As soon as Yu Huan embraced him, the conference hall immediately erupted into a commotion.
"Oh my god, Yu Huan has a girlfriend?!"
"The god Yu is actually dating someone?!!!"
"So Yu God is only cold towards us..."
"No way! It must be his sister! I hope it's his sister!"
"Hey, it's a guy!"
"Oh, it's a guy. Never mind then."
"Ah... thank goodness it's a guy. I was scared for a moment, I thought our Yu God was taken..."
Ruan Qiuping was hugged so tightly he could barely breathe. He pushed Yu Huan away, grumbling, "After all these years, why do you still have to hug me every time we meet? You're still acting like a child..."
Back when he was actually a child, pouncing into his arms was cute and soft, but now that he's grown so big, pulling him into an embrace at first sight with such force was like trying to strangle him...
Thinking this, Ruan Qiuping looked up at Yu Huan.
Oh no, little Yu Huan had grown taller again. He was now about half a head taller than him. If only he'd known to use magic to make himself taller before coming...
Ruan Qiuping sighed.
He wondered if Ruan Shengfeng had felt this melancholy when his height caught up to him back then.
"I'm just so happy, I couldn't help but want to hug you," Yu Huan said with a smile, his eyes curving.
Ruan Qiuping sighed again.
Why are you speaking to me so sweetly? Save that talk for the girls! If you spoke to girls like this more often, you wouldn't still be without a childhood sweetheart after all these years.
The thought of childhood sweethearts made Ruan Qiuping feel even more melancholy.
He remembered that when he first came down from heaven, his sole goal was to find a partner for little Yu Huan.
He had originally planned to find Yu Huan a childhood sweetheart to settle things once and for all, but ever since the cook's daughter was chased away by little Yu Huan, no other girls his age had appeared around him.
Moreover, Ruan Qiuping himself had almost forgotten about this matter. Every day when he came down to earth, it was either to accompany little Yu Huan out to play or to have little Yu Huan accompany him out to play.
Thinking of this, Ruan Qiuping lowered his head again, seriously reflecting on himself, feeling that he had truly been neglecting his duties.
Having recognized his own mistake, Ruan Qiuping decided to make amends.
Calculating, little Yu Huan should be 15 years old this year. Although they had missed the best period for nurturing a childhood sweetheart, 15-year-olds, freshmen in high school, were at the perfect age for puppy love.
Besides, nowadays, high school romance stories were the big trend, much more popular than childhood sweetheart stories.
The child was grown up now, he could start trying to date directly.
Ruan Qiuping felt quite gratified.
Perhaps it was because he had watched this child grow up year by year with his own eyes, but Ruan Qiuping felt his mindset now was very much like that of an old father.
Just then, Ruan Qiuping suddenly noticed that a large group of students in the conference hall, especially the girls, had all turned their heads at once and were staring intently at the two of them.
Ruan Qiuping, being stared at by so many eyes, couldn't help but take a step back. "...What are they looking at?"
Although he wasn't a student here, there were also many parents sitting with the students in the back rows attending the freshman orientation. Why were these people only looking at him and little Yu Huan?
Hearing this, Yu Huan turned his head to look at the seats.
Seeing that Yu Huan had noticed them peeking, the group of students all turned their heads back at once, pretending to be listening attentively to the Dean of Students speaking on the stage.
"Let's go outside," Yu Huan said.
Ruan Qiuping nodded.
Just as Ruan Qiuping was about to leave, the entire conference hall suddenly erupted into another round of enthusiastic applause, mixed with quite a few wolf whistles and cheers from the male students.
Ruan Qiuping had always been one to join in the excitement, and hearing this commotion, he immediately stopped in his tracks, wanting to see what exactly had happened.
He saw that the pot-bellied Dean of Students had already disappeared from the stage, replaced by a fair-skinned, tall female student.
The moment the girl walked onto the stage, the cheers and applause from the male students below became even more intense.
Ruan Qiuping got a clear look at the girl's appearance, and suddenly understood why the male students below were so fired up.
Look at that skin glowing white, those clear innocent doe-like eyes, those little dimples that appeared when she smiled slightly, that world-class beauty that caused countless gasps with every glance and smile.
— This was the legendary top-tier campus beauty!
Ruan Qiuping instinctively turned his head to look at Yu Huan, but Yu Huan happened to be looking at him too. As their eyes met, Yu Huan blinked and asked, "Ruan Ruan, didn't you say we were leaving?"
Leave?!
You're a fifteen-year-old hot-blooded youth, and you say you want to leave when such a beautiful girl is speaking on the stage?
Is it you who's not normal, or is it me?
Ruan Qiuping decided to guide this abnormal young man's thoughts back onto the normal track.
First, they needed to start by watching the beautiful girl's speech.
"Ahem... there's nothing much to do outside, why don't we just sit here and watch for a while? I've never seen a freshman orientation in person before," Ruan Qiuping said, then without waiting for a response, he pulled Yu Huan to sit in the empty seats in the last row and began to watch the freshman orientation.
The girl on stage wasn't just beautiful, but when she spoke, her sentences were clear and articulate, her voice melodious and pleasant.
The more Ruan Qiuping watched, the more satisfied he became. He turned to Yu Huan and asked, "What's the name of the girl on stage?"
Yu Huan raised his head to look at the podium. He seemed to observe very carefully for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I don't know her."
Ruan Qiuping was about to say something when suddenly, a male student in the row in front turned around with an indignant look on his face and started to say, "You don't even know Ouyang Yiqing? What kind of..."
The moment he saw Yu Huan, the boy's words came to an abrupt halt.
He lowered his head and said softly, "I'm sorry, excuse me."
With that, he quietly turned back around and silently continued to watch the speech on stage.
Ouyang Yiqing? That name sounded special at first hearing, she must be an important character.
Perhaps she was even the destined female lead for little Yu Huan!
Ruan Qiuping immediately became even more interested. He asked the male student in front, "Student, is Ouyang Yiqing the girl on stage? What's her story?"
Hearing the question, the boy slowly turned his head again.
The boy glanced at Yu Huan, and seeing that Yu Huan's expression was quite mild, he began to explain to Ruan Qiuping, "There's nothing special about Yiqing, she just has perfect looks, perfect grades, and is perfect in every way. Most of us at Yusen High School came directly from Yusen Middle School. When Yiqing was at Yusen Middle School, she was already our school beauty, and now that we're in high school, she's naturally become the beauty of Yusen High School as well. But Yiqing truly deserves the title of school beauty, because she has the most beautiful smile and the most captivating eyes in the world..."
Ruan Qiuping listened with growing interest. This was the first time he had heard that schools in the mortal world really had terms like school beauty and school hunk. He had only seen them in novels and on TV before, and thought they were fictional.
Ruan Qiuping cheerfully pushed Yu Huan forward, "So Ouyang Yiqing is the school beauty, is Yu Huan the school hunk then?"
Where there's a school beauty, there must be a school hunk. It wasn't that Ruan Qiuping was bragging or boasting, thinking that his little Yu Huan was the best in the world, it was just that looking around, there really wasn't anyone more eye-catching or radiant than Yu Huan among all the students in the hall.
School beauty and school hunk, a match made in heaven! It seemed this Ouyang Yiqing might really be little Yu Huan's destined one!
"School hunk?" The boy shook his head repeatedly. "How could we dare to use such an ordinary term to describe Yu Huan? He's been our school god since middle school!"
School god?
What kind of title was that? Ruan Qiuping had never heard of it before.
But in a sense, these students had really called it right. Yu Huan was indeed a god.
Ruan Qiuping poked Yu Huan's arm with his index finger, teasing, "How come I never heard you say you were a school god?"
Yu Huan raised his hand to grasp Ruan Qiuping's index finger, then held his entire hand, saying softly, "This is the first time I've heard of it too."
"What did Yu Huan do to become the school god?" Ruan Qiuping asked enthusiastically.
"Yu Huan has been the top student not just in our school, but in the entire city since he entered middle school. For objective questions in science subjects, if the answer doesn't match what Yu the God wrote, it's definitely because the answer key is wrong, not because Yu the God calculated incorrectly. Moreover, the reason Yu the God is deified is that he never says unnecessary words or does unnecessary things. He never smiles, and no one has ever seen him angry, so people say he's like a god..." the boy rambled on.
Yu Huan gave the boy a cool glance.
The boy suddenly deflated like a punctured balloon, his voice dropping to a whisper.
Ruan Qiuping was stunned for a moment, then said, "...Little Yu Huan isn't like what you're saying at all. He loves to smile and gets angry easily. You say those things because you don't understand him... Besides, what you're saying is too exaggerated. How could Little Yu Huan never smile? I just saw him smile when he was speaking on stage..."
"Yes," the boy said softly, "That's why posts about Yu the God smiling have already topped the school forum homepage. You can see how shocked everyone is..."
As soon as the boy finished speaking, he felt Yu Huan give him another measured look, and suddenly felt a chill run through his body. He silently turned back around to continue watching his goddess, Ouyang Yiqing.
"You don't smile at school?" Ruan Qiuping reached out and tugged at Little Yu Huan's face, not quite understanding.
Why?
Was it because he had no friends or lover at school? So Little Yu Huan wasn't happy at school?
...Never saying unnecessary words, never doing unnecessary things, what kind of life was that? Never smiling or getting angry, what was that like?
For some reason, Ruan Qiuping suddenly felt the collar of his shirt choking him. He tugged at his shirt collar, only to realize that it was his heart that felt tight.
This wouldn't do. He needed to quickly help Yu Huan find a lover, both for Ruan Dongdong's sake and for Yu Huan himself.
Ruan Qiuping asked Yu Huan, "Little Yu Huan, what do you think of this Ouyang Yiqing on stage?"
"Her pronunciation is fairly standard, but there are multiple logical errors in the content of her speech that need improvement," Yu Huan answered seriously.
Ruan Qiuping: "..."
Ruan Qiuping: "...That's not what I meant. I mean, when you look at her, do you feel any... um... heart-fluttering feelings?"
"No," Yu Huan answered without hesitation.
Ruan Qiuping: "...Don't answer so quickly. Think about it carefully."
Yu Huan thought carefully for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No. I didn't even know her before. Why would I have heart-fluttering feelings for her?"
Ruan Qiuping: "But she's very pretty... Looking at that face, don't you feel your heart racing? Even if your heart doesn't race, don't you feel any attraction at all? Even if there's no attraction, surely you must feel at least a little bit of fondness!"
Yu Huan looked at Ruan Qiuping, slowly furrowing his brow: "...Do you like her?"
"What use is it if I like her? You're the one who needs to like her," Ruan Qiuping sighed. "Little Yu Huan, are you really not interested in dating at all?"
Little Yu Huan's brow gradually smoothed out, and he smiled, "Why should I be interested in dating?"
"Because dating is great! If you date, you can go out with your girlfriend, play together, hold hands, cry when you want to cry, laugh when you want to laugh. When you're happy, you have someone to share it with, and when you're sad, you have someone to rely on..."
"Is that so?" Yu Huan raised their intertwined hands and smiled. "All the things you just mentioned, I can already do with you. So why do I need to date?"
Ruan Qiuping: "..."
Ruan Qiuping hadn't expected that the biggest obstacle to Yu Huan dating would be himself!
He gritted his teeth and said, "Well, there must be things you can't do with me!"
Yu Huan blinked, his face innocent and guileless: "What things can't Ruan Ruan do with me?"