It Seems Like My Senior Seems to Like Me - Chapter 56

With the start of her sophomore year, Ye Wanjia also gained the new identity of being a “senior” to the incoming freshmen.

The new semester kept the student council busy. In preparation for welcoming the first-years, every department was working overtime. It was only after the orientation ended that the upperclassmen could finally reclaim their own time.

Pei Suye stepped into her senior year and officially stepped down as president of the student council. Her major classes now entered the deeper layers of research and academic training, and with her outstanding academic performance, she successfully secured a spot in one of the country’s top veterinary laboratories for a PRT (Pre-Research Training) program. Her senior year would be spent mastering laboratory skills there, and in her fifth year, she would be eligible for joint training abroad—furthering her studies in the United States.

For Ye Wanjia, studying abroad was still a distant thought. What was right before her, and most pressing, was the scholarship.

“What a pity…” Ye Wanjia sighed heavily, lying across the round stone table in the garden pavilion. “I was just one spot away from getting the National Scholarship!”

This year’s list of National Scholarship candidates had been announced: only the top four in the major could apply. Ye Wanjia, unfortunately, ranked exactly fifth.

Beside her, Pei Suye mirrored her posture, except she turned toward her, one hand gently stroking her soft hair.

“It’s okay,” Pei Suye comforted. “You can still apply for the Yingka Scholarship. That’s three thousand yuan too.”

Ye Wanjia pouted, not at all cheered up. “But the National one is eight thousand…”

Pei Suye patiently analyzed for her: “In your first semester you were ranked tenth, and by the second you’d risen to fifth. If you keep this pace, you’ll definitely get the National next year.”

But no matter how she reasoned, Ye Wanjia still looked deflated. Finally, Pei Suye added:

“The Yingka Scholarship actually has stricter requirements.”

“Hm?” Ye Wanjia blinked in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Pei Suye explained slowly: “The National Scholarship mainly cares about academic ranking. As long as you meet the grade requirement and have no disciplinary issues, you usually get approved. But the Yingka requires well-rounded development. Besides good grades, you also need an award from a competition at least at the university level. Student council work, clubs, part-time jobs—all those count as bonus points. If you apply, whether you get it or not really depends.”

“Hiss.”

Ye Wanjia sat up straight, back stiff like a rod. “What do you mean, ‘depends’? Talking about competitions—our cheerleading team won first prize in the provincial contest last year! Plus all the student council work I did, all those etiquette team activities, and don’t even mention the part-time jobs. Every single bone in my body burns with the soul of a go-getter. Yingka? Who else but me?”

Her eyes lit up, spirit soaring, sweeping away her earlier gloom. She looked just like Judy Hopps from Zootopia, back in uniform, regaining her confidence.

In the end, Ye Wanjia successfully won the 3,000-yuan Yingka Scholarship.

But meanwhile, their dormitory almost had its roof blown off over the scholarship issue.

Last semester, Ye Wanjia had voluntarily withdrawn from the poverty-student aid list to leave the spot for classmates in greater need. Meanwhile, her roommate Wang Zhaodi—who used an Apple phone and tablet, and even bought a 2,000-yuan gym membership—stayed in the aid program without a flicker of conscience.

This year, she was anonymously reported under her real name, and forcibly removed from the aid list.

“Ye Wanjia! Was it you who reported me? It must’ve been you!”

Back at the dorm, Wang Zhaodi confronted her. But it so happened that their iron-willed roommate Wei Xiaoxiao had just returned. She immediately snapped back—

“Are you crazy? Wanjia just got the Yingka Scholarship. You think she’d care about your little aid money?”

Wang Zhaodi then turned on Wei Xiaoxiao: “Then it must’ve been you! You tried to make me drop out of the aid list last year, I refused, so you reported me this year, didn’t you?”

Wei Xiaoxiao slammed the table. “Have you lost your mind? If I’d thought of that trick, why would I wait until this year? I would’ve exposed you last year so Wanjia wouldn’t have had to withdraw, and wouldn’t have to work part-time every day!”

They argued endlessly, with no conclusion.

Two days later, Wang Zhaodi secretly peeked at another roommate’s phone and discovered it was she who had sent the real-name report to the class advisor.

What’s more, once Wang Zhaodi was removed from the aid list, the 2,000-yuan grant, by academic ranking, rolled right down to that very roommate.

When Wang Zhaodi found out the truth, she cut ties with that roommate, only to be met with a counter-question: “The aid money is for students who really need help. You’re not struggling, so why were you even competing with me for it?”

Wang Zhaodi knew she was in the wrong but still refused to admit it, vainly bragging: “It’s only a few thousand yuan. Even if the school won’t give it to me, my boyfriend will.”

The fallout of this incident planted a seed in Ye Wanjia’s heart.

At first, she thought it was Wei Xiaoxiao who had reported Wang Zhaodi, to help her vent her frustration.

Later, she realized she’d been narrow-minded. Wei Xiaoxiao was always straightforward and upright. Even though she loathed Wang Zhaodi deep down, she would never have stripped her of her aid money through underhanded reporting.

“This is what they call ‘birds of a feather flock together.’” Every time Wei Xiaoxiao thought about it, she felt vindicated. “Wang Zhaodi always schemed against others, and now she’s been backstabbed by her own kind.”

Hearing this, Ye Wanjia nodded heavily in agreement. “Mm.”

From that moment on, she knew she would never have to worry about Wei Xiaoxiao stabbing her in the back.

With such an upright friend, and such a tender lover—how lucky was she to have both?

“Senior,” Ye Wanjia suddenly said, “I just feel… I’m so happy.”

It was ten o’clock that night. She called Pei Suye.

“Hm?”

On the other end, Pei Suye had just washed her hair. Her half-dried straight hair draped over her shoulders as she stepped in from the hot balcony into the cool, air-conditioned dorm.

“What’s the matter?”

Ye Wanjia didn’t quite know where to begin. “Well… it’s a long story.”

With someone impatient, the next line would’ve been, Then make it short.
But Pei Suye was gentle by nature. Especially with Ye Wanjia, her patience was endless.

“Then I’ll come to you, and you can tell me slowly.”

Ye Wanjia bit her lip with a smile. Her heart felt like it was being tickled by a kitten’s paw. Seizing this rare chance to playfully tease back, she hummed:

“I’ve got a story. Do you have any wine?”

A soft chuckle came from the other side, clear and refreshing as spring water. “Will barbecue skewers do?”

“Eh?” With that one simple line, Ye Wanjia immediately forgot her teasing plan, her eyes lighting up.

“Yes!”

By her own calculation, in less than half a year of dating Pei Suye, she had gained ten pounds. Her once-stick-thin figure now finally had some flesh. Her face had rounded out too; when she puffed her cheeks while blowing on hot porridge, Pei Suye could never resist giving them a squeeze.

A feast for the eyes, a snack after meals, and now bombarded with late-night barbeque—at last, she had bid farewell to her bamboo-stick physique.

Soon, it was time for the annual school sports meet.

Last year, the two of them had both competed in the women’s high jump, taking first and third place respectively. This year, Ye Wanjia was determined to challenge Pei Suye head-on, even betting a week’s worth of yogurt on the outcome.

But she still couldn’t topple the reigning queen.

“Ahhh—just one centimeter short!”

In the end, Ye Wanjia had to settle for second place, losing to Pei Suye yet again.

After a whole year of hard training, she still couldn’t beat her. Was she doomed to never surpass her? No, impossible! Physiology aside, Pei Suye was two years older—surely, one day, age would catch up!

Yes, that was it! If she just lived long enough, her chance would come!

But just as she had adjusted her mindset and prepared to head over to Pei Suye for the awards ceremony, she caught sight of someone standing beside her from afar.

A mature woman.

Her long hair was pinned up, her figure tall and graceful, dressed in a flowing dress patterned with ink-like watercolor, holding a delicate parasol.

Most striking of all—her face looked almost identical to Pei Suye’s.

Ye Wanjia bolted into the restroom.

Ten minutes later, outside the last stall, Pei Suye’s voice coaxed gently:

“Xiao Yezi… do you want to meet my mom?”

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