment. “If it starts to get infected, you can use this.”

Jiang Mingzhi was taken aback. She hadn’t expected him to give her this.

Guan Jinxu added, “I just happened to come across it online yesterday.”

Actually, after hearing Jiang Mingzhi remind Meng Yuanyuan about it, he went online to research, and on his way to school, he passed by a pharmacy and bought it.

Jiang Mingzhi took it from him. “Thank you.”

Guan Jinxu handed her another one. “Buy one, get one free. You can give this one to your other desk mate.”

Jiang Mingzhi was puzzled. How could something so cheap be buy one, get one free? But she still took it. “Okay, I’ll thank you on her behalf.”

That evening, when Pei Jinyang discovered Jiang Mingzhi’s ear piercings while having a late-night snack, he asked, “When did you get your ears pierced?”

Jiang Mingzhi replied, “Why do you care?”

She still spoke to him with that familiar edge.

Pei Jinyang clenched his teeth in frustration but said nothing.

He controlled his temper and said, “Your ear lobe’s a bit red. Is it infected?”

Jiang Mingzhi quickly ran to the nearest bathroom to check in the mirror. It was indeed a bit red, and she hurried upstairs.

Pei Jinyang watched her leave, his gaze following her as she disappeared around the corner. He let out a quiet laugh, shaking his head. “Fool.”

Jiang Mingzhi pulled out the small tube of erythromycin ointment from her bag, carefully applying it to her ear in front of the mirror.

Luckily, with the ointment that Guan Jinxu had given her, the inflammation was quickly controlled, and it didn’t get worse.

After applying the ointment, she went back downstairs to eat. Pei Jinyang glanced at her ear, now treated. “You were pretty well prepared.”

Jiang Mingzhi raised an eyebrow, teasing him. “Right? I think Guan Jinxu is quite thoughtful. He even got me the ointment ahead of time.”

Pei Jinyang’s eyes darkened instantly, narrowing as he watched her. “Seems like you really like bringing him up in front of me.”

Jiang Mingzhi’s little ploy was caught, but she remained unfazed. “Really? You shouldn’t be so…”

She almost said “sensitive,” but Pei Jinyang cut her off. “Are you trying to make me jealous?”

“…”

Jiang Mingzhi was speechless. She wasn’t trying to make him jealous, just setting up a double layer of insurance.

She pointed at her head, asking him, “Is there something wrong here?”

Pei Jinyang took a deep breath, forcing himself to hold back his rising anger.

“Isn’t it hard to understand?”

He stood up from his chair, closing the distance between them. His eyes bore into Jiang Mingzhi’s, tracking every little expression on her face.

“Why do you seem to have so much hostility towards me?”

His eyes narrowed dangerously. “What do you think will happen if he finds out you’re only close to him because of me?”