164: So dramatic - 3

Gu Yanchen, standing below the steps, saw that Ye Cheng not only didn't look at him but instead turned her head to the side, her face showing an indescribable expression he had never seen before; his heart immediately sank.

"This Buddy... what's the deal?" His heart skipped a beat as an ominous premonition surged within him.

Li Han also sensed the wrong atmosphere. Frowning, he whispered, "Yanchen, something's not right. Does Ye Cheng seem to know that Buddy?"

"It's nothing."

Gu Yanchen steadied himself, forcing his attention back.

The arrow was on the string; there was no turning back!

He took a deep breath and decided to ignore that strange "passerby." Taking another step forward, he held the roses in his hand high:

"Ye Cheng! I know this might be sudden, but my feelings are real! Give me a chance to take care of you, okay?"

The two boys at the entrance holding the long banner heard this "command" and immediately followed the plan, quickly running to both sides and throwing their arms up with effort—

*Swish!*

As the banner fully unfurled, a line of even more mushy, enlarged confession words was revealed:

【Ye Cheng, meeting you is the luck of my life, falling in love with you is the joy of my life. For the rest of my days, it will always be you. Be with me!】

"Wow—!"

Seeing the words on the banner, the surrounding crowd of onlookers suddenly erupted into even louder exclamations and jeers.

"Say yes! Say yes!"

"Senior Gu is so handsome! So romantic!"

"Get together! Get together!"

No one knew who started the chant, but the surrounding students were instantly infected by the atmosphere and began shouting along, pushing the scene to a climax in an instant.

Ye Cheng's eyelid twitched violently. Forcing down the urge to facepalm, she withdrew her gaze from her man, whose expression was twisted, glanced at the cringeworthy copy on the banner that could make anyone want to crawl into a hole, and finally looked back at Gu Yanchen, who was holding the flowers:

"Student Gu, if I remember correctly, I told you I have a boyfriend, didn't I?"

The affectionate smile on Gu Yanchen's face remained unchanged, his tone carrying the certainty of "I have seen through everything":

"Ye Cheng, you've been single since your freshman year; I'm very clear on that. You can't lie to me. I know you might have some concerns or want to test me, but please believe me—as long as you give me a chance, I will definitely do my best to take care of you and cherish you."

This "affectionate confession" drew another round of screams from the surroundings.

Ye Cheng arched an eyebrow and ignored him, turning to look at Xiao Mi, who was blocked at the entrance, her face looking strange as she suppressed a laugh.

"Xiao Mi, come over here."

Xiao Mi glanced at Jiang Ye's colorful expression nearby, her lips twitching. After finally suppressing her laughter, she trotted over:

"Cheng Cheng, what's up?"

"Did you bring an eyebrow razor with you?"

"Huh? Oh, I do, I do!"

Startled, Xiao Mi quickly fumbled through the small bag behind her, pulled out a compact eyebrow razor, and handed it over.

Ye Cheng took it, weighed it in her hand, and slowly walked down the steps.

Gu Yanchen looked at the blade in her hand, slightly stunned: "Ye Cheng, you..."

"..."

Ye Cheng ignored him and walked straight to the giant banner. At the position of her name, she neatly used the eyebrow razor to cut out a square, completely removing the two characters for "Ye Cheng" from the banner.

Then, holding the piece of cloth with her name on it, she turned to look at Gu Yanchen, whose face had instantly frozen and whose affectionate expression was beginning to shatter. She nodded her chin toward the conspicuous hole in the banner and said flatly:

"These two words have nothing to do with you, so I'm taking them. When your 'illness' is cured, find a tailor to patch the banner; you might still be able to use it."

"Pfft—Hahaha!"

"Holy crap! Ye Cheng is amazing!"

"That's a total burn!"

The surrounding students burst into a fit of laughter and chatter, and those holding phones began recording even more enthusiastically.

The affection on Gu Yanchen's face finally couldn't be maintained. He could only barely keep his composure, forced a bitter smile, and spoke:

"Ye Cheng, why must you be like this... I..."

He had just started speaking when a very familiar, fateful musical intro suddenly played, followed by a disgruntled male voice:

"Hey! You with the GoPro! Don't just watch the show! Lift the camera and start filming! Close-up! Get a close-up of your Brother Gu's face! Whether he goes viral or not depends on this one shot!"

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw the "helpful passerby" who had been standing to the side holding the banner earlier, walking over with his phone. The song playing loudly was the very fitting—'Xuan Ni'.

While waving his phone, he "cheered" for Gu Yanchen:

"Buddy! I've provided the BGM for you! Quick, hurry up and continue confessing to my girlfriend! Then let her ruthlessly reject you! Expression! Your expression needs to be on point! Grievance mixed with unwillingness, and unwillingness mixed with stubbornness! ...Damn, this kind of epic clown scene shouldn't be just me alone, right? Both the Big and Small Kings are here!"

"..."

Gu Yanchen's face turned completely dark. Gritting his teeth, he asked, "Buddy, are you... are you really Ye Cheng's boyfriend?"

Even at this point, he didn't forget to maintain his persona, attempting to seize the moral high ground:

"Even if you are Ye Cheng's boyfriend, you should give her enough respect and space, right? Relationships are between two people; at the very least, at a time like this, you should respect her own choice!"

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow and was about to continue his output when Ye Cheng suddenly reached out and gently swiped on the playback interface of Soda Music on his phone screen.

The lyrics that had just started, "I advocate for letting it be if it can't be stopped~ this struggle between desire and despair~~" came to an abrupt halt, and the music skipped directly to the chorus—

"So funny Ya i ya i ya i ya i ya i ya i ya~~~".

Ye Cheng nodded with satisfaction and looked at Jiang Ye: "Hubby, the music has to be the chorus. Otherwise, Student Gu's emotions won't be in the right place, and the sense of struggle and despair won't come through."

Gu Yanchen: "..."

Listening to the looping "Ya i ya i" in his ears and watching this couple's "tag-team" performance, he felt a tightness in his chest and almost fainted right then and there.

Beside him, Li Han's lips twitched violently as he watched the situation.

What the hell kind of choice is there left?!

Ye Cheng practically had the words "Get lost" engraved on her forehead. If they stayed any longer, they really would become total clowns!

He quickly pulled hard on Gu Yanchen's sleeve and whispered:

"Yanchen! Forget it, forget it! It seems our intel was wrong, we messed up! Ye Cheng, sorry about that, sorry for the trouble. We're leaving now, leaving now!"