When Will My Childhood Sweetheart Marry Me?-Chapter 184: Secret Crush

The wind shifted direction, Jiang Shuyao was hit abruptly by the smell of smoke and choked.

As she coughed, the milk tea in her hand swayed slightly.

In the corner of her eye, the spark beside her extinguished, whether it burnt out naturally or was snuffed out by its owner was unclear.

"Your boyfriend also smokes, normally how do you tolerate it?"

Huh?

Jiang Shuyao turned her head dazedly and saw Zhong Yuan watching her with an expressionless face.

It was rare for him to speak such a long sentence to her in one go.

Jiang Shuyao took a sip of her milk tea and said helplessly, "Can’t help it, when he craves a smoke, not allowing him would lead to murder."

After she spoke, her surroundings were unusually quiet.

Looking over again, Zhong Yuan had turned his face away.

After a long while, that profile suddenly twitched at the corner of the mouth.

Jiang Shuyao felt that this was the closest to a "smile" she had seen from Zhong Yuan during the few times they had been alone.

There was a stack of papers in front of her.

Jiang Shuyao took them, and under the dim night light, she saw each piece of paper bore a string of English words.

"Band names, give your opinion."

"All in English?"

"The investor said English looks more sophisticated, so it has to be this way."

Alright then.

Jiang Shuyao couldn’t help but laugh as she read through the names, "The third one, ’Moon.’"

"Why?"

"Easy to sign."

Zhong Yuan stretched lazily, picked up a guitar beside him, and strummed it twice, "That’s settled then."

That casual?

At nine-thirty, He Shumiao called, thinking she was downstairs, asking her to bring back some late-night snacks.

Jiang Shuyao obviously couldn’t say she was on the rooftop.

As she wondered how to respond, Zhong Yuan pulled out two cans of beer from nowhere.

The night was quiet, the fizzing sound of bubbles bursting from the pull-tab entered the earpiece.

It seemed the other end realized something; He Shumiao laughed ambiguously and quickly changed her tune, "Ah, never mind, don’t want to disturb you two. If you’re not coming back, just inform the dorm head on WeChat beforehand, so we can cover for you if the dormitory management comes checking."

Jiang Shuyao hadn’t even spoken when the other side quickly hung up.

She stared at the phone in silence for a while before the beer can was handed to her face.

Seeing her staring blankly for a long time, Zhong Yuan asked, "Allergic to alcohol?"

Jiang Shuyao shook her head.

"Boyfriend doesn’t allow?"

She couldn’t suppress a slight cough, "No, that’s not it."

That’s all then.

Zhong Yuan scoffed lightly without insisting further, slowly sipping the beer.

Jiang Shuyao watched the other can at her feet, pursing her lips, lost in thought.

Seeing her silent, Zhong Yuan stretched his legs, crossed them, and leaned back lazily against the railing.

"I admire you."

Zhong Yuan tilted his head back to finish the remaining beer, his gaze falling on the twilight horizon, unemotionally commented, "Pei Yan... not many women can keep up with him."

Yeah.

If it weren’t for being close at hand, she might not have caught his eye.

Jiang Shuyao smiled faintly.

She was just luckier than most women.

The midterm examination wasn’t as difficult as everyone imagined; the last programming question was even overly simple.

Not just simple, but... romantic.

—Write the name of someone you once had a crush on using a program.

Apparently, Old Man Jiang set the questions for Paper B.

It was evident the old man had his wild days too.

This question tests the most basic for loop, but exactly what kind of loop method depends on personal understanding.

As expected, more than fifteen people scored full marks in the C language section.

As a student representative, Jiang Shuyao was both relieved and reflective.

From time to time, she used to hear senior classmates say, if you fail more than four professional subjects at the end of the semester, you’ll have to retake them during the academic year.

It seems, then, that failing four or more subjects at the same time isn’t easy.

During a ten-minute break between classes, Jiang Shuyao finished using the restroom and passed by the back door of the classroom, where she saw a male student standing in the corner seat, talking to Pei Yan next to him.

"I...can I take a look at your code?" she heard the boy say.

Young Master Pei lazily said, "Why, are you interested in the one I’m secretly in love with?"

"..." The boy’s face turned slightly red: "No, Teacher Jiang said my approach wasn’t streamlined enough and told me to ask you for advice."

Someone paused for two seconds, then gestured for the other to open the compiler.

The boy hurried to do so.

"Run it."

"Delete from line 8 to line 30."

What?

The boy’s expression froze.

At that moment, Jiang Shuyao had quietly approached them from behind.

She glanced at the boy’s computer screen, it was the last programming question on the midterm.

Ignoring the actual compilation result, the boy’s approach was indeed straight and adorably naive.

Pei Yan briefly explained, made a few crucial comments, and then waved the boy away.

The boy hesitated, "You haven’t shown me yours yet."

From Jiang Shuyao’s angle, impatience was clearly visible on Young Master Pei’s face.

All he wanted was to look at a code, no need to be so stingy.

Mid-thought, the boy saw the student representative standing behind him and, as if grasping at a lifeline, said, "Jiang Shuyao, Teacher Jiang said I could ask you too, could you let me see yours?"

Jiang Shuyao nodded: "Of course."

With no comparison, there is no harm; she wanted to let everyone know that the saying ’birds of a feather flock together’ does not apply to couples.

Ignoring the 360-degree mocking face of someone, she calmly turned around and walked to her seat to fetch her laptop.

When she opened the interface, the boy’s eyes lit up, "It’s so clean, a third of the code compared to mine."

"It could be resolved with just one function."

After all, he’d scored well to enter a prestigious school, and he could grasp it quickly with just a glance.

The boy thanked her repeatedly before leaving, and Jiang Shuyao modestly told him not to mention it; just then, in the harmonious atmosphere, he suddenly blurted out, "Eh? The output of your program doesn’t seem to be... thanks, thanks."

The boy hurriedly left the scene.

???

Jiang Shuyao stood there stupefied, hearing footsteps approaching from behind the classroom.

A chilly air swept past her cheeks.

She saw Pei Yan casually find a seat and sit down, his fingers tapping on the table, "Open your compilation result."

"What for."

"To let me see, can’t I?"

Jiang Shuyao, with her hands behind her back, discreetly pressed the shutdown button on her computer, "It’s out of battery, I’ll copy it for you when I go back to the dorm."

Seeing her guilty look, Pei Yan snorted with laughter: "What, the person Princess used to secretly love can’t be seen, right?"

Sure enough, the boy had let that slip earlier.

Jiang Shuyao released her hand from the computer, slowly sat down, "Just some random names I wrote, it’s definitely not you."

Better to confess than to hide, which would only arouse his suspicions.

After she finished speaking, she boldly said, "How about showing me yours?"

Turnabout is fair play, who can’t do that.

Pei Yan lazily stood up, his large hand ruffled her head, "Just wait."

He went back to his seat, grabbed his laptop, and advanced to the front row, just as the class bell rang and Old Man Jiang walked into the classroom on schedule.

Seeing almost everyone had arrived, the old man casually pointed at Pei Yan, who stood out in the center aisle, "Class rep, project your midterm exam’s programming problem for everyone to see."

What...

Jiang Shuyao couldn’t help but feel unable to smile.