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Chapter 40: Still Feeling Guilty?

They walked on their way home.

Jiang Yubing looked at the silent Shen Qingxuan and asked, “Are you troubled?”

Shen Qingxuan paused slightly.

He wondered how she noticed.

He wondered whether it was that obvious.

He hesitated for a moment, then answered with a quiet, “Mm.”

“Can you tell me about it?”

A gentle smile hung on Jiang Yubing’s face.

Shen Qingxuan stayed silent for a moment before he finally spoke, “I think this is not good.”

As he spoke, he lifted the shopping bag full of clothes and shook it in front of Jiang Yubing.

Jiang Yubing tested the waters as she asked, “You mean I bought you so many clothes, and you did nothing, so you feel uneasy.”

“Is that what you mean?”

Shen Qingxuan nodded.

When it came time to pay, he already took out his phone.

He already took out his phone and prepared to scan the code.

Then the cashier said, “Hello, sir, the total is five thousand eight hundred yuan.”

Her words shattered his unrealistic idea.

He finally saved a little money.

He intended to take the initiative for once but lost so completely.

When she heard him, Jiang Yubing secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

She had thought the clothes she chose were not his style.

It turned out to be her silly husband’s pride at work.

She needed to think of a solution.

While she was thinking, the corner of her eye caught a young couple kissing not far away.

In an instant, her eyes brightened.

A bold idea quickly sprouted in her mind.

However, she looked at the stream of passersby around them.

She felt a bit hesitant again.

A short distance away, another two students moved with the flow of people.

Zhang Yunhao and Zhao Hu strolled lazily with the stream of people.

Zhang Yunhao raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He could not help but exclaim, “There are really so many people during National Day!”

“Like dumplings crammed together.”

“Who doesn’t think so!”

Zhao Hu echoed the comment while glancing around.

“There are fewer people over there, let’s go that way.”

Zhang Yunhao followed the direction he pointed and exclaimed, “Damn, Hu, look, it’s the campus belle!”

“Where?”

Zhao Hu perked up at once.

He craned his neck and looked along Zhang Yunhao’s finger.

He saw an exquisitely graceful back view appear in his sight.

That familiar figure and aura could only belong to their school’s number one campus belle, Jiang Yubing.

Who was the boy standing in front of her?

Why were they standing so close?

Didn’t everyone say the campus belle disliked boys?

For a moment, countless questions surfaced in their minds.

The boy’s back faced them, so he remained unaware.

Yet an even more unexpected scene unfolded.

They saw Jiang Yubing clasp her hands behind her back, a shy blush appearing on her face.

She stepped slowly toward the boy.

“Damn, she’s so close, she is going to kiss him!”

Zhang Yunhao stared without blinking.

The expression on his face shifted from shock to disbelief.

Zhao Hu swallowed nervously, his heart jumping into his throat.

Suddenly, in the next second, the unexpected really happened.

Jiang Yubing rose on tiptoe and kissed him.

“My goddess…”

Zhang Yunhao’s voice sounded full of sorrow.

“Mine too.”

Zhao Hu looked equally dejected.

“Hao, why does that boy’s back look familiar to me!”

Zhao Hu still stared at the back, wide-eyed.

“What do you mean?”

Zhang Yunhao pressed him.

“I keep feeling it looks like someone…”

Zhao Hu muttered while frantically searching his memory.

Suddenly, as if he recalled something, his eyes widened.

“Tell me, doesn’t that boy look like Shen Qingxuan?”

“Impossible.”

Without thinking, Zhang Yunhao dismissed the possibility at once.

Although the boy’s height, hairstyle, and build were almost the same as Shen Qingxuan’s, the girl was the campus belle!

She had looks and money alike.

He knew too well what kind of family background his buddy had.

The two of them belonged to completely different worlds.

Zhao Hu, however, reaffirmed his guess, “It must be Shen Qingxuan.”

The two fell into silence.

An awkward pause stretched between them.

Jiang Yubing lowered her eyes slightly and asked softly, “Still feeling guilty?”

As she spoke, she gently drew circles on the ground with the tip of her shoe.

The tip of her shoe brushed the floor, and she looked adorably shy.

“S-still a little.”

The tips of Shen Qingxuan’s ears turned scarlet.

His voice was as small as a mosquito’s buzz and carried a hint of guilt.

Jiang Yubing covered her mouth and giggled, “You aren’t addicted to being kissed, are you!”

“How could that be?” Shen Qingxuan retorted immediately.

He did still feel a little guilty inside.

He definitely did not want another kiss from Jiang Yubing.

He was a proper gentleman.

Seeing his anxious look, Jiang Yubing flashed a mischievous smile, “I never said you couldn’t.”

“Really?”

Shen Qingxuan’s eyes lit up at once, and he subconsciously leaned closer.

“Just kidding.”

Jiang Yubing blinked, her smile bright and playful.

Shen Qingxuan’s mouth twitched.

He got trapped again.

So much for a cool aloof campus belle; she threw tricks one after another.

She was going to play him to pieces.

The evening air grew quiet.

Only the faint hum of traffic remained.

The moment he arrived home, the phone in Shen Qingxuan’s pocket buzzed.

He pulled it out casually and glanced at the screen.

It showed a call from Zhang Yunhao.

“Hey, Brother Xuan, where are you!”

On the other end of the line, Zhang Yunhao’s voice sounded unusually loud and carried a hint of secrecy.

His tone felt mysterious.

“I’m at home, what’s up, Hao?”

Shen Qingxuan answered absent-mindedly while changing his shoes.

“I have a sensational secret to tell you about the campus belle.”

As soon as he heard it involved Jiang Yubing, Shen Qingxuan perked up instantly.

“What secret? Tell me quickly.”

While speaking, he hurried toward the sofa.

He walked briskly to the sofa.

He plopped down, afraid of missing any important information.

“Today Hu and I went out, saw the campus belle, and guess what?”

Zhang Yunhao paused for a long time on purpose, fully hooking Shen Qingxuan’s curiosity.

He believed that once he revealed the big scoop, Shen Qingxuan would surely have his jaw drop.

Shen Qingxuan grew impatient and urged, “And then?”

“Stop keeping me in suspense.”

“Brother Xuan, you would never guess—the campus belle actually kissed a boy.”

Zhang Yunhao practically shouted the sentence, then waited for Shen Qingxuan’s reaction.

He waited quietly for Shen Qingxuan’s response.

One second passed.

Five seconds passed.

Ten seconds passed.

The phone line remained completely silent.

This result was nothing like what he imagined.

Where was the surprise?

Even if he wasn’t surprised, shouldn’t he at least question it?

Why was there not even a sound now?

Could it be that Shen Qingxuan stepped away?

It had to be that.

Zhang Yunhao raised his voice and called, “Brother Xuan, are you there?”

“Mm.”

“Were you busy just now?”

“Why do you ask?” Shen Qingxuan’s heart leaped to his throat.

He wondered if his friend sensed something unusual.

Zhang Yunhao said as a matter of course, “Why are you not surprised at all?

Don’t tell me, like Hu said, that boy was you.”

Shen Qingxuan felt exposed and replied guiltily, “Don’t talk nonsense, how could that be.”

“I think so too, Brother Xuan, I’m hanging up.”

The call ended, and Shen Qingxuan let out a long sigh of relief.

They still had not seen his face.

Otherwise, when he returned to school after the holiday, wouldn’t everyone condemn him?

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