Pursuing Her Best Friend after Confession Failed-Chapter 87 - 80: New Book Release, Gradually Warming Emotions_3

To keep it a secret for the time being, Li Yuan hadn’t been writing much in the dorm these past few days. Using a laptop simply wasn’t as fast or comfortable as writing on his custom-built desktop. At his home in Jinxiu Villas, he had a study specifically set up for his writing.

When they returned at noon, Yi Jing, Liu Jia, and the others all looked utterly exhausted. Seeing Li Yuan playing on his computer, they couldn’t help but feel envious.

"Yuan, you’re really living the dream now that you don’t have to do military training," one of them sighed. "It’s so comfortable. The weather outside is extremely hot. I feel like I’ll lose a layer of skin after two more weeks of this."

"By the way, Yuan, are you not going to participate in the military training at all?" another asked.

Li Yuan calmly replied, "What would I go back for? I worked hard to get this special privilege. It’d be a waste not to use it before it expires."

Liu Jia gave him a thumbs-up. "Tsk tsk, Yuan, you’re something else."

Zhou Tianyu also complained, "These military instructors are treating us like dogs. They treat us completely differently from the girls. This morning, after you left, a guy in our squad collapsed from heatstroke and was taken to the school infirmary..."

Wu Hao chimed in with his own frustrations, cursing, "Damn it, our Instructor Jiang is also incredibly strict. After you left, Yuan, the training got even more brutal. Some other guys wanted to challenge him like you did, but unfortunately, they weren’t as skilled as you. Instructor Jiang punished them by making them stand at attention for an hour. They nearly passed out from heatstroke..."

Yi Jing, who rarely spoke, added, "After all, Yuan is one of a kind."

The days of military training always flew by, leaving every participating freshman busy and exhausted.

His roommates—Liu Jia, Yi Jing, and Zhou Tianyu—would come back every day, wash up, and immediately pass out, with no energy left to stay up late.

Li Yuan, on the other hand, spent his days either writing or visiting the Longyu Building to check on his company’s renovation progress. He also occasionally chatted with Xia Zhijin, Jiang Zhiyu, and Zhong Tingyue to maintain their friendships.

As for his first love, after he angrily deleted her on QQ that day, they never contacted each other again. Bai Weixi never initiated contact, and Li Yuan couldn’t be bothered to either. It was as if the two had made a clean break. From then on, his first love was nothing more than a memory.

Time passed peacefully, and in the blink of an eye, more than a week had gone by. One evening, Li Yuan was secretly messaging Xia Zhijin.

"Zhijin, was military training tiring today? I heard a girl from our class collapsed from heatstroke."

In the girls’ Dormitory A-6608, Xia Zhijin had just finished washing up. She lay on her bed, clutching her phone as she chatted shyly with Li Yuan. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"I’m not tired. Back in my hometown of Shancheng, I often had to go up the mountain to chop firewood and grow vegetables—radishes, cabbages, and those tiny skyward-pointing chilis... I have a lot of strength, and it’s not as hot here as it is in Shancheng..."

"My roommate, Chenchen, collapsed from heatstroke during training today. She’ll need to be on an IV drip for several days."

Li Yuan replied cheerfully, "Yo, so our Zhijin is quite the little gardener, huh? You know, I used to garden when I was a kid, too. My family had a vegetable plot back home where my mom often grew some seasonal greens, water spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and whatnot. I especially loved scrambled eggs with tomatoes..."

"Shancheng really is hot. I’ve never been, but I’ve heard of its reputation as one of the ’Four Furnaces.’ Zhijin, were you always out in the sun like this back home? And you never get a tan?"

A rich heir like him knows how to farm? an idea sprouted in Xia Zhijin’s mind as she read Li Yuan’s replies.

"Yes, I don’t get a tan," she replied, then asked shyly, "Have you done farm work?"

For some reason, in front of Xia Zhijin, he didn’t want to put on an act or hide anything. He wanted to share his entire life with her. Maybe this is what it feels like to be smitten.

"My family is from the countryside in Northern Anhui. My ancestors for generations were farmers, including my parents. We still have seven or eight acres of land... I grew up in the countryside of Northern Anhui and went to school there, so of course I know how to do farm work...

"Hehe, when I was in middle school, I used to carry the hose out to irrigate the cornfields. The cornstalks are tall, and the leaves really scratch you. And soybeans, you know? You can often find those big, fat soybean caterpillars on the leaves. My mom used to fry them for me. Thinking about it now is terrifying...

"We grow wheat there. I guess you probably grow rice where you’re from, right? Before there were large combine harvesters, my family used a small four-wheeler—the kind with a single-cylinder tractor engine. The black smoke that puffed out of it smelled amazing. I and the other kids from the village used to chase the tractor just to breathe in its exhaust fumes...

"I don’t just know how to farm; I can cook, too. My spicy and sour shredded potatoes and scrambled eggs with tomatoes are delicious. When there’s a chance, I’ll let you try my cooking..."

As she listened to Li Yuan share stories from his childhood, Xia Zhijin felt the distance between them shrink. He used to be just an ordinary person, too... Before, even though he was always nice to me, I subconsciously felt so inferior. I thought we were from two different worlds and would never have anything in common...

Xia Zhijin replied shyly, "Okay! I can cook, too. My grandma always praises my cooking."

Li Yuan chuckled. "Really? In that case, how about we cook a meal together and have a little competition after military training is over?"

Xia Zhijin’s face grew even redder as she replied softly, "Okay!"

Li Yuan checked the time. Seeing it was already past eleven o’clock, he sent a reminder: "Zhijin, make sure to take care of yourself during military training. Eat more meat and eggs, and be careful not to get heatstroke... It’s getting late, so you should get some rest. Good night."

Xia Zhijin sent back a smiling emoji. "Good night!"