"Maybe when you’re craving sweets, you’re not just like a little kid who can’t wait to steal some candy?" Liao Jinling interjected.
Fei Jiayi glared and said, "Liao Jinling, do you know how to speak? When did I ever steal candy? Did I steal your candy?"
"You stole Ding Guo’s," Liao Jinling said with a grin.
Fei Jiayi said, "Ding Guo was willing to give them to me; I didn’t steal anything."
"You guys might as well argue all you want today because if you want to argue again, it’ll have to wait until two months later," Xu Nianhua reminded them.
With that one sentence, the originally noisy dorm quieted down.
After a year of being together, no one wanted to leave. Everyone reluctantly packed their things until everything was tidy and clean. When it was time to leave, everyone said their goodbyes and agreed to return to campus one day before the next semester started for a little reunion.
"Nianhua, the crispy meat, remember to have Auntie make extra crispy meat!" Fei Jiayi reminisced about the crispy meat as if she could never have enough.
Her words immediately brought laughter and cheer back into the dorm.
Xu Nianhua promised she would bring some, then started to head out with her things.
Pei Yining arrived just as Xu Nianhua was dragging her suitcase and carrying bags. She hurried to help, saying, "Nianhua, I’m sorry I’m late. I had set an alarm and everything, but I..." overslept.
Pei Yining looked at Xu Nianhua apologetically.
Xu Nianhua cleared her throat. Knowing that Pei Yining often overslept, she said, "It’s fine, you’re not that late."
"You won’t tell my brother, will you?" Pei Yining pleaded. She absolutely couldn’t let her brother find out, because if he did, he would surely get mad and might stop giving her allowance and ignore her.
She was most afraid of her brother ignoring her. Well, and of him cutting off her allowance too!
She loved to wander around taking photos, buying film, developing chemicals, going out—all of it cost money.
Without her brother’s support, despite their father giving her a decent allowance, it was never enough for her spending habits.
"Yining, so you didn’t really come to pick me up out of real desire," Xu Nianhua sighed, putting on an aggrieved expression.
Pei Yining immediately became anxious and explained, "Nianhua, future sister-in-law, I truly wanted to pick you up. I was totally hoping you’d stay at our place for a while. Oh no, I hope we can always live together."
"Truer than true gold!" Pei Yining explained hastily.
Future sister-in-law.
Xu Nianhua’s face flushed at these words. She quietly noticed they had already left the school. The students passing by were all in a hurry to get home and hadn’t heard her, which made her breathe a sigh of relief. She said, "Alright, don’t worry. I won’t tell your brother. I’m going to drop my stuff at your place, and then I’m heading over to Medical University. What about you?"
"I’ll come too. I don’t have anything else planned," Pei Yining replied. After summer break started, she didn’t have much else to do; usually, she just roamed around with her camera. With Nianhua, she would do the same.
After Xu Nianhua dropped off her items, she and Pei Yining hurried to the boutique. Xu Nian’an had already packed up his belongings and was now tidying up the shop. Situated at the school’s entrance, the shop’s business halted once students went on vacation. He planned to take a two-month break from the shop while also settling the accounts. Of course, paying Ban Lin and Wei Hong’s salaries was naturally part of it.