Chapter 5: Jiang Muye, Are You Happy Today?

"Thank you." Mi Ke smiled as she accepted the necklace. At the same time, the system notification sounded in her mind.

[Received from sucker (Jiang Muye): T brand Smile necklace, large size, rose gold, no diamonds x1. Estimated value:

11,800.00 yuan. Current system balance: 12,520.00 yuan. Proceed with operation?]

Mi Ke dismissed the system prompt and lowered her gaze to stir the corn soup in her bowl, patiently waiting for Song

Jingyi's next move.

At this stage in the storyline, apart from her childhood friend Shen Ji, Song Jingyi hadn't yet been in close contact

with the other male leads. So even a lapdog who could produce the Smile necklace she'd been coveting-Song Jingyi

probably wouldn't want to let him slip away so easily.

Just as Mi Ke predicted.

After a single glass of champagne, a captivating flush crept across Song Jingyi's cheeks. She slumped against Jiang

Muye's shoulder, her glassy eyes shimmering with a watery haze.

"Jiang... Muye, do you really... like my Keke?"

The goddess he'd been pining for was leaning against his shoulder at this very moment. Jiang Muye's heart hammered. He

carefully supported her, fighting the almost irresistible urge to confess everything.

But remembering Mi Ke's instructions, Jiang Muye steeled himself and forced the words out. "Yes. I really do like Mi

Ke."

"I see." Song Jingyi paused, a shadow of disappointment flickering through her eyes.

But then she smiled softly. Her pale, delicate hand rested casually on Jiang Muye's thigh. "Keke is my... best friend.

If you treat her badly, I won't... forgive you."

With that, Song Jingyi went limp, collapsing completely against his shoulder as if she'd lost consciousness.

Jiang Muye had caught that fleeting shadow in Song Jingyi's eyes. His heart twisted with a sour ache.

Was it his imagination? Now that she knew he was with Mi Ke, was Song Jingyi... a little unhappy?
But even if she was upset, she'd still told him to be good to Mi Ke before she passed out...

Jiang Muye's emotions surged. He was more certain than ever that he hadn't loved the wrong girl. Song Jingyi was truly

the kindest, most wonderful person in the world.

Once he was done using Mi Ke, once Song Jingyi realized her feelings for him, he'd tell her the truth and confess

properly!

Jiang Muye's attention was now entirely consumed by Song Jingyi. So he didn't notice-

Beside him, Mi Ke's gaze had also settled on Song Jingyi's flushed, tipsy face. Her lips curved in the faintest of arcs.

Everyone who knew Song Jingyi remembered her as a lightweight who couldn't hold her liquor. But having read the entire

script, Mi Ke knew the truth.

One glass of champagne, and Song Jingyi was in this state.

In the future, when she accompanied a certain male lead to a business dinner and forced down five shots of baijiu, she'd

be in exactly the same state.

Men act three-tenths drunk and bring you to tears. But her dear best friend's acting was a cut above the rest.

-

Song Jingyi was drunk, and the group lost the mood to continue the evening. They decided to take a taxi back to campus.

From the university gate to the dorms was a twenty-minute walk. Naturally, the only male present was tasked with

carrying Song Jingyi on his back.

Song Jingyi lay against Jiang Muye's back, murmuring and whimpering in her feigned sleep.

"Jiang Muye... be good to Keke..."

"The necklace... so pretty..."

"Now that you're together... am I going to... be all alone?"

Hearing his goddess's unconscious murmurings, Jiang Muye's heart melted into a puddle. He thought Song Jingyi was

unbearably adorable when she was drunk.

"Don't worry, you won't be alone. I-"

Jiang Muye caught himself, aware that Zhao Xinwen and Du Li were walking behind them. He swallowed the rest of his

sentence and softened his voice. "I won't let you be alone."

As a sports science major, Jiang Muye was all muscle. Even with Song Jingyi on his back, he strode at the front of the

group.

Two or three steps behind him walked Mi Ke, occasionally adjusting Song Jingyi's skirt so it wouldn't ride up and expose

her.

Zhao Xinwen and Du Li brought up the rear, watching the bizarre trio ahead of them. They exchanged another glance. From

each other's eyes, they saw the same certainty.

Jiang Muye absolutely still liked Song Jingyi. Absolutely!

Zhao Xinwen looked down and sent Du Li a private message:

[Pitiful. Ugly girls really don't get love.]

Du Li glanced at her phone discreetly and typed back:

[But no matter what, Jiang Muye is Keke's boyfriend now, right? Is it really okay for Jingyi to act like this...?]

-

Jiang Muye carried Song Jingyi to the base of the girls' dorm building. He couldn't go up any further.

He reluctantly set her down, frowning as he instructed Mi Ke. "Mi Ke, carry her up carefully. Don't let her fall."

Mi Ke stood on the steps. She didn't immediately take Song Jingyi from him. Instead, she looked at him quietly for a

moment, then asked:

"Jiang Muye, are you happy today?"

It was late. Under the dark sky, the warm yellow glow of the streetlamp cast a soft halo over Mi Ke's features, lending

her calm expression an air of quiet, unspoken melancholy.

Jiang Muye froze. He didn't understand what she meant by that question for a long moment.

After a while, he answered hesitantly, "...Yeah. I'm happy."

"That's good, then." Mi Ke's voice was very faint, nearly swallowed by the night.

She took Song Jingyi from his arms.

That faint, clean fragrance once again filled his nostrils. But before Jiang Muye could breathe it in, Mi Ke had already

turned and walked into the building.

Silhouetted against the night, Mi Ke's back-supporting the limp, boneless Song Jingyi-seemed, for some reason, less

bulky than before.

Because they were both girls. One girl, struggling to hold up another. The image carried a faint undercurrent of

stubborn kindness.

"Bye, Jiang Muye!"

"Thanks for dinner tonight!"

Zhao Xinwen and Du Li called out their quick goodbyes and followed Mi Ke inside.

Jiang Muye stood where he was, watching them go up. But he found himself, inexplicably, turning Mi Ke's question over

and over in his head.

Jiang Muye, are you happy today?

He suddenly remembered how the old Mi Ke used to look at him-eyes sparkling bright. Whatever he said, she'd smile and

say okay.

So he'd always known that Mi Ke liked him.

But ever since yesterday, when she'd proposed they get together, his aversion to her appearance had triggered a

visceral, almost physiological disgust toward her entire person.

He'd even convinced himself that her requests for gifts meant she was a petty mercenary who'd sell out a friend for

profit.

But just now, that detached, melancholic look in Mi Ke's eyes at the end had planted a terrifying thought in Jiang

Muye's mind.

Was Mi Ke... still in love with him?

Had she realized that he liked Song Jingyi, and was using this arrangement to help them be together out of spiteful

self-sacrifice?

Even though she was hurting, she still wanted him to be happy. As long as he was happy, she was satisfied-was that it?

Were her demands for gifts just a way of venting those feelings?

Jiang Muye stood outside the girls' dorm for a long time, his mind in turmoil.

Finally, he pulled out his phone and transferred a 666-yuan red packet to Mi Ke. Only then did the strange, gnawing

guilt in his chest begin to fade.

He couldn't possibly like Mi Ke.

Mi Ke was simply... not pretty.

A red packet would serve as compensation for whatever feelings she harbored.