Engagement Annulled? Now The Husbands Kneel and Beg for Her Favor

Yuan Shiyao: ”...”

Grinding his canines, Yuan Shiyao suppressed his emotions and said, ”Don’t mention it.”

”Alright, since everyone’s here, I’d like to say a few words.”

Ke An stood up and briefly spoke about the future of the student council.

Since Jiang Qingli was present, she made a point of expressing her hope for the harmonious development of both councils. The two presidents shared a smile in the firelight, the atmosphere friendly and cooperative.

After her speech, Ke An clapped her hands. ”Okay, now let’s all hold hands, form a big circle, and pray to the Beast God.”

As she spoke, she took the lead and grabbed the hand of the person next to her.

Legend has it that fire is the seed of life, a gift from the Beast God.

Bonfire parties originated from sacrificial rituals, which is why many begin with everyone holding hands and praying to the Beast God for their wishes.

After Yuan Shiyao and Gu Nian stood up, they glanced at each other, the deep disgust in their eyes mutual.

’Gu Nian had no desire to make contact with such a shameless, ugly thing, but the thought of Jiang Qingli holding hands with him was even worse.’

Clearly, Yuan Shiyao felt the same.

So they simply ignored each other’s existence.

In the end, as everyone else reached out and joined hands, a large gap remained between Yuan Shiyao and Gu Nian, looking particularly awkward and strange.

Fortunately, everyone had their eyes closed, so no one noticed anything was amiss.

「...」

After the prayer, they started playing Truth or Dare.

Lin Xiyue, sitting next to Jiang Qingli, complained, ”This is a staple at every party since we were kids. It’s so boring...”

”Hey, I heard that,” Ke An said, glancing their way. Her eyes swept past Jiang Qingli as her lips curled up. ”The game might be old-fashioned, but the people are different every time. It’s a chance to get to know each other better, to break the ice.”

She did have a point.

In front of Ke An was a screen and two stacks of cards.

The screen was for a random selection game; whoever it landed on was it.

Of the two stacks of cards, one was for Truths, the other for Dares.

Everyone was quite familiar with each other, so the questions were much juicier than usual. All sorts of crazy things were asked, and if the person chosen couldn’t answer, they had to accept a penalty.

The penalties were also thrilling and wild, ranging from randomly picking someone for a hot dance to carrying three people and running in a specific pose... After a few rounds, the atmosphere had indeed livened up.

Jiang Qingli was lucky and hadn’t been picked yet.

Yuan Shiyao, however, wasn’t so lucky. He was chosen three times.

He chose Dare the first two times, but on the third, the crowd wouldn’t let him get away with it, so he had to agree to Truth.

Ke An drew a card and asked, ”Do you have a female you like?”

As soon as they heard the question, the crowd booed. ”That’s way too easy!”

”President, why are you asking something so innocent! I want to know what position the Secretary-General likes!”

”You’re getting ahead of yourself. If the Secretary-General doesn’t have someone he likes, who’s he going to be with?”

Amidst the booing, Yuan Shiyao lowered his eyes to look at Jiang Qingli.

The girl was wearing a light-colored long dress, her hands propped behind her as she sat relaxed, looking up at him. Her eyes reflected the firelight, and... his shadow.

The bonfire was now burning brightly, letting out a soft CRACKLE and POP.

Along with it, his blood seemed to surge a little faster.

His Adam’s apple bobbed. Yuan Shiyao said, ”I have someone I like.”

”Who is it!” someone asked.

”The question has been answered,” Yuan Shiyao said before sitting back down.

”What a classic exchange...” someone grumbled. ”President, can you ask about his favorite position next time!”

”President, ask his favorite place next time!”

Amid the clamor, Ai Bin, who was sitting next to Ke An, caught a glimpse of the question on the card in her hand.

It was a very risqué question, completely different from the one she had just asked.

Ai Bin’s eyes widened. ”You don’t... like...”

”I’d fall for a female before I’d ever fall for him. Don’t let your imagination run wild.” Ke An smacked him on the forehead and winked. ”I’m helping your poor boss.”

Ai Bin looked into the distance. After sitting down, Yuan Shiyao kept glancing at the person beside him, only to retract his gaze just before being noticed.

Ai Bin was stunned. ”He actually likes Jiang... Jiang...” He lowered his voice. ”Does Senior Yuan know?”

”I don’t know,” Ke An said. ”But it doesn’t matter if he does. Is there anything Yuan Shiyao sets his mind to that he can’t achieve?”

Ai Bin thought about it. ’She’s right.’

The student council had a rigid hierarchy and heavy discrimination against males. So, even though males far outnumbered females in the council, besides Baili Jing who had served as president for a year, the highest position a male could reach was department head. Anything higher was impossible.

Yuan Shiyao had campaigned for the position of Secretary-General for several years.

He stood out from all the other candidates with his impeccable performance, becoming the first male Secretary-General in the student council’s history.

It was the same with his studies.

Yuan Shiyao was the type of person who, once he made a decision, would strive to achieve his goal until he succeeded.

Ai Bin sighed.

Ke An asked, ”What’s wrong? Are you worried he’ll get rejected?”

”No.” Ai Bin shook his head. ”I was just thinking, is it too late to change my bet from last time? You’re going to win it all by yourself.”

Ke An roared with laughter. ”Too late! But I’ll share a little with you when the time comes.”

「...」

Yuan Shiyao wasn’t picked again. Jiang Qingli asked Gu Nian to order a cold drink for her.

Suddenly, her hand was covered by a warm touch.

Long, slender fingers wrapped around her hand. The knuckles were well-defined; it was clearly a male’s hand.

Jiang Qingli assumed it was Gu Nian and casually squeezed back, giving it a playful little rub.

The hand froze as if startled, then slowly began to pull away.

’This little rabbit’s ’playing hard to get’ tricks are getting more and more elaborate.’

Jiang Qingli’s lips curved. She deliberately let the hand pull away.

But just as she’d guessed, he was only playing hard to get. It pulled back just a little before stopping to wait for her.

Jiang Qingli seized it without hesitation.

This time, the hand finally stilled, not moving an inch.

Having gotten the upper hand, Jiang Qingli shot a triumphant brow-raise at Gu Nian beside her.

Sensing her gaze, Gu Nian turned his head and blinked. ”What is it?”

The moment the young man spoke, Jiang Qingli suddenly noticed that both of Gu Nian’s hands were holding his terminal.

’Then the hand I’m holding is...’

Jiang Qingli gave Gu Nian a cursory reply and turned around in horror.

Her hand was tightly gripping a well-defined one, and following the arm upwards—

On the other side of Gu Nian, Yuan Shiyao was staring downward, the tips of his ears bright red.

Jiang Qingli: ”...”

’AHHHHHH!’

’What is happening?!’

’How could I... How could I be holding Yuan Shiyao’s hand!?’

’And I... I even squeezed it and rubbed it a few times, like I was flirting...’

’This is so embarrassing. How could I have flirted with my friend? What am I going to do now...’

Jiang Qingli’s mind was a mess. She hurriedly snatched her hand back.

As she pulled away, Yuan Shiyao subconsciously tightened his grip, as if to hold on.

’Why... why is he trying to hold on?!’

Alarm bells went off in Jiang Qingli’s head. Her heart inexplicably sped up, and her voice was flustered. ”I—I’ll go see why the drinks aren’t here yet!”

She had just stood up when a server carrying drinks approached. He wasn’t looking where he was going and happened to step on the hem of her dress.

Caught off guard, Jiang Qingli stumbled forward.

In truth, it wasn’t enough to make her fall; Jiang Qingli could have steadied herself.

But just as she swayed, she was pulled into someone’s arms.

The surrounding noise fell silent in that instant.

Jiang Qingli’s eyelashes trembled slightly.

She looked up and met the young man’s jade-green eyes, which reflected the dancing flames.