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  Chapter 92: Am I the Only Outsider?

  TL: Etude

  Returning to Jizhou, the weather was clear and bright.

  Jiang Qin briskly pulled his suitcase out of the station without a moment’s pause, leaving Sun Yanbin puzzled.

  Why was this man so indifferent to the presence of such a beautiful girl? He seemed to be hurrying away as if fleeing, thought Sun.

  Unaware of Sun’s thoughts, Jiang would have ughed had he known. “You’re really walking into a trap with your eyes wide open,” he’d think.

  Chu Siqi, watg Jiang’s resolute departure, felt deeply hurt. She wao vent her frustration but didn’t know whom to direct it at. Everything seemed irksome to her, culminating in a fierce gre at Sun Yanbin.

  Did she just look at me? Sun was slightly startled.

  Half an hour ter, Jiaurned home. The long-awaited return of a child studying away was naturally met with enthusiastic reception from his parents. Yuan Youqiook a day off to prepare a feast for Jiang.

  However, this warmth and affe were ofteing.

  On October 1st, his mother was overjoyed, “My son, you’re back!”

  On October 2nd, she was still happy, “Sleep in a bit, studying must be tiring.”

  By October 3rd, Mrs. Yuan’s mood soured, “Could you tidy up your room?”

  And on October 4th, with a furrowed brow, she asked, “When do you start school again?”

  Jiang khe warmth of this reunion was fading. From the fifth day, he started getting up early and going out, avoiding any ce for his mother to find fault with him.

  “Uncle, you’re here?”

  “Yes, I am. Shu’an, you seem to have grown taller, almost as tall as your uncle. Impressive.”

  “…”

  At Yang’s Lamb Soup Restaurant, Yang Shu’an looked at his old cssmate and now uh mixed feelings. Watg him chatting amicably with his father, shoulder to shoulder, calling each other ‘brother,’ Shu’a awkward.

  Jiang had ied in the restaurant just for fun. When Yang Jianguo wao calcute his dividends, Jiang deed, advising him to use the moo open a third branch.

  He also suggested diversifying the menu. Specializing in mb soup was fine, but too much focus on a siem wouldn’t take them far. After all, aiming for a national with just mb soup seemed overly ambitious.

  Yang Jianguo had always wao open a third branch. Hearing Jiang’s suggestion, he was thrilled, pyfully chiding his son, “Look at your uncle, we were in the same css in high school. Why ’t you be as mature as him?”

  “Heh,” Yang Shu’an’s mouth twitched with a hint ret.

  He regretted not stopping the drunken pledge to bee sworn brothers that day. If he had, he wouldn’t be awkwardly calling Jiang ‘uncle’ now.

  Later, as Jiang prepared to leave, Yang Shu’an’s father insisted he escort his ‘uncle’ out.

  “Uncle, we talk about something?” Yang Shu’an asked nervously.

  Jiang turned with a radiant smile, “Sure, my nephew, what’s on your mind?”

  “ we just call each other by our names? You call me nephew, and I’ll call you brother.”

  “ry, but that would mess up the seniority,” Jiang chuckled and strolled away, leaving Yang Shu’an feeling unfortable. Having an overly brilliant cssmate made even reminisg about school days a ge-worthy affair.

  Returning home from the restaurant, Jiang checked the website’s traffic. As expected, with uy students away from campus, the school beauty test’s popurity began to wane.

  However, this dee was not tinuous. From the fourth day, the website’s traffic picked up again, probably because people were tired of pying and started surfing the web again.

  The fession wall saw an increase in posts, even from students of other schools fessing to girls from Lin Uy. Titles like “Enter with a Goddess” were on.

  The anonymous forum was filled with rants, mostly about roommates and cssmates. pints ranged from someone never buying shampoo and always moog off others, to someone dressing fmboyantly but having body odor.

  The school beauty rankings tinued, with Chu Siqi firmly in first pce.

  inally, Hong Yan was the number one in the school beauty rankings, but due to her transfer of major, she suddenly lost the support of the w faculty. ht, she fell behind in the rankings, allowing Chu Siqi and Liu Yiyi te to the top. The two fluctuated in their positions for three days, uo clearly outdo each other.

  However, just a few days before the holiday, Liu Yiyi’s fans, for some unknown reason, began to lose momentum, their votes dwindling. This allowed Chu Siqi to firmly overtake her.

  Jiang Qin had no particur thoughts about this oute. He was the one who initiated the artificial flower campaign, but he had no i in influeng who would ultimately win. His focus was on the eiefits behind the ses, not the individuals involved.

  , Jiang accessed the user bad to check the site traffic. Shi Miaomiao’s at had brokehousand followers, a testament to the quality of her book, “You are the Color of Fireworks in the World”. However, what surprised Jiang was that Old Cao’s at had also amassed six thousand followers, closely following Shi Miaomiao.

  But while Shi Miaomiao’s followers were genuine fans, Old Cao’s were mostly detractors, critig his overblown ego and expressing a desire t him back to reality.

  Notoriety is a form of fame, too. Old Cao’s current status was indeed earhrough his own efforts.

  “Only two days left of the holiday. When are you guys heading to Lin? Shall we go together?”

  Suddenly, a message popped up itom left er of Jiang’s puter s from an unfamiliar group chat. Feeling puzzled, Jiang clicked on it and found himself in a five-person group he didn’t recall joining. The message was from someone named Sun Yanbin, who used a non-mainstream profile picture with sungsses.

  Guo Zihang: “How about leaving oh?”

  Jiang casually replied: “You don’t have a partner. What’s the rush to go back so early?”

  “So, when shall we leave?”

  “Let’s go oh. I won’t be back till the New Year.”

  “Chu, when do you pn to leave?” Sun Yanbin directly igheir decision and asked Chu Siqi, as that was his real purpose for creating the group.

  Chu Siqi: “Then I’ll also leave oh. Shall we go buy tickets together iernoon?”

  Sun Yanbin: “Great, I’ll leave oh too.”

  Jiang Qin: “…”

  Jiang Qin: “I just remembered something. I’ll leave oh.”

  Upon seeing this message, Sun Yanbin inwardly celebrated. With Jiang, who was more attractive than him, out of the picture, his ces with Chu Siqi would be better: “Then you go by yourself. We’ll stick to the 7th. Chu, what time will you be at the station? I’ll join you.”

  Chu Siqi: “Never mind, I’ll also leave oh.”

  Jiang Qin eechless: “Then I won’t leave. I pn to rot at home.”

  Sun Yanbin was fused by the chat history, and before he could make sense of it, he noticed one less person in the group. Then he received a notification that Jiang had left the group immediately after his st message.

  With one person missing, the ge in the five-person group was too obvious, and the others quickly noticed Jiang’s departure.

  Chu Siqi: “Since he’s left, I’m leaving too.”

  Sun Yanbin: “?????”

  Wang Huiru: “If Siqi’s leaving, I guess I’ll leave too.”

  Sun Yanbin: “…”

  Guo Zihang: “Goodbye.”

  Sun Yanbin remained silent for a long time, uo prehend what just happened. What exactly went on in that group?

  He pohis until te into the night, then suddenly it dawned on him – was he the only outsider in that group?

  EtudeTranstions